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Nurses

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses (a) entered the profession as students, (b) completed their training and (c) have left the profession or ceased to practice in each year since 1990. [1111]

Mr. Horam: The information is not centrally available.

Organophosphate Dips

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what liaison there is between his Department, the Department of Defence and the Ministry of Agriculture on the subject of organophosphate dips and their use; and if he will make a statement. [1860]

Mr. Horam: The Government are advised on the safety, quality and efficacy of veterinary medicines by the independent Veterinary Products Committee and the licensing authority, which includes Department of Health Ministers. The continued use of organophosphate sheep dips is kept under review by the VPC and officials of the Department of Health are in regular contact with officials of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate on this matter. My officials are also in regular contact with officials of the Ministry of Defence which has an interest.

In addition, the Baroness Cumberlege, Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health, has had a series of meetings with my hon. Friend, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Rural GPs (Recruitment)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what initiatives are currently being undertaken to assist the recruitment of general practitioners to rural medical practices; and if he will make a statement. [1741]

Mr. Malone: We are not aware of any particular recruitment difficulties in rural areas. However, there are

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a number of fees and allowances available to general practitioners in rural areas.

NHS Trusts (VAT)

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of restrictions placed by Customs and Excise on (a) the ability of NHS bodies to recover VAT retrospectively on contracted-out services on the budgets of NHS trusts and (b) the use of external services within the NHS; and what assessment he has made of the losses that will be incurred in respect of these restrictions by NHS trusts in England and Wales. [2325]

Mr. Horam: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise have extended the deadline for national health service bodies to submit retrospective claims for value added tax refunds on contracted out services. There should be no effect on the use of external services. It is not feasible to assess whether any VAT will remain unrecovered.

Body Mass Index Data

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the longitudinal body mass index data for (a) adolescents and (b) adults by sex in each BMI category for age groups (i) 15, (ii) 18, (iii) 35, (iv) 40 to 59, (v) 45 to 69, (vi) 55 and (vii) 55 to 75 years in each of the last five years. [2189]

Mr. Horam: Data are not available in the form requested. Available data are given in the attached tables.

Annual cross-sectional body mass index data from the health survey for England are shown in table 1. BMI data from the dietary and nutritional survey of British adults are shown in table 2. The most recent body mass index data available on younger school children, collected in 1983, combines both 14 and 15-year-olds. This is also shown in table 2.

Table 1: BMI by age data from the Health Survey for England, 1991-94

Age group	Sex		Year
		1991	1991 and 1992	1993	1994
16-24	Male	22.8	23.2	23.4	23.5
	Female	23.1	23.0	23.5	23.5
25-34	Male	24.9	25.0	25.4	25.3
	Female	24.2	24.4	24.6	24.8
35-44	Male	26.3	26.2	26.4	26.4
	Female	25.1	25.0	25.6	25.7
45-54	Male	26.7	26.7	26.8	26.8
	Female	26.9	26.7	26.6	26.3
55-64	Male	26.9	27.0	27.0	27.0
	Female	27.3	27.2	27.2	27.5
65-74	Male	26.4	26.8	26.7	27.0
	Female	26.3	26.5	27.0	27.3
75+	Male	25.7	25.7	25.7	26.5
	Female	25.9	25.8	26.1	25.7

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Table 2: Body mass index, by age

Age (years)	Sex	Mean BMI	Study	Year of fieldwork
14-15	Male	19.9	The Diets of British School	1983
	Female	20.7	children Department of Health (1989)
16-24	Male	22.9
	Female	22.9
25-34	Male	24.6	The Dietary and Nutritional
	Female	23.9	Survey of British Adults Gregory	1986
35-49	Male	25.9	et al (1990)
	Female	24.8
50-64	Male	25.9
	Female	26.2

Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to respond to the private finance initiative proposals relating to the Walsgrave Hospitals NHS trust. [2276]

Mr. Horam: Walsgrave Hospitals national health service trust is currently negotiating the proposed private finance initiative scheme with its preferred bidder. A full business case is being prepared by the trust and a decision will be taken on the scheme when this is submitted.

NHS Pensions (Practice Nurses)

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce legislation to include practice nurses in the NHS pension scheme; and if he will make a statement. [2042]

Mr. Malone: Opening up the national health service pension scheme to general practitioner practice staff is under consideration.

Maintenance Work

Mr. Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current backlog of maintenance work in the NHS. [2794]

Mr. Horam: The current backlog maintenance estimate for the national health service for 1995-96 is £2.41 billion, which compares with £2.32 billion for 1994-95. This figure includes estimated costs for maintenance on all properties in the NHS due to be replaced, not used for patient care, awaiting planned preventative maintenance and awaiting disposal. They also include an element for meeting statutory and safety standards.

Spongiform Encephalopathies

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish his plans for research concerning BSE. [188]

Mr. Horam: A strategy for the centrally directed programme of research into the human health aspects of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which the Secretary of State announced on 25 March, will be published shortly.

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what potential methods of treatment are being (a) planned and (b) evaluated in respect of human equivalents to BSE. [189]

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Mr. Horam: We need to improve our understanding of the nature of the agent which causes spongiform encephalopathies before we are able to investigate possible methods of treatment. This will be a high priority in our centrally directed programme of research.

Medical Research Council

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations he has had with the MRC in the last 12 months over its future priorities for medical research; and if he will make a statement. [1399]

Mr. Malone: The Department's Chief Medical Officer and Director of Research and Development are members of the Medical Research Council. In addition, officials from the Department have served on a number of MRC committees and met with MRC officials on a number of occasions in the past 12 months as part of the terms of the concordat which exists between the Health Departments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the MRC. A wide range of future priorities for medical and health services research have been covered in these discussions.

Neurodegenerative Diseases

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consult the Alzheimer's Disease Society over his Department's future plans for promoting of research into Alzheimer's disease; and if he will make a statement. [1397]

Mr. Burns: The policy research programme supports policy and operational strategy in the Department. We aim to take into account the views of a wide range of interested groups, such as the Alzheimer's Disease Society, in determining future research specifically into Alzheimer's disease under the programme.

Mr. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish details of research and development projects in the NHS focusing on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. [1400]

Mr. Burns: The Department runs two separate research programmes: the policy research programme and the national health service research and development programme. The latest available information on research being carried out under the policy research programme is contained in "The Centrally Commissioned Research Programme: Commissions in 1994-95", copies of which are placed in the Library.

The NHS research and development programme consists of a number of national programmes and regional research activity. The mental health programme includes a project examining the development of screening tests for dementia and depression in ethnic elders; it also includes a project which is examining dementia information in order to develop a model to establish the number of people in a given population needing specific dementia services. Information is not available centrally on all the research projects being undertaken as part of the regional programme. The projects on which information is available centrally include a study of the patterns and consequences of semantic memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease; a community based control study of dementias; a study of neuronal structure in ageing and

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Alzheimer's based dementia; and cognitive decline, dementia and ageing in people with Down's syndrome: study of the risk factors and care needs.

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