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Abortion

Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department has taken in response to the audit of abortion services in 1999 by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; and if he will make a statement. [43329]

Yvette Cooper: The audit of abortion services funded by the Department provided valuable baseline data on abortion services prior to the publication of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' (RCOG) Evidence Based Guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion.

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The audit found good awareness of and compliance with the RCOG guidelines available at the time and the report informed the development of the our sexual health and HIV strategy, which was issued for consultation in July 2001. The strategy recommends that services should be developed in line with the Royal College's guidelines ensuring that women meeting the legal requirements for an abortion are referred without delay. In addition, we have set a target in the strategy that from 2005, commissioners should ensure that women who meet the legal requirements have access to an abortion within 3 weeks of their first appointment with their general practioner or other referring doctor.

An action plan setting out how the strategy will be implemented will be published in the spring. The audit data will help us monitor progress in improving services.

Suicide

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the research commissioned by him in the last five years on (a) suicide, (b) assisted suicide and (c) voluntary euthanasia, with special reference to practice in European jurisdictions. [43321]

Ms Blears: The Department commissioned a research project on suicide in high risk occupational groups, conducted by Professor Keith Hawton and colleagues at the centre for suicide research, University of Oxford. The project was funded over the period 1 December 1993 to 30 June 2000.

In addition, the Department funds the national confidential inquiry into suicides and homicides by people with mental illness to ensure that everyone involved with mental health services learns and implements lessons from the factors associated with serious incidents. The inquiry, led by Professor Louis Appleby, is crucial to gaining a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding homicides and suicides committed by people with mental illness.

Safety First, the 5 year report on suicide and homicide by psychiatric patients, builds on Professor Appleby's earlier report "Safer Services" published in 1999. The Department is committed to taking necessary action in response to the findings of the Inquiry. We have already published the national service framework for mental health and national plan which specifically address a number of the recommendations out lined in the earlier report. The key findings and further recommendations outlined in Safety First will be given full consideration and will help to inform the national suicide prevention strategy that we are currently developing.

In addition, the Department has funded:


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In addition the NHS funds the following projects:


Hospital Beds

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital bed places have been created in (a) England and (b) Coventry since 1997. [43526]

Mr. Hutton: Annual information on the average daily number of available and occupied beds for England, regional office areas and each NHS trust is on the Department of Health web site www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.

NHS Hospitals

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications to register parts of NHS hospitals as town or village greens there have been; when these applications were made; how many applications were successful; how many have been refused by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [43823]

Ms Blears: Applications for the registration of land as a town or village green are made to the appropriate registration authority who would advise Department officials, or the National Health Service trust owner if appropriate, about the application. The Department is aware of seven applications made between 1992 and 2000, three of which were refused by the registration authority concerned, two have been successful and two are outstanding.

These applications are handled by the relevant registration authority. They make the decisions whether they are successful or not.

Care Resources

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what increased resources have been spent in the last year on (a) primary care and (b) secondary care in (i) each English health authority and (ii) England. [43609]

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Mr. Hutton: The increase in primary care and secondary care expenditure for each English health authority and for England, between 1999–2000 and 2000–2001, is shown in the table.

Health authority1999–2000 to 2000–2001
Primary CareSecondary Care
£000£000
Avon10,37366,133
Barking and Havering4,04616,495
Barnet1,48664,112
Barnsley3,31015,551
Bedfordshire10,04021,605
Berkshire6,95542,842
Bexley and Greenwich4,67926,467
Birmingham13,31027,665
Bradford11,7463,470
Brent and Harrow5,703(1,643)
Bromley2,739343
Buckinghamshire11,10339,563
Bury and Rochdale3,43616,530
Calderdale and Kirklees6,21432,030
Cambridgeshire38,67820,253
Camden and Islington6,35479,677
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly10,0579,701
County Durham and Darlington7,69523,001
Coventry3,58419,412
Croydon4,12461,354
Doncaster3,5346,254
Dorset38,408133,761
Dudley2,62015,027
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow6,24546,124
East and North Hertfordshire5,25826,027
East Kent10,31830,717
East Lancashire6,9422,904
East London and The City4,94530,474
East Riding and Hull7,48129,270
East Surrey4,96714,626
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove9,660(3,788)
Enfield and Haringey5,89742,469
Gateshead and South Tyneside3,92520,665
Gloucestershire5,05220,214
Herefordshire2,045(14,484)
Hillingdon3,333(1,282)
Isle of Wight1,9038,390
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster4,58550,144
Kingston and Richmond2,76220,044
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham13,51637,013
Leeds10,49323,345
Leicestershire10,29825,906
Lincolnshire9,78415,479
Liverpool12,38424,234
Manchester10,45524,128
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth9,869(20,754)
Morecambe Bay2,4765,758
Newcastle and North Tyneside4,3031,878
Norfolk9,10324,346
North And East Devon6,27322,433
North and Mid Hampshire5,93039,556
North Cheshire4,3179,311
North Cumbria6,17114,516
North Derbyshire5,57011,458
North Essex26,40441,688
North Nottinghamshire11,5976,547
North Staffordshire11,13317,619
North West Lancashire7,17510,488
North Yorkshire9,09027,029
Northamptonshire3,14924,348
Northumberland(718)4,965
Nottingham10,04633,316
Oxfordshire8,86926,430
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire5,32830,116
Redbridge and Waltham Forest4,50632,521
Rotherham4,1359,834
Salford and Trafford13,41816,505
Sandwell2,62910,899
Sefton5,04187,121
Sheffield5,247367
Shropshire(1,311)13,658
Solihull2,0988,038
Somerset6,12923,294
South and West Devon8,34721,196
South Cheshire6,71021,620
South Essex8,74343,993
South Humber6,090(2,047)
South Lancashire2,39110,284
South Staffordshire5,99021,507
Southampton and South West Hampshire7,13623,504
Southern Derbyshire6,02820,659
St Helens and Knowsley6,05217,754
Stockport3,2625,818
Suffolk7,77427,844
Sunderland2,83824,112
Tees7,39220,740
Wakefield10,30323,669
Walsall3,9393,780
Warwickshire5,20917,493
West Hertfordshire7,15626,648
West Kent6,286(5,853)
West Pennine5,71819,536
West Surrey7,5789,754
West Sussex11,68733,752
Wigan And Bolton7,89934,635
Wiltshire17,3477,237
Wirral4,22611,909
Wolverhampton5,4209,488
Worcestershire7,84032,900
England total729,7802,227,439

Notes:

1. In many health authorities there are factors which distort the expenditure. These include:

the health authority acting in a lead capacity to commission healthcare on behalf of other health bodies;

asset revaluations in NHS Trusts being funded through health authorities;

some double counting of expenditure between health authorities and primary care trusts within the health authority area; and

the calculation is not precise as relevant expenditure in primary care trusts is not analysed completely into the purchase of primary and secondary healthcare. Prescribing services expenditure has been added in to primary health care expenditure but there may be other elements of expenditure which cannot be identified which should be incorporated within the answer.

Expenditure cannot therefore be reliably compared between health authorities.

Allocations provide a much more reliable measure to identify differences between funding of health authorities.

2. Source: Health authority audited summarisation forms 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2000–2001

3. Expenditure is taken from health authority and primary care trust summarisation forms which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the total spent on primary and secondary healthcare by the health authority and by the primary care trusts within each health authority area. The majority of General Dental Services expenditure is not included in the health authority or primary care trust accounts and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board. An element of expenditure on pharmaceutical services is accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority and not by health authorities.

4. Health authorities and primary care trusts should account for their expenditure on a gross basis. This results in an element of double counting where one body acts as the main commissioner and is then reimbursed by other bodies. The effect of this double counting within the answer cannot be identified.

5. Major increases in expenditure and reductions in individual cases can be explained as follows:

The increase in Dorset health authority is due to the majority of expenditure being double counted between the health authority and primary care trusts (£38,408,000 primary, £133,761,000 secondary).

The £87,121,000 increase in secondary care expenditure in Sefton health authority is due mainly to an extra £63million included in its accounts as it was the lead body in the region for mental health secure commissioning in 2000–01.

The reduction in secondary care in Herefordshire is caused by Herefordshire PCT taking over the commissioning of community health services in 2000–01 from the health authority and netting off the expenditure against income, resulting in a £14,484,000 apparent reduction in 2000–01.

The apparent decrease in secondary care expenditure in Merton, Sutton & Wandsworth health authority of £20,754,000 is caused by the treatment of asset revaluations in NHS trusts. The reduction is solely a result of accounting practice agreed with their auditors.

Decreases in secondary care expenditure in Brent and Harrow, East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Hillingdon, South Humber and West Kent health authorities are also caused by the treatment of asset revaluations in NHS trusts.

Decreases in primary care expenditure in Northumberland and Shropshire health authorities in principally due to lower drug costs in 2000–01.


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