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12 Oct 2009 : Column 717W—continued

The NIHR Clinical Research Network is additionally providing national health service research infrastructure support to 16 SGD-related studies.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) also invests in genomic research and genomic medicine. The MRC receives its grant in aid from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Haemophilia

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on the involvement of people affected by haemophilia in the consultation process for the re-tendering of the national contract for clotting factors for patients with haemophilia. [290517]

Gillian Merron: Work is under way with NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency to tender for new national contracts for blood clotting factors, which will commence from April 2010.

As part of the consultation process the Haemophilia Society (which represents patients affected by haemophilia) have been intensively involved in the planning stages of this contract and are also facilitating patient representation in the evaluation of products which will form part of the decision-making process.

In addition, a series of workshops are currently being rolled out across the national health service to ensure as wide as possible consultation is carried out prior to commencing these contacts this will representation of patients through their clinicians and directly through the Haemophilia Society.

Health Visitors

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of qualified health visitors aged (a) between 20 and 30 years, (b) between 31 and 40 years, (c) between 41 and 50 years, (d) between 51 and 60 years and (e) 60 years and over who are not presently practising. [289309]

Phil Hope: The Department does not collect this information.

12 Oct 2009 : Column 718W

Data about lapsed registered health visiting qualifications in England are held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Strategic health authorities in partnership with the Department are considering currently the feasibility of developing a Return to Practice programme for their areas.

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of health visitors were (a) male and (b) female in each year since 1997. [289387]

Ann Keen: The numbers are given in the following table.

NHS hospital and community health services: Health visitors in England by gender as at 30 September each specified year
	headcount and percentage headcount
	All staff	Male	Female	Unknown	% Male	% Female
1997	12,410	140	12,270	0	1.1	98.9
1998	12,572	164	12,071	337	1.3	98.7
1999	12,800	189	12,260	351	1.5	98.5
2000	12,827	185	12,179	463	1.5	98.5
2001	13,053	180	12,310	563	1.4	98.6
2002	12,774	165	12,149	460	1.3	98.7
2003	12,984	151	12,309	524	1.2	98.8
2004	13,303	173	12,517	613	1.4	98.6
2005	12,818	173	12,191	454	1.4	98.6
2006	12,034	176	11,507	351	1.5	98.5
2007	11,569	139	11,140	290	1.2	98.8
2008	11,190	127	10,704	359	1.2	98.8
Note: Percentages are based on the numbers of staff whose gender is known. The gender of bank staff is not collected. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce census.

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of health visitors were from black and minority ethnic groups in each year since 1997. [289388]

Ann Keen: The numbers are given in the following table.

NHS hospital and community health services: Health visitors in England by ethnic group as at 30 September each specified year
	Old ethnic codes
	White	Black	Asian	Other	Unknown
1997	9,802	535	155	443	1,475
1998	10,184	601	178	278	1,331
1999	10,511	624	208	268	1,216
2000	10,511	624	208	268	1,216
2001	6,754	391	147	134	512
2002	3,929	154	49	79	317
2003	2,381	149	32	38	112
2004	348	14	5	4	13
2005	214	80	4	5	10
2006	108	29	7	1	16
2007(2)	32	14	7	0	8
2008	23	11	4	0	4

12 Oct 2009 : Column 719W

12 Oct 2009 : Column 720W

	New ethnic codes
	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or black British	Chinese	Other	Unknown	Total ethnic minority groups( 1) (%)	All groups
1997	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10.4	12,410
1998	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9.4	12,572
1999	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10.2	12,800
2000	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9.5	12,827
2001	3,750	16	53	224	28	45	999	9.0%	13,053
2002	6,390	41	157	339	53	48	1,218	8.2%	12,774
2003	8,229	55	119	467	64	57	1,281	8.5%	12,984
2004	10,680	75	170	699	79	86	1,130	9.3%	13,303
2005	10,579	72	170	685	76	74	849	9.7%	12,818
2006	10,027	81	164	705	73	70	753	10.0%	12,034
2007(2)	9,449	70	169	983	71	59	707	12.6%	11,569
2008	9,156	68	178	728	68	57	893	10.8%	11,190
(1) "Unknown" includes unstated and unrecorded ethnic group. The ethnic group of all bank staff is not recorded. (2) We are aware of the apparent increase in the numbers of black/black British health visitors in 2007 then subsequent decrease in 2008. We have analysed this data from a number of different perspectives and have concluded that there is not a single cause for this. Data is now extracted from Electronic Staff Record and this has improved on data quality from previous years. Percentages are calculated on the numbers of staff whose ethnic group is known. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce census.

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