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Lib Dems hit out at lack of information
21st Mar 2007
The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of making it harder to extract information about NHS dentistry. Sandra Gidley, the party’s health spokeswoman, said that while MPs had once been able to find out what was going on in a particular area of the country simply by tabling a Parliamentary question, this was often no longer possible. Such questions were increasingly met with the unhelpful response: ‘This information is not held centrally.’ This was precisely the reply given to Norman Lamb MP, who last month asked in a written question: ‘How many dentists have served notice to terminate their NHS contracts in each of the last four months?’ Mrs Gidley said MPs who wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening in the NHS were often forced to pursue lengthy Freedom of Information requests with dozens of Primary Care Trusts around the country, when in the past a single question to a government department would have done the job. What was particularly frustrating was that most of the information was probably still collected by the government for internal purposes, Mrs Gidley said. But, because it was not ‘officially’ collected, ministers were able to turn down requests for information, she added. By Andy Tate, Parliamentary Correspondent
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