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29 Jun 2006 : Column 603W—continued

Vandalism

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost was to the Department of Education of vandalism at educational establishments in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [78503]

Maria Eagle: The cost of repairing vandalism met by each education and library board in controlled and maintained schools in the last three years is as follows:

	£000
2003-04	831
2004-05	639
2005-06	679

The information for voluntary grammar and grant maintained integrated schools is not readily available and is being requested. I will write to the hon. Lady with the information as soon as possible.

Health

Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the members are of the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. [79477]

Andy Burnham: The Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) is an independent body consisting of national health service management, general practitioners and academics.

ACRA members are shown in the table.

29 Jun 2006 : Column 604W

ACRA membership as of September 2005
	Organisation
Chair
Mr. D. Fillingham	Chief Executive, Bolton Hospital NHS Trust Members
Members
Mr. K. Derbyshire	Department of Health, Senior Economic Advisor
Professor I. Diamond	Chief Executive, Economic and Social Research Council
Mr. F. Dickinson	Department of Health, Economic Advisor
Dr. S. Drage	General Practitioners Committee, BMA
Dr. M. D’Souza	Head of the Unit of General Practice, NH and LI Imperial College, Surrey
Professor H. Glennerster	Professor Emeritus of Social Administration and Co-Director of CASE, London School of Economics
Dr. R. Hussey	Director of Health Strategy, Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority
Professor Sir B. Jarman	Emeritus Professor of the Department of General Practice, Imperial College of Medicine
Mr. P. Lilley	Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Ms R. MacDonald	Chief Executive, Bath and North Somerset Primary Care Trust
Mrs. Candy Morris	Chief Executive, Surrey and Sussex SHA
Dr. N. Rice	Reader, University of York
Mr. D. Roberts	Unit Manager, NHS, Health and Social Care Information Centre
Dr. I. Trimble	General Practitioner, Nottingham
Mr. C. Vincent	Department of Health, Finance

Audiology Services

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to review the decision to exclude audiology from the 18-week waiting time target for treatment. [81155]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The 18-week referral to treatment target covers hospital pathways.

As a result of innovation, the majority of audiology and adult hearing services are accessed directly from primary care and are outside the scope of the 18-week pathway. However, hearing and balance conditions that do need to be referred to a medical consultant will be subject to 18 weeks.

There is no intention to reconsider or review this principle. However, reducing the time that patients wait for directly accessed services is important and an action plan is being developed to improve access to audiology services outside the 18-week pathway.

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting times are from GP referral to final fitting of digital hearing aids for (a) new patients and (b) existing patients with an analogue hearing aid in the Solihull Primary Care Trust area. [80853]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department does not collect waiting time data for hearing aid/audiology services. However, since January 2006 we have been collecting waiting time and activity data for 15 diagnostic tests/procedures, including pure tone audiometry. These data have been shared with the national health service, for performance management purposes since 2 June 2006. These data will be routinely published from July 2006.

Audit Commission Act

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reports under (a) section 19 and (b) section 8 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 she has received in each year since the provisions were implemented. [81002]

Andy Burnham: Section 8 of the Act requires auditors in auditing the accounts to consider whether, in the public interest, they should report on any matter coming to their notice in the course of the audit, in order for it to be considered by the body concerned or brought to the attention of the public. The auditor can issue an immediate report if the public interest requires it, or can issue a report at the conclusion of the audit.

29 Jun 2006 : Column 605W

Section 19 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 requires an appointed auditor to refer matters to the Secretary of State if he/she has reason to believe that a national health service organisation has made a decision which involves, or may involve, unlawful expenditure, known as referrals to the Secretary of State. These reports are not published.

The number of reports and referrals made under sections 8 and 19 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 are shown in the table.

Number
	Section 8 reports	Section 19 referrals	Qualifications on accounts section 19 referrals( 1)
1998	2	1	0
1999	1	3	0
2000	0	1	0
2001	0	3	0
2002	1	1	0
2003	2	0	0
2004	2	2	53
2005	23	7	93
2006(2)	16	20	n/a
n/a = not available (1) Introduced from April 2000. The section 19 referrals issued to these NHS organisations took the form of regularity reports on the 2004-05 and did not constitute a full report to the Secretary of State. (2) To date.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to her answer of 21 June 2006, Official Report, column 1943W, on the Audit Commission Act, how many and which section 19 reports were the result of (a) the organisation breaking its resource allocation limits, (b) the organisation having little prospect of achieving balance within a three or five year period, (c) suspicious payments, (d) fraud and (e) and other reasons; [81231]

(2) pursuant to her answer of 21 June 2006, Official Report, column 1943W, on the Audit Commission Act, what the dates are of each report. [81230]

Andy Burnham: Section 19 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 requires an appointed auditor to refer matters to the Secretary of State if he/she has reason to believe that a national health service organisation has made a decision which involves, or may involve, unlawful expenditure, known as referrals to the Secretary of State. These reports are not published.

Auditors made the following referrals, on the dates shown, under section 19 for:

The organisation breaking its resource allocation limits

Bedfordshire Heartlands Primary Care Trust (PCT)⁽¹⁾

Bexley Care Trust PCT⁽¹⁾

Billericay, Brentwood and Wickford PCT⁽¹⁾

Blackwater Valley and Hart PCT⁽¹⁾

Broadland PCT⁽¹⁾

Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth PCT⁽¹⁾

Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire PCTs (December 2005)

Cambridge City PCT⁽¹⁾

Cannock Chase PCT⁽¹⁾

Canterbury and Coastal PCT⁽¹⁾

29 Jun 2006 : Column 606W

Central Cornwall PCT⁽¹⁾

Central Suffolk PCT (February 2006)

Central Suffolk PCT⁽¹⁾

Charnwood and North West Leicestershire PCT⁽¹⁾

Chelmsford PCT⁽¹⁾

Cherwell Vale PCT⁽¹⁾

Cheshire West PCT (February 2006)

Cheshire West PCT⁽¹⁾

Chiltern and South Bucks PCT⁽¹⁾

Colchester PCT⁽¹⁾

Cotswold and Vale PCT⁽¹⁾

Dacorum PCT (April 2006)

Dacorum PCT⁽¹⁾

Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley PCT⁽¹⁾

E Elmbridge and Mid Surrey PCT⁽¹⁾

East Hampshire PCT⁽¹⁾

East Lincolnshire PCT⁽¹⁾

Eastbourne Downs PCT⁽¹⁾

Eastleigh and Test Valley PCT⁽¹⁾

Fareham and Gosport PCT⁽¹⁾

Guildford and Waverley PCT⁽¹⁾

Harrow PCT⁽¹⁾

Havering PCT⁽¹⁾

Hertsmere PCT (April 2006)

Hertsmere PCT⁽¹⁾

Hillingdon PCT⁽¹⁾

Hounslow PCT⁽¹⁾

Huntingdonshire PCT⁽¹⁾

Ipswich PCT⁽¹⁾

Isle of Wight PCT⁽¹⁾

Kennet and North Wiltshire PCT⁽¹⁾

Kensington and Chelsea PCT⁽¹⁾

Kingston PCT⁽¹⁾

Leicester City West PCT⁽¹⁾

Luton PCT⁽¹⁾

Maidstone Weald PCT⁽¹⁾

Maldon and South Chelmsford PCT⁽¹⁾

Medway PCT⁽¹⁾

Mid Hampshire PCT⁽¹⁾

Milton Keynes PCT⁽¹⁾

North East Oxfordshire PCT⁽¹⁾

North Hertfordshire and Stevenage PCT⁽¹⁾

New Forest PCT⁽¹⁾

Newbury and Community PCT⁽¹⁾

Newcastle under Lyme PCT⁽¹⁾

North and East Cornwall PCT⁽¹⁾

North Birmingham PCT⁽¹⁾

North Devon PCT⁽¹⁾

North Hampshire PCT⁽¹⁾

North Norfolk PCT⁽¹⁾

North Somerset PCT⁽¹⁾

North Stoke PCT⁽¹⁾

Norwich PCT⁽¹⁾

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