(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of operating the port of entry screening programme for tuberculosis in the last five years;
(3) how many cases of (a) active and (b) latent tuberculosis have been detected at port of entry screening for tuberculosis in the last five years.
The Department has not conducted research on the effectiveness of the port of entry screening programme for tuberculosis (TB).
The Department has not made an estimate of the cost of operating the port of entry screening programme for TB in the last five years.
The data on the number of cases on active and latent TB detected at port of entry screening in the last five years are not collected centrally.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) receives data on cases classified as “possible active TB” from the Heathrow and Gatwick Health Control Units (HCUs) as reported on Port Form 103, which is how the medical inspector notifies the district to which the immigrant is going.
Data received by the HPA are shown in the following table:
Period Heathrow1 Gatwick2 2004-05 n/a 15 2005-06 587 11 2006-07 590 16 2007-08 475 16 2008-09 421 1 Sources: 1 Heathrow HCU annual report 2 Gatwick HCU annual report