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5 Jul 2005 : Column 363W—continued
School Nurses
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many school nurses are employed in (a) East Staffordshire, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England. [7650]
Mr. Byrne: The number of school nurses in England, Shropshire and Staffordshire strategic health authority (SHA) and East Staffordshire primary care trust (PCT) is shown in the table.
Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census 2004.
Select Committee Reports
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will respond to the reports of the Health Select Committee from the previous Parliament to which she has not yet responded. [9439]
Ms Hewitt: Responses to these reports will be published in due course.
Sexually-transmitted Diseases
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new diagnoses of (a) syphilis, (b) gonorrhoea, (c) chlamydia, (d) herpes and (e) genital warts were recorded by the Health and Protection Agency in 2004 for (i) England and (ii)England and Wales. [10080]
Caroline Flint:
The numbers of new diagnoses of syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, herpes and genital warts seen in genitor-urinary medicine clinics in
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England and Wales are published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in its report, Diagnoses and rates of selected STIs seen at GUM clinics, United Kingdom: 2000–04," which is available on the HPA website at www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hiv_and_sti/epidemiology/dataresource.htm
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1)what screening services are available for men with suspected Chlamydia infection; what plans she has to improve these services; and if she will make a statement; [5534]
(2) what strategies her Department (a) has employed and (b) plans to combat chlamydia in men; and if she will make a statement; [5535]
(3) how many chlamydia infections in (a) men and (b) women were reported in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [5536]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 20 June 2005]: For men who suspect that they have chlamydia, diagnoses and treatment are provided through genitor-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics. The public health White Paper, Choosing Health—making healthy choices easier" published in November 2004 sets out a number of measures to improve access to, and modernise, GUM services. These measures are backed by £130 million additional revenue and capital investment over three years, and will support clinics in moving towards the target of maximum 48 hour waiting times for clinic appointments.
In terms of detecting asymptomatic chlamydia infection, the Department's policy is to promote greater uptake of chlamydia testing and treatment through the national chlamydia screening programme. This opportunistic programme targets sexually active men and women under 25, who are most at risk of infection. We recognise that there are particular challenges in encouraging young men to access chlamydia screening as they do not attend health services as regularly as young women. We are, therefore, encouraging local programmes to evaluate which venues work best in terms of screening young men, for example colleges, workplaces and sports facilities.
Young men and women are also targeted with information about chlamydia through our national sexual health media campaigns, including a major new campaign to be launched later this year, as announced in the White Paper.
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The White Paper, also included a commitment to accelerate the roll-out of the national chlamydia screening programme, with the goal of making this available across the country by March 2007, backed by investment of an extra £80 million to achieve this aim.
The data requested is shown in the following table.
Source:
Health Protection Agency, KC60 Returns
Smoking
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1)whether the Government have commissioned research on the likely effects of allowing smoking in pubs where food is not prepared; [7128]
(2) what penalties the Government are planning to implement to enforce a future ban on smoking in public places. [7130]
Caroline Flint: We have launched a consultation on the smoke-free elements of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill. This includes proposals for offences and penalties. It also invites views on the proposals to exempt licensed premises, which do not prepare and serve food. We will be discussing the details of the proposals with key stakeholders during this time.
A copy of the consultation paper is available in the Library.
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her assessment is of the extent of smoking-related illness in Liverpool. [6150]
Mr. Byrne: The estimated percentages of deaths attributable to smoking in primary care trusts (PCTs) in Liverpool is shown in the table.
Notes:
1.The all persons" column represents the average for men and women.
2.The smoking attributable percentage data for PCTs provides figures relating to the percentage of deaths over 35 years of age from diseases related to smoking that are smoking attributable. Figures are provided for males, females and persons. The percentages are based on the estimate of smoking attributable mortality across the five years from 1998 to 2002 and the observed deaths, from those over 35, for 1998 to 2002.
3.The estimates of smoking attributable mortality as a percentage of all deaths are derived in the following way:
a) For London PCTs, the percentages are based on the estimate of smoking attributable mortality across five years of data from 1998 to 2002 and the observed number of deaths from all causes, all ages across these same five years.
b) For all other PCTs, the percentage is based on the annual average estimate of smoking attributable mortality across 1998 to 2002 and the observed number of deaths from all causes, all ages for 2002.The percentage is based on the annual average estimate of smoking attributable mortality across 1998–2002 and the observed number of deaths from all causes, all ages for 2002.
Source:
Data underlying the publication of The smoking epidemic in England, November 2004 —the Health Development Agency (HDA)—available on the HDA website at www.hda.nhs.uk/html/improving/smoking epidemic.html.
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Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding the Government has provided for tobacco policy support to (a) local authorities, (b) Government Offices for the Regions and (c) regional chambers in each year since 1997. [7510]
Caroline Flint: The Government do not provide funding for tobacco policy support to local authorities or regional chambers.
From 2003–04, amounts were allocated to each Government Office for the Region for tobacco control and funding of alliance work, which is shown in the following table.
Note:
The sums in the table are indicative. Regions have the discretion to vary spending within the allocation.
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