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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Adjudication Panel

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the relevant qualifications are of Mr. Angus Andrew for holding the post of Chairman of the Adjudication Panel for England. [97228]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.

Chairmen of the Adjudication Panel are drawn from a pool of part-time Legal Members of the Adjudication Panel for England.

The qualification for appointment is a five-year general qualification as defined in section 71 of the Court and Legal Services Act 1990. Solicitors had to appear on the Roll of Solicitors in order to qualify.

Part-time Legal Members of the Adjudication Panel for England are appointed by the Lord Chancellor following open competition and after consultation with the Secretary of State. Mr Angus Andrew met the qualification, and was appointed on 12 February 2002.

HEALTH

Ambulance Service

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hoax calls the Ambulance Service has received in the last 12 months for which figures are available in (a) Greater London and (b) England. [97822]

Mr. Lammy: This information is not collected centrally.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many ambulances are owned by TENYAS; and how many were fully operational in each of the past 12 months; [93781]

(2) (a) how many fully equipped ambulances there were in TENYAS, (b) how many ambulances there were in TENYAS per 1,000 of population and (c) what the average number of ambulances per 1,000 of population was for each ambulance service in the United Kingdom in each year since 1997. [93843]

Jacqui Smith: On average, Tyne, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service national health service trust (TENYAS) owns up to 100 accident and emergency vehicles, together with 15 rapid response vehicles. The number of vehicles owned by TENYAS fluctuates as new vehicles become available and others await different routes of disposal, either by being sent to auction, passed on to charities or in some cases being scrapped.

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TENYAS has on average peak development of 72 fully equipped ambulances serving a population of two million. This represents on average one ambulance per head of 28,000 population. Information for the number of ambulances per 1,000 of population is not centrally available.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training is given to personnel manning first responder vehicles. [93844]

Mr. Lammy: It is the responsibility of each ambulance trust to provide training for personnel manning first responder vehicles.

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answers of 6 February, refs 95639–95642, about 999 calls made to the London Ambulance Service about people needing emergency help in another part of the country, for what reasons callers are not told that (a) the London Ambulance Service has responsibility to pass on the details of the emergency to the ambulance service in the area concerned and (b) that this can and will be done. [97418]

Mr. Lammy [holding answer 11 February 2003]: The 999 system is designed to put callers in touch with the emergency services locally. If an ambulance service receives a call that is outside their area then it is their responsibility to pass it on to the ambulance service in the appropriate area.

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) believes that it may cause unnecessary confusion if 999 callers are given details of the responsibility to pass on information to other ambulance services and that such an explanation of procedures could create delays in responding to emergency calls.

The LAS believes that an assurance that an ambulance is on its way is more important than knowing what its responsibilities are according to national control procedures. Therefore the LAS has no plans to begin informing callers of its responsibility to pass on details of an emergency to the ambulance service in the area concerned.

Age-related Macular Degeneration

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of how many people were affected by age related macular degeneration in each of the last six years. [97860]

Mr. Lammy: The Department does not hold centrally details of the number of people with age related macular degeneration. However, a study sponsored by the Macular Disease Society in 2001 estimated that there were 182,000 people with age related macular degeneration with a best eye visual acuity below that judged appropriate for certification as blind or partially sighted.

Beta Interferon

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of how consultant (a) neurologists and (b) specialist nurses in post have coped with implementing the prescription plus

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monitoring scheme for beta interferons; and whether further resources will be made available to facilitate the scheme; [97146]

(2) by what date everyone with MS who is eligible for beta interferons will have received these drugs under the prescription plus monitoring scheme; and how many people potentially eligible for the drug have received it. [97145]

Mr. Lammy: We do not hold detailed information about the local implementation of the scheme, but a survey of strategic health authorities conducted last autumn showed that services were being developed to initiate treatment under the scheme. Funding is included in primary care trust general allocations, which on average are increasing by more than 9 per cent. in cash terms over each of the next three years.

It is the intention to complete recruitment of patients to the scheme within 18 months of the scheme being initiated by centres.

Capita

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers of State, (c) Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State, (d) special advisers, and (e) officials have had with Capita employees and members of the Capita board since May 2001; what was discussed at each meeting; who attended; and if he will make a statement. [95982]

Mr. Lammy: As with previous Administrations and in line with exemption 7 of the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information", it is not this Government's normal practice to release details of specific meetings or their content, as some of these discussions may have taken place on a confidential basis.

All such contacts are conducted in accordance with the rules set out in the "Ministerial Code" the "Civil Service Code", and "Guidance for Civil Servants: Contacts with Lobbyists". Copies of these documents are available in the Library.

Capital Projects

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the evaluations for the Capital Modernisation Fund projects relating to (a) modernising coronary heart disease, (b) A&E and primary modernisation, (c) action on cataracts, (d) meningitis vaccinations, (e) decontamination and (f) NHS LIFT PPPs; and if he will make a statement. [97023]

Jacqui Smith: Of the six Department of Health Treasury Capital Modernisation Fund (TCMF) projects that you have identified, only five are capital investment projects.

The meningitis vaccination programme, whilst financed by TCMF cash, consisted exclusively of vaccinations and we have no plans to evaluate it.

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The Action on Cataracts project is complete and the "good practice" it generated and a full evaluation report is expected to be published on the "Action On" website at www.modern.nhs.uk/action-on later this year. Once it is available, a copy will also be placed in the Library.

The remaining projects are currently incomplete. Once they are complete, they will be subjected to thorough post project evaluation, to ensure that any lessons learned are applied to other projects.

Care Homes

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the standard letter that was sent to care homes who failed to pass on the free nursing care payment onto residents; and how many have been sent. [97143]

Jacqui Smith: The Department has not issued a standard letter to care homes.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to lay the Statutory Instrument that amends the regulations to extend the time limit for staff who were employed in care homes immediately before April 2002 for obtaining checks from the Criminal Records Bureau. [97212]

Jacqui Smith: We are currently finalising the details of the changes to the regulations and we plan to lay the necessary statutory instrument shortly.

Child Protection

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the retention rates are for child protection social workers employed in each social services department in England in the last three years; and what this represents as a percentage of total staff in that area of work on the fully staffed pay rate. [95997]

Jacqui Smith: We do not hold central information on retention rates for social workers employed in each of the social services departments in England.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what extra training is to be implemented for social services departments child protection social workers in how to deal with abusive and intimidating parents and guardians of children deemed at risk. [96080]

Jacqui Smith : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 7 January 2003, Official Report, column 175W.

The National Task Force on Violence Against Social Workers recommended in 2001 that employers urgently undertook an audit of their organisation's ability to deal with violence and abuse and then did a training needs analysis for their workforce. They were then asked to prepare and begin an action plan to effect planned developments.

Those social workers who are working with children and families should undertake the post-qualifying (PQ) child care award. This was created in 1999 to equip qualified social workers with the required level of knowledge, understanding and skills to carry out the full range of expectations and duties of contemporary children's personal social services. However, as part of

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the reform of social work education, the General Social Care Council (GSCC) is undertaking a review of the current framework for post-qualifying training for social work. This will include a review of the PQ child care award.

In addition to this, the prescribed curriculum of the new social work degree includes the national occupational standards for social work, which require students to demonstrate the management of risk to individuals, families, carers, groups and communities and to assess, minimise and manage risk to self and colleagues.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to local authority social services departments regarding the recruitment of child protection social workers from abroad; and if he will make a statement on the policy of recruiting social workers involved in child protection from abroad. [96089]

Jacqui Smith: Guidance has not been issued to local authority social services departments regarding the recruitment of social workers from abroad. Qualified social workers from abroad who wish to work in this country register with the General Social Care Council, who validate their qualification.

It is the responsibility of individual employing agencies to ensure that their recruitment policies and procedures comply with current legislation whether recruiting within England or abroad.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many child protection social workers recruited from abroad work in local authority social services departments in England. [96090]

Jacqui Smith: We do not hold data centrally on social workers recruited from abroad. Qualified social workers from abroad who wish to work in this country register with the General Social Care Council, who validate their qualification.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action has been taken to investigate claims during the Victoria Climbié Inquiry that unaccompanied child refugees were placed in bed and breakfast accommodation by Brent Social Services. [96113]

Jacqui Smith: Giving evidence on Friday 12 October 2001 to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry, Mr. Turner, QC for the London Borough of Brent, made clear that Brent Social Services had a clear policy of not placing unaccompanied children under the age of 16 in bed and breakfast accommodation. At that time, the local authority also undertook a check on the actual position and reported to the inquiry that no such children were placed in such accommodation.

The Social Services Inspectorate has, this month, confirmed with Brent that this continues to be the case in practice.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the confidentiality considerations contained in

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the Data Protection Act 1998 and the sharing of information about vulnerable children between agencies recommended by Lord Laming. [96035]

Jacqui Smith: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, has said that we will consider Lord Laming's recommendations carefully and will publish a full response to the report in the spring.

Further, we plan to publish guidance to the national health service in September 2003 on patient confidentiality issues, including those relating to the Data Protection Act 1998.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to issue the guidance on information-sharing, as recommended in the Victoria Climbié Inquiry recommendation 16. [96633]

Jacqui Smith: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, has said that we will consider the report's recommendations carefully and will publish a full response in the Spring.

Independently of Lord Laming's recommendation, we plan to publish guidance to the National Health Service in September 2003 on patient confidentiality issues including those relating to Data Protection Act 1998.

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