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14 Apr 2003 : Column 613W—continued
New Opportunities Fund
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money is being contributed by the New Opportunities Fund to health education programmes in which his Department has an involvement. [106630]
Ms Blears: The New Opportunities Fund is providing £42 million over two years for scaling up National School Fruit Scheme pilots region-by-region to provide a free piece of fruit each day to school children aged four to six in England; and £10 million over two years to support 66 local five-a-day community initiatives in England to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables. Both these programmes include health education activities.
The New Opportunities Fund has approved 257 healthy living centre grants in England, worth over £200 million. These centres employ a wide range of methods to reduce inequalities in health and tackle the wider determinants and health education plays a central role in many programmes.
The New Opportunities Fund will also developing a programme to support cardiac rehabilitation, for which £5 million has been allocated.
NHS (Health and Safety)
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for (a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each strategic health authority the proportion of patient occupied floor area not compliant with (i) statutory health and safety regulations and (ii) statutory fire safety regulations in each of the last six years. [100854]
Mr. Hutton: Data on the proportion of patient occupied floor area that is not compliant with statutory health and safety and statutory fire safety regulations, including compliance with the national health service firecode standards, began in 2001–02 and is shown in the tables. Figures are not yet available for 2002–03.
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These figures reflect the proportion of the estate that is not fully compliant. Figures are collected for each category separately, and some of the areas covered by one category will also fall into the other. Non-compliant estate will cover a wide variety of conditions, including that which is just below standard. Therefore the figures do not indicate levels of risk, and despite significant proportions being non-compliant, the degree of risk to patients could be very small. Trusts make every effort to remedy any concerns from local enforcement bodies as quickly as possible. This is reflected in the very small numbers of injuries and deaths arising as a result of fires and reportable health and safety incidents in NHS hospitals in England, despite the very high numbers of people who use healthcare premises.
| DHSC | Percentage floor area below statutory health and safety compliance |
|---|---|
| England total | 10.55 |
| London | 9.48 |
| Midlands and Eastern | 12.79 |
| North | 8.81 |
| South | 11.60 |
| Strategic health authority | Percentage floor area below statutory health and safety compliance |
|---|---|
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 14.94 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 14.80 |
| Birmingham and the Black Country | 15.83 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 1.70 |
| County Durham and Tees Valley | 0.55 |
| Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcester | 40.84 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 15.83 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 1.73 |
| Essex | 8.70 |
| Greater Manchester | 9.11 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 1.79 |
| Kent and Medway | 8.81 |
| Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland | 13.70 |
| Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire | 4.20 |
| North and North East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire | 19.05 |
| North Central London | 15.64 |
| North East London | 6.37 |
| North West London | 9.54 |
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear | 9.87 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 10.65 |
| South East London | 3.40 |
| South West London | 15.20 |
| South West Peninsular | 2.39 |
| South Yorkshire | 3.94 |
| Surrey and Sussex | 21.96 |
| Thames Valley | 20.99 |
| Trent | 1.96 |
| West Yorkshire | 14.09 |
| DHSC | Percentage floor area not in statutory fire safety compliance |
|---|---|
| England total | 8.57 |
| London | 8.56 |
| Midlands and Eastern | 9.23 |
| North | 8.24 |
| South | 8.34 |
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| Strategic health authority | Percentage floor area not in statutory fire safety compliance |
|---|---|
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 9.33 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 17.60 |
| Birmingham and the Black Country | 4.62 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 1.40 |
| County Durham and Tees Valley | 0.24 |
| Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcester | 29.88 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 10.85 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 2.03 |
| Essex | 8.54 |
| Greater Manchester | 9.24 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 0.98 |
| Kent and Medway | 6.14 |
| Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland | 10.87 |
| Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire | 2.67 |
| North and North East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire | 13.76 |
| North Central London | 10.70 |
| North East London | 6.69 |
| North West London | 7.17 |
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear | 21.61 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 6.56 |
| South East London | 1.08 |
| South West London | 25.08 |
| South West Peninsular | 3.30 |
| South Yorkshire | 2.56 |
| Surrey and Sussex | 16.41 |
| Thames Valley | 13.96 |
| Trent | 3.12 |
| West Yorkshire | 8.92 |
NHS Consultants
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS consultants are employed on joint contracts with both English and Welsh hospitals. [107008]
Mr. Hutton: An analysis of data for September 2001 suggests that there were approximately 60 consultants who had contracts with both an English national health service trust and a Welsh NHS trust. It is not possible to ascertain from the available information whether these are necessarily joint contracts. It is possible for a consultant to have two separate contracts with two separate NHS organisations.
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he intends that NHS consultants employed on joint contracts by English and Welsh hospitals should continue to be employed under a single NHS consultant's contract. [107009]
Mr. Hutton: The terms and conditions of employment offered to consultants by national health service trusts in England and in Wales are a matter for individual trusts to determine.
NHS Walk-in Centres
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS walk-in centres there are (a) in England and (b) in the Buckinghamshire health authority area; and what plans he has for further centres. [106983]
Mr. Hutton: There are now 42 national health service walk-in centres, none of which is within the Buckinghamshire Strategic Health Authority area. These have demonstrated success in improving primary care access locally, and we now expect them and similar primary care trust led walk-in services to form an
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integral part of local strategies to improve primary care access. We are considering how best to encourage their further development.
Nurses
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many agencies were used by NHS trusts to recruit nurses in each year since 1997; and if he will list the agencies used by NHS trusts to recruit nurses in 2002–03. [107730]
Mr. Hutton: Prior to the commencement of the regional nursing agency project plan to provide regional framework agreements for use by National Health Service trusts, information available on which nursing agencies were being used by trusts was not collected centrally.
Under the regional framework agreements, the NHS is using the following numbers of agencies:
| Agencies | Number |
|---|---|
| London (specialist nurses) | 29 |
| London (general nurses) | 72 |
| North West (all types) | 40 |
| South West (all types) | 45 |
| Eastern (all types) | 45 |
| West Midlands (all types) | 59 |
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many registered nurses actively recruited to the NHS from abroad are employed within the NHS in England; [106211]
- (2) how many registered nurses were actively recruited to the NHS from abroad in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01, (c) 2001–02 and (d) since April 2002 in (i) England, (ii) each NHS region and (iii) each strategic health authority. [106210]
Mr. Hutton: The Nursing and Midwifery Council registers all nurses who work in the United Kingdom and hold statistics for the number of overseas nurses who are accepted onto their register.
Through government to government agreements (Philippines, India and Spain), 1,092 nurses have been recruited.
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of registered nurses working in the NHS at the beginning of the year remained working in the NHS at the end of the year in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02; and if he will make a statement. [106212]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Between September 1999 and March 2002, there has been a net increase of 28,740 qualified nurses employed in the national health service.
Information on the number of nurses leaving the Nursing and Midwifery Council register is available from their website at www.nmc-uk.org.uk.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to reduce the number of nurses leaving the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [107683]
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Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 April 2003]: The Government are committed to retaining more staff in the national health service. As a result of the action we have taken to improve pay, child care, working conditions, and access to training and development, vacancy rates for nurses are falling.
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average age of retirement of registered nurses working in the NHS in England was at the last date for which figures are available. [106213]
Mr. Hutton: Information in the form requested is not readily available. The indicative average retirement age, based on past experience, of the group of national health service pension scheme members in England and Wales, which includes qualified and unqualified nursing staff, in normal health, is shown in the table.
| As at 31 March 1999 | Average age |
|---|---|
| Men | 60.1 |
| Women | 60.4 |
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses leaving the NHS have been subsequently re-employed by the NHS through agencies, in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [107684]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 April 2003]: Information on the number of nurses who leave the national health service is not collected centrally.
Since 1997, there has been a net increase of 39,500 in the NHS nursing workforce (this figure excludes agency staff and takes account of leavers and joiners). We aim to raise standards and achieve value for money by increasing the number of permanent staff working in the NHS, so reducing reliance on the employment of temporary staff.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have been employed by the NHS in each of the last 25 years for which figures are available. [108028]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 8 April 2003]: The information requested is shown in the table.
(64) UPEs includes GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs and PMS Salaried GPs.
(65) Non-Medial figures only. 1976–79 figures taken from 1982 Health and Personal Social Service Statistics for England.
(66) 1979 onwards Non-Medical Qualified Nurses and Practice Nurses.
(67) Non-medical figures taken from 1985 HPSSS.
(68) Version of 1982 non-medical figures from HPSSS as a comparison with the earlier years.
(69) Headcount Practice Nurse figures are estimated for these years based on the 1997 wte to headcount ratio.
(70) Figures for 1991 to 1994 may not be fully comparable with other data due to under-reporting of fundholding practice staff.
(71) Includes estimated data for Buckinghamshire.
(72) This figure is estimated and from the March 2002 vacancy survey.
Notes:
1. Figures exclude learners and agency staff.
2. A new classification of the non-medial workforce was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.
3. Practice Nurses data as at 1 October each year 1979 to 1999, and 30 September 2000 to 2001.
4. Non-medical data as at 30 September each year.
Sources:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
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