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28 Apr 2008 : Column 143W—continued
Sustainable Development: Expenditure
Alan Duncan:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Government spent on
incentivising low-carbon technologies and lifestyles in the form of (a) capital grants, (b) research and development grants, (c) tax and duty rebates, (d) enhanced capital allowances, (e) expenditure on the provision of information and advice to businesses and consumers and (f) other expenditure on achieving carbon dioxide emission reductions in (i) 2006 and (ii) 2007. [201594]
Angela Eagle: The Government have a range of policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the move to a low carbon economy. These include spending programmes, fiscal measures and regulation.
Figures for the breakdown requested are not held separately, but spending in 2006-07 on major programmes to support Research and Development and provide information and advice was as follows. The Carbon Trust was given £100 million to take the lead on business and public sector energy efficiency and encourage the development of a low-carbon economy in the UK. The Energy Saving Trust received £67 million to encourage and promote the sustainable and efficient use of energy in the household sector. Spending on low-carbon energy innovation through the Research Councils Energy Programme was £63 million, and spending through the Technology Strategy Board was £20 million. These figures are for Government as a whole, including funding from devolved administrations.
All tax measures that have an impact upon the public finances are scored as a matter of course and reported in PBR/Budget documents.
Taxation: Voluntary Organisations
Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will increase the level of milage for which tax-free expenses may be paid to volunteer drivers of voluntary and charitable organisations. [202096]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) on 12 November 2007, Official Report, column 22W. HMRC allows volunteers to use the approved milage allowance payment (AMAP) rate for convenience, but it is not mandatory and volunteer drivers can claim tax relief for the full cost of motoring by completing a return, if they wish to do so.
Health
Alcoholic Drinks: Health Hazards
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government plans to take to address health problems associated with consumption of super-strength lager. [200977]
Dawn Primarolo: We know that some people are drinking too much, and tackling the culture of harmful and binge drinking is a priority for Government. We are working with the alcohol industry and other stakeholders to implement a comprehensive strategy to tackle it, including:
a new public information campaign, which will start on 19 May;
more help for people who want to drink less—targeted advice and support will be available from the same date;
a Home Office led review of industry social responsibility standards, which will report this Spring;
an independent review of alcohol pricing, promotion, and harm, which will report in August; and
toughened enforcement of the law on underage sales.
Much alcohol-related harm is preventable, and there are substantial health gains to be made through the widespread implementation of programmes to identify harmful drinking earlier, providing brief advice or referral to specialist alcohol treatment for those who need it.
We have put in place a new national indicator from April 2008 to measure change in the rate of alcohol related hospital admissions—the first ever national commitment to monitor publicly how the national health service is tackling alcohol harms. This indicator is expected to encourage earlier identification of people who drink too much linked to advice from general practitioners or hospitals. That is shown to be the best way of reducing the kind of ‘everyday’ drinking which over time leads to liver disease and other problems.
We will disseminate the lessons of the current trailblazer pilots on identification and brief advice to encourage uptake by NHS professionals.
Blood
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent estimate is of the (a) daily, (b) weekly and (c) monthly clinical requirement for blood units to meet demand in the NHS. [200638]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Blood Service (NBS) issued a total of 1,825,000 red cell units during 2007-08.
an average daily issue of 5,000 red cell units;
an average weekly issue of 35,906 red cell units; and
an average monthly issue of 152,083 red cell units.
The projected requirement for 2008-09 is a total issue of 1,765,000 red cell units, which would equate to:
an average daily issue of 4,836 red cell units;
an average weekly issue of 33,942 red cell units; and
an average monthly issue of 147,083 red cell units.
Blood Donors
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered blood donors there were in England and Wales in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06, (d) 2006-07 and (e) 2007-08, broken down by local authority area. [200635]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Blood Service (NBS) has provided information on the number of registered blood donors in England and North Wales. This information is contained in the following table.
| Active whole blood donors (million) | |
| Note: The NBS are unable to provide a breakdown by local authority area. | |
Blood: Testing
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the change in capacity in processing and testing of blood resulting from the consolidation by the National Blood Service of testing and processing facilities. [200799]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Blood Service (NBS) needs to improve efficiency and provide value for money for the national health service. The changes set out in the strategy review will allow the NBS to stabilise the cost of blood to hospitals.
The NBS strategy review demonstrated that the service is currently operating at 40 per cent. excess capacity in blood processing and 35 per cent. excess capacity in blood testing. The consolidation of processing and testing sites to six and five respectively will retain a good geographic spread across the country, while enabling the service to be more productive and ensuring the necessary flexibility to meet clinical and safety requirements now and in the future. The changes set out in the review will remove 24 per cent. excess capacity in processing and 28 per cent. in testing.
The current network of 15 blood issue sites (where blood is stocked and from which it is issued) will continue to supply hospitals with blood, as and when they need it.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the financial effects on the National Blood Service of the consolidation of testing and processing facilities. [200800]
Dawn Primarolo: The consolidation of processing and testing facilities will produce cumulative savings of £9.9 million up to 2010-11.
Cardiovascular System: Screening
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the modelling work on vascular risk assessment referred to in his Department’s document Putting Prevention First. [198844]
Ann Keen [holding answer 21 April 2008]: The Department will publish a technical report on the modelling work used in developing its approach to vascular checks in the summer of 2008, which will be the subject of a consultation.
Care Homes: Protection
Greg Mulholland:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what progress has been made on the implementation of a performance indicator to measure
the effectiveness of protection processes for vulnerable adults; and if he will make a statement; [201283]
(2) what progress has been made on the introduction of a mandatory scheme for the collection and reporting of data by adult protection committees on vulnerable adult referrals; what resources his Department has provided for the project to date; and what resources it plans to provide in the next three financial years. [201284]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 24 April 2008]: A working group has been set up, comprising representatives from the Information Centre for health and social care, the Department, councils with adult social services responsibilities, Action on Elder Abuse, ‘Respond’ and academics.
A pilot data collection is planned for 2008-09, with a view to implementing a full data collection across all councils from 1 April 2009. The introduction of the national data collection will enable work to begin on developing an effective monitoring system, which will help support our drive to improve the lives of vulnerable and older people and the delivery of social care services.
The Department plans to provide the following resources to fund the project for the next three years.
| £ | ||
|
Identifying information requirements, development and set up costs including development of information technology collection tool. | ||
Once we have established the feasibility of collecting these data, we will be in a position to consider the development of a performance indicator.
Death
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people who die alone. [202204]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Over 500,000 people die each year in England. Approximately 55 per cent. of these deaths occur in hospital, around 20 per cent. at home, around 20 per cent. in care homes and around 4 per cent. in hospices. However, it is not known how many of these people die alone.
The Department is committed to improving people’s care and choice at the end of life. Through the End of Life Care Programme, we have invested £12 million to support the rollout of end of life care tools such as the Gold Standards Framework, the Liverpool Care Pathway and the Preferred Place of Care. This summer, we will publish England’s first End of Life Care Strategy. This comprehensive strategy will help deliver increased choice to all adult patients regardless of their condition about where they live and die.
Fibromyalgia
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the clinical causes of fibromyalgia. [201503]
Ann Keen [holding answer 25 April 2008]: We have made no assessment of the causes of fibromyalgia.
General Practitioners
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were registered with a general practitioner in each region in England in the latest period for which figures are available. [201773]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 25 April 2008]: Data showing the number of registered patients by region is shown in the following table.
| Registered general practitioner patients —England | ||
| All patients (headcount) | ||
| Note: Data as at 30 September 2007. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. | ||
General Practitioners: Buckingham Palace
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the closed-list GP practice at Buckingham Palace provides for (a) Royal Household staff based outside the area of Westminster Primary Care Trust and (b) staff employed in the households of other members of the Royal Family; and if he will make a statement; [199715]
(2) what revenue the closed-list GP practice at Buckingham Palace received under the additional needs-based allocation in each year since 2004; and what proportion of its income this represented in each such year; [199716]
(3) how many patients are registered on the closed-list GP practice at Buckingham Palace; and if he will make a statement; [199717]
(4) for what reasons there is a closed-list GP practice at Buckingham Palace; and if he will make a statement. [199718]
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