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19 Mar 2008 : Column 1141W—continued
Arthritis: Drugs
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2007, Official Report, column 845W, on arthritis: drugs, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the trend since 2004 in (a) the number of prescription items dispensed in the community and (b) the net ingredient cost of prescription items dispensed in the community. [195336]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 28 February 2008, Official Report, column 1883W.
Barking Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust: Finance
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the expected financial balance of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust for 2007-08. [194269]
Mr. Bradshaw: At Q3, Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust is forecasting a £39.9 million deficit for the 2007-08 financial year.
The trust is in the process of developing its plan for financial turnaround. London strategic health authority is confident the trust will be able to demonstrate its longer term viability and expects to return to a modest surplus by 2009-10.
Cancer: Drugs
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health over what period of time the use of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence approved cancer drugs will be assessed as part of the National Cancer Director's evaluation. [195440]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Cancer Director's evaluation of the use of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence approved cancer drugs will assess the period July-December 2007.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will (a) follow the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) guidelines and (b) display ICRA's label on the websites for which it is responsible. [191778]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department of Health is committed to promoting safe use of the Internet and recognises Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) guidelines as a key tool for protecting citizens and children from accessing inappropriate material online.
The Department’s corporate website (www.dh.gov.uk) follows the 2000 ICRA guidelines.
The Department’s website has displayed ICRA ratings on all its content since February 2004 and applying an ICRA value is a mandatory part of the Department’s content publishing process.
The Department is also responsible for NHS Choices, a number of sub domain and campaign sites. NHS Choices (www.nhs.uk) supports ICRA and is working on the use of the guidelines across its content. The remainder of the smaller sites do not carry ICRA ratings. However, they do display content description metadata, which most search engines use to filter out inappropriate material.
The Central Office of Information is currently preparing a new set of guidance for many aspects of the Government’s Web estate including safety online for users. When that is issued, the Department will implement what they mandate.
Drugs: Lancashire
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency were being treated for drug addiction at the latest date for which figures are available. [194721]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) does not provide published numbers of individuals in contact with structured drug treatment, hereafter referred to as treatment numbers, based on constituency boundaries.
Run in partnership with Manchester University, the NTA's National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) does provide treatment numbers at local drug action team partnership level for the 149 Drug Action Teams (DATs) in England. Each DAT area corresponds with a local authority area.
The most recent treatment numbers for Lancashire DAT are provided as follows:
| Number | |
| (1) Number of drug users in treatment in January 2008 (the most recent month for which figures are available). (2) Total numbers in treatment at end of January 2008 for the financial year 2007-08 . Source: www.ndtms.net | |
Hay Fever
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by his Department on the number of (i) males and (ii) females diagnosed with hay fever; and if he will make a statement. [194194]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department commissioned a review of the data and research available on the epidemiology of allergic conditions as part of a Review of Services for Allergy. The review found that epidemiological studies suggest that hay fever is present in approximately 10 per cent., of the general population but did not separately identify the proportion of male and female sufferers.
Headaches
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent research on assessment of headache disorders he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated; and what plans he has to commission further such research; [194208]
(2) if he will increase public research funding for headache disorder medicine; if he will take steps to improve patient access to headache care and services; and if he will make a statement. [194209]
Dawn Primarolo:
The Department funds national health service research and development through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The Institute’s research programmes support high quality research of relevance and in areas of high priority to patients and the NHS. That research currently includes a pragmatic, randomised trial into the use of
acupuncture for migraine and headache in primary care; and a randomised placebo controlled trial of propranolol and Pizotifen in preventing migraine in children.
The NIHR funded University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre is also undertaking research on headache and pain. A five-year budget of £3.7 million has been allocated to this work.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government supports medical and clinical research. The MRC, an independent body, receives its grant-in-aid from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The MRC is currently funding a research fellowship relating to familial hemiplegic migraine and has previously funded a prospective study of patients with headache in primary care which aimed to provide evidence about the accuracy of diagnosis, the prognosis, reasons for referral, and the economic costs for patients and society.
A range of pharmacological interventions are available to prevent the occurrence of headaches, and to relieve the pain of attacks. It is the responsibility of health professionals to consider what treatment is the most appropriate for their patients, in consultation with the patient and informed by their medical history.
The provision of services to meet the needs of those living with migraine and headaches is specifically covered by the “National Service Framework (NSF) for Long-term Conditions”. The NSF has a 10-year implementation programme from its publication in March 2005, with flexibility for organisations to set the pace of change locally to take account of local priorities and needs. A copy of the NSF is available in the Library.
Health Services: Finance
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget is for the Diagnostics programme in each of the next five financial years; how much of this budget has been allocated, broken down by project; and how much of this budget has been contracted, broken down by contract. [188913]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 28 February 2008]: The Department does not have a central diagnostics programme budget.
The 18 weeks programme has a diagnostics workstream, focused on supporting front-line staff in reducing long waits for diagnostics to enable delivery of 18 weeks. More detailed information about the diagnostics workstream can be found on the 18 weeks website at:
This workstream is funded from the 18 week programme budget. The provisional budget allocation for 2008-09 is estimated at £1.4 million. As 18 weeks will be delivered this year, there is no budget allocated after March 2009.
Health Services: Prisons
Ms Abbott:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what benchmarks have been established to assess the fitness of private contractors to undertake work in
prison health care departments; what penalties apply to contractors who fail to meet their contractual obligations; and if he will make a statement; [195011]
(2) what steps he has taken to maintain the quality of care in prison health care departments run by private companies; and if he will make a statement; [195012]
(3) what measures are in place to ensure that employees of health care departments in the prison service do not lose benefits as a result of the transfer of undertakings to private contractors; and if he will make a statement. [195013]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department does not directly regulate or monitor private companies' involvement in specific local services.
It is for primary care trusts (PCTs), the local leaders of the national health service, to commission an appropriate range of high quality health care services to meet the needs of their population. For prison health services, as with other health services, PCTs may decide to procure alternatives from other NHS organisations or from the private sector or the third sector. Strategic health authorities ensure that PCTs carry out their commissioning role effectively, and in line with the principles and rules for competition established by the Department.
The Healthcare Commission is responsible for regulating independent sector providers and assessing and inspecting NHS providers. In prisons and places of detention, the Healthcare Commission works together with HM Inspectorate of Prisons to inspect health services, under a memorandum of understanding. For contracted out services, PCTs remain responsible for maintaining NHS standards of care, and the Healthcare Commission inspects and reviews PCTs against the standards of health care in those prisons for which they are responsible.
For individuals whose contracts of employment move from the prison service to private contractors, Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations apply, under which employees’ existing terms and conditions are protected.
Health Trainers
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2383W, on health trainers, how much was allocated to each spearhead primary care trust in 2006-07 from the choosing health budget to pay for health trainers; [194739]
(2) how much was allocated to each primary care trust in 2007-08 from the choosing health budget to pay for health trainers. [194740]
Mr. Bradshaw: Revenue allocations to primary care trust (PCTs) separately identified £211 million in 2006-07 and £342 million in 2007-08 to support various choosing health programmes, including £36 million in 2006-07 and £77 million in 2007-08 for health trainers. The total funding was identified for each PCT, but not the funding for each programme. This is shown in the following table, alongside which PCTs are in the spearhead group.
| £000 | ||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
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