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17 Jan 2007 : Column 1223Wcontinued
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006, Official Report, column 1160, on choosing health, what the core health trainer competencies are. [116032]
Caroline Flint: With reference to the core health trainers competences, a copy of the document is available in the Library.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many redundancies there were in her Department in each year since 1996-97; and what the cost was of such redundancies in each year. [115168]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 15 January 2007]: The numbers of redundancies and costs of redundancies since 2004-05 are shown in the following table:
Number of redundancies | Cost of redundancies (£ million) | |
Redundancy numbers and expenditure for earlier years could be established only at disproportionate cost.
The figures include both compulsory redundancies arising from the Departments major change programme that began in early 2003 and the more substantial number and cost of voluntary early retirements/severances that the Department offered some employees in order to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies. They also include a small number of exits that were not linked to the change programme.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department has given financial support to drug education or treatment programmes by Narconon during the last five years. [114233]
Caroline Flint: The Department has given no funding to Narconon in the last five years.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on advertising the risks associated with (a) Class A, (b) Class B and (c) Class C drugs in each year since 1997. [110320]
Caroline Flint: The FRANK drug information campaign was launched in May 2003, providing young people and their families with advice and information about all drugs. The campaign is administered and funded jointly by this Department, the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills. Joint spend on all paid-for advertising on FRANK is shown in table 1. The joint total spend across the whole campaign, is shown in table 2.
Table 1 | |
£ million | |
(1 )Estimated |
Table 2 | |
£ million | |
(1 )Estimated |
The Department did not directly allocate money for advertising on drug misuse prior to 2003.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the division of responsibilities is between her Department and the Food Standards Agency on providing policy advice to Ministers on nutrition. [113787]
Caroline Flint: The division of responsibilities on nutrition issues between the Department and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is set out in the concordat between the FSA and the Department of June 2000.
The FSA is responsible for, among other things, the provision of scientifically based information about the nutritional content of individual foods and impartial advice on a balanced diet. The Department remains responsible for the wider public health policy issues where nutritional status is one of a number of risk factors. Both departments work closely together to ensure they discharge effectively responsibilities in the area of nutrition.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the appointment of the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency. [113788]
Caroline Flint: John Harwood was appointed as interim chief executive of the Food Standards Agency from 3 April 2006 pending the appointment of a substantive chief executive. However, following an open competition held during the first half of last year no appointment was made to the post. The Civil Service Commissioners subsequently extended Mr Harwoods appointment for a period up to two years from April 2006 until another open recruitment exercise can take place.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the division of responsibilities is between the Chair and the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency. [113789]
Caroline Flint:
Under sections 1 to 3 of the Food Standards Act 1999, the chair of the Food Standards Agency is responsible for ensuring that the
agency carries out its functions to protect public health from risks which may arise in connection with the consumption of food, including risks caused by the way in which it is produced or supplied and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. The chief executive is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the activities of the agency are carried out efficiently and effectively.
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to (a) potassium hydroxide, (b) manganese dioxide, (c) zinc mercury, (d) lead dioxide, (e) metallic lead, (f) dilute sulphuric acid, (g) silver oxide, (h) mercuric oxide, (i) sodium hydroxide, (j) lithium and (k) lithium perchlorate; and if she will make a statement; [114322]
(2) what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to (a) propylene carbonate, (b) dimethoxyethane, (c) thionyl chloride, (d) lithium aluminium chloride, (e) bromine chloride, (f) sulphuryl chloride, (g) sulphur dioxide, (h) acetonitrile, (i) lithium bromide, (j) carbon monoflouride, (k) lithium tetroflouroborate, (l) gamma-butyrol actone, (m) iodine, (n) silver chromate and (o) vanadium pentoxide; and if she will make a statement; [114323]
(3) what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to (a) lithium hexafluorophosphate, (b) lithium hexaflouroarsenate, (c) copper oxide, (d) copper oxyphosphate, (e) copper sulphide, (f) lead sulphide, (g) iron sulphide, (h) dioxolane, (i) iron disulphide, (j) lead bismuthate, (k) bismuth trioxide, (l) cobalt dioxide, (m) copper chloride and (n) carbon; and if she will make a statement; [114324]
(4) what her assessment is of the health risks related to exposure to (a) nickel hydroxide, (b) nickel oxide, (c) potassium hydroxide, (d) metal hydrides, (e) cadmium, (f) cadmium salts, (g) nickel salts, (h) cobalt salts, (i) lithium salts, (j) ammonium chloride and (k) zinc chloride; and if she will make a statement. [114325]
Caroline Flint: Assessment of the health risks of chemicals requires evaluation of the toxicological data in the context of the relevant amount and route of exposure. Authoritative reviews of the toxicological data for numerous chemicals are published by international organisations such as the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS, a joint World Health Organisation (WHO)/International Labour Organisation/United Nations Environment Programme venture) and WHO (air and water quality guidelines). Various groups in the United Kingdom including expert advisory committees (the committee on carcinogenicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, the committee on mutagenicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, the committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment, and the committee on the medical effects of air pollutants) and agencies (such as the Health Protection Agency) also make such assessments, as, indeed do agencies in other countries, such as the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in the United States of America.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria will be used to assess the UKs standing as a world centre for medical research. [114054]
Caroline Flint: The Government measure the performance of the United Kingdom research base using the indicators described in the Office of Science and Innovations publication PSA target metrics for the UK research base, which is available at www.dti.gov.uk/files/file27330.pdf.
The main research fields covered by the analysis include clinical sciences and pre-clinical and health related sciences.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the national radiotherapy advisory group to deliver its report to Ministers; and when she plans to make the report publicly available. [116206]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 January 2007]: The national radiotherapy advisory group is in the process of finalising its report and we expect to receive it shortly. As the report is intended to be advice to Ministers, no decisions have been taken at this stage on plans for wider public dissemination.
Mr. Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board at the University hospital of North Staffordshire to account should they be unable to balance the hospitals budget by March 2007; [114883]
(2) what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board of the Stoke-on-Trent primary care trust should they be unable to balance the PCTs budget by March 2007; [114884]
(3) what action she proposes to take to hold the senior management and the board in the West Midlands strategic health authority to account should they be unable to balance the SHAs budget by March 2007. [114885]
Caroline Flint: Achieving financial balance is a key priority for all national health service organisations including the University hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent primary care trust and the West Midlands strategic health authority (SHA).
The Department is working with all NHS organisations in deficit through SHAs to improve their financial position. While we are focusing on returning overspending organisations to balance, we accept that this might not be possible for all deficit organisations this financial year.
Where NHS organisations are not able to achieve financial balance, our performance and turnaround teams will continue to work with them, with the aim of rectifying this for the future.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has commissioned on the link between a high intake of fruit juices and obesity. [114299]
Caroline Flint: The Department has not commissioned and has no immediate plans to commission specific research on the effects of high intake of fruit juices and obesity. The Food Standards Agency has information on the health value of fruit juices on the Eat well, be well section of their website at www.eatwell.gov.uk.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged between five and 11 were overweight or obese in each year for which figures are available since 1985. [114300]
Caroline Flint: The main source of data on the prevalence of obesity and overweight among children is the Health Survey for England. Data are only available for children in age groups 11 to 15, two to 15 and two to 10 in accordance with the obesity public service agreement. The following table sets out the most recent data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged two to 10, between 1995 and 2005.
Overweight and obesity prevalence among children, by year and gender, 1995 to 2005, England | ||||||||
1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |
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