Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 25 July 2006
Wales
Advertising Campaigns
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what advertising campaigns the Department ran between 2000 and June 2004; and what the (a) date and (b) cost was of each. [87052]
Caravan Parks
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what assessment he has made of the impact of people living in caravan parks on (a) police, (b) health, (c) social service, (d) educational spending and (e) special educational needs spending; [88286]
(2) what account is taken of the number of people living in caravans in a local authority area when calculating the standard spending assessment; [88288]
(3) if he will review the allocation of funding to local authorities who have large numbers of caravan parks in their areas. [88289]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
Funding for local authorities in England is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government. The local authority formula grant distribution system uses various evidence and data to allocate funding from central Government to local authorities in England. Detailed information about the calculation and distribution of formula grant for financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 can be found at the following links, respectively:
http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0607/lgfr067s/contents. pdf http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0607/lgfr078s/contents.pdf.
The current formulae reflect a review which concluded in December 2005. This review involved local authorities and other interested parties and assessed the most important factors to be taken into account in allocating funding to local government.
Criminal Offences
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many criminal offences his Department has created by Orders in Council in each year since 1997. [88464]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office was established on 1 July 1999 following devolution. Since that time, no criminal offences have been created by Orders in Council.
Department Staff (Criminal Activity)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many staff members in his Department have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted following fraud charges since 1997; [88445]
(2) how many of his Department's employees have been (a) dismissed, (b) suspended and (c) subject to disciplinary action for criminal activity in each year since 1997. [88460]
Ministerial Visits
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions he has stayed overnight in Wales on official business since his appointment. [87323]
Mr. Hain: Due to disproportionate costs, this information is not available for the period October 2003 to May 2005.
Since taking up my post as Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland in May 2005 I have spent 74 days in Wales on official business.
In addition to the time spent in Wales, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I undertake Wales business in Parliament and in the Wales Office at Gwydyr House, London.
Health
“Choosing Health” Implementation
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter recently sent to strategic health authority chief executives informing them that primary care trusts and strategic health authorities should not identify savings from posts working on the implementation of “Choosing Health” when considering savings from implementing commissioning a patient-led NHS; and whether the same advice applies to revenue funding; [81518]
(2) which (a) primary care trusts and (b) strategic health authorities have identified savings to implement commissioning a patient-led NHS from resources previously allocated to the implementation of “Choosing Health”. [81519]
Andy Burnham: “Commissioning a Patient-led NHS” outlined plans for achieving £250 million savings through the reconfiguration of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.
Guidance issued via a letter from the Department to finance directors in strategic health authorities (dated 3 October 2005) explained that it was for each strategic health authority to determine a methodology for distributing its share of the savings across the strategic health authorities and primary care trusts in its area. That letter made clear that savings should be delivered
from management and administration costs and that strategic health authorities and primary care trusts should not identify for savings those posts working on implementing the “Choosing Health White Paper”. A copy of this letter has now been placed in the Library.
A and E Hospitals
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average population size is of the catchment area of hospitals with type 1 accident and emergency departments. [85525]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The data requested are not collected centrally.
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedure is followed when it is proposed that an abortion clinic should be (a) opened and (b) closed; [83432]
(2) what the names and addresses are of facilities approved under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990) for (a) terminating pregnancies of 20 weeks or more duration and (b) distribution of the RU 486 abortion drug; and how many approved beds each has; [85149]
(3) what the names and addresses are of facilities for terminating pregnancy under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990) that were closed in each of the last 12 months; and what the reason for closure was in each case. [85150]
Caroline Flint: Any independent sector place wishing to perform abortion has to first be registered with the Healthcare Commission under the Care Standards Act 2000, as amended before the premises can be considered for approval under the Abortion Act 1967, as amended.
All places wishing to be registered with the Healthcare Commission have to demonstrate they have the policies, local procedures and protocols in place to underpin service provision that will enable compliance with the required standards and regulations. Once the Healthcare Commission is satisfied that their requirements have been met the service is registered.
All places are regularly monitored and inspected by the Healthcare Commission. If a breach of regulation is identified, the Healthcare Commission will take appropriate and proportionate action. This will range from advice on corrective action, to closure if corrective action is not taken within the required timeframe.
Once a place has been approved under the Abortion Act, the approval is conditional upon its compliance with the Abortion Act and the Care Standards Act. Failure to comply with or maintain the required standards may lead to a withdrawal of approval.
The names and addresses of the independent sector places currently approved under the Abortion Act have been placed in the Library. The approval under the Act allows the places to perform abortion. The registration under the Care Standards Act, based on the
information provided to the Healthcare Commission, determines the number of beds and the method and gestation of abortion that can be performed, within the terms of the Abortion Act. Over the last year, one independent hospital, where abortion was one of many services provided, chose to stop providing abortion services for business reasons. There were no concerns about the quality of the service provided.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether her Department has provided any funding to Abortion Rights; and if she will make a statement; [85124]
(2) what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with Abortion Rights; when she last discussed abortion with representatives of Abortion Rights; whether a record was kept of discussions at such meetings; and if she will make a statement. [85125]
Caroline Flint: The Department has not provided any funding to Abortion Rights.
Ministers have not met with Abortion Rights. However, Departmental officials met with Abortion Rights in June 2005 following a request for a meeting from the organisation to discuss what the Government are doing to improve access to abortion services. It was an informal meeting and no record was kept of the discussion. There are no plans for a further meeting.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many discharges there were from hospitals after septic abortions in 2005. [85148]
Caroline Flint: In 2005, there were 13 abortions where sepsis was recorded on the abortion notification form.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake into the reasons for trends in the abortion rate in South Gloucestershire between 2004 and 2005; and if she will make a statement. [87106]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 14 July 2006, Official Report, column 2142W, and 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 250W.
It is a matter for primary care trusts to determine what services they provide in order to meet the needs of their local population.
Ambulance Service
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mobile communication systems the ambulance service uses; and what plans the Government have to ensure inter-operability and improve communications with other emergency services. [86850]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Ambulance trusts use a range of communication systems including analogue and digital radio systems, mobile phones, pagers and data transfer systems.
The Department signed a contract in 2005 to provide digital radio communication systems to all national health service ambulance trusts in England. This is the same system that is being provided to the police and fire services and will strengthen direct communication between services. Interim solutions are being put in place until rollout to all three emergency services is complete.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether mobile phone triangulation technology is available to ambulance services for the purpose of identifying the whereabouts of a victim of an accident. [85782]
Andy Burnham: Triangulation technology is not used by ambulance trusts. However, there are two facilities that are available to emergency services to assist them in the location of callers using mobile phones and of vehicles involved in accidents.
Where a 999 call is made from a mobile phone or landline, location information can be provided by the communications provider to the call handling agent. This information is available to all emergency controls either by automatic data transfer or verbally on request.
Trusts have been encouraged to invest in the technology that enables automatic data transfer. The information provided is the address for a fixed line and cell, that is the approximate area from which the call was made, identification for a call from a mobile phone.
Some cars are equipped with in-car telematics. Such systems are able to automatically report if the car has been involved in an accident, including the location of the vehicle derived from global positioning systems, vehicle details and the direction of travel. The details are passed to a call centre which will, if necessary, notify the emergency services of the details.
Animal Insulin
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps she is taking to ensure that the closure of the Biobras animal insulin production facilities in Brazil does not adversely affect the capacity of the remaining UK suppliers to manufacture animal insulins; [88819]
(2) what assessment she has made of how the production and distribution of animal insulins for the UK market will be affected by the discontinuation of Biobras insulin crystal production facilities in Brazil; [88822]
(3) what estimate she has made of the proportion of animal insulins used in the UK which were constituted from animal insulin crystals produced by the Biobras production facility in Brazil in the last period for which figures are available. [88823]
Andy Burnham: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 17 July 2006, Official Report, column 244W.
Asthma
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many children have been diagnosed with asthma in each London borough in each of the last five years; [87310]
(2) how many people diagnosed with asthma there were in each (a) London borough and (b) constituency in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [87331]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department does not collect data on the number of people diagnosed each year with asthma. However, the table shows data for primary care trust (PCT) level prevalence in London for April 2004 to March 2005 which are the only figures available.
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