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21 Oct 2008 : Column 299W—continued
Young People: Greater London
Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many 14 to 19 year olds resided in (a) the London Borough of Newham, (b) the London Borough of Hackney, (c) the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and (d) London in each of the last five years. [228823]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, October 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question regarding how many 14 to 19 year olds resided in (a) the London Borough of Newham, (b) the London Borough of Hackney, (c) the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and (d) London in each of the last five years. (228823)
The table below show the estimated resident population of persons aged 14 to 19 years in the areas requested, for each of the 5 years to 2007, the latest year for which figures are available.
| Mid-year population estimates of persons aged 14 to 19, 2003-07 | |||||
| thousand | |||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics | |||||
Health
Alzheimer’s Disease
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) funding and (b) other provision for (i) nursing and (ii) personal care for people with Alzheimer’s disease. [228430]
Phil Hope [holding answer 20 October 2008]: A draft of a National Dementia Strategy was published on 19 June for consultation. This has already been placed in the Library. The consultation closed on 11 September and we are currently considering carefully all the responses received before deciding the final shape of the strategy, and what resources are available to support its implementation including provision for nursing and personal care, for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Funding will be announced around the same time when the strategy is published.
Ambulance Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the clinical basis is for the recommendation of his Department that transfers of patients between ambulance and hospital staff should be completed in under 15 minutes. [228290]
Mr. Bradshaw: It is clearly important that patients are handed over to the care of hospital staff as soon as possible after the ambulance arrives in order to provide them with timely access to their next stages of care and to support a positive patient experience. 15 minutes is considered to be a reasonable time in which handover can be completed. Ambulance and acute trusts are expected to have appropriate clinical governance arrangements in place to ensure a high standard of patient care, including during handover.
Ambulance Services: Fuels
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on fuel for ambulances in each of the last five years. [227764]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect information on the amount spent on fuel for ambulances. This is a matter for the NHS ambulance trusts to manage locally.
Ambulance Services: Greater Manchester
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost per head of population of the ambulance service was in Greater Manchester in the latest period for which figures are available. [227830]
Mr. Bradshaw: The expenditure per head within the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area for 2005-06 was £25.54. This is based on the 2005-06 unweighted populations for the primary care trusts within the Greater Manchester SHA area and the total operating expenses for the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service NHS Trust reported in their audited summarisation schedules.
Angina
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there are enough specialists to treat refractory angina. [227781]
Ann Keen: As set out in the next stage review, the health and social care work force planning system will be locally led, based on the principle that quality is best served by devolving decision making as closely as possible to the frontline in an environment of coherence, transparency and clear accountabilities.
The Department will establish a Centre of Excellence for work force planning and national professional advisory boards, such as Medical Education England, to support local planning through high quality research, analysis and clinical advice to identify long-term work force requirements. The centre will also have a capability and capacity building function to ensure local national health service organisations can produce high quality work force planning. These measures will mean the NHS is in the best position to ensure that we have the right staff with the right skills in the right place at the right time, and that highly trained specialists are delivering the high quality care required for treatment of cases such as refractory angina.
Angina: Medical Treatments
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department takes to inform patients of the National Refractory Angina Centre treatment option. [227786]
Ann Keen: The responsibility for informing patients about their treatment options lies with the clinician responsible for their management and treatment. The clinician should be aware of the different options available.
The National Refractory Angina Centre’s website which can be found at:
provides comprehensive information for patients and clinicians.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital Trust: Security
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of security cameras at Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital Trust locations have been found to be faulty in each of the last three years. [227775]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not held centrally.
British National Formulary
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what arrangements are in place to ensure that NHS hospital and community doctors are supplied with an up-to-date paper copy of the British National Formulary; and what arrangements are in place for (a) purchase and (b) distribution of such copies; [227559]
(2) whether the British National Formulary is available to NHS hospital and community doctors (a) online and (b) on disc. [227560]
Phil Hope: The Department purchases copies of the British National Formulary and British National Formulary for Children centrally and arranges for their distribution to national health service doctors and other health care professionals in England.
Both the British National Formulary and British National Formulary for Children are available free online, through the National electronic Library for Medicines, National Library for Health or via the internet at:
NHS organisations or individuals can also purchase electronic versions for use on desktop computers, local intranets and personal digital assistants.
Cancer: Drugs
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on developing anti-cancer drugs in the last 10 years. [227763]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available. The Department does not have details of pharmaceutical industry expenditure on drug development in particular therapeutic areas.
The reply I gave the hon. Member on 2 April 2008, Official Report, column 1086W, describes the particular contribution the Department makes to the development of new treatments for cancer.
Cancer: Waiting Lists
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time was for cancer treatment in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital Trust area in the latest period for which information is available. [227761]
Ann Keen: This information is not held in the format requested. However, the latest figures for June 2008 show that general practitioners (GPs) made 2,594 urgent referrals in relation to cancer to the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital NHS Trust. Subsequently, 99.9 per cent. of those patients were seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP and 95.6 per cent. commenced their treatment within 62 days of the original referral.
Care Homes: Staff
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on staff shortages in care homes of restrictions on asylum seekers working. [225886]
Phil Hope: There have been no recent changes to United Kingdom asylum rules that affect the social care workforce.
Cord Blood
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the conclusions of the Umbilical Cord Blood Review will be published. [228480]
Dawn Primarolo: As part of a review of cord blood collection and use, the Department commissioned an international comparison with cord blood collection in Canada, China, France, Japan, Spain and the United States of America. The report will be made available later this year and its findings will be taken into account when considering policy in this area.
Dental Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence his Department has assessed in considering whether NHS dentists are (a) dividing up courses of treatment unnecessarily and (b) calling healthy patients back for check-ups unnecessarily. [228272]
Ann Keen: The Dental Services Division of the NHS Business Services Authority (DSD) sends out regular management information on contract activity to the national health service. This year the information includes recall intervals.
Historically dentists have tended to recall patients every six months. However guidance issued in 2004 by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence stated that dentists should have more flexible recall intervals, based on each patient’s clinical needs, and that orally healthy adults might not need a check-up more than once every two years. Recalling healthy patients at shorter intervals than is clinically needed does not benefit these patients, and potentially blocks access to the NHS for others.
The source of the information is the activity returns, known as FP17s, which dental providers send to the DSD for every course of treatment delivered. These returns show significant variations among dental providers in the proportion of patients recalled at short intervals. The information will allow primary care trusts, who commission local dental services, to work with dentists to identify the causes of the variations and agree appropriate action to support best clinical practice.
Dental Services: Manpower
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are per 1,000 people in the London Borough of Havering. [227760]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested.
The number of dentists with national health service activity, during the years ending 31 March, 2007 and 2008 per 100,000 population is available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the ‘NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08’ report. Information is available by strategic health authority and by primary care trust. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006.
Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published work force figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. The revised methodology counts the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.
This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the website of the Information Centre for health and social care at:
Figures relate to headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what internal reports his Department has produced on (a) abortion, (b) contraception and (c) reproductive health issues in each of the last five years. [227594]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department produces on a regular basis a wide range of internal reports and updates on abortion, contraception and reproductive health issues. An overall record of these reports and the number of them is not available.
Dietary Supplements
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether officials of the Food Standards Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency have had discussions with Royal Mail on its involvement in the delivery of catalogues marketing food supplements and herbal remedies which (a) contain illegal ingredients and (b) about which claims are made that would be illegal were the products to be placed directly on to the United Kingdom market. [227748]
Dawn Primarolo: Neither the Food Standards Agency nor the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have held discussions with Royal Mail on such matters.
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