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Rise Associates
Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many tenders Rise Associates have submitted to his Department in each of the last five years; and how many were successful. [69157]
Angela E. Smith: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed in May 2002 and information prior to this date is not readily available. Since that date there have been no successful tenders for Rise Associates. The number of tenders submitted during this period is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many contracts his Department holds with Rise Associates which have a potential duration of five years or more. [69158]
Angela E. Smith: ODPM has no existing contracts with Rise Associates.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many applications for regeneration monies have been submitted by Rise Associates to his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the value is of those which were successful. [69159]
Angela E. Smith: No regeneration monies have been paid directly by the Department to Rise Associates. The Department maintains a record of funding to its agencies, but this does not include details of any payments made by agencies to third party organisations for services.
Rushenden Link Road
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will announce the funding for the Rushenden link road. [68906]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 8 May 2006]: Officials within Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are in dialogue with the South East of England Development Agency to consider how regeneration in the area of Queenborough and Rushenden can be progressed, and the issue of the Rushenden relief road.
Stock Transfers
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have (a) transferred their housing stock and (b) set up an arm's length management organisation; how many properties were involved in each case; and how much debt was written off as a result in each case. [58937]
Yvette Cooper: A list of all local authority housing stock transfers and arms length management organisations and the number of properties involved in each case has been place in the Library of the House. For transfers we have provided the amount of local authority debt repaid by central Government. The list
shows the one off payment that was made to discharge the Office's continued liability, through the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), to pay subsidy on an authority's housing attributable debt that remains after transfer. This option of paying off debt, as opposed to continuing to pay subsidy, was introduced in 1999 following consultation and is not an extra cost, it is largely a question of when the liability to meet the cost of HRA debt is discharged. There is no debt repayment for ALMOs as the local authority continues to be support through the HRA subsidy system.
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the communications strategy prepared by the Valuation Office Agency for the council tax revaluation in England. [66315]
Mr. Woolas: The communications strategy drafted by the Valuation Office Agency for the currently postponed council tax revaluation in England was prepared as an input to the formulation and development of Government policy and it is not therefore appropriate to place this in the public domain.
Wiring Regulations
Robert Key: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which professional body oversees compliance with the Wiring Regulations and British Standard 7671. [68525]
Angela E. Smith: British Standard 7671 is also known as the Wiring Regulations. It is a code of practice and is the UK national standard for electrical installation work. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is the professional body responsible for maintaining the standard, but it does not oversee compliance with the standard. Complying with BS 7671 is a way of meeting the requirements of the Electricity at Work Regulations and the Building Regulations Part P (Electrical safety in dwellings). These regulations are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive and Local Authority Building Control respectively.
Health
Alcohol Misuse Programmes
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding she has made available for alcohol misuse programmes through the pooled treatment budget for substance misuse. [67423]
Caroline Flint: The Department has made no funding available specifically for alcohol misuse treatment through the pooled drug treatment budget, as this budget is intended for the funding of drug treatment. National health service primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning alcohol misuse treatment according to local need.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to create a separate agency to take forward the alcohol strategy. [67629]
Caroline Flint: The Government have no plans to create a separate agency to take forward the alcohol strategy.
Anatomy Act
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will seek to amend the Anatomy Act 1984 to prevent the public exhibition for profit of plasticised cadavers; and if she will make a statement. [67284]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The public exhibition of human bodies is not covered by the Anatomy Act 1984, which regulates the donation and use of bodies for anatomical examination.
From 1 September 2006, it will be unlawful under the Human Tissue Act 2004 to store or use human bodies, organs and tissues for public display, without a licence from the Human Tissue Authority.
Audiology Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the timescale for the replacement of all NHS analogue hearing aids with digital ones. [69356]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for primary care trusts to plan and commission appropriate services for their local population including those who require digital hearing aids.
We have no estimate of the timescale for replacing analogue hearing aids with digital ones. This should be done as part of the routine maintenance programme for individuals based on their clinical need.
Bone Density Scanning
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what routine bone density scanning programmes are being operated by each of the primary care trusts covering Portsmouth and who is routinely screened by each trust. [68434]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not held centrally.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bone density scanning machines are available in each of the primary care trusts covering Portsmouth. [68435]
Caroline Flint: There is one bone densitometry scanner available to serve the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire healthcare community.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time is for a bone density scan in each of the primary care trusts covering Portsmouth. [68436]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Bowel Cancer
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what funding is being allocated to the roll-out of the bowel cancer screening programme for the financial year (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2008-09; [63233]
(2) how many testing kits for the bowel cancer screening programme have been ordered for the first year of the screening programme; [63234]
(3) for what reasons Rugby was chosen as the first location for the bowel cancer screening programme; and what resources will be provided to the Hospital of St. Cross to facilitate the continuation of the programme after April. [63235]
(4) which locations are being considered as suitable for hubs for the bowel cancer screening programme; what criteria are used to determine the location of hubs; and when decisions will be made; [63236]
(5) how many people were tested for bowel cancer as part of the screening pilot in Rugby between April 2005 and March 2006; and how many people will be tested in the following 12 months; [63237]
(6) what estimate she has made of the number of lives saved as a result of the bowel cancer screening pilot in Rugby since 2000; and what the estimated gains are for cancer survival rates as a result of the bowel cancer screening programme in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2008-09; [63238]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The national bowel cancer screening programme will be rolled out nationally over the next three years. Funding for the first year of the screening programme is being transferred to the national cancer screening team in Sheffield, and Wolverhampton will be the first local screening centre. We estimate that around £10 million will be spent on the first stages of the national bowel cancer screening programme. Funding decisions have not yet been made for future years but we are committed to ensuring that the necessary funding is available to ensure the full implementation of the programme.
NHS cancer screening programmes are taking all the necessary action to ensure the successful roll-out of the programme, including the procurement of testing kits. The kit supplier has been notified that the first order is for 100,000 kits.
Five programme hubs across England will invite men and women to participate in the screening programme, send out the faecal occult blood (FOB) testing kits, interpret kits and send results out. 90 to 100 local screening centres will provide endoscopy services for the 2 per cent, of men and women who have a positive FOB test result.
The pilot in Rugby will continue to run as planned to the end of March 2007. In addition, the first of the five programme hubs will also be established by March 2007, with announcements to be made in due course.
NHS cancer screening programmes are currently considering where the five programme hubs will be located. We intend to establish the other four programme hubs by March 2007, with announcements to be made in due course.
24,345 people were tested in Rugby between April 2005 and March 2006. In the next 12 months they will be inviting a further 28,360 people.
We estimate that the number of lives saved as a result of the bowel cancer screening pilot is between 100 to 150. Our expectation is to reduce deaths in the population invited for screening by 15 per cent.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the representations made by Cancer Research UK concerning the implementation of the bowel cancer screening programme; what steps are being taken by the Government to establish the programme on a national basis from 1 April onwards and what the timing is of such steps; and if she will make a statement; [63643]
(2) pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2006, Official Report, columns 2552-53W, on colon cancer, how many of the 217 people diagnosed with bowel cancer as a result of the bowel cancer screening pilot are still alive; how many of the 959 people diagnosed with bowel polyps subsequently underwent treatment for the removal of those polyps; and what estimate she has made of the number of people likely to be diagnosed with (a) bowel cancer and (b) bowel polyps when bowel cancer screening is fully operational as proposed in the White Paper. [63795]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The national bowel cancer screening programme will be rolled out nationally over the next three years. Funding for the first year of the screening programme is being transferred to the national cancer screening team in Sheffield, and Wolverhampton will be the first local screening centre. We intend that all five programme hubs will be established and around 14 local screening centres will be operating, out of a total of 90 to 100 for full national coverage, by March 2007.
We do not hold data on how many of the 217 people diagnosed with bowel cancer as a result of the bowel cancer screening pilot are still alive.
The clinicians in Rugby have advised that all persons diagnosed with bowel polyps have been treated.
Once the bowel cancer screening programme is fully operational we would estimate that around 2 per cent, of all those screened will have a positive FOB test result. Of these around 10 per cent. will have bowel cancer and approximately 45 per cent. will have polyps.
Breast Screening
Ms Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent her Department took demographic changes into account when developing the NHS Breast Screening Programme. [63999]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department is aware of the growing number of women becoming eligible for breast screening, as women born in the post-war baby boom reach their fiftieth birthdays. This increase is expected to peak in 2015, resulting in a 20 per cent. increase in women aged 50 to 70, in England, between 2005 and 2025.
Commissioners are aware of this issue and the need to plan for this in order to prevent a negative impact on the breast screening service.
Additionally, the Department and the NHS breast screening programme are closely monitoring screening activity to ensure the quality of the service is not compromised.
Car Provision
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what cars have been provided for the senior management in each of the last five years of the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority; and what the (a) year, (b) make, (c) model and (d) cost per annum was in each case. [64717]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected by the Department but can be obtained direct from the strategic health authority concerned.
Cardiac Care (Children)
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to screen all children for cardiac problems; and if she will make a statement. [65912]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member tothe reply I gave on 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 192W.
Care Homes
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many lay assessors for care home inspection were employed in each year from 1992 to 2006; and at what cost; [63932]
(2) what research the National Care Standards Commission undertook on lay assessors; what its conclusions were; and if she will make this report available. [63934]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I understand from the Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), which took over the regulation and inspection of care homes in England from the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) on 1 April 2004, that it does not employ lay assessors for care home inspections.
The NCSC commissioned a report on lay assessors, published in January 2003, entitled, “Inspecting with Lay Assessors: What Value? What Impact?”. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The report concluded that lay assessors’ contribution to regulatory work was valuable, when it was well supported by a comprehensive and appropriately resourced scheme.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the number of places currently available at care homes in the (a) public sector, (b) private sector and (c) not-for-profit sector. [66683]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I understand from the Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that the number of care homes and places in the public sector, private sector and non-for-profit sector is as shown in the tables.
| Number of care homes for England | ||||||
| Independent | Local authority | Voluntary | NHS | Other | Total | |
| Maximum number of registered places for England | ||||||
| Independent | Local authority | Voluntary | NHS | Other | Total | |
| Note: The figures provided are the latest extract—21 March 2006—from the CSCI registration and inspection database. |
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