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11 July 2006 : Column 1801W—continued
Alcohol Misuse
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people, and at what grades, are employed in her Department to work on alcohol misuse strategies. [83924]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is shown in the table in whole-time equivalents (WTE) for the senior civil service and the Department’s integrated pay scales.
| Total | |
| Notes: IP—integrated payband, IP1 being the minimum payband | |
Alcohol Treatment (Gloucestershire)
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase access to specialist alcohol treatment services in Gloucestershire; what has been allocated to such services in 2006-07; and how that budget is allocated. [82482]
Caroline Flint: The Department’s guidance on local programmes of improvement for alcohol treatment services was launched in November 2005. This is aimed at the local national health service, local authorities, voluntary bodies, and others seeking to work with the NHS to tackle alcohol misuse.
Access to specialist treatment services is a matter for local primary care trusts (PCTs), who are responsible for improving the match of treatment provision they commission to the need of the local population for services. Information is not held centrally on local budgets.
It is estimated that £217 million is currently being spent by PCTs on alcohol treatment. An additional £15 million has been allocated to all PCTs to improve alcohol services from 2007-08 onwards. Around 63,000 people are receiving treatment from specialist services, with additional people receiving treatment and support from their general practitioners.
Blood Donors
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the extent of the risk posed by women who give blood and engage in anal intercourse without then notifying the National Blood Service; and whether heterosexual women who engage in anal intercourse are considered high-risk blood donors. [80807]
Caroline Flint: The United Kingdom blood services together with the Health Protection Agency continually monitor donors who test positive for markers of infection with HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis and Human T-cell lymphotropic virus. Part of this process involves interviewing donors to determine the risk factors underlying their infection. This process has not suggested that heterosexual anal intercourse is a major risk factor for transmitting the infections tested for by the UK blood services.
Other limited data available in the published literature do not suggest that within the UK, heterosexual anal intercourse, when compared to vaginal intercourse, is a major risk factor for the transmission of HIV or other transfusion transmissible infections.
Carers
Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much was spent on short break provision in Wakefield in each of the last three years; and how many hours break this provides in each year; [83475]
(2) how many hours short break service on average were provided on behalf of people with a learning disability in Wakefield who receive the care component of disability living allowance at the (a) highest, (b) middle and (c) lowest rate in the last period for which figures are available; [83476]
(3) how many (a) carers of people with a learning disability, (b) children with a learning disability and (c) adults with a learning disability in Wakefield received a short break service in the last period for which figures are available. [83477]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 10 July 2006]: The information requested is not held centrally. It is the responsibility of local commissioners to ensure appropriate provision of services to meet their community's needs.
Climate Change
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of climate change on the demand for health services. [79417]
Caroline Flint: The report(1) on the “Effects of Climate Change on Health in the UK”, published in 2001, concluded that though an increase in illness due to hot weather was likely as the climate changed, this would be offset by a decline in the effects of cold weather. If effects on deaths can be taken as a guide to the demands on the health services it is likely that the decrease in cold weather-associated deaths will outweigh the increase in hot weather-associated deaths during the coming 50 or so years.
The Department has produced a plan(2) for dealing with the effects of unusual spells of hot weather titled “Heatwave Plan 2006”.
(1 )Climate Change report
www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCare Topics/AirPollution/AirPollutionGeneralInformation/fs/en
(2) Heatwave Plan 2006
www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/LettersAndCirculars/DearColleagueLetters/DearColleagueLettersArticle/fs/en? CONTENT_ID=4135294&chk=pWbz44
Dentistry
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many custom-made dental appliances were prescribed in 2005-06; and how many custom-made dental appliances have been prescribed since April 2006. [82099]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There were 3.7 million payment claims for items of service that involved custom-made dental appliances made to the Dental Practice Board during the 12 months ending 31 March 2006.
The information is not available in this form under the new system of dental remuneration. Providers of general dental service and personal dental services now have an agreed annual contract value, which is paid in 12 monthly payments instalments. In return for this contract value, the provider carries out over the course of the year an agreed number of units of dental activity that corresponds to overall course of treatment. The provider no longer has to submit data on the individual items of service within each course of treatment. Any dental appliances prescribed within a course of treatment are a matter for individual clinical judgment.
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the £400 million per year extra that has been spent on dentistry has been spent on dental technology and dental laboratories. [82100]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not allocate funds directly to dental technology or dental laboratories. The costs involved in having dental appliances manufactured for national health service patients are met by general dental practitioners from within the overall remuneration they receive for providing NHS services.
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for the future training of dental technicians. [82101]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It is for higher and further education institutions to determine the provision they make for the training of dental technicians. I understand that a number of dental schools are considering whether provision for the training of dental technicians could be incorporated into the dental education expansion programme, but no specific proposals have yet emerged.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what definition of a child was used in dental contracts before April 2006; what definition is used in contracts from April 2006; and if she will make a statement. [82330]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The definition of a child in the National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005 and National Health Service (Personal Dental Services Agreements) Regulations 2005 is a person who has not attained the age of 16 years.
This definition applies only for the purposes of determining whether it is a child or his or her parent or guardian who may request treatment, express a preference of practitioner, give consent to treatment, or make a complaint about services. The same definition applied in the 1992 regulations that governed the provision of general dental services up until 31 March 2006.
There has been no change to the groups of patients who are exempt from NHS dental charges. Children aged under 18, and those aged 18 and in full-time education, remain exempt from charges.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of the new dental contract on the (a) type and (b) quality of dental appliances supplied. [82553]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It is for individual dentists working under general dental services contracts or personal dental services agreements to use their clinical judgement to determine the type and quality of any dental appliance required. The Department does not collect routine information on the quantity or type of dental appliances supplied but will be assessing, in conjunction with the implementation review group, the impact of the new contractual arrangements on this and other aspects of the services provided to national health service patients.
Departmental Expenditure
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) her Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) other public body for which she is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005-06. [39974]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Diabetes
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to encourage self-monitoring for diabetes patients. [82337]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Structured education is seen by the diabetes national service framework (NSF) as one of the key interventions needed to help empower people with diabetes. The diabetes NSF is supported by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) health technology appraisal, number 60—“Guidance on the Use of Patient Education Models for Diabetes”.
This requires all primary care trusts to implement NICE recommendations by providing all people with diabetes with high quality, structured education, which should include self-monitoring.
Elderly Care (Cumbria)
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources have been allocated by the Commission for Social Care Inspection to the assessment of whether Cumbria county council is complying with national standards in the delivery of services for the care of the elderly. [80688]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I am informed by the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that it has a local inspection team based at Penrith, which is responsible for assessing residential and domiciliary care services for both adults and children in Cumbria. Inspectors assess services against the same standards, regardless of whether those services are provided by the county council or the private or voluntary sector.
In addition to this, there have been service inspections, which cover assessment and care management delivered by the social services authority—Cumbria county council—as well as direct care provision. Specific inspections of older peoples' services were carried out most recently earlier this year.
Until last year, social services in Cumbria were receiving monthly monitoring visits and additional support because of concerns over their performance. In the performance assessment published in December 2005, the council was awarded one star; up from zero stars the previous year. The 2005 judgments in relation to adults’, including older peoples’, services were that Cumbria were serving some adults well, with uncertain capacity to improve.
The budget available to CSCI’s Penrith office in 2006-07 totals £937,000. Of this, staffing costs are £872,000.
Fluoridation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which areas in England the public water supply is fluoridated; and when fluoridation was introduced in each case. [83197]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information available is in respect of the strategic health authority (SHA) boundaries which obtained prior to 1 July 2007. The table shows the 10 such SHAs in which fluoridation schemes apply and the proportion of their populations estimated to be benefiting from receipt of fluoridated water. Fluoridation was introduced progressively to these areas over the period 1964 to 1988.
| SHA area (up to 30 June 2007) | Percentage of total population fluoridated |
Health Care (Shropshire)
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients classified as obese there were in each GP practice area in Shropshire, in each year from 2000 to 2005; [82398]
(2) how many patients suffered a stroke in each GP practice area in Shropshire, in each year from 2000 to 2005; [82399]
(3) how many patients with (a) asthma, (b) clinical depression, (c) diabetes and (d) autism were registered with each GP practice area in Shropshire, in each year from 2000 to 2005. [82400]
Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the format requested.
Information at general practitioner (GP) practice level is not collected for clinical depression, autism, and obesity.
Information has been collected at GP practice level for asthma, diabetes and strokes since 2004-05. Figures for 2005-06 are not yet available.
The following tables show the practice list size and the number of patients in each GP practice within Shropshire County Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Telford and Wrekin PCT with: stroke and transient ischaemic attack; diabetes; and asthma.
| Quality and outcomes framework (QOF) for April 2004 to March 2005, number on QOF disease registers by practice | ||||
| Shropshire County PCT | Practice list size | Stroke and transient ischaemic attack register count | Diabetes register count | Asthma register count |
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