§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is given to individual carers about the type of prescriptions provided to children in care. [71738]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 22 July 2002]: We have issued National Minimum Standards across the range of children's services. The standards for fostering services, which accounts for two thirds of all children in care, state that the carer should be provided with a written health record for each child placed in their care, and that this should be updated during the period of the placement. In addition, before a placement begins, the carer should be provided with as full a description as possible of the health needs of a child and clear procedures governing consent for the child to receive medical treatment. Where it is an agency placement, the responsible authority should 389W pass the information on to the agency, who in turn passes it on to the carer. Similar arrangements apply to those placed in children's homes.