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Herbal Medicine: Licensing

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency on its proposals for increasing charges for herbal product registrations under the provisions of the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive; what assessment the Agency has made of the impact of such increases on small and medium-sized manufacturers of herbal remedies; and what assessment he has made of the effect of those increases on the costs of compliance with the provisions of the Directive. [233503]

Dawn Primarolo: I recently approved the proposals of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to consult on increasing its fees from 1 April 2009. Those proposals affect all sectors of the pharmaceutical industry and include a general increase in fees for the traditional herbal sector of around 4 per cent. The consultation letter, including an impact assessment of the proposals, was published on 15 October 2008 and all sectors of the pharmaceutical industry have been alerted and invited to comment. The consultation exercise closes on 7 January 2009 and the MHRA would particularly welcome comments from smaller and medium sized companies. A copy of the consultation letter including the impact assessment proposals has been placed in the Library.

Hospital Episode Statistics

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Hospital Episode Statistics for 2007-08 to be available. [229969]

Mr. Bradshaw: The 2007-08 Hospital Episodes Statistics data will be published in the week commencing 15 December 2008.

Liver Diseases: Screening

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce a national screening programme for liver disease. [233661]

Ann Keen: The Government have no current plans to introduce a national screening programme for liver disease.

We are concerned about the increasing incidence of and mortality from liver disease. We are already taking action on a number of fronts to combat its primary causes—alcohol misuse, viral hepatitis and obesity.

We are now considering the possibility of developing a national plan for liver disease, which would cover early detection and health promotion as well as the full range of health services.

Malnutrition: Standards

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 298W, on malnutrition: standards, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements that general practitioners have in place to ensure the identification of patients with malnutrition; and if he will make a statement. [232368]


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Mr. Bradshaw: The identification of patients suffering from malnutrition would be considered as part of the provision of normal essential services delivered in general practice.

This requires practitioners to exercise their clinical judgment on a case-by-case basis recognising the needs of individual patients and based on modern authoritative practice. Primary care trusts are responsible for managing contracts with practices and ensuring they deliver the requirements in the contract, including essential services.

NHS: Information and Communications Technology

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 September 2008, Official Report, column 1761W, on the NHS: ICT, whether the contractual limitation on payments which applies to his Department's liability provides that Fujitsu shall not be paid (a) the full value of the contract and (b) for work not delivered. [233770]

Mr. Bradshaw: The contractual limitations and terms applicable to the Fujitsu contract provide that Fujitsu will not be paid for any work not delivered. Similarly, the full value of the contract is greater than the financial cap on the Department's liability.

NHS: Personal Records

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2008, Official Report, columns 909-10W, on NHS: personal records, if he will place in the Library a copy of each report by the National Patient Safety Agency on incidents relating to patient safety made since December 2007. [233731]

Ann Keen: The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has published two quarterly data summary reports from the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) since December 2007. Issues eight and nine of Patient safety incident reports in the NHS: National Reporting and Learning System Data Summary have been placed in the Library.

NHS: Translation Services

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the (a) West Hertfordshire NHS Acute Trust and (b) West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust spent on translators in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2008 to date. [234189]

Mr. Bradshaw: The data requested are not collected centrally. National health service bodies are not required to report their planned or actual spending on interpretation and translation services to the Department. When planning such services, NHS bodies should take account of their legal duties, the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.


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Nurses: Ethics

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance (a) his Department and (b) the Chief Nursing Officer have issued to primary care trusts on procedures for appointment of nurses to hospital posts with duties including termination of pregnancy since 1997; and if he will make a statement; [233965]

(2) whether student nurses are required to undertake duties involving termination of pregnancy as part of their training; and if he will make a statement. [233966]

Dawn Primarolo: The Department last issued guidance in 1994 in PL CMO(94)8 and PL CNO(94)10 “Termination of pregnancy by medical methods: the role of the registered nurse or midwife and others who are not registered medical practitioners”. The document has been placed in the Library. In addition, the Royal College of Nursing issued guidance in October 2008: “Abortion care, RCN guidance for nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses”.

Both documents reaffirm that section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967 allows nurses to opt out of participating in any treatment for abortion to which they have a conscientious objection. As such, student nurses are not required to undertake termination of pregnancy as part of their training but they are taught theory and implications of the Abortion Act.

Nurses: Pay

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of papers and correspondence written by (a) his Chief Nursing Officer, (b) his Director General of Workforce and (c) the NHS Chief Executive on the 2007-08 pay settlement for nurses in the NHS. [234364]

Ann Keen: We are not aware of any official comments made by the Chief Nursing Officer, the Director General of Workforce or the NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson regarding the 2007-2008 pay settlement for nurses in the NHS.

Offensive Weapons: Bexley

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged 16 years and under were arrested for carrying knives in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Bexley in the last year for which figures are available. [234827]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is not available.

The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery.

From these centrally reported data we are not able to identify knife possession offences from within the main offence groups.


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Oxygen: Medical Equipment

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients received home oxygen in each (a) supplier and (b) primary care trust area in the latest period for which figures are available. [231978]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not collect this information.

Palliative Care

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the use of the Liverpool Pathway for Terminal Care. [231589]

Phil Hope: The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) is an established and respected evidence-based tool that is used extensively throughout the national health service for the care of people at the end of life. It is recommended in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's Guidance on Supportive and Palliative Care and is also commended in the Government's recently published End of Life Care Strategy for adults. The Government supported the roll-out of the LCP, and other tried and tested tools, through the NHS End of Life Care programme (2004 to 2007) to help improve the care given to people at the end of life.

Powers of Entry

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many powers of entry have been established in legislation introduced by his Department since 1997; and how many have been abolished. [228058]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer the right hon. and learned Member to the written answer given to him by the Home Office on 22 October 2008, Official Report, column 452W, as well as the revised table which has already been placed in the Library to which the response refers.

Primary Care Trusts

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what spearhead group primary care trusts there are; whether the group is changed as appropriate with each change in the index of multiple deprivation; and what targets there are in which the spearhead trusts are differentiated from other trusts. [233602]

Mr. Bradshaw: There are 70 local authorities in the Spearhead Group that map to 62 primary care trusts. The names of the Spearhead Group trusts are in the following table. The group was established as part of the 2004 Spending Review using the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, among other criteria. The Spearhead Group is fixed and does not change if the deprivation index changes.

The public service agreement targets for life expectancy inequalities and the inequalities elements of the cancer and heart disease PSA targets specifically aim to narrow the inequality gap between the Spearhead Group and the England average.


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Local authorities in the Spearhead Group


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