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Thameslink

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the Thameslink franchise is due for reletting; if he will take steps to ringfence any net payment by the new franchise holder for reinvestment in services to Thameslink passengers; and if he will make a statement. [206546]

Mr. McNulty: Expressions of interest for the new Thameslink/Great Northern franchise were invited on 17 December. The new franchise is planned to commence in 2006. There are no plans to ringfence any net payments.
 
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Transport (West Yorkshire)

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from (a) Leeds city council and (b) West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority on (i) the A65 quality bus scheme, (ii) Kirkstall rail station, (iii) Armley rail station and (iv) additional rolling stock for the (A) Leeds to Harrogate and (B) Leeds to Bradford railway lines. [205402]

Charlotte Atkins: I have received a number of representations about rolling stock for use in the north of England, but none relating specifically to the Leeds to Harrogate or Leeds to Bradford lines and none about Kirkstall or Armley rail stations. As regards the A65 quality bus scheme, the only representation I have received has been from my hon. Friend.

Vandalism

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to combat vandalism on public transportation. [206381]

Mr. McNulty: The Safer Travel on Buses and Coaches Panel has been established to look at ways to combat vandalism, assaults and antisocial behaviour on buses and at bus stops and bus stations. The panel brings together bus operators, local authorities, police, unions, and other stakeholders to exchange and disseminate good practice in tackling problems caused by crime and antisocial behaviour around bus and coach travel.

The Department also supports the work of the National Route Crime Group which is the cross-industry group set up to steer the rail industry's efforts to reduce the risks posed by trespass and vandalism on the railways. The Group includes representatives from the train operators, Network Rail, the Rail Safety and Standards Board, the British Transport Police, the Health and Safety Executive, the Office of Rail Regulation, Strategic Rail Authority, the Rail Passengers Council and the railway trades unions.

As part of our work to reduce crime and the fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system, last year the Department published a briefing paper on tackling graffiti and vandalism on and around public transport.

HEALTH

Aimspro

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Aimspro treatment for multiple sclerosis; what trials of it have taken place; what the results were; what its current availability is; and what requirements need to be fulfilled before it is available to NHS patients. [205740]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Aimspro is a product being developed by Daval International, a United Kingdom company, for a number of indications including multiple sclerosis. Aimspro is still at an early stage of development and the company are conducting or planning to conduct a number of trials in these
 
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indications. Further information on the safety, quality and efficacy of Aimspro will be required for this product to progress to licence application. Only very limited clinical data are currently available on Aimspro.

The standards and requirements necessary for the licensing of medicines are laid out in relevant European and national legislation and guidelines. These require that appropriate standards of quality, safety and efficacy are met. This will include information from Clinical Trials in the population with the disease for which the applicant is applying for a licence. Aimspro, like any other medicinal product, will need to meet these standards in order to be licensed.

Until such time as a drug is licensed, patients could receive an unlicensed medicine via one of two ways. Firstly, the Medicines Act makes provisions for doctors to prescribe an unlicensed medicine to meet the needs of an individual patient, on their own responsibility where they judge the benefit to the patient is justified and
 
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outweighs the risk of the unlicensed product. Secondly, some patients may be eligible to enter clinical trials for drugs in development. In both cases patients should discuss their treatment options with their doctor, who could then advise them on the most appropriate course of action.

Anti-depressants

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions for anti-depressants have been issued in the last 10 years; and what the change in numbers of such prescriptions has been over this period. [206008]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of prescription items of anti-depressants that have been dispensed in the community in England in each of the last 10 years is shown in the table. The table also includes the average annual percentage change in the number of prescriptions dispensed over the same period for anti-depressants and for all items prescribed.
Number of prescription items (millions) of all antidepressant drugs dispensed in the community in England, 1993 to 2003 Items (million)

	Tricyclic and related antidepressant drugs	Monoamine-oxidase inhibitors	Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors	Other anti-depressant drugs	Total of all anti-depressants	Total of all Prescriptions
1993	8.4	0.2	1.9	0.3	10.8	445.4
1994	8.6	0.2	2.7	0.3	11.8	456.1
1995	8.9	0.2	3.8	0.4	13.2	473.3
1996	9.1	0.2	5.1	0.6	15.0	484.9
1997	9.4	0.1	6.6	0.8	16.8	500.2
1998	9.6	0.1	7.6	1.1	18.4	513.2
1999	9.6	0.1	8.9	1.4	20.1	529.8
2000	9.7	0.1	10.4	1.8	22.0	551.8
2001	9.8	0.1	12.1	2.4	24.3	587.0
2002	9.8	0.1	13.3	3.1	26.3	617.0
2003	10.0	0.1	13.8	3.8	27.7	649.7
Average annual increase (%) number of items, 1993 to 200322.0					9.9	3.8

Notes:
1. Antidepressants are defined as British National Formulary (BNF) section 4.3 (Antidepressant drugs).
2. 1993 to 2003 data are based on items and cover prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. It also includes prescriptions written in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man but dispensed in England.
3. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospital or private prescriptions.
Source:
Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) data from the Prescription Pricing Authority.

Backlog Maintenance Costs

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the risk-adjusted backlog maintenance cost for the NHS in (a) England and (b) each strategic health authority in each year since 1997. [205023]

Mr. Hutton: Estimates can be provided from 1999–2000 onwards and this information is shown in the table. Insufficient data exists centrally to make estimates prior to that date.

The estimates are based on the average age of national health service trust buildings. From 2004–05, the method of calculating backlog costs by trusts will be based on specific data concerning the remaining lives of individual NHS buildings, initially provided by the Valuation Office, and will deliver greater accuracy as a result.
£000

Strategic health authority name	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	24,597	35,245	32,836	24,767	19,584
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	15,902	23,101	20,009	22,835	18,970
Birmingham and the Black Country	51,354	47,284	34,931	41,926	42,271
Cheshire and Merseyside	22,286	26,928	22,575	24,454	14,455
County Durham and Tees Valley	11,878	13,444	8,772	6,233	4,741
Cumbria and Lancashire	27,892	28,308	23,466	21,002	17,427
Dorset and Somerset	5,730	9,976	7,631	5,899	1,885
Essex	13,917	11,077	17,686	12,302	11,228
Greater Manchester	46,963	44,975	32,211	27,943	26,307
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	24,066	20,767	12,802	11,701	10,985
Kent and Medway	26,019	15,556	7,601	27,659	25,131
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	32,885	22,250	41,966	27,431	26,522
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	25,492	19,525	10,816	19,540	9,622
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	14,760	14,364	13,792	13,502.	9,656
North Central London	39,407	44,131	41,341	64,447	61,168
North East London	59,623	52,595	54,289	44,384	42,359
North West London	49,089	32,347	43,185	31,638	46,350
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	31,232	33,133	18,551	12,046	10,360
Shropshire and Staffordshire	18,1,26	26,678	34,869	34,628	32,221
South East London	68,161	66,427	55,006	36,417	31,759
South West London	25,971	24,892	17,283	35,193	35,350
South West Peninsula	13,830	13,101	9,271	6,852	4,424
South Yorkshire	16,854	15,947	14,781	20,492	9,063
Surrey and Sussex	35,810	28,807	45,434	23,583	25,907
Thames Valley	47,380	26,438	30,906	32,858	24,606
Trent	45,589	57,940	52,088	36,539	37,152
West Midlands South	20,321	14,591	12,239	10,800	9,954
West Yorkshire	42,484	43,043	31,061	33,731	27,595
England total	857,615	812,871	747,398	710,801	637,053

 
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