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Sierra Leone

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the liability for compensation arising from personal injury by armed forces personnel

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who have suffered medical problems as a result of deployment to Sierra Leone; and if he will make a statement. [148146]

Dr. Moonie: It would be inappropriate to disclose information about my Department's estimated financial liability while claims for compensation remain to be settled. I am withholding the information requested under exemption 4 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. However, I can say that 15 claims for compensation have been received from members of HM forces who contracted malaria as a result of deployment to Sierra Leone. In only one of these cases does my Department accept that the claim is valid.

HEALTH

BSE

Mrs. Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if post mortem tests for BSE carried out in EU countries are carried out before the carcase is dressed. [141720]

Ms Stuart [holding answer 11 December 2000]: No. The test sample is taken after the head has been removed and the carcase will be dressed before the test is carried out. It will be detained until the test result is known.

Health Service Employees (East Somerset)

Paddy Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors were employed by (i) East Somerset NHS Trust and (ii) Taunton NHS Trust for each year since 1990-91. [144599]

Ms Stuart [holding answer 18 January 2001]: The latest information available is shown in the table.

National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services: All doctors and all nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff excluding learners within East Somerset NHS Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust as at 30 September for each yearWhole-time equivalents

	East Somerset NHS Trust		Taunton NHS Trust
	Nurses	Doctors(2)	Nurses	Doctors(2)
1991	950	70	1,380	130
1992	640	90	1,430	140
1993	630	80	1,510	150
1994	660	80	1,560	170
1995	700	90	1,330	190
1996	580	80	1,220	190
1997	580	110	1,130	210
1998	600	110	1,080	230
1999	600	120	1,140	230

⁽²⁾ Data relating to the years prior to 1995 should be handled with caution owing to potential understatements of the number of staff returned by the organisation.

Notes:

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Owing to rounding totals may not equal the sum of component parts.

Figures exclude learners and agency staff.

A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.

Trusts were first formed in 1991. Prior to this, data to this level were not available.

Source:

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census

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Fluoride

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the release of fluoride into a patient's mouth through the use of slow-release fluoride dressings during dental treatment requires the prior consent of the patient. [147417]

Mr. Hutton: For children and adults the consent required from the patient or from a person with parental responsibility would be the same as that for any other dental treatment.

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the use by NHS dentists of products intended to be placed in the mouths of patients that release fluoride over an extended period of time. [147837]

Mr. Hutton: I understand these treatments are at an experimental stage. Full evaluation would be necessary before consideration could be given to making the products generally available to National Health Service patients.

Medical School Training Places

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many extra medical school training places will be created in each year from 2001 to 2004 expressed in the same terms as the figures in the NHS Plan; and if he will make a statement. [147555]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 29 January 2001]: Following our announcement in 1998 that the annual intake of medical students in the United Kingdom should be increased by about 1,000, medical school intake in England is planned to rise as follows as set out in the table.

Academic year	Actual and planned increases in intakes
1999-2000	223
2000-001	289
2001-02	273
2002-03	273
2003-04	22

Work on the planned further increase of up to 1,000 places set out in the NHS Plan is being taken forward by a Joint Implementation Group (JIG) which includes representatives of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Department and the General Medical Council. The joint implementation group will make recommendations to the HEFCE Board, which is responsible for the allocation of medical student places to higher education institutions (HEIs) in England.

The JIG invited all HEIs in England to submit proposals to provide these extra places in September 2000. The group is currently considering the proposals that have been submitted and will make recommendations to the HEFCE in due course.

Primary Care Trusts

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will require newly established primary care trusts to use the current drug tariff arrangements. [R] [147757]

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Ms Stuart [holding answer 29 January 2001]: The prices set out in the Drug Tariff apply to prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacies, dispensing doctors and appliance contractors, or personally administered by general practitioners, under Part II of the National Health Service Act 1977. Primary care trusts are not responsible for administering these arrangements. They do not apply to any other arrangements which may be made locally for the supply of medicines, appliances or other items.

Hospitals (Kent)

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average length of stay was for in-patients at (a) the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, (b) the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and (c) the QEQM Hospital, Margate, for each month from September to December 2000 inclusive. [148143]

Ms Stuart: The table shows the average duration of an in-patient spell by month of discharge at East Kent Hospitals National Health Service Trust for 1999-2000:

Days

Month of discharge	Mean duration of in-patient stay
April	3
May	4
June	4
July	4
August	4
September	3
October	4
November	4
December	4
January	4
February	4
March	4

Notes:

1. 1999-2000 is the latest year for which data are available.

2. Data are collected by provider, and are not available for individual hospitals within an NHS trust.

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bedded patients there were in accident and emergency departments awaiting operations on Monday 29 January in (a) the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, (b) the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and (c) the QEQM Hospital, Margate. [148144]

Ms Stuart: The information requested is not held centrally but should be available from the Chair of the East Kent Hospitals National Health Service Trust.

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average mileage was travelled on National Health Service business by (a) hospital consultants and doctors and (b) hospital and health service managers in the area covered by East Kent Hospitals Trust (i) in 1997 and (ii) 2000. [148111]

Ms Stuart: The Department does not hold the information requested centrally.

Mental Health Services Spending

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the expenditure on mental health services as a proportion of total NHS spending has been in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement. [148082]

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Mr. Hutton: The expenditure on mental health services as a proportion of total National Health Service spending for each year between 1988-89 to 1998-99 is given in the table. Information prior to this date is not available. While health and community health services spending on mental health as a proportion of total spend has remained fairly constant, expenditure by local councils on mental health as a proportion of their total spend on social services have risen steadily.

Year	HCHS gross expenditure on mental health as a percentage of total expenditure
1988-89	12.5
1989-90	12.34
1990-91	12.07
1991-92	11.58
1992-93	11.56
1993-94	11.00
1994-95	10.69
1995-96	10.65
1996-97	12.21
1997-98	12.26
1998-99	12.08

1. The NHS expenditure information is based on profiles of expenditure provided by trusts but scaled to match health authorities total expenditure. Thus, there is a possibility that the figures under-estimate the expenditure on services purchased by health authorities from the private and voluntary sectors. It may be the case that hospital expenditure is over-estimated and community expenditure is under-estimated. These figures exclude Health Authority overheads.

2. In 1996-97 the data collection methodology changed. Therefore, figures from 1996-97 onwards are not directly comparable to figures up to and including 1995-96

3. From 1994-95 costs include care management, which cannot be identified for earlier years.

4. All figures exclude administrative and clerical overheads.

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