| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
20 Mar 2007 : Column 850W—continued
Community Nurses: Cumbria
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) district and (b) community nurses were employed by Cumbria Primary Care Trust in each year since 1997. [126860]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were referred to (a) district and (b) community nurses in Cumbria in each year since 1997. [126863]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally.
Dementia: Research
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding was provided for research into (a) prevention, (b) treatment and (c) cure of dementia in each of the last five years; and what percentage of the health budget this represented in each year. [126835]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The most recent information available is shown in the following table.
| Expenditure on dementia research (£ million) | ||||
| Department of Health | Medical Research Council | Total | Percentage of total national health service expenditure | |
The departmental figures relate to national research programme expenditure. They do not include the part of the research and development allocations made annually
to NHS providers that has been spent on dementia research. This information and information on the breakdown of funding for research into the prevention, treatment and cure of dementia is not held centrally.
Dentists: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in (a) Eastbourne and (b) England have exhausted their 2006-07 NHS budgets. [125468]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts (PCT) in England do not award dental providers an annual budget but an annual contract value, which is payable in equal monthly instalments, in return for an agreed level of service. Service levels may be defined by an annual number of units of dental activity (which are a weighted measure of courses of treatment), or they may include service outputs that cannot be measured through courses of treatment. All contract payments will be honoured if the dental provider delivers their agreed service levels. The Department does not assess the performance of individual dental providers. PCTs, as the commissioning bodies, are responsible for monitoring the delivery of services by their local dental providers. Dental services in Eastbourne are the responsibility of the East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT.
Departments: Appeals
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many independent bodies existed to hear appeals on decisions made by her Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many there have been in 2006-07 to date. [121675]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department had no independent appeal panels.
Appeals against the Department’s decisions (final stage complaints) are dealt with by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
The Department used the services of an independent reviewer for a single case in 2006.
Executive agencies are independent organisations with their own complaints procedures and administration. The two Executive agencies are the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
PASA has not had any independent bodies to hear appeals. Complaints about maladministration of non-procurement activity are governed by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Legal options are available to suppliers if commercial complaints are not resolved by PASA’s complaints procedure.
Throughout the period between 1997 and 2005, the MHRA had five independent advisory bodies set up to hear appeals on technical decisions made by the agency. These were the Committee on Safety of Devices, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), the Medicines Commission (CM) and the Independent Review Panel for Borderline products; the Independent Review Panel for Advertising. In October 2005, the CSM and the MC were disbanded and a new body, the Commission for Human Medicines replaced them.
Departments: Complaints
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints were received by her Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many have been received in 2006-07 to date. [121674]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department cannot identify complaints figures for 1997-98 and 2001-02 except at disproportionate cost.
Volumes of complaints are calculated by calendar year, not financial year.
There is a separate complaints procedure for complaints involving the national health service and social care. This is completely independent of the Department.
The total number of inquiries dealt with by the head of complaints in 2005 was 339, of which most were not categorised as complaints about the Department and its work. The total for 2006 was 256.
From 1 January 2007 to 26 February we have received five complaints.
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) is one of the Department’s two Executive agencies. Executive agencies respond to complaints received about their work.
| Number of reports available | |
PASA logs as complaints only those where they have a specific issue relating to the performance or specific activity by the agency rather than complaints about policy.
| The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) | |
| Number of reports available | |
These are formal complaints that were referred to the central complaints officer to deal with. MHRA does not have records of complaints that were dealt with at local level for these periods.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |