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9 July 2009 : Column 970W—continued
Renewable Energy: Consultation
24. Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects to announce the conclusions of his Department’s consultation on renewable energy. [285174]
Mr. Kidney: We have already published a summary of responses to the Renewable Energy Strategy consultation on the DECC website, and we will publish a new Renewable Energy Strategy, in response to the consultation, later this month.
Fuel Poverty
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when his Department began its review of its strategy for tackling fuel poverty; and if he will make a statement. [285095]
Mr. Kidney: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change announced that the Government would be reviewing their fuel poverty policies during her evidence to the EFRA Select Committee in January 2009. The Director for the review was formally appointed in March 2009, and the majority of the team was in place in April 2009.
Initial findings of this review are expected in the summer of 2009. Until the review has delivered its findings it would be inappropriate to consider whether to revise the Government's fuel poverty strategy.
Fuel Poverty: Public Consultation
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what public consultation he plans to undertake as part of his Department's review of its strategy for tackling fuel poverty. [285093]
Mr. Kidney:
DECC is currently undertaking a review of its fuel poverty policies. Initial findings of this review are expected in the summer of 2009. Until the review
has delivered its findings it would be inappropriate to consider whether to revise the Government's fuel poverty strategy. If the Government decided they did wish to revise the strategy, it would comply with the code of practice on consultation.
Office for Renewable Energy Development
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the proposed Office for Renewable Energy Development will become operational; and if he will make a statement. [285041]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 8 July 2009]: The Government announced in the Manufacturing Strategy Review of September 2008, “Manufacturing: New Challenges, New Opportunities” that the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) would be established as the Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) was finalised. The Government intend to publish the RES this summer and the ORED will be formally launched in line with its earlier announcement.
Sizewell A Power Station
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what marine environmental assessment the Government have made in respect of the discharge of coolant from Sizewell A. [280804]
Mr. Kidney: The Environment Agency, as the independent regulator, carried out an assessment of the radiological impact of the discharge and concluded that there had been no additional impact beyond that assessed and authorised for routine discharges on the marine environment.
Warm Front Scheme
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent representations his Department has received from the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors on eaga plc work on the Warm Front scheme; and if he will make a statement. [284468]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 6 July 2009]: The Department has not received any representations from either the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors (IDEA) or its members on eaga plc's work on the Warm Front scheme.
The Department has however received seven representations from the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors (IDEA) and its members alleging a conflict of interest around eaga plc's role in administering the Warm Front scheme and the services they offer on a commercial basis such as the provision of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for dwellings.
Eaga plc is a commercial enterprise offering a variety of services to both central and local government as well as the social housing and private sectors. The provision of EPCs to external parties does not represent a conflict of interest in terms of their role managing the Warm Front scheme.
Health
Alcoholism
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished admissions to hospital where an illness related to alcohol was a primary or secondary diagnosis at the outset there were in each NHS trust in each of the last three years. [284843]
Gillian Merron: The number of alcohol-related hospital admissions, either with a primary or secondary diagnosis, in each national health service trust, for each of the last three years that data are available is given in a table, which has been placed in the Library.
Alcoholism: Accident and Emergency Departments
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished admission episodes where the admission method was via accident and emergency for an alcohol-related diagnosis there were in each NHS trust in each of the last five years. [284842]
Gillian Merron: The number of alcohol-related hospital admissions via accident and emergency, in each national health service trust, for each of the last five years that data are available is given in a table, which has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Finance
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his Department’s programme budgeting data for 2007-08. [283287]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department plans to publish the programme budgeting data for 2007-08 on 16 July 2009.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to update its web browsers from Internet Explorer 6. [285014]
Phil Hope: The Department is currently in the process of reviewing its options for updating its web browsers from Internet Explorer 6. No decision has yet been made as to which web browser the Department will update to or when any update might take place.
Departmental Procurement
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes have been made to his Department's (a) office equipment and (b) stationery purchasing policy in the last six months. [285313]
Phil Hope: The Department has not reviewed or changed its purchasing policy for office equipment or stationery in the last six months.
Departmental Secondment
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many employees of his Department have been posted to work in offices of hon. Members of each political party in each of the last five years. [284892]
Phil Hope: Civil servants are required to act in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Service Code.
Civil servants may shadow hon. Members as part of a programme run by the Industry and Parliament Trust. Information about number of civil servants from the Department that have had such an attachment is not held centrally.
Drugs: Medical Treatments
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on funding drug treatment services in each year since 1997; and what the projected expenditure on drug treatment services is in each year to 2010-11. [284840]
Gillian Merron: Since 2001, the Department and the Home Office have provided specific resources for drug treatment in the form of the pooled drug treatment budget (PTB). This funding is allocated to 149 drug teams across the country to use, along with local mainstream funding to provide for treatment and services according to the specific needs of each locality. Information on drug treatment spend prior to 2001 is not held centrally.
| PTB allocation (£ million) | |
| (1) Not yet available | |
Drugs: Misuse
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many problem drug users there were in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in (i) 1997 and (ii) each of the last five years; and how many received treatment. [282856]
Gillian Merron: Data on problem drug users in 1997 and for problem drug users in Castle Point are not collected centrally. For planning purposes, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse have advised Essex that they use an estimate of 3,486 problematic drug users(1) (PDU). However, there are insufficient data on the number of PDU to determine how the PDU population has changed over time.
Data on the number of problematic drug users in treatment in Essex since 2004-05 are given as follows. Data for 2008-09 are not yet available.
(1) Based on data collected by the university of Glasgow covering the period 2004-05 to 2006-07.
| Number | |
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were discharged from treatment for drug misuse in the categories of (a) treatment completed drug free, (b) treatment completed not drug free, (c) dropped out, (d) referred to other treatment, (e) individual entered prison, (f) individual died and (g) reason not known in each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08. [284838]
Gillian Merron: The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse's National Drug Treatment Monitoring System collects discharge information and the numbers recorded for the discharge codes requested for the period 2004-05 to 2007-08 are as follows:
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| Note: Data collected for 2003-04 were not robust enough to provide figures for that year. | ||||
Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to Lord Laird of 1 June 2009, Official Report, House of Lords, column 31WA, on health: former UK residents, if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the EU-level meeting held in November 2008. [284193]
Gillian Merron: The European Commission does not make the minutes of the Audit Board publicly available. However, details of agreed average costs are published in the Official Journal of the European Union. A copy of this has been placed in the Library.
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