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10 Nov 2008 : Column 839W—continued


The figures for 2008-09 are not yet available

No decision has been taken on the budgets for this organisation for 2009-10 onwards.

Advisory non-departmental public bodies

The Hepatitis Advisory Group and the AIDS Expert Advisory Group are advisory non-departmental public bodies and have no budgets in their own right. The secretariat for both are provided by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and the cost of expenses paid to the members cannot be separately identified from the HPA costs.

NHS: Manpower

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS trusts have made projections of staff shortfalls in the next 12 months; and in which departments. [233769]

Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.


10 Nov 2008 : Column 840W

NHS: Patients

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have had their entitlement to NHS treatment withdrawn as the result of their choosing non-NHS drugs in each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust in the last 12 months; and what proportion of patients treated this figure represents in each case. [234355]

Mr. Bradshaw: The information is not held centrally. However, the vast majority of NHS patients receive the treatment their clinician recommends on the NHS. The issue of NHS care being withdrawn as a result of purchasing additional private drugs has only affected a very small number of patients.

In response to the report ‘Improving access to medicines for NHS patients’ by Professor Mike Richards, the National Clinical Director for Cancer, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health gave an oral statement to the House on 4 November 2008, Official Report, column 131, outlining a package of measures to widen access to drugs on the NHS. Following this statement, the NHS chief executive has written to the NHS to make it clear that no patients should lose their entitlement to NHS care as a result of buying additional private care, as long as that additional care is delivered separately.

Copies of the full report “Improving access to medicines for NHS patients” have already been placed in the Library and can be found at:

NHS: Pensions

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average annual payment per person to members of the NHS pension scheme was in 2008. [232718]

Ann Keen: The last published resource accounts for the NHS pension scheme England and Wales are for the year ending 31 March 2007. The estimated average annual payment per person was £6,367. Data are not available for the year ending 31 March 2008.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals belong to the (a) old and (b) new NHS pension scheme. [232721]

Ann Keen: The last published resource accounts for the NHS pension scheme England and Wales are for the year ending 31 March 2007. Data for this year show there were 1,291,582 active members, 399,152 deferred members and 558,079 pensioner members of the 1995 section of the NHS pension scheme. The 2008 section of the scheme was introduced from 1 April 2008. Data on the number of members of the 2008 section will only become available after the 2008-09 accounts have been laid.

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of active members in the NHS pension scheme joined on or after 1 April 2008; and what projections he has made of changes to this figure over time. [233127]


10 Nov 2008 : Column 841W

Ann Keen: From 1 April 2008, new entrants to the national health service and those returning after a break of five years or more participate in the 2008 section of the NHS pension scheme. Data on the number of members of the 2008 section will only become available after the 2008-09 accounts have been laid.

No projections have been made of the changes over time to the proportion of active members who joined on or after 1 April 2008.

Projections of how the proportion of members who join after April 2006 would increase over time were made in the context of the Public Services Forum agreement in October 2005. The figures were calculated by scheme actuaries on the basis of data and assumptions they use for each scheme. The following table indicates the staff turnover assumed across the pension schemes for teachers, the NHS and civil servants that were the subject of the agreement at the Public Services Forum on 18 October 2005.

Estimated proportion of the combined pensionable payroll relating to scheme members who join after April 2006

Percentage

2006

0

2013

33

2018

50

2023

64

2028

77

2033

86

2038

93

2043

97


10 Nov 2008 : Column 842W

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the effect on the amount of liabilities in the NHS pension scheme of the outcome in March 2008 of the judicial review into the calculation of GPs' pensions. [233131]

Ann Keen: Following the judicial review into the calculation of general practitioners’ pensions, dynamisation factors have been agreed as shown in the following table. The impact has been estimated as an increase of around £250 million to the scheme liability disclosed at the most recent full actuarial valuation.

Percentage

2004-05

20.4

2005-06

11.6

2006-07

0

2007-08

0


Nurses: Manpower

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses per 100 beds there were in (a) England, (b) the West Suffolk Hospital and (c) Ipswich Hospital in each year since 1997. [232623]

Ann Keen: The number of qualified nurses per 100 beds in England, the West Suffolk hospital and Ipswich hospital in each year since 1997 is shown in the following table.

NHS hospital and community health services: qualified nursing and midwifery staff per 100 beds( 1) in England and each specified organisation as at 30 September each specified year( 2)

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

England

150

154

160

163

171

180

189

197

206

211

221

O f which :

West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust

93

87

103

101

117

128

140

150

16

170

173

Ipswich Hospitals NHS Trust

124

135

188

139

153

156

157

167

167

165

171

(1) Average daily number of available beds, all ward types.
(2 )Beds figures are for the financial year.
Note:
Data Quality Workforce statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (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.
Sources:
The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce Census Department of Health form KH03

Nurses: Schools

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North Norfolk of 3 June 2008, Official Report, column 911W, on nurses: schools, if he will give the figures for each (a) region, (b) care home and (c) hospital. [233284]

Ann Keen: The number of school nurses employed in England by region is shown in the following table.


10 Nov 2008 : Column 843W
NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nurses working in the area of school nursing in England by strategic health authority area as at 30 September 2007
Headcount

School nursing nurses O f which : qualified school nurses( 1)

England

3,162

1,227

North East Strategic Health Authority

166

57

North West Strategic Health Authority

673

250

Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority

389

181

East Midlands Strategic Health Authority

267

67

West Midlands Strategic Health Authority

376

187

East of England Strategic Health Authority

241

77

London Strategic Health Authority

432

168

South East Coast Strategic Health Authority

201

89

South Central Strategic Health Authority

166

67

South West Strategic Health Authority

251

84

‘—’ = zero
(1) Qualified school nurses hold the NMC Specialist Practice Qualification with an outcome in school nursing—which is a recordable qualification on the NMC register.
Source:
The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce Census

The number of school nurses is not available for each care home or hospital. School nurses are generally employed by primary care trusts. However, some school nurses are directly employed by state and independent schools and the national work force census for national health service staff does not capture these numbers.

Obesity

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department assesses the effectiveness of its strategies in tackling obesity. [233336]

Dawn Primarolo: Progress is measured against data on Body Mass Index, included in the Health Survey for England and the National Child Measurement Programme.

Official Cars

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in his Department has been in the last 12 months. [233528]

Mr. Bradshaw: None. The Department does not provide special advisers with Government cars.

Organs: Donors

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Organ Donation Taskforce to report on the issue of presumed consent. [233579]

Ann Keen: The Organ Donation Taskforce has now completed its inquiry into the potential impact on organ donation rates of introducing an opt-out system of consent. I expect the taskforce to publish its report within the next few weeks.


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