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23 Jun 2009 : Column 848W—continued
Community Hospitals
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding he expects to be allocated to community hospitals under the Community Hospitals Fund in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [279929]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: To date, 28 schemes have been awarded funding, totalling around £250 million and the following table sets this out in more detail.
Dental Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to primary care trusts on the criteria applicable to the job specification for dental practice advisers; and if he will make a statement. [281172]
Ann Keen: We have placed a model job description for a primary care trust dental adviser, which was prepared by the National Association of Dental Advisers, on the National Health Service Primary Care Commissioning website at:
We will be advising on the role of the advisers in the dental public health team in guidance in preparation on building capacity and capability in dental public health.
Departmental Data Protection
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many notifications his Department made to the Information Commissioner in the year ended 30 April 2009 in respect of the loss or mishandling of personal information or data; what was notified in each such case; and how many individuals were the subjects of personal information or data in respect of which such notifications were made; [278739]
(2) how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have been (i) disciplined and (ii) dismissed for (A) breaches of data protection requirements and (B) inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data in the last 12 months. [278740]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Under the mandatory requirements of the Data Handling Report published on 25 June 2008, the Department is required to give a summary report on data breaches reported to the Information Commissioner in our annual resource accounts.
The Department reported on personal data breaches in the 2007-08 annual resource account and this can be found at:
The Department had no reportable losses or other incidents involving personal information in the year ended 30 April 2009 and therefore made no notifications to the Information Commissioner.
In the past 12 months, no member of the Department’s staff has been disciplined or dismissed for breaches of data protection requirements or inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data.
Similarly, no disciplinary actions for these reasons have been carried out in the Department’s agencies—Purchasing and Supply Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency—in the past year.
Information is a key asset to Government and their correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of Her Majesty’s Government. The
Security Policy Framework and the Data Handling Report produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handles and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of primary care trusts which store unencrypted personal data on (a) laptop computers, (b) memory sticks and (c) other portable media devices; and if he will make a statement. [278856]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: All national health service organisations are individually legally responsible for the data in their possession and for complying with data protection legislation. They are expected to take data loss extremely seriously and to be open about incidents and the action taken as a result. Strategic health authorities are now required to regularly publish details of data losses on their websites. The NHS chief executive has written to all senior NHS managers reminding them of their responsibilities, and to make it clear that patient data should not be stored on unencrypted portable media.
The appropriate management of patient records is a key core standard against which the Care Quality Commission assesses all NHS bodies.
Departmental Marketing
Mike Penning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health which (a) companies, (b) consultancies and
(c) other external firms have been contracted to review his Department’s advertising in the last 10 years; and at what cost in each case. [278265]
Phil Hope: The Department has not contracted any companies, consultancies or other external firms to review its advertising programme in the last 10 years.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in his Department are paid an annual salary of more than £100,000. [278489]
Phil Hope: There were 71 senior civil servants in the Department who earned a salary of over £100,000 at 1 April 2008. Salary includes base pay and all pay-related allowances. Further details are available in the departmental report 2009, which was published on 11 June 2009.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what each (a) of his Department's arms length bodies, (b) strategic health authority and (c) special health authority has spent on public affairs consultancy in each of the last 10 years. [279216]
Phil Hope: The information for strategic health authorities is not held centrally.
The information for arms length bodies (ALBs), including special health authorities (SpHAs), is shown in the following table:
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