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5 July 2006 : Column 1225W—continued
Andy Burnham: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Nurses
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost is to the public purse of training a nurse. [79666]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The latest year for which figures are available show that in 2004-05 the national average cost of tuition to train a nurse over the three years of their course was £19,740. Diploma students would also be entitled to a non-means tested bursary, which in 2004-05 averaged £6,547 per annum.
Obesity
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets have been set for healthcare professionals for assisting patients to manage their weight. [80187]
Caroline Flint: National targets are set out in “National Standards Local Action: Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005-06-2007-08”. For obesity, the current target is to tackle the underlying determinants of ill health and health inequalities by halting the year on year rise in obesity in children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. Any local targets are set and performance- managed at a local level.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guideline daily amounts of (a) salt, (b) energy, (c) fat and (d) saturates are recommended by the (i) Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and (ii) Food Standards Agency. [80190]
Caroline Flint: The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) supports the dietary recommendations set out by the committee on medical aspects of food policy (COMA). Dietary reference values for nutrients form the basis of nutrient recommendations on dietary intakes and are used for assessing the adequacy of diets. For adults the recommendations are:
a reference nutrient intake of four grams of salt per day, and a target reduction in the average population intake of salt to six grams per day for adults. Lower targets have been set for children according to age;
energy intake recommendations are set according to age, body weight and physical activity levels;
total fat intake should average 35 per cent., of energy derived from food; and
saturated fats— an average for the population of 10 per cent. total dietary energy.
All the above recommendations of SACN and its predecessor, COMA, are endorsed by the Department and the Food Standards Agency.
Overseas Visitors (NHS Care)
Paul Holmes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the outcome of
her Department’s consultation in 2004 on proposals to exclude overseas visitors from eligibility to free NHS primary medical services. [79296]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department’s public consultation on proposals to exclude overseas visitors from eligibility to free national health service primary medical services concluded on 13 August 2004. The response to the consultation has raised some complex issues, which we have been working across Government to resolve.
Palliative Care
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been allocated to palliative care in (a) England and (b) the West Midlands in each of the past 10 years. [80123]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not routinely collect the data requested.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible within the national health service for commissioning and funding services for their resident population, including palliative care. The NHS is currently receiving the largest sustained increase in funding in its history, but growth money is not identified for specific purposes. PCTs will be able to use these extra resources to deliver on both national and local priorities, including palliative care.
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the financial impact on acute trusts of doubling funding for palliative care, as set out in the Labour Party's 2005 election manifesto. [80609]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Ministers have asked the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, supported by Professor Ian Philp, National Director for Older People, to prepare a comprehensive strategy to develop and progress end of life care. The strategy will establish the means whereby the Government's manifesto commitment on palliative care and also the end of life care strategy outlined in the White Paper “Our health, our care, our say” will be delivered.
The strategy will set out in more detail the rationale for the new developments on end of life care that were heralded in “Our health, our care, our say” and provide guidance to commissioners and providers on how to bring about improvements in end of life care at a local level and will need to take account of:
funding issues for hospices and specialist palliative care issues;
the various issues around choice at the end of life;
the need to improve the quality of end of life care in hospitals and care homes; and
the need for more improved co-ordination of services across organisational boundaries.
Professor Richards has been asked to report back to Ministers in the autumn.
Parkinson's Disease
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research her Department has
commissioned into possible links between Parkinson’s disease and use of pesticides. [81122]
Caroline Flint: The independent advisory committee on pesticides (ACP) provides authoritative advice to Government on all aspects of pesticides. At its meeting in November 2004, the ACP considered a report produced by its medical and toxicology panel on the possible links between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease. At that meeting, the committee concluded that although this review indicated a correlation between recalled pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s disease it did not point to a particular toxic mechanism or a hazard from a specific compound or group of compounds.
However, the committee did advise that further mechanistic and epidemiological research be carried out on the association between pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s disease. The tender process has been organised by the pesticides safety directorate and has now finished. Two research proposals have now been funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, one is an epidemiology study, the other a mechanistic study.
The issue was briefly discussed at the ACP meeting of 27 June 2006 and a full evaluation is expected soon. A new study by the Harvard School of Public Health has recently been widely reported in the press and ACP shall review this as soon as it becomes available.
Primary Care Trusts
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the reorganisation of primary care trusts will necessitate a change in the way resources are allocated in the NHS. [80791]
Andy Burnham: Revenue allocations are made to primary care trusts (PCTs) on the basis of the relative needs of their populations. The weighted capitation formula is used to determine PCTs' target shares of available resources to enable them to commission similar levels of health services for populations in similar need.
The method used to allocate the 2006-08 revenue allocations to PCTs will not change as a result of the reconfiguration of PCTs. The advisory committee on resource allocation will continue to oversee the development of the allocations formula and will make recommendations to Ministers on any future changes to the weighted capitation formula for PCT revenue allocations post 2007-08.
Practice-based Commissioning
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 25 April 2006, Official Report, column 1083W, on practice-based commissioning, what her latest estimate is of the number of GP practices engaged in practice-based commissioning in (a) England and (b) each strategic health authority; and if she will make a statement. [79044]
Caroline Flint:
Information on the number of practices taking up an incentive payment to participate
in practice-based commissioning is shown in the following table.
| Strategic health authority (SHA) name | Number of practices in SHA | Number of practices taking up an incentive payment | Percentage of practices taking up an incentive payment |
| Notes: The information is correct as of 31 May 2006. Engagement in practice-based commissioning is measured through take up of an incentive payment. This may be the national directed enhanced service for practice-based commissioning or a local alternative. The Department is planning to publish information on the take-up of practice-based commissioning for future months. This will be available on the Department’s website . | |||
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