| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Personal Social Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the services listed as personal social services for the purposes of allocating money to local government through the Personal Social Services SSA. [148186]
Mr. Hutton: The personal social services standard spending assessment comprises sub-blocks for services for elderly people in residential care, services for elderly people receiving domiciliary care, services for other adults and services for children.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the money designated for intermediate care services in the NHS Plan has already been allocated; how much of this money was allocated to local government through the Personal Social Services SSA for 2001-02 to 2003-04 announced on 27 November 2000; and if he will make it his policy to guarantee that the money allocated
2 Feb 2001 : Column: 327W
to local government will be spent on the provision of intermediate care services as envisaged by the NHS Plan. [148187]
Mr. Hutton: Details of the funding of intermediate care and community equipment services were set out in a joint health service and local authority circular (HSC 2001/001--LAC (2001)1)) Intermediate Care, issued on 19 January 2001, copies of which are available in the Library.
In determining the personal social services settlement for 2001-02 to 2003-04, as part of the general settlement for local government, we took specifically into account the need for additional council investment in services that promote independence, particularly for older people. Special grants such as the promoting independence and carers' grants, and the performance fund will play a particular part in funding growth in services which deliver or support intermediate care. The increases in standard spending assessment for 2001-02 to 2003-04 announced following the spending review, and included in the local government settlement announced on 27 November 2000, are intended to enable councils to contribute to the expansion of these services. The deployment of resources made available through SSA remains a decision for councils to make in the light of local circumstances.
MMR Vaccinations
Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests have been received by doctors in England and Wales for separate vaccinations for (a) measles, (b) mumps and (c) rubella in the last 12 months; and how many of these requests have been granted. [144935]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally.
The policy for protecting children from measles, mumps and rubella is a two dose schedule of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. This is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and the assessment of the safety of the vaccine by the Committee on Safety of Medicines. This policy has been endorsed on 12 January 2001 by the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Nursing and the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association.
Separate doses of single antigen vaccines given at intervals leave children vulnerable to the risk of potentially serious disease. The JCVI advises that there are no benefits from giving the single antigen vaccines compared with the combined vaccine and that a schedule of separate vaccines is less safe than the combined vaccine. It is not the policy of the Department to offer this schedule
Cloning
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the companies involved in cloning research with which his Department has held meetings in the last three years. [146860]
2 Feb 2001 : Column: 328W
Yvette Cooper: One meeting took place at the Department of Health between officials and Geron Bio-med in 2000.
Officials from the Department regularly meet with United Kingdom and international companies and research centres that are working in the field of biological research. Some of these may have an interest in cloning research.
In addition, officials will have attended a number of scientific meetings hosted by external bodies such as the Wellcome Trust and the Roslin Institute to discuss cloning.
Health Spending
Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what levels of spending on health per head of population were in each health authority area in each year since 1998-99, calculated on the same basis as used in his answer of 19 October 1999, Official Report, columns 473-75W. [146726]
Mr. Denham: Levels of spending on health per head of the population for 1999-2000 in each health authority area are given in the table.
Figures for 2000-01 are not yet available.
Notes:
1. An element of drugs expenditure has been accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority rather than individual health authorities. Also the majority of General Dental Service expenditure is not available by health authority. A total national position is shown including these two elements.
2. These figures are not comparable between years or between health authorities as a result of changes in accounting practice and other technical accounting differences.
3. The expenditure per head of the resident population does not provide the best comparison between health authorities. Recent Parliamentary Questions have been answered in terms of expenditure per weighted head of population where the crude population figures have been modified to take into consideration the health needs of the population. This agrees with the methodology used for the weighted capitation formula which is used to inform health authority allocations.
4. Figures for the expenditure per weighted head of population for 1999-2000 have been placed in the Library.
Source:
Health Authority summarisation forms for 1999-2000
Mid-year population estimates for 1999 (which are not comparable with weighted population figures)
2 Feb 2001 : Column: 330W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |