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25 Mar 2003 : Column 186W—continued
Imported Chicken
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the detection of beef and pork proteins in imported chicken. [103933]
Ms Blears: The Food Standards Agency has recently published results showing that some frozen chicken products on sale in wholesale outlets in the United Kingdom are not properly labelled. Twelve of the 25 samples tested contained pork DNA, and one contained beef DNA. These findings do not raise any safety concerns, but they are unacceptable, particularly since 11 of the samples containing pork DNA were labelled as "Halal". The FSA is working closely with local enforcement authorities, who are now deciding what action to take against the wholesalers. It is also pursuing the matter with the competent authority in the Netherlands, where most of these products were processed.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the findings of beef and pork DNA in Dutch chicken on sale in the United Kingdom. [103878]
Ms Blears: The Food Standards Agency has recently published results showing that some frozen chicken products on sale in wholesale outlets in the United Kingdom are not properly labelled. Twelve of the 25 samples tested contained pork DNA, and one contained beef DNA. These findings do not raise any safety concerns, but they are unacceptable, particularly since 11 of the samples containing pork DNA were labelled as "Halal". The FSA is working closely with local enforcement authorities, who are now deciding what action to take against the wholesalers. It is also
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pursuing the matter with the competent authority in the Netherlands, where most of these products were processed.
NHS Targets
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the system of targets for the National Health Service after the commencement of NHS foundation trusts. [104210]
Mr. Hutton: "Improvement, expansion, reform: The next three years Priorities and Planning Framework 2003–06", published in October 2002 set out the targets for all national health service organisations over the coming three years.
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NHS foundation trusts will have the freedom to decide how these targets are met.
A and E Waiting Times (Hull and East Yorkshire)
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients admitted to accident and emergency in Hull and East Yorkshire in the last 12 months waited longer than 12 hours prior to admission, transfer or discharge. [104526]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available in the format requested. The table shows the number of patients waiting more than four hours in accident and emergency prior to admission at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust.
| 2002–3 | 2001–2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 | Q2 | Q1 | Q4 | 12 month total | ||
| Number of patients admitted through major A&E | 6,051 | 6,068 | 6,243 | 5,812 | 24,174 | |
| Patients not placed in bed in a ward within four hours of a decision to admit | 252 | 249 | 260 | 288 | 1,049 | |
| Percentage | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 4.3 | |
Source:
Hospital Activity Statistics, Department of Health
Advertising Campaigns
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the advertising campaigns which (a) his Department and (b) the NHS have commissioned since 1997; and what the costs were in each case. [100505]
Mr. Lammy: The cost of major advertising campaigns commissioned by the Department's Communications Directorate are shown in the table.
| 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03(18) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antibiotics | — | — | — | 0.91 | — | 0.44 | 0.52 |
| Blood donation | 0.38 | 0.60 | 1.70 | 0.22(19) | — | — | — |
| CALM(20) | — | — | — | — | — | 0.05 | 0.10 |
| Drugs | — | — | — | 0.53 | 0.5 | — | 1.5 |
| Flu | — | — | — | — | 2.01 | 1.45 | 2.0 |
| Immunisation | — | — | — | — | — | 0.67 | 0.63 |
| Maternity | 0.10 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mind Out | — | — | — | — | — | 0.13 | 0.15 |
| National health service including nurse recruitment | 1.43 | 1.30 | 4.90 | 4.21 | 4.90 | 5.0 | 4.783 |
| NHS Direct | — | 0.12 | 0.78 | 1.24 | 0.11 | 1.08 | 0.58 |
| Organ donation | — | 0.02 | 0.77 | 0.47 | 0.43 | 0.18 | 0.21 |
| Prescription fraud | — | — | 0.38 | — | 0.18 | — | 0.30 |
| Sexwise/ | |||||||
| teenage pregnancy | — | — | — | 0.39 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
| Sexual health | — | — | — | — | — | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Social worker recruitment | — | — | — | — | — | 0.832 | 1.236 |
| Smoking | — | — | — | 6.18(21) | 8.97 | 7.79 | 7.873 |
| TB awareness | — | — | — | — | — | 0.30 | 0.09 |
| Travel safe | 0.85 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Walk-in centres | — | — | — | — | 0.17 | 0.023 | — |
| Winter | — | — | — | 1.016 | 2.03 | 0.16 | 0.35 |
| Total | 3.16 | 2.04 | 8.53 | 15.166 | 20.80 | 20.005 | 23.822 |
(18) Costs to date.
(19) The Department's spend on blood donation advertising reduced in 1999–2000 as this activity was funded directly by the National Blood Authority, who took over full responsibility for this expenditure on 1 April 2000.
(20) CALM–Campaign against living miserably.
(21) Prior to 1999–2000 advertising on smoking was undertaken by the Health Education Authority.
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Information on National Health Service expenditure is collected centrally and published annually in the Health and Personal Social Statistics for England.
Age Concern
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make funding available to Age Concern to continue the bathing and footcare service for elderly people in Sittingbourne. [104658]
Ms Blears [holding answer 24 March 2003]: Information from the strategic health authority is that funding for this service is provided within the overall service to older people.
Swale Primary Care Trust (PCT) provided Age Concern with funding of £24,189 in 2002–03 which included funding for the bathing and footcare service in the Sittingbourne area.
The Swale PCT have confirmed they will continue to fund the services in 2003.
Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 27 February 2003, Official Report, columns 695–6W, on scallop fisheries, why, when scallops in the Irish Sea were detected as containing in excess of 20mg/kg of ASP, the area of closure was not confined to the box in which the scallops were detected. [102615]
Ms Blears: When considering closure of areas of water off the coast of Northern Ireland in such circumstances, the Food Standards Agency uses ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) areas as a means of designating particular areas of water. In every case the aim is to include any area where there is reason to think there is a hazard. Because of the very mobile nature of marine algae, it is necessary to include a safety margin to ensure protection of public health.
Smoking
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of his Department's expenditure on publicity and advertising in relation to tobacco issues, in each year from 1990–91 to 2003–04 (planned); what value for money assessment of it has been carried out; and if he will make a statement. [103702]
Ms Blears: For the period 1990–91 to 1998–99 public education campaigns were run by the Health Education Authority. The Department of Health took over this work in 1999–2000.
The spend in the last four financial years is shown in the table. The total budget for 2003–04 is still to be confirmed.
| Total spend on publicity | Amount spent on advertising | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 15.5 | 6.18 |
| 2000–01 | 13.73 | 8.97 |
| 2001–02 | 12.3 | 7.79 |
| 2002–03 | 13 | 7.873(22) |
(22) Amount currently scheduled to be spent on advertising
The non-advertising expenditure funds campaign literature, specialist helplines for smokers, campaign website, research and specialist campaigns targeting other key audiences such as pregnant smokers and young people.
It is difficult to isolate the success of the education campaign due to other factors at work such as prices, incomes, social trends etc. However, a number of different measures are in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Don't Give Up Giving Up" advertising campaign. These include prevalence surveys, quarterly tracking research, monitoring calls to the national health service smoking helpline, evaluation of media coverage and helpline referrals to local services.
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