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30 Oct 2006 : Column 154W—continued
The individual national health service trust information on which this table is based can be found on the Department’s website at: www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/data_requests/beds_open_overnight.htm.
In compiling their returns, NHS trusts are expected to include high, medium and low secure bed number information.
Road Safety
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many random eye tests have been conducted on motorists in each of the last five years; and what proportion of drivers have been assessed as having eyesight below the required level. [96897]
Mr. McNulty: The police have no power to stop a driver specifically to conduct a random eyesight test. Where there is reason to suspect that a driver has defective eyesight, the police may require the driver to undergo an eyesight test. Data relating to eyesight tests are not collected centrally.
Terrorism Legislation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the operation of the Terrorism Act 2006; and what recent representations he has received about the operation of this Act. [95127]
Mr. McNulty: The Terrorism Act 2006 creates a number of new offences including acts preparatory to terrorism; encouragement to terrorism, including glorification of terrorism; dissemination of terrorist publications; and giving or receiving terrorist training. The Act also makes amendments to existing legislation, including extending police powers to detain suspects after arrest for up to 28 days; improved search powers at ports; and increased flexibility of the proscription regime, including the power to proscribe groups that glorify terrorism.
The Terrorism Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 30 March 2006. The majority of its provisions came into force on 13 April 2006, with the exception of sections 23-25 covering pre-charge detention which came into force on 25 July 2006.
We regularly receive representations from interested parties, such as Members of Parliament and members of the public, on the Terrorism Act 2006.
Victim Support/Neighbourhood Watch
Lynne Featherstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department has provided to (a) victim support and (b)
neighbourhood watch schemes in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [96671]
Mr. McNulty: The Government funds £30 million to Victim Support annually to provide services to victims and witnesses across England and Wales. This funding has almost trebled from £11.7 million in 1997. Additionally the Government have funded discrete projects run by Victim Support, including £1 million this year to pilot enhanced services to victims of crime. The annual funding for the past 10 years is set out in the following table.
The Government do not provide direct funding to Neighbourhood Watch or other Watch schemes. To fund all local schemes would not be possible and to selectively fund only a proportion would be unfair and divisive. Schemes are advised how to find alternative funding, for example locally via the Safer Stronger Communities funding. The Government provide support to Neighbourhood Watch and the wider Watch movement through the provision of free literature, public liability insurance, training and advice.
The annual funding for the past 10 years is set out as follows.
| Financial year | Home Office grant to Victim Support (£ million) |
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 30 October 2006
Health
Air Ambulance Service
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients have been transported by the North West Air Ambulance in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement; [93848]
(2) what funds will be allocated to the North West Air Ambulance Service for 2007-08. [93849]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Data on air ambulance journeys are not held centrally.
Air ambulance services are provided by registered charities. Since 1 April 2002, the cost of clinical staff on air ambulances has been met by the national health service on a continuing basis. It is for NHS trusts to decide whether they provide any additional funding to air ambulance charities.
Alzheimer's Disease
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that clinicians continue to be able to exercise flexibility in prescribing drugs for people with Alzheimer's disease. [95589]
Andy Burnham: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is currently finalising its technology appraisal guidance on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, and expects to publish its guidance on 22 November alongside a new clinical guideline on the management of dementia, and the treatment and care of people with dementia in health and social care. It would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene in that process.
Ambulance Services
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average ambulance response time in attending 999 calls in (a) East Anglia and (b) England has been in each year since 1997. [95465]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department collects ambulance response time data in relation to response time requirements rather than by average response time. Therefore, the information requested is not centrally collected in the required format.
The data that the Department does collect on ambulance response times have been published on an annual basis in the statistical bulletin, “Ambulance services, England”. These documents are all available
in the Library and the latest bulletin, for 2005-06, is available on the information centre for health and social care’s website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/ambulanceserv06.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to review the funding for the North West Ambulance Service following the recent rating of “weak” by the Healthcare Commission. [96841]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 24 October 2006]: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for ensuring the provision of emergency ambulance services to such extent as they consider necessary to meet all reasonable requirements. We expect the new PCTs to agree and strengthen arrangements for commissioning ambulance services, and to improve commissioning of health services as a whole.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many ambulances are in service with the Sussex Ambulance Service; and how many are over five years old. [93360]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the ambulance admissions to (a) Worthing Hospital and (b) the Royal Sussex County Hospital were emergency admissions in the most recent period for which figures are available. [93361]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Audiology
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for improving NHS audiology services; and if she will make a statement. [94099]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department is currently in the process of developing a national action plan to address the range of challenges facing audiology services.
Birth Statistics
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women registered with a Hartlepool GP gave birth at (a) the University Hospital of Hartlepool, (b) the University Hospital of North Tees, (c) the James Cook University Hospital, (d) Darlington Memorial Hospital, (e) Bishop Auckland Hospital, (f) City Hospitals Sunderland, (g) another hospital and (h) at home in each of the last five years. [94088]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected centrally.
Nick Herbert:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births there were at (a) the Princess Royal hospital, Haywards Heath, (b) St Richard's
hospital, Chichester and (c) Worthing hospital in each of the last five years. [94838]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is shown in the table.
Bowel Cancer Screening
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with the implementation of the bowel cancer screening programme since 1 April; what the timetable is for further implementation of the programme; how many people have been screened; and how many people she expects will have the opportunity to undergo screening in the next five years. [91770]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Good progress has been made in rolling out the national bowel cancer screening programme.
The programme consists of five programme hubs across England which will invite men and women to participate in the screening programme, send out the faecal occult blood (FOB) testing kits, analyse the returned kits and send out results. Ninety to 100 local screening centres will provide endoscopy services for the 2 per cent. of men and women who have a positive FOB test result.
The five hubs have been confirmed as:
Rugby—West Midlands and the North West - began operations in July 2006;
Guildford—Southern - began operations in September 2006;
St Mark's—London - begins operations in October 2006;
Gateshead—North East; and
Nottingham—Eastern.
All five hubs will be operational by March 2007.
In addition to the hubs, the first six local screening centres have now been confirmed. Wolverhampton and Norwich began sending out invitations in July 2006, and South Devon and Liverpool began sending out invitations in September 2006. St Mark's London is due to begin sending out invitations in October 2006, with St George's London following in November 2006. The other eight sites due to become local screening centres in wave one of the programme, in 2006-07, will be confirmed as soon as possible, when they have satisfied quality and capacity criteria.
We will be writing to the new strategic health authorities (SHAs) shortly for them to bid for their local endoscopy units to become local screening centres as part of wave two of the programme in 2007-08. It is up to SHAs to decide where local screening centres should be located for the benefit of their own populations.
Over 4,550 people have been screened since the start of the national programme.
The bowel cancer screening programme is an ambitious project, and one of the first of its kind in Europe. Full national roll-out in England is expected by December 2009 and when fully implemented, around 2 million men and women in their 60s will be screened every two years. We are committed to implementing this important programme.
Breast Cancer
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the breast cancer (a) survival rate and (b) death rate was for women in each constituency in the North East region in each of the last 10 years. [94087]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Survival and death rates cannot be provided for parliamentary constituencies as population estimates are not available for these areas.
The Office for National Statistics has published cancer survival rates for adult patients resident in each of the strategic health authorities (SHAs) in England, who were diagnosed during 1997-99 and followed up to the end of 2004. One- and five-year relative survival rates for female breast cancer are provided in table 1 for the two SHAs that constituted the North East Government Office Region during this period.
Breast cancer death rates for these SHAs from 1996 to 2005, the latest year available, are included in table 2.
| Table 1: One- and five-year age-standardised relative survival (per cent.) from breast cancer by strategic health authorities in the North East Government Office Region, for women diagnosed in 1997-99 and followed up to 31 December 2004 | ||
| Percentage | ||
| Strategic health authority | One-year survival | Five-year survival |
| Source: www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/SurvivalRatesbySHA2004Data.xls | ||
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