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HEALTH
Extra-contractual Referrals
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics his Department has collected on the operation of the extra contractual referrals system. [21006]
Mr. Hutton: The extra contractual referral system ended on 1 April 1999. Extra contractual referral income and expenditure information was collected in the financial monitoring returns of national health service trusts and health authorities. A table has been placed in the Library covering the years 1995–96 to 1998–99.
Parliamentary Questions
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of parliamentary questions replied to by his Department were the subject of a holding answer in the last three sessions of Parliament. [22016]
Ms Blears: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Year | Number of named day parliamentary questions | Percentage receiving holding answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 1,271 | 25 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,441 | 35 |
| 2000–01 | 1,825 | 47 |
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will answer the question of the hon. Member for Maidenhead on bed blocking tabled for answer on 2 November (No. 12240). [21724]
Jacqui Smith: I replied to the hon. Member today.
10 Dec 2001 : Column: 712W
NHS Expenditure
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was (a) the total expenditure on the NHS and (b) the total expenditure on counter-fraud work within the NHS in the last year for which figures are available. [21733]
Mr. Hutton: The total net expenditure on the national health service in the year 2000–01 was £44.6 billion. The total expenditure of the NHS Counter Fraud Service during the same period was £4.45 million.
Health Expenditure
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the latest estimate for EU countries' expenditure on health in 2005 in (a) cash terms and (b) as a percentage of the relevant GDP. [21939]
Mr. Hutton: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is the most reliable source of data for making comparisons of international health expenditure. The latest full set of figures published by the OECD is for 1998. The OECD figures do not include forecasts. The table shows the latest available figures.
| Total health spend (US$ million, PPP(49)) | Total health spend as a percentage of gross domestic product | |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 15,299 | 8.0 |
| Belgium | 20,920 | 8.6 |
| Denmark | 11,300 | 8.3 |
| Finland | 7,782 | 6.9 |
| France | 118,776 | 9.3 |
| Germany | 193,697 | 10.3 |
| Greece | 12,594 | 8.4 |
| Ireland | 5,682 | 6.8 |
| Italy | 98,806 | 7.7 |
| Luxembourg | 958 | 6.0 |
| Netherlands | 33,768 | 8.7 |
| Portugal | 11,996 | 7.7 |
| Spain | 46,798 | 7.0 |
| Sweden | 15,328 | 7.9 |
| United Kingdom | 89,432 | 6.8 |
(49) Purchasing Power Parity
Source:
OECD Health Data 2001
Correspondence
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letter of 16 October from the hon. Member for Aylesbury (ref. POH (4) 5009/18). [21716]
Jacqui Smith: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 6 December 2001.
Care Homes (Inspections)
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each local authority (a) the sum spent on regulation of inspection of care homes in 2000–01, (b) the sum budgeted for regulation of inspection of care homes in 2001–02 and (c) the sum top-sliced for regulation of inspection of care homes in 2002–03. [21731]
10 Dec 2001 : Column: 713W
Jacqui Smith: The information requested for the sum spent and the sum budgeted for regulation of inspection of care homes is not available centrally. Total expenditure on registration and inspection by each local authority in England in 1999–2000 is available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/ public/pss—stat.htm, but this includes expenditure on the regulatory function for children under eight transferred to OFSTED.
£87 million has been transferred from the personal social services standard spending assessments for the National Care Standards Commission to reflect the transfer of the remaining registration and inspection function. This is shown for each authority in a table which has been placed in the Library.
Occupational Therapy
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what figures his Department collates on waiting times for NHS occupational therapy treatment; and if he will list these for each of the last five years. [21701]
Mr. Hutton: The Department does not routinely collect data on waiting times for national health service occupational therapy treatment.
Wheelchairs
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he next plans to review the wheelchair voucher scheme; and if he will make a statement. [21792R]
Jacqui Smith: There are currently no plans to review the wheelchair voucher scheme introduced in 1996.
Early Intervention Teams
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when and in what manner he intends to announce the outcome of the comprehensive review of progress on the development of plans for early intervention teams. [11527]
Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 31 October 2001]: Local implementation teams have completed their comprehensive reviews of services including early intervention mental health teams in readiness to deliver the new services required in the NHS Plan. The reviews have been instigated to support local planning, the outcome of which will be detailed in the local implementation plans.
There is no intention to publish these local reviews on a national basis.
Bed Blocking
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent the additional funding to be provided to local authorities to tackle bed blocking will be ring-fenced; and what categories of expenditure will be permitted for the funding. [12240]
Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 2 November 2001]: All of the additional funding will be ring-fenced. Further information can be found in the grant determination under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2000 of the Building Care Capacity Grant for 2001–02 which was published in November and placed on the Department's website www.doh.gov.uk/jointunit/delayeddischarge.
10 Dec 2001 : Column: 714W
Coronary Heart Care (London)
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been made available to improving coronary heart services in hospitals within the Greater London area in each of the last three years. [14731]
Mr. Hutton: Over the last three years, over £27 million has been made available specifically for improving coronary heart disease (CHD) services in London. The information is in the table.
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital | (50)— | 10,802 | (51)2,027 |
| Revenue | (50)— | 8,519 | 5,888 |
| Total | 19,321 | 7,915 |
(50) No specific allocations
(51) Estimated allocation to national health service trusts
Capital funds shown are based on allocations to NHS trusts in London and revenue funds based on allocations to London health authorities.
The £27 million is to support the delivery of priority areas identified in the National Service Framework for CHD that was published in March 2000.
Health authorities will also have used their overall unified allocation to invest in coronary heart services. In addition to the above, over £2 million capital has been allocated specifically for primary care developments.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the performance indicators to be used for the measurement of the appraisals by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in pursuit of its public service agreement with his Department. [14903]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) on 5 November 2001, Official Report, columns 118–20W.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the public service agreement target for the production of appraisals by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence by 31 March. [14904]
Mr. Hutton: The public service agreement which formed part of the 1998 comprehensive spending review settlement included a target of establishing the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) by 1 April 1999 with a view to it producing at least 30 appraisals of new or existing technologies and guidance per annum from 2000–01. NICE was established and in 2000–01 published 21 appraisals, many of which covered more than one technology.
The public service agreement incorporated in the 2000 spending review settlement does not contain specific targets for the production of NICE guidance.
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