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22 Mar 2007 : Column 1130W—continued
Departments: Energy
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much energy was used by her Department in each year since 2000, broken down into figures for (a) gas, (b) electricity and (c) vehicle fuel consumption; and what the cost was in each year in each case. [125817]
Andy Burnham: The Department’s consumption and cost of energy for each year since 2000 broken down into figures for gas and electricity are shown in the following tables.
| Gas: Total expenditure and consumption | ||
| Cost (£) | Usage (kWh) | |
| Electricity: Total expenditure and consumption | ||
| Cost (£) | Usage (kWh) | |
The Department does not have a vehicle fleet and does not record details of vehicle fuel consumption.
The Government car service provides vehicles for Ministers but the Department has no record of fuel used for these vehicles.
Departments: Retirement
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many employees from her Department were asked to retire upon reaching 65 years of age as a result of the Department’s mandatory retirement policy in each year since 1997. [121738]
Ms Rosie Winterton: From 1 October 2006, two employees have reached age 65 and elected to retire from the organisation. Before then employees retired at age 60.
Drugs: Prisons
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her predecessor’s statement of 28 September 2004 on the integrated drug treatment scheme for prisons, what funding has been spent in each year since the annual £40 million budget was announced; how many and what percentage of prisoners have received drug treatment via the programme; and whether the March 2008 target for allocating effective treatment services will be met. [127241]
Caroline Flint: Implementation of the integrated drug treatment system (IDTS) commenced in 2006.
The current year’s investment in IDTS totals £17 million. This comprises £12 million from the Department and £5 million from the Home Office. This will fund IDTS implementation in 45 prisons, allowing some 44,000 prisoners to receive treatment via the programme by March 2008.
Eastbourne Hospital
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been allocated to Eastbourne District General Hospital for alcohol treatment services in 2007-08. [125470]
Caroline Flint: Funding for alcohol treatment services is not allocated directly to national health service acute trusts.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many casualties were admitted to Eastbourne District General Hospital due to drink-related injuries in 2006. [125492]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Eating Disorders: Research
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for the funding of research into eating disorders. [126805]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department is considering whether we can undertake further research into eating disorders through the National Institute for Health Research, about which we hope to make an announcement soon.
Exercise
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much her Department spent on promoting physical activity to (a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) adults in each of the last five years; [129122]
(2) how much public money the Government spent on the encouragement of physical activity among the general population for public health purposes in each of the last five years; and how much is planned to be spent over the next five years. [129126]
Caroline Flint: The Department and the national health service promote the benefits of physical activity in many ways to professionals, the public and other stakeholders.
In particular, primary care trusts are required to have systematic and managed health promotion programmes, including action on exercise, that are responsive to local needs. Spending on the promotion of sport and physical recreation by the NHS is not recorded centrally.
Alongside spending by the NHS to support local delivery of physical activity programmes for adults and children, the Department has funded pilot work to inform interventions. This has included:
the local exercise action pilot scheme (LEAP), which has been jointly funded by the Department, Sport England and the Countryside Agency with an overall cost of £2.5 million between 2003 and 2006. The LEAP pilots included interventions targeted towards children, adults and older people;
a joint Department, Department for Education and Skills, and Youth Sport Trust pilot programme Schools on the Move, which includes resource materials for schools, teachers and young people to help integrate pedometers into the life of the school. The Department has invested £100,000 in the pilot during 2005 and 2006; and
a contribution of £27,000 by the Department in 2003 to a pilot initiative which distributed 10,000 Step-O-Meters to general practitioner practices in areas of high deprivation and high rates of coronary heart disease. Other funding partners were the Countryside Agency and the British Heart Foundation.
National programmes to promote physical activity arising out of this pilot work include:
the National Step-O-Meter Programme, led jointly by the Department of Health and Natural England, is training health professionals across the country in motivational interviewing and the use of pedometers as a motivational tool, and providing free pedometers for loan to their patients. The Department has invested £650,000 in this programme since 2005; and
a £494,000 school pedometer programme, distributing 40,000 pedometers to 250 schools in deprived areas to encourage children to become more active, and enabling all schools to access resources to support increased physical activity.
The Secretary of State for Health, through the section 64 general scheme of grants (s64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968), has power to make grants to voluntary organisations in England whose activities support the Department’s policy priorities.
The Department has provided funding to physical activity based programmes under the section 64 scheme to the following organisations:
Sustrans;
Amateur Swimming Association;
English Federation of Disability Sport;
National Heart Forum; and
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
For the coming year, the Department intends to spend £1.6 million on increasing physical activity. Spending allocations for the years after 2007-08 have yet to be finalised.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the inter-ministerial group on physical activity last met; and what (a) activity it has undertaken and (b) progress it has made. [129133]
Caroline Flint: The inter-ministerial group on physical activity, chaired by Caroline Flint, last met on 5 February 2007. Caroline Flint has also held bilaterals with participating Ministers.
The group has collated information on what each Department has achieved, and reviewed the gaps and obstacles to local delivery.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to encourage and facilitate higher levels of physical activity by people in everyday life. [129134]
Caroline Flint: “Choosing Activity: a physical activity action plan”, published on 9 March 2005, sets out 99 actions across Government to promote physical activity among children, in the community, in workplaces, and in the NHS.
Government implementation of Choosing Activity includes:
In December 2006, the Department, Sport England and Natural England published recommendations to support the local commissioning of physical activity interventions. These were based on the findings of the local exercise action pilots (LEAP), which demonstrated that physical activity interventions are cost-effective and can save the NHS money in the long-term by reducing ill-health. LEAP has also shown that it is possible to engage a broad range of people, and to increase physical activity levels.
The National Step-0-Meter Programme, a joint programme across the Department and Natural England, is training health professionals across the country in motivational interviewing and the use of pedometers as a motivational tool, and providing free pedometers for loan to their patients. To date 4,000 primary care health professionals, across 220 PCTs (pre-reconfiguration) have been trained in motivational behaviour change.
To support the above programmes, the Department has developed a simple tool, the general practice physical activity questionnaire (GPPAQ) for routine use in general practice to help health professionals decide when advice and interventions to increase physical activity might be appropriate to offer a patient.
A school pedometer programme, distributing 40,000 pedometers to 250 schools in deprived areas to encourage children to become more active, and enabling all schools to access resources to support increased physical activity.
It is a requirement since 2005 for all schools participating in the National Healthy Schools programme to meet criteria for physical activity.
The Department for Transport are rolling out the new national standard for cycle training, Bikeability, from spring 2007, with the aim that by 2009 half of all year six pupils in England will be trained through schemes awarding the new standard.
Food: Labelling
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will require the Food Standards Agency to press for more robust food labelling standards; and what work is being undertaken on standardisation of labelling across the EU. [127579]
Caroline Flint: Food labelling legislation is already largely harmonised within the European Union. The European Commission is currently conducting a review of this legislation, and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is representing the United Kingdom in preparatory experts’ group meetings in Brussels. UK policy lines are being developed by the FSA through consultation with stakeholders and other Government Departments. The Commission does not expect to submit a draft proposal, to Council and the European Parliament, before the end of 2007.
Health Professions: Training
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much it costs to train (a) a nurse and (b) a doctor to the point of full registration. [126539]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information for England on the average cost of training each nurse and doctor for the entire period between entering onto a degree or diploma course until full registration, inclusive of tuition, bursary and salary support costs are given in the following table.
| Staff group | 2005-06 cost (£) |
| Source: Financial and Workforce Information Return (FWIR) November 2004 and NHS Student Grant Unit for nurse bursaries. | |
In the period between entry to medical school and full registration, it is estimated that training a doctor costs between £200,000 and £250,000. Doctors generally continue training after full registration. As the duration and nature of post-registration training varies greatly, and as service and training costs are closely related, it is not possible to provide a meaningful estimate of the total cost of training.
Health Services: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much money was spent in Lancashire on anti-obesity initiatives in each of the last 10 years; [125673]
(2) how much money was spent in Lancashire on anti-alcohol initiatives in each of the last 10 years; [125674]
(3) how much money was spent in Lancashire on anti-smoking initiatives in each of the last 10 years. [125675]
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