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Accident Victims

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the cost of health care of accident victims other than road accidents in circumstances where the accident is likely to be covered by third party insurance; [20850]

(2) what assessment he has made of the cost of hospital health care of road accident victims since the recoupment scheme commenced; [20849]

(3) how much has been recovered from insurance companies in respect of repayment of health care costs of road accident victims in each year since the commencement of the recoupment scheme; [20847]

(5) what plans he has (a) to review the maximum charges recoverable from drivers in respect of road accident victims and (b) to extend the scheme to other types of accident; and if he will make a statement. [20851]

Ms Blears: From 5 April 1999 a new system of centralised collection of national health service charges following road traffic accidents was introduced. The system is administered by the Compensation Recovery Unit, (CRU) which is part of the Department for Work and Pensions, on behalf of the Department of Health.

In the first year of operation the CRU recovered and paid NHS trusts in England a total of £26.4 million. The following year (2000–01) £67 million was recovered for NHS trusts in England. The total amount collected from April to November 2002 is £58.9 million

8 Jan 2002 : Column: 624W

There has been no increase in the tariff or ceiling of charges since the scheme commenced nearly three years ago. However the Department is planning to increase the tariff in line with hospital and community health services (HCHS) inflation and increase the ceiling of charges early in the new year. This means that the charge for treatment without admission will rise from £354 to £402 and the daily rate charge for treatment with admission will rise from £435 to £494 per day. In addition the ceiling of charges will rise from £10,000 to £30,000.

Information on the total cost to the NHS of treating all road traffic accident victims, including those who do not subsequently receive personal injury compensation, is not held centrally.

In 1999 the Law Commission recommended that the NHS should have the right to recover its costs in all cases where a payment of personal injury compensation was made. The Department is considering the Law Commission's proposal and is currently assessing the cost of treating victims of accidents other than road traffic accidents that are likely to result in personal injury compensation and plans to publish these costs in a public consultation document in the new year.

Patients Forums

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients forums he expects to be created under the NHS Reform Bill. [20894]

Ms Blears: The National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professionals Bill provides for a Patients Forum to be established for every NHS trust and primary care trust.

We feel that it is important that local patients and users have the ability to directly influence local NHS services.

Dispensing

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to amend arrangements for original pack dispensing to bring England into line with the 1994 EU Directive. [20786R]

Ms Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) on 3 December 2001, Official Report, columns 125–26W.

Residential Special School Inspections

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which care standards will be used for welfare inspections in residential special schools operating 52 weeks a year. [20686]

Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 4 December 2001]: The Care Standards Act 2000 provides that when boarding schools (including residential special schools) provide accommodation for more than 295 days a year, then they are required to register as children's homes. Thus, the Children's Homes National Minimum Standards will apply.

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While we cannot change the provision in the Care Standards Act 2000, there are various issues, arising from the recent consultation process, about the suitability of some standards which are to be used in both School and Children's Homes settings. We are conscious of the practical difficulties involved and we are, therefore, reviewing the comments made by respondents and, where appropriate, will revise the standards.

Health Care (Isle of Wight)

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients on the Isle of Wight waited

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over (a) one year and (b) three months for an operation in (i) 1997, (ii) 1998, (iii) 1999, (iv) 2000 and (v) 2001; and what percentage each figure constituted of the number of operations in each year. [20382]

Ms Blears [holding answer 4 December 2001]: Information on waiting times for all operations (in-patient, day case and out-patients) is not collected centrally. The table shows information on in-patient waiting lists for patients in the Isle of Wight health authority area for each quarter between March 1997 and March 2001 and the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire health authority area for quarters ending June and September 2001.

Quarter	Total in-patient waiting list	3+ month waiters	Percentage of total waiting list	12+ month waiters	Percentage of total waiting list
Isle of Wight HA
March 1997	4,229	2,585	61.1	277	6.6
June 1997	4,343	2,534	58.3	337	7.8
September 1997	4,289	2,590	60.4	455	10.6
December 1997	4,546	2,657	58.4	428	9.4
March 1998	3,864	2,307	59.7	178	4.6
June 1998	3,844	2,089	54.3	145	3.8
September 1998	3,911	1,884	48.2	116	3.0
December 1998	4,264	2,250	52.8	147	3.4
March 1999	3,552	1,584	44.6	104	2.9
June 1999	3,912	1,724	44.1	130	3.3
September 1999	3,714	1,861	50.1	153	4.1
December 1999	3,670	1,744	47.5	105	2.9
March 2000	3,522	1,703	48.4	143	4.1
June 2000	3,223	1,850	57.4	200	6.2
September 2000	3,372	1,656	49.1	196	5.8
December 2000	3,449	1,822	52.8	155	4.5
March 2001	3,392	1,764	52.0	192	5.7
	Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Hampshire HA
June 2001	14,932	7,585	50.8	1,046	7.0
September 2001	14,876	7,761	52.2	977	6.6

Notes:

In April 2001 Isle of Wight HA (QD4) merged with Portsmouth and South East Hampshire HA (QD2) to form Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Hampshire HA (QEV).

Data for 2001–02 are therefore presented for Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Hampshire HA (QEV).

Source:

QF01 Quarterly Return

GP Vacancies (Isle of Wight)

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many unfilled GP posts on the Isle of Wight there were in November (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000 and (e) 2001; and what proportion each figure represents of GP posts on the island. [20381]

Ms Blears [holding answer 4 December 2001]: The information requested is not available centrally.

New Deal (Young People)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are employed by the Department under the new deal for young people; and at what cost to public funds. [21274]

Ms Blears: The Department's most recent statistics on new deal staff covered the period 2 July to 1 October. During this period four staff were employed by the Department and its agencies under the new deal for young people at an annual salary cost of £41,300. This excludes any training and development that may have been needed.

A further four new deal recruits came into the Department through generalist entry routes, costs for these cannot be identified.

External Consultants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was to his Department of the use of external consultants in each of the last four years. [21262]

Ms Blears: Expenditure by the Department on external consultants is as follows:

£ million

	Cost
1997–98	11.848
1998–99	7.181
1999–2000	7.991
2000–01	6.531

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Departmental Sickness

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were lost due to sickness absence in the Department in each of the last four years. [21340]

Ms Blears: The information requested is shown in the table.

Year	Average(15) days lost per employee through sickness (per staff year)
1997	7.8
1998	(16)9.2
1999	6.6
2000	(17)—

⁽¹⁵⁾ Working days absences exclude weekends and bank holidays for staff working a "Monday to Friday" week.

⁽¹⁶⁾ Based on pre-audit data and methodology. In 1998 civil service Departments and agencies undertook an audit of their monitoring systems following the "Working Well Together" report. The reworked figures were not submitted in time for publication of the 1998 report and unadjusted figures were published in this year.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Not yet published.

Source:

Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service BMI Health Services report (1997 Table I, 1998 Table K) and Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service BIOSS report Table H (1999)

The Department is committed to meeting its Public Service Agreement targets for reducing sickness absence and will be conducting a review of its guidance for both long-term and short-term sickness absence management.

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