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Special Needs
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what types of specific (a) handicap and (b) special needs are defined as constituting special needs; and how many children there are with each specific type of handicap. [58930]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The guidance contained in the new SEN Code of Practice, which came into force in January 2002, does not assume that there are hard and fast categories of special educational need. It recognises that each child is unique and the questions asked by LEAs should recognise that there is a wide spectrum of special educational needs that are frequently inter-related, although there are also specific needs that usually relate directly to particular types of impairment. Children will have needs and requirements which may fall into at least one of four areas, and many children will have inter- related needs. The impact of these combinations on the child's ability to function, learn and succeed should be taken into account. The areas of need are: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; behaviour, emotional and social development and sensory and/or physical.
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Information on numbers of children with specific types of handicap is not available centrally. The Department is considering introducing a requirement for schools and local education authorities to provide this information from 2004.
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children with special educational needs there are at each of stages one to four of the Code of Practice. [58925]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information is not collected in the form requested. Information on the stages of SEN was collected for the first time in January 2002 but in line with the new SEN Code of Practice which replaced the categorisation of SEN into stages 1–5.
The number of SEN pupils without statements in maintained primary schools in England was 865,140 (or 19.8 per cent of pupils on roll) and 536,810 (or 16.5 per cent of pupils on roll) in maintained secondary schools in January 2002.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have been statemented in Gloucestershire in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [60113]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Year | Total pupils | Number of pupils with statements of SEN |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 75,244 | 1,476 |
| 1993 | 76,873 | 1,756 |
| 1994 | 78,447 | 2,114 |
| 1995 | 80,267 | 2,240 |
| 1996 | 81,527 | 2,431 |
| 1997 | 82,630 | 2,480 |
| 1998 | 83,496 | 2,472 |
| 1999 | 84,586 | 2,487 |
| 2000 | 85,407 | 2,623 |
| 2001(81) | 85,695 | 2,561 |
| 2002(82) | 85,972 | 2,343 |
(79) Includes maintained primary and secondary and maintained and non-maintained special schools.
(80) Pupils attending schools within Gloucestershire LEA.
(81) Information submitted by some schools in January 2001 was known to be incomplete and estimates were made at national and regional level to allow for this. Figures shown for Gloucestershire LEA are, however, not adjusted and are as reported to the Department.
(82) Provisional.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children with statements of special educational need were taught in (a) maintained special schools and (b) other maintained schools in each of the last five years, broken down by local education authority. [58926]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: A table showing the available information has been placed in the House of Commons Library.
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Class Sizes
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size was in (a) schools and (b) secondary schools broken down by school year and local education authority in each year since 1997. [47481]
Mr. Miliband [holding answer 10 April 2002]: A table showing the available information has been placed in the Library.
HEALTH
NHS Finance
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from health authorities, PCTs and NHS trusts about the obligation to fund NICE-approved treatments. [45932]
Ms Blears [holding answer 25 March 2002]: According to the Department's records we have received no formal representations from health authorities, primary care trusts and national health service trusts about the statutory requirements to fund treatments recommended by National Institute of Clinical Excellence.
NHS Costs
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the percentage changes in (a) all NHS costs and (b) NHS drugs costs in each of the past five years. [54017]
Ms Blears: The table sets out the percentage increases in the last five years for national health service drugs expenditure and total net NHS expenditure.
| Expenditure | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FHS drugs | HCHS drugs | Total NHS drugs | Total net NHS | |
| 1997–98 | 8.2 | 13.2 | 9.3 | 5.1 |
| 1998–99 | 6.2 | 11.3 | 7.3 | 5.6 |
| 1999–2000 | 11.4 | 13.0 | 11.7 | 8.9 |
| 2000–01 | 6.8 | 11.8 | 7.9 | 9.7 |
| 2001–02 | (83)— | (83)— | (83)— | 12.0 |
(83) Not available
Dental Amalgam
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will commission research to ascertain whether the kinetics of mercury determined from occupational studies are applicable to patients with dental amalgam restorations; [48831]
- (2) if he will commission research to assess the likelihood of harm to pregnant women and their babies from dental amalgam fillings during pregnancy. [48830]
Ms Blears: The 1998 European Union expert report concluded that currently available data indicate that mercury from dental amalgam restorations will not cause an unacceptable health risk to the general population. There is little evidence that an unacceptable health risk is associated with occupational exposure of dental personnel providing due care is used in the preparation and handling
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of dental amalgam. The same report also concluded that there is no scientific evidence that the use of dental amalgam is related to adverse effects on pre and post-natal health or fertility. There are therefore no plans to commission further research into amalgam safety. However, it remains the Department's advice that dentists should continue to avoid or delay any dental intervention or medication during pregnancy.
NHS Dentistry
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the population of England was registered with an NHS dentist in each year since 1992, broken down by (a) region and (b) health authority. [56247]
Ms Blears: Arrangements are now in place to ensure that patients can gain access to national health service services simply by calling NHS Direct. This means that even if a patient chooses not to register with a dentist it will still be possible for that patient to access all forms of dentistry that are provided by the NHS.
The following information has been placed in the Library:
The percentage of the population registered with a general dental service (GDS) dentist by regional health authority is shown in table 1 for England at 30 September 1992 to 1995.
The percentage of population registered with a GDS dentist by regional office is shown in table 2 for England at 30 September for each year since 1996.
The percentage of population registered with a GDS dentist by family health service authority is shown in table 3 for England at 30 September 1992 to 30 September 1995.
The percentage of population registered with a GDS dentist by health authority is shown in table 4 for England at 30 September for each year since 1996.
Registrations were first introduced in October 1990. From September 1996, the registration period was changed from 24 months to 15 months for adults, and from 12 months to 15 months for children. As a result of this, data held on registration numbers after 1997 are not comparable to earlier years. The data may also be affected by gradual improvements in the methods used for the removal of duplicate registration records, which were first employed by the dental practice board in 1993.
Some patients choose not to register, and can be seen under occasional treatment arrangements, which were introduced last year.
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are per head of population in (a) Boston and Skegness, (b) Lincolnshire and (c) each other English county. [56150]
Ms Blears: The total number of national health service dentists per 10,000 population in England at 30 September 2001 is shown in the table for each health authority.
The number of NHS dentists in Boston and Skegness, Lincolnshire county and by English county is not available.
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The number of NHS dentists includes general dental service (GDS) dentists, dentists working in the salaried services of the GDS, hospital and community dentists and personal dental service (PDS) dentists. The figures are on a headcount basis rather than whole time equivalent (wte) and take no account of part-time working.
Dentists working in more than one dental service are included in each service apart from dentists working in both PDS and GDS who are counted in the GDS only.
Dentists working solely in private dentistry are not covered in these figures.
(84) ONS 2000 mid year population estimates based on the 1991 census
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are per head of population in (a) the Chesham and Amersham constituency, (b) Buckinghamshire and (c) each other English county. [57993]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not collected in the form requested but by health authority (HA), many of which are coterminous with county boundaries. The total number of national health service dentists per 10,000 in England at 30 September 2001 is shown in the table for each HA.
The number of NHS dentists includes general dental service (GDS) dentists, dentists working in the salaried services of the GDS, hospital and community dentists and personal dental service (PDS) dentists. The figures are on a head count bases rather than whole time equivalent (wte) and take no account of part-time working.
Dentists working in more than one dental service are included in each service apart from dentists working in both PDS and GDS who are counted in the GDS only.
Dentists working solely in private dentistry are not covered in these figures.
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(85) ONS 2000 mid year population estimates based on the 1991 census.
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in the Chesham and Amersham constituency take NHS patients. [57994]
Ms Blears: Data are not collected centrally for the Chesham and Amersham constituency.
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