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17 Jan 2006 : Column 1309W—continued

Strategic Health Authorities

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the performance management abilities of strategic health authorities in managing NHS trusts and primary care trusts which are failing in their duties to break even year-on-year. [39346]

Mr. Byrne: It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to deliver both overall financial balance for their local health communities and to ensure each and every body achieves financial balance. The Department works with SHAs to support them in this task.

To strengthen the ability of SHAs to deal with organisations with financial challenges we recently announced the creation of turnaround teams. These teams will support the national health service in identifying opportunities to deliver services with greater cost-effectiveness and to make financial savings. They will help the local NHS ensure that it delivers both its key targets and financial balance.

We have re-emphasised to all SHAs the importance of sound financial management, and the key role that system reform will play to achieve this goal, and we have also increased the level of monitoring and analysis, and have developed a more active way of challenging SHAs about the financial performance of their health economy.

Therapy Providers

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with which organisations she has held discussions on professional accreditation of therapy providers; and if she will make a statement. [40896]

Jane Kennedy: Departmental officials have held discussions with over 30 organisations in the fields of psychotherapy and counselling over the last five years with a view to establishing agreed roles and the competences and training necessary for their safe practice. These will form the basis of regulation which would include accreditation of training and registration of practitioners who are fit to practise.

Tobacco Control Alliance

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much her Department has spent supporting local tobacco control alliances since 1997; [39409]

(2) how much public funding has been provided to the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [39410]

Caroline Flint: The NHS Cancer Plan published in September 2000, announced the establishment of local tobacco control alliances, with funding of up to £1 million a year.

After the initial three years, decision making on local tobacco control was devolved to the nine Government office regions (GOR). The tobacco control budget was increased to £2 million a year for the three years 2003 to 2006, to provide funding for regional tobacco control work together with funding of local tobacco control alliances.
 
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According to the GOR for the South East, the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health has received funding of £43,040 in 2003–04, £30,706 in 2004–05 and £30,706 in 2005–06.

Tuberculosis

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reported cases of tuberculosis there were in Gloucestershire in each of the last 10 years. [41502]

Caroline Flint: The number of tuberculosis notifications for Gloucestershire for the years 1995 to 2004 is shown in the following table. These are the latest figures available.
Tuberculosis notifications, Gloucestershire, 1995 to 2004

	Number
1995	37
1996	38
1997	26
1998	30
1999	27
2000	35
2001	22
2002	21
2003	22
2004	31

Notes:
1. Data prepared by: Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections.
2. Data as at 10 January 2006.
Source:
Statutory Notifications of Infectious Diseases (NOIDs)

Waiting Times

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to paragraph 67 of the document Commissioning an 18 week patient pathway:" Proposed principles and definitions: A discussion document, what steps she is taking to ensure that the decision that subsequent treatment courses will not fall within the initial 18 week waiting target does not create an incentive for NHS trusts to make patients wait longer for subsequent treatment; and if she will publish information on these waiting times. [38006]

Mr. Byrne: The Department is currently collating responses to the listening exercise on the proposed principles and definitions for 18 weeks, which closed on 8 December 2005. The conclusions drawn from the listening exercise will help inform the final principles and definitions, and will be published in 2006. As the principles and definitions are still under constant review until the time that they are published, we cannot presently give any further information about their content.

While 18 weeks will be the maximum, most patient journeys will be much shorter than this. In particular 18 weeks does not replace other waiting times targets or standards where these are tighter than 18 weeks, for example, rapid access chest pain clinics. There will be other mechanisms to reduce the patient pathway in areas not included in 18 weeks, as outlined in the NHS improvement plan, and the 18 weeks maximum wait may be extended to other areas in the future.
 
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Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) maximum and (b) average waiting times for outpatient appointments subsequent to an initial appointment were for each strategic health authority in England in each quarter of the last eight years. [40266]

Mr. Byrne: Waiting times for outpatient appointments subsequent to initial appointments are not collected centrally.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Avon Fire Authority

Stephen Williams: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Avon fire authority, (b) the chief fire officer of Avon and (c) fire servicemen and women working in the Avon fire authority about proposals to move fire appliances from Temple Back station, Bristol to Patchway, Bristol as part of the integrated risk management plan. [42284]

Jim Fitzpatrick: No representations have been made. It is not the role of Ministers to agree the operational proposals in an authority's plan; that is for elected members of the authority concerned. They are best placed to act on the professional advice of principal officers and to balance the competing local demands on available resources for the benefits of the communities they serve. Furthermore, Avon fire authority's proposals will, of course, be subject to consultation with the local community, as required under the integrated risk management plan (IRMP).

Housing

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local authorities have indicated that they do not wish to transfer their council housing. [41158]

Yvette Cooper: Of the 354 local housing authorities, 185 have selected large scale voluntary transfer. The remainder have opted not to transfer but rather have decided to: set up an Arms Length Management Organisation (59), implement a mixed solution of more than one option (nine), or opt for local authority retention (98). Three local authorities have still to finalise their option.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the number of local authorities which will be able to meet the local demand for affordable rented housing by 2007. [40846]

Yvette Cooper: The Government are investing increased resources made available through the Spending Review 2004 to provide 75,000 social rented homes by the year 2007–08. With the advice of the Regional Housing Boards, set out in their regional housing strategies, resources are being targeted at those areas in greatest need.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what impact he expects the (a) Thames Gateway, (b) Olympic facilities and (c) Kings Cross development to have on building cost inflation in London; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the allowances for London local authority housing revenue accounts. [40850]

 
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Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not forecast building cost inflation. The Office of Government Commerce is currently assessing public sector construction procurement demand, capacity, supply and performance. This will include a particular project to examine the construction industry's capacity to deliver planned national capital construction programmes, including the provision of Olympics infrastructure, in the period 2005–15.

The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) in the Housing Revenue Account is designed to meet the average annual costs of major repairs. It is up-rated each year in line with general inflation. A local authority can react to high building costs by putting some or all of its MRA into a Major Repairs Reserve.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister from which budget the additional resources made available to arm's length management organisations (ALMOs) to improve council homes comes; what level of funding is available from applications from new ALMOs; and what the total cost was in each year since 1997. [40876]

Yvette Cooper: The arm's length management organisation (ALMO) programme has its own separate budget created from increased resources from Treasury. A total of £3.7 billion has been allocated to the ALMO programme under the two most recent spending reviews for the five years up to 2007–08. Funding beyond 2007–08 will be considered in the context of the next spending review, CSR 07. The ALMO programme has only been running since 2002. Total expenditure was £56 million in 2002–03, £321 million in 2003–04, £577 million in 2004–05 and is projected to be £846 million in 2005–06.

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