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20 Jan 2006 : Column 1685W—continued

Smoking

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the likely effect on the numbers of people who smoke of banning the sale of tobacco in pubs and clubs. [42935]

Caroline Flint: The Government have not made an assessment of the likely effect on the numbers of people who smoke of banning the sale of tobacco in pubs and clubs.

Strategic Health Authorities (Consultants)

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy that senior officers of strategic health authorities who (a) take voluntary redundancy and (b) retire from the authority may not subsequently return to the authority's employment as consultants. [42641]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 17 January 2006]: The Department would not expect senior managers who are made redundant from strategic health authorities (SHAs) to return to the authority's employment as consultants. SHAs are responsible for local employment decisions.

Urosotomy Prescriptions

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what improvements are being made to the provision of treatment for urosotomy patients. [41987]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 18 January 2006]: The national service framework (NSF) for long-term conditions is concerned with improving health and social care services for people with long-term conditions. The Department also published "Supporting People with Long-Term Conditions-An NHS and Social Care Model to support innovation and integration" on 5 January 2005. The purpose of the model is to improve the health and quality of life of people with a long-term condition, such as urostomy, by providing personalised, yet systematic ongoing support.

vCJD Trust

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the vCJD Trust's budget has been allocated to legal and professional fees since the Trust was established; and how much has been allocated for such fees in the next financial year. [32945]

 
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Caroline Flint: The variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) Trust's published annual report and accounts include full details of legal and professional costs.

The report and accounts are available on the vCJD Trust's website at: www.cjdtrust.co.uk/

The vCJD Trust has, to date, paid £7.4 million for legal and professional fees. These include legal fees for solicitors acting for the trust and for claimants, trustees' expenses and fees, medical experts and accountants' fees, taxation, and other disbursements.

The total sums managed by the vCJD Trust in its main and discretionary funds amount to £67.5 million.

The vCJD Trust does not allocate a proportion of the annual budget for fees or expenses in advance.

Waiting Times

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) mean and (b) median waiting time for a first out-patient appointment has been in each year since 1997–98. [39363]

Mr. Byrne: Estimated mean and median waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant following general practitioner referral are shown in the table.
Estimated mean and median out-patient waiting times (in weeks)

	Median	Mean
March 1998	6.4	9.5
March 1999	7.0	10.5
March 2000	7.7	11.7
March 2001	7.5	10.9
March 2002	7.6	11.1
March 2003	7.4	9.0
March 2004	7.1	8.5
March 2005	7.0	7.5
September 2005	6.8	7.2

Source:
Department of Health, QM08R return

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total number of patients admitted onto the in-patient waiting list has been in each year since 1997–98. [39364]

Mr. Byrne: The data is shown in the table. A key factor in the number of decisions to admit is the increase in the number of patients dealt with in an out-patient setting rather than through in-patient admission.
Number of decisions to admit, all specialties, England, 1997 to 2005

	Decisions to admit
1997–98	n/a
1998–99	4,189,323
1999–2000	4,159,078
2000–01	3,935,930
2001–02	3,781,437
2002–03	3,778,390
2003–04	3,802,744
2004–05	3,787,713

Note:
Data was not collected in 1997–98.
Source:
Department of Health form KH06




 
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Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people had been waiting more than six months for an NHS operation on 1 December. [38849]

Mr. Byrne: At the end of November 2005, 12,269 people had been waiting more than six months for a national health service operation according to monthly commissioner-based data. We remain confident that our year end target of a maximum waiting time of six months will have been met.

Women's Health Services

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts offer women suffering from (a) uterine fibroids and (b) menorrhagia alternative treatment options to hysterectomy which include (i) uterine fibroid embolisation, (ii) endometrial ablation, (iii) myomectomy and (iv) myolysis. [31504]

Mr. Byrne: Information broken down by primary care trusts is not available due to instances of small numbers for these gynaecological treatments. Data from hospital episode statistics (HES) giving counts of admissions to national health service hospitals are shown in the tables.

For women admitted into hospital in England in 2003–04 with a primary diagnosis of fibroids.

Treatment provided	Numbers of women
Hysterectomy	Less than 10
Uterine fibroid embolisation	350
Ablation	2,400
Myomectomy	1,500
Myolysis	Not available

For women admitted into hospital with a primary diagnosis of menorrhagia.

Treatment provided	Numbers of women
Hysterectomy	Less than 10
Uterine fibroid embolisation	15
Ablation	5,300
Myomectomy	60
Myolysis	Not available

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Bed-and-breakfast Accommodation (London)

Mr. Hands: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many 16 to 18-year-olds are living in bed and breakfast accommodation in each London borough. [42920]

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
 
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Carbon Emissions

Gregory Barker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which unit within his Department is responsible for reducing carbon emissions. [39903]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has a range of policy responsibilities—including planning, building regulations, housing and local government—that have a role to play in reducing carbon emissions. The ODPM's Corporate Strategy and Resources Group is responsible for co-ordinating the ODPM's contribution towards tackling climate change.

Commercial Planning

Mr. McGovern: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will issue planning guidance for new commercial premises to ensure that the secure transfer of cash to and from cash-in-transit carriers at banks, shopping centres, supermarkets and cash machines is taken into account. [43036]

Yvette Cooper: "Planning Policy Statement 1: Delivering Sustainable Development" (PPS1), published in 2005, sets the planning policy context for England. It places strong emphasis on the role of planning in helping to reduce crime. Planning authorities are asked to have robust policies which address crime prevention issues in their development plans. Crime prevention is also capable of being a material planning consideration in the consideration of planning applications.

The Government have also published "Safer Places: The Planning System and Crime Prevention" which provides detailed advice on the layout of all buildings and spaces to reduce the risk of crime, including, where appropriate, the incorporation of target hardening measures such CCTV in new development. The guidance urges planners, designers and crime prevention practitioners/police to work together to develop solutions from an early stage in the design process.

Planning policy in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive. I understand the Scottish Executive will be publishing a planning advisory note on designing safer places shortly.

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