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17 May 2006 : Column 1089W—continued
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 30 November 2005, Official Report, column 530W, on the Valuation Office Agency, what assessment the (a) Valuation Office Agency and (b) HM Revenue and Customs has now made of other uses of the automated valuation model. [70560]
Dawn Primarolo: The Valuation Office Agency (VGA) believes that the automated valuation model can be effective as a tool to support decision making.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency's electronic data sharing agreement with the Land Registry. [70677]
Dawn Primarolo: The Memorandum of Understanding between the Valuation Office Agency and HM Land Registry has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Office for National Statistics has access to (a) the Valuation Office Agency's Council Tax Valuation Lists and (b) dwellinghouse coding details. [70682]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, date 17 May 2006:
As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking whether the Office for National Statistics has access to (a) the Valuation Office Agency’s Council Tax Valuation Lists and (b) dwellinghouse coding details.
A number of areas within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have at times had access to the Valuation Office Agency’s Council Tax Valuation Lists and dwellinghouse coding details. For example, ONS provided a bureau service to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Department for Communities and Local Government) and the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to geo-reference 2001, 2002 and 2003 valuation list data which enabled aggregated and non-disclosive dwellings statistics by council tax bands for small areas to be disseminated on the Neighbourhood Statistics website.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=9616& Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272
This required access to valuation lists and coding details to which VOA retained ownership. ONS is no longer required to provide a bureau service.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Valuation Office Agency's 2005-06 annual report will be published. [70687]
Dawn Primarolo: It is expected that the Agency's 2005-06 annual report and accounts will be laid before Parliament in the week commencing 12 June.
VAT Fraud
Mr. Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what guidance his Department has produced for (a) businesses and (b) consumers regarding missing trader intra-community (carousel) VAT fraud. [71348]
(2) what estimate he has made of the revenue lost through missing trader intra-community (carousel) VAT fraud in each year since 2001; and what (a) plans he has and (b) resources he has allocated to tackle such fraud. [71349]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 May 2006, Official Report, columns 1455-56W, to the hon. Member for Twickenham(Dr. Cable).
HMRC have committed significant additional resources to strengthen their strategy, and there are now over 1,000 staff engaged in tackling Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) VAT fraud.
HMRC have published ‘Notice 726—Joint and Several Liability in the Supply of Specified Goods' and VAT Strategy: Input Tax deduction without a valid VAT invoice—Statement of Practice July 2003'. These contain guidance for businesses on specific measures that have been introduced to tackle VAT fraud, including reasonable checks that they can make in order to satisfy themselves of the bona fides of their trading activity and those with whom they trade. Both these publications are available on HMRC's internet site at www.hmrc.gov.uk.
In addition HMRC are working closely with the Joint VAT Consultative Committee to develop guidance aimed at helping businesses to identify the hallmarks of MTIC fraud.
Health
Accenture
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by (a) the national health service and (b) her Department on management consultant services from Accenture in each of the last five years. [68372]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Detailed information about contracts for management consultants engaged by NHS bodies is not held centrally.
The expenditure by the Department directly on management consultancy services provided by Accenture is shown in the table. The Department's current financial system does not hold information or years prior to 2004 and could not obtain this information without incurring disproportionate costs.
| £000 | |
Acute Hospital Trusts
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual capital servicing charges are for each acute hospital trust in England. [64331]
Andy Burnham: The capital charges paid by each national health service trust have been placed in the Library. Figures are for 2004-05, which is the latest year available.
Ambulance Services
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to announce her decision on the possible merger of Staffordshire Ambulance Service with other ambulance services. [71271]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 May 2006]: An oral statement was made to the House on the subject of ambulance and primary care trust configuration on 16 May 2006.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many times ambulances attended emergency mental health cases in each London borough in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement; [69785]
(2) what average time ambulances took to convey patients from point of pick-up to hospital in each London borough in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [69786]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not collected centrally.
However, the Department does collect data on the number of emergency calls received by each ambulance trust and data on ambulance response times. These data are published in the statistical bulletin “Ambulance Services, England: 2004-05”, which is available in the Library and on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/11/36/79/04113679.pdf. This publication includes data for the London Ambulance National Health Service Trust, which cover the London boroughs.
Autism
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has commissioned into the causes of autism. [69398]
Andy Burnham: None. The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Innovation.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes involving a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorders there were between 1990-91 and 1996-97. [70748]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Diagnoses of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) in hospitals are available from hospital episode statistics, as shown in the table.
| Number of finished consultant episodes involving a diagnosis of ASDs, England, 1995-96 to 1996-97 | |
| ICD-10 code: pervasive developmental disorders |
| Number of finished consultant episodes involving a diagnosis of ASDs, England, 1990-91 to 1994-95 | |
| ICD-9 code: infantile autism Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care, as provided by Data Standards, NHS Connecting for Health |
ASDs include childhood autism, atypical autism, Asperger's syndrome, Rett's syndrome, and other less common ASDs.
The two sets of information are not comparable, as up to 1994-95 figures show diagnoses for children only, and after 1995-96 figures show diagnoses for all ages.
Cancer Services
Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on cancer services in Brentford and Isleworth in each year since 1997. [71161]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally.
Children's Health Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to provide choice to those needing to use child and adolescent mental health services. [67647]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has commissioned a Choice in Mental Health programme, which is run by the Care Services Improvement Partnership and the National Institute for Mental Health England. The programme aims to extend the scope, range and equity of choices available for people across the spectrum of care, including child and adolescent mental health services.
In December 2005, choice local implementation teams were asked to submit a themed review on choice in all age mental health and learning disability services, as part of the mental health national service framework autumn assessment process. A report summarising the key findings of the themed review, including local developments in providing choice to children and adolescent service users, is currently being finalised ahead of publication in June 2006.
Children's Hospices
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent discussions she has had with (a) ministerial colleagues, (b) primary care trusts and strategic health authorities and (c) outside organisations on the funding of children's hospices; [55060]
(2) if she will make a statement on the (a) short-term and (b) long-term funding of children's hospices. [55061]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My predecessor Liam Byrne visited the Donna Louise Trust Children's Hospice in Stoke and Great Ormond Street hospital to see the different options available in palliative care for children and young people. He also met with a delegation from Butterwick Hospice and has held a seminar on children's palliative care with a wide range of organisations. A full list of organisations who attended the seminar is shown in the following list. My predecessor has also discussed this issue with ministerial colleagues, including my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State.
List of attendees—children and young people's palliative care seminar, 9 February 2006.
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA)
Cheshire and Merseyside SHA
North East London SHA
Surrey and Sussex SHA
The Council for Disabled Children
Contact a Family
Association for Children with Life Threatening of Life Limiting Access (ACT)
Association for Children's Hospices (ACH)
Healthcare Commission
Commission for Social Care inspection
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Nursing
Claire House Children's Hospice, Wirral
East Anglia Children's Hospice
Chase Hospice Care for Children
Haven House Hospice, London
Richard House Children's House, London
Palliative care for children and young people with a life threatening or life limiting condition requires a wide range of services provided in a variety of settings: home—to look at the level and type of palliative care services for children and young people needed in the different areas and to facilitate how this can be drawn together; school; and hospital or hospice—to enable them to live as normal a life as possible. It is for local decision how these services will be provided but we
have published guidance to support primary care trusts, in working with local authorities and other partners (including hospices), to commission high quality services.
Our manifesto commitment to double funding for end of life care will increase choice about where to receive palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions. A statement will be made about funding the commitment shortly.
Choose and Book System
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to question 54872, on the choose and book pilot scheme, how many patients opted to receive a service outside of their own primary care trust (PCT), broken down by PCT. [64085]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of general practitioners using the choose and book service in (a) England and (b) Taunton constituency. [64256]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Over 95 per cent., of general practitioners (GPs) in England are currently registered to use choose and book and 4,489 (52 per cent.) GP practices in England have made at least one booking using the choose and book service. In the Taunton Deane primary care trust area, 93 per cent. (14 out of 15) of GP practices have made at least one booking using the choose and book service.
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health why the choose and book system within the NHS is not used for mental health; and whether there are plans to extend its use to that area. [65812]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Choose and book is not currently widely used for mental health services, because the majority of referrals for these services are not from general practitioners to consultants. Where this is the referral route, the system is available for use. At the end of April 2006, choose and book had been used to make 266 bookings to services for the adult mental illness and old age psychiatry specialties.
However, the national choice consultation in autumn 2003 highlighted the choices which mental health service users feel would most enhance their user experience, these focused on choice of treatment rather than choice of service provider. These findings informed the detailed work carried out to formulate the Government's choice at referral policy and led to the decision not to require mental health services to offer choice of four providers at the point of referral.
In the light of the national choice consultation's findings, the Department commissioned the choice in mental health programme, which is being run by the National Institute of Mental Health in England. This programme aims to extend the scope, range and equity of treatment choices available across service user pathways.
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