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Prisoners (Mental Health)

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision there is in the prison health service for the delivery of mental health services through the medium of Welsh to Welsh prisoners held in jails in England. [111106]

Jacqui Smith: Mental health services at individual establishments are planned and delivered by local management and its national health service partners, drawing on jointly completed local health needs assessments and the more general guidance in "Changing the Outlook A Strategy for Developing and Modernising Health Services in Prisons" (December 2001). The strategy drew particular attention to the culturally diverse nature of the prison population and made it clear that prisons are expected to identify the needs of every element of their population and ensure that the mental health services provided are sensitive to them. This includes providing information in languages other than English and ensuring that, where necessary, prisoners have ready access to interpreters.

School Nurses

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms there are for school nurses to address the particular needs of young carers. [109935]

Jacqui Smith: School nurses work within schools and local communities. They are ideally placed to help to identify young people who are young carers and either directly support them in their role within the family or act as an advocate to help them find the support they need from other services, such as education and social services.

Senior Nurses

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether all hospitals in England have in place for

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2002–03 senior nurses with a ward environment budget of over £5,000; and whether his Department monitors this centrally. [110824]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the number and value of ward environment budgets is monitored centrally. Data for 2002–03 is not yet available.

SARS

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers he has to detain suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome; and on what basis he would exercise the power. [108517]

Ms Blears [holding answer 10 April 2003]: The Public Health (Aircraft) Regulations 1979 does provide the power to detain for examination any person leaving an aircraft where there are "reasonable grounds" for suspecting that they are suffering from or have been exposed to infection. There is a similar provision in the Public Health (Ships) Regulations.

We remain vigilant to the threat posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to public health in this country and keep our policy under regular review.

Specialised Commissioning

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he will monitor and report the effectiveness of the new arrangements for specialist commissioning. [111140]

Mr. Hutton: Strategic health authorities and collaborative commissioning groups and associated service-specific consortia will report regularly to their member primary care trusts and should report at least annually on a formal basis to them. In addition, the individual PCTs will cover the commissioning of specialised services in their annual reports.

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Level 2 groups for specialised commissioning have scope to set up a national group for planning purposes. [111141]

Mr. Hutton: If Level 2 specialised services commissioning groups wish to set up a national group for planning purposes they are free to do so. One such group, (severe) Burn Care Services has already been established.

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether regional specialised commissioning groups may continue to commission specialised services where constituent primary care trusts so determine. [111142]

Mr. Hutton: Primary care trusts are required to belong to collaborative commissioning groups for specialised services and agree the remit, powers and rules of engagement of these groups. Level 2 collaborative commissioning groups, which will generally cover the same or similar area to the former regional specialised commissioning groups, commission those specialised services with planning populations around three to six million. Level 1 collaborative commissioning groups cover services with planning population of one to two million.

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Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the decisions of a commissioning consortium for specialised services will be binding on a primary care trust which declines to join the consortium. [111143]

Mr. Hutton: The remit, powers and rules of engagement of collaborative specialised services commissioning groups are agreed by the member primary care trusts (PCTs) and the decisions of these groups are binding on all members. Strategic health authorities performance manage such arrangements and ensure all PCTs belong to an appropriate collaborative commissioning group.

It is up to the collaborative commissioning group to decide whether to set up service-specific consortia and what form these will take.

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action will be taken if a primary care trust declines to join a commissioning consortium as recommended in the recent guidelines on specialised commissioning. [111144]

Mr. Hutton: It is a requirement for all primary care trusts to belong to collaborative commissioning groups and it is the strategic health authority's responsibility to ensure that all their primary care trusts do so. It is up to the collaborative commissioning group to decide whether to set up service-specific consortia and what form these will take.

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will protect spending on specialised services in real terms for a further year. [111145]

Mr. Hutton: To ensure stability during 2002–03, whilst primary care trusts (PCTs) assumed responsibility for commissioning specialised services, they were asked to honour previously agreed financial commitments and programmes of service reviews for specialised services. This commitment will not be extended to 2003–04.

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the preparedness of primary care trusts to assume responsibility for specialised commissioning has improved since the Department of Health conducted a review last year. [111146]

Mr. Hutton: In January 2002, the Department undertook a survey of commissioning arrangements for specialised services. At that time, health authorities were the bodies responsible for commissioning. The survey did not therefore consider the role of primary care trusts, which have been responsible for commissioning since April 2002.

Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how he will monitor and report the effectiveness of the new arrangements for specialised commissioning; [111777]

(2) whether regional specialised commissioning groups will continue to commission specialised services where constituent primary care trusts so determine. [111776]

Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the responses I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Berry) above.

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X-Rays (Digital Transmission)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health where the digital transmission of x-rays is in use. [110951]

Ms Blears: A list of the health care sites where digital transmission is used to transfer information from x-ray machines is not held centrally.

Young Carers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms will be included in the Children's NSF to ensure that health and social services professionals consult young carers on their needs. [109934]

Jacqui Smith: The national service framework (NSF) will help to ensure that care is centred on the child or young person and that health and social services are designed and delivered around their needs. It will also ensure that young people and their families can take an active part in making decisions about their care.

An expert working group has been established to focus specifically on the needs of 'children in special circumstances', which is intended to include young carers. The NSF aims to narrow the gap in outcomes between children in special circumstances and their peers by putting in place systems to identify children such as child carers, offer them high quality, holistic assessment, and to promote and safeguard their health and wellbeing. The NSF will ensure that health and social care professionals are aware of the needs of young carers, and actively consult with them in planning any decisions which affect them. In support of this work, a wide-ranging series of consultations have been held with different groups of children in special circumstances, including one with a young carers group.

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