Open Government (Hansard, 25 May 1994)

§ Dr. Mawhinney

The steering group of the task force on "Openness in the NHS", which held its first meeting in February 1994, has the following broad remitto establish a balance between effective management of health service business on the one hand, and access for the public to information and involvement in decision-taking on the other, to provide a Code of Practice on Openness in the NHS, to recommend guidance on information to be made available by NHS organisations, and to make initial recommendations to the Secretary of State by June 1994.

Three working groups have been established to support the steering group by considering the issues as they relate to providers, purchasers and those who contract to provide patient services to the NHS.

The remit of all three groups is: (i) To identify regularly available documents, and other categories of information, which should normally be made available to the public, (ii) To identify documents, and categories of information, which may not be suitable for issuing to the public, (iii) To make proposals on the principles underlying a scheme of fees for the release of information, and (iv) To put their proposals in the context of other developments which may contribute to increasing public involvement in the NHS".