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1 Dec 2010 : Column 913W—continued
Osteoporosis: Health Services
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of GP practices which have met the minimum thresholds set out in the Osteoporosis Directed Enhanced Service. [27181]
Paul Burstow:
The Department does not hold information on the number of practices that participate in the Osteoporosis Directed Enhanced Service. The information is held by primary care trusts (PCTs) who
hold a contract with those general practitioner practices who have chosen to enter into an arrangement with a PCT to provide this service.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will fund a national programme of audits of falls and bone health in primary care. [27186]
Paul Burstow: We already fund a national clinical audit of falls and bone health, delivered by the Royal College of Physicians. The audit measures the organisation of services and care provided to older people for falls prevention, bone health and fracture management. It provides national benchmarking data, using evidence based quality standards, for a variety of healthcare settings: acute, primary care, care homes and mental health care.
Strokes: Health Education
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he plans to release the remaining tranche of funding for the Act FAST campaign; [27168]
(2) what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Act FAST campaign in raising stroke awareness. [27169]
Mr Simon Burns: Approval has been received recently from the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group for a further wave of the Act FAST Stroke awareness campaign to go ahead. The current intention is for the television adverts to run in March 2011, supported by distribution of other materials locally.
The evaluation we commissioned from the advertising agency which was awarded the contract for developing the stroke awareness campaign, showed that the campaign successfully achieved a rapid change in behaviour: within a year, an estimated 9,864 more people reached hospital faster, 642 of whom were saved from death or serious disability by receiving thrombolysis. The evidence demonstrated that the campaign achieved a payback of £3.16 for every £1 spent. On this basis the agency submitted an entry to the 2010 Institute of Professional Advertisers Effectiveness Awards and, in November, achieved a Gold Award.
Tobacco: Sales
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what timetable he proposes for implementation of any proposals requiring the sale of tobacco products in plain packaging; and if he will make a statement. [27434]
Anne Milton: The Government's consideration of policy on the plain packaging of tobacco products is in its early stages. The Government will look at whether the plain packaging of tobacco products could be an effective way to reduce further the numbers of young people taking up smoking and to help those who are trying to quit smoking. The Government want to make it easier for people to make healthy choices, but will clearly need to consider both the benefits and the costs of any new policy.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his press statement of 22 November 2010, what the evidential basis was for his statement that (a) packaging helps to recruit smokers and (b) that children are being attracted to smoking by glitzy designs on packets; what plans he has to implement legislative provisions prohibiting the display in retail outlets of tobacco product packaging; and if he will make a statement. [27439]
Anne Milton: A large number of documents, reports and studies have been published about the effect of packaging in the marketing and promotion of tobacco products, and support the statements made by the Secretary of State.
For example, the RAND Europe study "Assessing the Impacts of Revising the Tobacco Products Directive" commissioned by the European Commission Health and Consumer Directorate-General to support their assessment of the impacts of revising the Tobacco Products Directive 2001/37/EC and published in September
2010, includes a section examining the evidence on the plain or generic packaging of tobacco products.
The RAND report can be found at:
Also, the Australian Government have announced their intention to introduce a legislative requirement for the plain packaging of tobacco to commence on 1 January 2012. The evidence supporting their action is summarised in their technical report "Australia: the healthiest country by 2020-Technical report 2 Tobacco Control in Australia".
The Australian technical report can be found at:
The Government are looking at options around the display of tobacco in shops, recognising the need to take action both to reduce tobacco consumption and to reduce burdens on businesses. No decisions have yet been made.
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