| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Oct 2005 : Column 192W—continued
Sustainable Development
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the environmental impact against sustainable development criteria of bids made for contracts awarded by his Department. [14480]
Mrs. McGuire: The Procurement Reference Manual provides staff in the Department for Work and Pensions with guidance on how to incorporate sustainability issues within the procurement process. It is our policy to specify sustainable goods and services. The environmental impacts of any contract should be considered during the initial stages of a tender exercise—and sustainability criteria are therefore built into the specification. All bids received are considered against this sustainable specification.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to provide the delivery of sustainable development within Government. [14539]
10 Oct 2005 : Column 193W
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions has a Sustainable Development Steering Group made up of senior members of each of its client groups and businesses who are responsible for driving and monitoring progress, and a dedicated corporate Sustainable Development Team which provides guidance and oversees delivery.
The Department publishes an annual Sustainable Development Report that reports on progress on the targets within the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate.
The Department will publish a Sustainable Development Action Plan in December 2005 demonstrating how it will meet the commitments within the UK Strategy for Sustainable Development.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps have been taken by his Department to review its arrangements for public reporting of sustainable development impacts. [14542]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions has published a separate annual report on sustainable development since November 2001 and these are available in the Library. The Department is committed to the continued annual publication of this comprehensive report.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what arrangements his Department has made to report publicly on its key sustainable development impacts. [14543]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions produces an annual report on its sustainable development impacts which is available in the Library The report is available to the public via the Department's internet site, although a hard copy can be provided upon request. The report contains information on progress on the targets contained within the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate" and also the consequences of thewider social impacts of the Department's operations.
Unemployment
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of people in Dudley, North were unemployed in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the change in the amount of benefits paid as a result of the change in unemployment levels. [15413]
Mr. Timms: Information on the change in the amount paid in benefits due to the change in employment since 1997 is not available at constituency level. In Great Britain it is estimated that, compared to 1996–97, we are now spending £4.5 billion a year less on the cost of unemployment related benefits as a result of the increase in employment levels.
Information on unemployment in Dudley, North constituency is in the table.
10 Oct 2005 : Column 194W
Note:
Figures are claimant count for June of each year.
Source:
DWP statistics.
Unemployment Benefit
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of providing unemployment benefits for adults who have previously been in care in the last year for which figures are available. [15707]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.
Vehicle Emissions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what change there has been in (a) road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions and (b) incidence of single occupancy car commuting in his Department since (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05. [14252]
Mr. Plaskitt: The following table gives figures for road transport vehicle carbon emissions:
| Kg CO 2 | Reduction (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 20,191,096 | — |
| 2004–05 | 14,895,328 | 26 |
The Department measures and reports on CO 2 emissions for road transport vehicles as its contribution to target B1 of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate". During 2004–05 changes have been made to improve the data collected to measure progress against this target, as well as to the calculation methodology.
The Department has already stated its intention not to gather information on single occupancy car commuting for target B3 of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate" as this would be excessively resource intensive, given the size of the estate—there are currently 117,000 staff located across 1,700 sites. The Department continues to encourage the use of Green Travel.
10 Oct 2005 : Column 195W
Watermark Project
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has joined the Watermark project. [14391]
10 Oct 2005 : Column 196W
Mr. Plaskitt:
Prior to the formation of the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Social Security joined the Watermark project. The Watermark project ended in March 2003.
10 Oct 2005 : Column 197W
HEALTH
Accident and Emergency Departments (Essex)
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated by accident and emergency departments in (a) Essex, (b) the Southend-on-Sea Hospital Trust and (c) the Basildon Hospital Trust in the last 12 months. [15609]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of attendances at accident and emergency departments, minor injury units and walk in centres within the Essex Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area are shown in the table.
Source:
Foundation Trust.
Acute Hospitals
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the proportion of patients in acute hospitals who (a) have written care plans and (b) are allocated a named nurse; and if she will make a statement. [15771]
Mr. Byrne: Data are not collected for either the number of patients with written care plans nor the number of patients with a named nurse.
All patients should have a written care plan and be allocated a named nurse when they are admitted to hospital.
Aimspro
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many multiple sclerosis sufferers have been treated with Aimspro on a trial basis; and what assessment has been made of the effects; [15652]
(2) for what reasons the manufacturers of Aimspro have recently been instructed to stop supplying the drug to multiple sclerosis sufferers; and what assessment has been made of the effects; [15653]
(3) what estimate she has made of the numbers of (a) multiple sclerosis sufferers waiting to use and (b) prescribing general practitioners waiting to prescribe Aimspro; [15654]
(4) if she will take urgent steps to resolve the issues which have led to the withdrawal of Aimspro from multiple sclerosis sufferers who have been receiving it on a trial basis. [15655]
10 Oct 2005 : Column 198W
Jane Kennedy: Twelve patients entered an authorised clinical trial at an Oxford hospital, although one of these dropped out before completion. A number of patients were recruited into an authorised clinical trial at a London hospital, but the trial was halted with only one patient completed. No other authorised clinical trials of Aimspro have been conducted in the United Kingdom.
The Oxford trial examined the effectiveness of Aimspro in visual impairment associated with optic neuritis. The trial failed in its primary and secondary endpoints, but showed some apparent improvement in peripheral vision. However, the effect was not significantly different to placebo. The results do not support Daval International's claim of dramatic improvement".
The manufacture and supply of Aimspro is subject to the manufacturer holding the necessary manufacturing authorisation issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and supported by the MHRA's medicines inspectorate.
No instructions have been issued to the manufacturers of Aimspro to stop supplying the drug. None of the product is currently available because the nominated manufacturer is not able to manufacture the product to acceptable standards and remains unlicensed.
No data are available to inform an assessment of the effects resulting from the non-availability of Aimspro.
There are approximately 85,000 multiple sclerosis sufferers in the UK. The Department has no knowledge of the number of those who are waiting to use Aimspro nor of the number of prescribing general practitioners waiting to prescribe Aimspro.
The MHRA has provided Daval International and its nominated contract manufacturer with a considerable amount of help and advice since early 2005 concerning the manufacture of Aimspro. The nominated manufacturer is not currently able to manufacture the product to acceptable standards and remains unlicensed. The MHRA has advised Daval on the use of alternative licensed manufacturers and continues to liaise closely with the company regarding manufacturing and supply issues.The speed with which the product can be made available for use in clinical trials or for supply on a named-patient basis is dependent on the progress that Daval and the manufacturer of Aimspro wish to make.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |