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Death Rates (Suicides and Accidents)

Mr. Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the death rate from (a) suicide and (b) serious injury from accidents by 2010. [106160]

Mr. Hutton: The development of strategies to reduce suicide and serious injury from accidents are a major part of the Government's programme outlined in the White Paper "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation". The National Service Framework for Mental Health sets a specific

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standard for health and social services to prevent suicides. The forthcoming National Service Framework for Older People will include a section on the prevention of falls.

A high level national Task Force on accidents, accountable to the Chief Medical Officer, will be appointed shortly to ensure that the essential groundwork is in place to targets on accident prevention set out in the White Paper. In addition, we are in the process of bringing together the necessary expertise to work across Government to drive forward a whole range of initiatives to make progress towards achieving the targets to reduce suicide. We also provide funding for voluntary groups to support specific initiatives in both areas.

Folic Acid

Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he proposes to consult on the practical and legislative implications of the report of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition into the universal fortification of flour with folic acid. [106206]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 24 January 2000]: The report, "Folic Acid and the Prevention of Disease", from the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy considered the public health implications of fortification. A public consultation will be undertaken shortly inviting comments on the report's conclusions. Ministers will take into account the views expressed before deciding on policy.

Psychiatric Beds

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many 24 hour-staffed beds for people with severe and enduring mental illness there are in each health authority in England; and how many there were in each of the last three years. [106751]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested has been collected centrally only since 1998-99. The following are the numbers of 24 hour staffed beds for people with a mental illness in each health authority in England for 1998-99 and the first two quarters in 1999-2000. In those authorities where centrally collected data show no beds, developments are taking place locally to provide care in appropriate settings.

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Number of 24 hour staffed beds by Health Authority 1998-99 to 1999-2000

Health authority	Region	1998-99 outturn	1999-2000 quarter 2
Bradford	Northern and Yorkshire	10	10
Calderdale and Kirklees	Northern and Yorkshire	278	278
Durham	Northern and Yorkshire	0	29
East Riding	Northern and Yorkshire	183	213
Gateshead and South Tyneside	Northern and Yorkshire	8	8
Leeds	Northern and Yorkshire	0	0
Newcastle and North Tyneside	Northern and Yorkshire	153	165
North Cumbria	Northern and Yorkshire	0	0
North Yorkshire	Northern and Yorkshire	98	98
Northumberland	Northern and Yorkshire	34	34
Sunderland	Northern and Yorkshire	44	44
Tees	Northern and Yorkshire	17	17
Wakefield	Northern and Yorkshire	113	113
Barnsley	Trent	0	0
Doncaster	Trent	15	15
Leicestershire	Trent	95	95
Lincolnshire	Trent	0	0
North Derbyshire	Trent	0	0
North Nottinghamshire	Trent	0	0
Nottingham	Trent	64	70
Rotherham	Trent	0	0
Sheffield	Trent	37	37
South Derbyshire	Trent	31	31
South Humber	Trent	0	0
Bedfordshire	Eastern	46	46
Cambridgeshire	Eastern	12	12
East and North Hertfordshire	Eastern	12	12
Norfolk	Eastern	0	77
North Essex	Eastern	20	30
South Essex	Eastern	187	187
Suffolk	Eastern	6	6
West Hertfordshire	Eastern	30	36
Barking and Havering	London	0	0
Barnet	London	15	15
Bexley and Greenwich	London	8	8
Brent and Harrow	London	32	32
Bromley	London	10	10
Camden and Islington	London	60	60
Croydon	London	0	0
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	London	39	43
East London and City	London	106	106
Enfield and Haringey	London	56	56
Hillingdon	London	0	28
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster	London	13	13
Kingston and Richmond	London	62	62
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham	London	138	142
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	London	185	185
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	London	50	50
Berkshire	South East	0	0
Buckinghamshire	South East	29	29
East Kent	South East	45	45
East Surrey	South East	21	21
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove	South East	175	175
Isle of Wight	South East	0	8
North and Mid Hampshire	South East	167	167
Northamptonshire	South East	10	10
Oxfordshire	South East	0	20
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire	South East	47	54
Southampton and South West Hampshire	South East	83	83
West Kent	South East	0	0
West Surrey	South East	0	51
West Sussex	South East	18	18
Avon	South West	0	0
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	South West	20	20
Dorset	South West	55	55
Gloucestershire	South West	0	0
North and East Devon	South West	44	44
Somerset	South West	108	108
South and West Devon	South West	67	59
Wiltshire	South West	150	150
Birmingham	West Midlands	53	63
Coventry	West Midlands	27	27
Dudley	West Midlands	155	155
Herefordshire	West Midlands	14	15
North Staffordshire	West Midlands	0	0
Sandwell	West Midlands	0	10
Shropshire	West Midlands	0	0
Solihull	West Midlands	9	9
South Staffordshire	West Midlands	4	4
Walsall	West Midlands	10	10
Warwickshire	West Midlands	0	0
Wolverhampton	West Midlands	6	8
Worcestershire	West Midlands	0	0
Bury and Rochdale	North West	11	11
East Lancashire	North West	11	11
Liverpool	North West	0	10
Manchester	North West	87	94
Morecambe Bay	North West	53	53
North Cheshire	North West	24	24
North West Lancashire	North West	26	36
Salford and Trafford	North West	54	54
Sefton	North West	0	0
South Cheshire	North West	40	40
South Lancashire	North West	33	33
St. Helens and Knowsley	North West	22	22
Stockport	North West	16	16
West Pennine	North West	0	0
Wigan and Bolton	North West	37	37
Wirral	North West	0	5
England		3,998	4,331

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Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute psychiatric beds there are (1) in each health authority in England; [106747]

(2) in each London health authority. [106752]

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Mr. Hutton: The table shows the average daily number of available acute psychiatric beds by health authority in England, derived from information obtained at trust level.

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Average daily number of available acute psychiatric beds by Health Authority 1997-98

Health authority	Region	Average daily number of available psychiatric beds
Bradford	Northern and Yorkshire	308
Calderdale and Kirklees	Northern and Yorkshire	403
County Durham	Northern and Yorkshire	503
East Riding	Northern and Yorkshire	279
Gateshead and South Tyneside	Northern and Yorkshire	374
Leeds	Northern and Yorkshire	708
Newcastle and North Tyneside	Northern and Yorkshire	506
North Cumbria	Northern and Yorkshire	325
North Yorkshire	Northern and Yorkshire	530
Northumberland	Northern and Yorkshire	230
Sunderland	Northern and Yorkshire	323
Tees	Northern and Yorkshire	393
Wakefield	Northern and Yorkshire	341
Barnsley	Trent	186
Doncaster	Trent	210
Leicestershire	Trent	563
Lincolnshire	Trent	529
North Derbyshire	Trent	244
North Nottinghamshire	Trent	235
Nottingham	Trent	498
Rotherham	Trent	261
Sheffield	Trent	403
South Derbyshire	Trent	514
South Humber	Trent	138
Birmingham	West Midlands	856
Coventry	West Midlands	129
Dudley	West Midlands	166
Herefordshire	West Midlands	80
North Staffordshire	West Midlands	510
Sandwell	West Midlands	132
Shropshire	West Midlands	270
Solihull	West Midlands	160
South Staffordshire	West Midlands	258
Walsall	West Midlands	124
Warwickshire	West Midlands	276
Wolverhampton	West Midlands	124
Worcester	West Midlands	157
Bury and Rochdale	North West	189
East Lancashire	North West	329
Liverpool	North West	302
Manchester	North West	412
Morecambe Bay	North West	368
North Cheshire	North West	232
North West Lancashire	North West	558
Salford and Trafford	North West	584
Sefton	North West	253
South Cheshire	North West	222
South Lancashire	North West	132'
St. Helens and Knowsley	North West	194
Stockport	North West	206
West Pennine	North West	334
Wigan and Bolton	North West	402
Wirral	North West	313
Bedfordshire	Eastern	439
Cambridge and Huntingdon	Eastern	355
East Norfolk	Eastern	698
North and East Hertfordshire	Eastern	170
North Essex	Eastern	483
North West Anglia	Eastern	258
South Essex	Eastern	488
Suffolk	Eastern	351
West Hertfordshire	Eastern	218
Barking and Havering	London	519
Barnet	London	486
Bexley and Greenwich	London	664
Brent and Harrow	London	394
Bromley	London	673
Camden and Islington	London	497
Croydon(41)	London	--
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	London	659
East London and The City	London	501
Enfield and Haringey	London	486
Hillingdon	London	117
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster	London	646
Kingston and Richmond	London	196
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham	London	309
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	London	529
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	London	625
Berkshire	South East	446
Buckinghamshire	South East	330
East Kent	South East	265
East Surrey	South East	320
East Sussex	South East	490
Isle of Wight	South East	85
North and Mid Hampshire	South East	210
Northamptonshire	South East	374
Oxfordshire	South East	328
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire	South East	437
Southampton and South West Hampshire	South East	289
West Kent	South East	561
West Surrey	South East	465
West Sussex	South East	561
Avon	South West	628
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	South West	210
Dorset	South West	525
Gloucester	South West	255
North and East Devon	South West	413
Somerset	South West	412
South and West Devon	South West	393
Wiltshire	South West	570
England		36,601

(41) Croydon Health Authority shows no available beds for 1997-98. This is because the hospital sites in the health authority area have their Trust headquarters in a neighbouring health authority.

Source:

Annual Korner return KH03--'Bed Availability and Occupancy'

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