Research by the Liberal Democrats has uncovered a catalogue of errors by the NHS regarding the protection of confidential patient information. Reported cases involved the loss or theft of diaries, briefcases, CDs, laptops, memory sticks, and even vehicles containing patient records.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb has written to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to accept five clear priorities to stem the loss of confidential data.

Commenting, Norman Lamb said: “Patients have a right to expect their personal information will be treated with the utmost care.

“We already know from the Information Commissioner that the NHS is among the worst offenders for data loss, reporting as many incidents as the entire private sector.

“There must be a fundamental re-examination of how the NHS deals with personal data. The NHS should regard lapses of standards of care as potential serious misconduct.

“Norman Lamb’s five priorities to stem the loss of confidential data are:

1.     The Department of Health should publish minimum standards for the protection of data on mobile devices and ensure that all NHS staff are aware of their particular responsibilities.

2.     As a general principle, patient records should not be stored on mobile devices and strict rules must apply to control the copying of data. Any exceptions must be authorised after a risk assessment and only where it is unavoidable for the completion of work duties and the provision of care.

3.     All mobile data devices should be protected through appropriate security controls regardless of the sensitivity of the information held. This includes the use of authentication, encryption, and other technical separation controls as well as registration and allocation of devices to an ‘owner’.

4.     Lapses in standards of care should be regarded as potential serious misconduct. 

5.     The Government should formally abandon its plans for a national patient database.

Commenting on today’s Government announcement that sick notes are to be replaced with “fit notes”, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: “This is a serious issue which deserves a sophisticated approach, but we must be wary of moving to a system where doctors find themselves policing the benefits system rather than treating the sick.”

Norman Lamb went on to say: “While it is important for people who have the capacity to work to find employment, the Government must not allow GPs to become bogged down in ever more red tape.

“If ministers are serious about helping people on long term sick leave back to work, they should focus on providing better access to effective treatment for the many people on incapacity benefit with mental health problems.”

Commenting on today’s OECD prediction that the UK economy will shrink more sharply than any other G7 country in a ‘severe’ downturn next year Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: “Worryingly, the OECD is offering a more realistic assessment than Alistair Darling of how quickly the British economy will recover.”

Vince Cable went on to say: “The Chancellor prediction that the recession will be over in just 218 days seems wildly optimistic, whilst millions struggle to pay their bills, banks contract their lending and businesses continue to go to the wall.

“Ministers have fallen into the same trap as the Conservatives, pinning all their hopes on the UK economy having decent growth again by 2010.

“There is a real danger that if this recession is more painful and prolonged than the Chancellor expects, the Government will find itself taking money out of the economy while people continue to feel the pain of recession.”

Commenting on the Pre-Budget Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “Today’s announcement shows that the Government is happy to throw the environment out of the window at the first sign of trouble.     “This is short-termism at its worst and pulls the rug out from under any plans to reduce carbon emissions.

“Instead of spending money on reopening railway lines and building a High Speed Rail network, the Government’s proposal is to throw yet more money at motorway widening.

“The amount spent on bringing forward some already planned additional trains will be dwarfed by the expenditure on roads.

“In yet another nod to the aviation industry, the Government has U-turned on proposals to replace Air Passenger Duty with a per-plane Aviation Duty.

“Instead of introducing a fairer and greener charge, the Government will continue to support less efficient half-empty planes and allow air freight to avoid air duty all together.

“The only glimmer of hope is the decision to defer the introduction of the unfair retrospective Vehicle Excise Duty charges.”

Commenting on the Pre-Budget Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said: “The Chancellor’s pledges to pensioners is a repeat. It was originally promised that pension credit would rise to £130 as long ago as 2007.   “Pensioners have known about this rise for two years and are now being told to wait another five months.

“The announcement on the increase of the basic state pensions was deceptive to say the least. The Government promised to increase it by inflation four years ago.

“Alistair Darling’s ‘grand gesture’ is insulting to pensioners. It offers nothing extra today, just what they were already expecting.

“Pensioners have been hit the hardest by the spiralling cost of food and fuel – they must feel very let down today.”

The Chancellor should have cut income tax to make the tax system permamently fairer, say the Liberal Democrats

Commenting on today’s Pre-Budget Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“The Government acknowledges that the UK tax system is inherently unfair, but then announces that it will hit those struggling to make ends meet with yet higher tax bills by increasing National Insurance. Everyone earning over £19,000 will be hit.

“The new 45p Income Tax rate is nothing more than a fig leaf to cover a £5bn tax hike which will hit millions of low earners and businesses.

“The Government has missed a golden opportunity to make the tax system permanently fairer which it could have done by cutting income taxes for those on low and middle incomes, paid for by getting rid of tax loopholes for the wealthy.

“Instead of increasing investment in sustainable capital projects which benefit the country tomorrow as well as today, the Government has opted for a temporary cut in VAT which will benefit big spenders the most and not give the economy the boost it needs.

“At a time of economic emergency, Gordon Brown has once again failed those who need help the most.”

The complete text of the speech is available at http://tiny.cc/Vince

According to figures in today’s Mail on Sunday,

Britain’s energy suppliers have accumulated a total of almost £4billion that they have taken from customers’ bank accounts without their consent.

The remarkable revelation came after the news that British Gas was making huge increases in monthly direct debit payments from it’s customers, even those whose accounts are in credit.

It has also been discovered that other utility companies are also making the same unfair charges to their customers.The revelations come on the eve of the Government’s Pre-Budget Report, in which they are expected to announce new measures to add up to £20billion of cash to the national economy.

If the power firms were forced to release some of the customers’ money they are holding, it would help the Government’s efforts to stimulate public spending.

Millions of people have been persuaded to set up payments by direct debits which are cheaper and more convenient for the suppliers, as well as giving them a guaranteed cash flow.  They were persuaded to use direct debits as a way of spreading the cost of heating their homes so that their bills would not suddenly rise in winter and drop during the warmer summer months, but in a vast number of cases, the monthly direct-debit payments have been set too high by the energy companies, and have sometimes even been increased when the account is hundreds of pounds in credit.

A survey of energy utility bills of Mail on Sunday readers suggests that the average direct-debit customer is paying around £110 a month.

  These payments are made in advance, which means the money can be banked by the utility companies before the gas or electricity is used. Added to this, the amount of credit on individual accounts roughly averages £110 at the beginning of the charging period, which means that the companies have an average advance payment of about £220 for each customer account. 

About £18million customers currently pay their bills by direct debit, meaning that the utilities are holding almost £4billion of their customer’s money in advance payments.

Consumer Focus, the Government watchdog, said it was seeking ”urgent clarification” from energy firms on the profits that are being made from direct debit customers.  A spokesman said:

“Unless an account has been mismanaged or there has been a significant change in energy use, we would not expect to see increases in direct-debit payments approaching 100 per cent.

“Increases on this scale would not be in line with recent price increases and should be challenged, particularly where the account is in credit and no debt needs to be recovered.”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said  “There is simply no excuse for this grossly unfair practice.  Ministers must  recognise this as the act of naked greed that it is and compel the energy companies to help their most vulnerable customers.”

He said that the energy companies’ behaviour amounts to ‘naked greed’

“We need proper regulation to protect consumers, especially the most vulnerable, like pensioners.” 

A charity has warned that excessive drinking by children and teenagers is storing up a time bomb of health problems.  

The British Liver Trust says that the amount children are drinking is rising, despite a slight drop in the numbers who are drinking. This is putting them at risk of liver disease and liver cancer while they are still in their twenties.  

The Department of Health said that tackling harmful and binge drinking is a priority for the government.  

The latest figures show that 49 people who were still in their 20s died from alcohol-related liver failure in 2006 which is the highest ever number on record.  

The figures, which were released by the Office of National Statistics, also showed that 40% more young people aged between 25 and 29 had died from liver disease in 2006 than in the previous year.  

Doctors and health campaigners are concerned that these figures could rise over the coming years as children drink more.  

Until recently, cirrhosis of the liver, which is a condition brought on by long-term alcohol abuse, mainly affected older men, but now doctors are seeing it in men and women in their 20s where it has been brought on by heavy drinking.

The Department of Health said it is developing a strategy to tackle harmful drinking as well as binge drinking.  

The new strategy will commit £10m for a new public information campaign, along with tougher enforcement for underage alcohol sales, and more help for people who want to drink less,” said a spokesman.

The millions of pounds spent on the government’s Train to Gain programme should be used to save apprenticeships during the recession, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said recently at the annual Association of Colleges conference in Birmingham.“Paying employers to train people who have jobs makes no sense when so many are being laid off.“Even in good economic times, Train to Gain was suspect because it funded training that many employers would have done anyway, but the economic climate means it’s not just inefficient to continue with Train to Gain, it’s downright perverse

“You cannot focus resources on employer-centred training when people are losing their jobs by the thousand. It’s the people who are out of work who need the most help.”

The Liberal Democrats would use most of the Train to Gain budget, which is being increased by another £130m to £925m next year, to meet the full training cost of apprenticeships.“It is now clear that many people are being thrown off their apprenticeships because of the downturn.  It amounts to a massive cull of these hardworking young people.” Clegg said“Colleges could not keep these trainees on because their ex-employers had been paying part of their fees”, he said.“If we let apprenticeships fall by the wayside ……. young people will be paying for the recession for the rest of their working lives.”The Liberal Democrats would also support the poorest children with extra funding – a “pupil premium” – throughout their education until they reached 18. Schools and colleges would have an incentive to take children “who may be harder to teach”.Much of the education maintenance allowance budget should be spent elsewhere, for instance, in ending the funding gap between colleges and school sixth forms, Clegg said.Mr Clegg also said that adult students should get their fees paid for level 3 qualifications (the equivalent of an A-level) and be entitled to maintenance grants, “It’s time for all adult learners, whether in higher or further education, to be treated the same way – fairly,” he said.