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20 July 2009 : Column 990W—continued
NHS: Management Consultants
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on management consultants in each year since 1996-97. [287693]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department does not collect the specific information requested centrally.
NHS: Manpower
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public health workers have been employed in the NHS in the East of England region in each year since 1997. [286273]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table, however, shows the number of medical and dental staff within the public health medicine (PHM) and community health services (CHS) group of specialists in the East of England strategic health authority (SHA) area since 1997.
It is worth noting, that there are increasing numbers of non-medical public health workers, following the introduction of an MSc in public health for non-medical staff, which would not be picked up in the medical and dental workforce census. There have also been a number of reorganisations within the national health service since 1997, which may account for fluctuation in figures.
| NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS): Medical and dental staff within the PHM and CHS group of specialties in East of England SHA, England, at 30 September each year | |
| Headcount | |
| Notes: The data in the table shows only medical and dental staff specifically working within the PHM and CHS specialty group. The public health medicine area is a large, somewhat complex area and it is not possible to separately identify staff in this area using the available census data breakdowns. Data has therefore been provided for those staff we can identify as working in this area. Figures exclude all non-medical staff, such as nursing and allied health professionals. | |
| Data quality: Workforce statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data. Processing methods and procedures are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where this happens any impact on figures already published will be assessed but unless this is significant at national level they will not be changed. Where there is impact only at detailed or local level this will be footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census. | |
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2009, Official Report, columns 348-49W, on NHS: manpower, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the National Framework Agreements; what pay rates are used under each agreement; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of such pay that (a) agencies and (b) employees receive under each such contract. [286311]
Ann Keen: The national framework agreements for these contracts and the rates of pay included in them are confidential and commercially sensitive. The framework agreement has only recently been awarded and to release its full provisions would not be in the commercial interests of the companies concerned nor of the national health service as a whole.
Although there is an interest in releasing this data to ensure that the public sector's procurement practices are as transparent as possible, we must set this against the risk that the release of the information would prejudice fair competition between the current suppliers of temporary staff and their competitors both in this framework agreement and in future tenders.
It would be extremely difficult to estimate the proportion of pay that agencies and employees receive and present it in a meaningful form. This is because every supplier tenders a unique pay and charge rate for each type of temporary worker supplied. For doctors alone there are 140 different grades and specialties each with an individual pay and charge rate. On top of that there are 19 different discount options and both a long and a short-term booking version from each of the 53 agencies giving nearly 300,000 prices on this contract alone.
NHS: Meat
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to the NHS on the procurement of halal meat; and whether that guidance differentiates between stunned and pre-stunned meat. [287720]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department does not provide advice to national health service trusts on the purchase of halal meat.
NHS: Public Consultation
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what host has been appointed to each local involvement network; and how much funding his Department provided to each such network in 2008-09. [287997]
Ann Keen: Local authorities with social services responsibilities are under a statutory duty to make arrangements for local involvement network (LINk) activities to be carried on in their area. They do this by contracting with what is known as a host organisation. Neither local authorities nor hosts are required to inform the Department of which host has been contracted for which LINk.
However, the National Centre for Involvement maintains a contact list of host organisations on an informal basis which is available as a .pdf document. The latest version has been placed in the Library.
The Department provides funds to local authorities to support LINk activities as part of the annual area-based grant. The grant is not ring-fenced. The allocations to each local authority for 2008-09 to 2010-11 are given in the following table.
| £ million | |||
| Local authority | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
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