(2) what conditions would need to be met to enable her Department to bring the limited time of Connecting for Health to an end.
The aim of the national programme for information technology in the national health service is to substantially achieve integration of health and social care information systems in England by 2010. The decision that NHS Connecting for Health should be time-limited is in keeping with this timescale, funding plans announced in the 2002 expenditure review, and when contracts for centrally delivered systems were placed. It is also consistent with plans to locate much of the ownership of the national programme, over time, in local and regional bodies in the NHS.
The enduring existence of a central NHS IT function will be subject to review comparable to those of the Department’s other executive agencies to ensure they continue to be the best means for delivering the Government’s objectives.