§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the reforms set out in his Department's document, "Making Amends", will require primary legislation; [139563]
(2) if he will publish the responses his Department has received to the Chief Medical Officer's consultation paper, "Making Amends". [139564]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe type and scope of legislation needed to implement changes to the way the national health service handles incidents that may involve clinical negligence will depend on the Government's response to the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO's) recommendations on this issue. The CMO's recommendations were set out in his consultation report, "Making Amends", which was published on 30 June. Formal consultation ended on 17 October and responses are now being analysed. It is expected this will take several weeks, given the complexity of the issues.
All those who responded to the consultation exercise on the CMO's report were asked whether they were willing for their responses to be published. More than 170 responses were received and the majority have given consent for their comments to be published. We intend to publish these responses as soon as possible, on the Department of Health's website.