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1 May 2008 : Column 618W—continued
no consultations were conducted on that basis in the years concerned.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how data are gathered by primary care trusts for inclusion on the National Health Application Infrastructure Service (Exeter) system. [200887]
Mr. Bradshaw: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are legally required to maintain a register of patients registered with a general practitioner's (GP's) practice according to the patient's registered address. This legal requirement for a register is met by the National Health Application Infrastructure Service (NHAIS) patient database.
Most GP practices have a computer system that is linked to local NHAIS systems. Each new patient registration, and all patient demographic changes, are recorded by practice staff, and these changes are notified electronically to the relevant local NHAIS system in order to maintain the patient registers. Non-computerised practices support the maintenance of the NHAIS systems by the provision of paper-based forms.
NHAIS systems also receive data about patient deaths, patients moving permanently to reside overseas, people moving into the armed services, and removals from the NHS Central Register which is operated by the Information Centre for health and social care.
Medical Treatments
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are taken to ensure that hospital consultants are aware of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence decisions on use of specific treatments in the consultants' area of specialism. [203174]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issues quick reference guides to national health service consultants in the relevant specialty, which summarise the conclusions in its guidance. NICE also provides a wide range of practical support through its web-based tools (for example audit criteria) aimed at aiding local implementation. Further information can be found on NICE'S website at:
Medicine: Research
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been provided for research into (a) heart disease, (b) stroke and (c) dementia in each of the last five years; and what percentage of the medical and health research budget this represented in each year. [202151]
Dawn Primarolo: The available information is shown in the following table.
| £ million | |||||
| Department | Medical Research Council (MRC) | ||||
| Coronary heart disease | Dementia | Cardiovascular research | Dementia | Stroke | |
| n/a = not available | |||||
Over the last 10 years, the main part of the Department’s research and development budget has been allocated to and managed by national health service organisations. These organisations have accounted for their use of the allocations received from the Department in an annual research and development report. From 2002-03, the reports have identified total, aggregated expenditure on a number of priority areas including coronary heart disease and, from 2004-05, dementia; but not stroke.
The Departmental figures for dementia for the years from 2001-02 to 2003-04 relate only to national research programme expenditure.
The MRC is one of the main agencies through which the Government supports biomedical research. The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
In the absence of a complete set of expenditure data, a comparison with total research and development budgets has not been made.
NHS: Finance
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in the review by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation of the formula used for revenue allocations; and if he will make a statement. [203314]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation has completed its review of the weighted capitation formula used to inform revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs). Ministers are now considering these recommendations and we are planning to announce the outcome alongside allocations to PCTs for 2009-10 and 2010-11 in the summer.
Parkinson’s Disease
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of training given to staff in residential care homes on dealing with residents with Parkinson's disease. [202452]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is the responsibility of social care service providers to ensure that their employees are suitably qualified and competent to carry out the duties they are employed to do.
Joint health and social care national occupational standards set out the skills, knowledge and values required and are used as benchmarks for national vocational qualifications (NVQs).
The knowledge set for NVQs is job specific and care home workers who are working with residents with Parkinson's, on a regular basis, should have a basic knowledge of the disease as part of their training.
Salt: Health Hazards
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the scientific basis is for the Food Standards Agency's campaign to reduce hypertension by lowering salt intake; and how much the campaign has cost. [202441]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency's campaign to reduce salt intakes is based on advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) which is published in their report, Salt and Health (2003). Copies of this publication are available in the Library. SACN considered a wide range of evidence for the relationship between salt and hypertension and concluded that a reduction in the average population salt intake would proportionally lower population average blood pressure levels and confer significant public health benefits by contributing to a decrease in the burden of cardiovascular disease.
The total cost of the campaign (January 2004 to March 2008) has been £15,227,000. This includes all campaign costs such as advertising, production, research, marketing, public relations, web and partner grants.
Tim Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the health effects of reducing salt intake for (a) those who take
strenuous exercise, (b) pregnant women and (c) the elderly; and if he will make a statement. [201863]
Dawn Primarolo: The National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2003 showed that the average intake of salt in the United Kingdom adult population was nine grams per day, more than twice the required daily intake of four grams per day for all adults, set by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy in 1991.
In 2003, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published its report “Salt and Health”, copies of this report are available in the Library. SACN recommended that the average daily intake of salt by all adults should be reduced to six grams per day. SACN found no evidence to suggest that such a reduction in salt intake would have adverse effects on any particular group in the population including pregnant women and the elderly or those who are exposed to conditions that cause extreme sweating.
Reducing average population salt intake would proportionally lower population average blood pressure levels and confer significant public health benefits by contributing to a reduction in the burden of cardiovascular disease.
Slaughterhouses: Standards
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which abattoirs (a) were prosecuted by and (b) received written warnings from the Food Standards Agency in each of the last three years. [201171]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has informed the Department that they prosecuted the following abattoirs in the last three years:
2 Sisters Premier Division Limited;
Bradford Halal Meat Company;
Grove Smith (Turkeys) Limited;
Harvey Ashworth (Manchester) Limited;
J H Lambert (Bungay) Limited;
Kedassia Poultry Limited;
Muslim Halal Live Chicken and Poultry;
NJG Halal Slaughtering Limited;
Traditional Norfolk Poultry Limited; and
Yorkshire Poultry Products Limited.
C E Partridge and Son Limited;
E and T Jackson and Sons;
Frank Bird (Poultry) Limited;
Harvey Ashworth (Manchester) Limited;
HCF Poultry Limited;
Leonard Ames (Ampthill) Limited;
Oakland Farms Limited;
Paul Flatman Limited;
Pembrokeshire Meat Company Limited;
Saleh Brothers (Poultry Processors) Limited;
Wakefield Halal Meats;
West Devon Meat Limited;
West Scottish Lamb Limited; and
Yorkshire Poultry Products Limited.
2 Sisters Food Group Limited;
AS Audhali Farm Gate Fresh Poultry Limited;
Coast and County Meat Supply Company Limited;
Gafoor Poultry Products Limited;
Leicester Farm Fresh Turkeys;
Medina Meat and Poultry Group;
M Najib and Sons Limited;
P J King and Sons;
Spenborough Abattoir Limited;
St. Merryn Meat Limited;
Stockton Butchers Slaughtering Company Limited;
West Devon Meat Limited; and
Woolley Brothers (Wholesale Meats) Limited.
The FSA does not conduct its own prosecutions in Scotland. Cases referred by the FSA to the relevant Procurator Fiscal resulted in successful prosecutions against the following abattoirs:
Wishaw Abattoir Limited
John M Munro Limited;
Orkney Meat Limited; and
Wishaw Abattoir Limited.
Mathers (Inverurie) Limited;
McIntosh Donald Limited; and
Scotch Premier Meat Limited.
Written warnings are used in an informal advisory way by the FSA and do not form part of the formal enforcement process. The aim when issuing a written warning is to provide the food business operator with clarification of the legal requirements or to encourage compliance. They are not a criminal sanction and are used as a routine part of the hierarchy of enforcement at approved meat plants. The Meat Hygiene Service, an Executive Agency of the FSA, issued the following number of written warnings in the course of the last three financial years:
| Number | |
Slaughterhouses: Veterinary Services
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many licensed (a) abattoirs and (b) meat processing plants require official veterinary attendance. [200907]
Dawn Primarolo:
Under European Union Food Hygiene Regulations which came into effect on 1 January 2006, veterinary attendance to carry out the
prescribed official controls is required in slaughterhouses, cutting plants and game handling establishments. Subject to certain exceptions, these plants are first required to be approved by the Food Standards Agency.
The number of those establishments in the United Kingdom at 31 March 2008 was as follows:
| Slaughterhouses | Cutting plants | |||||
| Red meat | Poultry | Red meat | Poultry | Combined red meat and poultry meat | Game handling establishment | |
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