To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by his Department working with the Welsh Assembly Government, to implement a system in which responsibility between the English and Welsh NHS will be based primarily upon residency of patients. (154875)

Statutory Instrument (SI) 2003 No.1497, which came into effect in June 2003, established that the national health service in England was responsible for English residents. Similarly, SI 2003 No.150 (W20) confirmed that Welsh local health boards were responsible for their resident population, including those registered with a GP in England. A protocol was agreed between the Department and the Welsh Assembly Government in 2005 to phase the operational implications of these changes. This protocol set out interim arrangements for specific border primary care trusts and local health boards, where operational responsibility would rest with the commissioner responsible for the GP with whom the patient was registered. Last year the protocol was extended until March 2008. Work is continuing between the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department to finalise the package of care and services that will be provided for patients registered with a GP across the border from their country of residence.