§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the UK are registered as organ donors; what plans he has to introduce legislation to recognise presumed consent; what measures he has introduced to encourage people to sign up as organ donors; and if he will make a statement. [35724]
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§ Jacqui SmithThere are currently 9.1 million people registered on the national health service organ donor register.
We have no plans to introduce an opt-out scheme for organ donation. We are in the process of undertaking a comprehensive review of the law governing the taking, removal and use of human tissue, and will be issuing a consultation paper shortly.
There have been numerous wide-ranging initiatives in England to raise the public's awareness of the shortage of organs for transplantation. The Department runs a public information campaign with a current annual budget of £900,000. A public information leaflet, incorporating the organ donor card, is widely distributed, and is also available through the organ donor literature line. The Department also runs a special campaign to raise awareness among the Asian community and a similar campaign targeting the African and African Caribbean communities is planned for launch in spring 2002.