HC Deb 01 April 2004 vol 419 c1582W
Mrs. Iris Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the television advertising campaign to notify people in Northern Ireland about post mortems and organ retention will commence; and how many leaflets on the subject have so far been distributed in the Province. [164578]

Angela Smith

An ongoing multi-media campaign has been running since June 2002, when the Human Organs Inquiry report was published. A sub-committee of the Department's Human Organs Implementation Steering Group is tasked with managing this campaign in conjunction with a firm of PR/Advertising consultants. No decision to use TV advertising has yet been taken but the campaign is kept under review.

Almost 700,000 of the Department's leaflet "Post Mortem Examinations and the Human Organs Inquiry—Important New Information for Everyone in Northern Ireland" have been distributed throughout Northern Ireland. These have been delivered to homes by the Royal Mail and circulated through HPSS networks.

A further 18,500 leaflets about the Human Organs Enquiry Line (NI) have also been distributed by Enquiry Line staff.