§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to merge(a) existing and (b) proposed NHS (i) national directors posts, (ii) commissions, (iii) offices, (iv) types of trust, (v) types of authority, (vi) groups, (vii) boards, (viii) committees, (ix) forums, (x) councils and (xi) bodies. [35493]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 12 February 2002]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
Proposals for changes to existing NHS bodies were set out in "Shifting the Balance of Power—Securing Delivery", published in July 2002 and "Shifting the Balance of Power—The Next Steps" published in January 2002, copies of which are available in the Library.