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20 Dec 2005 : Column 2725W—continued

Pro-choice

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the letter she sent to the pro-choice meeting chaired by Baroness Gould on 26 October represents Government policy; if she will place a copy of the letter in the Library; and if she will make a statement; [32747]

(2) what discussions she had with (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) officials in her Department before sending her letter to the pro-choice meeting chaired by Baroness Gould on 26 October; and if she will make a statement; [32748]

(3) for what reasons she sent a letter to the pro-choice meeting chaired by Baroness Gould on 26 October; and if she will make a statement. [34291]

Caroline Flint: The letter was sent in response to an invitation to attend the abortion rights public meeting Defend the limit—Defend a woman's right to choose", held at the House of Lords on 26 October 2005. The letter, which was sent by a departmental official on 14 October 2005, stated

Unfortunately, due to pressure on her diary the Secretary of State is unable to attend. She has asked me to pass on her apologies."

Psychiatry (Waiting Times)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time was to see a psychiatrist in Coventry South in the last 12 months. [38766]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the estimated average waiting time from general practitioner writtenreferral to first outpatient appointment with a consultant psychiatrist within Coventry primary care trust (PCT) between September 2004 to September 2005 (provider based).
 
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2726W
 

	Median wait (weeks)
September 2004	5.9
December 2004	4.5
March 2005	6.0
June 2005	5.4
September 2005	6.3

Notes:
1.Due to small numbers, the calculation of the median wait is prone to fluctuation at PCT and strategic health authority level. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures.
2.Waiting times apply to consultant-led appointments only. Services in many areas are now run by multi-disciplinary teams.
Source:
Department of Health form QM08

Public Appointments Annual Report

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish an up to date edition of the Public Appointments annual report. [36571]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Secretary of State has delegated the majority of her appointments functions to the National Health Service Appointments Commission. The commission intends to make information about the public appointments it makes available on its website www.appointments.org.uk in the early spring next year.

Retinopathy Programmes

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure the delivery of independent and external quality assurance of local retinopathy programmes. [36070]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 8 December 2005]: Quality assurance is an integral part of all screening programmes. Quality assurance standards have been developed and piloted by the UK National Screening Committee's national screening programme for sight threatening retinopathy. A full list of the quality assurance standards can be found on the National Screening Programme's website at: www.nscretinopathy.org.uk. Screening programme managers are responsible for ensuring that programmes meet overall quality requirements. Strategic health authorities are responsible for ensuring action is taken on quality assurance recommendations.

RU-486

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment her Department has made of the safety of the RU-486 abortion drug; and if she will make a statement. [34213]

Jane Kennedy: As with all marketed medicines, the safety of mifepristone, an antiprogestogenic steroid that is used for the medical termination of intra-uterine pregnancy, is continuously monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Mifepristone was first authorised in the United Kingdom as a prescription only medicine for use under specialist care in July 1991. This followed advice from the then Committee on Safety of Medicines. Since 1991, the safety of mifepristone has been monitored through review of reports of suspected adverse drug reactions and through periodic safety reports submitted by the manufacturer. Following new advice from the US PDA,
 
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2727W
 
where this product is used in combination with another medicine that is not licensed for this purpose in the UK, serious adverse reactions, including cases of serious bacterial infection, associated with mifepristone have been reviewed. The regulatory authorities within Europe, including the UK, did not identify any new safety issues as a consequence of this review.

As with all marketed medicines, the MHRA will continue to monitor the safety of Mifegyne and will take any action to ensure patient safety is maintained.

Rural Pharmacies

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to assist and secure the future of rural pharmacies. [37266]

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 24 October 2005, Official Report, column188–89W.

Secondments

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are on secondment from other organisations to her Department; and which organisations they have been seconded from in each case. [34223]

Jane Kennedy: There are currently 49 staff on secondment or loan into the Department.

The Department's human resource system does not show where a person has been seconded to or from.

Sick Leave

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of her Department's employees who are within one year of the official retirement age are on extended sick leave. [32598]

Jane Kennedy: There are currently two departmental employees, who are within one year of the official retirement age, on extended sick leave.

Situation Reports

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many situation reports have been delivered to her Department from local NHS bodies in each of the last five years; what the frequency of such reports was; and what issues were covered. [24521]

Mr. Byrne: Daily Situation Reports (SitReps) are collected from acute trusts on weekdays during the winter months on an exception basis. They are required if any of the following operational problems occur:

Accident and Emergency (A&E) closures

A&E diversions

Trolley waits of over 12 hours

Urgent operations cancelled for the second or subsequent time

Non-medical critical care transfers out of an approved critical care transfer group

Unplanned reductions in elective workload because of pressures and

Difficulties with ambulance queuing.

 
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2728W
 

Weekly SitReps currently cover the following topics:

A&E attendances

Time spent in A&E

Wait from decision to admit to admission

Emergency admissions

Cancelled operations

Delayed transfers of care

Beds available and occupied

Non-medical critical care transfers and

Ambulance calls responded to.

The number of SitReps collected in each of the last five years is shown in the table.

	Daily SitReps	Weekly SitReps
2000–01	116	31
2001–02	67	53
2002–03	71	52
2003–04	90	52
2004–05	96	53

Smoking

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the proportion of smokers are aged (a) 16 and under, (b) 17 to 24, (c) 25 to 30, (d) 31 to 40 and (e) over 40 years, broken down by sex; and what the equivalent figures were in (i) 1976, (ii) 1979, (iii) 1983, (iv) 1987, (v) 1992, (vi) 1997 and (vii) 2000. [36178]

Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the form requested.

Estimates of the prevalence of smoking among adultsaged 16 and over are obtained from the general household survey. Although the GHS covers Great Britain, the data presented here are for England only.

Data on smoking among young people are available from a series of surveys of secondary school children in years seven-11, mainly aged 11–15.

The available information is presented in three tables, using the results of the general household survey 1980 to 2003 and Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2004.
Table 1: Prevalence of smoking cigarette among adults aged 17 and over, by age and gender, England, 1992, 2000 and 2003 Percentage/numbers of current cigarette smokers

	17–24	25–30	31–40	Over 40	All adults aged 17 and over
Men
Unweighted
1992	36	37	31	25	29
Weighted
2000	35	41	33	24	29
2003	34	39	33	23	27
Women
Unweighted
1992	33	34	27	24	27
Weighted
2000	33	33	31	20	25
2003	31	33	28	20	24

Note:
In 2000, weighting to compensate for non-response was introduced to the GHS. This is described in detail in the 2000 report. The effect of weighting on the smoking data is slight, increasing the estimated overall prevalence by one percentage point.
Source:
General Household Survey 1992, 2000 and 2003 (Office for National Statistics)




 
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2730W
 

Table 2: Prevalence of smoking cigarettes among adults aged 16 and over, by age and gender England, 1980 to 2003 Numbers/percentages

	All	16–19	20–24	25–34	35–49	50–59	60 and over
Men
Unweighted
1980	42	33	44	47	45	45	34
1982	37	31	39	40	39	41	32
1984	35	28	39	39	38	38	29
1986	34	30	41	37	37	34	28
1988	32	28	37	37	36	32	25
1990	31	28	39	37	34	27	24
1992	29	29	39	35	31	27	20
1994	28	28	42	34	31	26	17
1996	28	25	43	38	30	27	17
1998	28	30	42	37	32	26	15
Weighted
1998	29	30	40	38	33	27	16
2000	29	30	36	39	31	27	16
2001	28	24	39	38	31	25	16
2002	27	22	38	36	29	26	16
2003	27	26	38	37	31	25	15
Women
Unweighted
1980	36	32	40	43	41	42	24
1982	32	31	39	36	37	38	23
1984	32	31	35	35	35	40	22
1986	31	31	38	35	33	34	22
1988	30	27	37	33	34	33	21
1990	28	33	39	34	32	27	19
1992	27	24	37	32	28	28	19
1994	25	28	38	30	28	26	16
1996	27	32	37	33	30	26	18
1998	26	33	40	33	28	26	16
Weighted
1998	26	33	40	32	28	27	16
2000	25	28	35	32	27	26	15
2001	25	31	35	30	27	24	17
2002	25	28	38	33	27	24	14
2003	24	24	34	31	28	22	14

Note:
The unweighted base for 2003 is of similar size to the unweighted base for earlier years. In 2000, weighting to compensate for non-response was introduced to the GHS. This is described in detail in the 2000 report. The effect of weighting on the smoking data is slight, increasing the estimated overall prevalence by one percentage point.
Source:
General Household Survey, 1980 to 2003. Office for National Statistics





Table 3: Prevalence of regular smokers, in school years seven-11 years, by gender, England, 1982 to 2004 Percentage

Smoking behaviour	1982	1984	1986	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994
Boy regular smoker	11	13	7	7	9	9	8	10
Girls regular smoker	11	13	12	9	11	10	11	13
Total regular smoker	11	13	10	8	10	10	10	12

	1996	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Boy regular smoker	11	9	8	9	8	9	7	7
Girls regular smoker	15	12	10	12	11	11	11	10
Total regular smoker	13	11	9	10	10	10	9	9

Notes:
1.The survey from which the results are taken from questions secondary pupils years seven to 11.
2.The majority of pupils questioned are therefore from the ages 11–15
3.A regular smoker is defined as usually smoking at least one cigarette a week
Source:
Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2004 (Health and Social Care Information Centre)





 
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2731W
 

We are not able to give the 'proportion of smokers' but are able to supply the 'prevalence of smoking' for particular years and age ranges.

Table 1. We have been able to provide prevalence data for ages 17–24, 25–30, 21–40, over 40 and all adults aged 17 and over, for years 1992, 2000 and 2003 using the general household survey. We have been unable to provide data for the above age groups for years 1976, 1979, 1983 and 1987.

Table 2. As we have been unable to provide all yearsrequested in the PQ, we have included smoking prevalence (based on GHS tables) for a range of other years (1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003). However, this is not readily available in the age groups requested. Instead the data is grouped by those aged 16–19, 20–24, 25–34, 35–49, 50–59, 60 and over and all ages 16 and over.

We have not included adult data prior to 1980 as this is only available at Great Britain level and not for England.

Table 3. The PQ asks for data on those aged under 16. The closest smoking prevalence data for children we are able to provide is for pupils in school years seven-11, where the majority of students will be aged 11–15. However, the only exact year that we can provide data for is 1992 and 2000. Nonetheless, we have provided prevalence figures in close proximity to the years requested (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004).

The first survey of secondary school children was conducted in 1982, hence the absence of earlier prevalence data.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials had with (i) Action on Smoking and Health and (ii)FOREST about part I of the Health Bill; and if she will make a statement. [36182]

Caroline Flint: Since publication of the Health Bill on 27 October 2005 there have been no formal discussions with Action on Smoking and Health or FOREST at either ministerial level or official level.

However, both organisations responded to the public consultation on the smokefree elements of the Bill, which was held between 20 June and 5 September 2005.

An analysis has been published and is available in the Library.

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