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Mental Health (Plymouth)

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total budget is for the delivery of mental health services in Plymouth for this financial year, including relevant primary care trust, acute hospital trust and social services provision. [197948]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department allocates revenue funding to primary care trusts (PCTs) on the basis of the relative needs of their populations. In the allocations for 2003–04 to 2005–06 none of the growth money has been identified for specific purposes.

It is for PCTs in partnership with strategic health
 
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authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use these funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services.

Plymouth local authority was allocated £629,000 for adult mental health services, and £322,000 for children and adolescent mental health services, as part of the overall social services provision made by the Department in 2004–05.

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many secure units there are for mental health patients in Plymouth; and if he will make a statement. [197949]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally. In line with our policy of shifting the balance of power, responsibility for the provision of local health services, including mental health services, now rest with primary care trusts (PCTs). It is for PCTs, in conjunction with strategic health authorities to plan and develop services according to the needs of their local communities.

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bed spaces for mental health patients there are in Plymouth. [197950]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department collects beds data as the average daily number of available beds in each financial year. The latest available figures for 2003–04 show that Plymouth Primary Care Trust has 166 mental illness beds and Plymouth Hospitals National Health Service Trust has five beds.

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who is primarily responsible for the delivery of mental health services in Plymouth. [197951]

Ms Rosie Winterton: National health services adult mental health services are provided by Plymouth Primary Care Trust, and child and adolescent mental health services are provided by Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

Microsoft

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Department of Health's press release dated 3 November, if he will make a statement on the extent to which (a) products provided to the NHS free by Microsoft will be customised and (b) users have been consulted in drawing up plans with Microsoft; and what assessment has been made of the benefits to Microsoft from the arrangement. [196965]

Mr. Hutton: Work has begun, and is still ongoing, to determine the extent to which the relevant Microsoft products will need to be customised. The work is being informed by very wide-scale consultation involving individual expert clinical systems users covering a variety of disciplines and fields; representatives of appropriate professional bodies including the royal colleges; the National Patient Safety Agency; the British Computer Society's primary care group; the national health service information standards board; and an action team of expert front-line practitioners commissioned by the care record development board.
 
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Consultation will be an interactive process and will include arrangements for sign-off of any interface intended for deployment across the NHS.

Assessment of the benefits to Microsoft from the agreement is a matter for the company.

Mixed Sex Wards

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made in ending mixed sex wards in Leicestershire; and if he will make a statement. [197426]

Mr. Hutton: The Department has set three objectives to support the delivery of single-sex accommodation, designed to deliver single-sex sleeping accommodation, segregated bathroom and washing facilities and to safeguard the mentally ill. The objectives apply to all national health service organisations providing inpatient accommodation.

All inpatient hospital accommodation provided within Leicestershire is fully compliant with the standards which the Department has set.

National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are used in selecting locations for National Institute for Clinical Excellence meetings. [197636]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The selection criteria used by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) for choosing meeting venues are an internal matter for NICE.

National Programme for IT

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultation with general practitioners has taken place on the National Programme for IT. [197975]

Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) on 20 October 2004, Official Report, columns 797–99W.

NHS Care for the Elderly

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent estimate he has made of the cost of providing free personal care for the elderly; [198743]

(2) how many people aged over 65 years in England and Wales are receiving a pension; and what estimate he has made of the cost of providing them with free personal care. [198745]

Dr. Ladyman: The number of people over 65 in England in 2003 was 7,946,933, the majority of whom will be receiving a state pension, personal pension or some other form of pension.

We estimate that free personal care for those requiring it in England and drawn from all age groups would cost some £1.5 billion. It is not possible to break this estimate down by age grouping.

Information relating to Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
 
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Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates he has received on (a) the total cost of providing free personal care for the elderly in Scotland and (b) the number of elderly people receiving free personal care in Scotland. [198744]

Dr. Ladyman: This is a matter for the Scottish Executive and my hon. Friend may wish to write to them about this issue.

NHS Expenditure

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on the NHS in North Staffordshire in each year since 1997. [198574]

Dr. Ladyman: The information is not available in the format requested.

Expenditure in the Shropshire and Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area, which includes North Staffordshire, increased from £831,797,000 in 1997–98 to £1,292,573,000 in 2002–03.

This does not represent the total expenditure, as some elements of health expenditure cannot be identified by SHA area.

Sources:

1. Audited summarisation forms of the Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA and of predecessor health authorities.

2. Audited summarisation schedules of primary care trusts within the Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA area.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the written statement of 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 4WS, on ministerial accountability for NHS foundation trusts, whether the chairs of NHS foundation trusts will be expected to meet the deadlines which apply to Ministers when answering hon. Members' questions; [194177]

(2) if he will ensure that the requirements set out in guidance to Ministers on answering parliamentary questions apply equally to answers given by chairs of NHS foundation trusts, with particular reference to the requirement that answers should not be misleading. [195130]

Mr. Hutton: Individual national health service foundation trusts (NHSFTs) are responsible for replying to hon. and right hon. Members' questions or correspondence referred on to them by Ministers, where they specifically relate to operational matters of the organisations. These trusts' terms of authorisation, that is, their "licence" to operate, will include the requirement that they comply with the same standards expected of Ministers in responding to parliamentary questions. This means that a NHSFT that fails to comply with this requirement will be in breach of its terms of authorisation and that Monitor, the statutory name of which is the independent regulator of NHSFTs, can intervene to put this right. I expect, however, that NHSFTs will continue to respond promptly, helpfully and accurately to hon. and right hon. Members' queries.

NHSFTs are asked to copy their responses to parliamentary questions to Monitor. They are also asked to copy responses to the Department so that they may be placed in the Library.
 
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