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8 Dec 2009 : Column 278W—continued
Terrorism: Compensation
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the merits of introducing retrospective compensation for British victims of terrorism overseas. [304134]
Claire Ward: The Government are considering proposals to establish a scheme to compensate the victims of overseas terrorist attacks. There are a number of complex issues to consider, including whether such a scheme should apply to past terrorist attacks. I expect a decision to be made shortly.
Truancy
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many parents appeared in court in relation to their children's truancy in (a) England and (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years. [303716]
Claire Ward:
Information showing the number of persons proceeded against in relation to their children's
truancy in England and Cambridgeshire police force area from 1998 to 2007 (latest available) can be found in the following table.
Data are not available at constituency level; police force area data have been provided in lieu. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
| Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts for offences relating to truancy( 1 ) in Cambridgeshire police force area and England, 1998 to 2007( 2,3) | ||||||||||
| Proceeded against | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| (1) Includes the following; (i) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1X8)). (ii) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8X1aX8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). (iii) Offences against the Education Acts 1944-2002. (This classification to be used when a person is prosecuted for an offence under 'The Education Acts') (Not to be used where there is a specific code for an offence under one of the Education Acts or for offences under (i) or (ii)). (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. | ||||||||||
Young Offenders: Foster Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the evaluation of the Youth Justice Board's intensive fostering scheme has not been completed in accordance with the original timetable; what estimate he has made of the effects on the costs of the evaluation of its extended duration; and when he expects the outcomes of the evaluation to be published. [305353]
Maria Eagle: The timetable for the Intensive Fostering Evaluation was extended by nine months from 1 March 2008 to 31 December 2008 to allow extra time for the recruitment of the sample and the control group, as the initial setting up of the pilot programmes and referrals of children into the programme took longer than initially anticipated. The additional cost for this extension was £34,090.00.
The first draft of the Intensive Fostering Evaluation report was received by the Youth Justice Board in December 2008. Since then it has been revised and then sent out to peer review. The peer review comments and questions are in the process of being dealt with and it will be available for publication in the first quarter of 2010. The delays have not affected the cost of the evaluation as dealing with reviews and comments is built in to the initial contract.
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater London
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of patients using accident and emergency services in the London North Central District in each of the last five years. [304554]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information is collected on first attendances in accident and emergency (A&E) departments. This excludes follow up visits for the same condition, but counts each attendance by the same patient for different conditions separately. The following table shows reported first attendances for north central London.
| First attendances at A and E departments, minor injury units and walk in centres, NHS organisations in London North Central District, 2004-05 - 2008-09 | ||||||
| First attendances | ||||||
| Org ID | Name | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| Source: Department of Health Quarterly Monitoring of A and E dataset | ||||||
Care Homes
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of residential care homes that would convert to sheltered accommodation or extra care housing as a result of the implementation of his legislative proposals on personal care at home. [304855]
Phil Hope: It is open to any residential care home to reshape their service, subject to appropriate registration of the new service. Comments are welcomed on the likely impact of these proposals in the current consultation, "Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance", and this is something that we will wish to explore with relevant stakeholders. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.
Care Homes: Standards
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a care home requires a valid planning consent in order to comply with the national minimum standards for care homes set out by his Department. [305350]
Phil Hope: It is for local planning authorities to determine whether planning consents are required in individual cases.
Under the Care Standards Act 2000 and the Health and Social Care Acts 2003 and 2008, the Government have set up an independent regime of inspection and regulation of health and social care providers. All care homes in England are regulated-registered and inspected-by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
CQC regulates care homes in accordance with statutory regulations-the Care Homes Regulations 2001-and national minimum standards. The regulations set out what providers must do by law. The Government introduced national minimum standards to set out clearly what care homes are expected to provide to demonstrate that they comply with the regulations.
Further information is available at:
Care Quality Commission: Expenditure
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Care Quality Commission has spent on (a) public relations, (b) public affairs and (c) surveys of hon. Members since its creation. [303923]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) took over from the Healthcare Commission, the Mental Health Act Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection on 1 April 2009.
CQC has informed us that expenditure on CQC's media and public affairs from 1 April 2009 to 31 October 2009 was £439,508 for staff costs and £156,672 for non-staff costs. CQC does not have a budget for public relations activity.
Since 1 April 2009, CQC has commissioned part of one survey of hon. Members. This survey is ongoing. The CQC is an independent organisation and has told us that the cost to CQC is £14,985 not including VAT.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 his Department received in 2008; and how many of these received a substantive response within 20 days. [305503]
Phil Hope: In 2008, the Department received 1,349 requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Within these 1,349 requests, 1,167 received a substantive response within 20-days.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eddisbury of 23 June 2009, Official Report, column 853W, on departmental public relations, what the (a) remit and (b) purpose was of hiring each public affairs consultancy for each of the listed bodies; and what company was hired in each case. [305025]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not held centrally.
The data requested is operational detail that can be obtained directly from the bodies concerned. Those bodies which procured work from public affairs consultancies between 1999-2000 and 2008-09 were identified in the answer of 23 June 2009, Official Report, column 853W. More detailed information about this work can be sought from the individual bodies concerned.
Dieticians: Qualifications
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding on average his Department provides for a four year dietetics degree which allows the holder to register as a registered dietician with the Health Profession Council. [303777]
Ann Keen: The Department provides funding to strategic health authorities to commission training places on dietician degree courses. In 2008-09, the bench mark price for the cost of tuition in that year for a four year dietetics degree was £8,830 per national health service funded student. Eligible students on this course also receive a means tested NHS bursary from the NHS Student Bursaries Unit. In 2008-09 the average NHS bursary per eligible student was £2,482 for that year.
In addition to the NHS bursary, dietician students are also eligible to apply for a non means tested student loan from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Driving
Dr. Ladyman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to ensure that staff who drive (a) a vehicle for which (i) his Department and (ii) one of its executive agencies is responsible have valid driving licences and (b) their own vehicles in the course of their official duties for (A) his Department and (B) one of its executive
agencies have valid driving licences and insurance; what guidance is issued to those staff in respect of road safety while carrying out official duties; what steps are taken to monitor compliance with that guidance; what requirements there are on such staff to report to their line managers accidents in which they are involved while driving in the course of their official duties; and whether such reports are investigated. [302164]
Phil Hope: Staff in the Department and its agencies do not use departmental vehicles. Those staff who use their own vehicles for business use, are personally responsible for ensuring that insurance and other driving documentation requirements are met. This must be confirmed on each claim for reimbursement of such expenses.
No specific guidance is issued in respect of road safety. Road traffic accidents are not reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.
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