| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 July 2008 : Column 1702W—continued
Health
Adoption
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many children aged under six months were registered for adoption in each year since 1978; [203546]
(2) how many adoptions there were in each year since 1978, broken down by (a) age of those adopted and (b) local authority area. [203547]
Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
Information about the number of children who have adoption as part of their plan is not collected centrally.
Data on the age at adoption of children looked after who were adopted during the years ending 31 March 2003-07 are shown as follows in table 1. Data on the number of children looked after adopted during the years ending 31 March 2003-07 by local authority area has been placed in the House of Commons Library (table LAE1).
The information is taken from tables E1 and LAE1 of the Statistical First Release (SFR 27/2007) entitled “Children Looked After in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2007”. The SFR is located at:
Table 1 can be found with the additional Excel tables supplementing SFR27/2007 on the website. Table LAE1 can be found within the second set of 32 additional tables.
Dental Services: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was charged for NHS treatment by dentists in the Peterborough Primary Care Trust area in each year since May 2005; and if he will make a statement. [216961]
Ann Keen: Information about national health service primary dental care expenditure from 1997-98 to 2005-06 is available in the report “NHS Expenditure for General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services: England 1997-98 to 2005-06”, published in March 2008, copies of which have already been placed in the Library and are also available on the Information Centre for health and social care's (IC's) website at:
The report includes information on primary dental care expenditure by primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) for 1997-98 to 2005-06 at Tables A1 and B1 of Annex 3. Table A1 relates to ‘gross’ expenditure and table B1 relates to ‘net’ expenditure. ‘Gross’ expenditure refers to the full payments recorded; ‘net’ expenditure reflects these payments to the NHS after the deduction of income from NHS dental charges paid by patients.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. Further notes to aid interpretation of the information are shown in the ‘Contents and Notes’ page of Annex 3.
Information on NHS patient charges in England for 2006-07 is available in Table D3 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England 2006-07” report. Information is provided at PCT and SHA level, and is based on the new contractual arrangements introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published in August 2007, has already been placed in the Library and is also available in the IC's website at:
Patient charge data for 2007-08 is not yet available.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Band 3 treatments were carried out by NHS dentists in the Peterborough Primary Care Trust area in each quarter since January 2005. [216962]
Ann Keen: The classification of courses of treatment (CoTs) into bands was introduced with the new dental contractual arrangements on 1 April 2006. It is therefore not possible to provide the information requested prior to April 2006.
Information on the number of band 3 CoTs, in England, for the first two quarters of 2007-08 are available in tables A1 and A2 of annex 4 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: Quarter 3: 31 December 2007” report. Information is provided by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT).
Information for quarter three of 2007-08 is available in table A1 of annex 3 of this report. Information is provided by SHA and PCT. Copies of this report, published in June 2008, have already been placed in the Library and are also available on the Information Centre for health and social care’s (IC’s) website at
Information on the number of band 3 CoTs for 2006-07 is available in table A2 of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2006-07” report. This shows the total number of CoTs for the year. Copies of this report, published in August 2007, have already been placed in the Library and are also available on the IC’s website at:
More generally, there are now three standard charges for national health service dental treatment. This makes it easier to know how much may need to paid, and also helps ensure that charges are for NHS rather than private care.
From 1 April 2008, NHS dental charges are:
Band 1 course of treatment—£16.20:
This covers an examination, diagnosis (e.g. X-rays), advice on how to prevent future problems, and a scale and polish if needed;
Band 2 course of treatment—£44.60:
This covers everything listed in band 1, plus any further treatment such as fillings, root canal work or extraction; and
Band 3 course of treatment—£198.00:
This covers everything listed in bands 1 and 2, plus crowns, dentures or bridges.
Dentistry: Graduates
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many students graduated from dental schools in the UK in each of the last five years; and how many of each graduation cohort are working in the NHS. [217108]
Ann Keen: Information for United Kingdom is as follows:
| Number of UK dental graduates | |
Information is not available centrally on where these dentists are now working, but almost all new graduates undertake one year’s vocational training in a dental practice with a major national health service commitment and generally it is some years before a newly qualified dentist can build up a significant private practice. Our reforms to NHS dentistry, which included new remuneration arrangements that allow dentists to spend longer with their patients, are intended to make NHS dentistry more attractive to new dentists.
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reviews of regulation (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have conducted or commenced since July 2007; and in which areas. [215622]
Mr. Bradshaw: Since July 2007, the Department has reviewed five policy areas that it is responsible for, which cover five specific pieces of regulations.
The Department is putting systems in place to respond to the March 2008 White Paper “Post-legislative scrutiny: the Government’s Approach”, copies of which are available in the Library.
The revised Impact Assessment process, introduced in November 2007, has increased the focus on post implementation reviews.
Departmental Visits Abroad
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of overseas visits by each Minister in his Department has been since 1997. [214647]
Mr. Bradshaw: Since 1999 the Government have published the total cost of all overseas travel by Ministers and a list of all overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over £500. For information for the last financial year I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 25 July 2007, Official Report, column 1112W. Details for the financial year 2007-08 will be published before the summer recess and will include details of overseas visits undertaken by all Ministers. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the ‘Ministerial Code’.
Information in respect of overseas visits by all Ministers for the period 1997-99 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long on average his Department took to answer (a) ordinary written and (b) named day questions in each of the last three years. [215466]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on average times could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department aims to reply to all questions promptly and the information in the following tables gives details of named day questions answered on the day specified and ordinary written questions answered within five and 10 working days.
| Named day questions | |||
| Number of named day questions | Number answered on the day specified | Percentage answered on the day specified | |
| Ordinary written questions | |||||
| Number of ordinary written questions | Number answered within five working days | Percentage answered within working five days | Number answered within 10 working days | Percentage answered within 10 working days | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |