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29 Mar 2010 : Column 784W—continued
Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT) will receive a funding allocation of £32,428,000 in 2010-11 for primary dental care services. This is net of income from dental charges paid by patients, which is retained locally to supplement the resources available for dentistry. It will be for individual PCTs to judge whether additional investment is required. As a result of lower NHS service tariff prices following the incorporation of an additional 0.5 per cent. efficiency requirement, PCTs have headroom in their general NHS
2010-11 budgets to fund additional growth in dentistry and other services according to local development priorities.
Funding allocations to PCTs for 2011-12 and 2012-13 will be finalised as part of the next Spending Review. Funding for dentistry will be included within PCT unified funding allocations from 2011-12.
Information on how many people are registered with an NHS dentist is not available in the format requested.
Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with an NHS dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to 'registration' is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services ('patients seen') over a 24 month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.
Information on the number of patients seen in the previous 24 months, in England, is available in Table D1 of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics, Quarter 2: 30 September 2009 report. Information is available at quarterly intervals, from 31 March 2006 to 31 December 2009 and is provided by PCT and by strategic health authority.
This report, published on 23 February 2010, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Departmental Computer Software
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2010, Official Report, column 699W, on Departmental ICT, what fonts were purchased through the expenditure on font licences in the last three years. [324342]
Phil Hope: Pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2010, Official Report, column 699W, the fonts included in the expenditure of £18,112 on font licensing are as follows:
1,000 licences to use Sylvia and Apex Sans T typefaces for use by regional and local tobacco teams were purchased in 2006, plus an upgrade of the Sylvia licences in 2009 for Smokefree;
2,000 licences for the national health service font, Fruitger, were purchased for use by NHS organisations in 2009;
Syntax Complete Family Pack for one to five users was purchased in 2008 in connection with the Department website; and
Change4Life purchased a licence to distribute a custom Change4Life (people) font freely.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidance on his Department's policy on the relocation offshore of departmental jobs to companies bidding for contracts let by his Department. [324796]
Phil Hope: The Department has no plans to issue any guidance.
The Department is committed to getting best value for money when letting outsourcing contracts.
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to his Department was of employing press and media officers in the last 12 month period for which figures are available; and what the cost to his Department was of employing such staff in the financial year 1996-97, expressed in real terms. [324806]
Phil Hope: There are currently no figures available for the financial year 2009-10. However, the cost to the Department for employing press and media officers (including planning and support staff) in the financial year 2008-09 was £1,412,000. This figure excludes social security and pension costs.
The Department does not hold financial information which is older than 10 years.
Departmental Manpower
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff his Department employed in each year since 1997. [324941]
Phil Hope: The numbers of both full-time and part-time staff employed by the Department in each year since 1970 are published on the civil service statistics website. This can be found at:
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department and its agencies spent on promotional items carrying the Department's branding and logo in the last five years; and what those items were. [324714]
Phil Hope: The Department advises against the use of departmental branding on promotional items, other than on occasional low-value items to support specific internal initiatives or conferences. Any such items are procured by individual teams within the Department and the Department does not hold central records on which items were procured and at what cost. To provide this information would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
The two agencies that receive funding from the Department are the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA).
We are informed by both NHS PASA and MHRA that they have not produced or issued any products featuring departmental branding in the last five years.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 22 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1654-55W, on departmental telephone services, whether his Department awarded contracts for the provision of services relating to the campaign-specific telephone lines and campaign-linked lines. [324116]
Phil Hope: The majority of the 13 campaign-specific call centres and other campaign-linked lines that I referred to in my previous answer were contracted via the Central Office of Information (COI). The COI will have conducted their own tender exercises as appropriate.
Three of the lines were not contracted via COI, two of these were commissioned with another Department while the other was commissioned through an agency.
Supporting services for the call centres such as data management or the fulfilment of publication requests would have been commissioned in the same way.
Diabetes: Chiropody
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with diabetes of each (a) gender and (b) age group in each primary care trust area had not had their bare feet checked by a podiatrist in each of the last five years. [324767]
Ann Keen: Data are not centrally collected in the format requested.
Information on the number of people with diabetes that receive a foot check is provided in the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) for 2007-08. This reports that 77 per cent. of people with diabetes in England had received a foot examination during the period. Data are available for each primary care trust for the period 2003-08. The NDA does not have complete cover for England, but adult data are now collected from all 152 primary care trusts with approximately 75 per cent. of all general practitioner practices contributing.
Data are not collected on which health care professional undertakes the foot check.
Direct Payments
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide further guidance to local authorities on the data to be included in national indicators for personalised budgets. [324739]
Phil Hope: Further guidance will be provided to local authorities, which is expected to be made available via the Audit Commission Information Portal in the next few months.
Eating Disorders: Young People
Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many young people were treated for eating disorders by (a) general practitioners, (b) children and adolescent mental health specialists and (c) other primary care specialists in the last 12 months; [323763]
(2) what steps his Department takes to assist parents and carers of young people with eating disorders. [323764]
Phil Hope: Information on the number of young people treated for eating disorders is not collected centrally.
We take the issue of eating disorders, especially among young people, very seriously. Services for people with eating disorders are available throughout the country in both primary and secondary care. We asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to
publish guidelines for practitioners on core interventions for these disorders which it did in 2004. These guidelines will be reviewed in 2011.
We are also providing funding worth £131,000 for beat's (the eating disorders' charity) Pathway to Recovery project which provides a support network for people who have recovered from an eating disorder.
Food: Labelling
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what food labelling (a) regulations and (b) initiatives initiated by his Department since October 2008 have (i) not been delivered in line with the original schedule, (ii) been amended and (iii) been terminated. [324523]
Gillian Merron: The Food Standards Agency is responsible for food labelling policy. The regulatory changes listed, with the exception of fish labelling, emanated from changes in European Union law.
The following amendment regulations were not delivered in line with the original
The Fish Labelling (England) Regulations 2010. There was a commitment during public consultation that these would come into force in December 2009. These are now coming into force on 6 April. These were delayed because of technical issues that arose during the preparation of the statutory instrument.
The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007, amended in September 2008. The comings into force of labelling controls in this were delayed as a result of an industry-sponsored judicial review.
The following labelling regulations were amended:
The Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009, which was amended by Commission Regulation 415/2009/EC.
The following labelling initiatives have been amended:
The Food Standards Agency UK best practice guidance on Country of Origin Labelling, first published in 2002 was amended in October 2008;
No regulatory or other public labelling initiatives have been terminated since October 2008.
General Practitioners: Training
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training general practitioners receive on (a) referral pathways for cancer patients and (b) how such referral pathways can be utilised. [323688]
Ann Keen: The Department does not specify the content of the general practitioner (GP) training curriculum. GPs are expected to keep their knowledge and skills up to date throughout their working life, and take part in educational activities that maintain and further develop their competence and performance.
To support GPs in the referral of patients with suspected cancer, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence produced referral guidelines for suspected cancer in 2005. These guidelines are intended for use by health care professionals in primary care and can also be used in the education and training of health professionals. These guidelines are used together with local protocols for referral as agreed by the local provider and the primary care trust, and in line with national commitments for cancer waiting time standards.
Health Services: Ex-servicemen
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to assess the level of access to health services by war veterans. [323910]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department does not collect information specific to veterans' access to the national health service nor on how many receive priority treatment.
NHS patients in England can expect to start their consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral unless they choose to wait longer or it is clinically appropriate that they do so. This applies to all NHS patients including veterans living in England.
The current operating framework for the NHS makes clear the need to take account of the health needs of service families and veterans when commissioning services.
Health Visitors
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health visitors were working in each (a) parliamentary constituency, (b) region, (c) local authority area and (d) strategic health authority area in each of the last 10 years. [325018]
Ann Keen: National health service work force statistics are not available centrally broken down by parliamentary constituency, region and local authority area.
A table has been placed in the Library outlining the number of health visitors in England by strategic health authority area and by primary care trust. These data are available only from 2002 onwards.
Health Visitors: Children
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average health visitor caseload for cases involving children under five years old is in each London borough; [324579]
(2) what the average health visitor caseload for cases involving children under five years old is in (a) Manchester City, (b) Salford City, (c) Trafford borough, (d) Wigan borough, (e) Bolton borough, (f) Rochdale borough, (g) Tameside borough and (i) Stockport borough; [324580]
(3) what the average health visitor caseload for cases involving children under five years old is in (a) Birmingham, (b) Wolverhampton, (c) Dudley, (d) Sandwell, (e) Walsall, (f) Solihull and (g) Coventry. [324581]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally.
Health: Children
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects COVER reports under the Child Health Interim Application to be issued in London; and if he will make a statement. [324996]
Gillian Merron:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 24 March 2010, Official Report, columns 388-89W. Vaccination coverage statistics for
children aged up to five years in the United Kingdom from July to December 2009 were published in the Health Protection Report issued by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) on 26 March 2010. This is published on the HPA website:
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