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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what regulatory exemptions from the Care
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Standards Act 2000 are available to operators of simple hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the community who are registered charities. [37605]
Jacqui Smith: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
There are no exemptions from regulation under the Care Standards Act for operators of simple hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers who are registered charities. However, the standards for hyperbaric facilities for therapeutic use are considerably fewer than for those used to treat patients with acute medical conditions, and proportionate to their simpler operation.
Northwood and Pinner Community Hospital
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 112W, what progress has been made on the modernisation of Northwood and Pinner community hospital; and if he will make a statement. [39324]
Mr. Hutton: The Hillingdon modernisation review began in the autumn of 2001. Its purpose is to set the strategic context for the longer term development of Hillingdon health and social care services, including the estate and facilities required to deliver these services. Proposals for the future of Northwood and Pinner community hospital will emerge from the strategic plans currently being drawn up for the development of the Hillingdon hospital infrastructure and services, and will take account of the needs of Harrow residents. The proposals are being developed to support the priorities identified within the local modernisation review.
NHS Concordat
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 6 February 2002, Official Report, column 1047, on the NHS Concordat, how many patients have been treated under the NHS Concordat by each health authority area. [37279]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 4 March 2002]: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North, and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
This information is not available centrally.
Residential and Nursing Homes
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the definition of registered used for a (a) residential and (b) nursing home. [41438]
Jacqui Smith: The definition under the Registered Homes Act 1984, Part I for the registration of a care homes is:
- "any establishment which provides or is intended to provide, whether for reward or not, residential accommodation with both board and personal care",
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Under the Care Standards Act (CSA) 2000, the definition of a care home or nursing home for registration is as follows:
- an establishment is a care home if it provides accommodation, together with nursing or personal care:
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health where new (a) nursing and (b) residential homes have been registered in each of the last three years. [41437]
Jacqui Smith: Details of the number of new homes registered are available for 1998–99 and 1999–2000. These are in the publications for 1998–99 and 1999–2000 entitled 'Activity, workload and resources of Local Authority, Health Authority and Joint Inspection Units: summary results of a survey in England'. Copies of the publications are in the Library and on the website at: http:// www.doh.gov.uk/public/regandinspect.htm for 1998–99 and http://www.doh.gov.uk/public/regandinspect2.htm and http://www.doh.gov.uk/public/regandinspect3.htm for 1999–2000.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which bed and breakfast accommodation has been utilised in place of residential or nursing home beds in the last 12 months; [41435]
- (2) how many local authorities have utilised bed and breakfast accommodation for (a) residential and (b) nursing home facilities in the last 12 months. [41436]
Jacqui Smith: I am not aware of any cases where local authorities have used bed and breakfast accommodation in place of either residential or nursing home care during the past 12 months.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what the average time taken is (a) to draft an answer for submission to a Minister for approval, (b) for the Minister to approve and (c) from approval to providing the answer to the hon. Member, for parliamentary questions tabled since June 2001. [41775]
Mr. Milburn: I regret that this information cannot be provided because the record management database, from which it would be drawn, is currently not reliable for the reasons set out in the answer to which the hon. Member refers.
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Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what evidence he has of the systematic falsification in recording the handling of parliamentary questions in his Department. [41774]
Mr. Milburn: There is evidence that the record management database used in the Parliamentary Section has been falsified—apparently deliberately—to show answers as having been dealt with when they had not.
This is the subject of the investigation now under way. I will report to the House on the outcome of the investigation as soon as possible.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what systems his Department uses to monitor the number of unanswered parliamentary questions. [41777]
Mr. Milburn: The record management database in the Department's Parliamentary section provides this information and has been used to monitor progress on outstanding questions.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, what form his investigation into the systematic falsification of records in his Department will take; when he expects to complete the investigation; how much the investigation will cost; and if he will place a copy of the report in the Library when the investigation has been completed. [41779]
Mr. Milburn: The investigation is being carried out under the personal supervision of the Department's Director of Corporate Affairs; and it will report to the Permanent Secretary. The aim of the investigation is to establish the facts about what appears to be the systematic falsification of the record management system in the parliamentary section and to ensure that the necessary remedial action is taken. I have undertaken to report to Parliament on the outcome of the investigation; and I will do this as quickly and as fully as possible, subject to the need to avoid prejudicing any disciplinary proceedings. It is too early to give an estimate of the cost of the investigation.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128 on parliamentary questions, if he will break down by political party, the number of questions that were systematically recorded as being answered but were not. [41778]
Mr. Milburn: A total of 214 parliamentary questions were found to be falsely recorded on the Department's record management database as having been answered when they had not. These were broken down by political party as follows.
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| Conservative | 86 |
| Labour | 71 |
| Liberal Democrat | 45 |
| Scottish Nationalist | 10 |
| Plaid Cymru | 2 |
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), of 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, when he first was informed of the evidence suggesting systematic falsification in recording the handling of parliamentary questions. [41696]
Mr. Milburn: I was first informed of this on 28 February, following which a full audit of outstanding questions was carried out. This provided the basis for the answer to which the hon. Member refers.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, how many extra civil servants he has drafted into the Department's parliamentary section to reduce the backlog of unanswered parliamentary questions; and what he estimates the additional costs to his Department will be. [41776]
Mr. Milburn: To meet the commitment to aim to deal with all outstanding questions due for reply before 14 February by 12 March, three extra staff have been redeployed to the Parliamentary Section. The section is also receiving additional support from other areas of the Private Office. This involves re-prioritising work, rather than incurring additional overall costs, except for the additional cost of paying for a temporary replacement for the suspended member of staff which it is too early yet to estimate.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2000 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), Official Report, column 275W, ref 41128, on parliamentary questions, if he will list the roles and responsibilities of the civil servant who has been suspended in his Department. [41781]
Mr. Milburn: The individual concerned works in the Parliamentary Section of the Department. It would be inappropriate to give further details which might identify the individual, as departmental disciplinary procedures are being followed.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to answer questions numbers (a) 9513, (b) 17418, (c) 16461, (d) 13966, (e) 13780, (f) 12020, (g) 10511, (h) 13967, (i) 13968, (j) 13853, (k) 13856 and (l) 14110. [41971]
Mr. Milburn: The aim is to reply to all these questions by 12 March.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how Ministers in his Department ensure that answers to parliamentary questions are given as speedily as possible. [42273]
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Mr. Milburn: Ministers and officials throughout the Department are committed to providing speedy answers to questions and respecting the tight timetables this involves.
There are departmental procedures which provide for advice to be submitted to Ministers within a set timetable and for regular monitoring of the process of answering questions at all stages.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place in his Department to pursue answers to parliamentary questions which have not been given a substantive reply by a named day. [42203]
Mr. Milburn: This information is derived from the record management database in the Parliamentary Section and follow-up action is pursued by staff in the section.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many officials in his Department are involved in answering parliamentary questions; and how subject responsibilities are allocated among those staff. [42201]
Mr. Milburn: Questions are assigned to the official dealing with the subject area raised. As this can involve officials across the whole Department, it is not possible to give a reliable estimate either of the potential number involved or the number involved at any one time.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how Ministers in his Department check the appropriateness of their answers to parliamentary questions; [42272]
- (2) what are the procedures followed by Ministers for signing off answers to parliamentary questions. [42274]
Mr. Milburn: The procedure is for the answers to all parliamentary questions to be approved by a Minister. If Ministers are not satisfied with the advice on the reply, they will seek further advice.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the official in his Department suspended for alleged falsification of recording answers to parliamentary questions was suspended; if he will name him; and what grade his post is. [42275]
Mr. Milburn: The official was suspended on 28 February. It would not be appropriate to name the official, who works in the Department's Parliamentary Section, or to provide further details which could identify the person concerned, as departmental disciplinary procedures are being followed.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the procedures within his Department for (a) registering parliamentary questions when received in the parliamentary unit, (b) monitoring the progress made in answering them and (c) registering that they have been answered. [42207]
Mr. Milburn: Action on the different stages in the process of handling parliamentary questions is recorded on a database in the parliamentary section, including when they are received and when they have been answered. The database is used to monitor the progress of outstanding questions.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department monitors the time it takes to answer parliamentary questions. [42200]
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Mr. Milburn: The record management system in the Department's parliamentary section provides this information and has been used to support monitoring of the handling of parliamentary questions.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions have been (a) answered and (b) unanswered in each month the House has been sitting since July 2001. [41780]
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions have been answered by his Department since 7 June 2001 by each of the Ministers responsible; and how many are awaiting answer. [42202]
Mr. Milburn: I regret that the information is not readily available in the form requested because the record management database from which it would be drawn is currently not reliable, for the reasons set out in the reply that I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
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