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Nursing Care

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the increase in nursing care funding announced by his Department on 27 February, what he estimates the average cost per resident will be of free nursing care for older people. [158517]

Dr. Ladyman: The average cost for the just over 128,000 care home residents who receive National Health Service Funded Nursing Care is estimated at £87 per week from 1 April 2004.

Information Technology

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list each information technology project being undertaken by his Department and its agencies including the (a) start date, (b) planned completion date, (c) current expected completion date, (d) planned cost and (e) current estimated cost; and if he will make a statement. [154680]

Mr. Hutton: Information technology projects costing £100,000 or more currently underway within the Department of Health and its agencies are shown in the table.

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Project name	Start	Planned end date	Current expected end date	Planned cost (£000)	Current estimated cost (£000)
Children Looked After 6(27)	September 2002	May 2004	May 2004	383	344
DH Finance System	April 2002	May 2004	May 2004	6,010	5,330
DH Internet Content Management System/Service	November 2002	October 2003	February 2004	3,000	3,450
DH Personnel System-Improvements and upgrade	March 2003	March 2004	March 2004	425	376
e-Learning Induction Portal	August 2002	November 2003	Mach 2004	119	131
Enterprise Portal	September 2003	November 2005	November 2005	3,600	3,600
Improving records management for material outside the scope of MEDS	April 2003	April 2005	April 2005	970	970
MHRA Information Mgmt Strategy (Sentinel)	January 2003	April 2005	April 2005	12,300	12,300
Management of Electronic Documents System (MEDS BM2)	January 2000	December 2003	March 2004	1,758	1,850
Mental Health Minimum Data Set—Central Requirements Project	June 2001	August 2004	August 2004	1,120	1,225
Modernising Information—Conformance to e-govt targets and standards	January 2003	March 2004	June 2004	482	406
National Programme for IT (NPfIT)—National Data Spine	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	620,000	620,000
NPfIT National e-booking service	December 2003	December 2005	December 2005	64,500	64,500
NPfIT—Eastern local service provider (LSP)	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	934,000	934,000
NPfIT—London LSP	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	996,000	996,000
NPfIT—North East LSP	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	1,099,000	1,099,000
NPfIT— North West and West Midlands LSP	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	973,000	973,000
NPfIT—Southern LSP	December 2003	December 2010	December 2010	986,000	986,000
OIS Transformation Implementation Project	October 2002	March 2004	May 2004	11,578	11,824
PASA Contract Information Mgmt Sys phases 1 and 2	March 2003	January 2005	January 2005	229	229
PASA Electronic Record Mgmt Sys	January 2003	March 2005	March 2005	467	467
Patient Experience Information Project	January 2003	August 2004	August 2004	191	185
Policy and Delivery System	December 2001	October 2004	March 2004	777	758
Reference Costs 2003	November 2002	December 2003	February 2004	340	358
Research and Development Management System	August 2002	May 2004	July 2004	319	286
STEIS Maintenance Project	July 2003	March 2004	April 2004	183	180
Widening the range of material stored in MEDS	April 2003	June 2004	July 2004	605	605

⁽²⁷⁾ This project is part of an area of work being transferred to DEFS

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings the Director-General of NHS IT has had with (a) Mr. Bill Gates and (b) Microsoft executives in the last year. [156893]

Mr. Hutton: Bill Gates routinely visits England every two years to maintain contact and meet with a range of key private and public sector bodies, including Government Departments.

Bill Gates visited London on 26 January 2004 and amongst a full day of meetings and engagements, he met with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and myself and several senior Departmental and National Health Service officials, including Richard Granger, the Director General of NHS IT.

Richard Granger also met Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief operating officer, on 23 February 2004.

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if, prior to placing an order for a bespoke software office suite, the NHS will publish the details and results of the tendering process. [156896]

Mr. Hutton: The Official Journal of the European Community notice on the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) in the National Health Service was published at the beginning of February 2003. This has led to a range of applications and software that will now be provided by the local service providers and contractors recently appointed by the NPfIT.

There are also existing suppliers of software to the NHS covered by framework agreements and licensing arrangements. Developments and renegotiations for the framework agreements may be required over time.

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People with Learning Disabilities

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with learning disabilities have access to health services. [160076]

Dr. Ladyman: People with learning disabilities have the same right of access to medical treatment as everyone else. The NHS Plan emphasised the Government's commitment to a person-centred health service that challenges discrimination on all grounds.

"Valuing People—A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century", includes an important chapter on improving health for people with learning disabilities. In July 2002, the Department issued good practice guidance on health action plans and health facilitation, two key elements of the "Valuing People" strategy for improving the health of people with learning disabilities. A health action plan is a personal plan detailing the actions needed to maintain and improve the health of an individual and any help needed to achieve this. The plan will usually be co-produced with them. Health facilitation involves casework to help people with learning disabilities access mainstream services. It also involves helping mainstream national health service services to respond to the needs of people with learning disabilities.

The "Valuing People" support team produced "All Means All" in 2003. This explains how "Improvement Expansion and Reform", the Department's planning and performance framework, relates to people with learning disabilities. "All Means All" discusses access to health care and identifies that primary care staff, for

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example, can ensure that all people with a learning disability are identified and known to all members of primary care teams.

"Discharge from Hospital: Pathway, Process and Practice", published by the health and social care joint unit and change agents team in January 2003 contains good practice guidance and guidelines for the acute sector when caring for someone with a learning disability. It talks about health action plans and emphasises the importance of liaison with the health or social care professional supporting the individual when making preparations for discharge from hospital.

We have undertaken to look into the possibility of annual health checks for people with learning disabilities during 2004 in our response to the recent choice consultation exercise, "Building on the Best—Choice, Responsiveness and Equity in the NHS", which was published on 9 December 2003.

NHS Trusts

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the possible impact of recent changes to rules on revenue and capital for Queen Mary's Hospital NHS Trust and Oxleas NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement; [154923]

(2) when he intends to reply to the letter of 17 November 2003 from the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead concerning Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Oxleas NHS Trust; [154925]

(3) what assessment he has made of the (a) revenue consequences for Oxleas NHS Trust of accounting changes affecting capital charges on PFI assets, and (b) possible impact on patient care; [154926]

(4) if he will agree to the meeting with hon. Members representing Bexley and Greenwich constituencies and representatives of Queen Mary's NHS Trust, Oxleas NHS Trust and Bexley Care Trust requested by the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead in his letter of 6 October 2003. [154927]

Mr. Hutton: I have responded to the concerns raised about Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Oxleas national health service trust in my letter to the hon. Member of 28 February.

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