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11 Mar 2008 : Column 262W—continued
Dental Services: Greenwich
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists offering NHS services there are in Greenwich; how many there were in 1997; and if he will make a statement. [192713]
Ann Keen: The number of national health service dentists, in England, on primary care trust (PCT) lists as at 31 March 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex E of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”. The information is provided by strategic health authority (SHA) and by PCT. This information is based on the old contractual arrangements which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006.
This report is available in the Library and is available at:
The numbers of NHS dentists on open NHS contracts, in England as at 30 June 2006, 30 September 2006, 31 December 2006, and 31 March 2007, are available in Table El of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2006-07” report. This information is provided by SHA and by PCT. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006.
This report is available in the Library and is also available at:
The inclusion of dentists on trust led contracts in the data collection following the 2006 reforms means that data collected since April 2006 cannot be directly compared with data collected under the previous system.
The numbers of dentists quoted are headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.
The methodology for reporting dental workforce information since the introduction of the new contract on 1 April 2006 is currently under review. The review is to ensure that the figures provide an appropriate measure of the workforce. The data provided will therefore remain the latest available until this review is complete.
Both reports have been published by The Information Centre for health and social care.
Increasing the number of patients seen within NHS dental services is now a formal priority in the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-09 and we have supported this with a very substantial 11 per cent. uplift in overall allocations to PCTs from 1 April 2008.
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are awaiting registration with an NHS dentist in Greenwich; and if he will make a statement. [192714]
Ann Keen: The number of people awaiting registration with a national health service dentist is not collected centrally.
Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to register with an NHS dentist to receive NHS dental care.
Dental Services: Torbay
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) adults and (b) children in Torbay constituency were registered with NHS dentists in each year since 1997. [192261]
Ann Keen: The numbers of adults and children registered with a national health service dentist, in England, as at 31 March 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex C of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report, England: 31 March 2006”. The information is provided by constituency.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report was published on 23 August 2006 and is available in the Library and is also available at:
Under the new contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with an NHS dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to "registration” is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services ("patients seen”) over a 24-month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.
The numbers of adults and children seen by an NHS dentist in England are available in Table Cl of Annex 3 of “NHS Dental Statistics for England: Quarter 2, 30 September 2007” report. Information is available for the 24-month periods ending 31 March 2006, 31 March 2007, 30 June 2007, and 30 September 2007. The information is provided by primary care trust and by strategic health authority. Information by constituency under the new contractual arrangements is not available.
This report, published on 28 February 2008, is available in the Library and is available at:
Both reports have been published by The Information Centre for health and social care.
Dental Services: Waiting Lists
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the waiting times were for orthodontic treatment in the last period for which figures are available, broken down by primary care trust area. [192577]
Ann Keen: Data are not centrally collected on waiting times for orthodontic treatment provided in primary care.
Information is available on average hospital waiting times from referral to first out-patient appointment broken down by specialty up to and including the period ending September 2007-08. For information for the period ending September 2007-08, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Mr. Vara) on 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 510W.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress his Department has made in its zero-based budget review under the Comprehensive Spending Review. [191486]
Mr. Bradshaw: As part of the preparations for the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 (CSR 2007), the Department undertook a zero based review of expenditure to identify value for money opportunities for 2008-09 to 2010-11. The CSR 2007 announced a commitment for the Department to deliver £8.2 billion value for money savings by 2010-11—I refer the hon. Member to the Annex pertaining to the Department in “Meeting the aspirations of the British people: the 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review” (Cm 7227). The Department’s plans to deliver these value for money opportunities were set out in the Department’s “Value for Money Delivery Agreement”, published in December 2007, and available from the Department’s website at:
Ear Nose and Throat: Surgery
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people had NHS tracheostomy operations in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2005-06 and (c) 2004-05. [192462]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not available in precisely the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) relating to tracheostomies at national health service and private hospitals in England over the past three years.
Environmental Health: Catering
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of restaurants and other establishments serving food to the public were inspected by environmental health officers in each of the last five years. [192502]
Dawn Primarolo: Percentages of restaurants and other caterers which were subject to official control visits for food hygiene purposes are shown as follows.
Official control visits include full inspections, partial inspections, and examination of food safety management systems introduced by the food establishment. The frequency of planned official control visits depends on a range of factors including the risk rating of the food establishment for hygiene purposes, and ranges from six months to three years. As a result, not every establishment is due to be visited in any one year.
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| n/a = Data not available | ||||||
Food: Industrial Health and Safety
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what mechanisms are in place to protect workers in the food industry from the effects of the food flavouring chemical diacetyl; and if he will make a statement; [190069]
(2) what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effects of the food flavouring chemical diacetyl on workers in the food manufacturing industry; and if he will make a statement. [190070]
Mrs. McGuire: I have been asked to reply.
The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 applies. In particular, the Control of Substances
Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 (as amended) require duty holders to prevent, or if this is not reasonably practicable, to adequately control exposure to hazardous substances such as diacetyl.
No research has been commissioned by the Government or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, the Health and Safety Executive accepted the evidence from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States of America as the basis for alerting the food industry to the potential inhalation risks to workers from diacetyl in 2004.
Food: Labelling
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effects of a food labelling system based on (i) recommended daily amounts of nutrients and (ii) a multiple traffic lights system; [186402]
(2) when his Department last undertook a review of the evidence relating to the effect of a food labelling system based on (a) recommended daily amounts of nutrients and (b) a multiple traffic lights system that drew on (i) UK and (ii) international research; and if he will make a statement. [186403]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency has commissioned an independent evaluation of front of pack signpost labelling which takes account of existing United Kingdom and international published research on this area.
I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 1208W and my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington, South (Helen Southworth) on 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1406W.
General Practitioners
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of GP consultations (a) in total and (b) on average per GP in each year since 1997. [192424]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is set out in the following table:
| Estimated number of general practitioner consultations | Consultation rates per GP | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care/Q reserves: Trends in Consultations Rates in General Practice 1995-2006: Analysis of the QREC Database. | ||
These data are also published at the following website:
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