Hewitt 'misled Commons' over MTAS
From Mmc
Hewitt 'misled Commons' over MTAS
Last Modified: 19 May 2007 Source: PA News
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt faced more criticism over her handling of the chaos surrounding the online recruitment system for junior doctors.
Legal documents drawn up by the Department of Health suggest that fundamental flaws with the software have been preventing it from allocating jobs to the best candidates.
The papers - submitted to the judicial review of the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) currently taking place at the High Court - state that the DoH "could not be certain that the algorithm necessary to operate the 'single offer system' would be effective".
Opposition politicians accused Mrs Hewitt of failing to mention that there were issues over whether the software was functional when she answered an emergency question in Parliament on Wednesday. She told MPs the system was being dropped in response to concerns from junior doctors and a series of security breaches.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb called for Mrs Hewitt to explain herself to the Commons.
"I'm amazed that, on top of everything else that has happened, she failed to mention the highly-embarrassing fact that the system could not deliver what was needed," he told the Daily Telegraph.
But a DoH spokeswoman said: "It is incorrect to suggest that the Health Secretary has in any way misled parliament.
"Her Written Ministerial Statement indicated that as a result of the continuing concerns of junior doctors about the use of MTAS, it would not be used as part of the allocation process in Round One.
"The nature of those concerns about the role of MTAS in the allocation process was detailed in the Second Witness Statement of Nicholas Greenfield - given as evidence to the current judicial review.
"They included the stability and security of MTAS in light of the previous security breaches; and the reliability of the software which would be necessary to run a computerised offer system. Mr Greenfield's witness statement simply provides further detail that it was not appropriate to include in a brief Written Ministerial Statement to parliament."
