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7 Apr 2005 : Column 1697W—continued

Care Home Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many care homes have complied to date with the Government's requirement for 50 per cent. of support staff to have obtained NVQ Level 2 by the end of April; what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance; and what the sanctions for non-compliance will be. [224733]

Dr. Ladyman: Standard 28.1 of the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People and standard 32.6 for Care Homes for Adults 18 to 65 sets the expectation that by 2005 a minimum of 50 per cent. of care staff in care homes should be trained to National Vocational Qualification Level 2. It is for the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), in regulating care homes, to monitor care homes performance against the standards. The CSCI must take the standards into account when assessing a care homes compliance with the Care Homes Regulations 2001.

Chronic Disease Management

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to develop a co-ordinated approach to chronic disease management in patients with (a) diabetes, (b) heart disease and (c) kidney disease. [224719]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The NHS Improvement Plan set out the Government's priority to improve care for people with long-term conditions by moving from reactive care towards a systematic, patient centred approach. The national service framework (NSF) for long-term conditions was launched on 10 March 2005 and aims to support people with long-term conditions to live as full and independent a life as possible.

The Department has set up a vascular programmes board that will oversee delivery of the targets for cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, stroke and other circulatory diseases), diabetes, chronic kidney disease, health improvement and prevention, and hypertension. The work of the board will assist in the process of taking a more co-ordinated approach to chronic disease management in patients with diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease.

The diabetes NSF was published in December 2001. The NSF sets out a 10-year programme of change where all people with diabetes requiring multi-agency support will receive integrated health and social care. The recently published report, Improving Diabetes Services—the NSF Two Years On", provides information about how services are changing to provide an integrated approach for people with diabetes.

The coronary heart disease (CHD) NSF, published in March 2000, set out a strategy to modernise CHD services over 10 years. Heart failure was identified as an area where there was significant scope to help people with heart failure live longer and achieve a better quality of life.
 
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Part two of the NSF for renal services was published in February 2005. It sets out new quality requirements for the identification and early management of people with, or at risk of, chronic kidney disease. It also identifies considerable scope for integrating care pathways for people with chronic kidney disease, coronary heart disease and/or diabetes, to reduce the impact of these interacting long-term conditions.

Civil Servants (Relocation)

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many civil servants in his Department have (a) been relocated and (b) been agreed for relocation in the last 12 months; and to which areas of the United Kingdom. [223917]

Ms Rosie Winterton: 12 civil servants from the Department have been relocated in the last 12 months:

	Number
Leeds	2
London	7
Cambridge	1
Southampton	1
Durham	1

In response to the Lyons Review, the Department has committed to relocating 1,110 posts, mainly from its arm's length bodies, by 2010. So far, around 500 posts have been confirmed for relocation. At least 300 of these posts are likely to relocate to Leeds.

CMP Practitioners Conference

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on the CMP Practitioners Conference at Turnberry on 10 and 11 March. [224735]

Mr. Hutton: The National health service did not incur any of the costs for the pathways condition management programme conference at Turnberry on 10 and 11 March 2005. The cost of this important development event for the incapacity benefit reform programme was wholly borne by the Department.

Counter-Fraud and Security Management Service

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2005, Official Report, column 123W, on counter-fraud and security management service, how many cases investigated by the national health service counter fraud and management service since September 1998 resulted in (a) not guilty verdicts, (b) successful criminal prosecutions, (c) disciplinary sanctions and (d) a civil recovery. [224320]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The breakdown of outcomes in cases investigated by the national health service counter fraud and security management service (CFSMS) between September 1998 and February 2005 is as follows:

11 cases were found not guilty (unsuccessful criminal prosecutions).

297 cases resulted in successful criminal prosecutions.
 
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329 cases resulted in disciplinary sanctions or civil recoveries.

The total received in recoveries for England and Wales is £18.4 million but overall, the CFSMS has saved £670 million between 1999 and 2005 by counter fraud work in the NHS.

Dentistry

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2005, Official Report, columns 680–81W, on dentistry, how many dental practices were on the nhs.uk.database on the latest date for which figures are available, including those not registering new patients; how many were registering new patients; how many were not registering new patients but providing occasional NHS treatment to non-registered patients; and how many were not registering new patients or providing occasional NHS treatment to non-registered patients. [221758]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 15 March 2005]: This information is available on the following website: www.nhs.uk/webservices/pages/webservices/dentalreport.asp.

Digital Hearing Aids

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2005, Official Report, column 1051W, on digital hearing aids, what mechanisms are in place to monitor the 18-week target from referral to patients receiving their digital hearing aids. [224738]

Mr. Hutton: We are expecting activity and waiting times information for pure tone audiometry to be collected for the first time as part of local delivery plans. Strategic health authorities and primary care trusts are currently developing their plans and these will be agreed with the Department shortly.

Disability Buggies

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discretion general practitioners have to charge patients for issuing forms for use of a disability buggy; and if he will make a statement. [224776]

Mr. Hutton: General practitioners (GPs) are required to issue specified medical certificates free of charge, for example, to support claims for social security benefits. However, GPs also provide a variety of other services which successive governments have regarded as private matters between the patient and the doctor providing the service. In these cases, the doctor has discretion to charge for these non-national health service services if he or she wishes.

Food Standards Directive

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Food Standards Agency will accept the derogation granted by the Italian Government to 121 nutrient sources under the provisions of the Food Standards Directive as valid in the United Kingdom; and whether it will permit the continued use of the nutrient sources after 1 August on the basis of the derogations granted in Italy. [222940]

 
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Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 21 March 2005]: The United Kingdom will grant a derogation in accordance with the food supplements directive 2002/46/EC for the continued use of sources of the vitamins and minerals listed in the Directive, where dossiers have been either been submitted to the UK or to another member state, pending a positive opinion from the European Food Safety Authority. The Food Standards Agency is pressing the European Commission for a view on the Italian derogations.

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