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Colorants

3. Mr. John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD): What assessment she has made of the level of use of colorants in the manufacture of medicines; and if she will make a statement. [56292]

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Jane Kennedy): The addition of small levels of colorants to medicines can often be justified as a way of identifying and distinguishing the different types and strengths of a medicine. That can be very important to patients taking several medicines, for example. However, the use of any substance in a medicine, as well as the drug itself, must be justified under EU legislation before it is granted a marketing authorisation.

Mr. Leech: I thank the Minister for that answer. I became interested in this matter when a constituent told me about the difficulty of finding a medicine that did not have a particular colorant. My constituent needed the colorant-free version because of an allergy. However, I was surprised to be told by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that one reason for the use of colorants was to improve appearance. Given the obvious danger that young children will consume medicines and pills because they think that they are sweets and drinks, and the recent tragic case—

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order. The hon. Gentleman must sit down when I stand up. Will he now please put his question precisely?

Mr. Leech: I am sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Does the Minister agree that we need to rethink the use of colorants as a way to improve appearance?

Jane Kennedy: I do not accept that that is necessary. The MHRA will investigate any reports of an adverse reaction to a medicine, whether that is due to the colorants or any other additive, or to the medicine's basic ingredients. It will also investigate any reports suggesting that there is a wider problem related to a particular colouring additive that may alter the benefit from the use of that medicine. Any company that wants to use an additive in a medicine has to receive approval for its use. I believe that the system is working pretty well. I shall look at the point raised by the hon. Gentleman, but I do not think that there is any need for a review at the moment.
 
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Access to GPs

4. Mr. Mark Todd (South Derbyshire) (Lab): What assessment she has made of access to general practitioners in South Derbyshire. [56293]

The Secretary of State for Health (Ms Patricia Hewitt): I should like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to Sir Nigel Crisp, who announced today that he will retire at the end of this month, after more than five years as chief executive of the NHS and permanent secretary at the Department of Health. Under his leadership, there have been record improvements in NHS performance. I want to thank him for that and to congratulate him on his elevation to the other place. I have placed a copy of the full announcement in the Library of the House.

To turn to the question, in February 2006 the Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire primary care trust and the Greater Derby PCT reported that all primary care practices in their areas were able to make an appointment with a GP within two working days, and with a primary care professional within one working day.

Mr. Todd: The preface to that answer made me think that Sir Nigel was taking a personal interest in South Derbyshire, and I was saddened by the announcement. How adequate does my right hon. Friend think are the tools to deal with rapid population growth, such as the Swadlincote area has experienced over the past 10 years? There has been a predictable increase in demand for primary care, and many of my roughly 10,000 extra constituents concentrated around Swadlincote often struggle to get registered with a GP. Relying on a local improvement finance trust scheme to deliver that service means that they face a very long wait.

Ms Hewitt: I understand my hon. Friend's concerns and I am glad to say that in the allocations that we have made and announced for the next two years for primary care trusts we take account as far as we possibly can of anticipated as well as previous population growth. He refers to the new health and social care facilities at Swadlincote, and they will be an enormous improvement in the facilities that are offered to his constituents. I am sure that the local primary care trust, with the additional funding that it will continue to receive over the next few years, will do everything possible to go on improving services for his constituents, as we have been doing.

Business Services Authority

5. David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op): If she will make a statement on progress with the establishment of the Business Services Authority. [56294]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Liam Byrne): The Business Services Authority was established in October 2005. It will gain legal status on 1 April when the arm's length bodies that are merging into it are due to be abolished.
 
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David Taylor: It is richly ironic for there to be no published business case for the creation of the Business Services Authority, which has been beset by undue haste, poor advice and wildly optimistic time scales. I extend my sympathies to my hon. Friend on inheriting that mess. Does he agree that the BSA has become an expensive parking bay for the five NHS agencies involved? Has he made any estimate of the cost of that sad and sorry saga so far?

Mr. Byrne: Our priority is front-line care, where patients are served, and we are increasing resources at such a rate in the NHS that there is an obligation on us to use the money well. Plans for the BSA have brought together existing ideas for all four separate agencies and I hope to meet hon. Members soon to brief them. I know that my hon. Friend is concerned about one point in particular, and I wish to give him a word of reassurance. Where those plans will have an impact on working people, we will seek views from the Public and Commercial Services Union, Unison and others, because we recognise that they are working hard to protect their members' interests.

Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) (PC): Will the Minister confirm that the BSA will underwrite all the costs of change and the redundancies inevitable in the transfer and outsourcing? If not, it will hide the true cost of the outsourcing and effectively shift the risk on to the public service, leaving the bidding contractors to cream off the maximum profit. Will he assure the House that that is not the case and will not happen?

Mr. Byrne: I assure the hon. Gentleman that no final decisions have been taken, but as the business cases are finalised over the months to come, I can assure him also that if there are transfers of staff, we will observe best practice and ensure TUPE protection for any staff who are transferred. Furthermore, we will follow the joint statement of good practice that was agreed between Government, industry and unions in October last year, which sets out the standards on pay, conditions and service that we all expect to be observed.

Kelvin Hopkins (Luton, North) (Lab): Apparently, PricewaterhouseCoopers put out a report suggesting that the contracting out of the pension scheme administration would be challenging and pose a degree of business continuity risk. Is not this simply an attempt to privatise, driven by dogma?

Mr. Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton, North-East) (Lab/Co-op): I think so.

Hon. Members: Answer!

Mr. Byrne: One answer or two? As my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) knows, about 50 per cent. of the Pensions Agency work is already outsourced and, under the terms of that contract, the winning contractor—out of the 33 organisations that bid—has first rights to bid on any expansion of that contract. That bid is under development now and our first assessment will need to be whether that bid is value for money, before it goes any further.
 
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Mr. Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury) (Con): Without scapegoating strategic health authorities or the as yet non-operational NHS Business Services Authority, will the Minister give a guarantee that, in line with the Government's target, the Department will now stop the deliberate policy of long and damaging delays of due payments to suppliers to the NHS, such as PJ Care Ltd. in Milton Keynes and the Shred Safe Ltd. of St. Neots, which have waited more than 120 days to be paid? Is he not a little embarrassed that NHS trusts, by those unfair means, seek to mask their deficits, which were incurred as a direct result of implementing Government policy?

Mr. Byrne: The obligations of everyone in the public sector to pay their bills on time is well set out. If there are instances of that not being observed which the hon. Gentleman wants to bring forward, I will happily look into them.

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