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17 Dec 2008 : Column 899W—continued
Direct Payments
Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which the draft Regulations on the extension of direct payments provide protection for those who lack capacity as a result of mental illness. [242558]
Phil Hope: A consultation has just been carried out on the draft regulations in respect of the provisions in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to extend direct payments to those without capacity, including those who lack capacity as a result of mental health problems.
Over 100 written responses have been received, mainly from local authorities, voluntary organisations, professional bodies and user and carer networks, including the Mental Health Foundation. The responses are currently being analysed and we are also working closely with the No Secrets: Safeguarding team.
Next year, statutory guidance will be published on the regulations to support councils in making direct payments to these individuals.
Drugs: Misuse
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure was by his Department on drug and alcohol treatment in 2007-08; and what percentage of the overall budget was spent on monitoring and management of the commissioning process. [241689]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department, in association with a small contribution from the Home Office and subsequently the Ministry of Justice, has provided specific resources to local partnerships for drug treatment since 2001. This has been through the pooled drug treatment budget (PTB), with £398 million of funding provided in 2007-08. At a local level, partnerships also make available funding for drug treatment from mainstream allocations in addition to the PTB.
The cost of alcohol treatment is met through NHS mainstream expenditure in line with local needs and priorities and is not collected centrally. However, access to treatment is reported through a national alcohol treatment monitoring system. There is also an NHS vital signs indicator to reduce the rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions, which has been adopted by 99 primary care trusts in their operating plans for 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Information on the percentage of the overall budget spent on monitoring and management of the commissioning process locally is not collected centrally.
However, £11.457 million was allocated by the Department in 2008-09 to the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) a special health authority with responsibility for improving the availability, capacity and effectiveness of treatment for drug misuse in England.
General Practitioners
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) GP surgeries and (b) GP surgeries per head of population in England in (i) hamlets and isolated dwellings, (ii) villages, (iii) towns and fringe settlements and (iv) settlements of more than 10,000 inhabitants in each year since 1997. [243175]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not hold centrally the information requested.
Health Centres
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 20 October 2008, Official Report, column 64W, on health centres, what assessment he has made of the effect of a minimum income guarantee for a new health centre on existing patient lists at general practices. [242453]
Mr. Bradshaw: Providing an income guarantee to a new general practitioner (GP)-led health centre will have no impact on the funding of existing GP practices.
It is for each primary care trust to determine locally the funding for their health centre, including what percentage of income is to be guaranteed to the provider and for how long.
Health Services: Children
Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to publish its child health strategy. [242938]
Ann Keen:
Children, families and stakeholders have been engaged in developing the strategy over the summer, and the proposals are being aligned with other activity
and recommendations from key reviews such as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services review. We expect to be in a position to publish the Child Health Strategy soon.
Health Services: East of England
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average length of waiting lists in each category for NHS patients in the East of England was in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) 2005; and what the length of each list was at the latest date for which figures are available. [243982]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on the total in-patient waiting list by specialty for the East of England area in March 1997, March 2001, March 2005 and September 2007 is shown in the following table.
| Quarter ending | ||||
| Specialty | March 1997 | March 2001 | March 2005 | September 2007 |
| Month ending October 2008 | |
| Notes: 1. Inpatient waiting times are measured from decision to admit by the consultant to admission to hospital. 2. Data no longer collected by specialty after 30 September 2007 Source: The Department of Health quarterly waiting list statistics KH07. | |
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