Bereaved relatives forced the original inquiry

Mr Black said many hospital trusts had not included organs held in their archives, pointing out that many of the specimens are more than 30-years-old.

In his report, the auditor general said: "The inclusion of museum and archive collections in all trusts accounts for most of the difference between the current numbers of retained organs and those declared to the review group.

"In addition, the time period since these figures were originally provided allowed some trusts to undertake a more accurate count.

"Trusts have spent considerable effort and resources to ensure that they have now identified all retained organs."

Despite the emergence of new organs, the auditor general said that all of the country's NHS trusts now have the correct systems in place for identifying organs retained following post-mortem examinations.

Malcolm Chisholm: Distress

Mr Black also found that the trusts are able to deal efficiently with questions from relatives.

"Procedures vary from place to place but our study found that all hospitals are able to produce the information required to identify which organs have been retained and where they are now," he said.

"In addition, every trust has a nominated person to deal with relatives' enquiries."

Organs are normally retained following post-mortem examinations for more detailed examination as well as for teaching purposes, medical legal reasons or research.

Audit Scotland was called in to investigate the way NHS trusts deal with retained organs following the publication of the independent review group's report in November.

The latest report was compiled by Robert Black

The review group, headed by Prof Sheila McLean, had been set up by the Scottish Executive and called for a radical overhaul of 40-year-old legislation surrounding the way people are approached about post-mortem examinations on dead babies.

It recommended that legal controls over what happens to a child's body after death should be firmly placed with the bereaved parents.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm acknowledged the distress which may be caused by the revelation that more organs are being retained than was believed.

He also repeated his predecessor Susan Deacon's pledge that legislation will be introduced, giving families the final say on whether organs can be retained by hospitals.

'Moratorium'

Prof McLean welcomed Mr Black's report, saying that it was right and proper for Audit Scotland to investigate the matter.

On the new total of retained organs, she said: "I don't think it's shocking and I think the good thing is that it's actually final now and we know the answers."

Professor McLean added: "In about the middle of April, we will be launching an advertising campaign which will tell people what their rights are in terms of asking for information and reclaiming organs if they wish to.

"So there's a moratorium on disposing of organs until that period of time, at least those that were taken under past practice."