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17 July 2006 : Column 240W—continued
Redundancies
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much (a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he has responsibility spent on redundancy payments in each of the last four years. [82564]
Mrs. McGuire: The amount spent by the Department on all staff early release schemes in each of the last four years is in the following table.
| £ million | |||||
| Business Area | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | Total |
| n/a = Denotes that the Agency did not exist in the Department in the year in question. Notes: 1. A proportion of the ongoing annual pension payments for early retirement cases are held centrally and included in the Departmental Corporate Units' line from 2004-05 and 2005-06. 2. The figures do not include the provisions made in the accounts for costs associated with staff approved for early release in 2006-07. | |||||
Remploy
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will answer Question 77480, on the review of Remploy, tabled by the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole on 9 June. [80325]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 26 June 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 26 June 2006, Official Report, column 64W.
Sulphuric Acid
Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Levels has made progress in determining whether sulphuric acid should be classified as a carcinogen; and if he will make a statement on current occupational exposure limits to sulphuric acid mist. [84510]
Mrs. McGuire: The European Commission’s Scientific Committee for Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) does not make formal recommendations concerning the classification of chemicals. The responsibility for this falls to the Classification and Labelling Working Group established by the European Chemicals Bureau and this Group has not considered the classification of sulphuric acid as a carcinogen. However, in its deliberations leading to recommendations on occupational exposure limits, SCOEL undertakes an assessment of the evidence on all aspects of the substances under consideration, including whether or not a substance may have particular properties, including the potential to cause cancer in humans.
In relation to sulphuric acid mist, for which a Recommendation for an occupational exposure limit was published in October 2004, SCOEL felt that the balance of evidence from studies in worker populations was sufficient to indicate that sulphuric acid mist has the potential to cause laryngeal cancer in humans. However, there were insufficient data to reliably inform on the airborne exposure conditions that were associated with the increased incidence of laryngeal cancer in these studies. In relation to the mechanism whereby sulphuric acid mist causes laryngeal cancer, SCOEL concluded that it is based on long-term chronic irritation of the laryngeal epithelium, and that airborne exposures that are below the threshold for the induction of such irritant effects would not lead to any increased risk of cancer.
SCOEL recommended that an 8-hour time-weighted average occupational exposure limit, set at 0.05 mg.m-3, would not lead to any adverse health effects in workers, and would not be associated with any increased risk of cancer.
In November 2001 the Health and Safety Executive published a Chemical Hazard Alert Notice for sulphuric acid mist, which recommended that employers should control mist exposure to below 0.3 mg.m-3, in line with advice from the National Sulphuric Acid Association. The 8-hour time-weighted average occupational exposure standard (OES) for sulphuric acid, formerly set at 1 mg.m-3, was withdrawn by the Health and Safety Commission in May 2003. There is currently no British occupational exposure limit.
Tax Credits
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library all documents regarding discussions held between his Department and HM Revenue and Customs on the use
of National Insurance numbers in determining the eligibility for tax credits of an individual who has failed verification rule 12 of the Tax Credits Manual on Residency Criteria Not Met. [85792]
Mr. Plaskitt: Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide range of organisations both within Government and outside as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Health
Animal-based Insulin
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of Novo Nordisk’s discontinuation of pork insulin crystal production in Brazil; and what representations she has (a) made and (b) received on the matter; [84481]
(2) what recent assessment she has made of the supply of raw materials required to produce animal-based insulin; and if she will make a statement. [84720]
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that the availability of animal insulin in the UK is not adversely affected by the discontinuation of animal insulin crystal production at Novo Nordisk’s Brazilian manufacturing facility which supplies raw materials to Wockhardt UK; and if she will make a statement. [85274]
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Wockhardt UK uses raw materials sourced from the Biobras pharmaceuticals facility in Brazil to manufacture their animal insulin products. [85977]
Andy Burnham: The Department has had no involvement with NovoNordisk’s production of insulin crystals, although I am aware that it acquired the Brazilian company, Biobras, a number of years ago. NovoNordisk has announced that it is discontinuing its animal derived insulins on a worldwide basis. However, animal insulins will remain available from Wockhardt UK, who has confirmed that future supplies of these products are independent of NovoNordisk.
Avian Influenza
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account she took of the 50 per cent. fatality rate from H5N1 in determining the 2.5 per cent. fatality rate assumption for the relevant UK contingency plan. [85996]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Although the H5N1 virus has a reported fatality rate of around 50 per cent. in humans, there is some question regarding the accuracy of this figure. This is partly because we cannot guarantee that all H5N1 cases have been recorded. It is important to remember that fatality rates for pandemic flu have historically been lower than H5N1 avian flu. For example, the 1918 pandemic was the most severe in the
20th century and this had a fatality rate of around 2 per cent. This 2.5 per cent. figure was informed by international consensus and expert advice. Our modellers have taken the fatality rate of the H5N1 virus into consideration when agreeing this figure.
Community Hospitals
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate her Department has made of the number of community hospital beds in the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast Primary Care Trust area in each year since 1997. [85322]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate her Department has made of the number of community hospital beds likely to be needed in east Yorkshire over the next five years. [85323]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not held by the Department. It is now for primary care trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to plan, develop and improve services for local people.
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to her oral statement of 5 July 2006, Official Report, column 826, on community hospitals, how many community hospitals have (a) opened and (b) closed in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority area since 1997; and how many are being considered for closure. [85999]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is not held centrally.
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her oral statement of 5 July 2006, Official Report, column 820, in which primary care trust areas the pilot community hospitals tariff to which she referred will be introduced next year. [85174]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 13 July 2006]: We will set out shortly our plans for the national tariff in 2007-08, but we have never said there will be a community hospital tariff.
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