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5 Jan 2004 : Column 192W—continued

Give as You Earn Scheme

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of staff in his Department contribute to a charity through the Give as You Earn scheme; how much money is donated to charity per month by staff in his Department through the scheme; and what steps he is taking to encourage greater participation in the scheme by staff in his Department. [143905]

Ms Rosie Winterton: On average around 2 per cent. of the Department's staff (100 people) contribute to a charity through the Give as You Earn scheme. For the month of November 2003, £11,124.30 was donated, (this figure will change each month as staff join and leave the scheme).

A range of initiatives are periodically undertaken including inviting charitable organisations onto the Department's premises to promote themselves and encourage staff participation.

Giving to charity through Give as You Earn is unlikely to reflect fully the charitable activity of the Department's employees. Giving to charity is a very personal and often private choice. Many of the Department's employees may donate to charity or volunteer their time and skills.

GP Referrals

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what restrictions there are on direct referral by general practitioners to (a) therapists, (b) hospital diagnostics and (c) other general practitioners with a specialist interest; if he will list the reasons for these restrictions; and what plans his Department has to remove those restrictions. [143703]

Mr. Hutton: There are no centrally imposed restrictions on the direct referral of patients by general practitioners to therapists, hospital diagnostics, or other GPs with a specialist interest.

Haemophilia

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many haemophiliacs were diagnosed in each year since 1975; [143397]

(2) how many haemophiliacs died from blood product acquired infections in each year since 1975; [143398]

(3) how many haemophiliacs in the UK have been treated in each year since 1975 for (a) HIV, (b) hepatitis C and (c) CJD acquired from contaminated blood products. [143399]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors Organisation estimate that 40 new Haemophilia A cases and three to four Haemophilia B cases are expected each year. The number of expected mild haemophilia cases is not available.

Viral inactivation of blood products and screening for HIV were first introduced in 1985. The number of haemophilia patients infected with HIV/AIDS from infected national health service blood products, registered with the Macfarlane Trust, who have died before and since 1988 when the Trust was set up, is shown in the table.

	Number or patients infected with HIV/AIDS
Pre 1988	87
1988	39
1989	54
1990	64
1991	72
1992	78
1993	88
1994	95
1995	90
1996	48
1997	33
1998	22
1999	19
2000	24
2001	13
2002	12

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The latest information from the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors Organisation show 212 patients with haemophilia have died from liver disease.

Health Care Commissioning

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish a statement of the costs, with particular reference to costs relating to NHS reference costs, of commissioning (a) independent and (b) private sector health care by the NHS. [141316]

Mr. Hutton: Information will be included in "NHS Reference Costs 2003", which I expect to publish shortly. The publication will include separate expenditure data for treatments undertaken by national health service and non-NHS providers. The data does not, however, distinguish between not-for-profit and commercial providers.

Healthy Living Centres

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department monitors the usage of healthy living centres. [144568]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department of Health has commissioned the Tavistock Institute to carry out an evaluation of the healthy living centre programme against key health priorities such as cancer and coronary heart disease prevention. The usage of healthy living centres is monitored by the New Opportunities Fund by absolute numbers as well as by gender, ethnicity and age.

Hospital Beds (Christmas)

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he has put in place to ensure adequate provision of hospital beds over the Christmas period in Waverley and Guildford. [143543]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In line with our policy on "Shifting the Balance of Power", responsibility for local services now rests with local trusts.

Cranleigh Village Hospital and Haslemere Community Hospitals will be closed between 19 December 2003 and 5 January 2004. This is a traditionally quiet period and community hospital beds at the Haslemere site were closed at this time during 2000 and 2001. However, patients will be able to return to the hospitals at short notice if necessary.

County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals Trust

Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many North Durham patients chose to have operations carried out at Bishop Auckland hospital in the last 12 months; [144863]

(2) how many patients have been admitted to Bishop Auckland Hospital as a result of beds being unavailable at the University Hospital, Durham. [144865]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not available centrally in the format required. The Department collects data on a trust wide basis. For the year 2002–03, County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals National Health Service Trust recorded 108,524 Finished Consultant Episodes.

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Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients who are under the care of consultants in County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust have been treated in the private sector, and at what cost, in the last 12 months. [144864]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not collected centrally.

Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the non-executive members of the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust; and in which parliamentary constituency each lives. [144866]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is shown in the following table.

Board member	Constituency
Angela Ballatti (Chair)	City of Durham
Kathryn Larkin-Bramley	City of Durham
John Dixon	Bishop Auckland
Valerie Ward	North West Durham
Anthony Wolfe	Bishop Auckland
Charles Magee	Sedgefield

Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the costs were of establishing the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust; and how much of these costs was associated with establishing management structures. [144867]

Miss Melanie Johnson: In establishing the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals National Health Service Trust, no additional funding was provided to North Durham Healthcare NHS Trust and South Durham Healthcare NHS Trust. Costs, including those for transferring from two management structures to a single structure, were contained within trust budgets.

Influenza

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the impact on (a) public health and (b) NHS capacity of a new influenza strain entering the United Kingdom. [141703]

Miss Melanie Johnson: All strategic health authorities have developed stringent winter plans to cope with increased seasonal demand for health services. These set out escalation procedures, such as the opening of additional beds, in the event of increased pressure on the national health service.

Hospital trusts have also been preparing for winter by profiling elective activity through the year to ensure maximum availability of beds for the seasonal winter rise in emergency admissions.

Learning Services

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements he has put in place for co-ordination between NHS Plus and the NHS University in the delivery of learning services to external health care providers. [145241]

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Ms Rosie Winterton: NHS Plus is a completely separate service to the NHS University. NHS Plus is a network of 108 national health service trusts which delivers occupational health services to non-NHS employers, including non-NHS health care providers. It does not deliver learning services. The NHS University, on the other hand, is a new kind of educational institution which will provide learning programmes for all levels of staff who work for the NHS with a view to improving service delivery in health and social care and modernisation of the NHS.

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