Previous Section Index Home Page

8 Dec 2004 : Column 608W—continued

Anti-TNF Medications

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients are waiting to commence anti-TNF medications in the Province. [202594]

Angela Smith: Figures collected between September and December 2004 indicate that there are 422 people in Northern Ireland waiting to commence treatment with anti-TNF medications.
 
8 Dec 2004 : Column 609W
 

My Department remains committed to improving access to anti-TNFs and other specialist medicines. A further £1 million was earmarked for anti-TNF drugs in 2004–05 to allow Boards to increase the number of patients receiving anti-TNF treatment by at least 100.

Asbestosis

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in the Province suffer from asbestosis. [202605]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.

Audiology

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the expenditure per head of population in the Province on audiology goods and services provision in each of the last three years. [201945]

Angela Smith: The information on which an estimate might be made is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Belfast City Airport

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the operators of Belfast City Airport on the recently proposed scheduling of services. [200918]


 
8 Dec 2004 : Column 610W
 

Angela Smith: Neither the Northern Ireland Office nor any of the 11 Departments of the NI administration has had discussions with the operators of BCA regarding the scheduling of flights.

BCA does operate under a Planning Agreement which limits its operating hours, the number of air transport movements, the number of seats and provides guidelines regarding the nature of approaches and the noise levels. The Planning Agreement does not include any reference to the scheduling of services.

Bowel Cancer

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce screening in the Province for bowel cancer. [202610]

Angela Smith: I refer the hon. Lady to my answer of 18 November 2004, Official Report, column 1361W, question reference 196346

Care Costs

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of providing (a) elderly, (b) hospital, (c) community, (d) maternity and child health, (e) family and childcare and (f) learning disability care in the Province was in each of the last five years. [201943]

Angela Smith: The information requested is provided in the following table.
Total trust expenditure in Northern Ireland
£ million

1998–991999–20002000–012001–022002–03
Elderly care337.5358.9388.8413.3473.6
Hospital694.0756.4821.7896.8990.6
Community (excluding personal social services)142.0152.7171.4193.7223.0
Maternity and child health62.366.971.983.589.6
Family and child care66.873.983.594.8108.0
Learning disability88.994.3100.5114.7136.5




Note:
Most of the main programmes of care make use of services from the hospital, community and personal social services sectors. Expenditure figures for the hospital and community sectors quoted above can therefore overlap with those for individual programmes.




Child Protection

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress in developing an information-sharing protocol between child protection agencies and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [201096]

Angela Smith: A protocol between the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and social services for the Joint Investigation of Alleged and Suspected Cases of Child Abuse already exists in Northern Ireland. Co-operating to Safeguard Children, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's guidance on child protection, provides advice on when and how the PSNI should work in partnership with social services regarding such allegations. Regional policies and procedures are also being developed by Area Child Protection Committees (ACPC) to assist agencies and professionals working with sexually active young people. These procedures contain advice on when a referral to the PSNI and child protection agencies is necessary. A regional core group containing representatives from ACPCs, PSNI and NSPCC are currently considering how an information sharing protocol, involving child protection agencies, can be taken forward in Northern Ireland.

Children in Need

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's Children in Need strategy will be published for consultation; what issues the strategy will address; and what funding will be made available for the strategy's implementation. [200515]

Angela Smith: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is currently developing a Strategy for Children and Young People in Need in Northern Ireland and is scheduled to consult with relevant stakeholders during 2005–06. The strategy will look at all issues that concern children in need; in particular, focus will be on child protection, adoption
 
8 Dec 2004 : Column 611W
 
and support. Funding levels will be determined following completion of the strategy, will be influenced by recommendations flowing from the strategy and will be determined in the context of overall priorities.

Commissioner for Children and Young People

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much will be spent per head of child population by the Children's Commissioner for Northern Ireland in 2005–06. [203269]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People has an annual budget of approximately £1.9 million. The estimated spend per head of child population in Northern Ireland in 2005–06 will be around £4.

Community Care Packages

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) residential, (b) nursing home and (c) domiciliary community care packages were provided in the Province in each of the last 10 years. [202607]

Angela Smith: The number of (a) residential, (b) nursing home and (c) domiciliary community care packages in effect in each of the last 10 years is detailed in the following table:
(a) Residential(b)
Nursing Home
(c) DomiciliaryNumber of community care packages in effect
20044,6827,2927,04119,015
20034,5117,3827,11019,003
20023,9856,1537,22117,359
20013,8775,8826,82816,587
20003,4835,3816,62115,485
19993,3445,1066,30614,756
19983,0444,8726,02613,942
19972,6034,3076,58113,491
19962,3863,6996,09512,180
19951,6992,8224,8649,385




Notes:
1. Figures show a snapshot at 31 March for each year, and refer to care managed packages.
2. Data for 2004 are provisional and may be subject to change.




Community-based Health Professionals

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the merits of providing community-based health professionals in the Province with hand-held computers. [202045]

Angela Smith: The use of hand-held computers by community-based health and social care professionals has been identified as an essential element of the requirements for the Person-centred Community Information System (PCIS). Each of the 10 trusts planning to procure and implement PCIS has made significant provision in their local implementation planning for the introduction of hand held technology.

Trust management and professional staff have identified a number of significant benefits that should arise from the use of hand held technologies including; the ability to access high quality information where and when it is needed; more timely capture and sharing of
 
8 Dec 2004 : Column 612W
 
information; and reduction in professionals' time spent travelling to their base to access or record data, leading to more time with patients/clients.


Next Section Index Home Page