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29 Jan 2003 : Column 884W—continued

Cancelled Operations

Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many planned operating lists at (a) the Alexandra hospital, Redditch and (b) the Worcestershire Royal infirmary were cancelled due to staff shortages between 23 December 2002 and 3 January 2003. [93252]

Mr. Lammy: No planned lists were cancelled at Worcestershire Royal hospital, and only two operations from the 23 planned were cancelled during this period at the Alexandra hospital. These were

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cancelled as a result of an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting resulting in a loss of bed capacity, not due to staff shortages.

Chiropody

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response the Department has made to the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists' report of 6 December. [86984]

Mr. Hutton: The Department has not issued a formal response to the document "NHS Chiropody/Podiatry Services—Cause for Continuing Concern, Time for Government Action", issued by the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists.

However, I wrote to the chairman of the Society on 27 January, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

Civil Servants

Mr. Laws : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many civil servants have been employed by (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental bodies in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92382]

Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office (Mr. Alexander) on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W.

Computer Misuse

Mr. Webb : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last five years, broken down by each category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [93042]

Mr. Lammy: The Department takes any misuse of its information technology systems very seriously. All staff are regularly reminded of the Department's policy on misuse of IT, with detailed guidance contained in the document Acceptable Use of Information Technology available on the Department of Health Intranet.

The table shows the total recorded cases of computer misuse within the central Department of Health. A more detailed breakdown of these figures is not available. Management checks indicate only a small number of the breaches involve inappropriate content.

Type of misuse	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Totals
Internet	20	21	15	—	1	57
E-mail	1	2	9	4	10	26
Internet and e-mail	2	—	2	—	—	4
Total number of cases	23	23	26	4	11	87
Disciplinary Action Taken	22	22	26	4	11	85

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Correspondence Protocol

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice he will provide to health authorities and NHS trusts on observing the requirements of the protocol of the administrative court that public bodies must reply to all correspondence over disputed matters in 14 days. [87547]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 17 December 2002]: The Pre-Action Protocol for potential judicial review claims stipulates that public bodies exercising a judicial function should respond to letters before action in an instance where judicial review is threatened within 14 days. National health service organisations' duty to follow the Protocol requires no further guidance from the Department, and as statutory bodies, they will need to consult their own legal advisers on how to proceed in each case. However, compliance with the Protocol and with other statutory bodies forms part of the requirements set out in 'Improvement, Expansion and Reform', the NHS planning and priorities framework for 2003–06.

Departmental Offices (Running Costs)

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the running costs were of his Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff, in each financial year from 1997–98 to 2001–02. [80954]

Mr. Lammy: The running costs for Ministers' private offices for the financial years 1997–98 to 2001–02 are shown in the table.

£000

Year	Staff	Non staff	Total
1997–98	1,385	464	1,849
1998–99	1,564	580	2,144
1999–2000	1,983	670	2,653
2000–01	2,323	624	2,947
2001–02	2,242	634	2,876

Note:

Private Office Expenditure

An additional Minister was appointed during 1999–2000. The data is taken from the Department's Accounts system and is in cash terms. The salaries of Ministers themselves are not included.

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council

Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the outcome was of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council held on 3 December; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if he will make a statement. [87251]

Ms Blears: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health represented the United Kingdom for the Health element of the first day of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Brussels on 2 December 2002; the consumer affairs items were also taken on that day.

The main health business of this Council related to tobacco. The Council reached qualified majority on a First Reading Deal on the Tobacco Advertising Directive. He emphasised that the UK supports

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European Union legislation on tobacco advertising, having strong domestic legislation in place. He made clear the Government's determination to ensure the legal victories secured by the tobacco companies over previous European legislation would not be repeated with this Directive. He therefore voted against the Directive because he did not think that the drafting of some provisions was good enough or that it went as far as it could in some areas (for example by not covering cigarette papers).

A Council Recommendation on the prevention of smoking and on initiatives to improve tobacco control was adopted by a qualified majority, with support from the UK. The Commission also gave an update on the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Member States set out their positions on the pharmaceuticals reviews with a discussion on three key outstanding issues in the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) Regulation. There was no vote on this item. On scope, the UK was amongst several Member States who spoke out against extension of the centralised procedure for human medicines, and in favour of a choice for companies. Others supported the Commission. Most felt that Member States should appoint at least one member to the management board. Many were willing to consider also accepting representatives of patient groups or the European Parliament. A majority of Member States and the Commission were able to accept the Presidency compromise of a single renewal of an authorisation after five years.

Council adopted a Recommendation on the prevention and reduction of risks associated with drug dependence. Council Conclusions on action against obesity were adopted unanimously. The UK voted in favour of both of these items.

The Presidency presented a progress report on negotiations on a Directive setting standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, storage and distribution of human cells and tissues. The Commission said that they would look carefully at the changes in scope the Council was proposing in relation to the medicinal products and medical devices Directives.

The Commission updated the Council on the high level process of reflection on patient mobility and health care development, and on the programme of co-operation on bioterrorism and health security. The Commission will be tabling a proposal to set up a network centre for disease control in May 2003, to be set up in 2005. The aim is to enhance the EU capacity to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, working closely with Member States' own institutions.

The Commission reported that it had established a working group, to consider the quality of information on internet sites in the health sector. The group, consisting of representatives from government, Non-Government Organisations and industry, has reported

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and agreed actions including measures on transparency, privacy and accountability. The Commission will monitor work through the E-Europe 2005 ActionPlan.

Items under any other business included an information paper from Ireland on post-polio syndrome. There was also a brief discussion on the follow-up to the G10 initiative on the pharmaceutical industry. A Commission communication, was under preparation, and should issue in May 2003. Italy announced they would have an Informal Ministerial meeting on this during their Presidency. Finally, there was a presentation from Belgium on their candidate for the Director-Generalship of the WHO, Peter Piot.

The consumer part of the Council met with minimal discussion over a short agenda.

The Council adopted a Resolution on Community consumer policy strategy 2002–06 without debate, endorsing the aims and objectives of the Commission's strategy as published in May 2002, namely a high common level of consumer protection, effective enforcement and the involvement of consumer organisations. The UK voted in favour, as did all other Member States.

The Council and the Commission endorsed the Presidency's conclusions on a joint Commission-UK seminar held in November on using consumer statistics to inform and prioritise consumer policy. In accordance with the conclusions, the Commission will take forward technical work on definitions and the comparability of consumer statistics.

As an information point only, the Council took note of a Commission presentation on the preliminary results of the European Extra-Judicial Network (EEJ-Net), the EU network of clearing houses designed to facilitate and resolve cross-border, out-of-court consumer disputes.

Finally, Greece informed the Council that it wanted to contribute to the consumer agenda during its forthcoming Presidency by strengthening its involvement in the internal market. It highlighted in particular a seminar on the Commission's Green Paper of 2003, and a Ministerial conference on unfair trading to be held on 7 May 2003.

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