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NHS Treatment Centres: Newcastle

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much has been paid to Care UK for the NHS walk-in centre at Jury’s Inn, Newcastle; what the reasons were for the delay in opening the centre; what costs were incurred during the delay; when the days of opening were extended to include Sundays; and what consideration is being given to an extension of opening hours after 7 p.m; [146223]

(2) which trust or organisation in the NHS (a) determined the cost and service standards of the NHS walk-in centre at Jury’s Inn, Newcastle and (b) is responsible for monitoring the contract; and how long the contract with Care UK for the NHS walk-in centre has to run. [146226]

Andy Burnham: The Newcastle Central NHS walk-in centre at Jury’s Inn is one of seven centres commissioned by the Department to provide health services which address the needs of the working population. Care UK is the provider under a contract that runs until 30 April 2011. The amount payable under this contract is commercially confidential. The centre opened on 17 May 2006, two weeks later than scheduled due to an issue with the electrical power
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source. No costs were incurred during this period. The centre is open 7 am to 7 pm, Monday to Friday and although the Department, the provider and the primary care trust are discussing options for extending opening hours, no decision has been taken.

NHS: ICT

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her statement that the NHS IT programme is the largest civilian IT programme in the world, which non-civilian IT programmes are larger; and which civilian IT programme is nearest in size to the NHS IT programme. [145635]

Caroline Flint: Although formal research has not been conducted, we are not aware of any publicised IT programme in the world that services 1.3 million staff with what is said by suppliers to be the largest virtual private network and largest single email service that underpins the complex technology to support electronic booking, electronic prescriptions, digital imaging and an electronic care record for 50 million patients. It is not known what the second largest civilian programme would be and it would be a disproportionate cost to the taxpayer to find out. Non-civilian IT programmes tend not to publicise their details.

NHS: Management Consultants

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on management consultancy contracts by the NHS in 2006-07. [146291]

Andy Burnham: The information requested is not held by the Department.

Strokes: Ethnic Groups

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to help raise awareness of the increased risk factors for stroke in people from (a) African Caribbean and (b) South Asian communities. [146077]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has provided Section 64 grants to fund the following projects: The Afiya Trust’s Stroke Awareness for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities project will target black and minority ethnic communities and run stroke awareness sessions within community settings.

The Stroke Association’s Blood Pressure Awareness: African Caribbean Communities project will promote a blood pressure awareness campaign within African Caribbean communities in England.

The Stroke Association’s Stroke Prevention: South Asian Communities project raised awareness of stroke prevention through the production of materials and the dissemination and distribution of these materials.

The risk factors which increase an individual’s chances of suffering a stroke include smoking, drinking alcohol, poor diet and lack of physical activity. Strokes are also more likely in those who suffer from hypertension and diabetes. Through the public health White Paper “Choosing Health” the Department has set out a programme of action to help improve the health of the public including action on smoking and
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diet. This builds on existing work such as campaigns on smoking and diet, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines on the management of hypertension, points for prevention activities in the general practitioners contract and support for the Blood Pressure Association blood pressure awareness campaigns.

The Coronary Heart Disease and Diabetes National Service Frameworks have also driven forward improvements in primary and secondary prevention of risk factors associated with circulatory disease in general. This includes better control of blood pressure and blood glucose, cholesterol management and the use of aspirin.

The Department is also developing a new national stroke strategy for England which aims to modernise services, not just for those who have had a stroke, but also those at risk of doing so.

Strokes: Research

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to encourage the participation of more (a) hospitals and (b) patients in stroke research studies. [146076]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research is investing £20 million over five years in the United Kingdom Stroke Research Network set up in 2005. The Network is currently supporting 40 clinical trials and other well-designed studies conducted by public and private sector funders.

The Stroke Research Network works closely with patients, their carers and the public to ensure involvement at all levels of its activity.

Home Department

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Chelmsford

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued in the criminal justice system area most closely corresponding to Chelmsford in each year since the scheme commenced. [145964]

Mr. Coaker: The available information (up to 31 December 2005, latest available) is given in the table.

Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts in the Essex CJS area, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, by year, April 1999 to December 2005
Essex CJS area Number

April 1999-May 2000

0

June-December 2000

0

2001

0

2002

2

2003

16

2004

59

2005

72

Total issued

149

(1) Between 1 April 1999-31 May 2000 data were collected on aggregate numbers only by police force area (pfa).
Note:
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

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Police: Road Traffic

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources have been allocated to police forces for traffic policing to meet the Government’s road casualty reduction targets. [146124]

Mr. McNulty: Government funding for police authorities is chiefly allocated using a funding formula that provides an assessment of the relative need of each police force in England and Wales.

Funding for traffic policing is not separately identified. Decisions on the distribution of resources are matters for the Chief Officer and the Police Authority.

Speed Limits: Cameras

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Government’s Safety Camera initiative on the numbers of police officers employed on speed enforcement duties in those areas where it has been implemented; and if he will make a statement. [146125]

Mr. Coaker: We would expect the effective use of automatic, unattended speed cameras to improve law enforcement by deterring more drivers from exceeding the legal speed limit and detecting more who do, It will at the same time free up police resources for other duties. These would include roads policing duties, such as active speed limit enforcement by officers on the ground. How resources are deployed is however an operational matter for individual chief officers of police.

House of Commons Commission

Art Works

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the Works of Art Committee acquisition budget is for 2007-08. [145049]

Nick Harvey: The total income of the acquisition budget for 2007-08 is £188,124.68. This is made up of the vote for the financial year of £72,500, plus a carry-over from the previous financial year of £115,624.68. The carry-over arose from underspend in 2003-04 and 2004-05, when few works of art became available which fitted the Committee's acquisition aims. A large proportion of it has already been committed to projects begun in the last financial year, including purchases made at the auction of the collection of the late Lord Stratford and portrait commissions.

Lifts

Mr. Laws: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans are being made to repair the lifts in 1 Parliament Street; and how often all of these lifts have been working simultaneously over the last two years. [144995]


28 Jun 2007 : Column 852W

Nick Harvey: The refurbishment of the suite of three lifts in 1 Parliament Street is being undertaken as a two year programme to ensure that at least one of the lifts is always available. In the first year (2006) one of the lifts was repaired and provisional wiring for the other two took place. During this summer recess the other two lift cars and doors will be renewed and at the end of the recess all three lifts will be in full service.

Other than during the summer recess, all three lifts have been in normal operation except between February and April. During that period, one lift at a time was taken out of operation to improve the controls which enable them to work together. This task was due to be done in the summer recess 2007 but was brought forward in view of complaints from Members. Since April there have been other breakdowns which on one occasion put two of three lifts out of action for one Tuesday afternoon and overnight before they were repaired.

International Development

International Assistance

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent progress has been made in meeting the millennium goals. [145769]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: Progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs) is reported on officially by the UN and varies across goals and targets and across regions.

The world is on track to meet the poverty reduction and hunger goal. The most recent official data at global level show that between 1990 and 2002, the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day in the developing world dropped from 28 to 19 per cent. However, progress across regions varies. The proportion of people in Asia living on less than $1 a day dropped by nearly a quarter of a billion over that period. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the goal is seriously off track and, although the poverty rate itself did not increase, the number of people living in extreme poverty increased by 140 million.

Progress towards the other seven millennium development goals (MDGs) goals also varies. For example, reducing child mortality is on track in Latin America, South East Asia and North Africa, and slightly off track in most other regions. There is less progress towards goal 6 (combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases): this goal is seriously off track for at least one of its composing targets in most regions (including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Oceania and the Commonwealth of Independent States both in Europe and Asia). Progress towards environmental sustainability is mixed, with most regions off track for some targets and on track for others.

On current rates of progress, Sub-Saharan Africa will not meet any of the goals by 2015. The UK has placed Africa at the forefront of our campaign for more and better aid. Out of the 25 key countries on which DFID focuses its work, 16 are in Africa. The 2006 White Paper sets out DFID’s future work on
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governance, basic services, climate change, the international system, and fragile states, which will all help make further progress towards meeting the MDGs.

The 2006 UN Millennium Development Goals Report, which can be found on http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/default.aspx, gives a comprehensive account of progress to date on each of the goals, and how great an effort remains necessary if they are to be met. The report is about to be updated by the UN this summer.

DFID’s 2007 annual report “Development on the Record”, which was recently published includes an annex on progress towards all goals including UK progress towards MDG 8. A copy of the report is available in the Library of the House.

International Assistance: Group of Eight

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of
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22 May 2007, Official Report, column 1251W, on international assistance: Group of Eight, if he will break down the figures on (a) total overseas development assistance and (b) debt relief as a proportion of gross national income by G8 member country. [146207]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: The following table gives a breakdown of total Official Development Assistance (ODA) and debt relief, as a proportion of total Gross National Income (GNI) in 2006 for each of the G7 countries using current prices (as opposed to 2004 prices in the previous answer). Russia is not a member of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, therefore any aid from Russia is not included in the official DAC statistics on ODA.

G7 countries: net ODA in 2006 (preliminary data)
ODA US$ million current ODA/GNI percentage Debt relief US$ million current Debt relief/GNI percentage

Canada

3,713

0.30

245

0.020

France

10,448

0.47

3,543

0.159

Germany

10,351

0.36

2,722

0.095

Italy

3,672

0.20

1,604

0.087

Japan

11,608

0.25

3,128

0.067

United Kingdom

12,607

0.52

3,476

0.143

United States

22,739

0.17

1,575

0.012

G7 countries

75,138

0.30

16,293

0.065

Source:
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007

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