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Health Expenditure

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for (a) Great Britain and (b) each health authority the expenditure on health per head of population, expressed in real terms, in each year since 1997–98. [104846]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 25 March 2003]: Information relating to Wales and Scotland is a matter for the devolved administrations. While the institutions in Northern Ireland are dissolved the responsibility rests with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office.

Information on the expenditure on health by weighted head of population in real terms for each health authority area in England for each year since 1997–98 has been placed in the Library.

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Health Strategy

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing a sustainable development strategy for health. [107821]

Ms Blears: The Department of Health strategy on sustainable development and the environment is in line with the Government's overall sustainable development strategy, in which health, or "expected healthy years of life", is one of the 15 key headline indicators. Departmental officials are currently collaborating with the Sustainable Development Commission to update and improve the Department's strategy.

The Department's sustainable development strategy, which has specific targets for reducing inequalities in health, should be viewed within the context of overall health strategies. These include measures to address the social, economic, and environmental factors relating to health such as housing, education, and nutrition. Progress can be tracked on the Department of Health web page at http://www.doh.gov.uk/sustainabledevelopment.

Health Vacancies

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rate was for consultants working in coronary care in the NHS in (a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each NHS trust in each of the last six years. [106599]

Mr. Hutton: The three specialties involved in coronary care are cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery and paediatric cardiology.

The Department has only collected vacancy data since 1999, and not always to the same level of detail appearing in the last survey in 2002. The 1999 and 2000, data include only specialty groups and not individual specialties. Before the 2002 survey, paediatric cardiology was included within the paediatric group and was not separately identified.

2002 vacancy data has been presented within strategic health authority areas as opposed to NHS regions.

Available vacancy rate data have been placed in the Library.

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Healthcare Computing Conference

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's presentation to the healthcare computing conference in Harrogate on 25 March. [107753]

Mr. Hutton: There was a series of presentations on key aspects of the national programme for information technology (IT) in the National Health Service made at the Healthcare Computing 2003 conference on 25 March 2003.

They covered an analysis of the IT supplier market, developing the IT infrastructure, the National Design Authority, the integrated care records service (ICRS), planning for ICRS implementation in London, the health records infrastructure, engaging key clinical and managerial stakeholders in the NHS, communicating with patients and the public and progress on electronic appointment booking.

Taken together they demonstrated a strong national IT programme team approach to consultation, planning and delivery and were well received by Healthcare Computing 2003 delegates.

We will publish an update in April on the national IT programme that includes a summary of the presentations made and news on progress. This will also be placed in the Library.

Hospital Food

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will make details of the second stage of the Better Hospital Food Programme available to the House. [107737]

Mr. Lammy: The details of the next stage of the Better Hospital Food Programme will be announced at the Hospital Caterers Association Annual Conference on 24 April 2003.

Details will be made available to Members shortly.

Independent Complaints Advocacy

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce legislation to give the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health the power to (a) commission and (b) provide independent complaints advocacy. [108995]

Mr. Lammy: There are no plans to give the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH) any powers to either commission or provide independent complaints advocacy (ICAS).

The intention is that primary care trusts patients' forums will commission or provide ICAS when they have established their networks and capacity. As an interim measure, when Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 is commenced, the Secretary of State has the power to arrange for the provision of ICAS and the Department shall be working with the CPPIH to put in place national coverage with specialist complaints support providers from 1 September 2003. To support this system, we intend to give the CPPIH powers to manage this interim contract.

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Information Technology

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place to require NHS IT managers to compare external supplier costs to costs of goods and services procured under framework contracts. [106795]

Mr. Hutton: The national health service information technology framework contract, set up in conjunction with the Office of Government Commerce contract (g-cat), commissions price surveys from an independent commercial market price database. The data include prices from all sources such as corporate resellers, electrical and information technology stores, retailers, independent retail and on-line suppliers.

In addition, within the framework agreements there is the facility for information technology managers to run 'mini competitions' among the companies on the agreement. The framework agreements are consistently monitored, and individual information technology managers can compare the prices with any other alternatives available, to confirm value for money.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring his Department is undertaking of clinician (a) satisfaction with and (b) use of new NHS IT systems; and if he will make a statement. [106796]

Mr. Hutton: Clinician satisfaction and use of specific implementations of new national health service information technology systems is a matter for local management and the relevant suppliers.

Inventures

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he investigated the leaking of confidential contractual documents relating to the sale of Inventures at any point (a) before and (b) after the selection of the Miller Group as the preferred bidder. [100537]

Mr. Hutton: An investigation was carried out into the leaking of confidential contractual documents. This investigation took place after the selection of Miller/Bank of Scotland and confirmed that this disclosure did not influence the decision to appoint Miller/Bank of Scotland.

Language and Speech Therapists

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) language and (b) speech therapists are employed in the NHS. [107822]

Mr. Hutton: Separate information on speech therapists and language therapists is not collected centrally. As at 30 September 2001, there were 5,680 qualified speech and language therapists employed in the national health service, an increase of 810 or 17 per cent. since 1997.

Local Election Campaigns

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to primary care trusts about the timing of consultations on changes to services during local council election campaigns; and if he will make a statement. [108142]

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Mr. Hutton: The Department has not issued any guidance specifically about the timing of consultations on changes to services during local council election campaigns. However, the National Health Service Chief Executive Bulletin Number 7 (March 2003), which was sent to all strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT) chief executives, included a reference to the local election purdah and drew attention to Cabinet Office guidance on the conduct of public servants during election periods. SHAs are expected to ensure that PCTs in their areas undertaking consultations have regard to the guidance.

Locum GPs

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure on locum GPs was as a percentage of total GPs' salaries in each (a) health authority, (b) primary care trust and (c) county in each of the last three years. [108636]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

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