---

12 Mar 2004 : Column 1819W—continued

HEALTH

Asbestos

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the buildings occupied by his departmental and agency staff which require (a) remedial work on and (b) removal of asbestos; what this work will cost; what budgets are available for this work for (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005; and what budget is available for future asbestos surveys. [159653]

 
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1820W
 

Mr. Hutton: The presence of asbestos is recorded in the following buildings occupied by the Department of Health, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, where the Department has responsibility for the building or building fabric. Plans have been established for both removal and remedial works. The estimated costs of such works are shown in the table.

Building	Estimated cost (£)
Wellington House, London SE1 8UG	16,500
Eileen House, London SE1 6EF	9,500
Market Towers, London SW8 5NQ	650,000

Costs of removal are provided by the overall maintenance budgets for the Department of Health Estate for 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the (a) hospitals and (b) other NHS properties which have been identified as containing asbestos; what proportion of (i) hospitals and (ii) other NHS properties have been surveyed for the purpose of identifying the presence of asbestos; which (A) hospitals and (B) other NHS properties require (1) remedial work on (2) removal of asbestos; what that work will cost; what budgets are available for this work for 2004 and 2005; and what budget is available for future asbestos surveys. [159655]

Mr. Hutton: Data are not currently collected on the number of hospitals and national health service properties that contain asbestos. Trusts should pay for all works out of their own maintenance budgets. A consultative document, published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in November 2001, suggested that costs relating to the control of asbestos are not major. More recently, the HSE has advised that, where possible, asbestos should be made safe rather than removed from buildings.

Trusts have a duty of care to manage asbestos under The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2003 and they must record the location and condition of asbestos.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of buildings occupied by (a) departmental staff and (b) staff of the Department's executive agencies have been surveyed for the purpose of identifying the presence of asbestos prior to the implementation of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002. [159661]

Mr. Hutton: The Department has had recent surveys undertaken in all its buildings, with the exception of one building where formal discussions with the landlord have proven that asbestos is not present.

Chickenpox

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of MMR-V as a childhood inoculation; and what plans he has to introduce it into the NHS. [160419]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 11 March 2004]: MMR-V vaccine does not have a licence from the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). Therefore
 
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1821W
 
there has not been assessment of the vaccine and there are no plans to introduce it into the national health service.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on chickenpox as a childhood disease; [160420]

(2) what plans he has to make chickenpox a notifiable disease. [160421]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 11 March 2004]: Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) that most people experience in childhood. Although the chickenpox rash can be uncomfortable, for most children the infection is usually mild.

However, chickenpox disease can be serious in immuno-compromised children where it can cause serious illness and even be fatal.

The risk of chickenpox infection is also serious for pregnant women. If a women contracts chickenpox in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, the foetus may develop abnormalities. A woman developing chickenpox one-week before or after giving birth can pass the disease to her newborn child. Chickenpox is particularly serious in newborn children, and can lead to death.

There are currently no plans to make chickenpox (varicella zoster) a notifiable disease in England and Wales. There are other sources of information currently available on the incidence of chickenpox and deaths. Information on general practitioner consultations due to chicken pox is collected through the Royal College of General Practitioners weekly returns system.

GM Crops

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research (a) he and (b) the Food Safety Agency has commissioned on possible effects on human health of (i) living close to GM crops and (ii) eating GM food. [161129]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Before a genetically modified (GM) crop is approved for growing or for food consumption in the European Union it is required to undergo a rigorous safety assessment. This takes into account both the potential impact on human health in growing the crop and an assessment of the safety of the crop for human consumption. The Food Standards Agency funds a large body of research to support the safety assessment of GM foods, and has not commissioned specific research in the areas mentioned.

Gyms (Access)

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to ensure employees have access to gym equipment in or close to the workplace. [159950]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The cross-Government activity co-ordination team, which I chair jointly with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Sport and Tourism, is looking at a range of options for encouraging active lifestyles in various settings, including the workplace. We will put forward proposals shortly. This work will feed into the wider Government
 
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1822W
 
consultation on improving people's health, entitled "Choosing Health?" One of the areas where we are asking for views is the appropriate balance between individuals' responsibilities for their own health and the responsibility of others—including employers—to provide opportunities to sustain a healthy lifestyle, such as access to gyms.

Health Care Workers (Communicable Diseases)

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the response to his Department's consultation paper "Health Clearance for Serious Communicable Diseases: New Health Care Workers" will be published; and if he will make a statement. [151871]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department received a large number of responses to the consultation on "Health Clearance for Serious Communicable Diseases: New Health Care Workers". The comments are being considered for incorporation into the final guidance, which will be made available to the national health service later this year.

Health Protection Agency

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many serious outbreaks of infection have been reported to the Health Protection Agency since this new collection of information was announced in December 2003. [158520]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This data is not available yet.

Health Statistics

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his Answer of 4 February, Official Report, columns 964–65W, on health statistics, and the evidence to the Health Committee on 22 January, if he will break down the information by age. [158584]

Dr. Ladyman: Quarterly monitoring information for emergency re-admissions to hospital is collected only on an all ages basis. Hospital episode statistics data can be analysed to produce annual information on emergency re-admissions by age group, but this is not routinely done. I would be willing to request such an analysis for the hon. Member if he would find it helpful and would specify in which age groups he is interested.

Figures for delayed transfers of care for all ages, and over 75s, have been supplied for every quarter and have been placed in the Library, including the latest figures for 2003–04, Quarter 3 (December 2003).

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 5 February 2004, Official Report, column 1068W, on health statistics, and with reference to the evidence of the Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr. Ladyman), to the Health Committee on 22 January, on what basis it was concluded that publishing hospital emergency re-admission statistics for over 75-year-olds by his Department was ageist. [160893]

Dr. Ladyman: A target and performance monitoring process for emergency readmissions of those aged over 75 could lead to a perverse incentive—the target to
 
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1823W
 
reduce emergency readmissions could lead to older people being denied hospital treatment when it is appropriate for them.

---