Written question asked by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 26 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 December 2003. It was answered by Stephen Ladyman (Labour) on Monday, 1 December 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to review the implementation of the No Secrets guidance.

Answer: Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to review the implementation of the "No Secrets" guidance. [140639] Dr. Ladyman: The Department of Health has no immediate plans to further review the implementation of "No Secrets", which provided a framework for local agencies to use when developing their multi-agency codes of practice for preventing and tackling the abuse of vulnerable adults. These codes had to be in place by 31 October 2001. Last year, the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Policy on Ageing to analyse these local codes of practice. In January 2003, the Department issued the main messages from the analysis titled, "No Secrets: Findings from the analysis of focal codes of practice". The analysis indicates that by and large local councils have met the requirements required by "No Secrets" and that considerable progress has been made towards improving co-ordination between agencies when dealing with adult abuse cases. The analysis can be accessed on the Department's website.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 140639; 415 c12W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Disclosure of information Codes of practice Abuse Community care Learning disability Mental capacity Social services
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk