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20 May 2009 : Column 1433W—continued
Dawn Primarolo: Redundancies that occurred as a result of the implementation of the capacity improvement programme did not impact until after March 2008. Since then, there have been 686 redundancies resulting from the implementation of the capacity improvement programme. It is not possible to provide a precise figure on the number of redundancies defined as ‘compulsory’ because of the complex criteria agreed for achieving the reduction.
Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff have been recruited by the Prescription Pricing Division to implement the new capacity improvement programme prescribing system. [R] [274738]
Dawn Primarolo: Around 40 information technology specialists were recruited to assist with the development and implementation of the new capacity improvement programme prescription processing system.
Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the new capacity improvement programme prescribing system for the Prescription Pricing Division to be fully operational. [R] [274739]
Dawn Primarolo: Over 90 per cent. of the prescription processing workload, was processed on the national health service business services authority’s new capacity improvement programme processing system from November 2008. There are plans for prescriptions dispensed by dispensing doctors and prescriptions personally administered by doctors to be processed on the new system from July 2009. Additionally, there are plans for appliance contractors’ dispensing to be processed on the new system from April 2010. In aggregate, this represents approximately 99.5 per cent. of prescription processing work.
Rehabilitation: Lincolnshire
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding is being provided to the Middlegate detoxing and residential rehabilitation unit in Lincolnshire in 2009-10. [275903]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
Places at Middlegate Lodge and other young people's substance misuse residential treatment facilities are primarily commissioned and funded by local authorities.
Government are providing £24.7 million to local authorities in 2009-10 to support such drug and alcohol treatment through the Pooled Treatment Budget and this is matched by additional funds from the area based grant according to local need.
Social Services
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his Department's Green Paper on the future of adult social care. [276709]
Phil Hope: The Government announced in the Budget report that the Green Paper on care and support reform will be published in June 2009.
Swine Flu
Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what quantities of pathogen-inactivated, a1H1N1-free blood products are held in the UK; whether his Department plans to adopt pathogen inactivation for all blood products for civilian and military use if the World Health Organisation designates the a1H1N1 outbreak a pandemic; and if he will make a statement; [276497]
(2) what his Department's plans are to ensure protection against the H1N1 strain of influenza type A; if he will take steps to ensure that UK blood stocks are H1N1-free; if his Department will fast-track consideration of pathogen inactivation for blood products by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs; and if he will make a statement. [276498]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the written answers I gave the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) and the hon. Member for Brighton Kemptown (Dr. Turner) on 15 May 2009, Official Report, column 1084W.
Tranquillisers
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues on the safe half-life of a drug intended for use as a sleeping tablet; what the half-life of nitrazepam is; and how many nitrazepam prescription items were dispensed in 2008. [276004]
Dawn Primarolo: Nitrazepam belongs to the class of medicines known as benzodiazepines. It is licensed for the short-term treatment of severe insomnia which is considered to be disabling or subjecting the individual to unacceptable distress, where daytime sedation is acceptable.
Nitrazepam acts in 30 to 60 minutes to produce sleep lasting six to eight hours. The half-life is, on average, 24 hours but depending on the individual can range from 16 to 38 hours. As a result nitrazepam has a prolonged action and may give rise to residual effects the following day, and repeated doses tend to be cumulative. Shorter acting agents are therefore preferable for the majority of patients requiring treatment for insomnia.
The half-life of a drug intended for use as a sleeping tablet is only one of many factors that influences the safe use of a medicine. Information to aid the safe use of nitrapezam is provided in the product information which consists of the Summary of Product Characteristics for healthcare professionals and the Patient Information Leaflet. These are available on the internet at
Additional prescribing advice is provided in the British National Formulary, which is sent to all doctors within the national health service.
Guidance on the safe use of benzodiazepines has been issued by the Department on a number of occasions; the focus of this advice has been on the need for restriction of use to short-term only. In the case of nitrazepam the recommended treatment period varies from a few days to two weeks with a maximum of four weeks including the tapering off process.
Based on information obtained from the Prescription Cost Analysis database it has been estimated that 1,172,799 prescription items of nitrazepam were dispensed in the community in England during 2008. This figure does not include items which may have been dispensed within a hospital setting.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many staff his Department shares with the Department for Children, Schools and Families. [274066]
Mr. Simon: 13 members of staff work in the Joint Apprenticeships Unit which reports to both DIUS and DCSF. They are employed by DIUS on DIUS terms and conditions.
Since DIUS was established, the DCSF has also provided some services under a shared agreement.
Departmental Training
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department has spent on IT training for its staff in each year since its creation. [274219]
Mr. Simon: The information is not available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Work Experience
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many work placements his Department offered to (a) school pupils, (b) university students and (c) graduates in each year since its creation. [274482]
Mr. Simon: The information is stated in the following table.
| School pupils | University students and graduates | |
The Department is currently in the process of planning its own work experience programme for 2009.
Education: Statistics
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what data on education and skills his Department collects at lower layer super output area level. [275353]
Mr. Simon: DIUS collects a variety of information which in theory is capable of being analysed at lower layer super output area (SOA) as it includes the postcode of the business, provider or learner (see Table 1). In many cases, however, the data is not suitable for analysis, or not routinely made available, at this geographic level.
Lower layer SOA is generally only used as a building block to aggregate data to higher level geographies. Very few datasets allow for meaningful analysis to be produced by lower layer SOA (there are over 32,000 lower layer SOAs in England). Even where this is possible, significant work may be involved in establishing a suitable method for presentation and in resolving other statistical issues such as avoiding disclosure. Therefore, data may not be fit for purpose at lower layer SOA under National Statistics protocols.
Table 1 provides details of education and skills data collected by, or on behalf of, the Department which includes information by postcode of business, provider or learner. It also provides information on the level of geography which is currently released.
Justice
Antisocial Behaviour: Fixed Penalties
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements are in place to verify addresses given by recipients of penalty notices for disorder. [276121]
Mr. Straw: The Government issue operational guidance on the issuing of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) to police forces under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. This guidance sets out the criteria which should be considered by police officers before issuing PNDs and includes a section on identification, making it clear that a PND may be issued only where sufficient evidence of place of residence exists. The guidance says:
“Accurate identification of suspects and their place of residence are... critical to the effectiveness of the [PND] scheme... address checks must be rigorous” (emphasis in original).
Children: Abuse
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people aged 21 years and over with a previous conviction have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for offences relating to child abuse in each year since 1997. [276187]
Mr. Straw: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| N umber of offenders aged 21 and over convicted for offences relating to child abuse England and Wales, and the number with previous convictions, 2000 to 2007( 1,2,3) | ||
| Number of convictions | ||
| Of which: | ||
| Convictions for offences relating to child abuse( 1,2,3) | Number of convictions where the offender had one or more previous convictions for offences of any kind | |
| (1) Figures are counts of primary offences only. (2) An offender convicted on several occasions will appear in the table more than once. (3) Includes cruelty or neglect of a child; abandoning a child under two years; rape or sexual assault of a child or sexual activity involving a child, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (which came into effect on 1 May 2004); causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person (introduced on 21 March 2005). | ||
These figures have been drawn from the police’s administrative IT system, the police national computer (PNC), which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police. PNC data has been used here rather than court proceedings data, which is the usual source of published conviction statistics, as the PNC provides information on the criminal history of offenders. Figures before 2000 have not been provided as the extract of PNC data held by the Ministry of Justice is incomplete before that date.
Equivalent figures for offenders who have been prosecuted are not available.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of those aged 21 years or over convicted of offences relating to child abuse received (a) immediate custody, (b) a suspended sentence, (c) a community sentence, (d) a fine, (e) a conditional or absolute discharge and (f) other treatment in each year since 1997. [276231]
Mr. Straw: The requested information is shown in the table, the proportion of those given various disposals is shown as a percentage of those sentenced. Lags in time between conviction and sentencing may mean that the total numbers convicted and sentenced in a year may not match. Data held by the Ministry of Justice record the age of the offender at the time of sentencing, the figures show all offenders aged over 21 and over at that point.
There is no specific offence of ‘child abuse’. The term ‘child abuse’ describes harm caused to a child arising from emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect caused by a parent or carer.
The statistics provided in this answer are for those offences currently identified as such, including causing or allowing the death of a child, sexual assaults against under 16s, and cruelty or neglect of a child. Not included are other forms of abuse for which there is no separate legal category, offences where the victim cannot be identified as a child from the type of offence, and cases of abuse which cannot be identified because they were proceeded against under more general offences such as physical assault.
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