---

12 Nov 2009 : Column 707W—continued

Territorial Army: West Sussex

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Territorial Army units are based in West Sussex; and where their headquarters are. [299781]

Bill Rammell: The Territorial Army units based in West Sussex are: 6 Platoon, 'B' Company, 3rd Battalion, The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, whose headquarters are in Brighton; and Headquarters 103rd Battalion, The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, whose headquarters are in Crawley.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to answer Question number 292151, on the defence research budget, tabled on 9 October 2009. [299974]

Bill Rammell: I replied to the hon. Member on 11 November 2009, Official Report, column 404W.

Health

Accident and Emergency Departments

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS hospital trusts did not meet the four-hour maximum wait target for accident and emergency in (a) each, (b) seven, (c) six, (d) five and (e) four of the last eight quarters. [299905]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Tables showing which hospital trusts did not meet the national standard for accident and emergency four-hour maximum waiting times in (a) each, (b) seven, (c) six, (d) five and (e) four of the last eight quarters will be placed in the Library shortly.

Alcoholic Drinks/Drugs: Brighton and Hove

Ms Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated to services for youths with alcohol or drug dependency in (a) the city of Brighton and Hove and (b) Hove constituency. [299836]

Gillian Merron: Funding is allocated by local drug partnership areas (coterminous with local authorities), not constituency. From 2010-11 funding for specialist substance misuse services for young people will be allocated using a new formula, the Child Welfare Index (CWI), to reflect more accurately the levels of need among under-18s. This mirrors a change to the formula for adult drug treatment funding in 2008-09 to ensure that money was directly linked to the provision of effective treatment. The overall young people's budget will increase from £24.7 million in 2009-10 to £25.4 million in 2010-11.

12 Nov 2009 : Column 708W

The full formula comes into effect in 2011-12 but in 2010-11 it is being staged in order to give partnerships time to adapt and prevent disruption to the provision of services. So those partnerships that stand to lose will have their losses restricted to 25 per cent. of the full reduction, and those which stand to gain will have the increase capped. This process is reflected in the figures for Brighton and Hove local partnership in the following table.

Brighton and Hove local drug partnership funding allocations
	Funding allocations
2009-10 theoretical allocation based on CWI formula (£)	132,890
2009-10 actual allocation (£)	191,739
Staged 2010-11 allocation (£)	177,027
Difference between 2010-11 and current allocation (£)	-14,712
2010-11 allocation as proportion of current allocation (percentage)	92
2011-12 allocation (£)	136,656
Difference between 2011-12 and current allocation (£)	-55,083
2011-12 allocation as proportion of current allocation (percentage)	71

The cost of alcohol treatment is met through national health service mainstream expenditure in line with local needs and priorities, and data on NHS spend on alcohol treatment is not collected centrally.

Ms Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people under the age of 18 have received alcohol and drug dependency services in Hove constituency in the last 12 months. [299852]

Gillian Merron: Young people's drug or alcohol misuse is part of a wider pattern of problematic behaviour, which is addressed by specialist services that are different from adult alcohol and drug dependency services. Very few of these young people are dependent, and interventions tend to centre on psychosocial counselling-based therapies, which address the underlying causes and the behavioural consequences of cannabis and alcohol (the most commonly misused substances among under-18s).

The national drug treatment monitoring system (NDTMS) does not publish figures by constituency but by local drug partnership area. According to the NDTMS, in 2007-08, the most recent period for which figures are available, there were 125 under-18s in Brighton and Hove in contact with specialist substance misuse treatment services. Figures for 2008-09 will be published later this year.

Ambulance Services

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to collect statistics centrally on the number of ambulances responding to a 999 call without having a paramedic on board. [299829]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government have no plans to collect this information centrally. It is for individual ambulance trusts to ensure that ambulances are staffed appropriately.

12 Nov 2009 : Column 709W

Ambulance Services: Vehicles

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the proportion of NHS ambulances which were manufactured in the UK. [299580]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: This information is not held centrally. Individual trusts determine locally how and where they purchase ambulance vehicles to meet operational requirements.

Anaemia

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the incidence of pernicious anaemia; and if he will make a statement. [298279]

Ann Keen: The Department does not itself compile any quantitative data on incidence of pernicious anaemia, as this condition is generally treated by general practitioners at primary care level. Some data are available from the General Practice Research Database, which contains longitudinal medical records from primary care practices accounting for approximately 5 per cent. of the United Kingdom population. On this basis, it is estimated that there were approximately 14,700 incident cases of pernicious anaemia in the UK in 2008.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission research into the merits of enabling patients diagnosed with pernicious anaemia to manage their conditions through self-injection of methyl cobalamine; and if he will make a statement. [298277]

Phil Hope: The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA) commissions research where there is a gap in the knowledge the NHS has about healthcare treatment and tests. Suggestions about research topics are always welcome and can be made to the HTA via its website at

www.hta.ac.uk/suggest

Antibiotics

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions for antibiotics were dispensed in each primary care trust area in (a) 2001 and (b) 2008. [299825]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information at primary care trust level is not available for 2001. Figures for 2008, taken from the Prescribing Analysis and Cost tool (PACT) system have been placed in the Library.

Burnley Hospital

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which categories of accidents and emergencies are admitted for treatment at Burnley general hospital. [299904]

Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally.

12 Nov 2009 : Column 710W

Burns: Health Services

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on proposals for a regional super burns unit in the North West; and if he will make a statement. [299614]

Ann Keen: Since the recommendations of the National Burn Care Review were accepted as a national framework for local implementation, a number of representations have been made to the Department with regard to the proposals for the North of England. The details of these are available only at disproportionate cost. The most recent representation was made by a delegation of North West MPs-my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth), and my hon. Friends the Members for Halton (Derek Twigg), for St. Helens, North (Mr. Watts), for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs. Ellman), for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Kilfoyle) and for Knowsley, South (Mr. O'Hara)- to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, at a meeting on 24 June 2009.

The North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA), as lead SHA, is currently reviewing the recommendations of the Northern Burn Care Review as part of the service change assurance process. On 11 November 2009 the North West SHA released a statement on the current position and a copy has been placed in the Library. We are aware of the strong feelings on Merseyside about the future of burns services. In any debate about the future of burns care, it is important that successful services are not destabilised. The North West Strategic Health Authority have given their view that there is no compelling evidence to make the case for change.

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of the review of burns services in the North of England has been in each year since 2003. [299823]

Gillian Merron: This information is not collected centrally.

Cannabis: Misuse

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) hospital admissions and (b) deaths there were caused by the use of cannabis in (i) the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and (ii) all hospitals in each year since 1997. [298257]

Gillian Merron: The information requested is provided in the following tables.

12 Nov 2009 : Column 711W

Table 1: Number of finished admission episodes where the primary diagnosis was poisoning by cannabis and the first secondary, diagnosis was accidental or intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics for Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and for England, 1997-98 to 2008-09
	Number of finished admission episodes
	Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	England
1997-98	*	143
1998-99	0	132
1999-2000	0	146
2000-01	0	112
2001-02	0	138
2002-03	0	129
2003-04	*	187
2004-05	0	162
2005-06	0	157
2006-07	0	82
2007-08	0	92
2008-09	0	123
Notes: 1. Patient Confidentiality To protect patient confidentiality, suppression has been applied where the number was between one and five. 2. ICD-10 Codes The ICD-10 code t40.7 was used to provide data for poisoning by cannabis and ICD-10 codes X42 and X46 were used to provide data for accidental or intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics. 3. Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 4. Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. 5. Secondary diagnosis As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 secondary diagnosis fields in Hospital Episode Statistics that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. 6. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. 7. Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data are also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. 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 via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

12 Nov 2009 : Column 712W

Table 2: Number of deaths where drug poisoning was the underlying cause of death, and cannabis was mentioned on the death certificate, either alone or in combination with other substances for Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and for England, 1997 to 2008
	Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust		England
	Cannabis mentioned alone	Cannabis mentioned with other substances	Cannabis mentioned alone	Cannabis mentioned with other substances
1997	0	0	0	2
1998	0	0	0	1
1999	0	0	0	1
2000	0	0	0	1
2001	0	0	0	2
2002	0	0	0	4
2003	0	0	0	1
2004	0	0	1	1
2005	0	0	1	3
2006	0	0	0	2
2007	0	0	0	1
2008	0	0	1	1
Notes: 1. Cause of death Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD- 9) for the years 1997 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD- 10) from 2001 onwards. Deaths were included where the underlying cause was due to drug poisoning (shown in the following table), and where cannabis was mentioned on the death certificate. 2. Death registration Information recorded at death registration on place of death is provided by the informant if the death is certified by a medical practitioner, or by the coroner if the death is certified by a coroner. 3. The term 'hospital' includes NHS, non-NHS and military hospitals. 4. Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 5. Figures are not available for deaths which may be indirectly related to the misuse of drugs (e.g. HIV infection or transport accident), as the more immediate cause is generally selected as the underlying cause of death. Source: Office for National Statistics.

---