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Men's Health

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the changes in obesity levels in men over the last five years in (a) the UK and (b) the West Midlands. [118497]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 12 June 2003]: Figures on obesity levels in men for the United Kingdom are not available. However, in line with other countries, the levels of obesity in men have risen in England over the last five years, with the Health Survey for England showing that in 2001–01, 21 per cent. of men were obese, compared with 16.4 per cent. in 1996. Regional information has not been collected over the past five years, but analyses of the Health Survey for England 2003 showed that in the West Midlands, 23.1 per cent. of men were obese in 2001.

Mental Health

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase access to occupational health for those suffering from mental health problems. [119930]

Ms Rosie Winterton: While there are no specific plans to increase access to occupational health for those suffering from mental health problems, the Government is currently exploring a number of ways to improve access to vocational rehabilitation for all workers through Welfare to Work. NHS Plus, launched in November 2001, is currently providing access to local occupational health services to small and medium sized businesses through 107 providers (National Health Service trusts) across the United Kingdom, while the new Job Retention and Rehabilitation pilots, launched on 1 April 2003, and the Incapacity Benefit reforms, announced in the Government's Green Paper, "Pathways to Work", in November 2002, are offering work-focused interventions for those with health problems, including mental health conditions.

In addition, "Making It Happen: A guide to delivering mental health promotion", published by the Department of Health in 2001, contains a section dealing with mental health promotion in the workplace, the National Institute for Mental Health in England is currently preparing a resource on mental health and employment for people with mental health problems for publication in the autumn and the Health and Safety Executive is about to launch an occupational health support pilot scheme for the construction industry.

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Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated for mental health problems in each primary care trust in 2002. [121584]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the Finished Consultant Episodes in national health service hospitals under mental illness specialties by provider for 2001–02. These are provisional estimates from primary care trusts the Department knows is providing mental health care for patients under mental illness specialties.

Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) in NHS Hospitals under mental illness specialties by provider, 2001–02

Providercode	Provider code description	Total episodes
5A1	New Forest PCT	0
5A2	Norwich PCT	10
5A9	Barnet PCT	—
SAC	Daventry and South Northamptonshire PCT	0
SAM	Mansfield district PCT	—
5C7	Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford PCT	10
SCO	North Dorset PCT	1290
5CN	Herefordshire PCT	730
5CQ	Milton Keynes PCT	500
5D1	Solihull PCT	20
5DD	Morecambe Bay PCT	1580
5DP	Vale of Aylesbury PCT	20
SEA	Chesterfield PCT	260
5EG	North-eastern Derbyshire PCT	330
5F1	Plymouth PCT	1350
5FA	Ashfield PCT	—
5FC	Rushcliffe PCT	80
5FD	East Hampshire PCT	90
5FE	Portsmouth City PCT	120

Notes:

Figures have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in the data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).

"—" denotes a number less than 5.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

A FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider.

Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) organisations and (b) individuals who have responded to the consultation exercise on the draft Mental Health Bill. [121585]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government's response to the consultation will be published before the introduction of the Bill.

At that time, copies of responses will be placed in the Library, except in cases where respondents have asked for confidentiality.

Mobile Phones

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with the Programme Management Committee's study on risks from mobile phone masts to people's health. [118990]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The LINK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR) was established under an independent programme management committee following publication of the Stewart Report in 2000. This is

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available at www.iegmp.org.uk. MTHR research studies already under way are mainly concerned with the use of mobile phone handsets and the PMC has recently commissioned an epidemiological study addressing public concerns about possible health risks from exposure to emissions from base stations. Further information can be found on the MTHR website www.mthr.org.uk.

Measurements undertaken by the Radiocommunications Agency, whose website address is www.radio.gov.uk, have confirmed that public exposures from mobile phone base stations are very much lower than the international guidelines.

Myalgic Encephalopathy

Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what consultations have taken place with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on the Donaldson Report on ME; [117423]

(2) what consultations have taken place with the Medical Research Council on the Donaldson Report on ME; [117424]

(3) what action the Government have taken on the Donaldson Report on ME; and if he will make a statement. [117425]

Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 9 June 2003]: In our response to the Independent Working Group's Report on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in January 2002, we endorsed their view that there should be no doubt this is a chronic illness and that health and social care professionals should recognise it as such.

We have had discussions with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on the conclusions of the report.

We also asked the Medical Research Council (MRC) to develop a research strategy for advancing biomedical and health services research on chronic fatigue syndrome CFS/ME.

The MRC published their research strategy for (CFS/ME) on 1 May 2003. The strategy will enable researchers and funders to develop research proposals on all aspects of this illness. It was developed by an independent research advisory group in response to a request from the Chief Medical Officer, and was informed by contributions from patients, carers, charities, researchers and clinicians via a consultation exercise in summer 2002.

The MRC has announced two initiatives in response to the strategy. One is a notice to the research community welcoming high quality proposals across the entire spectrum of CFS/ME research. The other is a scientific meeting to discuss the potential to use existing UK resources and infrastructures to undertake epidemiological studies in this country. In addition, the MRC has just announced funding (15 May 2003) for two trials that will look at the effectiveness of various treatments for CFS/ME. The results of these trials will help patients and their doctors to choose the best treatment. These complementary trials will assess a variety of treatments, and in doing so, will both help address important issues for those with CFS/ME.

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The first trial known as PACE ("Pacing, Activity and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: A Randomised Evaluation) will make the first assessment of a treatment choice popular with patients called 'Pacing'. The second trial, known as FINE, ("Fatigue Intervention by Nurses Evaluation") will test two different treatments that are particularly suited to helping reach those who are too ill to attend a specialist clinic as patients will be treated by nurses in their own homes.

On May 12 2003, we announced that funding of £8.5 million would be provided to develop services for people with CFS/ME. In July 2003, health organisations will be invited to bid for development funds to set up centres of expertise to develop clinical care, support clinical research and expand education and training programmes for health care professionals and to establish satellite community multidisciplinary teams. The first phase of development will commence in April 2004.

Neonatal Care

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what funding was available for (a) capital and (b) running costs for neonatal intensive care services in the last two years; and what funding will be made available in the current year to enable the service to implement the recommendations of the neonatal intensive care services review; [121546]

(2) what expenditure for (a) capital and (b) running costs (i) was available prior to the statement made in the Department's March 2003 report on Neonatal Intensive Care Services and (ii) was promised in that statement as purely additional sums. [121547]

Dr. Ladyman: Historically, capital and revenue funding for neonatal intensive care (NIC) has been sourced from health authority base-line allocations, without segregation from funding the generality of health services. However, we have provided additional funds in recognition of the growing potential and availability of advanced levels of intervention, expertise and technological support for pre-term and sick babies, which increasingly saves the lives of even the most vulnerable, but leads to the need for greater levels of support within neonatal units.

We approved additional funding in 2000 specifically to improve the NIC services. There were three elements: £5 million revenue funding, £6.5 million capital funding for new and replacement equipment and £10.5 million funding for intensive care training for nurses, including neonatal intensive care education packages.

Further to this we have taken advice from a NIC services review, the background to which and report is available at www.doh.gov.uk/nsf/neonatal.htm and we have set up a full consultation into improving NIC services. The consultation period concludes on 11 July, following which, and to help NIC services implement the outcome, there will be additional £20 million capital funding this year and £12 million additional revenue funding, increasing to £20 million in subsequent years.

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