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21 Mar 2007 : Column 995W—continued

Temporary Accommodation

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless households in temporary accommodation there were in each year since 2002-03. [126477]

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level.

The duty owed to a household accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until settled accommodation becomes available.

Information on the number of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter is available from 1997 onwards in Table 6 of our most recent statistical release on statutory homelessness. The release is placed in the Library each quarter, and is also available on our website:

Note that these figures include both those households who have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and those for which enquiries are pending.

Unitary Councils

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether councils
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which are preparing for unitary status will have elections pending in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008 postponed or cancelled. [128503]

Ruth Kelly: The 2007 elections will go ahead. We will be considering the implications for the 2008 local elections for any council that is affected during that year by the implementation of a move to unitary structures which has been approved by Parliament.

Valuation Office Agency

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 474W, on the Valuation Office Agency, from which sources the agency obtains information on the presence of bathrooms in new or altered properties. [114456]

Ruth Kelly: This information might be obtained from a variety of sources, including the house builder and the occupier.

Health

Accident and Emergency departments

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accident and emergency departments there are in each strategic health authority, broken down by type. [126549]

Andy Burnham: National health service trusts self-report the number of accident and emergency (A and E) services they provide against definitions provided by the Department. Trust information can then be grouped together to provide information for strategic health authorities.

The information is shown in the following table and was the position at the end of December 2006.

Strategic health authority Number of type one (major) A and E services Number of type two (single specialty) A and E services Number of type three (minor injury and illness, including minor injury units and walk-in centres) A and E services

England

204

68

287

North East

14

2

18

North West

33

8

36

Yorkshire and the Humber

21

2

21

East Midlands

12

5

20

West Midlands

23

5

26

East of England

19

4

23

London

32

9

23

South East Coast

16

23

29

South Central

12

7

15

South West

22

3

76

Source:
Department of Health dataset QMAE

Alcohol Misuse

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2007 , Official Report, columns 931-2W, on alcohol drinks: misuse, if she will break down the figures for admissions by primary care trust; and if she will make a statement. [125160]

Caroline Flint: The information requested by the hon. Member has been placed in the Library.

The Government are concerned by the growing number of people being admitted to hospital as a result of alcohol misuse, and is determined to tackle this. As stated in the 2004 Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England, the Government are committed to reviewing the current strategy this year. We intend to identify
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what future action is required to help the majority of the population to stay within sensible drinking limits and to make those drinking at levels likely to cause harm to their health more aware of the risks. The responsibilities of the alcohol industry, consumers, and Government will each be part of the review.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage the £15 million earmarked to improve alcohol interventions in 2007-08 represents of the total uplift in revenue for NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) for that year; and how much each PCT received of that £15 million. [126262]

Caroline Flint: The 2006-07 and 2007-08 primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocations separately identify £342 million funding in support of public health initiatives, including £15 million for alcohol interventions in 2007-08. £15 million is 0.25 per cent. of the £6 billion uplift in 2007-08 PCT allocations. PCTs have been encouraged to invest additional funding to improve their local arrangements for commissioning and delivering alcohol treatment services based on local need.

PCTs were informed of their shares of the £342 million funding but not their shares of each initiative.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to persuade primary care trusts to give alcohol reduction strategies a higher priority in their funding. [117969]

Caroline Flint: “Alcohol Misuse Interventions—Guidance on developing a local programme of improvement” was published in November 2005. This document provides the policy context, evidence of associated harm and presents strong economic reasons for primary care trusts to give alcohol harm reduction strategies a high priority. It also outlines practical steps to support local delivery of alcohol interventions.

Alcohol specific commissioning guidance for local healthcare organisations will be developed and consulted on in 2007.

The Department is exploring the possibility of developing an alcohol interventions assessment and benchmarking framework that would encourage local investment in preventive interventions and treatment. The regulatory bodies are considering how they can support the development of such a framework.

Animal Feed: Additives

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her most recent estimate is of the (a) one-off cost and (b) recurring costs of implementing the Additives for Use in Animal Nutrition (England) Regulations 2003 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators. [126669]

Caroline Flint: One-off costs will be borne by feed additive manufacturers in relation to changes in information required on labels. Detailed figures are not available from the industry, but these are unlikely to be significant.


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Recurring costs for businesses will relate mainly to authorisation or re-authorisation of feed additives. The additional cost of authorisation for new feed additives is estimated by the industry to be in the range £10,000 to £100,000 depending on the complexity of the dossier. It is not possible to provide estimates for the cost of re-authorisations as this is dependant on guidelines yet to be issued by the European Commission.

Costs to regulators will be negligible.

Blood: Contamination

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects Lord Archer of Sandwell's enquiry into contaminated NHS blood and blood products to be completed. [128387]

Caroline Flint: This is an unofficial independent public inquiry, therefore it is not a matter for the Department.

Cancer: Drugs

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will ask the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to reconsider its decision on Gliadel; and if she will make a statement. [125233]

Caroline Flint: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is currently carrying out an appraisal of Gliadel Wafers (carmustine implants) for the treatment of newly diagnosed high-grade glioma. The institute has not yet issued final guidance to the national health service but expects to do so by summer 2007.

Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals have been issued with the cancer drug Tarceva since March 2006; and which NHS trusts have (a) funded and (b) prescribed the cancer drug Tarceva since September 2005. [127019]

Caroline Flint: The Department does not hold the data requested for individual hospitals. Hospitals have been the main users of Tarceva (Erlotinib) with low usage by primary care trusts (PCTs). In the period September 2005 to June 2006, hospitals in at least 25 of the 28 former strategic health authorities had used Tarceva. In the period September 2005 to December 2006, six of the former 303 PCTs had prescribed the drug. To provide details of individual PCTs could potentially disclose the identity of the patients involved as prescribing has, so far, been minimal.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to record how many new cancer treatments developed through basic research (a) go forward to clinical trials and (b) become treatments for patients. [121934]

Caroline Flint: The Department does not collect the information from which an analysis of this sort could be made.


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The report of the review of UK heath research funding undertaken last year by Sir David Cooksey(1) discusses drug development and the translation of health research into practice. The Government will take forward the associated recommendations made in the report.

Cancer: Research

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research she has examined on the use of eggs from genetically modified hens in research into treatment for cancer; and if she will make a statement. [124150]

Caroline Flint: None.

Cervical Cancer: Vaccination

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when she expects the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) (a) to come to a conclusion and (b) to publish its findings on the effectiveness of a vaccine against human papilloma virus; and when she expects to make a recommendation following the JCVI's consideration; [128797]

(2) what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the human papilloma virus vaccine. [128801]

Caroline Flint: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is in the process of thoroughly examining the vaccine safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness evidence concerning human papilloma virus vaccines. The work is being taken forward by a sub-group of JCVI, with further work ongoing to evaluate whether the vaccine is considered to be a cost-effective prevention of cervical cancer; and the impact that HPV vaccine may have on genital warts.

The sub-group's advice will be reported to the main JCVI committee for further discussion.

No decisions will be taken on introducing these vaccines into the immunisation programme until JCVI has presented its advice to Ministers for their consideration.

Clostridium Difficile

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the possibility of transmission of Clostridium difficile by airborne means. [124527]

Caroline Flint: Clostridium difficile forms spores and patients suffering from C difficile associated disease shed spores in their faeces. These spores settle onto environmental surfaces such as floors and toilets rather than remaining in the air and air borne exposure is not a significant transmission route. Spores can survive in the environment for long periods and infect others as a result of cross contamination, often by the faecal-oral route, through contaminated surfaces. Transmission is prevented by isolating affected patients and enhanced environmental cleaning to remove Clostridium difficile spores.


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Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people contracted clostridium difficile from hospitals in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [125169]

Caroline Flint: The information is not available as requested. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) receives reports from microbiology laboratories of cases of Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD) under the mandatory surveillance scheme. All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of CDAD in patients aged 65 years and over.

The infections included in the table may not all have been contracted in hospitals in Lancashire. This is because the protocol asks trusts to report all positive samples detected in their laboratories, including samples sent to that acute trust from community hospitals, primary care trust hospitals, general practitioners, nursing homes and other NHS-run health care facilities.

Mandatory surveillance began in January 2004 and the figures for 2004 and 2005 are shown in the table and on the HPA’s website at:

Quarterly publication of mandatory surveillance data for CDAO started on 30 January 2007 and data for January to September 2006 is available on the HPA website:


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