To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing a series of practical human rights tools to improve service planning and delivery in the NHS; and if he will make a statement. (245758)

The Department has a programme of work on human rights that has resulted in the publication of ‘Human Rights in Healthcare—A framework for local action’, launched on 7 October 2008. The framework, a copy of which has been placed in the Library, contains guidance for national health service organisations on promoting human rights in their work, and includes a CD-Rom containing practical tools developed by five NHS trusts who have been piloting human rights based approaches in health care. These tools are also available on the Department of Health website, together with an independent evaluation of this work by Ipsos MORI. A copy of the evaluation has been placed in the Library.