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12 Mar 2010 : Column 569W—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 of 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 21st 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.
"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 (1995-97 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).
Health Centres: Christchurch
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2010, Official
Report, column 1115W, on health centres: Christchurch, (1) on what date discussions with the landlord to vary the terms of the lease began; and when he expects them to be concluded; [322147]
(2) on what date the repairs notice was served; what the expected date of completion of the repairs is; and what estimate has been made of their cost. [322148]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Attempts have been made since the property became surplus to dispose of the Department's interest, subject to the use restrictions contained within the leasehold agreement.
Since the service of Notice of Repairs on 5 August 2008, the Department has been in discussion with the landlord on the possibility on varying the terms of the lease to relax the use restrictions without any progress. However, following a meeting with the landlord in late February 2010 it was agreed that further work would be undertaken to establish the feasibility of the most appropriate alternative use for the property after which further discussions would take place with the landlord. The work will involve a number of external organisations and is expected to take up to four months. Every effort will be made to conclude subsequent discussions with the landlord as soon as possible.
Following the service of the Repairs Notice there have been discussions with the landlord as to the extent of the works required having regard to the terms of the lease. The extent of the works will also now be dependent on the outcome of the discussions with the landlord with regard to alternative uses. Estimates of the costs will be made at that stage.
Health Services: Birmingham
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS (a) dentists and (b) GPs were practising in Birmingham in each year since 1997. [321534]
Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested. However, information on the number of dentists with national health service activity for the Birmingham area by primary care trust (PCT) for 1997-2009 is shown in the following table:
The number of general practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars) for the Birmingham area by PCT for the period 1997-2008 is shown in the following table:
| Headcount by year | |||||||
| Birmingham Health Authority (HA) | North Birmingham PCT | Eastern Birmingham PCT | South Birmingham PCT | Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT | Birmingham East and North PCT | Total | |
| Note: Prior to the formation of PCTs, the area of Birmingham was serviced by Birmingham HA. Birmingham HA may not map completely into the separate PCTs beyond 2001, but has been displayed here as background and appears consistent with subsequent aggregated PCT figures. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care. | |||||||
Hearing Impaired: Health Services
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have undertaken training courses in audiology in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire in each of the last five years; how many people he expects to undertake such courses in future years; and if he will make a statement. [321857]
Ann Keen: The number of training places in audiology in England and the South West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) for each of the last five years is shown in the following table. The number of planned training commissions for 2009-10 is also shown.
| Audiology training commissions | Planned commissions | |||||
| England | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Sources: Multi-Professional Education and Training Fund SHA Quarterly Returns | ||||||
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