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4 Feb 2003 : Column 213W—continued
North West Tourist Board
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what the benefits to (a) local authorities and (b) businesses and organisations are of membership of the North West Tourist Board; [94865]
(2) what help and support the North West Tourist Board provides to (a) tourist organisations in each district of Lancashire and (b) local authorities in Lancashire in helping to promote tourism. [94864]
Dr. Howells: The Regional Tourist Boards are independent companies which produce annual reports on their activities. The North West Tourist Board's (NWTB) report details activities carried out with or on behalf of local authority members including Lancashire and its districts. Work undertaken by the NWTB on behalf of the industry is supported by local authority, businesses and other organisation's subscriptions. Membership benefits for local authorities include networking and support for tourist information centres, assistance with tourism strategy and guidance, dissemination of research and best practice and regular liaison with local authority departments, including tourism, planning and economic development. For private sector members, NWTB facilitates marketing opportunities, a range of member benefits and tourism business support. Both public and private sector funding contributes to the NWTBs operations and complements funding from the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and the English Tourism Council.
The NWTB are currently working closely with the NWDA in the production of a Vision Document for Tourism in the next 5–10 years. This will help to ensure a strong tourism product for the region, more efficient and focussed use of resources and future benefits for tourism businesses.
Specific benefits in helping promote tourism in Lancashire include:
- The NWTB Chairman is Chair of the Lancashire Tourism Partnership which is a £7.5 million single regeneration budget funded programme giving direct benefit to the industry in Lancashire from marketing and training to business support and development.
NWTB also lead on the development of ICT interoperability in Lancashire enabling timely and accurate information on tourism to be available to consumers and businesses in Lancashire.
- Ribchester Roman Museum £10k—towards a complete refurbishment
Darwen Library Theatre £6,250—now fully accessible both front and back of house
Fold House Caravan Park £10k—new reception, education room, heritage centre and information point
Leighton Hall £2,397—new aviaries and signage.
Telephone Helplines
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many telephone
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helplines are sponsored by her Department; and which of these helplines are charged at (a) national rate, (b) premium rate and (c) local rate. [95708]
Dr. Howells: DCMS does not sponsor any telephone helplines.
HEALTH
Accident and Emergency Departments
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accident and emergency departments of NHS hospitals in England and Wales use the triage nurse system for patients; and what the most recent average waiting time has been before treatment. [94462]
Mr. Lammy: The Department does not collect data on the number of accident and emergency departments that use the triage nurse system.
The Department does not collect average waiting times in accident and emergency departments before treatment. The Department measures total waiting time in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. This has been collected from August 2001.
The first full and validated data was published in Quarter 2, 2002–03. This showed that 77 per cent. of patients spent four hours or less in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accident and emergency departments of NHS hospitals in England and Wales have introduced see and treat systems for patients; and what the average waiting time before treatment has been since their introduction. [94463]
Mr. Lammy: The Department does not collect data on the number of accident and emergency departments that have introduced see and treat for patients.
The Department does not collect average waiting times in accident and emergency departments before treatment. The Department measures total waiting time in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. This has been collected from August 2001.
The first full and validated data was published in Quarter 2, 2002–03. This showed that 77 per cent. of patients spent four hours or less in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the costs incurred by the NHS to meet the health needs of asylum seekers in the last 12 months. [94914]
Ms Blears: Information about the breakdown of health costs by population group is not held centrally.
National health service funding is allocated direct to 303 primary care trusts (PCTs) to enable them to secure local health services. In doing so, PCTs are expected to
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assess what configuration of health services best meets local needs, including the needs of asylum seekers in their area.
Children's Database
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to open up the Department of Health's computerised database of deaths and serious injuries of children to members of the public. [94622]
Jacqui Smith: Given the sensitive nature of the personal information contained in the database and the Data Protection Act's principles of good practice, no general public access to this database is planned.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many entries have been made on the Department of Health's computerised database of deaths and serious injuries of children since April 2002. [94623]
Jacqui Smith: As at 31 January 2003 and with effect from 1 April 2002, there have been 119 recorded serious case notifications to the database.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Department of Health's computerised database of deaths and serious injuries of children is continuously updated. [94624]
Jacqui Smith: The Department's database of serious case notifications, including those relating to deaths and serious injuries, is continuously updated by the Social Service Inspectorate.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a report will be published after the first year of operation of the Department of Health's computerised database of deaths and serious injuries of children. [94625]
Jacqui Smith: Information derived from the database will feature in future biennial national overview reports of serious case reviews. The next report is planned to be published at the end of 2003.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of entries on the Department of Health's computerised database of deaths and serious injuries of children are (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries. [94626]
Jacqui Smith: Of the 119 notifications between 1 April 2002 and 31 January 2003, 91 were of deaths and 28 were of serious injuries.
Children's Hospices
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the children's hospices in Greater London. [94321]
Ms Blears: There is one children's hospice currently operating in Greater London: Richard House, based in Newham.
Cigarettes
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce the mandatory labelling of cigarette packets detailing the additives contained within cigarettes. [93686]
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Ms Blears: There are currently no plans to introduce mandatory labelling of cigarette packets detailing additives. The number of additives contained in a brand of cigarette ranges greatly depending on the brand from under 20 to possibly over 100. The Government believes that it would be difficult to label these effectively on cigarette packets, in a fashion that is meaningful to the consumer.
However the Government has recently made Regulations setting out new requirements for the labelling of cigarette packets with larger, starker health warnings, including drawing attention to the chemicals in tobacco smoke.
The Regulations also provide for the Government to collect information about ingredients contained in tobacco products. We are collecting this data and plan to make information about product ingredients available to the public in a meaningful way.
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