| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
HEALTH
Shipman Inquiry
The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid): Dame Janet Smith, Chairman of the Shipman Inquiry, published her sixth report "Shipman: The Final Report" today. Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.
Once again the Government express their profound thanks to Dame Janet Smith and her team for their work throughout the lifetime of the inquiry. We also reiterate our sympathy to all the relatives and friends of Shipman's victims and express our thanks to them for their valuable contribution to the inquiry's work.
Shipman Inquiry (Fifth Report)
The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid): In December, my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Warner) announced that the launch of the General Medical Council's revalidation scheme should not start until doubts raised by Dame Janet Smith had been resolved. He said that it would be unfair to doctors and confusing for patients to start the new revalidation scheme until the question marks raised by Dame Janet on the evidence doctors would be required to submit had been answered.
His announcement followed the publication of the fifth Shipman Report, "Safeguarding Patients: Lessons from the past—Proposals for the Future". In her report, Dame Janet Smith made it clear that she had concerns that the GMC's revised fitness to practise and revalidation procedures would not help to improve patient protection or safety sufficiently.
I take what Dame Janet has said very seriously. I am determined to respond carefully and robustly to her recommendations to ensure that we develop a very strong patient protection plan. We want to put an end to the idea that the General Medical Council is a representative body for doctors. It is not. Its primary role must be to protect patients.
In order to ensure that it does this effectively I have asked the chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson to undertake a review and report his advice to me on what further measures are necessary to:
Strengthen procedures for assuring the safety of patients in situations where a doctor's performance or conduct pose a risk to patient safety or the effective functioning of services;
I have asked the chief medical officer to report to me later this year. This will minimise any delay to the introduction of measures that will both improve patient safety and ensure that doctors are fit to practise. The chief medical officer will put an emphasis on patient safety. He will draw on the findings and recommendations made by Dame Janet and other inquiries on poor clinical performance and misconduct. An advisory group that includes experts from organisations representing consumer, healthcare quality and professional interests will support him.
Dame Janet made a number of recommendations not directly covered by the terms of reference of the chief medical officer's review. Our consideration of these recommendations will continue in parallel to the work of the review, focusing particularly on improving measures designed to safeguard patients and improve the quality of the services provided to them.
The full list of interest groups represented on the CMO's advisory group are:
Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, President of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland;
Mr Michael Morgan, Director of the Change Partnership; former Human Resources Director of Northern Food;
HOME DEPARTMENT
The Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety (Ms Hazel Blears): I have today placed in the Library a copy of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2005–06 (HC 246). The report sets out my determination for 2005–06 of the aggregate amount of grants that I propose to pay under section 46(2) of the Police Act 1996, and the amount to be paid to each police authority and to the Greater London Authority for the Metropolitan Police Authority.
I have also placed in the Library a copy of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2003–04 (Amending Report 2004–05) (HC 247) to take account of changes to Office of National Statistics population data.
General police grant allocations for each police authority for financial years 2004–05 and 2005–06 are set out in Table 1. Amended allocations for 2003–04 are set out in Table 2.
Notes:
1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Grant as calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance (Police) Report (Wales). This includes the Metropolitan Police special payment, and the effects of floors and ceilings.
2. Figures for the City of London relate to Home Office Grant only as calculated in the Police Grant Report (England and Wales). Revenue Support Grant is allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions. The City is grouped with education authorities for the purposes of floors and ceilings.
3. Welsh base positions are adjusted to account for the transfer of PFI funding out of RSG.
27 Jan 2005 : Column 29WS
Notes:
1. Grant includes principal Home Office Police Grant, ODPM/WAG Revenue Support Grant and National Non Domestic Rates, as calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance Report (Wales). Figures are rounded to the nearest £100k and percentages rounded to one decimal point. Grant includes the effects of floors and ceilings.
2. RSG figures for the City are allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions. The City is in the Education floors and ceilings group and received a ceiling settlement of 8 per cent.
3. Welsh figures include Home Office specific grant floor payments for Dyfed-Powys and South Wales.
27 Jan 2005 : Column 31WS
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |