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MINISTER FOR WOMEN
Senior Board Members
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what estimate she has made of the number of women in senior board positions in businesses in (a) Southend, (b) Essex, (c) Hertfordshire, (d) Greater London and (e) England and Wales in each of the last 10years. [33652]
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Meg Munn: Over 2 million companies are registered on the Companies House register for England and Wales. A full response to this question would require manual scrutiny of business documents for all these companies and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Female FTSE 100 Index provides a diversity measurement for women being recruited to senior board positions in the UK. Figures for 2005 were published last week and revealed an increase in the number of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies. 78 companies have women on their boards, which reflects an increase of 13 per cent. since 2004. Women now make up 10.5 per cent. of board members, compared to 5.8 per cent. in 2000.
HEALTH
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat assessment she has made of whether the exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 apply to files held by her Department relating to (a) the Abortion (Amendment) Bill, 1979–80 Session, (b) the Abortion (Amendment) Bill 1987–88 Session and (c) the Unborn Children (Protection) Bills in sessions (i)1984–85, (ii) 1985–86 and (iii) 1987–88; and if she will make a statement. [30506]
Caroline Flint: No assessment has been made on whether any exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would apply to these files.
Advisory Committee on Topic Selection
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) remit and (b) membership of the Advisory Committee on Topic Selection is; and how often the Committee meets. [31929]
Jane Kennedy: The terms of reference of the Advisory Committee for Topic Selection are:
On the basis of the criteria agreed by Ministers, assess the requirement for guidance in respect of clinical issues identified by the National Horizon Scanning Centre, by the National Co-ordinating Centre Health Technology Assessment, by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and other sources of internal and external advice.
To advise Ministers whether referral to NICE is the most appropriate means of meeting those requirements.
(a) guidance should take the form of a technology appraisal, a clinical guideline, or some other combination or form of guidance;
(b) (in the case of technology appraisals of new technologies) whether guidance should issue at around the expected time of launch, or whether the appraisal should be deferred for a period.
The Advisory Committee for Topic Selection is chaired by a senior Department official and is made up of representatives of
patient groups—the Consumers Association, Royal National Institute for Deaf People, The Pain Society and Diabetes UK;
the national health service—a mental health trust, an acute trust, a strategic health authority and a primary care trust;
industry—the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries and the Association of British Healthcare Industries;
the Director of the Health Technology Assessment Programme and the Chairman of the Technology Assessment Services Collaboration; and
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the length of time taken was to select each drug that has been referred for each of the stages of her Department's topic selection process for drugs and treatments referred to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. [31930]
Jane Kennedy: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Department and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are currently reviewing the current arrangements for selecting topics for NICE'S work programme. We expect to be able to say more about this later in the year.
The typical timescale for referral of appraisal topics to NICE for consultation on their remit and scope is in the region of 9–12 months from consideration by the Advisory Committee on Topic Selection.
Alzheimer's Disease
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what her policy is on the availability of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease; [29784]
(2) what representations she has received from (a) patients and (b) carers on the availability of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease; and if she will make a statement. [29785]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 21 November 2005]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) on 28 November 2005, Official Report, column 244W.
Avian Influenza
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health why the UK is not using the generic drug available for avian influenza; and what recent discussions she has had within the World Trade Organisation on the availability of that drug. [30617]
Caroline Flint: There has been some confusion between seasonal flu, avian flu and pandemic flu. Avian influenza is a disease which mainly affects birds. Seasonal flu refers to the virus that circulates in the human population and causes widespread illness each winter. Pandemic flu will only occur after an avian virus has mutated into a strain to which large numbers of the population have not been exposed and which can spread easily between humans.
We have purchased 14.6 million courses of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to treat the 25 per cent. of thepopulation that may fall ill during a pandemic. Deliveries will be complete by September 2006 and we have produced guidance to inform local national health service planning for the distribution and storage of these medicines.
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Roche, the company that has manufacturing license for Tamiflu, recently announced that it is exploring sub-licensing other manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.
Blindness
Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards delivering the objectives set out in the Vision 2020 programme for eliminating avoidable blindness. [30896]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We are committed to the principles of Vision 2020 for the elimination of avoidable blindness.
We allocated £73 million to drive down the maximum waiting time for cataract operations to three months. This was achieved in January 2005, four years ahead of the NHS Plan target.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are expected to deliver the national commitment that by 2006, a minimum of 80 per cent. of people with diabetes will be offered screening for the early detection, and treatment if needed, of diabetic retinopathy as part of a systematic programme that meets national standards, rising to 100 per cent. coverage of those at risk by end of 2007. This is reflected in the delivery strategy for the diabetes national service framework.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued its guidance on photodynamic therapyon 24 September 2003. All PCTs are funding photodynamic therapy treatment for patients with both the wholly classic and predominantly classic forms of age-related macular degeneration.
The Department established the eye care services steering group in December 2002 comprising representatives of key stakeholders across the profession, national health service and voluntary sector, including Vision 2020 UK, to deliver proposals for eye care services in England which were consistent with and which supported the Vision 2020 programme.
The group has developed evidence-based pathways for four key conditions: cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and low vision services.
The report of the eye care services steering group, along with the four pathways, were issued to the NHS as commissioning guidance in May 2004. The Department has allocated £4 million to eight pilot sites to test out the pathways in glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and low vision services.
Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Department is taking to facilitate the use by opticians of cameras which photograph the back of the eye; and if she will make a statement about diabetes retinopathy screening. [30902]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Primary care trusts are responsible for implementing diabetic retinopathy screening to national standards as set out in Improvement, Expansion and Reform: the next three years", the planning and performance framework for 2003 to 2006 and diabetes national service framework delivery strategy. It is for local
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health services to decide how they want the programme to be delivered locally. Optometrists have played an important role on the national diabetic retinopathy screening project advisory group set up to steer the development of the programme.
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