Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health

HC Deb 28 January 2003 vol 398 c802W

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will define the term "traditionally marginalised groups" used in his Department's press release of 31 December 2002, New Era in Patient and Public Involvement in NHS. [92595]

Mr. Lammy

The Department does not hold a definitive list of marginalised groups as it is for local health communities to determine which are the relevant groups in their area who do not generally have an opportunity to he involved in decisions about matters affecting their health.

Paragraph 13.2 of the NHS Plan talks about

tackling disadvantage in all its forms—poverty, lack of educational attainment, unemployment, discrimination and social exclusion

and recognises that inequity in access to services is not restricted to social class and geography and that people with disabilities and minority ethnic communities have specific needs.