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28 Apr 2003 : Column 291W—continued
SARS
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what service level agreements are in place between the Health Protection Agency and former Public Health Laboratory Service laboratories to monitor the outbreak of SARS. [109068]
Ms Blears: The principal role in monitoring the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is for the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre and for its specialist and reference laboratories. There is, accordingly, no requirement for service level agreements on this topic between the HPA and the former laboratories of the Public Health Laboratory Service. The HPA is in the process of agreeing service level agreements with relevant National Health Service trusts for the surveillance and response activities of these laboratories.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what role the former Public Health Laboratory Service laboratories are playing in monitoring the SARS outbreak. [109069]
Ms Blears: The role of the former Public Health Laboratories Service laboratories is to isolate and identify micro-organisms from clinical samples, report results to the Health Protection Agency's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) and refer samples and isolates to specialist and reference laboratories as appropriate. The CDSC has the leading
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role in monitoring the incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and managing the outbreak.
Secondments
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals have been seconded to his Department from the private sector, in each case listing (a) from which organisation and (b) dates of secondments in 2002–03. [108101]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has no records of any secondments from the private sector.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals have been seconded to his Department from NGOs, in each case listing (a) from which organisation and (b) dates of secondments in each year since 1997–98. [108102]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has only maintained detailed records of secondments from Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) since 2001.
The number of staff seconded into the Department of Health from NGOs and the organisations from which they came is shown in the table.
| Numberof people | (a) Organisation | (b) Date of secondment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social Services Department | 2002–04 |
| 1 | London Borough of Croydon | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Birmingham Social Services Department | 2002–03 |
| 1 | London Borough of Lewisham | 2001–03 |
| 1 | South London and Maudsley NHS Trust | 2002–03 |
| 1 | London Borough of Islington | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Age Concern England | 2001–03 |
| 1 | Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Staffordshire County Council | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Gateshead Council, Community Based Services | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Help and Care | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Nottingham City Council | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Brighton and Hove City Council | 2000–04 |
| 1 | London Borough of Ealing | 2002–03 |
| 1 | London Borough of Lambeth | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Hillingdon Primary Care Trust | 2003–05 |
| 1 | Warrington Borough Council | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea | 2003–03 |
| 1 | London School of Economics | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Calderdale Primary Care Trust | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Leeds North West Primary Care Trust | 2002–04 |
| 1 | Barnet Primary Care Trust | 2003–04 |
| 1 | Hampshire Ambulance Services Trust | 2003–03 |
| 1 | Harrow Primary Care Trust | 2000–01 |
| 1 | Brighton and Sessex NHS Trust | 2001–02 |
| 1 | St. George's Hospital | 2001–02 |
| St. Mary's Hospital | 2002–03 | |
| 1 | Public Health Laboratory Service | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Trust for the Study of Adolescence | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Brent Primary Care Trust | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Drugscope | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Islington Primary Care Trust | 2002–03 |
| 1 | National Children's Bureau | 2002–03 |
| 1 | Salford Primary Care Trust | 2003–04 |
| 1 | Health Advisory Service | 2003–04 |
| 1 | Portsmouth City Primary Care Trust | 2003–04 |
| 1 | National Heart Forum | 2003–04 |
| 1 | Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust | 2001–03 |
| Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 2000–04 | |
| 2 | University College London | 1999–04 |
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many civil servants have been seconded from his
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Department to (a) the private sector, (b) NGOs and (c) other, broken down by (i) grade of civil servants seconded, (ii) location and (iii) dates of secondments in each year since 1997–98. [108103]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has only maintained detailed records of secondments from the Department to other business organisations—private sector and non-government since 2001.
To obtain accurate information on the dates for each secondment would incur disproportionate costs.
Information on the number of staff seconded from the Department of Health to "other" sectors is shown in the table.
| Number of staff | Grade | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | SCS (Senior Civil Servant) | England |
| 1 | IP4 (G6/7) | EC |
| 36 | IP4 (G6/7) | England |
| 18 | IP3 (HEO/SEO) | England |
| 13 | IP2 (EO) | England |
| 4 | IP1 (AA/AO) | England |
One member of staff at IP2 level has been seconded from the Department to the private sector since the year 2001.
One member of staff at IP3 level has been seconded from the Department to a non-government organisation since the year 2001.
Shrewsbury Prison (Dental Treatment)
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision has been made for prisoners from HM Prison Shrewsbury to receive dental treatment. [109697]
Jacqui Smith: At present two and half hours of dental time are made available to prisoners each week at Shrewsbury prison. This has led to average waiting times to see a dentist of 14 days for a prisoner who is experiencing dental pain and 95 days for a routine appointment. Both waiting times are unacceptable and action will be taken in the near future to bring about reductions.
The implementation, shortly, of the strategy to modernise dental services for prisoners will provide the prison's dentist and healthcare manager with clear recommendations about what types of dental treatment should be carried out in a local prison. Shrewsbury is one of a number of prisons which will receive additional funding this financial year to procure extra dental sessions to reduce excess waiting times. Funding is also being made available to prison health's regional development teams to purchase dental expertise to ensure that advice and assistance is available to accompany implementation of the dental strategy, in order to ensure that unacceptable dental waiting times do not build up again.
Sickness Absence
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in his Department were on long term sick leave in each of the last five years. [109248]
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Mr. Lammy: We have defined long-term sick leave to be—absence from work due to sickness for a period of ninety days and over. The information requested is shown in the table.
| Financial Years | Number of staff on long sick term leave |
|---|---|
| 1998–1999 | 49 |
| 1999–2000 | 59 |
| 2000–2001 | 71 |
| 2001–2002 | 47 |
| 2002–2003 | 22 |
Staff members whose absence spans from one year to another are counted again in the second year.
The Department has agreed with Cabinet Office and Her Majesty's Treasury, public service agreement targets for reducing its levels of sickness absence. The Department aims to bring absence levels down to 6.8 days per staff year by 2003.
Smallpox Inoculations
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's guidance is for those wishing to have smallpox inoculations. [108986]
Mr. Hutton: Smallpox vaccination is not being offered to the general population at present. Smallpox vaccine has a much higher rate of serious complications than vaccines that are in regular use today. Certain groups are at even higher risk, such as those with weak immune systems or with eczema. We are following World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance—and plan to "ring vaccinate" in the event of a smallpox outbreak. Our contingency plans for dealing with smallpox are detailed in the draft guidelines on smallpox available on http://www.doh.gov.uk/epcu/cbr/biol/smallpoxplan.htm.
A small number of key frontline national health service staff and a small number of military personnel, who would provide the first response in the event of a confirmed, suspected or threatened release of smallpox, are being vaccinated. The Department of Health programme is under way on a regional basis, co-ordinated by the regional directors of public health.
We have sufficient stocks of smallpox vaccine, which would be rapidly deployed to contain any outbreak. We have taken steps to considerably increase our supplies. We are planning for every eventuality and this includes the ability to vaccinate the entire population if necessary.
In addition, guidance for individuals wishing to have smallpox inoculations is available in the information pack, "Smallpox Vaccination of Regional Response Groups—Information for health care workers administering or receiving the vaccine". This guidance is available on www.doh.gov.uk/smallpox/vaccination.
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