You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Written Answers
Previous Section Index Home Page

14 Oct 2002 : Column 485W—continued

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by his Department since 1 January; and what the (i) cost and (ii) saving has been in each case. [64636]

Mr. Lammy: Between 1 January 2002 and 23 September 2002, the Department introduced 361 statutory instruments. Eighty-one of these were amending statutory instruments.

Information of the cost and saving of each statutory instrument is not collected centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, regulatory impact assessments, where produced, are available in the Library.

NHS Direct

Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Morley and Rothwell constituency have used NHS Direct; and what the constituency average in England is. [66806]

Jacqui Smith: NHS Direct West Yorkshire covers 22 constituencies and has handled 488,000 calls since January 2001. During this period, NHS Direct West Yorkshire handled around four thousand calls from people in the Morley and Rothwell constituency.

Throughout England, people living in 534 constituencies have access to NHS Direct services. Since January 2001, NHS Direct has handled over eight million calls from people living in England. The constituency average in England is around 15,000 calls per constituency.

Delayed Discharges

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many delayed discharges there were in (a) Derbyshire and (b) England in the last three months. [67434]

Jacqui Smith: Information from Quarter 4 of 2001–02 on the numbers of delayed discharges, at national and regional level shows that there were 38 delayed discharges in Derbysire, and 5,473 delayed discharges in England.

Learning Disabilities

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients with learning disabilities will leave institutional care in the next three years who will require support in the community from London local authorities; and what additional resources have been identified as being required to meet this future demand. [69169]

Jacqui Smith: In the autumn 2001 position statement, all local authorities were asked to identify the number of patients with learning difficulties currently living in long stay National Health Service hospitals, and their forecast numbers up to 2003–04.

14 Oct 2002 : Column 486W

In autumn 2001, there were 179 people identified in London councils living in NHS long stay hospitals. Forecasts show that 40 would leave institutional care in 2001–02, 45 in 2002–03 and 93 in 2003–04.

Health authorities have been funded to care for the people with learning disabilities currently living in the old long stay hospitals. They are expected to work with local authorities in planning the transfer of residents and resources to support them to the community by a mutually agreed date. They should agree with the receiving local authority the care to be provided and any financial arrangements so that current and future responsibility for providing and meeting or contributing to the cost of that care is clear.

One of the five priorities for the use of the revenue element of the learning disability development fund is completing the reprovision of the remaining long-stay hospitals to enable people to move to more appropriate accommodation by April 2004. Of the #20.589 million available in 2002–03, #5.029 million has been allocated to London authorities. It is for them to decide how much of this they wish to spend on enabling people to move out of the long stay hospitals.

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the projected numbers of individuals with learning disabilities requiring residential or living placements (a) for each London borough and (b) for London as a whole for the most recent three years for which figures are available. [69167]

Jacqui Smith: Information on projected numbers of people with learning difficulties requiring, or likely to require, residential or other forms of accommodation are not currently collected by the Department.

The Government's strategy for improving services for people with learning disabilities and their families is set out in the white paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disabilities for the 21st Century (Cm 6086) which was published in March 2001. Key to the implementation of the changes outlined in the white paper are learning disability partnership boards which are now established in each local authority area and which include social services departments.

The partnership boards are currently required to complete a housing strategy by the winter of 2002–03. Advice issued to partnership boards suggests that their planning should include projections of future demand, which should entail assessing current and past demand as part of their future projections.

Disabled People

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent meetings he has had with voluntary organisations that give assistance to disabled people to discuss improving services for the disabled. [68180]

Jacqui Smith: I take the Department's Ministerial lead on disability and I have recently met with:


14 Oct 2002 : Column 487W

Additionally, my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State met with EmPOWER on 18 June to discuss their wheelchair initiative and he also spoke at their conference on 22 April.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has met recently with Bert Massie, Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission, on 26 June. He also met with the British Lung Foundation and the British Thoracic Society on 5 March to discuss respiratory disease, which includes severe disabling lung disease.

Nurses

Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) foreign nurses have been employed and (b) British nurses have refused employment in each health authority in the last year for which figures are available. [69220]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not held centrally.

Food Standards Agency

Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether verbal summaries of the submissions were given to the sub-group on salt of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Food Standards Agency. [69980]

Ms Blears: Subgroup members received copies of all the submissions. The subgroup secretariat provided a verbal summary, by way of introduction, as each submission came up for discussion by the subgroup.

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures he is taking to ensure public engagement in the recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation; [70254]

Ms Blears: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have recently launched a website (www.doh.gov/jcvi/index.htm) where a list of members, together with their declarations of interest are published.

14 Oct 2002 : Column 488W

The Government has no plans to reform the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation but I have asked that the Committee consider publishing the agendas of meetings on the website in advance and also consider having meetings open to the public.

I have just confirmed that a lay member be appointed to the Committee and an announcement about the appointment will be made shortly. The appointment was made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Guidelines on appointments to public bodies.

Dyslexia

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research his Department has undertaken on the causes of (a) ADHD and (b) dyslexia. [70153]

Jacqui Smith: The Department's policy research programme has not commissioned any research on dyslexia and hyperactivity. However the National Health Service research and development programme, under the direction of Sir John Pattison, has commissioned two studies which are now complete; The effects of dietary supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder Professor Harry Zietlin), Eastern Regional Office, July 2000, and Visual, auditory and biochemical function in neuro-developmental disorders: dyslexia, AD/HD and related schizophrenic disorders (Dr. A Richardson), London Regional Office, December 1999.

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department defines dyslexia as (a) a medical and (b) an educational/learning disorder. [70154]

Jacqui Smith: The World Health Organisation ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders in children and adolescents lists developmental dyslexia under the heading 'specific reading disorder' and is further classified under 'specific disorders of psychological development' and not under 'medical conditions'. We do not regard dyslexia as a medical condition but a specific disorder of psychological development.

Learning difficulties such as dyslexia fall within the scope of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, published by the Department for Education and Skills in November 2001.

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Department is taking to treat diagnosed (a) children and (b) adults with (i) ADHD and (ii) dyslexia. [70152]

Jacqui Smith: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is mainly a condition of childhood which can continue into later life. The assessment and treatment of ADHD is usually undertaken by child psychiatrists often with the help and contribution of other members of multidisciplinary child mental health services. However, it is becoming increasingly common for paediatricians to diagnose and manage ADHD. It is recommended that interventions should be focused on the behaviour of the child; family interactions, classroom problems and learning difficulties should also

14 Oct 2002 : Column 489W

be offered. Even children diagnosed as having hyperkinetic disorder, which is the more severe and specific end of the spectrum, where the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has recommended the use of methylphenidate, a treatment programme should not usually rely on medication alone.

Learning difficulties such as dyslexia fall within the scope of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, published by the Department for Education and Skills in November 2001.

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with (a) ADHD and (b) dyslexia. [70151]

Jacqui Smith: Information is not collected in the form requested. However a survey of the mental health of children and adolescents in Great Britain by the Office of National Statistics for the Department of Health, published in 2000, found the prevalence of hyperkinetic disorders which includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as being 1.5 per cent. of children in England aged 10-15.

It also examined the prevalence of specific learning difficulties in children with a mental disorder and vice versa. The survey defined specific learning difficulty as the failure to achieve academic progress in reading (therefore including dyslexia) and spelling despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity.

Children with a mental disorder were found three times more likely than those with no disorder to have a specific learning difficulty: 12 per cent. compared with 4 per cent. However there was little difference in the proportions of children with specific learning difficulty by type of disorder for example emotional disorder, conduct disorder, ADHD and less common disorders.

Next Section Index Home Page