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Women's Prison (Ashford)
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress in the negotiations with the private sector to build and operate a women's prison at Ashford, Middlesex. [55038]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 9 May 2002]: The negotiations are continuing in respect of the contract for designing, constructing, managing and financing the new prison at Ashford, Middlesex.
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Prisoners (Former Service Personnel)
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in prison have served in the armed forces, not including national service; and if he will make a statement. [55315]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 May 2002]: We do not hold this information and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Anti-semitism
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes the Metropolitan police have recorded as being anti-semitic (a) in the last four weeks, (b) in the previous three months and (c) in the last year; and if he will make a statement. [54223]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 14 May 2002]: Numbers of anti-semitic crimes are not collected separately by the Home Office.
The Government condemns all acts of anti-semitism in this country. The Government and the police are aware of the concerns of the Jewish community and we have received reports from both the police and community organisations such as the Community Security Trust. We will continue to monitor the situation carefully in co-operation with community organisations.
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HEALTH
Orthodontics
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the waiting times in Essex for orthodontist operations. [41948]
Ms Blears: Patients waiting for orthodontic operations will normally be listed under general surgery or plastic surgery. Waiting times for these specialities are shown in the table.
| Year (December) | Surgery speciality | Total number of patients on waiting list | Number waiting over 15 months | Average (median) waiting time in months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | General | 915 | 12 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | General | 1,360 | 0 | 3.9 |
| 2000 | Plastic | 2,950 | 82 | 3.3 |
| 2001 | Plastic | 3,413 | 25 | 2.9 |
Source:
DH Form KH07
NHS Inspections
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many, and which, NHS organisations were inspected by (a) the Commission for Health Improvement and (b) the Audit Commission in 2001; and if he will make a statement. [46286]
Ms Blears: During 2001, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) began 104 reviews of national health service organisations in England and Wales as part of its routine reviews of local clinical governance arrangements. A list of organisations will be placed in the Library. Further details are also available from the CHI website via www.chi.nhs.uk/eng/cgr/current—rev.shtml
CHI also commenced or was concluding four investigations during 2001, two of which are still ongoing. Further details are available via www.chi.nhs.uk/eng/inv/ current.shtml
All NHS bodies are also subject to an annual audit by auditors appointed by the Audit Commission. This currently includes an audit of performance as well as the traditional financial audit.
Collaboratively, CHI and the Audit Commission published a joint review of the implementation of the Calman-Hine report on cancer services in December 2001. During the course of the review 11 networks, comprising 93 organisations, were visited as study sites. These will be placed in the Library.
We recently announced our intention to introduce legislation to establish a new independent healthcare inspectorate covering both the NHS and the private sector.
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The Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection will bring together the health value for money work of the Audit Commission, the work of CHI and the private healthcare role of the National Care Standards Commission. Legislation to establish this new body will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Waiting Times
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of patients waited less than four hours in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge in the last year; [47836]
- (2) pursuant to his answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 966W, if he will publish the waiting times in A and E since August 2001. [48286]
Ms Blears: Management information shows about 77 per cent. of all patients in England spent less than four hours in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge between September 2001 and March 2002. This information is unvalidated. September is the first month for which full information is available.
Hearing Aids
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will widen the availability of digital hearing aids by making it possible for private individuals to purchase these from the NHS at the price the NHS has paid for them. [47764]
Jacqui Smith: National health service services are provided free at the point of delivery. It is not possible for the NHS to sell digital hearing aids that are provided as part of an NHS service.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the Government's plans regarding the treatment and care of myalgic encephalomyelitis; [48629]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the appointment and work of the Medical Research Council's independent scientific advisory group established to further research in the field of CFS/ME; [48630]
(3) what resources the Government (a) have already made and (b) plan to make available to implement the recommendations of the CFS/ME independent working group's report published on 11 January. [48631]
Ms Blears: The Medical Research Council are in the process of appointing an independent scientific advisory group which will include scientists with expertise in areas such as epidemiology, physiology, immunology, infections, clinical trials and psychological medicine. The advisory group will draw on the working party report and recent expert reviews of the field. It will also take into account the concerns of patients and carers and the interests of consumers generally.
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There are no plans to make extra resources available to implement the chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) independent working group report. It is for primary care trusts in partnership within the local health economy and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to provide services for their local populations, including those patients with CFS/ME.
The Government response to the working group's report welcomed the publication of the report. We see it as the start of a process of improving awareness and understanding that we hope will lead to improved diagnosis, management and treatment.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Lancaster Moor Hospital for the Bay Community NHS Trust by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative. [49517]
Jacqui Smith: The information concerning the former Lancaster Priority Services NHS Trust in relation to the development of the Lancaster Moor Hospital is shown in the table:
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| PFI | 11,702 |
| Public | 12,602 |
| Savings in net present value terms | 900 |
| Difference (percentage) | 7.1 |
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Mancunian Community Trust—Primary Care for the Mancunian NHS Trust by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative. [49528]
Jacqui Smith: The information concerning the former Mancunian Community NHS Trust in relation to the development of the Primary Care Resource Centre is shown in the table:
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| PFI | 3,724 |
| Public | 3,968 |
| Savings in net present value terms | 244 |
| Difference (percentage) | 6.15 |
Smallpox
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what scientific assessments he has carried out of the differences between the Lister and New York strains of the smallpox vaccine. [50896]
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Mr. Hutton: The choice of smallpox vaccine strain took into account expert advice, under the auspices of a specially convened sub-group of the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI).
The advice of the JCVI sub-group was that there was no difference between the two strains on scientific grounds. Vaccines based on both strains were considered to have been effective in the past.
However, the JCVI sub-group concluded that there is a greater body of evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of the Lister strain rather than for the New York City Board of Health strain, and that the smallpox vaccine has been challenged in the field more often by the more severe form of smallpox "variola major" with the strain chosen by the UK Government. The JCVI sub-group also recommended that using a different strain of vaccine from that used in the United States offered the greatest safeguard if difficulties arose with the production of either strain ensuring that the alternative strain could act as a fall-back.
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