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Queen Alexandra Hospital

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additions have been made to the originally agreed Private Finance Initiative scheme for the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, which have affected the cost of the initiative; and if he will make a statement. [70426]

Mr. Hutton: No additions have been made to the scheme that have added to the projected costs.

Wood Preservatives

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations his Department has received regarding risk assessments his Department has performed on CCA pressure-treated wood. [69659]

Ms Blears: The Department has not carried out any risk assessment of wood pre-treated with copper/ chromium/arsenic (CCA) wood preservative, nor has the Department received any representation on this issue.

In the United Kingdom wood preservative products are regulated under the Control of Pesticide Regulations (1986) and the Health and Safety Executive lead on such non-agricultural pesticides. CCA is approved for use in products for pressure impregnation at industrial sites. This follows the advice to Ministers from the independent advisory committee on pesticides that such products do not present any risk to human health or the environment.

Recently an expert advisory committee to the European Commission, the scientific committee on toxicity, ecotoxicity and the environment has reviewed the safety of wood treated with this preservative and has concluded that there may be a risk to health of children from the use of such treated timber in playground equipment and also when treated wood is burnt or disposed.

The European Commission has drawn up proposals under the Marketing and Use Directive to prohibit the use of CCA wood preservatives but by way of a derogutim to continue to allow its use in a number of essential areas where human contact is limited. Draft proposals are currently being considered by member states.

Podiatric Surgery

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to announce plans to recruit more domestically trained and qualified podiatric surgeons. [70375]

Mr. Hutton: Podiatric surgery is a specialism within chiropody/podiatry. We do not plan numbers of podiatric surgeons centrally but would expect the national health service locally to consider how to develop the role of chiropodists as numbers expand.

Between 1999 and 2001 the number of chiropodists employed in the NHS has increased by 190 (5.5 per cent.) and our latest estimates, based on historic trends and planned increases in students entering training, suggest a further increase of 750 (20 per cent.) in the number of chiropodists working in the NHS by 2009.

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Cancelled Operations

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Wealden (Mr. Hendry), of 25 June 2002, Official Report, column 864W, on cancelled operations, how many operations were cancelled in the past three quarters in each NHS trust. [67176]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 5 July 2002]: Data on the total number of operations cancelled are not collected. The number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons on, or after the day the patient was due to be admitted, broken down by national health service trust, are available in the Library.

Smoking

Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the effect on health outcomes of smoking in the last five years, broken down by region. [59792]

Ms Blears [holding answer 10 June 2002]: The information is not available in the form requested. In 'The UK Smoking Epidemic: Deaths in 1995' (published by the Health Education Authority, 1998) it was estimated that in the United Kingdom in 1995, smoking caused more than 120,000 deaths of people aged 35 years or more; one in five deaths at all ages. Men of 35 who smoke will, on average, die seven years earlier than men who have never been smokers. Similarly, women of 35 who smoke will, on average, die six years earlier than women who have never been smokers. As well as being the prime cause of cancer and heart disease, smoking also causes other fatal conditions and chronic illnesses among adults.

In 'Smoking Kills' published in 1998, the Government set out a comprehensive programme to tackle smoking. A key element of this programme has been the development of smoking cessation services which were launched in the health action zones in 1999–2000, and were rolled out to all health authorities in England in 2000–01 and 2001–02.

Regional prevalence data shows how the burden of smoking has varied over the past five years. Table 1 shows a regional breakdown of the prevalence of smokers among adults aged 16 and over. Table 2 details by region the number of people who had successfully quit at the four week follow-up and rates per 100,000 population for April to December 2001. Table 3 illustrates the regional variations in coronary heart disease. Table 4 illustrates the regional variation in cancer mortality.

Table 1: Prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults aged 16 and over, by standard region, 1996 to 2000Per cent.

			Weighted
Standard Region	1996	1998	1998	2000
England	28	27	28	27
North	31	27	28	28
Yorkshire and Humberside	28	28	29	28
North West	30	31	32	30
West Midlands	26	26	27	25
East Midlands	28	28	29	26
East Anglia	25	22	23	26
Greater London	29	30	31	27
Outer Metropolitan Area	25	24	25	25
Outer South East	28
South West	27	24	25	27

Notes:

1. Data for 1998 and 2000 weighted for under representation in some groups (eg young men). Comparisons for 1996 and 1998 should be done on unweighted data: comparisons between 1998 and 2000 should be done on weighted data.

Source:

Office for National Statistics: General Household Survey 2000, published as 'Living in Britain: Results from the 2000 General Household Survey'.

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Table 2: People successfully quitting during the period April to December 2001 and success rate per 100,000 population aged 16 and over (based on self-report), by NHS regional office area

NHS regional office area	Number of people who had successfully quit at four weeks (self-report)	Per 100,000 population(39)
England	79,051	198
Northern Yorkshire	19,518	385
Trent	6,866	166
Eastern	6,453	148
London	6,271	107
South East	6,801	97
South West	8,092	201
West Midlands	9,602	227
North West	15,448	295

⁽³⁹⁾ Number of people who had successfully quit at four weeks (self-report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over.

Notes:

1. A client is counted as having successfully quit smoking at the four week follow-up if he/she has not smoked at all since two weeks after the quit date. The figures presented here are based on self-report of smoking status by the client at the four week follow-up.

2. The population rates in this table have been calculated using the 1991 census based population estimates of persons aged 16 and over for mid year 2000 (provided by the Office for National Statistics).

Source:

DH Statistical press release: Statistics on smoking cessation services in Health Authorities England, April to December 2001

Table 3: Trends in mortality from coronary heart disease (ICD410–414): standardised mortality ratios (SMR) 1995 to 2000 annually, all ages, by Government office region (standard rates are age-specific mortality rates in 1993)

Government office region	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
England	89	86	81	78	74	69
North East	107	104	99	97	88	82
North West	103	98	93	92	86	79
Yorkshire and the Humber	96	94	90	88	80	75
East Midlands	89	86	81	79	75	68
West Midlands	95	91	86	81	79	73
East of England	80	78	73	72	67	64
London	84	80	73	71	68	65
South East	78	75	71	68	64	61
South West	81	79	74	72	69	66

Source:

Department of Health: Compendium of Clinical and Health Indicators 2001

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Table 4: Trends in mortality from cancer (ICD9 140–208): standardised mortality ratios (SMR) 1995 to 2000 annually, all ages, by Government office region (standard rates are age-specific mortality rates in 1993)

Government office region	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
England	97	96	94	93	91	89
North East	112	114	109	111	105	103
North West	104	105	102	101	100	98
Yorkshire and the Humber	100	100	97	97	95	91
East Midlands	96	94	92	91	89	87
West Midlands	99	97	94	94	91	90
East Of England	92	90	88	88	85	84
London	96	95	93	93	88	86
South East	92	91	89	88	86	84
South West	91	89	88	86	86	84

Source:

Department of Health: Compendium of Clinical and Health Indicators 2001

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