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NHS Maternity Units

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list NHS maternity units in descending order of the percentage level achieved against the standards expected of such a unit. [67457]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 5 July 2002]: There is no data available centrally on percentage levels against standards for maternity units.

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason general practitioners practising within the area covered by the North Surrey PCT have been refused permission by the PCT to refer expectant mothers to the maternity units of their choice. [67468]

Ms Blears [holding answer 5 July 2002]: North Surrey Primary Care Trust has not stopped general practitioners referring expectant mothers to the maternity unit of their choice.

Mental Health

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff vacancies there are in the mental health sector of the NHS, broken down by region. [67972]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 8 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) today.

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many remanded prisoners were transferred under the provisions of section 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last six years, including the most recent year for which figures are available. [70239]

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.

Section 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 empowers the Home Secretary to transfer people from prison to hospital who require urgent treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The section covers those remanded by the courts to custody; those convicted but awaiting sentence; those detained under the Immigration Act 1971; and civil prisoners.

Figures for remand prisoners only are not available. The figures are for all four categories.

Number
1995473
1996481
1997495
1998482
1999464
2000393


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Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the money to improve wards and conditions for psychiatric patients announced on 6 April 2001 was spent. [68148]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 11 July 2002]: £3,890,200 was spent in the financial year 2001–02.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to improve the monitoring of children for the first signs of the onset of mental illness. [67947]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 July 2002]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 24 April 2002, Official Report, column 351W, regarding current mental health promotion and early intervention services for children and adolescents. Additionally, under the NHS Plan, 50 early intervention services will be established over the next three years to reduce treatment delay in psychosis. All young people who experience a first episode of psychosis such as schizophrenia will receive the early and intensive support they need. This is expected to benefit 7,500 young people in the 14–35 age range each year. The early detection of the onset of mental illness is also an issue we expect to consider in the child and adolescent mental health services strand of the children's national service framework on which work is currently progressing.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies exist in (a) clinical psychology and (b) psychiatry in each health authority. [58841]

Mr. Hutton: The number of vacancies and the vacancy rates for clinical psychology and consultants in psychiatry and psychotherapy have been placed in the Library.

Hotspot Councils

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 176W, on care funding, what his definition is of hotspot councils; and what the names are of the hotspot councils as referred to in Annexe B. [68748]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 11 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 176W, and the information

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provided in Annexe B. 'Hotspot' councils were those 55 selected to receive additional funding. The 55 councils are as follows:


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Food Safety

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the level of public confidence in the Government's arrangements for food safety measured by public opinion surveys in each year since 1997–98; and if he will make a statement. [69086]

Ms Blears [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has had responsibility for food safety since its establishment in April 2000. Levels of public confidence have been measured quantitatively rather than estimated as part of the annual "Consumer Attitudes to Food Standards", published in January 2001 and February 2002. In the most recent survey, 71 per cent. of consumers are aware of the FSA and, among them, levels of trust are high approximately 80 per cent. When asked how confident they were about the role played by the FSA in protecting health with regard to food safety, only 13 per cent. of consumers stated that they were not confident. Both surveys were widely reported by national media and are freely available on the Agency's website. The next annual survey will be published in early 2003. There were no similar surveys or estimates of public confidence by the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, before 2000.

Cancer

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding was allocated to (a) treatment for and (b) research in (i) prostate, (ii) breast, (iii) lung and (iv) colon cancer in each of the last 10 years. [69292]

Ms Blears [holding answer 12 July 2002]: The Department does not collect figures on the cost of national health service services in a way that enables an accurate figure to be calculated for the cost of treatment or research for individual cancers.

Residential Child Care

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will undertake research into the reasons underlying the increase in the number of children being looked after in residential placements in the south west since 1997. [70356]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 16 July 2002]: The most recently published figures for children looked after by local authorities at 31 March 2001 show that, over the past three years, while the overall number of children looked after by local authorities in the south west region has risen slightly, the relative proportion of children in residential placements has declined from 9 per cent. to 8 per cent. There is no evidence that south western local authorities have increased their use of placements in residential care.

Doctors (Recruitment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer given to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox), of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 298W, on doctors (recruitment), how many health care professionals from developing countries have been

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provided with formal training and education in the UK since 1997; and of these, how many returned to their home countries after completing their studies. [71046]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 18 July 2002]: The information requested is not collected centrally.

NHS Leadership Centre

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 1317W, on the NHS Leadership Centre, how many people are employed by the NHS Leadership Centre. [71038]

Ms Blears [holding answer 18 July 2002]: The leadership centre is part of the National Health Service Modernisation Agency. As at 1 July 2002, there are a total of 48 staff who work for the leadership centre. 26 of those staff are on secondment or fixed term contracts from the NHS.

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