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HOUSE OF COMMONS
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the President of the Council how many parliamentary questions have been tabled by right hon. and hon. Members, pursuing delays on the part of Government departments in replying to correspondence since May 1997; and if she will indicate how many were tabled by (a) Conservative, (b) Labour and (c) other hon. Members. [110079]
Mrs. Beckett: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Responsibility for replying to parliamentary questions and correspondence from hon. Members lies with the relevant Minister.
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Departmental Press Releases
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many press releases were issued by his Department in each year since 1995. [105915]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is in the table, which represents all press releases issued by the Department's press office for the period 1995 to 1999. The Department's press office issues press releases on behalf of the Medical Devices Agency, Medicines Control Agency, National Health Service Pensions Agency, National Health Service Estates and some non-departmental public bodies.
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 588 |
| 1996 | 366 |
| 1997 | 406 |
| 1998 | 556 |
| 1999 | 742 |
BCG Vaccination
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 January 2000, Official Report, column 143W, how much of the new money for support of health authorities dealing with meningococcal Group C was a transfer of money from under-used resources in the BCG vaccination programme. [105902]
Yvette Cooper: The £9 million being made available to health authorities to support the meningococcal Group C immunisation programme referred to in my Answer of 11 January is new money and has not come from the BCG programme. Funding for the meningococcal Group C immunisation programme has come from a separate source to that used to fund the BCG immunisation programme.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 January 2000, Official Report, column 143W, how the resources allocated to the BCG vaccination programme are being used. [105903]
Yvette Cooper: Funding for the central purchase of BCG vaccine remains available for when vaccine supplies are reinstated. The redeployment of the health workers, especially school nurses, involved in delivering BCG vaccine, is a matter for individual health authorities and trusts but we are aware that some of these staff are currently involved in the meningococcal Group C immunisation programme in schools.
Death Rates
Mr. Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the death rate from (a) cancer and (b) coronary heart disease among people aged under 75 years by 2010. [106159]
Yvette Cooper:
The "Saving Lives-Our Healthier Nation" White Paper was published in July last year and set targets to reduce death rates from cancer by at least a fifth and from coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke and related diseases by at least two fifths in those under
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75 by 2010. This requires policies on primary prevention, early detection and treatment and the White Paper recommends a partnership between Government, local players and individuals. Since then the National Priorities Guidance to the National Health Service has identified cancer and heart disease as key priorities, a National Cancer Director has been appointed and the National Service Framework on CHD will be published shortly.
Ms Oona King:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public money was allocated to research to find a cure for sickle cell and thalassaemia in each of the last 10 years. [106195]
Yvette Cooper:
Government expenditure on directly commissioned research projects on sickle cell disease and thalassaemia since 1994-95 is as follows:
Most of this support has been provided through the Medical Research Council (MRC), which is the main agency through which the Government support research into the causes and treatment of disease. The MRC receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Project funding from the Department and the Department for International Development is also included in the figures.
In addition to directly commissioned projects, the Department of Health supports research in the NHS funded by research councils and charities. It is not possible to estimate exactly how much is spent on sickle cell research, but three London Hospitals alone estimate that they are spending £450,000 per annum of Department funding on research related to sickle cell and thalassaemia. A detailed breakdown for the last 10 years is not available as research spending is devolved for much of the period. Details of projects can be found on the National Research Register which is available in most medical libraries on CD Rom and on the internet: http:/www.doh.gov.uk/nrr.htm. The NRR contains a number of projects relating to sickle cell and thalassaemia.
We also make considerable investment in genetics and gene therapy research which will inform sickle cell and thalassaemia.
The MRC has been actively seeking opportunities to strengthen sickle cell research in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to instruct NHS trusts to notify the Public Health Laboratory of cases of MRSA. [106755]
Yvette Cooper:
The Report on Resistance to Antibiotics by the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology drew attention, among other things, to
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proposals that National Health Service laboratories should be asked to report causative organisms such as MRSA to the Public Health Laboratory Service. In response, the Government accepted the need to increase the effectiveness of laboratory reporting. This could include the reporting of organisms such as MRSA. An overall Communicable Disease Strategy is now being developed by a working group chaired by the Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are employed by his Department in designating diseases as notifiable diseases. [106754]
Yvette Cooper:
The precise term "notifiable disease" is defined in section 10 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 as being one of five specific diseases. Regulation 3 and Schedule 1 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Regulations 1988 list further diseases "which are required to be notified". The first criterion which determines that a disease is required to be notified is that it is subject to the International Health Regulations. If not in those Regulations, the criteria would depend on expert assessment of the impact of the disease.
This statutory notification applies to registered medical practitioners and not to diagnostic laboratories, and to diseases rather than to causative organisms.
Mr. Livsey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what figures were used to represent concentrations of uranium in air in the calculations of radiation doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which were supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106816]
(3) what (a) theoretical modelling of plutonium concentrations and (b) post mortem measurements of plutonium were used in the calculation of radiation doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106815]
(4) what (a) theoretical modelling of uranium concentrations and (b) post mortem measurements of uranium were used in the calculation of radiation doses from uranium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106810]
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(5) what figure was used to represent the mass of the tissue considered to be the target organ in the calculation of radiation doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106814]
(6) what air intake particles were used as the basis for the calculation of radiation doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106812]
(7) what figures were used to represent the radioactivity of (a) plutonium, (b) uranium and (c) other man-made isotopes, incorporated within the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, in the calculation of doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of those people which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment. [106813]
Yvette Cooper:
I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
1994-95: £550,000
1995-96: £964,000
1996-97: £988,000
1997-98: £930,000
1998-99: £884,000
Figures for the total spend in previous years is not available.
(2) what figures were used to represent concentrations of plutonium in air in the calculation of radiation doses from plutonium to the tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of people aged up to 25 years resident in the village of Seascale in Cumbria, which was supplied by the National Radiological Protection Board to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; [106811]
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