To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to receive the report of the National Specialised Commissioning Group on children’s cardiac surgery services in England; what considerations he is taking into account in respect of proposed reconfiguration of these services; and what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the level of specialisation required for children's heart surgery in the last three years. (302953)

The National Specialised Commissioning Group (NSCG) will publish recommendations on children’s cardiac surgery services in England in September 2010. The considerations that will be taken into account by the NSCG are for children's heart surgery services and critical inter-dependent services to be high quality, safe, sustainable and accessible, with as many of the non-interventional elements of care being provided locally as is safe and sustainable.

The Department has not commissioned or evaluated research on the level of specialisation required for children’s heart surgery but the NSCG will publish the evidence on which recommendations for reconfiguration are based in September 2010.