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20 Dec 2004 : Column 1477W—continued

Jobs Website

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who produced the business case for the jobs.nhs.uk website project; and if he will publish it. [200747]

Mr. Hutton: The Department produced the business case for the national health service e-recruitment service, www.nhs.uk/jobs. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on the jobs.nhs.uk website to date; and how much he expects to spend on the website in (a) 2005–06 and (b) 2006–07. [200752]

 
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Mr. Hutton: The business case shows that the planned costs of the national health service careers e-recruitment service are:
£ million

	Amount
2003–04	2.3
2004–05	2.4
2005–06	1.4
2006–07	1.4

Mental Health

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in implementing in the north-west the national service framework for mental health. [203592]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The implementation of the national service framework for mental health is envisaged to take up to 10 years. Information about improvements in local service provision that have occurred in the first five years of implementation can be obtained from the relevant strategic health authorities.

Our assessment shows that following the national service framework for mental health and supported by additional investment, people with mental health problems in England are now able to exercise more choice; be treated at home instead of hospital where appropriate; and access services more easily in an emergency.

All strategic health authorities have omitted to deliveries their shares of the national targets. Full and validated data on most of the December 2004 targets will be available and published in mid-February by when we will have a clearer picture of what the position will be at the end of March 2005. The recovery and support unit in the Department and the National Institute for Mental Health in England are supporting SHAs to manage the most challenged trusts and improve the reliability and validity of data.

A report to be published very shortly by the national director for mental health will set out the progress made nationally in the first five years of implementation.

Mixed-sex Wards

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mixed-sex wards there are in hospitals in Greater London; and if he will make a statement. [202732]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available in the format requested. Compliance with the requirement to provide single-sex accommodation is measured at trust level only.

In the five London strategic health authorities, 96 per cent. of national health service (NHS) trusts report that they provide single-sex sleeping accommodation. Nationally, 99 per cent. of NHS trusts meet this requirement.
 
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Monitor

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the re-branding of the Regulator of Foundation Hospitals as Monitor, including the cost of designing the new logo. [206260]

Mr. Hutton: I understand from the chairman of Monitor that the total costs of the design work for the development and implementation of the Monitor brand was £24,465, excluding value added tax. The total costs include £8,200 on re-branding and enhancing the website and £3,000 on the application of the new design to letterhead, business cards and presentation material. Monitor timed the introduction of its new name to coincide with its relocation to new offices, thereby minimising the additional expenditure required.

MS Decision Maker Website

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hits have been recorded on the MS Decision Maker website since it was set up; and what assessment he has made of its usefulness in helping those with multiple sclerosis decide on the most appropriate drug therapy. [204986]

Dr. Ladyman: From its launch on 9 September 2004 until December 2004, the MS decision maker website has received 6,687 individual visitors, each viewing an average of eight web pages.

An evaluation of a prototype version of the website was undertaken prior to launch. The task force on medicines partnership, who developed the website in conjunction with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, continue to monitor its usefulness through on-line feedback.

NHS Cleaning Services

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which NHS trusts cleaning services are (a) directly managed and (b) outsourced. [204904]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 16 December 2004]: The information requested has been placed in the Library. The data provided were collected during the 2003–04 patient environment action team (PEAT) programme and are listed by site as the information is not collected at trust level. It lists 705 hospital sites where it was reported that cleaning was undertaken by in-house staff and 440 hospital sites where it was reported that cleaning services were outsourced. Some sites reported that the responsibility for cleaning was split between in-house staff and contract cleaners and these sites are not listed, as we do not hold information centrally on which is the primary contract.

The 2003–04 PEAT programme ran from December 2003 to May 2004. The arrangements for cleaning in hospitals are a matter for local managers and it is possible that some of the information provided has since changed.

NHS Plus Initiative

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress with the NHS Plus Initiative. [205395]

 
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Ms Rosie Winterton: NHS Plus was established in November 2001 to encourage the provision of occupational health services by national health service occupational health departments to external employers under the income generation arrangements. Over one hundred occupational health departments, representing approximately 50 per cent. of all NHS units, joined the scheme and research during the first two full years of operation indicated an income growth of around 16 per cent. per annum.

In addition to clinical services, NHS Plus maintains an internet website, which allows employers to identify their local provider and gives general occupational health advice. Routine monitoring of web traffic shows between 5,000 and 8,000 individual visitors per month in the first half of 2004. Thirdly, an evidence based guideline project is under way, with partners in Europe, the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom and the NHS, to develop appropriate quality guidance for all occupational health services. Five guidelines are currently being constructed with the first expected to be published in the second half of 2005.

NHS Staff

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government's plans to increase the numbers of (a) school nurses and (b) community matrons are based on the recruitment into these posts (i) of nurses already working in the NHS and (ii) additional nurses. [200593]

Mr. Hutton: We expect new school nurse and community matron posts to be filled by a combination of additional nurses and nurses already working in the primary care. Overall, we expect that the number of nurses in working in the national health service will continue to rise.

NHS Trusts (Budgets)

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS trusts which have indicated that they expect a deficit exceeding 1 per cent. of their budget for 2004–05. [205415]

Mr. Hutton: The audited information in respect of the 2004–05 financial position of all national health service trusts will be published in their individual annual accounts and will be available centrally in autumn 2005. We have no plans to publish un-audited in year financial information.

Occupational Health

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to improve its capacity to raise standards of occupational health in the labour force. [205393]

Ms Rosie Winterton: As chapter seven, "Work and Health", of the public health White Paper "Choosing Health Making Healthy Choices Easier" published on 16 November makes clear, improving working conditions to reduce the causes of ill health related to work is high on the Department's agenda. Work and the rewards it brings, allows full participation in our society. Good standards of occupational health in the labour
 
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force enable both employers and employees to tackle the cause and effects of work place ill health and go a long way to ensuring that this 'gold standard' is achieved.

The "Work and Health" chapter of the White Paper sets out how the Department intends to build on a number of already successful departmental occupational health initiatives to further increase the capacity of the provision of occupational health services in England. These include support for further development of the framework for vocational rehabilitation, increasing the availability of NHS Plus, developing further evidence based guidelines for occupational health, and publishing guidance on the management of mild to moderate mental ill health in the workplace.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what indicators he (a) publishes and (b) monitors on the relative performance of EU member states on occupational health matters. [205398]

Jane Kennedy: No internationally comparable data from official sources are available on occupational or work-related illness. Member states differ too much in data collection systems, institutional arrangements and cultural background for international comparisons to be meaningful.

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