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23 Jan 2003 : Column 474W—continued
Mental Health Bill
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to publish the responses to the draft Mental Health Bill consultation. [92579]
Jacqui Smith: The consultation responses received in respect of the draft Mental Health Bill will be made available to the public before introduction of the Bill, except where respondents have asked for confidentiality.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide a right to assessment of mental health needs for any individual making a reasonable request for such assessment in the new Mental Health Bill. [92580]
Jacqui Smith: The purpose of the Bill is to provide a legal framework for the treatment of someone with a mental disorder without their consent; it is not about rights to services. It does, however, create a duty to assess whether the conditions for compulsion are satisfied in individual cases, which may be triggered by any reasonable request where the conditions appear to be met. Once under compulsion, every patient must have a written care plan of treatment.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he plans to adopt the Joint Committee on Human Rights recommendation that the Code of Practice in the draft Mental Health Bill be given statutory force. [92581]
Jacqui Smith: We are pleased that the Joint Committee on Human Rights has welcomed the major improvements to the safeguards for patients' human rights proposed in the draft Mental Health Bill.
We are currently considering very carefully all the recommendations contained in their Report on the draft Bill.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that no person will be deemed as suffering from a mental disorder under the provisions of new mental health legislation solely for the purpose of preventing commission of illegal or disorderly acts. [92582]
Jacqui Smith: This already is the policy. The Bill will not allow the use of compulsory powers on any person solely to prevent them from offending. The powers of the Bill may only be used where the conditions are met. This means that there must be a diagnosis of mental disorder, and that there must be appropriate treatment available for the patient. Once under compulsion, every patient must have a written plan of treatment.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the proposals contained in the draft Mental Health Bill relate to the Government's strategy on alcohol. [92583]
Jacqui Smith: The proposals in the draft Mental Health Bill will remove the existing exclusion for alcohol dependency found in the Mental Health Act 1983. This will mean that there is no barrier to people being treated under compulsory powers when this is necessary because the conditions in the Bill are satisfied.
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The Bill will provide a legal framework for compulsory treatment, which will be compatible with developments in mental health services and other health implementation frameworks. This includes the Government's commitment to implementing the national alcohol harm reduction strategy by 2004. The recent consultation on the strategy included questions about the relationship between alcohol misuse and mental health problems and sought views on how services could be best provided. The consultation period ended on 15 January and an interim analysis will be published by the Cabinet Office strategy unit in the spring.
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in the rate of death certificates showing methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and related diseases as a cause of death since 29 March 2001. [92734]
Ms Blears: Information concerning methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on death certificates is not currently available from routine mortality statistics and has to be obtained by special research studies. The latest available figures for England and Wales cover 1993 to 1998 and were published in the British Medical Journal in December 2002.
April 2001 saw the introduction of national mandatory surveillance of MRSA blood stream infections. The results for the first year of this scheme for every NHS Acute Trust in England were published in the Communicable Disease Report (CDR) Weekly on 20 June 2002. These data are available on the Public Health Laboratory Service's website www.phls.co.uk/publications/cdr/PDFfiles/2002/cdr2502.pdf.
Mexico
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he next plans to visit Mexico; and how
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many Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between the UK Government and other governments since 1997. [83326]
Mr. Milburn [holding answer 25 November 2002]: I visited Mexico between 4–6 December to participate in the Third Ministerial Meeting on Health Security and Bio-terrorism involving G7 nations and Mexico.
The Department of Health has signed Memorandums of Understanding with the following countries:
- Indonesia, signed June 2002
China, signed May 2000
Mexico, signed November 2002.
NHS Pensions Agency
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) nurses and (b) health care workers applied to the NHS Pensions Agency for permanent injury benefit for a disorder in the year from April 2001 to March 2002; and how many were successful at (i) their first application and (ii) subsequent appeal; [89108]
- (2) how many (a) nurses and (b) health care workers applied to the NHS Pensions Agency for permanent injury benefit relating to muscular skeletal disorders in the year from April 2001 to March 2002; and how many were successful at (i) their first application and (ii) subsequent appeal. [89109]
Mr. Hutton [pursuant to his answer, 9 January 2003, Official Report, c. 330W]: Information in the format requested is not readily available. The number of nurse and "other" permanent injury benefit applications in the financial year 2001–02 was:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Total applications | 575 |
| Nurse applications | 183 |
| Others | 392 |
The number of applications accepted or rejected in the financial year 2001–02 was:
| Applications | Accepted | Rejected | On-going | Withdrawn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 183 | 69 | 76 | 36 | 2 |
| Other | 392 | 137 | 195 | 58 | 2 |
| Total | 575 | 206 | 271 | 94 | 4 |
The number of nurse applications relating to muscular skeletal conditions decided in the period 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2002 was:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Applications | 67 |
| Accepted | 25 |
| Rejected | 42 |
NSF for Older People
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the information about the progress in achieving NSF for Older People milestones. [89978]
Jacqui Smith: We hope to publish the information shortly.
Nursing Vacancies
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the vacancy rate for nurses in each quarter in (a) each English health authority and (b) each English health trust in each year from 1996 to 2003; and if he will make a statement. [92560]
Mr. Hutton: Annual three month vacancy rate information between 1999 and 2002 has been placed in the Library.
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The Department of Health's survey of vacancies lasting three months or more has been collected only since March 1999, and is available on an annual basis.
The three month vacancy rate was 3.1 per cent. in March 2002, a fall from 3.4 per cent. in March 2001 and the second successive fall in vacancies for qualified nursing staff.
Paediatric Pathology
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's recommendation of a nationally accepted information and consent form for hospital post mortem examinations. [92547]
Mr. Lammy: Following a recommendation by the Chief Medical Officer in 2001, we have consulted on and piloted consent forms and information leaflets for use throughout the national health service.
We intend to issue the forms shortly as part of a broader package of measures to improve the handling of issues relating to the removal, retention and use of human organs and tissue. This will include a code of practice on families and post mortems.
Public Service Pensions
Mr. Portillo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether, under the Government's proposals for public service pension reform, a male doctor over 60 years of age and with 40 years' service, who decides not to retire before 2005, would still be able to retire before the age of 65; what rewards would accrue to him for working beyond the age of 60; and whether his accrual rate would move from to per year after 2005. [91861]
Mr. Hutton: The Green Paper sets out, for consultation, wide-ranging proposals for pensions and saving for retirement. We will want to consider its implications for the national health service scheme carefully and consult fully on proposals for change. In doing so, we shall take account of the work recently published in the stock-take report, "Pension Scheme Modernisation: A Millennium Health Check for the NHS Pension Scheme".
Clearly, it will take some time to review the current scheme in the light of the Green Paper and the associated tax consultation document. The pace of change will depend on introducing new regulations, and changes for new entrants are likely to be in place before amending arrangements for existing members. However, the Green Paper makes no reference to retrospective age-related restrictions for a member already at age 60.
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