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26 Jun 2007 : Column 612W—continued
Departments: Credit Cards
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by staff in her Department via departmental (a) credit, (b) procurement and (c) fuel cards in each of the last three years. [145294]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has spent the following on credit, procurement and fuel cards in the last three years:
| £000 | ||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | Total | |
The figures have been extracted from the Department’s financial systems and from statements supplied by the bank provider.
Credit cards held by staff ceased to exist from May 2005. These were superseded with Government procurement cards (GPC). Unlike a consumer credit card, which offers consumers extended credit facilities, GPC cards were introduced to consolidate high-occurrence small value purchases, with procurement card invoices to be settled in full at the end of each billing period.
The Department has not held any fuel cards for the period in question.
Departments: Northern Ireland
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a copy of the concordat governing the relationship between her Department and the Northern Ireland administration. [145938]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: “Devolution concordat on health and social care: UK Department of Health, Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales and Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety” was published in 2001. It governs relations between the Department and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
A copy of this Concordat is available in the Library.
Departments: Surveys
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff surveys her Department undertook in the last 12 months; and at what total cost. [145260]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In the last 12 months the Department has conducted one staff survey, in March 2007. Analysis of the results of the survey continues and therefore the final costs are not yet known. We anticipate it to cost similar to the survey in 2006 which cost £23,000.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library copies of her departmental employee surveys for (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007. [145628]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 18 June 2007, Official Report, column 1560W.
Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds are available to assist the victims of domestic violence to recover from their experiences. [144635]
Mr. Coaker: I have been asked to reply.
This year, the Ministry of Justice has committed £3 million to fund independent domestic violence advisers: trained specialists whose goal is to ensure the safety and recovery of victims of domestic violence.
The Home Office has allocated £2 million to fund the local delivery of support services for victims of domestic violence and their children, and just under £2 million has been made available to local areas for the development of multi-agency risk assessment conferences, which aim to ensure the safety of identified high risk victims, and help them recover from their experiences without fear of repeat victimisation.
Safe housing is integral to victims’ recovery, and Support People funding is available to provide housing-related support for victims of domestic violence. In 2005-06, over £59 million was made available through this funding.
The Government also part funds a matrix of helplines which provide support and information to victims of domestic violence, to enable them to access assistance and support to help them recover from domestic violence.
In addition to this, health services have been making significant progress in the early identification of, and intervention with, victims of domestic violence—for example, rolling out making routine inquiries of all pregnant women, and taking forward work on collecting violent crime data (including domestic violence data) through electronic patient records.
Drugs: Guernsey
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will place a copy of the response from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to the recent consultation by the Bailiwick of Guernsey on its draft medicines legislation in the Library; and if she will make a statement on that response; [145993]
(2) if she will invite the Governments of Guernsey and Jersey to attend a meeting with the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association to discuss issues relating to the trade in food supplements and unlicensed medicinal products. [145994]
Caroline Flint:
The Food Standards Agency, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Ministry of Justice have met with the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association to discuss issues relating to the trade in food supplements and unlicensed medicinal products via the Channel Islands. Further information has been requested to assist in discussions with the island Governments. There are no plans to invite the governments of
Guernsey and Jersey to a meeting with the Health Food Manufacturer’s Association.
A copy of the MHRA’s response to the consultation by the Bailiwick of Guernsey on its draft medicines legislation has been placed in the Library. The MHRA’s response said that the proposed legislation did not implement the Medicines Directive, it offered assistance to the Bailiwick of Guernsey in implementing the directive and asked for the Bailiwicks proposed time scale.
General Practitioners
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) of 6 June 2007, Official Report, column 571W, on general practitioners, what process for managing discussions and negotiations was agreed by the NHS Confederation; what timetable was agreed; and which parties were involved. [144515]
Andy Burnham: This information is contained in news releases and regular updates issued by the NHS Confederation, relevant text copies have been placed in the Library.
The press notice dated July 2001 outlined the initial steps taken to develop the process and identified the need for urgent discussions. The subsequent updates set out the arrangements put in place.
Health Services: Armed Forces
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures have been taken to inform general practitioners of the particular (a) medical and (b) mental health needs of (i) former and (ii) serving armed forces’ personnel; and whether she has a system for monitoring the effectiveness of such communications. [145957]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has embarked on a number of pilots, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and service charities, to improve access to mental health care for ex-servicemen. The health care of serving armed forces is the responsibility of the MOD.
Injuries: Cycling
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children who had suffered injuries while cycling were admitted into (a) accident and emergency units and (b) other hospital services in each of the last three years. [145489]
Caroline Flint: Data on children admitted to hospital as in-patients who had suffered injuries while cycling are shown in the table. Data are shown for all inpatient admissions and for inpatient admissions of those who initially attended accident and emergency (A&E) units. Data are not available centrally on children attending A&E units who are not subsequently admitted as in-patients.
| Count of finished in year admission episodes for children aged 0-14 years suffering injuries while cycling shown by all admission methods and admission via A & E, 2003-04 to 2005-06 , national health service hospital s, England | |||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| Notes: 1. Data are for International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD10) external cause codes V10 to V19, which relate to pedal cyclist injuries. 2. Admission via A&E covers the following admission methods: Emergency—via A&E services, including the casualty department of the provider; Emergency—other means, including patients who arrive via the A&E department of another healthcare provider. 3. A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 4. Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care. | |||
IVF
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in ensuring that primary care trusts follow the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s guidelines on access to IVF treatment. [145757]
Caroline Flint: In welcoming the clinical guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004, we advised that the Department would be looking to primary care trusts (PCTs) who provided no in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to meet a minimum level of one cycle of IVF by April 2005, and to make progress to the full implementation of the guideline in the longer term. This guideline is due to be reviewed in 2008.
The NICE clinical guideline has raised the profile of infertility within the national health service. However, the primary responsibility for implementing NICE guidelines, including the rate of implementation, rests with the NHS at local level. The consideration that PCTs give to this is part of the range of factors that they, in liaison with local health bodies and patient groups, take into account in deciding their policy on the provision of treatment services for their locality. This policy will reflect local health needs and priorities.
The Department is funding the patient support organisation Infertility Network UK to help PCTs share best practice and engage with fertility patients in the planning and prioritisation of fertility services.
Medical Records: Databases
Mr. Dai Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with the Welsh Assembly Government Health Minister on (a) plans to create an electronic care record for patients, (b)
confidentiality matters arising from the proposed system and (c) the cost of implementation of the Choose and Book electronic referral system for GPs. [144984]
Caroline Flint: None. Health services in Wales, and the information technology used to support them, including the creation of electronic care records for Welsh patients, are matters for the Welsh Assembly Government. However, officials from the Department and NHS Connecting for Health work closely with officials from the Welsh Assembly Government and Informing Healthcare Wales on a range of matters of common concern.
Mental Health: Wales
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions she has had with the Welsh Health Minister on a mental health measure for Wales. [145605]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have had a discussion with the Assembly Minister for Health and Social Services, and have received and replied to a letter from her regarding mental health measures for Wales in the last week.
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department plans to audit progress in relation to the objectives established in the musculoskeletal services framework. [145848]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department will not directly audit progress in relation to the objectives established in the musculoskeletal services framework (MSF) as the purpose of this document is best practice guidance. It is up to local health systems to decide which changes to implement in order to meet the objectives set out in the MSF.
NHS: Non-geographic Numbers
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to question 138605, whether national health service organisations using 09 or 087 numbers established before April 2005 are still able to use them. [144976]
Andy Burnham: Regulations came into force in April 2005 which prevented national health service dentists, NHS opticians, general practitioner practices and out of hours providers from establishing new premium rate telephone numbers for patients seeking to contact services. Existing numbers were not affected. Ministers decided not to issue directions to enforce a migration of existing numbers to low-cost alternatives such as 0844 or 0845 in the light of Ofcom’s decision to review its numbering system. Ofcom has now created a new country-wide number range 03 for public and not for profit bodies, which are charged to the consumer at the local rate, and has now started allocating numbers using the 03 prefix.
The Department expects decisions on telephone numbers in primary care to be based on what is in the
best interests of patients taking account of the Central Office of Information guidance on cost to the citizen.
NHS trusts and foundation trusts are not affected by the aforementioned regulations.
Service Categories
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2007, Official Report, columns 1384-5W, on service categories, whether service category 27 is inclusive of (a) service category 25 and (b) Common Procurement Vocabulary Codes 74511000-4, and from 85000000-9 to 85323000-9, except 85321000-5 and 85322000-2. [145914]
Andy Burnham: Service category 27 is not inclusive of service category 25. Common Procurement Vocabulary Codes 745 11000-4, and from 85000000-9 to 85323000-9, except 85321000-5 and 85322000-2, are not included in Service Category 27.
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