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11 Dec 2008 : Column 225Wcontinued
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to bring about an increase in levels of breastfeeding. [241346]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government are committed to the promotion of breastfeeding and the prevalence of breastfeeding at six to eight weeks is a key indicator in the Child Health and Well-being Public Service Agreement. Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives a cross-government strategy for obesity (January 2008) aims to reverse the rise in childhood obesity and breastfeeding plays an integral role in this. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
Key actions to increase levels of breastfeeding include the investment of £4 million for the primary care trusts (PCTs) to develop local interventions to promote breastfeeding, including the training of frontline staff; the provision of easily accessible and timely advice to breastfeeding mothers through the national breastfeeding helpline; the recently launched breastfeeding DVD From bump to breastfeeding given to all new mothers in England via their midwives and health visitors.
Other key activities include the development of a care pathway for the frontline health professionals; the provision of commissioning guidance for PCTs; and the establishment of a regional and local network to promote breastfeeding.
Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what progress has been made on the implementation of the vascular checks programme; and if he will make a statement; [241535]
(2) what the mechanism is for allocating funding for the vascular checks programme to primary care trusts. [241536]
Ann Keen:
Phased implementation of the programme will begin in April 2009 and on 13 November we published a Next Steps guide to help primary care trusts (PCTs)
to commission the service. A copy has been placed in the Library. We will continue to work with our statements to provide advice and support on the implementation and delivery of the vascular checks programme.
The funding for the vascular checks programme is included in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 PCT revenue allocations, announced on 8 December.
Funding is allocated to PCTs on the basis of the relative needs of their populations. A weighted capitation formula is used to determine each PCTs target share of available resources, to enable them to commission similar levels of health services for populations in similar need.
The components of the formula are used to weight each PCTs crude population according to their relative need (age, and additional need) for health care and the unavoidable geographical differences in the cost of providing health care (market forces factor).
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths in care homes were attributed to each notifiable infectious disease in each year since 1997. [240770]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, Health (1) how many home visits on average a child considered to be at (a) low risk and (b) high risk received from an allocated health visitor in the first two years following assessment in each London borough in each year between 1997 and 3 August 2007; and if he will make a statement; [241902]
(2) what the average number of cases allocated to health visitors in each London borough was between 9 September 2008 and the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [241912]
(3) what the average number of cases allocated to health visitors in each London borough was in each year between 1997 and 3 August 2007; and if he will make a statement. [241913]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of its capacity to adapt to climate change; and what plans he has to publish a climate change adaptation strategy. [241181]
Dawn Primarolo: The cross-Government Adapting to Climate Change Programme increases Governments capacity to adapt by ensuring a co-ordinated approach across all Departments and the public sector. This includes implementation of the adaptation aspects of the Climate Change Act, such as development of the national climate risk assessment. Information about the programme can be found at
The Department of Health recognises that climate change will affect the health of UK citizens and in February, this year (2008) updated its 2001-02 report on the Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
Climate impacts affect many departmental responsibilities. We have worked closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to develop the adaptation sections of the Climate Change Act. There are therefore no plans at present to publish a separate climate change adaptation strategy as this would be seen as a duplication of the work that DEFRA are taking forward.
The key areas for the national health service in adapting to climate change include adapting the health and social care infrastructure (hospitals, nursing homes) to be more resilient to the effects of heat and floods; development of local Heatwave and Flood plans for coping with disasters; and increasing awareness of how people can adapt to changes in climate.
One of the effects of climate change already encountered in this country is the increased frequency of heat waves. The devastating heat wave across Europe in 2003 led to the Department of Health first launching its National Heatwave Plan in 2004, in which a Heat-Health Watch system operates in England during the summer months, with advice from the Met Office, with four levels of response and appropriate advice.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each primary care trust have received continuing care in each quarter per 10,000 population (a) since the application of the national framework for continuing care and (b) for two years prior to the application of the national framework for continuing care; and how many people per 10,000 population met the eligibility criteria for continuing care for the first time (i) since the application of the national framework for continuing care and (ii) in the two years prior to the application of the national framework for continuing care. [241436]
Phil Hope: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were receiving continuing care in the last quarter for which figures are available, broken down by (a) primary care trust and (b) the length of time for which they had been receiving continuing care. [241500]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Information on the length of time in receipt of continuing care is not collected centrally.
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many invoices submitted to his Department in the last month for which figures are available were paid within 10 days of receipt; and how many remained unpaid after 28 days. [242664]
Mr. Bradshaw: During November 2008 the Department received 14,890 invoices, of which 14,663 were paid within 10 days this equates to 98.5 per cent.
Only 43 payments were made after 30 days and this equates to 0.29 per cent. The remaining 184 invoices (1.24 per cent.) were paid between 10 and 30 days.
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with mild or moderate depression in the London borough of Bexley in the last 12 months. [242906]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not held centrally.
Most people with depression are seen and treated in primary care. However, data on the number of people with individual conditions seen in primary caresuch as depressionare not held centrally. While data are available on the total number of people admitted to the care of a consultant in secondary care with depression, they are likely to exclude many patients diagnosed with mild to moderate depression.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which trigger offences lead to drug testing as part of his Department's drug intervention programme; and whether he plans to include further offences within that definition. [240589]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
The trigger offences are set out in Schedule 6 to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. These are the offences which have been shown to have the clearest link with drug misuse, particularly the misuse of heroin and cocaine/crack and are listed.
Trigger offences with effect from 1 August
1. Offences under the following provisions of the Theft Act 1968 are trigger offences:
section 1 (theft)
section 8 (robbery)
section 9 (burglary)
section 10 (aggravated burglary)
section 12 (taking motor vehicle or other conveyance without authority)
section 12A (aggravated vehicle-taking)
section 22 (handling stolen goods)(1)
section 25 (going equipped for stealing, etc.)
2. Offences under the following provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 are trigger offences if committed in respect of a specified Class A drug:
section 4 (restriction on production and supply of controlled drugs)
section 5(2) (possession of controlled drug)
section 5(3) (possession of controlled drug with intent to supply)
3. Offences under the following provisions of the Fraud Act 2006 are trigger offences( 2)
section 1 (fraud)
section 6 (possession etc. of articles for use in frauds)
section 7 (making or supplying articles for use in frauds)
3A. An offence under section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 is a trigger offence, if committed in respect of an offence under
(a) any of the following provisions of the Theft Act 1968(1)
section 1 (theft)
section 8 (robbery)
section 9 (burglary)
section 22 (handling stolen goods, or
(b) section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006 (fraud)(3)
4. Offences under the following provisions of the Vagrancy Act 1824 are trigger offences( 1)
section 3 (begging)
section 4 (persistent begging)
(1 )Offences added to the trigger offences in Schedule 6 to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 by The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (Amendment) Order 2004, (S.I. 2004/1892), which came into force on 27 July 2004.
(2) Offences added by the Fraud Act 2006, which came into force on 15 January 2007
(3) Offence added by the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (Amendment) Order 2007 which came into force on 1 August 2007
Drug testing of people who have been arrested or charged with a trigger offence is conducted in authorised police stations across England and Wales as part of the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP).
Those arrested /charged with non-trigger offences may also be tested, where a police officer of at least Inspector rank has reasonable grounds to suspect that misuse of any specified Class A drug caused or contributed to the offence and authorises the taking of a sample.
DIP regularly reviews the list of trigger offences.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what procedures his Department has in place for routine scrutiny of serious case reviews in respect of elder abuse; [240487]
(2) which serious case reviews his Department took into account in preparing its consultation document on safeguarding vulnerable adults and the No Secrets guidance. [240488]
Phil Hope: Serious case reviews are locally commissioned and reviewed. The Department does not routinely review local serious case reviews. As part of the development of the consultation document on the review of No Secrets, research commissioned on serious case reviews was considered: this involved 15 reports of serious case reviews. The Department commissioned and funded Kings College London to undertake this research in England and Wales. A research report is expected to be published this winter.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National School Pedometer programme in improving childrens health. [240370]
Dawn Primarolo: Following a successful pilot in 2006 in which 43 schools were followed, the National School Step-O-Meter programme (Schools on the Move) was launched in a further 250 schools, located in deprived areas, in July 2007.
A full evaluation of the pilot year was undertaken by the London Sport Institute, Middlesex University in September 2006, which showed encouraging increases in childrens activity levels. A further monitoring and evaluation study has been designed and we are expecting a full report on the initiative in December 2009.
A copy of the evaluation report for the Schools on the Move pilot year has been placed in the Library.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of front-of-pack food labelling designed to assist people to make healthier food choices. [240367]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency recommends that businesses use front of pack nutrition labelling based on four core principles:
provision of information for fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt;
red, amber or green colour coding to provide at a glance information on the level (ie whether high, medium or low) of individual nutrients in a product;
provision of additional information on the levels of nutrients present in a portion of the product; and
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