§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, (1) if he will place in the Library the conclusions of Pearl Brown's report into the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service; [165341]
(2) pursuant to his answer of 10 March 2004, Official Report, column 1606W, on NHS trust documents, what changes of policy took place between the date the Department obtained copies of the lone worker policy of the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service and the date it was asked to place a copy of Ms Pearl Brown's report in the Library; what his policy is on the documents and types of documents his Department is prepared to obtain at the request of honourable Members when those documents are not among those it routinely collects; why the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority has been able to obtain a copy of Pearl Brown's report; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that recommendations made in Pearl Brown's report are implemented. [165479]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 19 April 2004]: There has been no change to the Department's policy on obtaining National Health Service documents. The Department would not generally seek to obtain copies of documents or information which it did not already hold. This approach is in line with the Open Government Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and is consistent with the relationship between the Department and NHS organisations following the Shifting the Balance of Power initiative.
The requested documents were provided because they were publicly available. The Pearl Brown report on the management of the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service is a confidential document. At the time of commissioning the report, Pearl Brown agreed that the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (SHA) would receive a copy.
The report was commissioned solely by the trust, and neither the Department nor the Cheshire and Merseyside SHA had any input to it. The responsibility for implementing the recommendations of the report lies with the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service NHS Trust.