The NHS Cancer Screening Programme has released the figures to coincide with the 20th anniversary of breast and cervical screening programmes.

The south east saw an increase in the number of women, aged 50 to 64, screened for breast cancer.

There were 219,721 between 2006 and 2007 compared to 216,171 the previous year. Of those tests, 1,500 breast cancers were detected from 2006 to 2007 and 1,598 the previous year.

With cervical screening, the number of 25-64-year-old women tested was 507,400 between 2006 and 2007 compared to 540,300 for the previous year.

Some 3,000 abnormalities were detected from 2006 to 2007 compared to 2,900 the year before.

The NHS Cancer Screening Programme provides free breast screening every three years for all women in the UK aged 50 and over.

Women aged between 50 and 70 are now routinely invited to screenings and women aged 70 and over can be screened on request.

In addition all women between the ages of 25 and 64 are eligible for a free cervical screening test every three to five years. The NHS call and recall system invited all women registered with a GP.