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15 May 2009 : Column 1073W—continued
Yemen: Terrorism
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made on the Government’s programme of counter-terrorism capacity-building in Yemen. [273723]
David Miliband: Counter terrorism (CT) capacity-building forms part of the Government’s broader engagement with the Yemeni Government. Our CT capacity-building programme is progressing, and includes work to help counter radicalisation and improve the capability of law enforcement agencies to counter terrorism. We are co-ordinating with international partners and multilateral organisations to develop a self-sustaining Yemeni capability to tackle the terrorist threat.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of white Zimbabwean farmers who have been deprived of their land in each of the last five years. [273109]
Gillian Merron: The majority of white Zimbabwean farmers were evicted from their land between 2000 and 2002, during which period farming organisations in Zimbabwe estimate that numbers fell from between 5,000-6,000 to approx 2,000. Since 2002 the rate of evictions has slowed. Many of the remaining farmers have been forced to keep a low profile, so maintaining accurate records of farm ownership has been challenging for farming organisations. However, they estimate that approximately 700 white Zimbabwean farmers have been evicted since 2004.
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2009, Official Report, column 1088W, on abortion, if he will place in the Library a copy of each document on the file held by his Department covering the Termination of Pregnancy Bill of Session 2005-06 and 2006-07; and if he will make a statement. [270592]
Dawn Primarolo: A copy of the file has been placed in the Library.
Breast Cancer: Ethnic Minorities
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on rates of breast cancer among each ethnic minority group. [274774]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has not directly commissioned research on the incidence of breast cancer among ethnic minority groups. A relevant study undertaken by the Thames Cancer Registry has however been recently published (“Breast cancer incidence, stage, treatment and survival in ethnic groups in South East England”, British Journal of Cancer, 6 January 2009); and the National Cancer Research Institute's (NCRI) National Cancer Intelligence Network plans to publish an ethnicity and cancer report in June 2009. The report will include incidence and survival figures for ethnic groups in England in relation to selected cancer sites.
The Department funds the regional cancer registries in England. The NCRI is a partnership organisation in which the Department plays a key role.
Cardiovascular System: Health Services
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to reduce health inequalities in (a) prevalence and (b) access to care for (i) cardiac and (ii) vascular disease. [275382]
Ann Keen: The Government have made tackling health inequalities a top priority, and the most comprehensive programme ever in this country is in place to address them. For coronary heart disease (CHD), the target to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease (CHD, stroke and related diseases) by 40 per cent. in people under 75 by 2010 was met five years early and the mortality rate has now fallen by 44 per cent. when compared to the 1995-97 baseline. Death rates from CHD between the most deprived areas and the national average has narrowed and we are on track to deliver the 2010 target of at least a 40 per cent. reduction in the gap.
From April 2009, the national health service is being asked to implement a systematic and integrated vascular risk assessment and management programme—the NHS Health Check programme. This will provide a mechanism to identify earlier people at risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease and support them to reduce their risk through the provision of lifestyle advice and interventions, and smoking cessation, and preventative medication such as statins. The programme has significant potential to narrow inequalities and many primary care trusts (PCTs) are using it as a major tool in tackling health inequalities.
Other mechanisms available include the work of the National Health Inequalities Support Team in spearhead areas (the areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators), the Health Inequalities Intervention Tool, jointly developed with the Association of Public Health Observatories that support PCTs and local authorities in local priority setting (including prioritising vascular conditions), planning and commissioning of services and the work of the Improvement Foundation Programme in improving early presentation of cardiovascular disease in the spearhead areas. This is in addition to the work that PCTs are doing to address some of the risk factors
for vascular disease such as making available smoking cessation, weight management and physical activity programmes in a way that is accessible to the groups within the population who most need them.
Dementia
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on research into the (a) causes and (b) treatment of dementia in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [275887]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 640W.
Diabetes: Costs
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related conditions in the last 12 months. [275848]
Ann Keen: Estimates of national health service expenditure on diabetes are available from the programme budgeting returns.
Data for 2007-08 are not yet available. However, the following table shows the estimated gross level expenditure for diabetes from 2004-05 to 2006-07 in England. These figures include primary care trust, Department of Health (DH), strategic health authority and special health authority expenditure. It should be noted that these figures do not include prevention expenditure or general medical services/primary medical services expenditure.
| Diabetes expenditure (£000) | DH g ross expenditure (£000) | Diabetes as a proportion of gross expenditure (percentage) | |
Dietary Supplements: EU Law
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the (a) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and (b) Food Standards Agency have reviewed the effects on trade in food supplements and herbal remedies of the coming into force of the Mutual Recognition Regulation (EC) 764/2008; and if he will make a statement. [273975]
Dawn Primarolo: Decisions on whether products should be classified as herbal medicinal products, and on the authorisation of herbal medicinal products, are the subject of harmonisation measures at Community level and so are not subject to the requirements of Mutual Recognition Regulation (EC) No 764/2008. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency does not therefore expect the regulation to have a significant impact on the trade in herbal remedies.
We are advised by the Food Standards Agency that measures taken by the authorities of member states
pursuant to provisions of food law of general application are explicitly exempted from the requirements of the regulation. These exemptions relate to measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law) in relation to risks to health arising from food, and measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 (official feed and food controls) in ensuring that food business operators remedy non-compliance with food law. The European Commission is producing guidance on the application of the Mutual Recognition Regulation to different foodstuffs, including food supplements.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he last met representatives of the (a) Proprietary Association of Great Britain and (b) Health Food Manufacturers Association to discuss the EU Food Supplements Directive; [275061]
(2) what recent progress has been made in discussions on the implementation of the EU Food Supplements Directive; and if he will make a statement. [275096]
Dawn Primarolo: I met with representatives of the Health Food Manufacturers Association on 22 January 2009 and with the Proprietary Association of Great Britain on 1 April 2009 to discuss matters relating to the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC.
A meeting of the ad hoc technical group of member states, established to undertake scientific modelling on the setting of maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements, was held on 24 April 2009. At the meeting, member states presented the results of work they had carried out using the scientific models proposed by the European Commission and their respective national data on the intake of vitamins and minerals from the diet.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when Ministers in his Department next plan to raise with the European Health Commissioner (a) the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements and (b) the extension of existing European legislation to include other categories of substance; [275128]
(2) what information his Department holds on the outcome of the recent consultation by the European Commission on the possible extension of the scope of the EU Food Supplements Directive to include substances other than vitamins and minerals; what discussions (a) Ministers and officials and (b) the Food Standards Agency have had at EU level on such an extension; what his Department's policy is on such an extension; and if he will make a statement; [275137]
(3) what assessment has been made of the implications for manufacturers of supplements containing (a) botanical ingredients, (b) glucosamine, (c) creatine and (d) other ingredients of the implementation of proposals to extend the scope of the EU Food Supplements Directive. [275152]
Dawn Primarolo: There are no current plans for Health Ministers to raise the issues of the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements or the extension of the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC to substances other than vitamins and minerals with the European Health Commissioner.
Article 4(8) of the Food Supplements Directive placed an obligation on the European Commission to submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the necessity for specific rules in relation to the use of substances in food supplements other than vitamins and minerals. This report was published in December 2008 and the Commission's conclusion was that the current legislative framework is sufficient to regulate the use of substances other than vitamins and minerals in food supplements and that additional legislation in this area is not justified at this stage. No additional information is held by the Department or the Food Standards Agency in relation to the report.
The Commission's report was placed on the agenda for an exchange of views at a meeting of the General Food Law Section of the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health held on 27 March 2009. At the meeting, the United Kingdom, represented by the Food Standards Agency, supported the position the Commission had expressed in its report and the Commission reiterated its position. Health Ministers and Departmental officials have had no discussions at European level on this issue.
There are therefore no proposals currently under consideration to extend the scope of the Food Supplements Directive to substances other than vitamins and minerals. No assessment has been made of the implications of such an extension for manufacturers of supplements containing botanical ingredients, glucosamine, creatine or other ingredients.
Drugs: Babies
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many babies were born with a diagnosed addiction to drugs (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available; [272786]
(2) how many babies received treatment for (a) drug addiction and (b) alcohol problems arising from their mother's use of such substances during pregnancy (i) in each year since 1997 and (ii) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available. [272789]
Dawn Primarolo: Data on the number of babies treated for alcohol problems arising from their mother’s use of alcohol are not collected centrally.
The following tables show the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where the primary or secondary diagnosis was either neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction or withdrawal from therapeutic use of drugs in newborns. The baby is not diagnosed as addicted, but as withdrawing from the mother’s addiction.
It is not possible to provide information on the type of drug the newborn child is withdrawing from.
It is unclear whether there has been a real rise in the number of babies born suffering from the mother’s addiction, as we suspect that a better awareness of drug misuse has lead to an increase of awareness and identification. Improved engagement with pregnant drug addicted women by the national health service and improvements in treatment for drug addiction may have allowed more women to conceive and/or carry a pregnancy to full term.
| Count of cases (finished consultant birth episodes) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs for the period 1997-98 to 2007-08 | |
| Total finished consultant birth episodes | |
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