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13 Dec 2007 : Column 860W—continued
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how often local authorities are required to carry out a review into the distribution of direct payments under the Fair Access to Care Services scheme; and if he will make a statement; [169739]
(2) which local authorities have carried out a review into the distribution of direct payments under the Fair Access to Care Services scheme in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [169740]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Local authorities are not required to carry out a review into the distribution of direct payments under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS). FACS is a framework that councils should use to help them determine if individuals are eligible for support. If an individual is eligible, support may be provided as a direct payment or as a service arranged or provided directly by the council.
Local authorities are expected to keep the distribution of direct payments across client groups under review as part of their local performance management arrangements. An annual assessment of performance on direct payments is included as one of the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s (CSCI) Social Services Performance Assessment Framework Indicators for adults. This forms part of the information CSCI uses in its evidence based judgments on star ratings.
Departmental Responsibilities: Climate Change
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he (a) has taken and (b) intends to take by (i) 2012 and (ii) 2020 in relation to adaptation to the effects of climate change as they affect his departmental responsibilities; and if he will make a statement. [164696]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 29 November 2007]: The importance of the climate change agenda is well understood and it is recognised that to tackle climate change, not only do we have to reduce greenhouse gases, but we must also adapt to the impacts we are already experiencing and will continue to experience over the coming decades due to the inertia in the system.
Climate impacts affect many departmental responsibilities. We have worked closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to develop the adaptation sections of the Climate Change Bill, which will require Government to assess the risks climate change poses to the United Kingdom—including to public health and the health estate—and to develop a programme to respond to those risks. The first risk assessment will be due three years after Royal Assent (around 2011) with the programme being published shortly afterwards. We have also worked with other Departments on the development of the Adaptation Policy Framework which will be published in spring 2008, setting out the Government’s programme of action on climate impacts.
In May 2007, the Department published an update of their 2001 report “The Health Effects of Climate Change” for comment. This is being finalised for publication later this year.
The Department has a national heat wave plan in place, which is evaluated and updated annually to ensure that the best available evidence is used to reduce the ill effects of heat waves. The plan and supporting guidance are circulated to emergency planners and relevant stakeholders in May each year.
On flooding, the Department’s emergency preparedness division continues to work across the health economy in partnership with other agencies and Departments to ensure improved resilience of patient services, including national health service infrastructure and health supply chains, and the preparedness of the service to respond to major flooding incidents. Closer work will be needed between the NHS and the Environment Agency to mitigate the affects of flooding in the longer term.
Protection from skin cancers, sunburn and cataracts caused by ultraviolet radiation will rely heavily on public health messages building, for example, on the Department’s current collaboration with Cancer-Research UK for the SunSmart campaign.
Although winter deaths are likely to decline, the Department’s Keep Warm Keep Well campaign provides annual advice to vulnerable people (mainly older people and also disabled people and families on low incomes) on how to keep themselves and their homes warm in the winter.
The UK recognises that the potential health impact of climate change also requires global action. To this end, the UK has successfully arranged for an agenda item on ‘climate change and health’ to be included on the agenda of the forthcoming World Health Organisation Executive Board in January 2008. Our aim is to raise awareness of the health implications of
climate change among health ministries and professionals and promote practical and sustainable action nationally and internationally to respond to these. Discussion at the Executive Board will enable member states to focus on planning and developing adaptation policies. The UK is also engaged with the European Union on their recent Green Paper on Adaptation.
Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hours per week a full-time equivalent staff member is expected to work for each of the groups listed in paragraph 3.4 on page 20 of his Department’s evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration. [163380]
Ann Keen: The number of hours expected of each staff group depends on the employment contract by which they are bound.
Each contract type has a basic number of hours per week, listed as follows for each of the staff groups. In addition to these basic contracted hours, employers and individual staff can agree to contract for additional hours.
| Staff group | Basic contract hours (per week) |
| (1 )The basic contract is 40 hours (2 )The majority of GPs are independent contractors and can therefore decide what hours they work. However they do need to make sure that the business needs meet the GP contract. | |
Doctors: Housing
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the tax liabilities of junior doctors receiving (a) partially and (b) fully subsidised hospital accommodation. [164577]
Ann Keen: The issue of fully subsidised hospital accommodation had been discussed from time to time over a number of years between officials from the Department, HM Revenue and Customs (and its predecessor) and representatives of NHS Employers. Agreement was reached in August 2007 that the exemption from income tax in respect of provided living accommodation will continue to apply to junior doctors who are employed at Foundation House Officer 1 grade on contracts that are effective for the year commencing 1 August 2007. No discussions have taken place relating to partially subsidised accommodation.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 714W, on doctors: housing, if he will place in the Library the relevant
sections of the guidance within the Terms and Conditions for Employment for Junior Doctors on the application of charges for accommodation provided through hospital channels. [172010]
Ann Keen: NHS Employers are responsible for the terms and conditions of service for junior doctors. An extract of the paragraphs (173 to 178), covering charges for accommodation for junior doctors has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 714W, on Doctors: Housing, when the guidance within the terms and conditions for employment for junior doctors on the application of charges for accommodation provided through hospital channels was last updated. [172011]
Ann Keen: NHS Employers issued guidance in August 2007 to trusts following the changes to the Medical Act 1983 which came into effect on 1 August 2007.
Doctors: Training
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the competition ratio for training posts for registrar group doctors was in 2007, broken down by region and specialty. [165685]
Ann Keen: The Department does not have this information for the whole of the 2007 recruitment because the national Medical Training Application Service computer system was not used for applicants in Round 2. However, we published the competition ratios for Round 1 earlier in the year and these are available on the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) website at: www.mmc.nhs.uk
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Trust: Industrial Disputes
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to resolve the dispute between maintenance craft workers and Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust. [165434]
Ann Keen: The Secretary of State has no locus to direct the trust in this matter given its status as a National Health Service Foundation Trust.
Drugs: Death
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people died from drug overdoses while on the waiting list to receive hard drug substitutes in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [170667]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not collected centrally.
Eating Disorders: Children
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts provide specialist eating disorder services for those aged under 13 years. [172782]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is not collected centrally.
We take the issue of eating disorders, especially among young people, very seriously. This is why the Department asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to produce a clinical guideline on the core interventions in the treatment and management of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related eating disorders, and which NICE published in 2004. The guideline covers physical and psychological treatments, treatment with medicines, and information specifically for patients, carers and the public. NICE will commence a review of this guideline in January 2008.
As primary care trusts consider local health needs and commissioned services, they will need to assess whether the right balance exists between in-patient care and home-based care, particularly at a highly specialised levels, to help individuals with eating disorders.
Elderly: Nutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to provide any incentives to (a) GPs, (b) district nurses and (c) other professionals in primary care settings to provide nutritional screening for older people in line with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) guidelines, as referred to on page 35 of his Department's document, Improving Nutritional Care; and for what reasons he does not expect (i) GPs, (ii) district nurses and (iii) other professionals in primary care settings to provide nutritional screening for adults of all ages. [170058]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: There is no intention to nationally provide new or additional incentives for general practitioners (GPs), nurses, or other health professionals to deliver nutritional screening for older people. Prioritisation is a matter for primary care trusts (PCTs) who would need to pay for any local incentive scheme. However, one aim of the Agenda for Change pay system, introduced in 2003-04 for the majority of non-medical national health service staff, was to establish a framework within which PCTs could incentivise delivery of local priorities through rigorous job evaluation, which enables remuneration based on skills and experience, better training opportunities linked to pay progression and use of recruitment and retention premia to attract difficult to recruit skills.
Older patients regularly see their GP or other member of the primary care team. On average, over-75s see their GP at least six times a year, and as part of GPs' essential services, elderly patients' general health would be assessed as part of their regular ongoing treatment within these visits.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the members of his Department's Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board are. [170059]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Membership of the Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board is being decided and details will be published in due course.
Females: Conferences
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which Ministers from his Department (a) attended and (b) spoke at the Women Deliver conference held in London from 18 to 20 October; whether his Department contributed (i) direct funding, (ii) informal support and (iii) personnel; whether officials from his Department (A) attended and (B) participated; what discussions his Department had with the Department for International Development on this conference; and if he will make a statement. [172422]
Ann Keen: No Department Ministers attended the Women Deliver conference. Dr. Gwyneth Lewis, the National Clinical Lead for Maternal Health and Maternity Services, attended as an observer and represented the Department. No other support was given by the Department for the event.
The Government lead for the conference lay with the Department for International Development and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development opened the conference.
Fibromyalgia
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with meningitis in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [172969]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of people diagnosed with meningitis in South Tyneside , North east England and England in each year since 1997 is shown in the following table. Information is not collected by constituency.
| Statutory notifications of meningitis | ||||||||||
| Area | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| (1)( )South Tyneside figures are also included in the North England and the England total Source: Health Protection Agency | ||||||||||
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