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31 Mar 2004 : Column 1510W—continued
Right to Buy
Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homes have been purchased under the right-to-buy scheme in each of the last five years. [164202]
Keith Hill: The right-to-buy sales figures for England for the last five complete financial years are in the following table.
| England | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 40,272 |
| 1999–2000 | 54,251 |
| 2000–01 | 52,380 |
| 2001–02 | 51,968 |
| 2002–03 | 63,394 |
Robson Brown
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the printed material produced by Robson Brown for his Department in the past 12 months; and if he will place a copy of each item in the Library. [164803]
Mr. Raynsford: In the last 12 months Robson Brown have produced the following printed items:
- A new opportunity for the North East,
- A new opportunity for the North West and,
- A new opportunity for Yorkshire and the Humber.
- The "Your Say" brand identity guidelines,
- note pads,
- letterhead,
- press notice templates,
- leaflet holders, and "Your Say" stickers.
Robson Brown have also designed the three fact sheets:
- Business and Jobs,
- Assembly Powers and Responsibilities, and
- Housing and Transport.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be making copies of the leaflets and the fact sheets available in the Library of the House.
31 Mar 2004 : Column 1511W
HEALTH
Alcohol
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in arranging a meeting between healthcare professionals and the alcohol industry to discuss health warnings on alcohol products. [162715]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government's alcohol harm reduction strategy for England charges the Department of Health and the Home Office with consulting the alcohol industry on the introduction of a voluntary social responsibility scheme. The strategy recommends that, as part of this scheme, the drinks industry should be strongly encouraged to display information on sensible drinking and on the unit content of drinks. We look forward to working with the industry and other key stakeholders on this voluntary social responsibility scheme.
Alzheimer's Disease
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to issue advice to local authorities on the funding of care for those with Alzheimer's disease. [164259]
Dr. Ladyman: We have no plans to issue specific guidance to local authorities for the funding of care for individuals with Alzheimer's.
BACS
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress his Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164314]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department has recently purchased BACSTEL-IP software. The software has been successfully tested and we anticipate moving our payments to BACSTEL-IP shortly.
Care Services
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England are being charged for personal care in (a) care homes and (b) the community. [164276]
Dr. Ladyman: The estimate for the cost of introducing free personal care was prepared by Department of Health economists using a variety of data and assumptions. An explanatory note is available in the Library.
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make future provision of nursing care given outside hospital free at the point of use; and if he will make a statement. [164277]
Dr. Ladyman: Since the introduction of national health service-funded nursing care in October 2001, people should have access to nursing care from a registered nurse, funded by the NHS, in all settings outside hospital.
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Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to review the level of top-up fees paid by residents of care homes; and if he will make a statement. [164288]
Dr. Ladyman: Generally, care home residents may not top-up their fees from their own resources if they are supported by the local council. The only exceptions are where individuals either are in receipt of the 12 weeks property disregard or have accessed the deferred payment scheme. Some supported care home residents may choose to pay for extras that are not part of their agreed care plan using their own resources. There are no current plans to review the level of top-up fees paid by residents.
"Choosing Health"? Consultation Events
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to ensure that the public is aware of the choosing health consultation events; what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) hosting and (b) advertising such events; and whether the costs will be met by his Department. [160657]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The "Choosing Health"? consultation will be supported by events across the country, organised by the national health service and local authorities, by regional directors of public health with Government offices of the regions, and by the Department of Health and other Government Departments at national level. The consultation process will be managed within existing budgets by the organisation leading the event. Some events will be shaped by initial responses to the consultation, so it is not possible to estimate costs.
We anticipate that other organisations who choose to engage in the debate will also run events, nationally and locally, and encourage their members and contacts to take part.
Organisations will use existing forums for discussion as well as special arrangements for the consultation.
Activities can be publicised on the Department's "Choosing Health"? website, which can be found at www.dh.gov.uk/consultations/liveconsultations. It will be for organisers to determine whether any additional action is needed to promote individual events, for example, targeting key groups or stakeholders.
Clinical Trials
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage the publication of all the results of clinical trials. [164817]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to my response to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) of 10 March 2004, Official Report, column 1598W.
Dentistry
Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average income is of (a) NHS and (b) private sector dentists. [158180]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The average gross fee income of a general dental service (GDS) dentist for national health service work in 2002–03 was £98,000 in England.
31 Mar 2004 : Column 1513W
Gross fee income of a NHS dentist includes both their personal remuneration as well as business expenses such as staff salaries, laboratory charges and dental consumables.
The income distribution is very wide reflecting the large differences in the amount of GDS work done by individual dentists. Principal GDS dentists do not have a standard working week. They are self employed and choose the amount of GDS work they do. Most dentists will have other income either from private dentistry or from other NHS work. Almost one-quarter of GDS dentists had gross fee income of less than £40,000 in 2002–03; these dentists will have spent only a small proportion of their week doing GDS work.
To produce an income estimate for dentists with a reasonable commitment to the GDS, dentists with gross fee income of less than £55,600 may be excluded. This gives average gross fee income for dentists with a reasonable GDS commitment of £137,000 in 2002–03. The excluded dentists with gross fee income of less than £55,600 will have spent about two days a week or less doing GDS work.
Taking into account estimated expenses, average net fee income of a GDS dentist with a reasonable GDS commitment was around £61,000 in 2002–03. The average GDS net fee income for all dentists including the lowest GDS earners was about £43,000 in 2002–03.
In addition dentists receive other payments such as commitment payments which increase average net income by about £2,000 in 2002–03. So total net income from the GDS averaged about £63,000 for dentists with a reasonable GDS commitment whilst the average net income from the GDS for all dentists including the low GDS earners was about £45,000.
Income of dentists working solely privately is not available. Inland Revenue information for 2001–02 shows that for GDS dentists' average gross income for all self employed work in Great Britain was 163,000 gross or 71,000 net of expenses. This average covers both full-time and part-time dentists.
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ratio of dentists to population is in each of the primary care trusts in England. [162018]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear, (d) the North East and (e) England are not registered with a dentist. [162871]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The following table shows the total population, the number of people registered with a dentist under general dental service (GDS) arrangements and, by deduction, the numbers who are not so registered for South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, the North East and England. Jarrow constituency is covered by South Tyneside Primary Care Trust (PCT).
31 Mar 2004 : Column 1514W
| South Tyneside(16) | Tyne and Wear(17) | North East(18) | England | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered GDS patients | 86,000 | 578,000 | 1,122,000 | 22,849,000 |
| Population | 153,000 | 1,076,000 | 2,513,000 | 48,968,000 |
| Difference | 67,000 | 498,000 | 1,391,000 | 26,119,000 |
(16) Figures cover South Tyneside PCT.
(17) Figures represent the following PCTs: Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland Teaching.
(18) The North East is covered by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and County Durham and Tees Valley SNA.
Registrations under GDS arrangements cover patients who have been to a general dental service dentist within the past 15 months. They exclude patients who choose to attend occasionally or who have not been to a dentist during the past fifteen months. Patients are able to receive dental treatment without the need for registration from other national health service dental services such as dental access centres, through personal dental services or community dental services. Registrations are included in the area of the dentist. Patients may choose to have their dental services in a different PCT area from the one in which they live.
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