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27 Feb 2003 : Column 706W—continued

Vaccinations

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under the age of five years received immunisation against (a) polio, (b) pertussis, (c) tetanus, (d) diphtheria and (e) MMR in (i) the last year for which figures are available, (ii) the previous 12 months and (iii) 1996. [97811]

Ms Blears: Information about coverage rates for children who have completed primary immunisation courses against polio, pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria by their first and second birthday and MMR by their second birthday for the years 1996–97, 2000–01 and 2001–02 are shown in table 1.

Information about booster and second MMR immunisations by age five is shown in table 2.

Table 1: Completed primary courses: percentage of children immunised by their first birthday and second birthday

	Number of children
Year	Thousands	Diphtheria	Tetanus	Polio	Pertussis	MMR(24)
Year of first birthday
1996–97	609	93	93	93	92	—
2000–01	578	91	91	91	90	—
2001–02	556	91	91	91	90	—
Year of second birthday
1996–97	620	96	96	96	94	92
2000–01	592	94	95	94	94	87
2001–02	573	94	94	94	93	84

⁽²⁴⁾ Immunisation is recommended between 12 and 15 months of age

Source:

Department of Health, Statistics Division SD3G, Cover data

Table 2: Percentage of children immunised by their 5th birthday

		Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio		Pertussis	MMR
Year	Number of children age five(25)	Primary	Primary and booster	Primary	First dose	First andsecond dose
1996–97(26)	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	616	94	80	92	92	75
2001–02	608	94	81	93	91	74

⁽²⁵⁾ Thousands

⁽²⁶⁾ Information about uptake age five was collected for the first time in 1999–2000

Source:

Department of Health, Statistics Division SD3G Cover data

27 Feb 2003 : Column 707W

HOME DEPARTMENT

Children's Rights Commissioner

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West on 27 September 2002 regarding a Children's Rights Commissioner; and for what reasons he has not yet replied. [95290]

Mr. Denham: I replied to the hon Member's letter on 12 February. The reply was delayed due to the original response being lost in transit between Departments.

27 Feb 2003 : Column 708W

Departmental File Stores

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed in the departmental filestores in each year since 1997; how many have been transferred to the private sector; and if he will make a statement. [98859]

Hilary Benn: The details of the departmental and agency staff numbers, over the years in question, across the Home Office Group are set put in the following table:

	Department		Agencies
	Other directorates	Immigration and nationality directorate	Prison service	Passport service	Forensic science service	Criminal record bureau	Total
	Staff posts	Staff posts	Staff posts	Staff posts	Staff posts	Staff posts	Staff posts
1997–98	10	11	14	12	10	N/a	57
1998–99	11	11	14	9	10	N/a	55
1999–2000	9	11	14	10.5	9	N/a	53.5
2000–01	9	11	13	17.5	8	N/a	58.5
2001–02	10	11	15	15.5	8	N/a	59.5
2002–03	10	11	19	15.5	8	0	63.5

No posts have been transferred out to the private sector during the period in question.

Drug Rehabilitation Funding (Derbyshire)

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was made available for the rehabilitation of drug offenders in Derbyshire in each year from 1997 to 2002. [98894]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Information is not available in the form requested.

The pooled treatment budget, introduced in 2001–02 provides funding for the treatment and rehabilitation of people with drug problems, including offenders. Drug Action Teams use their pooled treatment budget allocations, together with additional resources from health and local authorities and other sources to fund treatment provision in their areas.

The level of pooled treatment budget funding allocated to Derbyshire in 2001–02 was £1.376 million. This was increased to £1.8496 million in 2002–03. In 2003–04, Derbyshire's pooled treatment budget allocation will increase by 29 per cent to £2.395 million.

Drugscope

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what funding from (a) his Department and (b) any other government department has been provided to Drugscope in (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000, (iv) 2000–01, (v) 2001–02 and (vi) 2002–03; and what funding is planned for future years. [99701]

(2) what discussions he has had about future funding for Drugscope. [99699]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Drugscope and its predecessor organisations the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse and the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependency received the following funds from the Home Office and other Government Departments (Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister):

£

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Home Office	0	0	104,209	371,708	440,490	106,000
Other Departments	590,000	774,000	1,091,753	843,480	739,500	600,511
Total	590,000	774,000	1,195,962	1,215,188	1,179,990	706,511

These figures are based upon information available from Departmental accounting systems and include Government payments for services/consultancy that contribute to Drugscope's costs. There may be small in-year payments for one-off projects that do not appear in these figures. Funding for future years is currently under consideration.

Probation Service

Mrs. Brooke : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average number of offenders on supervision per probation officers caseload. [98190]

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Hilary Benn: The average number of offenders on supervision per probation officer as at 31 December 2001 was 40.7. However, staff other than probation officers are involved with the supervision of offenders, chiefly probation service officers. The average number of offenders on supervision per probation officer and probation service officer grades combined was 27.0 as at 31 December 2001.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Bereavement Payments

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to change the bereavement payments system for those leaving no dependants; and if he will make a statement. [98990]

Malcolm Wicks: We have no plans to change Bereavement Benefits. The current scheme was introduced on 9 April 2001 in order to focus help where it is most needed; on immediate needs and on families with children and to provide equal access to men and women for the first time.

The Bereavement Payment is a lump sum payment of £2,000 payable immediately to help with costs arising on bereavement. Widowed Parent's Allowance is a weekly benefit payable to widowed parents who satisfy the qualifying conditions. In addition Bereavement Allowance is a weekly benefit payable, for 52 weeks following widowhood, to widows and widowers aged 45 and over without dependant children.

Corporate/Shared Services

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons spending by his Department on corporate and shared services has increased between 1998–99 and 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [97345]

Mr. McCartney: The Department for Work and Pensions came into being on 1April 2001. Consequently there are no comparable figures prior to this date. The final actual expenditure for 2002–03 has yet to be confirmed and therefore a comparison with actual expenditure for 2001–02 or planned expenditure for 2003–04 cannot be made. The current expenditure plans of the Department for Work and Pensions are contained in Tables 1–11 of the Departmental Report: The Government expenditure plans 2002–03 to 2003–04, Command 5424.

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