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Food Labelling

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Food Labelling (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 require the mandatory labelling of homemade cakes, biscuits and jams sold in aid of charity; and if he will make a statement. [201008]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Food Labelling (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 do not apply to non pre-packed food, including that sold in aid of charity. Pre-packed food is subject to these new regulations. Many charities will continue to rely on a general exemption from this and other labelling legislation for food pre-packed for direct sale.

Hospital Food

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to take steps to restrict the amount of (a) salt and (b) fat in hospital food. [206815]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Public procurement of food through the national health service offers an opportunity to demonstrate best practice in influencing access to healthier foods. We have made a commitment in the Government's White Paper, "Choosing Health", to develop nutritional standards for all foods provided by the NHS, increasing access to a range of healthier foods and taking account of the different formats of provision including restaurant, fast food and vending. Planning for the implementation of this is under way
 
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and more details will be available in 2005, when the Government publishes its delivery plan for the White Paper.

The Department has already engaged the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency in discussions to reduce the salt content in processed foods supplied to NHS trusts and a salt reduction plan has been drawn up. Work to reduce fat will build on this approach.

Identity Fraud

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of identity fraud in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who received treatment on the NHS to which they were not entitled and (b) total cost of this treatment in each year. [206198]

Mr. Hutton: No estimates have been made of the cost to the National Health Service of identity fraud and would not be easy to make. Figures are not collected centrally on the number of people who receive NHS treatment but are not entitled to do so, or the cost of that treatment. However, the Government take the issue seriously and issued new guidance to the NHS trusts in 2004 to prevent abuse of the NHS by people not entitled to free NHS hospital treatment.

MRSA

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many claims were made alleging that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence in each quarter since 1997; [201833]

(2) what cost in each year since 1997 was incurred by the NHS as a result of claims where it was alleged that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence; [201834]

(3) what estimate he has made of the percentage of claims which have been settled since 1997, where it was alleged that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence. [201835]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA) administers the clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) in England. The CNST provides indemnity against claims for clinical negligence for its members. CNST data held by the NHS LA are shown in the tables.
Table 1. Percentage of closed/settled claims since 1997 where the cause is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Status of claim	Percentage of claims since 1997
Closed settled claims where the cause was MRSA	0.35
Settled claims with damages paid where the cause is MRSA	0.41

 
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Table 2. Payments made each year since 1997, where one of the causes is MRSA and the number of claims where the cause is shown as MRSA by incident year since 1997

	Payments made for claims where one of the causes is shown as MRSA	Number of claims where one of the causes is shown as MRSA
1997–98	—	4
1998–99	—	11
1999–2000—		27
2000–01	999	45
2001–02	69,798	40
2002–03	230,412	29
2003–04	788,541	19
Total	1,089,750	175

Notes:

1. Claims may still be made for incidents relating to 2001–02 and later years.
2. There is no direct correlation between the columns as:
(i) claims may be successfully defended, so although a claim is made there may be no payment made against that claim.
(ii) the year of incident may be earlier than year of payment.
3. Claims may be for a number of incidents, not solely MRSA. Therefore, the level of payment made will not only relate to MRSA. MRSA may be only a small element of the claim.
4. Before 2002, lower value CNST claims were handled locally, so data will not be on the NHS LA database. These values were determined with the NHS LA on a trust by trust basis.




 
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Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA and how many deaths arising there from there were at the (a) Sunderland Royal Hospital, (b) Durham University Hospital, (c) Hartlepool University Hospital, (d) North Tees Hospital and (e) James Cook Hospital—South Tees in each of the last five years. [204764]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections (bacteraemias) has only been collected since April 2001 and is collected by national health service trust rather than by hospital. The data for the relevant trusts are shown in the table.

The mandatory MRSA bloodstream surveillance does not collect information on deaths.

	April 2001-March 2002		April 2002-March 2003		April 2003-March 2004
Name of NHS trust (name of hospital)	Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports	MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days	Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports	MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days	Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports	MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust (Sunderland Royal Hospital)	41	0.15	47	0.17	56	0.22
County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (University Hospital North Durham)	30	0.08	40	0.10	38	0.09
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust (University Hospital of Hartlepool and University Hospital of North Tees)	21	0.09	19	0.08	15	0.06
South Tees Hospital NHS Trust (James Cook University Hospital)	120	0,30	96	0.23	69	0.20

Source:
Health Protection Agency

Midwives

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives there were in (a) England, (b) each strategic health authority and (c) each primary care trust in each year since 1997, on a (i) headcount and (ii) whole-time equivalent basis. [207627]

Mr. Hutton: The number of midwives employed directly by primary care trusts is very small. Most are employed by other national health service organisations. Information on the number of midwives employed by each NHS organisation, in each year since September 1997, has been placed in the Library.

Dental Health

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when figures for the percentage of adults in each region with no natural teeth in 2003 will be available. [207671]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The general household survey results were published on the National Statistics website at www.statistics.gov.uk/ghs/ on 16 December 2004.

The table shows the percentage of adults with no natural teeth by Government office region. The percentage of adults in England with no natural teeth has fallen from 14 per cent., in the 1995 general household survey to 9 per cent., in the 2003 survey.
Percentage of adults with no natural teeth by Government office region

Persons aged 16 and over		Great Britain: 2003
Government office region	Percentage with no natural teeth	Weighted base (000's) =100%	Unweighted sample
England
North East	14	1,924	750
North West	11	5,076	2,207
Yorkshire and the Humber12		4,044	1,669
East Midlands	10	3,236	1,603
West Midlands	11	4,191	1,937
East of England	6	4,043	1,686
London	6	5,392	1,985
South East	6	6,316	2,539
South West	9	4,097	1,808
All England	9	38,319	16,184
Wales	12	2,207	1,005
Scotland	17	4,030	1,637
Great Britain	10	44,557	18,826

Source:
Office for National Statistics—2003 general household survey.





 
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