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27 Jun 2007 : Column 822W—continued

Number of live births—2005

Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

3,142

Worthing Hospital

2,441

St Richards Hospital, Chichester

2,208

The Conquest Hospital, Hastings

1,539

Eastbourne Hospital

1,758

Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath

2,122


The peri-natal mortality rate is defined as stillbirths and deaths aged under one week per 1,000 live and stillbirths. Peri-natal mortality rates by hospital are not available for reasons of confidentiality of stillbirth information.

Leukaemia: Drugs

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to assess Dasatinib for the treatment of chronic lymphoblastic leukaemia (a) in the first instance and (b) after prior therapy with Imatinib; how many representations she has received on Dasatinib; and if she will make a statement. [145995]

Caroline Flint: Dasatinib is licensed for the treatment of adults with chronic, accelerated or blast phase chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) with resistance or intolerance to prior therapy including Imatinib. Dasatinib is also licensed for the treatment of adults with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and lymphoid blast CML with resistance or intolerance to prior therapy. The Department has no plans to commission a further assessment of Dasatinib at this time.

It will be for primary care trusts at a local level to decide whether to make this drug available to patients who might benefit from it.


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The Department has received a number of representations about Dasatinib in the form of written correspondence and parliamentary questions.

Maternity Services: East Sussex

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the future of maternity services at the Conquest hospital in East Sussex. [145800]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is for the local national health service, in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders, to plan, develop and improve services. Local solutions will meet the needs of local patients and communities. However, any proposed changes to services will only happen after full public consultation with local people.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost has been of establishing an NHS hospital as a foundation trust. [146252]

Andy Burnham: Information on the cost of a national health service trust preparing an application for NHS foundation trust (NHSFT) status is not held centrally, as costs will vary from trust to trust.

The decision on when to apply for foundation status is one which is taken locally. Applicant trusts are responsible for meeting the costs associated with their application and establishment as a NHSFT. The continued rollout of NHSFTs provides for the sharing of information and best practice between applicants and NHSFTs. The Department also continues to provide a centrally provided programme of support.

Obesity

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) adults and (b) children were classed as clinically obese, broken down by (i) strategic health authority and (ii) primary care trust in each year since 1997. [146119]

Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the format requested. Data on adult obesity prevalence by strategic health authority (SHA) is collected in the Health Survey for England (HSE). For adults, we can provide age standardised data for the years 1997-99 to 2000-02, and observed values for 2002-04. Age-standardised figures take account of the age profile of the population living in an area, making for more reliable comparisons between areas, whereas observed values do not. This information is given in Table 1, which has been placed in the Library.

Estimates of prevalence of obesity amongst adults based on 2000-02 data by primary care organisation (PCO) are also available. PCO represent both primary care trusts (PCTs), and care trusts. These estimates represent the prevalence of obesity for any PCO based on the population characteristics of that area. The estimates have been generated using a model-based method that combined individual-level data from the Health Survey for England (HSE) with area-level measures of population characteristics from the 2001
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Census and from administrative datasets. The estimates of prevalence along with associated confidence intervals by PCO are provided in Table 2, which has been placed in the Library.

Data on obesity prevalence among children is not available by SHA or PCT. However, data on obesity prevalence by Government Office Region is available from the HSE and we are able to provide data for 2002-04 combined. This information is given in Table 3, which has been placed in the Library.

Psychology: Waiting Lists

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government have set waiting times for access to psychological therapies on the NHS. [142109]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Currently no waiting times targets for access to psychological therapies have been set by the Department. The two Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) demonstration sites have made significant progress in reducing local waiting times and improving access to effective services. In addition, 10 new IAPT pathfinder sites are soon to be developed to increase access to treatment. These sites will test out proposed standards including appropriate access times for different stages of treatment as detailed in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s guidelines.

Strokes: Rehabilitation

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to increase funding allocated to research into the long-term care and rehabilitation of people who have had a stroke; and if she will make a statement. [146064]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Implementation of the Department's research strategy “Best Research for Best Health” will result in an expansion of our research programmes and in significant new funding opportunities for health research. In particular, the Oxford and Newcastle Biomedical Research Centres, formed this year, propose to undertake research on stroke for which a five year centrally funded budget of some £5 million has been approved. Other biomedical research centres will undertake research on stroke as part of broader-based research themes.

In addition, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research has recently awarded five stroke-related programme grants with a total value of £7 million, and is investing £20 million over five years in the UK Stroke Research Network set up in 2005. The network is supporting clinical trials and other well designed studies conducted by public and private sector funders.

Tuberculosis: Immigrants

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are made for the screening for tuberculosis of immigrants arriving (a) legally and (b) illegally if apprehended at the Port of Dover. [136735]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 15 May 2007]: I have been asked to reply.


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Immigrants arriving at Dover will already have passed through the juxtaposed border control in Continental Europe. If the arriving passengers are residents of a country where pre-entry screening is required then they will already have been screened for tuberculosis.

Illegal entrants who are apprehended at Dover may be detained at a police station and would be referred for a medical examination if necessary. If detained at an immigration removal centre they are required under the Detention Centre Rules 2001 to be given a medical examination within 24 hours of admission subject to their consent.

Deputy Prime Minister

Departments: Consultants

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department spent on (a) management consultants and (b) other external consultants and advisers in each year since establishment; and which of these consultants undertook work for the Department with a total contractual value in excess of £10 million. [146324]

The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 23 October 2006, Official Report, column 1626W.

Departments: Home Working

David Simpson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people in his Department have been allowed to work from home for part of the week in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on home working. [143886]

The Deputy Prime Minister: Staff in my Office are seconded from the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I therefore refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela E. Smith) on 21 June 2007, Official Report, column 2099W.

Departments: Joint Ministerial Committee

Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2007, Official Report, column 1671W, on what date the Deputy Prime Minister last attended a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee. [145474]

The Deputy Prime Minister: I last attended a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on Europe (JMC(E)) in July 2005.

Departments: Manpower

David Simpson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many people granted (a) temporary part-time,
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(b) temporary full-time, (c) permanent part-time and (d) permanent full-time contracts of employment in his Department since its establishment were (i) male, (ii) female, (iii) registered disabled and (iv) aged 55 years or over; [143893]

(2) what percentage of staff in his Department are (a) male, (b) female, (c) registered disabled and (d) aged 55 or over. [143910]

The Deputy Prime Minister: As stated in the departmental Annual Report, copies of which are available in the Library of the House, my Office employed 19.8 full-time equivalent staff. Of these, 40 per cent. were female and 60 per cent. were male. Where the information requested results in figures of less than five this is not released in order to protect the privacy of individuals.

Departments: Sick Leave

David Simpson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of sick leave taken by staff in his Department was stress-related in each year since establishment. [145972]

The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 536W.

Members: Correspondence

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will reply to the letter to him from Buckinghamshire county council of 22 March 2006, which enclosed a petition from residents of Aylesbury and the Bypass Aylesbury Now Group, and which was followed up by a letter to his office from Buckinghamshire county council, dated 26 April 2007. [142839]

Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.

The issues raised in the correspondence were discussed when my noble Friend Baroness Andrews met with representatives of the local authority and others on 20 April 2006. We have no record of the letter dated 26 April 2007.

West Indies

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost to the public purse was of his recent trip to the West Indies. [145099]

The Deputy Prime Minister: This Government publish an annual list of Cabinet Ministers’ travel overseas costing over £500, along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2007-08 will be published as soon as it is ready at the end of the financial year.

All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.


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