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3 Nov 2003 : Column 518W—continued
Flexible Working
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase (a) childcare options and (b) flexible working times for working mothers within the NHS. [133913]
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Mr. Hutton: This Government recognise that to build quality services, the national health service relies upon the skill and dedication of staff, of whom over 70 per cent. are women.
Part-time working and extended maternity leave are well-established features of NHS employment, and have been for some time. However, as part of the drive to support all staff in the NHS, the NHS Plan, launched in July 2000 introduced the Improving Working Lives Standard, requiring a commitment by every NHS employer to offer a wide range of flexible employment opportunities by April 2003.
The NHS increasingly offers a wide variety of flexible working opportunities for all staff and supports this as a principle in all cases. A central requirement is to deliver practical measures which address the potential conflict between offering people the opportunity to work more flexibly and maintaining continuity of care on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis.
The NHS childcare strategy has provided central funding of over £70 million over three years to develop up to 150 extra on-site nursery facilities by 2004. So far, 140 nursery schemes, including both new and extensions to existing nurseries have been funded. Funding has been provided to help trusts and primary care trusts to employ childcare co-ordinators. The Government have committed a further £100 million to extend the NHS childcare strategy to ensure that the needs of all staff are met, including other forms of childcare for pre-school children and for older children, and to upgrade and subsidise existing NHS nurseries.
Food Advertising
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to introduce restrictions on the advertisement of food products during children's television scheduling; [134840]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the impact of television advertisements for (a) high fat, (b) high salt and (c) high sugar products on the health of children. [134839]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The regulation of advertising is the responsibility of Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently published a review on the promotion of foods to children, which concludes that
- ". . . this review provides sufficient evidence to show that food promotion can and is having an effect on children, particularly in the areas of food preferences, purchase behaviour and consumption."
We very much welcome the thorough FSA review. The detailed report is receiving careful consideration. The FSA is holding a wider stakeholder meeting to discuss the implications of the research. We strongly encourage industry to act responsibly when promoting foods, particularly to children.
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We are committed to improving the diets of children and have a range of action in place, including the reform of the Welfare Food Scheme, action within schools (such as the Food in Schools Programme), the Five-a-day Programme, including the National School Fruit Scheme and work with industry to address sugar, fat and salt levels in the diet (working with the FSA).
Food Standards
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what regulations are in place governing (a) the quality and (b) the origin of meat served in restaurants. [133896]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 27 October 2003]: Meat sold for human consumption at retail or in catering establishments has to comply with the Food Safety Act 1990 and regulations made under the Act. These regulations require animals slaughtered in licensed slaughterhouses to undergo veterinary ante-mortem inspection, and their carcasses to be subjected to post-mortem inspection and health marked, if found fit for human consumption, under the supervision of an official veterinarian. There are no specific regulations dealing with origin of meat served in restaurants. However, if origin information is provided it must not be false or misleading.
Foundation Trusts
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total size is of the funding facility being made available by the Department of Health to meet capital bids by the first wave foundation trust applicants. [133185]
Mr. Hutton: There will not be a specific allocation of capital to the financing facility. Monies disbursed will be a function of the aggregate of each national health service foundation trust's ability to borrow under the Prudential Borrowing Code and not of centrally allocated budgets.
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether an area specified by an applicant for foundation trust status under sub-section 3(1)(a) of Schedule 1 to the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill may include an electoral area in Wales. [133981]
Mr. Hutton: No. The areas for the public constituency in question will be limited to England. However, if a national health service foundation trust's constitution includes provision for patients or carers of patients to be members of the public constituency, patients of that NHS foundation trust living in Wales would be eligible to join.
GPs
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what circumstances general practitioners can charge British citizens for a consultation. [132769]
Mr. Hutton: General practitioners may charge a British citizen for a consultation only if the patient is not registered with the GP's practice under the National Health Service.
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Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what requirement there is in the NHS for patients to be given prior notice of the retirement of their general practitioner. [132773]
Mr. Hutton: Regulations place a duty on primary care trusts to give notice to patients if their registered provider will no longer be able to provide services whether because of retirement or for other reasons.
Havering Primary Care Trust
John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress of the Local Investment Finance Trust scheme within the Havering primary care trust area. [133275]
Mr. Hutton: The Barking and Havering Local Investment Finance Trust scheme selected its preferred bidder in May 2003 and plans to reach financial close shortly.
Health Inequalities
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average journey time is for patients to the nearest (a) general practitioner surgery, (b) dentist and (c) accident and emergency unit in each county south of the River Thames. [134875]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 29 October 2003]: The Department does not collect information on journey times to health services.
Health Services (North-West)
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists work in the NHS in the North West of England. [134894]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of dentists working in the national health service in the North West of England at 30 June 2003 is shown in the table.
| North west region | |
|---|---|
| General Dental Service (GDS) | 2,281 |
| Personal Dental Service (PDS) | 127 |
| Community Dental Service (CDS) | 172 |
| Salaried Service of the GDS | 16 |
| Total | 2,596 |
Notes:
This data relates to 30 June 2003 except for CDS Dentists. The figures for CDS dentists are from 30 September 2001 which is the latest available data.
Dentists working in more than one dental service are included in each service, apart from dentists working in both the PDS and GDS who are counted in the GDS only.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been treated in hospitals in the North West in each year since 1992. [134985]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
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| Admissions | |
|---|---|
| 1992–93(44) | 906,614 |
| 1993–94(44) | 945,498 |
| 1994–95(44) | 1,066,424 |
| 1995–96(44) | 1,086,028 |
| 1996–97 | 1,677,755 |
| 1997–98 | 1,721,164 |
| 1998–99 | 1,792,784 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,821,111 |
| 2000–01 | 1,780,595 |
| 2001–02 | 1,667,105 |
(44) Change in organisation names and codes: previously known as North Western Regional Health Authority (YOP).
Note:
Admissions are defined as the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.
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