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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1455W—continued
Autism: Durham
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) schoolchildren and (b) adults have been diagnosed with autism in (i) County Durham and (ii) Easington constituency; and if he will make a statement. [260179]
Phil Hope: This information is not collected centrally. It is the responsibility of primary care trusts to plan, develop and improve services according to the healthcare needs of their local populations, and this includes services for people with autism.
Breast Cancer: Health Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of women in Hemel Hempstead with suspected breast cancer saw a specialist within two weeks of referral in each of the last five years. [260104]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the number and percentage of women with suspected breast cancer seeing a specialist within two weeks of referral in Hertfordshire.
| West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust | East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust | ||||
| Number seen within two weeks | Percentage seen within two weeks | Number seen within two weeks | Percentage seen within two weeks | ||
| Note: 2008-09 Q3 is the most recent period for which cancer waiting times data is available — figure for 2008-09 above is therefore for Q1-Q3 performance. Source: Department of Health, cancer waiting times database. | |||||
Contraceptives
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department defines long acting reversible methods of contraception act as abortifacient; and if he will make a statement. [259040]
Dawn Primarolo: No form of contraception, including long acting reversible methods is an abortifacient. On 18 April 2002, Justice Mumby ruled that the supply and use of emergency contraception is lawful and that the prevention of implantation, which is brought about by emergency contraception products, which include the insertion of an intrauterine device, does not amount to procuring a miscarriage under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women in each (a) age group and (b) NHS trust area had subdermal implants removed in each of the last 10 years. [259643]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not currently collected centrally.
Contraceptives: Finance
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish the quarterly strategic health authority progress reports on allocation of the £26.8 million funding for contraception; [257369]
(2) how much of the £26.8 million spending on contraception announced by his Department on 6 February 2008 is allocated to each (a) primary care trust and (b) strategic health authority; and whether any of the funding was re-allocated from other budgets; [257372]
(3) pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2009, Official Report, columns 1934-40W, on teenage pregnancy, if he will assess the effectiveness of programmes intended to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies since 2005. [257447]
Dawn Primarolo: We expect to have a standard format that provides sufficient information without over-burdening the NHS for the next set of returns due in March. Once we have agreed the standard reporting arrangements, we will place the reports in the Library as they become available.
Of the £26.8 million additional contraceptive funding £12.8 million was included in the Primary Care Trusts' (PCT) overall general allocations. These are not ring-fenced. PCTs have the flexibility to decide how best to use their resources in delivering the national requirements and local priorities as set out in the NHS Operating Framework.
The 10 strategic health authorities (SHAs) were allocated funding based on a formula of a flat £0.5million each then an allocation based on the weighted capitation formula used for the PCT allocations. The individual SHA allocations are set out in the following table:
| Strategic health authority | |
| £000 | |
£1 million was allocated to SHAs (£100,00.00 per SHA) for work with further education colleges to improve contraceptive services for students.
£0.5 million was used for the development of a national contraception awareness campaign.
£1.5 million was used to support the 'You're Welcome programme', to make health services more young-people friendly, particularly contraceptive services.
£0.5 million was used to set up the 'Healthy Further Education Programme', which will put in place a framework to improve the contribution of colleges to health and well-being, with priority this year for sexual health.
£0.5 million was used to support more schools to gain 'Healthy School Status', including satisfying the criteria for delivering good quality Sex and Relationship Education.
None of the £26.8 million additional contraceptive funding was reallocated from any other budget.
England's under-18 conception rate is 41.7 per 1,000 and has fallen by 10.7 per cent, since the launch of the teenage pregnancy strategy. The under-16 rate is 8.3 per 1,000 and has fallen by 6.4 per cent, over the same period.
Statistics published on 26 February 2009 by the Office of National Statistics show that in 2007 the under-18 conception rate rose by 2.6 per cent. Despite the rise in national figures in 2007 the long-term trend is still downward.
The success of the teenage pregnancy strategy relies on all local areas applying it effectively. However, there is still significant variation at a local level, with some areas achieving reductions of over 30 per cent. whereas in other areas, rates have increased.
We have identified a range of factors that are in place in the areas where they have made most progress, which are either absent or being delivered less intensively in areas performing less well. These are highlighted in the document Teenage Pregnancy Next steps - guidance for Local Authorities and Primary Care trusts on effective delivery of local strategies a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
We have asked all local areas to ensure that they take account of these key ingredients and to update their local strategies as necessary. In addition, the NHS was reminded of the importance of provision of the full range of contraception to reduce teenage pregnancy in the NHS Operating Framework for 2009-10. An additional £20.5 million has been allocated for 2009-10 to support this work.
Dementia: Greater London
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people resident in (a) the London Borough of Bexley and (b) Greater London have been diagnosed with dementia in each of the last five years. [259506]
Phil Hope: The national Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for England gives the number of people recorded on practice disease registers with a diagnosis of dementia. This register count is available only for the two latest releases of QOF, covering 2006-07 and 2007-08.
This information is available for health areas only; in this instance Bexley care trust and the London strategic health authority (SHA).
The number of people recorded on practice disease registers with a diagnosis of dementia for these organisations is shown in the following table:
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| Note: QOF was introduced as part of the new general medical services contract on 1 April 2004. The published QOF information was derived from the Quality Management Analysis System which is a national system developed by NHS Connecting for Health. | ||
Dental Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost to the General Dental Council of administering the annual registration fee for dental technicians was (a) in total and (b) per technician in 2008; [259776]
(2) what the net cost incurred by the General Dental Council in licensing each registered dental technician annually was in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [259777]
Ann Keen: This information is not held by the Department. The information may be available from the General Dental Council which is an independent, statutory body.
Dental Services: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists were operating under (a) general dental services contracts and (b) personal dental services agreements in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire in each year since 1997. [260081]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested.
The number of national health service dentists, by contract type, in England as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006, are available in table 4 of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”.
The number of NHS dentists, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 are available in annex E of the above report. Information is available by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT). Annex G contains information by parliamentary constituency.
This measure counted the number of NHS dentists recorded on PCT lists as at 31 March each year. This information is based on the old contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Information by contract type at a regional level is not available under the old contractual arrangements.
The number of dentists with NHS activity, by contract type, during the years ending 31 March, 2007 and 2008 are available in table G2 of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007/08” report. Information is provided by SHA and by PCT but is not available by constituency. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published work force figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.
Further work is currently being undertaken to determine whether the new definition used under the new dental contractual arrangements can be applied to the years under the old contractual arrangements to produce a consistent time series.
Both sets of published figures relate to headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS funding has been allocated to dentistry provision in Hemel Hempstead in each year since 2004. [260105]
Ann Keen: Prior to April 2006, most primary dental services were provided under former General Dental Service (GDS) arrangements. These were demand led services where the pattern of dental expenditure was largely determined by where dentists chose to practice, and how much national health service work they chose to undertake.
The former GDS arrangements were replaced with effect from 1 April 2006, when primary care trusts (PCTs) were given responsibility for planning and commissioning primary dental services and provided with local, devolved, dental budgets. The primary dental service funding allocations made to West Hertfordshire PCT for each of the three years since PCTs assumed full responsibility for primary dental care services are in the following table. These are net of income from dental charges paid by patients, which are retained locally to supplement the resources available for dentistry. Actual expenditure levels are determined by the pattern and type of services commissioned by each PCT. PCTs may also dedicate some of their other NHS resources to dentistry if they consider this an appropriate local priority. Allocations are not apportioned by individual constituencies or towns; PCTs determine the distribution of resources within their area on the basis of local needs and priorities.
| Primary dental service net funding allocations for West Hertfordshire PCT | |
| Allocation (£000) | |
| Notes: 1. The allocation figure for 2006-07 is the aggregate of the allocations made initially to the Dacorum, Hertsmere, St. Albans and Harpenden, and Watford and Three Rivers PCTs before they merged to form the West Hertfordshire PCT with effect from 1 October 2006. 2. PCTs are awarded separate funding allocations to meet the cost of any dental vocational trainees who may be placed with dental practices in their area. | |
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