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18 Mar 2008 : Column 1001W—continued
Dietary Supplements: Nutrition
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions he and Ministers in his Department plan to hold with European counterparts on the Government's objectives for the outcome of negotiations on the setting of maximum permitted levels for nutrients in food supplements; and if he will make a statement; [195281]
(2) what the likely date is for the setting of maximum permitted levels for nutrients in food supplements under the provisions of the Food Supplements Directive; and if he will make a statement. [195283]
Dawn Primarolo: There are no current plans for Health Ministers to meet with European counterparts on the Government's objectives for the outcome of negotiations on the setting of maximum permitted levels for nutrients in food supplements. Food Standards Agency officials will hold bilateral meetings with their European counterparts on an individual basis and at European Commission working group meetings.
The Commission has indicated its intention for proposals in the form of draft amending legislation to go forward to the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health for consideration in early 2009. A date for completion of the negotiation process has not been set.
General Practitioners
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of UK residents not registered with a GP; and whether a recent assessment has been made of the reasons. [194419]
Mr. Bradshaw: These data are not collected centrally by the Department.
General Practitioners: Working Hours
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the north-east and (d) England were seen by out-of-hours GP services in each year since 1997. [195145]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not held centrally. My hon. Friend may therefore wish to approach the chief executive of South Tyneside Primary Care Trust (PCT) for information on numbers of patients seen by out of hours general practitioner services.
PCTs now have a legal responsibility to ensure that they provide, or secure provision of out of hours services for their local population.
Health Services
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GP practices, (b) dental practices, (c) ophthalmic practices and (d) pharmacies there were in (i) England and (ii) each English region in each of the last three years. [191507]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table shows the number of general practitioner (GP) practices and GPs, excluding retainers and registrars, in each strategic health authority (SHA) and all of England on 30 September in 2005 to 2007, which are the latest data available.
The following table shows the number of nation health service dental practices with an open general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract in England, by SHA, as at 31 March 2004 to 2006. The number of dental practices in each SHA and all of England is based upon the old dental contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) Dental Services Division (DSD) can only provide validated information on the number of NHS dental practices at disproportionate cost.
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are based on the numbers of dentists with open GDS or PDS contracts. 2. The areas have been defined using practice postcodes within the SHA. 3. Data include all notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS, received by the NHS BSA, up to 24 July 2006. Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care. NHS BSA DSD. | |||
The following table shows the number of NHS general ophthalmic services practitioners premises, by SHA, in England as at 31 December 2006, which is the latest year currently available. England totals are also provided for 2004 and 2005.
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| n/a = Not applicable (regional breakdown for 2004 and 2005 is currently not available) Source: The Information Centre for health and social care | |||
The following table shows the number of community pharmacies in contract with primary care trusts, by SHA, in England as at 31 March 2005 to 2007, which are the latest data available.
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Note: The SHAs were reorganised in July 2006 and data for 2007 is as published. The data for 2005 and 2006, originally published in the 28 old SHAs have been combined to give the best estimate of figures for the new 10 SHAs. Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care. The General Pharmaceutical Services (Annual Bulletin) 2006-07. | |||
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