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12 Jul 2004 : Column 925W—continued

Departmental Estate

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total floor space area of buildings owned or leased by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies for each year since 1997. [181728]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The total floor space owned or leased by the Department and its agencies in each year since 1997 is shown in the table.

	Department		Agency		Total
	Owned	Leased	Owned	Leased	Owned	Leased	Overall total
1997	35,485	83,000	0	11,815	35,485	94,815	130,300
1998	35,485	83,000	0	15,971	35,485	98,971	134,456
1999	35,485	85,452	0	15,971	35,485	101,423	136,908
2000	35,485	84,740	1,527	18,146	37,012	102,886	139,898
2001	33,016	82,641	1,527	18,569	34,543	101,210	135,753
2002	33,016	85,165	1,527	19,595	34,543	104,760	139,303
2003	26,062	78,862	1,527	20,346	27,589	99,208	126,797
2004	26,062	74,960	1,527	19,667	27,589	94,627	122,216

Note:
This answer does not include information about the national health service or non- departmental public bodies.




 
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Departmental Secondments

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in his Department and its agencies were seconded from the (a) private and (b) academic sector in each of the last three years. [174825]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested in shown in the table.

	Private sector	Academic sector
2003–04	12	13
2002–03	14	11
2001–02	16	9

The year is from 1 April to 31 March.

If a period of secondment covers two or more financial years, that secondment is counted in all the financial years during which it occurs. This is in line with the annual statistical exercise carried out by the Cabinet Office interchange unit.

Secondments are part of the interchange initiative, which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the civil service and other organisations. Before an interchange can occur, all parties must be satisfied that no conflict of interest arises. Secondment refers to all continuous interchange activity of three months or more.

Digital Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average waiting time is for a deaf patient to receive a digital hearing aid in (a) Dorset, (b) West Sussex and (c) England; [178422]

(2) what the average waiting time was for a digital hearing aid in England in each of the last seven years; [178423]

(3) what impact the Modernising Hearing Aids programme has had on average waiting list time for digital hearing aids in England; [178424]

(4) what the average period of time from referral of a patient in need of a digital hearing aid to fitting the aid was in (a) 2003–04 and (b) each of the last seven years in England. [178426]

Dr. Ladyman: Information on waiting times for fitting hearing aids is not collected locally or centrally. Waiting times in audiology, including those for digital hearing aids, are likely to have increased in some areas because of the modernising hearing aid services (MHAS) project. The Modernisation Agency's action on audiology team is working to help national health service organisations improve their own procedures locally in order to reduce waiting times. Information on national average waiting times for audiology is not available.

MHAS has improved the quality of life of those people who have received digital hearing aids. It has modernised services to make sure that deaf people receive the most advanced hearing aids available, rather than rely on outdated technology from the 1970s.
 
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Disabled People

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what arrangements he has in place for monitoring statistics concerning the (a) numbers and (b) needs of disabled people; and if he will make a statement; [182882]

(2) what assessment he has made of the efficacy and efficiency of services provided by his Department to disabled people; and if he will make a statement; [183252]

(3) what arrangements he has in place for monitoring statistics concerning the supply of services by his Department to disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [183254]

Dr. Ladyman: The Government is committed to improving the position of disabled people in society and believes that public bodies should take the lead in promoting equal opportunities. That is why the draft Disability Discrimination Bill extends the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) to the functions of public bodies and introduces a duty on public bodies to promote equality for disabled people.

Accordingly, the Department keeps the efficacy and efficiency of services provided to disabled people under constant review. The Department does not directly provide services for disabled people. Health service provision is the responsibility of the national health service; its quality and effectiveness of service is monitored by the Healthcare Commission. Social service provision is provided by local authorities, with their performance assessed by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

Themed inspections are carried out by the CSCI (formerly the Social Services Inspectorate), such as a series of inspection reports of services for people with learning disabilities produced in 2003. It also carries out more general inspections, such as on adult services, which also cover disability. The Healthcare Commission has produced a number of reports covering disability and mental health. It will be collecting data on disability status in future national patient surveys; this will enable the analysis of data on patient satisfaction levels by disability status and will further enhance our ability to compare variations in patient experience of different groups in the population.

The Department is committed to building equality into its work and will be taking forward a project to improve the evidence base on equality to support improved policy making.

The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for monitoring statistics concerning the number of disabled people and it currently estimates that there are around 10 million adults in Great Britain who are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) (source, FRS 2002/3).

The Department does not collect data on numbers of disabled people, but on users of social services. The referrals, assessments and packages of care (RAP) return collects annual information on the number of adults aged 18 and over receiving a community care assessment and the outcome of the assessment by client group. It also collects information on the number of adults receiving social services during the year and the
 
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type of services they receive. The client groups include people with physical and/or sensory disabilities, people with learning disabilities and those with mental health needs.

In 2002–03, 1.7 million adults aged 18 and over received social services in England, of whom 1.4 million received community based services. Community based services include day care, meals, direct payments, equipment and transport, as well as home care.

Drug Trials

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to establish a public registry for all clinical trials of pharmaceutical drugs. [181837]

Ms Rosie Winterton: None. Pharmaceutical companies are required by law to submit all research data to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in support of any application for a marketing authorisation for a medicinal product. These data are submitted to the MHRA in confidence.

The Department encourages the pharmaceutical industry to make the findings of research publicly available. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry does so on behalf of the industry as a whole in the form of a clinical trials database. The database, at www.cmrinteract.com/clintrial, is a voluntary register containing details of clinical trials relating to newly licensed medicines and of trials to be conducted, after licensing approval, among national health service patients.

Elder Abuse

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been given to the helpline run by Action on Elder Abuse in each year since its launch. [182635]

Dr. Ladyman: The funding provided by the Department to Action on Elder Abuse in support of its helpline is as follows:
£

	Funding
1997–98	30,000
1998–99	63,000
1999–2000	65,000

This recommenced in 2004–05 when the Department provided Action on Elder Abuse with core funding of £104,000, part of which is to ensure that the helpline continues to offer information, advice, support and advocacy to older people, carers, members of the public and practitioners. It is planned to continue this core funding for 2005–06 and 2006–07.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have undertaken post-registration specialist training in elder abuse in each of the past five years. [182640]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is not collected centrally. However, the Government is investing significantly in training provision in the
 
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national health service. From 2003–04 to 2005–06 an extra £96 million is being made available to ensure that all health professionals, including nurses, have the right knowledge and skills, such as those required for elder care, to meet the changing and specific healthcare needs of all patients. The Department is working with work force development confederations and strategic health authorities to ensure that optimum use is gained from this investment and good practice is disseminated.

For nurses and midwives, it is for local employers to determine their employers training needs linked to local service plans. Access to training is affected by whether funding is available, staff can be released, training interventions are appropriate, flexible and convenient and mentors/assessors are available. It would not be practical for the centre to be prescriptive on this.

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