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25 Oct 2005 : Column 273W—continued

Smoking

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her estimate is of the percentage of (a) males and (b) females between the ages of 16 and 19 years in England who are regular smokers. [20787]

Caroline Flint: The information requested is shown in the table. This is the most recent data available.
Percentage of smokers between the ages of 16 and 19, by gender—England 2003

Percentage/Number
	Prevalence	Unweighted base	Weighted base (000)	Unweighted base
Male	26	400	1,025	400
Female	24	384	981	384
Total	25	784	2,006	784

Source:
Office for National Statistics
General Household Survey 2003–04

Struck-off Doctors

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have been struck-off by the General Medical Council since 2001. [19389]

Jane Kennedy: The collection of this information is not a Government responsibility and therefore it is not available centrally. I suggest the hon. Member writes to the General Medical Council, St. James's Buildings, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6FQ for the information requested.
 
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Students (Alcohol Consumption)

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of university students who consume alcohol on a (a) daily and (b) weekly basis. [20968]

Caroline Flint: The number of university students who consume alcohol on a daily and weekly basis is shown in table one.
Table 1: Students drinking days last week, England 2003

Drinking days last week	University students	All adults
0 days	35	33
1 day	20	19
2 days	18	14
3 days	11	10
4 days	4	6
5 days	6	4
6 days	3	3
7 days	4	11
Bases
Weighted (000)	811	35,307
Unweighted	315	14,996

The number of university students who consume alcohol on a weekly basis is shown in table two.
Table 2: Students drinking last week, England 2003

	Number
University Students	65
All adults	67

Notes:
1. University students are defined as follows:
(a) students studying at a university or college including sixth form college
(b) training for a qualification in nursing, physiotherapy, or a or a similar medical subject.
(c) on a part-time course at university or college including day release and block release
2. The General Household Survey collects information from people living in private households. It does not cover students living in halls of residence.
3. The drinking answers were obtained from the following question about drinking days:
Ask if respondent has had an alcoholic drink in the last week.
On how many days out of the last seven did you have an alcoholic drink?
Source:
Office for National Statistics 2003–04 General Household Survey.

Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute beds have been closed in the current year in each hospital trust within the Surrey and Sussex Health Authority area. [19000]

Caroline Flint: The information requested is shown in the table. These are the net changes in bed numbers by type—comparing 2003–04 and 2004–05. This is at trust level and includes figures for non acute trusts.
 
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Acute bed closures—Surrey and Sussex Health Authority

Organisation name	2003–04	2004–05	Change
Surrey and Sussex SHA	4,931	4,748	-183
Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals National Health Service Trust	560	561	1
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust	944	863	-81
East Elmbridge and Mid Surrey Primary Care Trust (PCT)	0	19	19
East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust	695	697	2
Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust	468	481	13
Guildford and Waverley PCT	54	54	0
North Surrey PCT	8	8	0
Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust	400	409	9
Royal West Sussex NHS Trust	498	445	-53
South Downs Health NHS Trust	52	52	0
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust	593	535	-58
Surrey Heath and Woking PCT	12	12	0
Sussex Downs and Weald PCT	105	80	-25
The Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust	75	74	-1
Western Sussex PCT	57	45	-12
Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust	409	412	3

Tuberculosis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the programme for vaccinations against tuberculosis. [19499]

Caroline Flint: The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, an independent expert group that advises the Department, has been reviewing the BCG vaccination policy for a number of years.

Based on this group's recommendations, the Chief Medical Officer announced on 6 July that the current Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination programme in the United Kingdom would change, away from the universal vaccination through the schools BCG programme to a selective vaccination of high risk infants and other groups.

This decision has brought the UK in line with the recommendation of the World Health Organization and BCG programmes across much of the rest of the world.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidences of tuberculosis there were in each local health authority in each of the past five years. [19502]

Caroline Flint: Information on the incidences of tuberculosis recorded by local authorities in each of the five years has been placed in the Library.

Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn's Disease

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to draw up guidelines on treatments and standards of care for individuals suffering from (a) ulcerative colitis and (b) Crohn's disease. [20059]

Mr. Byrne: We have no plans to draw up guidelines for the treatment of those suffering from ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

The standards for health and social care for such sufferers are covered by the national service framework for long-term conditions, published on 10 March 2005, and Supporting People with Long-term Conditions—An NHS and Social Care Model to support innovation and integration" published on 5 January 2005.
 
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WORK AND PENSIONS

Access Officers

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make the appointment of access officers by local authorities mandatory; and if he will make a statement. [17896]

Mrs. McGuire: Local authorities are already subject to duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 not to discriminate against disabled people in employment or the provision of services, and amendments made by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 will ensure that all the activities of public authorities are covered by the 1995 Act. These duties include the need to make positive adjustments to ensure disabled people are not less favourably treated.

The 2005 Act also places new duties on public authorities requiring them actively to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. By December 2006, local authorities and other listed public authorities will be required to publish Disability Equality Schemes setting out how they will implement this new duty. It will be mandatory to involve disabled people in determining an authority's priorities and action plan, but the Government do not believe it is right to specify in legislation the particular actions to be taken by authorities in order to promote equality of opportunity. This is because the implementation of the duty will maximise the inclusion of disabled people only if it fully reflects local circumstances and the priorities of local disabled people.

The Disability Rights Commission will issue guidance to assist authorities in developing action plans that genuinely address the needs of disabled people and will oversee and enforce the implementation of the duty to ensure authorities are taking the actions required of them.

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