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4 Feb 2008 : Column 868W—continued
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department are taking to tackle benefit fraud by UK nationals abroad. [175330]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department has in place, and is extending coverage of, a range of measures to address the risks of fraud by UK nationals abroad. These included acquisition of foreign death data, independent certification that overseas customers are still alive, location of DWP representatives overseas and joint collaboration agreements with other countries.
Social Security Benefits: Pensioners
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of pensioners eligible for means tested support who did not claim their full entitlement in the most recent period for which figures are available. [181636]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Estimates of take-up rates and the number of pensioners not claiming pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit are available in the DWP publication series entitled “Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-up”. Copies of the latest publication, plus past reports, can be found in the Library.
State Retirement Pensions
Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many errors were made in the payment of retirement pensions in the last 12 months; and in how many of those cases it was not possible to give an explanation of the error to the pensioner concerned. [180986]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Results from the most recent full year (2006-07) show that The Pension Service achieved 96.76 per cent. accuracy (excluding errors of less than £1.50 per week).
When amending a State Pension payment The Pension Service’s standard practice is to issue a letter advising the customer that a new amount of benefit is due and when this change is due to take effect. Customers are also advised to contact The Pension Service if they have any questions about their benefit.
Tribunals
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unfair dismissal employment tribunals his Department has been involved in in the last 10 years; what the grounds were for each case brought; in how many cases the employment tribunal found in favour of the former employee; and what action was taken by his Department to change its working practices as a result of such cases. [177965]
Mrs. McGuire: Information on the number and outcome of unfair dismissal cases is not recorded centrally and to collate it for the requested period prior to October 2005 would incur a disproportionate cost.
Since October 2005, the Department has been involved in 235 unfair dismissal cases of which the outcome of three has been an employment tribunal finding in favour of the claimant. Of those three cases two are the subject of ongoing appeals. In 34 cases the outcome has either not been recorded or, where the case is ongoing, has not been reached.
Information on the grounds of and the resulting changes in working practice resulting from each unfair dismissal case is not recorded centrally and to collate it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Winter Fuel Payments
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of single (a) women and (b) men who will have reached the age of 60 after the qualifying week for winter fuel payment eligibility in 2007, but before 29 February 2008. [181389]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 23 January 2008]: We estimate that 170,00 single women and 160,000 single men will have reached the age of 60 years after the end of the qualifying week for winter fuel payment eligibility in 2007 but before 29 February 2008.
Note:
Estimates are based on the Office for National Statistics’ published ‘2006-based’ population projections.
Wirral International Business Park
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of additional jobs resulting from the developments of (a) Wirral International Business Park and (b) the Croft Retail Park in Bromborough; and if he will make a statement. [181447]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 1 February 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the number of additional jobs resulting from the developments of (a) Wirral International Business Park, and the Croft Retail Park in Bromborough. (181447).
Unfortunately, the information requested is not available at this detailed level.
Health
Antibiotics: Health Education
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) posters and (b) leaflets are being produced (i) in total and (ii) per GP surgery for his Department's campaign on the unnecessary use of antibiotics to be launched in February 2008. [179124]
Ann Keen: The antibiotic campaign consists of one leaflet and three posters. We are publishing a total of 450,000 leaflets and 120,000 posters. 10 copies of the leaflet and one poster will be sent to each general practitioner practice along with an order form for further copies if required. Copies of the leaflet and posters will also be available from the Department's website.
Basildon Hospital: Clostridium
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of C. difficile were recorded in Basildon Hospital in each of the last two years; what proportion of patients admitted to Basildon Hospital this represents in each of those years; and how these figures compare with equivalent figures from other NHS hospitals in (a) Essex and (b) England. [178843]
Ann Keen [holding answer 30 January 2008]: The information requested is not available.
The best available information is from the mandatory surveillance system operated for the Department by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). This provides data on the number of reports of Clostridium difficile ( C. difficile) infection. All acute national health service trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of C. difficile infection processed by their laboratories and the data are published at trust level.
Basildon hospital is part of the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the following table shows the number of C. difficile infection reported for patients aged 65 years and over in the trust compared to other trusts in Essex and the total number in England for the last two full years.
The proportion of patients admitted to trusts compared to the number of C . difficile cases is not available. However the table shows the rate per 1,000 bed-days for patients aged 65 and over for the last two years of figures available.
The rate published by the HPA uses the total number of nights spent in hospital by patients aged 65 years and over for the relevant time period to calculate a rate of C. difficile infection per 1,000 bed-days.
Bowel Cancer: Screening
‘ Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase the number of (a) radiologists, (b) pathologists, (c) surgeons and (d) specialist nurses to support national bowel cancer screening programme objectives and delivery of the 18 week pathway. [178035]
Ann Keen: Service transformation, supported by the significant increase in the work force since 1997, new ways of working and productivity gains, will enable 18 weeks to be delivered and sustained.
Expansion of medical and nurse training has supported the planned expansion of the national health service work force which was part of the NHS Plan.
The number of consultants working in the relevant three specialties in 1997 and 2006 and the percentage change is shown in the following table:
| Hospital and community health services: Medical and dental staff showing consultants working within specified speciality groups, as at 30 September each year | ||||
| Number (headcount) and percentage | ||||
| 1997 | 2006 | Change 1997-2006 | Percentage change 1997-2006 | |
Data on specialist nurses to support the national bowel screening programme are not collected centrally and commissioning of specialist nurses is driven by the local health care needs.
Cancer: Gastrointestinal System
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting times from referral to treatment were for upper and lower gastrointestinal cancers, broken down by condition, in the latest period for which figures are available. [178037]
Ann Keen: Statistics on average waiting times for cancer patients and average waiting times for specific cancer conditions are not collected centrally. The cancer waiting time standard of a maximum wait of 62 days from urgent referral for suspected cancer to first cancer treatment was introduced for all cancer patients from December 2005. In the last quarter for which figures are available (July to September 2007) performance against this standard was 97.2 per cent.
Cannabis: Misuse
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider introducing measures to require the manufacturers of cigarette rolling papers to print health warnings on their products on the dangers of cannabis use. [184189]
Dawn Primarolo: Current legislation does not require the display of health warnings on cigarette rolling papers. Currently, health warnings are only required to be displayed on tobacco products, as defined in the Tobacco Products (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale) (Safety) Regulations 2002.
As set out in the Cancer Reform Strategy, published in December 2007, the Department will consult on the next steps in tobacco control and the further regulation of tobacco products. This consultation will take place during spring 2008.
Cardiovascular System: Screening
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the roll out of the national screening programme for cardiovascular disease will be incremental with an initial focus on high risk groups; [178820]
(2) how much funding for the implementation of the national screening programme for cardiovascular disease has been allocated in each of the next three years; from what budget it will be drawn; and if he will make a statement; [178822]
(3) whether additional resources will be made available to support and treat those patients identified as high risk for cardiovascular disease following their screening by the new programme in England and Wales. [178823]
Ann Keen: The Prime Minister announced on 7 January that proposals were under development for a vascular risk programme. A departmental project is currently underway to assess the costs and benefits of an integrated, systematic population-wide vascular risk screening programme. This would be focused on the shared risk factors for conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease and as such would use an assessment of risk based on a range of known predictive factors including age, gender, smoking status, body mass index, high blood pressure, and cholesterol and glucose, as appropriate.
This project will include estimating the amount of preventive work currently carried out by general practitioner surgeries and the impact of the introduction of a vascular screening programme.
The exact nature of a vascular risk assessment and management programme, including details of operational timescales for implementing the programme, are still the subject of developmental work.
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