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Compulsory Purchase
Mr. McCabe: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what conclusions he has reached following the consultation exercise on his proposals for reforming the system of compulsory purchase and compensation. [71684]
The Deputy Prime Minister: In my oral statement to the House today I referred to our proposals for planning reform. I announced that I am publishing today our response to the recent Planning Green Paper consultation, copies of which are in the House Library. I am also making public a more detailed statement entitled "Compulsory Purchase Powers, Procedures and Compensation; the way forward", copies of which are available in the House Library and on the ODPM website. This summarises our policy in the light of the responses to the December 2001 consultation paper.
The paper sets out our plans for making compulsory purchase and compensation simpler, fairer and quicker through a change to the compulsory purchase power for planning purposes, and through changes to procedures and compensation arrangements.
The Law Commission is continuing its work on consolidation, codification and modernisation of the current legislation, and will consult on its initial conclusions shortly.
Regional Strategy
Mr. Tony Clarke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what changes he proposes to make to the arrangements for producing Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks, further to the Planning Green Paper. [71685]
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The Deputy Prime Minister: In my oral statement to the House today I referred to our proposals for planning reform. I announced that I am publishing today our response to the recent Planning Green Paper consultation, copies of which are in the House Library. I am also publishing a more detailed paper entitled "Making the System Work Better—Planning at Regional and Local Levels" on our proposals for creating Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks. I am placing copies of that in the House Library and on the ODPM website.
HEALTH
NHS Trusts
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on not-for-profit organisations contributing to the running of (a) hospital trusts and (b) primary care trusts. [67608]
Mr. Hutton: At present organisations outside of the national health service do not contribute to the management of any NHS trusts, including acute hospital trusts and primary care trusts.
The Department is setting up a register of interest for organisations outside of the NHS which are interested in taking on the management franchise for poorly performing NHS trusts. The register may include not-for- profit organisations.
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Rural Hospitals
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding will be made available to rural hospitals across the new strategic health authorities. [67617]
Mr. Hutton: We currently allocate funding to health authorities, and they allocate funding to primary care trusts, on the basis of the relative needs of their populations.
It is for health authorities in partnership with primary care trusts and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services.
In future the intention is that allocations will be made direct to primary care trusts. Primary care trusts will then purchase appropriate services to meet the needs of their local populations, which may include services from rural hospitals.
Mixed-sex Wards
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress the Government have made in eliminating single sex wards; what plans he has to eliminate them; and if he will make a statement. [68536]
Mr. Hutton: Guidance on maintaining privacy and dignity was first issued to the service in 1997 and since then the national health service has been working towards a clear target to provide single sex accommodation.
The target set is for three objectives to be achieved in 95 per cent. of trusts by December 2002.
- Ensuring that appropriate organisational arrangements are in place to secure good standards of privacy and dignity for hospital patients;
Achieving fully the Patient's Charter standard for segregated washing and toilet facilities across the NHS;
Providing safe facilities for patients in hospital who are mentally ill which safeguard their privacy and dignity.
We are working with the NHS to provide professional and technical support to ensure progress towards meeting this target continues.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the names of mixed-sex wards in operation, broken down by region. [68529]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not available in this format as compliance is measured on a trust by trust basis and not at individual ward level.
The reasons for measuring at trust level is because hospital wards generally care for both men and women. To provide the required levels of privacy and dignity for patients, wards are split into single sex bays, or single rooms, or otherwise configured to provide adequate segregation of gender. It is
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the responsibility of each national health service trust to determine the most appropriate configuration to meet their specific requirements.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many sexual harassment and sexual abuse cases there have been in (a) mixed-sex wards and (b) single sex wards, over the past five years. [68530]
Mr. Hutton: We do not collect this information centrally. Each national health service trust should ensure appropriate security arrangements are in place, covering staff as well as patients.
Cancelled Operations
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled in each medical professional competency in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [66079]
Mr. Hutton: Data are not collected on the number of cancelled operations broken down by medical professional competencies. Data on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital, for non-medical reasons, on, or after the day the patient was due to be admitted are available in the Library.
Violence Against NHS Staff
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to announce the findings of the NHS survey into violence against NHS staff. [71073]
Mr. Hutton: The results of the Department's survey of reported violent or abusive incidents, accidents involving staff and sickness absence in national health service trusts and health authorities in England in 2000–01 was published in June 2002. The survey found that there were 84,273 reported violent or abusive incidents against staff in 2000–01. A copy of the report has already been placed in the Library.
Hospital Nurseries
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospitals provide on-site nurseries; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of NHS hospitals that intend to provide on-site nurseries by (a) 31 December 2002 (b) 31 December 2003 and (c) 31 December 2004. [68285]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 10 July 2002]: A national survey of national health service child care provision, undertaken early in 2001, found that 114 NHS trusts provided nursery facilities for their staff. Since April 2001, a further 94 schemes have had capital funding agreed as part of the NHS child care strategy, which is aiming to develop 150 new on-site nursery schemes by April 2004. In 2002–03 we expect at least 50 new nurseries, or extensions of existing nurseries to be opened providing an additional 2,500 places.
Nurses
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to protect patients from the risks posed by nurses who carry HIV. [69221]
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Ms Blears: Existing guidelines place nurses and other health care workers, who are or may be HIV infected, under ethical and legal duties to protect the health and safety of their patients by seeking counselling and HIV testing if they believe they have been at risk of infection. If infected, they are required to seek and follow confidential occupational health advice about the need to modify or limit their working practices.
While the safety of patients is of paramount importance, it should be recognised that the procedures involved in most nursing duties do not pose a risk of HIV infection to patients, provided normal infection control precautions are observed. There have been no reported cases of HIV transmission from infected health care workers to patients in the UK.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what checks he makes on foreign nurses for HIV before they are employed in the United Kingdom. [69222]
Mr. Hutton: Nurses recruited into the national health service from abroad are subject to the same pre- appointment checks as those recruited within the United Kingdom. NHS employers are required to satisfy themselves of the immunisation status of applicants and only when an applicant does not pose a risk of infection to patients from infectious diseases should employment be recommended.
Being HIV positive is not a bar to NHS employment but does preclude certain invasive (exposure prone) procedures being performed such as surgery and midwifery.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Geraldine Smith) of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 310W, on nurses, how many nurse consultant posts have been introduced; and of these how many are new nurses to have been recruited to these roles. [71069]
Mr. Hutton: Over 750 nurse, midwife and health visitor consultants posts have now been approved in 10 tranches, the first in January 2000 and the latest in June 2002.
Nurse, midwife and health visitor consultants appointees are senior, experienced practitioners with advanced education and qualifications relevant to the speciality to which they are appointed. Guidance issued to the national health service, Health Service Circular 1999/217, makes it clear that selection should be by fair and open competition.
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