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3 Dec 2003 : Column 76W—continued

Food Supplements

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the EU meetings held in 2003 which

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(a) Ministers and (b) officials from the Department have attended where the maximum permitted level of nutrients in food supplements was discussed; and if he will make a statement. [141411]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The European Commission has not yet made a proposal listing European Union maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements and we do not expect it to do so for another two to three years. There have been no EU meetings dedicated to the discussion of these levels in 2003.

Until discussions on a formal proposal begin, the United Kingdom will continue to take every opportunity to press its view that maximum levels should be set on a safety basis. To this end, the UK is using its influence in both scientific and political forums. In 2003, Food Standards Agency officials attended two scientific meetings at which maximum permitted levels were discussed in the context of risk assessment and the UK approach was clearly stated on both occasions.

I intend to raise this issue with Ministers in other member states as and when appropriate, although no specific discussions have taken place in 2003. I am also seeking to arrange a meeting with Commissioner David Byrne at the earliest practical opportunity.

Influenza

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to (a) acquire and (b) store drugs to treat influenza. [141755]

Miss Melanie Johnson: General practitioners order their own supply of flu vaccine direct from one of the six suppliers of vaccine this year, based on the timing of their flu clinics and storage capabilities.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) benefit for use in the NHS of FluMist as a vaccine for influenza. [141312]

Miss Melanie Johnson: FluMist is not currently licensed for use in Europe or the United Kingdom.

Intensive Care

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intensive care beds were available in the NHS on (a) 1 April and (b) the latest date for which figures are available. [141318]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 2 December 2003]: A census of critical care beds is conducted twice every year in January and July. The latest figures available for 2003 are shown in the table.

Open and staffed adult critical care provision on census day—NHS Organisations, England

	Level 3	Level 2	Total
Census Day	Intensive Care	High Dependency	critical care
15 January 2003	1,746	1,351	3,097
16 July 2003	1,731	1,397	3,128

The census on critical care provision is a snapshot of the number of beds open, available and staffed for critically ill patients at a point in time. As a result, both

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the overall number of beds and the number of level 3 (equivalent of intensive care) and level 2 (equivalent of high dependency) beds will fluctuate from day-to-day and hour-to-hour, according to patient need and staff availability.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what programmes are in place for training doctors in treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis. [141190]

Dr. Ladyman: Responsibility for the content, standards, management and delivery of medical education is shared between regulatory bodies, for example, the General Medical Council and the Specialist Training Authority, professional bodies, notably the medical Royal Colleges, universities, the Department and the national health service. We expect that these bodies will take account of the latest developments in medicine when developing their syllabuses.

General practitioners are expected to keep their professional skills up-to-date, and learning will always continue even if formal training has ceased.

We are however taking steps to improve services for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). On 12 May 2003, my right hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Jacqui Smith), announced pump priming funding of £8.5 million to develop services for people with CFS/ME.

The Medical Research Council published a 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.

Multiple Sclerosis

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 10 November 2003, Official Report, column 136W, on multiple sclerosis, if he will break down by nominated prescribing centres (a) the MS patients receiving treatment as at 10 November 2003 and (b) the MS patients waiting to be assessed for treatment with disease modifying therapies; and if he will make a statement on significant differences between health authorities in the prescribing of beta interferon. [140721]

Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 2 December 2003]: We do not hold appropriate data to provide such a breakdown. It is estimated that at the end of October 2003, about 7,000 patients were being treated with a disease modifying treatment for their multiple sclerosis.

National Service Framework

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress towards the development of the National Service Framework for long-term conditions. [140720]

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Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 2 December 2003]: The national service framework (NSF) for long term conditions will focus on improving the standard of neurology services across England. It will also address some of the generic issues that are important to people with non-neurological disabilities, such as access to rehabilitation services; provision of good quality information; support for carers; and, access to community equipment, assistive technology and wheelchairs.

We appointed the external reference group last November and have since set up several working groups which have been making recommendations and considering areas and issues for proposed standards. We are making good progress and currently plan to publish the NSF at the end of next year for implementation from 2005.

Nursing Homes

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of people in nursing homes are in each costings band; what determines which band people are placed in; and if he will make a statement. [141945]

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Dr. Ladyman: This information is not collected centrally. National health service nurses are responsible for assessing the band or level of input from a registered nurse to someone's care in a care home.

Sexual Health

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) males and (b) females were diagnosed with (i) syphilis, (ii) gonorrhoea, (iii) chlamydia (uncomplicated), (iv) herpes (first incidence), (v) genital warts (first incidence), (vi) HIV/AIDS, (vii) trichomonas vaginalis and (viii) non-specific urethritis in each year from 1996 to the latest available date; and what the percentage change in the number of people diagnosed with each condition was in each year. [140600]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of diagnoses of syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia (uncomplicated), herpes (first incidence), genital warts (first incidence), trichomoniasis vaginalis and non-specific urethritis diagnosed in genitourinary medicine clinics in England between 1996 and 2002 are shown in table 1. The number of new diagnoses of HIV infection in England made to the Health Protection Agency, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre over the same period are shown in table 2.

Table 1: Sexually Transmitted Disease data for England correct as at 28 November 2003

	1996	1997	% change 1996–97	1998	% change 1997–98	1999	% change 1998–99
	Primary and secondary infectious syphilis(12)
Male (all)	84	98	+17	87	-11	156	+79
Female	32	49	+53	44	-10	55	+25
Total	116	147	+27	131	-11	211	+61
Early latent syphilis (first two years)(12)
Male (all)	88	77	-13	87	+13	122	+40
Female	57	55	-4	58	+5	75	+29
Total	145	132	-9	145	+10	197	+36
Uncomplicated gonorrhoea
Male (all)	7,911	8,418	+ 6	8,446	0	10,677	+26
Female	3,977	3,981	0	4,089	+3	4,880	+19
Total	11,888	12,399	+4	12,535	+1	15,557	+24
Uncomplicated genital chlamydial infection
Male (all)	13,946	16,180	+16	18,937	+17	21,808	+15
Female	18,526	22,659	+22	24,975	+10	29,196	+17
Total	32,472	38,839	+20	43,912	+13	51,004	+16
	Uncomplicated non-gonococcal/non-specific urethritis in males
Male (all)	46,781	48,677	+4	51,951	+7	53,333	+3
Female	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	46,781	48,677	+4	51,951	+7	53,333	+3
Trichomoniasis
Male (all)	242	255	+5	298	+17	641	+115
Female	5,360	5,713	+7	5,877	+3	5,448	-7
Total	5,602	5,968	+7	6,175	+3	6,089	-1
Genital herpes simplex—first attack
Male (all)	5,755	5,597	-3	6,140	+10	6,039	-2
Female	9,453	9,482	0	9,675	+2	9,852	+2
Total	15,208	15,079	-1	15,815	+5	15,891	0
Genital warts—first attack
Male (all)	27,113	30,239	+12	30,782	+2	31,908	+4
Female	27,583	28,472	+3	28,899	+1	29,322	+1
Total	54,696	58,711	+7	59,681	+2	61,230	+3

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Diagnoses	2000	% change 1999–2000	2001	% change 2000–01	2002	% change 2001–02
Primary and secondary infectious syphilis(12)
Male (all)	247	+58	618	+150	1,062	+72
Female	75	+36	99	+32	137	+38
Total	322	+53	717	+123	1,199	+67
Early latent syphilis (first two years)(12)
Male (all)	126	+3	268	+113	331	+24
Female	93	+24	99	+6	121	+22
Total	219	+11	367	+68	452	+23
Uncomplicated gonorrhoea
Male (all)	14,290	+34	15,666	+10	16,980	+8
Female	6,225	+28	6,747	+8	7,417	+10
Total	20,515	+32	22,413	+9	24,397	+9
Uncomplicated genital chlamydial infection
Male (all)	26,632	+22	29,602	+11	34,341	+16
Female	34,815	+19	38,644	+11	43,796	+13
Total	61,447	+20	68,246	+11	78,137	+14
	Uncomplicated non-gonococcal/non-specific urethritis in males
Male (all)	56,147	+5	59,677	+6	62,068	+4
Female	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	56,147	+5	59,677	+6	62,068	+4
Trichomoniasis
Male (all)	731	+14	733	0	571	22
Female	6,036	+11	6,282	+4	6,639	+6
Total	6,767	+11	7,015	+4	7,210	+3
Genital herpes simplex—first attack
Male (all)	6,190	+3	6,507	+5	6,526	0
Female	9,976	+1	10,575	+6	10,990	+4
Total	16,166	+2	17,082	+6	17,516	+3
Genital warts—first attack
Male (all)	32,067	+0	32,819	+2	34,006	+4
Female	28,711	-2	29,777	+4	29,992	+1
Total	60,778	-1	62,596	+3	63,998	+2

⁽¹²⁾ Numbers will increase, particularly for recent years as late reports are received.

Notes:

Numbers of diagnoses of syphilis, broken down into:

(a) Primary and secondary infectious syphilis

(b) Latent syphilis in the first two years of infection

Source:

Health Protection Agency.

Table 2: Number of new diagnoses of HIV infection in England by sex and year of diagnosis

Sex	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001(13)	2002(13)
Males	1,937	1,895	1,914	1,979	2,298	2,882	3,112
Percentage increase from previous year	—	-2.2	1	3.4	16.1	25.4	8
Females	537	613	703	895	1315	1,849	2,281
Percentage increase from previous year	—	14.2	14.7	27.3	46.9	40.6	23.4
Total(14)	2,474	2,509	2,618	2,876	3,613	4,731	5,393
Percentage increase from previous year	—	1.4	4.3	9.9	25.6	30.9	14

⁽¹³⁾ Numbers will increase, particularly for recent years as late reports are received.

⁽¹⁴⁾ Totals include (four) individuals where sex was not reported.

Note:

Data are as reported to the end of September 2003

Source:

Health Protection Agency

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