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15 Jul 2004 : Column 1305W—continued
Dentistry
Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in (a) Leeds, (b) Leeds North West and (c) Otley in each of the last five years. [183321]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information on the number of general and personal dental service dentists in Leeds, Leeds North West and Otley areas is shown in the table for September each year.
15 Jul 2004 : Column 1306W
| Leeds unitary authority area | Leeds north west primary care trust area | Otley and wharfedale local electoral ward area | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 294 | 93 | 17 |
| 2000 | 299 | 98 | 21 |
| 2001 | 313 | 102 | 22 |
| 2002 | 295 | 87 | 19 |
| 2003 | 298 | 90 | 19 |
Notes:
1. PDS figure covers dentists not already working in the GDS.
2. Dentists in the GDS include principals, assistants and vocational dental practitioners. These figures are on a headcount basis rather than whole time equivalent basis and therefore take no account of part-time working. In the GDS, the amount of time spent working in the national health service varies greatly with a large proportion of dentists doing some private work.
3. Dentists working solely in private dentistry are not covered by these figures.
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
15 Jul 2004 : Column 1307W
Drinking Water
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 5 July 2004, Official Report, column 582W, on drinking water, if he will make a statement on the sanctions he is able to operate against schools which fail to give children access throughout the day to drinking water. [183603]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: I have been asked to reply.
None. It is for head teachers and school governors to decide how and when drinking water should be made available to pupils. They make this decision as part of their responsibility for the day-to-day running of the school. We believe that decisions of this nature are best made at local level, so that the individual circumstances of the pupils and school can be taken into consideration.
Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to expand residential treatment centres for those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction; [183306]
(2) what plans he has to expand halfway houses for those under-going treatment for alcohol and drug addiction. [183307]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The National Treatment Agency has a national work programme to bring down waiting times and improve access to residential rehabilitation for drug misusers. It has also set up a national steering group to advise the progress of the work programme. The programme includes:
specific work to improve the efficiency of the system to access residential treatment, which includes a national online database (BEDVACS) of current vacancies in residential rehabilitation units, to enable more efficient client placements;
the implementation of new models for regional commissioning of residential drug treatment by the end of 2004; and
a systematic assessment of the need for residential drugs treatment in each part of England.
The responsibility for aftercare planning rests with local drug action teams, which are encouraged to consider all forms of aftercare, including support in the community, to meet the needs of their resident populations.
The Government's alcohol harm reduction strategy was published on 15 March 2004. The strategy proposed a treatment audit of the demand for, and provision of, alcohol treatment services, to inform a programme of improvements to alcohol treatment services. The treatment audit is on course for completion by the first quarter of 2005.
15 Jul 2004 : Column 1308W
Drug Misuse and Treatment
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the quality of the information held by his Department about drug misuse and treatment during financial years (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05 to date. [183073]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 12 July 2004]: The Department does not hold data on drug misuse. This is collected by the Home Office through the British Crime Survey.
Data on drug treatment is provided by the National Treatment Agency and is of a good quality and is prepared in accordance with national statistical standards. Provisional data for 2003–04 will be published on July 21 2004, to coincide with the announcement of the Healthcare Commission's star ratings—which will include drug treatment for the first time this year. Final data for 2003–04 is expected to be published in September. Data for 2004–05 will be published to a similar timescale next year.
Drug Treatment (SERCO system)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the performance of the SERCO system used to record and manage information about drug treatment services. [183074]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 12 July 2004]: The requirements for drug treatment data collection from the SERCO system have advanced in response to developments in the Government's drug strategy. The Department and SERCO are in discussion about how the software supplied by SERCO can be further developed.
Environmental Sustainability
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of electricity used in buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies came from renewable sources in each year since 1997. [181725]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The proportion of energy that was purchased from renewable sources for the Department's main London estate is shown in the table.
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 43 |
| 2002–03 | 76 |
| 2003–04 | 61 |
The proportion of energy purchased from renewable sources for the national health service Purchasing and Supplies Agency (NHS PASA) is shown in the table.
| Year(40) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 43.4 |
| 2002–03 | 100 |
| 2003–04 | 100 |
(40) NHS PASA came into existence as a departmental agency in April 2000.
15 Jul 2004 : Column 1309W
The NHS Pensions Agency does not currently purchase renewable energy on grounds of cost, but is commissioning a survey to identify the potential to reduce environmental impacts.
Fish (Toxins)
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what further action he plans to warn the public of the level of toxins in certain species of fish. [183349]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 14 July 2004]: The Food Standards Agency will continue to publish the results of surveys on contaminant levels in food and to review the advice it gives to consumers. It is currently conducting a survey of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in about 50 species of fish. Results should be published in early 2005.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce new requirements on labelling of fish which contains high levels of toxins. [183350]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 14 July 2004]: Current European Union legislation on labelling has no requirements to declare the presence of toxins in food and there are no plans for these to be introduced.
Flexible Careers Scheme
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost of the Flexible Careers Scheme was in each year since it was launched. [184212]
Mr. Hutton: The Flexible Careers Scheme is managed by NHS Professionals Special Health Authority.
The scheme for hospital doctors was launched in November 2001 and extended to general practitioners in November 2002. The total cost of the scheme was £30,000 in 2001–02, £639,146 in 2002–03, and £9,124,033 in 2003–04.
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