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9 Dec 2009 : Column 475W—continued
Departmental Written Questions
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many questions tabled for answer on a named day his Department received in each of the last 12 months; and to how many such questions his Department provided a substantive answer on the day named. [305380]
Phil Hope: The information is in the following table.
| Number of named day questions for answer | Number answered on the day specified | Percentage | |
Drugs: Misuse
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on trends relating to the (i) age, (ii) sex, (iii) ethnicity and (iv) sexual orientation of (A) crack cocaine users, (B) heroin users and (C) problem drug users in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [305406]
Gillian Merron: The Government places great importance on the collection of trend data on drug use, and funds a number of strands of activity. The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System which is maintained and developed by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse's collects information about the impact of drug treatment on a range of groups of service users. The Home Office collects information annually through the British Crime Survey and has also commissioned national and regional estimates of the prevalence of opiate use and crack cocaine use. The Office of National Statistics publishes annual information about trends in drugs deaths. The Department of Health funds additional work by St. George's University of London through the national programme on substance abuse deaths which provides additional information on trends in drugs deaths.
Copies of the relevant reports can be found in the Library.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of placing every (a) crack cocaine and (b) heroin user receiving NHS treatment in a residential treatment programme. [305407]
Gillian Merron: Residential treatment is one of a number of treatment modalities for drug misuse. Before a drug user receives national health service care in a residential drug treatment service, care planning needs to be undertaken between the service user and their clinicians to assess whether it will help the user to change their behaviour and if so, the nature and duration of the treatment that will be needed. They will also consider the care that will be needed following residential treatment. Without such assessments it is not possible to estimate the cost of placing all problem drug users in residential treatment.
EU Law
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) statutory instruments and (b) other regulations his Department has brought forward in the 2005 Parliament to meet obligations arising from EU law. [304177]
Phil Hope:
Central records of statutory instruments made under specific powers have only been maintained by the Statutory Instruments Registrar since 2001. A record has been maintained since that time of statutory instruments made under powers in the European Communities Act 1972 in order to meet obligations arising from European Union law, but no record has been maintained of statutory instruments made under other legislation in order to meet such obligations.
There are no central records maintained of "other regulations". Since 2001 the Department has made 139 statutory instruments in order to meet obligations arising from EU Law, under powers contained in the European Communities Act 1972. A list of those instruments has been placed in the Library.
It would incur disproportionate cost to retrieve details of all such instruments since 1997.
Exercise
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate has been made of the percentage of (a) men and (b) women aged (i) 18 to 25, (ii) 26 to 49, (iii) 50 to 69 and (iv) over 70 years old who undertake recommended levels of physical activity; and if he will make a statement. [304220]
Gillian Merron: Health Survey for England last measured the percentage of men and women meeting the Chief Medical Officer's recommendations on physical activity, broken down by age and gender in 2008, which will be published on 17 December 2009. Prior to this, a report from the 2006 survey has set out similar data and a copy of the report/data has already been placed in the Library.
Fibromyalgia
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department is taking to increase knowledge of fibromyalgia amongst (a) the medical profession and (b) the wider public; [304296]
(2) how many people have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in the last three years; [304297]
(3) what help his Department provides to people diagnosed with fibromyalgia. [304298]
Ann Keen: The number of people diagnosed with fibromyalgia is not collected.
Detailed advice on fibromyalgia, suitable for the medical profession and the wider public, has been made available on the NHS Choices and NHS Evidence websites at:
Although there is no cure for fibromyalgia patients are able to access treatments to ease their symptoms and improve the quality of life. Medications available include painkillers, muscle relaxants, and antidepressants.
Health Professions: Equal Opportunities
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress has been made on increasing the level of access of women to senior positions in the medical profession. [305004]
Ann Keen: The NHS Workforce Census shows that the number of women consultants working in the national health service has increased from around 4,000 in 1997 to almost 10,000 in 2008. The numbers are shown in the following table:
| Hospital and Community Health Services female medical consultants, England as at 30 September each year | |
| Female consultants within medical specialties | |
| Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census. | |
Health Services: Greater London
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the future provision of accident and emergency services in London North central. [305191]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This is a matter for the local national health service.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of spending on acute services by his Department in London North central in the next five years. [305192]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Decisions on spending allocations for individual services are a matter for the local national health service. Revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2009-10 and 2010-11 were announced on 8 December 2008. PCTs received an average increase of 5.5 per cent. in 2009-10 and will receive an average increase of 5.5 per cent. 2010-11, a total increase in funding of £8.6 billion.
Health Services: Inspections
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much (a) the Care Quality Commission and (b) its predecessor organisations have spent on inspection visits in each year since 1997-98. [304755]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission tell us that it does not hold the information in the format requested.
The accounts of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, National Commission for Social Care, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection and the Commission for Health Improvement did not provide specific costs relating to inspections.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many inspectors the Care Quality Commission employs; and how many inspectors its predecessor organisations employed in each year since 1997-98. [304768]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission has provided the following information.
| Number for inspectors employed each year by the health and social care regulators since2002-03 | ||||
| National Commission for Social Care | Commission for Social Care Inspection | Healthcare Commission | Care Quality Commission | |
| (1) The figure for 2009-10 also includes assessors. | ||||
The decrease in 2007-08 is because a number of inspectors were transferred to Ofsted in that year, as responsibility for the inspection of child-care services was transferred.
The Care Quality Commission is unable to provide figures earlier than 2002-03 for social care inspectors. Prior to that date local authorities carried out the inspection of social care.
The Commission does not hold figures earlier than 2005-06 for health care inspectors.
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