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Podiatry

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what audit has been made of the work of non-medically qualified consultant podiatric surgeons in the NHS. [180672R]

Mr. Hutton: No such audit has been undertaken or commissioned centrally.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations have been made to his Department on the work of consultant podiatric surgeons in the NHS. [180673R]

Mr. Hutton: There was an exchange of correspondence about this in 2002–03 but nothing later.

Private Health Care (Lancashire)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private health care patients have been treated at Lancashire teaching hospitals in each of the last five years. [180433]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The table gives information for the Lancashire teaching hospitals national health service trust, which was formed in 2002 and its predecessor bodies.
Finished consultant episodes : Private patients treated in selected NHS trusts in England 1998–99 to 2002–03

	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Chorley and South Ribble NHS trust	18	—	15	19	—
Preston acute hospitals NHS trust	1,962	1,625	1,628	226	—
Lancashire teaching hospitals NHS trust	—	—	—	—	122

Notes:
Finished Consultant Episode (FCE)
An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider.
Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
Ungrossed Data
Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).
1999–2000 figures
A combined return for the two trusts was made in 1999–2000
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health





 
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Waiting Lists

Mr. Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there have been in the (a) number of people waiting for in-patient treatment and (b) time
 
30 Jun 2004 : Column 340W
 
people have been waiting for in-patient treatment in Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority area since 1997. [180267]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
Patients waiting for elective in-patient admission: Position at quarter end: Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority (commissioner based)

		Patients waiting for admission by months waiting
Quarter ending	Total number of patients waiting for admission	Less than 3 months	3–5 months	6–8 months	9–11 months	12–14 months	15–17 months	18+ months
June 2002	39,985	16,499	11,190	7,354	3,842	1,100	0	0
September 2002	39,252l	16,595	10,730	7,548	3,965	414	0	0
December 2002	38,954	17,026	10,880	7,222	3,516	310	0	0
March 2003	36,882	16,914	10,300	6,757	2,908	3	0	0
June 2003	36,688	16,284	10,838	6,637	2,921	4	1	3
September 2003	36,317	16,309	10,129	7,2101	2,660	1	4	4
December 2003	36,389	17,223	10,434	6,573	2,153	0	0	6
March 2004	33,589	18,377	10,501	4,710	0	1	0	0

Source:
Department of Health form QF01

Mr. Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there have been in the (a) number of people waiting for outpatient appointments and (b) time people have been waiting for out-patient appointments in Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority area since 1997. [180268]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
Waiting times for first consultant out-patient appointment: Kent and Medway SHA (provider based)

	Number of referral requests for first out-patient appointments
Quarter	GP written	Other
2002–03
Q1	69,669	26,213
Q2	71,334	28,075
Q3	67,672	26,674
Q4	70,008	28,459
2003–04
Q1	72,097	29,541
Q2	73,416	30,112
Q3	70,696	24,226
Q4	75,531	37,110

	GP written referrals only
	Effective length of wait from receipt of GP written referral request to first out-patient attendance (weeks)
Quarter	0 to <4	4 to < 13	13 to <17	17 to <21	21 to <26	26 and over
2002–03
Q1	17,393	24,055	5,266	3,268	3,524	131
Q2	18,368	23,169	5,890	4,687	3,723	35
Q3	18,286	22,073	6,945	6,385	1,697	119
Q4	20,481	23,603	8,041	6,482	1,452	520
2003–04
Q1	19,943	24,136	6,639	5,961	310	24
Q2	20,141	23,668	7,464	7,125	89	11
Q3	18,362	23,053	8,138	7,437	214	15
Q4	18,297	23,731	11,119	3,940	111	2

 
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	GP written referrals only
	Not yet seen at end of quarter who have been waiting (weeks)
Quarter	13 to <17	17 to <21	21 to <26	26 and over
2002–03
Q1	4,617	2,547	858	0
Q2	4,718	2,426	588	1
Q3	4,562	1,652	577	88
Q4	3,049	1,268	18	2
2003–04
Q1	4,680	1,439	10	3
Q2	5,714	2,129	4	6
Q3	5,220	1,146	1	2
Q4	1,995	0	0	0

Source:
DH form QM08

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time to see a general practitioner in Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust was in the last period for which figures are available. [180435]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on the time patients wait to see a general practitioner is not collected centrally. However, information on the lead time for the first available appointment with each GP practice is collected. This shows that, at April 2004, all patients covered by the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust were able to be offered an appointment to see a general practitioner within two working days.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Atomic Energy

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of talks with the United States on the 1958 agreement on co-operation on the uses of atomic energy for mutual defence purposes. [178196]

Mr. MacShane: Discussions have been held with the US on the renewal of the 1958 Agreement on Co-operation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence Purposes and the necessary amendments to the Agreement were signed on 14 June by empowered US and UK representatives.

On 21 June these amendments were laid before Parliament with an Explanatory Memorandum in accordance with the normal procedure for amendments to such treaties. Copies of the Command Paper [Cm 6261] and Explanatory Memorandum were also sent to the House of Commons Defence Committee and were published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: www.fco.gov.uk.

Botswana

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Botswana regarding the rights and freedoms of the (a) Gana and (b) Gwi bushmen. [179506]

 
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Mr. MacShane [holding answer 29 June 2004]: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had no recent discussions with the Government of Botswana about the Basarwa.

However, I raised the subject of the Basarwa with President Mogae at CHOGM in December 2003. The British High Commission in Gaborone also discuss the issue regularly in their contacts with the Government of Botswana.

Cocaine

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what strategy the Government will use to eliminate the import of illegal cocaine in the UK. [180565]

Mr. Rammell: The Government work very closely with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to tackle the illegal importation of cocaine to the UK.

We collaborate with their law enforcement agencies to disrupt the supply of cocaine. We have over 20 law enforcement officers stationed in the region. Last year 91 tonnes of cocaine were seized as a result of operations in which we were involved, of which we believe 19 tonnes were destined for the UK; and a number of leading cocaine traffickers were arrested with UK assistance, notably in Colombia and Jamaica.

We also provide considerable help to governments in the region in building up their own counter-narcotics capacity. In the last two years, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Drugs and Crime Fund (DCF) has provided £7.8 million of law enforcement training and drug detection equipment.

The Government's counter-narcotics activity overseas comes under the umbrella of our wider Concerted Inter-Agency Drugs Action (CIDA) strategy for combating illegal drugs.

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