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28 Jun 2010 : Column 402W—continued
Dietary Supplements: Channel Islands
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the authorities in (a) Jersey and (b) Guernsey on progress in implementing the EU (i) Food Supplements Directive and (ii) Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation. [3999]
Mr Djanogly: My noble Friend the Minister of State for Justice (Lord McNally) who has policy responsibility for the Crown Dependencies in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has had no discussions with the authorities in Jersey and Guernsey about the Islands' implementation of the Food Supplements Directive and the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation. However, MoJ officials are regularly in touch with the Jersey and Guernsey governments about this and other matters.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to answer question 117, on departmental manpower, tabled on 27 May 2010. [3797]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: I replied to the hon. Member on 22 June 2010, Official Report, columns 128-29W. I apologise for the delay.
Health
Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust
Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons Sir David Varney has resigned as interim Chair of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement. [4416]
Mr Simon Burns: This is a matter for Sir David Varney and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Carers
David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals for an entitlement to free health checks for carers. [4203]
Mr Burstow: We are gathering evidence on the effectiveness of health checks for carers and the benefits that both the national health service and carers feel they derive from them. Early findings will be available in October 2010 and the final evaluation will be available in October 2011. Any decisions will be made in the light of this evidence and the spending review.
Departmental Pay
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 85W, on departmental manpower, what the salary range is of staff employed at each grade in the private office of each Minister in his Department. [3247]
Mr Simon Burns: The salary ranges for staff in grades AO to Grade 6 in the Department, based in London are set out in the following table. These apply to staff in ministerial private offices.
| £ | ||
| Grade | Minimum | Maximum |
Salary ranges for senior civil servants are set across the civil service by the Government following recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Board. For SCS 1 grade these range from £58,200 to £117,800.
Departmental Standards
Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to review the effectiveness of the (a) public service agreements and (b) vital signs indicators within his Department's area of responsibility. [4127]
Mr Simon Burns: We published the revised 2010-11 NHS Operating Framework on 21 June setting out our intention to review the clinical relevance of all existing Vital Signs indicators with the removal of those that have little or no clinical relevance for the next operating framework. There is no intention to review public service agreements which this coalition has ended. A copy of the revised framework has already been placed in the Library.
Drugs: Prisons
Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of people in prison who were methadone users in each year since 1997; [3256]
(2) what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of people leaving prison in each year since 1997 who were methadone users. [3257]
Mr Burstow: Information on the number of individuals entering or leaving prison with an active methadone prescription is not collected centrally. However, data are available on the number of clinical drug interventions provided in prisons for drug dependency since 2007-08.
In 2007-08, a total of 58,809 prisoners received a clinical drug intervention. Of these, 46,291 (79%) received detoxification and 12,518 (21%) a maintenance prescription for opioid dependency of either methadone or buprenorphine.
In 2008-09, a total of 64,767 prisoners received a clinical drug intervention. Of these 45,135 (69%) received detoxification and 19,632 (31%) received a maintenance prescription for opioid dependency of either methadone or buprenorphine.
In 2009-10, a total of 60,067 prisoners received a clinical drug intervention. Of these 36,323 (61%) received detoxification and 23,744 (39%) received a maintenance prescription for opioid dependency of either methadone or buprenorphine.
Due to funding and implementation of clinical drug treatment services being phased throughout English prisons there has been a gradual year on year increase in the number of drug dependent prisoners accessing evidence-based treatment. Consequently, there has been an increase in the total number of prisoners receiving detoxification or a maintenance prescription.
In prisons, methadone is only used for the treatment of drug dependency and all candidates for it are assessed and treated by medical professionals. Decisions regarding treatment are clinically based and the NHS commissions health services for people in prisons.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people have been prescribed methadone in each year since 1997; [3258]
(2) what the annual cost was of prescribing methadone for one patient in each year since 1997. [3259]
Anne Milton: Methadone is prescribed for a variety of clinical conditions, including the treatment of opioid (heroin) dependency, chronic pain and cough in terminal illness.
The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) collects information on the number of people receiving substitute prescribing interventions for substance misuse in England, but does not distinguish between methadone and the other drugs such as buprenorphine which are also recommended for that purpose by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
NDTMS data on the number of people receiving substitute prescribing for the period 2005-06 - 2008-09 are given as follows.
| Prescribing | |
Figures prior to 2003 are not available and due to a change in NDTMS methodology in 2008-09, comparable trend data are only available from 2005-06.
Information about the annual cost of prescribing methadone for each person in specialist drug treatment is not collected. However, in 2007-08 a one-off unit cost exercise was carried out by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, which assessed the average cost of prescribing interventions (including methadone and buprenorphine) per individual per day, during that year. The exercise calculated the cost of specialist prescribing at £6.81 per day, which included dispensing and keyworking costs but not the costs associated with psychosocial or other support interventions received by the individual at the same time.
Food: Labelling
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will seek to ensure that any EU legislation on a traffic-light colour coding food labelling system is not mandatory in the UK. [4290]
Anne Milton: The proposal from the European Commission currently under negotiation in the European Parliament and Council proposes front of pack nutrition labelling information with percentage reference intakes for certain nutrients. It would also allow other forms of expression of the nutrition information as part of national schemes. Although the European Parliament has recently given its opinion in first reading on the proposal negotiations are ongoing with final agreement between the European Parliament and Council not expected until late 2011.
General Practitioners: Bournemouth
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons Ofsted will have responsibility for inspecting Denmark Road medical surgery in Bournemouth East constituency. [2878]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department is not aware of any proposed Ofsted inspections of this medical surgery. However, there are two inspection remits under which Ofsted might visit such a medical surgery-during inspections of children's centres and during safeguarding and looked after children inspections, conducted jointly with the Care Quality Commission.
Health Services: Liverpool
David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any exemptions in respect of changes in patient flows in (a) Warrington and (b) Halton hospital have been made as part of the approval process for the new hospital in Liverpool. [4202]
Mr Simon Burns: This information is not held centrally.
However, the North West strategic health authority (SHA) confirms that the process of patient flow and income was assessed as part of the outline business case for proposals for the new hospital development in Liverpool. This information can be obtained direct from the SHA.
HIV Infection: Health Services
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of management of the transition of children and young people (a) with and (b) with family members affected by HIV (i) into adolescent services and (ii) from adolescent to adult services. [3741]
Anne Milton: It is for primary care trusts to commission and manage transition arrangements for young people with HIV moving to adolescent, family or adult services. Transitional HIV care should be provided as part of an HIV clinical network and take account of guidance produced by the British HIV Association and the Children's HIV Association. Additionally, in 2007 the Department published good practice guidance on improving the transition of young people with long-term conditions from children's to adult services.
Data from the latest Health Protection Agency Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed show that in 2008 there were 971 children under 14 years receiving HIV care. The British HIV Association's (BHIVA) 2007 standards for HIV make reference to the commissioning of services for families, children and adolescents and their transition into adult services. BHIVA and the Children's HIV Association are in the process of producing clinical guidelines for the treatment and care of adolescents with HIV and transitional care arrangements.
Following the introduction of routine antenatal HIV screening for all pregnant women in 1999 the number of children born in the United Kingdom with HIV has reduced dramatically since the vast majority of pregnant women accept an HIV test. The estimated proportion of exposed infants (born to both diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV-infected women) who became infected has decreased from 12% in 1999 to approximately 2% in 2007. Almost all the children diagnosed with HIV in 2008 were reported to have been infected through mother-to-child transmission, and 60% of them were born abroad.
Hospitals: Durham
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he plans to take to improve healthcare provision in the areas which would have been served by the proposed North Tees and Hartlepool hospital; [3734]
(2) how much has been spent under each budgetary heading on the proposed North Tees and Hartlepool hospital; [3735]
(3) what costs his Department will incur under each budgetary heading consequent on the cancellation of the contract for the North Tees and Hartlepool hospital; [3791]
(4) on what date the decision to cancel the proposed North Tees and Hartlepool hospital was made; [3792]
(5) what criteria he used in assessing whether the North Tees and Hartlepool hospital programme represented value for money; and if he will make a statement. [3854]
Mr Simon Burns:
The Government's review of spending decisions taken since 1 January this year was to ensure that all the schemes considered were affordable, good
value for money and consistent with the Government's priorities. The proposed hospital building scheme for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS foundation trust was assessed against a number of other such NHS build projects at the same stage of development. The announcement of its cancellation formed part of the statement given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to the House on 17 June.
Where major NHS service changes are proposed, they must meet the strengthened criteria for such decisions as set out in a letter from the NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson of 20 May to Monitor and all NHS chief executives. This is to ensure that, in future, all service changes must be led by clinicians and patients and not be driven from the top down.
In these harder economic times it is essential that all major hospital building projects must be affordable and provide value for money for the taxpayer. For foundation trusts in particular, all proposals must be consistent with their independent status in terms of their reduced reliance on departmental support. As a foundation trust, North Tees and Hartlepool has borrowing powers and other mechanisms available to it to fund alternative capital investment plans.
The trust will have incurred costs in working up the proposals, in developing the business case and in performing the feasibility studies behind it. As an independent foundation trust this information is a matter for Monitor (the statutory name for the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts) and may be obtained by writing to the chairman of Monitor.
The business case approved in March 2010 anticipated a request from the trust to the Department for £8 million to buy the land on the Wynyard Park site for the new hospital. This request was received and met by the Department. If the trust acquired land for which it has no further use than it can be sold to recover the funding.
The local strategic health authority and primary care trust have both pledged to continue working closely with all local NHS organisations to plan and develop the best possible health services for the population of Hartlepool and North Tees and to ensure that the wider Momentum Project-involving bringing health care services closer to communities-will continue.
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to implement the recommendations of the Darzi review of acute health services north of the River Tees. [3874]
Mr Simon Burns: The recommendations of the Darzi review of acute health services north of the River Tees were superseded by the advice provided by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to the then Secretary of State for Health in December 2006. This advice formed the basis of the 'Momentum: Pathways to Healthcare' programme which was developed by the local national health service to provide a new health care system for the people of Stockton, Hartlepool, Easington and Sedgefield. We understand that NHS Hartlepool and NHS Stockton-on-Tees will continue to work closely with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust on delivering the wider Momentum programme, and will be discussing the options available with the trust.
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