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27 Mar 2008 : Column 406W—continued
Tibet: Protest
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on Chinese Government actions in relation to Tibetan protesters. [196179]
Meg Munn:
Our Embassy in Beijing is sending us daily updates on the situation in Tibet. Chinese authorities have acknowledged the deaths of eighteen people in Lhasa on 14 and 15 March. Unconfirmed reports from non-governmental organisations put the figure higher. We have reports that following disturbances on 14 March, Chinese security forces deployed around Lhasa early on 15 March and continued to deploy in large numbers over the next few days. The Chinese Government has assured us they did
not use lethal force in Lhasa. We have told the Chinese authorities that it is important for the public to have accurate facts and that lifting restrictions on the access of journalists to the region would be in the best interests of China. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to respect fully the human rights of those detained; to exercise maximum restraint in restoring public order; and to respect freedom of expression and religion in Tibet. We have also called on the protesters, in Lhasa and elsewhere, to desist from further violence.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government have taken to urge the Chinese Government to show restraint in relation to the recent protests in Lhasa. [196180]
Meg Munn: We have expressed our concern to and have remained in contact with the Chinese authorities both in Beijing and London regarding events in Tibet and the surrounding region. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister spoke to Chinese Premier Wen on 19 March urging the Chinese Government to address the underlying issues by re-engaging in dialogue without preconditions with the Dalai Lama and his representatives. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary also spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang on 21 March, further emphasising the need for dialogue. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to respect fully the human rights of those detained; to exercise maximum restraint in restoring public order; and to respect freedom of expression and religion in Tibet. We have also called on the protesters, in Lhasa and elsewhere, to desist from further violence.
USA: Defence
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the (a) reasons for and (b) possible outcome of the US House Appropriations Subcommittee hearings into the US Air Force award of a $40 billion contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS; what discussions (i) he, (ii) members of his Department and (iii) UK representatives in Washington have had with members of the US House of Representatives on the (A) financial and (B) employment implications in the UK of a possible reversal of the US Air Force's decision; and if he will make a statement. [192979]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
The tanker aircraft to be supplied by Northrop Grumman/EADS under this contract will have 16 per cent. UK content and the financial value of the programme’s first tranche of 179 aircraft is estimated to be worth up to $4.6 billion to the UK. We continue to monitor closely the outcome of the competition given its industrial significance to the UK, including the progress of the US House Appropriations Subcommittee hearings.
Written Questions
Mr. Hague:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will answer Question (a) 190947, (b) 191153, (c) 191154 and
(d) 191042, on the use of Diego Garcia for rendition flights, tabled on 27 February 2008. [196253]
David Miliband: I replied to the right hon. Member on 18 March 2008 in respect of questions 191042, Official Report, column 1031W, 191153, 191154, Official Report, column 1034W, and on 20 March 2008 for question 190947, Official Report, column 1288W.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will answer question 191151, on negotiations with Iran, tabled on 27 February 2008. [196254]
David Miliband: I replied to the right hon. Member on 18 March 2008.
Health
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps the Government have taken to improve healthcare services for those with alcohol addiction. [196731]
Dawn Primarolo: In 2005 and 2006, we published guidance for local health organisations and their partners, to support delivery and improvement of local programmes for alcohol misuse interventions, ‘Alcohol Misuse Interventions: Guidance on developing a local programme of improvement and Models of care for alcohol misusers’.
To test out the best ways to identify and provide advice to people who are drinking more than is good for them, the Department has commissioned a programme of trailblazers to pilot identification and brief advice that is under way in general practitioner (GP) practices, accident and emergency departments and in probation departments, in 57 locations.
We have put in place a new national health service indicator to measure the change in the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol related harm from April 2008—the first ever national commitment to monitor how the NHS is tackling alcohol health harms.
This indicator is expected to encourage primary care trusts (PCTs) to invest in earlier identification of people who drink too much, linked to advice and support from GPs or other health care staff—shown to be the best way of reducing the kind of “everyday” drinking which over time leads to liver disease and other problems, including dependency.
Since 2007-08 we have provided PCTs with an extra £15 million of additional funding to improve alcohol interventions. The National Audit Office will carry out an audit of NHS spend on alcohol interventions and specialist treatment, with a report expected this autumn.
Over the next three years, the Government will be actively supporting the full implementation of the published guidance, ‘Substance Misuse in the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum’.
This major development will, over the next 10 years, ensure around 60,000 new doctors leaving medical
training in England will be able to deliver competent practice in both drug and alcohol misuse, including—as a crucial priority for implementation—the recognition and the management of risky and harmful alcohol consumption.
We have allocated £650,000 in 2008-09 for the developmental work medical schools will need to carry out, to embed such an integrated substance misuse curriculum into core teaching and training programmes.
Ambulances: Accidents
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accidents there were involving ambulances on emergency calls in (a) Castle Point constituency and (b) Essex in each of the last five years. [196785]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information about the number of accidents involving ambulances on emergency calls is not collected centrally.
The only data collected in relation to ambulance services is the number of emergency calls received by ambulance trusts across England, and their performances against the targets set. This is published annually.
Antidepressants: Misuse
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to tackle addiction to prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants. [195566]
Dawn Primarolo: There is no conclusive evidence that antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are addictive, in that they do not appear to lead to tolerance or dependence-forming, hence the Department has not implemented any policies to deal with this issue.
However, we know that some patients will experience withdrawal reactions on stopping or reducing their use of SSRIs, and in some cases the withdrawal reactions may be severe and disabling.
In 2005, the expert working group of the then Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) reported on the safety of SSRIs, which the Department currently regards as definitive. The CSM recommended that no one taking SSRIs should stop this treatment without prior discussion with their prescribing doctor, that SSRI usage should not stop suddenly, and that dosage should be reduced gradually at the end of a course of treatment.
Benzodiazepines: Misuse
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what means the National Treatment Agency measures outcomes for involuntary benzodiazepine addicts. [194099]
Dawn Primarolo:
Activity data is collected by specialist drug treatment services on all clients/addicts in treatment and reported into the National Drug Treatment Monitoring Service (NDTMS). NDTMS
collects data including numbers and retention in treatment and whether clients have completed treatment.
A new outcome monitoring tool, the Treatment Outcomes Profile (TOP), will also now be used for all clients in specialist treatment for drug misuse from April 2008. This will record a range of outcome measures which include the amount and range of drugs taken in each of the last four weeks and measures of health and social functioning. Some initial TOP data will be published by May 2008.
The National Treatment Agency (NTA) provides a range of support guidance to Drug Action Teams and to treatment providers. Most recently the NTA and the Department published “Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management” (2007), which includes a detailed section on the management of benzodiazepines. The NTA also oversee the NDTMS and TOPs databases.
Care Homes: Fees and Charges
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made a recent estimate of the appropriate savings threshold above which the elderly should have to pay for their own care in nursing homes; and if he will consider a review of this threshold. [180843]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The capital limit above which care home residents are assessed as being able to fund their own care is set out in the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992. The capital limit is uprated annually in line with the increase in average earnings. The capital limit was uprated to £21,500 from April 2007. The Department will shortly be announcing the uprated capital limit to apply from April 2008.
However, in the 2007 pre-Budget report and comprehensive spending review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) announced a Green Paper to set out options for the reform of the current care and support system.
The Department has asked the Commission for Social Care Inspection to undertake a review of the eligibility criteria. They will report in autumn 2008.
Childbirth
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births per whole-time equivalent NHS midwife there were at (a) West Suffolk, (b) Addenbrookes and (c) Ipswich hospitals in each of the last five years. [179188]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information is not available in the format requested.
Dental Services
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps the Government have taken to improve accessibility of NHS dentistry treatment. [196732]
Ann Keen: The Department has made increasing the number of patients seen within national health service dental services a formal priority in the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-09. We have supported this with a very substantial 11 per cent., uplift in overall dental funding allocations to primary care trusts from 1 April 2008.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff under 18 years are employed by his Department. [189079]
Mr. Bradshaw: No staff under the age of 18 are employed by the Department in either a full-time or part-time capacity.
Departmental Pensions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of staff in his Department were making additional voluntary contributions to their pensions in each of the last two years. [193564]
Mr. Bradshaw: In February 2007, 13 members of staff in the Department (0.6 per cent. of the total number of staff employed by the Department) were making additional voluntary pension contributions through deductions from their pay. The same number and proportion of members of staff (again, 0.6 per cent.) were making additional voluntary pension contributions in February 2008.
Departmental Surveys
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs his Department incurred in (a) designing, printing and distributing and (b) analysing the results of the Ipsos MORI GP Patient Survey on Hospital Choice. [195369]
Mr. Bradshaw: In 2007-08, we expect the total costs for all elements of the ‘general practitioner patient survey’ to cost approximately £10 million. This includes costs to conduct both the access and choice components of the Survey. It is not possible to give a more detailed breakdown as this would require disclosure of commercially sensitive information provided by our suppliers. In 2006-07, the total costs incurred by the Department for the same survey was £9,586,520.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds have been made available to Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to further the Government’s 2008 drug strategy Tackling drugs, changing lives. [196535]
Dawn Primarolo: Since 2001, the Department of Health and the Home Office have provided specific resources for drug treatment in the form of the pooled drug treatment budget (PTB), which is allocated to drug action teams across the country. This is used along with local mainstream funding, to provide treatment and services according to specific local needs. The allocation for Oxfordshire from the PTB for 2008-09 is £3,763,816.
Folic Acid: Flour
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans the Food Standards Agency has in relation to their proposals for the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid; what matters relating to the proposals are under consideration by the Agency; over what timescale he expects the Agency to proceed with their proposals; with whom the Agency will consult on the proposals; and how he plans to consult the natural health products industry on the likely (a) financial and (b) health effects of the proposals; [196082]
(2) what recent representations he has received from (a) manufacturers and (b) retailers of food supplements on the proposed introduction of limits on the levels of folic acid permitted in such products as a result of the proposals of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for the mandatory fortification of flour with folate; and whether the FSA plans to undertake further modelling of the implications of its proposals. [196085]
Dawn Primarolo: In June 2007, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommended mandatory fortification with folic acid of bread or flour alongside controls on voluntary fortification and guidance on supplement use to United Kingdom Health Ministers. In October 2007, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) wrote to the FSA to request a further expert view of the evidence on folic acid and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk.
On the basis of expert advice FSA have advised the CMO that they will defer agreeing their final advice on CRC risk until the results of ongoing trials are available in early 2009.
In the meantime, FSA officials will continue their discussions with industry about controls on voluntary fortification in food and caps on the levels of folic acid in supplements as there are 106,000 people in the UK exceeding the upper limit for folic acid from dietary and supplement sources. It is therefore important to control voluntary fortification and intake through supplements to ensure there is no further increase in these numbers.
The FSA has received representations from the trade associations of food supplements manufacturers and retailers regarding proposed controls on folic acid containing food supplements, capping folic acid at 200 micrograms. Information has been provided to the FSA on the types of products on the market containing folic acid and the recommended daily dosage. The FSA will undertake further modelling and the results will be discussed with the supplements industry.
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