§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Government response to the Sixth report of the Health Committee of Session 1998–99 on "Procedures Related to Adverse Clinical Incidents and Outcomes in Medical Care (HC 549)" will be published; and what factors underlie the delay in its issue. [117627]
§ Ms StuartWe expect to publish our response to the Select Committee's report tomorrow. The report contains 35 recommendations, which address a broad range of issues, and we felt that it was important to address each of these with due seriousness in order to ensure that the 515W response is properly considered and as positive as possible. The impact of the Shipman trial also needed to be taken into account and for these reasons the response has taken longer to prepare than would normally be the case.