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10 Dec 2007 : Column 328W—continued
NHS Business Services Authority
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS Business Services Authority's priority projects for 2008-09. [170032]
Mr. Bradshaw: The NHS Business Services Authority's (NHSBSA) priority projects for 2008-09 are as follows:
full implementation of the capacity improvement programme;
implementation of the new NHS pension scheme;
modernisation of the NHS pension service;
review of major contractual arrangements;
NHS supply chain benefits realisation;
review of injury benefits;
enhancing dental information services;
supporting the development of electronic prescription service and ensuring NHSBSA readiness; and
improving our operational value for money through efficiency plans and benchmarking.
NHS Direct
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 611WA, on NHS Direct, what the (a) date and (b) subject was of each ad hoc meeting held in the past 12 months. [169875]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not available. These meetings are generally informal and therefore a record is not maintained.
NHS Direct: Nurses
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 612WA, on NHS Direct, how many (a) health advisers and (b) nurse advisers were employed at NHS Direct in each month. [169876]
Mr. Bradshaw: This is a matter for NHS Direct NHS Trust. They have provided the data in the following table.
| Month | Nurse a dvis e rs | Health a dvis e rs |
NHS Treatment Centres: Cornwall
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2007, Official Report, columns 612-4W, on NHS Treatment Centres: Cornwall, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the transfer of waiting list patients from the Royal Cornwall Trust to the Independent Sector Treatment Centre on the funding that the Royal Cornwall Trust receives through the Payment by Results system. [169401]
Mr. Bradshaw: Independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) have been able to provide additional surgical capacity in the south-west while offering patients a wider choice of hospitals for their treatment. The treatment centres have helped local national health service hospitals in achieving their own maximum waiting time targets. Prior to the opening of the treatment centres, the local NHS used private sector capacity in an unstructured way to manage demand from general practitioners, but the introduction of treatment centres has reduced the requirement for this.
We do not expect any hospital trust which is providing high quality, accessible services that meet patient needs to sustain a negative impact under Payment by Results, but ultimately it will be for patients to decide where they are treated under Choice.
NHS: Administration
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on (a) administration and (b) management in the NHS in each year since 1992 (i) in gross terms and (ii) as a percentage of the total NHS budget. [164593]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on (a) administration and (b) management (i) as a percentage of the total budget and (ii) as the cost per head of population in the areas covered by each (A) primary care trust, (B) acute trust, (C) ambulance trust, (D) mental health trust, (E) foundation trust, (F) strategic health authority, (G) special health authority and (H) NHS arms length body in England in the last year for which figures are available. [164594]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information available (2006-07) for primary care trusts, all national health service trusts and strategic health authorities has been placed in the Library.
It is not possible to show cost per head of population figures for NHS trusts because they do not serve discrete areas of population.
This information is not held for foundation trusts, special health authorities or arms length bodies.
NHS: Data Protection
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the titles of all items of guidance (a) the Information Centre for Health and Social Care and (b) the NHS Business Services Authority has issued to its staff on the handling of personally-identifiable data; if he will place copies of these items of guidance in the Library; and if he will make a statement; [170074]
(2) what recent assessment the (a) Information Centre for Health and Social Care and (b) NHS Business Services Authority has made of the security of the personally-identifiable data it collects. [170075]
Mr. Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review.
NHS: Databases
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what circumstances (a) a GP's surgery and (b) another NHS organisation may pass on a patient's personal data to a third party. [168995]
Mr. Bradshaw: Patient personal data is held by national health service organisations under legal and ethical obligations of confidentiality and subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. It may be passed to third parties when identifying details have been removed so the patient cannot be identified; or in accordance with statutory provisions or where required under court order; or where the public interest is such that obligations of confidentiality and the competing public interest in the provision of confidential health services need to be overridden, for example serious crime or child protection; or with the consent of the patient concerned.
Guidance to the NHS is provided in the Department's publication ‘Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice’ published in November 2003 is available in the Library.
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