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21 Jan 2010 : Column 440W—continued
Navy: Caribbean
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Navy ships are located in the Caribbean; and whether any are being tasked to assist with humanitarian efforts in Haiti. [312573]
Mr. Kevan Jones: There are no Royal Navy ships in the region at this time. The Ministry of Defence is sending a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, RFA Largs Bay, to carry vital relief goods to Haiti. This is a high priority task and I trust it will be seen as a significant contribution by HMG to the international aid effort.
In addition, an eight-strong Royal Military Police protection team has been deployed to assist the FCO's consular Rapid Deployment Team, and we have sent a 12-man Operational Liaison and Reconnaissance Team to assess whether further specialist UK military support is required.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Buildings
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) area and (b) estimated value is of (i) vacant and (ii) occupied office space (A) owned and (B) rented by his Department. [310523]
Mr. Woodward: The area and annual rental costs for vacant and occupied office space rented by the Northern Ireland Office, including the Public Prosecution Service and the Crown Solicitor's Office is shown in the following table.
| Name of building | Status | Gross floor area (square metre) | Annual rental costs excluding VAT (£) |
The area and net book value for vacant and occupied office space owned by the Northern Ireland Office is shown in the following table.
| Name of building | Status | Gross floor area (square metre) | Net book value (£) |
| n/a = not available | |||
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many iPODs have been bought by his Department since 2005; and at what cost. [311911]
Paul Goggins: There have been no iPODS bought by the Northern Ireland Office, including its arm's length bodies and the Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland but excluding its agencies and NDPBs, since 2005.
Health
Dental Services: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children in the London borough of Bexley were treated by a dentist providing NHS services in the last 12 months. [311563]
Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested. The proportion of child patients seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months in Bexley Care Trust is 59.1 per cent. as at 30 September 2009.
Health Services: Sight Impaired
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to issue guidance to NHS bodies on the provision of information to blind and partially-sighted people at the time of their diagnosis with another condition or illness. [311288]
Ann Keen: Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, service providers are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. This may include producing information about the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in different formats, depending on an assessment of the person's needs. It is up to individual service providers as to how they make any necessary reasonable adjustments.
Hospital Wards: Closures
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many wards operated by Southend Hospital Trust have been closed during January 2010; and for what reason. [312489]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested is a matter for Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to John Bruce, Chair of Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, informing him of the hon. Member's inquiries. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Influenza
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many persons were recorded as having contracted seasonal influenza in each year since 1998; and how many persons were recorded as having contracted swine influenza in the last 12 months. [312496]
Gillian Merron: Data on the total numbers of cases of seasonal influenza are not collected.
At the start of the swine flu pandemic, all suspected cases were investigated by laboratory testing. As of 1 July 2009 there were 6,929 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United Kingdom.
From July, however, as case numbers rose rapidly, only a small proportion of suspected cases were laboratory confirmed. From that point onwards, estimates of case numbers were made by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), with the aim of providing an indication of the trend in the occurrence of the disease in the population. It was recognised, however, that there was considerable uncertainty in the case number estimates and, in order to allow for this, wide ranges around the estimates were provided.
A total of 845,000 cases of illness due to influenza infection were estimated to have occurred in the population of England during the pandemic in 2009 based on the published, weekly, HPA estimates up to 20 December 2009 (range 415,000 to 1,662,000). This is recognised to underestimate the true number of people infected due to the occurrence of infection in many others who had either very mild illness or infection with no illness at all.
Influenza: Vaccination
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been inoculated against influenza in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) Chelmsford local authority area in each of the last five years. [312487]
Gillian Merron: Data on the number of people who have received influenza vaccine are available nationally and at the strategic health authority and the primary care trust (PCT) levels. No data are available for individual parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
Data on the total number of people vaccinated against influenza during the influenza season (winter) of the years 2005-06 to 2009-10 are given in the following table for the PCT that have included the West Chelmsford constituency and Chelmsford local authority.
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