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9 Nov 2009 : Column 117W—continued
Coeliac Disease
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with coeliac disease; what screening takes place to identify those with the disease; how much the NHS spent on (a) identifying and (b) treating those with coeliac disease in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [298150]
Ann Keen: We have made no estimate of the number of people diagnosed with coeliac disease.
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee, which advises Ministers and the national health service on screening policy and its implementation, has recommended that whole-population screening for coeliac disease should not be offered. Guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommend that serological testing is offered, or that clinicians consider offering serological testing, to children and adults presenting with specific signs, symptoms or existing conditions as defined in the guidance.
National health service expenditure on identifying and treating those with coeliac disease is not collected centrally.
Dental Services
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assistance and advice his Department provides to NHS dentistry practices which have difficulty meeting demand for their services; [297955]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is sufficient provision of NHS dentistry in rural areas. [297956]
Ann Keen: Dental practices contract with their local primary care trusts (PCTs) to deliver an agreed level of annual dental service. It is for each PCT to ensure that it contracts with sufficient practices at sufficient levels of service to meet local need for national health service dental care. Dentists who are able and willing to do more NHS work can approach their local PCT, or bid for extra work where local PCTs are inviting tenders.
Access to NHS dental care is growing steadily, with 721,000 more patients seen in the 24 months ending June 2009 than in the 24 months ending June 2008. But we recognise there is further to go. The NHS has committed itself to ensuring that, by March 2011, all those who actively seek NHS dental care can access it. We have put in place the Dental Access Programme to support the NHS in achieving this commitment.
Departmental Rail Travel
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on first class rail travel for officials in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06. [298394]
Phil Hope: The Department has spent the following on first-class rail travel.
| £ | |
It should be noted that the above figures represent travel booked through the central booking system which constitutes the vast majority of how travel is booked and paid for.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (a) how many and (b) what proportion of telephone calls made to lines operated by (i) his Department and (ii) the NHS were classified as prank calls in the latest period for which figures are available. [298208]
Phil Hope: The Department does not collect information on the number of prank calls to Department of Health operated phone lines in the requested format.
Records on such calls to the Department's communications directorate phone lines are maintained but those figures also include wrong numbers, people
who put the phone down before speaking to an operator and people who have misjudged the services offered by the line they called.
The Department's communications directorate phone lines overall are within the industry average of around 10 per cent. calls of this type.
Information on national health service or any other telephone services that may be run on behalf of the Department are not held centrally and cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
Direct Payments
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people received payments under the direct payment scheme in each year since 2000; and how much was paid out in each such year; [298326]
(2) how much his Department spent on the direct payments scheme in each year since 2000. [298327]
Phil Hope: Financial data on the total running cost of the direct payments scheme is not collected centrally by the Department.
However, the NHS Information Centre for health and social care collects and publishes information on the number of adults receiving direct payments provided by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) and the gross current expenditure on these direct payments.
The following table shows the number of adults (aged 18 and over) in receipt of direct payments and the total gross current expenditure by CASSRs in England on direct payments during the year from 2000-01 to 2008-09.
| N umber of adults (aged 18 and over) in receipt of direct payments and the total gross current expenditure in England on direct payments during the year from 2000-01 to 2008-09 | ||
| Rounded numbers | ||
| 1 April to 31 March : | Clients in receipt of direct payments | Gross expenditure on direct payments (£000) |
| (1) Data on the number of people receiving community based services from 2004-05 is not comparable to previous years. In 2004-05 restated guidance was issued to exclude people receiving services from grant funded organisations who had not had a community care assessment. (2) Data for 2008-09 is provisional. Source: RAP P2f and PSS Ex1 | ||
Disability: Social Services
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the proposals in the Social Care Green Paper on disability benefits, whether the removal of attendance allowance is to operate beyond the top three wealth quintiles after 2014; whether payment to those in the lower two wealth quintiles is to be based on a means test (a) equivalent to the means test for
pension credit and (b) with no upper capital limit; and whether any payment is to be made to an individual in the lower two quintiles who is in receipt of care and support. [298210]
Phil Hope: The Government are currently consulting on proposals to reform the care and support system for adults in England. As part of that consultation, we are considering the case for bringing together elements of some disability benefits, such as attendance allowance, with social care funding, to create a new care and support system to provide for the needs of older and disabled people. The assumptions used in the economic modelling were published by the Personal Social Services Research Unit in July 2009 at
No decisions have yet been made around how this should be achieved in practice.
Drugs: Prisons
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the merits of quality assurance for drug treatment services in prisons provided through the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. [297368]
Phil Hope: In April 2008, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) was given responsibility for the implementation of the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) in prisons. The NTA put in place a range of performance and quality assurance arrangements to support the delivery of the programme.
At a local level, all prison partnerships implementing IDTS in prisons are required to submit Annual Treatment Plans to their regional NTA team setting out key priorities, objectives, actions and milestones for the delivery of effective treatment, including a financial budget for the year. Progress against these plans is reviewed quarterly.
NTA are responsible for the IDTS prison treatment data, which is reported through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) and includes data from the Drug Interventions Record. The collection of IDTS prison treatment data began in April 2009 and from April 2010 will be part of PSA 25 activity data, whereby all primary care trusts have to ensure the provision of effective treatment as one of the Tier 2 Vital Signs indicators within the 2009-10 NHS Operating Framework.
New Government guidance, covering issues around quality assurance for prisons commissioners, service providers and practitioners on continuity of care for people on release from prison ("Drug Misusing Offenders: Ensuring the continuity-of-care between prisons and community (June 09)") and on the management of dual diagnosis in prisons ("A Guide for the Management of Dual Diagnosis for Prisons (March 2009)") have also recently been published. The implementation of these guidance documents, and assuring quality, will also be led by the NTA at a local level.
Elderly People: Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer to Question 290279, which councils (a) have and (b) have not made use of
the audit tool for developing services for minority ethnic older people in each year. [298303]
Phil Hope: The Audit Tool was produced as practice guidance for all councils with social services responsibilities. It was intended for use as a local resource and there has been no central monitoring as to which councils have or have not made use of it.
Health Education
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will publish the evaluation it made of the effectiveness of each health promotion campaign that it (a) ran itself and (b) it commissioned from other organisations in (i) 2005-06, (ii) 2006-07, (iii) 2007-08 and (iv) 2008-09. [297863]
Phil Hope: The Department publishes summaries of research relating to health promotion campaigns it runs or commissions. These can be found on the Department's website at:
categorised by issue. The summaries are currently published on an annual basis. Summaries for July 2007-July 2008 will be published by the end of 2009. Thereafter the summaries will be published on a six monthly basis.
Health Services: Social Services
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates the Ministerial Group on Integration of Health and Social Care Services has met since its creation. [298285]
Phil Hope: The ministerial group on integration of Health and Social Care Services has met three times since its creation on 10 March 2009, 15 June 2009 and 20 October 2009.
Health: Screening
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2009, Official Report, column 334W, on cardiovascular system: screening, when his Department intends to begin collecting information through the national minimum data set on NHS health checks; what information will be included for collection in the national minimum data set; which organisation will be responsible for administering it; whether he intends the information to be published; and if he will make a statement. [297377]
Ann Keen: Primary care trusts are beginning phased implementation of their NHS Health Check programme and there is strong support for the development of a national data set. We are currently working with the Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care to develop a National Data Set for the NHS Health Check programme. It is too early to give details about exactly what information will be collected, who will be responsible for administering it or if the information will be published.
Herbal Medicine
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what timetable he has set for statutory registration of professional herbalists; and if he will make a statement. [298157]
Ann Keen: The Department is currently undertaking a consultation exercise on whether acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners should be regulated and if so how. Once the consultation period has ended, and the responses have been analysed, a decision on the way forward will then be made.
Home Care Services
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received home help funded from the public purse during the sample week used for his Department's survey on home care services in September 2009. [298376]
Phil Hope: We are informed by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care that it no longer collects data on the number of people receiving home help funded by councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs) during a sample week in September. The result of a new data collection on the home care services is expected to be published by the Information Centre in early 2010.
The most recent data available shows that, during the survey week in September 2008, 340,600 service users received home care funded by CASSRs in England.
Hospitals: Ashford Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his plans are for the future of the King's Avenue, Ashford site as an NHS facility. [297607]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The provision and development of local health services and facilities are the responsibility of the local national health service. The future of the King's Avenue, Ashford site is therefore a matter for Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust.
Hospitals: Parking
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely effect on (a) Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) the Royal Free Hospital of the proposed abolition of car parking charges; and if he will make a statement. [296644]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: National health service organisations provide car parking to patients and visitors based on their local plans, needs and circumstances. The details and effects of implementing free car parking for in-patients will vary between different NHS organisations. It is therefore for each local NHS organisation to assess the effect of the abolition of car parking charges.
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