| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Sept 2002 : Column 349W—continued
Products of Animal Origin
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had concerning the European Commission's draft regulation on official controls on Products of Animal Origin; and if he will make a statement. [62097]
Ms Blears [holding answer 17 June 2002]: The European Commission's proposal for a Regulation on official controls on products of animal origin is currently under discussion. The first meeting in Council Working Group took place between 23 and 24 July 2002. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is leading negotiations on behalf of the UK. The FSA will be writing to stakeholders to advise them of the issues arising following this meeting and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library.
19 Sept 2002 : Column 350W
Correspondence
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for North Norfolk will receive a reply to his letter to the Chairman of the Food Standards Agency dated 30 January. [62087]
Ms Blears [holding answer 17 June 2002]: I replied to the hon. Member on 24 June 2002.
Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 3 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. A. Starkie. [66208]
Mr. Milburn: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 3 July at column 451W.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) dated 4 February and 22 April to the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Salford (Ms Blears); and what the reason is for the delay in replying. [69458]
Mr. Lammy: Replies were sent on 16 July and 6 August. The issues raised in the hon. Member's correspondence were of a complex nature and required liasing with third parties to provide information.
Frictional Discharge
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects only frictional levels of delayed discharge to be achieved; [64523]
- (2) how many people he estimates have experienced frictional discharge for each quarter of the last year; and how many he expects to experience frictional discharge in the next year. [64668]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 27 June 2002]: The Government's target is to end widespread delayed discharges by 2004.
The Government are determined to continue to make reducing delayed discharge a priority area. This is the key to getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time for all patients. Under this year's budget, overall social services funding will increase by six per cent. and we intend to bring forward legislation to ensure that good partnership working between the National Health Service and local authority social services reduces the number of delays even further.
Wanless Report
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken to implement the recommendations of the Wanless report. [64548]
Mr. Hutton: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement on 17 April 2002 announced unprecedented annual average increases for the National Health Service in England of 7.3 per cent. per annum over five years from 2003–04 to 2007–08, on the basis of stage 1 resource budgeting. This is the level of increase recommended by the Wanless report under its "fully engaged" scenario. We are currently considering how best to take forward the other recommendations of the Wanless report.
19 Sept 2002 : Column 351W
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to undertake further work as part of a whole systems approach to analysing and modelling health and social care as set out in the Wanless report, paragraph 1.12. [65144]
Jacqui Smith: Further requirements for analysis will be considered as part of the normal process of policy development.
Diagnostic and Treatment Centres
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if a hospital previously scheduled to be built under a PFI scheme will be eligible to apply for partial funding under the diagnostic and treatment centre funding programme. [66826]
Mr. Hutton: We are committed to an ambitious programme of new Diagnosis and Treatment Centres (DTCs). Some are on course to be developed as part of PFI projects, others through the use of public capital. We expect local National Health Service authorities to develop proposals based on sources of funding which offer the best value for money and speed of implementation. The ability to provide public funding for a part of a PFI scheme will depend on the degree of separability (and inter-dependence) of the DTC elements from the rest of the scheme.
Smallpox Vaccine
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the smallpox contract awarded to Powderject and supplied by Bavarian Nordic is to be subcontracted to IDT. [67557]
Mr. Hutton: The contract has been awarded to PowderJect. Therefore, PowderJect is responsible for the supply of properly manufactured vaccine that meets our specific requirements.
Under the terms of this contract, the smallpox vaccine will be manufactured in Germany by Impfstoffwerke Dessau Tornav GmbH (IDT).
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long he estimates it would have taken to complete the tendering process for the smallpox vaccine order if the usual tendering process had been used. [67548]
Mr. Hutton: If the usual open tendering processes had been used for the procurement of smallpox vaccine, the complete process is likely to have taken as long as four to five months to complete. Potential suppliers must first submit an expression of interest in response to the 37-day advertisement in the Official Journal of European Communities and must accompany that expression with evidence requested by the contracting organisation. From those who satisfy this first stage, tenders would be invited from some or all, and a period of 40 days is usually allowed for potential bidders to submit bids. There then follows a period during which the tenders are evaluated, terms agreed and a contract is prepared.
Public Consultations
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the public consultations undertaken
19 Sept 2002 : Column 352W
by his Department since 1997, indicating for each consultation (a) if copies were available online, (b) if copies were available in print, (c) the date the time period given for responses opened and (d) the date the time period given for responses closed. [69801]
Mr. Lammy: Data are only available from 2001 onwards. All consultation material is available ion printed form by request to the Department and all consultations are posted on the Department's website. Details of the consultations undertaken since 2001 were provided in the answer give to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on Tuesday 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 1096W.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case. [68706]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the response given to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on Tuesday 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 1096W.
Finished Consultant Episodes
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the underlying reasons are for the change in the number of finished consultant episodes between 1997 and 2001 for the treatment of (a) malignant neoplasm of lip, (b) Kaposi's sarcoma, (c) leukaemias of specified and unspecified cell types, (d) carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri, (e) benign neoplasm of mouth and pharynx and (f) benign neoplasm of bone and articular cartilage; and if he will make a statement. [67868]
Ms Blears: The figures for finished consultant episodes in 1996–97 and 2000–01 are shown in the table. The hospital episode statistics database does not hold any information on underlying reasons for the change in figures.
| 1996–97 | 2000–2001 | |
|---|---|---|
| Malignant neoplasm of lip | 448 | 399 |
| Kaposi's sarcoma | 172 | 81 |
| Leukaemias of specified and unspecified cell types | 1,421 | 1,109 |
| Carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri | 13,955 | 10,835 |
| Benign neoplasm of mouth and pharynx | 2,551 | 2,429 |
| Benign neoplasm of bone and articular cartridge | 2,134 | 2,054 |
Notes:
An FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within the year.
The primary diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis fields in the HES data set, and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
Data for 1996–97 are adjusted for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data; 2000–01 figures are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |