To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment the Government have made of the merits of registering the title Psychologist under a statutory scheme; and what consultations she has conducted. (111419)

[holding answer 29 January 2007]: The Government set out its proposals for the statutory regulation of applied psychologists in its March 2005 public consultation document, “Applied Psychology—enhancing public protection: proposals for the statutory regulation of applied psychologists”. The consultation ran from March to June 2005, and covered the subject of titles to be protected.

More recently, the Department held a four-month period of consultation on our proposals to reform the regulation of medical and non-medical healthcare professionals, following the recommendations made by the Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson and the advisory group headed by Andrew Foster earlier this year. This consultation ended on 10 November 2006.

We are now considering the way forward in the light of responses and the Government's policy objectives. We expect to publish our proposals shortly.