NHS: Standards

Mr. Lansley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of central targets which the NHS has to meet.

Mr. Mike O'Brien
“The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2009-10” set no new national targets. On 30 June 2009, my noble Friend (Lord Darzi) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State published “High Quality Care for All: Our journey so far”, which confirmed our intention to minimise the burden on frontline staff by reducing unnecessary data collection and removing obsolete targets and commitments.