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21 Jan 2004 : Column 1349W—continued
Government Office for London
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much Government money was distributed by the Government Office for London in each year since 1999–2000; and what is forecast to be distributed in 2003–04. [149601]
Yvette Cooper: Government Office for London (GOL) Programme expenditure is as follows:
| Programme expenditure | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2,202 |
| 2000–01 | 1,605 |
| 2001–02 | 2,094 |
| 2002–03 | 2,530 |
| 2003–04 | 2,689 |
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the running costs of the Government Office for London were in each year since 1999–2000; and what the forecast is for 2003–04. [149602]
Yvette Cooper: Government Office for London (GOL) running cost expenditure is as follows:
21 Jan 2004 : Column 1350W
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 16.0 |
| 2000–01 | 13.2 |
| 2001–02 | 13.2 |
| 2002–03 | 14.1 |
| 2003–04 | 16.6 |
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff were employed by the Government Office for London in each year since 1999–2000; and how many are forecast to be employed in 2003–04. [149603]
Yvette Cooper: Approximate full time equivalent posts from April 2000 are as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| April 2000 | 370 |
| April 2001 | 240 |
| April 2002 | 260 |
| April 2003 | 288 |
The forecast for 2003–04 is 310.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the projects managed by the Government Office for London in 2003–04. [149604]
Yvette Cooper: Programmes managed by Government Office for London (GOL) in 2003–04:
- Community Chest
Community Empowerment Fund
Community Learning Chest
Public Order and Community Cohesion
Disabled Facilities Grant
Estate Action
Greater London Authority General Grant
Greater London Authority Preparation Costs
Housing Action Trusts
Housing Investment Programme (HIP)
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Neighbourhood Renewal—Skills and Knowledge
New Deal for Communities
Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders
Neighbourhood Wardens
Street Wardens
Street Crime Wardens
European Regional Development Fund (Objective 2)
Greater London Authority Transport Grant
Sustainable Development Publicity Budget
Community Champions
Community Champions Pathfinders
Connexions Grant Funding
Connexions (Drugs Education)
Positive Action for Young People
Transforming Youth Work (Development Funding)
Special Educational Needs/Disability Act
Vocational and Work Related Learning
Learning Partnership Networking
London Development Agency Grants
New and Renewable Sources of Energy
European Structural Fund (ESF) Objective 2
21 Jan 2004 : Column 1351W
European Structural Fund (ESF) Objective 3
Anti Social Behaviour Fund
Basic Command Unit Fund
Building Safer Communities Fund
Communication Funding
Gun Crime
Home Office Directors' Allocation Fund
Neighbourhood Renewal Capacity Building Fund
Drugs Team Strategic Grant
Recovered Assets Fund
Time Limited Development Fund
Small Retailers in Deprived Areas
Vehicle Crime
Violence Against Women
Housing (Yorkshire and Humberside)
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the difference is between the housing capital allocation for local authorities in (a) Yorkshire and (b) Humberside for 2005–06 and 2004–05; what the basis is of the new allocations; what account they take of (i) the state of the stock, (ii) decent housing targets and (iii) repair backlogs; and how any money still to be allocated is to be made available. [149220]
Yvette Cooper: £76.110 million is being allocated to Yorkshire and the Humber local authorities for 2004–05 from the Single Regional Housing Pot, and £81.059 million for 2005–06. Resources for 2004–05 are fully allocated. £22.555 million remains to be allocated for 2005–06. Allocations made to date to authorities in (a) Yorkshire and (b) Humberside are as follows:
| 2004–05 | 2005–06 | |
|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire | 63.413 | 48.896 |
| Humberside | 12.697 | 9.608 |
Allocations for both years comprise a formulaic element (fully allocated) plus the outcome of Regional Housing Board (RHB) commissioning of proposals for private sector renewal, low demand (in specified areas), and 'transformational proposals' (2005–06 only). Proposals for the remaining resources have been commissioned, and will be considered by the Board at meetings up to September 2004.
Stock condition is an element in the indicator used for the formulaic element. Additionally, decent homes were taken into account through a Government Office survey of expenditure commitments.
I will write to my hon. Friend with additional information.
Liveability Fund
Mr. Coleman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the local authorities which have been successful in bidding for the Government's Liveability Fund; and what criteria were used to determine which authorities were successful. [148727]
Yvette Cooper: The 27 Liveability Fund pilots will be announced early next month.
21 Jan 2004 : Column 1352W
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's key selection criteria sought to secure a good regional balance (i.e. three pilots per region) and a cross-section of local authorities in terms of:
- urban, rural, suburban and coastal location; and
levels of achievement in the Comprehensive Performance Assessments (where appropriate).
Registered Social Landlords
Mr. Byers: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many tenants of registered social landlords there are (a) in England, (b) in each housing authority area and (c) in each region. [148732]
Yvette Cooper: As at 31 March 2003:
(a) The estimated number of RSL tenancies in England was 1,684,500.
(b) The estimated number of tenancies by Government Office Region were as shown in the following table:
| Government Office Region | Total occupied RSL stock |
|---|---|
| North East | 98,500 |
| North West | 294,300 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 116,000 |
| East Midlands | 94,900 |
| West Midlands | 213,700 |
| East | 154,300 |
| London | 303,300 |
| South East | 253,300 |
| South West | 156,200 |
| England | 1,684,500 |
Note:Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
Source:
Primarily the Housing Corporation's Regulatory and Statistical Return for 2003 but with minor adjustments to reflect two late transfers of stock within the local authority areas of North Hertfordshire and Forest of Dean.
(c) The numbers for local authorities (housing authority areas) are available in the Library of the House.
HEALTH
Operation Global Mercury
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what lessons have been learned from Operation Global Mercury; whether identified failings have been addressed; and if he will make a statement. [147539]
Mr. Hutton: The evaluation report and a summary are available on the Department of Health website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/cmo/exerciseglobalmercury/index.htm, and a copy has been placed in the Library.
Work is underway to implement all of the recommendations identified in the report.
21 Jan 2004 : Column 1353W
Ambulance Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the vacancy (a) rates and (b) numbers for NHS ambulance staff, broken down by grade, in (i) England and (ii) each ambulance service in each of the last six years; [147934]
- (2) how many ambulance staff have been employed in the NHS in (a) England and (b) each ambulance service for each of the last six years, broken down by grade. [147935]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number and rate of vacancies lasting three months or more in each year since 1999, the first year the data was collected centrally, and the number of ambulance staff employed in the national health service since 1996 has been placed in the Library.
Cancelled Operations
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish the guidelines given to NHS trusts in reporting cancelled operations, with particular reference to guidelines on the use of stand-by lists of patients who may be operated on that day if capacity allows; [146338]
- (2) what proportion of hours per week operating theatres were used on average in (a) England, (b) each strategic health authority and (c) each NHS trust, in the latest week for which figures are available; [146341]
(3) what research his Department has commissioned on links between ward bed availability and cancellation of scheduled operation lists. [146342]
Mr. Hutton: Guidance on reporting last minute cancelled operations is made available to the national health service through the Department of Health NHS web. A copy has been placed in the Library. No national guidance exists on the use of stand-by lists. The operation of stand-by lists is a matter for individual NHS trusts in consultation with their commissioners.
In addition, the Modernisation Agency's operating theatre and pre-operative assessment programme is supporting NHS trusts to implement good practice guidance on tackling cancelled operations and effective utilisation of operating theatres.
The programme has published good practice such as the "Step Guide to Improving Operating Theatre Performance" published in June 2002 which sets out four key steps, or stages, to improving operating theatre performance and reducing cancelled operations. It contains diagnostic tools and common sense, practical solutions for trusts to increase theatre utilisation and improve patient care.
Information on the usage of operating theatres is not collected centrally by the Department.
As part of a larger project, the Department of Health commissioned York University to carry out some modelling of bed occupancy. Findings from the study were published in the BMJ: "Dynamics of bed use in accommodating emergency admissions: stochastic simulation model"—Adrian Bagust et at BMJ vol. 319, 17 July 1999, pages 155–158, a copy of which has also been placed in the Library.
21 Jan 2004 : Column 1354W
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the rules relating to the time of cancellation for acute hospital trusts to record operations as cancelled for non-clinical reasons. [147189]
Mr. Hutton: The Department of Health collects data on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons (i) at the last minute (that is, on the day patients are due to arrive, or after arrival in hospital, or on the day of their operation), and (ii) the number of patients not admitted within 28 days of a 'last minute' cancellation as part of the NHS Plan cancelled operations guarantee.
The NHS Plan cancelled operations guarantee introduced in April 2002, states if a patient's operation is cancelled by the hospital on the day of surgery for non-clinical reasons, the hospital will have to offer another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days, or fund the patient's treatment at the time and hospital of the patient's choice.
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