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Basic State Pension

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he intends to increase the 25 pence age addition on the basic state pension awarded to those aged 80 years; and if he will make a statement. [109599]

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Mr. Rooker: We have no plans to increase the 25 pence age addition on the basic state pension to those over aged 80 or over. Our priority has been to help the poorest pensioners and to help all pensioner households with the fuel bills that are most difficult to pay.

We have recently announced that in addition to raising the state pension we are increasing the Minimum Income Guarantee for pensioners in line with earnings. With Winter Fuel Payments, changes to VAT on fuel, the Minimum Income Guarantee and introducing free TV licences, the oldest, poorest pensioners will gain over £500 a year.

HEALTH

Pseudomonas

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many cases of pseudomonas have reported to his Department in each of the last five years in each health authority in England and Wales; [105882]

(2) how many hospitals have notified his Department of problems relating to pseudomonas in each of the last five years; [105883]

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(3) how many people have died as a result of pseudomonas contracted (a) in NHS hospitals and (b) elsewhere in each of the last five years; [105884]

(4) what guidance he gives hospitals on pseudomonas; and if he will make a statement; [105885]

(5) what guidance he has issued to health authorities and hospital trusts on combating pseudomonas on NHS premises. [105886]

Yvette Cooper: Pseudomonas species can cause infections of the urinary tract, chest and blood stream. The most relevant data available centrally about cases of pseudomonas are those for bactaermia (blood infections) caused by pseudomonas species as reported by National Health Service laboratories to the Public Health Laboratory Service. Information for the years 1995-99 by NHS regions is given in the following table. Information on NHS hopital inpatient activity is available from

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Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). This data includes admissions to hospital with pseudomonas but not those cases contracted within hospitals.

Pseudomonas do not have a distinct code within the International Classification of Diseases used for encoding death registration data at the Office for National Statistics. There are therefore no centrally-held statistics on deaths from this cause.

All NHS trusts should have an infection control team which has primary responsibility for, and reports to the chief executive on, all aspects of surveillance, prevention and control of infection, including pseudomonas. A range of initiatives are underway to strengthen hospital infection control arrangements, including issue of comprehensive new standards to the NHS on 22 November 1999 as part of the National Controls Assurance launch. Acute NHS trusts must assess themselves against these standards by March 2000. Compliance will be monitored by the Commission for Health Improvement and the Audit Commission.

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Laboratory reports of bacteraemias caused by Psuedomonas--1995 to 1999

Health region	Organism	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	Grand total
Eastern	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	74	96	92	97	97	456
	Pseudomonas SP	15	15	37	31	51	149
Total		89	111	129	128	148	605
London	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	197	216	204	189	201	1,007
	Pseudomonas SP	24	32	26	48	48	178
Total		221	248	230	237	249	1,185
North West	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	151	139	173	174	162	799
	Pseudomonas SP	13	25	41	57	45	181
Total		164	164	214	231	207	980
Northern and Yorkshire	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	159	165	112	165	192	793
	Pseudomonas SP	38	38	29	27	41	173
Total		197	203	141	192	233	966
South East	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	234	232	217	214	198	1,095
	Pseudomonas SP	23	24	22	28	24	121
Total		257	256	239	242	222	1,216
South West	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	116	133	173	130	128	680
	Pseudomonas SP	13	12	16	20	21	82
Total		129	145	189	150	149	762
Trent	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	90	119	164	137	202	712
	Pseudomonas SP	25	30	24	22	38	139
Total		115	149	188	159	240	851
Wales	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	42	93	88	95	96	414
	Pseudomonas SP	7	22	23	20	33	105
Total		49	115	111	115	129	519
West Midlands	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	105	108	161	175	167	716
	Pseudomonas SP	17	31	50	95	62	255
Total		122	139	211	270	229	971
Grand total		1,343	1,530	1,652	1,724	1,806	8,055

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Meningitis

Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the second stage of the meningitis C vaccination programme for one to five-year-olds will commence. [105892]

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Yvette Cooper: Roll-out of the meningococcal Group immunisation programme is dependent on satisfactory vaccine supply. Those children at highest risk of meningococcal disease are being offered immunisation first. The "catch-up" programme to immunise all children under the age of two years began this month and is planned to be completed by the end of March.

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Immunisation of other children under five years will commence as quickly as vaccine supplies become available. Parents will be told when their children are to be called for immunisation. All children and young people under 18 should have been offered vaccine by the end of 2000.

Kosovo

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice the UK National Radiological Protection Board has given to travellers to Kosovo. [106928]

Yvette Cooper: The National Radiological Protection Board has given the following advice to travellers to Kosovo in an information sheet issued in July 1999 on Depleted Uranium:

"People visiting or working in Kosovo, for example press and relief agencies, should seek advice from appropriate authorities on the disposition of damaged vehicles or areas of DU contamination and avoid disturbing these areas. If access to potentially contaminated areas is deemed essential, then advice should be sought from the Ministry of Defence or the Foreign Office on any protective measures required."

This information may be found on the NRPB's website.

Breast Cancer Screening

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of women in the age brackets (a) 18 to 30, (b) 30 to 40, (c) 40 to 50, (d) 50 to 65 and (e) 65 years and over were routinely offered screening for breast cancer on a call and recall basis in each of the last five years; [106997]

(2) what is the survival rate for women whose breast cancer is discovered (a) through breast screening on a call and recall basis and (b) by other means; [106998]

(3) how many women aged (a) 18 to 30, (b) 30 to 40, (c) 40 to 50, (d) 50 to 65 and (e) 65 years and over (i) died from breast cancer in each of the last five years and (ii) were screened for breast cancer on a call and recall basis in each of the last five years. [106996]

Yvette Cooper: The number of women who died from breast cancer in the last five years is shown in the table:

Deaths from cancer of the female breast (4), years of occurrence, England and Wales

	Age group
	20-29(5)	30-39	40-49	50-64	65+	Total
1993	33	321	1,229	3,273	8,172	13,028
1994	29	372	1,227	3,204	7,998	12,830
1995	30	332	1,199	3,153	7,829	12,543
1996	24	340	1,153	2,946	7,716	12,179
1997	25	359	1,032	2,985	7,579	11,980
1998	26	320	1,020	3,021	7,372	11,759

(4) International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, code 174.

(5) There were no deaths from female breast cancer at ages 18 and 19 in the years in question.

Information about women screened is available for the target age group for the National Heath Service breast screening programme, which is 50 to 64. Some women over the age of 65 continue to be called for screening under the programme, for example to follow up questions raised by a previous mammogram. Information about those women screened on a call and recall basis in each of the last five years is shown in the table.

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Thousand

	Number of women screened
	Age 50-64	65 and over
1993-94	929.7	(6)--
1994-95	952.8	12.9
1995-96	949.7	14.4
1996-97	982.0	16.8
1997-98	1,030.7	23.2

(6) Not available

Source:

KC62, Statistics Division SD2B

Similarly, information about women invited for screening is available for the target age group and those recalled after the age of 65. Information about those women invited for screening on a call and recall basis in each of the last five years is shown in the table. The screening programme operates on a three-year cycle, and these figures represent one third of the eligible population in each year.

Thousand

	Number of women invited for screening on a call and recall basis
	Age 50-64	65 and over
1993-94	(7)--	(7)--
1994-95	1,231.7	17.7
1995-96	1,245.8	20.1
1996-97	1,300.6	23.4
1997-98	1,366.9	31.9

(7) Not available

Source:

KC62, Statistics Division SD2B

An audit of screen detected breast cancers for the year of screening April 1997 to March 1998, published jointly by the NHS breast screening programme and the British Association of Surgical Oncology in April 1999, reported that the five-year breast cancer survival rate for women screened in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1992-93 was 92.5 per cent. Comparable data are not available for women whose cancers are detected in other ways.

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