Mr. BarstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to introduce independent scrutiny of all performance monitoring procedures, with particular reference to the star ratings system. [146337]
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§ Mr. HuttonThe Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) is the independent regulator of national health service performance and is responsible for developing indicators and publishing NHS performance ratings. Ministers will continue to agree key targets and the priority areas to be covered in the ratings, but are not responsible for their calculation and publication.
The Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, which will take over responsibility for the ratings process from April 2004 and will publish the 2003–04 ratings this summer and develop future indicator sets, including the 2004–05 set.
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2003, the Secretary of State for Health has responsibility for setting national standards. Future published standards will impact on performance monitoring arrangements.