To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of (a) national guidance and circulars and (b) representations received from NHS organisations on the disposal of crutches. (227511)

The Health Technical Memorandum 07-01: Safe Management of Healthcare Waste has been placed in the Library and is available on the Department's website at:

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_063274

National health service organisations are required to develop their own waste disposal policies in line with the national waste strategy for England.

The Department has received no representation from NHS organisations on the disposal of crutches.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 1175W, on medical equipment, if he will publish the toolkit developed by The Transforming Community Equipment and Wheelchair Services Programme to enable local authorities and their health partners to calculate the true cost of their decontamination and recycling. (228427)

[holding answer 20 October 2008]: We have decided not to publish the toolkit because it cannot stand alone—support is necessary in order to use it effectively. When a local authority (LA) engages with the programme to explore implementing the model, support will be provided by the national team responsible for the Transforming Community Equipment and Wheelchairs Services project.

Currently 53 LA and NHS partnerships have the toolkit, out of the 78 that have currently expressed an interest in working more closely with the programme. This means 53 organisations have either completed the exercise or are in the process of collecting their information. The remaining 25 organisations are not at the stage where they have set up their project yet, but are expected to do so in due course.