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10 Dec 2007 : Column 303W—continued
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department and its agencies spent on end-of-year bonus payments in each of the last five years. [171542]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table presents the total amount of bonuses paid in each year since 2004-05. The Department changed its payroll provider in 2003-04. Information on performance bonuses paid prior to those presented is only available from individual payslips. To retrieve the information for years prior to those presented would therefore involve disproportionate cost.
| Total paid out as bonus | ||||
| Year in which bonus paid | Year to which bonus applies | Department (£) | Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency (£) | NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (£) |
| n/a = Not available | ||||
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which companies are under contract to his Department to provide mail services. [170167]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has a ‘standing arrangement’ with Royal Mail for the delivery and collection of mail and an annual trading agreement with Parcelforce.
The Department has a formal contract with Point 2 Point for the delivery of urgent items.
In conjunction with Department for Transport the Department has a service level agreement with the Government Car Service for the delivery of mail between official buildings.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what policy proposals above his Department’s delegated limits were approved by HM Treasury as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review process. [165709]
Mr. Bradshaw: Approval for policies above delegated limits is agreed with Her Majesty’s Treasury as and when this is needed. This is a separate process from the Comprehensive Spending Review. No specific approvals were given for expenditure above delegated limits as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates his Department made formal written submissions to HM Treasury as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review process; and what the purpose of each submission was. [165710]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department made formal written submissions to Her Majesty’s Treasury as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 on 15 December 2006, 2 March and 7 September 2007. The submissions outlined the Department’s plans for 2008-09 to 2010-11 for discussion with HM Treasury.
Dermatology: Primary Health Care
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect practice-based commissioning for dermatology services is expected to have on equity of access for treatment for primary care patients. [170029]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department considers practice-based commissioning to be a key route for improving access to services, including dermatology. Practice-based commissioning has the potential to benefit patients by enabling access to a greater variety of services from a larger number of providers in settings that are closer to home or more convenient for them.
Emergency Services: Disciplinary Proceedings
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions emergency service personnel have been disciplined for misuse of blue lights in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [170542]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not collected centrally.
English Language
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people sat the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board test in each testing centre in each of the last five years. [169563]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Secretary of State does not hold information on how many people sat the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board test in each testing centre in each of the last five years. This information can be obtained from the General Medical Council (GMC).
General Practitioners
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 600W, on general practitioners, how many of the 100 new practices will be delivered in each of the primary care trusts identified. [169878]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department continues to discuss with the national health service how many practices will be established in each of the 38 primary care trusts (PCTs) identified as having the poorest provision. A final decision will be made in January 2008 following completion of PCT delivery plans.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 600W, on general practitioners, by what date he expects the discussions on timescales to be completed. [169879]
Mr. Bradshaw: Primary care trusts are currently developing their timescales as part of their local delivery plans which are expected to be completed by January 2008.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 600W, on general practitioners, what guidance he has issued to primary care trusts to ensure that they procure innovative solutions and models of provision that will contribute to improvements in access and outcomes for patients. [169880]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department will shortly be publishing a procurement framework which will contain practical tools and guidance that primary care trusts (PCTs) will need to manage local procurements. The framework will explain how PCTs should work with clinicians and patients locally to develop service specifications that reflect local need and maximise innovation, including, for health centres, the extent to which they co-locate and integrate with other services, for example pharmacy, diagnostics and social care.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what indicators his Department used to determine comparative levels of GP provision in primary care trusts. [169956]
Mr. Bradshaw: The indicators that have been used to determine the 25 per cent. of primary care trusts with poorest provision are listed as follows and reflect the criteria identified in ‘Our NHS, Our Future’, i.e. fewest primary care clinicians, poorest health outcomes and lowest patient satisfaction.
Whole time equivalents (wte) general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 weighted population; and wte practice nurses per 100,000 weighted population.
male life expectancy;
female life expectancy;
cancer mortality among under 75s;
cardiovascular mortality among under 75s;
index of multiple deprivation (health);
percentage of patients with diabetes in whose glycated haemoglobin is 7.5 mg or less;
percentage of patients with hypertension in whose blood pressure reading is 150/90 or less.
percentage of patients seen within 48 hours;
percentage of patients able to book an appointment more than 2 days ahead;
percentage of patients satisfied with their practice telephone system;
percentage of patients able to see a specific GP; and
percentage of patients satisfied with practice opening hours.
General Practitioners: Databases
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects sealed envelope software is likely to be available for testing in each of the main established GP systems; and what plans he has to pilot the software within established discrete General Practice databases before being rolled out to databases accessible by multiple providers. [168953]
Mr. Bradshaw: The ‘sealed envelope’ is a set of requirements for the management of patient data which is in accordance with undertakings given in the NHS Care Record Guarantee. The requirements were developed in consultation with general practitioners (GPs) and reflect existing security mechanisms found in the main established GP systems, but will operate with a consistent naming convention and a consistent set of procedures. The sealed envelope functionality therefore does not require new or innovative software to be developed for GP systems but will require compliance testing with the Spine when this functionality is available in mid-2008.
Under the recently-awarded GP Systems of Choice (GP SoC) contract NHS Connecting for Health will engage with GP system suppliers to agree compliance plans for sealed envelope and other information governance controls.
General Practitioners: Greater London
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs there were in (a) Uxbridge constituency, (b) Hillingdon Primary Care Trust and (c) Greater London in each year since 1997. [169676]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested can be found in the following table which shows the number of General Medical Practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars)(1) for London, Hillingdon Health Authority (HA) and Hillingdon Primary Care Trust (of which Uxbridge is a part) for the period 1997 to 2006 (which is the latest data available).
(1 )General Medical Practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars) includes general practitioner (GP) providers and GP others.
| Number (headcount) | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Denotes data not available. Note: Data presented for organisations in existence in the specified years. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics | ||||||||||
General Practitioners: Publications
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS publications have been sent to general practitioners since May 2005. [170622]
Mr. Bradshaw: In the period since May 2005 there have been a programme of publications sent to all general practitioners (GPs) via a regular mailout. The details of these are as follows.
Added to this, there have been a number of ad hoc mailings of national health service publications to individual general practitioners or groupings of general practitioners. As well as this, the Department has also sent to general practices a number of NHS publications to practices with the intention that these be made available to members of the public in waiting rooms. We do not have figures for either ad hoc mailings to general practitioners or for publications aimed at the general public, and to identify these numbers would involve disproportionate costs.
The following NHS publications were sent to all GPs since May 2005:
GP bulletin and GP and Practice Team bulletin: 10-12 bulletins per year. If registered via the Department’s website GPs will have received these via an e-mail link. Otherwise hard copies have been sent by post.
16 May 2005: GP Bulletin—May 2005—Issue 40
17 May 2005: GP Bulletin—May 2005—Issue 40 reissue
7 June 2005: GP Bulletin—June 2005—Issue 41
4 July 2005: GP Bulletin—July 2005—Issue 42
5 August 2005: GP Bulletin—August 2005—Issue 43
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