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Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will amend the membership of the Qualified Teacher Status review panel to include initial teacher training providers. [48523]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 23 March 2011]: The Secretary of State for Education has already appointed a group of practitioners and experts led by Sally Coates, Principal of Burlington Danes Academy, to review the whole framework of teachers’ standards, which includes the Qualified Teacher Status standards. There is a range of experience of initial teacher training provision on the group, both from the perspective of schools and from Teach First. The group is currently considering how it will engage other experts, the profession and its representatives and those who use the standards, including ITT providers.
Departmental Theft
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what items with a value of over £100 have been taken without authorisation from his Department since his appointment; and what steps have been taken to recover such items. [48445]
Tim Loughton: Since May 2010 four laptop computers and five BlackBerrys have been stolen. In each case the Department's incident reporting process was followed and the theft was reported to the police.
Welsh Language
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when his Department last published a Welsh language scheme in accordance with the provisions of the Welsh Language Act 1993; and at which web addresses such schemes can be accessed in (a) Welsh and (b) English. [31160]
Tim Loughton: We are working with our colleagues in the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish Administrations to update the concordats which outline how we will work together in order to reflect recent changes to the policy areas which are devolved and to the name of the Department for Education. We plan to update the welsh language scheme once these concordats have been signed off. Until then, the welsh language scheme published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2000 will apply. This can be found at the following address:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/cymraeg/
Further schemes will be published on the Department for Education's website at:
www.education.gov.uk
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to answer questions (a) 32855, 32870, 32871, 32872, 32873, 32874, 32877, 32878, 32879, 32880 and 32881, tabled on 21 December 2010 for answer on 10 January 2011, and (b) 33292 and 33370, tabled on 10 January 2011 for answer on 12 January 2011. [43662]
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Sarah Teather: A response to the hon. Member's question 32855 has been issued today. Responses to the remaining hon. Member's questions were answered as follows:
PQs 32870, 32871, 32872, 32873 and 32874 issued on 1 March 2011, Official Report, columns 344-45W.
PQ 32877 issued on 4 March 2011, Official Report, columns 648-49W.
PQs 32878 and 33370 issued on 4 March 2011, Official Report, column 652W.
PQs 32879 and 32881 issued on 4 March 2011, Official Report, columns 653-54W.
PQ 32880 issued on 4 March 2011, Official Report, columns 648-49W.
PQ 33292 issued on 15 March 2011, Official report, column 175W.
Youth Clubs: Finance
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many youth clubs received funding from his Department and its predecessors in each of the last five years. [48504]
Tim Loughton: The Department does not collect information on the numbers of youth clubs or on whether they are supported by funding from the Department.
Cabinet Office
Cabinet: Bradford and Derby
Bob Stewart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2011, Official Report, column 1292W, on meetings: public expenditure, what the cost to the public purse under each category of expenditure was of holding Cabinet meetings in (a) Bradford and (b) Derby. [47795]
Mr Maude: Ministers travelled to the Cabinet meeting in Bradford by train. A coach was hired at a cost £750 to transport Ministers from Leeds train station to the venue and back to the station. Ministers combined their attendance with visits to services and projects in the area. Departments will have incurred additional costs associated with travel to Leeds train station but this information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. The total cost of hiring the venue for the Cabinet meeting in Bradford was £2,279 including catering and other related costs. Therefore, the central cost of the Cabinet meeting in Bradford was £3,029.50.
Full costs for the Cabinet meeting in Derby on 7 March 2011 are not yet known but are expected to be similar or lower to those of the Bradford event.
Census
Tessa Munt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what mechanism has been put in place to ensure the security of data during the 2011 Census process; [46951]
(2) whether his Department takes into account ethical considerations when tendering contracts for (a) the Census and (b) other UK social statistical tasks. [47079]
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Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your recent questions to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking (1) what mechanism has been put in place to ensure the confidentiality of data during the 2011 Census process (46951) and (2) whether his Department takes into account ethical consideration when tendering contracts for (a) the Census and (b) other UK social statistical tasks (47079).
(1) Security has been a fundamental aspect and is built into the whole of the census design. The broad principles and strategic approach covering the privacy, security and confidentiality aspects of census information were set out in Chapter 6 of the White Paper “Helping to shape tomorrow” (CM 7513), laid before Parliament in December 2008.
Following the appointment of Lockheed Martin UK as the supplier of the main data processing services ONS put in place additional contractual and operational arrangements to ensure that:
all data processing will be carried out in the UK;
ONS retains ownership of the data;
the only people who have access to the full census dataset in the operational data centre will be ONS staff;
no staff from either Lockheed Martin (the US parent) or Lockheed Martin UK have access to any personal census data;
ONS controls system access rights to all data systems; and
everyone working with census data signs declarations of confidentiality.
A joint ONS/supplier security team has been overseeing the security of the census data capture operations, including the online census.
The online census was built with data security as a primary requirement and meets government-information assurance and data security standards, as well as ISO 27001, the industry standard for information security management. The online system has been subject to rigorous security tests, and underwent a formal accreditation process before it went live. The system has been subject to security testing by Logica and, in addition, ONS commissioned its own independent security testing, which has been carried out by SOPRA, a CESG approved CHECK service provider. Any vulnerabilities identified have been rectified in line with the recommendations.
An independent review of security has also been carried out and the report was published on 11 February. The report “2011 Census: Independent Information Assurance Review” can be found on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/commitment-to-confidentiality/index.html
(2) a) and b) In tendering for all contracts, including for the main outsourced operations for the 2011 Census, ONS carries out fully compliant procurements in accordance with the requirements of European law and the European Union Procurement Directives, which have been incorporated into English law. The foundations of the rules are fairness and transparency. Any organisation with the correct technical capability, financial stability and relevant experience therefore has the opportunity to compete openly for Government business throughout the European Union without discrimination. The tendering process for support services for the 2011 Census covered the technical ability to provide the services, the cost and the assessment of risks associated with such services. There were six main overarching evaluation criteria that were applied to determine the chosen suppliers. These were:
compliance with requirements listed in the statement of requirements as mandatory
value for money
understanding of the business needs
technical capability of the proposed solution
legal/contractual assessment
risks
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Departmental Assets
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which fixed assets his Department has sold since June 2010; and what the (a) sale value and (b) name of the purchaser of each such asset was. [47263]
Mr Maude: Since June 2010 only low value items have been sold. Proceeds totalled £1,733. Details of individual purchasers could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Theft
Luciana Berger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what items with a value of over £100 have been taken without authorisation from his Department since his appointment; and what steps have been taken to recover such items. [48449]
Mr Maude: The Cabinet Office has recorded three official items of electronic equipment to the value of £325.
All reported lost or stolen items are investigated with a view to recovering the items, and each case is reviewed to determine any increased vulnerability to our security.
Efficiency and Reform Group
Tessa Jowell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost to the public purse of the Efficiency and Reform Group has been in the financial year 2010-11 to date. [46327]
Mr Maude: The Efficiency and Reform Group has been brought together in the Cabinet Office to make the Government more efficient and to radically reform the way public services are provided. The group has brought together expertise from across the Government from different parts of the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, DirectGov and the Office of Government Commerce. Information about the costs of the Efficiency and Reform Group will only be available for release after the Department's resource accounts for 2010-11 have been audited and laid before Parliament.
Work-based Stress
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what arrangements his Department has in place to (a) reduce levels of and (b) support staff diagnosed with work-related stress; [48293]
(2) what arrangements are in place in his Department to (a) reduce levels of work-based stress and (b) provide assistance to staff diagnosed with such stress. [48199]
Mr Maude: The Cabinet Office is committed to the health and well-being of its staff and has policies, procedures and support in place to identify, manage and reduce workplace stress. Additionally the Cabinet Office has an independent counselling and support service in place that is available to all staff.
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International Development
Boarding Schools
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department provides financial assistance to his officials for boarding school fees for their children. [48518]
Mr Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) reimburses employees on overseas postings for private schooling overseas or boarding school fees in the UK for their children, within financial ceilings.
The terms and conditions of employment in DFID are set in order to recruit, motivate and retain staff who are skilled and equipped to meet DFID's objectives. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five, and they pay UK tax wherever they work. Most parents prefer to take their children with them, but in some countries they are not permitted to do so, for either health or security reasons. Continuity of education is also an important factor, particularly at secondary level.
Departmental Theft
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what items with a value of over £100 have been taken without authorisation from his Department since his appointment; and what steps have been taken to recover such items. [48438]
Mr O'Brien: The following items have been reported as taken without authorisation from the Department, since May 2010:
| Item | Number stolen | Total value (£) |
All items taken without authorisation require notification to Internal Audit, which carries out an investigation into the circumstances of the loss. All necessary steps are taken to recover the item and prosecutions are taken forward if possible.
Developing Countries: Remittances
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if his Department will establish a mechanism to record information on (a) recipients of remittance payments from the UK, (b) the purposes to which remittance payments are put and (c) the number of people in the UK who send remittance payments abroad. [48695]
Mr Andrew Mitchell:
The Department for International Development (DFID) relies on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for data on UK transfers. Since the UK ended its foreign exchange control system in 1979, there has been no formal mechanism for recording international transactions, including volume, destination and use of remittances from the UK. The ONS has investigated options for collecting remittance data, including incorporating specific questions on remittances into
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household surveys and a planned Home Office (UK Border Agency) migrant survey. However, the ONS and the Home Office currently do not have sufficient resources to undertake this work.
DFID supports the World Bank, which is leading efforts to improve information on global remittance flows and their development impact. The World Bank's Migration and Remittances Factbook provides data on emigration, immigration and remittance flows for 210 countries collated from a range of national and international sources:
http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/migration-and-remittances
DFID has no present plans to establish a bilateral mechanism of the type described in the question.
Work-based Stress
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what arrangements are in place in his Department to (a) reduce levels of work-based stress and (b) provide assistance to staff diagnosed with such stress. [48203]
Mr O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) is committed to the well-being of its employees and manages employee stress using an approach based on Health and Safety Executive standards.
Guidance on managing stress is available to all staff on the Department's intranet. DFID offers a toolkit for managing pressure at work, stress and work/life balance. The toolkit includes specific support for our staff working overseas, many of whom are based in difficult environments. The Department also has access to occupational health services to support staff diagnosed with stress-related illness.
Health
Blood Transfusions
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many units of prion-filtered red cells have been transfused in the UK as part of the prion-filtered red cells in surgery and multi-transfused patients trial study; [48789]
(2) how many patients have been transfused with prion-filtered red cells as part of the prion-filtered red cells in surgery and multi-transfused patients trial; [48784]
(3) when he expects the interim report on the prion-filtered red cells in surgery and multi-transfused patients (PRISM) study trial to be published; and when he expects the PRISM trial study to be completed; [48785]
(4) what progress has been made in the prion-filtered red cells in surgery and multi-transfused patients study trial. [48786]
Anne Milton:
As of 16 March 2011, quarter 1, 329 patients have received prion-filtered red blood cells, as part of the prion-filtered red blood cells in surgery and multi-transfused patients (PRISM) study, which has now completed recruitment of patients. Quarter 4 as of
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that date, 942 units of prion-filtered red blood cells have been transfused in England and Scotland as part of the study. In addition to the patients who have received prion-filtered red blood cells, 273 patients have received standard red blood cells, and approximately 10 patients await surgery.
Any patients who have not had surgery by 31 March 2011 will be withdrawn from the PRISM study. NHS Blood and Transport will then focus on collecting the eight-week and six-month follow-up blood samples for antibody testing. The final six-month follow-up is expected in October 2011 and a report will be submitted to the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissue and Organs for its consideration in early 2012, with a peer reviewed journal publication later.
Breast Cancer: Health Services
Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to consult on the development of the Breast Cancer Quality Standard; and what form this consultation will take. [48696]
Paul Burstow: Details of the institute’s consultations are available from its website at:
www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/qualitystandards/qualitystandards.jsp
Breast Cancer: Telephone Services
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to provide additional funding to the hereditary breast cancer helpline. [48893]
Paul Burstow: We recognise that the hereditary breast cancer helpline provides a valuable service for cancer patients and their families, and a one-off payment of £40,000 was made on 21 March 2011 under the provisions of Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968.
Childbirth
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of potential links between low birth rate and levels of (a) obesity, (b) stress and (c) mental illness in (i) childhood and (ii) later life. [48306]
Anne Milton: The Department has not carried out any specific assessment on the potential link between low birth weight and levels of obesity, stress and mental illness in childhood and in later life.
Low birth weight is associated in particular with poorer long-term health and education outcomes. It is because of this association that “Healthy Lives, Healthy People” takes a life course approach to tackling health inequalities and improving health outcomes.
As part of the Foresight project on “Tackling Obesities: Future Choices”, the Government Office for Science’s Foresight team commissioned a number of short science review papers. This included a paper on obesity and early years, and another on breastfeeding, early growth and later obesity. A copy of these papers are available at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007 .00344.x/full
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Some research has found that low birth weight increases the risk of suffering from anxiety and depression.
CJD
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are enrolled in the National Prion Disease Monitoring Cohort; and how many of those are (a) in the group of symptomatic patients with confirmed prion disease, (b) in the group of asymptomatic individuals with confirmed pre-clinical prion infection or disease, (c) in the group of asymptomatic individuals without a confirmed diagnosis but at increased risk and (d) in the control group without prion disease. [48788]
Anne Milton: The information requested is shown in the following table:
Heroin
Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adults who completed addiction treatment successfully in England in 2008-09 were primarily addicted to (a) heroin, (b) crack cocaine, (c ) cocaine, (d ) amphetamine and (e) cannabis on presentation for treatment. [48846]
Anne Milton: The national drug treatment monitoring system records data on people in drug treatment in England. For 2008-09, the numbers of adults who completed drug treatment successfully for the requested range of primary problem drugs are as follows:
| Main problem drug | Number of adults |
Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination
Dr Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parents in (a) Suffolk primary care trust area and (b) England did not consent to their daughter receiving the national human papillomavirus vaccine in (i) 2009 and (ii) 2010. [48824]
Anne Milton: The requested information is not held by the Department.
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Information about annual human papillomavirus vaccine uptake in England has been published by the Department for the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10 and can be found at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_111675
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_123795
However it is not possible to infer from uptake data the proportion of individuals who did not consent to be vaccinated.
Liver Diseases
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the incidence of (a) cirrhosis of the liver and (b) chronic liver disease in each of the last 10 years. [48480]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department does not hold information on the incidence rates of these diseases.
Medical Equipment: Safety
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures his Department uses to assess the safety of medical devices. [48787]
Mr Simon Burns:
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the competent authority
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under European Union legislation for medical devices in the United Kingdom: it has responsibility for ensuring that medical devices placed on the UK market meet the requirements of the medical devices regulations. Before placing a medical device on the market, the manufacturer must meet the relevant safety, quality and performance requirements set out in the regulations and apply the CE marking of conformity. Any assessment required under the regulations is carried out by a third-party independent certification organisation known as a Notified Body. The Agency is not part of this certification process but does designate and audit UK Notified Bodies as being competent to undertake this task and also assesses pre-market clinical investigation protocols. The Agency has a mainly post-market surveillance role which includes assessment of adverse incidents brought to its attention and enforcement where breaches of the regulations have been identified.
Mental Health Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patients treated for mental health disorders in NHS facilities received (a) drugs, (b) psychological therapy, (c) mindfulness meditation and (d) a combination of such approaches in the latest period for which figures are available. [48305]
Paul Burstow: We do not collect all of the information in the format requested. All mental health patients who are admitted to hospital will have a responsible clinician. 21.1% of them also have contact with a psychologist or psychotherapist.
| Number of people using adult and elderly national health service secondary mental health services and the proportion who had contact with a clinical psychologist or psychotherapist, 2009-10 | |||
|
|
All mental health service users | Clinical psychologist or psychotherapist contact (1) | Proportion of mental health service users with a clinical psychologist or psychotherapist contact (percentage) |
| Note: Count of mental health service users who had contact with either a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist during the reporting period. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) 2003-04 to 2009-10 annual returns. | |||
Mental Illness
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of looked after children were diagnosed with mental illness in the latest period for which figures are available. [48477]
Paul Burstow: The Department does not collect this information. However, the Office for National Statistics psychiatric morbidity surveys programme shows that some 45% of looked after children have a mental health disorder, rising to 72% for those in residential care.
The Department has published statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children. In addition, “No health without mental health: delivering better mental health outcomes for people of all ages”, published on 2 February 2011, highlighted the mental health needs of looked after children and care leavers and stated that timely and effective health assessments are crucial to the speedy identification of problems and referral to support services.
NHS: Charitable Donations
Mr Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether donations made by charities to an NHS trust will be regarded as part of their income under his proposals for NHS reform; and whether such donations will result in a corresponding reduction in the central Government funding allocated to the trust. [48410]
Mr Simon Burns: The current Health and Social Care Bill would make no change to the status of NHS charities. The NHS Commissioning Board would allocate funding to general practitioner commissioning consortia on the basis of the prospective burden of disease and disability. This would not be affected by other income received by trusts.
Obesity
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what levels of obesity in each (a) income and (b) age decile were in the latest period for which figures are available. [48492]
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Anne Milton: Information is not available in the format requested.
Information on the percentage of obese adults by equivalised household income quintiles, in England in 2009, is included in table 7.3 of the ‘Health Survey for England—2009: Health and lifestyles’ report. Information on the percentage of obese adults by age group is included in table 7.2 of the same report.
Information on the percentage of obese children (aged 2 to 15) by equivalised household income quintiles, in England in 2009, is included in table 11.3 of the ‘Health Survey for England—2009: Health and lifestyles’ report. Information on the percentage of obese children by age is included in table 11.2 of the same report.
The above information is available on the NHS Information Centre's website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse09report
This publication has already been placed in the Library.
Parenting Classes: Prenatal classes
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of local authorities offer (a) parenting classes and (b) pre-natal classes which are free at the point of use. [48511]
Anne Milton: The information requested is not collected by the Department.
Departmental Plants
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on indoor and outdoor plants and trees since his appointment. [48421]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department has spent a total of £12,383.80 on plants and trees in the period May 2010 to March 2011 for its core headquarters estate. For the period from May 2010, the monthly charge was £1,426.96. This reduced to £598.77 from December 2010 when the facilities management contract was awarded to a new provider and we reduced our monthly costs on plants and trees significantly.
Radiotherapy Treatments
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many stereotactic body radiotherapy treatments were carried out (a) in NHS hospitals and (b) for NHS patients in each strategic health authority area in the last 12 months. [48912]
Paul Burstow: Stereotactic body radiotherapy cannot currently be identified from other forms of radiotherapy treatment using hospital episode statistics data.
“Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published on 12 January, has made clear the importance of high quality information for commissioners, providers, clinicians, patients, researchers and those seeking to scrutinise health services. In line with this, we will consider whether more specific coding of cancer activity is needed in some areas. A copy of the strategy has already been placed in the Library.
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Smoking
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects of the provisions of the Health Act 2006 on reducing the number of (a) males and (b) females aged under 17 who (i) smoke and (ii) take up smoking; and if he will make a statement. [48871]
Anne Milton: The Health Act 2006 includes provisions for smoke-free environments and powers to amend the age of sale of tobacco products.
Under the powers in the Health Act 2006, the Children and Young Persons (Sales of Tobacco etc.) Order 2007 was made to raise the age of sale for tobacco products from 16 to 18 years. The order came into force in England and Wales on 1 October 2007. While data are not available in the format requested, research published in 2010 found that there was a greater fall in prevalence in 16 and 17-year-olds in England following the increase in the age of sale than in older age groups (Fidler J. and West R. (2010). ‘Changes in smoking prevalence in 16-17-year-olds versus older adults following a rise in legal age of sale: findings from an English population study’ in “Addiction”. 105, pp.1984-8). A copy of this article has been placed in the Library.
The primary objective of smoke-free legislation was to reduce the risk to health from exposure to secondhand smoke, and no assessment has been made of the impact of this legislation on reducing smoking rates among young people. On 9 March 2011, the Department published ‘The Impact of Smokefree Legislation in England: Evidence Review’. A copy of this review has already been placed in the Library.
Smoking: Young People
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of (a) adults, (b) children and (c) young people were recorded as smokers in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent numbers and proportions for each of the next five years. [48481]
Anne Milton: Information is not available in the format requested. We hold information for adults (aged 16 and over) and young people (aged 11-15) but we do not hold information for children under 11.
Information on the prevalence of cigarette smoking by sex in England from 1978 to 2009 can be found in table 1.10 of “General Lifestyle Survey: Smoking and drinking among adults 2009”. This is available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/GLF09/GLFSmoking-DrinkingAmongAdults2009.pdf
A copy has been placed in the Library.
Table 3.1a of “Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2009” shows smoking behaviour among young people aged 11-15 by sex for the period 1982-2000. Table 3.1b shows the same information for the period 2001-09. These are available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/sdd09fullreport
The Department does not hold any forecasted estimates of the prevalence of smoking for either adults or young people. The Government have set ambitions to reduce
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smoking rates among adults, young people and pregnant women in England by the end of 2015, as described in “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England”, published on 9 March 2011.
The publications “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A tobacco control plan for England” and “Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2009” have already been placed in the Library.
Work-based Stress
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place in his Department to (a) reduce levels of work-based stress and (b) provide assistance to staff diagnosed with such stress. [48205]
Mr Simon Burns:
The Department provides guidance to all staff and managers on stress recognition and stress management on the departmental intranet. Specifically, the mental health policy covers prevention; early dialogue and identification; mutual understanding of issues and concerns; and sets out the support to individuals and managers to help employees remain at work and perform to the best of their abilities. The support in place includes an occupational health service, which has been designed specifically to meet the needs of staff and managers. There is also a comprehensive employee assistance programme, offering a free counselling service on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week basis as well as a helpline for managers. As part of our renewed health and well-being strategy, both the occupational health and employee assistance providers will be working
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with the Department on organisation-wide initiatives, such as developing emotional resilience during times of change.
Alongside the support for all staff, there is a specific policy covering reasonable adjustments for disabled staff, in line with the requirements of the Equality Act.
The Department's Health and Well-being Board has set out the indicators that will be used to assess progress against the health and well-being strategy and action plan. These include sickness absence data and, more specifically, absence that is mental health related.
Substance Misuse
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate has been made of addiction rates in each region for (a) alcohol, (b) tobacco and (c) controlled substances. [48307]
Anne Milton: Data on alcohol dependence are included in the adult psychiatric morbidity survey, “Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007” (APMS), which was published in January 2009. The Department estimates alcohol dependence by reference to a score of 16 or more on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)(1). Estimates of the percentage of alcohol dependent individuals aged 16 or over by region are in the following table.
(1) AUDIT was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a method of screening for excessive drinking and to help identify alcohol dependence. It consists of 10 questions about recent alcohol use, alcohol dependence symptoms, and alcohol-related problems.
| Estimate of the percentage of alcohol dependent (1) individuals aged 16 or over by region | ||
|
|
Males | Females |
| (1) Scoring 16 or more on the AUDIT. Note: This definition is consistent with that used in the Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP) published in 2005. ANARP used a cut-off score on the AUDIT of 16 to identify ‘moderately or severely dependent’ drinkers, and with a view to estimating the need for treatment. Source: APMS, 2007 | ||
In the APMS, alcohol dependence was also assessed using the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ-C), with a score of four or more indicating mild, moderate or severe dependence. This includes cases of mild dependence not requiring any interventions. The figures for this definition are in the following table.
| Percentage prevalence of alcohol dependence by region and sex | |||||||||
| Government office r egion | |||||||||
| SADQ-C Score (1) | North East | North West | Yorkshire and the Humber | East Midlands | West Midlands | East of England | London | South West | South East |
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| (1) A SADQ-C score of 0-3 = no dependence, 4-19 = mild dependence, 20-34 = moderate dependence and 35-60 = severe dependence Source: APMS, 2007 | |||||||||
Data on the prevalence of cigarette smoking among individuals aged 16 years and over in each region in England are collected by the Office for National Statistics and reproduced in the following table for 2009.
| Percentage prevalence of cigarette smoking by sex and region for individuals aged 16 or over, 2009 | ||
|
|
Males | Females |
| Source: Smoking and drinking among adults, 2009: A report on the 2009 General Lifestyle Survey | ||
Data on the number or rate of individuals who are dependent on controlled substances are not centrally collected. However, data on those who are opiate and/or crack cocaine dependent are collected and are given in the following table.
| Estimated number of opiate and/or crack cocaine users by region, 2008-09 | |
|
|
Estimated number of problem drug users |
| Source: Estimates of the Prevalence of Opiate Use and/or Crack Cocaine Use, 2008-09: Sweep 5 report, The Centre for Drug Misuse Research, University of Glasgow | |
Surgery: Ashfield
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were carried out in Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years. [48343]
Mr Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.
| Provider description | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care | |||||
The NHS Information Centre has provided a count of finished consultant episodes with a named main or secondary procedure or intervention for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from 2005-06 to 2009-10.
Departmental Theft
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what items with a value of over £100 have been taken without authorisation from his Department since his appointment; and what steps have been taken to recover such items. [48440]
Mr Simon Burns: The following departmental assets valued at over £100 have been reported as lost or stolen since the appointment of the Secretary of State for Health.
| Item | Value (£) |
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Staff are requested to provide a loss report for each item lost or stolen. This includes the circumstances of the loss, description of the item and whether a police report has been made.
All mobile assets that are reported as lost or stolen with a value over £500 are routinely reported to the police. In addition laptops are marked with a forensic dye and an asset tag. This is combined with the registration of unique serial numbers on the lost mobile equipment national database to aid recovery.
Third Sector
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department provided to each charity it funds in each of the last five years; and how much he has allocated for funding to each such charity in each of the next five years. [48275]
Anne Milton: Information about grants awarded to voluntary organisations through the Department's corporate grant schemes for the last five years have been placed in the Library.
Information on individual grant awards in each of the last five years, where allocated from a specific policy area, has not been centrally collected and therefore is not available. However, the Department has now put in place mechanisms for collecting this information from 2010-11 onwards. Information on grant awards in 2010-11 has been placed in the Library.
The Department has a voluntary sector grants budget which provides grants to voluntary organisations. The total budget for each of the last five years is as follows:
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|
|
£ |
Information relating to future years will be routinely published on the Department's website at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_118373
The monetary value of the Department's grants to voluntary sector organisations for 2012-13 and onwards will not be agreed until primary care trust allocations have been decided. However, the Government are committed to ensuring that appropriate support is available to voluntary organisations to enable them to contribute to improving health and well-being and building strong and resilient communities as part of the big society.
Tobacco: Packaging
Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the tobacco action plan, what timetable he has set for the publication of the conclusions from his planned consultation on options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packaging, including plain packaging. [48935]
Anne Milton: “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England” includes the commitment to consult on options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packaging, including plain packaging, before the end of 2011. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
In accordance with the Government code of practice on consultation, this consultation will last for at least 12 weeks. A summary of who responds, the views expressed, any decisions made and the likely forward timetable for any subsequent action will be published after the consultation responses have been considered.
Justice
Coroners: Finance
James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what estimate has been made of the cost to the public purse incurred in the implementation of his planned reforms to the coronial system; [48182]
(2) what estimate he made of the cost to the public purse of the creation of the office of chief coroner. [49076]
Mr Djanogly:
As announced in the written ministerial statement on 14 October 2010, Official Report, columns 36-37WS, changes to the coroners’ services will be cost-neutral. The only expenditure incurred to date relates to staff costs for implementing part 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Since announcing the proposal to abolish the chief coroner on 14 October 2010, staffing costs have been £143,855. In the period between Royal Assent in November 2009 and this announcement, staffing
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costs were £387,140. The proposal to abolish the chief coroner before the post is fully established means that the estimated £10.9 million set-up costs and £6.6 million running costs would no longer be incurred by the public purse.
Court: Closures
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse to accrue from the closure of Bishop Auckland (a) county court and (b) magistrates court; [48853]
(2) how many staff posts will be lost as a result of the closure of Bishop Auckland county court. [49007]
Mr Djanogly: At the time decisions on the court estate were announced, on 14 December 2010, the estimated gross annual resource savings from the closure of Bishop Auckland magistrates and county court were £123,000 (excluding maintenance, staff costs and non-cash). Work is currently under way to determine the final savings and costs of closure (including transition costs).
It is not yet possible to confirm the impact on the overall number of posts following the closure of Bishop Auckland county court and other courts in the HMCS area of Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria. However, all staff at the Bishop Auckland courthouse will be relocated to other nearby courts.
Following the decisions announced on 14 December, HMCS commenced an internal consultation using the Management of Organisational Change Framework (MOCF) to look at staff impacts across the court estate reform programme. HMCS is conducting discussions with the Department trade union side and with staff (on a one-to-one basis) to consider how the changes will affect them. Only after this process is completed will the final impact on the number of staff posts be known.
After the MOCF consultation has concluded, HMCS will implement a phased approach to closures from April 2011.
Land Registry: Electronic Government
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received on the potential for fraud arising from putting Land Registry deeds online; and if he will make a statement. [48894]
Mr Djanogly: The register became open to the public in 1990 when the Land Registration Act 1988 came into force. This allowed public inspection and copying of the register and, with the exception of leases and charges, the deeds or documents referred to in the register. The inspection and copying rights were extended in 2003, with the coming into force of the Land Registration Act 2002, allowing leases and charges to be freely available, subject to a transitional period—and exempt information provisions.
This widening in the availability of Land Registry information was made in the context of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which came into force on 1 January 2005, giving anyone the right to request information from public organisations. The general principle is that
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a person is entitled to see information held by public organisations unless there is a good reason why it should not be released.
The opening up of register information was the subject of parliamentary debate and consultation. It was also set in the context of the Government drive for all public authorities to make all citizen services available online, and in light of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Registered professional users of Land Registry services have been able to access selected property deeds online since 1994. This has helped facilitate conveyancing and related property transactions and the move towards the electronic delivery of services.
Citizen access to property information was made available in 2005 through the launch of a website aimed at the general public. In 2007 Land Registry reviewed the online availability of deeds and documents provided by this service. The review led to the removal of those documents from online viewing. Copies of deeds, which are available as of right under land registration legislation, may still be purchased, but only after completing a registration process.
Land Registry produces a public leaflet entitled “Protect your Property” and stresses the importance of keeping contact addresses up to date as a way of helping to prevent property fraud. Land Registry has a dedicated team dealing with applications from home owners to check their contact addresses and update them as necessary.
Legal Aid Scheme: Family Law
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what date and in what manner the commissioners of the Legal Services Commission were informed of (a) the commission's 2010 tender for family law services and (b) the decision of the commission not to appeal against the judgment in respect of the judicial review of that tender; if he will place in the Library a copy of (i) the minutes of each meeting of the commission at which the matters were discussed and (ii) any papers on the matters provided to the commissioners. [48535]
Mr Djanogly: The commissioners met regularly to discuss the tender judicial review including some ad hoc telephone conferences. Minutes were taken of all board meetings.
The minutes of LSC board meetings are routinely published on the LSC website, subject to any relevant exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act, at:
http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/aboutus/how/commissioners.asp
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information the Legal Services Commission (a) published on its website and (b) otherwise disseminated in respect of (i) its 2010 family law tender exercise after the hearing in the Divisional Court on the matter in September 2010 and (ii) the steps the commission planned to take in consequence; on what dates subsequent modifications were made to that information; what modifications were made; and for what reason. [48536]
Mr Djanogly: The LSC published notification of the outcome of the tender as a news item on its website on 30 September 2010:
http://legalservices.gov.uk/civil/cls_news_12035.asp?page=5
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Then it confirmed that it would not appeal on 27 October 2010:
http://legalservices.gov.uk/civil/cls_news_12103.asp?page=4
LSC then published a further statement on the future of family and family and housing contracts on 12 November:
http://legalservices.gov.uk/civil/cls_news_12188.asp?page=4
LSC has also published formal contract extension notices on the website for each subsequent extension of the unified contract:
http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/civil/8758.asp
Further information could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the Legal Services Commission has spent on the 2010 family law tender exercise to date; how much it has paid to each counsel instructed in respect of the action taken against the commission; and how much it paid (a) to the Law Society of England and Wales and (b) to other parties in costs following the conclusion of the action. [48537]
Mr Djanogly: The family element of the 2010 legal aid tenders cost in the region of £1 million of project costs over three years. In addition to that, the LSC invested in the region of £600,000 in some e-tendering software, which can be used for three years.
In relation to the judicial review, the costs to counsel were as follows, inclusive of VAT:
Counsel 1: £4,010.00
Counsel 2: £61,981.26
Counsel 3: £89,391.65.
The costs to the Law Society have not yet been finally agreed. No other external parties needed to be paid following the conclusion of the action. LSC's in-house lawyers do not have a computerised time recording system and as no claim for costs is to be made by the commission, a breakdown of the time spent by the in-house legal team on this matter has not been prepared.
Prison Service: Finance
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much HM Prison Service has spent (a) on each establishment and (b) in each region in 2010-11 to date; and what it has allocated to each for 2011-12. [48896]
Mr Blunt: The following table provides the National Offender Management Service’s resource spend for each public sector prison by region for an eleven-month period ending February 2011. The table includes Dover, Haslar and Lindholme (IND), which are immigration removal centres, rather than prisons. High-security prisons are shown separately since these are managed centrally and therefore are not attributed to a geographic region.
| £ million | ||
| Region | Establishment name | Resource |
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The National Offender Management Service is currently in the process of finalising budget allocations for 2011-12. Once we have completed this process we will look to provide firm establishment budget allocations for the 2011-12 financial year.
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Prison Service: Manpower
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate his Department has made of the likely change in the Prison Service staff complement in each (a) region and (b) establishment in 2011-12. [49020]
Mr Blunt: The National Offender Management Service is currently in the process of finalising budget allocations for 2011-12. Once we have completed this process we will able to provide an indication of staff complements by (a) region and (b) establishment.
Prison Service: Redundancy
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate his Department has made of the number of Prison Service redundancies in each (a) region and (b) establishment in 2011-12. [49021]
Mr Blunt: The National Offender Management Service is currently in the process of finalising budget allocations for 2011-12. Once we have completed this process we will able to provide an indication of staff complements by (a) region and (b) establishment and the number of staff above natural wastage we will need to lose.
Prisons: e-mail
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons prisons do not receive enquiries by email; when the decision was taken that prisons could not be contacted by email; and if he will review the merits of this position. [48466]
Mr Blunt: Individual members of staff in prisons each have e-mail addresses and do receive and reply to e-mails. For each establishment to have a general e-mail address would involve IT and staffing costs disproportionate to the benefits. There are various other ways to contact prisons. The Prison Service website:
www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk
provides telephone numbers for each establishment, the public enquiry e-mail address:
public.enquiries@noms.gov.uk
will provide assistance in contacting the right person in an establishment, as will the NOMS public enquiry telephone line (0300 047 6325), and the Ministry of Justice helpline (0203 334 3555) has an option to connect to the NOMS public enquiry line. The prisoner location service is able to provide information on the whereabouts of individual prisoners:
prisoner.location.service@noms.gsi.gov.uk
Departmental Theft
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what items with a value of over £100 have been taken without authorisation from his Department since his appointment; and what steps have been taken to recover such items. [48437]
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Mr Djanogly: The Department does not have a central record itemising assets taken without authorisation with a value of over £100. This information is recorded at a local level and it would incur a disproportionate cost to obtain the data requested.
The Department does record details of the losses of IT and telephony equipment, and 34 laptops and 42 BlackBerrys, each valued over £100, have been taken during the period specified.
All MoJ laptops and BlackBerrys are encrypted and protected with a complex password, and all BlackBerrys that are registered as lost or stolen are blocked remotely, making it impossible for them to be used. MOJ also implements security incident management procedures to ensure that the impacts of incidents are risk managed and investigations are undertaken to seek, where possible, to retrieve lost/stolen assets.
The Ministry of Justice adopts Government security policy framework requirements to securely protect its assets.
Third Sector
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department provided to each charity it funds in each of the last five years; and how much he has allocated for funding to each such charity in each of the next five years. [48278]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007, bringing together the former Department for Constitutional Affairs and part of the Home Office. All figures given are from that date.
The MoJ funds a large number of groups, including registered charities, voluntary and community groups. It would incur disproportionate costs to research each organisation to check its charitable status and to disclose the funding given.
The final figures for third sector funding by the MoJ and its executive agencies in 2010-11 are still being compiled and will be published in the 2010-11 resource accounts. Future funding for these organisations is still to be finalised for 2011-12 onwards—this is still being determined following the 2010 spending review allocation in December 2010.
However, the following information about grants given by the MoJ and its executive agencies to third sector organisations is available:
| Organisation | 2009-10 (£ million) |
Approximately half of this went to Victim Support. The rest was given to organisations who support survivors of domestic assault, sexual abuse and rape. Other organisations receiving grants work to reduce crime, support those affected by crime, mediation services and debt advice.
Prior to 2009-10, the resource accounts included both the grant in aid to the MoJ's non-departmental public bodies along with grants to third sector organisations in the same category.
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Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Generation
17. Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has to encourage the development of small-scale low-carbon generation by community organisations. [48554]
Gregory Barker: The coalition are committed to supporting community ownership of a wide range of renewable energy technologies.
To drive this agenda forward, we launched Community Energy Online to give better advice and introduced the renewable heat incentive, which will significantly add to the financial support already available from feed-in tariffs. Officials are also developing a series of workshops to deliver progress on the ground.