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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1257W—continued
Telemetry Services
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made by the Water service in rationalising its Telemetry Services; and when a decision is expected on a centralised location. [100347]
David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan, dated 7 November 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a parliamentary questions about what progress has been made by the Water Service in rationalising its Telemetry Services; and when a decision is expected in a centralised location. (100347). I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
Water Service’s rationalisation of its Telemetry Services at a centralised location has already begun and the initial phase, which involves amalgamating the duties previously performed at the Altnagelvin and Ballymena Telemetry Centres at the Altnagelvin site, will be finalised this month.
Water Service is working the vision for its structure in the year 2010 and completing its strategic planning respect of it s needs. This is a substantial amount of work and the elements contributing to the decision on the location of the centralised site for the Telemetry Function have yet to be clarified. However, it is unlikely that a decision on the centralisation will be made before late 2007 or early 2008.
Traffic Calming
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the proposed locations are of traffic calming schemes that the Department for Regional Development Roads Service intends to introduce in Strangford constituency in the next 12 months; and when work on each project will commence. [100284]
David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated7 November 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question, regarding the location of traffic calming schemes that Roads Service proposes to introduce in the Strangford constituency in the next 12 months; and when work on each project is due to commence.
I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
Roads Service has a programme of traffic calming schemes that it proposes to carry out during the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 subject to the completion of the necessary legislative and consultative processes.
The attached table at Annex 1 details those schemes proposed to be carried out in the Strangford constituency.
| Annex 1: List of traffic calming schemes proposed for the Strangford constituency | ||
| Proposed traffic calming measures | Estimated start date | |
Two-year-olds
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on the Planned Development Programme for two-year-olds in Northern Ireland. [99768]
Maria Eagle: It has been proposed to base the two-year-old programme on the Birth to Three matters framework, which is DfES-recognised and is currently in use within Sure Start in GB. The final details concerning the content of the programme are in the process of being agreed. It is the intention to train the required number of staff with the aim of implementing the programme by April 2007.
Unionists (Strabane)
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Unionists are estimated to have been living in Strabane in (a) 1993, (b) 1997, (c) 2001 and (d) 2005. [95015]
Mr. Hain: The Government have made no such estimate.
Vulnerable Groups
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what additional funding will be made available to implement the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups legislation in the Province; and what the time scales are for implementing the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups legislation in the Province; [99454]
(2) which Government Departments and agencies will be leading the implementation of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups legislation in the Province; [99474]
(3) whether a cross-departmental working group will be constituted to implement the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups legislation in the Province. [99475]
Paul Goggins: I refer the hon. Lady to my answer of 24 October 2006, Official Report, column 1785W.
Health
Attention Hyperactivity Disorder Treatment
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS was of treating children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the last period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [98291]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information in the form requested is not collected centrally. However, information is available on the basic cost of the main drugs to treat attention hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) where the prescription was dispensed in the community in England. This information is shown in the following table.
Our advice, backed by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance, is that that care of a child with ADHD should be undertaken by a child and adolescent psychiatrist or a paediatrician with relevant expertise (continued prescribing and monitoring may be performed by a general practitioner). However, drug therapy should only be part of a comprehensive treatment programme that will include interventions based around providing support to parents and teachers.
| Net ingredient cost for drugs to treat ADHD for the period September 2005 to August 2006 | |
| Drugs | £ |
| Note: Data are for children aged 0-15 years and those aged 16-18 in full-time education. Source: Prescription cost analysis data. | |
Adverse Drug Reactions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of adverse drug reactions she estimates is reported; and if she will make a statement. [97642]
Andy Burnham: Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme. Approximately 20,000 reports of ADRs are reported to the MHRA/CHM through this scheme each year. It is not possible to estimate from the yellow card scheme the number of people who suffer adverse reactions to drugs since the scheme is associated with an unknown level of under-reporting.
While under-reporting of ADRs is a known feature of spontaneous reporting schemes, it is thought to occur less frequently with newly identified, serious and unlabelled reactions (those reactions which are not yet included in the product information). It has been estimated from various sources that 10 per cent. of serious ADRs and between 2 and 4 per cent. of non-serious ADRs are reported and that serious reactions are five times more likely to be reported than non-serious reactions. Under-reporting does not
necessarily detract from the ability of drug safety monitoring systems to identify new and important drug safety hazards.
The MHRA and CHM are continually working to increase the quality and quantity of reports received via the yellow card scheme in order to increase the potential for rapid identification of new drug safety hazards.
Alzheimer's Disease
Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of providing drugs for Alzheimer’s disease in each of the last five years. [96994]
Andy Burnham: The net ingredient cost (NIC) of dispensing donepezil (aricept), galantamine (reminyl), memantine (ebixa) and rivastigmine (exelon) in both primary and secondary care in the years 2001 to 2005, is in the following table.
| Primary care—NIC | Secondary care—NIC | |
Primary care data are taken from prescription cost analysis (PCA) and secondary care data are taken from the hospital pharmacy audit index (HPAI). Primary care expenditure will include some prescriptions written by doctors in hospital clinics but dispensed in the community.
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the most recent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence proposals on Alzheimer’s drugs. [97247]
Andy Burnham: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has not yet published its final guidance to the NHS following its routine review. Until NICE issues new guidance the original 2001 guidance on anti-dementia drugs including those for Alzheimer’s remains in force.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response she has received from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence to representations from her Department on the Alzheimer’s drugs appraisal; and if she will make a statement. [97713]
Andy Burnham: The Department of Health responded to the two appraisal consultation documents issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) during the course of this appraisal. The Department’s responses are published on NICE’s website at www.nice.org.uk along with the appraisal committee’s comments on the points they contained.
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her policy is on the prescription of
Alzheimer’s drugs based on clinical need as assessed by medical staff. [97715]
Andy Burnham: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has not yet published its final revised guidance to the national health service on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Ambulance Response Times
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average response time was for ambulances in (a) England and (b) Surrey in each of the last five years. [98916]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 2 November 2006]: 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 has been published on an annual basis in the statistical bulletin, “Ambulance services, England”. These documents are available in the Library and on the Department of Health’s and Information Centre for health and social care’s websites. The most recent data is available in statistical bulletin—“Ambulance Services, England 2005-06” and is available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/ambulanceserv06
Aphasia
Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with aphasia in the east midlands in the last five years; and what proportion of those diagnosed were below the ageof 18. [98509]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Audiology
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many qualified audiologists are working in the NHS in each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust. [100084]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information has been placed in the Library. There was a 4 per cent. increase in the number of qualified healthcare scientists working in audiology between September 2004 and September 2005.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps her Department is taking (a) to train and (b) to recruit more audiologists for the NHS; [100087]
(2) how many qualified audiologists there have been in the NHS in each year since 1997. [100114]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: A BSc course in audiology was introduced in 2003-04.
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