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7 Jan 2010 : Column 604W—continued
Special Educational Needs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the cost of undertaking an assessment for special educational needs. [307260]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department has not made an estimate of the average cost of a statutory assessment of a child's special educational needs (SEN). However, in 2002 the Audit Commission published a report "Statutory assessment and statements of SEN: in need of review?" which estimated the overall cost of producing an SEN statement, including the assessment, was £2,500.
Teachers: Pay
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of schoolteachers earn more than £18,000 a year. [306336]
Mr. Coaker: This information is not available in the format requested because records are incomplete for part-time and unqualified teachers.
All full-time qualified teachers in service in local authority maintained schools earn more than £18,000 per annum. The minimum salary for qualified teachers in England and Wales excluding the London area is £21,102 and for unqualified teachers £15,461.
International Development
Commonwealth: Health Services
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 30 November 2009, Official Report, columns 113-14WS, on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting; if he will publish the Commonwealth Health Compact agreement; whether under the agreement Commonwealth citizens who are visitors and lawfully in the UK will be entitled to free hospital care and treatment if admission to hospital was non-elective and the need for admission and treatment was unforeseen before the individual's entry into the UK; and if he will make a statement. [309548]
Mr. Michael Foster: The commitments made in Commonwealth Health Compact agreed at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009 are set out in the paragraph 93 of the official communiqué of the meeting. In the Compact Heads of Government:
Called on donor countries to deliver existing commitments for financing in health and identify ways to increase international resources;
Welcomed the steps taken by low-income countries towards universal access to health services, making them free at the point of use and urged further concerted action;
Support the role of civil society to advocate for, support and contribute to universal coverage of basic health care.
The compact focuses on efforts to support developing countries to meet the domestic health needs of their own populations, particularly by strengthening health systems and removing financial barriers to the poor in accessing to domestic health services. The compact is not relevant to and makes no commitments on the provision of health services by any country to visiting foreign nationals.
Departmental Conferences
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was spent by his Department on conferences they organised which were subsequently cancelled in each of the last three years; and what the title was of each such conference. [308831]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) cancelled one conference within the last three financial years, 2006-07 to 2008-09. The conference was titled 'Tackling Overseas Bribery' and was scheduled to take place from 3-4 September 2008. The cost of cancellation was £7,500.
Departmental Legislation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008. [307808]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has sponsored no secondary legislation that has created or abolished a criminal offence since 1 May 2008.
Offenders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many employees of his Department have been convicted of a criminal offence of each type in each year since 1997. [308516]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) holds details of criminal convictions on classified individual personal security files. We do not maintain a central record of the number of staff convicted of criminal offences.
Health
AIDS: North West
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) males and (b) females were diagnosed with AIDS in (i) Chorley, (ii) Lancashire and (ii) the North West in each of the last five years. [308407]
Gillian Merron: There were no reported new HIV diagnoses or first AIDS diagnoses in the local authority area of Chorley between 2004 and 2008.
The information requested relating to Lancashire and the North West is shown in the following table.
| Area of diagnosis | Report type | Sex | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| (1) Does not include sites situated in either Greater Manchester or Merseyside. Notes: 1. Diagnoses are from reports received to end June 2009. Numbers will rise as further reports are received. 2. Data include individuals who have an existing infection as well as those who have a newly acquired infection and therefore the data do not present incidence of infection. 3. The area in which an individual is diagnosed is not necessarily the area of residence. 4. AIDS diagnoses relate to a person's first diagnosis of an AIDS defining illness. Subsequent diagnoses are not recorded. Source: Health Protection Agency. | |||||||
Alcoholism: Health Services
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of alcohol-related hospital admissions in each strategic health authority area were repeat admissions in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [308250]
Gillian Merron: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Babies: Screening
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what professional qualifications are required for a health practitioner in the NHS to perform the Ortolani and Barlow manoeuvre at the newborn and six to eight week physical examination. [308274]
Ann Keen: Registered medical practitioners undertake these examinations. They are most commonly done by general practitioners or paediatricians. They will have had additional training, but no further qualifications are required.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guideline, "Routine postnatal care of women and their babies", states that within 72 hours of birth and at six to eight weeks the baby's hips should be checked using the Barlow and Ortolani manoeuvres.
The guideline also advises that all health care professionals who care for mothers and babies should work within the relevant competencies developed by Skills for Health:
Relevant health care professionals should also have demonstrated competency and sufficient ongoing clinical experience in undertaking maternal and newborn physical examinations and recognising abnormalities.
Bowel Cancer: Screening
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to increase participation rates in bowel cancer screening in (a) Waltham Forest, (b) Redbridge, (c) London and (d) England. [309317]
Ann Keen: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for screening services, including the promotion of the NHS bowel screening programme. We would expect those areas with low bowel screening uptake rates to develop targeted programmes to tackle this locally. NHS London has advised that both Redbridge and Waltham Forest PCTs are working to address the issue of low uptake among their local eligible populations.
As the screening programme was implemented in local areas, NHS cancer screening programmes sent out an information pack to all local general practitioners (GPs). As well as explaining how the programme works, the packs contained promotional information, including posters for GPs to use to promote the programme in their own practices.
The National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative, launched in November 2008, is working with NHS cancer screening programmes on key messages and awareness programmes to improve screening uptake, particularly in deprived groups.
Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust: Nurses
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were employed in the area covered by Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust in (a) 1997 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available. [308658]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the numbers of qualified nursing staff for the organisations specified.
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