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24 Nov 2008 : Column 912W—continued


Departmental NDPBs

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department; and what budget each has been set for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [236924]


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Mr. Bradshaw: The Department publishes details of its public bodies on an annual basis. The latest version, Public Bodies 2007 is available on the Appointments Commission website at:

A copy has been placed in the Library.

The 2008-09 budgets for the executive non-departmental public bodies (ENDPBs) are:

2008-09 Recurrent Budgets
£000
Near cash Non case

Alcohol Education and Research Council

0

0

Appointments Commission

3,521

50

Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence

1,950

110

Commission for Social Care Inspection

41,349

15,400

General Social Care Council

8,529

2,158

Healthcare Commission

45,513

3,400

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

2,405

351

Health Protection Agency

148,943

22,700

Human Tissue Authority

738

428

Monitor

12,657

0

National Biological Standards Board

12,416

6,184

Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board

1,793

250


The advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs) sponsored by the Department incur little or no expenditure and are resourced from within the Department. As a result, information on budgets for 2008-09 is not available.

No decisions have yet been made on the ENDPB budgets for 2009-10 and 2010-11 onwards.

Diabetes: Children

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under the age of 16 years have type 1 diabetes in (a) Winchester and the Meon Valley, (b) Hampshire and (c) England. [238275]

Ann Keen: Data on the number of children under the age of 16 years with diabetes in Winchester and the Meon Valley and Hampshire are not collected centrally.

At a national level, exact figures for the number of children diagnosed with and treated for diabetes are not available. However, estimates suggest that approximately 20,000 children are currently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in England.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment his Department has made of the use of the anti-opiate drug buprenorphine/naloxone; whether any assessments has been undertaken of buprenorphine/naloxone where the comparator was buprenorphine alone; and what benefits were detected; [236364]


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(2) what assessment the NHS has made of whether buprenorphine/naloxone is regarded as having any advantages over buprenorphine alone in helping patients recover from the physical and behavioural aspects of opioid dependence; and if he will make a statement. [236365]

Dawn Primarolo: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides independent guidance on public health, health technologies and clinical practice, including the use of drugs by the national health service.

In January 2007 NICE published the ‘Technology Appraisal’ “Methadone and buprenorphine for managing opioid dependence”, which recommended the use of both methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence. However, this appraisal did not consider Suboxone, a newer product which combines buprenorphine and naloxone.

In 2007, the independent expert group commissioned to develop the United Kingdom clinical guidelines on the management of substance misuse considered the available research evidence on prescribing of Suboxone and the limited clinical experience in the UK. Their considered advice is included in the four UK Health Departments' publication, “Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management”, published in September 2007 (a copy of which has already been placed in the Library), and can be found at:

As with all new medicines, Suboxone's exact place in treatment is still being established, although the Department's clarification of August 2007 that Suboxone can be dispensed using existing instalment dispensing arrangements may have removed a possible barrier to the availability of Suboxone.

Both Suboxone and buprenorphine are available on the national health service. The decision to use either drug is a clinical one, taken following consultation with the patient about their clinical needs and priorities.

Food: Imports

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what rules his Department applies to the labelling of food and food products imported from (a) Israel, (b) Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, (c) Israeli-controlled areas of the Palestinian territories and (d) areas of the Palestinian territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority; whether he plans to make any changes to those rules; and if he will make a statement. [238064]

Mr. Bradshaw: Country of origin information is legally required for certain foods (fresh or frozen beef, veal, fish and shellfish, wine, honey, olive oil and most fresh fruit and vegetables). For other foods, the EC food labelling directive (2000/13/EC) requires an indication of the place of origin of a food if failure to give it might mislead a purchaser to a material degree about its true origin or provenance. These rules are implemented by the UK Food Labelling Regulations 1996.

The Government consider that it would be considered to be misleading to declare produce from the Occupied
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Palestinian Territories as produce of Israel. We also consider that goods labelled as ‘produce of the west bank’ should indicate to consumers whether they are buying goods from a Palestinian producer in the west bank or from an illegal Israeli settlement in the west bank. The Government are currently considering the development of voluntary guidance for retailers and manufacturers on clearer labelling on products from illegal Israeli settlements.

General Practitioners

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many copies of his Department's guidance and competencies for the provision of services using GPs with Special Interests: dermatology and skin surgery, have been printed; what the budget for distribution of the documents is; what criteria were used for the dissemination of the documents to (a) commissioners of services, (b) general practitioners and (c) other clinicians and health professionals; and if he will make a statement. [235882]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Department's current guidance document, ‘Guidance and Competencies for the Provision of Services using GPs with Special Interests’, was published on the Department's website in April 2007, and publicised through the websites of the British Association of Dermatology, Primary Care Contracting and other routes. A small number of copies on CD were made available at the launch event. There is no budget for distribution of the guidance in hard copy. A copy has been placed in the Library.

General Practitioners: Pharmacy

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department plans to take steps to minimise variations in service specifications across primary care trust areas in implementing proposals set out in the Pharmacy White Paper. [236488]

Phil Hope: The White Paper “Pharmacy in England: Building on Strengths—Delivering the Future”, set out the Government's proposals to strengthen commissioning in pharmacy and recognised that primary care trusts’ (PCTs) local needs assessments are a valuable part of that process. It also recognised that there was considerable variation in the scope, depth and breadth of pharmaceutical needs assessments developed by PCTs to identify local needs and that they required further review and strengthening to ensure they are an effective and robust commissioning tool.

To help implement this, NHS Employers has been developing an appropriate support programme for PCTs. Guidance is expected to be finalised in the near future.

Health Centres

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2008, Official Report, column 83W, on health centres, for what reasons he has not asked primary care trusts to assess the expected (a) volume of activity and (b) local demand prior to opening a health centre. [235604]


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Mr. Bradshaw: Primary care trusts are planning the delivery and location of the general practitioner-led health centres and the services each will offer based on local health needs assessments and following an affordability and demand planning exercise which includes estimating the volume of patient activity required to meet expected capacity of the new service tendered for.

Health Education

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health trainers there are in each primary care trust (PCT); and how many people have been helped by health trainers in each PCT in the last 12 months. [237399]

Ann Keen: Figures are not available centrally in the precise form requested.

In April 2008 there were 3,657 health trainers (individuals not whole-time equivalents) employed, funded, or supported by the national health service in primary care trust (PCT) areas.

Data on the number of clients seen by health trainers are not available centrally for all PCTs on a consistent or comprehensive basis.

The following table shows the distribution of health trainers between PCTs.


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24 Nov 2008 : Column 918W
Numbers of health trainers in England by primary care trust in April 2008
Number

Ashton, Leigh and Wigan

78

Barking and Dagenham

94

Barnsley Primary Care Trust

11

Bath and North East Somerset Health Trainer Service

8

Bedfordshire

15

Berkshire West

6

Bexley HT project

65

Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust

13

Blackpool

74

Blackpool with Darwen

29

Bolton

58

Bradford District Health Trainer Service

84

Brent HT programme

126

Bridlington Health Trainers

17

Brighton and Hove

48

Bristol Health Trainers

23

Buckinghamshire

0

Bury

66

Calderdale Community Health Trainers

12

Camden

13

Central and Eastern Cheshire

0

Central Lancashire PCT HT Service

11

Change of Heart—Nottingham City PCT

59

Connect 4 life, Tameside and Glossop PCT

18

Cornwall Health Trainer Service

28

County Durham PCT Health Trainer Service

94

Coventry PCT

20

Cumbria

49

Derby City

0

Derby County

117

Devon

40

Doncaster PCT

32

Dudley Health Trainer service

0

Ealing

30

East and Coastal Kent

121

East Lancashire

129

East Sussex Downs and Weald

0

Enfield

14

Gateshead HT Partnership

50

Gloucestershire PCT

0

Great Yarmouth

10

Greenwich teaching PCT

140

Halton—Reach for the Stars Health Trainer Service

26

Hammersmith and Fulham

8

Hampshire PCT

16

Hartlepool Health Trainer Service

8

Hastings HT service

12

Havering

0

Health Lifestyle coaching—Reading

9

Health Trainer Service—Worcestershire PCT

9

Heart of Birmingham

27

Herefordshire Primary Care Trust: Health Trainer Service

0

HIV Health Support

4

Hounslow

80

HT North Tyneside

32

Hull Health Trainer Service

32

Isle of Wight HT service

39

Islington

12

Knowsley

21

Lambeth PCT HT

36

Leeds NHS Health Trainers

39

Leicester City

8

Leicester county and Rutland

9

Lewisham HT Scheme

1

Lincolnshire

31

Liverpool

44

Luton

0

Manchester

40

Medway

0

Mid Essex

11

Middlesbrough PCT and Redcar and Cleveland PCT

21

Milton Keynes

0

Newcastle Community HT

37

Norfolk

64

North East Essex

0

North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus (CTP)

197

North Kirklees Health Trainers/Huddersfield Health Trainers

19

North Lancaster

0

North Lincolnshire PCT

30

North Somerset PCT, Health Trainer service

4

North Staffs PCT

0

North Tees

26

North Yorkshire and York PCT

37

Northamptonshire

40

Northumberland

49

Nottinghamshire County and Bassetlaw

21

Oxfordshire

10

Peterborough

43

Portsmouth HT

24

Rochdale Boroughwide HT service

25

Rotherham NHS Health Trainers

61

Salford Community Health Trainers

20

Sandwell PCT

29

Sefton

60

Sheffield PCT

0

Solihull Care Trust

1

Somerset PCT

7

South Birmingham PCT Health Trainer Service

0

South East Essex

0

South Staffs PCT

38

South Tyneside

12

South West Essex

0

Southampton City PCT HT Service

50

Southwark

56

St. Helens—Choices Health Trainers

51

Steps to Health—HT programme, Oldham Community Health Services

30

Stockport

11

Stoke on Trent Lifestyle Support Programme

0

Suffolk

2

Sunderland HT Service

38

Surrey

8

Telford Wrekin Primary Care Trust

4

The Swindon Health Ambassador Scheme

0

Torbay

6

Tower Hamlets HT Pilot Programme

27

Wakefield District Primary Care Trust

67

Walsall Health Trainer Service

15

Warwickshire

15

West Essex (Epping Forest)

3

West Kent

0

West Sussex

3

Western Cheshire

7

Westminster HT programme

29

Wiltshire PCT

4

Wirral PCT Health Trainer Programme

0

Wolverhampton

0

Total

3,657

Notes:
These data are based on returns from the National Implementation Team provided in order to track progress and not central returns to the Department.
Number of health trainers:
1. Presently health trainers are not included in the NHS workforce survey.
2. The numbers of health trainers are people but not whole-time equivalents.
3. They are not necessarily employed by the NHS.
4. They are not necessarily funded wholly by the NHS.

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