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28 Feb 2008 : Column 1908W—continued
We collect information on surgical procedures but are not able to provide the cost of these procedures. Also, while obesity is a known risk factor for a number of diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, gallstones and osteoarthritis it is not possible to determine what proportion of spending on such diseases is attributable to obesity.
Obesity: Surgery
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will increase the resources available to the NHS for surgical intervention in cases of obesity. [187695]
Dawn Primarolo: “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives”, the Government's strategy for promoting healthy weight, published in January 2008, reaffirmed the commitment that local health services should provide surgical interventions for obese patients where it is deemed clinically appropriate. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has also provided clear guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children. It is, however, up to local areas to decide the best types of treatments, including the level of weight loss surgery, to provide for their own populations, in line with NICE guidance.
Obstetrics: Manpower
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) obstetricians, (b) gynaecologists and (c) obstetric and gynaecology consultants were employed in each (i) region and (ii) NHS Trust in each financial year since 1997-98. [188142]
Ann Keen: The number of obstetric and gynaecology staff including consultants employed in each strategic health authority and national health service trust as at 30 September of each year since 1997 has been placed in the Library.
Paramedical Staff: West Midlands
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many paramedics were employed in (a) Tamworth constituency and (b) the West Midlands in the latest period for which figures are available. [187890]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not available in the format requested. However, data for the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority area, Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust and West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust as at 30 September 2006 have been set out in the following table.
| National Health Service hospital and community health services: Paramedics in West Midlands Strategic Health Authority area by organisation as at 30 September 2006. | |
| Area / Organisation | Headcount |
| Source: The Information Centre, 2006 Non-Medical Workforce Census | |
Perinatal Mortality
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many babies were stillborn in England in each of the last five years. [172917]
Ann Keen: The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) publishes figures on stillbirth and perinatal death for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The figures for the last five years available are shown as follows:
| Number | |
| Source: CEMACH | |
In addition, the Office of National Statistics data for England and Wales for 2005 give the number of stillbirths in England and Wales as 3,484.
Prescriptions
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many FP10 forms have been lost in transit from pharmacists to the Prescriptions Pricing Division of the NHS Business Services Authority. [174720]
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many FP10 forms were lost in each year since 1997. [181828]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 18 December 2007]: The Prescriptions Pricing Division (PPD) of the National Health Service Business Services Authority are aware of 220 separate instances, from April 1997 to September 2007, where batches of FP10 prescription forms, submitted for reimbursement by dispensing contractors in England to PPD, were lost or stolen, either in transit from dispensing contractors to PPD or in transit from PPD to dispensing contractors. We
understand that where forms have been lost or stolen, PPD or contractors have followed this up with the postal service, courier or the police as appropriate.
On this basis, the number of FP10 forms estimated by PPD as lost or stolen are shown in the following table. This equates to less than 0.01 per cent. of all FP10 forms transferred between the PPD and dispensing contractors.
| Financial year | Estimated number of FP10 prescribing forms lost or stolen (England)( 1) (thousand) |
| (1) This figure is based on FP10 forms from dispensing contractors in England, but which may include FP10 forms written in Wales or Scotland but dispensed in England. Source: PPD | |
Primary Care Trusts: Finance
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment he has made of the levels of capitation of primary care trusts; and what plans he has to increase funding to undercapitated trusts; [188915]
(2) for what reasons the Pace of Change funding programme for undercapitated primary care trusts is to be discontinued; and if he will make a statement. [188961]
Mr. Bradshaw: Pace of change policy for revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) is considered by Ministers prior to each allocations round. However, for the 2008-09 revenue allocations, the decision was made to freeze the weighted-capitation formula to give the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) the time it requires to finalise its review of the formula. Therefore, in 2008-09, all PCTs will be given the same uplift of 5.5 per cent. freezing the distance from target for each PCT. The flat-rate increase of 5.5 per cent. on each PCT’s 2007-08 revenue allocation will ensure that every PCT has sufficient growth in funding to honour their service commitments.
Until the impact of the new formula on target allocations is known, it would be irresponsible to continue to move PCTs towards their target allocation under the current formula. Any new formula is likely to have an impact on the target allocation for some PCTs. Some PCTs may move from being under target to over target and vice versa. Giving all PCTs the same uplift avoids moving PCTs towards their current target allocation in 2008-09 and then having to reverse this the following year.
The plan is to make allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11 by summer 2008 based on a new formula. Pace of change policy has not been discontinued, and
decisions will be made on pace of change for 2009-10 and 2010-11 once we have received ACRA’s recommendations on the new funding formula.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what each primary care trust's (a) actual and (b) target funding allocation was in each year since 1997; and what the real term change in funding was from each year to the next. [190265]
Mr. Bradshaw: Revenue allocations were first made to primary care trusts (PCTs) in 2003-04. Prior to this, the funding was allocated to health authorities.
Tables showing the actual, target and real terms change in funding for each PCT for the period 2003-04 to 2008-09 have been placed in the Library.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust: Hospitals
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the new general hospital under construction by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to be completed. [188603]
Dawn Primarolo: NHS West Midlands strategic health authority has confirmed that the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS trust has not yet begun construction of the new hospital planned for Smethwick. It is expected that construction of this new health facility will begin in 2011 and complete in 2014. However, these dates are provisional.
Smoking
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent representations he has received from (a) the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and (b) others on links between smoking and blindness; [188340]
(2) if he will commission research into whether there is a link between smoking and blindness. [188341]
Ann Keen: Not only is smoking the leading cause of premature death in the United Kingdom, it can also cause many diseases. Evidence shows that smoking can cause blindness through age-related maculopathy and possibly cataracts.
The Department keeps the evidence base around the health effects of smoking under close review, and has recently received submissions from stakeholders elaborating the evidence base around smoking and blindness.
Smoking: Cheshire
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received support from NHS smoking cessation services in (a) Warrington and (b) Cheshire in 2007. [187965]
Dawn Primarolo:
Information on the number of people who set a quit date and who successfully quit smoking at the four week follow up (based on self-report) through national health service stop smoking services in Warrington primary care trust, Western Cheshire primary care trust
and Central and Eastern Cheshire primary care trust for the period April 2006 to March 2007, and for the latest period for which data are available, April 2007 to September 2007 are available from the following publications:
‘Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England, April 2006 to March 2007 (Annual statistical bulletin)’, Table 5.4, page 65, which was published on 17 August 2007.
‘Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England, April 2007 to September 2007 (Quarter 2 bulletin)’, Table 9, page 13, which was published on January 29, 2008.
Both publications have been placed in the Library.
Social Workers: Manpower
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social workers there were in Chesterfield in each year since 1997. [187205]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Figures provided by the General Social Care Council indicate that the number of social workers in Chesterfield in each calendar year since 2003 is:
| Number | |
Figures for the period 1997 to 2003 are not held centrally.
Tinnitus
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which organisations have applied for tinnitus research funding in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [187736]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department’s centrally managed health research programmes received one proposal for a research project concerned with tinnitus in the period from 2004-05 to 2006-07. It was from the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many of his Department’s civil servants were (a) suspended and (b) dismissed for accessing (i) obscene and (ii) other prohibited material on work computers in each of the last five years. [188789]
Mr. Watson: The Cabinet Office has not suspended or dismissed any employee in the last five years for accessing obscene or other prohibited material on work computers.
Departmental Home Working
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people in his Department have been authorised to work from home in the last 12 months. [189788]
Mr. Watson: The Cabinet Office encourages all staff and managers to consider various forms of flexible working, including home working. Arrangements for home working are made locally by individual line managers and no record is held centrally of numbers authorised to work at home.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff under 18 years of age are employed by the Prime Minister’s Office; [189071]
(2) how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff under 18 years of age are employed by his Department. [189085]
Mr. Watson: The Prime Minister’s Office is part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office currently employs no staff under 18 years of age.
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