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Non-departmental Public Bodies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible have been (a) established and (b) abolished since 1997. [182944]

Ruth Kelly: Details of individual Departments' non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are set out in the annual Cabinet Office publication, "Public Bodies", copies of which are available in the Library. As the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office set out in his answer of 25 May 2004, Official Report, column 1537W, a new public bodies database will be launched on the internet later this year. This will contain statistics as at 31 March 2004 which can then be compared with figures in the previous annual "Public Bodies" publications.

The Treasury currently has two advisory NDPBs: the Public Services Productivity Panel, which was set up in 1998 for an initial two year period and then renewed in 2002, and the Statistics Commission, which was formed in 2000.

Since 1997, the Treasury has had two other non-departmental public bodies. The Policyholders Protection Board, an Executive NDPB, was formed as part of the Policyholders Protection Act 1975 and the board's functions were transferred to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which was created under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and is independent from Government.

The Financial Services Tribunal, a Tribunal NDPB, was established in 1987 and its functions commenced in April 1988. These functions have been repealed under the FSMA.

Smuggling

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the loss of duty through the smuggling of (a) tobacco and (b) alcohol in each of the last three years. [183598]

John Healey: Customs' estimates of the revenue loss due to fraud and smuggling of tobacco in 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03 and of alcohol in 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2001–02 are published in HM Customs and Excise's Annual Report, December 2003, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. Estimates for later dates are not available.

Tax Credits (Wansdyke)

Dan Norris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families in Wansdyke constituency are eligible for (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit; and what proportion of those eligible have taken each tax credit; [182497]

(2) what estimate he has made of the total value of the (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit to families in Wansdyke in each of the next three years. [182498]

Dawn Primarolo: The available estimates of the number of in-work families receiving these tax credits are shown in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. January 2004. Geographical Analyses". This can be found on the Inland Revenue website: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/
 
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stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm The estimates are derived from a sample of awards and are subject to sampling uncertainty.

No estimates are available of the number of families eligible for tax credits in Wansdyke, nor of the value of tax credits that will be received by families in Wansdyke in the future.

Tax Credits (Warrington)

Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Warrington, North are in receipt of (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit. [182771]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean) on 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 98W.

World Debt

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent progress has been made by G7 Finance Ministers in tackling world debt; and if he will make a statement. [183176]

John Healey: After extensive calls from the UK, the G8 reiterated their commitment towards the HIPC initiative at Sea Island, Georgia in June 2004, supported the extension of the initiative by another two years, and committed to financing the initiative in full—including topping up.

We are now in discussions with our G7 colleagues to discuss further measures to support debt sustainability in the poorest countries, including options for further assistance in the form of debt relief and the use of grants.

HEALTH

School Fruit (Northampton, North)

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children in Northampton, North receive free fruit at school. [182843]

Dr. Ladyman: The school fruit and vegetable scheme provides a free piece of fruit every day to 26,103 children in local education authority maintained schools in Northampton with children aged four to six.

Adult Protection

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health over what period of time the study on the impact of partnerships and regulation in adult protection will take place; and when the results will be published. [182634]

Dr. Ladyman: The study, The impact of partnerships and regulation in adult protection, which will examine referrals to local councils' adult protection services, commenced in October 2003 and will conclude in September 2006.

Interim reports will be prepared as the study progresses with a final report at the conclusion of the study.
 
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Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many local adult protection co-ordinators are in place. [182638]

Dr. Ladyman: The Government does not collect information on the number of local councils who have an adult protection co-ordinator in post.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which local councils have established an adult protection committee. [182641]

Dr. Ladyman: The Government does not collect information on which particular local councils have established multi-agency management committees as set out in "No Secrets". However, a review of the implementation of "No Secrets", carried out by the Centre for Policy on Ageing and published in June 2002, shows that 70 per cent. of councils have set up such committees.

Agenda for Change

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency plans have been put in place by his Department to deal with delays in rolling out Agenda for Change job profiles that were not fully piloted in early implementer sites. [182403]

Mr. Hutton: Agenda for Change job profiles have been devised to help assimilate staff in typical national health service jobs to the new pay system, without the need for full job evaluation. Where job profiles are not available, or are found to be of limited use, employers have the option to develop a locally job evaluated post. Testing of job profiles in early implementer sites is helping to ensure the profiles available for national roll-out are as useful as possible, but it was always intended that the national profiles would extend and evolve over time and therefore no additional contingency planning is necessary.

Botox

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to ban the use of (a) botox, (b) dysport and (c) related products for cosmetic purposes; and if he will make a statement. [181805]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Botox and Dysport are licensed as 'Prescription Only Medicines' (POMs) and therefore their use should be supervised by an appropriate medical practitioner. They are not licensed for cosmetic use. A doctor may prescribe outside the terms of a product licence, on his or her own responsibility, when it is considered to be in the best interests of a particular patient.

As POMs, these products may not be promoted directly to the public and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has taken action to ensure that the ban on advertising POMs to the public is upheld. Advice on advertising and prescribing of Botox for cosmetic use has been issued by the Chief Medical Officer.

Dental Health (Children)

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will estimate the mean number of decayed, filled
 
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and missing teeth for five-year old children in (a) England, (b) each strategic health authority and (c) each primary care trust for the latest year for which figures are available; [182406]

(2) what percentage of five-year-old children had no caries (a) in total and (b) in each strategic health authority in the latest year for which figures are available. [182433]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is in the 2003 edition of "Community Dental Health", the journal of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry, which has been placed in the Library. It is also available on the internet at http://www. dundee.ac.uk/dhsru/bascd/.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department will take to improve the awareness of dental hygiene for young people. [182444]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 8 July 2004]: We have funded the "Brushing for Life" national dental health education initiative with £1 million over three years. Under the scheme, health visitors help parents and carers get their children into habit of brushing their teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. They give out packs containing a toothbrush, toothpaste and a leaflet on oral hygiene at the child health development checks which takes place at eight months, 18 months and three years. The scheme covers the 29 areas, mainly in the North of England and London, with highest levels of tooth decay and also all "Sure Start" areas in which drinking water is not fluoridated.

Primary care trusts will be seeking to reinforce this good practice on oral hygiene in the health promotion activities they undertake in schools and with young people generally.

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