Mr. Damien McCallion:

We have eight work streams in total for the project plan which include the procurement site, the laboratory reconfiguration, education and communication and training materials for health professionals. They are all being monitored weekly by the team. We have a dedicated team working on the project because, obviously, there are many other pressures on the programme. As for an end date, there is quite a variation, depending on what the private partner can supply. If it is an existing partner, it will be able to switch on more quickly, but if it is a new one, it could take longer. Our aim, therefore, is to have all of the other steps completed as quickly as possible in order that we can minimise the critical path in getting to the end point with an absolute end date. As Ms O'Connor said, our objective is to get there as quickly as possible. Until we get into that competitive dialogue, we will not really know what the lead time is when it comes to getting the partner over the line. It could be three, six or nine months. One important point in tandem with this is that we have made a decision to rebalance public-private provision in the programme. We are developing a national cervical screening laboratory at the Coombe hospital. It will still only involve a limited increase. Currently, the figure for the Coombe hospital is about 9%, before the end of this year; therefore, it will take time to develop. We are still very reliant on securing a partner to help us to deliver a HPV primary screening programme.