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17 Sept 2003 : Column 836W—continued
Acute Hospitals (Performance)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to support NHS managers in improving performance following the recent Audit Commission reports into acute hospitals. [127729]
Mr. Hutton: The Government have a range of measures in place to support national health service managers in improving performance:
- we have invested significant additional resources in the five-year period 2003–04 to 2007–08. Over this period the average real terms increase will be 7.4 per cent. a year over and above inflation;
we have set up the NHS Modernisation Agency to support NHS organisations and their front-line staff to improve services for patients; and
we have put in place a range of recruitment and retention initiatives.
Further details of the Government's support to the NHS in improving performance are detailed in my letter to the hon. Member, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
Advocacy Scheme
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how the funding for mental health advocacy announced in the White Paper 'Valuing People' has been spent; and how much underspend there is from this fund (a) in England and (b) in each region. [128933]
- (2) how many volunteer advocates have joined the mental health advocacy scheme announced in the White Paper 'Valuing People' (a) in England and (b) in each region. [128934]
(3) what progress has been made towards the target set out in the White Paper 'Valuing People' for one citizen advocacy group in each local authority area; and which local authorities do not yet have a citizen advocacy group. [128935]
Dr. Ladyman: The importance of advocacy for people with learning disabilities is a theme running throughout the White Paper "Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century" (Cm 5086)
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published in March 2001 which sets out our proposals for improving services for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers.
"Valuing People" announced the creation of two new funds, the Implementation Support Fund and the Learning Disability Development Fund, to support key aspects of its proposals. Two organisations, Values Into Action (VIA) and the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), are distributing money from the Implementation Support Fund to support the development and expansion of self- and citizen advocacy respectively. By the end of the third year of the funding programme in March 2004, £3 million will have been distributed to advocacy organisations. That figure includes the additional £140,000 which my hon. Friend, the Member for Redditch, announced in February 2002 was being made available from April that year following representations from the Learning Disability Task Force and self advocates. There has been no underspend in the first two years, and funding for the third year has already been allocated.
Our most recent information is that 449 volunteers have been recruited to citizen advocacy schemes; as a result 394 people with learning disabilities now have advocates who otherwise would not.
Information on the geographical distribution of citizen advocacy schemes is not available in the form requested, as many schemes cover more than one local authority area. In 2002–03, the first full year of the funding programme, advocacy schemes in twenty four new geographical areas received support.
The Government's report on learning disability, "Making Change Happen" (HC514), published in April 2003, announced that the Implementation Support Fund would continue until March 2006 and that the Learning Disability Task Force would be consulted on its use.
The draft Mental Health Bill published for consultation in June 2002 included the proposal for a statutory duty on the Secretary of State to provide for specialist mental health advocates to be available for every patient treated under the formal powers of the Bill and their nominated person.
At the request of the Department of Health, Durham University has undertaken a study of current mental health advocacy services to assist the Department in developing this new specialist advocacy service. A separate report on mental health advocacy was also published for consultation in June 2002. It contained a number of recommendations for good practice. The responses from both consultation exercises are being carefully evaluated and will be taken into account in developing plans for implementing the new specialist service, including the funding arrangements.
Autism
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will implement the recommendations of the Charter for Persons with Autism adopted as a written declaration by the European Parliament on 9 May 1996. [129443]
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Dr. Ladyman: The rights of all citizens of the United Kingdom, including those who have autism, are set out in the Human Rights Act 1998. We are making sure that human rights principles are kept at the heart of services and policies, in particular through national standards, performance assessment and quality management and in taking forward, for example, the social services modernisation agenda and the implementation of the NHS Plan. We will continue to put human rights at the heart of health and social care policy and the delivery of services for everyone, including people with autism.
Brent and Harrow Health Authority
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in the Brent and Harrow Health Authority area; what steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS dentists in the Brent and Harrow Health Authority area; and if he will make a statement. [128753]
Mr. Hutton: Brent and Harrow Health Authority dissolved on 1 April 2002 and North West London Strategic Health Authority is now the local headquarters of the national health service. However the latest available figures show that there were 221 general dental services dentists whose main work was in Brent and Harrow HA at 30 September 2002.
The proposals in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, currently before Parliament, will underpin a modernised high-quality primary dental service provided through contracts between primary care trusts and dental practices properly integrated with the rest of the NHS.
North West London SHA will ensure that as new primary care centres are developed locally, dentistry will be part of the consideration of which services can be brought together for the convenience of patients.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the prescribing budget was for the Brent and Harrow Health Authority for the financial years (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [128759]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not held centrally. Information from North West London Strategic Health Authority is shown in the following tables. Brent and Harrow Health Authority was dissolved on 1 April 2002 and Brent Primary Care Trust and Harrow PCT now have responsibility for setting prescribing budgets in Brent and Harrow respectively.
| Actual | Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 45,702 | 45,344 |
| 2001–02 | 49,960 | 49,538 |
| Actual | Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 58,722 | 56,055 |
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Each year the Department of Health issues guidance to the national health service containing advice about factors that should be taken into account in setting prescribing budgets. However it is for individual primary care trusts to set their prescribing budgets.
Bureaucracy
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bureaucracy-busting champions have been appointed as part of the Government's anti-bureaucracy drive; and where they are located. [129588]
Mr. Hutton: No new appointments have been made as a result of this initiative. Each strategic health authority has identified an existing senior member of staff who will be responsible for ensuring that action is taken locally to reduce the burden placed on front-line national health service staff. This will complement the action already being taken by the Department.
Child Protection
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS trusts which have not yet appointed a designated nurse for child protection. [127011]
Dr. Ladyman: According 10 the child protection sell-audit returns submitted to the Commission for Health improvement, by the end of May 2003, the following National Health Service trusts, including primary care trusts, acute trusts, and mental health trusts, did not have a named nurse in post when they made their return.
- Tendring Primary Care Trust
- Blackwater Valley and Hart Primary Care Trust
- Colchester Primary Care Trust
- Dudley South Primary Care Trust
- Dudley Bencon and Castle Primary Care trust
- Knowsley Primary Care Trust
- Cheimslord Primary Care Trust
- Waveney Primary Care Trust
- Brent Primary Care Trust
- Witham, Bramiree and Halstead Care NHS Trust
- Cardiothoracic Centre Liverpool NHS Trust (The)
- Walton Centre 1or Neurology & Neurosurgery NHS Trust
- East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Rotherham General Hospitals NHS Trust
- West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
- Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
- Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnerships NHS Trust
- Calderstones NHS Trust
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
- East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust
- Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust
- North Cumbria Mental Health and Learning Disabilities NHS Trust
- North East London Mental Health NHS Trust
- Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust
- Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
However, 13 of these 26 trusts noted in their return that they were in the process of recruiting a named nurse, or that recruitment would start shortly, and a further four said that they had made alternative arrangements such as access to specialist advice Irom
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another trust or organisation, a shared team across the whole county, or a combined designated/named nurse post.
The following primary care trusts did not have a designated nurse in post at the time that they made their return:
- Hensmere Primary Care Trust
- West Cumbria Primary Care Trust
- Rugby Primary Care Trust
- Wafiord and Three Rivers Primary Care Trust
- Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust
- Redbridge Primary Care Trust
However, three of these trusts noted in their return that they were in the process of recruiting a designated nurse, and another noted that it had made alternative arrangements for staff to access specialist advice.
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