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Residential Care Costs
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people in England receiving residential care pay (a) all the cost of such care and (b) part of the cost themselves; [55380]
(2) how many people in England receiving residential care have the cost of the care paid for them by the National Health Service. [55381]
Mr. Byrne [Holding answers issued 2 March 2006]: At 31 March 2005, there were 267,200 adults, aged 18 and over, supported in care homes by councils with social service responsibilities (CSSRs) in England. A breakdown of the number of clients who are partially funded and those who are fully funded by CSSRs is not centrally available.
Data from the independent market analysts Laing and Buission suggest there are some 15,000 to 20,000 National Health Service funded residents and over 100,000 privately funded residents.
Special Advisers
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the special advisers retained by Ministers in her Department. [48081]
Mr. Byrne: The Secretary of State and her Ministers retain two special advisers, Liz Kendall and Paul Richards.
Sterile Services Initiative
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the consultants used in the Pathfinder project for the sterile services initiative; and what the value was of each contract. [48802]
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Jane Kennedy [holding answer 6 February 2006]: The Pathfinder project will deliver modern decontamination services to the Bradford Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust. The project has used Ernst and Young, Gleeds Management Services and Pinsent Masons. The value of these contracts is commercially confidential.
Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) membership and (b) terms of reference are of the Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group; what assessment she has made of the impact of its work; and if she will make a statement. [56375]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The suicide prevention strategy advisory group provides leadership and support in ensuring successful implementation of the national suicide prevention strategy. It also provides valuable input into the development of various specific actions outlined in the strategy where members of the group have a particular expertise. A review of membership was undertaken in 2005 to ensure it reflected the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to take this work forward. The new membership is as follows:
Supercentre Sterile Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she has in place to allow fair competition and innovation to continue when supercentre contracts for sterile services are developed. [53200]
Jane Kennedy
[holding answer 27 February 2006]:We are committed to a mixed economy in decontamination in the National Health Service. NHS trusts may choose to redevelop their own services to meet the national standards, they may obtain the service from private
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contractors by market testing, they may obtain the service as part of a larger private finance initiative project or they may join with other NHS bodies to redevelop the service by means of a joint venture with a private sector service provider.
We estimate that about 100 NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts will choose to participate in joint ventures with the remainder choosing one of the other options.
Each supercentre will have a joint venture management board (JVMB) and an instrument review committee (IRG) made up of NHS personnel who will regularly review the performance of the service provider and work in partnership to discuss requirements and maintain innovation.
The IRC and JVMB will also be responsible for specifying requirements and benchmarking arrangements to ensure fair competition and best value in terms of both quality and price.
The decisions on procurement routes and products will be determined at local level by the JVMB and the IRC. It is our intention to support both markets by ensuring that agreements are in place that reflect the changing requirements of the NHS, whilst providing opportunities for innovation through competition.
There are currently a number of national framework agreements in place for products associated with decontamination, some of which are provided through the NHS Logistics Authority. These are available to third parties procuring on behalf of the NHS as well as to the NHS itself.
Waiting Times
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2006, Official Report, column 1686W, on waiting times, if she will provide the equivalent data for the years 1992–93 to 1996–97; and how many patients dealt with in an out-patient setting were not subsequently admitted onto the in-patient waiting list in each year since 1997–98. [46621]
Jane Kennedy: The Department is unable to supply data on the estimated mean and median waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant following general practitioner referral, for years 1992–93 to 1996–97. This is because the relevant data collection commenced in September 1997.
The Department does not centrally collect data on the number of patients dealt with in an out-patient setting who were not subsequently admitted onto the in-patient waiting list.
Working Time Directive
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has undertaken into the impact of the Working Time Directive on (a) junior doctors, (b) consultants, (c) registrars and (d) nursing staff in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge Health Authority area. [33477]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not undertaken any research into the impact of the working time directive (WTD) in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge Health Authority area. Implementation of the WTD is the responsibility of local National Health Service trusts and strategic health authorities (SHAs) were required to draw up affordable plans to meet WTD 2004.
The Government agreed to implement the European WTD as United Kingdom legislation to improve the health and safety and working lives of all employees in this country. The vast majority of staff groups have been covered by the 48-hour week since 1998. The Government negotiated; an extension to the WTD for doctors in training to enable phased implementation from August 2004.
Insurance (Genetic Testing)
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment her Department has made of research undertaken jointly by the Human Genetics Committee and the Genetics and Insurance Committee on the use of genetic information by the insurance industry, which was due for completion in 2005; [52764]
(2) if she will make a statement on the temporary ban, voluntarily agreed between the Government and the Association of British Insurers on insurers requesting the results of predictive genetic tests on breast cancer genes. [53038]
Jane Kennedy: The consultation and analysis done by the human genetics commission jointly with the genetics and insurance committee (GAIC) has been used to inform the development of the Government's and insurer's Concordat and Moratorium on Genetics and Insurance", published in March 2005. This document ensures that the use of genetic information by insurance companies will be transparent, fair, and subject to independent oversight. It sets out a range of protections against the use of genetic information by insurers and puts in place until November 2011 a voluntary agreement banning the use by insurers of the results from predictive genetic tests, including tests on breast cancer genes, in deciding the premiums of insurance policies.
During the moratorium no one will be required to disclose the results of a predictive genetic test unless it has been approved by the GAIC and is for insurance of more than £500,000 for life insurance or £300,000 for other health insurance. To date, the only test that has been approved by GAIC is for Huntington's disease for life insurance polices over £500,000, and no applications for any other tests will be submitted before 2008.
The current agreement with the insurance industry is flexible enough to respond to fast moving technological and clinical developments in genetic testing. The Government has made clear that any failure of the agreement will lead to the reconsideration of the need for statutory control. Copies of the Concordat are available in the Library and are also available on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/publications.
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