House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 8 Jul 2003 (pt 30)

Patients Forums

Psychosis

Ritalin

SARS

Sexual Health

Skin Cancer

Special Advisers

Smoking

8 Jul 2003 : Column 780W—continued

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public patient involvement forums he expects will be functioning by the end of 2003; and how many people will be sitting on each forum at the end of 2003. [124401]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The intention is that all patient and public involvement forums will be set up and able to carry out their functions by 1 December. It is likely that, initially, each forum will have a minimum of seven members. This is the figure included in the draft patient forum regulations that are subject to current consultation.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on how the target

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for reducing the average waiting time for untreated psychosis to three months, as proposed in the NHS Plan, will be met; [121582]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department of Health is committed to the establishment of 50 early intervention teams by December 2004, to provide treatment and active support in the community to 7,500 young people and their families with the aim of reducing the period of untreated psychosis, prevent initial problems, and improve long-term outcomes. Positive progress is being made towards the achievement of the target with 24 early intervention teams established to date.

Information on the duration of untreated psychosis is being collected as a routine measure as from 1 April 2003, on a quarterly basis as part of local delivery plan reporting. Data for the first quarter should be available in August.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each primary care trust aged (a) 0 to 15 years, (b) 16 to 59 and (c) 60 and over have been prescribed Ritalin in each of the last five years. [123766]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information is not available in the form requested. However the figures in the table show the total number of prescription items of Methylphenidate Hydrochloride dispensed in the community in England in each of the last five years. The majority of prescription items of Methylphenidate Hydrochloride are for the brand Ritalin.

Number of prescription items of Methylphenidate Hydrochloride dispensed in the community in England—1998–2002

Year Thousands

1998 126.6

1999 158.0

2000 186.2

2001 208.5

2002 254.0

Year	Thousands
1998	126.6
1999	158.0
2000	186.2
2001	208.5
2002	254.0

Source:

Prescription cost analysis data from the Prescription Pricing Authority

In 2002, around 91 per cent. of the 254,000 prescription items were dispensed in the community to children—children under 16 and young people aged 16 to 18 in full-time education. An estimated 1 per cent. of the items were dispensed to people aged 60 and over with the remainder being dispensed to other adults. These proportions have been similar in recent years.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome. [122451]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: As of Friday 27 June 2003, there had been 8,450 cases of sever acute respiratory syndrome and 810 deaths reported from 29 countries. The United Kingdom reported four probable cases, all of whom have recovered.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to launch a dedicated national service framework for sexual health; and if he will make a statement. [123452]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 3 July 2003]: The report on sexual health published by the Health Select Committee on 11 June recommended that a national service framework for sexual health be developed. We are currently considering all of the recommendations in this report and the Government will publish a full response in due course.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to ensure that access to high-quality sexual health services and drugs is (a) made a priority and (b) resourced as part of the new general practitioner's contract. [123453]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 3 July 2003]: General practice plays a crucial role in the delivery of sexual health services. The new general medical services contract includes a new patient services guarantee to ensure patients have full access to all the range of services they currently enjoy, backed-up by a gross investment guarantee that will see investment in primary care increase by one-third by 2005–06.

Patients will therefore not only continue to obtain contraceptive services and screening for sexually transmitted infections where appropriate, but primary care trusts will also be able to commission more specialised sexual health services that deliver services in line with the national strategy for sexual health and HIV.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to alert people to the dangers of skin cancer and over-exposure to UV radiation. [121685]

Miss Melanie Johnson: A new sun awareness initiative, "SunSmart" was launched on 27 March by Cancer Research UK to make the public aware of the dangers of exposure to the sun. The campaign is based on the successful SunSmart campaign in Australia. The campaign has received funding of £120,000 from the United Kingdom Health Departments this year. We will evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign later in the year, with a view to deciding on future funding and campaigns.

The SunSmart campaign consists of: a poster and leaflet for the public; Cancer Research UK website redesign and links to other stakeholders; branding and design of SunSmart; Cancer Research UK commissioned research at Centre for Social Marketing; and a part-time health promotion consultant at Cancer Research UK for the duration of the campaign.

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The campaign's aim is to increase the profile of the issue of skin cancer and methods of effective sun protection.

The key objectives are to increase knowledge of the causes of skin cancer, to increase awareness of actions that can be taken to prevent skin cancer and to influence positively attitudes to sun protection.

Subject to further funding, longer-term aims are to reduce sunlight exposure through changes in behaviour and environment, to increase the proportion of people reporting with early stage disease and decrease the proportion of people presenting with late tumours.

The campaign's key messages have been disseminated by way of an alert to the campaign and mailshot pack of posters and leaflets to all GP surgeries and health promotion units nationally, an alert to the campaign and mailshot to secondary schools with 3,500 leaflets and posters; and a series of press events over summer 2003 with leaflets and posters targeted in cities and seaside resorts.

We developed the "SunSafe" web pages last year, which were designed with children in mind, on the Department of Health website at www.doh.qov.uk/sunsafe. These will continue. Sun awareness information is also contained on the Wired For Health website at www.wiredforhealth.qov.uk/teaching/sun/intro.html.

We continue to fund annually the Meteorological Office to provide the daily UV index in the media on the TV, radio and Meteorological Office website.

The Department of Health also provides core funding to the National Radiological Protection Board, which has expertise on ultra violet radiation issues.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the staff of his Department, including special advisers, are seconded from pharmaceutical companies. [124131]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 7 July 2003]: The Department has no central records of any secondments from the private sector.

All pupils

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated percentage of (a) boys and (b) girls who smoke regularly was in each year since 1997. [122396]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The available data are shown in the table.

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Prevalence of regular cigarette smoking among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15, by gender—England, 1998 to 2002Percentage

Boys Girls All pupils

1998 9 12 11

1999 8 10 9

2000 9 12 10

2001 8 11 10

2002 9 11 10

	Boys	Girls	All pupils
1998	9	12	11
1999	8	10	9
2000	9	12	10
2001	8	11	10
2002	9	11	10

Note:

Regular smokers are those who smoke at least one cigarette a week, on average.

Source:

Department of Health Statistical Press Notice: "Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2002: Provisional Results". Available at http://www.doh.qov.uk/public/spnmar03-smokinq.htm

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of children and young people who smoke; what plans he has to reduce these numbers; and if he will make a statement. [123054]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The 1998 White Paper, "Smoking Kills", set a target to reduce smoking among 11–15 year olds from 13 per cent. in 1996 to 9 per cent. by 2010, with a fall to 11 per cent. by 2005.

Among 11–15 year olds, smoking prevalence has remained unchanged since 2000 at 10 per cent. and we are on course to meet our target for reducing smoking. Within the adult group—16–19 year olds, data (collected from a different source) show that for young men figures increased in 1998. For young women, there has been a marked improvement in 2000. The figures indicate an overall fall in prevalence in England. Measures the Government is taking to tackle teenage smoking are:

a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products: The cigarettes smoked most by children are also those most heavily advertised;

tough enforcement on under-age sales: on 13 September 2000 the Government launched an Enforcement Protocol with local authorities to ensure that the existing legislation on under-age sales is properly enforced;

the Government supports proof of age card schemes which protect shopkeepers and children alike;

tougher new restrictions on siting of cigarette vending machines;

an extensive health education campaign aimed at smokers and non-smokers;

fiscal policy: the high price of cigarettes is a particular disincentive for young people.

Prevalence of regular cigarette smoking among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15, by gender—England, 1996 to 2002(Percentages)

Notes:

Regular smokers are those who smoke at least one cigarette a week, on average.

Source:

The Department of Health Statistical Press Notice, 'Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2002: Provisional Results'. Available at: http://www.doh.qov.uk/public/spnmar03-smokinq.htm

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Prevalence of smoking cigarettes among adults, England, 1996–2001 aged 16–19 and by gender (Percentages)

1996⁽¹⁸⁾ 1998⁽¹⁸⁾ 1998⁽¹⁹⁾ 2000⁽¹⁹⁾ 2001⁽¹⁹⁾

Men 25 30 30 30 24

Women 32 33 33 28 31

All persons 29 31 31 30 28

	1996⁽¹⁸⁾	1998⁽¹⁸⁾	1998⁽¹⁹⁾	2000⁽¹⁹⁾	2001⁽¹⁹⁾


Men	25	30	30	30	24
Women	32	33	33	28	31
All persons	29	31	31	30	28

⁽¹⁸⁾ Unweighted

⁽¹⁹⁾ Weighted

Notes:

1. Up until 2000, data on the prevalence on smoking from the General Household Survey were only available every two years.

2. Data for 1998 onwards were weighted to compensate for under-representation of people in some groups: earlier figures were based on unweighted data, and are not therefore directly comparable.

3. Respondents who answered "yes" to the question "Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays?"

Source:

Office for National Statistics: General Household Survey 2001, published as, 'Living in Britain: Results from the 2001 General Household Survey'. Available at: http://www.statlstics.qov.uk/nb2001/index.html

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