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26 Feb 2009 : Column 1028W—continued
Dawn Primarolo: The full statement issued was:
"The Department recognises that good diet and nutrition are important for everyone. Sustained investment in tackling health inequalities has paid off. Life expectancy in England is the highest it has ever been, including in disadvantaged areas.
"We are committed to reducing health inequalities further, and have put in place the most comprehensive programme ever in this country to address them. Sir Michael Marmot is currently exploring future policy and action on reducing health inequalities in England."
The Department has a number of programmes which contribute to the nutritional wellbeing of the population including particularly vulnerable older people and young children. Nutritional care is integral to our action to tackle health inequalities and in programmes such as Dignity in Care and Healthy Start and is also addressed in Healthy lives, brighter futures—The strategy for children and young people's health, and Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a cross-Government strategy for England. The Department recognises that ensuring good nutrition is essential in frontline health care.
British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition's recent report will feed into this work.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were recorded as having (a) an admission episode and (b) a discharge episode with a diagnosis of (i) malnutrition, (ii) nutritional anaemias and (iii) other nutritional deficiencies in NHS trusts in each year between 1997-98 and 2007-08 (A) in total and (B) broken down by NHS trust. [258902]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is available, but requires intensive and time-consuming use of statistical information systems. We will place the information in the Library once it is available.
Maternity Services
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the 4,000 additional midwives he undertook to provide are being provided at a local level in the NHS; how many have already been provided; and how many he plans to provide in each year to 2012. [257564]
Ann Keen: Nationally, the national health service (NHS) is planning for an additional 1,000 midwives by September 2009, rising to around 4,000 extra midwives by 2012, contingent on the rising birth rate.
As the NHS Operating Framework 2009-10 explains, in January 2008, we announced an increase in primary care trusts (PCTs) baselines of £330 million for three
years from 2008-09 to support improvements in maternity services. We are also looking to PCTs to develop more responsive services, that meet local needs and react to user feedback, including ensuring that the workforce has sufficient numbers of maternity staff.
The Department has invested in training for midwives and developed a joint action plan, with strategic health authorities and the Royal College of Nurses, to support local expansion of the maternity work force.
£1.5 million has been made available to support:
return to practice programmes for midwives who are on career breaks but are now ready to return back to work;
Leadership programmes for heads of midwifery and consultant midwives;
Developing midwives role within commissioning/provider agendas;
Mentoring training;
Clinical learning facilitators to support development of new qualified midwives;
Flexible retirement scheme to retain retired midwives in the local work force; and
Maternity support workers programme.
The NHS Workforce Census for 2008, to be published in March 2009, will provide the most recent number of midwives.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood of 27 January 2009, Official Report, columns 410-11W, on NICE: Weber-Shandwick, whether the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [258583]
Dawn Primarolo: We can confirm that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
NHS: Finance
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which current and on-going public finance initiative liabilities fall under the remit of his Department in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) the East of England strategic health authority. [259109]
Mr. Bradshaw: Private finance initiative (PFI) schemes open, under construction and PFI proposals in development within the boundaries of the East of England strategic health authority (which covers the county of Hertfordshire) are shown in the following table:
| Capital value (£ million) | PFI schemes operational | |
| Capital value (£ million) | PFI proposals in development | |
Under current UKGAAP accounting standards, the schemes open and under construction in the table are “off-balance” sheet and not therefore recorded as capital expenditure or for that matter liabilities.
NHS: Manpower
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of (a) training and (b) employing a health visitor in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [256493]
Ann Keen: The annual cost to the national health service of training a health visitor is not held centrally.
The estimated annual average cost of employing a health visitor is £41,000. This figure is for 2008-09.
It is based on average (mean) earnings in the NHS Information Centre's (IC) Quarterly Earnings Survey (April to June 2008), adjusted for 2008-09 pay settlement of 2.75 per cent. plus an estimate of employers' 'on-costs' for Pensions and National Insurance (NI) contributions.
NHS: Negligence
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average premium paid by NHS trusts to the NHS Litigation Authority (a) was in each of the last five years and (b) is estimated to be in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [255753]
Ann Keen: The data requested are in the following table and was provided by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA). The tables cover the three schemes administered by the NHSLA on behalf of the Secretary of State and for which they collect contributions from members. The data covers information for all national health service (NHS) trusts and NHS foundation trusts that are members, as some NHS trusts will have been authorised to become NHS foundation trusts within a given membership year.
| Clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) | |||
| Number of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts | Total Contribution (£) | Average contribution (£) | |
| Liabilities to third parties scheme | |||
| Number of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts | Total contribution (£) | Average contribution (£) | |
| Property expenses scheme | |||
| Number of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts | Total contribution (£) | Average contribution (£) | |
| (1) Estimated contribution level | |||
Contributions of individual members are determined by looking across a range of factors. For example, CNST contribution levels are influenced by the type of trust, the specialties it provides and the number of 'whole time equivalent clinical staff it employs. Discounts are also available for good risk management practices and claims history.
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many medical negligence claims were brought against each primary care trust (PCT) in each of the last five years; and what the cost of such claims was for each PCT. [258160]
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