§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the extent of variation in access to health services in England. [2841]
§ Yvette CooperI apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
The Department has commissioned a number of reviews to assess health inequalities, as well as National Service Frameworks which analyse the evidence and set out blueprints to raise standards and reduce variations. There are also a range of measures to assess performance (including national health service performance indicators which measure access). Improving access to health care is a core underpinning principle of the new NHS reforms and the NHS Plan sets out a substantial programme for addressing variations across the country.