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Care Homes
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which national minimum standards care homes will have to be fully compliant with from 1 April 2002. [24183]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 19 December 2001]: National minimum standards that will not apply to care homes from 1 April 2002 are those relating to training and environmental requirements. Specifically, existing care homes will have until 2005 to comply with the standards requiring a minimum of 50 per cent. of care staff to be qualified at NVQ level 2 or equivalent. Existing care homes will have until 2007 to comply with the standards relating to room size, shared facilities and places in single rooms.
However, non-compliance with national minimum standards will not lead to the National Care Standards Commission automatically pursuing enforcement action or deregistration. Instead it will seek to agree actions to be taken by homes to ensure compliance with standards within a reasonable time frame—unless vulnerable service users are at serious risk as a result of non-compliance. The national minimum standards are intended to be a means of assisting care homes to improve the quality of their services as well as a vehicle to protect vulnerable people.
Not all of the standards relate to all care homes as some are aimed at specialist provision only.
Western General Hospital, Swindon
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new beds are to be purchased for the new Western General Hospital in Swindon; how many new beds have been purchased; where they are presently stored; how they will be transported to the new hospital; what their total cost was; how their dimensions compare with the dimensions of the doors and lifts through which they must pass; and if he will make a statement. [24264]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not available centrally.
Citizens Council
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which organisation will be used to prepare and organise meetings of the Citizens Council. [24615]
Mr. Hutton: I understand that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has not yet appointed an organisation to prepare and organise meetings of the Citizens Council.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if there will be a time limit imposed between ceasing to work in specified capacities and joining the Citizens Council. [24607]
Mr. Hutton: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is considering this matter.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which categories of desired members of the Citizens Council will be targeted by outreach selection from the electoral register. [24610]
Mr. Hutton: It is important that the Citizens Council reflects the range of different views of society within England and Wales. Outreach selection will be used to complement the results of open advertisement. The
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categories of members which need to be enhanced through outreach selection will become apparent once the first stage—open advertisement—is complete.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if an independent body will be responsible for evaluating the meetings of the Citizens Council. [24614]
Mr. Hutton: I understand that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence intends to recruit an independent body to evaluate the meetings of the Citizens Council.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many subjects Citizens Councils are expected to cover each year. [24611]
Mr. Hutton: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has not yet made a decision on this point.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if members of the Citizens Council will be paid travel and accommodation expenses to attend its meetings. [24613]
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what briefing will be given to members of the Citizens Council which will advise NICE. [24579]
Mr. Hutton: The nature of the briefing will be a matter for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long people will remain in the pool of potential members of the Citizens Council; and if the requirements for membership of this pool differ from that for full members of the council. [24609]
Mr. Hutton: I understand that the pool of potential members will exist solely in order for members to be selected. Once the selection has taken place, the pool will cease to exist.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated annual cost to public funds will be of the new Citizens Council to advise NICE. [24612]
Mr. Hutton: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently considering the detailed arrangements for the Citizens Council and these will be published in the institute's business plan.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what will be the ratio of membership between England and Wales of the members of the Citizens Council which will advise NICE; and what recruitment mechanism will be used to select members. [24580]
Mr. Hutton: The appointment of members to the Citizens Council is a matter for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. We are confident that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will ensure that the constitution of the council will contain representatives from all walks of life from England and Wales. We therefore do not consider it necessary to be prescriptive about the number of members from each country.
A and E (IT)
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations have taken place with (a) the Royal College of Nursing and (b) other representatives of nurses over the new IT provision in A and E. [24585]
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Ms Blears: The Royal College of Nursing, the chair of the Royal College of Nursing Accident and Emergency Nurses Group and a representative of the Royal College of Nursing Faculty of Emergency Nursing are part of the consultation process for the new clinical assessment system—the information technology system that is currently being introduced to accident and emergency departments.
Efficiency Task Force
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what have been the annual financial savings generated by the work of the NHS Efficiency Task Force since its inception. [24443]
Mr. Hutton: The national health service Efficiency Task Force was an advisory group that made a very helpful contribution in taking forward the Government's programme to improve efficiency. It is not possible to ascribe specific financial savings to the work of the task force.
Public Relations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the projects on which his Department collaborates with Headline Communications, indicating how much money has been paid to Headline Communications in the past year. [24577]
Ms Blears: Headline Communications have provided the Department with design services for a variety of projects including:
- Health and Social Care Awards
Association of Healthcare Communicators Conference
NHS Direct
NHS Magazine
NHS Syndication Service
NHS Photo Library
NHS Plan News.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the projects on which his Department collaborates with Atlas PR, indicating how much money has been paid by his Department to Atlas PR in the past year. [24616]
Ms Blears: Atlas PR have provided the Department with a variety of communications services on the following projects:
- NHS Magazine
NHS.uk
Walk in Centres
Patient and Public Information website
Association of Healthcare Communicators Conference
NHS Quality Programme
NHS Plan
NHS syndication service
DH and NHS Corporate Exhibitions and Events
NHS Plan News
NHS Direct
Health and Social Care Awards.
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Mental Health
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met his independent reference group on mental health. [24449]
Jacqui Smith: The last meeting of this group took place on 11 February 1998. My right. hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health has never met with this reference group, however my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), when Under- Secretary of State for Health, met with the group at their last meeting on the 11 February 1998. The independent reference group discontinued its work in 1998
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the Secretary of State for Education in order to discuss the training for state schools in the skills and knowledge to ensure children have access to early assessment and support in relation to mental health. [24687]
Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 8 January 2002]: My right hon. Friend has not met with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to discuss this topic. We recognise the importance of promoting children's mental health and emotional well-being and the importance of working together to promote this.
We have an on-going commitment to the improvement of child mental health and it will be an important part of the Children's National Service Framework. We shall be working closely with the Department for Education and Skills when developing the mental health module of the framework. This is a major development and will safeguard the quality of child mental health services.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Government expects to publish its strategy for women's mental health. [28288]
Jacqui Smith: [holding answer 18 January 2002]: The Department will publish the women's mental health consultation document in the spring and, after a period of consultation, will publish the strategy implementation document in the autumn.
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