| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
26 Mar 2009 : Column 666W—continued
Breast Cancer: Shift Work
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has funded research on the potential for a link between prolonged night working and the incidence of female breast cancer. [264907]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
The Health and Safety Executive has commissioned a major research project at the University of Oxford on "The relationship between shift work and disease" that addresses the reported association between working at night and the incidence of female breast cancer, and other cancers and diseases. The report will be published in 2011. (The Executive is also co-funding an April 2009 workshop on enhancing the quality of exposure information about shift work for such studies organised by the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer.)
Cord Blood
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the conclusions of his Department’s national cord blood review. [266259]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department, as part of its review of the collection and use of umbilical cord blood, is working with partners in other Government bodies and the third sector to ensure that the United Kingdom strengthens further the provision of stem cells for patients in need of a transplant. We have asked for proposals to be drafted by the end of March 2009 and will publish any conclusions in due course.
Departmental Buildings
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by his (a) Department and (b) its agencies on furniture in each of the last five years. [266203]
Mr. Bradshaw: The cost of furniture purchased by the Department and its agencies (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency) in each of the last five years is:
| £ | ||
| Department | Agencies | |
Departmental Internet
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions his Department's website has been temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem in each year for which figures are available. [266831]
Mr. Bradshaw: Between February 2004 and March 2007, the Department's website was hosted as part of a shared service run by the Office of the e-Envoy. During this period there were no occasions when the website was temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem.
In March 2007, the Department's website transferred to a new managed service, shared with Directgov. Since then, the Department's website has been temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem as follows: five occasions between March 2007 and December 2007, 11 occasions between January 2008 and December 2008 and four occasions from January 2009 to date.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) specialist areas of work, (b) job description, (c) salary band and (d) grade is of each official in his Department who works in social care. [267374]
Phil Hope: The strategic objectives of the Department are better health and well-being for all, better care for all and better value for all. Every official within the Department contributes, through their personal objectives, to achieving those goals for both health and social care.
The social care, local government and care partnerships directorate has the specific responsibility for the development of policy on adult social care, and on mental health and health services for offenders. In meeting this responsibility, the directorate is supported by the rest of the Department. The directorate has an establishment of 149.01 whole-time equivalent officials. Of these 106.88 whole-time equivalents currently work exclusively on adult social care policy. A director-general in pay band three of the senior civil service leads the directorate. The specialist areas of work, civil service pay bands and business unit objectives of the officials who work exclusively on adult social care are in the following table.
Departmental Redundancy
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 20 January 2009, Official Report, column 1370W, on redundancy, how many staff left his Department under staff exit schemes with a severance package worth (a) between £100,000 and £125,000, (b) between £125,001 and £150,000, (c) between £150,001 and £200,000, (d) between £200,001 and £250,000, (e) between £250,001 and £500,000, (f) between £500,001 and £1,000,000 and (g) over £1,000,000 in each year since 2005-06. [264282]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on severance packages given to staff leaving the Department under exit schemes in each year since 2005-06 is presented in the following table:
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many training courses were taken by (a) civil servants and (b) Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years; and what the total cost of training was in each year. [265307]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department recognises the value and importance of providing fair and equitable development opportunities to all our staff throughout their career.
In 2007-08 the Department ran 144 corporate events which 1,670 participants attended. For 2006-07 and 2005-06 no information is held for the number of events or participants and to establish the numbers would incur disproportionate costs.
Departmental costs of corporate learning and development for the last three complete years are as follows:
| Costs (£) | |
Information about courses run and paid for locally within departmental directorates is not held centrally, and would incur disproportionate costs to establish.
The details and cost of training for Ministers are not held centrally in the Department but the National School of Government (NSG) records show that the NSG delivered 20 training courses for members of the Department’s ministerial team within the timescale in question at a cost of £2,800.
| Cost (£) | Number of Ministers attending | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |