Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 sets out the following requirement:<\/p>
<\/p>
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> 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> 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> As the Government will continue to meet the statutory requirement, no formal consultation on Section 22 has been undertaken or planned.<\/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>"}
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, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-07-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL897"}
, {"_value" : "HL898"}
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, {"_value" : "HL900"}
, {"_value" : "HL901"}
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, {"_value" : "HL958"}
, {"_value" : "HL959"}
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, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-07-17T11:49:08.3559414Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2014-07-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Assistive Technology: Research"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of producing internally at the Department of Health the report required under section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 on the quality of research into areas of innovative assistive technology and the adoption of such technology; and what measures they intend to take prevent a decrease in both research into and adoption of such technology.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "true", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"}
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, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"}
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