HC Deb 20 March 1989 vol 149 c489W
Mr. Boateng

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made towards developing a central information resource unit for ethnic minority health following the management seminar organised by his Department on 4 November 1987.

Mr. Mellor

The report "Action not Words" by a National Association of Health Authorities working party, published in November 1988, proposed the creation of a central resource unit on ethnic minority health issues.

As I said in my reply on 9 February to the hon. Members for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) and for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) at column 800, we needed to consider whether establishing a separate unit was the best way forward. Officials in the Department are exploring, with a number of organisations, ways of setting up an effective system for exchange of information on ethnic minority health issues.