Public Bodies
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's most recent estimate is of the savings it expects to accrue from the abolition of each body under the Public Bodies Act 2011 for which his Department is responsible; and in which year of the spending review period each such saving is expected to arise. [96573]
Mr Djanogly: The most recent estimates of the savings to accrue from the abolition of the Ministry of Justice’s bodies included in schedule 1 to the Public Bodies Act 2011 and for each year of the spending review are shown in the following table.
These estimates were made in March 2011. The Department is currently revising its savings estimates.
| £ million | |||||
| Body | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | Cumulative |
No savings will accrue from the abolition of the Magistrates' Courts Rule Committee or the Crown Court Rule Committee.
The Victims' Advisory Panel (VAP) is also included in schedule 1 to the Act. However, no final decision has been made regarding abolition of the VAP pending the outcome of the Department's consultation on services for victims and witnesses, “Getting it right for victims and witnesses”, which was launched on 30 January and closes on 22 April. The consultation paper can be found on the Ministry of Justice website at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/victims-witnesses-cp3-2012.htm
Sentencing: Terrorism
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the future use of indeterminate sentences for public protection in respect of terrorism offences. [95793]
Mr Blunt: On 26 October 2011 the Government tabled amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill which will reform sentencing for dangerous offenders. We will replace sentences of imprisonment for public protection with a tough new regime which will see more dangerous offenders given life sentences, and others spending long periods in prison and being supervised for long periods after their release.
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Schedule 18 to the Bill sets out offences for which dangerous offenders are liable to particularly robust sentencing provisions.
This regime includes a new mandatory life sentence where offenders are convicted a second time of a very serious instance of a sexual or violent offence set out in schedule 18 to the Bill.
The regime also includes a new extended sentence for dangerous offenders on which the offender must serve at least two-thirds of the custodial term in prison, and in serious cases can serve the whole custodial term in prison if the Parole Board does not direct earlier release. Offences set out in schedule 18 make offenders potentially liable to serve the entire custodial term.
The most serious terrorism offences can be charged under violent offences such as for example murder, attempted murder, and grievous bodily harm with intent. The most serious violent offences are included in schedule 18. There are also several specific terrorism-related offences enacted to cover scenarios where general offences would not be appropriate. To ensure that all terrorism offences can be dealt with appropriately, serious specific terrorism-related offences are included in schedule 18.
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Discretionary life sentences will remain available for those terrorism offences carrying a maximum penalty of life.
Sentencing: Young People
Mrs Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many and what proportion of people in England and Wales given a custodial sentence in each year from 2008 to 2011 were aged between 18 and 24; [96163]
(2) how many and what proportion of people given a community sentence in each year between 2008 and 2011 were aged between 18 and 24; [96222]
(3) how many and what proportion of people in England and Wales given a suspended sentence were aged between 18 and 24 in each year from 2008 to 2011. [96227]
Mr Blunt: Persons aged between 18 and 24 given custodial, community and suspended sentences in England and Wales from 2008 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May, 2012.
| Persons aged 18 to 24 sentenced for all offences at all courts in England and Wales, 2008 to 2010 (1,2) | |||||
| Total sentenced | Community sentence | Suspended sentence | Immediate custody | Other sentences (3) | |
| (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Includes absolute and conditional discharges, fines, and other disposals. (4) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July, and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice | |||||
Sexual Offences: Medical Treatments
Mr Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many men convicted of gross indecency under (a) section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 and (b) section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 elected for chemical castration as an alternative to a prison sentence. [96335]
Mr Blunt: The Ministry of Justice court proceedings database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from centrally held information cases in which a male defendant, following a sentence of immediate custody, may have considered chemical castration.
Special Hospitals
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) to which location each detainee in Broadmoor hospital will be moved following the planned closure of its Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit in April 2012; [96083]
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(2) what risk assessment he has carried out of the proposed closure of the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit in Broadmoor hospital; what the methodology of any such risk assessment was; and if he will place the assessment and any supporting documents in the Library. [96084]
Paul Burstow: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Health.
All the patients on the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit have been individually assessed to determine the level of risk they present and their continuing health needs. Each patient has also undergone a detailed review to assess their longer term treatment and management needs. Based on this comprehensive multidisciplinary process the population at the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit at Broadmoor will be reduced to four patients by 31 March 2012. All patients who were previously in the Broadmoor unit will continue to be treated in the level of security necessary for the risk they present. Details of the individual assessments and care plans are subject to medical confidentiality.
The joint assessment of the Department of Health, Ministry of Justice and clinicians from the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder programme is that improving the existing dangerous and severe personality disorder units in high security prisons, developing further units in other prisons and providing ongoing treatment and management for these offenders presents the best possible use of resources and most effective risk management.
The proposals for reconfiguring service investment to facilitate the identification, assessment, management and treatment of offenders with severe personality disorders were the subject of a public consultation. The consultation took place between February and May 2011 and received 91 responses. The Department of Health and Ministry of Justice response “Response to the Offender Personality Disorder Consultation” was published on 21 October 2011 and a copy has been placed in the Library.
Third Sector
Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to implement the principles of the Best Value Statutory Guidance in respect of (a) giving at least three months' notice to voluntary and community organisations and their service users when reducing or ending funding, (b) engaging with voluntary and community organisations and service users as early as possible before making a decision on the future of the service, any knock-on effects on assets used to provide this service and the wider impact on the local community and (c) making provision for voluntary and community organisations and service users to put forward options on how to reshape the service or project. [95783]
Mr Djanogly: The Best Value guidance does not legally apply to central Government Departments or their executive agencies.
However, as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government made clear in his foreword to the revised Best Value guidance, central Government Departments support the fair standards set out in the
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guidance and have re-affirmed their commitment to the National Compact. The issues raised are covered by the Compact. In January the National Audit Office (NAO) published “Central Government's implementation of the National Compact”, a report which provides commentary on the implementation of the national Compact across Government. The Ministry of Justice participated fully in the NAO's review of the National Compact implementation and will be following up as appropriate the recommendations within the National Audit Office report in order to ensure that the Department continues to be a strong model of collaborative working between Government and the voluntary sector.
Translation Services
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many times (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in his Department have met (i) Mr Anthony Dixon and (ii) other directors of Applied Language Solutions. [95525]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: Neither I nor my ministerial team in the Ministry of Justice have held meetings with directors of Applied Language Solutions. Special advisers in the Department have also not attended meetings with directors of Applied Language Solutions.
Ministry of Justice officials have met directors of Applied Language Solutions on a number of occasions since 3 November 2010 and continue to attend meetings with them. Initially this was part of the competitive dialogue process and following that to discuss the development of the Ministry of Justice framework agreement and contract.
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what arrangements have been put into place to make up for problems with the provision of translators by Applied Language Solutions; [96157]
(2) whether he has asked Applied Language Solutions to provide qualifications and background for each of its translators; [96158]
(3) how many people were remanded in custody at bail hearings as a result of an interpreter not being available, in the last period for which figures are available. [96159]
Mr Blunt: The information is as follows:
(1) We are committed to ensuring the rights and needs of those who require interpreters are safeguarded and we have asked the contractor to take urgent steps to improve performance. In addition, as a short-term measure, courts and tribunals have reverted to the old booking system for short-notice assignments.
(2) I have not requested this information. The contractor is obliged to ensure that the interpreters they use have appropriate qualifications, skills, experience and are appropriately vetted. Should any concerns arise about the quality, qualifications or background of individual interpreters there is a robust complaints mechanism.
(3) This information is not collected.
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Trials
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost was of an ineffective trial in (a) magistrates and (b) crown courts in the latest period for which figures are available. [96161]
Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice does not record the amount of court time lost in respect of ineffective trials in either the magistrates or crown courts. To collect this information it would be necessary to establish a process to ascertain and record time lost due to ineffective trials at each individual court. This would be labour intensive and time consuming and incur disproportionate cost. In the absence of this information it is not possible to evaluate the average costs of ineffective trials in the crown and magistrates courts. However, court business in the crown and magistrates courts is managed in a way that minimises the potential loss of court time due to ineffective trials.
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost was of (a) an ineffective hearing, (b) and ineffective bail hearing and (c) an ineffective plea bargain in (i) magistrates and (ii) crown courts in the latest period for which figures are available. [96162]
Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice does not hold statistics relevant to the conduct of hearings, bail hearings and plea bargains in the crown and magistrates courts that would enable the average costs to be evaluated. To collect this information it would be necessary to establish a process to monitor and record the consequences of ineffective proceedings at each individual court. This would be labour intensive and time consuming and incur disproportionate costs. Without this information it is not possible to evaluate the requested average costs.
Tribunals: Social Security Benefits
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases are on the waiting list for tribunal hearings for (a) disability living allowance and (b) employment and support allowance. [96165]
Mr Djanogly: Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to disability living allowance (DLA) and employment and support allowance (ESA).
There are always a number of ‘live’ appeals at the various stages of processing before being listed for a tribunal hearing.
The following table shows the total number of ‘live’ DLA and ESA appeals at 31 March 2011, and at 31 October 2011, the most recent period for which statistics have been published.
| ‘Live’ disability living allowance and employment and support allowance appeals | ||
| 31 March 2011 | 31 October 2011 | |
| Source: These data are taken from management information. | ||
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Violence: Courts
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many violent incidents occurred in court premises in each of the last five years. [96075]
Mr Djanogly: The number of violent incidents reported in court premises and in the public areas immediately outside of court (which my Department view as in court premises) are as follows:
| Number | |
My Department takes the security of all court users seriously and it is the policy of Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service that all security incidents are reported and investigated. All incidents involving violence are reported to the police for further investigation. The figures provided comprise reported incidents from the reporting years April to March and resulting in actual violence and include incidents between and against parties, court users and court staff and contractors. These figures do not include verbal abuse or threats, nor any violent incident which took place off court premises while officials are undertaking court duties.
Young Offenders
Mrs Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people aged 18 to 24 entered the prison system for the first time in each year from 2008 to 2011. [96220]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows offenders aged 18 to 24 receiving their first immediate custodial sentence for an indictable offence between 2008 and 2010, in England and Wales, as recorded on the police national computer. These are the latest available figures for calendar years and are derived from the data used to produce table A7.13 in Criminal Justice System Statistics, England and Wales 2010. Equivalent figures for 2011 are not yet available.
These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
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Mrs Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of those sentenced to a custodial or community sentence in England and Wales in each year between 2008 and 2011 were first time offenders; and how many and what proportion of these were aged between 18 and 24. [96221]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows the number and proportion of first time offenders sentenced to immediate custody or a community sentence for an indictable offence between 2008 and 2010, in England and Wales, as recorded on the police national computer. The table also provides a breakdown for offenders aged between 18 and 24. These are the latest available figures for a calendar year and are derived from the data used to produce table A7.12 in Criminal Justice System Statistics, England and Wales 2010. Equivalent figures for 2011 are not yet available.
These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
| First time offenders receiving an immediate custodial sentence or a community sentence for an indictable offence, by age, 2008 to 2010, England and Wales | |||
| Number of offenders | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
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Energy and Climate Change
Action for Employment
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what contracts his Department has with A4e; and what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value is of each such contract. [97019]
Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have any contracts with A4e and has not transacted with A4e.
Public Sector Pay
Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible are paid (i) £100,000 and (ii) £142,500 or more per annum. [97037]
Gregory Barker: The details of senior salaries are published on the internet via Data.gov.uk and on individual websites. The following table sets out the hyperlinks for the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Coal Authority (CA), Committee on Climate Change (CCC), Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
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The organogram data are as of 30 September 2011 and are updated on a six monthly basis.
Senior Civil Servants
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many senior civil servants left his Department and its public bodies in each month since May 2010; what their names are; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants in his Department was during this period; and if he will make a statement. [96252]
Gregory Barker: The following table sets out the number of senior civil servants who have left the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) or its public bodies since May 2010. The public bodies include Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) and Coal Authority (CA).
| Department/public body | Month | Number |
The names of people are not being disclosed as it would not be appropriate to provide the names of senior civil servants who are no longer in government employment. The current turnover rate for the 12 month period to January 2012 for senior civil servants in DECC is 4.37%.
Electricity
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to paragraph 2.1.20, page 32 of Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity, which international examples his Department has assessed. [95824]
Charles Hendry: In the July 2011 White Paper, “Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity”, DECC committed to undertake an assessment over the coming year to determine whether DECC should take further steps to improve the support and incentives for the efficient use of electricity—including consideration of international examples.
This assessment is now under way. With support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, information on potentially relevant examples is being gathered from
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a wide range of electricity markets including those in the United States of America, across Europe and in other relevant countries. The assessment will complete by summer 2012.
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to page 13 of Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity, what progress his Department has made on assessing whether it should take further steps to improve the support and incentives for the efficient use of electricity; and if he will publish his assessment. [95827]
Charles Hendry: In the July 2011 White Paper, ‘Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity’, DECC committed to undertake an assessment over the coming year to determine whether DECC should take further steps to improve the support and incentives for the efficient use of electricity.
This assessment is now under way. It includes analysis of the technical potential for further electricity demand reduction, the barriers to reducing electricity demand, and the impact of current policies on electricity demand. It also includes consideration of what policy measures might further incentivise demand reduction, and whether any such measures are necessary and appropriate. This work will complete by summer 2012.
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to page 22 of Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity, what progress he has made towards designing the Capacity Mechanism. [95828]
Charles Hendry: In the electricity market reform (EMR) White Paper—Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity(1)—the Government signalled their intention to introduce a capacity mechanism, is an intervention designed to ensure sufficient reliable capacity. A consultation on potential models for a capacity mechanism was included in the White Paper.
On 15 December 2011 Government responded to the consultation through the publication of a technical update(2) to the White Paper. This set out Government's choice of model—a Capacity Market—and how this model will work at a high level.
Work on the detailed design of the Capacity Market will continue throughout 2012 and into 2013.
As outlined in the December technical update, Government intend to publish an EMR policy update alongside publication of draft primary legislation. This will include a detailed transition and implementation plan in order to provide investors with greater certainty over the Government's EMR proposals in the longer term.
(1)http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/policy-legislation/emr/2210-emr-white-paper-full-version.pdf
(2)http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/legislation/white_papers/emr_wp_2011/tech_update/tec_update.aspx
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Energy: Meters
Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will provide reassurance to industry that an effective and timely (a) foundation stage and (b) full smart meter rollout will be delivered. [97193]
Charles Hendry: Energy suppliers are responsible for planning the installation of smart meters for their customers. The Government's role is to provide a framework that enables the timely roll-out of smart meters in a way which benefits most consumers. During foundation stage, which will build readiness for mass roll-out, the Government are putting the necessary regulatory frameworks in place, defining technical specifications for smart metering equipment, procuring the DCC communications services, and facilitating testing and trialling of equipment, systems, processes and consumer engagement strategies. Mass roll-out is expected to start in late 2014 and energy suppliers will be required to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters for their domestic and smaller non-domestic customers by 2019.
Energy: Private Rented Housing
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the proportion of tenants in receipt of housing benefit in properties in the private rented sector with an energy efficiency rating of (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, (f) F and (g) G.[96001]
Gregory Barker: Data on housing benefit and energy efficiency are available from the English Housing Survey, run by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The most recent data available from this survey are for the year 2009. Housing benefit receipt is measured on a household level rather than an individual level. The data in the following table show the proportion of households in the private rented sector in each energy efficiency band that contain householders in receipt of housing benefit.
| Energy efficiency band | Proportion of households in the private rented sector that receive some housing benefit (%) |
| Note: Some of these figures are based on small sample sizes. Therefore these data should be treated with caution, as a considerable degree of uncertainty exists around some of the estimates. Also, the small sample sizes involved mean that dwellings in energy efficiency bands A-C have been grouped together. | |
Fuel Poverty
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of people in fuel poverty in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available. [96674]
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Gregory Barker: Fuel poverty is measured at a household level rather than an individual level. In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available (except for Wales—see note below), the number of households in fuel poverty for each of these areas was as follows:
| Area | Number of households in fuel poverty | Percentage of households that are fuel poor |
| Note: The most recent data available on fuel poverty in Wales are for the year 2008. | ||
Meters
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many meetings he has had with each energy supplier to discuss the smart meter programme. [95834]
Charles Hendry: I hold regular meetings with representatives of energy supply companies to discuss the smart meter programme, including meetings of the Smart Meter Ministerial/Industry Rollout Group and other bilateral discussions. The Smart Meter Ministerial/Industry Rollout Group met on the following dates:
3 November 2010,
24 January 2011,
23 May 2011 and
11 October 2011.
Nuclear Installations: Security
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the agreement to extend co-operation on civil nuclear security and share best practice on security at nuclear sites as part of the UK/France summit on 17 February 2012, will permit the sharing of nuclear security information on UK civil nuclear installations with (a) French nuclear regulatory authorities and (b) civil nuclear installation operators in France that is not legal to be made public in the UK. [97187]
Charles Hendry: The framework is between the UK and French Governments and Ministers will agree the full detail of the work later this year. If Ministers decide that respective UK and French regulatory authorities may share best practice, potentially including security classified information, it will be exchanged in accordance with existing treaties which ensure its mutual protection. Civil nuclear operators are not within the scope the framework.
Radioactive Waste
Caroline Lucas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what sources of independent expertise he expects will be consulted by his Department when calculating the radioactive waste transfer price payable by utility companies developed
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under the waste transfer pricing methodology for the disposal of higher activity wastes from new nuclear power stations; and if he will make a statement. [96990]
Charles Hendry: The manner in which the Expected Price will be determined is set out in the Government's ‘Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology for the disposal of higher activity waste from new nuclear power stations’, published in December 2012. The Government consulted widely in developing this methodology, including a pre-consultation process and two public consultation exercises, in which a wide range of independent views were considered.
The Expected Price will be set in accordance with the published methodology. The Government currently have no plans to involve independent bodies in the derivation of the Expected Price but the Government will have access to a range of expertise both within and external to Government to ensure that the published methodology is properly applied. In particular the price will be derived based on cost estimates, provided by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which is the body responsible for building and operating a geological disposal facility, and the Government's assessment of the uplifts that should be applied to those estimates to reflect risk and uncertainty will be derived with input from external financial advisers.
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he will take to ensure that any risk premium applied under the radioactive waste transfer pricing arrangements (a) is proportionate and (b) reflects the financial risks being assumed by the Government. [96991]
Charles Hendry: The manner in which the risk premium will be determined under the waste transfer pricing framework is set out in the “Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology for the disposal of higher activity waste from new nuclear power stations”, which was published on 8 December 2011. The Methodology sets out how the risk premium will be determined so that it is proportionate and properly reflects the financial risks being assumed by the Government. This is available at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/nuclear-waste-transfer-pricing/3798-waste-transfer-pricing-methodology.pdf
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what provisions exist for transparency and external scrutiny of the Government's cost estimates for the default pricing mechanism for the radioactive waste transfer price mechanism; and if he will make a statement. [96992]
Charles Hendry: As set out in the “Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology for the disposal of higher activity waste from new nuclear power stations”, published in December 2011, the default pricing mechanism will apply in the scenario where the implementation of geological disposal is much slower than currently anticipated and hence the waste transfer price is required to be set, at the end of the specified “Deferral Period”, before a site has been selected for a geological disposal facility.
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The default price will be set by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change having regard to such cost modelling as would be available at the time. This scenario, which the Government consider unlikely, would not arise until around 2050. Were this scenario to arise, arrangements regarding the preparation of cost estimates would be made nearer the time.
Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many solar PV installations qualifying for the feed-in tariff scheme there have been since 13 December 2011. [96232]
Gregory Barker: As of 21 February, Ofgem FITs central register shows 77,021 solar PV installation accredited for FITs since 13 December 2011.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 476, on feed-in tariffs, what the evidential basis is for the statement that a very small number of people were enjoying bumper returns; how many people were receiving such returns; and what the average level of such returns was. [96358]
Gregory Barker: The impact assessment published alongside the phase 1 response of the comprehensive review sets out our estimates of PV costs, installation numbers and rate of return under current tariffs. These documents can be accessed at:
www.decc.gov.uk/fits
They show, for example, that there were around 230,000 small scale <4 kW PV installations by 29 January 2012. Evidence suggests that the return on investment for such installations in April 2012, if they were to receive the previous generation tariff of 43p/kWh, could be around 15%, which is well in excess of the 5% that the tariffs were intended to deliver. This return is highly dependent on the specifics of the installation such as price paid and location.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 479, on feed-in tariffs (1) what forecast his Department has made of the number of people expected to be employed in the solar energy industry in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, (e) 2017, (f) 2018, (g) 2019 and (h) 2020; [96360]
(2) what the evidential basis is for the statement that his Department expects a steady growth in the number of people employed in the solar industry until 2015 and beyond. [96361]
Gregory Barker: Projections and uncertainty factors considered for the number of jobs associated with the solar industry are set out in the impact assessment supporting the current consultation on solar PV cost control and can be accessed at:
www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/fits-review/4320-feedin-tariffs-review-phase-2a-draft-impact-asses.pdf
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This shows estimates for jobs associated with solar PV in 2012-14. We have not prepared individual projections for each year from 2013 to 2020.
Warm Front Scheme
Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to ensure that those employed administering the Warm Front scheme are transferred to projects supported by the Green Deal. [96446]
Gregory Barker: The Government-funded Warm Front scheme will come to an end in March 2013. From the end of 2012 the installation of energy efficiency measures will be provided through the Green Deal and new energy company obligation. The Green Deal is a private market mechanism and providers will make their own commercial decisions on staffing within their organisations to deliver the initiative.
The Green Deal will remove financial and practical barriers to energy efficiency measures and will promote uptake and stimulate the market; this will lead to more activity and more jobs. The supply chain could support 100,000 jobs within five years and we expect that some of these will be filled by those with prior experience of the energy efficiency sector.
Warm Front Scheme: Liverpool
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency and (b) Liverpool city region received Warm Front grants in each year since 2008-09. [96666]
Gregory Barker: The numbers of households assisted in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency and (b) Liverpool city region are as follows:
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 (1) | Total | |
| (1) Figures up to 31 January 2012 | |||||
Warm Front Scheme: North East
Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people in the North East received Warm Front grants in each of the last five years. [96342]
Gregory Barker: The number of households assisted in the North East in each of the last five years are as follows:
| North East (2) | Number |
| (1) Figures up to 31 January 2012 (2) North East region covered by the Government offices for the regions. | |
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Wind Power
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will order a review of regulation ETSU-R97 on wind farm noise planning. [96611]
Charles Hendry: The Government are already carrying out an assessment of the ETSU-R-97. In July 2011 DECC published an independent report by Hayes McKenzie, which found that this guidance is appropriate for assessing the noise impacts from wind farms. The report recommended that good practice advice should be produced to confirm, and in some instances, clarify the way the guidance should be implemented in practice. The Institute of Acoustics is taking forward work to develop such advice and expect to publish it in the summer.
The Hayes McKenzie report can be found at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/wind/2033-how-noise-impacts-are-considered.pdf
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to prevent the construction of wind turbines in low wind-speed areas. [96630]
Charles Hendry: In recognition of falling capital costs, and to continue to incentivise developments in the areas of best wind resource, the Government's Renewable Obligation (RO) consultation proposed that from 2013 new onshore wind accreditations would receive a 10% reduction on current support. In the consultation we estimated that the reduction would reduce deployment of onshore wind over the lifetime of the RO by. 350 MW to 490 MW. The reduction is likely to impact on the least efficient proposals e.g. those in lower wind-speed areas.
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what protocols he has established for end-of-life provision for wind turbines. [96650]
Charles Hendry: There are mechanisms in place to ensure that wind farms onshore and offshore are decommissioned safely by the developers of those projects when they cease operating. Offshore, there is a statutory decommissioning scheme which allows the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to compel wind farm developers to submit costed programmes for the removal of their projects with funds set aside for that purpose. For onshore wind, requirements for the decommissioning of a site will normally be set out as a condition of consent or planning approval. Developers will work with the relevant local planning authorities to make the necessary arrangements for the removal of wind turbines and for the land to be restored to an acceptable condition, the full costs of which are borne by the developer.
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what regulations govern the disposal of carbon fibre blades from wind turbines. [96651]
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Charles Hendry: Carbon fibre blades from wind turbines are classified as waste and are governed by the same regulations that cover all waste management.
The regulations which cover the management of most wastes are:
the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Section 34 sets out the Duty of Care as respects waste which requires that waste is only transferred to an authorised person and that a written description must accompany the transfer of the waste;
the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 which require that waste must be recovered or disposed of at a permitted site or one which is exempt from the need for a permit; and
the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 which specify in Regulation 12 that the waste hierarchy must be applied to the treatment and disposal of waste.
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to prevent the construction of any further onshore wind developments until a distribution grid network is in place. [96652]
Charles Hendry: In order to access the network and sell its electricity, a prospective generator of any type needs to apply for a grid connection date to either National Grid for Transmission or, for distribution, the relevant Distribution Network Operator. The grid connection date offered by the network company is based on the generator's request and the time scale required to complete the necessary grid connection works. The build programme for the generation project is therefore consistent with the grid connection date. The construction of onshore wind developments therefore does already take into account grid connection time scales.
Health
Cancer: Drugs
Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take in respect of strategic health authorities (SHAs) which have exhausted their allocation of the Cancer Drugs Fund; and what will happen to the Cancer Drugs Fund budget of SHAs which do not spend their total allocated budget in this financial year. [95661]
Paul Burstow: £200 million is available for the Cancer Drugs Fund in 2011-12. This is comprised of £140 million allocated to the national health service and a further £60 million made available for strategic health authorities (SHA) to draw down as needed. The Department is monitoring SHA spend from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) and transfers between SHAs can be considered if a good reason arises. The total available funding is £200 million each year and is only available to the NHS to allow patients to access the additional cancer drugs that their doctors recommend for them through the CDF in that year. The NHS is not permitted to retain CDF under spends.
Mr Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cancer patients in (a) the north-west and (b) England have accessed drugs through the Cancer Drug Fund since its inception. [96089]
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Paul Burstow: The Cancer Drugs Fund of £600 million over three years was launched on 1 April 2011 to help thousands of cancer patients access the drugs their clinicians believe will help them. We also made an additional £50 million available to strategic health authorities (SHAs) in 2010-11.
SHAs have reported that between October 2010 and the end of January 2012, funding allocated so far has helped 11,871 cancer patients in England to access the additional cancer drugs their clinicians recommended for them. 1,091 patients were funded by NHS North West.
Cancer: Health Services
Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the end-of-life criteria applied by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for (a) breast cancer, (b) kidney cancer and (c) prostate cancer. [96028]
Paul Burstow: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the development of the processes and methods used in the development of its guidance. NICE developed the end-of-life criteria used in its technology appraisals through consultation with stakeholders.
The application of NICE's supplementary advice on the appraisal of life-extending, end-of-life treatments, along with patient access schemes, has been a relevant factor in NICE technology appraisal guidance on a number of treatments, including Sutent (sunitinib) for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma and Votrient (pazopanib) for the first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.
Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to improve cancer services for men since May 2010; and what assessment he has made of the effect such steps have had on outcomes. [96330]
Paul Burstow: “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer” aims to save an additional 5,000 lives every year by 2014-15, aiming to narrow the inequalities gap at the same time. Improving outcomes for men with cancer will be essential in meeting this aim. The majority of action set out in the Strategy will improve outcomes for everyone, such as the national awareness campaign on bowel cancer and the pilot of flexible sigmoidoscopy screening for bowel cancer. However, a number of actions have taken place specifically targeting men.
In 2010-11, as part of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI), the Department funded two local projects whose primary target audience was men. These were a Peninsula Primary Care Trusts (PCT) collaborative project on lung cancer and an East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT and Hastings and Rother PCT project on lung and bowel cancer.
Other 2010-11 NAEDI projects, although not specifically targeting men, ran activities to promote the campaigns in locations such as sport stadiums. These included: Brighton and Hove PCT partnering with the football club community arm Albion in the Community to deliver its bowel cancer community outreach programme;
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Hammersmith and Fulham PCT promoting their lung cancer awareness campaign at a match at Queens Park Rangers stadium; and Thames Valley PCT working with Reading Football Club (FC) to raise awareness during football matches of bowel and lung cancer.
As part of the 2011-12 local NAEDI campaigns, projects are targeting both men and women, but are co-ordinating activity to specifically target men. For example, the Manchester collaboration organised an event at the Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium on 26 January 2012 to launch their campaign to raise awareness of the symptom of blood in urine, common to both kidney and bladder cancers. NHS Nottingham City started their campaign activities at The City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest FC, with a local consultant urologist and a team of colleagues taking part in a half time penalty shoot-out to raise awareness of the campaign messages, highlighting the symptom of blood in urine. Notts County FC and Nottingham Rugby Club will also be running supporting activity.
Given that fewer men take up bowel screening than women, the Department commissioned the Men's Health Forum to look at why this might be and to recommend actions that will encourage more men to actively consider taking up the offer of screening. The final report was presented to the National Cancer Equality Initiative Implementation Advisory Group in January 2012. The report is being widely disseminated, and the Men's Health Forum is considering a research study to test the findings and other opportunities to promote bowel screening for men.
The Department, the National Cancer Action Team and The Prostate Cancer Charity have worked with Newham PCT and Newham University Hospital NHS Trust to pilot the Newham Prostate Health Drop-in Clinic at the Newham African-Caribbean Resource Centre. A formal evaluation will be published in due course. Other activity on prostate cancer has included: the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group developing “Five Key Points Every GP Should Know About Prostate Cancer”, which were published on the website of Prostate Action:
www.prostateaction.org.uk
in December 2011, with a link on NHS Choices; the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence are currently reviewing their 2008 prostate cancer clinical guideline, from which a Quality Standard will be developed; and the National Clinical Audit Programme is currently developing a procurement exercise for a national prostate cancer clinical audit.
In 2011, the Government supported Blue September, a nationwide awareness and fundraising initiative about all the cancers that effect men. The campaign aims to raise funds for more work by the Men's Health Forum to raise men's awareness of cancer and help them to reduce the risk of developing and dying from cancer by making better lifestyle choices and seeking help sooner rather than later. The Government have already agreed to support Blue September 2012.
It is too early to assess what effect these actions have had on outcomes.
Tessa Munt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much and what proportion of the cancer budget was spent on (a) chemotherapy, (b) radiotherapy, (c) surgery and (d) other items in each of the last five
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years; and what estimate he has made of how much and what proportion will be spent on each in 2012-13; [96466]
(2) what the average cost per treatment was to treat cancer patients using (a) chemotherapy, (b) surgery and (c) radiotherapy in the latest period for which figures are available; [96468]
(3) what the budget for diagnosis and treatment of cancer was in each of the last five years; and what the budget will be in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15. [96520]
Paul Burstow: In the last five years the vast majority of cancer spend has been funded from primary care trust (PCT) baseline allocations. PCTs have local discretion as to how they spend their overall baseline allocations, including in the area of cancer care, to allow commissioning to best reflect the needs of local populations. Budgets for specific disease areas are not identified centrally within baseline allocations.
In the following table, programme budgeting data for the estimated national health service expenditure (£ billion) on the treatment and management of cancers and tumours in the last five years have been provided. Expenditure figures are from estimated England level programme budgeting data, which are calculated using PCT and strategic health authority programme budgeting returns and Department resource accounts data. Figures also include an estimation of special health authority expenditure.
Spend on treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are included in these figures, but cannot currently be identified. Expenditure on some service areas or activities is excluded if it is not possible to make a reasonable estimation of expenditure by specific disease area. For this reason expenditure on general practitioner services, diagnostics and some out-patient services are excluded from estimates of expenditure on cancers and tumours.
| £ billion | |
We have made no estimate of the average cost of treating patients with chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy. Cancer treatments can vary greatly from patient to patient, in terms of both the types of treatment they receive and the duration of those treatments.
For the publication of the ‘Cancer Reform Strategy’ in 2007, the Department commissioned a one-off analysis that estimated total NHS spend on cancer in £ millions per annum across a range of categories including surgery, radiotherapy and drugs (including chemotherapy). The results of the analysis were presented in a graph on page 119 of the Cancer Reform Strategy, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library and is available on the Department's website:
www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_081007.pdf
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The National Cancer Intelligence Network, working with the Department, is looking into the possibility carrying out some work to cost cancer patient pathways. This would provide costs of the different elements of the pathways.
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated using (a) chemotherapy, (b) radiotherapy and (c) surgery in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the numbers who will be treated in each category in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15. [96467]
Paul Burstow:
Information concerning the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of cancer for and the treatment provided was coded as either “chemotherapy”, “radiotherapy” or
27 Feb 2012 : Column 112W
“other treatment” for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11 is shown in the following table. The coding for “other treatment” has been included instead of “surgery” as surgery is too broad a term to identify using clinical codes in Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
The majority of radiotherapy procedures, and a number of chemotherapy procedures are carried out in an outpatient setting. As the collection of outpatient procedure data is not currently mandated, the numbers provided for in-patient treatment may not be a true reflection of the number of patients receiving these treatments.
Some estimates have been made of future likely demand for radiotherapy using the modelling tool “Malthus”, allowing commissioners to consider the volumes of radiotherapy they should be commissioning for their populations, but we do not make estimates nationally about different treatment types.
| A count FCEs (1) with a primary diagnosis (2) of cancer by treatment procedure (3,4,5) for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11 (6) | |||||
| Treatment | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
| (1) FCEs: FCEs should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion. Patients receiving both chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the same episode will also be counted against each treatment in the data provided. (2) Primary diagnosis: The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. ICD-10 Codes used are C00-C97 Malignant neoplasms. (3 )Main procedure: The first recorded procedure or intervention in each episode is usually the most resource intensive procedure or intervention performed during the episode. It is appropriate to use main procedure when looking at admission details (e.g. time waited), but a more complete count of episodes with a particular procedure is obtained by looking at the main and the secondary procedures. (4 )Number of episodes with a (named) main or secondary procedure: The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a HES record. A record is included only once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients undergoing a “cataract operation” would tend to have at least two procedures—removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one—counted in a single episode. (5 )Procedure codes used to produce data: The chemotherapy figures are produced for those episodes with a main procedure of: X70—Procurement of drugs for chemotherapy for neoplasm Bands 1-5; X71—Procurement of drugs for chemotherapy for neoplasm Bands 6-10; X72—Delivery of chemotherapy for neoplasm; or X73— Delivery of oral chemotherapy for neoplasm. The radiotherapy figures are produced for those episodes with a main or secondary procedure of X65—Radiotherapy delivery. Episodes with a main procedure of chemotherapy and any secondary radiotherapy procedure will be included in both categories. Other treatment figures are episodes with a main or secondary procedure of A00—010, 015—X97 but excluding any episodes that are chemotherapy or radiotherapy as defined above. These codes include both diagnostic and treatment procedures including non-surgical treatments. (6 )Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre. | |||||
Cervical Cancer: Screening
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) with reference to his Department's publication Improving outcomes: a strategy for cancer, what steps he plans to take to highlight the benefits of women attending cervical cancer screening appointments; [96343]
(2) what plans he has to encourage more women over the age of 50 years to attend cervical cancer screening; and what assessment he has made of the relationship between levels of cervical cancer screenings and mortality. [96346]
Paul Burstow: “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published on 12 January 2011, makes clear the important role that cervical screening plays in preventing cervical cancer. The strategy also notes that some groups and communities are not accessing cancer screening services.
To encourage all eligible women aged 25 to 65 to attend routine cervical screening we are working with NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, the Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening and stakeholders to refine the information we provide to women when they are invited for screening so all are fully supported to make an informed choice to attend.
On 26 January 2012, NHS Cancer Screening Programmes and Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust jointly held an event at the King's Fund looking at challenges to screening uptake among black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. The meeting updated attendees on current data about challenges to improve screening uptake among BME groups and offered an opportunity to share best practice. Documents and links from the event have been circulated to all attendees to help promote information on cervical screening in their respective communities.
NHS Cancer Screening Programmes has funded an award winning campaign targeting lesbian and bisexual women in the north west of England to raise awareness about the need to attend for regular cervical screening tests. The Lesbian and Gay Foundation's “Are You Ready for Your Screen Test?” campaign was the winner of the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust 2011 Cervical Screening Award.
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To tackle low uptake among women aged 25-29, the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme has recently commissioned a study costing over £1 million to determine which interventions are effective at increasing screening uptake among women receiving their first invitation from the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. The “Strategies to increase cervical screening uptake at first invitation (STRATEGIC)” study is trialling interventions such as internet appointment booking, the provision of personal support through nurse navigators and Human Papilloma Virus self sampling.
Cervical cancer screening reduces cervical cancer incidence and mortality. In May 2004, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, concluded that organised and quality controlled cervical screening can achieve an 80%, reduction in the mortality from cervical cancer. In July 2004, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published a paper in The Lancet that concluded that cervical screening has prevented an epidemic that would have killed about one in 65 of all British women born since 1950 and culminated in about 6,000 deaths per year in this country. 80% or more of these deaths, up to 5,000 per year, are likely to be prevented by screening. This means that about 100,000 women will have been saved from premature death by the cervical screening programme by 2030.
Chief Social Worker: Job Creation
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had on the creation of a post of chief social worker for England. [95802]
Paul Burstow: Ministers from the Department of Health and Department for Education have discussed the appointment of a chief social worker for England and are committed to the appointment taking place later this year. We will set out more details in the forthcoming social care White Paper.
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with Ministers in the devolved Administrations on the creation of a chief social worker in each constituent part of the UK. [95803]
Paul Burstow: Department of Health and the Department for Education Ministers have not been involved in any formal discussions with Ministers from the devolved Administrations on the creation of a chief social worker in each nation.
Deficiency Diseases: Medical Treatments
Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what drugs have been licensed for the treatment of rickets; and if he will make a statement. [95906]
Mr Simon Burns:
Rickets that is caused by a dietary deficiency or a lack of sun exposure is usually treated by oral calcium and vitamin D supplements or by increasing dietary intake of calcium-rich foods, while vitamin D injections are usually used to treat rickets or
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osteomalacia (adult soft bones) due to poor absorption of vitamin D, associated with underlying kidney, liver or gut disease.
In the United Kingdom there are currently 16 licensed products specifically indicated for the treatment of rickets. These contain different types of vitamin D; alfacalcidol, ergocalciferol and colecalciferol in varying strengths and pharmaceutical forms, in some cases in combination with calcium. These are listed in Table 1.
There are other medicinal products in the UK which are not specifically indicated for rickets but are licensed for use in the treatment of vitamin A, D and E deficiencies and are therefore of clinical significance in its treatment or prevention. These are listed in Table 2.
More recently, there has been a drive to manufacture single active oral preparations of both high and low strength vitamin D products to be used in the prevention of simple vitamin D deficiency. A recently granted low strength single active product is Fultium—D 800IU capsules which contains 800IU of cholecalciferol, equivalent to 20 micrograms, of vitamin D3. It is licensed for use in adults and children over 12 years old for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency, or as an adjunct to specific therapy for osteoporosis in patients with vitamin D deficiency or at risk of vitamin D insufficiency. There are other products in the pipeline.
| Table l: Products indicated for the treatment of rickets | |||
| Product name | PL number | Drug substance | Formulation strength |
| Table 2: Products indicated for the treatment of vitamin D deficiency | |||
| Product name | PL number | Drug substance | Formulation strength (1) |
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| (1 )Cholecalciferol. | |||
| Product name | PL number | Drug substance | Formulation strength |
Consultants
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultancy is being undertaken for his Department by Mr Matthew Freud; and what the value is of the contract [96944]
Mr Simon Burns: Based on the definition of consultancy used by Government procurement, the Department's central procurement system holds no records of contracts for consultancy awarded to Matthew Freud or Freud Communications.
However, after a competition, the Department awarded a contract to Freud Communications to deliver communications services supporting consumer engagement (public relations) that runs from January to December 2012 with an option to extend. The tendering and bid evaluation process for the consumer engagement (PR) agencies to support the public health agenda was carried out by the Central Office of Information .
Senior Civil Servants
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many senior civil servants left his Department and its public bodies in each month since May 2010; what their names are; what the rate of turnover of senior civil servants in his Department was during this period; and if he will make a statement. [96249]
Mr Simon Burns: The numbers of senior civil servants leaving the Department and its agency, the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), are given in the following tables, by month, for the period concerned. In total 67 senior civil servants left the core Department and 22 left the MHRA since May 2010. The Department's other public bodies do not employ civil servants except where seconded from the civil service.
For reasons of personal privacy, it would not be appropriate to provide the names of senior civil servants who are no longer in Government employment.
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The rate of turnover for senior civil servants in the core Department during the period was 16%, and for the MHRA was 11%.
| SCS leavers from the core Department | |
| Total | |
| SCS leavers from the MHRA | |
| Total | |
| (1) Indicates 5 or less | |
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Diabetes: Chiropody
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Leicester East of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 142W, on diabetes: chiropody, which hospitals in England do not have an inpatient podiatry service; and if he will make a statement. [96778]
Mr Simon Burns: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Leicester East on 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 144W.
Drugs: Prices
Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department plans to introduce to support local commissioners in purchasing medicines assessed under the proposed value-based pricing system. [95662]
Mr Simon Burns: We have confirmed that we intend to maintain the effect of the current funding direction under the new medicines’ pricing arrangements, so that commissioners consistently fund drugs already recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), as well as drug treatments subject to the value-based pricing regime. In addition to this, NICE will continue to have an important role in providing authoritative advice to clinicians and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) on how new and existing treatments best fit into the treatment for a particular condition.
In addition to guidance from NICE, when making commissioning decisions, CCGs will be able to draw on the expertise of clinical networks and senates and will be supported by clinical support organisations.
Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what timetable his Department has set for the (a) creation of a value-based pricing system for medicines and (b) launch of any further public consultations on this issue. [95663]
Mr Simon Burns: The intention is that the value-based pricing system will apply to new active substances placed on the market from 1 January 2014.
We ran a full three-month public consultation, “A new value-based approach to the pricing of branded medicines” from December 2010 to March 2011. We published our response on 18 July 2011 and a copy has already been placed in the Library. This summarised the responses received to the consultation and set out the Government's views on the key issues raised. The response welcomed the level of engagement in the consultation from a wide range of stakeholders, and confirmed our intention to continue to engage with patients, clinicians, the national health service, taxpayers, industry and other interested parties as our work to reform the pricing of medicines progresses.
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Eyesight: Health Services
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the minimum referral time is between diagnosis of age-related wet macular degeneration and treatment in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales. [96012]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department does not collect data on the time waited between diagnosis of a condition and treatment for that condition.
The following table shows the number of finished admission episodes by time waited (between the decision to admit and the admission date for a hospital stay) where there was a primary diagnosis of Macular Degeneration for North Yorkshire and York primary care trust (PCT) and England for the year 2010-11. This information has been provided by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care. These data are for England only. Information for Wales can be requested from the Welsh Assembly.
| Time waited | North Yorkshire and York PCT | England |
| Notes: 1. The data provided includes patients with wet age-related macular degeneration but are not limited to only those patients. 2. The figures do not represent the number of different patients, as the same person may be admitted on more than one occasion. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre | ||
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the role of primary care trusts in relation to the treatment of age-related wet macular degeneration. [96013]
Mr Simon Burns: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of patients in their areas, taking into account Operating Framework priorities and authoritative sources of advice such as guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
NICE has issued technology appraisal and interventional procedures guidance to the national health service on the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. NICE'S guidance can be found on its website at:
http://guidance.nice.org.uk/Topic/Eye
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PCTs are required to fund treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources his Department provided for the treatment of age-related wet macular degeneration by primary care trusts in (a) York and North Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales in the latest period for which figures are available. [96014]
Mr Simon Burns: Treatment services for ophthalmic conditions are funded from primary care trusts' (PCTs) general recurrent revenue allocations, in common with most other elements of health care. General allocations are not attributed to specific services centrally.
Individual PCTs decide the distribution of resources, after taking account of local and national priorities.
On 14 December 2011, PCTs were informed of their revenue allocations for 2012-13. These provided PCTs with £91.6 billion to spend on local frontline services, an increase of £2.5 billion, or 2.8%.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the diagnosis and treatment of age-related wet macular degeneration. [96019]
Mr Simon Burns: Since 1 August 2011 the Department has received correspondence from hon. Members, the public and organisations such as the national health service, patient groups and the pharmaceutical industry relating to age-related macular degeneration. The correspondence concerns issues including the availability of drugs for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.