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9 Jun 2003 : Column 693W—continued
Public Service Agreement
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what grades of officials are responsible for the monitoring of progress towards the public service agreement targets of his Department. [109477]
Mr. Lammy: Monitoring progress towards the Department's public service agreement targets is undertaken by a wide variety of staff at all levels of the organisation.
Retinal Cameras
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding he is making available for retinal cameras in the NHS; and how many cameras this sum will fund. [116901]
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Mr. Lammy: Funding totalling £27 million for the national health service to purchase state of the art digital cameras and related equipment for screening people with diabetes for the signs of diabetic retinopathy was announced on 22 April. We anticipate this will provide one camera per 100,000 population.
Unused Drugs
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if his Department has made an assessment of whether anti-tamper containers would be of use for reducing expenditure on unused drugs; [117012]
- (2) whether his Department has made an assessment of which drugs are most commonly returned to the NHS unused; [117013]
(3) whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of unused drugs returned to the NHS each year. [117014]
Mr. Lammy: It is estimated that unused medicines returned to pharmacies are probably worth £100 million per year. Although information is collected on which primary care trusts have schemes in place for the collection and disposal of waste medicines, we do not collect information on the kinds of drugs that are returned to pharmacies unused.
Anti tamper containers would not be of use for reducing expenditure on unused drugs since, once medicines have been dispensed, they cannot be reused. The reasons for this include hygiene and safety. It is also not possible to guarantee that any returned medicines have been stored appropriately in patients' homes.
Voluntary Organisations
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding programmes are operated by his Department to support voluntary organisations working with young people; and what the level of support has been over the last three years. [116496]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 3 June 2003]: The Department gives grants to voluntary organisations working with young people.
The main support, given through grants to national voluntary organisations working in the health and social care fields, is under the Section 64 General Scheme of grants (Section 64 of the Health and Public Services Act 1968). Grants for those organisations working with young people are shown in the table.
| Policy Area | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Child care/child abuse | 3,866,109 | 2,688,770 | 2,739,973 |
| Child health | 632,013 | 958,102 | 1,775,797 |
Waiting Times (Hull)
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methods are used to calculate patient waiting times at the Acute Assessment Unit at Hull Royal Infirmary. [116736]
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Jacqui Smith: Waiting times for admission to the acute assessment unit (AAU) at the Hull Royal Infirmary are included as part of the data collected by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust showing the length of time patients spend in accident and emergency before being admitted, discharged or transferred. Once a patient has been admitted to the AAU, they are no longer classed as being in A&E.
The AAU at Hull Royal is not a part of the A&E department. It is a medical assessment area where patients are managed according to the individual patient's clinical needs.
These figures are collected using the patient administration system.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Administration Running Costs
David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the monthly running costs of (a) the Northern Ireland Assembly, (b) Members of the Assembly and (c) the Assembly administration have been since the Assembly was dissolved. [117204]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Assembly was dissolved on 28 April. The monthly running costs based on financial transactions for May 2003 are as follows:
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Assembly Secretariat—staffing | 785 |
| Assembly Secretariat—running costs | 408 |
| Former MLAs—salary costs | 217 |
| Former MLAs—staffing | 588 |
| All other Member/Party costs | 172 |
| Total monthly costs | 2,170 |
Belfast Regeneration Office
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications have been received by the Belfast Regeneration Office; how long it takes to process each application on average; and how many applications have taken six months or more to process. [116834]
Mr. Browne: The following table relates to applications received by Belfast Regeneration Office during the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003.
| Applications | |
|---|---|
| Total number of applications received by BRO | 522 |
| Average length of time it takes to process an application (months) | 3.8 |
| Number of applications which have taken six months to process | 52 |
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Childminders
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what training prospective childminders must complete before becoming registered with health trusts in Northern Ireland. [116968]
Mr. Browne: Article 125 of the Children (NI) Order 1995 sets out the requirements which an HSS Trust must impose on a person's registration and with which the registered person must comply.
While some HSS Trusts make available to prospective childminding applicants pre-registration training, there is no mandatory requirement that prospective childminders must have completed any specified training before becoming registered with a Health and Social Services Trust.
Disabled People
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what events are planned to mark the European Year of Disabled People in Northern Ireland. [115984]
Mr. Browne: An on-going rolling programme of events and initiatives is being taken forward to mark the European Year of People with Disabilities (EYPD) in Northern Ireland. This started with the widely publicised official launch of EYPD in Grosvenor House Belfast on 22 January 2003. Since then, Government have made available £100,000 to support 22 small, local projects in Northern Ireland. This adds to the £222,000 awarded to 12 Northern Ireland projects from the UK fund for the Year. These projects will make a significant contribution to the objectives of the Year, which are to increase awareness of rights and increase participation of people with disability in Northern Ireland.
Examples of projects being undertaken include the Compass Advocacy Group Regional Development Project, which received funding to establish a comprehensive network of user-led self-advocacy groups in each Health Board area for people with learning disabilities; and the Circles Network, a Northern Ireland Partnership in Policy Making Programme, which received funding to work in partnership with the four Health Boards to facilitate a range of leadership/empowerment courses for disabled people and for the parents and carers of disabled people.
These and other regional and local activities are being co-ordinated in partnership with the Equality Commission, local government, the voluntary and business sectors and trade unions.
A list of events and activities has been placed in the Library of the House and this will be updated throughout the Year as plans are finalised. Information will also be published on the website www.eypdni.gov.uk.
European Year of People with Disabilities
Schedule of planned activities and events in Northern Ireland (as at 2 June 2003)
- 22 January 2003—Official launch of the European Year of People with Disabilities in The Grosvenor House. A performance-based fun and celebratory event for
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- approximately 200 guests. The production of a vox-pop video, which is being used by external organisations as an awareness raising tool.
24 February 2003 onwards—Deaf Awareness and Basic Sign Language Skills
Training—series of staff workshops on dealing with people with hearing impairments.
5 April 2003—Amicus—Disability Awareness and "Disability Champions in the Workplace Information Day", Wellington Park Hotel.
30 April 2003—Employers' Forum on Disability Launch of Disability Awareness Video for Employers, Studio 1 BBC
6 May 2003—Arts Council for Northern Ireland—Launch of "Artists Abroad" Scheme, match funding by OFMDFM
9 May 2003—Announcement by Minister Des Browne of 22 NI Grants winners under a one-off OFMDFM funded grant scheme. Total awards approximately £102,000. Additional to the £222,000 awarded to 12 NI projects under the Department for Work and Pensions Scheme in December 2002 to mark EYPD.
10–16 May 2003—Educational Guidance Service for Adults (EGSA) Adult Learning Week.
19 May 2003—International Week of Dance—Dance & Disability 1-day series of
dance workshops event—Artscare, Olympia Leisure Centre.
29 May 2003—NIPS A General Conference, Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle.
30 May 2003—Sports Endeavour Award/Presentation for "New Horizon Minibus"—The Europa Hotel, The Lady Taverners, NI Region.
- 3 June 2003—Opportunities Beyond School and Special Needs Careers Convention. Interactive Careers Convention for special needs students in full-time education—Southern Education and Library Board, Craigavon Civic Centre.
13 June 2003—Torch Run Reception for the Special Olympics—Parliament Buildings, Stormont.
14–16 June 2003—Events across NI to mark the Special Olympics including the Host Town Programme.
15 June 2003—Regional Event—EU Interactive Trailer. Family-day of activities including, music, drama, leisure and fun—Carnfunnock Country Park, Larne.
19 June 2003—The Scientific Symposium, Europa Hotel (Keynote Event)—Impact of
Special Olympics on the Family.
June 2003/October 2003—Series of Accessible Rambles—Belfast Shopmobility (Project Winner).
21–29 June 2003—Rolling Skating Sporting Event —Special Olympics—King's Hall.
1–5 September 2003—Accessible Arts—Dungannon Disability Arts Studio—Parkanaur Training College.
Autumn—Regional Event—Employers Conference— (No further details).
September 2003—Regional Event—reception for all 34 successful NI Project Winners—venue to be confirmed.
25 September 2003—Arts and Disability Conference, Community Arts Forum, Craigavon Civic Centre.
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30 September 2003—Launch of Good Practice Guide, Causeway Volunteer Bureau
(Project Winner)—venue to be confirmed.
1 October 2003—Launch of Booklet on Accessible Rambles—Belfast Shopmobility—(Project Winner)—venue to be confirmed.
October 2003—Cross-government regional event in partnership with external groups, on a range of disability issues, venue to be confirmed.
6–12 October 2003—Community Transport Week, Community Transport Association—Roadshow across various towns in NI.
11–14 November 2003—Children's World Integrated Play Tour, Contact a Family
(Project Winner) cross community and cross-ability—Omagh, Plumbridge and Derry.
14 November 2003—Conference "Pride and Prejudice-Our Pride Your Prejudice"—North West Forum of People with Disabilities (Project Winner).
3 December 2003—European Day of People with Disabilities—events being hosted by a range of organisations throughout NI.
December 2003—Regional Event—official closing event for the European Year (No further details).
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