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7 Mar 2007 : Column 2073W—continued
We take the safety of our people very seriously. Customer-facing activity is thoroughly risk-assessed and control measures are in place to manage the risk in our offices. Whilst no assault is acceptable, our assault figures should be seen in the context not only of the millions of face to face contacts we have with customers each year, but also a more rigorous approach to reporting incidents being adopted. The likelihood of being subject to an actual assault in our offices is low: for example, in 2006, around one half of one percent of our staff reported such an incident.
Moreover, the vast majority of these assaults do not result in any physical injury: fewer than 20 assaults each year result in
injuries reported as ‘more than minor cuts and bruises’ and the number of injuries per year, unlike the wider reported trend, has not increased since 2003.
Occupational Pensions
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the aggregate amount of payments made by employers as an inducement to members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes to agree to a reduction in their benefits or to a transfer out of the defined benefit scheme to a defined contribution scheme in each of the last three years. [120456]
James Purnell: The Department has not made any estimate of the aggregate amount of inducement payments. The information needed to make a meaningful estimate is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary Questions
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will answer the Question tabled by the hon. Member for Twickenham on 17 November 2006, on bonus payments, reference 102054. [112761]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 11 January 2007]: I replied to the hon. Gentleman’s question on 31 January 2007, Official Report, column 394W.
Pathways to Work
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Pathways to Work programmes are registered (a) blind or partially sighted and (b) deaf; and if he will make a statement. [106257]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Of the individuals who have entered Pathways to Work, there are 170 whose disability condition is recorded as ‘blindness and low vision’ and 160 whose disability condition is recorded as ‘other hearing loss’.
Notes:
1. The data on medical condition for Pathways to Work participants are incomplete. The reason for this is that they are drawn from incapacity benefit data that appear in the National Benefits Database (NBD). This impacts on the completeness of Pathways medical condition data in two ways. Firstly, NBD lags behind other Pathways Evaluation Database sources by some three to four months. Secondly, the NBD incapacity benefit data are based on a six-weekly snapshot, which means that some short-term claims of less than six weeks never appear. For this reason it is important that the above response should only be taken as an indication of Pathways activity for people with the specified disabilities. The NBD only records the individual’s primary medical condition.
2. Some individuals may not have been on Pathways long enough to attend a Work Focused Interview (WFI) or may have left Pathways before the initial WFI was due or may have had their initial WFI deferred or waived.
3. The category of ‘other hearing loss’ is a sub-category of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, condition ‘Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process’. The majority of people who are deaf would come under this subcategory.
Source:
Pathways to Work Evaluation Database.
Data is to the end of June 2006.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Renewable Energy
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much electricity used by his Department was generated from (a) renewable sources and (b) on-site microgeneration facilities in the last period for which figures are available; [107643]
(2) what proportion of electricity used by his Department was generated from (a) renewable sources and (b) on-site microgeneration facilities in the last period for which figures are available. [107656]
Mrs. McGuire: The latest available figures for 2005-06 show the Department for Work and Pensions used, in total, 327,460,763 kWh of electricity. Of this, (a) 175,174,178 kWhs was generated from renewable sources, which accounts for 53.5 per cent. of the total electricity generation.
(b) Currently, the Department uses no electricity generated from on-site microgeneration facilities as the long-term payback periods have in the past discouraged their implementation. However the Department is exploring, with its Estates Partners, Land Securities Trillium, new opportunities to develop such facilities.
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of disability benefit fraud were committed in Lancashire in each of the last 10 years. [124875]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available below Government office region level.
Social Security Benefits: Students
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of gap year students who are included in the not in education, employment or training figures, broken down by region. [124251]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
There are no data available on how many gap year students are included in the not on education, employment or training figures either at the national or regional level.
Unemployed Disabled People
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who are (a) blind or partially sighted and (b) deaf and are in a Pathways to Work pilot programme (i) have received and (ii) are receiving (A) job search and (B) rehabilitation support; and if he will make a statement. [106327]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Of the 170 individuals whose disability condition is recorded as ‘blindness and low vision’ and who have entered Pathways to Work, 90 have received or are receiving job search support.
Of the 160 Individuals whose disability condition is recorded as ‘other hearing loss’ and who have entered Pathways to Work, 80 have received or are receiving job search support.
The numbers given for individuals receiving job search support are those who have attended a Work Focused Interview and/or participating in the New Deal for Disabled People. As end dates for individuals on Pathways to Work or on New Deal for Disabled People are not recorded, it is not possible to make a distinction between those who have received and those who are receiving any of these support.
No data are collected on those who have received or are receiving rehabilitation support.
1. The data on medical conditions for Pathways to Work participants are incomplete. The reason for this is that they are drawn from incapacity benefit data that appear in the National Benefits Database (NBD). This impacts on the completeness of Pathways medical condition data in two ways. Firstly, NBD lags behind other Pathways Evaluation Database sources by some three to four months. Secondly, the NBD incapacity benefit data are based on a six weekly snapshot, which means that some short-term claims of less than six weeks never appear. For this reason it is important that the above response should only be taken as an indication of Pathways activity for people with specified disabilities. The NBD only records the individual’s primary medical condition.
2. Numbers for individuals receiving rehabilitation support could only be calculated as the number of individuals referred to the Condition Management Programme (CMP) but no data are collected on when an individual starts or ends CMP.
3. Some individuals may not have been n Pathways long enough to attend a Work Focused Interview (WFI) or may have left Pathways before the initial WFI was due or may have had their initial WFI deferred or waived.
4. The category of ‘other hearing loss’ is a sub-category of the International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision, condition ‘Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process’. The majority of people who are deaf would come under this category.
Pathways to Work Evaluation Database.
Data are to the end of June 2006.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accident and emergency departments, there were in England in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by type; what forecasts she has made of the number and type of accident and emergency departments that will be required in (i) 2008 and (ii) 2010; and if she will make a statement. [121783]
Andy Burnham: National health service trusts self-report the number of accident and emergency (A&E) departments they provide against definitions provided by the Department for each type of A&E on a quarterly basis. The information available is provided in the following table:
Prior to 2000-01, trusts submitted written information on whether or not they provided any A&E services. They did not provide a count of the number of services provided. This pre-2000-01 trust data are available at:
www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.
It is a matter for the local NHS to ensure that there is appropriate provision of urgent and emergency care services, including A&E facilities, that are responsive to people’s needs. As the number of services required is not centrally determined, no forecast of numbers for 2008 and 2010 are available.
Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the merits of raising the duty on alcohol sold by (a) supermarkets and (b) off-licences; [120245]
(2) what assessment she has made of the public health effects of a rise in the average per unit cost of alcohol sold by (a) supermarkets and (b) off-licences. [120248]
Caroline Flint: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Treasury Ministers on a wide range of issues.
All taxes and duty rates are kept under review by the HM Treasury and are considered by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.
Alcoholic Drinks: Warnings
Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she plans to introduce health warnings on alcoholic products. [124792]
Caroline Flint: The Government are working with the United Kingdom alcohol industry to reach a voluntary agreement to standardise and strengthen unit information that appears on alcoholic drinks labels and to include a standardised sensible drinking message, including information regarding drinking alcohol during pregnancy. I have recently written to the industry with a proposal for the content of standardised unit information and a standarised sensible drinking message and hope to conclude an agreement shortly.
Anaesthetics
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to promote awareness of the guidelines of the Royal College of Anaesthetists on the use of epidural injections, with particular reference to the importance of ensuring patient awareness of risk; and what assessment she has made of the effect on healthcare of the approval of unlicensed drug use by hospital Drug and Therapeutic Committees. [121231]
Caroline Flint: The Royal College of Anaesthetists guidelines on the use of epidural injections are welcomed as a contribution to practice in this area. We have made no assessment of the effect on healthcare of the approval of unlicensed drug use by hospital Drug and Therapeutic Committees.
Avian Influenza
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many tonnes of (a) raw and (b) processed meat passed into the food chain from the Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk after the announcement of the outbreak of avian influenza there. [122094]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency informs me that their enquiries have shown that, from the announcement of the confirmation of the outbreak of avian influenza at 10 pm on 2 February 2007, until the resumption of production on 12 February 2007 the total tonnage of raw and processed poultry meat entering the food chain was:
Turkey 850 tons; and
Chicken 50 tons.
All this meat was from birds slaughtered prior to 2 February and none of it came from birds from the infected premises.
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the origin was of the (a) raw and (b) processed meat which passed into the food chain after the announcement of the outbreak of avian influenza at the Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk. [122095]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency informs me that their inquiries have shown that the origin of the meat that entered the food chain after the announcement of the outbreak of avian influenza was as follows:
Of the turkey meat deboned and trimmed in Holton:
757 tons was from United Kingdom; and
93 tons was from Hungary.
All the chicken was from Brazil.
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any of the staff employed in the processing of meat at the Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk had contact with live birds during their duties. [122097]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency inform me that their enquiries have shown that no staff handling meat at the plant handled live birds. The only staff coming into contact with live birds are those working in the lairage/killing area (which is separate from the main processing area). For hygiene reasons, these staff are not deployed in meat processing areas and there is no swapping of roles.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the remit and role is of scientists in the Food Standards Agency in providing advice on avian influenza; and if she will place in the Library copies of the advice provided by those scientists since 19 January 2007. [122290]
Caroline Flint: The role of scientists in the Food Standards Agency is to gather and use appropriately and effectively all the available information on food safety aspects of avian flu and provide advice based on that evidence. The advice on the potential food safety risks associated with avian flu is based upon the conclusions of the Agency's independent Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF), and research reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority Scientific Panel on Biological Hazards. Copies of the advice provided by the Agency and the ACMSF are available in the Library.
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