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17 Jun 2009 : Column 372W—continued
Planning Permission: Nature Conservation
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of planning applications have been made in respect of sites where a population of (a) great crested newts and (b) bats has been found. [279221]
Mr. Ian Austin: The total number of sites subject to planning applications at which great crested newts or bats have been found is not collected. Great crested newts and bats are protected species under the European Habitats Directive and any development proposal that would exceptionally have an adverse effect on them would require a licence from Natural England.
Regional Resilience Forums
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who the members of each regional resilience forum in each Government Office region are. [279875]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The membership of each regional resilience forum in each Government office region has been placed in the Library.
Sheltered Housing
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will provide guidance to local authorities on use by tenants in sheltered housing of individualised budgets for the employment of housing scheme managers in advance of the expected increase in take-up of direct payments in 2011. [280275]
Mr. Ian Austin: CLG will not be providing specific guidance to local authorities to encourage tenants in sheltered housing to move to individual budgets for the employment of housing scheme managers. Individual budgets have been developed to ensure that service users are empowered to choose the service which best suit their needs framework. Also, providing guidance would not fit with the direction on devolution and increased decision making which authorities now have via the new local government framework.
Social Rented Housing: Standards
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many boilers have been replaced under the Decent Homes programme in each of the last three years. [279041]
Mr. Ian Austin: We do not collect data on the number of boilers installed in council homes. However, the statistical return that local authorities complete at the end of each financial year does include data on the number of dwellings that have had new central heating systems installed.
| Number of local authority dwellings receiving new central heating systems by year | |
| Number | |
| Source: Data from the Business Plan Statistical Appendix | |
The Department does not collect data on insulation works by registered social landlords.
Supporting People Scheme
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to ensure the continued operation of Handy Person schemes after 1 April 2010. [280499]
Mr. Ian Austin: CLG will provide £17 million dedicated funding for handypersons services, via a separate named grant, in 2010-11. This will be the second year of a two year programme to build capacity in the sector, announced in the Government’s housing strategy for an ageing society, Lifetime homes, lifetime neighbourhoods.
Waste Management: Advisory Bodies
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2009, Official Report, column 1164W, on the Waste Regional Advisory Group, what the (a) membership and (b) remit of each waste regional advisory group is. [279997]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Government Office membership and remit of waste regional advisory group is as in the following table.
Health
Blood: Safety
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what process his Department follows for approving medical products designed to ensure the safety of blood prior to their adoption for use by the National Blood Service; [279472]
(2) how many CE-marked medical products have subjected by his Department to efficacy and safety validation procedures in addition to those performed by manufacturers in (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009 to date. [279473]
Gillian Merron: The Medicines and Healthcare products Agency (MHRA) which is the Competent Authority in the United Kingdom for medical devices does not approve medical devices designed to ensure the safety of blood before they are placed on the market. Manufacturers of such medical devices must meet the relevant essential requirements in the Medical Devices directives prior to signing a declaration of conformity and CE marking their products.
Such higher risk medical devices must obtain an EC Certificate of Conformity from a Notified Body as part of this conformity assessment process. As such MHRA has not carried out any safety or validation procedures on any CE marked medical devices in addition to those carried out by the manufacturer. Since the UK Blood Service has a legal responsibility to ensure the quality and safety of blood products, the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (MSBTO) also recommended that clinical trials be carried out, using blood which had been subjected to prion filtration. The independent Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs replaced MSBTO in 2008.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the P-Capt prion filter has been subjected to safety and efficacy tests additional to those performed by the manufacturer by his Department. [279474]
Gillian Merron: The Government's independent expert scientific committee on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies), the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, recommended that the UK Blood Service should commission an independent validation of such products. The UK Blood Services have commissioned an independent assessment of the efficacy of the filter.
Quality studies on filtered blood are being conducted in accordance with UK Blood Service guidelines.
The need for safety studies was endorsed by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs in 2006.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to his Department of testing the efficacy and safety of the P-Capt prion filter has been since such tests were required. [279475]
Gillian Merron: Efficacy and safety tests on the P-Capt filter have incurred no cost to the Department.
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