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22 Oct 2008 : Column 379W—continued
113. Bexley PCT
114. Solihull PCT
115. Havering PCT
116. Northamptonshire Teaching PCT
117. Somerset PCT
118. Harrow PCT
119. South Staffordshire PCT
120. East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT
121. Worcestershire PCT
122. Milton Keynes PCT
123. North Somerset PCT
124. Gloucestershire PCT
125. Warwickshire PCT
126. West Essex PCT
127. Bromley PCT
128. Sutton and Merton PCT
129. Dorset PCT
130. East Riding of Yorkshire PCT
131. Suffolk PCT
132. Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT
133. West Kent PCT
134. North Yorkshire and York PCT
135. West Sussex PCT
136. Kingston PCT
137. Berkshire East PCT
138. East and North Hertfordshire PCT
139. Bedfordshire PCT
140. Cambridgeshire PCT
141. Bath and North East Somerset PCT
142. Mid Essex PCT
143. West Hertfordshire PCT
144. Oxfordshire PCT
145. Berkshire West PCT
146. Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT
147. Hampshire PCT
148. Wiltshire PCT
149. South Gloucestershire PCT
150. Richmond and Twickenham PCT
151. Buckinghamshire PCT
152. Surrey PCT
Note:
The ranking is from most to least deprived IMD score, using the average of the scores for each component index of deprivation.
Source:
Index of Multiple Deprivation, Department of Communities and Local Government website:
Social Workers: Manpower
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social workers per head of the population (a) there were in 2007 and (b) there are in 2008. [227911]
Ann Keen: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care collect and publish data relating to the number of social workers directly employed by social services departments within councils.
The most recently published figures for the number of whole-time equivalent social workers per 100,000 head of population was 87.6 in 2007 and 86.5 in 2006.
Data for 2008 are expected to be published in spring 2009.
Surgery
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many out of areas referrals were made by the Gateshead and South Tyneside Primary Care Trust because the surgery options sought by the patient were provided by a neighbouring primary care trust rather than Gateshead Primary Care Trust in (a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007 and (d) 2008 to date. [227619]
Mr. Bradshaw: This information is not held centrally.
Translation Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the value is of contracts awarded to K International by his Department for translation services in each year for which figures are available; [228044]
(2) what use NHS Direct makes of the services provided by K International set out in Government contract 05/GEN/25 on translation and interpretation provision; [228045]
(3) which (a) bodies within his Department and (b) NHS trusts use the translation and interpretation services set out in Government contract 05/GEN/25; and what the total cost is of these contracts. [228046]
Mr. Bradshaw: The net amount paid to K International by the Department between April 2004 and July 2008 was £78,504.92.
NHS Direct does not make use of the services provided by K International under the terms of Government contract 05/GEN/25 on translation and interpretation provision.
Information on which national health service trusts use the translation and interpretation services set out in the contract is not held centrally.
West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust: Cleaning Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust spent on cleaning in the latest period for which information is available. [228357]
Mr. Bradshaw: The annual Estates Related Information Collection reported £2,524,134 as West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust’s cleaning services costs in 2006-07. Further information can be obtained via the following Hospital Estates and Facilities Statistics website:
West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust: Parking
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much revenue was raised by West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust in car parking fees in the latest period for which information is available. [228356]
Mr. Bradshaw: In its annual report for 2007-08, published on 30 September 2008 and available on the trust website at:
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust reported that approximately £634,000 of income was generated by car parking charges for the financial year. No income was reported as income through the annual Estates Related Information Collection for car parking for staff and visitors at this trust in 2006-07.
West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust: General Practitioners
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many general practitioner practices there are in the West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust area; [228358]
(2) how many (a) nurses and (b) allied health professionals work in general practitioner practices in primary care trusts in Hertfordshire. [228359]
Ann Keen: Information on the number of nurses and general practitioner (GP) practices can be found in the following table. However, information on allied healthcare professionals is not held centrally.
West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust: Midwives
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives were employed by West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust (a) in 1997 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available. [228362]
Ann Keen: Midwives are employed by trusts, not by primary care trusts (PCTs), and therefore the following table shows NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified Midwifery staff in the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust as at 30 September each specified year.
| West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust | |
| Headcount | |
| Note: In April 2000 Mount Vernon and Watford Hospitals NHS Trust and St. Albans and Hemel Hempstead NHS Trust merged to form West Hertfordshire NHS Trust. Data quality: Work force statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and PCTs in England. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data. Processing methods and procedures are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where this happens any impact on figures already published will be assessed but unless this is significant at national level they will not be changed. Where there is impact only at detailed or local level this will be footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: The NHS Information Centre Non Medical Workforce Census | |
Dietary Supplements: EU Law
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he last met manufacturers of food supplements to discuss the impact upon their businesses of the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements; when he plans to have further discussions with them; what progress has been made in securing the Government’s objectives for the interpretation and implementation of the Food Supplements Directive; and if he will make a statement; [227892]
(2) whether Member States were consulted by the European Commission on the impact assessment of different options for the maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals under the Food Supplements Directive; and what assessment the Food Standards Agency has made of the impact of each of those options upon (a) specialist manufacturers, (b) specialist retailers and (c) consumer choice; [227893]
(3) if he will set out the timetable for the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals under the provisions of Article 5 of the Food Supplements Directive; [227894]
(4) what discussions he has had with the Government of (a) Jersey and (b) Guernsey on the implementation of the Food Supplements Directive and European medicines law; and if he will make a statement. [227895]
Dawn Primarolo: The interests of United Kingdom manufacturers of specialist food supplements are being represented as part of working group discussions and bilateral meetings between the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and their counterparts in other member states.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been running an extensive programme to manage the regulatory impact of the traditional herbal registration scheme. This programme, which includes individual company meetings held free of charge to help companies progress their plans to register products, is contributing to the steady expansion in the number of applications made and registrations granted under the scheme in the United Kingdom. Where companies have acquired successful experience of the scheme, they may wish to take up opportunities to submit applications to register products in other member states of the European Union.
There are no current plans for Health Ministers to meet with the food supplements industry. The FSA meets regularly with the food supplements industry to discuss issues relating to food supplements, including the work on setting maximum levels.
We have been advised by the FSA that member states were not consulted by the European Commission before the commencement of the Commission’s impact assessment exercise in summer 2008. The FSA has met with the contractor appointed by the European Commission to carry out the work and provided details of United Kingdom stakeholders who could provide the data on the food supplements which are currently being marketed.
The FSA has not made an assessment of the options put forward in the European Commission’s impact assessment exercise and their impact on specialist manufacturers and retailers and consumer choice. An assessment of the likely impact will be made when the specific levels being proposed by the European Commission are available. These will be set out in European Commission proposals, which are currently expected in January 2009, on which the FSA will consult fully.
In advance of the Commission publishing its proposals, an ad hoc technical working group comprising a small number of member states has been established which met for the first time on 15 October 2008. A further technical working group meeting has been suggested for late November 2008 and it is envisaged that the outputs of these meetings will then be reported back to all member states at a full working group meeting, a date for which is yet to be advised.
A meeting was held on 11 April 2008 between officials from the Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man Governments and those of the FSA, MHRA and Ministry of Justice. Officials representing the Government of Jersey indicated that a major update of food safety legislation was under
way in Jersey and that both the Food Supplements Directive and the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation are to be implemented as part of this exercise. Discussions at official level regarding the implementation of the legislation in Guernsey are ongoing.
The MHRA has written to the Government of Jersey to begin discussions with them on the implementation of the Medicines Directive 2001/83/EC. During 2007 and 2008, the MHRA has had written discussions and a series of meetings with the Government of Guernsey over the implementation of the Medicines Directive. The MHRA believes that Guernsey’s proposed medicines law will receive Royal Assent in the near future. The MHRA will continue to assist the Government of Guernsey in the development of the additional legislation required for implementation of the Medicines Directive.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Africa: Asylum
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the recommendations in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees report on camps in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara and Algeria. [226727]
Bill Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is not aware of a recent report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Western Sahara or the camps in Western Sahara and Algeria. However my hon. Friend may be interested to learn that the high commissioner is considering visiting the region early next year.
The UK strongly supports UNHCR's activities in Western Sahara as elsewhere. The UK continues to believe that the resolution of humanitarian questions should not await the conclusion of a political settlement. The UK, along with EU partners, has called on Morocco and the Polisario to deal with outstanding human rights issues and implement measures that will increase people's confidence.
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