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24 Apr 2009 : Column 930W—continued
| Stream 2B projects up to £1 million | ||
| N umber of applications | Grant Requested (£) | |
Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2
(i) No grants have been made within the Ribble Valley constituency
(ii) 42 projects within Lancashire have received grants under Phase 2. Further details regarding applications from Lancashire have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
(iii) 1,093 projects within the United Kingdom have received grants.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Community Relations: Finance
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to page 92 of the report, The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, published in March 2009, how much was spent on the programme of foreign policy outreach to domestic Muslim communities in 2008-09; how much is expected to be spent in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; which communities he visited in 2008-09; which communities he plans to visit in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11; how those communities were selected; which topics will be discussed; how the success of the programme will be evaluated; and if he will make a statement. [270452]
Bill Rammell:
We have a programme of outreach to Muslim communities around the UK by Ministers and senior officials to engage on foreign policy issues and
challenge extremists’ distortions of British foreign policy. Engaging with communities also helps tackle misconceptions about UK foreign policy and undermines the extremist narrative. Violent extremists use misconceptions about foreign policy as a way to radicalise vulnerable young people in the UK.
The cost of foreign policy outreach events to British Muslim communities undertaken by Ministers and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials during FY 2008-09 was £85,000. During the past year my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary personally visited the following areas:
28 May—Tower Hamlets
25 July—Birmingham
8 September—Birmingham
21 November—Bradford
22 January—Manchester
16 April—Glasgow
We expect that outreach activity during FY 2009-10 will incur roughly similar costs to the previous year. Funding for FY 2010-11 is yet to be allocated. Visits are evaluated through feedback from participants and local authorities as well as by monitoring wider dissemination of information about the events through press coverage and blogs. Locations for visits over the coming year are yet to be decided but we intend to include areas with substantial Muslim and diaspora communities. The topics likely to be covered at these events will be foreign policy issues of concern to Muslim communities.
Cyprus: Property
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has received from British citizens on legal difficulties incurred when buying property in Cyprus in the last two years; and what recent discussions he has had with the government of Cyprus on the matter. [270450]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 23 April 2009]: The Government are aware of the concern of a number of British citizens regarding legal difficulties incurred when buying property in Cyprus. Our high commissioner in Cyprus recently raised this issue with the Republic of Cyprus Ministry of the Interior. We recognise that this has the potential to affect a large number of British citizens who have purchased property in Cyprus, and will continue to take a close interest in the measures by which the Cypriot government attempt to resolve this problem.
Japan: Burma
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the government of Japan on the forthcoming elections in Burma planned for 2010, with particular reference to the government of Japan’s provision of technical training to election officials. [270423]
Bill Rammell:
We have been in contact with our Japanese colleagues regarding the 2010 elections in Burma. We have raised our concerns that the elections look set to be neither free nor fair. The Japanese authorities
recognise these concerns, but argue that the elections themselves represent progress and that the international community should be working within its framework if possible.
We are not aware of any plans by the Japanese government to train election officials.
Health
Burns: Greater Manchester
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many serious burn case patients from outside Greater Manchester were treated at the burn unit in Manchester in each year since 2003. [269308]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 20 April 2009]: Information on the number of severe/complex burn cases from outside Greater Manchester that were treated at the burn unit in Manchester in each year since 2003 is given in the following table.
Contraceptives: Finance
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 3 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1457-8W, on contraceptives: finance, by what means primary care trusts were informed of the additional £12.8 million contraception funding. [269990]
Dawn Primarolo: The 2008-09 primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocations were announced on 13 December 2007, and these overall allocations included £12.8 million new funding for contraceptive services. In addition a statement published on 27 June 2008 in The Week (the NHS Chief Executive's Bulletin for senior National Health Service managers), which accompanied the release of the 2007 abortion data, reminded PCTs that they had received this additional funding as part of their allocations for 2008-09.
Dental Services
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which organisations and individuals were consulted on the content of the dental services statement of financial entitlement before its publication on 1 April 2009; and which of these consultations took place in accordance with section 103(4) of the National Health Service Act 2006; [270397]
(2) with reference to section 103(4) of the National Health Service Act 2006, which bodies appear to him to be representative of persons to whose remuneration a directive made under section 103(1) of that Act would relate. [270444]
Ann Keen: Section 103(4) of The National Health Service Act 2006 provides that the Secretary of State, before making any direction as to payments to be made under a general dental services contract, must consult any body that appears to be representative of those whose remuneration is affected by the direction and may consult other persons as he considers appropriate.
In accordance with this legislation, the British Dental Association, the Dental Key Stakeholder Group, Dental Practitioners' Association, British Orthodontic Society and Conference of Local Dental Committees were consulted on the Statement of Financial Entitlements 2009.
Epilepsy: Waiting Lists
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets his Department has set for maximum waiting times between referral of patients with suspected epilepsy to an epilepsy specialist and the appointment with the specialist; and how many appointments met this target in the latest period for which figures are available. [270919]
Ann Keen: The Department has not set specific waiting time targets for referral of patients with suspected epilepsy.
Eyesight: Testing
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners have received free eye tests since the introduction of the policy. [270154]
Ann Keen: From 1 April 1999, eligibility for an NHS sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over.
The following tables show the number of NHS sight tests, by patient eligibility, in England between 1996-97 and 2007-08.
Patients aged 60 and over may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion (i.e. age, low income or having glaucoma or diabetes). However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60 with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. For these reasons the count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Patients may also have had more than one sight test over the 10-year period.
In 2007-08, over 11 million NHS sight tests were provided in total, an increase of 58 per cent. compared to the total of seven million sight tests in 1998-99, the last year before eligibility was extended to everyone aged 60 and over.
| NHS sight tests, by patient eligibility, in England, as at the specified financial years | ||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | |
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