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21 July 2008 : Column 816W—continued
Departmental Waste
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to reduce the volume of waste produced by it and sent to landfill in each of the last two years. [215920]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has worked hard, with its contractors, to reduce the amount of waste it produces. Between 2004-05 and 2006-07 our overall waste arisings reduced by some 60 per cent. from 996 tonnes to 393 tonnes.
All our general waste is removed from site and sent to a materials recycling facility, where it is segregated into different waste streams. This system has contributed to a very high recycling rate, achieving 90 per cent. in 2006-07.
Information for 2007-08 is not currently available.
Depression: Elderly
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the relationship between dark evenings and depression in the elderly. [214486]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has not carried out research on the relationship between dark evenings and depression in the elderly.
Depressive Illnesses: Health Services
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps the Government has taken to improve treatment for people with depression. [220624]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Programme seeks to deliver improved access to psychological therapies for people who require the help of mental health services for mild to moderate depression. It also responds to service user’s requests for more personalised services based around their individuals needs.
It will test the effectiveness of providing increases in evidence based psychological therapy services to people with ‘common’ mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, in providing improvements in health, well-being and in maintaining people or returning people to employment and community participation.
The Government announced significant funding for the programme to create new local psychological therapy services around the country on 10 October 2007: £33 million in 2008-09, £103 million in 2009-10 to £173 million in 2010-11. This is new money to expand evidence-based psychological therapies services. Primary care trusts were already spending £146 million on psychological therapies services.
Epilepsy: Pupils
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that every school pupil with epilepsy has an individual education plan. [218655]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The Special Educational Needs (SEN) code of practice gives statutory guidance to schools, LAs and others on meeting children's special educational needs.
The code makes clear that a medical diagnosis, such as epilepsy, does not necessarily imply that a child has an SEN, although, of course, children with epilepsy may also have an SEN.
The code recommends individual education plans (iEPs) as a way of setting short-term targets for pupils and recording outcomes. Schools are not under a statutory duty to use IEPs for pupils with SEN, but if they make other arrangements to set targets for these pupils they should be able to demonstrate that those arrangements are equally as good, if not better.
Food Standards Agency
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the establishment of a local better regulation office on the work of the Food Standards Agency. [220253]
Dawn Primarolo: On 15 May 2007, the Government issued a consultation on the draft Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill which covered the establishment of the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO). At its open meeting on 19 July 2007, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board discussed the extent to which the establishment of the LBRO might affect the delivery of consumer protection in relation to food and drink by the FSA directly, by the Meat Hygiene Service as the FSA’s Executive agency or through the FSA’s enforcement partners in local authorities. Following the meeting, the FSA Chair submitted a formal response to the consultation, covering the most significant points. Copies of the response has been placed in the Library and can also be found on the FSA’s website at:
The FSA’s views on the draft Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill have been placed in the Library and has also been published on the FSA’s website at:
The FSA supports the establishment of the LBRO to promote efficient and effective local regulatory services as a part of its wider commitment to better regulation. The FSA is currently working very closely with the LBRO to produce a memorandum of understanding that clarifies how they work alongside one another in the future. The memorandum of understanding will be in place within six months after the enactment of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill. The FSA remains committed to engaging with the LBRO to maintain the protection of public health.
Game: Licensing
Angela Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many full-time equivalent staff are employed by the Food Standards Agency in the licensing of establishments processing wild game; [220258]
(2) how many (a) wild game processors and (b) catering butchers dealing in wild game were licensed in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008; [220259]
(3) what steps his Department has taken to identify the location of premises of unlicensed (a) wild game processors and (b) catering butchers processing wild game; [220260]
(4) what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) licensed and (b) unlicensed (i) wild game processors and (ii) catering butchers dealing in wild game which operate in compliance with EU regulations. [220262]
Dawn Primarolo: We have been advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that there are 6.5 veterinary meat hygiene advisers employed in Great Britain to undertake visits to premises handling wild game to assess whether those premises meet the requirements for approval as set out in European Union Hygiene Regulations.
In 2006, there were 55 game handling establishments approved to process wild game. In 2007, there were 74 such establishments and at the end of May 2008 there were also 74. The FSA is unable to provide information as to how many catering butchers deal in wild game. There are currently 139 catering butchers under local authority control and which the FSA is in the process of assessing for approval as cutting plants under the Hygiene Regulations. Those that meet the necessary requirements will be approved by the FSA for cutting meat and for processing game if any carry out such processes and they will then fall under the control of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS).
When the new Hygiene Regulations came into force the FSA asked local authorities to identify those premises processing wild game so that they could be identified as premises that would require FSA approval. This was not straightforward as there are a number of exemptions from approval that apply for businesses supplying the local market with small quantities directly to consumers.
The FSA has made no estimate of the proportion of businesses that process wild game or catering butchers which process wild game that are compliant with the EU Hygiene Regulations, whether they require approval or not. All premises processing wild game are subject to hygiene controls carried out by either the MHS in approved premises, or by local authorities in non-approved premises.
General Practitioners
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department makes available to general practitioner practices to support a transition to practice-based commissioning. [218355]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department provides a national framework for practice-based commissioning which sets clear expectations of PCTs to provide a range of support necessary to allow practices to engage fully with practice-based commissioning. The “Practice Based Commissioning: Practical Implementation” guidance document published in November 2006 describes the nature of support that PCTs should provide to practice-based commissioners, such as budgetary, analytical and management support. The precise level of support necessary will vary from practice to practice.
The “NHS Next Stage Review: Our vision for Primary and Community Care” strategy has also set out how practice based commissioning is central to our ambitions for health improvement and high quality care. The document outlines the Department’s intention to work with the NHS and with the professions to reinvigorate the implementation of practice based commissioning, and set out a package of measures to support this.
Health Services: Non-profit Making Associations
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts which have commissioned clinical services from groups of former NHS employees have set up as social enterprise companies or third sector organisations. [216738]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department does not collect information on primary care trusts, which have commissioned clinical services from social enterprises or third sector organisations set up by former NHS employees.
Health Services: Young Offenders
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many young people in (a) Ashfield and (b) Huntercombe young offender institution were transferred to St. Andrew's hospital, Northampton in each year since 2000. [219222]
Mr. Hanson: I have been asked to reply.
Two young people have been transferred from Huntercombe to St. Andrew's; one in 2004 and one in 2007. The information for Ashwell is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Health Services: Private Sector
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients resident in Milton Keynes have been referred to a private hospital for an operation in the last three years. [214932]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information is not collected in the format requested. Information is available on national health service funded first finished consultant episodes (FFCEs) for Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust (PCT), carried out by United Kingdom independent sector and overseas providers, including independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs).
The following table shows this information for the last three years.
Hospital Beds: Young People
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many assessment and treatment beds were commissioned for young people in each year since 2000. [219223]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Commissioning for local health services is the responsibility of local primary care trusts (PCTs). PCT commissioners are responsible for assessing local health needs and meeting these needs through strategic planning and contracting with local health care providers. Recognising that PCTs’ commissioning decisions are crucial to improve the population’s health and well-being, the Department has launched the World Class Commissioning Programme, which aims to improve commissioning across the national health service.
The programme includes a commissioning assurance system that holds PCTs to account and rewards performance and development as they move towards world class. While commissioning decisions will rightly remain at local level, this national framework of assurance will ensure that all PCTs across the NHS are employing the very best commissioning processes to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
Hospitals
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many hospitals (a) opened and (b) closed in each primary care trust area between 2002-03 and 2007-08; [219976]
(2) how many hospitals (a) opened and (b) closed in each health authority area between 1997-98 and 2002-03. [219977]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on the number of new hospital schemes which opened in each strategic health authority (SHA) from 1997-98 to 2002-03 is shown in the table. Information on which primary care trusts (PCTs) these hospital schemes opened in is not held centrally but the list includes schemes commissioned directly by PCTs.
Information on hospital closures is not held centrally.
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