To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints about care in the national health service are under investigation by the Health Service Commissioner; and what the average length of time between receipt of a complaint and publication of a decision on it has been in the last 12 months. (180165)

Information on numbers of national health service complaints processed at the third stage of the NHS Complaints Procedure is held by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and is not collected by the Department nor held centrally. The information can be obtained by request to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman direct at:

www.ombudsman.org.uk