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25 Mar 2009 : Column 512W—continued
Higher Education: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the recession on the ability of higher education institutions to raise finance on private markets. [265252]
Mr. Lammy: Financial institutions still see higher education as being a low risk sector and are keen to continue to lend. We will keep the situation under review in changing economic circumstances.
Renewable Energy: Research
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much funding was allocated for research and development by his Department and its agencies into renewable energy sources in each year for which figures are available. [265444]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS) provides funding to the Technology Strategy Board and the Research Councils to support research and development. These bodies are each responsible for determining detailed distribution between priorities. The following table shows expenditure on research and development into renewable energy sources:
| £ million | ||
| Research Councils | TSB( 1) | |
| (1) Responsibility for renewable energy R and D, previously funded by the Department for Trade and Industry, was transferred to the Technology Strategy Board in 2007-08. | ||
In addition, the Research Councils are providing funding of £13.88 million over the period 2004-09 for the UK Energy Research Centre (which undertakes a range of research relating to renewable energy) and energy is included in the work of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (which has some £15.8 million funding from the Research Councils over 2000-08).
Students: Finance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure the Government's policy on public funding for students taking equivalent or lower qualifications takes into account the needs of employers during the recession. [264925]
Mr. Lammy: The ELQ policy fundamentally addresses the perennial need of employers for a greater proportion of the population to acquire higher level skills because it represents a redistribution of funding from those who have already benefited from higher education to first time entrants. The policy also seeks to supply employers with more of the graduates they need most. Students co-funded by employers and those studying for foundation degrees are exempt from the policy and strategically important science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects still attract institutional funding when studied as an ELQ. To discern whether there is more the policy can do we have instructed HEFCE in their current review of the impact of the ELQ policy that, while they should continue to prioritise first time students, they should seek to assist universities in responding to the economic circumstances if appropriate changes are suggested by the evidence.
Students: Loans
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many complaints have been made against the Student Loans Company by people on the Repayment of Teachers' Loans Scheme. [265051]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The information is as follows:
| Year complaints were received | Number of people on the scheme | Number of complaints registered with SLC |
Some of these complaints were about the rules of the scheme (as designed by the Government) and others were about the way the SLC had delivered the required administration service. It is not possible to disaggregate these.
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated in accident and emergency departments in England and Wales in each month since January 2007. [263629]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information is not available in the format requested, as data on the number of patients attending accident and emergency (A&E) departments are published quarterly via the Department’s QMAE dataset, and only cover England.
The following table shows the number of attendances at major A&E departments in England for each quarter for the time period requested.
| Attendances at major accident and emergency departments, England, Q4 2006-07 to 03 2008-09 | ||
| Quarter | Attendances | |
| Source: Department of Health dataset QMAE | ||
Antidepressants: Children
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged under 16 years were prescribed anti-depressant medication in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in each of the last five years. [265793]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
Dental Services
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of levels of access to NHS dentistry in England. [265720]
Ann Keen: The number of patients seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months in England, at quarterly intervals, from 31 March 2006 to 30 September 2008 is available in Table D3 of Annex 3 of the ‘NHS Dental Statistics, Quarter 2: 30 September 2008’ report. This information is also available as a percentage of the population in Table D4 of Annex 3. The information is provided by primary care trust and by strategic health authority.
This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Departmental Electricity Generation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) capital and (b) maintenance expenditure his Department has incurred on standby diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of his Department's estate in each year since March 1997. [266411]
Mr. Bradshaw: The capital and maintenance expenditure the Department has incurred on stand-by diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of the Department’s London estate in each year since March 1997 is as follows:
| £ | ||
| Capital | Maintenance expenditure | |
Health Centres
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of primary care trusts he expects will have a GP-led health centre open by 1 April 2009. [265547]
Mr. Bradshaw: Based on current primary care trust plans, we expect a third of the 152 general practitioner-led health centres (33 per cent.) will be open by 1 April 2009 with the majority opening by the end of 2009.
Hospitals: Children
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) of 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 377W, on hospitals: children, how many children aged (a) under 10 years and (b) 10 years and over were admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in each year since 1997-98. [265765]
Ann Keen: Data for the number of children admitted to hospital with type 2 diabetes are not available. However, the following table represents the counts of total admissions of children to hospital due to type 2 diabetes (a child may be admitted on more than one occasion).
| Count of finished admission episodes where primary diagnosis is non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus for under 10 years and 10 to 18 years from 1997-98 to 2007-08 in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | ||
| Under 10 years | 10 to 18 years | |
| Notes: Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in the data, i.e. the data are ungrossed. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care | ||
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