Revenue and Customs: Correspondence
Cathy Jamieson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to improve the performance of HM Revenue and Customs in dealing
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with post at the National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office within the target timescale of 80 per cent. being dealt with within 15 days. [85960]
Mr Gauke: HMRC National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office redeployed staff from other work to bring customer correspondence to under the 15 days target. Currently 88% of post is less than 15 days old.
Taxation: Energy
Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed removal of the levy exemption certificate on energy intensive industries which depend on combined heat and power plants. [85911]
Miss Chloe Smith: Budget 2011 announced that from 2013, the new relief from the carbon price floor for combined heat and power will be introduced and the existing relief from climate change levy provided through levy exemption certificates removed.
A Tax Impact and Information Note on the removal of the exemption was published on 6 December, alongside the draft legislation, and is available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tiin/tiin700.pdf
The Government are working with the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Association and its members in order to develop a simpler, direct and more cost effective means of support for combined heat and power stations.
The level of the relief from the carbon price floor for supplies of fossil fuels to good-quality CHP stations that are intended to be used to generate electricity, will be announced at Budget 2012.
Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed carbon floor price on energy intensive industries which depend on combined heat and power plants. [85912]
Miss Chloe Smith: An assessment of the impacts of the carbon price floor is given in HMRC's Tax Information and Impact Note published alongside the Budget. This is available online at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2011/tiin6111.pdf
The Department for Energy and Climate Change has carried out an assessment of the impact of all Government policies on energy bills for energy-intensive industries, published on 23 November, available at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/aes/impacts/impacts.aspx
The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced at the autumn statement on 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810, a package of measures to reduce the transitional impacts of energy and climate change policies on the costs of electricity for the most energy-intensive industries. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will assess the impacts of the package as the details are developed.
Taxation: Pensions
Mr Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the potential revenue yield from setting the annual pension tax relief allowance at (a) £40,000 and (b) £80,000; and if he will make a statement. [85198]
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Mr Gauke: HMRC estimate that setting the annual pension tax relief allowance at:
(a) £40,000 would yield around £600 million per year.
(b) £80,000 would cost around £1,200 million per year.
This is when compared to the current £50,000 annual allowance which was introduced for tax year 2011-12 onwards.
These estimates are on an accruals basis and exclude behavioural effects.
Mr Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost of restricting tax relief on pensions to 20 per cent. on incomes of over £100,000 per annum; and if he will make a statement. [85200]
Mr Gauke: HMRC estimate that the revenue yield from restricting tax relief on pensions to 20% on incomes over £100,000 per annum would be £3.6 billion in 2012-13, when compared to a position of full relief on contributions up to £50,000. This is on an accruals basis and excludes behavioural effects.
VAT: Electronic Publishing
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department plans to introduce a zero rate of value added tax on e-books. [85381]
Mr Gauke: Under EU law, VAT on electronic books must be charged at the standard rate. Existing agreements with our EU partners do not allow the UK or other member states to introduce a new zero-rate or extend an existing one to relieve e-books from VAT and they specifically exclude electronically supplied services, which includes e-books, from a reduced rate.
Working Tax Credit: Wales
Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) male and (b) female lone parents receive working tax credits in Wales. [86018]
Mr Gauke: The following table shows the number of male and female lone parents receiving working tax credit in Wales.
| Number of in-work lone parents benefiting from working tax credit by gender of parent | |
|
|
Thousand |
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Written Questions: Government Responses
Chris Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer questions (a) 79735, (b) 79736, (c) 79737, (d) 79738 tabled by the hon. Member for Nottingham East on 7 November 2011 for answer on 10 November 2011. [86045]
Mr Gauke: I have replied to the hon. Member.
Health
Contraceptives
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance his Department plans to provide to local authorities on how to undertake a needs assessment of contraceptive services in their locality to ensure choice and open access to these services; and if he will make a statement; [86149]
(2) with reference to his Department's proposed reforms to the delivery of public health services, what support and guidance his Department provides to local authorities on commissioning comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services; and if he will make a statement; [86150]
(3) with reference to his Department's proposed reforms to the delivery of public health services, what sexual and reproductive health services local authorities will be required to commission to ensure choice and open access to such services; and if he will make a statement; [86151]
(4) whether his Department expects Public Health England to produce guidance for (a) clinical commissioning groups and (b) local authorities on the commissioning of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services; and if he will make a statement. [86152]
Anne Milton: It is the Government's intention that, subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, there should be a small number of activities that local authorities will be mandated to commission. These activities will include appropriate provision of confidential, open-access sexual health services. However, it is not the intention to be overly prescriptive regarding the detail of how these services should be commissioned, or to constrain local authorities' ability to design services which meet the needs of local people.
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the Health and Wellbeing Strategies prepared by each local area will help to inform the commissioning of sexual health services, including contraceptive services, from April 2013. Clinical and service standards developed by bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the Faculty for Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV are available to current service commissioners to help to inform commissioning decisions, and these standards will be available to future service commissioners as well.
The Department will also work with colleagues both in the national health service and in local authorities to determine their need for guidance on commissioning specific public health services such as sexual health services.
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Abortion: Research
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the causes of multiple abortions among (i) under 16s and (ii) under 18s. [85502]
Anne Milton: The Department has not commissioned any research projects specifically on the causes of multiple abortions among young women aged under 16 and young women aged under 18. However, the Government Office for London, which has now been abolished, commissioned a research report published in January 2010, ‘Young People in London: Abortion and Repeat Abortion’. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
Abortion: Young People
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many girls of school age who had abortions in the latest period for which figures are available have previously been on an at risk register. [85503]
Anne Milton: Data on the number of girls of school age having abortions that have previously been on the at risk register are not collected by the Department.
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of people aged under 18 years who had abortions in the latest period for which figures are available are recorded as having had a previous abortion. [85504]
Anne Milton: The latest period for which data are available is 2010. Of the 16,460 legal abortions carried out on young women in England and Wales under the age of 18 years, 1,294 (7.9%) had undergone a previous abortion.
Antenatal Care: Wirral
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what improvements have been made in the antenatal care offered to families by antenatal contact at 28 to 36 weeks in the Wirral following his agreement on the early implementer site Piloting of Pathways. [86365]
Anne Milton: The Wirral is one of 26 early implementer sites announced in March 2011 to demonstrate improvement and success in delivery of the new Health Visiting Service Vision and Family Offer as detailed in the “Health Visiting Implementation Plan: A Call to Action 2011-2015”. Pilot projects under way are looking at improving outcomes for children and families and ensuring greater awareness of and alignment of local early years services.
We are advised that in the Wirral, the results and lessons learned from the projects will be captured as case studies and shared within the region, as well as nationally to ensure the spread of key learning and improvement practice. This will be achieved through monthly knowledge sharing forums and specifically through an end of year event in March 2012.
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Baby Care Units: Manpower
Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of future staffing levels of neonatal units for premature and ill babies in NHS hospitals. [86510]
Anne Milton: Work force planning is a matter for local national health service organisations. They are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health community and will commission the required number of training places to develop the work force to meet those needs.
A safety and quality assurance process has been developed to ensure that any significant change proposed in the clinical work force has involved clinicians at all levels, maximising their engagement, leadership and sign off.
Baby Care Units: Nurses
Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist nursing staff are employed to care for premature or ill babies in NHS hospitals in each year since 2006. [86511]
Anne Milton: It is for local national health service organisations to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses in accordance with their local needs.
In December 2010, a new code for the capture of the number of nurses working in neonatal nursing, including special care baby units (SCBUs), was introduced to enable the separate identification of this key aspect of the NHS work force via the electronic staff record (ESR) system. Though the records for this new code are currently incomplete it will in time help to inform more targeted commissioning for the education and training of this specific staff group and therefore help to improve front line nursing for premature and sick babies.
As the code for nurses working in neonatal nursing (including SCBUs) was only implemented in ESR on 25 February 2011 even the most recent published data (August 2011) would contain very patchy coverage and therefore would not be suitable for answering this question. Those nurses working in maternity services and paediatric nursing would be involved in a wider range of work outside of the specific care of premature and sick babies (hence the inclusion of the new code) and therefore would not be suitable either.
Children's Centres: Departmental Co-ordination
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking jointly with the Department for Education to enable Sure Start children's centres to focus on families in greatest need. [86366]
Anne Milton: The Government want to retain a vibrant network of high-quality children's centres which are accessible to all families but focused on those in greatest need.
The Department of Health and the Department for Education published their joint vision for services from pregnancy through to age five in ‘Families in the Foundation
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Years’ earlier this year. As part of this joint vision, the Government have also committed to doubling the number of places on the family nurse partnership (FNP) programme by 2015. This is a preventive programme for vulnerable young first time mothers and their babies. It offers intensive and structured home visiting, delivered by specially trained nurses, from early pregnancy until the child is two. FNP is either connected to or delivered from Sure Start children's centres in many areas and family nurses encourage clients to use children's centre services.
DFE is working with departmental colleagues on the Health Visiting community development training programme to look at sharing resources more widely and explore joint training opportunities for health visitors and children centre staff.
DFE, working closely with the Department, will set out ways in which children's centres should focus on families in greatest need in the Sure Start children's centres statutory guidance, which will be sent out for consultation in the new year. Local commissioners of health services, as well as local authorities and other partners, must have regard to the statutory guidance.
Payment by results approaches are also being developed to strengthen the focus on the core purpose of children's centres: to improve child development and school readiness (including health and well-being) amongst young children and to reduce inequalities. This includes identifying, reaching and supporting the most disadvantaged families to improve their parenting aspirations and skills and to promote health and well-being.
The NHS Operating Framework 2012-13 includes the requirement that strategic health authority and primary care trust clusters should work together to deliver the number of health visitors required as part of the Government commitment to increase the number by 4,200 by April 2015, as set out in the ‘Health Visiting Implementation Plan 2011-15—A Call to Action’ to deliver the Healthy Child Programme, provide greater support to families and develop local community capacity in support of children and families working closely with Sure Start children's centres and other local services.
Chronically Sick People
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people in the (a) working and (b) total population suffering from (i) one long-term condition and (ii) two long-term conditions; and what he estimates the above numbers will be in (A) 10 years time and (B) 20 years time. [85757]
Paul Burstow: The information requested is shown in the following table.
|
|
|
Number (million) |
|
Number of people in work force with one or more long-term conditions |
||
|
Estimate over next 10 years for people with one or more long-term conditions |
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|
Estimate over next 20 years for people with one or more long-term conditions |
Departmental Assets
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assets his Department owns in Birmingham; and what the book value is of each such asset. [85442]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department has no assets physically located in Birmingham.
Departmental Audit
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies use when deciding whether and when to hold an internal audit; and if he will make a statement. [85639]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department's internal audit plan, developed in line with government internal audit standards, that outlines all proposed internal audit reviews is designed to align with departmental priorities and key risks. It is a 12-month plan which is revised and refreshed every quarter in line with Audit and Risk Committee meetings and updates to the Department's strategic risk register. This allows for the addition of new work to meet new priorities and emerging risks throughout the course of the year.
The proposed areas and broad timings for the reviews are discussed with the Permanent Secretary, presented to the senior executive team for their input and then subsequently to the Audit and Risk Committee (which then reports to the Department Board) for comment and agreement.
The Department's arm's length bodies maintain similar arrangements, in line with government internal audit standards, to develop a programme of internal audit intended to provide assurance to their board that adequate systems of internal control are in place and operating satisfactorily. Programmes of internal audit are authorised by their Audit and Risk Committee, or equivalent, and will consist of a range of reviews. Some audits will be routine work required to provide assurance to their external auditors, others will be based on risk assessments, typically involving the internal auditors, management and the Audit and Risk Committee, or designed to cover specific risks around fraud and corruption.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent in (a) Birmingham, (b) Newcastle, (c) Wakefield, (d) Manchester, (e) Leeds, (f) Liverpool, (g) Coventry, (h) Bristol, (i) Sheffield, (j) Bradford, (k) Leicester and (l) Nottingham in the latest financial year for which figures are available. [85440]
Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is not collected centrally. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.
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| Primary care trusts (PCTs) net operating costs, 2010-11 | ||
| City | Primary care trust | £000 |
| Source: Audited summarisation schedules, 2010-11. | ||
This table shows the net operating costs of those PCTs which are geographically the most closely associated with the cities named in the question. These costs do not represent direct expenditure by the Department. PCT expenditure is funded from sums voted by Parliament to the Department. Once those funds are allocated, it is for PCTs to decide locally how the money should be used to address the health needs of their resident populations.
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has allocated to Birmingham in (a) ring-fenced and (b) non-ring fenced funding grants for each of the next three years. [85441]
Mr Simon Burns: The following table shows total revenue allocations made to primary care trusts (PCTs) in the Birmingham area for 2011-12.
| PCT | 2011-12 total revenue allocations (£ million) |
PCT recurrent revenue allocations are not broken down by service or policy area. It is for PCTs to commission services to meet the health care needs of their local populations, taking account of local and national priorities.
PCT allocations for 2012-13 will be announced shortly. This will be the last round of allocations made to PCTs, as, subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, from 2013-14 the NHS Commissioning Board would be responsible for the allocation of resources to clinical commissioning groups, while the Department would make grants to local authorities for their public health responsibilities.
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Departmental Responsibilities
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure social value is included when services are commissioned by (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies; and if he will make a statement. [85658]
Anne Milton: In line with United Kingdom public procurement policy, the Department and its arm's length bodies' procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project. Public sector procurers are required to assess value for money from the perspective of the contracting authority using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification.
Wider socio-economic benefits that do not accrue to the contracting authority cannot be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they do not relate to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority.
Doctors: Foreign Nationals
Dr Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many non-UK doctors have been registered in (a) Suffolk Primary Care Trust and (b) England to provide out-of-hours care in each year since 2001; [85458]
(2) how many locum doctors have been registered in (a) Suffolk Primary Care Trust and (b) England to provide out-of-hours care in each year since 2001. [85459]
Mr Simon Burns: This information is not held centrally.
Doctors are not required to register specifically to provide out-of-hours care. Every doctor providing national health service primary care services must be on a Performers List held by a primary care trust (PCT). In England a doctor can only be on one PCT list at any one time.
E. coli
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of E. coli 0157 infection were reported in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009, (e) 2010 and (f) 2011. [85948]
Anne Milton: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) carries out national microbiological and epidemiological surveillance of E. coli 0157. The HPA receives reports of laboratory human infections from microbiology laboratories throughout England and Wales and these data are collated and reported regularly in the HPA's Health Protection Report:
www.hpa.org.uk
The number of cases reported in England and Wales in the last five years are provided as annual and regional totals in Tables 1 and 2. Outbreak data are provided in Table 3. Data for 2011 will not be available until early 2012.
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| Table 1. E coli 0 157 annual totals for England and Wales, 2006-10 | |
|
|
Number of E. coli 0 157 cases |
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| Table 2: Regional totals of E. coli 0 157 in England and Wales, by year for 2006-10 | |||||
| Region | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Table 3: General outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease caused by E. coli 0 157 in 2006-10 | |||
| People affected | |||
| Mode of transmission | Number of outbreaks | Number | Percentage |
| (1) Food is defined as provided in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002; i.e. a food is any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed intended to be, or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans, including drinking water. | |||
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John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Griffin report into the outbreak of E.coli 0157 at Godstone Farm, Surrey in 2009. [85955]
Anne Milton: Following publication in June 2010 of Professor George Griffin's report of the independent investigation into the outbreak of E. coli 0157 at Godstone Farm in 2009, the Godstone Multi Agency Implementation Committee (GMAIC) was established to agree and implement action in response to the recommendations made in the Griffin report.
GMAIC was a multi-agency cross-government group that included representatives from the open farms industry, public interest groups and the National Farmers Union and was chaired by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). GMAIC has completed its task, and a report of the actions it has taken against each of the 43 recommendations in the Griffin Report is published in full on the HPA's website:
www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1317131725640
Epilepsy: Health Services
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what variation there is in the funding of vagus nerve stimulation for refractory epilepsy by (a) primary care trusts and (b) specialised commissioning groups. [85379]
Paul Burstow: We have made no analysis of any variation in funding for vagus nerve stimulation for refractory epilepsy by primary care trusts and specialised commissioning groups.
Family Nurse Partnership Programme
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people worked in family nurse partnerships in each year since the inception of the family nurse partnership programme; [85811]
(2) how many families received assistance from family nurse partnerships in each year since the inception of the scheme. [86367]
Anne Milton: Since 2007, the approximate number of family nurses and family nurse partnership (FNP) supervisors working (full-time equivalents) in local FNP sites each year is 52 in 2007-08, 180 in 200-09, 270 in 2009-10, 295 in 2010-11. We expect there to be 430 by the end of 2011-12.
The total number of clients to have received assistance from the FNP programme to date (December 2011) is over 8,000. The approximate number of new families who have joined FNP each year from 2007 was 1,189 in 2007-08, 889 in 2008-09, 2,331 in 2009-10, 2,583 in 2010-11 and 1172 so far in 2011-12. Families receive assistance from FNP for up to two and a half years.
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. [85486]
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Anne Milton: The actual United Kingdom prevalence for either foetal alcohol syndrome or foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is unknown and there is no mechanism currently for national data collection.
Four Seasons Health Care
Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with responsibility (1) with reference to comments made by the Minister for care services on Radio 4's “Today” Programme, 6 December 2011, on Southern Cross, what assurance process his Department has undertaken on the financial viability of Four Seasons Healthcare; and if he will publish the results of any such assurance process; [86176]
(2) what assurance his Department has received that Four Seasons Healthcare will seek to restructure its finances following its takeover of Southern Cross care homes; and when any such restructuring will be completed; [86177]
(3) how many times (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have met senior management of Four Seasons Healthcare in the last 12 months. [86221]
Paul Burstow: The chairman and chief executive of Four Seasons Healthcare have met senior officials from the Department to explain the company's financial position twice in the last 12 months. We will continue to keep in close touch with the company. There have been no meetings between the company and Ministers to discuss this issue.
The company has explained its trading position and its plans to deal with its debt restructuring. It has stressed that its business model is very different from that of Southern Cross Healthcare. Unlike Southern Cross, it owns the majority of its homes. It also reports that it is operating profitably and is better able to cope with fluctuations in the market.
Four Seasons' historic debt matures in September 2012. The process to restructure the debt has begun and will be completed before the maturity date. The information provided by the company is commercially sensitive and it would not be appropriate to publish it.
At present, the Department does not have concerns about Four Seasons’ financial position. However, we are keeping the situation under review.
It is for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to register providers of adult social care services, including care homes. The registration process for care providers with the CQC requires that they declare their organisation takes all reasonable steps to remain financially viable. Where the CQC has concerns regarding a declaration, it will ask further questions to determine whether the provider is compliant with Regulation 13 of the CQC (Registration) Regulations 2009, which requires providers to ensure the “financial viability” of their enterprise, before deciding whether to register them.
Health Services: Cardiovascular System
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether NICE has any plans to publish a quality standard on the treatment of cardiovascular disease. [85556]
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Mr Simon Burns: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has already published quality standards on chronic heart failure and stroke, and is developing further quality standards on stable angina, acute coronary syndromes (including myocardial infarction), and thromboembolic diseases (including pulmonary embolism).
Further information on the quality standards NICE is developing can be found at:
www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/qualitystandards/qualitystandards.jsp
NICE, jointly with the National Quality Board, recently ran an engagement exercise on the development of a library of quality standard topics for the national health service. The list of proposed quality standard topics published as part of this exercise included the following cardiovascular topics:
acute heart failure;
atrial fibrillation;
hypertension;
secondary care management of malignant hypertension;
lipid modification;
secondary prevention of myocardial infarction and cardiac rehabilitation;
familial hypercholesterolemia;
risk assessment of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors;
peripheral vascular disease;
varicose veins; and
abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The engagement exercise closed on 14 October 2011.
Further information on the engagement exercise can be found at:
www.nice.org.uk/getinvolved/currentniceconsultations/NQBEngagement.jsp
An announcement on next steps will be made once the responses have been analysed.
Health Services: Males
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to include sexual history in the men's health check. [85553]
Mr Simon Burns: The NHS Health Check programme is a national public health programme for men and women in England aged 40-74. The purpose of the programme is to identify an individual's risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes, and for that risk to be managed through appropriate follow up. There are no current plans to include sexual history as part of a check.
Health Visitors: Regulation
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to reform the regulation of the health visitor role undertaken by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. [85815]
Anne Milton: The review to reform the regulation of the health visiting profession is the responsibility of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
The NMC announced on 19 October 2011, that regulation of the health visitor role is to be positively
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reformed across the United Kingdom, as part of a programme of work emphasising the vital role of health visitors and other specialist community public health nurses. The NMC will build on much of the work that has been led by the four UK health departments, including the work of the Health Visitor Programme. The Department will contribute to the review. We are not aware of a date for which the review is scheduled for completion.
Health Visitors: Training
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health visitor training commissions there were in each strategic health authority in 2011-12. [85812]
Anne Milton: The following table shows the number of health visitor training commissions planned by each strategic health authority (SHA) for 2011-12.
| Planned health visitor training commissions 2011-12 by SHA | |
|
|
Number of commissions |
| Source: Quarterly SHA Financial Management Returns | |
Health: Males
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of men that are likely to suffer from testosterone deficiency syndrome in 2020. [85554]
Anne Milton: Data on the number of men who suffer from testosterone deficiency syndrome are not currently held centrally and there are no plans at present to estimate the number of men that might suffer from the syndrome in 2020.
Hospitals
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals (a) he and (b) each other Minister in his Department has visited since May 2010; and on what date each such visit took place. [85547]
Anne Milton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
KPMG
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has paid (a) KPMG and (b) McKinsey since May 2010; and for what services. [85469]
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Anne Milton: The following tables set out information from the Department's central procurement system about the purchase order (PO) value the Department (includes core Department of Health and Connecting for Health) has awarded and paid KPMG and McKinsey since April 2010 (figures can only be provided for the full financial year 2010-11).
| KPMG LLP | ||
| Supplier name | Type of services | 2010-11 (£) |
| McKinsey and Co Inc UK | ||
| Supplier name | Type of services | 2010-11 (£) |
The following table sets out information from the Department's central procurement system about the PO value the Department (includes core Department of Health and Connecting for Health) has awarded to McKinsey since April 2011-12 (the current financial year, to date).
| Supplier name | Type of services | 2011-12 (£) |
Malcolm Lader
Eric Ollerenshaw:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Professor Malcolm Lader holds any official appointment within his Department or any of its Executive agencies or non-departmental public
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bodies; and whether he has contributed to its policy review on addiction to medicines. [85384]
Anne Milton: Professor Malcolm Lader is one of the experts and stakeholders whose advice has been sought in the Department's work on addiction to medicines. Professor Malcolm Lader does not hold any official appointment within the Department, its executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies.
Medical Certificates
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects GP practices to have access to systems allowing them to issue electronic fit notes. [85759]
Mr Simon Burns: We expect over half of the general practitioner (GP) practices in England to have access to electronic fit notes using their GP systems during spring 2012 with others to follow as the practices' system suppliers develop their systems to incorporate this functionality.
Mental Health Services: Hospital Beds
Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute mental health beds there are in each mental health trust in England; and how many such beds there are per 100,000 people. [85823]
Paul Burstow: The Department does not collect the total number of acute mental health beds in each mental health trust in England or the number of beds per 100,000 people.
However, the Department does collect data on the average daily number of mental health beds available in all trusts in England that are available overnight.
Figures for the latest quarter (July to September 2011) are in the following table. The table also shows population data for England, and the number of beds per 100,000 people for England. The population data cannot be broken down further.
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|
South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust |
||||
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| Notes: 1. Bed numbers were collected by consultant specialty and only include beds where the patient is under the care of a consultant and covered the following consultant specialties: 710 Adult Mental Illness 711 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 712 Forensic Psychiatry 713 Psychotherapy 715 Old Age Psychiatry 2. ONS population estimates are not available for individual NHS organisations. Sources: 1. Department of Health form, KH03 2. Office for National Statistics, 2010-based National Population Projections—Table A1-4 www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3a77-229866 | ||||
Midwives: Manpower
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the additional midwives the Government undertook to provide are being provided at a local level in the NHS; how many such midwives have already been provided; and how many he plans to provide in each year to 2015. [85490]
Anne Milton: The number of qualified midwives has increased by 2.2% (450) since May 2010. However, it is the responsibility of local NHS organisations to plan and deliver a work force appropriate to the needs of their local population, based on clinical need and sound evidence.
The Department has asked the Centre for Workforce Intelligence to undertake an in-depth study of the nursing and maternity work force starting 2011-12 in order to inform the future commissioning of training places. This study will help inform our plans for the future.
Neurology: Surgery
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of interim funding decisions for neurosurgery made by specialised commissioning groups on (a) patients with rare clinical need and (b) their carers and families. [85378]
Anne Milton: During 2012-13, all money and accountability for the decision making processes for access to specialised services will still be under the control of primary care trusts (PCTs).
Commitments have been given to PCTs that no policy convergence will take place in 2012-13 without their knowledge and explicit support. In the case of access to neurosurgery, this will still be governed by local policy although work is being undertaken to identify differences in access to services.
A clinical, financial and public patient experience and engagement process is being developed to support policy convergence for 2013-14 onwards.
NHS: Negligence
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the NHS Litigation Authority is operating a moratorium on settling large claims; and if he will make a statement; [85881]
(2) in how many cases the NHS Litigation Authority has admitted liability but voluntary interim payments have not been paid; and if he will make a statement; [85882]
(3) how many cases received by the NHS Litigation Authority have been resolved in terms of (a) liability and (b) damages and fees in each month since May 2010. [85883]
Mr Simon Burns: The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) does not have a moratorium on settling large claims. The NHSLA is committed to appropriately resolving all claims as speedily as possible.
The NHSLA does not have data on the number of cases where it admitted liability but voluntary interim payments have not been paid, because the NHSLA does not have a record of all instances where voluntary interim payments were requested.
The number of clinical negligence claims settled by the NHSLA by month since May 2010 is shown in the following table. The table shows separately the number of settlements with no damages or costs and the number of settlements with damages and/or costs.
| Number of claims settled | |||
| Month of settlement | Nil damages and costs | With damages and/or costs | Total |
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| Note: The data cover the period up to 30 November 2011. Source: NHS Litigation Authority, 2011 | |||
Palliative Care
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to draw to the attention of (a) GPs and (b) hospital trusts the recent advice of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on the use of painkillers in palliative care. [85990]
Paul Burstow: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a clinical guideline on the safe and effective use of opioids in palliative care and has not yet issued final guidance to the national health service.
NICE has published draft guidance for consultation and stakeholders have until 6 January to comment on NICE'S provisional recommendations. The Institute currently expects to publish its final guidance in May 2012.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that patients and their relatives are informed by clinicians when hospital trusts are placed on the Liverpool care pathway. [85991]
Paul Burstow: The Liverpool care pathway (LCP) was developed by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute in Liverpool as an approach to support the delivery of good care in the last days of life. The Department of Health is not responsible for the LCP, but recommends it as good practice.
Before putting someone on the LCP, senior doctors and nurses involved in the patient's care should agree that death is very likely to be imminent and that being placed on the pathway will be beneficial to the patient. The LCP documentation is clear that a decision to use the pathway should always involve the patient and/or family members.
The National Care of the Dying Audit—Hospitals, based on the standards of care within the LCP and run by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians, assesses the use of the LCP and the quality of care provision. This audit is one of those that must be reported in providers' Quality Accounts.
The report of the third round of the audit notes that in 94% of documented cases discussions explaining the use of the LCP were held with relatives or carers. However, as part of the report's recommendations, it stresses that the decision that a patient is dying and in the last hours or days of life should be discussed with patients, where appropriate, and always with relatives or carers.
Palliative Care: Community Hospitals
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made any assessment of the relative importance of palliative care, rehabilitation and post-operative and respite care being delivered in local community hospitals. [85376]
Paul Burstow: The Government are committed to increasing care and access to treatment in the community. Local community hospitals provide a vital community resource to support patients in need of rehabilitation, recuperation and respite care—preventing unnecessary admissions to hospitals and supporting a rapid return to independence and good health.
Subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill through Parliament, power and responsibility for commissioning services will be devolved to more local clinical commissioning groups, which will mean that the design of patient pathways and local services is always clinically-led and based on more effective dialogue and partnership with hospital specialists.
Prescriptions
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions were issued by (a) nurse independent prescribers, (b) community practitioner nurse prescribers and (c) doctors in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. [85491]
Mr Simon Burns: Information is not collected centrally on the number of prescriptions issued. Information is available for the number of items prescribed and subsequently dispensed in primary care. The following table provides information, by category of prescriber, for the latest 12-month period.
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| Prescription items issued by category of prescriber in England, and dispensed, in the community, in the United Kingdom, from October 2010 until September 2011 | |||||
| Thousand | |||||
|
|
Community practitioner nurse prescriber | Nurse independent prescriber | Doctors | Other prescribers | Total (1) |
| (1) Figures may not sum due to rounding. Source: Prescribing Analysis and CosT tool (PACT) system. | |||||
Radiation Exposure
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs have been incurred by the Health Protection Agency following the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in respect of collaboration with (a) organisations involved with civil contingencies, (b) the World Health Organisation, (c) the International Atomic Energy Agency and (d) the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation; and from what budget any such costs have been paid. [85789]
Anne Milton: The total costs of staff time incurred by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in connection with the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant up until 8 December 2011 were £313,675 of which £2,459 were in support of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and £50,843 were in support of the World Health Organization (WHO) including travel costs to Geneva.
The remaining costs were incurred supporting the United Kingdom national response. No direct costs were incurred supporting the International Atomic Energy Agency. Ongoing support is currently provided to UNSCEAR and WHO. All of these costs were paid from the HPA Grant in Aid as part of the HPA's UK health protection responsibilities.
Steria
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many contracts his Department has awarded to Steria since May 2010; and what the (a) purpose, (b) monetary value and (c) net worth was of each contract. [85476]
Anne Milton: The Department's central procurement system holds information on the following purchase orders (POs) relating to contracts awarded between May 2010 and November 2011. The following table sets out the date the PO was awarded, the service description for each transaction and the total value of the PO when awarded.
Energy and Climate Change
Climate Research Unit
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Climate Research Unit. [86249]
Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has not had any discussions with representatives of the Climatic Research Unit at the university of East Anglia.
All DECC ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis on the Department's website at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/accesstoinform/registers/registers.aspx
Carbon Emissions
Luciana Berger:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the monetary value was of the (a) Carbon Emission Reduction Target and (b) Community Energy Saving Programme in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009, (iii) 2010 and (iv) 2011; and what the
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monetary value of such schemes will be in (A) 2012 and (B) 2013. [85910]
Gregory Barker: These obligations are set in carbon saving terms and my Department does not require or collect data on actual expenditure. We do however make estimates of costs in the Impact Assessments published when the obligations are put in place or varied. We have estimated that obligated parties would need to invest around £5,000 million to meet their CERT targets (over the period April 2008 to December 2012) and around £350 million to meet CESP (October 2009 to December 2012).
CERT and CESP will be replaced by the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in late 2012. As part of the recent Green Deal consultation we have proposed targets for ECO which we estimate would cost around £1,300 million per year.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress he has made on his inquiry into the outcome of the European Parliament vote of 5 July 2011 on carbon emissions targets; and when he plans to publish the outcome of the inquiry. [86520]
Gregory Barker: There has been no inquiry by my officials into the European Parliament's vote on EU greenhouse gas emission reductions, which took place on 5 July 2011.
Carbon Sequestration
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the expected timetable is for the development of carbon capture and storage projects; and if he will make a statement. [85898]
Charles Hendry: We will be launching an accelerated process for the selection of CCS projects as soon as possible. The Department is holding an Industry Day on 16 December to provide further information on the CCS programme. Sponsors and developers of proposed CCS projects, power generators, CO2 transport infrastructure providers, oil and gas field operators and independent operators, and CO2 capture technology providers are invited to contact the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage if they wish to attend.
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with Scottish and Southern Energy on the timetable for the development of carbon capture and storage at Peterhead. [85899]
Charles Hendry:
Ministers hold regular meetings with industry to discuss a range of energy and climate change issues. In addition, my officials hold regular discussions on specific issues relating to the development of carbon capture and storage. Officials from the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage met with representatives of a number of CCS project developers recently, including SSE, to discuss the development of the UK CCS Programme and will be holding an Industry Day on 16 December to provide further information on the
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selection process. We will not be making decisions about which projects to take forward before this process has been completed.
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much Government funding will be provided for carbon capture and storage demonstration projects in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15. [85900]
Charles Hendry: We have made it clear that £l billion is available to support CCS projects. We expect projects to come forward in this spending review period and for expenditure to be committed as part of that process. The detailed profile of spend will be determined by the projects selected and when they require funding. We and our partners also expect to invest £l25 million in CCS R&D by 2015.
Carbon Sequestration: Finance
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2011, Official Report, column 211W, on carbon sequestration: finance, when the competition for the carbon capture and storage fund will close; and over what timetable he expects the carbon capture and storage competition fund to be distributed. [86233]
Charles Hendry: We will be launching an accelerated process for the selection of CCS projects as soon as possible. The detailed profile of spend will be determined by the projects selected and when they require funding.
Climate Change: International Co-operation
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of the funding he announced for climate finance in Africa in his speech at the Grantham Institute on 24 November 2011 consists of funding previously announced by his Department. [86007]
Gregory Barker: I referred to a package of UK support to help Africa adapt to the impacts of climate change and move to low carbon development paths in a speech at the Grantham Institute on 24 November 2011. I announced the full details of this package in Durban on 6 December 2011.
The package is all funded out of an existing funding commitment—the UK's £2.9 billion International Climate Fund, which was announced in the 2010 spending review.
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if the funding he announced to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation in his speech at the Grantham Institute on 24 November 2011 will meet the transparency criteria promoted by the International Aid Transparency Initiative. [86008]
Gregory Barker:
Yes. This Government are committed to being open and transparent on how UK climate finance is spent. I announced a package of programmes to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation in Durban on 6 December. All of the programmes contribute to UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) and
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information will be published to meet the transparency standards promoted by the International Aid Transparency Initiative.
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he plans to take at the Durban conference on climate change to secure global commitment to the Cancun summit aim of providing US $100 billion funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the developing world. [86009]
Gregory Barker: The UK has been working with EU member states and international partners at the Durban conference to make progress on long-term climate finance, to ensure that developed countries meet their commitment to mobilise $100 billion of public and private climate finance per year by 2020. Specifically, we aim to make progress on the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Climate Finance (AGF) and are looking to build on the work undertaken by the World Bank for G20 Finance Ministers.
Food Labelling
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible plan to implement calorie labelling on menus and display boards. [85856]
Gregory Barker: DECC receives its catering services through a contract procured by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) labels, which provide information on calories, fats, saturated fats, salt and sugar, are provided on foods and have been rolled out across the DEFRA catering contract, which includes DECC.
In relation to those DECC non departmental public bodies who have catering contracts:
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is planning to implement the labelling of calories on menus in the new year.
the Coal Authority's external catering services provider is developing menus and display boards for main courses on sale which will show calorie labelling. The menus and display boards will be available in the authority's canteen as from February 2012.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps the food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible are taking to ensure the countries of origin of foods are labelled on its menus and display boards. [85857]
Gregory Barker: DECC receives its catering services through a contract procured by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The catering contractor has signed up to the industry principles, agreed with DEFRA, for country of origin labelling for meat and dairy products. The country of origin is identified on menus by indicating either UK (British), EU or global.
In relation to those DECC non-departmental public bodies who have contracts covering catering:
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is planning to implement country of origin labelling on menus in the new year; and
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the Coal Authority's food and catering services are provided by an external company under contract. The countries of origin are not displayed. The majority of the food provided is sourced from the United Kingdom. The remainder comprises fresh salad produce, tinned tomatoes and other produce, the origins of which will change during the year.