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8 Dec 2004 : Column 615W—continued

Health Service Agency Staff

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the level of expenditure in the Province on Health Service agency staff in each of the last five years. [202612]

Angela Smith: The information requested is provided in the following table.
Expenditure in Northern Ireland on Health and Social Services agency staff

	£000
1998–99	5,065
1999–2000	8,901
2000–01	13,357
2001–02	16,281
2002–03	22,119

Home Help Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals have received home help services in each of the last 10 years. [202608]

Angela Smith: The number of individuals in receipt of home help services in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years is shown in the following table.

	Persons in receipt of home help
2004	26,408
2003	26,339
2002	26,948
2001	28,182
2000	27,844
1999	28,115
1998	28,016
1997	28,646
1996	30,347
1995	29,430

Note:
The figures refer to the position at 31 March each year. Figures for 2004 are provisional and may be subject to change. The data include persons in receipt of home care as well as home help, as the service provided by the Trusts normally includes both components. Persons who receive home help/home care as part of an intensive domiciliary care package are excluded from the figures. This information is published each year in Community Statistics, which is available in the Northern Ireland Assembly Library and also on the DHSSPS website.

Hospital-acquired Infection

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his latest estimate is of the cost in a year of hospital-acquired infections to the Province's health service. [201936]

 
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Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to ensure that MRSA is cited on death certificates for all deaths in which it has been a contributory factor. [201938]

Angela Smith: Guidelines on completing death certificates are included at the front of every book of death certificates, and no certificates are available without these instructions. Internationally accepted guidance from the World Health Organisation on the completion of death certificates requires only those conditions that contribute directly to death to be recorded. The recorded cause of death may be the underlying disease or injury with MRSA infection noted as a contributory factor.

The General Register Office classifies the cause of death and contributory factors using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). ICD does not have a specific code for MRSA. The World Health Organisation recently recommended introducing codes for antibiotic resistance to the ICD from 2006. This should allow death caused by or contributed to by MRSA to be more easily identified.

Housing

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what account is taken of claims of intimidation in applications for social housing in Northern Ireland; what assessment has been made of (a) the level of applications which claim intimidation and (b) the time scale for applications which claim intimidation; and if he will make a statement. [203046]

Mr. Spellar: Where an allegation of intimidation due to sectarianism, paramilitarism or racism is confirmed and the applicant is considered eligible for housing and homelessness assistance, that person's name will be placed on the waiting list for re-housing with an additional 200 intimidation points. Upon being re-housed such applicants will be entitled to claim an intimidation grant of £692 to enable them to resettle in their new home. In the first six months (April to September) of the current financial year 556 applications for re-housing were made due to intimidation and of these 207 were accepted. Figures for the last two financial years show a decrease in such claims. The Housing Executive has set a performance target to fully assess 95 per cent. of all homelessness applications, (including those from applicants claiming intimidation), within 33 days. In the year to date 97 per cent. of all homelessness applications have been fully assessed within the target. The Housing Executive treats seriously all requests for housing assistance from those claiming to have been intimidated from their homes and investigates these before accepting the request.

Junior Doctors

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of training junior doctors in the Province was in the last year for which figures are available. [201947]

 
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Angela Smith: Junior doctors, by definition are doctors in training. Training of junior doctors takes place in a work-based environment and is an integral part of service delivery to patients. In addition to this form of training junior doctors also attend training courses and are entitled to claim study leave.

During the financial year 2003–04, the last year for which figures are available, the expenditure for study leave for junior doctors in training totalled £1,195,598.

Looked-after Children

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of looked after children in the Province are fostered. [202050]

Angela Smith: The latest available information indicates that 64.5 per cent. of looked after children are in foster care placements.

Meningitis

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients in the Province have been diagnosed with meningitis in each month in each of the last five years. [202043]

Angela Smith: The number of patients in the Province diagnosed with meningitis in each month of the last five years is detailed in the following table:

Month and year	Number of patients diagnosed with Meningitis (confirmed and probable cases)
December 1999	24
January 2000	46
February 2000	12
March 2000	10
April 2000	22
May 2000	15
June 2000	9
July 2000	8
August 2000	17
September 2000	24
October 2000	10
November 2000	19
December 2000	16
January 2001	9
February 2001	11
March 2001	15
April 2001	16
May 2001	5
June 2001	17
July 2001	12
August 2001	6
September 2001	16
October 2001	10
November 2001	3
December 2001	11
January 2002	15
February 2002	17
March 2002	18
April 2002	13
May 2002	8
June 2002	7
July 2002	12
August 2002	5
September 2002	10
October 2002	7
November 2002	11
December 2002	10
January 2003	9
February 2003	14
March 2003	9
April 2003	14
May 2003	3
June 2003	12
July 2003	11
August 2003	10
September 2003	6
October 2003	5
November 2003	11
December 2003	12
January 2004	11
February 2004	3
March 2004	6
April 2004	10
May 2004	11
June 2004	9
July 2004	10
August 2004	4
September 2004	9
October 2004	10
November 2004	9

Notes:
Information is based on enhanced surveillance of meningococcal disease notifications supplemented by laboratory reports.
Approximately 65 per cent. of cases each year in NI are laboratory confirmed.
Data for July to November 2004 are provisional and may be subject to change.
Source:
Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre





 
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Mental Health Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the impact of new Crisis Response and Assertive Outreach mental health services in the Province on the level of hospital admissions. [202601]

Angela Smith: In the Northern Board area, the Crisis Response and Assertive Outreach teams were established on 1 April 2003 and are the subject of a two-year evaluation. However, early figures show a 39 per cent. reduction in hospital admissions over a 12-month period. Crisis Response and Assertive Outreach services in other Board areas have not been developed to the same extent yet and although they would be expected to reduce pressures on acute psychiatric inpatient beds, it would not be feasible to carry out a comprehensive assessment of this until staff recruitment is completed and the services are more fully established.

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