Norman Lamb MP
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Norman Lamb MP (Liberal Democrat) MP for North Norfolk. The Liberal Democrat health spokesman.
Contents |
[edit] Issues
[edit] NHS
Commenting on the announcement that Fujitsu has been sacked from the NHS IT contract, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said 29 May 2008
- "This is yet another example of a hopelessly flawed, centrally imposed project that has not been properly thought through from the start and was never subjected to a proper cost benefit analysis."
- "The termination of Fujitso’s contract is another blow to the Government’s £12.7bn national IT scheme, and it comes hard on the heals of the NAO report found that the programme would be completed four years behind schedule."
- "I am writing to Alan Johnson to urge him to accept that now is the time for a thorough review."
[edit] Freedom of Information
Signed Early Day Motion 2699 Freedom of Information 10 December 2006
- That this House welcomes the finding of the Constitutional Affairs Committee (HC991) that the Freedom of Information Act has `already brought about the release of significant new information and....this information is being used in a constructive and positive way' and the committee's conclusion that it sees `no need to change' the Act's charging arrangements; views with concern reports that the Government is considering changing these arrangements to permit an application fee to be charged for all requests or to allow authorities to refuse, on cost grounds, a significant proportion of requests which they currently must answer; and considers that such changes could undermine the Act's benefits of increased openness, accountability and trust in the work of public authorities.
[edit] Links
[edit] News
- 2008-05-29 - Liberal Democrats - NHS IT scheme hopelessly flawed
- Author: Norman Lamb MP
- Summary: Commenting on the announcement that Fujitsu has been sacked from the NHS IT contract, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: "This is yet another example of a hopelessly flawed, centrally imposed project that has not been properly thought through from the start and was never subjected to a proper cost benefit analysis." "The termination of Fujitso’s contract is another blow to the Government’s £12.7bn national IT scheme, and it comes hard on the heals of the NAO report found that the programme would be completed four years behind schedule." "I am writing to Alan Johnson to urge him to accept that now is the time for a thorough review."
- 2007-12-24 - The Guardian - Primarolo admits ignorance over data losses by nine NHS trusts
- Author: Patrick Wintour
- Summary: The health minister, Dawn Primarolo does not know exactly what is has been lost by nine NHS trusts. Ministers will be worried that the loss will further undermine confidence in the department's plans for a new computer database of all NHS patients' records. ... The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: "The whole culture of data management in the public sector has to change. Organisations and staff must understand that this sort of important data must be protected at all cost." The campaign group NO2ID, which opposes ID cards and moves to centralise all NHS records, said: "We are now starting to see the consequences of the government obsession with information 'sharing' and centralised IT in the NHS. If you care about your privacy, then keep your medical records between you and your doctor, and out of the hands of the Department of Health, if you can."
- 2007-04-26 - Liberal Democrats - Inquiry needed into medical students data chaos
- Author: Norman Lamb MP
- Summary: Commenting on reports that details of medical students on the medical training application service were openly available, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb MP, said: "This is the latest compelling evidence of why it is so important that there should have been proper piloting of the IT system before it was introduced on a nationwide basis." "There should be an inquiry into this chaotic and unacceptable situation." "This is a serious breach of data protection principles. We need to find out what happened and who is responsible."
- 2007-04-26 - Liberal Democrats - Information Commisioner must investigate junior doctor website blunder
- Author: Norman Lamb MP
- Summary: The Liberal Democrats have today written to the Information Commissioner asking him to urgently investigate the release of sensitive personal data of junior doctors on a Government website. Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP wrote to Richard Thomas about the availability of the data on the Department of Health’s Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) website, which was discovered last night. The letter said:
- I write regarding the very disturbing news about access to the sensitive personal data of junior doctors via the Department of Health’s Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) website, as reported on the evening of 25th April.
- The lack of consideration for the security of personal data in this case seems to constitute a serious breach of the Data Protection Act. I am sure you will agree this is an extremely concerning situation. I therefore ask that you thoroughly and urgently investigate this matter.
- I would also like you to consider whether this development casts further doubt on the advisability of persisting with the MTAS system without further thorough piloting and without cast iron reassurance as to the integrity of the system and safeguards to protect sensitive personal data.
- Are there any lessons to be learnt from this debacle in respect of the plans to establish a national database of patient records under the ‘Connecting for Health’ IT programme?
- I understand that the junior doctor campaign group Remedy UK has also written to you calling for the firmest possible action to be taken in respect of the apparent breach of the Data Protection Act.
- I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
- Yours sincerely,
- Norman Lamb
- Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health
