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7 Jul 2004 : Column 728W—continued

Expert Patients Programme

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether patients who may benefit from the expert patients programme will have access to it by 2008. [181654]

Miss Melanie Johnson: By 2008, the expert patients programme will have become part of health care provision in this country and will be built into every health community in the national health service as part of the wider effort to improve services for people with chronic long-term conditions.

GPs

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners per primary care trust he estimates (a) provide national enhanced services for homeless people, (b) register homeless people for essential and advanced services and (c) provide outreach health care to homeless people; and if he will make a statement. [181211]

Mr. Hutton: This information is not held centrally, nor can it be estimated. Primary care trusts are responsible for ensuring the provision of primary care services to meet the needs of their populations, including the provision of essential, additional and enhanced primary medical care services for people who may be homeless.

Health Literacy

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what definition he uses of the term health literacy, as referred to in paragraph 8.30 of the NHS Improvement Plan. [182414]

 
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department supports a broad meaning to the health literacy, such as the following given by the World Health Organisation:

"Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health.

Health literacy means more than being able to read pamphlets and successfully make appointments. By improving people's access to health information and their capacity to use it effectively, improved health literacy is critical to empowerment."

Healthy Living Centres

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that, when a prospective site for a healthy living centre has been identified, further consideration of that site is subject to the widest possible public consultation exercise, including public meetings. [182017]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The healthy living centre programme is funded by the big lottery fund via open competitive grants. The programme was launched in 1999 and made its final awards in September 2002.

In making grant awards, the big lottery fund required applicants to the healthy living centre programme to ensure that users and local communities were involved in both the design and delivery of grant projects. Relevant organisations such as local authorities, health boards and strategic health authorities should be involved in this process.

NHS Reviews

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests he received from local overview and scrutiny committees to refer proposals connected with NHS revision to independent review panels in (a) 2001, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003; and how many he granted. [182440]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 6 July 2004]: Local overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) had their powers vested in them from 1 January 2003. Since that date, there is no record held of a referral from an OSC on a substantial development to health services to the Secretary of State.

Obesity

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to promote physical activity as a means of tackling obesity. [179734]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Together with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Sport and Tourism, I chair the cross-Government activity co-ordination team. This group has been tasked with identifying and co-ordinating work to achieve greater levels of physical activity and sports participation, with the long term goal of improving health and wellbeing, including contributing to weight management and tackling obesity levels.

The Department, together with Sport England (a Department for Culture, Media and Sport funded non-departmental public body) and the Countryside Agency
 
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funds the local exercise action pilot scheme, which is testing out community-wide approaches to increasing levels of physical activity.

The Department, as a co-funder alongside the Countryside Agency and the British Heart Foundation, has contributed £27,000 to a pilot scheme that has distributed 10,000 pedometers for use in primary care.

The Department and Sport England have jointly commissioned research to evaluate existing questionnaires used to determine participation in physical activity and sport. We have also commissioned work to develop an objective measure of fitness for eventual inclusion in the Health Survey for England and a short physical activity questionnaire for use in general practice.

The Department published a national quality assurance framework for exercise referral systems in 2001 and has contributed funding to help establish the register of exercise professionals.

The Government have been consulting on further proposals on how we can increase levels of activity and encourage more people to be more active through the consultation document, "Choosing Health? Choosing Activity". The responses will inform preparation of the Public Health White Paper to be published in the autumn.

PHLS Media Services

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many expressions of interest have been received for the purchase of the business of PHLS Media Services; [179384]

(2) if he will publish the review of PHLS Media Services undertaken by KPMG; [179385]

(3) what his policy is for the future of PHLS Media Services; [179386]

(4) what plans he has to consult the staff of PHLS Media Services on its future; [179388]

(5) whether he has consulted (a) the Health Protection Agency and (b) the Purchasing and Supply Agency on the future of PHLS Media Services; [179390]

(6) whether he has consulted UK Resilience on the future of PHLS Media Services. [179391]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The production of specialist media for the Health Protection Agency (HPA) will be taken over by the HPA itself. Working with the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) board, we are exploring the possibilities for transferring the remainder of the PHLS' media supply operations to the private sector—from which we have received four replies to our approaches for expressions of interest for this business.

As part of this exercise, we are consulting with key customer and policy stakeholders concerning the future provision of microbiological media—including representatives of the HPA, the National Health Service
 
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Purchasing and Supply Agency and the civil contingencies secretariat in the Cabinet Office. We do not plan to publish the report of the review of provision of media services prepared for the Department by KPMG.

The staff of the PHLS Media Services have already been advised by their management of the plans for the future of the service and they will be fully consulted as the plans are developed further.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of agar plates procured by NHS laboratories were supplied by PHLS Media Services in 2003; [179387]

(2) what the average cost is of agar plates purchased from (a) PHLS Media Services and (b) private sector suppliers. [179389]

Miss Melanie Johnson: In 2003, PHLS Media Services provided approximately 27 per cent. of the agar plates used by the national health service.

The average cost of plates provided to the NHS and the Health Protection Agency by PHLS Media Services during 2003 was £2.10 per pack of 10. Information on the cost of plates provided by private sector suppliers is not collected centrally.

Scanners

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 10 May 2004, Official Report, column 190W, on scanners, according to what criteria he proposes to allocate additional capacity for mobile MRI scanners between strategic health authorities. [178902]

Miss Melanie Johnson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State of State for Health announced on 8 April that work is under way to eradicate waits for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) through national procurement of a mobile MRI service.

The new mobile MRI service offers a 10 per cent. increase in the capacity available to the national health service. In practical terms, approximately 120,000 extra scans will be available to doctors to help patient diagnosis. The scans will be provided by a number of mobile units—at this stage we expect at least 10—which can be moved from location to location. Therefore, strategic health authorities will receive activity on a fair shares basis and schedule visits to address areas of greatest need.

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