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10 Jan 2006 : Column 572W—continued

Breast Cancer

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects guidelines to be issued by the National Cancer Research Institute on the administration of Herceptin prior to a licence being obtained for its use in early breast cancer and on related issues. [37715]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I understand that the National Cancer Research Institute hopes to be able to issue this guidance imminently.

Cancer Treatment

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when she expects the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to issue appraisals on (a) Velcade for multiple myeloma, (b) Taxotere for breast cancer, (c) Taxol for breast cancer, (d) MabThera for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, (e) Gemzar for advanced breast cancer and (f) Fludara for lymphocytic leukaemia; [39328]

(2) if she will instruct the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to fast-track appraisals for the drugs (a) Arimidiex for early stage breast cancer, (b) Aromasin for early stage breast cancer, (c) Femara for early stage breast cancer, (d) Avatsin for colorectal cancer, (e) xeloda for colorectal cancer, (f) taxotere for prostate cancer, (g) aransep for chemotherapy-induced anaemia, (h) eprex for chemotherapy-induced anaemia, (i) neorocoromon for chemotherapy-induced anaemia, (j) eloxititan for colorectal cancer, (k) alimta for mesothelioma, (l) temodol for high grade gliomas, (m) Tarceva for non-small cell lung cancer,
 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 573W
 
(n) rubetican for pancreatic cancer, (o) Campto for adjuvant-advanced colorectal cancer, (p) Alimta for non-small cell lung cancer, (q) Erbitux for locally advanced recurrent metastatic head and neck cancer, (r) atrasentan for prostate cancer and (s) Exetrol for hypercholestolaemia. [39329]

Jane Kennedy: Using its single technology appraisal (STA) process, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has already started work on appraising Velcade, Taxotere, Taxol and MabThera. I understand NICE will start work on Gemazar and Fludara early in 2006.

We are currently discussing with NICE a second tranche of topics to go through the STA process.

Capital Schemes

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will set out the basis on which the NHS capital programme is financed by credit guarantee finance. [35149]

Mr. Byrne: The HM Treasury document, PFI—Meeting the Investment Challenge" (2000) set out the Government's approach to the private finance initiative (PFI) and the role of private finance in PFI. This included the Government's plans to test the use of alternative finance for certain PFI projects—credit guarantee finance (CGF).

CGF is a loan, guaranteed by banks, monolines or other acceptable finance institutions, from the sponsoring department to a PFI project special purpose vehicle on market terms.

National health service capital spending, including PFI, is shown in figure 4.1 in the 2005 departmental report. 2004–05 total outturn was £4,864 million and 2005–06 plan is £6,087 million. CGF has provided finance for two health PFI schemes—£265 million for Leeds in 2004–05 and Portsmouth, expected to be about £262 million, which will reach financial close in the next few days. The CGF amounts are included in the totals.

Chase Farm Hospital

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the effects of closing down the accident and emergency department at Chase Farm hospital on transport times for (a) patients and (b) employees who will now go to North Middlesex; [38699]

(2) if she will place in the Library a copy of the research and statistics underlying the proposed closure of the accident and emergency department of Chase Farm hospital; [38700]

(3) what assessment she has made of the likely effects of the proposed closure of the accident and emergency department at Chase Farm hospital on (a) the quality and (b) accessibility of services for the people using North Middlesex hospital accident and emergency services. [38701]

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 574W
 

Jane Kennedy: The department has made no assessment.

The disposition of services at Chase Farm hospital is a local matter. The trust with local primary care trusts has been conducting a local engagement exercise with local stakeholders, in line with national policies on public and patient involvement, to develop proposals for the future. Any proposals for change will be for full public consultation, which will set out the reasons for change and the implications for patients and staff locally.

The role of Government are to set the national agenda. It is down to the strategic health authority, working in partnership with the primary care trusts, and local stakeholders who are best placed to plan and develop services, according to the needs of the local community.

Chemical ITX

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has evaluated on the migration of the chemical ITX from food packaging into food; and if she will make a statement. [38838]

Caroline Flint: The chemical isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) is a component of printing inks used on some Tetrapak food packaging. It has been found at very low levels in some foodstuffs in this type of packaging, including liquid infant formula products. The European Food Safety Agency has assessed the safety of ITX and advised that it does not give cause for health concern at the levels reported. Tetrapak has now stopped using this type of printing for infant formula products and is stopping its use for other food products.

Continuing Care

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have received NHS-funded continuing care in each year since 1997. [39365]

Mr. Byrne: The available data is shown in the table.
Total number of individuals receiving continuing care in each financial year

	Number of individuals
2002–03	17,019
2003–04	19,723
2004–05	20,842

Source:
Continuing care data submitted by primary care trusts at quarter four (31 March) as part of local delivery planning return collection.

Dentistry

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists there are per head of population in (a) Torbay and (b) England. [38482]

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 575W
 

Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of general dental services and personal dental services dentists per 10,000 population in England and Torbay Primary Care Trust as at 30 September 2005 is shown in the table.

	Dentists per 10,000 population
England	4.19
Torbay PCT	5.64

Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre

The figures are calculated using Office for National Statistics 2003 mid-year population estimates based on the 2001 census.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in Hereford constituency; and what percentage of their time each spent treating NHS patients in the last period for which figures are available. [38915]

Ms Rosie Winterton: As at 30 September 2005, there were 69 national health service dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract within Hereford constituency.
 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 576W
 

A dentist with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the primary care trust. The Dental Practice Board has no information concerning the amount of time dedicated to private or NHS work by individual dentists.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2005, Official Report, column 1795W, on NHS dentistry, when she expects to publish the budget. [39313]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts have already been informed, in confidence, of their dentistry budgets for 2006–07 to allow them to plan their provision for next year. These are still subject to minor adjustments and will be published as part of the normal annual financial information for the national health service in the spring.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) hospital and (b) community dentists have been employed in each year from 1979 to 1997, broken down by strategic health authority area. [36895]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The data requested is only available from 1987 and is shown in the tables.
Hospital and community health services (HCHS) : dental staff by sector within each strategic health authority,England at 30 September each year

Number (headcount)
		1987			1988
			Of which:			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff	All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,711	1,950	1,761	3,652	1,990	1,662
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	108	41	67	112	46	66
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	70	23	47	64	15	49
Essex	Q03	91	44	47	83	41	42
North West London	Q04	120	44	76	107	36	71
North Central London	Q05	115	62	53	115	69	46
North East London	Q06	131	94	37	124	86	38
South East London	Q07	218	156	62	257	197	60
South West London	Q08	93	36	57	89	37	52
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	155	77	78	141	74	67
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	63	17	46	55	21	34
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	72	24	48	68	23	45
West Yorkshire	Q12	189	87	102	162	75	87
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	102	41	61	98	38	60
Greater Manchester	Q14	198	87	111	215	86	129
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	172	70	102	172	74	98
Thames Valley	Q16	92	24	68	86	24	62
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	115	33	82	104	28	76
Kent and Medway	Q18	69	22	47	70	26	44
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	118	42	76	112	42	70
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	173	91	82	176	94	82
South West Peninsula	Q21	62	25	37	68	30	38
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	55	25	30	51	24	27
South Yorkshire	Q23	114	78	36	116	86	30
Trent	Q24	86	28	58	91	34	57
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	67	29	38	66	29	37
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	66	17	49	63	16	47
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	216	110	106	204	110	94
West Midlands South	Q28	90	33	57	87	34	53
Other(48)		491	490	1	496	495	1

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 577W
 

Number (headcount)

		1989			1990
			Of which:			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff	All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,655	2,010	1,645	3,628	2,051	1,577
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	113	50	63	111	51	60
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	62	20	42	65	20	45
Essex	Q03	72	31	41	72	30	42
North West London	Q04	118	46	72	128	44	84
North Central London	Q05	111	66	45	116	67	49
North East London	Q06	118	82	36	118	85	33
South East London	Q07	272	216	56	243	189	54
South West London	Q08	85	33	52	93	42	51
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	133	72	61	133	77	56
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	55	21	34	52	20	32
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	59	23	36	70	33	37
West Yorkshire	Q12	170	66	104	117	45	72
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	101	36	65	102	38	64
Greater Manchester	Q14	200	84	116	204	92	112
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	156	63	93	154	68	86
Thames Valley	Q16	91	31	60	89	30	59
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	129	36	93	120	37	83
Kent and Medway	Q18	64	21	43	73	29	44
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	114	42	72	112	42	70
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	166	90	76	172	90	82
South West Peninsula	Q21	69	33	36	66	38	28
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	57	31	26	56	33	23
South Yorkshire	Q23	128	98	30	127	95	32
Trent	Q24	94	33	61	91	31	60
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	67	28	39	63	22	41
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	62	17	45	63	21	42
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	207	112	95	196	108	88
West Midlands South	Q28	84	31	53	82	34	48
Other(48)		498	498	0	540	540	0

Number (headcount)

		1991			1992
			Of which:			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff	All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,479	2,010	1,469	3,493	2,076	1,417
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	87	44	43	92	50	42
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	58	16	42	65	22	43
Essex	Q03	80	41	39	77	39	38
North West London	Q04	121	43	78	122	44	78
North Central London	Q05	91	45	46	80	33	47
North East London	Q06	129	91	38	127	93	34
South East London	Q07	232	189	43	260	202	58
South West London	Q08	95	53	42	87	45	42
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	133	75	58	130	82	48
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	51	21	30	56	25	31
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	79	36	43	76	39	37
West Yorkshire	Q12	125	53	72	124	55	69
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	102	40	62	111	49	62
Greater Manchester	Q14	193	101	92	188	101	87
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	157	75	82	186	92	94
Thames Valley	Q16	86	27	59	91	34	57
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	109	45	64	113	52	61
Kent and Medway	Q18	65	29	36	56	27	29
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	120	42	78	112	54	58
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	174	94	80	174	107	67
South West Peninsula	Q21	69	42	27	79	51	28
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	53	33	20	56	38	18
South Yorkshire	Q23	110	80	30	114	82	32
Trent	Q24	87	29	58	87	27	60
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	64	22	42	59	20	39
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	59	20	39	50	25	25
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	158	84	74	169	83	86
West Midlands South	Q28	75	27	48	74	31	43
Other(48)		517	513	4	478	474	4

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 579W
 

Number (headcount)

		1993			1994
			Of which:			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff	All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,462	2,070	1,392	3,372	2,067	1,305
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	96	58	38	109	69	40
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	69	24	45	66	35	31
Essex	Q03	69	37	32	60	32	28
North West London	Q04	110	40	70	106	32	74
North Central London	Q05	68	31	37	93	50	43
North East London	Q06	100	60	40	78	44	34
South East London	Q07	263	210	53	233	188	45
South West London	Q08	96	55	41	93	53	40
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	152	106	46	157	115	42
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	60	30	30	53	34	19
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	82	47	35	83	50	33
West Yorkshire	Q12	135	67	68	142	77	65
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	110	48	62	112	54	58
Greater Manchester	Q14	186	103	83	209	127	82
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	191	97	94	178	92	86
Thames Valley	Q16	90	36	54	88	52	36
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	108	53	55	112	58	54
Kent and Medway	Q18	69	39	30	64	26	38
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	132	65	67	155	87	68
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	153	90	63	185	122	63
South West Peninsula	Q21	82	53	29	85	56	29
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	60	38	22	49	35	14
South Yorkshire	Q23	122	89	33	125	94	31
Trent	Q24	87	34	53	105	46	59
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	68	30	38	70	40	30
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	81	38	43	63	39	24
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	186	98	88	183	96	87
West Midlands South	Q28	69	29	40	89	44	45
Other(48)		368	365	3	227	220	7

Number (headcount)

		1995			1996
			Of which:			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff	All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,456	2,139	1,317	3,490	2,113	1,377
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	112	73	39	108	69	39
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	73	35	38	76	37	39
Essex	Q03	69	41	28	79	46	33
North West London	Q04	106	29	77	111	24	87
North Central London	Q05	101	53	48	178	141	37
North East London	Q06	81	46	35	106	57	49
South East London	Q07	250	211	39	235	198	37
South West London	Q08	86	47	39	90	56	34
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	131	97	34	135	97	38
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	69	37	32	62	31	31
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	86	58	28	80	51	29
West Yorkshire	Q12	129	73	56	155	93	62
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	115	55	60	124	61	63
Greater Manchester	Q14	215	129	86	232	150	82
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	187	99	88	206	103	103
Thames Valley	Q16	106	55	51	114	59	55
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	102	49	53	112	60	52
Kent and Medway	Q18	80	31	49	77	34	43
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	151	90	61	148	85	63
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	182	119	63	176	114	62
South West Peninsula	Q21	99	64	35	104	71	33
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	71	55	16	61	45	16
South Yorkshire	Q23	105	73	32	123	86	37
Trent	Q24	113	56	57	129	65	64
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	74	37	37	76	39	37
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	67	41	26	68	45	23
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	194	132	62	238	153	85
West Midlands South	Q28	90	47	43	87	43	44
Other(48)		212	207	5	0	0	0

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 581W
 

Number (headcount)

		1997
			Of which:
		All dental staff	Hospital dental staff	Community health service dental staff
England		3,567	2,188	1,379
Of which:
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	Q01	133	81	52
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	Q02	73	37	36
Essex	Q03	79	46	33
North West London	Q04	101	23	78
North Central London	Q05	186	143	43
North East London	Q06	101	53	48
South East London	Q07	207	170	37
South West London	Q08	92	59	33
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	Q09	133	97	36
County Durham and Tees Valley	Q10	85	54	31
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	Q11	88	58	30
West Yorkshire	Q12	173	108	65
Cumbria and Lancashire	Q13	120	56	64
Greater Manchester	Q14	235	152	83
Cheshire and Merseyside	Q15	209	114	95
Thames Valley	Q16	120	58	62
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	Q17	110	60	50
Kent and Medway	Q18	71	30	41
Surrey and Sussex	Q19	162	97	65
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	Q20	177	110	67
South West Peninsula	Q21	112	73	39
Dorset and Somerset	Q22	66	52	14
South Yorkshire	Q23	125	90	35
Trent	Q24	133	70	63
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	Q25	82	46	36
Shropshire and Staffordshire	Q26	67	45	22
Birmingham and The Black Country	Q27	241	167	74
West Midlands South	Q28	85	38	47
Other(48)		1	1	0

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Other includes regional health authorities, special health authorities and special hospitals. Most regional health authority and special health authority organisations existed prior to the creation of the SHA boundaries and therefore cannot be mapped into a specific SHA. Special hospitals are national centres (e.g. National Blood Authority) and therefore cannot be mapped to a specific SHA.
Source:
NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census.





 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 583W
 

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in (a) England, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Huddersfield. [37108]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
Number of dentists in England, West Yorkshire strategic health authority (SHA) and Huddersfield parliamentary constituency as of 30 September 2005

England	20,890
West Yorkshire SHA	836
Huddersfield Constituency	53

Notes:
1. Data include all notifications of dentists joining or leaving the general dental service or personal dental service, received by the Dental Practice Board, up to 2 November 2005 for England data, and 19 October 2005 for SHA and constituency data.
2. The definition of dentists includes principals, assistants and trainees. Prison contracts have been excluded from the data.
Source:
Dental Practice Board

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State forHealth what measures she is taking to ensure adequate provision of NHS dentistry in Beverley and Holderness. [37439]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In 2004–05, the Department allocated £1.3 million to the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire strategic health authority (SHA) to improve access, choice and quality in national health service dentistry. In 2004–05, the East Yorkshire primary care trust (PCT) and the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT, received £147,000 and £160,000 respectively.

The SHA advises that these funds were used to assist the development of new dental practices at Bridlington, Driffield, Pocklington and Beverley together with expansion of existing practices at Brough and South Cave. The new practices will allow 17,500 new national health service patient registrations and 2,000 additional NHS patients to access NHS care at the expanded practices.

In addition, a new practice is due to open in early February at Beverley, providing care for 3,000 NHS patients, under a personal dental service (PDS) contract.

There are access centres at Bridlington, Pocklington, Driffield, Goole, Cottingham, Withernsea and also at Hull. The access service provides care for over 40,000 patients annually.

Two Polish dentists have been recruited through the Department's overseas recruitment programme and are now working within a practice in the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT area.

Both PCTs have been working with dental practices to support them in moving over to the new PDS contract. The number of dental practices which have converted to PDS within each of the PCTs is as follows:

East Yorkshire PCT: six practices, 15 whole-time equivalent (wte) practitioners, 40,602 patients,

Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT: eight practices, 14 wte practitioners, 43,219 patients.

 
10 Jan 2006 : Column 584W
 

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