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Breast Feeding

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Service Framework for Children will include a national breast feeding strategy. [161346]

Dr. Ladyman: The national service framework for children, young people and maternity services will set out standards for a wide range of health and social care services and the interface with education.

Rather than address specific conditions or issues, the standards are likely to set out what support should be available to children, young people and pregnant women in managing a range of conditions and issues.

Cosmetic Surgery

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to monitor the competence of doctors practising cosmetic surgery; and if he will make a statement. [156720]

Dr. Ladyman: I refer my hon. Friend to the response given by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) on Monday 1 March 2004, Official Report, column 699W.

Epilepsy

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of drugs associated with the treatment of epilepsy was in each of the last five years. [161040]

Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 12 March 2004]: The table shows the number of prescription items and cost of anti-epilepsy drugs dispensed in the community in England over five years from 1998 to 2002.

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Number of prescription items (millions) and net ingredient cost(£ million) of all Antiepilepsy drugs (British National Formulary, section 4.8) that were dispensed in the community in England, 1998 to 2002

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Number of items (million)	6.12	6.40	6.70	7.20	7.60
Net ingredient cost (million)	74.86	86.47	99.11	120.45	142.22

Notes:

1. Epilepsy drugs are included in British National Formulary (BNF) section 4.8 (Antiepileptics)

2. The data is based on prescription items dispensed in the community in England, i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England.

3. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospital or private prescriptions.

4. The net ingredient cost refers to the cost of the drug before discounts and does not include any dispensing costs or fees. It does not include any adjustment for income obtained where a prescription charge is paid at the time the prescription is dispensed or where the patient has purchased a pre-payment certificate.

Source:

Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) data from the Prescription Pricing Authority

EU Enlargement

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the free movement of (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) dentists from the EU accession countries on the national health service after 1 May. [159201]

Mr. Hutton: Under the Accession Treaty of 16 April 2003, the new States must ensure that the qualifications they award to doctors, general nurses, midwives and dentists, in respect of training begun on or after 1 May 2004, meet specific minimum requirements.

The qualifications they award in respect of training begun before then and which do not meet those requirements are also eligible for recognition but subject

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to certification from their national authorities of recent and substantial practice experience—normally three out of the five years preceding the date of certification. These "acquired rights" provisions are on the lines adopted on previous accessions.

Decisions about whether to offer employment to doctors, nurses and dentists from European Union accession countries are matters for local national health service bodies, taking into account the need to ensure the highest possible standards of public safety.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 3 March 2004, Official Report, column 1022W, on EU accession states, what safeguards will be put in place to ensure that patients are not put at risk if there are accession states that are not compliant with EU minimum requirements on medical training by 1 May. [161220]

Mr. Hutton: It is for the European Commission, which is closely monitoring the progress of Acceding States; to see that their obligations are met, The EC intends to update member states shortly. It is open to the regulatory bodies to require confirmation that applicants' qualifications meet minimum training standards or, if not, that they have had recent and substantial practice experience.

General Practitioners (Greater London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners there are per head of population in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough. [158438]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 3 March 2004]: Information on number of general practitioners per head of population is not collected by London borough. Information by primary care trust within the five London strategic health authority areas is shown in the table.

All practitioners⁽²⁵⁾ per 100,000 of weighted population⁽²⁶⁾ for London by PCT as at 31 March 2003

	Population	All practitioners(25)	All practitioners per 1,000 population	All practitioners per 100,000 population
England	48,962,969	32,865	0.7	67.1
of which:
London	6,984,254	4,855	0.7	69.5
of which:
Q04 North West London
5AT Hillingdon PCT	218,529	153	0.7	70.0
5H1 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT	156,901	104	0.7	66.3
5HX Ealing PCT	302,552	207	0.7	68.4
5HY Hounslow PCT	208,598	126	0.6	60.4
5K5 Brent PCT	265,704	202	0.8	76.0
5K6 Harrow PCT	179,698	137	0.8	76.2
5LA Kensington and Chelsea PCT	162,850	127	0.8	78.0
5LC Westminster PCT	180,388	147	0.8	81.5
Q05 North Central London
5A9 Barnet PCT	293,766	227	0.8	77.3
5C1 Enfield PCT	245,320	148	0.6	60.3
5C9 Haringey PCT	225,029	169	0.8	75.1
5K7 Camden PCT	196,993	154	0.8	78.2
5K8 Islington PCT	179,449	130	0.7	72.4
Q06 North East London
5A4 Havering PCT	226,567	137	0.6	60.5
5C2 Barking and Dagenham PCT	168,575	74	0.4	43.9
5C3 City and Hackney PCT	232,010	180	0.8	77.6
5C4 Tower Hamlets PCT	203,175	156	0.8	76.8
5C5 Newham PCT	256,047	171	0.7	66.8
5C6 Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone PCT	161,469	100	0.6	61.9
5C7 Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford PCT	114,526	89	0.8	77.7
5C8 Redbridge PCT	158,619	92	0.6	58.0
Q07 South East London
5A7 Bromley PCT	281,817	196	0.7	69.5
5A8 Greenwich PCT	223,187	138	0.6	61.8
5AX Bexley PCT	196,863	114	0.6	57.9
5LD Lambeth PCT	274,572	201	0.7	73.2
5LE Southwark PCT	239,874	156	0.7	65.0
5LF Lewisham PCT	249,051	162	0.7	65.0
Q08 South West London
5A5 Kingston PCT	146,674	108	0.7	73.6
5K9 Croydon PCT	304,201	210	0.7	69.0
5LG Wandsworth PCT	242,365	192	0.8	79.2
5M6 Richmond and Twickenham PCT	157,611	128	0.8	81.2
5M7Sutton and Merton PCT	331,277	220	0.7	66.4

⁽²⁵⁾ Salaried Doctors (Para. 52 SFA), PMS Other and GP Retainers.

⁽²⁶⁾ Population derived from GP registered lists normalised to national totals as recorded in ONS population census.

Sources:

Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Department of Health Calculation of GMSNCL weighted populations

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Child Protection

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve liaison between health and social services, with special reference to measures arising from the death of Victoria Climbié. [159840]

Dr. Ladyman: The children's national service framework will set out a vision for services that are integrated around the needs of the child and will emphasise the importance of joint working across the fields of education, health and social services.

I also refer the hon. Member to the publication, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Children, on Tuesday 4 March of "Every Child Matters: Next Steps" and the Children Bill. These include a range of measures, which will transform relationships between frontline professionals, including doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers.

Intermediate Care

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to extend the provision of intermediate care services; and if he will make a statement. [159779]

Dr. Ladyman: We have exceeded the provision of 1,700 additional intermediate care places. We will be

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continuing the current programme to deliver the 5,000 additional intermediate care beds and this is likely to be achieved during 2004.

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