CERVICAL CANCER AND JOINT COMMITTEE ON VACCINATION AND IMMUNISATION

That this House notes the outstanding support the cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust provides for women and their friends and family suffering from pre-cancer and cancer of the cervix; further notes the alarming drop in the number of women attending for cervical screening and joins with the charity in calling for a renewed programme to encourage women to attend for screening and a roll out of liquid based cytology across England; further notes that over 1,000 women die from cervical cancer each year and that a new human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine is now available that can prevent the majority of cases of cervical cancer and pre-cancerous changes to the cervix; and urges the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to bring forward their next meeting to ensure that the Government can make a prompt decision to introduce a national HPV immunisation programme during the academic year 2007-08.