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24 Jun 2008 : Column 206W—continued
NHS: Finance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish his Department's response to its consultation on Payment by Results. [212594]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department published its response to the consultation exercise “Options for the future of Payment by Results” on 24 January 2008. As well as including a summary of the responses received, it also sets out the Department's broad thinking on the way ahead for Payment by Results.
Copies of the response have been placed in the Library, and can also be accessed on the Department’s website at:
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) net financial outturn, (b) gross surplus and (c) gross deficit of the NHS (i) including
foundation trusts and (ii) excluding foundation trusts was in each year since 1997-98. [213504]
Mr. Bradshaw: The table provides the national health service gross financial position for the years 1997-98 to 2006-07 and the net financial position of the NHS for years 1997-98 to 2006-07.
The independent regulator for foundation trusts, Monitor, is responsible for reporting the financial position of this sector.
| £ million | |||
| Total NHS gross surplus | Total NHS gross (deficit) | Total NHS net (deficit)/surplus | |
| Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest million. 2. Figures may not sum exactly due to rounding. 3. Figures for foundation trusts are not included. 4. Audited figures for 2007-08 not yet available. Source: Audited Summarisation Schedules | |||
NHS: ICT
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what objectives Fujitsu (a) met and (b) did not meet under the terms of its contract; and what effect the termination of the contract will have on the national programme as a whole. [212262]
Mr. Bradshaw: Fujitsu Services Limited delivered some specific benefits, for example in the provision of picture archiving and communications systems, to the national health service, but failed to meet key contractual milestones in the core contract, and failed to provide an acceptable remediation plan.
The consequences for the national programme for IT as a whole from the Department's decision to issue a notice to terminate the contract are expected to be minimal but will become clearer in the period ahead.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he was first informed of difficulties with the Fujitsu contract. [212279]
Mr. Bradshaw: NHS Connecting for Health, representatives of the national health service locally, and Fujitsu were in negotiation since last summer to address areas of poor product and delivery volumes with the aim of resetting the contract to resolve these difficulties, and in order to address new NHS requirements which had developed since the contract was first let.
Ministers were regularly updated on the progress of negotiations throughout this period.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the national programme for IT benefits statement for 2006-07 and the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 484-I, Session 2007-08, whether the annualised recurrent saving of £119.1 million is a net figure inclusive of the cost of the NPfIT services that have taken the place of the cancelled services. [212298]
Mr. Bradshaw: The £119.1 million figure is for gross savings.
Olympic Games
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department plan to attend the Beijing Olympic Games; to what purpose in each case; and what estimate he has made of the cost. [212104]
Mr. Bradshaw: No Ministers or officials from this Department are planning to attend the Games.
Public Participation
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to amend the regulatory regime affecting the work of expert witnesses involved in public consultations administered by his Department. [211436]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has no plans to amend the regulatory regime affecting the work of expert witnesses involved in public consultations. Public consultations undertaken by the Department and its agencies are compliant with the Cabinet Office code of practice on consultation. The code and underpinning criteria do not include any reference to the use of expert witnesses.
Sex Change Operations
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many sex change operations were carried out (a) by the NHS and (b) privately in each of the last 10 years. [212176]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department of Health does not collect such information from private healthcare providers.
Following is a table containing the total number of finished consultant episodes where an operative procedure for sexual transformation has been performed in the NHS for the period 1997-98 to 2006-07.
| Finished consultant episodes | |
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what counselling is provided before a sex change operation is carried out (a) by the NHS and (b) privately; and what criteria must be met. [212177]
Dawn Primarolo: In the NHS, protocols for care pathways for the treatment of gender dysphoria are established locally and so vary. The general pattern would begin by the patients being referred by their general practitioners to a psychiatrist and/or psychologist for assessment.
The Department does not provide specific guidance on treatment for gender dysphoria to private health care establishments.
Smoking: Young People
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to reduce levels of smoking among teenagers. [212814]
Dawn Primarolo: Reducing smoking among young people is a priority for the Government. Much has already been achieved in this area, including raising the age of sale of tobacco products, legislation to strengthen sanctions available against retailers who persistently sell tobacco to children and young people and smoking is address in the national curriculum and through the Healthy Schools programme.
Protecting children and young people from smoking is one of four key aspects of the Department's “Consultation on the future of tobacco control” published on 31 May 2008. Responses to the consultation will inform the development of a new strategy on tobacco control, which will include action to continue to tackle the uptake of smoking by young people.
Social Workers: Manpower
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to increase the number of practising social workers. [213263]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 23 June 2008]: The Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy, which the Department plans to launch in October 2008, will help employers recruit and retain social workers.
In addition, in 2008-09 we are investing £98 million to continue to support social work education and training. Of this, £62 million is for financial support to social work students undertaking the generic social work degree and this provides a full-time undergraduate student, studying outside London, with a non-repayable, non-means tested bursary of £4,575 and £28 million supports high quality practice placements.
A further £5.5 million supports social work education and training at pre and post qualifying levels, at a regional level, through the Social Work Partnership jointly managed by Skills for Care and Children's Workforce Development Council. The remaining £2.5 million will support the development of the newly qualified social worker status in adults' social care.
Stem Cells
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) diseases and (b) conditions have been treated using materials created by research on (i) embryonic stem cells and (ii) adult stem cells since December 2007; and if he will make a statement. [212442]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not routinely collect such information.
Research on adult stem cell therapies, such as bone marrow transplantation, has been undertaken for over half a century. The biological properties of these stem cells have been exploited over the past several decades to develop a number of highly successful treatments including bone marrow transplants—for leukaemia and other haematopoietic conditions, corneal transplants, related donor cord blood transplants and skin grafting.
Human embryonic stem cells were first identified in 1996. Scientific opinion remains that research in these areas will revolutionise the treatment for such conditions in the 21(st) century but it is still too early to speak of cures.
Television
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on (a) commissioning and (b) funding the production of television programmes (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) in 2008-09 to date; what programmes these were; and which companies made them. [213500]
Dawn Primarolo: We have not commissioned or funded the production of any television programmes in the last three years or in 2008-09 to date.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of arrests in (a) Chorley, (b) the North West and (c) England related to activity attributed to excessive alcohol consumption in each year since 1997. [213567]
Mr. Coaker: The arrests collection held by the Ministry of Justice covers persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only. Details of the circumstances of an arrest are not collected centrally.
Summary offences of ‘being drunk and disorderly’ are non-notifiable and as a result are not covered by the collection.
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on its recent advertising campaign on binge drinking. [212765]
Mr. Coaker: At present, £2.3 million has been spent on production costs for advertisements and media booking costs for the summer activity for the ‘Know your Limits’ campaign.
The overall budget for financial year 2008-09 for the campaign is £4 million which includes; TV, radio, print, outdoor and digital advertising as well as production costs.
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Chris Huhne:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) 10 to 13, (b) 14 to 15 and (c) 16 to 17 year olds were (i) cautioned, (ii) prosecuted and (iii) given a penalty notice for
purchasing alcohol under age in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area. [197365]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 31 March 2008]: The number of young persons aged; 10 to 13, 14 to 15 and 16 to 17-year-olds who were issued with a reprimand/final warning, or proceeded against at magistrates courts, for the offence of purchasing alcohol while under the age of 18 years can be viewed in the following tables 1 and 2. From June 2000, cautions for offenders under 18-years-old were replaced by reprimands and final warnings.
The number of young persons aged 16 to 17 who were issued with a penalty notice for disorder (PND) for the offence of purchasing alcohol while under the age of 18 years can be viewed in table 3.
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