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3 Jun 2008 : Column 898W—continued
Final figures for 2007-08, the last year of the programme, have not yet been confirmed as final data for most contributing projects is reported a number of weeks after the year end.
Final figures will be collated in September and reported in our autumn performance report to be published in December.
The original delivery plan for our Gershon efficiency savings envisaged a contribution from reducing central budgets. Although central budgets have reduced significantly over three years, we subsequently chose not to count these against our Gershon target due to difficulties in calculating the proportion of any reduction that could be attributed solely to efficiency.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the individuals pictured on his Department's website are employed by (a) his Department and (b) the NHS. [207588]
Mr. Bradshaw: Due to the volume of photography on the Department's website, to establish an answer to this question would incur disproportionate costs as photographs are sourced from a number of different suppliers.
Departmental Manpower
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) UK citizens born in the UK, (b) UK citizens born abroad and (c) foreign nationals were employed as staff by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years. [206541]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department and its agencies do not routinely record this information on their human resources systems, and to gather it would involve disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid in end-of-year performance bonuses to (a) all staff and (b) staff at senior civil service level in (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies in the 2007-08 financial year; and how many payments were made. [207473]
Mr. Bradshaw: Staff below the senior civil service do not receive end-of-year bonuses. The amount and number of end-of-year bonuses paid to staff in the senior civil service in the Department and its agencies in 2007-08 are provided in the following table.
| Amount (£) | Number | |
Pay arrangements for senior civil servants are common across all Departments and agencies, although they have flexibility on the specific values of bonuses within a common framework. Bonuses are based on the extent to which objectives are met, how they are met and how stretching they are.
Doctors: Working Hours
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have schedules of work which comply with the requirements of the European Working Time Directive as interpreted by judgements of the European Court of Justice. [207587]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally. It is the responsibility of local employers to implement the European working time directive as part of their health and safety obligations.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the results of the independent research commissioned by his Department on the effect of the operation of the European working time directive on medical training. [207589]
Ann Keen: The independent research on the impact of the European working time directive on medical training by Sheffield university will be published when it is completed in summer 2008. Once available, the report will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which junior doctor posts were discontinued in each of the last 18 months, broken down by trust. [207612]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the Answer of 9th May 2008, Official Report, column 1258W, on doctors: working hours, what plans he has to propose an extension to the implementation of the European working time directive beyond 2012; [207618]
(2) pursuant to the Answer of 9th May 2008, Official Report, column 1257W, on doctors: working hours, what assessment he has made of the merits of deferring full implementation of the 48-hour working week until 2012. [207615]
Ann Keen [holding answer 2 June 2008]: The national health service will assess whether 2009 implementation is achievable towards the end of this year, before advising the Department whether any services will need more time.
Epilepsy: Research
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for funding research (a) into premature deaths from epilepsy and (b) on NHS epilepsy treatment; and if he will make a statement. [207854]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funding a wide range of epilepsy research including aspects relevant to premature death and to treatment. The University College London Hospital’s Biomedical Research Centre is active in this field and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre is also undertaking some relevant research.
The NIHR has awarded a programme grant for applied research on defining priorities and communicating evidence about benefit and harm of interventions for people with epilepsy. Currently funded NIHR projects include:
relative efficacy and cost-effectiveness of different treatment approaches currently used in the management of epilepsy in people with a learning disability; and
pharmacogenetics of GABAergic mechanisms of benefit and harm in epilepsy.
The Department is providing national health service support for epilepsy trials and studies through the Clinical Research Network for England. Details are given on the United Kingdom Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database which is available at:
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant in aid from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
The MRC’s spend on research related to epilepsy was £4.9 million in 2006-07.
Eyesight: Testing
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of (a) the annual cost to the Exchequer of abolishing all charges for eye checks and (b) the number of people who paid a charge for such checks wholly or in part in the last year for which figures are available. [207521]
Ann Keen:
There were an estimated 15.3 million sight tests carried out in England during 2006-07. Of these 10.5 million were funded by the national health service with 4.8 million being paid for privately. For 4,471 of
the private sight tests, the NHS provided partial help. If the 4.8 million privately funded sight tests were paid for by the NHS at the 2007-08 sight test fee of £19.32 the cost would be an additional £93 million a year. There would be additional costs if the number of tests increased as a result of their being funded by the NHS.
Food: Advertising
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department will conduct its (a) interim and (b) final review of the nature and balance of food promotions to children across all media. [207797]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department plans to publish by the end of the summer its interim findings of changes to the nature and balance of food and drink advertisement and promotion to children. No time has yet been set for the publication of the final review.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) males and (b) females (i) successfully and (ii) unsuccessfully claimed compensation in relation to an infection contracted in an NHS hospital by (A) themselves and (B) a family member in each year since 2001, broken down by (1) age group and (2) primary care trust. [206120]
Ann Keen: The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has supplied tables showing health care associated infections, copies of the tables have been placed in the Library.
The NHSLA does not record data specifically for each hospital, but rather for the national health service body that runs each hospital. The tables therefore cover health care associated infection related claims made against primary care trusts, NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the minutes of the meetings of the Rapid Review Panel. [206808]
Ann Keen: The minutes of the Rapid Review Panel (RRP) are normally published six to eight weeks after the meeting. However we are currently updating the RRP website to ensure ease of access and all of the minutes of the meetings including the last meeting of 14 April 2008 have now been published on the Health Protection Agency's website and are available at:
www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&;Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1160994272839?p=1160994272839.
Junior Doctors: Accommodation
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether free accommodation is provided for foundation year one doctors who are on-call at night; whether it will be provided from August 2008; and if he will make a statement. [207297]
Ann Keen:
The provision of free accommodation for foundation year 1 doctors who are on-call at night, is dependent on the contract of employment of the junior
doctor, which is for agreement locally. The Junior Doctors Terms and Conditions of Service continue to provide that if a doctor is contractually required to live in hospital accommodation no charges should be made for the accommodation provided.
Macular Degeneration: Waiting Lists
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have had to wait longer than one week for treatment to begin after first diagnosis of macular degeneration in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [207731]
Ann Keen: Information on waiting times for first treatment after diagnosis of macular degeneration is not held centrally.
NHS: Anniversaries
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much is being spent by his Department on celebrating the 60(th) anniversary of the NHS. [208049]
Ann Keen: A budget of £300,000 has been allocated to mark the 60(th) anniversary of the national health service during 2008. This will be used to fund a wide range of activities including providing resources for the local NHS to celebrate the anniversary, events for staff and stakeholders and publication of a commemorative history.
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to encourage organisations which are part of the NHS to celebrate the 60(th) anniversary of the NHS. [208050]
Ann Keen: To encourage national health service organisations to celebrate the 60(th) anniversary of the NHS, the Department worked with the NHS to develop a communications resource pack for the local NHS organisations. The pack includes a range of low or no-cost ideas that focus on having a celebration with purpose alongside staff, patients and stakeholders, interesting facts and figures, NHS 60 artwork and a press pack.
Regular updates on activity have been included in NHS staff communication channels and in face-to-face meetings with chief executives and directors of communication.
NHS: Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to page 131 of his Department's 2007 Annual Report, whether his Department placed any requirements on (a) primary care trusts, (b) strategic health authorities, (c) NHS trusts and (d) NHS foundation trusts as to how they spent their capital budgets in 2007-08. [205197]
Mr. Bradshaw:
Of the £1 billion available to primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) approaching half was issued as PCT operational capital and SHA strategic capital or was released through asset sales and has no restrictions imposed on how the money
is spent beyond that the funding, being capital resources, must be spent on the delivery of fixed assets.
For national health service trusts and foundation trusts (FTs), most of the £2.6 billion capital funding was set aside for them to access under their prudential borrowing regimes. It is entirely at the discretion of NHS trusts and NHS FTs what they spend this capital on, as long as it is to deliver fixed assets.
Across the two sectors, a total of approximately £1 billion was earmarked for expenditure on particular centrally promoted initiatives (known as programme budgets). Details are set out in Chapter 10 (‘Capital Finance’) of the 2007 Departmental Report. Copies of the Report are available in the Library.
NHS: Negligence
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical negligence payments were made by his Department in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) primary care trust, (b) the nature of the complaint and (c) the amount paid in each case. [206119]
Ann Keen:
The Department does not make clinical negligence payments. The NHS Litigation Authority
(NHSLA) handles claims made against members of its clinical negligence schemes. The NHSLA has provided information relating to clinical negligence payments it has made on behalf of primary care trusts since 1997, copies of the tables have been placed in the Library.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) claims and (b) settlements for clinical negligence were made in each year from 2001-02 to 2007-08 for cases arising from each hospital in Essex; and how much compensation was paid by each hospital in each year. [206121]
Ann Keen: The information requested has been supplied by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), the first table shows clinical negligence cases in Essex.
The NHSLA does not record data specifically for each hospital, but rather for the national health service body that runs each hospital. The second table therefore covers claims made against NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts in Essex.
Data have also been provided for claims that have been settled by structured settlement but where there are still outstanding (O/S) payments to be made i.e. damages have been agreed to be paid over-time.
| Numbers of clinical negligence claims received by the NHSLA for trusts in Essex since 2001-02 | ||||||||
| Trust | ||||||||
| NHSLA notification year | Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust | Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust | Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Basiidon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust | South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | Total |
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