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11 Mar 2009 : Column 506W—continued
Social Rented Housing: Standards
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what space standards (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations are required to follow when (i) building and (ii) purchasing new dwellings for social tenants. [262661]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government have no specific existing policy on the application of dwelling space standards for private sector homes. However, the Government’s Planning Policy Statement 3: “Housing” (PPS3) is clear on the need to achieve high quality new housing, including promoting designs and layouts which make efficient use of land, encouraging innovative approaches to help deliver high quality outcomes, and contribute positively to making places better for people.
The Government’s new delivery body, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is currently reviewing the benchmarks for high quality urban design, construction and environmental sustainability, including any space standards for new homes funded by the public sector.
In the meantime the HCA is continuing to operate under the regimes set in place by the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships, whereby (i) Design and Quality Strategy and Standards set out the Housing Corporation’s requirements and recommendations for all housing projects which received Social Housing Grant, and (ii) Housing Quality Indicators set out English Partnership's requirements, both of which included a space standard.
Where local authorities build or acquire homes with funding from the HCA they are expected to meet the relevant conditions of the grant, and compliance with development standards is one of these.
Where HCA are purchasing stock from developers from the £200 million earmarked for this purpose, the Government have agreed that they may be flexible on design and quality standards to help house builders maintain housing production through the current difficult market conditions.
Sustainable Development
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to her Department's consultation paper on the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 whether she plans to extend local spending reports to include information on relevant executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [262155]
John Healey: On 20 February 2009, the Government launched a consultation on the Sustainable Communities Act 2007: Local spending reports. In this consultation, the Department is seeking views on proposals for putting in place the first arrangements for local spending reports including which bodies, expenditure, spatial level and period should be covered by the reports, and also how the reports might develop over time. The consultation on the first arrangements closes on Friday 3 April, and on Friday 15 May for how the reports should be developed over time.
Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Library of the House.
Travelling People
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of Preparing Regional Spatial Strategy Reviews on Gypsies and Travellers. [262518]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have today placed a copy of the guidance document “Preparing Regional Spatial Strategy Reviews on Gypsies and Travellers provided by regional planning bodies” in the Library of the House.
Travelling People: Plymouth
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by what date her Department has required Plymouth City Council to provide permanent sites for Travellers; and if she will make a statement. [259685]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Secretary of State published for consultation proposed changes to the regional spatial strategy for the south-west on 22 July 2008. This set out a requirement for 40 additional residential pitches and 15 additional transit pitches in Plymouth. Responses to those proposed changes are being considered. The final regional spatial strategy, setting out the number of pitches required will be published later this year.
Urban Areas: Regeneration
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what timetable she has set for the revision of Planning Policy Statement 6 on town centre planning; [262595]
(2) what the status of the proposed changes is to Planning Policy Statement 6, on planning for town centres; and when she plans to publish the results of the July 2008 consultation. [262679]
Mr. Iain Wright: The proposed changes to Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres are currently in draft form. A revised version of the policy will be published later this spring.
A summary of the responses to the July 2008 consultation was published on the Department’s website on 4 February 2009. The information is available at:
Valuation Office: Rightmove
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 2 February 2009, Official Report, column 974W, on the Valuation Office: Rightmove, which estate agent industry sources other than Rightmove are routinely used by the Valuation Office Agency. [262542]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency makes use of a range of freely available sources of information from the estate agent industry across England (and Wales). A full list could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Health
Autism: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) schoolchildren and (b) adults have autism in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire; and if he will make a statement. [260941]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not held centrally.
Broomfield Hospital: Cancer
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated for cancer at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford in 2007. [261765]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally.
Broomfield Hospital: Manpower
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources will be allocated to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford following the Government’s recent announcement of extra staff to tackle hospital infections. [261772]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally. The comprehensive spending review (CSR) funding settlement includes £270 million per year by 2010-11 to tackle healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). In 2008-09, the additional funding is reflected in the 5.5 per cent., increase in primary care trust (PCT) allocations and the 2.3 per cent. uplift to the national tariff (the latter specifically recognising the importance of tackling HCAIs and improving cleanliness).
The additional funding is not ring fenced, but rather is reflected in the 5.5 per cent., increase to PCT revenue allocations in 2008-09. In addition, the national tariff uplift for 2008-09 has an element that specifically recognises the importance of tackling infections and improving cleanliness. This means that all national health service organisations can afford to make significant investment and continue to make progress.
Some of the funding will be spent on implementing national policy—such as the requirement for all relevant elective patients to be screened for methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from April 2009 and for emergency admissions as soon as possible within the next three years.
Other areas where additional funding can be invested will be left to local discretion, but “clean, safe care” guides the local NHS as to areas where this will have the most impact—such as investing in specialist staff. The Government’s CSR settlement allows for up to £45 million for this purpose, which could for example deliver two infection control nurses, one pharmacist and two nurses to care for patients in isolation, alongside additional infection control nurses in every community. As there is a shortage of trained staff in some areas, trusts may want to recruit to posts in infection control teams and train up additional infection control nurses.
Dental Services
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) children aged five and under, (b) children aged 18 and under and (c) persons aged 18 years and over, in each primary care trust area, had one or more teeth removed under general anaesthetic in each of the last five years. [261486]
Ann Keen: The exact information is not held centrally. Hospital Episode Statistics show the dental procedure carried out, but not whether a general anaesthetic was administered. However, dental treatment under general anaesthesia may only take place in a hospital setting that has a critical-care facility. It is therefore very likely, though not absolutely certain that a child admitted to hospital for extraction of teeth will have had general anaesthetic, and that was the reason for their admission to hospital. A table which contains the number of hospital episodes involving the extraction of teeth by age group and primary care trust has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date he expects the conclusions of his Department’s independent review of NHS dentistry to be published. [262290]
Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 661W.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of NHS dentists who routinely refer patients to an hygienist at additional cost following a dental check-up; and if he will make a statement; [262487]
(2) whether he expects the cost of a dental check-up with an NHS dentist to include (a) treatment by an hygienist and (b) a scale and polish; and if he will make a statement. [262488]
Ann Keen:
This information is not held centrally. National health service dental contracts require dentists to provide all proper clinically necessary dental care and treatment that the patient is willing to undergo. Which dental professional delivers the treatment is a clinical matter for the practice. A Band 1 course of treatment (diagnosis, treatment planning and maintenance) includes examination, diagnosis (for example x-rays), advice on how to prevent future problems, and scaling
and polishing if clinically needed. Fee paying NHS patients will be charged £16.20 for a Band 1 course of treatment. Those exempt from NHS charges receive treatment without charge.
Patients who are assessed as not clinically needing a scale and polish are free to obtain it privately. As with any treatment if there is no clinical need for the patient to receive a scale and polish it is entirely appropriate that it is provided, if at all, outside the NHS.
Dental Services: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the net funding allocation to the Peterborough Primary Care Trust for primary dental services was in each year since 1 April 2006; and if he will make a statement. [261903]
Ann Keen: The primary dental service funding allocations made to Peterborough Primary Care Trust (PCT) for the three years 2006-07 to 2008-09 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 national health service resources to dentistry if they consider this an appropriate local priority.
| Primary dental service net funding allocations for Peterborough PCT | |
| Allocation (£000) | |
| Notes: 1. The allocation figure for 2006-07 is the aggregate of the allocations made initially to the North and South Peterborough PCTs before they merged to form the Peterborough 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. 3. Full allocation details for all PCTs for 2009-10 will be confirmed shortly, but the allocation for Peterborough PCT will be reduced by a transfer of £467,000 to Cambridgeshire PCT in line with an agreement between the two PCTs on a more appropriate distribution of resources to reflect their respective cross border service responsibilities. | |
Diabetes
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which primary care trusts have established policies on accepting clinical waste arising from the management of diabetes at GP surgeries; [R] [261395]
(2) what his Department’s policy is on the disposal of clinical waste arising from the management of diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [R] [261406]
Ann Keen: Information about which primary care trusts have established policies on accepting diabetic clinical waste at general practitioner surgeries is not held centrally.
The Department published “Health Technical Memorandum 07-01: Safe management of healthcare waste” (copies of which have been placed the Library) to give clarification and advice to community healthcare professionals involved in the care of self-medicating patients, such as people with diabetes. It includes:
“Self-medicating patients and sharps disposal
19. Where the householder is a self-medicating patient who uses injectables (for example a person with diabetes) with no healthcare worker involved in the administration, the GP or healthcare worker should prescribe the householder the appropriate container (for example a sharps box) and advise them of local disposal options.”
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many residential drug treatment places his Department funds; and what the average waiting time for a place in such a setting is; [262735]
(2) how many residential drug treatment places his Department plans to fund in (a) 2010 and (b) 2011. [262738]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not directly fund any residential rehabilitation. Decisions on how many residential drug treatment places to fund are made by local commissioning partnerships based on assessed local need and individually assessed client need. This information is not available centrally.
However, the national drug treatment monitoring system (NDTMS), managed by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA), does collect data on the number of individuals receiving residential treatment. Latest figures show that in 2007-08, 4,306 adults were recorded in residential rehabilitation and 6,742 adults received in-patient services in hospital.
It is important to note that there is known under-reporting of referral data to the NDTMS, and so any figures regarding this sector are likely to be an under estimate of activity. As such, the data the NTA collects through the NDTMS is not a complete or accurate picture.
Waiting times data for residential drug treatment places has been supplied previously and I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 5 March 2009, Official Report, column 1765W.
Gynaecology
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to increase (a) medical practitioners' and (b) public awareness of premature ovarian failure; and if he will make a statement. [260995]
Ann Keen: Premature ovarian failure (also called premature or early menopause) is defined as the onset of menopause before the age of 45 and affects at most 1 per cent. of women.
The management of women with premature ovarian failure is part of the core curriculum for training of all gynaecologists. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists held a public meeting ‘Premature menopause - A Change too soon' on 3 November 2007.
The Daisy Network Premature Menopause Support Group supports and gives advice to women who have experienced premature menopause.
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