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7 Dec 2009 : Column 154W—continued
Care Homes: Patients' Rights
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding under the Dignity in Care campaign each local authority has received; which care homes in each local authority area were awarded extra funding from this allocation to improve dignity; how much each such home received; what the funding was proposed to be used for in each case; and what monitoring was undertaken to ensure the funding was spent on the objectives of the campaign. [304244]
Phil Hope: As part of the Dignity in Care campaign, local authorities received a £67.725 million capital grant for improving the care home environment for older people in 2007-08. Local Authority Circular (2006) 16 set out how this one-off capital grant was to be allocated and provided conditions for its use. A copy has been placed in the Library.
The grant was made available to local authorities, for distribution to homes with whom they hold a contract, and in which a majority of patients are over 65 years of age. All arrangements for publicising the grant, deciding how to allocate the money and informing applicants of the outcome were made locally.
Requests for information on homes benefiting from these grants should be made to the relevant local authorities. Detailed information is not held centrally by the Department.
Complementary Medicine: Regulation
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his Department's response to its consultation on the statutory regulation of practitioners of acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and other traditional medicine systems practised in the UK. [304008]
Ann Keen: The Department has received a large number of responses to the recent consultation on the statutory regulation of practitioners of acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and other traditional medicine systems practised in the United Kingdom. Once these have been analysed, the Department will publish its response. This is not expected to be before summer 2010.
Departmental Official Cars
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of providing official cars for the use of (a) Ministers and (b) officials in the last 12 months. [301174]
Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement about the cost of ministerial cars made by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Clark) on 16 July 2009, Official Report, columns 79-80WS.
For the cost of cars to officials, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Clark) on 2 December 2009, Official Report, column 762W.
Departmental Scientists
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2009, Official Report, column 653W, on departmental scientists, how many (a) scientific advisers and (b) civil servants in scientific posts work at (i) Richmond House, (ii) Quarry House and (iii) other of his Department's offices. [304452]
Phil Hope: Information about the number of scientific advisers and civil servants in scientific posts is not held centrally, so it is not possible to give an accurate figure by building.
Departmental Security
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many security passes his Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months. [303945]
Phil Hope: In the period from 1 December 2008 to 30 November 2009, there were 234 new contractor records on the Department's Business Management System. In the same period, there were 115 new consultant records.
A security pass cannot be issued without a suitable record on the Department's Business Management System.
Dr. Foster
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have met Dr. Foster Ltd in the last 12 months. [304702]
Phil Hope: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Eyesight: Testing
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many eye tests were funded by the public purse in each region in each of the last two years; and what percentage of those who had eye tests subsequently received (i) spectacles for the first time and (ii) replacement or repairs of spectacles funded by the public purse. [303574]
Ann Keen: Information on the number of sight tests paid for by the national health service in England, is provided in Table 1 of the 'General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England and Wales-Year ending 31 March 2009' report. Information is provided for the years ending 31 March, 2000 to 31 March 2009.
Sight test information by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT) level for the years 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2009 is available in Table B1 of Annex C of the above report.
The number of those who receive spectacles for the first time is not collected centrally.
Table 9 of this report shows the number of vouchers for spectacles or contact lenses paid for by the NHS in England for the years ending 31 March 2000 to 2009.
Table 15 of the above report shows the number of items for repair or replacement, in England, for the years ending 31 March 2000 to 2009.
Information on the numbers of vouchers and the numbers of items for repair or replacement by SHA and by PCT for the years ending 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2009 is available in Tables B1 of Annex D and A1 of Annex E of the above report.
This report, published on 19 August 2009, has already been placed in the Library and is available online at:
All the reports have been published by The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
Forensic Science: Offences Against Children
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what clinical and governance standards apply to health facilities used to obtain forensic evidence from children subject to sexual assault in order to assist in the potential prosecution of criminal offences. [302644]
Ann Keen: Governance arrangements for health facilities used to obtain forensic evidence from children subject to sexual assault will be for local determination and should be in keeping with national guidance on safeguarding children.
The Department of Health, the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers published joint guidance in October 2009 which sets out the minimum elements essential for providing high quality Sexual Assault Referral Centres for adults and children who are victims of sexual assault. This covers forensic medical examination.
Clinical standards, 'Physical Signs of Child Sexual Abuse-An Evidence Based Review and Guidance for Best Practice', was published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in March 2008. The standards describe physical signs of sexual abuse, the strength of evidence of those signs being due to sexual abuse and issues for clinical practice. Good practice in history taking, obtaining consent, examination technique, photo documentation, forensic sampling and testing for sexually transmitted diseases is described.
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence published clinical guidelines in July 2009 on how to recognise child maltreatment which includes how to recognise signs of sexual abuse.
Health Professions: Manpower
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GPs, (b) dentists, (c) optometrists and (d) pharmacies there were in each region in each of the last two years; and how many this equated to per 100,000 resident population in each category. [303576]
Ann Keen: The numbers of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 resident population are available as at 30 September 2007 and 2008, for England and by strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT).
Data as at 30 September 2007 are available in the 'General and Personal Medical Services. Detailed Results' report. This report, published on 14 March 2008, has been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Data are contained in the table 'Selected Statistics by Primary Care Trusts: England':
Data as at 30 September 2008 are available in the 'General and Personal Medical Services. Detailed Results'. Data are contained in the table 'Selected Statistics by Primary Care Trusts: England'. This report, published on 25 March 2009, has been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Data are contained in the table 'Selected Statistics by Primary Care Trusts: England':
The numbers of dentists with NHS activity per 100,000 resident population during the years ending 31 March 2008 and 2009 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics for England, 2008-09 report. Information is provided for England and by SHA and PCT. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006.
This report, published on 19 August 2009, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
The numbers of optometrists per 100,000 resident population as at 31 December 2007 and 2008 are available for England and by SHA and PCT in Table CI (2007) and Table C2 (2008) of Annex 4 of the 'General Ophthalmic Services: Workforce Statistics for England and Wales, 31 December 2008' report.
This report, published on 21 May 2009, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
The number of pharmacies per 100,000 resident population as at 31 March 2008 and 2009 are available for England and by SHA and PCT.
Data as at 31 March 2008 are available in the PCT Level Appendix of the 'General Pharmaceutical Services in England and Wales 1998-99 to 2007-08' report. This report, published on 25 November 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Data as at 31 March 2009 are available in the PCT Level Appendix of the 'General Pharmaceutical Services in England 1999-00 to 2008-09' report. This report, published on 24 November 2009, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Data on the numbers of pharmacists working within the pharmacies are not collected by the NHS Information Centre and therefore is not available centrally.
Health Services: Sight Impaired
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to increase the provision of information to blind or partially-sighted people on their (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment. [303362]
Ann Keen: Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, service providers are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. This means they must take reasonable steps to change any practice, policy or procedure which makes it unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to make use of their services. This may include producing information about the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in different formats, depending on an assessment of the person's needs. It is up to individual service providers as to how they make any necessary reasonable adjustments.
HIV Infection: Circumcision
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has evaluated on the effects of male circumcision on the risk of contracting HIV. [304406]
Gillian Merron: The Expert Advisory Group on AIDS, which provides the Department with expert scientific advice on HIV, keeps the evidence on the effect of male circumcision on prevention of HIV transmission under review.
Male circumcision has been demonstrated to reduce heterosexual (female-to-male) transmission of HIV by around 60 per cent. in randomised controlled trials in Africa.
HIV Infection: Health Education
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce HIV-related stigma. [304693]
Gillian Merron: "The National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV" (2001) included reducing HIV stigma as one of its goals. The Department funded the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health (MedFASH) who published in October 2009, "Tackling HIV Testing", a resource pack for hospital staff which addresses the impact of stigma on accepting and offering an HIV test.
The Department has also contributed to the African HIV Policy Network's "Changing Perspectives" campaign and the publication in June 2009 of HIV toolkits for African faith leaders which address issues linked to stigma.
This is additional to work funded following publication by the Department of "Tackling Stigma" in May 2007, which included a National AIDS Trust campaign on improving accurate press coverage of HIV and work with employers, as well as a booklet produced by NAM publications on "HIV Stigma and You" for people living with HIV (second edition published 2009).
Hospitals: Crimes of Violence
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many hospital staff in England were physically assaulted while on duty in each of the last three years; [303575]
(2) how many hospital staff in England were hospitalised as a result of assault while on duty in each of the last three years. [303577]
Ann Keen: Information on the number of hospital staff in England physically assaulted while on duty is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the number of hospital staff in England hospitalised as a result of assault while on duty is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the number of reported physical assaults against national health service staff in 2006-07 and 2007-08 is contained in the 'Tables showing number of reported physical assaults on NHS staff from 2004-05 to 2007-08, broken down by NHS trust/PCT' which have already been placed in the Library.
Information on the number of reported physical assaults against NHS staff in 2008-09 is contained in the 'Tables showing number of reported physical assaults on NHS staff in 2008-09, broken down by NHS trust/PCT' which have already been placed in the Library.
The NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) can assist employers through guidance on assessing risks and acting to protect staff from assaults and, where incidents do occur, on taking action against offenders. The NHS SMS also works with stakeholders, including the Social Partnership Forum, to promote the safety and security of NHS staff.
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