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Lord Levy

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister for what reasons Lord Levy's responsibilities as his special envoy have been widened to encompass education-related matters. [167749]

The Prime Minister: Lord Levy's responsibilities as special envoy were set out by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 9 July 2001, Official Report, column 350W. With regard to education, Lord Levy has helped support the Government's programme to establish City Academies.

Ministerial Responsibility

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Prime Minister which Minister is responsible for the environmental impact of the Government's energy policy. [168866]

The Prime Minister: Stephen Timms, Minister for Energy, E-commerce and Postal Services at the Department and Trade and Industry, has responsibility for the environmental impact of the Government's energy policy.
 
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He works closely on this issue with Elliott Morley, Minister for the Environment and Agri-Environment and Lord Whitty, Minister for Food, Farming and Sustainable Energy at the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

HEALTH

Care Homes

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the required criteria are for a complaint about a care home to be investigated; and if he will make a statement. [166914]

Dr. Ladyman: Regulations made under the Care Standards Act 2000, require care homes to have arrangements for dealing with complaints made by, or on behalf of, those seeking or receiving any of the services provided by that establishment or agency. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is responsible for ensuring that establishments and agencies set-up and maintain comprehensive, effective and robust procedures and communicate these to people using the service and the public.

All care homes in England are regulated (registered and inspected) by the CSCI in accordance with statutory regulations and national minimum standards. Anyone who has concerns about a care home can raise these with the CSCI. The CSCI will decide what appropriate action to take in response to information received. The CSCI also has discretionary powers to investigate formal complaints but will only do this where it would inform its role as regulator.

If a resident's care is commissioned by the local authority, complaints can also be made through the statutory social services complaints procedure. If the local authority has serious concerns, it could decide not to commission services from a particular care home.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated (a) inpatient, (b) outpatient hospital, (c) primary care and (d) investigation costs of treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were in 2003–04. [166705]

Dr. Ladyman: The tables show information relating to the national average unit cost in England for in-patient and out-patients respectively with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchitis for 2002–03.
In-patient

Patient type	HRG code	HRG label	National average unit cost (£)
Elective Inpatient	D20	Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease of Bronchitis	1,177
Non-Elective Inpatient	D20	Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease of Bronchitis	1,136
Day Case	D20	Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Bronchitis	404

 
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Out-patient

Patient type	Specialty code	Specialty	National average unit cost (£)
First attendance	340	Respiratory medicine	163
Follow up attendance	340	Respiratory medicine	114

Information relating to primary care and investigation costs is not able to be separately identified from current central returns.

Departmental Procurement (Sea Bass)

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to source sea bass used in catering outlets for which his Department is responsible from hand-line fishermen rather than pair trawlers. [167542]

Mr. Hutton: The National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency has a national contract for the supply of fish, including sea bass. All sea bass supplied to the NHS comes either from fish farms in the Aegean or is caught by line. No sea bass provided in the NHS is caught by pair trawlers.

General Practitioners

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many whole time equivalent NHS plan group general practitioners per 100,000 population there were    in (a) each region, (b) each strategic health authority and (c) each primary care trust in (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003. [167424]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of whole time equivalent general practitioners (excluding GP retainers and GP registrars) per 100,000 population in each government office region, each strategic health authority, and in each primary care trust in 2002 and 2003 has been placed in the Library.

Infection Control

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what standards the National Care Standards Commission has set for care homes on infection control; and how these standards are monitored centrally. [165248]

Dr. Ladyman: Standards for infection control in care homes are contained in the relevant National Minimum Standards (NMS) for care homes and are set by the Secretary of State for Health. A copy of the NMS is available in the Library.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection, which replaced the National Care Standards Commission from 1 April 2004, is responsible for ensuring that homes comply with the care homes regulations, subject to the NMS being taken into account.

Intermediate Care Beds

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many intermediate care beds have been created since June 2001. [167708]

 
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Dr. Ladyman: The information is not available in the format requested.

However, as at the 31 December 2003, there were an additional 4,100 intermediate care beds, compared to the 1999–2000 baseline.

Mifegyne

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what year and in which area health authority each of the fatal suspected adverse reactions associated with the use of Mifegyne were reported; what age the women whose deaths gave rise to the reports of fatal suspected adverse reactions associated with the use of Mifegyne were; and what the post mortems concluded was the cause of death in each case. [167257]

Ms Rosie Winterton: As with all medicines, the safety of Mifegyne (mifepristone) is continuously monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). To date, the MHRA has received two reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with a fatal outcome.

In line with the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information", we are unable to release any information that may possibly enable any patient to be identified and, in cases such as these, cause further unnecessary distress to the family. I am, therefore, unable to provide my hon. Friend with specific details concerning these cases.

National Service Frameworks

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the 2003 Report of Progress and Future Challenges on the National Service Framework for Older People, what written policies were found that discriminated against older people; what progress has been made in amending these policies; and if he will make a statement. [168644]

Dr. Ladyman: A report on the local age discrimination audits of written policies in the national health service was published in April 2002. Copies are available in the Library. Reports of local action to address issues found should be covered in each local health organisation's annual report. Support for continued local action has included working to support the King's Fund to develop and publish "Auditing Age Discrimination—a practical approach to promoting equality in health and social care" in February 2003, the development of statistical tools to allow comparisons of local treatment and care by age group and training events around the country on age discrimination run with Age Concern.

The Healthcare Commission is to undertake a review of progress on implementation of the national service framework for older people, including age discrimination from July 2004 to June 2005.

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