HC Deb 14 October 1996 vol 282 cc741-2W
Dr. Marek

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 23 July,Official Report, column 274, what factors underlay his judgment that release of the breakdown of cases of CJD in the form requested would compromise confidentiality. [40131]

Mr. Gwilym Jones

Some CJD patients' friends and family have been very distressed following identification in the press. Details on the number of CJD cases in Wales have already been given and geographic distribution of cases is given in the fourth annual report from the CJD unit. In view of the low numbers involved I do not propose to provide further information which might lead to the possible identification of patients.

I appreciate the present interest in the disease and the need to put statistics in the public domain more frequently. For this reason, Sir Kenneth Calman, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health announced on 26 July that CJD statistics will be published on a regular basis. This will provide statistical information only on the number of cases and deaths and will not be specific to individual authority areas.