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21 May 2003 : Column 848W—continued

Adolescent Wards

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals operate single sex adolescent wards (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of all adolescent wards. [109942]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not available in this format as compliance with single sex accommodation guidelines is measured on a trust by trust basis and not at individual ward level.

Adolescent wards are expected to meet the same single sex accommodation standards advised for adult areas.

Adoption/Fostering

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many looked after children there were in each of the last five years; and how many children were adopted in each year. [113376]

Jacqui Smith: The numbers of looked after children and number of children who were adopted in each of the last five years in England are shown in the table.

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Children adopted from local council care in England during the year ending 31 March	2,100	2,200	2,700	3,100	3,400
(as a percentage of all children looked after by local councils in England at 31 March)	(4)	(4)	(5)	(5)	(6)
Children looked after by local councils in England at 31 March(15)	53,300	55,500	58,100	58,900	59,700

⁽¹⁵⁾ Excludes children looked after under a series of short-term placements.

Note:

All figures rounded to the nearest 100.

Mr. Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the numbers of (a) foster carers and (b) adoptive families; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage more adoptive and foster families to come forward. [113377]

Jacqui Smith: The number of children in foster placements at 31 March 2002 was 39,200. The numbers of foster carers are not collected centrally. However, the Choice Protects review is considering ways to collect this information in the future. The review is also looking at a number of issues that affect the recruitment and retention of foster carers, including role and status, training, support and rewards.

The Department has also worked closely with both the Inland Revenue and the Department for Work and Pensions to introduce an appropriate tax threshold for foster carers and extend Home Responsibilities Protection to foster carers. Both changes were recently announced at the beginning of April 2003 and should encourage recruitment and retention of foster carers.

We do not collect data centrally on the numbers of adoptive families. On 16 May 2003, the Adoption Register for England and Wales included 1,068 families who were approved as suitable to adopt and waiting to be matched with children.

The Adoption and Children Act 2002 overhauls the legal framework for adoption. Adoption support services are a key part of the Act and should encourage more people to adopt looked after children. The Government is determined to deliver early improvements in the provision of adoption support and recently announced an extra £70 million over three years for local authorities to develop their adoption support services.

The Department of Health is committed to supporting local and national recruitment activity, through support of National Adoption Week. The Department made a further £60,000 available to support National Adoption Week in 2002, following a grant of £50,000 in 2001.

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The Department has also developed an "Adopter Recruitment" Toolkit and an information video for use by adoption agencies in preparing adopters.

Anti-depressants

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has policies in place that encourage that anti-depressive drugs, which are used to treat depression in women, are tested on women during the drug qualification process. [114583]

Jacqui Smith: The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), on behalf of the Licensing Authority, grants marketing authorisations for medicinal products provided that satisfactory quality, safety and efficacy data have been submitted for the medicinal product for use in the proposed indication and that the risk benefit is deemed favourable. Part of the assessment process involves ensuring that the target population to be treated has been adequately represented in the clinical trials submitted in support of the application.

Bioterrorism

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many analytical laboratories across the UK have the (a) equipment and (b) expertise to provide a testing service for (i) anthrax, (ii) botulism, (iii) staphylococcus enterotoxin B, (iv) ricin, (v) plague and (vi) smallpox. [109287]

Mr. Hutton: Most of the clinical microbiology laboratories within national health service trust hospitals and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) have the equipment and expertise to undertake initial testing for anthrax, botulism and plague. Subsequent confirmation and specialist tests are carried out only by a small number of specialist laboratories.

Smallpox is categorised as a Hazard Group 4 pathogen and consequently testing for smallpox can only be undertaken in laboratories that are designated as suitable for handling this Hazard Group. Only two laboratories in the United Kingdom, both within the HPA, are fully equipped to test human specimens for smallpox.

Testing for staphylococcus enterotoxin B is carried out at the HPA's Food Hygiene Reference Laboratory.

Testing for ricin is carried out by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down.

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methods are recommended by his Department and its agencies to routinely test for (a) anthrax, (b) botulism, (c) ricin, (d) staphylococcus enterotoxin B, (e) plague and (f) smallpox. [109289]

Mr. Hutton: Guidance on the laboratory handling and testing of diagnostic samples for anthrax, botulism, plague, staphylococcal enterotoxin and smallpox and is available on the Health Protection Agency website at http://www.phls.org.uk.

Testing for ricin is not routinely undertaken and there are currently no laboratories in the health service that can test for ricin. This service is provided by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down.

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Care Homes

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to issue statutory guidance to local authorities requiring them to enter into contract with care home providers which fully protect residents' Article 8 rights. [112377]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 May 2003]: The Department currently has no plans to provide guidance on standard contractual terms in areas that might be affected by case law on Article 8 rights. We would expect local authorities to have proper regard to the Human Rights Act, including in cases where they enter into arrangements with others for the provision of services. In any cases of difficulty, local authorities can call upon their own legal advisers.

Care Standards

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for drawing up standards for day centres. [114746]

Jacqui Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten) on 10 February 2003, Official Report, columns 589–90W.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements his Department has made to ensure that health care assistants working in care settings registered under Part II of the Care Standards Act 2000 are registered with the General Social Care Council or Nursing and Midwifery Council. [114747]

Jacqui Smith: The General Social Care Council opened the Social Care Register on 1 April 2003. The first part of the register to open is for qualified social workers. The register will be open to other groups of social care workers once this initial part is established.

The Government plan to launch shortly a consultation document with proposals for regulating health care support workers.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions the National Care Standards Commission and Commission for Health Improvement have agreed for the other body to undertake their functions as provided for by the Care Standards Act 2000. [114750]

Jacqui Smith: There have been no occasions on which the National Care Standards Commission and the Commission for Health Improvement have agreed to undertake one another's functions, as provided for in the Care Standards Act 2000.

Carers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to enhance the position of carers under the age of 16. [114738]

Jacqui Smith: We are taking a number of steps to help young carers. We are providing funding through the Carers Special Grant. The grant is worth £100 million in 2003–04, of which 20 per cent. is earmarked for children's services, including young carers, which enable young carers to have a break.

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We are also funding The Children's Society to undertake a three-year project, the Young Carers Initiative. This has involved direct consultation with young carers, leading to the publication last November, with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, of "Making it Work, Good Practice with Young Carers and Their Families".

The initiative supports more than 250 projects or groups across the country working with young carers, where they can go for advice, information and support or leisure. The initiative has just entered its final year and is concentrating on developing standards for work with young carers.

Further, we are ensuring that young carers' needs are taken into account in developing work such as the national service framework for children.

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