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NHS Catering

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 451W, what significant and complex issues have been found by the Department with regard to the franchising and tendering of NHS catering. [57025]

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Ms Blears: The national health service is the single biggest organisation in Europe. It is also one of the biggest purchasers of food.

In catering terms, the sheer size and complexity of the NHS are in themselves sufficient to raise significant issues for any examination of a franchise approach to hospital catering.

Added to this must be the need to reflect the views and preferences of a wide range of patients; the variety of size and type of hospitals for example, acute, mental health and community hospitals; staffing issues; issues about purchasing models and value for money; the geographical dispersion of hospitals; the wide range of nutritional needs presented by patients—including diets for cultural, religious and clinical needs; the variety of catering systems currently in use and the impact of European Union requirements.

Hospital Food

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 17 April 2002, Official Report, column 1017W, in what format the results of PEAT evaluations of hospital food will be published. [57092]

Ms Blears: The results of the unannounced inspections of the quality of hospital food will be published at the same time as those of the patient environment assessments undertaken between February and May 2002. The quality of hospital food will be assessed against a 'traffic light' criteria where 'Red' is further improvement needed, 'Amber' acceptable and 'Green' good. The inspections are currently under way and we expect to publish the results shortly.

NHS Menus

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many leading chef dishes are on the new NHS menus; what they are; and how many hospitals have introduced each dish. [56964]

Ms Blears: There is currently a total of 139 leading chef approved dishes in the national dish selector. A full list of the dishes follows. Acute hospitals are required to include at least three of these dishes in their menus each day. No information is collected on which dishes are used by individual hospitals.




















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Health and Safety

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the NHS estate was compliant with fire safety requirements in each of the last five financial years; and what the outstanding cost is of related repairs as of the end of the current financial year. [56944]

Ms Blears: The principal source of information in respect of establishing historic compliance with fire safety requirements is the estates return information collection (ERIC) system where data is returned annually by national health service trusts up to the end of the financial year being reported. Data in respect of non-NHS trust property that form part of the NHS estate (eg health authority offices, primary care groups etc.) are not available.

The most relevant indicator is 'Costs to Achieve Statutory Fire Safety Compliance Standard B (excluding fire safety)'. In this context, condition B is the minimum standard required and is defined in the NHS guidance, estatecode, as meaning buildings which do not have backlog maintenance costs in respect of fire safety deficiencies and which comply with NHS firecode guidance and statutory requirements.

NHS trust accommodation which is currently below condition B standard will include that for which there is work outstanding that is of a relatively low risk but required under statutory legislation. The NHS is always striving to keep up to-date with new legislation and to provide a safe environment for patients, staff and visitors.

Fire safety is a serious issue, which is why we have set targets for the NHS in this area and every effort is made to remedy any concerns expressed by local enforcement bodies as quickly as possible. This is reflected in the extremely small numbers of injuries and deaths arising as a result of fires in NHS hospitals in England despite the high volumes of people who access healthcare premises annually. I have also imposed targets set by HSC 1999/191 to reduce backlog maintenance costs associated with fire safety and to achieve compliance with firecode.

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The following table identifies the percentage of NHS trusts in England, over the five year period 1996–97 to 2000–01, who report having achieved the desired condition B standard having zero backlog maintenance costs associated with fire safety compliance:

Percentage of total to achieve estatecode condition B—fire safety

Year
1996–978.4
1997–989.4
1998–999.8
1999–200011.1
2000–0121.0

These figures demonstrate that the numbers of NHS trusts which comply with the fire code requirement are increasing. Clearly, we can do more, and we are doing so through setting and monitoring the aforementioned targets. In addition, progress is expected to further accelerate as the outcome of the increased major capital investment programme in the NHS reaches fruition.

With regard to the current outstanding cost of repairs, the most recent data available are for the year 2000–01. This shows that the total cost of backlog maintenance for NHS trusts in England to achieve estatecode condition B in respect of fire safety compliance at the end of the fiscal year 2000–01 is £239 million. Planned major capital investment throughout the NHS should see the eradication of a large proportion of this backlog.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the NHS estate was compliant with health and safety requirements at the end of each of the last five financial years; and what the outstanding cost is of repairs as of the end of the current financial year. [56943]

Ms Blears: The principal source of information in respect of establishing historic compliance with health and safety requirements is the estates return information collection (ERIC) system where data are returned annually by national health service trusts up to the end of the financial year being reported. Data in respect of non-NHS trust property that form part of the NHS estate (eg health authority offices, primary care groups etc.) are not available.

The most relevant indicator is 'Costs to Achieve Statutory Health & Safety Compliance Standard B (excluding fire safety)'. In this context, condition B is the minimum standard that NHS trusts are required to meet and is defined in the NHS guidance, estatecode, as meaning buildings which do not have backlog maintenance costs in respect of health and safety deficiencies and which comply with statutory requirements.

NHS trust accommodation which is currently below condition B standards will include that for which there is work outstanding that is of a relatively low risk but required under statutory legislation. The NHS is always striving to keep up to-date with new legislation and to provide a safe environment for patients, staff and visitors.

Health and safety is a serious issue, which is why we have set targets for the NHS in this area and every effort is made to remedy any concerns expressed by local enforcement bodies as quickly as possible. This is reflected in the relatively few numbers of health and safety incidents reported under the mandatory Reporting

10 Jun 2002 : Column 1085W

of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). I have also imposed targets set by HSC 1999–191 to reduce backlog maintenance costs associated with health and safety requirements and to achieve statutory compliance.

The following table shows the percentage of NHS trusts in England, over the five year period 1996–97 to 2000–01, who report having achieved the desired condition B standard:

Percentage of total to achieve estatecode condition B—health and safety

Year
1996–9710.3
1997–989.0
1998–999.6
1999–20007.8
2000–0118.9

These figures demonstrate that the numbers of NHS trusts which comply with the health and safety requirement are increasing despite the continual introduction of new legislation. Clearly, we can do more, and we are doing so through setting and monitoring the aforementioned targets. In addition, progress is expected to further accelerate as the outcome of the increased major capital investment programme in the NHS reaches fruition.

With regard to the current outstanding cost of repairs, the most recent data available are for the year 2000–01. This shows that the total cost of backlog maintenance for NHS trusts in England to achieve estatecode condition B in respect of statutory health and safety compliance at the end of the fiscal year 2000–01 is £355 million. Planned major capital investment throughout the NHS should see the eradication of a large proportion of this backlog.

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