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30 Oct 2008 : Column 1243W—continued
Midwives: Redundancy
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS midwives in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust have received redundancy notices in the last two years. [231104]
Ann Keen: Data are held at trust level. Hemel Hempstead General hospital is part of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. There were no compulsory redundancies for midwives at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust in 2006-07 or 2007-08.
Multiple Sclerosis
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps the Government has taken to improve healthcare services for those diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. [231630]
Ann Keen: The National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions was published in March 2005. This has already been planned in the Library. The framework describes the competences needed to deliver services for people with neurological conditions, including those living with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The MS risk-sharing scheme, a groundbreaking drug therapy initiative, is a joint venture between the Department, the devolved Administrations, and drug manufacturers. Launched in May 2002, there are now 62 prescribing centres for MS operating across the UK prescribing to more than 7,000 patients who meet the criteria of the Association of British Neurologists, including those with secondary progressive MS.
The Government have provided funding to increase the number of MS specialist nurses to help support the MS risk-sharing scheme. £800,000 was made available in 2003-04, 2004-05 and £1.2 million in 2005-06 to help meet the costs of employing extra nurses. This funding has now been confirmed for the remainder of the 10 years of the programme.
The new general practitioner contract includes a national enhanced service for people with MS, and those practices that are willing and able to provide this service are funded for:
production and maintenance of an up-to-date register of all patients; establishing a lead contact/co-ordinator; regular assessment; training for members of the primary health care team on issues related to MS; carer support; personal health plans; liaison with secondary care and social services; and an annual multi-disciplinary review.
National Child Health Immunisation Board
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the minutes of the 15 October meeting of the National Child Health Immunisation Board. [231931]
Dawn Primarolo: There was no National Child Health Immunisation Board meeting held on 15 October 2008. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation met on 15 October 2008, the draft minutes for this meeting will be available on the following website by 26 November 2008. Minutes are confirmed at the following meeting.
NHS Units
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which NHS paediatric units have closed since 1997; [231864]
(2) which NHS midwife-led birthing units have closed since 1997; [231877]
(3) which NHS neonatal units have closed since 1997; [231897]
(4) which NHS consultant-led maternity units have closed in England since 1997. [231898]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not collected centrally.
NHS: Public Participation
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many responses he has received to the consultation on the NHS constitution from (a) national organisations, (b) NHS staff and (c) members of the public, broken down by strategic health authority area of origin. [232038]
Ann Keen: We have received 1,008 responses to the consultation on the NHS constitution directly to the Department of Health. This included 174 from national organisations and 761 from individuals, of which 178 identified themselves as NHS staff.
It is not possible to break this down to give meaningful data on strategic health authority area of origin because individuals who responded directly to the Department were not asked to submit this information.
In addition to direct responses from individuals and organisations, primary care trusts have been holding local consultation processes that will have reached many more staff and members of the public. The results of these local consultation exercises will also be fed into the national consultation process through strategic health authorities.
Obesity
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children in (a) Warrington and (b) England have a body mass index which indicates obesity. [231809]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available in the format requested. Figures for the UK are not available.
Information on the proportion of children aged two to 15 in England that are obese, broken down by age and broken down by Government office region and strategic health authority (SHA) is collected in the Health Survey for England. This information can be found in “Health Survey for England 2006: Volume 2 Obesity and other risk factors in children”, Tables 2.2 and 2.3 on pages 35 and 36 which was published on 31 January 2008. This publication is available in the Library.
Further information on the proportion of children that are obese in England and in Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) is collected through the National Child Measurement programme (NCMP). The NCMP report provides high-level analysis of the prevalence of obese children, aged four to five years and aged 10-11 years.
This information is available in the “National Child Measurement Programme: 2006-07 school year, headline results” which was published on 21 February 2008. The prevalence of obese children in England is shown in table 1 (page 3). The prevalence of obese children in the Warrington PCT can be found in table C (pages 39-40). This publication has been placed in the Library.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Screening
Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of 16 to 25-year-olds who have been screened
for sexually transmitted infections in (a) Southampton, (b) Test Valley borough and (c) non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in the last period for which figures are available. [231302]
Dawn Primarolo: Data are not collected in the format requested. Data for sexual health screens in genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics are only currently collected by strategic health authority (SHA).
The number of sexual health screens, for all ages, in GUM in the South Central SHA, which covers Southampton, Test Valley borough and the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire, by gender for 2007 are given in the following table.
| 2007 | |
| Notes: 1. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for sexual health screens conducted in GUM clinics only. Sexual health screens conducted in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset. 2. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are the number of sexual health screens performed, not the number of patients screened. 3. Data are by area of GUM clinic and not patients' area of residence. 4. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data. Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns. | |
In addition, the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) provides screening to asymptomatic people aged under 25 years in England and was launched in April 2003.
Data for the number of Chlamydia screens among those aged 16-24 years resident in Southampton City primary care trust (PCT) and Hampshire PCT as part of the NCSP during the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 are given in the following table:
| 2007 | 2008 | ||||
| April to June | July to September | October to December | January to March | Annual figure | |
| Notes: 1. The data from the NCSP Core Dataset are for Chlamydia screens made outside of GUM clinics only. 2. The data available from the NCSP are the number of screens made and not the number of patients screened. Source: The NCSP Core Dataset. | |||||
Smoking: Expenditure
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the effect on expenditure by his Department of the ban on smoking in public places and in the workplace; and what estimate he has made of the likely effect on such expenditure over each of the next five years. [231814]
Dawn Primarolo:
Smokefree legislation was implemented in England on 1 July 2007. Since then, compliance rates have been high with over 98 per cent. of premises over the past year found to be compliant. The Department published the “Smokefree England - One Year On”
report in July 2008 that overviews compliance, attitudes and the emerging health benefits from the legislation. This report is available in the Library.
The estimated costs and benefits of smokefree legislation are set out in the final regulatory impact assessment for smokefree regulations that is also available in the Library. It is still too early to make specific estimates on the actual longer-term impact of smokefree legislation on the Department’s overall expenditure.
Independent academic research shows that smokefree legislation has dramatically improved the quality of air in pubs and bars. Findings from academic research in Scotland suggest that smokefree legislation can reduce the number of hospital admissions for heart attack, although research is still ongoing to identify similar benefits in England. Research published by Cancer Research UK in July 2008 suggested that smokefree legislation in England has helped at least 400,000 smokers to quit and will help prevent an estimated 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years.
The Department will undertake a comprehensive review of smokefree legislation in 2010.
Tuberculosis
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of (a) tuberculosis and (b) drug-resistant tuberculosis there were in England in each year since 2001, broken down by primary care trust. [231089]
Dawn Primarolo: The information has been placed in the Library. Validated data at primary care trust level for 2006 onwards, are not yet complete.
Home Department
Domestic Violence
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps the Government has taken to improve conviction rates in domestic violence cases. [230811]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 28 October 2008]: We have a cross-Government National Domestic Violence Delivery Plan which provides a strategic framework to address domestic violence. One of the objectives is to improve the criminal justice response to domestic violence which includes actions to increase conviction rates.
Work continues on those areas set out in our response to your parliamentary question earlier this year in relation to:
training and guidance for police officers and Crown prosecutors to improve investigations and increase successful prosecutions
funding for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers whose involvement with victims of domestic violence has been shown to reduce the number of victims unwilling to support a prosecution
expansion of the Specialist Domestic Violence Court (SDVC) Programme which recently reached a total of 104 accredited SDVCs across the country.
Driving Offences: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested and (b) convicted for driving without a licence or insurance in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire in each of the last five years. [231102]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Available information for proceedings and findings of guilt in magistrates courts for the offence of driving without a licence and using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks within Hertfordshire for the period 2002 to 2006 is provided in the following tables. Data are available at police force level only.
| Table A: Proceedings and findings of guilt at magistrates courts for the offence of driving without a licence( 1) , within Hertfordshire, 2002-06 | |||||||||
| Number of offences | |||||||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |||||
| Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt |
| (1) An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 87 (1) and (2) as amended. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken Into account when those data are used. | |||||||||
| Table B: Proceedings and findings of guilt at magistrates courts for the ‘offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks’( 1) within Hertfordshire police force area, 2002-06 | |||||||||
| Number of offences | |||||||||
| 2002 | 2003( 2) | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |||||
| Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt | Total proceedings | Total findings of guilt |
| (1) An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s.143(2). (2) As from 1 June 2003, ‘driving a motor vehicle while uninsured against third party risks’ became a fixed penalty offence. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||||||||
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