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17 Dec 2007 : Column 1220W—continued
NHS: Manpower
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2007, Official Report, column 381W, on NHS: manpower, what estimate his Department has made of the number of staff that will be employed in the NHS in each year from 2007-08 to 2010-11, broken down by (a) region and (b) position. [167742]
Ann Keen: Workforce planning is a matter for local determination, as local workforce planners are best placed to asses the healthcare needs of their local population. The Department continues to ensure the frameworks and financial support are in place to support this.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2007, Official Report, column 382W, on NHS: manpower, what documents his Department requires strategic health authorities to submit on their workforce plans; how frequently these submissions are required; and for what future time period strategic health authorities are required to make such plans. [167796]
Ann Keen: Within the national health service, planning is from the bottom up to ensure local health economy's requirements are met, plans are then aggregated to ensure wider coherence.
The Financial Information Management System (FIMS) is used by the Department to collect and report on finance and workforce data submitted by the NHS. As part of the FIMS process, strategic health authorities (SHAs) are required to submit an annual plan to the Department for the current financial year setting out financial and workforce profiles. The requirement to collect workforce plans and data is ongoing.
SHAs were required to submit their annual workforce investment plans, based on local long-term workforce planning, to the Department by 30 June 2007 in accordance with the multi professional education and training service level agreement between the two parties. Submission of these plans will be reviewed annually.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to Table 100 in his Department's memorandum to the Health Select Committee on Public Expenditure on Health and Personal Social Services 2006, to how many staff each figure in the table refers. [167834]
Ann Keen: This was a financial collection only so it does not contain information about numbers of staff which relate to the collected data on costs of redundancy.
Numbers of redundancies have been collected in a separate exercise by the Department. The latest published information shows that in Quarter 1 of 2007-08 there have been 766 compulsory redundancies in the trusts and strategic health authorities by 30 June 2007. In total 87 per cent. of those redundancies were of non-clinical staff.
Opinion Leader Research
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many contracts were awarded by his Department to Opinion Leader Research in each year since 1997; and what was (a) the title and purpose, (b) the cost to the public purse and (c) the dates of (i) tender, (ii) award, (iii) operation and (iv) completion and report to the Department in each case. [165270]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect information in the format requested. To do so would attract disproportionate cost.
A new system will be introduced in April 2008 called SHOWA, which will be able to gather such information for the Department.
Palliative Care
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what matters were covered in the 2007-08 baseline review of end-of-life care services, as described in paragraph 7.51 of his Department’s Cancer Reform Strategy; how many primary care trusts conducted the review; whether his Department has the results of the review; and if he will make a statement. [175101]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The NHS Operating Framework 2007-08 highlighted the importance of primary care trusts (PCTs), working with local authorities (LAs), undertaking baseline reviews of their end-of-life care services in preparation for the publication of the End- of-Life Care Strategy. Guidance on what these reviews should cover was issued in April 2007. The guidance is available at:
and a copy has been placed in the Library.
The Department is not formally collecting or reviewing the baseline reviews. The baseline reviews will enable PCTs and LAs to assess current services, identify gaps or duplication and put in place arrangements to deliver comprehensive end of life care services that will provide choice, quality, equity and value for money.
Paramedical Staff: Qualifications
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on mutual recognition for military and civilian paramedic qualifications; and if he will make a statement. [170547]
Mr. Bradshaw: Responsibility for recognising civilian qualifications lies with the Health Professions Council.
Patients: Nutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what ways his Department will (a) support and (b) widely promote the Council of Europe Alliance (UK)'s 10 key characteristics of good nutritional care in hospitals, as stated on page 26 of his Department's document, Improving Nutritional Care. [170061]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board, chaired by Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, will consider the most effective means of support and promotion of the Council of Europe Alliance (UK)'s 10 key characteristics.
Peterborough District Hospital: Cleaning Services
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2007, Official Report, column 1323W, on Peterborough district hospital: cleaning services, whether additional funds will be made available to (a) strategic health authorities and (b) acute trusts, to facilitate deep cleans of hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [174386]
Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, on 21 November 2007. In addition, copies of letters of 1 and 29 November 2007 from the Department to strategic health authorities giving further details on plans for deep cleaning are available in the Library.
Pregnancy
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data his Department collects on pregnancies in England. [171935]
Ann Keen: The Information Centre for health and social care (part of the Government Statistical Service) publishes an annual statistical bulletin on ‘NHS Maternity Statistics, England’ using data from the maternity Hospital Episode Statistics. The latest edition 2005-06, published earlier this year, provides data on a range of topics, including place of delivery, duration of antenatal and postnatal stay, birth weight and conditions affecting newborn babies. Copies of the bulletins are available in the Library.
The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University and the Health Care Commission have also undertaken surveys into maternity services with a special focus on patient satisfaction.
Pregnancy: Health Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the NHS of treating an entopic pregnancy in the latest year for which figures are available. [174015]
Ann Keen [holding answer 13 December 2007]: Costs of entopic pregnancies are not collected centrally.
Pregnant Women: Grants
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the economic implications of the Health in Pregnancy Grant; if he will publish research (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by his Department on the grant; what the approval process with HM Treasury was in relation to the grant; and if he will make a statement. [174521]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are introducing from April 2009 a one-off payment to expectant mothers, known as the Health in Pregnancy Grant, to help them during the important last weeks of pregnancy. The grant will help women meet the additional costs involved in pregnancy and in the run up to birth.
HM Treasury received a wide number of representations before the 2006 pre-Budget report on tax and benefits issues, which formed part of the
process of policy development for the 2006 pre-Budget report. The decision to make a payment to all women during pregnancy was announced in the 2006 pre-Budget report.
Prescriptions: Low Incomes
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people on low incomes are eligible for free prescriptions in (a) Teesside and ( b) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland; and whether he plans to increase uptake. [171778]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested.
The areas named most closely correspond to the North Tees, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The estimated number of items dispensed in these PCTs for the 12 months October 2006 to September 2007 are shown by low income category in the following table.
| PCT name | Income support | Job seeker | Disabled persons tax credit/ DWA | Working tax credit | Low income scheme (HC2) | Minimum income guarantee |
Prosthetics
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what types of prosthetic limbs are available on the NHS. [172889]
Mr. Bradshaw: The national health service has available to it, via national framework agreements virtually all types of prosthetic limbs that are available on the international market. Additionally, local healthcare professionals have the ability to obtain products from outside of the current agreement if it is deemed appropriate for the specific needs of a particular patient.
The selection of the most appropriate prosthetic limb product depends on a combination of factors that are best explored with their local prosthetist or multidisciplinary team.
Tinnitus
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance is issued to GPs on treating people with tinnitus; and if he will make a statement. [174700]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has issued no recent guidance to general practitioners on treating people with tinnitus.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff aged between 16 and 18 were employed by his Department (a) directly and (b) through an employment agency in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of these were given time off work to undertake some form of training; and what proportion were provided with some form of training (i) wholly and (ii) partially funded by his Department. [171273]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department records information on the ages of its employees on its human resources information system. Currently it does not employ any people aged between 16 and 18.
The Department analyses its age profile each month using a lowest category of ‘under 20’. We therefore cannot provide information for the required age range.
Decisions about time off for training and funding for training are taken locally, and are not recorded by age, so we are unable to provide this information.
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