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18 May 2006 : Column 1170W—continued
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many methadone patients have been registered with the drugs and alcohol action team in (a) Meden and (b) Birklands ward in Mansfield in each of the last five years. [71932]
Andy Burnham: Methadone patients are not required to register with a drug and alcohol team. In 2005-06, the national drug treatment monitoring system had notification of 1,249 Nottinghamshire residents receiving 2,234 episodes of substitute prescribing. 892 of these episodes were through specialist prescribing services, and 1,342 were through general practice prescribing.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many needle exchange transactions have there been in (a) Meden and (b) Birklands ward of Mansfield in each of the last five years. [71934]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is not held centrally.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been treated with methadone in each of the last five years; and how many of them were former prisoners. [69408]
Caroline Flint: Records taken from the National Treatment Agency's national drug treatment monitoring system give data on the number of people receiving all opiate substitutes, like buprenorphine and naltrexone, and not just methadone, as part of a drug treatment programme. These figures are available for the last three years only:
| 2003-04 | |
| Number treated | |
| 2004-05 | |
| Number treated | |
| 2005-06 | |
| Number treated | |
The Department does not hold information on how many of these were former prisoners.
Eastbourne District General Hospital
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many overnight stays in the paediatric ward of the Eastbourne District General hospital there have been in each of the last 10 years. [68388]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
External Consultants
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been allocated to external consultants for the recruitment exercise for chairs of strategic health authorities. [69135]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The recruitment of the chairs for the strategic health authorities was managed by the NHS Appointments Commission. I have asked the Commission's chair to answer my hon. Friend’s question directly.
Food/Alcohol Advertising
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she last met Ofcom to discuss the rules on broadcast advertising, sponsorship and promotion of food and drink to young people; if she will publish the minutes of the meeting; and if she will make a statement. [67409]
Caroline Flint: Ofcom met the Food Standards Agency and myself on 22 March 2006 when they set out the options for restrictions on broadcast advertising that were subsequently published in a consultation document on 28 March. Ofcom were also represented at the last meeting of the food and drink advertising and promotion forum on 26 April 2006, which I attended in part.
Fourth World Conference on Women
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response her Department made to the report of the Fourth World Conference on Women 1995. [65176]
Caroline Flint: The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 helped focus attention on gender equality in policy making and in particular on services to strengthen women's health.
The Department is committed to improving the health and well being of the general population, including the promotion of healthy lifestyles. The Department is currently taking forward a number of initiatives, including gender specific screening programmes. Some initiatives address particular aspects of women's health which take account of vulnerable and hard to reach populations. Examples include work related to the maternity standard of the national service framework for children, young people and maternity services. The standard contains a number of recommendations including ones to address improving maternal health and the needs of pregnant women experiencing domestic violence. Many of our initiatives help to promote empowerment of women by encouraging choice and partnership working with professionals over care, therefore fulfilling the commitment given in Beijing.
In March, the Department wrote to Baroness Prosser at the Women's National Commission in response to its annual violence against women audit. We provided information on a range of subjects from domestic abuse and female genital mutilation to the gender equality public sector duty, which all public bodies will be legally bound to uphold from April 2007.
Great Western Ambulance Service
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) administrative centres and (b) call centres the new Great Western Ambulance Service plans to have; and what guarantees have been made to existing staff on redeployment. [65972]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of administrative centres and control rooms for each ambulance trust is a local matter for the trust concerned.
The principles of the human resources (HR) framework, agreed in partnership with trade unions
nationally, apply to the recently merged Great Western Ambulance Service. The HR framework was produced to ensure that changes to configuration arising from “Taking Healthcare to the Patient: Transforming NHS Ambulance Services” are managed consistently and equitably across the country.
Any staff who do not secure jobs in the new structure and who may remain at risk of redundancy will have guaranteed employment until March 2007, and during the intervening period support will be provided to staff in obtaining suitable alternative employment within local national health service communities and partner organisations.
Midwives
Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she is taking to ensure more midwives are recruited in the north west region. [67826]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Individual national health service organisations are responsible for the recruitment of midwives. However, the Department is currently assessing the implications of the recently published White Paper ‘Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services’ and the commitment around offering choice within maternity services.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of midwives have a nursing qualification as well as a midwifery qualification. [71547]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally by the Department or the Information Centre for health and social care.
However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council holds figures on the number of midwives in the United Kingdom (UK) with more than one qualification.
According to their data, there are 22,306 midwives in the UK with more than one qualification.
Mobile Telephony
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the health effects of mobile telephony; and if she will make a statement. [69870]
Caroline Flint: The Stewart report in 2000 comprehensively reviewed the scientific literature and concluded that
"the balance of evidence to date suggests that exposures below international guidelines do not cause health effects to the general population"
(www.iegmp.org.uk). More recently, “Mobile Phones and Health 2004” reiterated the Stewart report's conclusions noting that
"there is a lack of hard information showing that the mobile phone systems in use are damaging to health."
The report [Documents of the National Radiological Protection Board, Volume 15, No. 5] is available on the Health Protection Agency's radiation protection division's
(HPA-RPD) website at www.hpa.org.uk/radiation. Both these reports, additionally, recommended further research and a precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technology pending the availability of more robust scientific research results.
The independently managed mobile telecommunications and health research (MTHR) programme was set up in 2001 in response to the Stewart report recommendations. It is currently supporting a number of studies into the possible health effects of mobile phone technology and these are described on the MTHR's website at www.mthr.org.uk.
All mobile phones and base stations in this country comply with international guidelines that are based on comprehensive reviews of the scientific literature. Measurements undertaken by both the HPA and by Ofcom (www.ofcom.org.uk) have consistently shown that exposures to radio signals from base stations are lower than the international guideline levels.
National Treatment Agency
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost has been of the National Treatment Agency since its inception. [69406]
Caroline Flint: The National Treatment Agency for substance misuse (NTA) has been funded by central Government since its inception in 2001-02. Total funding is shown in the following table.
| Funding of the NTA, 2001-02 to 2005-06 | |
| £ million | |
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what programmes are being undertaken by the National Treatment Agency; and how many people are employed by the Agency. [69407]
Caroline Flint: The National Treatment Agency for substance misuse (NTA) business plan outlines work programmes planned by the NTA for the year ahead, within seven priority areas:
treatment capacity;
access;
retention;
treatment delivery;
criminal justice and the drug intervention programme; and
young people.
The business plan has not yet been finalised to reflect the possibility of programme changes when funding allocations for the year are finalised.
As at 1 April 2006, there were 130 full-time employees of the NTA.
NHS Business Arrangement Manual
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the (a) individuals and (b) companies consulted in writing on the forthcoming business arrangement manual for NHS managers. [46262]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The “Business Arrangement Manual for NHS managers” was published on25 January 2006 as the document “The NHS in England: the operating framework for 2006/7”.
As is common for publications of this type, the Department consulted informally with a broad selection of senior national health service managers. The Department also consulted in writing with Monitor in relation to issues concerning NHS foundation trusts. In addition, the Department consulted informally with individuals in other Government departments.
NHS Finances
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what date the (a) West Gloucestershire primary care trust, (b) Cotswold and Vale primary care trust, (c) Cheltenham and Tewkesbury primary care trust, (d) Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust, (e) Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (f) Great Western Ambulance Trust are required to (i) achieve month by month financial balance and (ii) clear the accumulated deficit from prior years. [72152]
Caroline Flint: With respect to Gloucestershire Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, this is a matter for the Chair and I have written to the Chair to inform him of the hon. Member’s inquiry and copies will be placed in the Library.
With respect to the other organisations the hon. Member refers to, the strategic health authority (SHA) has the responsibility to secure financial balance across the area by the end of the financial year. The SHA is agreeing plans with local organisations to achieve month by month financial balance and clear the accumulated deficit from prior years.
NHS Hospitals
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 11 May 2006, to question 70030, on NHS hospitals, if she will list the NHS facilities in England which have inpatient beds. [72186]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is available on the Department's website at:
www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/data_ requests/index.htm
NHS Pension Scheme
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the impact of agenda for change on the NHS Pension Scheme; [67949]
(2) whether the figures she has released on the under-estimate of the cost of the GP and consultants contract include the cost of the contract to the NHS Pension Scheme. [67950]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government Actuary's department has valued the total liabilities of the NHS Pension Scheme as at 31 March 2005 to be £127.9 billion. They are in the process of preparing a detailed actuarial valuation of the scheme as at 31 March 2004 which will be published later this year, which will include analysis of the factors leading to any change in valuation.
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