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Sunbeds

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many inspections local authorities made to (a) staffed and (b) unstaffed sunbed tanning retail outlets in the last period for which figures are available; and what the average interval between inspections was in that period; [53106]

(2) how many complaints local authorities received about (a) staffed and (b) unstaffed coin-operated sunbed tanning salons in 2004–05; and what assessment he has made of the nature of the complaints; [53108]

(3) what inspections of sunbed tanning retail outlets local authorities undertake; what form such inspections take; and what period of notice is given by local authorities for such an inspection; [53109]

(4) whether any local authority has taken enforcement action against a sunbed tanning salon since 1995; and if he will make a statement. [53111]

Mrs. McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not collect local authority (LA) health and safety enforcement data at the level of detail requested.

Although most LAs submit voluntary annual returns on their health and safety enforcement activities through HSE to the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), these are aggregate returns used by HSC to establish, compare and contrast broad levels of health and safety enforcement activity carried out by LAs in line with the Commission's published strategy. The
 
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returns, while providing numbers of inspections, complaints and details of enforcement action by LAs, do so only at a broad industry sector level.

Swansea Pension Centre

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment has been made of customer service performance at the Swansea Pension Centre. [56017]

Mr. Timms: The most recent data for Swansea are in the following table.

	Target	January 2006	YTD
Pension credit applications clearance (days)	10	11.91	9.07
State pension claims clearance (percentage)	(24)95	98.89	97.81
Telephone calls answered (percentage)	92	92.3	93.6
Telephone calls blocked (percentage)	(25)1	0.0	0.0

⁽²⁴⁾ Within 60 days.
⁽²⁵⁾ Less than.

Unclaimed Benefits

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of (a) the percentage of those entitled to claim (i) housing benefit, (ii) income support, (iii) council tax benefit and (iv) pension credit who did not do so and (b) the amount that went unclaimed in each case in each of the last five years; [56161]

(2) what estimate he has made of the amount and percentage that went unclaimed in respect of income-related benefits in (a) 1997–98 and (b) the latest year for which information is available. [56162]

Mr. Plaskitt: Estimates for the main income-related benefits—income support/minimum income guarantee, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income-based jobseeker's allowance—for eligible private household population in Great Britain, are available in the DWP report entitled "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up". Copies of the latest publication, which describes patterns in take-up since 1997–98, together with past reports, are available in the Library.

Welfare Reform Green Paper

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the additional IT requirements of his Department to implement the proposals outlined in the Green Paper A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work; and what his estimate is of the cost to his Department of meeting those requirements. [51961]

Mr. Timms: The publication of the welfare reform Green Paper—A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work—began the official consultation phase which will run until 21 April 2006. The Department welcomes any feedback or suggestions from interested parties as we look for the best way forward.

We are unable to provide details of IT requirements or their costs until the period of consultation is completed and the final design of the proposals are agreed.
 
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HEALTH

Acinetobacter

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of infections with the bacteria acinetobacter there were in the NHS in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005, broken down by region. [53683]

Jane Kennedy: The Health Protection Agency's (HPA) centre for infections receives reports of "Acinetobacter" species blood stream infections (bacteraemias) that are voluntarily reported by microbiology laboratories in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These laboratories include national health service microbiology laboratories and private microbiology laboratories.

The number of cases of "Acinetobacter" species bacteraemias reported in England for 2004 and 2005 is shown in the table. Figures for 2005 are expected to rise due to late reporting.

Region	2004	2005
Eastern England	109	96
East Midlands	76	71
London	166	189
North East	75	70
North West	128	165
South East	92	59
South West	92	107
West Midlands	178	153
Yorkshire and Humberside	117	105
England	1,033	1,015

Source:
Health Protection Agency

Agenda for Change

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the consistency of the outcomes of the Agenda for Change re-grading procedure in NHS trusts. [50549]

Mr. Byrne: The responsibility for performance management of implementation of agenda for change, including consistency of implementation, rests with the relevant strategic health authorities. The NHS Staff Council has overall responsibility for consistency of the agenda for change pay system and has recently agreed guidance to employers on consistency monitoring.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of decisions on pay under Agenda for Change have been disputed since 1 January 2004, broken down by NHS trust. [50550]

Mr. Byrne: This information is not held centrally, as requests for reviews of banding under agenda for change are dealt with locally. However, reports of progress on assimilation received by the Department so far suggest that the number of reviews at most trusts are modest in relation to the size of the workforce.

Alzheimer's Disease

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has made of the (a) efficacy and (b) side-effects of drug treatment options that would be
 
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prescribed as alternatives for people with Alzheimer's disease in the severe stages of the disease who are currently prescribed Ebixa; [54179]

(2) what assessments have been undertaken by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence of the cost-effectiveness of Alzheimer's disease medication compared to non-drug interventions, including the cost of extra care for patients, as part of its development of recommendations on such medication; [54360]

(3) what assessment she has made of whether appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence of Alzheimer's disease drugs takes current prescribing practice into account; [54361]

(4) what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the methodologies used to develop the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's recommendations on Alzheimer's disease drug treatment. [54362]

Jane Kennedy: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE's) "Appraisal Consultation Document" for the appraisal review of drugs for Alzheimer's disease and accompanying documentation detail the appraisal committee's deliberations and the factors it has taken into account in reaching the position on which NICE has consulted. These documents are available on NICE'S website at www.nice.org.uk.

The Department has responded to the appraisal consultations undertaken by NICE in February 2005 and January 2006 and copies of those responses are available in the Library.

The methods NICE follows for developing its guidance are set out in its "Guide to the Methods of Technology Appraisals". The methods guide are kept under constant review, and NICE aims to consult formally with stakeholder organisations including those representing patients and carers, health care professionals and manufacturers approximately every three years, before issuing an updated version. The latest version of the methods guide was also informed by an independent review by the World Health Organisation and is available on NICE's website at www.nice.org.uk.

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of whether the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence took adequate account of the views of (a) people with dementia and (b) their carers on the effectiveness of drugs for Alzheimer's disease. [54369]

Jane Kennedy: I understand that the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) follows a standard process when developing its guidance. This process encourages patient groups to register as stakeholders and to submit written evidence. Patient groups are also asked to nominate experts who can give their expert personal view by attending the initial appraisal committee discussion and/or providing written evidence to the committee. Evidence submitted by patient groups and patient experts is published on the NICE website throughout the guidance development process.
 
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