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NICE (Drug Approvals)

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the shortest time is that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has taken to approve a drug; [19865]
 
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(2) what the shortest time is that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has taken to approve a cancer drug; [19866]

(3) what the average period of time taken was to assess a cancer drug's suitability for human use following its referral to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the last period for which figures are available; [19906]

(4) what the average period of time taken was to assess a drug's suitability for human use following its referral to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the last period for which figures are available. [19907]

Jane Kennedy: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is not responsible for assessing the suitability of drugs for human use.

The shortest time taken for NICE to appraise a drug is six months from referral by the Department to the publication of guidance, Technology Appraisal Guidance no.3 Ovarian Cancer—taxanes". A copy of this guidance is available on the NICE website at:

www.nice.org.uk

Patient Forums

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs have been incurred (a) by her Department and (b) by the NHS in setting up patients forums. [18652]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In 2003, the Department allocated £30.192 million to the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH) to set up patients' forums.

The national health service incurred no cost for setting up patients' forums as the CPPIH is responsible for allocating funds to them.

Prescriptions

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) paid-for and (b) free prescriptions were issued in each primary care trust in (i) Essex, (ii)Hertfordshire, (iii) inner London and (iv) Greater London in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [20703]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Primary Care Trusts

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff directly employed by Barnet primary care trust are (a) managers and (b) involved in direct patient care; and if she will make a statement. [20573]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is shown in the table.
 
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National health service hospital and community health services: non-medical staff employed by Barnet primary care trust by each specified staff group as at 30 September 2004

	Number
Total NHS staff	1,858
Of which:
Direct patient care staff	1,362
All Doctors(6)	286
All general medical practitioners(7)	250
HCHS Doctors(6)	36
Practice staff(8)(5508250009)	249
Of which:
Practice nurses	68
Professionally qualified clinical staff	595
Qualified nurses	415
Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff	180
Support to clinical staff	232
NHS target group health care assistants	232
Non-Direct Patient Care Staff	496
Support to clinical staff	214
NHS infrastructure support	282
Of which:
Managers and senior managers	100
Central functions	107
Hotel property and estate staff	75

⁽⁶⁾Excludes hospital practitioners and clinical assistants, most of these also work as a general practitioner (GP).
2All general medical practitioners include contracted GPs, personal medical services others, GMS others, GP registrars and GP retainers.
3Practice staff includes practice nurses, direct patient care staff, administrative and clerical and other.
4Headcount figures for practice staff groups, other than practice nurses, can not be shown separately.
Sources:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census.
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census.
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of Barnet primary care trust's management of Edgware hospital; and if she will make a statement. [20574]

Jane Kennedy: The Department has made no assessment of Barnet primary care trust management of Edgware hospital.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions her Department has had with primary care trusts in Oxfordshire about hospital bed availability in winter 2005–06; [20413]

(2) what discussions her Department has had with (a) the strategic health authority, (b) front line healthstaff, (c) the voluntary sector and (d) other bodies about hospital winter bed (i) availability and (ii)demand in Oxfordshire in 2005–06. [20490]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department manages delivery including issues such as winter through the strategic health authorities (SHAs), as the local headquarters of the national health service. It is the role
 
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of SHAs to ensure appropriate winter plans are in place locally and it is for them to decide how they engage their stakeholder community.

Private Members' Bills

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what occasions since 1997 Ministers from her Department have (a) authorised parliamentary counsel to assist in preparing amendments to private Members' Bills on behalf of other private Members and (b) authorised officials to instruct parliamentary counsel to prepare amendments which were subsequently passed to private Members. [20187]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not collected.

School Fruit

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2005, Official Report, column 1675W, on school fruit, if she will break down the percentage of fruits sourced from (a) the UK and (b) overseas, by season. [18808]

Caroline Flint: Table one shows a breakdown of the produce supplied by the school fruit and vegetable scheme during the school year 2004–5 by school term and source region.
1: United Kingdom grown and imported produce supplied by school fruit and vegetable scheme Percentages

Term	UK grown	Imported
Autumn term	30	70
Spring term	29	71
Summer term	10	90

For individual products which are available from UK growers, the breakdown over the whole school year is shown in table 2—this obviously includes those months of the year when UK grown apples and pears are not available.
2: Breakdown by type of produce supplied by school fruit and vegetable scheme Percentages

Produce	UK	Imported
Apples	46	54
Pears	16	84
Carrots	100	0
Strawberries	100	0

We will also be introducing cocktail tomatoes and baby cucumbers into the scheme. We have been working with the National Farmers Union to encourage UK production of these products for the school fruit and vegetable scheme.

See Me Campaign (Scotland)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the see me" campaign in Scotland. [19689]

 
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of the see me" campaign in Scotland. I understand from the director of the national programme for improving mental health and wellbeing at the Scottish Executive that an evaluation will be commissioned within the 2005–06 financial year to track the development of the campaign in terms of inputs and actions, programme reach, results and short term outcomes, at national and local levels. It is expected that the evaluation will be completed before March 2007. The Department will carefully consider the report of this evaluation to inform the further development of shift, the five-year initiative (2004–09) in England to tackle stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues.

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