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14 Jun 2007 : Column 1304W—continued
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff funded by the public purse in her Department are classified as people without posts. [137668]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department currently has 47 people not in permanent posts but carrying out meaningful work across the organisation until a permanent post can be identified to which they are then deployed.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of her Department’s special advisers were on (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave in order to assist with party political matters under section 22 (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers on 16 May 2007; and how many days’ leave each adviser was granted. [140126]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Special advisers involvement in party political matters is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, including section 22 (iii), and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Secretary in December 2006 and May 2007, copies of which are available in the Library.
Departments: Pay
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working at (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the NHS in each year between 1997 and 2006; and what the total cost was of those bonuses in each year. [139265]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The available information is as follows:
| Number of bonuses awarded | Total cost (£) | |
The information for years between 1997-98 and 2003-04 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) | ||
| Number of bonuses awarded | Total cost (£) | |
| NHS PASA (Purchasing and Supply Agency) | ||
| Number of bonuses awarded | Total cost (£) | |
Both the MHRA and NHS PASA do not hold bonus information going back any further then 2005-06.
The national health service does not employ senior civil servants.
Departments: Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by her Department on public relations in each of the last five years. [139425]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not available.
Diabetes
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in each of the last 30 years. [140640]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is not available in the format requested. Figures are not available for type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately.
The total number of patients aged 17 and over on practice registers in England who have an appropriate diabetes diagnosis in 2004-05 was 1.77 million people(1).
The total number of patients aged 17 and over on practice registers in England who have an appropriate diabetes diagnosis in 2005-06 was 1.89 million people(2).
It is estimated that over 90 per cent. of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
Notes:
The difference between 1.77 million in 2004-05 and 1.89 million in 2005-06 does not mean that extra 0.12 million patients were diagnosed within those 12 months. The figures are a function of diagnosis recording on practice registers, and therefore were subject to data quality review in that period, as the QOF was being established. Patients with diabetes aged under 17 are not included because they are regarded as receiving their diabetes management in the secondary care sector.
Sources:
(1 )(“)2004-05 Quality and Outcomes Framework” (QOF) data published by The Information Centre for health and social care. This is the first year of data from this source.
(2 )Source 2005-06 QOF data published by The Information Centre for health and social care.
Doctors: Training
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to safeguard patient care at the beginning of August 2007 when doctors in training will all change jobs. [135693]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Not all doctors in training will change jobs on the same date at the beginning of August. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice as most doctors at the level equivalent to the senior house officer grade will start in the first week of
August, while doctors at the equivalent of the specialist registrar grade will have staggered start dates.
To ensure service is maintained at the beginning of August and patient care is not compromised, NHS Employers are working with trusts to plan now for managing the transition in the period after 1 August. These plans include advertising locum posts on NHS jobs to fill training posts and using extensions to contracts or service posts.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons were for abandoning the policy of staggered changeover dates for doctors in training posts. [135694]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The previous policy has not been abandoned. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice.
In the past most doctors at senior house officer (SHO) level changed over in the first week of August. The doctors at specialist registrar (SpR) level traditionally change over in July, September or October.
New specialty training programmes commence in August 2007. Most doctors at the level equivalent to the SHO grade will continue to start in the first week of August. Doctors at the equivalent of SpR level will continue to have staggered start dates.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 582W, on the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) website, whether her Department monitors the number of visitors to the MTAS website; and what other information about visits to the MTAS website her Department monitors. [140719]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 6 June 2007]: The Department’s supplier monitors the number of visitors to the Medical Training Application Service website and page visits. The total average daily visits and peak daily visits are reported to the Department monthly. The most recent figures are for the month of April and are shown in the table.
| April | |
Elderly: Malnutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work she has undertaken on her national action plan on malnutrition among elderly patients; and when she plans to publish the outcome of that work. [140479]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
The Department and stakeholders are drawing up an action plan to tackle the nutritional care of all adults in health and social care settings
(which will include older people). The plan will be made available once it has been shared and discussed with stakeholders this summer.
GMOs: Contamination
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the cost of the GM rice (LL601) contamination incident to (a) food businesses, (b) Government Departments, (c) local authorities, including port authorities, (d) the Food Standards Agency and (e) the catering and food service sectors. [142667]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency has not estimated the cost of the genetically modified rice (LL601) incident to itself, food businesses, Government Departments, local authorities (including port authorities) or the catering and food service sectors.
Health Services
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to maintain patient care when all junior doctors move posts on 1 August. [137208]
Ms Rosie Winterton: To ensure service is maintained at the beginning of August and patient care is not compromised, strategic health authorities are working with trusts and NHS Employers are working with the Department to plan now for managing the transition in the period after 1 August. These plans include advertising locum posts on NHS Jobs to fill training posts and using extensions to contracts or service posts.
Not all doctors in training will change jobs on the same date at the beginning of August. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice as most doctors at the level equivalent to the senior house officer grade will start in the first week of August, while doctors at the equivalent of the specialist registrar grade will have staggered start dates.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a copy of the discussion paper on providers which she presented to the King's Fund on 7 December 2006. [137293]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: A copy has been placed in the Library.
Health Services: Social Work
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to re-examine the role of social care providers in the running of LINKS programmes following the recent Health Select Committee report on patient and public health involvement in the NHS; and if she will make a statement. [141148]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
As stated in the Government response to the Health Select Committee report, laid in Parliament on Monday 11 June, an organisation being a social care provider does not prevent it from also advocating on behalf of patients and users of health and social care services. We believe it is more than reasonable to expect potential host organisations to
demonstrate that they are able to manage their existing responsibilities as well as take on the role of supporting a LINk.
The host will be accountable to the LINk and in its support function will be required to follow the LINk’s direction irrespective of what its own interests might be. The sort of organisations that we expect to become hosts are used to dealing with these kinds of issues all the time, as indeed are local authorities.
The model contract specification currently being drafted, addresses this issue and will include a requirement for an organisation to demonstrate it can deliver the contract without any conflict of interest.
Health Visitors
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effect of the conclusions of Agenda for Change on (a) roles and functions and (b) pay and conditions of health visitors. [139608]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Agenda for Change pay system does not specify the roles or functions of staff but it does provide an objective means of determining the weight of jobs whose role and function is determined by the employer, and therefore the pay band in which those jobs should be placed. To assist employers in objectively assessing health visitor jobs, two national job profiles have been prepared for typical health visitor roles, which would fall in pay band 6 and pay band 7. Health visitors whose jobs match these profiles would have basic pay in the ranges of £23,458 to £31,779 and £28,313 to £37,326 (1 November 2007) respectively.
Health Visitors: Manpower
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the trends in numbers of health visitors working in the NHS over the last 10 years; [139227]
(2) how many health visitors were working for the NHS in (a) September 2005 and (b) September 2006; [139228]
(3) what work force planning the NHS has undertaken, with particular reference to the future recruitment and retention of health visitors; [139230]
(4) what assessment she has made of (a) the age profile of health visitors working for the NHS and (b) its implications for future recruitment and retention of health visitors. [139232]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Table 1 shows the number of health visitors in the national health service in England over the last 10 years.
The number of health visitors has remained static over the last 10 years but there has been significant growth in the overall number of nurses working in primary and community care settings in both 2005-06 of 1,039 (1 per cent.) and since 1997 of 29,543 (38.2 per cent.).
Work force planning in terms of the recruitment and retention of health visitors is a matter for local work force planners in local primary care trusts and strategic
health authorities as they are best placed to assess the health visiting needs of their local population.
Table 2 shows the age profile of health visitors as at September 2006.
| Table 1: health visitors employed in the NHS (England) as at September each year (headcount) and (FTE) | ||
| Headcount | Full time equivalent | |
| (1) More accurate validation in 2006 has resulted in 232 headcount duplicate records being identified and removed from the non-medical census. Source: Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census | ||
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