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14 Mar 2005 : Column 130W—continued
NHS Estate
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish annual figures on the numbers of (a) primary care centres completed and (b) general practitioner premises modernised. [217581]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table. It shows the cumulative number of one-stop centres built and general practitioner premises replaced and modernised as at 31 December in each year since 2000–01.
The information was not collected centrally prior to that date.
One-stop centres completed or under construction | GP premises refurbishments/replacements completed or under construction | |
|---|---|---|
| December 2001 | 68 | 916 |
| December 2002 | 219 | 1,393 |
| December 2003 | 268 | 1,950 |
North Bristol NHS Trust
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent staff are employed by North Bristol NHS Trust; and how many members of staff are employed in each role within the Trust. [221405]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The information requested is shown in the table.
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Notes:
ST and T—Scientific, therapeutic and technical.
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.
Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census.
Nurse Retention
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of nurses who trained in England continued to work in the national health service for five years in the last period for which figures are available. [220486]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally for England.
Information for the other United Kingdom countries are matters for the devolved Administrations.
Obesity
Mr. Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical procedures to treat obesity were carried out on the NHS in (a) England, (b) each region and (c) each strategic health authority in each year since 1997. [216383]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes there were for (a) paediatric and (b) adolescent obesity treatment in (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority in each year since 1997. [216391]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information requested has been placed in the Library.
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Paddington Basin Health Campus
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his officials last met to discuss developments in the Paddington Health Campus project; and who was present at the meeting. [221516]
Mr. Hutton: Senior officers from the Department met with officials from St Mary's National Health Service Trust, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust and North West London strategic health authority on 2 March. The attendees were:
John Bacon—Group Director of health and social care services delivery and the Department's management board member,
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what investment in improved cardiothoracic facilities at Harefield Hospital he proposes to cover the unavailability of the planned new heart hospital at the Paddington Basin Health Campus. [221731]
Mr. Hutton: The outline business case for the Paddington Health Campus (PHC) submitted to the Department in December 2004 explains that the Royal Brompton and Harefield national health service trust does not support the continuation of specialist services at Harefield Hospital under any future development plans should the PHC project not proceed. In such circumstances, detailed consideration would need to be given to the re-provision of Harefield's cardiothoracic services elsewhere.
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money in total (a) his Department and (b) relevant NHS trusts will be devoting to the Paddington Health Campus in each financial year from 2005–06 to 2007–08. [221733]
Mr. Hutton: Expenditure on the Paddington Health Campus in future years will be dependent upon approval of the outline business case (OBC) submitted in December 2004. An addendum to the OBC is currently being prepared by the Royal Brompton and Harefield and St. Mary's national health service trusts and will be submitted following agreement on a land deal. On the basis of the OBC being approved, annual project development costs for 2005–06 to 2007–08 are estimated to be in the region of £4-£5 million. In addition, there is likely to be significant expenditure associated with land acquisitions, disposals and town planning. Details of these costs will be included within the addendum to the OBC.
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he deems that sufficient land is available to the NHS for the completion of the Paddington Basin Health Campus in its entirety. [221756]
Mr. Hutton:
The land needed for the Paddington Health Campus is agreed and identified. Terms for its purchase, acceptable to the national health service have not yet been agreed.
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Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the projects being undertaken by his Department in respect of which information cannot be given in answer to parliamentary questions as a result of commercial confidentiality. [216526]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A decision not to release information relating to any project as a result of commercial confidentiality is made on the basis of the specific request made in each parliamentary question.
An assessment of commercial confidentiality may apply to specific elements within a project as well as to an entire project. It is therefore not possible to provide the information requested.
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. [220577]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Getting Ahead of the Curve", the infectious disease strategy published by the Chief Medical Officer in January 2002, made clear the intention of reviewing infectious disease law. No specific timetable for the review has been set as yet: we have always intended that it should be carried out at the point when it can make the most effective contribution to improving the control and prevention of infectious disease.
Our top priority, in terms of improving health protection, has been the legislation to establish the Health Protection Agency (HPA). It has existed since April 2003 as a special health authority in England and Wales and will be established from 1 April 2005 as a United Kingdom-wide public body under the Health Protection Agency Act 2004. As a result of the creation of the HPA, consultants in communicable disease control (who generally discharge the local authority proper officer" function under the 1984 Act) are in England all now employed by the HPA. This is an improvement on the previous position; when such consultants were in effect single-handed practitioners, each based in a local national health service body, which could offer them relatively little specialist support.
In preparation for the planned review of the law, we asked the HPA last year to consider first how public health practitioners might make more effective use of the powers currently provided by the 1984 Act; and second, what difficulties practitioners find with the current powers and what changes might be desirable. We expect to receive the results of this work from the HPA in the first half of this year.
We are contributing to the development of new International Health Regulations (IHR) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO aims to adopt the new IHR at the World Health Assembly in May 2005. Many of the requirements of the current IHR are reflected in regulations made under infectious disease law in the UK, which will need to be revised once the new IHR are in place. In the meantime, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 has provided new emergency powers which complement those provided through public health legislation.
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We will take decisions on the timetable for the review of public health law in the light of the work being carried out by the HPA and of progress with agreeing and implementing the new IHR.
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