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10 Mar 2009 : Column 369W—continued
The MHRA most recently reviewed the use of mifepristone in 2007. This review examined effectiveness
and safety data relating to the use of mifepristone in combination with a prostaglandin for the termination of pregnancy up to nine weeks gestation and the balance of benefits and risks was found to be favourable. A comparison of medical versus surgical abortion found significantly more suspected pelvic infections and surgical complications, including uterine perforation that required laparoscopy, after surgical abortion. Furthermore, no significant difference in the success rates after medical abortion was observed compared with surgical abortion.
As with all licensed medicines, the safety of mifepristone and emergency hormonal contraception will continue to be monitored by the MHRA.
Antidepressants
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what regulatory changes he has made to prevent a recurrence of the time taken by manufacturers to inform the regulator of the harmful effects of prescribed selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors on patients. [261391]
Dawn Primarolo: A number of legislative changes have been made to strengthen and clarify the legal obligations of marketing authorisation holders. There is now an EU Directive governing the conduct of clinical trials which came into force in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2004. This introduced a criminal offence for the failure to report adverse reactions occurring in clinical trials.
Changes were also introduced to European Union medicines legislation from October 2005 which clarify the obligation to report relevant safety information arising from clinical trials using products outside their normal conditions of use. These were implemented in the UK from 30 October 2005 and include an obligation to provide specified information promptly.
UK legislation was amended in December 2008 to specify prompt reporting requirements for clinical trials, including those conducted outside the European economic area and outside the terms of any marketing authorisation valid in the UK.
European legislative proposals published in December 2008 further clarify the legal obligations on marketing authorisation holders to report harmful effects and to do so promptly.
Assertive Outreach Teams
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many assertive outreach teams there were in (a) England, (b) the South West, (c) Devon and (d) East Devon in each of the last 10 years. [261788]
Phil Hope: The total number of assertive outreach (AO) teams in England from September 2000 to March 2008 is provided in the following table.
We do not hold data requested for the South West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) or the Devon and East Devon areas centrally. However, what data the Department holds about AO teams in the South West and the Devon Partnership Trust are also represented in the table.
| Mental Health Services: Assertive outreach teams in England, South West SHA and in Devon Partnership Trust from the year 2000 to present | |||
| Assertive outreach teams | |||
| England | South West | Devon Partnership Trust | |
| n/a = Data not available (1) Data are in old SHA format, data not comparable Source: Durham mapping 2000 to 2006 From March 2006: Mental Health Strategies | |||
Cardiovascular System: Ethnic Groups
Mrs. Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to increase accessibility to the vascular risk assessment and management programme for those from South Asian communities; [260853]
(2) if he will review the eligibility age range for the vascular risk assessment and management programme for those of South Asian origin at risk of type 2 diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [260854]
Ann Keen: The vascular checks programme to which my hon. Friend refers offers a real opportunity to make significant inroads in tackling health inequalities, including these relating to ethnicity. The checks themselves are suitable for delivery in a number of settings including general practice, but are equally suitable for pharmacy and other community settings, to help improve access to the checks by those who are less likely to see their general practitioner.
The approach taken by the programme, which primary care trusts (PCTs) are being asked to start rolling out in 2009-10, is based on economic modelling undertaken by the Department to help ensure the most clinically effective and cost effective format. This is the service PCTs will have additional funding for from April 2009. All PCTs will wish to consider how to achieve the best coverage in terms of access and take up for their population, including commissioning the most effective provision for those communities at higher risk of vascular disease, such as South Asians.
Childbirth
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of (a) encephaly and (b) spina bifida following (i) live births and (ii) elective terminations were diagnosed in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [261734]
Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many cases of (a) encephaly and (b) spina bifida following (i) live births and (ii) elective terminations were diagnosed in each year since 2001. (261734)
The table attached provides the number of cases of (a) anencephalus and (b) spina bifida, (i) reported to the National Congenital Anomaly System following live births, and (ii), the number of abortion notifications under Ground E of the Abortion Act 1967 associated with each of these congenital anomalies, from 2001 to 2007 (the latest year available). A termination may be carried out under Ground E where there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
It is not possible to say how many of these abortion notifications were elective terminations.
| Table 1. Number of cases of anencephalus( 1) and spina bifida( 2) following live births and the number of abortion notifications( 3 ) associated with each of these conditions, England and Wales, 2001-07( 4) | ||||
| Anencephalus | Spina Bifida | |||
| Live Births | Abortion Notifications | Live Births | Abortion Notifications | |
| (1) Anencephalus is defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), code Q00. (2 )Spina Bifida is defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), code Q05. (3) Abortion notifications are on Ground E ‘there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical of mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped’. An asterisk (*) denotes that figures are not available for this year. (4) Figures are for notifications in each calendar year. | ||||
Dementia
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how the £150 million he has allocated to fund implementation of the Dementia Strategy will be observed between each of the Strategy’s 17 objectives; [262284]
(2) from which budget the £150 million he has allocated to fund implementation of the Dementia Strategy will be taken; and by what mechanism it will be allocated to the NHS; [262288]
(3) how the £150 million he has allocated to fund implementation of the Dementia Strategy will be allocated to (a) resource and (b) capital expenditure in each year of the Strategy. [262289]
Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 24 February 2009, Official Report, columns 639-40W.
Dementia: Research
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much research funding has been allocated to studies linked to dementia in each financial year since 1997-98 for which figures are available; and how much is to be allocated in each financial year to 2010-11. [262283]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 24 February 2009, Official Report, columns 640-41W.
Departmental Press
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of his Department's expenditure on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in each year since 2004. [261353]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department's library service is responsible for central purchasing of newspapers, magazines and periodicals for library use and for retention by individual units.
Total expenditure for the financial years 2004-05 to 2008-09 is:
| £ | |
| (1) Estimate of final out-turn | |
Diabetes: Ethnic Groups
Mrs. Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of black and minority ethnic people in Bradford and Airedale Primary Care Trust area who have been diagnosed with diabetes; [260850]
(2) what estimate has been made of the percentage of black and minority ethnic people in Bradford and Airedale Primary Care Trust who (a) were offered and (b) attended annual retinal screening appointments in the 12 months up to 30 September 2008. [260851]
Ann Keen: The information is not collected centrally.
Mrs. Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that primary care trusts provide people with diabetes from black and minority ethnic communities annual retinal screening. [260852]
Ann Keen: All eligible people with diabetes should be offered screening for diabetic retinopathy regardless of ethnicity.
The English National Screening Programme for Sight Threatening Retinopathy (NSP) has been established to support local delivery of diabetic retinopathy screening. The NSP is managing a number of initiatives to improve equality of access to screening. These include:
asking specific questions about equality as part of its external quality assurance process;
recommending health equity audits are carried out by each screening programme so that no particular group is disadvantaged; and
developing national patient information leaflets—these have undergone extensive consultation with patient groups and translation of leaflets into easy to read versions in a variety of languages have been commissioned and are being developed.
The delivery of this programme is a priority for the national health service and has been included in the last two sets of planning guidance for the NHS and retained in the planning guidance for 2009-10.
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