House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 17 Apr 2002 (pt 21)

Child Support Agency

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the new CSA rules to come into force for new cases. [47818]

Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 20 March 2002, Official Report, columns 315–16.

Action Teams for Jobs

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in which locations Action Teams for Jobs are in operation. [47926]

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1003W

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The 63 Action Teams for Jobs are in the following locations.

Barnsley and Rotherham

Birmingham North

Birmingham South

Blackburn with Darwen

Blaenau Gwent

Brent

Brighton and Hove

Caerphilly

Chester-le-Street

Cornwall

Doncaster

Dundee, City of

Easington

East Ayrshire

Greenwich

Glasgow Central

Glasgow North

Glasgow South

Glasgow West

Hackney

Halton

Hartlepool

Haringey

Highlands and Islands

Islington

Kingston-upon-Hull

Knowsley

Lambeth

Lewisham

Liverpool Central

Liverpool North

Liverpool South

Manchester Central

Manchester North

Manchester South

Merthyr Tydfil

Middlesbrough

Neath Port Talbot

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Newham

North Lanarkshire

North West Wales

Nottingham, City of

Pembrokeshire

Plymouth

Redcar and Cleveland

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1004W

Rhondda, Cynon, Taff

Salford

Sefton

Sheffield

South Tyneside

Southwark

St. Helens

Stockton-on-Tees

Sunderland

Thanet

Tower Hamlets

Waltham Forest

Wansbeck

West Dunbartonshire

Wales Objective One ¹

Wirral

Wolverhampton

¹ Covers areas of Wales with European Social Fund Objective One status which are not part of another Action Team. Includes selected wards in Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Torfaen and Swansea.

Performance Targets

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what new initiatives his Department has taken in 2001–02 to assist in achieving its Public Service Agreement targets. [47178]

Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 departmental report.

Medical Assessment

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action he is taking to harmonise and disseminate national definitions of disability for statistical and policy purposes. [48815]

Maria Eagle: Different definitions of disability and conditions of entitlement are in use within UK legislation and for relevant schemes and services. There are no plans to seek to harmonise these because they serve different purposes and reflect the fact that disability affects people in many different ways and to greatly differing degrees.

Vocational Rehabilitation

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to enhance input by psychologists into the vocational rehabilitation service. [48820]

Maria Eagle: Jobcentre Plus employs approximately 80 occupational psychologists in its disability service. Their role is partly to help clients with disabilities who have particular problems in finding or keeping suitable employment, and partly to assist the network of disability employment advisers and access to work advisers. The psychologists' work has been reviewed over the past three years. As a result improvements have been introduced, especially to their work with clients who have mental health problems, dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities and with people who have sustained head injuries.

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1005W

Job Retention

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a progress statement on the job retention pilot studies. [48821]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: Nine organisations were funded to develop and test the feasibility of their proposals for the job retention pilot studies during the three months ending on 15 March 2002. The detailed bids are currently being considered, together with a report on the evaluation methodology.

Correspondence

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to reply to the letter dated 4 March from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding his constituent, Mr. Light, of Banffshire. [50072]

Alan Johnson: I have been asked to reply.

I am currently considering the matters raised by the hon. Member as they more appropriately fall within my responsibility and will write to him shortly.

Minimum Income Guarantee

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the rise in the minimum income guarantee has been since 1997 after taking account of inflation. [45913]

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1006W

Mr. McCartney [pursuant to the reply, 10 April 2002, c. 228W]: The minimum income guarantee was introduced in 1999. Since 1999, annual rises in the minimum income guarantee have been linked to earnings. The rises, after taking into account inflation increases and the differences in the premiums paid, are shown in the table.

Percentage increase

Single Couple

April 1997 n/a n/a

April 1998 0.0 0.0

April 1999 4.4 4.5

April 2000 3.0 3.0

April 2001 15.9 13.7

April 2002 4.8 4.9

	Single	Couple
April 1997	n/a	n/a
April 1998	0.0	0.0
April 1999	4.4	4.5
April 2000	3.0	3.0
April 2001	15.9	13.7
April 2002	4.8	4.9

Departmental Projects

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of his Department's projects have received sponsorship since 1997, including (a) details of the sponsor, (b) the nature of the project, (c) the date of the project, (d) the total cost of the project and (e) the amount of money involved in the sponsorship deal. [48400]

Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding answer 11 April 2002]: In line with the Government's commitment in its response to the Sixth report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, details on individual amounts of sponsorship valued at more than £5,000 will be disclosed in Departmental annual reports.

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1007W

HEALTH

Public Services

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings he has had and representations he has received, by date and subject, from Members of the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Executive, regarding the increased use of private sector funding on delivering public services, broken down by date and subject. [43219]

Mr. Hutton: No meetings have been held with Members of the National Assembly for Wales, or the Welsh Assembly Executive, nor representations received

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1008W

from them regarding the increased use of private sector funding on delivering public services.

Advertising

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on advertising by his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will give a breakdown of the largest items of expenditure in each year. [37607]

Ms Blears [holding answer 20 February 2002]: Major advertising campaigns commissioned by the Communications Directorate are in the table as follows.

£ million

1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 ⁽¹⁷⁾2001–02

Nurse and other staff recruitment 1.43 1.30 4.90 4.21 4.90 6.00

Organ and blood donation 0.38 0.62 2.47 ⁽¹⁸⁾0.69 0.43 0.18

Mental health — — — — — 0.18

Smoking cessation — — — ⁽¹⁹⁾6.18 8.97 ⁽²⁰⁾7.79

Anti-fraud — — 0.38 — 0.18 0

Flu immunisation — — — — 2.01 1.45

NHS Direct — 0.12 0.78 1.24 0.28 1.25

Appropriately prescribed medicine (ie antibiotics) — — — 0.91 — 0.44

Others 0.58 — — 2.08 4.20 2.52

Total 2.39 2.04 8.53 15.31 20.97 19.81

	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	⁽¹⁷⁾2001–02
Nurse and other staff recruitment	1.43	1.30	4.90	4.21	4.90	6.00
Organ and blood donation	0.38	0.62	2.47	⁽¹⁸⁾0.69	0.43	0.18
Mental health	—	—	—	—	—	0.18
Smoking cessation	—	—	—	⁽¹⁹⁾6.18	8.97	⁽²⁰⁾7.79
Anti-fraud	—	—	0.38	—	0.18	0
Flu immunisation	—	—	—	—	2.01	1.45
NHS Direct	—	0.12	0.78	1.24	0.28	1.25
Appropriately prescribed medicine (ie antibiotics)	—	—	—	0.91	—	0.44
Others	0.58	—	—	2.08	4.20	2.52
Total	2.39	2.04	8.53	15.31	20.97	19.81

⁽¹⁷⁾ Planned (to be updated).

⁽¹⁸⁾ The Department's spend on blood donation advertising reduced in 1999–2000 because most of this activity was funded directly by the National Blood Authority, who took over full responsibility for this expenditure on 1 April 2000.

⁽¹⁹⁾ Prior to 1999–2000 advertising on smoking was undertaken by the Health Education Authority (HEA).

⁽²⁰⁾ Including Asian specialist press.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the publicity and advertising campaigns run by his Department in each of the last four years, specifying the (a) purpose, (b) cost to public funds, (c) number of staff involved and (d) method of evaluation in each case. [39101]

Ms Blears: I refer the hon. Member to an answer I gave the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) today, which listed, with costs the major advertising campaigns run by the Department for the period in question.

The table shows the purpose and method of evaluation for each campaign.

Campaign and purpose Evaluation

Antibiotics

To encourage the public not to over use antibiotics and thus reduce their effectiveness Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign

Blood donation⁽²¹⁾

To encourage more members of the general public to become blood donors The number of people registering to give blood, calls to the blood donation helpline and amount of blood given

CALM

To promote the CALM mental health helpline to young men on the onset of depression Feedback from regional co-ordinators in the active zones, calls to the helpline, pre and post launch campaign research

Drugs

To publicise services provided by National Drugs Helpline Calls to the helpline monitored

Flu

To advise general public that those at risk (people 65 and over and others suffering from specified illnesses) should see their GP for a free flu jab Returns from health authorities on immunisation take up among the target age group. Pre and post campaign tracking research

Mind Out

Campaign to reduce the stigma associated with all those with mental health problems Quality and quantity of editorial coverage generated; assessment of attitude shifts identified by key campaign partners

NHS including nurse recruitment

To encourage new recruits to apply for training in nursing and other professions in the NHS and those who are qualified and have left to return to the NHS Volume and analysis of helpline response. Pre and post campaign tracking, analysis of volume and quality of recruitment and retention related editorial. Returner recruitment assessed through report from regional offices

NHS Direct

Promotion of 24-hour nurse led health advice telephone service Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and number of calls to helpline

Organ donation

To encourage more people to enlist on the Organ Donor Register Pre and post campaign tracking research of advertising campaign and calls to the Organ Donation Literature Line

Prescription fraud

Advertising, publications and helpline to inform service providers and users about the new penalty charges enforced for fraudulent claims for free or reduced costs of treatment Analysis of helpline response

Preventing teenage pregnancy

National campaign aimed at halving the rate of teenage conceptions among under-18s by 2010 and lower the incidence of STIs among 13 to 18-year-olds Pre and post advertising tracking research, calls to Sexwise helpline and visits to the related websites

Adult sexual health

To decrease the rates of sexually transmitted infections among 18 to 30-year-olds and raise awareness and understanding, providing information so people can make informed choices about their own sexual health Analysis of calls to helpline, visits to related website and some pre and post advertising tracking research

Social work recruitment

National advertising and marketing campaign to encourage applications to be a social worker Volume and analysis of helpline response, qualitative and quantitative analysis of recruitment related editorial generated. In the long term assessment of impact on the number of applications

Smoking⁽²²⁾

To encourage smokers to give up smoking Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and calls to the NHS Smoking Helpline

Walk in centres

To raise awareness of a new health care choice Number of visitors to centres measured constantly to track changes. Patients asked how they found out about the service on arrival at centres. Street poll of 5,000 patients outside four NHS walk in centres to discover views on service conducted 2000–01

Winter

To encourage the general public to make appropriate use of NHS services and other sources of health advice including NHS Direct Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and number of calls to NHS Direct

Campaign and purpose	Evaluation
Antibiotics
To encourage the public not to over use antibiotics and thus reduce their effectiveness	Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign

Blood donation⁽²¹⁾
To encourage more members of the general public to become blood donors	The number of people registering to give blood, calls to the blood donation helpline and amount of blood given

CALM
To promote the CALM mental health helpline to young men on the onset of depression	Feedback from regional co-ordinators in the active zones, calls to the helpline, pre and post launch campaign research

Drugs
To publicise services provided by National Drugs Helpline	Calls to the helpline monitored

Flu
To advise general public that those at risk (people 65 and over and others suffering from specified illnesses) should see their GP for a free flu jab	Returns from health authorities on immunisation take up among the target age group. Pre and post campaign tracking research
Mind Out
Campaign to reduce the stigma associated with all those with mental health problems	Quality and quantity of editorial coverage generated; assessment of attitude shifts identified by key campaign partners

NHS including nurse recruitment
To encourage new recruits to apply for training in nursing and other professions in the NHS and those who are qualified and have left to return to the NHS	Volume and analysis of helpline response. Pre and post campaign tracking, analysis of volume and quality of recruitment and retention related editorial. Returner recruitment assessed through report from regional offices

NHS Direct
Promotion of 24-hour nurse led health advice telephone service	Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and number of calls to helpline

Organ donation
To encourage more people to enlist on the Organ Donor Register	Pre and post campaign tracking research of advertising campaign and calls to the Organ Donation Literature Line

Prescription fraud
Advertising, publications and helpline to inform service providers and users about the new penalty charges enforced for fraudulent claims for free or reduced costs of treatment	Analysis of helpline response

Preventing teenage pregnancy
National campaign aimed at halving the rate of teenage conceptions among under-18s by 2010 and lower the incidence of STIs among 13 to 18-year-olds	Pre and post advertising tracking research, calls to Sexwise helpline and visits to the related websites

Adult sexual health
To decrease the rates of sexually transmitted infections among 18 to 30-year-olds and raise awareness and understanding, providing information so people can make informed choices about their own sexual health	Analysis of calls to helpline, visits to related website and some pre and post advertising tracking research

Social work recruitment
National advertising and marketing campaign to encourage applications to be a social worker	Volume and analysis of helpline response, qualitative and quantitative analysis of recruitment related editorial generated. In the long term assessment of impact on the number of applications

Smoking⁽²²⁾
To encourage smokers to give up smoking	Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and calls to the NHS Smoking Helpline

Walk in centres
To raise awareness of a new health care choice	Number of visitors to centres measured constantly to track changes. Patients asked how they found out about the service on arrival at centres. Street poll of 5,000 patients outside four NHS walk in centres to discover views on service conducted 2000–01

Winter
To encourage the general public to make appropriate use of NHS services and other sources of health advice including NHS Direct	Pre and post tracking research of advertising campaign and number of calls to NHS Direct

⁽²¹⁾ The National Blood Authority (NBA) took over full responsibility of this campaign on 1 April 2000.

⁽²²⁾ Prior to 1999–2000 advertising on smoking was undertaken by the Health Education Authority.

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1009W

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of staff by each individual campaign. However the numbers of staff employed in the project management of advertising campaigns and publicity campaigns on 1 January each year are as follows:

1 January 1999: 15

1 January 2000: 21

1 January 2001: 28 ¹

1 January 2002: 31.

¹ The Department took on direct control for a number of public health campaigns including Smoking Cessation with the closure of the Health Education Authority on 31 March 2000.

17 Apr 2002 : Column 1010W

Next Section

Index

Home Page