Dear Anne,
I have forwarded this email (click here to view a copy) to Professor Strang to you for your information. Further to this I received a ‘response’ from the Complaints Manager recently and became lost for words when it was explained that the Department could not answer my questions as it was not apparent what I was asking, even though each question was numbered and more than specific. The letter went on to explain that many of my letters were detailed and contain references and excerpts from other sources….adding further issues and queries and bringing in further evidence to back up my opinions. I would have thought most letters contained detail such as this and if the Customer Service Centre is incapable of answering enquiries containing the above then that should give you cause for concern. I have to ask whether the Department is pleading incompetence as an excuse for not answering questions? One example of my questions is this one, still unanswered by Earl Howe, Bilal Ghafoor (twice) and Lynwen Paddy (Complaints). You will note that it does contain a reference (to a DH briefing) and an excerpt (from Earl Howe’s speech) and it is also apparent what I am asking. It remains unanswered in four DH responses. Kind Regards John Perrott
You stated that ‘The true scale of the problem is hard to quantify’ yet in a Departmental briefing to Gillian Merron MP, then Public Health Minister, prior to a visit to Oldham Benzo Withdrawal Clinic on Monday 21st September 2009, under ‘Annex G Policy Briefing’ it reads:
‘Scale of the problem: [Redacted under Section [35(1)(a)] are addicted to tranquilisers and sleeping medications.’
Why did you state that ‘The true scale of the problem is hard to quantify’ when the figure has clearly been quantified by the Department of Health at least as far back as September 2009 and has been redacted from a FOI document and omitted from your speech? You said that it is a ‘hidden problem’ but you are the person responsible for hiding it. Please can you now disclose this redacted information which should have been given in reply to questions in the debate?