§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, following the National Council for 360W Voluntary Organisations report, "Health in the Round" he will encourage the health professions and health authorities to consider how they can work better with the community in meeting the needs of future parents; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he has studied the National Council for Voluntary Organisations report, "Health in the Round"; if he will take steps to help ensure that the report is widely discussed and acted upon; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenThe maternity services advisory committee, in its first report: "Maternity Care in Action — Antenatal Care", recommended that each health authority should set up a maternity services liaison committee, including lay membership, to ensure that the needs of parents-to-be in the community are recognised and adequately met; copies of that report have been widely distributed to the health service and other interested bodies.
"Health in the Round" results from a project made possible by a grant from the Department, and I have studied the report with interest. I understand that the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, which has already promoted the report extensively, intends to encourage meetings of representatives of statutory and voluntary agencies to consider its relevance to services in different localities.
I am confident that the NCVO' s new community health initiatives resource unit, for which the Department has agreed to provide three years' initial funding, will continue to stimulate new ideas on co-operation between the voluntary sector and statutory services, along the lines suggested in "Health in the Round".