Website of the Department of Health

Criteria for consultation

This consultation follows the ‘Cabinet Office Code of Practice’, in particular we aim to:

• consult widely throughout the process, allowing a minimum of 12 weeks for written consultation at least once during the development of the code of practice;
• be clear about what our proposals are, who may be affected, what questions we want to ask and the timescale for responses;
• ensure that our consultation is clear, concise and widely accessible;
• ensure that we provide feedback regarding the responses received and how the consultation process influenced the code of practice;
• monitor our effectiveness at consultation including through the use of a designated consultation co-ordinator; and
• ensure our consultation follows better regulation best practice, including carrying out a Regulatory Impact Assessment if appropriate.

The full text of the code of practice is on the Cabinet Office website:

Comments on the consultation process itself

If you have concerns or comments which you would like to make relating specifically to the consultation process itself please contact:

(Please do not send consultation responses to this address)

Consultations Coordinator
Department of Health
2N16, Quarry House
Leeds
LS2 7UE

Confidentiality of information

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department will process your personal data in accordance with the DPA and in most circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.