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CABINET OFFICE

Parliamentary Questions

25. Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the guidance issued to civil servants responsible for drafting parliamentary answers. [152268]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office "Guidance to Officials on Drafting Answers to Parliamentary Questions" sets out the principles that civil servants should follow when preparing draft answers for parliamentary questions. The guidance was revised in September 2002 and re-issued to Departments.

HEALTH

Hospital-acquired Infections

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre of the Health Protection Agency has in place a mechanism for collecting the number of deaths associated with (a) bloodstream infections and (b) MRSA. [145041]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Health Protection Agency operates the national mandatory surveillance system for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections and this does not include information on deaths. Collecting data on deaths is not practical for routine reporting as aggregated data rather than individual patient data are collected. Currently mortality information can only be provided by enhanced surveillance or special studies.

Death certificates are designed to identify the underlying cause of death rather than track healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). The new action plan to reduce healthcare associated infections, Winning Ways, includes a commitment to set up a national audit of deaths from HCAIs.

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Health Screening (Overseas Visitors)

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the review of policy regarding health screening for foreigners before they enter or are permitted to stay in this country. [152269]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Cabinet Office is continuing to co-ordinate work between relevant Government Departments, including the Department of Health, to review imported infections and immigration. The review aims to establish the facts about the impact of immigration on public health and national health service expenditure, consider all relevant issues including health screening and propose solutions should action be required. It is on-going and no decisions have been taken yet.

Monoclonal Antibody Drugs

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health why the monoclonal antibody drugs (a) Cetuximab and (b) Bevacizumab are not available through the NHS. [152011]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 January 2004]: Cetuximab and Bevacizumab are not currently on the United Kingdom market as they are not yet licensed as medicinal products in the UK or European Union.

EU Enlargement

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the impact of settlement in the UK of citizens of EU accession states on demand for NHS services in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 financial years. [150076]

Mr. Hutton: The impact on demand for national health service services will ultimately depend on the numbers of people who might migrate to the United Kingdom from the new member states. Research for the Home Office does not suggest that the numbers will be significant. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration on 2 February 2004, Official Report, column 705W.

Stroke (Gloucestershire)

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether the stroke units in the NHS in Gloucestershire are large enough to accommodate all stroke victims in Gloucestershire needing hospitalisation; and if he will make a statement. [149466]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I have made no assessment because in line with our Shifting the Balance of Power policy it is now for primary care trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services, based on the specialised knowledge they have of the local community.

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I am assured by Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA that the national health service in Gloucestershire has developed the two specialist stroke units in line with national service framework guidance.

The stroke service links with other services to enable appropriate lengths of stay within the unit to be supported. Patients have access to other support services including intermediate care to enable rehabilitation of people in their own homes or in community hospitals. As a result of service reconfiguration, the numbers of people accessing specialist stroke services have increased in the last year.

Higher Education Funding

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether courses attracting payment of tuition fees by the NHS will attract payment of top-up fees. [145029]

Mr. Hutton: Existing contracts between strategic health authorities and higher education institutions for nursing, midwifery and allied health professional training, cover the full cost of that training, including tuition. The consultation document "Funding Learning and Development for the Healthcare Workforce" sets out our proposal for a national model contract. It is intended that this contract for national health service funded pre-registration courses, to be introduced from 1 April 2004, will specifically prohibit the charging of variable fees to students.

In the case of medical and dental training, the NHS currently meets students' liability for a contribution to tuition fees for the later years of the course. There is as yet no clear indication from the higher education sector of the scope or scale of any increases that they may intend to make to these fees. The Department of Health will continue to monitor demand for, and take up of, places on courses in medicine and dentistry after the introduction of variable fees in 2006–07. It will consider, in consultation with the Department for Education and Skills, any measures it deems necessary to safeguard the supply, retention, diversity or quality of students on medical and dental training programmes, once the full implications of the introduction of variable tuition fees can be assessed.

TRANSPORT

Driving Instructors

16. Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on changes to the rules governing advanced driving instructors. [152286]

Mr. Jamieson: The periodic re-assessment of car driving instructors is already provided for in their registration scheme. We are going to use modern computer-based assessment to check that instructors have kept up to date with the modern syllabus for learning to drive and can demonstrate high levels of hazard perception skills.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what research his Department has commissioned into the benefits of requiring driving instructors to be reassessed after 15 years; [151986]

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(2) what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the implications for driving instructors of a requirement to be reassessed after 15 years. [151987]

Mr. Jamieson: The periodic re-assessment of driving instructors is already provided for in their registration scheme. The frequency of assessments varies according to the standard of the instructor. The higher the standard, the greater the interval until a further re-assessment takes place. Every instructor should have at least one assessment during their four-year period of registration. A research report published in 2000, recommended that the current method of periodic reassessments should be retained. The report made no recommendation that instructors should be reassessed at 15 year intervals. In the circumstances, we see no need to hold discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry.

Roads

18. Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage change he predicts for road traffic volumes by 2010. [152288]

Mr. Jamieson: Road traffic is forecast to grow by between 20 per cent. and 25 per cent. in England between 2000 and 2010.

19. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the factors other than speed which contribute to road traffic accidents. [152289]

Mr. Jamieson: Contributory factors are assessed in a wide range of research projects including in-depth studies of particular accident types, on-the-spot accident investigation, and driver behaviour has been shown to be the key factor. A pilot scheme for assessment of contributory factors in road accidents has been used by some police forces alongside the national road casualty statistics reporting system since 1999.

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