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12 Jan 2010 : Column 896W—continued
Barbara Follett:
For financial year 2009-10 South West Councils received the following funding from Communities and Local Government: £2,070,148 (regional funding for the Strategic Leaders Board) and £525,000 to fund the core costs of the South-West Regional Efficiency and Improvement Programme (REIP). In
addition to this South West Councils received £110,000 direct from the Home Office to support regional work on migration and asylum. Local government subscriptions to South West Councils amounted to £572,700 and Associate Members of South West Employers provided £31,000. It is anticipated that South West Employers will generate £800,000 through their training and consultancy service.
Royal Society of Arts
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the full text of his speech to the Royal Society of Arts of 21 October 2009. [309008]
Barbara Follett: A copy of my right hon. Friend's speech as held on the Department's website has been placed in the Library.
Sheltered Housing
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the provision of support for sheltered housing wardens. [307950]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department for Communities and Local Government has not issued any guidance on the provision of support for sheltered housing wardens. The Supporting People programme grant, which is paid to top tier local authorities to enable them to provide housing related support services, which may include the provision of wardens in sheltered housing schemes, is managed and delivered at the local level. Decisions about the provision of services are a matter for local authorities based on local needs and priorities.
Shops: Empty Property
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Putney of 13 October 2009, Official Report, column 771W, on empty shops funding grant, if he will place in the Library a copy of the methodology used to allocate the funding to the local authorities listed. [308982]
Barbara Follett: As the Department for Communities and Local Government announced on August 13 and December 4 2009, it is providing £5.6 million to 107 local authorities to support initiatives designed to make use of vacant shops to give a boost to high streets and town centres adversely affected by the recession. We have targeted this funding at councils with relatively high levels of deprivation and each is receiving just over £52,000.
The allocations announced in August 2009 were based on local authorities in the top third of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) ranked in order of shop vacancy rates; the top 57 councils each received just over £52,000. The allocations announced in December 2009 were based on local authorities in the top half of the IMD ranked in order of shop vacancy rates, but excluded those which had received funding in August; a further 50 councils also received just over £52,000 each.
A copy of the CLG report "The English Indices of Deprivation 2007" is available in the Library of the House. Shop vacancy data are part of a set of statistics collected by Experian on a frequent basis as part of their business. We entered into a commercial arrangement with Experian to use the data set for allocating this funding but do not have rights to publish it.
Sleeping Rough
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what qualifying criteria are required in order to receive a Supporting People grant under the rough sleeper strand; and if he will make a statement. [307221]
Mr. Ian Austin: Supporting People funding is not allocated on a client group basis. The Supporting People programme is administered at the local level by the relevant administering authority and CLG do not set a qualifying criteria for providers to receive a grant. It is for the authority to decide which services to fund, informed by the local needs and priorities. The majority of individuals who are eligible for Supporting People funding tend to use a service, rather than receive a cash grant.
Social Rented Housing: Regulation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the likely level of fees which will be levied on registered social landlords to cover the cost of regulation by the Tenant Services Authority. [309851]
Mr. Ian Austin: No decision has been taken to levy fees on social landlords to cover the cost of regulation. Before any decision is taken, the Tenant Services Authority will consult on the principle and approach to introducing fees.
Thames Gateway London Partnership
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library copies of the written representations made to his Department by the Thames Gateway London Partnership in the last 12 months. [309035]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Health
NHS: Charitable Funding
15. Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the amount of money donated to NHS institutions through charitable giving. [310030]
Phil Hope: In 2008-09, national health service trusts and primary care trusts in England received contributions from all charitable sources totalling £62 million in expenditure and £65 million in assets. The Department does not collect this information for NHS Foundation Trusts who report directly to Monitor.
A and E: Nottinghamshire
16. John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of accident and emergency provision in Nottinghamshire hospitals. [310031]
Ann Keen: Primary care trusts commission national health service hospital trusts to provide emergency care services according to local needs and monitor their performance.
NHS Ambulance Trusts
17. Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with NHS ambulance trust professionals regarding measuring patient outcomes. [310034]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the oral answer I gave to him earlier today.
Cancer Treatment
18. Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the comparative cost and efficacy of herceptin and lapatenib for cancer patients. [310035]
Ann Keen: The Department has made no such assessment. It is the role of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to assess the efficacy of drugs and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs and treatments.
NHS Hospitals: Private Facilities
19. Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private rooms there are in NHS hospitals built since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [310036]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department collects data on single rooms in new national health service hospitals with a capital value over £25 million. Private pay bedroom data are not collected. Since 2001, all schemes have met the Department's guidance that the proportion of standard in-patient single rooms in new hospitals should aim to be 50 per cent. but not fall below 20 per cent. and must be higher than the facilities they are replacing.
Smoking Cessation
20. Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to stop smoking. [310037]
Gillian Merron: This Government have given active encouragement to people to stop smoking through setting up NHS Stop Smoking Services, smoke-free legislation, banning tobacco advertising, raising the age of sale and effective information campaigns.
A new tobacco control strategy will soon be published to help further reduce the damage caused by smoking.
NHS Staff: Protection
21. John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to protect NHS staff from abusive and violent behaviour in hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [310038]
Ann Keen: Each national health service body has a duty to address risks to staff and ensure their safety.
The Department and the NHS Security Management Service will work with stakeholders, including the Social Partnership Forum, to promote the safety of staff.
A new offence of causing nuisance or disturbance on hospital premises and a power to remove someone suspected of committing this offence have recently been introduced.
Health Visitors: Hertfordshire
22 Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health visitors the NHS employed in Hertfordshire (a) in 2005 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [310039]
Ann Keen: In the last decade, child health services have developed based on research and the healthy child programme. In all the trusts serving the Hertfordshire region, 340 health visitors were employed in 2005. Following the change and the extensive child health programmes, we now deliver child health by a range of practitioners. The latest figures show that at 30 September 2008, there were 272 health visitors in trusts that serve the Hertfordshire area.
Dentistry: Children
23. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children of primary school age were treated by an NHS dentist in (a) England, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) Kettering constituency in the last 12 months. [310040]
Ann Keen: We do not collect statistics relating solely to children of primary school age. In England, 7,658,923 children (69.6 per cent. of all children) received care or treatment from a national health service dentist in the 24 months ending September 2009. In Northamptonshire primary care trust, 100,901 children were seen (65.3 per cent. of all children resident in the PCT).
PCT Funding
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects those primary care trusts classified as under-target to meet the target funding level determined by the formula announced in December 2008. [310020]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The national health service will always be a priority for increasing investment, and we remain committed to moving primary care trusts (PCTs) towards their target allocations as quickly as possible. Future progress towards target will depend on a number of factors including population changes, cost pressures and the overall resources available to the NHS.
There has been a greater recognition of the level of need in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly PCT and as a result, this PCT will ultimately get more money than it would have done previously.
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Ms Keeble:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many alcohol-related accident and emergency
incidents resulting in hospital admissions there were in each (a) primary care trust and (b) strategic health authority area in each of the last three years. [309681]
Gillian Merron: The number of alcohol-related accident and emergency incidents resulting in hospital admissions in each primary care trust (PCT) and regional health area in each of the last three years is presented as follows:
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