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HEALTH
Health Council
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the outcome of the Health Council held in Luxembourg on 8 June; and if he will make a statement. [86639]
Ms Jowell: I attended the Health Council on 8 June in Luxembourg, on behalf of the United Kingdom.
The Council reached political agreement on the draft Recommendation on limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields. This will be adopted at a future Council, subject to the lifting of the UK's Parliamentary scrutiny reserve. The Council also adopted Resolutions on antibiotic resistance and on future Community action in the field of public health and held an initial exchange of views on priorities and resources for the latter. It also adopted Conclusions on health protection requirements in Community policies. The Commission reported on the progress of the European Union--United States Task Force on Communicable Diseases and on the Community's own communicable diseases surveillance network. The Commission also presented a paper on health and enlargement, following which the Council
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went into an informal session to which Health Ministers from the accession candidate countries had been invited. They identified common health problems, particularly increased levels of communicable diseases, smoking, and drug and alcohol misuse.
In formal session again, the Commission said that publication of its report on the state of migrants' health in the Community would be delayed to include the health needs of refugees, in the light of the Kosovo crisis. Both the Commission and Belgium gave an oral update on the current situation following the contamination of food with dioxins in Belgium. After an oral report from the Commission on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in the Community, the UK updated the Council on the number of cases of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in the UK. The Council also stated its support for the World Health Organisation's "Tobacco Free Initiative".
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place for the recruitment of consultant gynaecologists in North Yorkshire NHS trusts; and if he will make a statement. [86476]
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Mr. Denham:
The standard National Health Service recruitment procedures are in place.
Mr. Gardiner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the present recruitment and retention position at the Central Public Health Laboratory; and if he will investigate the feasibility of bringing medical laboratory staff within the pay and conditions arrangements of the Pay Review Body structure. [86920]
Mr. Denham:
Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer staff at the Central Public Health Laboratory are employed by the Public Health Laboratory Service Board. Their recruitment and retention is a matter for that body.
These staff are employed under the Professional and Technical Staffs B Whitley Council terms and conditions, which apply to all similar staff within the National Health Service. The management side of the Whitley Council has made a pay offer for 1999-2000 based on issues specific to these staff, including recruitment and retention, affordability, NHS output targets and the economic context.
We are also discussing with all NHS unions proposals to modernise the NHS pay system published on 15 February 1999 in "Agenda for Change".
Mr. Bob Russell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons he has refused the application for financial assistance from St. Dunstan's Charity for Service War Blinded under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. [86923]
Mr. Hutton:
No application for Section 64 funding has been received from St. Dunstan's in relation to its own work of providing training and long-term care for men and women who lost their sight while serving in the armed forces. However the Diana Gubbay Trust for the Blind, which is administered by St. Dunstan's to provide care to former members of the armed forces and the civilian forces whose blindness is not attributable to service, has applied for core funding in each of the last two years.
The funds available under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 are finite and many more applications are received from voluntary organisations than it is possible to meet. We considered both applications from the Diana Gubbay Trust very carefully, but concluded that other applications were stronger.
Mr. Ian Stewart:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the batch of DTP vaccine withdrawn by the Bath and West Community NHS Trust was (a) whole cell or (b) acellular vaccine; which pharmaceutical company supplied the vaccine; and when the vaccine batch was manufactured. [86862]
Ms Jowell:
This batch was a combined diphtheria/tetanus/whole cell pertussis vaccine manufactured by Behring and distributed in the United Kingdom by Wyeth Vaccines. It was manufactured on 18 June 1998.
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Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the practice among pharmacists of dispensing calendar packs instead of the doses prescribed by doctors. [87014]
Mr. Denham:
Calendar packs are typically produced for medicines taken over long periods or for defined course lengths. Because the days of the week are printed alongside the tablets, splitting the packs could result in patients receiving partial strips of tablets labelled with confusing and inappropriate assortments of days of the week. It is long-standing practice, as permitted by their terms of service, for community pharmacists to dispense the nearest number of complete packs or sub-packs in situations where the quantity prescribed differs from the quantity in the pack and where, in their opinion, it was not the intention of the prescriber that only the exact quantity be dispensed. We have had no reports that this has caused any clinical difficulties.
Fiona Mactaggart:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the key targets for 1999-2000 for the NHS Pensions Agency. [87398]
Mr. Denham:
We have agreed the Agency's key targets for 1999-2000, and have placed copies in the Library.
Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions have been tabled to his Department for written answer on a named day since 15 April; and what percentage of them received a substantive response on that day. [87330]
Ms Jowell:
Since 15 April 1999, 172 parliamentary questions have been tabled to this Department for answer on a named day. Of these 151, or 88 per cent., have been answered substantively on that day.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses there were in the Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust Area on 31 March (i) 1997 and (ii) 1999; and what was the capital spending in the Trust area in (1) 1996-97 and (2) 1998-99. [87045]
Mr. Denham:
The information requested is shown in the table.
| Year | Doctors | Nurses | Capital spend (£ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | (2)240 | (2)1,310 | 12.0 |
| 1999 | (3)-- | (3)-- | 7.3 |
(2) Data are for 30 September 1997 as the census is taken each year at 30 September. Data for following years are unavailable because they have not yet been published, or, in the case of 1999, not yet collected.
(3) No data available.
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Asylum Seekers
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the cost to his Department for each year since 1996 of support for asylum seekers who are not eligible for social security benefits. [86891]
Mr. Hutton: The Department has paid grants to local authorities in respect of support for asylum seekers under the Children Act 1989 and National Assistance Act 1948 in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99. Details of the total amounts paid are shown in the table.
| £ million | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant paid | |||
| 1996-98 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | |
| Unaccompanied children | 3 | 1.587 | 20.157 |
| Families with children | 4.137 | 28.440 | 80.074 |
| Single adults | 5.627 | 39.577 | 89.813 |
PRIME MINISTER
Kosovo
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister what measures he is planning as part of a general settlement on Kosovo, to encourage displaced persons to return to their homes. [86367]
The Prime Minister: NATO's KFOR is helping to create a secure environment in which refugees and displaced persons can return home. The United Kingdom is working closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to facilitate such returns, including by helping to carry food and other essential supplies into Kosovo.
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