Thank you for your letter dated 7th September 2004 which arrived after the copy of the report into how the NHS handled allegations about Clifford Ayling.

As I expected, I will wish to make representations to the Secretary of State for Health about the contents of this report.

What I had not expected is the extent to which there will be a need for comment. It is quite shocking to see that a document published as a White Paper should contain, amongst other things, factual errors that are contradicted by contemporaneous hard evidence which was in the Inquiry committee's possession before the deadline for evidence.

Could you please tell me whether comments should be addressed to yourself or to another unit. In view of the length of the report, I am assuming that there will not be any 'unreasonable' deadlines. It will probably take five to six months to read the report and prepare the comments in a reasonable form.