asked Her Majesty's Government:

What support they are giving to the Star Wards initiative; and whether they will be making any response to the publication Star Wards 2—The Sequel, edited by Marion Janner and Nick Page. [HL4426]

The department and the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) acute programme have supported the Star Wards initiative in a number of ways. The national clinical director for mental health, Louis Appleby, provided the supporting foreword for the first Star Wards publication and launched the initiative which took place in the House of Lords Common Room. Professor Appleby also attended the Momentum event in August 2007 and gave the keynote speech in support of Star Wards. The department has provided £15,000 in 2008 to 2009 to support the costs of the Star Wards festival, where Professor Appleby is planning to provide another keynote speech.

The CSIP/NIMHE acute programme has actively promoted membership of Star Wards and its positive practice ideas via the Virtual Ward website, CSIP positive practice publications and conference presentations.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Ivan Lewis) provided the supporting foreword to the publication Star Wards 2, and the CSIP/NIMHE acute programme funded the cost of the publication, provided features and the means of distributing a copy of the publication to every acute ward (with enclosed letter from a ward manager) via the CSIP Regional Development Centre acute sector lead network.