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11 Jan 2005 : Column 519W—continued
School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs were incurred prior to the launch of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme; what has been the cost of the scheme in each month since its launch; how many individual pieces of fruit and vegetables have been distributed in each month since its launch; and if he will make a statement. [206425]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
In 2000–01 and 2001–02, the lottery-funded New Opportunities Fund (NOF) provided £16 million towards the original pilots and in 2002–03 and 2003–04 NOF supported a scaling-up of the original pilots across five Government regions with £42 million.
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The Department spent £0.75 million in 2001–02 and £0.3 million in 2002–03 on administering and evaluating the national school fruit scheme pilots, including the cost of the fruit.
As detailed in the "Choosing Health" White Paper, the national rollout to all local education authority infant, primary and special schools across England of the scheme was completed at the end of 2004. The Department has committed £77 million for the expansion and continuation of the scheme, now known as the school fruit and vegetable scheme, over 2004–05 and 2005–06.
I officially launched the national rollout of the scheme on 10 December 2004, at which time over 1,867,000 pupils throughout England were receiving a fresh piece of fruit or vegetable each school day. This equates to approximately 36,500 million pieces of fruit or vegetable every school month.
More details on our strategy for improving diet will be announced in 2005, when the Government will publish its delivery plan for the White Paper and the food and health action plan.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment (a) has been made and (b) he plans to make of the effectiveness of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, with particular reference to improving long-term eating habits. [206645]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The "Choosing Health" White Paper set out the Government's strategy for achieving long-term improvements in the health and diet of the population. The school fruit and vegetable scheme has a key role to play in instilling good eating habits in young people and is contributing towards the obesity public service agreement to:
"halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010, in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole".
The Department commissioned a National Opinion Poll survey of the school fruit and vegetable scheme, then known as the national school fruit scheme, which was published in October 2003. Nearly half of all parents questioned in that survey thought that the scheme had made them more aware of the importance of fruit for a healthy diet and over a quarter of children and their families reportedly ate more fruit at home as a direct result of the scheme.
The Big Lottery Fund has commissioned a full evaluation of the impact of the school fruit and vegetable scheme on children's diet and a full report is expected in early 2005. The evaluation uses a dietary assessment tool that has been specially developed for the Department for use with four to six year old children.
More details on our strategy for improving diet will be announced in 2005, when the Government will publish its delivery plan for the White Paper and the food and health action plan.
Silverlands
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will obtain a market valuation of Silverlands, Chertsey in Surrey. [206634]
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Mr. Hutton: Silverlands is in the process of being sold and thus any valuations obtained are commercially confidential.
Stolen Property
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many civil servants from his Department have (a) faced disciplinary proceedings as a result of allegations of theft, (b) been charged with theft and (c) been dismissed following theft allegations in each year since 1997. [206396]
Therapy
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the waiting times are for (a) cognitive behavioural therapy and (b) other forms of talking treatment in each primary care trust area. [206360]
Dr. Ladyman:
The Department does not collect information centrally concerning waiting times for psychological therapies. However, discussion has taken place with the Healthcare Commission concerning the potential for a measure of this type to be included as a local indicator of trust performance. The Healthcare Commission is currently engaged in a public consultation that will help the Commission fulfil its obligations to take account of standards in assessing the
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performance of health care providers. The Healthcare Commission's document Assessment for Improvement is available on its website at
http://www.consultation.healthcarecommission.org.uk
TV Information Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of NHS Direct's budget was spent on providing services through digital television channels in the last period for which figures are available; [199480]
(2) what the cost to the Government of providing health information services through television has been since the services were established; [199481]
(3) whether his Department plans to deliver further health information services through digital television channels. [199482]
Ms Rosie Winterton: About £5 million per year will be invested for the next three years in digital television; this is the cost of running the service across all the main digital TV platforms. The digital satellite service (the service at launch) costs just over £2 million per year.
The resources invested to date come from the Department's budget; not from that of NHS Direct.
NHS Direct and the Department launched NHS Direct Interactive on digital satellite television on 16 December 2004. During 2005, this service will be extended and will be launched on other digital TV platforms.