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29 Apr 2009 : Column 1317W—continued
There is no formal classification of ‘ultra-orphan’ drugs. The term has been used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to refer to drugs for the treatment of conditions with a United Kingdom prevalence of less than one in 50,000.
Pregnancy: Health Education
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to inform parents about the (a) benefits and (b) practice of breastfeeding; [271751]
(2) what guidance his Department makes available to parents on the provision of adequate nutrition to children during infancy. [271754]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has undertaken a range of initiatives to educate parents about the benefits and practice of breastfeeding. These include: advice through the National Breastfeeding Helpline; the DVD “From bump to breastfeeding” made available to all new mothers and a range of leaflets including “Birth to Five, Weaning leaflets”, providing advice on nutrition and the breastfeeding leaflet “Off to the best start”, which is available through the national health service.
Educational materials are also available at national and local activities held during the annual National Breastfeeding Awareness Week. The Department is also planning to introduce a Change4Life under 2's marketing strategy later in 2009.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on variations in complementary feeding in infancy, including within (i) different ethnic groups and (ii) socially disadvantaged groups. [271755]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department's Infant Feeding survey, conducted every five years, collects information on infant feeding practices adopted by mothers from the birth of their baby until the age of 10-months. It provides national estimates of breastfeeding incidence and prevalence as well as capturing data on other aspects of infant feeding, such as the use of breast milk substitutes and information about weaning practices and age of introduction of complementary foods. Analysis includes a breakdown by age, socio-economic group and ethnicity. The next survey will be undertaken in 2010.
The Department and the Food Standards Agency are also jointly planning to carry out a diet and nutrition survey of infants and young children aged four months to eighteen months in the United Kingdom. The new survey will aim to gather detailed information about the diets of a representative sample of infants and young children in the UK, and will serve to bridge the gap in data between the age groups covered by the Infant Feeding Survey and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote the Healthy Start scheme among eligible women; and what evaluation he has made of the effect of the scheme on the nutritional benefits for mothers and young children. [271756]
Dawn Primarolo: Every family with children newly eligible for Healthy Start is sent an invitation to apply. Information about the scheme is also included in every Government leaflet about the qualifying benefits or tax credits, the Pregnancy and Birth to five books given out by midwives, and at: www.healthystart.nhs.uk
The National Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services expects health professionals to signpost the scheme to all pregnant women and families with young children. We provide application leaflets and other materials for use by midwives and health visitors, and distribute the application leaflets to general practitioner surgeries via the Waiting Room Information Services scheme.
Longer term plans to evaluate the impact of Healthy Start have been scoped and appropriate research will be commissioned shortly.
Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for which long-term conditions entitle patients to free NHS prescriptions; and how many patients received free prescriptions for each condition in each of the last three years. [271587]
Dawn Primarolo: A person is entitled to apply for a medical exemption certificate if they have:
a permanent fistula (including caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy, or ileostomy) which requires continuous surgical dressing or requires an appliance;
forms of hypoadrenalism (including Addison's disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential;
diabetes insipidus or other forms of hypopituitarism;
diabetes mellitus (except where treatment of the diabetes is by diet alone);
hypoparathyroidism;
myasthenia gravis;
myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism requiring thyroid hormone replacement);
continuing physical disability which prevents the patient from leaving his residence without the help of another person; or
they are undergoing treatment for cancer, the effects of cancer or the effects of current or previous cancer treatment (from 1 April 2009).
To claim exemption from national health service prescription charges the person must hold a valid exemption certificate and complete the declaration on the reverse of the prescription form.
The information requested on how many patients received free prescriptions for each condition is not collected. However, in England 88 per cent. of prescription items are already dispensed free of charge.
Social Workers
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social workers qualified in each year from 2000 to 2008; and how many vacancies for newly-qualified social workers there were in each of those years. [269769]
Phil Hope: The number of newly qualified social workers for adult and children’s services in each year from 2000 to 2008 in England is set out as follows. Figures for 2008-09 are not shown as they do not cover the full year yet.
| Diploma in social work | Social work degree | Total | |
| Note: The numbers are from 1 August 2000 onwards and broken down by academic years. Source: General Social Care Council | |||
Information on the number of vacancies for newly-qualified social workers is not held centrally. Recruitment of social work staff is a matter for the employer concerned.
South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria Monitor applied in 2006 when judging the capacity of South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Trust to provide high quality health care. [271743]
Mr. Bradshaw: We are informed by the Chairman of Monitor (the statutory name of which is the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts) that Monitor’s assessment of all applicant NHS trusts and mental health trusts is focused around three key criteria:
legally constituted;
well governed; and
financially viable.
Monitor’s assessment of governance includes clinical governance issues that could affect the quality of care provided. Monitor’s assessment approach covering clinical governance at the time of the South Staffordshire application in 2006 included:
review of trust processes;
review of performance data;
meetings with the trust’s strategic health authority and primary care trust(s); and
benchmarking.
All NHS foundation trusts (NHS FTs) are required to comply with their terms of authorisation. The terms of authorisation are a set of detailed requirements covering how NHS FTs must operate. They include:
the general requirement to operate effectively, efficiently and economically;
requirements to meet healthcare targets and national standards; and
the requirement to cooperate with other NHS organisations.
Teenage Pregnancy
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many teenage pregnancies there were in England in each year since 1997; and how many there were in each parliamentary constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available. [271184]
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 April 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many teenage pregnancies there were in England in each year since 1997; and how many there were in each parliamentary constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available. (271184)
Available figures are estimates of the number of conceptions that resulted in a live birth and/or stillbirth (a maternity) or a legal termination.
Numbers of conceptions to women aged under 18 in England, for the years 1997 to 2007 (the most recent year for which figures are available), are shown in the attached table. Figures for 2007 are provisional.
Information on conceptions is not routinely published for parliamentary constituencies. Figures cannot be provided by parliamentary constituency because of the risk of disclosing individual’s information, due to small differences between the parliamentary constituency and local authority boundaries. Conception figures for local authorities can be found at:
| Number of conceptions to women aged under 18 in England. 1997-2007( 1) | |
| Under 18 (number) | |
| (1) Figures for 2007 are provisional. | |
International Development
Departmental Data Protection
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's IT security hierarchy. [259818]
Mr. Thomas: It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of the Department's IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Forests: Conservation
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to (a) reduce rates of deforestation in developing countries and (b) provide assistance for people in areas of developing countries with high levels of deforestation. [270887]
Mr. Thomas: Incentives to developing countries to reduce deforestation will be negotiated at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention in Copenhagen in December 2009. In advance of international agreement on how to provide these incentives we need to help build the capacity of developing countries to reduce deforestation. Last December, the UK announced a contribution of up to £100 million to support such work. This is in addition to a £15 million contribution to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility which is helping developing countries prepare themselves to access larger future incentives for reducing deforestation.
Last year the UK committed £60 million to help reduce deforestation and poverty in the Congo Basin. This will help pay for the costs of conserving forests so that they can continue to provide local communities with their needs while maintaining the environmental benefits they provide to the global community.
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