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12 Jan 2010 : Column 906W—continued
Bone Marrow Disorders: Donors
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2009, Official Report, column 469W, on bone marrow disorders: donors, if he will consider the merits of collecting statistics on UK and non-UK bone marrow donors in order to inform the development of a UK bone marrow donor recruitment strategy. [309661]
Gillian Merron: The United Kingdom is part of the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide network. This provides reciprocal access to over 13 million bone marrow donors and umbilical cord blood units on registries across the world.
The Department does not hold centrally statistics on the import or export of bone marrow. The most important challenge when searching for a stem cell unit for transplant is not where it comes from but whether it is a suitable match for the patient. Everyone's genetic history is complex. This means that finding a suitable match for a patient can prove very difficult, even when the international registries are used. This task is even more difficult if the condition is rare or there are other factors attributed to a patient's condition. Therefore, the value of collecting statistics on UK and non-UK bone marrow donors to inform the development of a UK bone marrow donor recruitment strategy has not been demonstrated.
Bone Marrow Disorders: Transplant Surgery
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) adults and (b) child patients awaiting a bone marrow transplant have died as a result of the condition necessitating the transplant in each of the last five years. [309679]
Gillian Merron: The Department does not hold this information.
Cardiovascular System: Diseases
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work his Department has carried out to develop national guidelines for primary care trusts on commissioning enhanced services for people with peripheral arterial disease. [309973]
Ann Keen: A primary care service framework was developed and published by NHS Primary Care Commissioning, in consultation with a number of stakeholders including the peripheral arterial disease (PAD) support group, Target PAD and the Department. These frameworks are specifically developed to provide support and guidance to national health service organisations (who choose to use them) to effectively commission and provide specific services.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many vascular networks there are in England; and what his Department's definition is of the (a) remit and (b) purpose of such networks; [309974]
(2) how many cardiovascular networks are undertaking activity related to (a) peripheral arterial disease and (b) co-ordinating network activity for peripheral arterial disease. [309975]
Ann Keen:
There are 28 cardiac and stroke networks in England. The networks were set up to support implementation of the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) National Service Framework (2000) and the national Stroke Strategy (2007). The remit of these networks is to foster joint working, support commissioning and undertake service improvement exercises, resulting in better services and improved outcomes for cardiac and stroke patients. Their purpose is to ensure that individuals experience co-ordinated care from their first contact with services through to rehabilitation and support after discharge from hospital. They are also a key
vehicle for involving patients and carers as active partners in co-ordinating and supporting service development. The networks receive support from the NHS Heart Improvement Programme and the NHS Stroke Improvement Programme which are part of the wider NHS Improvement Programme. Further information about the networks is given in the CHD National Service Framework and the national Stroke Strategy, copies of which have already been placed in the Library.
The Department does not monitor the activity of the cardiac and stroke networks.
Care Homes: Disabled
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are for the future of Douglass House in Bournemouth; and if he will make a statement. [309612]
Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 27 October 2009, Official Report, column 262W.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was. [309834]
Phil Hope: The Department of Health intends to publish its October 2009 staff survey results on the Department's website during March 2010. Following publication, we will place a copy of the results in the Library.
The supplier for the Department's staff survey in October 2009 was ORC International who were procured by the Cabinet Office to deliver the first cross-Civil Service People Survey. The People Survey replaced all existing staff surveys in the civil service with a single questionnaire.
The cost of the 2009-10 People Survey for the Department is £33,257. By procuring a single supplier for staff surveys in 2009-10, the civil service has saved 35 per cent. on the total cost of staff surveys in 2008-09.
Departmental Training
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2009, Official Report, column 1047W, on departmental training, how many civil servants attended the overseas training course; where it was held; when it was held; and what its title was. [308987]
Phil Hope:
One official from the Department attended the 'Leadership across borders: A four country programme' course which took place during 2009. This is an international leadership initiative that aims to develop leadership skills in tackling complex, global issues. The course is designed for senior public leaders and was created by the UK National School of Government, the Australian Public Service Commission (also representing New Zealand) and the Canada School of
Public Service. It consists of week-long modules in the UK, Australia and Canada. It also has a view to creating a network of high potential senior leaders covering the two hemispheres.
Details of the programme are publicly available at:
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many sessions of media training were organised for Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years. [309912]
Phil Hope: Training is provided to Ministers on a range of issues including handling the media, as part of their induction and continuing development in order to carry out their duties effectively under the Ministerial Code.
Drugs: Prisons
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prisoners have participated in intensive drug treatment programmes in the last five years; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness of such programmes. [308216]
Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The following table provides figures for prisoners recorded as entering accredited drug treatment programmes in 2008-09, the latest period for which figures are available. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
All accredited drug treatment programmes available in prisons are based on good practice found in the community. Evaluations to date specifically of prison drug treatment programmes run in England and Wales are limited and have not always met the highest standards of methodological robustness. However, they suggest that accredited programmes can reduce re-offending (Ramsay, M. (ed) (2003) Prisoners' Drug Use and Treatment: Seven Research Studies. Home Office Research Study 267. London: Home Office). International evidence supports these findings.
The Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group has been established to oversee a complex piece of work to take forward the recommendations of PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2007 report on prison drug treatment. An assessment of the available evidence base for drug treatment in prisons will form a part of this review. A report with recommendations will be produced by the end of March 2011.
Employment Tribunals Service
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many industrial tribunals relating to his Department have been held in each of the last five years; and what the total cost to his Department was of such tribunals in each such year. [309941]
Phil Hope: There have been a very small number of employment tribunals relating to the Department in the last five years. As this is less than five in total, this information is not given on the grounds of confidentiality.
The total costs of those cases settled in favour of claimants was £3,000.
General Practitioners
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will require primary care trusts to publish a complete list of GPs with special interests; [310322]
(2) if he will take steps to increase the number of GPs with special interests in (a) obesity, (b) weight management, (c) nutrition, (d) dermatology, (e) sexual health, (f) respiratory health, (g) diabetes and (h) cardiovascular disease. [310326]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It is for primary care trusts to determine the best ways of meeting the health and health care needs of their local populations, including the potential contribution of general practitioners (GPs) with special interests towards the Government's overall objective of moving care closer to patients where it is appropriate and safe to do so. It is also for primary care trusts to decide in detail what information to publish about the services available locally.
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish a list of GPs with special interests in (a) obesity, (b) weight management and (c) nutrition; [310323]
(2) how many GPs have special interests in each specialty. [310325]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information on the number of general practitioners with special interests in individual specialties is not collected centrally and could not be obtained other than at disproportionate expense.
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