| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
27 Nov 2002 : Column 355W—continued
Paedophilia (Child Protection)
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been taken into protective custody in connection with paedophilia in each year since 1997. [83176]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not held centrally.
However, information is held centrally about the number of children looked after by local councils. From the year ending 31 March 2001, this information is collected by age and category of need, which records the main reason why the child requires assistance from his/her local social services department. One of the categories of need is abuse or neglect. However, this category spans all types of abuse and neglect and provides no information about the characteristics of the alleged abusers of the children.
Prison Health Care
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the minimum health care standard to which prisoners are entitled. [83175]
Jacqui Smith: The prison and national health services aim, in partnership, to provide prisoners with access to the same range and quality of health services as the general public receives from the national health service. The current prison service performance standard on health services for prisoners is available at www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk
Psychiatrists
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many psychiatrists there were per 100,000 people in each year since 1992. [82692]
Mr. Hutton: As at 31 March 2002, there were 3,090 consultants within the psychiatry group, a ratio of 6.1 per 100,000 of population. This is a 24 per cent. expansion in the number of psychiatry consultants since 1997. There were also 2,801 doctors in training as at September 2001, a ratio of 5.7 per 100,000 of population. The group comprises child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, general psychiatry, old age psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychiatry of learning disability.
Population figures are due to be updated shortly following publication of results from the 2001 population census. This will include a revised set of estimates for the years 1992 to 2000, but these figures are not yet available.
Public Health Laboratory Service
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what checks he will put in place to ensure NHS trusts correctly represent data on hospital-acquired infections once the Public Health Laboratory Service is abolished. [81717]
Mr. Lammy: Responsibility for co-ordinating surveillance of health care associated infections transfers from the Public Health Laboratory Service to
27 Nov 2002 : Column 356W
the Health Protection Agency in April 2003, but as the national system will remain unchanged no additional checks are needed.
Quality Protects
Mr. Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ringfenced budget allocations were for (a) IT projects, (b) disabled children, (c) leaving care, (d) RDWs and (e) the main grant for Quality Protects for the last three years; and what the planned expenditure is for each of the next three years. [82767]
Jacqui Smith: The table below shows the amounts ring-fenced in the last three years for improving access to information technology for children in and leaving care; services for disabled children and their families, implementing the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000; the costs of regional development workers (RDWs); and the main programme grant. The level of personal social services funding for councils for 2003–04 to 2005–06 will be announced shortly as part of the local government settlement announcements.
| 2000 to 2001 | 2001 to 2002 | 2002 to 2003 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT projects | 9.5 | ||
| Disabled children | 15 | 15 | |
| Leaving Care(30) | 128 | 298 | |
| RDWs(31) | 0.75 | 1 | 1 |
| Main grant | 117.75 | 147.25 | 138 |
Notes:
(30) The ring-fence for Leaving Care in 2001–02 covered only the second half of the year, i.e. from implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 on 1 October 2001. Funding to assist councils in preparing for implementation was included in the main grant.
(31) As well as the costs of employing the RDWs and their assistants, the amount shown for RDWs also covers other development work including part funding for the Education Protects implementation team, who are helping councils implement the joint Department for Education and Skills and Department of Health Guidance on the Education of Children and Young People in Public Care.
Schizophrenia
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of patients with schizophrenia suffered relapses within one year of receiving treatment in each year since 1997. [82699]
Jacqui Smith: The Department does not hold this information centrally.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards implementing NICE guidance on the use of atypical antipsychotic medicine for schizophrenia; and if he will make a statement. [83304]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 25 November 2002]: Detailed assessment of the implementation of individual items of National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance is only possible at a local level. Comprehensive information is not collected centrally.
27 Nov 2002 : Column 357W
Silicon Cosmesis
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether, out of the baseline allocation for silicon cosmesis for artificial limbs (a) in 2001–02, £418,142 and (b) in 2002–03, £1,317,159 was not spent on such provision. [82279]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 21 November 2002]: Baseline allocations of £0.5 million in 2001–02, £1.5 million in 2002–03 and £2.0 million in 2003–04 were expected to be used for the provision of silicone cosmesis for artificial limbs. Spending on silicone cosmesis through the national health service purchasing and supply agency was £81,858 for 2001–02, and £182,841 so far in 2002–03. The baseline allocation for 2002–03 was for the whole financial year; the spending recorded so far relates to the first half of that year. It will not be possible to provide full-year spending figures for 2002–03 until after the end of that year.
Specialised Health Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the members are of the small oversight review group that has been convened in order to consider questions from the review on commissioning specialised services from a national perspective; and whether the group has met. [82780]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 25 November 2002]: The following organisations were invited to send representatives to the 10 September national review group meeting:
- The Academy of Royal Medical Colleges
The Royal College of Nursing
The Joint Consultants' Committee
Regional specialised commissioning groups
Strategic health authorities
Primary care trusts
National health service trusts
Patients' organisations
Observers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether, in the context of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, existing and properly constituted management limited companies may convert themselves into RTMs, limited by guarantee, by special resolution; and what guidance he has issued on the changes that might need to be made to their memoranda and articles: [82544]
Section 73(2) of the Act specifies that a company is a Right To Manage (RTM) company in relation to premises if:
- it is a private company limited by guarantee, and
- its memorandum of association states that its object, or one of its objects, is the acquisition and exercise of the right to manage the premises.
27 Nov 2002 : Column 358W
Section 74 of the Act provides a power to prescribe the Memorandum and Articles of Association for a RTM company, and we are currently consulting on the form this prescription should take.
Once the draft regulations have been finalised and brought into force, an existing company limited by guarantee could, by special resolution under the Companies Act 1985 change its objects clause to include the RTM object and adopt the prescribed Memorandum and Articles. In addition, the regulations may provide that certain of the prescribed memorandum and articles will have effect for an RTM company irrespective of whether or not it has adopted them.
However, in order for a RTM company to actually exercise and acquire the right to manage for a building, the membership of that company and the premises itself must meet the qualifying conditions as laid down by sections 72–75 of the Act.
Finally, while we have yet to produce guidance on RTM this will be available when the RTM provisions come into force. It will include all aspects of exercising and acquiring RTM.
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he intends to introduce regulations bringing Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 into operation. [82545]
Mr. McNulty: The first tranche of regulations on leasehold reform came into force on 26 July this year, making it is easier for leaseholders to buy the freehold of their property, extend their leases and seek the appointment of a new manager in tripartite leases.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister proposes to make and lay the remaining regulations on Leasehold Reform in two stages, in spring and autumn 2003. Regulations on right to manage, safeguards against forfeiture, new powers for leasehold valuation tribunals and changes relating to contracts and major works will be laid in spring and should be operational by summer 2003. Regulations on accounting procedures will be laid by autumn next year and operational three months later.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |