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25 Jan 2007 : Column 2033W—continued


Consultants

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which external consultants were used by (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and what the nature and cost of the work was in each case. [115195]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: During the financial year April 2005 to March 2006 the only external consultant commissioned to carry out work for the Department or any of its arm’s length bodies on private finance initiative (PFI) was Mr. Stuart Kennedy (barrister) regarding the Department’s involvement in resolving a dispute on the Dudley National Health Service Trust’s PFI scheme. The cost of this work was £31,661.95 excluding value added tax.

Departmental Computer Data

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any of her Department's (a) computer data and (b) computer backup data is stored with online data storage providers. [108331]


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Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has outsourced the supply of its information technology services to a professional company who store computer data and computer backup data online in their data centres.

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any of her Department's (a) computer data and (b) computer backup data is stored outside the United Kingdom. [108400]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: None of the Department's computer data or back-up data are stored outside the United Kingdom.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much her Department spent on (a) eating disorders, (b) smoking reduction, (c) alcohol abuse and (d) drug abuse in the latest year for which figures are available; and what her Department's targets are for hospital and primary care trust spending in each category; [116036]

(2) what estimates her Department has made of the net cost to the economy of (a) eating disorders, (b) smoking reduction, (c) alcohol abuse and (d) drug abuse. [116037]

Caroline Flint: No breakdown of the overall spend on eating disorders by the Department has been made, nor has an estimate been made of the economic cost of eating disorders.

The Department launched a tobacco control media campaign in December 1999 and the approximate spend on this in 2006-07 was £12.25 million. This amount does not include helpline running costs. We also fund the national health service stop smoking services and have allocated £56 million each year for this in 2006-07 and 2007-08, with £10 million of this heavily weighted towards spearhead primary care trusts.

No estimate of the overall economic cost of smoking has been produced. However, regulatory impact assessments have been made of the impact of smoke free legislation, new pack warnings and the forthcoming rise in age of purchase from 16 to 18. Copies of these reports have been placed in the Library.

We are spending £1.7 million in 2006-07 on the “Know your Limits” campaign, which seeks to prevent binge drinking. The Home Office is contributing additional funding. In 2006-07, the Department is also spending £1.5 million on the alcohol identification and brief advice trailblazer programme. This research programme into the effectiveness of screening and brief intervention techniques will run over two years and an equal amount of additional funding will be supplied by the Department in 2007-08.

The Department estimates the net cost of alcohol abuse to be £20 billion per year.

In 2005-06, we allocated £300 million to the pooled drug treatment budget, and a further £208 million local funding was made available. This money is allocated to drug action teams across the country to use to meet local action plans. The Department has estimated that for every £1 spent on drug treatment, at least £9.50 is saved in crime and health costs.


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We do not set targets for hospital or primary care trust (PCT) spending. Decisions about spending are made by each PCT. It is for PCTs, in conjunction with their strategic health authorities, to plan and develop services according to the needs of their local communities.

Echocardiograms: Portsmouth

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time is for echocardiograms to be carried out by the Portsmouth NHS Trust. [116424]

Andy Burnham: The information requested is provided in the table.

Diagnostic provider waiting statistics for Portsmouth Hospitals National Health Service Trust month ending 30 November 2006, length of time patients still waiting
Median wait (weeks)

Cardiology—echocardiography

13.6

Source:
Monthly diagnostics collection

The trust has an action plan in place to secure additional capacity and reduce waiting times.

By the end of 2008, no patient will wait more than 18 weeks from general practitioner referral to the start of treatment, including diagnostic tests.

European Health Insurance Cards

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many European health insurance cards were issued by her Department in 2005-06; and how many were issued to (a) UK nationals, (b) UK residents and (c) EU nationals. [115835]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The issue of European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs) in the United Kingdom started in July 2005. Between this date and 31 March 2006 a total of 17 million cards were issued. EHICs are only issued to those eligible, such as UK residents and their dependants and in very specific circumstances to normally UK resident students studying in European Economic Area countries and some UK insured people working in other UK countries. This will include European Union nationals who are resident in the UK. Figures broken down by UK nationals, UK residents, and EU nationals are not available.

Foreign National Doctors

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors who qualified overseas are working in the NHS under short term, temporary contracts. [116565]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not collect this information.

Greater Peterborough PCT

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she plans to discuss the budget reductions at the NHS Walk-in Centre at Rivergate,
25 Jan 2007 : Column 2036W
Peterborough in 2007-08 with officials of the Greater Peterborough primary care trust; and if she will make a statement. [110926]

Andy Burnham: We have no plans to do so. National health service walk-in centres are local services and primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for managing them locally. I would expect the Greater Peterborough PCT to raise any related issues with the NHS East of England.

Healthcare Commission

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was to voluntary healthcare providers of fees payable to the Healthcare Commission in 2005-06. [115649]

Andy Burnham: The chairman of the Healthcare Commission has confirmed that the information is not available in the form requested. In the year to 31 March 2006. the commission's income from registration and inspection fees and charges to the independent healthcare sector was £7.384 million. The equivalent figure in the previous year was £4.676 million.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the Healthcare Commission’s recent consultation on its proposed fee structure; and whether consultants were contracted to manage this process. [115650]

Andy Burnham: The Healthcare Commission is currently consulting on regulatory fees for the independent healthcare sector in 2007-08. The consultation period ends on 20 February. The chairman of the commission has confirmed that the costs of individual consultation exercises are not routinely separately identified. The chairman of the commission has also confirmed that no consultants have been engaged to support the consultation process.

Hepatitis C

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Department has (a) spent on the “FaCe It” hepatitis C awareness campaign since its inception and (b) pledged to spend on the campaign in 2007-08. [116981]

Caroline Flint: Expenditure on the “FaCe It” hepatitis C awareness campaign to date, including forecast expenditure for 2006-07, is about £4 million. Plans for the campaign in 2007-08 have not yet been finalised.

Hospital Beds

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many permanent hospital beds were available in each of the last five years; and what the average daily number of patients admitted to hospital was in each of those years. [115655]


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Andy Burnham: Table one shows the average daily number of available beds open overnight, day only beds and residential care beds in England in 2001-02 to 2005-06.

Table one
Beds

2001-02

197,833

2002-03

197,932

2003-04

198,433

2004-05

195,376

2005-06

189,816


Table two shows the average daily number of patients admitted in England in 2001-02 to 2005-06.

Table two
Year Patients admitted

2001-02

25,138

2002-03

25,554

2003-04

26,202

2004-05

27,108

2005-06

28,252


Hospital Episode Statistics

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated on an elective inpatient or daycase basis in each year since 1990-91, as recorded in the hospital episodes statistics database; and how many of these patients were counted for the purposes of collecting official Korner waiting time data in each financial year since 1990-91. [106142]

Andy Burnham: The table shows the number of admissions in each year since 1990-91, as recorded in the hospital episodes statistics database, split by ordinary and day case. Unless suspended from the waiting list for medical or social reasons, each patient will have appeared in the month-end Korner statistics for every month-end at which they were waiting for admission.


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Count of finished in-year admission episodes from waiting list and booked cases broken down by day cases and ordinary admissions, national health service hospitals, England 1990-91 to 2005-06
Patient Classification
Day Case Ordinary

1990-91

1,128,482

2,069,642

1991-92

1,362,905

2,205,398

1992-93

1,617,067

2,121,573

1993-94

1,891,373

2,028,213

1994-95

2,210,997

1,991,373

1995-96

2,409,879

1,954,978

1996-97

2,500,403

1,813,165

1997-98

2,631,499

1,743,742

1998-99

2,848,872

1,722,393

1999-2000

2,773,702

1,613,654

2000-01

2,705,370

1,570,080

2001-02

2,591,721

1,512,387

2002-03

2,672,701

1,557,842

2003-04

2,671,407

1,569,844

2004-05

2,652,106

1,512,169

2005-06

2,809,335

1,539,366

Notes:
1. A finished in-year admission is the first period on in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
2. Figures are grossed for coverage.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
The Information Centre for health and social care

Meat

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) meat produced from cloned (i) animals and (ii) birds, (b) milk and milk products produced from cloned dairy animals and (c) eggs produced from cloned birds will have to be approved under EU Regulation 1829/2003 before entering the market in the EU. [116821]

Caroline Flint: The sale of foods and food ingredients derived from cloned animals falls within the scope of the Novel Foods Regulation (EC) 258/97. The authorisation and labelling of novel foods is decided on a case-by-case basis and no applications have been received to date for products derived from cloned animals.


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