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28 Mar 2003 : Column 446W—continued
Departmental Creche Facilities
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what creche facilities are provided by his Department; and at what cost. [104301]
Mr. Lammy: The Department does not provide creche facilities for its staff.
There is an on site nursery for members of staff at the Department's Leeds office, which is provided at the rate of £20.34 per day.
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For other members of staff, the Department provides childcare allowances towards the cost of nursery care. It also provides a holiday playscheme subsidised at the rate of £10 per day for children of staff members, who are of school age, during the holidays.
The budget for the allowances and for running the playscheme last year was £270,000.
Departmental Events
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the (a) conferences, (b) seminars, (c) workshops, (d) exhibitions and (e) press conferences which have been sponsored by his Department and which took place on non-Departmental premises in the last 12 months, broken down by title, purpose, date and cost. [104277]
Mr. Lammy: This information is not collected centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Website
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost of his Department's website was in the last 12 months; and how many hits it received in the same period. [104201]
Mr. Lammy: The cost of the Department of Health's website over the last 12 months is shown in the table.
| Financial year | Hosting and maintenance | Website development | Estimated staff costs(10) | Total costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 73.32 | 245.9 | 407.6 | 726.8 |
| 2002–03 (projected to 31 March 2003) | (11)165.12 | 46 | 511.44 | 722.56 |
(10) Based on agreed Civil Service staff costs (including salaries, common services etc.)
(11) This includes £16,840 in migration and set-up costs incurred on switching internet service providers in June 2002.
The increase in hosting and maintenance charges between 2002 and 2003 was caused by:
- An increase in the number of databases made available online during the period. Hosting for each was charged separately until June 2002.
- Annual changes to the Office of Government Commerce's (OGC) charging arrangements for website hosting and maintenance.
- When the OGC shut down its hosting facility in 2002, the Department had to seek an alternative sen/ice provider from the private sector.
The number of visits to the Department's static HTML website between July 2002 and February 2003 was 13,049,238. This averages at 843,654 visits per month. In both January and February this year the number of visits topped 1 million. It should be noted, however, that this figure does not include visits to any of the 65 domino databases, which form part of the Departments' site. Hit counts for these databases are currently unavailable.
Since the Department switched to a new hosting provider in June 2002, comparable usage figures for proceeding months are unavailable.
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External Reports
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department in each year since 1997. [103717]
Mr. Lammy: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
GP and Primary Care Trust Lists
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individual GP practices and primary care trusts (a) have been and (b) are being investigated by the NHS Counter Fraud Department for removing from their lists children not immunised against MMR. [99183]
Mr. Hutton: The National Health Service Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS) investigates all matters of fraud and corruption in the NHS. Since 1999 NHS CFS has completed 1,026 investigations. There have been 157 successful prosecutions and 212 successful civil and disciplinary cases. None of these cases related to general practitioner practices and primary care trusts removing from their lists children not immunised against MMR.
We do not comment on whether investigations in a specific area may or may not be currently taking place.
The latest information that is available is for 2001–02 and has been placed in the Library.
National health service trusts, which host NHS Professionals, the organisation that provides temporary staff for the NHS, include the expenditure for agency staff in their accounts and financial returns. The trusts are St. Mary's NHS Trust Paddington, Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, West Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, John Radcliffe NHS Trust, East and North Herts NHS Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust. NHS trusts, that use the services of NHS Professionals are recharged for these services and will also include these payments in their own accounts and financial returns. This results in the expenditure being double counted in the annual financial returns of NHS trusts and accounts for higher than average returns for trusts hosting NHS Professionals.
Investors in People
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of (a) hospital trusts, (b) primary care trusts and (c) other health trusts have Investors in People status. [104956]
Mr. Hutton: Information on Investors in People is not collected centrally. However, the National Health Service Improving Working Lives (IWL) Standard which was launched in October 2000, is a commitment by NHS employers to create well managed, flexible working environments which support staff, promote their welfare and development, and respect the need for a balance between work and their home life. All acute trusts and many other NHS organisations are currently working towards accreditation to 'Practice status'. The IWL initiative dovetails with other initiatives such as Investors in People.
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Mrs. Della Bond
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will give a full response to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield's letter to the Minister of State responsible for long-term care, dated 8 October 2002, ref PO1017531, in respect of Mrs. Della Bond, Birmingham. [104774]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 25 March 2003]: A reply was sent to my hon. Friend on 24 March.
Older People (Falls Prevention)
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent in England on the prevention of (a) all injuries as a result of a fall, (b) hip fractures and (c) osteoporosis among older people in 2002–03. [100114]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available centrally.
Perinatal Deaths
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what data his Department has collated on the contribution of sub-optimal care factors to perinatal deaths in England in the last five years; [103785]
- (2) what steps his Department is taking to review standards of (a) ante-natal and (b) perinatal care in England in relation to perinatal (i) mortality and (ii) morbidity; [103784]
(3) what data his Department has collated on factors contributing to perinatal deaths in England over the last five years. [103786]
Jacqui Smith: Standards for both ante-natal and perinatal care have been under continual review. The Department's programme of work to review and improve specific aspects of ante-natal care include issuing Clinical Guidelines developed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which address monitoring through pregnancy (the most important sub-optimal care factor identified). NICE guidance has been issued on:
- the use of electronic foetal monitoring
induction of labour
the routine use of Anti-D prophylaxis for rhesus negative pregnant women
The greatest preventable sub-optimal care factor associated with low birthweight and compromised health in babies is smoking during pregnancy. This practice is often aligned with disparities between the life chances of families living in poverty, and those living in more affluent circumstances. The Sure Start initiative was established in April 1999 to tackle these inequalities from the earliest stages. As a part of this programme midwives are actively involved in working to help pregnant women and their partners to give up smoking. The aim is to achieve, by 2004 and in the 500 Sure Start areas, a 10 per cent. reduction in mothers who smoke during pregnancy.
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Standards have also been under review since 1992, through the agency of the Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (CESDI) which is funded by the Department of Health. CESDI collects and analyses data on deaths in late foetal life and through infancy in order to explore any areas of sub-optimal care, and to use the findings to reduce the risk of deaths. Further consideration is being given to the collection of data on morbidity. CESDI reports are available in the Library and are also accessible on the CESDI website www.cesdi.org.uk/. Moreover continuing work on developing a Children's National Service Framework including maternity services will set national standards of care for ante-natal, intra-partum and post-natal services.
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