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Osteoporosis
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to take new measures to (a) increase public awareness of osteoporosis and (b) combat the disease. [21519]
Mr. Horam: We are continuing to implement the report of the advisory group on osteoporosis, which was published in January 1995. Work in clinical guidelines is
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under way, led by the Royal College of Physicians. The Department of Health has increased its financial support for the National Osteoporosis Society, which undertakes a wide range of public and professional education activities and launched a £9 million national exercise campaign on 19 March.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to increase the resources available in the north-west for the early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. [21477]
Mr. Horam: Nationally, health authority general revenue allocations for the financial year 1996-97 will increase by 1.1 per cent. in real terms--£221 million--over 1995-96 allocations. Within these allocations, the provision of local services is a matter for local managers.
Clinical Waste
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the illegal dumping of clinical waste in Hertfordshire in 1995. [21291]
Mr. Horam: I understand that a quantity of clinical waste was found dumped on two sites in Hertfordshire and was cleared and made safe by the local waste disposal regulatory authority. Investigations are being undertaken and co-ordinated by the Hertfordshire county council waste regulation unit in collaboration with other waste regulators and with regional offices of the NHS Executive. Legal action against the contractor concerned is being considered by the waste regulation unit.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary for Health (1) how many of the NHS trusts which contracted for the disposal of the clinical waste found at Hertford checked the incineration procedures to be used by the contractors;[21301]
- (2) if he will name the NHS health trusts which contracted with Green Environmental Services to handle infected clinical waste subsequently found dumped at various sites in Hertfordshire. [21292]
Mr. Horam: This information is not available centrally. Investigations by the Hertfordshire county council waste regulation unit continue.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action he has taken to warn the public of the dangers arising from the dumping of infected hospital clinical waste; [21293]
- (2) what representations he has made to the chief constables of Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire about the need to alert their officers to the risk of infected clinical waste in unattended lorry trailers.[21294]
Mr. Horam: These are matters for waste regulation and environmental health authorities. The Hertfordshire county council waste regulation unit continues to co-ordinate the investigation of possible breaches of waste regulations in collaboration with other authorities in Hertfordshire and elsewhere.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the responsibilities of the NHS for the safe disposal of infected clinical waste. [21271]
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Mr. Horam: As a waste producer, the national health service is bound by the "duty of care" requirements of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to ensure that clinical waste is properly disposed of, even when this work is contracted out. In particular, each waste producer must ensure that waste is transferred only to an authorised transporter. It must describe the waste accurately, ensure its safe disposal and keep records of waste consignments. It must also ensure that proper documentation is passed to the transporter.
NHS Magazine
Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the costs to his Department of (a) publishing, (b) printing and (c) distributing each issue of the NHS magazine. [21384]
Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to hon. Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett) on 15 January at columns 344-55 for information about production costs/gross revenues for issues Nos. 1 to 3 of the magazine.
Issue No. 4 was published on 13 March. Details of production costs are as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Production (editorial/photography/design/reproduction/print) | 49,486 |
| Advertising revenue | 25,417 |
| Distribution | 12,700 |
NHS Trusts (External Financing Limits)
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the external financing limits for each NHS trust in the current year; and on how much of this they have drawn. [21177]
Mr. Horam: Trusts do not draw on external financing limits. They meet them through a combination of borrowing and repaying debt, and drawing down or building up cash balances. Their responsibility is to ensure that, at the year end, their total expenditure is within their authorised external financing limit and they report their performance against this objective in their annual accounts which are audited and published.
The current external financing limit for each national health service trust will be placed in the Library.
Social Work Records
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken to implement the proposals on access to social work records set out in his Department's consultation paper of February 1992, following the European Court of Human Rights decision in the case of Graham Gaskin. [21674]
Mr. Bowis: The open government White Paper, Cm 2290, proposed a statutory access right to personal records, which will be introduced as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows. The Government are reviewing the scope for including in this measure provisions to implement the European Court of Human Rights decision in the case of Graham Gaskin.
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Surplus and Underused Properties
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the number and value of surplus and underused NHS properties. [21645]
Mr. Horam: Most operational national health service property is owned by NHS trusts. No information is available centrally about the number of value of properties identified as surplus by NHS trusts.
The non-NHS trust estate includes 876 properties identified as surplus, or potentially surplus, which will be sold over the next 10 years. They have an estimated open market value of £1.2 billion.
No information is available centrally on the number or value of underused NHS properties.
Mr. Nigel Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people suffered from asthma in east Lancashire for (a) 1989 and (b) 1994; and what were the national figures for these two dates. [21644]
Mr. Horam:
Information on the number of people in East Lancashire suffering from asthma is not available centrally. My hon. Friend may wish to contact the relevant family health services authorities, which hold some information on the number of people resident in east Lancashire who suffer from asthma.
There are no comprehensive national data on the number of people with a diagnosis of asthma. However, it has been estimated that the prevalence of asthma sufficiently severe to require regular medical supervision is from 4 to 6 per cent. in children and about 4 per cent. in adults. More information is given in "Asthma: An Epidemiological Overview", produced by the central health monitoring unit of the Department of Health and published on 22 March 1995, copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many persons in his Department worked in excess of 48 hours per week in any of the last 52 weeks; and what percentage of the staff employed this represents.[21508]
Dr. Horam:
Records of the number of hours worked by each employee are not kept centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data his Department collate on the size of (a) nursing and (b) residential homes. [21646]
Mr. Bowis:
The Department collects information on the number of registered beds in nursing homes registered under section 23 of the Registered Homes Act 1984, the number of registered places and residents in residential homes registered under the Registered Homes Act 1984 and the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 respectively and the number of places in staffed and unstaffed local authority residential homes.
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