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NHS Trusts
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the performance of NHS trusts in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 in meeting their responsibility to break even on an income and expenditure basis. [16955]
Mr. Hutton: The annual accounts for national health service trusts in 2000–01 show no trust reporting a failure in its statutory duty to break even on an income and expenditure basis taking one year with another.
The 2001–02 annual accounts will not be received until the autumn of 2002. However, expectation is that all NHS trusts will meet the duty.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on NHS trusts' planned costs for (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [16957]
Mr. Hutton: The planned expenditure of national health service trusts for financial year 2001–02 is circa £30.3 billion.
Information on the planned costs of NHS trusts in financial years 2002–03 and 2003–04 will be collected as part of the normal planning cycle for the NHS. Information such as this will normally be available in May/June of the financial year concerned.
Best Value
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the savings (a) in 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 arising from the application by his Department of Best Value. [16942]
Mr. Hutton: The Department, with other central Government Departments, is committed to fundamental reviews of all its services in a five year programme under the better quality services initiative. A departmental review was conducted earlier this year, and the implementation of its recommendations is under way. The Department contributes to the application of Best Value in local authorities through the work of the social services inspectorate, and work on the performance management framework.
NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the funding of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; [17167]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the cost in 2001–02 of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency. [16940]
Mr. Hutton: The National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency is an executive agency of the Department and is funded centrally. In 2001–2002 the Agency was allocated £19.5 million. The agency's funding for 2002–03 is still being discussed.
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The agency's aim is to modernise and improve the performance of the NHS purchasing and supply system and become the centre of expertise, knowledge and excellence on matters of purchasing and supply for the NHS for the benefit of patients and the public.
The agency is responsible for ensuring that the NHS makes the most effective use of its resources by getting the best value for money when purchasing goods and services. In 2000–01 the agency negotiated contracts that resulted in savings of £171.1 million and from April to the end of October 2001 has achieved savings of £108.1 million.
NHS Pensions Agency
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the savings arising from the procurement of a private sector partner for contractorisation of the non-core services of the NHS Pensions Agency. [16939]
Mr. Hutton: The contractorisation of the National Health Service Pensions Agency's non-core services will deliver overall savings of 20 per cent. of the agency's baseline running costs.
NHS Management Costs
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on NHS management costs in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [16958]
Mr. Hutton: We are on course to achieve £1 billion savings in management costs between 1997–98 and the end of 2001–02.
We are currently considering the future basis of management costs in the light of the shifting the balance of power initiative and our broader commitment to invest savings in frontline services and child care facilities for national health service staff.
Out-of-area Treatment System
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics his Department collates on the operation of the out-of-area treatment system. [16763]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 21 November 2001]: Regional offices annually collect information on the cost, and the home health authority of those out-of-area patients who are treated at each national health service trust within their area. The information is compiled centrally by the Department and used to calculate the annual out-of-area funding adjustment.
Mental Health Act
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has received the report on the second phase of work on guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983; and if he will publish it. [17092]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 22 November 2001]: The Department is not intending to publish the second (and final) report of the research but I have asked officials to write to the hon. Member giving contact details for the researchers who were commissioned to undertake this work.
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Pneumococcal Vaccine
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 131W, on the pneumococcal vaccine, if he will set out (a) the remit and aims of the studies, (b) which persons or organisations are undertaking the studies and (c) when the studies were commissioned and when the work is scheduled to be completed. [18014]
Jacqui Smith: Studies looking at the suitability of the pneumococcal vaccine for introduction into the United Kingdom routine childhood immunisation programme are currently being undertaken by the Public Health Laboratory Service. These studies were commissioned in 1996 by the Department as part of a three-year research programme. Because of the unavailability of the pneumococcal vaccines it was not possible to begin these studies until 2000.
The key question being addressed in these studies is how the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine performs under the two, three, four-month UK programme, in particular assessing whether a booster dose, or all three primary immunisations, are necessary. Information on potential catch-up immunisation schedules in older age groups is also being sought. The final results for these trials are expected to be available in early 2003. The effect of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on the presence of bacteria naturally occurring in the population (carriage) will also be studied.
Residential Care
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nursing and (b) residential care (i) homes and (ii) beds have closed in the Buckingham constituency in each year since 1997. [17859]
Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman) on 19 July 2001, Official Report, columns 444–45W.
Information for 2001 will be published in "Community Care Statistics 2001: Residential Personal Social Services for Adults, England" on 29 November.
Diabetes
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what priority he places on the treatment of diabetes; [18148]
- (2) what plans he has to review the national treatment standards for diabetes sufferers; and if he will make a statement. [18149]
Jacqui Smith: We are committed to improving the quality of care for people with diabetes. That is why we are developing a National Service Framework for Diabetes. We shall shortly be publishing, as the first stage of the Framework, a document setting out the first ever set of national standards for the treatment of diabetes.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of new drugs to treat type 1 diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [18147]
Jacqui Smith: The Medicines Control Agency has not received any licence application for any new drug to treat type 1 diabetes. Should an application be made for a new
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drug or for a new formulation, the agency will carefully evaluate the safety, quality and efficacy of the product prior to licensing.
We announced on 31 July that we were referring long-acting insulin analogues to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for appraisal. The Institute appraises the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments and issues authoritative, evidence based guidance to the national health service, in order to ensure that people have equal access to effective treatments wherever they live.
Children at Risk
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 21 November 2001, Official Report, columns 364–65W, on children at risk, if he will set out separately the number of unborn children. [18235]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 26 November 2001]: The number of unborn children who were added to, and deleted from, child protection registers during the years ending 31 March 2000 and 2001 are given in the table.
| Number of unborn children(18) | |
|---|---|
| On the register at 31 March | |
| 2000 | 200 |
| 2001 | 200 |
| Registrations | |
| 2000 | 900 |
| 2001 | 1,000 |
| De-registrations | |
| 2000 | 30 |
| 2001 | 70 |
(18) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100; figures less than 100 are rounded to the nearest 10.
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