§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to evaluate New Opportunity-funded healthy living programmes; and what arrangements have been made to ensure that the lessons from such evaluations are disseminated.[145080]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe New Opportunities Fund is supporting a number of healthy living programmes, each of which will be formally evaluated. The Department of Health will study the evaluation findings carefully, and will work with the New Opportunities Fund to help ensure that lessons learned are effectively disseminated
In addition, the Department of Health has commissioned its own evaluation of the health living centre programme through the Tavistock Institute against key health priorities such as cancer and coronary heart disease prevention. The Institute will be encouraged to publish their findings and the Health Development Agency will incorporate the findings into evidence and practice reviews.