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3 Feb 2005 : Column 1121W—continued
Paddington Health Campus
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list meetings which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had within the last six months to discuss the Paddington Health Campus; and with whom each meeting was held in each case. [210637]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 24 January 2005]: In the past six months, I have had three meetings about the Paddington Health Campus scheme.
On 17 January 2005, I met with my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (MsBuck), Jo Heggarty (Chair, Westminster Primary Care Trust), and Peter Coates (Department of Health).
On 11 January 2005, I met with Caro Millington (Chair, North West London Strategic Health Authority), Baroness Joan Hanham (Chair, St. Mary's Hospital Trust), Lord Tony Newton (Chair, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital Trust), Professor Sir Leszek Brysiewitcz (Deputy Rector of Imperial College), and Peter Coates (Department of Health).
On 19 July 2004, I met with my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (MsBuck), the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field), Helen Jones (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister), and Jane Everton (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister).
John Bacon, Group Director of Health and Social Care Services Delivery had a meeting about the Paddington Health Campus scheme.
On 11 August 2004, he met with Nick Searl Project Director, Chelsfield Construction, Howard Wright Project Director, Chelsfield Construction, John Anderson Director of Chelsfield Construction, and Steve Peacock Acting Chief Executive of North West London Strategic Health Authority.
In the same period, there have been a considerable number of meetings between officials and officials with representatives from the trusts, other advisors, the private sector parties so far involved in the project, officials from Westminster city council and other interested parties. Details of all these appointments have been placed in the Library.
Prescription Charges
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of how many people in
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England suffer from (a) arthritis, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) asthma and (d) mental illness; and how many of each are exempt from prescription charging; [211532]
(2) how many people in England are undergoing chemotherapy treatment; and how many of these are exempt from prescription charging. [211533]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answers 31 January 2005]: The Department does not centrally hold the information requested on the number of people suffering from arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma or mental illness. The Department does not centrally hold information on the number of people undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
None of the mentioned medical conditions or chemotherapy treatment are included in the list of medical conditions giving exemption from prescription charges.
Safety of Medicines
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers the Medicines and Health Care products Regulatory Agency has to compel drug companies to provide the Department with all of their clinical trial data when drug licences are being sought. [213340]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Drug companies are obliged by Directive 2001/83/EC, to supply to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), all relevant information on clinical trials for the evaluation of the product in support of a marketing authorisation application (MAA). The MHRA has systematic controls in place to ensure that the data submitted by an applicant in support of a MAA comply with the requirements of the directive and the relevant guidelines. It is a criminal offence not to comply with these requirements of the directive.
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthhow regularly his Department reviews the role of (a) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and (b) the Committee on the Safety of Medicines. [213345]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The full range of operations of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have been reviewed regularly. Most recently, for example, a value-for-money audit was conducted by the National Audit Office. Its findings were represented in January 2003. This was followed up by a Public Accounts Committee report in June 2003.
There are no formal arrangements for review of the Committee on the safety of Medicines (CSM), but in February 2004, the Government asked the MHRA to launch a public consultation on proposals to review the structure of the Medicines Act advisory bodies, including the CSM, to reflect the changes in the regulatory framework that have taken place in recent years. The Government are taking forward the results of this consultation and changes to the structure of the advisory bodies will be introduced in the autumn of 2005.
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The Minister responsible, the Under-Secretary of State (Lord Warner), has regular meetings with the chairman and chief executive to review progress on their annual work plan and holds an annual accountability meeting with them.
Salt
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether patients with kidney disease are made aware of the importance of seeking medical advice about their daily salt intake levels. [213116]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The national service framework for renal services, part 1 makes clear that all people with established renal failure need to receive nutritional monitoring and dietary advice, including restrictions on potassium, phosphate and sodium.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the health risks to patients on dialysis of failing to monitor sodium intake levels. [213117]
Ms Rosie Winterton: People receiving dialysis will normally be on a low sodium diet. Standards 2 and 4 of the national service framework for renal services, part 1, published in January 2004, identify the need for people to receive nutritional monitoring and dietary advice, as well as the continuing management of their underlying disease and the risk factors and complications.
Secure Psychiatric Beds
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many secure psychiatric beds have been available in each of the last eight years. [210218]
Ms Rosie Winterton [pursuant to the reply, 27 January 2005, Official Report, c. 562W]: I regret that a figure in the table in my previous reply is incorrect.
The average daily number of available beds for 1996–97 should read 1,575 not 1,1575 as printed.
This was due to a clerical error which was not picked up in the type-checking.
Social Services (Care Costs)
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to social services departments on costs which must be taken into account when deciding weekly rates for care homes; and whether this includes a recommended minimum hourly rate of pay. [213138]
Dr. Ladyman:
The Department does not set pay rates for staff in care homes. Care homes are private businesses and owners take their own decision about how to conduct their business. This includes negotiating the level of pay and conditions of services for staff, taking into account local employment conditions such as recruitment and retention. However, like any other employer care home owners must operate within the requirements of general employment legislation such as
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the national minimum wage. In addition, fee setting by social services departments must take into account the legitimate current and future costs faced by providers.
Strategic Health Authorities
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are employed by each of the strategic health authorities in England; what the running costs of each authority were in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement on the future of the strategic health authorities. [203825]
Mr. Hutton: At present, there are no current plans for changes to strategic health authorities (SHAs).
The total number of staff, including medical staff, employed by SHAs in September 2003 was 3,663 (3,375 whole time equivalents) 1 . Around 1,660 were engaged in core SHA functions 2 . The rest ran deaneries, workforce development confederations and other functions 3 on behalf of SHAs.
1 Source for total number of staff: Department of Health non-medical workforce census and medical and dental workforce census.
2 Source for core staff: internal validation exercise. Core staff are SHA employees funded by the Department of Health cash limit. 3 In addition to the core staff shown in table 1, further staff are employed to provide common/shared services for the national health service, workforce development confederations, cancer teams and deaneries.
The number of core staff employed in each SHA is shown in table 1.
Running cost budgets for SHAs in 2004–05 are shown in table 2.
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