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31 Jan 2008 : Column 591W—continued

Urban Areas: Sustainable Development

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers local planning authorities will have over the selection and approval of eco-town development sites. [169412]

Caroline Flint [holding answer 29 November 2007]: Where a planning application for an eco-town is submitted, it will be determined in the normal way under the Planning Acts. Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires that the application is determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. As set out in the eco-towns prospectus, there may be circumstances where use of the New Towns Act powers might be used.

In addition, before taking a final decision on the selection of an eco-town scheme for Government support, we will consult local authorities for the relevant area covered by the scheme.

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes must be provided for in each eco-town bid. [179835]

Caroline Flint [holding answer 17 January 2008]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Welwyn, Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1537W.

Veolia Environmental Services

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what private finance initiative contracts her Department and its predecessor authorised with (a) Veolia Environmental Services and (b) Onyx. [182557]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department and its predecessor have not authorised any private finance initiative contracts with Veolia Environmental Services or Onyx.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings (a) civil servants and (b) Ministers in her Department have had with (a) Veolia Environmental Services and (b) Onyx in the last 24 months. [182558]


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Mr. Dhanda: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not the usual practice of Government to disclose details of such meetings.

Working Neighbourhoods Fund

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the local authority eligibility criteria are for working neighbourhood funding. [182544]

John Healey: Three criteria were used to determine eligibility for the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF):

Authorities were only required to meet one of the above criteria to qualify.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities which were in receipt of neighbourhood renewal funding will not receive working neighbourhood funding. [182567]

John Healey: 21 authorities which received neighbourhood renewal funding from 2006-2008 have not qualified for working neighbourhoods fund. These authorities are listed:


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Working Neighbourhoods Fund: South-West Region

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authority areas are eligible for the Working Neighbourhood Fund in the South West region. [182438]

John Healey: There were three criteria used to determine eligibility for the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF). These were:

Local authorities were only required to meet one of the above criteria to qualify. One authority in the South West meets the criteria; West Somerset which qualifies on the basis of the third criteria.

Health

Accident and Emergency Departments: Lancashire

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the transfer of blue light accident and emergency from Burnley General to Blackburn Royal Infirmary on 1 November 2007; and if he will make a statement. [181749]

Ann Keen: Proposals for the reconfiguration of services are a matter for the national health service locally, working in conjunction with clinicians, patients and other stakeholders. The East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, East Lancashire primary care trust and the North West Ambulance Service are continuing to monitor the effectiveness of the transfer throughout the implementation process.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust: Magnetic Resonance Imagers

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many MRI scanners there are in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust; and how this level of provision compares to that in other NHS trust areas in Greater London. [179708]

Ann Keen: We are informed by Barking, Havering and Redbridge National Health Service Trust that they currently have three Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, two at the Queen's Hospital, Romford and one at King George's Hospital, Ilford.

The Department does not collect information centrally on comparisons of the level of provision available both locally or nationally. It is for primary care trusts, in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders, to determine how best to use their equipment and funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health.


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Benzodiazepines

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons benzodiazepines are not included in the treatment outcomes profile monitoring questionnaire. [178647]

Dawn Primarolo: The treatment outcomes profile (TOP), a treatment outcomes monitoring instrument is used at the start, during and after substance misuse treatment, and is reported through the national drug treatment monitoring system. TOP comprises of a series of questions, asked by the key worker and answered by the client about the nature and extent of the client's substance use, crime, health and social functioning, in order to measure outcomes in a meaningful way that is sensitive to change over time.

TOP went through a rigorous development process and all items on the TOP form had to meet stringent methodological and statistical criteria to be included on the final form. Drug treatment service users who took part in testing the TOP found it difficult to accurately and consistently remember and report the amount and frequency of their benzodiazepine use so the question did not validate and is no longer included. However, benzodiazepine use can be recorded on the TOP form as an “other problem substance” for clinical purposes and should always be included in comprehensive assessments and the resulting care plans.

The Department, along with the National Treatment Agency for substance misuse are involved in other work to ensure that benzodiazepine use among illegal or illicit drug misusers is addressed effectively in a clinical setting. Importantly, ‘Drug Misuse and Dependence—UK guidelines on clinical management’ (the ‘Clinical Guidelines’) gives guidance for clinicians on treating drug misusing patients who also may misuse benzodiazepines. The guidance is available on the Department's website at:

Breast Cancer: Screening

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage more women to accept their breast screening appointment invitations. [179609]

Ann Keen: As part of the promotion of breast awareness, women are encouraged to accept their breast screening invitations. However, like other screening tests, mammography is not perfect and all women invited to participate in the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme need to understand the potential benefits and harm in doing so and to be able to make an informed choice about whether or not they wish to participate.

To enable an informed choice to be made, all breast screening invitations include a national information leaflet, “Breast Screening: The Facts”. Over two million copies of this leaflet are printed each year and it can be viewed at NHS Cancer Screening Programmes website at:

along with other related publications.


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Language and access to acceptable and meaningful information can prevent some women from taking up their invitation for screening. This is why “Breast Screening: The Facts” has been translated into 18 languages.

We know that there are specific groups of women who are less likely to attend for screening, for example, women from some minority ethnic groups and women in inner-city areas and in December 2003, NHS Cancer Screening Programmes published “Inequalities of Access to Cancer Screening: A Literature Review” to address this. The recommendations in this review have been sent to all local screening programmes and a number of local actions have been put into place to combat inequalities.

This year is the 20(th) anniversary of the NHS Breast Screening Programme and there will be a number of event’s across the country to mark the anniversary which, in part, will be used to educate and inform the public about breast screening and screening in general.


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To assist the NHS Breast Screening Programme in raising awareness about the availability of breast cancer screening, NHS Cancer Screening Programmes issued a regional communications pack to all local breast screening programmes in 2004, which includes advice on raising the awareness of breast screening. The recently published Cancer Reform Strategy, which sets out the future direction of cancer services in England, noted the need for primary care trust commissioners to develop local targeted programmes to increase the uptake of breast screening invites.

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of women entitled to screening attended their appointment for breast cancer screening in each of the last three years, broken down by primary care trust. [181380]

Ann Keen: The following tables give coverage data for breast screening for each of the last three years by primary care trust (PCT).

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