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12 Mar 2004 : Column 1830W—continued
Sperm Donors
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been accepted as sperm donors in each of the last 10 years; what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the removal of the right to anonymity on the numbers of people coming forward as sperm donors; and what plans his Department has to assess the impact of a change in the number of sperm donors on childless couples. [152925]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested on the number of sperm donors recruited in each of the last 10 years is shown in the table.
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1831W
| Sperm donors recruited(20) | |
|---|---|
| 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995 | 437 |
| 1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996 | 403 |
| 1 April 1996 to 31 March 1997 | 424 |
| 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 | 316 |
| 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 | 271 |
| 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 | 316 |
| 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 | 248 |
| 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002(21) | 272 |
| 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003(21) | 222 |
(20) Figures represent the number of new donors recorded on the HFEA's register in each of the years.
(21) Provisional figures only.
Source:
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
The Government believe that the need of young people to know about their genetic origins is of the highest importance. For that reason we announced our intention to introduce regulations to remove anonymity for all people donating gametes from 1 April 2005.
We recognise that there is a demand for infertility treatment using donated gametes, although this demand has decreased over recent years through the development of intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
As I said in my speech to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's annual conference on 21 January 2004, the decision about donor anonymity will most probably lead to an initial drop in donor numbers. Indications from other countries that have removed donor anonymity are that the initial drop is followed by a climb in donor numbers. To help increase public awareness we will support a public campaign and fund a national helpline for people who are interested in donating. The helpline will give information about donation and provide callers with a list of clinics so that they can decide which clinic is most convenient for them. Although the support we will provide will not do the actual recruitment for clinics, our intention is that it will raise awareness, create interest and provide essential information among those who may be eligible to donate.
Strategic Health Authorities
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the key indicators are against which strategic health authorities will be monitored; and if he will make a statement on the consequences for these organisations of failing to meet these key indicators. [159778]
Mr. Hutton: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) are the local headquarters of the national health service and they are responsible for local delivery of the national Planning and Priorities Framework 2003–06. The Planning and Priorities Framework sets out the objectives and targets for the NHS.
Each SHA has produced a local delivery plan, which sets out the local health communities' planned progress towards delivery of the national objectives and targets. The Department assesses SHAs' performance against the local delivery plan.
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Therapist Consultants
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets have been set since 1997 for the recruitment of therapist consultants; when they were revised; and what progress has been made in meeting those targets. [158518]
Mr. Hutton: The NHS Plan, published in July 2000, said that by 2004 a first generation of therapist consultant will have started work. A reference to this commitment was made in 'Meeting the Challenge', published in November 2000, which also said that by 2004 the first therapist consultants would have started work. 'HR in the NHS Plan', published in July 2002, referred to an expectation that 250 new allied health professions consultants would be appointed by 2004. The latest non-medical workforce census will be published shortly.
Treatment Centres
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to extend the new treatment centres programme throughout England. [160077]
Mr. Hutton: The treatment centre programme will deliver around 80 treatment centres by the end of 2005, treating at least an additional 250,000 patients a year in total. The majority of these centres will be run by the national health service. Others will be operated by independent sector providers.
We are planning a national procurement starting later this year to provide diagnostic and surgical services through the independent sector. This will build on the current independent sector treatment centre procurement which was launched in December 2002. Two schemes—one at Daventry and the mobile cataract surgery service—are already open and treating patients.
Variant CJD (Rachel Forber)
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an ex-gratia payment to the family of the late Rachel Forber to cover the cost incurred by her family in taking her to receive experimental treatment for variant CJD in the United States; and if he will make a statement. [157406]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 3 March 2004]: To disclose information without the specific consent of the family concerned would breach patient confidentiality.
Websites
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost in (a) financial and (b) other terms was in (i) each financial year since 1997 and (ii) 2003–04 until the latest date for which figures are available of (A) developing and (B) maintaining (1) his Department's website and (2) each website for which his Department is responsible; and how many (C) unique hosts and (D) hits there were in each month for each website in (iii) each financial year since 1997 and (iv) 2003–04 until the latest date for which numbers are available. [155853]
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Mr. Hutton: Information on the Department of Health's web site and those for which the Department is responsible, has been provided where figures are readily available. More historic data can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Unless specified, costs exclude staff overheads as it is not possible to provide these without incurring disproportionate cost.
Usage figures are quoted in the currency in which they are collected and include page impression, visits, hits and unique visitors. Where multiple currencies are collected, visits have been used.
Department of Health's Website(s) doh.gov.uk and dh.gov.uk
The Department of Health's website (www.doh.gov.uk) was established in June 1995.
The cost of the Department's website is shown in the table.
| Financial Year | Total cost £000s |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 219.8 |
| 1999–2000 | 313.7 |
| 2000–01 | 457.1 |
| 2001–02 | 658.9 |
| 2002–03 | 722.6 |
| 2003–04 | (22)663.0 |
(22) estimated costs to end of March 04—excludes development as this is covered in the DotP project costs
These figures include hosting and maintenance, development and dedicated staff costs (using agreed Civil Service Staff costs including salaries, common services etc.) Costs for earlier years are not available separately from the Department's total information technology costs.
The Department launched a new website on 16 February 2004. It is available at www.dh.gov.uk. The old website was migrated onto DotP the central government content management platform. DotP has been developed in partnership with, and hosted by, the Office of the e-Envoy. The full cost of this major project is given below, and include costs associated with the project which would not be incurred annually.
| Financial Year | Total cost £000 |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 1,121.4 |
| 2003–04 | 2,136.8 |
The Office of Government Commerce provided hosting until the end of June 2002. While its website was
12 Mar 2004 : Column 1834W
hosted at OGC, the Department used page impressions rather than hits as a measure of usage. The figures are available in calendar years only.
| Calendar Year | Page Impressions |
|---|---|
| 1996 | (23)200,000 |
| 1997 | (23)520,000 |
| 1998 | 4,533,775 |
| 1999 | 16,485,398 |
| 2000 | 37,504,218 |
| 2001 | 48,337,144 |
(23) These figures include both static HTML content and web accessed database content. Website usage for 1996 and 1997 is estimated (based on average weekly figures).
Between June 2002 and February 2004, EDS Ltd was the hosting provider for the Department's website. EDS provided monthly service report that included a web performance return in which traffic to the Department's website was measured in visits.
| Month | Visits 2002–03 | Visits 2003–04 |
|---|---|---|
| April | 1,151,556 | |
| May | 1,194,097 | |
| June | 1,016,406 | |
| July | 782,398 | (24)861,325 |
| August | 700,015 | (24)791,160 |
| September | 709,406 | 1,191,141 |
| October | 872,988 | 1,401,520 |
| November | 968,069 | 1,441,587 |
| December | 682,138 | (24)902,998 |
| January | 1,061,220 | 1,069,467 |
| February | 1,018,692 | |
| March | 1,171,181 |
(24) Some data is missing for these months due to a technical fault within the reporting tool.
It should be noted that these figures do not include hits or visits to any of the 60 plus web accessible databases/ which form part of the Departments' site. Hits for these databases are currently averaging 3.62 million per month.
Information on other websites for which the Department is responsible has been replaced in the Library.
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