§ Mr. Cabornasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when his Department will be writing to the Sheffield area health authority as agreed at their meeting on 16 November 1984 and promised for the Sheffield area health authority meeting in December 1984.
§ Mr. John PattenOur officials will be meeting officers of Trent regional health authority and Sheffield health authority soon to discuss the proposals for development of services for mentally handicapped people in Sheffield.
§ Mr. Cabornasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place the attached notes of the auditors' accounts for Sheffield area health authority for the year ended 1984 in the Library, or otherwise make them available to hon. Members.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI assume the hon. Member has in mind the notes of discussions with senior officers of the Sheffield health authority to which the auditor refers, routinely, in his statutory report. These notes do not form part of the report but record discussions on a range of points for resolution, locally. In line with commonly accepted professional audit practice they are sent by the auditor to the senior officers following the close of the audit.
I would normally expect a health authority to make its statutory audit report available to the public but I would not normally regard it as necessary to collect them and place them in the Library. Discussions between auditors and officers arising from the audit are more useful if they remain confidential.