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Countryside, Liberty and Livelihood March

Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister if he will meet the Countryside, Liberty and Livelihood march on London on 22 September. [63924]

The Prime Minister: I have no plans to do so.

Gibraltar

Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister what visits he has made to Gibraltar since June 1997; and what the purpose of each visit was. [63923]

The Prime Minister: I have not visited Gibraltar since June 1997. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited on 3 May 2002.

Falkland Islands

Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister how many times in the last five years he has visited the Falkland Islands; and what plans he has to visit the islands. [63922]

The Prime Minister: I have not visited the Falkland Islands in the last five years and have no plans to do so. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence visited the Falkland Islands on 11–12 March 2002.

NFU/Countryside Alliance

Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister how many times he has met representatives from the (a) National Farmers Union and (b) Countryside Alliance since June 1997; and what topics were discussed. [63919]

The Prime Minister: I have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals. As with previous Administrations it is not my practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Hunting With Hounds

Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister if he plans to meet a hunt before the end of the consultation period for the Hunting with Hounds Bill. [63920]

The Prime Minister: No. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Rural Affairs has met a variety of people, including those involved in different forms of hunting, as part of the process he announced to the House on 21 March 2002.

Tibet

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he had with Li Ruihuan, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, concerning the situation in Tibet, during Chairman Li's recent visit to the UK; and what response he received. [63860]

The Prime Minister: My discussions with Mr. Li Ruihuan focused on India/Pakistan and the war against terrorism. However, my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor also met Mr. Li and raised Tibet and other human rights concerns with him.

24 Jun 2002 : Column 720W

Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister if he will rescind the authority vested in Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell to give instructions to civil servants. [63811]

The Prime Minister: No.

Cabinet Committees

John Cryer: To ask the Prime Minister what changes are planned to the membership of each Cabinet Committee. [64492]

The Prime Minister: I have revised the composition of Cabinet Committees in the light of the recent machinery of government changes. I have also established three new committees: a sub-committee, CJS (IT) on information technology in the criminal justice system; MISC20 on social and economic aspects of migration; and MISC21 on the Government's response to parliamentary modernisation. MISC16, having fulfilled its specific remit to review the practice on tackling illegal working and policy on managed migration, has been wound up. These issues will now be taken forward by MISC20. The full list of committees, their terms of reference and their membership has been placed in the Library of the House and will shortly be available on the Cabinet Office website (www.cabinet-office.gov.uk).

HEALTH

Joint Triage Protocols

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to develop joint triage protocols between NHS Direct and GP out-of-hours co-operatives. [54268]

Mr. Lammy: NHS Direct uses an extensive database of triage protocols designed to cover the wide range of presenting conditions of callers. They are designed to assess the acuity of patient condition and may result in referral to a range of providers including care at home, pharmacist, general practitioner (in or out of hours) and accident and emergency.

NHS Direct has full clinical control over their protocols and involves a wide range of health care professionals including many with experience of out of hours primary care, in their development.

NHS Annual Reports

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS annual reports cost to produce and deliver in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) England in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [54663]

Mr. Lammy [holding answer 8 May 2002]: The Department does not collect centrally data on production and distribution costs for annual reports produced by national health service bodies.

The Department published 'NHS Plan-A Progress Report for 2000–01' by the Modernisation Board in January 2002. I refer the hon. Member to the response

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given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State to the hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) on 9 May 2002, Official Report, column 354W.

Brain Injury

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects people with brain injury to benefit from the vocational services framework provisions. [56433]

Jacqui Smith: The Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Health and Safety Executive together with the Department for Education and Skills are working together to prevent people from becoming ill or injured as a result of work and to reduce workplace absence due to sickness whatever the cause.

One of the aims is to ensure the development of rehabilitative initiatives to increase the prosperity of currently inactive people by facilitating, wherever practicable, an early return to their existing job or alternative work. We are exploring the possibility of building on existing good practice through the auspices of NHS Plus.

NCSC/CHI Merger

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement setting out the timetable for the merger of the National Care Standards Commission and the Commission for Health Improvement. [56610]

Jacqui Smith: Primary legislation will be required to establish the functions of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection which will bring together the work of the Commission for Heath Improvement, the independent healthcare functions of the National Care Standards Commission and the health value for money work of the Audit Commission.

We hope to introduce legislation as soon as possible.

Cervical Screening

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 167W, how (a) his Department and (b) the local primary care trust is measuring the success of attempts to increase uptake of cervical screening among Asian women. [57094]

Ms Blears: The coverage of the cervical screening programme is assessed as the proportion of women resident in a health authority who have had a screening result at least once in the last five years. Coverage has always been used as an indicator of quality in the cervical screening programme, as well as highlighting inequalities. Coverage rates for cervical screening are not collected by ethnic group nationally.

The new informed choice leaflet, "Cervical Screening: The Facts", which is sent out with every invitation for screening nationally, has been translated into Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi.

The NHS Cancer Plan required all primary care organisations to review their screening coverage rates and draw up plans to improve accessibility of screening for women in socially excluded and minority ethnic groups.

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Luton Primary Care Trust continues to monitor the uptake of cervical screening among Asian women through working with local general practices to promote cervical screening and from statistics collected from the local sexual health clinics.

MMR Vaccine

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to record nursery children having a single (a) measles, (b) mumps and (c) rubella vaccination. [57138]

Ms Blears: Information on immunisation status of children at nursery school is not routinely collected.

Care Direct

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is provided on the Care Direct schemes in rural areas; and if he will make it available. [57456]

Jacqui Smith: As announced in February last year, Care Direct is being piloted in six local authorities in the south-west of England—Bournemouth, Bristol, Devon, Gloucestershire, Plymouth and Somerset. The second phase of pilots, starting in the autumn this year, will cover the remaining local authorities in the south-west.

The director of social services in Cornwall is leading the implementation of Care Direct for the county council. Implementation plans are now being developed to meet the needs of older people living in Cornwall. These will supplement and build on the existing services for older people in the county and I am certain that the new service will be especially responsive to the needs of the rural community that it will serve.

Local information about Care Direct in Cornwall will be made available nearer the time when the service becomes operational, but wider publicity about the service can be found now on the Care Direct website www.caredirect.gov.uk.

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