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15 July 2008 : Column 326W—continued
Social Security Benefits: Manpower
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed in each benefit delivery centre in each month since they were established; and if he will make a statement. [215755]
Mr. Timms: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 15 July 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many staff were employed in each benefit delivery centre in each month since they were established. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Centralisation of benefit payments in the Benefit Delivery Centres commenced in April 2006 and was completed by March 2008. The number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) employed each month in Benefit Delivery Centres within the period April 2006 to May 2008 is attached as an Annex to this letter. Copies have also been placed in the Library.
Social Security Benefits: Overpayments
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) in how many cases debt collectors visited individuals to reclaim overpayments of benefits following the death of a claimant in each year since 1997 for which information is available; [211149]
(2) what contractual arrangements his Department has with companies for the recovery of overpayment of benefits where the claimant has died. [211218]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department does employ debt collectors to recover overpayments of benefits where the debtor cannot be traced or is refusing to pay. However, it is not departmental policy to use debt collectors to reclaim overpayments following death of a claimant.
Social Security Benefits: Telephone Services
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls were made to each benefit delivery centre in each month since they were established; and if he will make a statement. [214967]
Mr. Timms: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 15 July 2008:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many calls were made to each benefit delivery centre in each month since they were established. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Benefit Centralisation was completed in March 2008 and comparable information is available from November 2007. On average we answer 700,000 calls per week in 80 Benefit Delivery Centres.
The available information is attached and has also been placed in the House of Commons library.
Duchy of Lancaster
Teenage Pregnancy
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many births were recorded to mothers under 16 years of age in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each year since 1997. [218736]
Mr. Watson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 15 July 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question about the number of births recorded to mothers under 16 years of age in (a) England (b) Wales (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each year since 1997. (218736)
The latest year for which figures from birth registration are available is 2007. The table below shows the number of births to mothers aged 15 or below in each of the four constituent countries of the UK from 1997 to 2007.
| Live births to women aged under 16( 1) in England, Wales( 2) , Scotland and Northern Ireland( 3,4) , 1997 to 2 007 | ||||
| Number of live births | ||||
| England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
| (1) Age refers to mother’s age at the time of the birth. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, age of mother is imputed where it is not stated at birth registration. Figures for Scotland exclude births where age of mother is not stated at registration. (2) Live births registered within England and Wales are assigned to England or Wales based on the usual residence of the mother at the time of the birth—births are excluded if the usual residence is outside England and Wales. (3) Figures for Northern Ireland exclude births to mothers not usually resident in Northern Ireland at the time of the birth. Figures for Scotland include births to mothers not usually resident in Scotland at the time of the birth. (4) For Northern Ireland and Scotland, figures relate to the number of live births registered in a calendar year. For England and Wales, figures relate to the number of live births occurring in each calendar year. (5) The first release of live birth figures for 2007 for England and for Wales occurred on 10 July 2008. Figures for 2007 for Scotland and for Northern Ireland are provisional. Source: Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency | ||||
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to require abortion clinics to inform women seeking an abortion about alternatives to abortion; what guidance he has (a) issued and (b) plans to issue on this matter; what recent representations he has received (i) supporting and (ii) opposing the issuing of such guidance; and if he will make a statement. [217728]
Dawn Primarolo: The following guidance recommends that women should be provided with information on alternatives to abortion:
Procedures for the approval of independent sector places for the termination of pregnancy, Department of Health, 1999;
Independent Health Care National Minimum Standards, Department of Health, 2002;
Effective Commissioning of Sexual health and HIV Services, A Sexual Health and HIV Commissioning Toolkit for primary care trusts and local authorities, Department of Health, 2003;
The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion, Evidence-based Clinical Guideline Number 7, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 2004; and
Recommended standards for sexual health services, Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health, 2005.
Further guidance will be included in the forthcoming Department of Health document “Good Practice Guidance for the Commissioning of Contraception and Abortion Services” due to be published later this year.
As such, we have no plans to bring forward proposals to require abortion clinics to inform women seeking an abortion about alternatives to abortion.
The Department has received around 200 letters on abortion during 2008. We are unable to break this down in the format requested.
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged under 18 have been admitted to hospitals in England and Wales with illnesses associated with the consumption of alcohol in each of the last five years. [218995]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 461W.
Brain Cancer
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding the National Cancer Research Institute has provided for (a) brain tumour research and (b) other cancer-related research (i) in cash terms and (ii) as a proportion of its expenditure in each of the last 10 years. [R] [216380]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 9 July 2008]: The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) was formed on 1 April 2001. The NCRI brings together the major funders (including government, the voluntary sector and industry) together with cancer patient representatives, to ensure a national strategic approach on cancer research. The information shown in the following table relates to research directly funded by NCRI partners.
| £ million | |||
| Brain and central nervous system (CNS) expenditure | Total site-specific expenditure (and brain and CNS expenditure as a percentage of that total) | Total expenditure (and brain and CNS expenditure as a percentage of that total) | |
Cannabis: Nicotine
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned or evaluated on the physical and psychological effects of (a) using cannabis and nicotine together and (b) using each substance individually. [215722]
Dawn Primarolo: At the request of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the Government's advisory committee on drugs, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), recently carried out a substantial review of the harms associated with cannabis use, including the physical and psychological effects of cannabis.
The report, ‘Cannabis: Classification and Public Health (2008)’, was published in May 2008 and copies have already been placed in the Library and are also available on the Home Office's website at:
Recently, the Department commissioned a systematic review of studies in this area. The peer-reviewed results of this review were published in The Lancet in July 2007 and confirmed the increased evidence of an association, possibly causal, between prior cannabis use and later development of psychosis and schizophrenia with a 40 per cent. increase in risk reported (up to 200 per cent. increase for at-risk heavy users).
The Department has also commissioned research into the harmful components of cannabis and tobacco smoke. This work is well advanced and a publication date will be set in due course.
The Department keeps the evidence of the physical and psychological effects of cannabis under review and has commissioned the National Addiction Centre to review the evidence of harms for the Department's publication, ‘Dangerousness of Drugs (2001)’, copies of which have already been placed in the Library. The Department has identified funding for the review to be updated later this year.
Dental Services: Cumbria
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of dentists required in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency to meet demand for NHS dental care. [217427]
Ann Keen: Decisions on the provision of dental services are left to local national health service organisations, who are best placed to judge the requirements of the communities they serve.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many Copeland residents access NHS dental treatment outside Copeland; [217429]
(2) how many dental practices in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency have stopped accepting NHS patients in the last 12 months; [217430]
(3) how many dental practices in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency are accepting new NHS patients. [217431]
Ann Keen: The requested information is not collected centrally. However, my hon. Friend may wish to approach the chief executive of Cumbria primary care trust, which might hold some of the information that has been requested.
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