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<p>Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 sets out the following
requirement:</p><p> </p><p><em>The Secretary of State shall as respects each year
lay before Parliament a report on the progress made during that year in research and
development work carried out by or on behalf of any Minister of the Crown in relation
to equipment that might increase the range of activities and independence or well-being
of disabled persons, and in particular such equipment that might improve the indoor
and outdoor mobility of such persons.</em></p><p> </p><p>In recent years the report
has been produced by the Foundation for Assistive Technology, and this contract expired
in June 2014. The annual cost was £72,268 (figure for final year). The contract was
funded by the Department's Policy Research Programme.</p><p> </p><p>The Department
has to deliver change in a climate of continuing fiscal challenge and constraint on
public spending, and the approach to reporting on assistive technology research and
development is aligned with this. The Department does not therefore plan to invite
tenders for production of Section 22 reports from 2014-15 and will produce future
reports on a smaller scale and of sufficient quality to meet the statutory requirement.
This will be done in-house at no additional cost.</p><p> </p><p>As the Government
will continue to meet the statutory requirement, no formal consultation on Section
22 has been undertaken or planned.</p><p> </p><p>Reports produced under Section 22,
together with other sources of information about Government-funded assistive technology
research (including published outputs, project databases, trial registers, websites
and other information published by research funders and organisations carrying out
research) will continue to make information available that can be used to support
the identification of innovation opportunities and the identification and adoption
of technology.</p><p> </p>
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