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24 Mar 2003 : Column 77W—continued

Long-term Care

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the conclusion of the NHS Ombudsman relating to the single assessment process (SAP) in the report "NHS funding for long-term care" that the associated guidance does not suggest whether or how the SAP could provide a basis for, or contribute to, the assessment of eligibility for continuing NHS care. [103150]

Jacqui Smith: Guidance on the single assessment process already states that comprehensive assessments should be completed for people where the level of support and treatment likely to be offered is intensive or prolonged. We have indicated that, prior to the issue of a section 2 notice (notice from the national health service to say that a patient requires social services on discharge from hospital), the NHS must carry out an assessment, informed by the single assessment process for fully funded NHS continuing care.

Pharmacies

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmacies dispense methadone to drug addicts; and how many of these are independent pharmacies. [104442]

Mr. Lammy: Pharmacies which are included on the pharmaceutical lists of primary care trusts are required by their terms of service to dispense any medicines which are prescribed on a national health service prescription form. That includes dispensing methadone to drug addicts. At 31 March 2002 there were 9,756 such pharmacies, of which 4,666 were neither in health centres nor in chains of more than five pharmacies.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of additional costs in terms of general practitioner practice time arising from the report by the Office of Fair Trading on pharmacies. [104445]

Mr. Lammy: We are committed to expanding the role and services community pharmacists offer through, for example, closer working with other primary healthcare

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professionals including general practitioners. We are carefully considering the impact the Office of Fair Trading's recommendation would have on these objectives and other healthcare professionals in order to inform the Government's response.

Renal Units

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are to establish new renal units in 2003; how many new renal units have been established since 1997; how many renal units providing dialysis there are; and how many adults (a) received and (b) required dialysis in 2002. [103485]

Mr. Lammy [holding answer 20 March 2003]: In England, we are supporting an expansion of renal dialysis capacity, including the development of new satellite renal units, to address the increasing prevalence of established renal failure and to improve patient access to local services.

The latest information on renal services is from the 1998 renal survey. It shows there were 52 main renal units and 73 satellite units in England, dialysing a total of 13,405 patients. A further survey has been commissioned and the results of this will be available next year. Every patient with established renal failure who will benefit from kidney dialysis should receive treatment.

Scoliosis

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision has been made for treatment of children with scoliosis. [103817]

Jacqui Smith : A range of services for the treatment of scoliosis is available across the country and spinal corrective surgery for children is undertaken at over 40 hospitals. A need to consider the organisation and disposition of resources necessary for treatment has been recognised and this is being taken forward by a project board, which is currently reviewing provision.

Smoke-free Public Places

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the British Medical Association's report, "Towards Smoke-free Public Places". [93685]

Ms Blears: We welcome the report which provides a clear and helpful assessment of the issues involved in dealing with environmental tobacco smoke.

We want to work with businesses and others to achieve real change, highlighting and building on best practice. We want to build on the work already undertaken under the Public Places Charter and are funding local tobacco control alliances to work with local employers to tackle passive smoking.

PRIME MINISTER

Environmental Policies

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the ability of the present

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structure of Government Departments, and allocation of responsibilities, to deliver sound environmental policies across Government. [104555]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 January 2003, Official Report, columns 268–69W.

Iraq

Lynne Jones: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2003, Official Report, column 785W, on Iraq, in which column in the debate on 18 March 2003, the answer is to the second and third parts of the question. [105029]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 18 March 2003, Official Report, column 768, and the answer I gave the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith) today.

Master of the Queen's Music

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the procedure for announcing the appointment of the Master of the Queen's Music. [104394]

The Prime Minister: The appointment of the Master of The Queen's Music is a Royal Household appointment.

Meetings (Northern Ireland)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Prime Minister how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) the DUP, (b) the UUP, (c) the SDLP and (d) Sinn Fein since 13 January. [104644]

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The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 19 March 2003, Official Report, column 785W.

Nuclear Weapons Technology and Capacity

Llew Smith: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the countries and groups, to which he referred pursuant to his oral statement of 18 March 2003, Official Report, column 768, on Iraq, which are trading in nuclear weapons technology and capacity. [104223]

The Prime Minister: We have consistently said publicly that we have serious concerns about the proliferation activities of a number of countries. Much of the information on which such concerns are based comes from intelligence reporting.

It is not Government policy to comment in detail on intelligence matters.

Thames Gateway (Ministerial Committee)

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the (a) dates, (b) name of the chair, (c) composition and (d) items on the agenda of each meeting of the ministerial committee on the Thames Gateway since it first met. [104221]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 6 February 2003, Official Report, column 19WS. It is established practice under exemption two of Part 11 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees.

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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Owner Occupation

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of over-60 households were owner occupiers in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002, broken down by region of the UK. [103423]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is in the following table.

Proportion of households with head aged 60 or over who are owner occupiers by Government Office Region and countryPercentage

Government Office Region and Country	1997	2001	2002
North East	57	59	61
North West	66	72	72
Yorkshire and the Humber	63	65	65
East Midlands	68	72	71
West Midlands	68	71	72
East	68	74	73
London	60	63	65
South East	73	76	78
South West	74	77	79
England	67	71	72
Wales	71	74	74
Scotland	52	58	62
Northern Ireland	63	70	69
United Kingdom	66	70	71

Source:

Labour Force Survey:

Great Britain—Office for National Statistics

Northern Ireland—Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment

Policy Action Teams

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many policy action teams reports have been (a) published, (b) implemented and (c) reviewed since 1997. [104893]

Mrs. Roche: 18 Policy Action Team Reports were published in 1999 followed by a major review, National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal: Policy Action Team Audit, in January 2001. These documents can be found at: www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk. The reports are currently being further reviewed by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit to ensure progress has been made on the agreed recommendations that they contained.

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