---

8 Jul 2003 : Column 768W—continued

Town Centres (Regeneration)

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the strategy for the regeneration of town centres. [123783]

Mr. Spellar: The Department for Social Development is preparing a Town Centre Reinvigoration Strategy which will aim to create attractive and distinctive town centres that will be a source of civic pride, accessible to all and the location for a wide range of retail, service, administrative, residential, leisure and cultural facilities for surrounding urban and rural communities. The Strategy will address this aim by:

improving the co-ordination of public policies that impact on town centres;

8 Jul 2003 : Column 769W

offering incentives that will stimulate development in town centres; and

putting in place the administrative arrangements that will make sure the policies and incentives actually deliver better town centres.

The Strategy will be part of a comprehensive approach to regeneration that also aims to renew the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and increase social cohesion. To this end, the town centre reinvigoration strategy will be closely linked to the Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, which was published on 24 June 2003.

The Department for Social Development has set a target of publishing the Town Centre Reinvigoration Strategy by March 2004.

World Summit on Sustainable Development

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which United Kingdom commitments arising from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (a) have been incorporated into the Department's existing delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements and (b) will be incorporated in its delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements in advance of the 2004 Spending Review. [113884]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Programme for Government of the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Executive included acknowledgement of, and commitment to, Sustainable Development issues and this has been reflected in the 2002/03 Service Delivery Agreements of the Northern Ireland Office and individual Northern Ireland departments.

Although the devolved institutions are currently suspended the overall policy and practice of reflecting sustainable development issues and commitments continues under the current interim arrangements.

HEALTH

Drug Rehabilitation

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment methodology is used to measure the value of money given by residential rehabilitation for drug addicts. [119267]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not currently available. Residential rehabilitation has been shown to be one of a number of effective forms of drug treatment but it is particularly difficult to identify and compare outcome measures for chronic, relapsing disorders. In trying to evaluate value for money a range of factors need to be considered that acknowledge the complexity of harms and the natural history of the disorders.

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) is investigating this issue and will be publishing guide costs for different types of treatment service in due course.

AIDS

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has commissioned on the

8 Jul 2003 : Column 770W

likelihood of passing on the AIDS virus through sexual intercourse while wearing a condom; and if he will make a statement. [123978]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 7 July 2003]: High quality, systematic review of the evidence relating to condom effectiveness has shown that consistent use of condoms is highly effective in preventing transmission of HIV ¹ . On the strength of this evidence we have not felt it necessary to commission additional research. We do recognise, however, that factors such as condom failure mean that condoms do not provide 100 per cent. protection from infection, but when used correctly, they can substantially reduce the risk. Advice on the effective use of condoms is, therefore, provided through our national sexual health promotion and HIV prevention activities.

¹ Weller S. Davis K. Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 2, 2003. Oxford: Update Software; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention. July 20, 2001—http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/condomreport.pdf

Cockle Industry

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Food Standards Agency decision to restrict the operations of the cockle industry. [122195]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Food Standards Agency (FSA)'s monitoring programme to detect marine biotoxins in shellfish, including cockles, exists to protect public health. The toxins which are tested have the potential to cause illness, which in some cases may be serious or life-threatening. The DSP test is approved as the standard reference method and is widely used in Europe.

Temporary Prohibition Orders (TPOs), are placed on beds where tests for shellfish biotoxins are positive. Affected areas remain closed until two consecutive negative test results taken a week apart are observed.

Atypical results in tests for DSP have been observed in some samples of cockles and mussels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 2001. The FSA has put in place a programme of research work to investigate the cause of the atypical response to the DSP test and to assess its implications for human health. In the meantime, on the basis that the affected shellfish produce neurological symptoms that lead to death in mice within a few minutes, the FSA considers that the shellfish could be harmful and recommends the placing of TPOs on the affected beds in line with standard practice for known biotoxins. The FSA is keeping this policy under review and will use findings from the research work to determine whether its existing policy should be maintained. It expects most of the research to be completed later this summer.

The majority of harvesting areas are open most of the time. In order to reduce the impact of the temporary cockle-bed closures on fishermen, while still protecting public health, the FSA has divided harvesting areas into zones, so that harvesting can continue from beds where tests results are negative.

8 Jul 2003 : Column 771W

Commission forPublic Patient Involvement in Health

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to extend the duty of consultation on NHS bodies to the Commission for Public Patient Involvement in Health. [124404]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There are no plans to extend the duty on the national health service to involve and consult the public, as contained in section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001, to the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH). The CPPIH is not a NHS body and, as it is not responsible for the delivery of any health services, such a duty would not be appropriate. However, we do expect the CPPIH to seek a wide range of views to inform its work when appropriate.

Commission for Social Care Inspection

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he will issue regarding the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Audit Commission co-operating with each other with respect to the exercise of their respective functions under Clause 79 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122928]

Dr. Ladyman: The Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Audit Commission are expected to co-operate effectively in the exercise of their respective functions. In the event that this is not the case, the Secretary of State will use the power to give them guidance, to the extent necessary in the circumstances.

Condoms

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the reliability of condoms in preventing (a) the spread of sexual diseases and (b) pregnancy. [123301]

Miss Melanie Johnson: A high quality, systematic review of the evidence relating to condom effectiveness has shown that consistent use of condoms is highly effective in preventing pregnancy and transmission of many sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, gonorrhoea and chlamydia ¹ . Condoms, when used consistently and correctly are estimated to be up to 99 per cent. effective in preventing pregnancy and 80 per cent. effective in reducing HIV incidence ² . As a result the promotion of condom usage is strongly encouraged as a risk reduction strategy through the Department of Health's sexual health promotion activities.

¹ (Weller S, Davis K Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochane Library, Issue 2, 2003. Oxford: Update Software; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention. July 20, 2001 http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/condomreport.pdf. ² (Weller S., Davis K. Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochane Library, Issue 2, 2003. Oxford: Update Software).

8 Jul 2003 : Column 772W

---