(2) how many primary care trusts have participated in the Moving Beyond Sponsorship programme to date; and if he will make a statement.
In February 2008, the Department published best practice guidance for joint working between the national health service and the pharmaceutical industry, where this benefits patients, and within appropriate governance arrangements. To support NHS organisations and companies who wish to enter into such projects, the Department published in March 2008 an interactive toolkit to support joint working, entitled “Moving Beyond Sponsorship”.
The Department has undertaken an awareness campaign to promote this to the NHS including attendance at 11 key conferences, including NHS Confederation—Primary Care Network, the NHS Alliance and NICE conferences. We will be working with strategic health authorities to raise awareness within their regions.
Joint working is taking place within a number of primary care trusts, however, the Department does not collect information on individual projects.