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28 Jan 2010 : Column 1082W—continued
Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Personal Care at Home Bill will guarantee free personal care for 280,000 people with the highest needs and help around 130,000 people who need home care for the first time to regain their independence;
"Shaping the Future of Care Together" Green Paper, published in July 2009, sets out a vision for a National Care Service for all adults in England which is fair, simple and affordable. The Department has consulted widely on this reform and is currently analysing the responses, which will feed into a White Paper later this year;
The National Carer's Strategy-("Carers at the heart of 21(st) century families and communities")-launched in 2008;
The first National Dementia Strategy was published in February 2009;
"Valuing People Now"-a three year strategy for people with learning disabilities published in January 2009; and
"New Horizons: A Shared Vision for Mental Health"-launched in December 2009-to maintain improvements in mental health services combined with a new cross-Government approach to promoting public mental health.
Since 1998, there are now 2.4 million fewer smokers in England as a result of the Government's comprehensive tobacco control strategy which has a measurable impact on reducing smoking prevalence.
Child obesity levels are reducing due to the efforts of families across England, supported by the Government's obesity strategy. In 2008, 13.9 per cent. of children (aged two to 10) in England were classified as obese, compared with 17.3 per cent. in 2005.
Overall, life expectancy at birth for men has increased from 74.5 years (1995-1997 data) to 77.7 years (2006-08 data) while for women, life expectancy at birth has increased from 79.6 years (1995-97 data) to 81.9 years (2006-08 data). (Source: Mortality target monitoring (life expectancy and all-age all cause mortality, overall and inequalities): update to include data from 2008.
Stress
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the advice issued to his Department's staff on stress recognition and management. [313983]
Phil Hope: The Department provides guidance to all staff and managers on stress recognition and stress management on the Departmental intranet. A text version of this guidance has been placed in the Library.
In addition the Department offers a free counselling service as part of its employee assistance programme that gives free and confidential support to any member of staff who feel they need it.
Tamiflu
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for how long he expects his Department to continue to issue free Tamiflu medication. [313423]
Gillian Merron:
We intend to continue to distribute antivirals to patients with swine flu symptoms free of charge until the end of the seasonal flu period in 2010, i.e. the end of March 2010. The current working assumption
is that antiviral policy will revert to normal from 1 April 2010 onwards, although we will keep the situation under close review.
Urinary System: Screening
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the (a) number of tests for urinary tract infection carried out in each of the last three years for which figures are available and (b) cost of those tests. [313415]
Ann Keen: Information on the number or cost of such tests is not collected centrally.
Weather: Death
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the likely number of excess deaths attributable to cold weather in January 2010. [313159]
Gillian Merron: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases provisional mortality statistics for the previous winter every following autumn. These figures are placed on the ONS website once published. It is not possible to get exact figures earlier than this due to time delays from death certification.
International Development
Departmental Housing
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) empty and (b) occupied residential properties his Department owns; and what the (i) potential annual rental and (ii) total book value is of those (A) empty and (B) occupied residential properties. [313792]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) owns eight residential properties, all of which are occupied.
DFID does not keep information on potential annual rental of its properties. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.
The Total Book Value of occupied residential properties when our Resource Accounts were last published on 31 March 2009 was £9.2 million.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many employees in his Department are in transition prior to being managed out; how long on average the transition window between notification and exit has been in each of the last five years; what estimate he has made of the salary costs of staff in transition in each such year; and what proportion of employees in transition were classed as being so for more than six months in each year. [313238]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) currently has two members of staff in transition.
They have both been in transition since November 2009 and we anticipate redeployment to a new DFID post within the next few days.
DFID formalised its policies on the management of surplus staff in the summer of 2009. DFID has not exited staff in transition in the past five years and it has not been necessary to estimate salary costs for staff in transition during this period.
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what average time his Department took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313670]
Mr. Michael Foster: The requested information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.
The Department for International Development (DFID) endeavours to answer all parliamentary questions on time. We record and regularly report to the Leader of the House on the number of ordinary written and named day questions received and the number of such questions answered on time and late.
Haiti: Humanitarian Aid
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effects of the earthquake in Haiti on the capacity for the transfer of remittance payments from the UK to that country. [313556]
Mr. Michael Foster: We have received reports that remittance agencies and banks in the Port-au-Prince area began opening again on 22 January. However, we are still in the emergency relief phase of the operation and it is still too early to estimate when payments systems will be fully operational in Haiti.
The United States, in contrast to the United Kingdom, is a large source of remittances for Haiti and is looking closely at how best to facilitate cost effective wire transfers from the United States. We will do all we can to support the UN and Government of Haiti in drawing attention to this important issue, as well as supporting the re-establishment of communications and remittance networks.
Israel
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions since the end of Operation Cast Lead Ministers from his Department have visited Israel; and if he will make a statement. [314073]
Mr. Michael Foster: I visited Israel in January 2009 and the Secretary of State for International Development visited in March 2009.
Palestinians: Humanitarian Aid
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will send a Minister from his Department to Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation there; and if he will make a statement. [314072]
Mr. Michael Foster: There are no immediate plans for a Minister from the Department for International Development (DFID) to visit Gaza. Officials from DFID regularly visit Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation. We also maintain close and regular contact with UN agencies and NGOs who are active in Gaza in order to contribute to our assessment of the situation.
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2010, Official Report, column 467W, on Palestinians: overseas aid, for how long he was in Gaza on 1 March 2009; and if he will make a statement. [314075]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Secretary of State for International Development spent around three hours in Gaza, where he visited a number of locations which had been damaged during the conflict.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Government of Egypt and (b) Palestinian authorities on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza; and if he will make a statement. [313435]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not had any recent discussions with the Government of Egypt regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. We believe Israel continues to have obligations as an occupying power with respect to Gaza, and that the main responsibility for ensuring humanitarian access to Gaza therefore lies with Israel rather than Egypt.
In mid-January, DFID's director responsible for the Middle East discussed the issue of support for Gaza with Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Fayyad and with the PA Minister for Planning and Development. DFID's office in Jerusalem also participates in regular meetings of the Humanitarian Task Force, in which the delivery of humanitarian aid to both Gaza and the West Bank is discussed between the UN, donors and the PA.
Somalia: Politics and Government
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the authorities in Somalia on the humanitarian situation in that country; and if he will make a statement. [313436]
Mr. Thomas: The UK Government are very concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia. The United Nations estimate that 3.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. I met a delegation of Ministers, led by the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdurashid Ali Sharmarke, in October 2009 and discussed the humanitarian situation in the country. Officials from the Department for International Development (DFID) also discuss these issues with the Somali authorities and international partners in Nairobi on a regular basis.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Democratic Republic of Congo: Foreign Relations
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Democratic Republic of Congo on Joshua French; and if he will make a statement. [313763]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: There have been no discussions between the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on this matter.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for International Development, raised our opposition to the death penalty with the President of the DRC during his visit to the DRC in September 2009. Our ambassador to the DRC and other British officials have also raised our concerns with the Government of the DRC regarding the death penalty. They have also raised concerns over alleged mistreatment and over aspects of the trial process.
We are opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. Where a British national faces the death penalty, we will make representations at whatever stage and level is deemed appropriate. We understand that the DRC has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty and hope that this will remain the case.
We are cooperating with the Norwegian authorities on this case. The welfare of Joshua French remains our priority.
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what average time his Department took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313667]
Chris Bryant: In the calendar year 2009, the figures were six sitting days and five sitting days respectively.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and officials take very seriously their responsibility to reply to parliamentary questions on time, and we have introduced new management and procedures which have improved our performance.
In December 2009, 90 per cent. of written answers were cleared for reply within five sitting days, and 75 per cent. of named day questions were cleared for reply on the specified date.
EC Law
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any competences have been returned from EU to national level as a result of the application of the principle of subsidiarity since the Treaty on European Union came into effect. [313750]
Chris Bryant: The principle of subsidiarity is not a mechanism for "returning powers' to the member states, but for determining whether or not Community action should be set in motion.
The member states, through the EU treaties, set the EU certain tasks and give it the powers to achieve those tasks. Article 5 of the treaty establishing the European Community states that, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community.
Further guidelines for assessing whether these requirements are met are laid down by the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Protocol also requires the Commission to justify the relevance of any of its legislative proposals with regard to the principle of subsidiarity.
The Lisbon Treaty strengthens the role of national parliaments in EU decision-making, so that for the first time national parliaments could challenge draft EU legislation on subsidiarity grounds. It is for Parliament to decide how to exercise its rights under these procedures.
The Lisbon Treaty also, for the first time, empowered member states to withdraw from the European Union.
Gaza
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions since the end of Operation Cast Lead UK diplomats from (a) the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv and (b) the British Consulate in Jerusalem have visited Gaza; and if he will make a statement. [314074]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: British officials based in Jerusalem and, to a lesser extent, Tel Aviv, have visited Gaza on more than 20 occasions since January 2009. Our Consulate General in Jerusalem also has two members of local staff permanently based in Gaza.
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