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8 May 2007 : Column 158W—continued

NHS: Crimes of Violence

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many assaults by patients on NHS staff occurred in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS trust; and if she will make a statement. [134473]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 30 April 2007]: The information has not been collated centrally in the form requested for the period 1997-99. A table outlining the estimated number of reported violent incidents and aggression collected by the Department for 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 for each strategic health authority, national health service trust and primary care trust in England is available in the Library.

In April 2003, the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) was created and assumed responsibility for the issue of tackling violence against NHS staff. The NHS SMS has collected data on the number of physical assaults on NHS staff in England for the period 2004-05 and 2005-06. A breakdown of figures by reporting period for each NHS trust has been placed in the Library.


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NHS: Drugs

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) orphan medicines and (b) medicines for orphan diseases have been appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE); what percentage of such medicines received (i) positive, (ii) restricted and (iii) negative guidance on their usage in the NHS; and what percentage of standard medicines considered by NICE received appraisals in each category in the latest period for which figures are available. [131657]

Caroline Flint: Between March 2000 and December 2006 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published a total of 75 technology appraisals of pharmaceutical products, including reviews of existing appraisals. From this total, 15 appraisals covered one or more pharmaceutical products that have been awarded orphan drug status by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products, for the treatment of conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 persons in the United States of America or fewer than five per 10,000 persons in the European Union. Of these:

Of the remaining 60 technology appraisals;

Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1 per cent.

NHS: Finance

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the Centrally Funded Initiatives Services and Special Allocations budget for 2005-06 was allocated but underspent on programme budgets for (a) cancer, (b) CHD, (c) mental health and (d) reducing health inequalities and workforce; and by how much in each budget. [130340]

Andy Burnham: Of the Centrally Funded Initiatives Services and Special Allocations listed in the parliamentary question, only the programme budget for cancer underspent in 2005-06. The underspend of £296,000 against a budget of £29,624,000 represented a variance of 1 per cent.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which national health service trusts (a) have applied for more than the full allocation, (b) have applied for less than the full allocation and (c) have not applied for any grant allocation under the Capital Challenge Fund Scheme. [133393]


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Andy Burnham: The 172 acute trusts in England were eligible to apply to the scheme for up to £300,000. Information on those applying for more is not available centrally, as any such applications received would have been returned for revision. Fourteen trusts applied for less than the full allocation. Four trusts did not apply.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effects of payment by results on the financial position of hospital trusts. [133849]

Andy Burnham: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 27 March 2007, Official Report, column 1477W.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether primary care trusts will have their budgets top sliced in 2007-08; which strategic health authorities have informed her that they will ask their local primary care trusts for portions of their allocation to be held in strategic reserves; whether she has discussed with strategic health authorities the size of the reserves to be created in 2007-08; and what advice she has given to strategic health authorities on the size of the contingency fund and central reserve this year. [134098]

Andy Burnham: All national health service organisations are currently in the process of finalising their financial plans for 2007-08.

Strategic health authorities (SHAs), will take responsibility for both developing and implementing a financial and operational strategy to manage and improve the financial position within their overall economy in 2007-08. This could include the creation of SHA reserves.

We have made it clear in the 2007-08 NHS Operating Framework, published 11 December 2006, that SHAs will not generally require the scale of contribution to SHA reserves seen in 2006-07 because of the likelihood of return of the NHS to overall financial health at the end of 2006-07.

We have no current plans to require SHAs to deliver a centrally held contingency in 2007-08. However, as part of the planning process SHAs will need to take a prudent approach to managing their own financial risk while ensuring that they deliver against key policies.

NHS: Manpower

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she plans to introduce measures into the NHS work force census to record whether staff are (a) hospital and (b) community-based. [131904]

Ms Rosie Winterton: At present there are no plans to introduce measures into the national health service work force census to record whether staff are hospital or community-based. This is a matter for The Information Centre and this requirement would be reviewed at a work force information review group meeting the Information Centre regularly hold with key stakeholders.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many directors of public health were employed in the NHS in each year since 1997. [131917]


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Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) consultants, (b) registrars, (c) senior house officers and (d) house officers were (i) newly employed, (ii) made redundant and (iii) promoted in London in each quarter of the last 10 years, broken down by hospital trust; [132142]

(2) how many (a) clinical nurse specialists, (b) midwives, (c) anaesthetists and (d) physiotherapists were (i) newly employed, (ii) made redundant and (iii) promoted in London in each quarter of the last 10 years, broken down by hospital trust. [132143]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not collect centrally information on the number of staff in the national health service who are newly employed or promoted. The annual workforce census records staff in post as at the 30 September each year.

Redundancy data have been collected centrally since April 2006. The first two quarters of 2006-07 were published together in September 2006.

The number of medical staff, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals who have been made redundant in London in each quarter, broken down by hospital trust has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many posts there were for (a) clinical nurse specialists, (b) midwives, (c) anaesthetists and (d) physiotherapists in London in each quarter of the last 10 years, broken down by hospital trust; and how many of those posts were vacant in each case. [132145]

Andy Burnham: This information is not held centrally.

NHS: Natural Gas

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency plans the Government have in place in the event of gas supplies to the NHS being interrupted. [134413]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government recognise the national health service as a priority user of gas supplies. In the unlikely event of a national gas shortage, supplies would be prioritised to hospitals, other vulnerable sites such as care homes, and to domestic consumers. These resilience activities are reinforced at the local level with NHS organisations required to have (and test on a regular basis) business continuity plans to deal with any local disruption to gas supplies.

NHS: Redundancy

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) medical staff, (b) nurses, (c) midwives, (d) allied health professionals, (e) health care support workers and (f) non-clinical staff were made redundant in the NHS in the first nine months of 2006-07. [131942]


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Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the number of medical staff, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, health care and other support staff workers, healthcare scientists and non clinical staff who were made compulsory redundant in the national health service in the first nine months of 2006-07.

In total there were 1,446 compulsory redundancies of which 79 per cent. were non-clinical staff.

NHS compulsory redundancies as at 31 December 2006—England
Number

Clinical posts

Medical compulsory redundancies

41

Nurse compulsory redundancies

190

Midwife compulsory redundancies

9

Non clinical posts

Allied health professionals compulsory redundancies

50

Healthcare scientists compulsory redundancies

18

Healthcare and other support staff compulsory redundancies

233

Non clinical compulsory redundancies

905

Total

1,446


Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many redundancies were made in the NHS in the first nine months of 2006-07, broken down by strategic health authority area. [131943]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows the number of compulsory redundancies in the national health service in the first nine months of 2006-07, broken down by strategic health authority area.

In total there were 1,446 compulsory redundancies of which 79 per cent. were non-clinical staff.

Compulsory redundancies April to December 2006
Strategic health authority Compulsory redundancies for clinical staff Compulsory redundancies for non-clinical staff Total compulsory redundancies

East Midlands

5

24

29

East of England

69

107

176

London

90

342

432

North East

2

17

19

North West

16

58

74

South Central

18

93

111

South East Coast

10

143

153

South West

36

111

147

West Midlands

60

207

267

Yorkshire and Humber

2

36

38

England total

308

1,138

1,446


NHS: Rehabilitation

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of NHS rehabilitation and intermediate care services. [133626]


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Mr. Ivan Lewis: Rehabilitation should be part of any effective treatment and care package provided to meet an individual's needs, with a view to enabling them to return to as independent a life as soon as possible.

The national service framework for long-term conditions, published March 2005, addresses in detail the issue of rehabilitation. A range of quality requirements is identified covering early and specialist rehabilitation, community rehabilitation and support, and vocational rehabilitation.

As part of the intermediate care funding announced in the NHS Plan, £66 million capital funding was made available to strategic health authorities in 2002-03 and 2003-04 to expand capacity and to support the development of intermediate care services and in particular a growth in bed numbers.

As at 30 September 2006, there were almost 33,000 intermediate care beds and places. Compared to 1999-2000 the number of intermediate care beds has more than doubled, the number of intermediate care places in non-residential settings has trebled and almost three times as many people benefit from intermediate care.


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