| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 Mar 2009 : Column 1484W—continued
Ritalin: Children
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been prescribed Ritalin in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [259483]
Phil Hope: This information is not collected centrally.
Sickle Cell Diseases
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to build capacity in the voluntary sector to support patients with sickle cell disease. [259335]
Ann Keen: The voluntary sector has an important role to play in the development of services closer to home for people with long-term conditions such as sickle cell and thalassaemia (haemoglobin disorders).
We are already working with key stakeholder organisations, such as the Sickle Cell Society and the UK Thalassaemia Society, to develop a clinical service model for haemoglobin disorders. We will give further consideration to how best we can facilitate support for the voluntary sector to develop capacity in community services.
Social Services
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether care home residents who are in receipt of personal expenses allowance have received (a) the one-off payment of £60 and (b) the one-off payment of £10 to Christmas bonus recipients; and if he will make a statement. [260454]
Phil Hope: The Department for Work and Pensions pays the Christmas bonus according to entitlement rules in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. To be eligible to receive the Christmas bonus for 2008-09, individuals must be living in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the European Union or the European economic area and be entitled to receive certain benefits in the week commencing 22 December 2008.
The personal expenses allowance (PEA) is not a benefit but the amount of the resident’s own money which he or she must be left with after charges for residential care have been deducted. People who get PEA only receive the Christmas bonus if they meet the entitlement rules. However, any care home resident who is eligible to receive the Christmas bonus will receive it in full, as it is disregarded from the financial assessment for charging for residential care.
The Department does not hold information on the number of people receiving PEA who have received the Christmas bonus.
Social Services: Finance
Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1349W, on autism, what plans he has to ensure that individual budgets are effective for people with (a) sensory impairments and (b) autism; [259611]
(2) what steps he plans to take to ensure local authority resource allocation systems for individual budgets reflect the needs of people with (a) sensory impairments, (b) autism and (c) complex needs. [259613]
Phil Hope: As part of the programme to transform adult social care, local authorities are expected to provide personal budgets to all adults eligible to receive social care over the period 2008-11. This will include people with autism and sensory impairments. From April 2009, we will be consulting on a new national strategy for autism. Local authorities will need to take into account any requirements arising from the strategy when providing personal budgets to people with autism.
Practical guides issued by the Department to help local authorities develop resource allocation systems for personal budgets advise councils to consult advocacy groups and other groups representing disabled people
and older people, and representatives of carers. The needs of all service users, including people with autism, sensory impairment and complex needs, should be reflected in the questions included in the self-assessment which forms the basis of the resource allocation system.
Sunbeds
John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent children from using sun-beds in tanning shops; and if he will make a statement; [259919]
(2) if he will introduce legislation to ban the unsupervised use of sun-bed machines; and if he will make a statement; [260037]
(3) if he will introduce legislation to ban the use of coin-operated sun-bed machines; and if he will make a statement. [260038]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government advise against the use of sunbeds for cosmetic purposes, particularly by minors, including the use of unsupervised or coin-operated sunbeds. The Cancer Reform Strategy commits the Government to reviewing options for possible regulation of the sunbed industry, but firstly to gather information to inform the review. This is currently under way.
Teenage Pregnancy
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department (a) has undertaken, (b) plans to take and (c) has evaluated on the effect of greater access to family planning on numbers of underage (i) conceptions and (ii) abortions; when his Department last undertook an evidential review of the issue that drew on (A) UK and (B) international research; and if he will make a statement. [259045]
Dawn Primarolo: The “1999 Social Exclusion Unit Teenage Pregnancy Report” on which the teenage pregnancy strategy is based references the evidence and research papers that informed the development of the strategy. The teenage pregnancy strategy is multi-faceted and is based on the best international evidence on what works.
One of the priority actions identified in the 1999 report was to ensure effective advice and contraception for young people. The strategy has continued to develop over time and relevant national and international evidence is kept under review to inform the development of the strategy. There is increasing evidence that contraception can have a significant impact on teenage conceptions. Research published in the “American Journal of Public Health” in 2006 found that 86 per cent. of the decline in United States teenage pregnancy rates between 1995 and 2002 could be attributed to improved contraceptive use.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which (a) individuals and (b) organisations who were sent copies of Healthy lives brighter futures: The strategy for children and young people’s health; at what cost; and if he will make a statement; [259069]
(2) how much was spent by his Department on (a) researching and (b) producing Healthy lives brighter futures: The strategy for children and young people’s health; who his Department consulted before (i)
drafting and (ii) publishing it; who drafted the publication; what input Ministers in his Department had; and if he will make a statement. [259070]
Ann Keen: All chief executives of primary care trusts and directors for children and learners at each regional Government offices in England were sent a copy of “Healthy lives, brighter futures: The strategy for children and young people’s health” and the “Securing better health for children and young people through world class commissioning” documents. In addition to this we sent a copy of each to a number of organisations. A list of these organisations are shown as follows. Both documents have already been placed in the Library and are also available from the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families websites, where hard copies may be ordered.
The cost of production of the strategy and the commissioning document, including VAT, totalled £82,879. The cost of packing, handling and posting hard copies of the documents, including VAT, totalled £2,708.91.
“Healthy lives, brighter futures” built on a large body of existing research and no new research was commissioned specifically for the strategy. The Secretaries of State for Health and Children, Schools and Families were involved at key stages in the development of the strategy. Both Secretaries of State hosted a deliberative event for parents and teenagers in June 2008, and further deliberative events were held with other groups, including child health professionals and parents of children with complex health needs. The cost of these events totalled £125,120.07, including VAT. Other work to develop the strategy was carried out by officials from the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families and through a range of meetings with stakeholders. Costs for this work cannot be identified separately.
Addaction
Adfam
Alcohol Concern
Barnardo’s
British Medical Association
Commission for Social Care Inspection
Children’s Rights Director for England
Children’s Society
The National Child and Maternal Health Observatory
The Institute of Child Health
Local Government Association
Mentor UK
National Childbirth Trust
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
The Royal College of Surgeons
Royal College of General Practitioners
The Royal College of Midwives
The Royal College of Nursing
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Unite: Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association
Young Minds
County Durham and Darlington (Family Nurse Partnership Lead)
Cabinet Office
The National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Support Service
Children’s Hospices UK
Fair-Play for Children’s Hospices: c/o Shooting Stars children’s hospice
Action for Sick Children
Children’s Society
Whizz-kidz
National Youth Agency
Family and Parenting Institute
Hull PCT and Local Authority Commissioning Lead for Children and Young People
National CAMHS Strategic Relationships and Programme Manager
Association of Young People’s Health (President)
Bradford College: Healthy Further Education Steering Group
Learning and Skills Improvement Service
Youth Sports Trust
Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group
British Heart Foundation (Obesity stakeholder)
Asthma UK
Diabetes UK
Training and Development Agency
ContinYou
Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA)
Daycare Trust (DCT)
All Local Authority Chief Executives
All Primary Care Trust (PCT) Chief Executives
All regional Government Office Directors for Children and Learners
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on administration by West Hertfordshire NHS Hospital Trust in each of the last five years. [259181]
Phil Hope: The following table shows the administration costs at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust for the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 (the last five years for which information is available).
| Administrative costs (£000) | |
| Source: The administrative costs figures are taken from the financial returns of NHS trusts. The financial returns data is not audited but is validated to the audited summarisations schedules. | |
Westminster City Council
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what grants his Department has given to Westminster City Council in each year since 2005-06; what sums were awarded in each grant; in what categories the grant has been made; and how much has been allocated for grants in 2009-10. [259754]
Phil Hope: The following table sets out the Adult Personal Social Services grants issued to Westminster local authority by the Department, between 2005-06 and 2009-10.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |