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30 Nov 2009 : Column 530W—continued
| 2010-11 to 2013-14 | |||
| Property | Description | Sale Price £(000) | Asset v alue £(000) |
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent per capita in (a) England and (b) Buckinghamshire in each of the last three years. [302152] [Official Report, 3 February 2010, Vol. 505, c. 3MC.]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The amount spent per capita in total in England by all primary care trusts (PCTs) and by Buckinghamshire PCT, in each of the last three years, is shown in the following table.
| £ | ||
| Buckinghamshire PT | England | |
Departmental Working Hours
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of staff of his Department, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies work flexibly or part-time; and what his Department's policy is on making jobs available on a job-share or flexible basis. [301326]
Phil Hope: The Department's centrally held records show that at 1 April 2009, 0.3 per cent. of civil servants in the Department were in job share arrangements. 9 per cent. were working part time and 0.2 per cent. were working in term time only.
Managers also have the discretion to agree flexible working arrangements locally, without making contractual changes. These local arrangements are not recorded centrally so the actual number of staff working flexibly is not available, but is likely to be a large proportion of the work force.
Arrangements to work from home are made by local managers. These arrangements vary from occasional instances to regular home working. Records are not kept centrally about this.
The Department recognises that flexible working allows its staff to combine employment and a career with other responsibilities as well as meeting personal needs. The Department encourages staff to work flexibly through providing opportunities such as part-time working, job sharing, term time only working and the use of flexitime. It also provides the technology to allow staff to work at home on occasions and has in place specific arrangements to allow parents, adopters, guardians and foster carers of children under 16 (or disabled children under 18) to apply to work flexibly.
Most departmental staff participate in the flexitime work arrangement. The Department also encourages other flexible arrangements such as spreading working hours over nine days within a fortnight or four days within a week.
The number and proportion of staff the Department's Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies working flexibly or part time are shown in the following tables.
| Executive agencies | ||
| Number of staff working flexibly or part time | Percentage of staff working flexibly or part time | |
| (1) All of NHS PASA's full-time staff, below senior civil service level, are entitled to work using flexitime. NHS PASA follows DH policy on flexible working, offering staff the opportunity to job share, work compressed hours, work from home and the use of flexitime. | ||
| Executive non-departmental public bodies | ||
| Number of staff working flexibly or part time | Percentage of staff working flexibly or part time | |
| (1) The HPA does not have data that cover all aspects of their flexible working, however, HPA policy on flexible working includes part-time working, job share, staggered hours, annualised hours and compressed hours. | ||
Drugs
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what areas his Department has identified where it would be clinically inappropriate to substitute a branded medicine for a generic version; and if he will make a statement; [303020]
(2) what steps his Department plans to take to assess the effect on patient safety of proposals to introduce automatic generic substitution. [303021]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department is currently refining its proposals for the implementation of generic substitution and expects to formally consult before the end of the year. Patient safety will be paramount in taking forward the work on generic substitution and an impact assessment will be published alongside the consultation document.
General Practitioners: East of England
Mr. Ruffley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average distance travelled for an out-of-hours GP appointment was in (a) Suffolk, (b)
Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each of the last 10 years; [302436]
(2) what the average waiting time for an out-of-hours GP appointment was in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each of the last 10 years. [302437]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This information is not held centrally.
General Practitioners: Staffordshire
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve access to GP services in Staffordshire. [301602]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In the Operating Framework for the National Health Service 2009-10 primary care trusts (PCTs), including those in Staffordshire, were asked to ensure that they achieve and maintain the minimum standards set the previous year, and also to make ongoing progress. This includes increasing the level, quality and range of services in primary care, particularly in under-provisioned areas; ensuring that general practitioner (GP) practices' opening hours reflect patient needs; that patients have guaranteed access to a GP within 48 hours and can book appointments further ahead.
North Staffordshire PCT is providing one GP health centre. The Midway medical and walk-in centre in Newcastle under Lyme opened to the public in March 2009. South
Staffordshire PCT has procured one new GP health centre, which opened in Tamworth in March 2009. Stoke PCT expects to open its GP health centre in the new year in Hanley.
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