§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions to her Department have not been answered because of disproportionate costs or because the information requested was not held centrally over the last five years; how many could be answered now due to computerisation and/or more effective operational systems; and if she will list each such question along with the name and constituency of the hon. Member who tabled it.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe number of answers given to parliamentary questions by the Department of Health between January 1989 and December 1993, recorded on the POLIS database as including a reference to part or all of the information not being available or involving disproportionate cost was 1,223. Details of each of these questions can be obtained from the POLIS database, access to which is available in the Library. The further information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
We are anxious to reduce the number of forms which currently have to be filled in by national health service units and returned to the Department. There is a limit to the amount of information required by the Department and the NHS executive on a national service which is regionally and locally administered. Release from the burden of filling in forms will give NHS units more time for activities with a greater bearing on direct patient care.