| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6 May 2003 : Column 657W—continued
Intercountry Adoption
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received about the Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) Regulations. [109954]
Jacqui Smith: The Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) Regulations 2003 were finalised after taking into account:
- The 39 responses to the public consultation held between November 2001 and February 2002 on the draft Regulations and guidance, and
The comments made by key interest groups at a meeting with officials arranged to discuss the draft Regulations after they had been revised in the light of the consultation responses.
No formal representations have been received since the Regulations were made on 26 January 2003. However, departmental officials have received one email from a social services adoption manager, who wished to clarify a number of drafting points.
6 May 2003 : Column 658W
Mr. Mark Heyes
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what further action he has taken in response to the Prime Minister's letter of 23 October 2002 concerning Mr. Mark Heyes of Ormskirk. [106425]
Jacqui Smith: The Department of Health has received several pieces of correspondence concerning Mr. Mark Heyes. However there is no record of receiving correspondence from him dated 23 October 2002.
The latest correspondence concerning Mr. Mark Heyes was dated 24 February 2003. A response to this correspondence has been recently posted.
National Minimum Wage
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated cost is in 2003–04 to his Department, agencies and the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible of the increase in the national minimum wage from £4.20 per hour to £4.50 per hour. [110443]
Mr. Lammy: There will be no cost to the Department, its agencies and the non-departmental bodies.
Neonatal Care
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures he is taking to replace old equipment in neonatal intensive care units; [108222]
- (2) how many neonatal intensive care units there are; where they are based; how many beds are in each unit; and what the (a) average and (b) greatest distance is that a baby has been transported for treatment in the last five years; [108223]
(3) when his Department's review into neonatal intensive care services is due to be published. [108225]
Jacqui Smith: There were 128 national health service trusts which reported neonatal intensive care cots at 31 March 2002. Information on the units, cot numbers and location have been placed in the Library. Information on distances travelled in transferring babies for treatment is not collected centrally.
The review of neonatal intensive care services, by an expert group convened by the Department, was published on 10 April. This marks the start of a consultation period on the future direction of this service. The report and background papers to the review are available on www.doh.gov.uk/nsf/neonatal.htm.
The consultation will take into account the group's recommendations for a more structured, collaborative approach to care, with hospitals working closely together in formal, managed networks, to provide the safest and most effective service for mothers and babies. This would provide for a three tier system with the designation of some hospitals that are specially equipped to care for the sickest and smallest babies, with other hospitals providing high dependency care and shorter periods of special care as close to home as possible. The numbers of hospitals in each network will
6 May 2003 : Column 659W
be for local decision but must reflect local need and-geography with the aim of providing local services for all babies, except those who need the most intensive care in designated units. The results of consultation may effect the location of designated intensive care cots, the number of which we intend to increase. As the numbers of babies requiring this sort of care are small, we would not expect that any proposed changes to the neonatal care services would have an impact on local maternity service provision.
In order to assist implementation of recommendations arising from this review, we are making £20 million additional capital funding available this year, which may be used for equipment replacement as required. We are also providing an additional £12 million for running costs in 2003–04 increasing to £19,857,000 in 2004–05 and to £20 million in 2005–06.
Neuro-psychology Services (South Manchester)
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the provision of neuro-psychology services for patients suffering severe head injury who are resident in the South Manchester area. [110198]
Jacqui Smith: Tertiary neuro-psychology services for people living in South Manchester are provided at the Greater Manchester Neurosciences Centre, which is based at the Hope Hospital in Salford.
NHS Direct
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to publish the review into NHS Direct, referred to in the strategy document, Developing NHS Direct. [110819]
Mr. Lammy: There are no plans to publish the review into NHS Direct. The key recommendations and rationale of the review into NHS Direct were published in the strategy document, "Developing NHS Direct".
NHS Estates and Administration Staff
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) gardening staff, (b) electricians, (c) plumbers and (d) hospital secretaries are employed in the NHS as part of the latest figures for Estates and Administration staff, by (i) headcount and (ii) whole time equivalents; and how many there were in 1997. [109931]
Mr. Hutton: Information on numbers of gardening staff, electricians, plumbers and hospital secretaries is not separately available, the first three are included within the 'maintenance and works' category, and medical secretaries are included in 'clerical and administrative staff in clinical support'. The information available is shown in the table.
6 May 2003 : Column 660W
| 1997 | 2001 | |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-time equivalent | ||
| Maintenance and works staff(35) | 13,295 | 11,758 |
| Clerical and administrative staff—clinical support(36) | 49,729 | 60,346 |
| Headcount | ||
| Maintenance and works staff(35) | 13,614 | 12,109 |
| Clerical and administrative staff—clinical support(36) | 63,971 | 77,861 |
(35) Maintenance and works staff includes gardeners, electricians, plumbers, caretakers and engineers who look after physical buildings.
(36) Clerical and administrative staff in clinical support includes medical secretaries, blood transfusion service, family planning, etc.
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
NHS Work Force Statistics
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2003, Official Report, column 1275W, on NHS work force statistics, if he will make a statement on the reasons for the delay in publishing the annual NHS workforce statistics. [109111]
Mr. Hutton: The national health service work force census will be published shortly.
Non-clinical Posts
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many practising NHS clinicians have been recruited to management, administrative and other non-clinical posts in the NHS in the past 12 months. [110943]
Mr. Hutton: This information is not collected centrally.
North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority were first informed of financial problems at North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust; and what action they took to address this; [110654]
- (2) how many people were approached by Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority to assist with financial problems of North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust; who they were; and on what basis they were selected. [110656]
Jacqui Smith [holding answers 1 May 2003]: Since April 2002, the board of the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has been concerned about the financial position of the North Cheshire Health community. A recovery plan was agreed in June, which, with brokerage from other communities, would have achieved financial balance in 2003–03.
Despite intensive monitoring by the SHA, it remained concerned and in February asked the Audit Commission to retrospectively and prospectively review the plan's viability and assess the effectiveness of the corporate governance arrangements in the organisations within the North Cheshire Health Community.
6 May 2003 : Column 661W
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority have had about the finances of North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust with (a) chairs of other NHS trusts and (b) others; and when the discussions took place. [110655]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 1 May 2003]: All national health service trusts have statutory obligations for meeting specific financial duties, including the requirement to achieve financial balance. The Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority has a range of arrangements in place for monitoring the financial position of local NHS organisations. It has held three formal performance accountability review meetings with senior representatives of the North Cheshire Health Community, which includes the North Cheshire Hospitals Trust.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |