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15 Jun 2004 : Column 899W—continued
Locum Staff
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the average cost of (a) a locum doctor and (b) an agency nurse for one day. [178478]
Mr. Hutton: This information is not held centrally. Although the Department collects data on overall expenditure on non-national health service staff by NHS trusts and primary care trusts, it does not collect separate information on the numbers of days worked by temporary staff, or on expenditure on agency staff.
Drug Addiction
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated number of drug addicts was at the latest date for which figures are available. [174497]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Jim Cunningham), on 10 June 2004, Official Report, columns 545–47W.
National Blood Authority
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the 5,560 staff reported in the Department of Health Report 2004 as employed by the National Blood Authority are in administrative or managerial posts. [175689]
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The National Blood Service (NBS) currently employs 5,378 (whole-time equivalent) staff. The approximate breakdown of staff within the NBS is as follows:
34 per cent.—professionally qualified clinical staff;
This includes all doctors, qualified nurses, qualified scientific and technical staff.
55 per cent.—support to clinical staff;
This includes staff working in direct support of clinical staff, often with direct donor care. These staff have a direct impact on the NBS' ability to supply blood and patient services to hospitals;
approximately 10 per cent.—central functions such as human resources, finance and information technology, property and estates, and managers; and
approximately one per cent.—senior managers with overall responsibility for budgets, manpower or assets, or accountable for a significant area of work.
National Service Framework (Long-term Conditions)
Mrs. Betty Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to publish the National Service Framework for Long Term Conditions; and what input he has received from (a) the National Assembly for Wales and (b) other Welsh organisations in developing the framework for the benefit of those people in Wales who receive neurological services from centres in England. [178095]
Dr. Ladyman: The external reference group which we established to support development of the national service framework for long term conditions submitted its advice to the Department last month. We are committed to publishing the framework as soon as possible but we need to consider the economic and practical implications of the advice before publishing the framework and will therefore keep the publication and implementation timetable of the framework under review.
The framework will focus on improving services for people with neurological conditions and addressing some of the common issues that can promote independence for people with other long term conditions. It will apply to services across England and the people that receive treatment, care and support at these services.
Officials from the National Assembly for Wales were involved in the early scoping of the framework and there have been follow up bilateral discussions with departmental officials during its development.
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The National Assembly for Wales is also conducting a strategic review of neuroscience services in Wales, which will consider equity of service provision for people in Wales who are receiving services in England and those receiving services in Wales.
NHS Continuing Care (Recompense)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 10 May 2004, Official Report, column 157W, on continuing NHS care, how many people were granted recompense for being wrongly denied fully funded national health service continuing care; and what the aggregate cost of that recompense was. [177789]
Dr. Ladyman: Information on the number of people who were wrongly denied fully funded national health service continuing care and the overall cost of recompense will be published once the data has been validated.
Obesity
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been (a) allocated and (b) spent for anti-obesity advertising in every year since 1997. [174157]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 19 May 2004]: There has been no expenditure by the Department of Health specifically on anti-obesity advertising during this period.
The Government lead a range of programmes aimed at improving nutrition and promoting physical activity that will help fight obesity. Spending on Department of Health-led programmes aimed at improving children's diets was £140.98 million in 2002–03, including the national school fruit scheme (with funding from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF)), food in schools (in conjunction with the Department for Education and Skills), welfare foods and support for breastfeeding; plus funding not specific to children of £9.83 million, including five-a-day community initiatives (from NOF), Food Standards Agency activities and grants to charities.
Spending on Department of Health-led programmes to increase physical activity includes £1 billion by 2006 to transform physical education and school sport, £3 million over the next three years to create a team of regional cycling co-ordinators, £10 million for Sporting Playgrounds programme, £32 million on improving, and creating new playing fields (from the Sports Lottery Fund), £115 million to expand the numbers of sports colleges, £108 million in innovative sport and exercise facilities (from Sport England and NOF), and £2.6 million for 10 local exercise action pilots (Sport England and the Countryside Agency)
In addition, local nutrition and activity initiatives are funded through health action zones, sure start, healthy
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living centres and through general funding allocations to health authorities and primary care trusts, on which information is not collected centrally.
Orthopaedics
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the success rates of orthopaedic procedures undertaken by overseas surgeons on short-term contracts. [174474]
Mr. Hutton: All contracts for orthopaedic procedures, including those involving overseas surgeons, are subject to review including audit of clinical outcomes by the employing trusts. All contracts are subject to local clinical governance policies which will include the audit of surgical procedures. Information on clinical outcome will be held locally.
Plutonium
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the studies on plutonium and teeth to which reference is made in the reply to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) of 4 November 2003, Official Report, columns 597–98; and whether further work has been funded by his Department on that matter since this date. [178722]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The study referred to was published as a scientific paper entitled, "Variations in the Concentration of Plutonium, Strontium-90 and Total Alpha-emitters in Human Teeth Collected Within the British Isles", R. G. O'Donnell et al. Science of the Total Environment, 201 (1997) 235–243.
The Department has not funded further studies specifically aimed at measurement of radioactivity in children's teeth. Since 1985, the Department has funded a programme of research in the field of radiological protection and the study by O'Donnell et al was funded from this programme.
Registered Doctors
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of doctors (a) from the UK, (b) from the European Economic Area, (c) from overseas and (d) in total who have registered in the UK in the last year. [178263]
Mr. Hutton: The General Medical Council is the independent regulatory body responsible for registering doctors in the United Kingdom. Figures held by it are collated annually. The table shows the number of doctors whose primary medical qualification was obtained in the area specified.
| Number of doctors | |
|---|---|
| UK | 4,732 |
| European Economic Area | 2,129 |
| Overseas | 12,282 |
| Total | 19,143 |
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Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors from overseas took the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board test in order to register to practise in the UK in the last 12 months. [178267]
Mr. Hutton: The General Medical Council is responsible for administering the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test for overseas doctors, and collates figures annually. The table shows the figures for 2003.
| Part One | Part Two | |
|---|---|---|
| Attempted | 12,513 | 6,580 |
| Passed | 7,711 | 5,207 |
| Percentage pass rate | 62 | 79 |
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