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Birth Statistics

Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the Government have a mechanism to monitor the number of babies born to mothers (a) with alcohol problems and (b) who abuse illegal drugs. [51826]

Ms Blears: The Department has no central mechanism to record the numbers of babies born to mothers who misuse alcohol or illegal drugs, although the numbers are likely to be small. Information from the infant feeding study 1995 indicated that only 1 per cent. of pregnant women drank more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

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Information about any problems with drug or alcohol misuse can be noted on a mother's medical records, and health professionals will encourage the mother to seek help to address their substance misuse problems both before and after the birth.

Parliamentary Questions

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to reply to the question tabled on 6 March, ref 41373, by the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden. [51815]

Jacqui Smith: The question was replied to on 25 April 2002, Official Report, column 455W.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) on 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 756W, on parliamentary questions, how much the investigation cost; what the Civil Service grade was of the civil servant who headed the investigation; how many civil servants were involved in the investigation; whether external consultants were involved in the investigation; and how many civil servants from other Departments were seconded to the investigation. [53324]

Ms Blears [holding answer 29 April 2002]: The investigation was carried out under the personal supervision of the Department's Director of Corporate Affairs and reported to the Permanent Secretary.

It was headed by a Senior Civil Servant supported by two other civil servants from the Department of Health.

No additional costs were incurred as these staff were temporarily redeployed on to these duties.

No external consultants were involved or any civil servants from other departments.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken to improve the answering of written parliamentary questions by his Department since 1 November 2001. [52271]

Ms Blears [holding answer 25 April 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Mr. Milburn) gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) on 25 March 2002, Official Report, columns 756–59W.

Social Services SSA

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the process that was used to calculate the increase in social services SSA for (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02. [52277]

Jacqui Smith: The increase in social services standard spending assessment for 2000–01 and 2001–02 were arrived at as a result of the 1998 comprehensive spending review. That review looked at the pressures facing social services departments at that time and the level of spending that the Government could make available.

Intermediate Care

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what systems of evaluation are in place to monitor the quality of provision of (a) pre-admission and (b) rehabilitation services of intermediate care. [52278]

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Jacqui Smith: Arrangements for monitoring and evaluating local intermediate care services were set out in the Department of Health circular "Intermediate Care" (health service circular 2001:01: local authority circular (2001)/01), published on 19 January 2001. A copy is in the Library.

Since the circular was published, research into intermediate care has been commissioned, and there is a growing body of evidence from local evaluations. The Commission for Health Improvement, Social Services Inspectorate, and the National Care Standards Commission (and their successor bodies, announced in "Delivering the NHS Plan") all have a role in evaluating the quality of intermediate care services in various settings. The Department collects data on rates of hospital admission, re-admission and delayed transfers of care, which help to measure the impact of intermediate care services.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much additional funding has been invested in intermediate care services since 28 March 2000. [52689]

Jacqui Smith: The NHS Plan announced extra investment of £900 million annually by 2003–04 for intermediate care and related services to promote independence. Of this, around £255 million was earmarked specifically for national health service investment in intermediate care. This is in addition to £150 million made available recurrently from 2000–01. Full details are in the intermediate care circular health service circular 2001–01:LAC (2001)1 published in January last year, a copy of which is in the Library.

Additionally, a one-off allocation of £63 million was announced in August 2000 to help expand capacity for the 2000–01 winter. This included investment in intermediate and transitional care to tackle delayed discharges and initiatives for recruitment and retention of key staff.

NHS Plan

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the (a) targets and (b) policies contained in the NHS Plan have been costed. [52276]

Mr. Hutton: The funding made available in spending review 2000 was sufficient to deliver the targets and policies up to and including the current financial year, and the funding recently announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be sufficient to deliver the policies and targets up to 2007–08.

Health Care Provision (Cheltenham)

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what effect the Budget of 17 April will have on the provision of health care in Cheltenham. [52939]

Mr. Hutton: As a result of the Budget, the national health service in England will receive an annual average real terms growth in resources of 7.4 per cent. for the five years from 2003–04 to 2007–08. Local allocations to primary care trusts will be announced later this year.

Organ Donation

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are registered as organ donors. [52453]

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Jacqui Smith: There are currently 9.166 million people registered on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Lung Cancer

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when a decision will be made on whether a pilot trial of spiral CT scanning as a screening test for lung cancer will be undertaken; [53533]

(2) if he will make funding available for a pilot study of spiral CT scanning as a screening test for lung cancer. [53531]

Yvette Cooper: The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is funded through the Department of Trade and Industry, is currently considering a proposal for the pilot trial of lung cancer screening using spiral computed tomography. The MRC expects to make a decision on funding at the council meeting in July.

Food Supplements

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential impact that a low maximum permitted level for nutrients in food supplements would have on (a) the viability of United Kingdom specialist food manufacturers and (b) consumer choice in the UK for food supplement products. [53431]

Yvette Cooper: Setting unnecessarily low maximum permitted levels for nutrients in food supplements is likely to have a detrimental impact on the viability of the United Kingdom's specialist food manufacturers and on UK consumer choice. Throughout negotiations the Food Standards Agency has insisted on sound scientific assessment of safety as the principal criterion for setting limits and will continue to do so.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the criteria for setting the upper safe level of intake of vitamins and minerals under review by the EU Scientific Committee for Foods. [53429]

Yvette Cooper: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that they would advise as suitable, criteria adopted by the expert group on vitamins and mineral (EVM), which is based on the risk analysis model developed by the food and agriculture organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. Details of this are set out in the expert group paper: "Risk Analysis in Food Safety: recent development and the respective roles of risk assessment, risk management and risk communication" (EVM/99/10/P), copies of which are available in the Library, and on the FSA's website: www.food.gov.uk. This process takes into account all relevant evidence including that from the peer reviewed human and animal studies.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure minimal cost and disruption to (a) consumers, (b) retailers and (c) manufacturers of food supplements resulting from the adoption of the European food supplements directive into UK law. [53433]

Yvette Cooper: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) argued strongly in negotiations for a safety-based approach to this directive (rather than the more restrictive approach favoured by some other member states) in order to minimise the impact on United Kingdom consumer choice and UK businesses. The FSA is now directing its

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energies towards arguing the case for maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in supplements to be based on thorough scientific risk assessment and forging strong links between the European Union Scientific committee on food and an expert group that it has set up to advise on acceptable levels.

The proposed directive will not immediately outlaw any products already on the UK market. Lists of permitted vitamin and mineral sources remain open pending a continuous programme of safety assessments. We intend, when implementing the directive, to take full advantage of the flexibility the UK has secured for member states to allow continued sale of products containing vitamin and mineral sources not yet on the permitted lists for up to seven years after the directive comes into force.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the timetable for the publication of the final versions of the forthcoming report from the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals; and how he plans to take the findings of that report into account when responding to the EU Scientific Committee for Foods' assessment of the Upper Safe Level (USL) of intake of all vitamins and minerals. [53428]

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) on 8 January 2002, Official Report, column 626W.

Consultation on the report is now expected to take place in August 2002. This is to allow extra time for the group to complete risk assessments on all of the vitamins and minerals covered by the review.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential impact that the preparation of dossiers for submission to the EC Scientific Committee for Foods for the inclusion of additional substances in the annexes to the food supplements directive will have on (a) the costs and (b) the viability of the relevant manufacturers and retailers. [53432]

Yvette Cooper: During negotiations on this directive the Food Standards Agency consulted widely on its possible impacts among United Kingdom interest groups. Initial estimates from industry suggest that the costs of preparing safety dossiers in support of ingredients not on the positive lists in the annexes to the directive lie between £80,000 and £250,000 per dossier.

Any impact of the directive on the relevant manufacturers and retailers will depend upon future developments on the lists of permitted nutrients and maximum permitted levels in food supplements.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) discussions his Department has had with and (b) submissions his Department has made to the European Commission with regard to the implementation of the European food supplements directive, with particular reference to the upper safe level of intake of vitamins and minerals. [53430]

Yvette Cooper: Throughout negotiations on this directive the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has had intensive discussions with the European Commission to ensure that upper safe levels of intake of vitamins and minerals set are not unduly restrictive but are based on sound scientific assessment of safety.

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In order to continue this work, the FSA is now directing its energies towards forging strong links between the European Union scientific committee on food (which will advise the commission and member states on upper safe levels) and the United Kingdom's own expert group on vitamins and minerals.

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