| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
13 Nov 2007 : Column 197W—continued
NHS: Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to ensure that payments made to strategic health authorities to reverse the resource accounting and budgeting deductions applied to NHS trusts in 2006-07 have been passed on to the trusts that faced these deductions. [162830]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department ensured that payments were made by strategic health authorities (SHAs) to national health service trusts reversing resource accounting and budgeting deductions, by requiring that the payments were separately identified in the monthly financial monitoring returns from SHAs.
NHS: Manpower
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people who work for the NHS in England reside in Wales. [162496]
Ann Keen [holding answer 12 November 2007]: This information is not collected centrally.
Nutrition: Water
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department supports the World Health Organisation definition of water as an important nutrient. [161884]
Dawn Primarolo: The United Kingdom Government agree with the World Health Organization that water is critical to human life.
In temperate climates, such as the UK, the Government advise that six to eight glasses (about 1.2 litres) of water, or other fluids, should be consumed every day to prevent dehydration. This amount should be increased when the weather is warm or when exercising. Fluid intake is also achieved through food eaten.
The Government have commissioned no specific research on the health effects of drinking water but keeps abreast of research in this area.
Ovarian Cancer: Screening
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the trial for ovarian cancer screening; what the expected completion date of this trial is; and if he will make a statement. [164033]
Dawn Primarolo:
The United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening is a large randomised controlled trial that aims to assess the
impact of two screening strategies in the general population. It will involve 200,000 post-menopausal women aged 50-74. The trial is jointly funded by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the national health service research and development programme. The trial is progressing and is expected to be completed in November 2012.
Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
Mr Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review (a) the level of prescription charges and (b) the long-term conditions which allow exemption from prescription charges. [164062]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government review the level of prescription charges annually.
The Government’s current review of prescription charges will be inviting views later this autumn on possible options for changes to prescription charges that are cost neutral to the national health service.
Primary Care Trusts: Finance
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the costs borne by primary care trusts for providing dental care are taken into account in the funding provided by his Department. [163007]
Ann Keen [holding answer 12 November 2007]: Primary Care trusts (PCTs) assumed responsibility for commissioning all elements of primary dental care services from 1 April 2006. PCTs were awarded devolved primary dental service funding allocations from that date. Individual funding allocations were based on the level of dental activity and costs observed in each area in the 12 month period October 2004 to September 2005, with appropriate additions to absorb subsequent annual contract value upratings, previously agreed service developments, and expected changes associated with the new ways of working fostered by the new contract terms available to dentists. These allocations were planned to allow PCTs to honour the commitment to offer all serving dentists new contracts at their previous levels of national health service earnings in return for maintaining their levels of NHS commitment, and provide a stable base from which PCTs could plan the further development of dental services using the flexibilities offered by the new contract to make the most effective use of dental resources. PCTs are also free to supplement provision for dentistry from within their total NHS resources if they consider this an appropriate local priority. Based on PCTs’ initial devolved dental allocations, NHS net expenditure on primary care dental services in 2006-07, after taking account of the contribution from patient charges, was over £400 million higher than in 2003-04, an increase of 30 per cent.
Radiotherapy
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many linear accelerators operating in England are more than 10 years old; and if he will make a statement. [163288]
Ann Keen [holding answer 12 November 2007]: As at July 2007 there were 22 machines installed in the national health service over 10 years old. Of these, 14 were awaiting delivery of replacement machines awarded under central programmes to purchase new and replacement equipment and facilities to provide better access to services. The remaining eight have been replaced via the central programmes but the trusts decided to retain their older machines in addition to meet local needs.
We do not hold information on whether these older machines are in routine clinical use. Some of these machines may be used for clinical research, training purposes or used as back up when another machine requires maintenance.
Social Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clients were placed by (a) English social services departments in Wales and (b) Welsh social services departments in England, in each of the last five years. [162501]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 12 November 2007]: Information about the activities of English social services departments is not collected centrally.
Information about the activities of Welsh social services departments is the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly.
Treasury
Banks: Debts
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what additional measures he has put in place to ensure full disclosure of bad debts in the (a) retail and (b) wholesale banking sector in the last 12 months. [162035]
Kitty Ussher:
Disclosures by companies are governed by accounting standards. Compliance with the relevant accounting standards (for example, those promulgated by the Accounting Standards Board or the International Accounting Standards Board) is needed if a company’s accounts are to provide the required true and fair view. International Financial Reporting Standard 7 was brought into UK GAAP as Financial Reporting Standard 29 in 2007. This does not specifically cover bad debts but it requires disclosure of the significance of financial instruments for an entity’s financial position and financial performance, plus
quantitative and qualitative information about exposure to risks arising from financial instruments.
Childbirth
Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes in the prevalence of multiple births in England have taken place in the last 10 years. [163274]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 November 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your request for information on changes in the prevalence of multiple births in England in the last 10 years. (163274)
The latest year for which data are available is 2005. The table below shows the multiple maternity rates for mothers usually resident in England—this is the number of maternities with multiple births per 1,000 total maternities in that year.
| Multiple maternity rate for mothers usually resident in England (multiple maternities per 1,000 maternities), 1996-2005 | |
| Maternities with multiple births per 1,000 maternities | |
| Note: Figures include maternities where live births and/or stillbirths occurred. | |
Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many births there were in England in each of the last 10 years, broken down by the age of the mother at the time of birth. [163275]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 November 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your request for information on how many births there were in England in each of the last 10 years, broken down by the age of the mother at the time of the birth. (163275)
The latest year for which data are available is 2005. The attached table provides data on live births to mothers usually resident in England by single year of age from 1996 to 2005.
| Live births to mothers usually resident in England, by age, 1996-2005 | ||||||||||
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |