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23 Jun 2010 : Column 250W—continued
BNFL figures up to 2005 include expenditure on R and D across the BNFL estate, including that now carried out by the National Nuclear Laboratory and the NDA's site license companies.
Health
Anti-depressants
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people in each region who have been prescribed anti-depressant medication in each of the last three years. [3318]
Mr Simon Burns: Information on the number of people prescribed a medicine is not collected centrally. Information on the number of prescription items for anti-depressants(1) dispensed in the community in England is in the following table.
| Number of prescription items dispensed primary care by strategic health authority for anti-depressant medicines in (SHA) in England: 2007 - 09 | |||
| Thousand | |||
| SHA | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| (1) Anti-depressant medication has been defined as those products included in British National Formulary (BNF) Chapter 4.3 (anti-depressant drugs). (2) Figures may not sum due to rounding. Source: NHS Prescription Services Information System | |||
Breast Cancer: Screening
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure his Department has incurred on the NHS Breast Screening Programme in each year since the programme was established; and if he will provide a real-terms budget increase for the programme for 2011-12. [3698]
Mr Burstow: The information is not held in the requested format. The funding that covers the cost of delivering national health service cancer screening programmes is provided from local primary care trust allocations. The most recent assessment, made in 2006, put the cost of NHS Breast Screening Programme at £75 million.
Under the NHS Breast Screening Programme, women aged between 50 to 69 years are routinely invited for screening and women over the age of 70 can request free three-yearly screening. The programme is in the process of extending to screening women aged 47 to 49 and 70 to 73 at a cost of £12 million per year.
There is also a fund of £10 million to provide independent quality assurance to the screening programmes, and £4 million of this is for the NHS Breast Screening Programme.
Figures for 2011-12 are subject to the forthcoming comprehensive spending review and cannot be provided at this time.
Dementia: Drugs
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent guidance his Department has issued to (a) primary care trusts, (b) NHS trusts, (c) residential care homes and (d) other institutions on the use of anti-psychotic medicines for people with dementia. [3399]
Mr Burstow: The over-prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs for people with dementia is unacceptable. The National Clinical Director for dementia is leading the work to implement the recommendations made by Professor Sube Banerjee in his report into the use of anti-psychotic medicines, which was published in November 2009. Work is under way to consider guidance for institutions on this issue.
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's response to Professor Sube Banerjee's report on the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs to people with dementia, of 12 November 2009, when the national audit to generate data on the prescribing of anti-psychotic medicines began; whether he has received any interim findings of that audit; when he expects to receive the final report of that audit; if he will publish that audit; and if he will make a statement. [3401]
Mr Burstow:
The Department is working with the NHS Information Centre to conduct a review of the progress made by primary care trusts to prioritise support for people with dementia, through a national audit of dementia services. The audit will highlight what progress different localities are making in key areas including reducing the use of anti-psychotic drugs. Work to develop the scope of the audit has begun and once this is finalised the data collection will begin. The results of
the audit are expected to be available in October 2010 and the final findings will be reported by the end of 2010.
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the national audit of the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs referred to in his Department's response to Professor Sube Banerjee's report on the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs to people with dementia of 12 November 2009. [3402]
Mr Burstow: The National Clinical Director for dementia is working with a range of stakeholders to lead the work to implement the recommendations made by Professor Sube Banerjee in his report into the use of anti-psychotic medicines, which was published in November 2009. A key part of this work is to undertake a national audit of the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs. Representatives from across the health, social care and independent sectors with an interest in this issue have been invited to join a stakeholder reference group to advise the Department on the development of the audit.
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has commissioned research on a potential correlation between the use of anti-psychotic medicines and use of medication to treat Alzheimer's disease within an institution; whether the national audit referred to in his Department's response to Professor Sube Banerjee's report on the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs to people with dementia of 12 November 2009 will collect data on the use of anti-Alzheimer's disease medication; and if he will make a statement. [3403]
Mr Burstow: The Department is not supporting research of this kind. Work is currently under way, being led by the National Clinical Director for dementia in consultation with a range of stakeholders across the health, social care and independent sectors, to develop the scope of the national audit of the prescribing of anti-psychotic medicines. This includes determining what data should be collected.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of methadone and other treatments in tackling drug addiction; and if he will make a statement. [3512]
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent evaluation his Department has undertaken of the use of methadone to rehabilitate addicts; and if he will make a statement. [3842]
Anne Milton: In 2007 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published "Technology Appraisals on methadone and buprenorphine"
and also clinical guidelines on opiate detoxification
and on psychosocial interventions
for drug misuse. NICE periodically reviews its guidance to determine whether an update is required.
In addition, the Department, in conjunction with other United Kingdom administrations, published updated UK clinical guidelines on drug misuse, "Drug misuse and dependence-UK guidelines on clinical management-2007". The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse has produced guidance on the evidence base and clinical practice of drug treatment which can be found at:
Electronic Government
Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps (a) his Department and (b) its non-departmental public bodies take to ensure that the principles of digital inclusion are taken into account in respect of information made available online. [3429]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department makes information available online through two websites. Public health information is available at NHS Choices
and information for health and social care professionals is available at
The Department is committed to reaching the 12 million people who are not online, particularly the 4 million people who are both socially and digitally excluded.
The Department, through NHS Choices, runs many initiatives with those involved in digital inclusion, including Race Online 2012 and UK online centres.
NHS Choices has an intermediary engagement and training programme with library staff and other front line workers to reach older groups, families on lower incomes and unemployed people.
Features of NHS Choices are available to view on mobile phones and there are also SMS services including 'Find My Nearest' to locate health services such as general practitioner surgeries.
The Department's corporate website www.dh.gov.uk conforms with Government guidelines for website accessibility, and NHS Choices is currently working with AbilityNet, an accessibility expert charity, to make www.nhs.uk more usable for those with disabilities.
As part of our commitment to the rationalisation of websites, we are merging those websites not in line with Cabinet Office guidance and belonging to non-departmental
public bodies, with our corporate and public websites. The converged information will then come into line with our current standards on accessibility and our programme of digital inclusion.
Gender Recognition: Health Services
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to monitor whether primary care trusts provide accessible, timely and high-quality gender identity services; and if he will make a statement. [3351]
Mr Burstow: Primary care trusts determine their own local priorities and commission services to meet the needs of their communities. This includes deciding how best to use the available resources to provide gender identity services.
All national health service organisations should comply with the existing law that provides explicit protection and rights for transsexual people in a number of areas including health services. This covers requirements for public bodies, including NHS organisations, to proactively promote gender equality which includes transsexual men and transsexual women.
In September 2009 Sir David Nicholson, NHS chief executive, reminded NHS chief executives and their teams of their legal duties in relation to gender identity services and asked for all cases to be considered individually, according to clinical need and local prioritisation.
Muscular Dystrophy and Cystic Fibrosis: Research
Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has allocated to research into (a) Duchenne muscular dystrophy and (b) cystic fibrosis in 2010. [3479]
Mr Burstow: The usual practice of the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council (MRC) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Actual expenditure on muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis research in 2010-11 and beyond will be determined by the success of relevant bids for funding.
The Department's most recent estimate of past and planned expenditure on all single gene disorder (SGD) research is shown in the following table.
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