Mr. Damien McCallion:

I apologise to the Deputy for the delay. The analysis is completely separate from the work of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The Deputy sought an analysis of the 221 incorrectly read tests, the laboratories those slides were sent to, where they came from and how that might have transpired. I secured someone from Northern Ireland who agreed to do this work but she had a reliance on someone within the programme and, unfortunately, a number of other issues meant that link could not happen. They were not able to meet because we had a gap in terms of our laboratory skill set and the resources we had. The recent problem with the HPV expiration required our resources to be assigned to that and hence they were not able to close it out.

I made contact with the team yesterday to see when we could finish it. The analysis is simply taking the numbers and considering factors such as which laboratories were with the programme for longer periods. Laboratories that were with the programme from the start will have a higher prevalence of cervical cancer than others that joined the programme later. This is a proper analysis that will inform, rather than just throwing out raw numbers that could be interpreted in all sorts of different ways. It is putting a skill set on it.

As I say, we secured someone from Northern Ireland who has agreed to do that work for us. I am hopeful we can get that information to the Deputy now that we are out of the particular piece of work around the HPV expiration. I apologise again for the delay in getting that information to the Deputy. That analysis will be important in ensuring the context for the figures is understood and wrapped around it and proper information is provided to the Deputy and others.