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24 Nov 2008 : Column 918W—continued
Health Services: Foreigners
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much was spent on providing assistance with health care costs to (a) foreign nationals and (b) higher education students through the HC2 form in each of the last five years; [237397]
(2) how many (a) foreign nationals and (b) higher education students (i) applied for and (ii) received assistance with health care costs in each of the last five years. [237398]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not collected centrally.
Health Services: Low Incomes
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure that the HC1 claim form can be downloaded from the internet. [236484]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has asked the prescription pricing division of the national health service business services authority to look at how the service for NHS low income scheme customers can be improved. Options being considered include on-line form completion and downloadable forms.
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the (a) change in cost to callers and (b) revenue generated for his Department as a result of changing the telephone number for ordering an HC1 form from an 0300 to an 0845 number. [236485]
Mr. Bradshaw: There has been no change in the cost to callers requesting an HC1 form as it has never been available from an 0300 number. HC1 forms are only available from the national health service forms order line on 0845 610 1112. No income is generated from incoming telephone calls to this number.
The prescription pricing division of the NHS business services authority is currently reviewing the relative costs and benefits of alternatives to the 0845 number currently in use.
Health Services: Manchester
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the concessionary scheme for patients when the Greater Manchester congestion charge scheme is implemented. [238055]
Mr. Bradshaw: No estimate has been made of the costs of administering concessionary schemes for patients should the proposed Greater Manchester congestion charge scheme be implemented.
A Greater Manchester National Health Service Transport Innovation Fund Working Group has been established that will further develop the arrangements proposed for the reimbursement of those attending medical appointments. The working group is committed to ensuring that any discount scheme is fair and equitable for people who need to attend health care facilities. The group will continue to incorporate the views and perspectives of NHS organisations from across Greater Manchester and will also progress work on the administration of any reimbursement scheme that is introduced.
The guiding principle will be that administration costs must be minimal with respect to staff time and that technological developments should be optimised to ensure that there is no unnecessary bureaucracy at trust sites.
The people of Greater Manchester will be able to vote on the Greater Manchester Innovation Fund Proposals in a referendum to be held on 11 December 2008.
Health Services: Overseas Students
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether his Department plans to review the provision of health care to non-EU students in higher education; [237230]
(2) whether his Department plans to review the provision of health care to foreign students. [237396]
Dawn Primarolo: Students from overseas who are in the United Kingdom for the purpose of pursuing a full-time course of study of at least six months’ duration, or a course of any length which is substantially funded by the United Kingdom Government, are currently exempt from charges for hospital treatment. There are no plans to review this arrangement.
In conjunction with the Home Office, the Department is currently reviewing access to national health service health care by foreign nationals. Among other things, the review will consider access to primary medical services for all students from overseas. A full public consultation on this review will take place next year.
Health Services: Overseas Visitors
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the outcomes of his review of access to the NHS by foreign nationals. [236475]
Ann Keen: The review of access to the national health service by foreign nationals, which is currently being conducted jointly by the Department and the Home Department, has taken longer than expected due to the complex and inter-connecting issues under consideration. A full public consultation exercise will be undertaken early next year.
Health Services: Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for which statistics relating to (a) hospitals, (b) maternity units and (c) other health services in England, about which information has been sought by means of parliamentary questions in the current Session, his Department has answered that such information is not collected centrally. [235898]
Mr. Bradshaw: Answers which state that information is not collected centrally are a matter of public record, available in the Official Report, but are not identified separately by the Department in its own systems. Therefore, to check all such answers sent this session would involve disproportionate cost.
The Department maintains rigorous procedures to ensure that it collects the most valuable statistical information. Information collected from the national health service by the Department is subject to a process called the Review of Central Returns. This seeks to ensure that information collected fits with national policies for health, does not duplicate existing collections, and minimises the burden to the NHS. Further details are available on the NHS Information Centre's website at:
Health Services: Prisoners
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the standard of health care for prisoners in England and Wales in comparison to that received outside prisons through the National Health Service. [237615]
Phil Hope: With regard to England, health services in prisons are monitored on three main fronts.
Within prisons, her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) undertake both announced and unannounced inspections of prison establishments, from which reports are produced and progress monitored. Health services to prisoners are included in these inspection visits. HMIP have worked closely with the Healthcare Commission to ensure that national health service standards relating to primary health trusts (PCTs) commissioning of health services in custody reflect the standards expected by all NHS organisations. Both organisations have a memorandum of understanding to support work in this area.
The Department has developed a range of prison health performance indicators to assess NHS standards of services provided in custody to support commissioners to measure these services against those that would generally be provided in the community. These new performance standards were introduced in 2008 across the prison estate with a 98 per cent. completion rate. These reports are supported at the strategic health authority level and allow for local monitoring and service development. The reports also enable comparison across establishments of the same size, same type of prison and same expected activity.
The Independent Monitoring Boards in each establishment provide an annual report highlighting progress and any concerns. Health care is included in this report. Both PCTs and the Department are expected to provide responses to any health issues including any action plans to improve services.
Health services in prisons in Wales are a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government.
Hearing Aid Council
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Hearing Aid Council to be disbanded. [238864]
Phil Hope: We are working towards the required secondary legislation to allow the closure of the Hearing Aid Council and the transfer of its register to the Health Professions Council in March 2010.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health care-acquired infections there
were in each primary care trust area in each of the last five years. [237222]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not available. The mandatory surveillance system in England applies to national health service acute trusts and data on primary care trusts are not currently compiled.
Human Papilloma Virus: Vaccination
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many girls in each local authority area have opted out of receiving the human papilloma virus vaccination. [237401]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not collect these data centrally.
IVF: Costs
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the NHS in each of the next 10 years of mandatory guidance on in-vitro fertilisation produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. [237175]
Dawn Primarolo: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are making progress towards the implementation of the recommendations in the clinical guideline produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in 2004. We have estimated that the cost of funding up to three cycles of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in all PCTs is in the region of £170 million a year above the cost of the present level of provision. The estimate is subject to considerable uncertainty; it does not take into account recent progress made towards the full implementation of the NICE fertility guideline, for example in the East of England strategic health authority, and it varies with differing assessments of factors such as the number of people seeking treatment in the future and the range of costs of IVF treatment.
Maternity Services: Manpower
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the most recent local maternity workforce plans submitted to his Department by strategic health authorities. [238537]
Ann Keen: The most recent local maternity workforce plans submitted to the Department by strategic health authorities (SHAs) were interim plans in February 2008 and these plans may have changed following ongoing work with primary care trust (PCTs) and providers. A summary of the local maternity workforce plans is shown in the following tables.
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