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3 Dec 2009 : Column 933W—continued
Ann Keen:
Information on screening data from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics for 2009 is not
yet available. The most up to date Chlamydia screening information is provided in the following table.
Number of Chlamydia tests performed in the last 12 months by the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP), and within laboratories outside of genitourinary medicine clinics (GUM), among those aged 15-24 years in the West Midlands (1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009).
| Number of female tests | Number of male tests | Total tests including unknown sex | Female coverage( 1) (percentage) | Male coverage( 1) (percentage) | Total coverage( 1) (percentage) | |
| (1) 15-24 year old population estimates are based on the mid 2006-ONS population projections for 2009 using the mid 2006 ONS male and female proportions. Notes: 1. The information from GUM clinics for 2009 is not yet available. 2. NSCP data are presented by primary care trust of residence and are based on vital signs indicator criteria. 3. Tests outside GUM represent the number of tests and not number of people tested. It should be noted that number of tests will be used as a proxy for the number of people tested. 4. Total tests include tests for which sex was recorded as unknown or unspecified. 5. Data presented are based on tests with confirmed positive and negative results only. Tests with equivocal, inhibitory and insufficient results have been excluded as most people with these results are retested. Source: NCSP core data and non NCSP non GUM aggregate dataset. Data for the period October 2008 to March 2009 are as of 22 May 2009 and data for the period April 2009 to September 2009 are as of 9 November 2009. | ||||||
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential properties his Department owns; and how many (a) are occupied and (b) have been empty for more than six months. [303998]
Phil Hope: The Department owns 10 individual residential properties (nine being in one block). Two are occupied and the remainder have been vacant for more than six months. The residential block of nine properties is currently in the process of being sold.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria his Department uses in determining the award of contracts; and how much his Department has spent on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997. [303132]
Phil Hope: The Department's 'Guide to Buying Services and Goods' states the need to develop value for money principles thus:
"Buying goods and services in the public sector is not judged on getting goods or services for the lowest possible price, but on value for money. This includes the quality and other relevant areas of the resulting service or goods. It is a judgement based on the best combination of the cost of a product or service, spread over its whole lifetime, and its ability to meet, but not necessarily do better than the needs of the user. They normally achieve this by comparing suppliers' bids, and by generally testing the market."
This principle is included within the 'Public Contracts Regulations 2006', which outlines the need to either set the award criteria at the lowest price, or at the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). The award criteria using MEAT is linked to the subject matter and may include quality, price, technical merits, aesthetic and functional characteristics.
The Department's procurement policy is to apply this approach to all procurements above £10,000. Procurements at £90,319 or above are subject to the 'Public Contract Regulations 2006' where further information relating to weightings for criteria are applied.
Using the free electronic portal 'Information System for European Public Procurement', the cost of advertising tenders is kept to a minimum.
There may however be occasions when, due to the specific nature of a procurement, the Department uses paid-for advertising. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Until July 2008, when a new business management system was introduced for the Department, such information was not held centrally.
Departmental Ministerial Duties
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what official (a) meetings and (b) engagements he had on 27 October 2009; at what times and venues each took place; what the purposes of each were; and if he will make a statement. [303528]
Phil Hope: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended Cabinet on 27 October 2009, and had a variety of meetings and engagements throughout the day.
Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust: Manpower
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) staff, (b) doctors other than general practitioners, (c) medical and dental health services staff other than doctors and nurses, (d) general practitioners, (e) qualified nursing staff other than practice nurses and (f) practice nurses worked in Derbyshire primary care trust in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009. [303875]
Ann Keen: Workforce data for 2009 are currently being collected and will not be available until March 2010. However, data for staff working within Derbyshire County primary care trust (PCT), for 2006, 2007 and 2008 are shown in the following table.
| General practitioners (GPs), Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): medical and dental staff( 1) and qualified nursing staff working within Derbyshire County PCT, England at 30 September each year | |||
| Number (headcount) | |||
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| (1)Excludes medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants, most of whom are GPs working part time in hospitals and have been excluded to avoid double counting. All medical and dental staff are doctors and have been counted as such. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | |||
Diabetes
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency hospital admissions of (a) males and (b) females in each age group in each primary care trust area were recorded for (i) diabetic ketoacidosis and (ii) hypoglycaemia in each of the last five years, broken down by type of diabetes. [301406]
Ann Keen: Tables which show emergency hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis or hypoglycaemic coma between 2004-05 and 2008-09 have been placed in the Library. The data are broken down by age, gender, strategic health authority (SHA) and diabetes type.
The data provided are by SHA of residence, because the figures at primary care trust (PCT) level would be too small to give a meaningful indication of the level of emergency admissions and most would be suppressed for patient confidentiality reasons.
In July 2006, the national health service reorganised SHAs and PCTs in England. As a result data from 2006-07 onwards are not directly comparable with previous years.
Health Professions: Regulation
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards implementation of his Department's White Paper on the regulation of health professionals; and if he will make a statement. [302397]
Ann Keen: We welcome the opportunity to set out the significant progress that the Government have made in implementing the White Paper Trust Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century.
Following the publication of the White Paper in February 2007, the Government introduced the Health and Social Care Act which provides an enabling framework to implement many of the reforms proposed in the White Paper.
Seven working groups were established to develop detailed implementation proposals. All the working groups have reported and good progress is being made in implementing the recommendations made. Reports from the seven working groups are available on the Department's website at:
A detailed summary of the progress made to date has been placed in the Library.
Health Services: Children
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under the age of 16 years have been admitted to hospital owing to ingestion of (a) alcohol, (b) nicotine and tobacco, (c) prescription drugs and (d) Class (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C drugs in each of the last five years. [303116]
Gillian Merron: Data on the number of children aged under-16 admitted to hospital due to ingestion of alcohol, nicotine and tobacco or drugs is given in the following table. It should be noted that there are 17,000 hospital admissions per year of children under-five due to their parents smoking and that the system of diagnostic codes used to classify admission to hospital does not distinguish between whether a drug is prescribed or not or classify drugs according to their class. Additionally, it is important to note that the diagnostic codes do not distinguish between recreational, illicit misuse or medical use of drugs. The diagnostic codes used are as listed.
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