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Patient Consultations

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued on the

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recommended average length of patient consultation times with (a) general practitioners and (b) hospital consultants. [19292]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 29 November 2001]: The Department does not issue guidance on how long general practitioners or hospital consultants should spend on consultations. It is up to clinical judgment how long they should spend on a consultation, as patients' needs differ on an individual basis.

Housing

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanism is used to reallocate health funding to effect changes in population levels predicted in the Government's housing targets. [19480]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 30 November 2001]: The populations used to calculate health authority allocation targets are based on Office for National Statistics population projections. These are updated to take account of trends in births, deaths and migration.

Decisions on the level of housing required are for local planning authorities. Trends in population growth are taken into account when these decisions are taken. Issues concerning the provision of housing are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many and what proportion of letters received by his Department between 20 June and 20 July were replied to (a) in under 15, (b) in under 20, (c) in under 30, (d) in under 40 and (e) in over 40 working days; [18578]

Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 3 December 2001]: The information requested is shown in the tables.

Replies—20 June to 20 July

Replies sent withinNumber of repliesPercentage
Ministerial replies:
15 days52734
20 days43628
30 days20213
40 days18612
Over 40 days20213
Total(14)1,553100
Official replies:
15 days1,58167
20 days37916
30 days26411
40 days673
Over 40 days743
Total(15)2,365100

(14) In addition 199 letters were transferred to other Government Departments or no reply required.

(15) In addition 250 letters were transferred to other Government Departments or no reply required.


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Pathology Services

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health where pathology services will be placed in the new NHS structures under the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill. [20010]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 5 December 2001]: In future primary care trusts will commission pathology services alongside other services. Pathology services are currently provided by national health service trusts. Through the Pathology Modernisation Programme, the Department is currently working with the NHS to develop a planning guide for pathology modernisation. As part of this process, we are considering the appropriate model for pathology services in the light of "Shifting the Balance of Power" and the proposed changes to NHS structures under the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill. We aim to issue these proposals for wide consultation in spring 2002.

NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if draft orders emanating from the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill will be published before 18 December. [20011]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 5 December 2001]: No. These orders will be drafted in due course.

Health Service Standards

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on which health services he defines as world class, indicating what their characteristics are. [20397]

Mr. Hutton: The NHS Plan and the National Service Frameworks set out our vision for the high quality service we intend to deliver. The 10 core principles reflected in the NHS Plan are set out in the preface to the document.

Nurses Pay

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the average weekly earnings of a qualified nurse in 2001–02. [21101]

Mr. Hutton: The average weekly earnings of a full-time qualified nurse working in the national health service, including all additional payments and allowances, in 2001–02 are estimated to be £450.



NORTHERN IRELAND

Violence Statistics

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list those persons who have (a) died and (b) been injured in suspicious circumstances since the Belfast Agreement was concluded, indicating which are (i) known to be as a result of terrorist or paramilitary activity and (ii) known not to be as a result of terrorist or paramilitary activity. [11054]

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Jane Kennedy: The police do not keep information on people categorised as injured in suspicious circumstances. Listed are the statistics on deaths and injuries as a result of the security situation since 10 April 1998.

There have been 76 deaths and 4,558 injuries as a result of the security situation since 10 April 1998. A breakdown of the injuries is as follows:

Number
RUC1,836
Army140
Civilian2,582
Total4,558

The causes of the injuries were:

Percentage
Explosions13
Shootings (mainly paramilitary type)11
Assaults (paramilitary style beatings)11
Others (mainly public disorder)65
Total100

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the implications are for other recruits in the event of Catholic recruits to the Police Service of Northern Ireland failing to complete recruit training. [19772]

Jane Kennedy: There are no implications for other recruits in the event that Catholic recruits fail to complete training. The 50:50 requirement applies only to the appointment of recruits. It does not apply after police trainees have taken their place on the training course.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

BSE

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when she first learned of Professor Bostock's concerns about the possible contamination of samples of sheeps' brains on which tests were being conducted for evidence of BSE; [10595]

Margaret Beckett [holding answer 26 October 2001]: It has been known since the experiments began that there were some doubts about whether the brains involved could be cross-contaminated with bovine material. The sheep brains used in the study were not collected under the stringent sterile procedures normally used for such material. the possibility of contamination was raised by Professor Bostock and discussed by the Spongeform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee in February 2000. It was recognised in the public statement made by the Food

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Standards Agency on 2 August 2001, which explained that the possibility of contamination of the samples with BSE infected cow brains needed further investigation.

DEFRA first approached an independent laboratory asking if they would be able to conduct tests to determine whether the scrapie brain pool (collected in the early 1990s and used in the Institute of Animal Health experiment) contained bovine material in June 2001. Results of the work were reported to DEFRA on 17 October.

Foot and Mouth

Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list by county the number of applications for livestock movement licences under the foot and mouth disease control restrictions made during the periods (a) 1 March to 30 May, (b) 1 June to 31 August and (c) 1 September to date; and how many licences were issued in the same periods. [11420]

Mr. Morley: The number of applications for livestock movement licences under foot and mouth disease controls and licences issued for the periods involved are available in the Library of the House. Table 1 covers the period 1 March to 17 September 2001 when licences were issued primarily for slaughter and for welfare reasons. Table 2 covers the period 17 September to 28 November 2001 for licences issued under the Autumn Movements Arrangements.

The differences between the numbers of applications received and number of licences issued, is partly due to some applications being withdrawn and partly because the licensing procedures are a combination of manually and computerised processing.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the information given in the letter of 4 August from the Under-Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Vale of York concerning the bases on which premises subject to foot and mouth culling are decided and the advice given to farmers on cleaning of fields (refs 4430, 4431). [12072]

Mr. Morley: My letter of 4 August provided the following information:


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A copy of this letter was placed in the Library of the House.

Our policy for the slaughter of animals suspected of being infected of foot and mouth has changed slightly. We have introduced a further category. This is for cases where the clinical picture on the farm suggests that disease is not present (i.e. there are insufficient grounds for slaughtering on suspicion the entire herd/flock) but where we want to be sure we have not missed something. We have the option of placing the herd/flock under official movement restrictions while laboratory test are carried out.

The advice on fields and pastures has not been updated.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will update and publish the information given in the letter of 8 August from the Under-Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Vale of York in response to questions concerning biosecurity measures in areas where culling takes place, closure of local roads and the impact of Thirsk Auction Mart (refs 4050, 4047, 4044, 4045, 4048, 4046). [12069]

Mr. Morley: My letter of 8 August provided the following information:


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A copy of my letter was placed in the Library of the House.

Biosecurity remains an extremely important issue and there will need to be a continuing discussion with all interested parties on the lessons that need to be learned on disease prevention measures to be followed by those responsible for livestock. As regards the biosecurity observed by DEFRA staff during the outbreak, no further examples of breaches have been proven by our investigation.

The disease situation is now much improved in Thirsk. North Yorkshire has had no outbreaks since 18 August although it remains an "at risk" county for the purposes of the Animal Movements Licensing Scheme. Thirsk Auction Mart was re-licensed as a collection centre on

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4 October and operates as such on Mondays. For the remaining days of the week, except Sunday, it operates as a cleansing and disinfection centre.


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