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30 Mar 2010 : Column 898W—continued
Construction: Health Hazards
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on human health of exposure to the construction material known as SMR; and if he will make a statement. [302980]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
SMR (structural materials for reinstatement) is a generic term applied to reprocessed materials used in the reinstatement of excavations in construction work. As such it relates to a range of materials with widely differing compositions. No specific assessment has been made on the health impacts of exposure to SMR.
I have asked the Health and Safety Executive to consider this matter further though and to write to the hon. Member directly.
Contraceptives
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential effect on usage of the contraceptive pill of the poster entitled (a) contraception-implant.pdf and (b) contraception-IUS.pdf, available on the NHS website. [324994]
Gillian Merron: The "Sex. Worth talking about" campaign aims to encourage people to investigate all their contraceptive options and to consider which method might best fit their needs and lifestyle. These two posters form part of this campaign and are designed to highlight two particular contraceptive choices which might be less familiar to the public than the contraceptive pill.
The campaign has been running since 30 November 2009 and it is therefore too early to know if these posters have had an effect on usage of the oral contraceptive pill.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's campaign on usage of the oral contraceptive pill; and if he will make a statement. [324995]
Gillian Merron:
The "Sex. Worth talking about" campaign highlights that there are 15 contraceptive options available, including two types of contraceptive pill. The campaign is designed to encourage people to investigate all their contraceptive options and to consider
which method might best fit their lifestyle. People are advised to discuss their options with a health care professional, as medical considerations may impact an individual's final choice.
The campaign has been running since 30 November 2009 and it is therefore too early to know if there has been an effect on usage of the oral contraceptive pill.
Dementia
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department had spent on its most recent dementia awareness campaign on the latest date for which figures are available. [324887]
Phil Hope: The overall advertising spend for the dementia awareness campaign in 2009-10 was £1,587,106.
Departmental Food
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department and its non-departmental bodies are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. [323071]
Phil Hope: Guidance produced under the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative encourages and shows public sector bodies how they can specify higher animal welfare standards, including farm assurance schemes and higher level schemes such as the RSPCA's Freedom Foods standards.
In February 2008, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) alerted public bodies to the Government's commitment to the 2012 deadline for an European Union-wide ban on the use of conventional cages for laying hens, so that buyers recognised the welfare benefits of alternative production systems, compared with conventional cages and would reflect this in any future contracts. DEFRA have also developed contract award criteria that give a higher weighting to pig meat meeting higher-level welfare standards.
Staff restaurant and hospitality catering for departmental staff is provided by Quadrant Catering and Eurest Services. Both of whom are part of Compass Group UK and Ireland, one of the United Kingdom's largest contract caterers. Compass aim to provide as much ethically sourced food as is possible as part of these catering and hospitality services.
The Compass Group see ethical sourcing as a combination of factors, which range from ensuring sustainability to animal welfare and endorse the Farm Animal Welfare Council's Five Freedoms concept. They provide full traceability of products and suppliers within their approved supply chain to ensure animals reared for meat, fish, milk and eggs are raised to high standards of animal welfare. This year, Compass Group ran a farm to fork outdoor-reared, free-range pork project.
We are not able to comment on plans for food procured by our non-departmental bodies, as this information is not held centrally and to provide this would be at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people his Department employs to maintain its social media and social networking sites; and how much it spent on maintaining those sites in the latest period for which figures are available. [324945]
Phil Hope: Nobody within the Department is employed specifically to maintain social media or social networking sites.
The Department's corporate social media channels are the responsibility of the e-communications and publishing team. This team spends approximately one hour per week on maintaining and updating these channels.
In the period 1 April 2009 to 26 March 2010, the Department incurred a total of £32.26 in direct costs for maintaining corporate social media channels.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on maintaining its Flickr photostream in the latest period for which figures are available. [324947]
Phil Hope: In the period 1 April 2009 to 26 March 2010, the Department incurred a total of £32.26 in direct costs for maintaining its Flickr photostream.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on maintaining its YouTube channel in the latest period for which figures are available. [324948]
Phil Hope: The Department does not incur any direct costs in maintaining its YouTube channel.
The Department's corporate social media channels are the responsibility of the e-Communications and Publishing team. This team spends approximately one hour per week on maintaining and updating these channels.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on maintaining its Twitter feed in the latest period for which figures are available. [324949]
Phil Hope: The Department does not incur any direct costs in maintaining its Twitter feed.
The Department's corporate social media channels are the responsibility of the e-Communications and Publishing team. This team spends approximately one hour per week on maintaining and updating these channels.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 March 2010, Official Report, columns 56-7W, on departmental temporary employment, how much was spent on employing temporary staff in each of the last three years. [324329]
Phil Hope: In 2008-09, the total amount spent by the Department on whole-time equivalent temporary workers from the administration budget, comprising agency workers, contractors and consultants, was £16,458,992.
Prior to 2008-09, temporary workers were not recorded on the Department's Human Resources system and therefore this information is not held centrally.
To provide the total amount spent by the Department on employing temporary workers in 2006-07 and 2007-08 would incur disproportionate cost.
Diabetes
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) males and (b) females in each socio-economic group have type 2 diabetes. [324230]
Ann Keen: There are no data centrally collected. Data from the Quality and Outcome Framework (QOF) about the number of people recorded on diabetes registers are available for national health service organisations. However, it is not possible to separate the data by gender or socio-economic group.
This table provides data of the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in England.
| Number of people diagnosed with diabetes | |
Diabetes: Health Services
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people with diabetes have been referred to a dietician for specialist dietary advice in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) age, (b) sex and (c) primary care trust area; [324292]
(2) how many people with diabetes have seen a dietician for specialist dietary advice, broken down by (a) age, (b) sex and (c) primary care trust area, in each of the last five years.; [324293]
(3) what the average waiting time was for a person with diabetes in each primary care trust area to see a dietician for specialist dietary advice in the latest period for which figures are available. [324294]
Ann Keen: The information requested is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts in partnership with local stakeholders, including practice based commissioners, local government and the public to assess the needs of their local population and to commission services accordingly. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of services provided by dieticians.
Diabetes: Nurses
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diabetes specialist nurse posts have been (a) made redundant and (b) transferred to general nursing posts in each primary care trust area in each of the last five years. [324229]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
Diabetes specialist nurses are not separately identified within the quarterly redundancy collection or the NHS Workforce Census.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2010, Official Report, columns 966-67W, on drugs: rehabilitation, how many deaths have been caused by methadone overdose in (a) Sefton and (b) the UK in each year since 2000; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of methadone abuse. [325008]
Gillian Merron: It is not possible to answer how many deaths are caused solely by methadone.
However, there were 10 deaths where the underlying cause was drug poisoning and methadone was mentioned on the death certificate in Sefton local authority between 2000 and 2007. Due to the small number these have not been broken down by year to protect confidentiality within birth and death statistics.
The following table provides the number of deaths where the underlying cause was drug poisoning, and methadone was mentioned on the death certificate, either alone or together with other substances in the United Kingdom for the years 2000 to 2007.
Figures on drug-related deaths identify all substances that were mentioned on the death record. Where more than one substance was mentioned, it is not possible to state which of them was primarily responsible for the death.
| Deaths | |
| Number | |
Methadone is misused if it is taken by someone for whom it has not been prescribed; this is often because methadone prescriptions have been diverted onto the illegal drugs market. The main way that this diversion of methadone is tackled is through the supervised consumption of methadone for people who are receiving it to treat their addiction.
Supervision of consumption by an appropriate professional provides the best guarantee that the methadone is being taken as directed. The Department's guidelines for drug treatment in the UK recommend that when a person starts receiving methadone to treat their drug misuse, they should take each dose under the supervision of a nurse, doctor or community pharmacist for a minimum of three months, and this supervision should be relaxed only when their compliance is assured.
Genito-Urinary Medicine
Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he next plans to renew the effectiveness and operation of the 2001 national strategy for sexual health. [325000]
Gillian Merron: In July 2008, the Sexual Health and HIV Independent Advisory Group published their review "Progress and priorities-working together for high quality sexual health" of the implementation of the 2001 national strategy for sexual health and HIV.
In July 2009, the Government published its response to the review "Moving forward: Progress and priorities-working together for high quality sexual health". In the response we said that as the current strategy comes to an end in 2011 we are already considering what further action will be needed to continue to make improvements in sexual health.
Copies of both reports have been placed in the Library.
On 4 February 2010, we held a national consultative conference on sexual health and HIV. The conference was very well attended and received. The outputs from the day, together with other information, data and evidence will be used to develop a refreshed strategy over the coming year.
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