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7 Dec 2005 : Column 1426W—continued
Sexual Health
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she takes to monitor the use of funding allocated to primary care trusts to improve sexual health services following the publication of the Choosing Health White Paper in November 2004. [31469]
Caroline Flint:
Primary care trusts will receive funding for implementing the targets in the Choosing Health White Paper in their mainstream allocations and we will be monitoring the outcomes from this investment. In particular, the progress towards targets to reduce the level of new infections of gonorrhoea, to ensure patients have access to genito-urinary medicine clinics within 48
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hours by 2008 and numbers of screens undertaken in the Chlamydia screening programme. These improved performance measures, should significantly strengthen the incentive for local investment and service modernisation.
In addition, a letter has been sent by the Department to strategic health authority chief executives highlighting that when considering any savings from implementing Commissioning a patient led NHS", savings should not be identified from those posts working on implementation of Choosing Health. This includes posts in frontline services.
Smoking/Alcohol
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have smoked during pregnancy in each of the last 10 years. [34428]
Caroline Flint: The data are not available in the exact format as requested. The data which are presented is the most recent available.
Information on smoking in pregnancy is obtained from the infant feeding survey, which is carried out every five years; the most recent survey was in 2000. The available information is shown in the table.
| Percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoking prevalence | 1990(33) | 1995(34) | 2000(34) |
| Smoked during pregnancy | 28 | 23 | 19 |
| Base number | 5,413 | 4,956 | (35)4,921 |
(33) Data for 1990 relate to Great Britain.
(34) The results from the 1995 and 2000 surveys are not directly comparable, since some of the smoking questions on the questionnaire were revised in 2000 to improve the reliability of the results.
(35) The base for 2000 excludes 200 mothers who did not supply sufficient information for their smoking status to be classified.
Sources:
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Infant Feeding Survey 1990
Office for National Statistics, Infant Feeding Survey 1995
BMRB Infant Feeding Survey 2000, which is available on the Department's website at: www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/05/97/63/04059763.pdf
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidences of (a) smoking and (b) alcohol-related conditions were treated in (i) 1998 and (ii) the most recent year for which information is available; what the cost of treatment was in each year; and what estimate the Government have made of the costs to the economy. [34180]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 5 December 2005]: The information is not available in the form requested.
The latest estimates, published in 2004 by the Health Development Agency in the document, The Smoking Epidemic" are that smoking kills around 86,500 people a year in England, one-fifth of all deaths.
The latest data on the cost to the national health service of treating illness and disease caused by smoking is estimated to cost between £1.4 billion to £1.7 billion every year in terms of general practitioner visits, prescriptions, treatment and operations.
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Estimates of total cost to the economy are not available.
The incidence of alcohol-related conditions treated are shown in the table.
Notes:
Finished consultant episode (FCE)
An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
Diagnosis (primary diagnosis)
The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
Grossing
Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2003–04, which is not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
Source:
Hospital episode statistics, health and social care information centre
It was estimated that the cost to the NHS in 2000–01 to be at a middle range of £1.5 billion.
The Prime Ministers strategy unit's interim analysis for the alcohol harm reduction strategy for England estimated that the overall cost of alcohol misuse was £20 billion a year.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Antisocial Behaviour (Hedges)
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many orders to remove hedges have been made by local councils in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire, under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003; and if he will make a statement. [35046]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 5 December 2005]: Under section 69(3) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, local councils cannot order action involving the removal of a high hedge. Information on notices requiring remedial works to hedges, issued under the 2003 Act, is not collected centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with local councils about the workings of the high hedges provisions in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003; and if he will make a statement. [35047]
Yvette Cooper
[holding answer 5 December 2005]: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has held no formal discussions with local councils about the workings of the high hedges provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, which came into force in
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June 2005. The Government are committed to a formal review of this legislation after it has been in operation for five years.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the average costs to the complainant of making a complaint to a local authority relating to high hedges; and if he will make a statement. [35276]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published the 'Regulatory Impact Assessment: High Hedges—Implementing Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003' on 23 March 2005. It contains estimates of the costs to complainants of making a complaint to a local authority about a high hedge. Copies of the Regulatory Impact Assessment are available in the House Library.
The Regulatory Impact Assessment was prepared before the legislation came into operation in June 2005. Information on the fees being charged by local authorities for dealing with high hedges complaints is not collected centrally.
Asset Register
Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 30th November 2005, Official Report, column 581W, on the asset register, what documents his officials work from when assessing the assets of his Department. [35487]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The document officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister work from when assessing the ODPM's assets is the central ODPM's Asset Register which is held on its electronic accounting system SAP. This records all assets that cost over £5,000 and are held for use on a continuing basis. Third party invoices and professional valuations are the supporting documents used by officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to establish asset values on the Asset Register. The accounting system automatically calculates both increases and decreases in asset values due to indexation, and the monthly depreciation charge, according to parliamentary and HM Treasury guidelines.
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