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8 Dec 2009 : Column 293W—continued
Phil Hope: The consultation document, "Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance", has sought views from councils on what data may be required and how they might be collected. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to operate his policy on free personal care as set out in the Personal Care at Home Bill by means of individual budgets. [304846]
Phil Hope: The consultation document, "Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance", makes it clear that we intend that the free personal care component would form part of a personal budget and could be used flexibly to meet agreed outcomes. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Explanatory Notes for the Personal Care at Home Bill, whether external legal advice was sought on the effects on human rights of the proposals in the Personal Care at Home Bill. [304849]
Phil Hope: Legal advice relating to legislation is generally provided by departmental lawyers. No external legal advice was sought on this matter.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether children would be eligible to receive taxpayer-funded personal care under his proposals for personal care as set out in the Personal Care at Home Bill. [304850]
Phil Hope: These proposals are for adults over the age of 18. Children will continue to be covered, as they are now, under separate legislation.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 7.10 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what (a) events and (b) submissions have contributed to the consultation being undertaken on effects on particular regions; and if he will publish (i) the responses to and (ii) the outcomes of this consultation by the end of December 2009. [304854]
Phil Hope: Comments on the impact of the policy on different councils are invited in the consultation document, "Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. The consultation will run until 23 February and a response will be published following that.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 7.10 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, how many beneficiaries he expects there to be in each local authority area in England. [304858]
Phil Hope: This information is not available at a local authority level.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of people assessed as critical under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) eligibility framework in each of the last five years were subsequently assigned to another FACS band. [304859]
Phil Hope: This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether free personal care under his proposed changes to the care system would continue if a person assessed as critical under the Fair Access to Care Services eligibility framework was subsequently assessed at a different level. [304860]
Phil Hope: Councils are under a duty to regularly assess an individual's needs and adjust the support available to them as needs change. Under our proposals, if an individual should no longer meet the criteria they would no longer be eligible for free personal care.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what assessment he has made of the effects of enactment of his legislative proposals on competition in the care home sector. [304946]
Phil Hope: This policy is designed to support individuals who want to live at home for as long as possible where this is what they wish. With an ageing population there will continue to be a need for residential care, and this will remain an appropriate setting in which to meet some people's care needs.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, for what reasons the impact assessment does not include costings for policy enforcement by local authorities. [304947]
Phil Hope: An estimate of the associated administrative costs of the policy for local authorities is included in table 2 of the impact assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill and these have been estimated at £27 million.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the merits of a national resource allocation system for the provision of free personal care; and if he will make a statement. [305028]
Phil Hope: The Department has looked at the merits of a national resource allocation system (RAS). The range of provision varies substantially between different local authorities, which makes a national RAS unrealistic at the present time.
As part of the Regulations and guidance which will inform the working of the Personal Care at Home Bill, the Department plans to develop a national assessment tool for all authorities to use to ensure a consistent application of the eligibility criteria for free personal care at home. The consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, asks for comments on three options as to
how available resources and funding might be allocated to individuals by councils. The consultation document has already been placed in the Library.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the capacity of local authorities to provide free personal care under the terms of the Personal Care at Home Bill; and if he will make a statement. [305029]
Phil Hope: The plans for free personal care at home for those with the highest care needs should build on the most innovative practices already adopted by many local authorities and primary care trusts. We have already begun engaging with local authority stakeholders to discuss the workings of the scheme, and councils are invited to respond to the consultation document, "Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance". The consultation document has already been placed in the Library.
Social Services: Finance
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's Personal Care at Home consultation document, from what budgets the £420 million of central funding will be drawn. [304700]
Phil Hope: Changes to planned expenditure in 2010-11 to cover the Department's £420 million contribution to the funding of the Personal Care at Home Bill include nearly £50 million from indicative advertising and communications spending, over £60 million from management consultancy spending and over £20 million in reduced administration costs.
In addition, a saving of £62 million will be achieved by transferring responsibility for research activity from other departmental budgets to the Department's ring-fenced research and development budget. That budget will rise to over £1 billion in 2010-11. The research it currently funds will continue as planned.
Tuberculosis: Health Services
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will establish a national programme to co-ordinate the provision of prevention and control services for tuberculosis. [303794]
Gillian Merron: Tuberculosis (TB) services delivered by the national health service are recommended to follow the advice contained in the Chief Medical Officer's Action Plan Stopping Tuberculosis in England published in 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance Clinical diagnosis and management of tuberculosis and measures for its prevention and treatment published in 2006, and the Department's TB Toolkit Tuberculosis prevention and treatment: a toolkit for planning, commissioning and delivering high-quality services in England issued in 2007. Copies of the plan and toolkit have already been placed in the Library.
Organisation and delivery of TB services are the responsibility of NHS management, and we have held stakeholder meetings to work with local services to review the overall strategy for TB control.
We have also delivered a number of initiatives to TB services across England, including:
Free treatment drugs for all TB patients have been provided; and
Systematic screening of prisoners for TB in key prisons is being implemented.
In addition, we are funding an awareness raising strategy, aimed at primary healthcare professionals with locally targeted messages to high-risk groups to improve early detection.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) criteria and (b) methodology his Department uses to determine the effectiveness of the port of entry system in the monitoring of tuberculosis. [303795]
Gillian Merron: Screening at ports of entry is a Home Office policy, and managed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Therefore, the Department has no specific criteria for determining the effectiveness of the port of entry tuberculosis (TB) screening programme.
The HPA indicate that just over 0.1 per cent. of those screened by X-rays at Gatwick and Heathrow are reported to have pulmonary TB.
Communities and Local Government
Home Information Packs
18. Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects of home information packs on the housing market since their introduction. [304614]
Mr. Ian Austin: We are currently working up proposals to evaluate the effectiveness of the HIPs programme and expect the results to be available in 2010. Early independent research undertaken by Europe Economics and published in November 2007 concluded that the introduction of HIPs would not have a negative impact on the housing market.
Business Rates Revaluation
19. Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will conduct an impact assessment on the effect on businesses of the 2010 business rates revaluation. [304615]
Barbara Follett: Regular revaluations are a standard part of the business rates system and are required by statute. Therefore, no impact assessment has been undertaken by my Department on the overall implementation of the 2010 business rates revaluation.
A final impact assessment of our £2 billion transitional relief scheme for revaluation 2010 was published on 17 November.
Northumberland Unitary Authority
20. Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will visit Northumberland to discuss the funding of the new unitary authority. [304616]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman that I have already had discussions with Northumberland about funding.
My right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State, along with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the North East met the leader and chief executive of Northumberland in the summer.
In addition, officials are maintaining a regular dialogue with council officers, with their next meeting being in Morpeth on Friday this week.
Kirkby: Regeneration
22. Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is for the regeneration of Kirkby; and if he will make a statement. [304618]
Mr. Denham: Her Majesty's Government recognise the importance of regeneration in Kirkby, as demonstrated by the £72 million of public and European investment that has been made into Kirkby and the surrounding areas.
My right hon. Friend met yesterday with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the North West (Mr. Woolas), to explore opportunities for the development of Kirkby town centre. It was agreed that a proposal would be produced for the redevelopment of the town centre to create enhanced retail, leisure, office and public sector facilities for the residents of Kirkby. Key regional bodies will be working with partners in Knowsley to develop this proposal, and I have asked my officials to keep closely involved in supporting and monitoring progress on this work.
The Regional Minister will chair a further meeting in early January to take stock of progress.
Tenants Rights
23. Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps he has taken to protect the rights of tenants; and if he will make a statement. [304619]
John Healey: The Government's response to Julie Rugg's independent review of the private rented sector set out a range of proposals aimed at improving the quality and professionalism of the sector for tenants.
Fire-setting
24. Ms Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps fire and rescue services have taken to discourage fire-setting behaviour in juveniles and adults. [304620]
Mr. Malik: The Fire and Rescue Service is increasingly engaged in a range of youth work activities, specifically targeting youths at risk from social exclusion, and those who show signs of fire play, including adults, as part of their community safety work. To support Fire and Rescue Services CLG is working with the Arson Control Forum to help steer the direction of their work programme. This will include encouraging further Fire and Rescue Service activity to address fire related antisocial behaviour activity by children and adults, as research shows that intervention can help reduce the problem.
Out-of-town Supermarkets
25. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what account the planning guidance issued by his Department takes of the effect on town centres of the location of out-of-town supermarkets. [304621]
John Healey: Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6) requires a sequential approach to site selection to ensure that the most central sites are considered first. It also requires local authorities to consider whether unplanned edge or out-of-centre proposals will result in any unacceptable impacts on existing centres. PPS6 will soon be replaced with Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for prosperous economies (PPS4) which will strengthen the approach to assessing the impact of development proposals for town centre uses.
Worklessness
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on the role of local authorities in reducing worklessness. [304617]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I, my ministerial colleagues and my officials, are in regular contact with a range of organisations on this important issue, including individual local authorities and the Local Government Association.
Local authorities and their partners play a vital role in tackling worklessness, through leading, co-ordinating and delivering integrated partnership responses to worklessness that are tailored to local needs.
That is why we topped-up the £1.5 billion Working Neighbourhoods Fund with an additional £40 million last month, and that is why local authority-led partnerships are responsible for around half of the 95,00 Future Jobs Fund jobs announced so far.
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