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Thames Gateway
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extra resources required to support the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway area; what discussions he has had with other Government Departments in relation to supporting the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway; and what resources he has allocated to support the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway. [90424]
Mr. Hutton: National health service organisations covering the Thames Gateway area, in North East London, South East London, South Essex and North Kent, are actively working with a range of partners on developing plans for the Thames Gateway. The aims are to ensure new communities are sustainable, and both enjoy good health and have access to high quality health services.
The Department is ensuring that there is a strategic overview and will analyse the outcome of this local planning in the form of a 'Health Scenario' for the Thames Gateway as a whole. This work will detail the additional health and social service provision needed to support the development of new sustainable communities. It is anticipated that this work will be finalised in the spring.
Planning for the Thames Gateway is led by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and co-ordinated by the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership. I represent the Department on this partnership.
Funding for services in the Thames Gateway will be allocated in the normal way through primary care trusts. Those PCTs covering the Thames Gateway area will see an overall increase of 34 per cent., or nearly £705 million, in monies available to them over the next three financial years. Some PCTs will see a much bigger
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increase, including Barking and Dagenham PCT, whose resources will increase by 42.5 per cent. This increased level of resource, along with additional capital building programmes in the Gateway, including a new £230 million, 860 bed hospital at Romford, will result in an expansion in the services available to the residents of the Thames Gateway.
The increased growth in population resulting from promoting the Thames Gateway as an area of population growth is expected to take place beyond 2006–07. The resources needed to support additional health and social care provision in the Thames Gateway will therefore need to be identified in future Spending Reviews.
Ukrainian Health Care Staff
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his policy on the recognition of qualifications and accreditation of professional medical staff, including surgeons and nurses, in the Ukraine with a view to possible recruitment to the NHS. [89861]
Mr. Hutton: We welcome the contribution made to the national health service by overseas qualified professionals. Practitioners must be registered to work in the NHS. The assessment of applications for registration is the responsibility of the General Medical Council for doctors, and of the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nurses.
Waiting Times
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards meeting the four hour maximum waiting time target for accident and emergency departments in (a) England and (b) each NHS region. [91128]
Mr. Lammy: The NHS Plan set the target for accident and emergency (A&E) departments to reduce the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge to four hours by December 2004.
In quarter two 2002–03, 77 per cent. of patients spent less than four hours total time in A&E in England.
The table shows this figure broken down into strategic health authorities.
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Winter Vomiting Virus
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals have been closed for admissions in each of the last 10 years as a result of winter vomiting virus. [89661]
Mr. Hutton: Detailed information over the last ten years in the form requested is not held centrally. It would be very unusual for a hospital to be completely closed to admissions. However, partial restrictions on some admissions may be applied for a range of reasons including winter vomiting virus. These restrictions usually apply for very short periods until operational pressures have eased.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Child Care
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time child care places are provided through Sure Start programmes. [87966]
Maria Eagle: The first 260 round 1–4 Sure Start local programmes plan to have created 10,000 new full time childcare places by 2003–04. The programmes approved continues to grow towards the target of at least 500 programmes. Programmes beyond the first 260 will create further childcare places.
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to improve access to child care for working parents. [91056]
Maria Eagle [holding answer 16 January 2003]: We have funded an unprecedented expansion in child care provision throughout the country through the National Childcare Strategy. Since 1997, 553,000 new places have been created benefiting more than one million children.
A new Unit, led by my colleague the Minister for Sure Start (Baroness Catherine Ashton) and accountable for delivery to both the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions, will administer a budget of £1.5 billion a year by 2006. This includes more than doubling child care spending.
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By March 2004, new child care places for 1.6 million children will be created, with further new places established for 450,000 children by 2006. Specific initiatives, such as the establishment of Children's Centres and Neighbourhood Nurseries, will expand high quality, safe child care in disadvantaged areas, increasingly provided alongside early education and family support.
Substantial help with child care costs is provided to lower income families through the child care tax credit element of the Working Families Tax Credit. This assistance will continue in an improved and more flexible form as part of the new Working Tax Credit from April 2003.
Departmental Consultation
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what his arrangements are for consulting the governors of (a) community schools, (b) foundation schools and (c) voluntary schools on changes to regulations; and if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which such consultations have been undertaken through an intermediary body in the last 12 months; [91242]
- (2) what his arrangements are for consulting the trustees of voluntary schools (a) in the trusteeship of dioceses and (b) in other trusteeships on changes to regulations; and if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which such consultations have been undertaken through an intermediary body in the last 12 months. [91243]
Mr. Miliband: The arrangements for consulting the groups in question on changes to regulations are in line with the arrangements that we have for consulting schools more generally in England on proposed changes to regulations.
The Department follows the code of practice which was issued by the Cabinet Office in November 2000. In planning distribution and coverage we take a number of factors into account including (a) the likely impact and burden of bureaucracy on schools in automatically being sent mailings from DfES; (b) the likely time resource that is required at the school end to respond in
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a full and effective way to consultation documents within the specified time and (c) the type of regulation, or changes to regulations, proposed.
With these factors in mind documents are sent to a randomly selected and representative cross sample of schools within a particular school type category. Simultaneously consultation documents are routinely placed on the DfES public website and recorded in the DfES publication "Spectrum" which allows all types of schools and other bodies to access and view consultation documents as they see fit.
As well as the random cross sample of schools to which consultation documents are sent, a number of organisations and bodies external to schools also receive them. These will generally include intermediaries such as dioceses who are sent paper copies of consultation papers about school matters. The following list shows the consultations of relevance to schools that have taken place in the past 12 months to which, through a variety of means, intermediary bodies will have had access.
- Consultation title
- Consultation on Accessible Schools: Planning to increase access to schools for disabled pupils
- Revised Guidance on Exclusion from School-Draft for Consultation
- Quinquennial Review of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
- Consultation on Raising Standards-Training and Development for Leaders and Managers
- 14–19: Extending Opportunities, Raising Standards (Adults)
- National Centre for Excellence in Science Teaching
- 14–19: Extending Opportunities, Raising Standards (Young People)
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- Publication of School and College Performance Tables in2002 Consultation
- Proposals to introduce a mandatory requirement for first-time headteachers to hold the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)
- Electronic Communications in Education: an Order under the Electronic Communications Act 2000
- STRB report on teacher workload
- Performance Pay Progression: Reconsultation on Revised Special Grant Report
- Investment to Support the Provision of New Pupil Places in Schools
- Consultation on the Constitution of School Governing Bodies
- Consultation on School Organisation Proposals by the Learning and Skills Council under the Education Act 2002
- Teachers Pension Scheme: Amendments to the Teachers' Pensions Regulations 1997
- Extending the National Curriculum for England to Include the Foundation Stage
- Consultation on Revised School Admissions and Admission Appeals Codes of Practice and Accompanying Regulations
- Consultation on Acoustic Design of Schools
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the consultations undertaken by his Department in the last calendar year, indicating those which did not comply with the good government guidance on consultation. [91245]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: A list of the public consultations undertaken by my Department, which commenced after 1 January 2002 and closed before 31 December 2002 is in the following table. The Department has complied with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation, in each case applying exemptions where appropriate, especially where for the conduct of efficient business and in the public interest my Department was required to take urgent action. I have indicated where my Department applied an exemption to the 12 week minimum period for a consultation, as specified in criterion 5 of the Code.
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