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31 Jan 2006 : Column 461W—continued
Housing Development
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will discuss with the Deputy Prime Minister the merits of including health impact assessments in planning for areas designated for housing growth. [45348]
Caroline Flint: The Government's White Paper Choosing health" integrated health impact assessment (HIA) into the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) process so that all Government Departments could consider the possible impact of their policies on health.
The Department has regular contact with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) on a range of issues including the integration of health considerations in planning. We have provided information on health in new ODPM guidance on strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal. Such appraisals are applied to regional spatial strategies and local development documents which are used for planning purposes.
31 Jan 2006 : Column 462W
Improving Working Lives Standard
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the programmes which form part of the Improving Working Lives standard; how much funding has been allocated to each of these programmes since their start date, broken down by financial year; from what sources the funding for these programmes has been derived (a) in past years and (b) in 2005–06; if she will make it her policy that funding will be made available to support (i) the flexible careers scheme, (ii) the NHS Childcare Strategy, (iii) the GP Returner scheme, (iv) the Golden Hello scheme and (v) the NHS Delayed Retirement scheme in five financial years; and if she will make a statement. [44056]
Mr. Byrne:
The improving working lives (IWL) standard was launched in October 2000 with an initial allocation of £9 million to health organisations and funding to promote IWL in subsequent years is in the table. IWL supports the aims of the NHS Plan in relation to increasing the national health service workforce. IWL is a feature of every day management in the NHS with successful implementation of modern
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employment practices and follows seven areas of good practice, which include flexible working and flexible retirement, child care and support for carers.
| Funding (£) | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 9 million |
| 2002–03 | 1.9 million |
| 2003–04 | 2.6 million |
| 2004–05 | 722,000 |
| 2005–06 | 33,000 |
Initiatives such as the flexible careers scheme is one of many options for employers, which support the broader IWL ethos of promoting work life balance through flexible working. Other options on flexible working include the use of different rosters and working patterns to reflect service delivery.
The flexible careers scheme for hospital doctors was introduced in November 2001 and extended to general practitioners in 2002. The scheme supports flexible working and return to practice for doctors and general practitioners and Departmental funding from central programme budgets which is shown in the table.
| Funding (£) | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 30,000 |
| 2002–03 | 640,000 |
| 2003–04 | 9.1 million |
| 2004–05 | 23 million |
Flexible working is now well embedded in the NHS through implementation of modern employment practice and legislation. The management and funding of the scheme is in the process of being devolved to local health organisations.
The NHS child care strategy had over £70 million invested between 2001 to 2004 to provide 150 nurseries for NHS staff. In addition, the Government committed the £100 million savings from Shifting the Balance of Power (StBoP) to extending the child care strategy, to ensure that the child care needs of all staff are met. From 2004–05 responsibility for child care has been devolved to the NHS.
In 2004–05 support for child care was extended to NHS students in the form of NHS student child care allowance. In 2004–05, £7 million was provided from central programme budget and in 2005–06, the investment will rise to approximately £16 million.
The golden hello scheme for general practitioners was replaced in April 2005 by the primary care development scheme with the aim to provide funding, targeted locally, at those areas that have the greatest recruitment difficulties in general practice. The Department allocated £13 million to support the scheme in 2005–06 to strategic health authorities.
The NHS delayed retirement scheme was replaced from 1 April 2004 by the new seniority arrangements negotiated for the new general practitioner contract.
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Retaining staff approaching retirement and encouraging staff to work beyond conventional retirement age one of the key features of IWL.
Independent Sector Treatment Centres
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) on the morale of NHS staff; and whether her Department has conducted a survey of the opinion of NHS staff on the effectiveness of ISTCs. [43695]
Mr. Byrne: No such assessments or surveys have been undertaken.
Influenza
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to question reference 40822, what the closing date is for tenders to contract to supply influenza vaccine to tackle a pandemic. [44749]
Caroline Flint: We have just concluded pre-tender meetings with the manufacturers who expressed an interest to the Official Journal of the European Union. The closing date for tenders was 28 November 2005. Final tenders will be issued by the end of this month following comments received on the draft issued before the pre-tender meetings.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 November 2005, Official Report, column 971W, on influenza, which manufacturers have responded to the invitation to tender for a contract to supply pandemic influenza vaccine; when the invitation to tender for the contract closed; when she expects to agree the contract to supply pandemic influenza vaccine; when she expects influenza vaccine manufacturers to have sufficient capacity to produce 120 million doses of influenza vaccine to the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement. [44933]
Caroline Flint: We have just concluded pre-tender meetings with the manufacturers who expressed an interest to the Official Journal of the European Union. The closing date for tenders was 19 October 2005. Final tenders will be issued by the end of this month following comments received on the draft issued before the pre-tender meetings. It is too early to give an indication of production capabilities because this will depend upon the nature of the eventual virus.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate her Department has made of the number of people in at-risk groups who were unable to obtain a seasonal influenza vaccination in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 2005. [45254]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not collected centrally.
IT Costs
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate she has made of the average percentage of the overall budget of (a) primary care trusts and (b) NHS trusts which was spent on IT in the most recent period for which figures are available; [42190]
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(2) what percentage of the allocation to a typical (a) primary care trust and (b) NHS trust is assumed to be for information technology expenditure. [42283]
Mr. Byrne: The great majority of funding allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs) is not ring fenced, and national health service trusts do not receive allocations but are paid for the provision of care services commissioned from them by PCTs. Each NHS organisation is free, and expected, to use its resources in the way that delivers the best available value for money.
Based on NHS summarised accounts data, spending in 2004–05 on information technology (IT) represented 6.5 per cent. of total NHS trust capital expenditure, and 16.6 per cent. of total primary care trust capital expenditure.
Revenue expenditure on IT is reported through an annual national survey of NHS bodies. Based on information from the 2004 survey, the latest period for which figures are available, the average percentage of revenue allocations which NHS bodies as a whole planned to spend on IT in 2004–05 is 2.11 per cent.
Detailed information from 2004 survey returns can be found on the NHS Connecting for Health's website at: www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/publications.
Because of the different sources and accounting bases for the available information, it is not possible to differentiate separate percentage revenue figures for NHS trusts and PCTs, or to quote a meaningful aggregate figure for combined capital and revenue expenditure on IT for either NHS trusts or PCTs.
1. Figures do not include the Department's central expenditure on IT through the national programme for IT.
2. With effect from 2004–05, NHS foundation trusts (FTs) have not been required to submit financial returns to the Department, and consequently FT data are not included in the percentages for capital expenditure.
3. Percentage revenue expenditure derives from returns provided in 2004 by 568 out of 600 NHS organisations in response to the national survey.
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