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Data Protection Act
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of each version of the internal guidance which have been drawn up by his Department since 1 January 1999 to assist staff in his Department to answer subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998. [53356]
Ms Blears: Guidance on data protection and how to handle subject access requests has been available to staff in the Department since January 2000 on the Department's intranet site. The guidance has been regularly updated to reflect changes in organisation or legislation. The three versions, dated 22 December 1999, 24 September 2001 and 6 March 2002 will be placed in the Library as requested.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will answer the question tabled by the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith on 11 January, regarding the potential risks to health caused by the chemical treatment of Christmas trees. [54869]
Ms Blears: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Miss Melanie Johnson) replied to my hon. Friend on 13 May at column 499W.
Quality Protects
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the outcome is of the evaluation of the Quality Protects management action plans submitted to his Department by local authorities. [56777]
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Jacqui Smith: All local authorities with social service responsibilities submitted their Quality Protects Management Action Plans (MAPs) to the Department of Health by the end of January. The Social Services Inspectorate has now completed its evaluation of the MAPs and I have considered their findings. The MAPs from all 150 local councils have reached an acceptable standard. Therefore, subject to Parliamentary approval of the special grant report, they will receive payment of their allocation of the children's services grant from 2001–02.
Pesticides
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the link between pesticide exposure and Parkinson's Disease. [56016]
Jacqui Smith: The advisory committee on pesticides has recently considered a review of the literature relating to epidemiological studies on Parkinson's Disease and pesticides, and also experiment studies in animals exploring the potential of pesticides to induce the disease. The committee agreed that a more detailed specialist assessment of the epidemiology should be carried out. The pesticides safety directorate is currently exploring ways to take this recommendation forward.
Expenditure (NHS Bodies)
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what cash releasing efficiency savings NHS trusts and primary care trusts are required to achieve in 2002–03. [56288]
Mr. Hutton: The target for efficiency savings in the National Health Service in 2002–03 is 2 per cent.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the cash releasing efficiency savings achieved by (a) NHS trusts and (b) other NHS bodies, (i) in monetary terms and (ii) expressed as a percentage of the annual expenditure of those bodies on the basis of the information currently available to his Department in respect of 2001–01. [56289]
Mr. Hutton: Allocations to health authorities are based on an overall assessment of the resources required to cover inflationary pressures and deliver national targets. Allocations to health authorities 2001–02 were made net of 2 per cent. efficiency savings (equivalent to around £800 million). This means that health authorities needed to achieve the efficiency target to fully fund delivery of national targets and inflation. It is not possible to separately identify the savings made by national health service trusts.
Mental Health (Young People)
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to discuss the promotion of mental health in schools; and if he will make a statement. [56321]
Jacqui Smith: Ministers in the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills have many regular meetings and child mental health services are
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raised at many of these meetings. Officials of both Departments meet frequently to discuss multi-agency mental health services for children.
The promotion of children's mental health and the prevention of mental health problems in childhood are central to many Government programmes. The Department for Education and Skills issued guidance last year specifically addressing mental health promotion in schools, to which this Department contributed. This guidance is designed to increase awareness about children's mental health among teachers and to provide examples of good practice.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the need to amend legislation on mental health in order to implement United Kingdom obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and if he will make a statement. [56320]
Jacqui Smith: The Government published the White Paper "Reforming the Mental Health Act" in December 2000. The White Paper made clear our intention to reform mental health legislation and to bring it into line with the contemporary patterns of care and treatment including the changes and new investment set out in the NHS plan. This included commitment to introduce additional measures to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people with mental health problems where current safeguards are not considered to be sufficiently robust.
This is a high priority for the Government. New legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Correspondence
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the letter from the hon. Member for Twickenham regarding Mr. Peter Whitbread of 19 April 2001 has not received a reply. [44796]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 19 March 2002]: I have now replied to the hon. Member and apologise for the unacceptable delay. His letter of 19 April 2001 was unfortunately misplaced.
Performance Targets
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what trend data are available to measure progress against the PSA target for a reduction in serious accidental injury relating to admission to hospital. [47300]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The White Paper 'Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation' published in 1999 set a target of a 10 per cent. reduction by 2010 against a baseline of the age standardised hospital admission rate for the financial year 1995–96.
Data to monitor the Public Service Agreement target to reduce the rate of hospital admission for serious accidental injury 1 are obtained from information held in the Department's Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) system, which contains details of patients admitted to and treated in NHS hospitals in England. Data are for England.
The trend data are as follows.
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| Financial year | per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 314.4 |
| 1996–97 | 315.6 |
| 1997–98 | 310.6 |
| 1998–99 | 315.2 |
| 1999–2000(26) | 320.9 |
(25) Serious accidental injury is defined as an accidental injury resulting in a hospital inpatient stay exceeding three days.
(26) The 1999–2000 figure is provisional
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what trend data are available to measure progress against the PSA target for a reduction in the death rate from accidents. [47301]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The White Paper 'Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation' set a target of a 20 per cent. reduction by 2010 against a baseline of the average age standardised mortality rate for the three years 1995–96–97.
Data to monitor the Public Service Agreement target to reduce the death rate from accidents and adverse effects are obtained from mortality data published by the Office for National Statistics. Data are for England.
The trend data are as follows:
| Period | mortality rate per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 to 97 | 16.24 |
| 1996–97 to 98 | 16.36 |
| 1997–98 to 99 | 16.39 |
| 1998–99 to 2000 | 16.33 |
Intensive Care Baby Incubators
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive care baby incubators are available for use in the NHS. [46689]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Information on the total number of incubators in the national health service is not collected centrally. As at 31 March 2001, there was 1194 specialist neonatal intensive care cots available for use in the NHS.
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