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21 Jul 2005 : Column 2163W—continued

Ethical Recruitment

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many recruitment agencies have been removed from the list of recruitment agencies complying with the code of practice on international recruitment since 2001; [12608]

(2) if she will estimate the number and proportion of recruitment agencies in England that are on the list of agencies which adhere to the code of practice on international recruitment. [12635]

Mr. Byrne: The number of agencies listed as compliant with the code of practice is 233. Data that identify the number of agencies supplying the national health service are not collected centrally.

Between early 2001 and July 2005, seven agencies were removed from the list of agencies compliant with the code.

All NHS employers are strongly commended to adhere to the code of practice in all matters concerningthe international recruitment of healthcare professionals across all disciplines.

EU Clinical Trials Directive

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what policy considerations underlay the full implementation of the EU Clinical Trials Directive. [13796]

Jane Kennedy [holding answer 20 July 2005]: The Government's policy to protect public health includes the protection of the rights, safety and wellbeing of people who participate in clinical trials that test the safety and efficacy of essential new medicines for those with disease. The Clinical Trials Directive (2001/20/EC) underpins this policy throughout the European Union by introducing a statutory basis for international standards of good clinical practice for commencing, conducting and verifying the results of clinical trials, for good manufacturing practice that provides assurance of the quality of medicines being tested, inspection against these standards and enforcement for non-compliance. Many of the requirements of the Directive were already accepted standards for governance of research in the United Kingdom before it was implemented by the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.

Foetal Viability

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the earliest gestational age at which an unborn child may be capable of being born alive. [10605]

 
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Caroline Flint: The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, as amended, provides for the registration of babies born dead after 24 weeks gestation and this is described as the legal age of viability. Guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine introduces the concept of a threshold of viability" as being from 22 to 26 weeks gestation. Although the possibility of survival of extremely pre-term babies has improved, data suggests that, even with modern intensive care, chances of survival at 22 weeks gestation are only approximately 1 per cent., whereas this increases to 26 per cent. at 24 weeks. A recent briefing paper from the British Medical Association, Abortion time limits", highlighted that gestational age is not the only factor that affects the possibility of a foetus being considered viable.

Food Supplements Directive

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the Food Supplements Directive wasnot discussed at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting on 2 and 3 June. [9646]

Caroline Flint: The Food Supplements Directive was not on the agenda for the Health Council on 2 and 3 June. I have spoken to the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs for the European Commission regarding the directive. We are, of course, in close communication with the Commission and are encouraged with the constructive responses we have been getting.

We have made clear that we want consumers to continue to have a wide choice of supplements. At the same time, consumers need the information to make their choice an informed one.

Foreign Animal Species

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthhow many cases of illness due to exposure to foreign animal species have been reported in each of the last five years; and what species were involved in each case. [8980]

Caroline Flint: The Department does not have ready access to the information requested. The Health Protection Agency holds surveillance information for several zoonotic diseases, including food poisoning, but will not usually be able to relate this directly to exposure to foreign animal species. For diseases where this can be done, such as rabies and anthrax exposure, the figures for the United Kingdom are shown in the following table.

	Rabies	Anthrax
2000	0	0
2001	2	2
2002	1	0
2003	0	0
2004	0	0

For both the rabies cases in 2001, these were acquired abroad and were due to direct exposure to infected dogs. Both patients died. The rabies case in 2002 was also fatal. It was due to direct exposure within the UK to a species of bat which also occurs abroad. Both the cases
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2165W
 
of anthrax recovered following treatment and were due to exposure within the UK to infected animal skins, though the species of animal is not known.

General Practitioners

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2005, Official Report, columns 586–87W to the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) on general practitioner appointments, what plans she has to redraft the general practitioners' contract to address problems encountered by patients who are unable to book appointments in advance. [8784]

Mr. Byrne: A review of the current general practice contractual framework is being undertaken by the NHS Employers Organisation.

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2005, Official Report, column 974W, on general practitioner practices, and what the average list size is of general medical practitioners in England. [13512]

 
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Mr. Byrne [holding answer 19 July 2005]: Since the introduction of the new general medical service contract in April 2004, patients have registered with the practice rather than the practitioner. The average number of patients per practitioner, excluding retainers and registrars, is described as the number of patients for whom the partnership is responsible divided by the number of practitioners, excluding general practitioner registrars and retainers, who belong to or work in that partnership. This figure for England as at 30 September 2004 was 1,666.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general practitioner surgeries and (b) single-handed general practitioner surgeries there were in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by (i) region and (ii) health authority. [10161]

Mr. Byrne: The information requested is available by strategic health authority (SHA), but not by primary care trust (PCT) area. This information is shown in the tables.
GP practices⁽⁵⁸⁾ by specified partnership size, by strategic health authority, 1999–2004 Number count

		1999		2000		2001
		Practices	Single handed GP practices	Practices	Single handed GP practices	Practices	Single handed GP practices
	England	9,034	2,721	8,965	2,662	8,910	2,626
	North East	415	100	407	92	408	86
Q9	Northumberland Tyne and Wear,	243	58	240	54	240	51
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley	172	42	167	38	168	35
	North West	1,423	478	1,424	484	1,398	470
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire	387	129	382	128	378	125
Q14	Greater Manchester	587	220	590	224	572	211
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside	449	129	452	132	448	134
	Yorkshire and the Humber	889	255	877	249	878	243
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincoln	268	69	263	69	265	70
Q12	West Yorkshire	388	120	382	115	384	114
Q23	South Yorkshire	233	66	232	65	229	59
	East Midlands	663	162	653	150	653	145
Q24	Trent	431	101	428	94	427	92
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	232	61	225	56	226	53
	West Midlands	1,061	385	1,052	373	1,050	386
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire	274	97	272	99	272	105
Q27	Birmingham and The Black Country	543	240	537	228	536	236
Q28	West Midlands South	244	48	243	46	242	45
	East of England	823	185	830	197	819	194
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	306	37	308	39	309	44
Q02	Bedford and Hertfordshire	232	48	233	52	231	54
Q03	Essex	285	100	289	106	279	96
	London	1,729	753	1,711	737	1,713	739
Q04	North West London	471	216	466	217	469	210
Q05	North Central London	306	142	308	144	309	140
Q06	North East London	384	186	382	182	384	196
Q07	South East London	311	125	305	115	307	117
Q08	South West London	257	84	250	79	244	76
	South East	1,257	298	1,238	274	1,224	266
Q16	Thames Valley	306	52	302	49	297	40
Q17	Hampshire and isle of Wight	243	30	241	27	239	26
Q18	Kent and Medway	317	129	309	116	308	118
Q19	Surrey and Sussex	391	87	386	82	380	82
	South West	774	105	773	106	767	97
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	330	46	329	48	328	46
Q21	South West Peninsula	257	32	257	31	254	29
Q22	Somerset and Dorset	187	27	187	27	185	22

 
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Number count

		2002		2003		2004
		Practices	Single handed GP practices	Practices	Single handed GP practices	Practices	Single handed GP practices
	England	8,833	2,566	8,833	2,578	8,542	2,285
	North East	407	83	409	91	406	91
Q9	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	238	46	241	54	237	56
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley	169	37	168	37	169	35
	North West	1,377	460	1,361	442	1,327	424
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire	370	119	362	116	356	113
Q14	Greater Manchester	562	209	557	199	545	196
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside	445	132	442	127	426	115
	Yorkshire and the Humber	875	243	865	227	836	196
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincoln	266	74	262	66	253	56
Q12	West Yorkshire	383	107	381	103	364	85
Q23	South Yorkshire	226	62	222	58	219	55
	East Midlands	648	143	645	138	635	124
Q24	Trent	425	95	419	84	412	69
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	223	48	226	54	223	55
	West Midlands	1,036	385	1,028	384	996	352
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire	267	100	270	104	255	84
Q27	Birmingham and The Black Country	530	238	521	233	507	225
Q28	West Midlands South	239	47	237	47	234	43
	East of England	806	182	810	194	804	189
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	301	37	303	38	300	31
Q02	Bedford and Hertfordshire	230	52	232	54	231	52
Q03	Essex	275	93	275	102	273	106
	London	1,696	722	1,752	768	1,607	606
Q04	North West London	457	200	472	214	441	179
Q05	North Central London	313	145	320	159	291	127
Q06	North East London	381	194	376	183	349	149
Q07	South East London	300	112	332	143	294	100
Q08	South West London	245	71	252	69	232	51
	South East	1,224	256	1,209	254	1,180	225
Q16	Thames Valley	302	46	299	44	291	33
Q17	Hampshire and isle of Wight	241	25	235	28	232	21
Q18	Kent and Medway	302	113	296	106	290	107
Q19	Surrey and Sussex	379	72	379	76	367	64
	South West	764	92	754	80	751	78
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	326	41	326	36	323	37
Q21	South West Peninsula	253	29	252	29	252	28
Q22	Somerset and Dorset	185	22	176	15	176	13

⁽⁵⁸⁾Figures can not be calculated prior to 2004 for single handed practitioners (excluding GP registrars and GP retainers). Therefore figures shown refer to single handed contracted GPs. A single handed contracted GP is one who has no partners, although they may have a GMS/PMS other, GP registrar or GP retainer.
Note:
Data as at 1 October 1999–2000 and 30 September 2001–04.
Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

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