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9 Jan 2006 : Column 158W—continued
Prisons (Contraceptives)
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make condoms generally available to all people in prisons. [28559]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 18 July 2005, Official Report, columns 1505–06W.
Private Finance Initiative Projects
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the assets and liabilities of each private finance project approved by her Department is recorded on the Government balance sheet. [34665]
Mr. Byrne: A small number of national health service private finance initiative schemes are regarded under accounting standards as on balance sheet. These are shown in the table where 100 per cent. of the capital value of these schemes and the corresponding liabilities are on the national health service's balance sheet.
The great majority of national health service privatefinance initiative schemes are regarded under accounting standards as being off balance sheet which means that the facilities built by the private sector are off the national health service's balance sheet. There may be deferred assets and liabilities in the accounts of the individual bodies arising from these transactions, but these are not separately identifiable from the accounts.
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Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) location, (b) cost and (c) completion date is of each private finance initiative project within her responsibility in each health authority area. [36893]
Mr. Byrne: A list has been placed in the Library of all private finance initiative projects in England where the capital value is £10 million or greater, the scheme is operational or financial close has been reached and work has started on site. The list shows location, cost and operational dates.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) location and (b) capacity is of each completed private finance initiative hospital project; what the cost was of each; and what the (i) location, (ii)planned capacity and (iii) expected cost is of each planned private finance initiative hospital project. [25256]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane). The information shown in the tables gives details requested of schemes that have not yet reached financial close with an estimated capital value of £25 million and above. The Department does not hold centrally full information for schemes below £25 million.
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Private Sector NHS
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private patients were treated in NHS hospitals in each of the last 10 years. [36035]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 8 December 2005, Official Report, column 1577W.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her Oral Statement of 19 October 2005, Official Report, column 283W, in the Westminster Hall debate on private sector NHS, whether she has responded to the dossier of patient complaints about independent sector treatment centres. [23665]
Mr. Byrne: The dossier provided by the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) in November of 2004, included 18 letters from their members, of which only two related to clinical governance or quality assurance issues for national health service patients treated within independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) programme.
The two letters from the BOA that referred to clinical governance issues related to results obtained by overseas surgeons operating on NHS patients at the Nuffield Hospitals in Derby and Cambridge, respectively. In both circumstances, local clinical governance arrangements had rapidly ensured that the surgeons discontinued working, and formal service investigations were performed at both sites. Learning points from these investigations were used to inform on-going governance arrangements in this sector, and were outlined to the BOA in May of this year.
The remaining 16 letters from November 2004 comprised a diverse group of issues not directly relating to clinical governance issues in this sector, referring instead to issues of local capacity planning, waiting list issues and discontent over broader policy matters.
In September of this year, 11 further letters were sent to the Department by the BOA. Five of these letters relate to the ISTC programme, and all clinical incidents were already known to the Department, and have been or are being reported on. A response is being issued to the BOA and further information will be shared as it becomes available.
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Processed Foods
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the proportion of processed foods on sale in England which do not contain added (a) sugar and (b) salt. [38261]
Caroline Flint: No estimate has been made of the proportion of processed foods that do not contain added sugar or salt. The Department and the Food Standards Agency have held discussions with the food industry in line with public commitments to reduce levels of salt, sugars and fat in foods.
Public Relations
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the value was of (a) public opinion research and (b) public relations contracts awarded by her Department in (i) each (A) nation and (B) region of the UK and (ii) London in 2004–05. [35939]
Jane Kennedy: During 2004–05, the Department spent £364,425.74 on public opinion research. This total includes media evaluation, large-scale surveys and qualitative research, for example, focus groups. The work was undertaken on a national basis. Of this £21,831 was spent on regional media evaluation, that is, analysing messages in the regional media.
During the same period, the Department spent a total of £2,908,812.97 on public relations agencies delivering campaigns in England. The Department does not break the figures down regionally. The agencies concerned ran campaigns covering tobacco and drugs control, sexual health, flu immunisation, hepatitis C awareness, breastfeeding awareness, healthy eating, social care or social work and national health service recruitment campaigns. This figure includes both agency fees and costs such as literature, posters and other materials produced for the campaigns.
The figures quoted above do not include value added tax.
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