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Child Behavioural Problems (Treatment)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the early intervention procedures for children with challenging behavioural problems at Bedfordshire and Luton Community NHS Trust learning disability service. [88024]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for primary care trusts to assess and commission services to meet the needs of the population that they serve.

Choose and Book

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2006, Official Report, column 935W, on the Choose and Book system, what budget has been set to cover the administrative costs of the (a) Choose and Book, (b) Choice and (c) whole direct enhanced service system for (i) its introduction and (ii) each projected year it is planned to operate; [75198]

(2) pursuant to the answer of 8 May 2006, Official Report, column 634W, on the Choose and Book system, what central departmental budget has been set for the (a) Choice and (b) Choose and Book expected costs (i) for administrative and other staff, (ii) incurred
18 Sep 2006 : Column 2497W
by consultants and acute trusts, (iii) for other computer software and hardware not directly associated with the NHS Connecting for Health Agency and (iv) for other administrative infrastructure for each year the programme is budgeted to operate. [85217]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: No such budgets have been set by the Department. The setting of local budgets for the administration of Choose and Book, Choice and the direct enhanced service system is a matter for local decision making.

Colchester General Hospital

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals she has to fund the planned expansion of Colchester general hospital; and if she will make a statement. [90996]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 13 September 2006]: Essex Rivers Hospital NHS Trust Board considered revised proposals for the development of the Colchester general hospital site when it met on 11 September. The Department has not yet been approached by the Trust with any revised plans.


18 Sep 2006 : Column 2498W

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hon. Members have made representations to her about the decision not to proceed with the proposed private finance initiative expansion of Colchester general hospital. [90997]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 13 September 2006]: Representations have been received from the hon. Member for Colchester in the form of parliamentary questions.

Computing Equipment

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) USB (i) flash drives and (ii) memory sticks, (b) compact discs, (c) DVD-ROM discs, (d) laptop computers, (e) external computer hard drives, (f) internal computer hard drives and (g) desktop computers were purchased for use in her Department in each month since March 2005. [88759]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information provided does not cover executive agencies, other arms length bodies or NHS Connecting for Health.

The information requested is contained in the following table.

Universal serial bus Memory stick/flash drives (d) Laptop computers (e) External computer hard drives (f) Internal computer hard drives (g) Desktop computers

March 2005

32

50

0

0

313

April 2005

133

9

0

0

4

May 2005

15

37

0

15

5

June 2005

38

59

0

30

6

July 2005

11

43

0

6

18

August 2005

38

23

0

22

0

September 2005

45

56

0

0

5

October 2005

76

4

2

20

17

November 2005

33

6

0

0

3

December 2005

36

15

0

62

2

January 2006

31

16

0

96

60

February 2006

63

16

6

30

31

March 2006

272

712

1

10

754

April 2006

10

2

0

8

1

May 2006

27

1

0

8

30

June 2006

5

0

0

18

4


The Department’s purchasing records do not differentiate between flash drives and memory sticks and therefore the figures provided are a combination of both.

Purchases of Compact Discs (CD) and DVD-ROM discs are made from stationery suppliers and are regarded as consumable items and not as assets. Therefore these figures are not available.

Criminal Offences

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many criminal offences her Department has created by Orders in Council in each year since 1997. [88471]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: There is power in section 60 of the Health Act 1999 to make provision in relation to the regulation of the health care professions by Order in Council, including an implicit power, under paragraph 6 of Schedule 3 to that Act, to create a criminal offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding the amount specified as level 5 on the standard scale. However, such an Order may only be made after a draft of the Order has been subject to a period of three months public consultation and then approved by a vote of each House of Parliament and, if the Order covers matters within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, of the Scottish Parliament.

This power has been exercised, using the procedure described above, to create 13 new criminal offences. The years in which this was done are shown as follows:


18 Sep 2006 : Column 2499W
Number

1997-98

(1)0

1999

0

2000

0

2001

0

2002

(2)10

2003

0

2004

0

2005

3

2006

0

(1 )The power was not in existence
(2 )One of which is not yet in force

Of the 13 provisions containing new offences, seven were expressed in similar terms to earlier offences in legislation that the Orders in Council revoked. In addition, the Orders in Council under section 60 contained a further eight modifications to existing offences.

Dentistry

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received regarding the availability of NHS dentists in Wirral South. [91142]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has received 11 letters from hon. Members and members of the public relating to access to NHS dental services in the Wirral in the last 12 months.

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received regarding the role of Denplan in relation to the availability of NHS dentists in (a) Wirral South, (b) the North West and (c) England. [91143]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not keep data on the precise number of representations received on a specific issue.

Departmental Initiatives

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the departmental initiatives for each year since 2000 which required bids for funding from (a) voluntary organisations and (b) local authorities together with the total resource allocated to each initiative in each year; how many successful bids there were in each year; what proportion this figure represents of the total bids received; and what assessment she has made of the costs of (i) preparing bids for each initiative and (ii) assessing those bids. [66018]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: For 2006-07, the Department will make available a total of just over £1,590 million of revenue funding through specific formula grants. Of this, £1,583 million will be allocated directly by the Department, and £7.5 million by other Government Departments.

The vast majority of personal social services grants are allocated on a formula basis to local authorities. The table sets out those revenue grants for which the Department has responsibility which have required
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bids for funding from local authorities with social service responsibilities. There are only two both of which started in 2006-07:

£ million
Grant
Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPP) Individual budget pilots

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

(1)20

(2)6

2007-08

(3, 4)40

(4)6

(1) 144 applicants, 19 successful.
(2) 75 applicants, 13 successful.
(3) Of which £21,291,195 already announced to be allocated to the 19 round 1 POPP local authorities for the second year of 2-year projects.
(4) Allocation tbc.
Note:
No formal assessment has been made of either the cost of submitting or assessment of these bids.

The information for the voluntary sector is not readily available and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs. The only information that is readily available since 2000 is the annual total value of approved section 64 General Scheme of Grants and I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Mr. Vara) on 3 May 2006, Official Report, column 1710W.

Departmental Staff (Criminal Activity)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of her Department’s employees have been (a) dismissed, (b) suspended and (c) subject to disciplinary action for criminal activity in each year since 1997. [88462]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally.

Disability Equality

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what (a) information gathering and (b) other actions (i) her Department and (ii) other bodies are taking to inform the production of the report on progress towards disability equality within the health policy sector; [91181]

(2) whether she has made an assessment of which policy areas will be considered in her report on progress towards disability equality within the health policy sector due to be published in December 2008; [91182]

(3) what steps were taken to involve disabled people in the production of her Department's disability equality scheme. [91183]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department will publish its disability equality scheme in December this year, and disabled members of staff will be involved as it is
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prepared. We are considering the policy areas that will be considered in the report on progress towards disability equality that will be published in 2008, and the information-gathering and other actions the Department or other bodies will take to inform the content of that report.


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