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Forms
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the net change in each year since May 1997 in the number of forms issued by his Department which (a) charities and (b) other voluntary organisations are required to complete. [123946]
Mr. Hutton: The forms which the Department issues to charities and voluntary bodies are mainly for those who wish to apply for grants, mainly grants under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. For this scheme, the only form required from applicants is the appropriate application for the type of grant being sought. This has not changed since 1997.
The Department keeps under review the forms it issues to business, charities and the voluntary sector to ensure that they are necessary, easy to understand and as simple as possible to complete.
GP Practices (Patient Access)
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the population lives (a) within one mile of and (b) over three miles from a GP practice in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas. [124530]
Mr. Denham: Information is not available in the form requested. From the information that is available I can say that:
- in predominantly urban areas, 99 per cent. of patients live between one and 2.5 miles and 1 per cent. live more than 2.5 miles from a main surgery.
- in predominantly rural areas, the figures are 91 per cent. and 9 per cent. respectively.
Waiting Lists (Dorset)
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in Dorset died while awaiting (a) surgery, (b) cancer surgery and (c) cardiac surgery in the last 12 months. [124512]
Ms Stuart: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in Dorset there are waiting for kidney dialysis treatment. [124513]
Ms Stuart: There is no waiting list for kidney dialysis treatment in Dorset. Patients requiring this treatment are treated immediately.
Dorset Health Authority has invested an additional £250,000 a year, each year for the last three years in dialysis services.
Medical Schools
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will announce the decision on the establishment of new medical schools. [124495]
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Mr. Denham: Responsibility for the allocation of places to individual medical schools in England lies with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
HEFCE have already announced the allocation of approximately 840 new medical school places in England and plan to announce a further allocation of places soon.
NHS Staff (Occupational Health and
Counselling Services)
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS trusts provided, as at April, those occupational health and counselling services to their staff which were set out under the White Paper "Working Together--Securing a Quality Workforce for the NHS". [124364]
Mr. Denham: All National Health Service trusts now provide staff with access to occupational health services. 60 per cent. of trusts provide services in-house while 40 per cent. purchase them from neighbouring NHS employers. Information about the number of trusts providing counselling services is not collected centrally but may be held locally.
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish guidelines on the provision of counselling services for staff in the NHS. [124363]
Mr. Denham: Guidance on the provision of counselling services for staff in the National Health Service should be available on the Department of Health website later this year.
Homophobia in Schools Video
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if Avon Health Authority has made a video called Beyond a Phase: A Practical Guide to Challenging Homophobia in Schools available to schools in the area. [123573]
Ms Stuart: The video "Beyond a Phase" is available to any school that wishes to purchase it. It is for school governors and teachers, who are responsible for how sex education is taught, to decide whether or not to use material produced by health authorities in a school context. They do so within the framework of guidance (Personal, Social and Health Education) issued by the Department for Education and Employment.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions since 30 June 1999 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity. [124115]
Ms Stuart: No departmental or non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity since 30 June 1999.
Triple Heart By-pass Operation
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when a constituent of the hon. Member for Gosport, whose name has been given to him, can expect to be given a firm date for the triple heart by-pass operation for which the waiting time in January 1999 was estimated to be nine months. [124230]
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Mr. Denham: I am advised that the Southampton University Hospitals National Health Service Trust is in the process of contacting the constituent to whom the hon. Member refers, to offer a firm date for the triple heart by-pass operation.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Game Bird Imports
Mr. Luff: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (a) pheasant eggs, (b) pheasant chicks, (c) adult pheasants, (d) partridge eggs, (e) partridge chicks and (f) adult partridges were imported into the UK in each year since 1979. [118966]
Ms Quin: Statistics for the import into the United Kingdom (UK) of pheasant eggs, pheasant chicks, adult pheasants, partridge eggs, partridge chicks, and adult partridges are not available for the period 1979 to 1995.
The following figures are derived from the information messages (ANIMO) which European law requires exporting countries to send to the importing country to inform them of the number of animals certified for export in a given consignment. Imports of poultry are divided into the following commodities; day old poultry, hatching eggs, poultry for breeding and production, poultry for slaughter and poultry for re-stocking supplies of game. In European law pheasants and partridges are included in 'poultry'. However, ANIMOS do not give separate commodity codes for poultry species.
The number of live day-old chicks, hatching eggs and adult poultry imported into the UK in each year since 1996, is given in the tables.
| Number of hatching eggs | Number of chicks | Number of adult poultry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 12,052,072 | 4,963,947 | 121,163 |
| 1997 | 38,458,912 | 14,992,038 | 586,629 |
| 1998 | 19,679,634 | 5,182,966 | 11,486,664 |
| 1999 | 20,549,545 | 39,907,011 | 596,265 |
| 2000 | 5,627,282 | 2,075,152 | 30,026 |
Consignments of poultry from third countries are subject to a MAFF import licence. The following figures are derived from licences issued for consignments of live adult pheasants and pheasant chicks into the UK from third countries. Our records indicate that there have been no imports of pheasant eggs, partridge eggs, partridge chicks or adult partridges.
| Number of pheasant chicks | Number of adult pheasants | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 0 | 26 |
| 1997 | 0 | 8 |
| 1998 | 0 | 69 |
| 1999 | 3,000 | 3 |
| 2000 | 0 | 0 |
The figures given in the tables are provisional and subject to validation.
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Woodland Grant Schemes
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to make a decision on the woodland grant schemes amendment applied for by Cotswold Estate Services Ltd., submitted in October last year. [120682]
Mr. Morley: I understand Cotswold Services Ltd. submitted on behalf of their clients an application under the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme. Processing of the application under the Scheme has been delayed pending approval by the European Commission of the England Rural Development Plan, which is expected in the summer.
Broiler Chickens
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what plans he has to commission an independent survey into the incidence of lameness in the United Kingdom broiler chicken flock; and if he will make a statement; [122557]
- (2) what steps he is planning to take to persuade the European Commission to propose a directive to address the health and welfare issues raised by the recent report of the Commission's Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on the Welfare of Chickens Kept for Meat Production (Broilers); and if he will make a statement. [122556]
Mr. Morley: The Government have made clear their wish to improve standards of broiler welfare.
The report from the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (SCAHAW) on broiler chicken production usefully identifies and assesses the issues. It should enable the Commission now to bring forward proposals for EU standards, an approach which we much prefer to acting unilaterally: it should bring real welfare improvements without putting British producers at a competitive disadvantage in relation to their continental counterparts. We look forward to seeing proposals from the Commission in the light of the report. In preparation for this we shall carefully study the content of the report and the papers to which it refers.
The report recognises, as do the Government, that leg disorders can be a major cause of poor welfare in broilers. A five-year industry survey in this country on broiler leg health should be nearing completion. The Farm Animal Welfare Council to whom the industry is reporting will carefully consider the survey, together with an independent evaluation of the results. I have written to both FAWC and the industry to make clear my concern that this exercise should be swiftly concluded so that we can determine what should be our next steps on leg health and what provisions we should be looking to secure in the EU negotiation. It is essential that we have FAWC's views before we consult on and determine these matters.
The SCAHAW report also makes clear that the subjective nature of the widely used gait scoring system leads to difficulties in making direct comparisons between different studies employing this technique. As a result, the report suggests the need to develop objective
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measurement systems and to carry out systematic epidemiological studies. In this context, the Government already have in train a number of research projects on broiler leg health, including the development of other quantitative methods of assessing the extent of lameness in broilers.
Meanwhile, the State Veterinary Service continues to carry out random visits to broiler units to assess all aspects of welfare including lameness, litter quality, and ventilation. We are also in the process of drawing up a new Broiler Welfare Code, which takes on board a number of the recommendations contained in FAWC's 1992 report. This is not a substitute for necessary EU action, but represents an important step we can take nationally in the meantime.
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