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18 Jan 2007 : Column 1271W—continued
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department's programme to improve sexual health specifically targets the populations at risk of poor sexual health and this work fits closely with the equality agenda identified in the Act. In terms of gender and sexual health, women are particularly at risk of poor sexual health through unintended pregnancies and risk of infertility from undiagnosed sexually transmitted infections.
The Department is currently developing a gender equality duty guide to assist the national health service meet the duties of the gender duty legislation and it will be published at the end of January 2007. This guide will be available to all NHS organisations and will be accessible on the Department's website.
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice she has sent to providers of NHS mental health services about meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2006 gender duties. [116089]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) is currently seeking to rationalise its workstreams in order to focus its efforts more effectively. Work is currently in progress to bring together the existing programmes on public mental health (including mental health promotion and suicide prevention), social inclusion and anti-stigma and discrimination into a single wellbeing and inclusion workstream.
The Department's guidance on ‘Promoting Equality and Human Rights in the NHS—a Guide for Board Members’ is aimed at helping non-executive board members take forward the issues of equality and human rights with regard to patients and the workforce. The guide outlines the legislative framework and the principles that underpin equality and human rights. It demonstrates the business case for promoting and delivering equality and human rights, and includes a set of prompts for boards to take stock of how fairly their organisations treat their patients and workforce. The guide incorporates current and imminent legislation and includes all board members. This guide is available on the Department's website.
The Department is currently developing a gender equality duty guide to assist the national health service meet the duties of the gender duty legislation and it will be published at the end of January 2007. This guide will be available to all NHS organisations and will be accessible on the Department's website.
Expatriate Medical Care
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was transferred to other European Union governments to cover the cost of medical care for British expatriates in each year since 2001. [114360]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The national health service is responsible for providing healthcare cover only for those British expatriates who are entitled to an exportable social security benefit under the terms of Regulations (EEC) 1408/71 and 574/72.
The table shows, in resource terms, the estimated costs of healthcare cover provided to persons insured in the UK and residing in other EEA member states or Switzerland under the terms of Regulations (EEC) 1408/71 and 574/72. These are estimated claims in according with existing arrangements under the Regulation 574/72.
| Lump sum claims (£000) | |
| Notes: 1. The information is compiled in line with the requirements of “Government Accounting 2000” and the National Audit Office (NAO) and were used for resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) purposes during 2005-06. 2. Figures are in thousands and rounded to the nearest thousand. 3. Lump sums claims are mainly for the UK state pensioners residing in other member state | |
Human Papilloma Virus
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2006, Official Report, columns 1031-2W, on the Human Papilloma Virus vaccination, what the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s Subgroup on the Human Papilloma Virus will discuss when it meets on 28 February; and what further evidence the subgroup is awaiting. [116509]
Caroline Flint: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation subgroup will discuss, based on new information presented at the meeting, the most appropriate age for vaccination; whether there is an advantage in offering the vaccine to boys as well as girls; and the evidence on a vaccination catch-up programme.
The subgroup is examining the health benefits and cost effectiveness of introducing a Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, based on United Kingdom data. In particular, UK data are required on age-specific HPV infection rates by HPV type and single years of life for females aged 11 to 29 years.
Interpreters
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much was spent by the NHS on interpreters in the last year for which figures are available; [114220]
(2) what recent estimate she has made of the amount of money spent by the NHS on providing information in foreign languages; and if she will make a statement. [114229]
Ms Rosie Winterton: National health service organisations are not required to report their planned or actual spending on interpretation and translation services to the Department. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an estimate of spending at this time.
When planning interpretation and translation services, NHS organisations should take due account of their legal duties, the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
The Government have established the independent Commission on Integration and Cohesion to look at Government policies and public services and to report in 2007. As part of its brief, the commission will look at the provision of language services across Government. The Department will fully support the commission in its work.
LINks
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received on the establishment of LINks; and if she will make a statement. [114647]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There were almost 500 responses to “A stronger local voice”, concerning our plans for patient and public involvement, including the establishment of local involvement networks (LINks). We had also received a great deal of feedback through our stakeholder engagement. This feedback has been taken on board wherever possible and has helped to shape our plans for how LINks will work. This is reflected in the Government response document to “A stronger local voice”, copies of which are available in the Library.
Mental Health
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her Department's strategic priorities are for the mental health services; and if she will make a statement. [114356]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department published “The NHS in England: operating framework for 2007-08” on 11 December 2006. This states that the national health service must meet the following mental health objectives by the end of 2007 to sustain improvements in mental health:
to recruit 500 community development workers to help improve the mental health of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, by December 2007; and
to commission services for the estimated 7,500 new cases each year of people needing early intervention.
The Department’s other priorities for mental health services are: to improve access to psychological therapies; to deliver race equality; to increase further the uptake of crisis resolution services as an alternative to hospital inpatient admissions; and, to investigate further whether a system of payment by results can be implemented in mental health services.
NHS Dentistry
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on the promotion of improved dental/oral hygiene in 2005-06; and if she will make a statement. [114467]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Oral health promotion can take the form of educational and awareness campaigns aimed at population groups, or personal information and advice given by dentists, hygienists or other members of primary and community dental teams in the course of examining or treating individual patients. Information on local oral health promotion campaigns
is not collected centrally, although over the period 2003 to 2006 the Department contributed £1.1 million to pilot the “Brushing for Life” scheme, which is intended to get families with young children into the habit of brushing their teeth regularly with fluoride toothpaste. Nor is it possible to quantify what proportion of the activity, supported by the £2.2 billion gross budget in 2005-06 for national health service primary dental care services, contributed to raising awareness of oral hygiene and the prevention of dental disease. One of the Government’s objectives in introducing from April 2006 local commissioning arrangements for primary dental care services and changing the basis of remuneration for dental practices away from item of service fees was to give dentists more scope to focus on preventative care. Primary care trusts are also now required to provide oral health promotion programmes to the extent that they consider it necessary to meet all reasonable requirements within their areas. To assist them we published an oral health plan for England, “Choosing Better Oral Health”, in November 2005.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that dentists are paid a fee for each filling they undertake on the NHS dental tariff; and if she will make a statement. [114468]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There are no plans to return to a fee-per-item remuneration system. The contractual arrangements introduced in April 2006 give dentists the stability of an agreed annual contract sum, in return for carrying out an agreed number of courses of treatment, with a weighting for relative complexity, over the course of the year. This is designed to support dentists in carrying out simpler, more clinically appropriate courses of treatment without financial detriment. It also responds to long-standing representations from dentists and from the British Dental Association criticising the treadmill nature of the former fee-per-item system.
Psychological Therapies
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing waiting time measures for psychological therapies in the national health service. [116107]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department is currently working with the Healthcare Commission to consider the impact of performance measures in this area of mental health service delivery.
Northern Ireland
Craigantlet Quarry
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings there have been between Water Service and Tarmac Ltd. to discuss further development of the company’s quarry at Craigantlet in the North Down constituency. [115770]
David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan, dated 18 January 2007:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about what meetings there have been between Water Service and Tarmac Limited to discuss further development of the company’s quarry at Craigantlet in the North Down Constituency 115770. I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
The Water Service land adjacent to Tarmac Limited’s quarry at Craigantlet was declared surplus on 30 May 2003. In accordance with Government Policy on the disposal of such land, it was initially offered to other Government Departments and Agencies. As no interest was declared, it was referred to the Valuation & Lands Agency for valuation and a sale/option to purchase was agreed. The sale of the land is subject to the approval of Planning permission.
Since further development of the quarry is now an issue between Tarmac Limited and the Department of the Environment’s Planning Service, there have been no meetings between Water Service and Tarmac Limited.
Departmental Equipment
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of his Department’s (a) computers and (b) laptops were stolen in each of the last nine years; and what the total value was of stolen computers and laptops in this period. [109217]
Paul Goggins: The details of computers and laptops reported as stolen within the NIO are as follows:
| Item | Value (£) | |
| (1) Old equipment—value negligible | ||
Official Residences
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland where each of his official residences is located; and what the annual running cost is of each residence. [104137]
Mr. Hain:
When in Northern Ireland I reside at Hillsborough Castle. The facilities at Hillsborough Castle are also used to provide official hospitality and overnight accommodation for members of the royal family, visiting dignitaries and diplomats. Other activities at the castle include departmental meetings, the annual garden party and citizenship ceremonies. In
addition to its use by the Northern Ireland Office and other Government Departments, charities and local community groups can request to use the facilities, generally for fund raising purposes, and the castle and grounds are open at certain times of the year for guided tours.
The overall cost of running Hillsborough Castle in 2005-06 was £4,948,666.27. This includes an amount of £3.1 million for cost of capital.
I have no official residence in Great Britain.
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