Children in Care: Telephone Services
Mr Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consideration he has given to the introduction of a single national advocacy helpline for looked after children. [102729]
Tim Loughton: The provision of advocacy support is important for ensuring that the wishes and feelings of children are at the heart of the care system, particularly where they wish to make representations about the quality of the care and support provided by their local authority. A number of different advocacy providers have contracts with local authorities to support looked after children and some of these have telephone helplines.
While it would not be appropriate for the Government to impose a national helpline on these providers, we are aware that some voluntary sector groups have been discussing whether it would be possible and beneficial for a single helpline to be set up as part of a national advocacy strategy for vulnerable children. We welcome these discussions and hope that they will lead to better provision of advocacy services for looked after children.
Civil Servants: Code of Practice
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many investigations into breaches by civil servants of the Civil Service Code of Conduct occurred in his Department in each month from May 2010 to March 2012. [103142]
Tim Loughton: Departments and their Executive agencies are responsible for defining standards of staff conduct and ensuring these fully reflect both the Civil Service Code of Conduct and the Civil Service Management Code. Investigations are initiated when evidence arises that this may not have been the case.
The Department for Education conducted a total of 19 investigations between May 2010 and March 2012. In each month there were less than five investigations.
Education Funding Agency
Paul Blomfield:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he expects the Education Funding Agency to employ any personnel transferred from (a)
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his Department and
(b)
Partnerships for Schools; and how many. [102449]
Mr Gibb: The Education Funding Agency is an Executive agency of the Department for Education; as such, its staff are employees of the Department rather than of the agency. On 1 April, (a) 30 staff moved into the agency from elsewhere in the Department; and (b) 120 staff from Partnerships for Schools transferred into the Department to work in the agency.
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has for education programmes for children with (a) Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and (b) other alcohol-related disabilities; [103009]
(2) what support his Department provides to teachers who teach pupils diagnosed with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. [103010]
Sarah Teather: The Government have no plans for introducing specific education programmes for children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and other alcohol-related disabilities. Decisions about the approaches used to teach children are made by schools.
The Department for Education has, however, funded the development of materials for schools on teaching children with complex learning difficulties and disabilities, including Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and other alcohol-related disabilities. These were produced by Schools Network (formerly the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust) and are available for schools who wish to use them from the Schools Network website:
http://complexld.ssatrust.org.uk/
Online resources that can be used by teachers, trainee teachers and teacher trainers on supporting children with severe and complex needs, including children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and other alcohol-related disabilities, have been produced by the Training and Development Agency for Schools. These will be available online during April 2012 from the Department for Education's website at:
http://www.education.gov.uk
Free Schools
Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether free schools are permitted to give independent schools priority as feeder schools in their admissions arrangements. [102381]
Mr Gibb: All free schools must comply with the Schools Admissions Code. This requires free schools to operate admissions arrangements which are transparent, fair and not complex. Section 1.9 of the code prevents any school, including free schools, from naming fee paying independent schools as feeders.
Free Schools: Teachers
Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which free schools employ teachers without Qualified Teacher Status. [102382]
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Mr Gibb: Free Schools are required to take part in statutory data collection exercises, including the School Workforce Census which collects data on teaching staff. The first such data collection exercises for Free Schools that opened in September 2011 took place this academic year. The resulting data will shortly be published on a regional and local authority basis on the Department's website. School level data will be published later this year.
Further Education: Transport
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2011, Official Report, column 685W, on students: transport, whether all local authorities published a transport plan for people of sixth form age for academic year 2011/12; and what assessment he has made of such plans. [102070]
Mr Gibb: Every local authority, except one, has now published their transport policy statement. Publication of the outstanding statement is imminent.
DfE are reviewing a sample of 2011/12 transport policy statements, focusing on changes since the previous year and seeking out examples of good practice. We can share the results with the hon. Member when these are available.
GCSE
Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of recent trends in the number of pupils (a) requesting and (b) being granted special consideration enhancements at GCSE. [102359]
Mr Gibb: Ofqual analyse and publish statistics on the number of special considerations applied for and accepted in the summer examination series. Ofqual's report and the data for the 2011 series were published in October 2011 and can be found on their website:
http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/standards/150/366
The total number of requests for special consideration approved by awarding organisations was 354,200 (2.4% of scripts marked, an increase from 2% in 2010). These numbers relate to both GCE and GCSE examinations—separate figures are not collected.
Less than 1% of grades are changed as a result of adjustments made because of special consideration.
Higher Education: Part-time Education
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has spent on financial education for applicants wishing to study higher education courses on a part-time basis since May 2010. [102169]
Mr Gibb: The Department for Education does not have any such expenditure; higher education applicants fall under the remit of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
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Maharishi Academy
Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department has designated the Maharishi Academy, Lancashire as a religious school. [102380]
Mr Gibb: No, Maharishi Free School is not designated as a school with religious character.
Medicine: Education
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to increase the number of students studying medicine. [102124]
Anne Milton: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Health.
The Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) periodically review the total number and distribution of undergraduate medical students. The last joint medical review was in 2006 and at that time Ministers concluded that the numbers being trained were about right.
HEFCE and the Department have agreed that this is an opportune time for a further review of the numbers of medical school places required in the future. Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, and Sir Graeme Catto, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at University of Aberdeen, have agreed to co-chair a review group to oversee this work and make recommendations. Their report is expected in autumn 2012.
Nurses: Training
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to increase the number of students studying nursing. [102129]
Anne Milton: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Health.
Strategic health authorities (SHAs) are responsible for working with higher education institutions and individual health care providers to plan and develop their work force, as they are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health community and plan the work force required to deliver services for patients. The SHAs are best placed to commission the education and training programmes, on behalf of providers, to benefit from economies of scale and contract management expertise.
The new education and training system has been designed to give employers greater autonomy and accountability for planning and developing the work force. They are best placed to determine the skills and capacity they need, to respond to changes in the way in which services are being delivered, and deliver better care and health improvement outcomes.
Ofsted
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if it is within Ofsted's remit to share hon. Members' correspondence with an organisation that they are investigating; [103133]
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(2) if Ofsted is required to ensure that their contacts with any person raising concerns about an organisation under their remit will remain confidential. [103134]
Mr Gibb: These questions are matters for Ofsted. HM chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.
Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw, dated 4 () April 2012:
Your recent Parliamentary Question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
Ofsted's responsibilities include the regulation and inspection of social care establishments and agencies registered under the Care Standards Act 2000, and of childcare providers, registered on the Early Years arid Childcare Registers.
Once registered, providers, managers and responsible individuals must comply with any conditions placed on their registration and the regulations that apply to each type of provision. Ofsted has a responsibility to ensure that registered providers continue to meet the relevant regulatory requirements.
Where Ofsted receives information that suggests a provider is not meeting appropriate requirements, we investigate this matter. Where we find non-compliance, there are a number of enforcement steps we can take to bring about compliance, ranging from setting non-statutory actions in a notice to improve, to more serious steps such as cancelling registration altogether.
Much of our investigation work will be carried out through a visit to the setting where the concern has arisen. Ofsted inspectors have a range of powers they can exercise when carrying out such visits in order to gather the evidence needed to decide on the outcome of the investigation, including interviewing staff, seizing documents and taking photographs.
We publish on our website the guidance we use for conducting investigations in our Compliance, Investigation and. Enforcement Handbook. This covers how inspectors share with the provider details of the information that suggests non-compliance. In this respect, Ofsted's published handbook; says:
“Unless it would jeopardise the investigation of the police or another agency, you should:
advise the registered person or manager that you are carrying out a formal investigation into possible non-compliance
explain the situation fully, by covering the nature of the information that we have received which led to the visit, and an outline of the investigation process. Be careful and sensitive when discussing the source of the information. Do not confirm or deny any guesses about the identity of the complainant, particularly where that person wishes to remain anonymous
explain the options for further action, non-statutory and statutory, if there is evidence that the provider is, or has, failed to meet statutory requirements—or the conditions of their registration—which may result in enforcement action.”
The general principle of our policy is that during an investigation we must share sufficient information with the provider to enable them to respond appropriately to our questions about the concern that has been raised with Ofsted.
The inspector will decide, on a case by case basis, how much information to share with the provider, taking into account the nature of the information given to us, whether it contains personal data that the provider has no need to see, whether it contains confidential matters that ought not to be disclosed to the provider, and the extent to which other agencies have requested us not to share particular information which might jeopardise their own investigation.
Inspectors use their professional judgement in deciding how much information they need to give the provider about the complaint. Some inspectors will read the complaint, word for word, to the provider; others may give a more general description of the nature of the complaint.
A copy of this reply will be placed in the library of both Houses.
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Primary Education: Admissions
Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many vacant primary school places there were in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Riding of Yorkshire, (c) Yorkshire and Humber and (d) England in the last five years for which information is available. [102295]
Mr Gibb: The Department collects information from each local authority (LA) on the number of available and unfilled primary school places through an annual survey. The survey results are published at local authority and at school level but are not available by constituency. The most recent survey data relate to the position at May 2011 and are available at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d001050/index.shtml
The results of the 2010 survey are available at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000982/index.shtml
The annual survey results prior to 2010 are only available at LA level and are not published on the Department's website. A copy of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 results has been placed in the House Libraries.
Procurement
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many contracts his Department had with (a) Capita and (b) Serco in the last 12 months. [103168]
Tim Loughton: The Department had the following main contracts with Capita in the last 12 months:
the managed delivery of the Teachers' Pension scheme;
the delivery of the National Strategies programme;
the managed service for the provision of interim personnel;
the Criminal Records Bureau checking service; and
professional service to support sponsored academies, free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools in the pre-opening stages.
The Department had the following three contracts with Serco in the last 12 months:
professional service delivery to give support to the child poverty work focus services pilots;
support for the delivery of short breaks for disabled children and their families; and
professional services supporting the development of children's centres and the modernisation of services for children and their families.
A complete answer on the total number of contracts with Capita and Serco could be supplied only at disproportionate cost as the Department does not hold a central record of all its contracts.
Pupil Exclusions: Essex
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students were permanently excluded from school in (a) Witham constituency and (b) Essex in the 2010-11 school year. [101663]
Mr Gibb:
Information on exclusions for the 2010/11 academic year is still being collected and will be available in the summer. Information on the number of permanent
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exclusions in Witham parliamentary constituency and Essex local authority in 2009/10 is shown in the following table.
| Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools (1,) () (2,) () (3) , number of permanent exclusions (4) , Essex local authority and Witham parliamentary constituency | ||
| 2009/10 | ||
| Number of permanent exclusions | Percentage of school population (5) | |
| * = Less than 5, or a percentage based on less than 5. (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (4) Local authority figures were confirmed by local authorities as part of a data checking exercise, figures for the constituency are as provided by schools. (5) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) at January 2010. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census | ||
The latest data on exclusions were published in the ‘Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2009/10' Statistical First Release on 28 July 2011 at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/index.shtml
Schools: Birmingham, Ladywood
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to improve the quality of school buildings in Birmingham, Ladywood constituency. [103004]
Mr Gibb: The Department for Education provides capital funding to all local authorities for investment in school buildings. It is the responsibility of Birmingham city council to prioritise the available funds across the schools in its estate.
On 19 July 2011 we announced the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP). The Department is nearing the end of its verification of applications received and schools that applied, including those in Ladywood, will know the outcome of their bids soon.
On 13 December 2011 we announced capital allocations to schools and local authorities for 2012-13, including £36 million for Birmingham city council. The council and its schools were allocated £44 million for 2011-12.
Schools: Finance
John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what the (a) number of assessment criteria, (b) frequency of evaluation and (c) volume of accompanying evidence required is in respect of the (i) financial management and governance evaluation and (ii) former financial management standard in schools; [101670]
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(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to academies of completing a financial management and governance evaluation; [101671]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost to the Young Person's Learning Agency of collecting and collating financial management and governance evaluations from academies. [101672]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 26 March 2012]: The Financial Management and Governance Evaluation (FMGE) is an annual return which academies are required to make to the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA). It is designed to provide the YPLA with assurance that academy trusts have adequate financial systems and internal controls for the whole of the academic year. It is a self-assessment return which was introduced by the YPLA in 2010-11. It superseded financial monitoring visits undertaken by DfE/YPLA to all academies on opening.
The FMGE is also intended to be useful to academies in that it provides an important source of evidence and assurance to the academy trust in their responsibilities for monitoring and accounting for public money. It also enables individual academies to identify strengths and weaknesses in their arrangements and to make improvements where required.
There are two forms of return; a full return, which is aimed at new academies to help give them assurance that they are meeting their new obligations and a shorter return, which is more appropriate for established single academies. There are 68 questions in the short return and 154 in the full version. Academies are asked to assess themselves against questions covering (1) requirements and (2) best practice and the questions are grouped into five categories. This leads to an overall self-assessed grade. Some of the FMGE returns are subject to an external validation process by the YPLA. Academies are not required to supply evidence supporting their FMGE return to the YPLA, although if an academy is selected for a subsequent validation visit by the YPLA external assurance team they will be asked to produce evidence.
The Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS), which was abolished in November 2010, had 102 assessment criteria and was evaluated once every three years. The volume of accompanying evidence was not prescribed centrally but requirements could be set by each local authority. FMSiS has now been replaced for maintained schools by the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS).
The YPLA has not estimated the cost to academies of completing the FMGE return and does not record the time spent and cost of collating FMGE returns.
Schools: Sanitation
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what parameters will be set against which parents and pupils may judge whether school toilets and washing facilities meet a suitable standard as proposed in the School Premises Regulations; [101833]
(2) if he will make standards for school toilets and washing facilities equivalent to those for facilities in the workplace by incorporating requirements from the Workplace Regulations into the new School Premises Regulations. [101834]
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Mr Gibb [holding answer 26 March 2012]:The proposed School Premises Regulations stress that suitable toilet and washing facilities must be provided for the sole use of pupils, having regard to their ages, number, sex and any special requirements they may have. The regulations will be supported by supplementary information and guidance. This is still being developed to take account of views expressed in the recent consultation on the standards for school premises which closed in January, but it will contain sufficient detail so that parents, pupils and school staff, may judge whether school toilets and washing facilities meet the standards set.
The Workplace Regulations cover employees and therefore apply to the toilet and washing facilities in schools used by teachers and other staff. Some of their requirements will be included in the supplementary information and guidance covering toilet and washing facilities for pupils.
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the standard of school washing facilities; and what assessment it has made of the potential effects of such standards on infection control in schools. [102172]
Mr Gibb: A number of organisations have carried out studies in these areas, and did send details of these amongst the responses to the consultation on the proposed new School Premises Regulations. All responses are currently being analysed and relevant evidence will be taken into account when finalising the requirements for school washing facilities.
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if his Department will include clear requirements for soap and drying facilities in the forthcoming revision of the School Premises Regulations for the purposes of setting the same standards for children as adult employees. [102173]
Mr Gibb: The proposed regulation for toilet and washing facilities within the draft School Premises Regulations recently consulted upon does not include specific requirements for soap and drying facilities. Views were sought on whether the proposed wording of the regulation adequately covers requirements. We will be taking account of where respondents consider that detail is lacking, or that the regulation could be simplified, prior to finalising the standard.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of studies on the provision of toilet paper, locking cubicles and toilet seats in school toilets; and whether the new School Premises Regulations will include requirements in these areas that are equivalent to standards for adult employees in the Workplace Regulations. [102477]
Mr Gibb: As part of the consultation on the proposed premises standards, the Department has considered studies in these areas, the largest of which was carried out in 2003. These were referred to by several organisations in their responses to the consultation.
The proposed regulation on school toilet and washing facilities does not include requirements for the provision of toilet paper, locking cubicles or toilet seats, all of which are included in the Approved Code of Practice
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accompanying the Workplace Regulations. Views were sought on the wording of the proposed regulation, and an assessment of the responses will be included in the consultation report. This will be published on the Department's website in due course.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the effects of removing the requirement for schools to provide a minimum number of toilets for a given number of pupils. [102478]
Mr Gibb: The proposed new School Premises Regulations do not include set ratios of toilets to numbers of pupils, but they do say that suitable facilities must be provided for the sole use of pupils, having regard to, among other factors, their number.
Views were sought on the proposed regulation. Such views, and any relevant evidence submitted, will be taken into account before the regulation is finalised and an assessment of the responses will be included in the consultation report.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps are being taken to improve school toilets. [102479]
Mr Gibb: Where steps are needed to improve school toilets, they need to be taken at a school level. One of our objectives in revising the current School Premises Regulations was to produce a clear and easily understandable set of requirements. This should make it easier for schools to assess how satisfactory their toilets are, and to ensure that they do meet the new standards.
Sure Start Programme
Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what data his Department gather on participation in Sure Start programmes (a) overall, (b) in each region and (c) of each socio-economic or income group. [102597]
Sarah Teather: The Department does not routinely gather information about use of children's centres. However the Evaluation of Children's Centres in England (ECCE) is interviewing parents who use children's centres about which services they participate in and their family circumstances. The evaluation will provide service use estimates at national level for various groups including different socio-demographic and income classifications. Owing to the design of the evaluation the estimate will relate only to Sure Start children's centres serving the most deprived areas. The first report will be published at the end of December 2012. Following surveys will assess the impact of centre services on families' outcomes.
Teachers: Trade Unions
Mr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on local education authorities reclaiming resources from a school's budget for trade union activities by teachers. [101355]
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Mr Gibb: Under current arrangements, it is a matter for local authorities, in consultation with their Schools Forums, to decide what funding, if any, should be made available to support the cover needed for teachers engaged in trade union activities. The Government intend to review facilities time across the public services.
Tourette’s Syndrome
Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he plans to take to improve the educational attainment of children with Tourette's syndrome; and if he will make a statement. [101382]
Sarah Teather [holding answer 26 March 2012]: Tourette's Syndrome is an inherited neurological condition and, we know from research, is more common in children with special educational needs than in the general population. The Department is not carrying out any projects targeted specifically at children and young people with this syndrome. However, the Government are committed to improving the attainment of all children, including those with SEN and mental health problems and acknowledge the links to good academic outcomes and later life chances. Trying to control Tourette's Syndrome in the classroom can cause a great deal of stress for children and young people with the syndrome and this can impede their learning. SEN modules for initial teacher training produced by the Training and Development Agency for Schools emphasise the importance of recognising and understanding Tourette's and not reacting to children's tics in the classroom. We are driving forward work to improve the attainment of all children with SEN and will shortly be publishing our response to “Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability—A consultation”.
The Department is also working closely with the Department of Health on the implementation of the Mental Health Strategy, “No health without mental health”. The strategy includes a specific strand of work to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination, which we know can be a significant issue for children and young people who are living with this syndrome.
Vocational Guidance
Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish draft statutory guidance on careers guidance. [102031]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 27 March 2012]: The Education Act 2011 places schools under a duty to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance on the full range of 16-18 education and training options for pupils in years 9-11. Statutory guidance was published on the Department for Education website on 26 March to support schools in preparing for the introduction of the new duty from this September.
http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/participation/g00205755/statutory-guidance-for-schools-careers-guidance-for-young-people
Vodafone Group
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many contracts Vodafone has been awarded by his Department in the last 12 months. [103189]
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Tim Loughton: I can confirm that the Department awarded one contract to Vodafone in the last 12 months, for the provision of mobile voice and data telecommunications services.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what contracts his Department has with Vodafone. [103190]
Tim Loughton: The Department for Education has one contract with Vodafone for the provision of mobile voice and data telecommunications services.
West Exe Technology College
Mr Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what due diligence has been conducted into governance at West Exe Technology college, Exeter since the school's Academy status was given initial approval in January 2011; [102351]
(2) what guidance his Department issues to (a) schools and (b) school heads on employment of family members; [102352]
(3) when his Department was first made aware of the concerns of Devon Education Authority about governance and decision making at West Exe Technology college; and what steps his Department took in response to such concerns; [102353]
(4) what guidance his Department issues to schools on (a) company cars and (b) other benefits for staff. [102354]
Mr Gibb: West Exe Technology college's application for academy status received initial approval on the basis that the school satisfied the Department's criteria. The factors which were taken into account to initially approve the application to convert were based on:
the school's last three years exam results and the general performance trend;
comparisons, both locally and nationally, with exam performance in similar schools, i.e. the percentage of pupils making expected progress in KS2-4 in secondary schools;
the last Ofsted inspections, taking particular notice of the school's capacity to improve; its outcomes; and the effectiveness of the leadership team;
other evidence of performance which the school considered to be significant; and
the financial management of the school, including any deficits.
As part of the conversion process we would expect matters that could impact on conversion to come to light as the Department works with the school and the local council towards conversion, which is what has happened in the case of this school.
Governing bodies are responsible and accountable for all major decisions about the school and its future. In carrying out its duties the governing body of West Exe Technology College has sought advice and support from the Devon county council in respect of the conversion process and on matters relating to pay.
The pay and conditions of teachers in maintained schools are set out in the “School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document” (STPCD). Under these arrangements we look to local authorities and governing bodies to implement the statutory requirements of the
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STPCD. The STPCD includes guidance to help schools with these matters and the Department for Education also provides more general help with employment issues in its “Guidance on managing staff employment in schools”.
Schools are also governed by employment and equalities legislation. These apply to the appointment of all staff and any benefits governing bodies decide to provide in addition to what is covered by the STPCD.
Health
Abortion
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of repeat abortions performed on (a) married and (b) unmarried women aged (i) under 16, (ii) under 18, (iii) 18 or 19, (iv) between 20 and 29, (v) between 30 and 34 and (vi) 35 years and over in each primary care trust area in (A) 2010, (B) 2011 and (C) the latest period for which figures are available in 2012. [102086]
Anne Milton: The available information is provided in tables, which have been placed in the Library. The first shows repeat abortions by age but not marital status. The second table shows repeat abortions by age and marital status.
Abortion statistics for 2011 will be published in May 2012 and 2012 data will be published in 2013.
Air Ambulance Services
Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the (a) clinical and (b) operational standards for air ambulance services. [103011]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department has no policy on clinical or operational standards for air ambulance services. In England air ambulances are run independently, funded by charitable organisations and regulated independently by the Care Quality Commission.
Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Rehabilitation
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department is giving to drug and alcohol rehabilitation schemes in the community. [102680]
Anne Milton: The Department is providing primary care trusts (PCTs) with central funding of £466.7 million for drug treatment in 2012-13. Alcohol interventions and services are funded by the general allocation that PCTs receive from the Department. It is the responsibility of PCTs to assess the needs of their communities, to agree what to prioritise, and to commission services.
We have provided guidance to support local commissioning and delivery of services to tackle dependence on drugs and alcohol. As highlighted in the Government's Drug Strategy, a ‘whole systems' approach means developing close links between providers of community, in-patient and residential treatment and rehabilitation services.
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We have also provided support to eight drug and alcohol action teams in England to develop payment by results (PbR) models for a pilot to explore how PbR might further incentivise drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.
Ambulance Services: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of (a) ambulances and (b) rapid response vehicles in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many such vehicles are on duty at any one time. [102507]
Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is not held by the Department. Decisions on the location and level of ambulance and rapid response vehicle provision are a matter for the local ambulance trust. The Department has made no estimate of the number of such vehicles in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency.
The hon. Member may wish to approach the chief executive of North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which might hold this information.
Artworks
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on artworks in the last 12 months. [102168]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department has spent nil on purchasing artworks in the last 12 months.
Autism
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department provides to families with autistic children. [102142]
Paul Burstow: The Department has worked closely with the Department for Education on their Green Paper, ‘Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special education needs and disability—a Consultation’, which was published in March 2011. The Green Paper set out proposals to improve provision for families where a child or young person has special education needs, including autism or a disability. Suggested reforms include a single assessment process, covering health, education and social care needs and the option of a personal health budget, which will help give children, young people and their families more control and choice about the support they receive.
Government also recognise the vital contribution that carers make to society, and have taken action to support them. We set out our priorities in ‘Recognised, valued and supported, next steps for the Carers Strategy’, in November 2010 and are providing additional funding of £400 million to the national health service between 2011 and 2015 for carers' breaks. Over £800 million is being given to local authorities by the Government for the delivery of short breaks for carers including families of children with conditions such as autism.
On 26 January 2012, we launched the Children and Young People's Health Outcomes Strategy, which aims to maximise health outcomes that matter the most to children, young people, their families and the professionals
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that support them. It will also show how all parts of the health system, with partners, will contribute to enabling every child and young person to reach their full potential.
Blood Diseases
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with a disease that is characterised by (a) excessive and (b) insufficient angiogenesis in the latest period for which figures are available. [102919]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question, asking how many people have been diagnosed with a disease that is characterised by (a) excessive and (b) insufficient angiogenesis in the latest period for which figures are available [102919].
It is well established in the published medical literature that angiogenesis plays a key role in the growth and spread of cancer. However, excessive and insufficient angiogenesis is not routinely recorded on individual cancer registrations and therefore the information requested is not available as a National Statistic.
The latest published figures on the incidence of cancer in England are available on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition=tcm%3A77-27451
Breast Cancer
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of mammogram screenings for women who are under 50, pre-menopausal and have dense breasts were analysed digitally in the latest period for which figures are available; [102935]
(2) what the detection rate for mammograms is for breast tissue classified as (a) fatty replaced, (b) scattered density, (c) heterogeneously dense and (d) extremely dense. [102954]
Paul Burstow: The report ‘Breast Screening Programme, England 2010-11’, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre on 22 March 2012, shows that a total of 81,294 women aged 45 to 49 were screened in 2010-11, and that in April 2010, 29 out of 80 screening services were fully converted to digital technology. Since this date, there has been a significant increase in the number of digital screening systems in use and 48 out of 80 services have now implemented the technology.
Statistical reporting for NHS Breast Screening Programme does not record whether women were screened using film or digital systems, breast density or breast tissue type.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether data on breast density are routinely monitored and collected by GPs. [102936]
Paul Burstow: Data on breast density are not routinely collected and monitored by general practitioners.
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Breast Cancer: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of women in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency with suspected breast cancer saw a specialist within two weeks in each of the last five years. [102682]
Paul Burstow: The Department does not hold cancer waiting times data in the format requested.
Information on patients referred urgently by their general practitioner for all suspected cancers within Cumbria Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) for the period April to December 2011 (quarters 1, 2 and 3 2011-12) is shown in the following table:
| All cancer two week wait (operational standard: 93%)—Cumbria Teaching PCT | |||
| Quarter (2011-12) | Total number of patients seen | Total number seen within two weeks | Performance (percentage seen within two weeks) |
| Note: These data are available on the Department's website at the following address: http://transparency.dh.gov.uk/2012/03/23/cwt-april-to-december-2011/ Source: Commissioner-based quarterly cancer waiting times statistics. | |||
Cancer
Mr Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 February 2012, Official Report, column 733, on cancer care: for what reasons one year cancer survival rates have been listed as a potential indicator and not a current indicator in the Commissioning Outcomes Framework. [103069]
Paul Burstow: In February 2012, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published for consultation a set of draft indicators for the Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF). The consultation said that the one-year cancer survival indicators were not expected to be technically feasible for measurement at clinical commissioning group population level for 2013-14.
Further work is being undertaken to assess whether the issues around technical feasibility can be addressed so that the NICE COF advisory committee can consider the indicators in May. In making its recommendations, the committee will need to consider the validity and reliability of the indicators at clinical commissioning group population level. It will then be for the NHS Commissioning Board to decide which indicators to select for the COF.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on (a) treatment of cancer and (b) advice on prevention of cancer in each year for which figures are available. [103085]
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Paul Burstow: 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 primary care trust and strategic health authority programme budgeting returns and Department resource accounts data. Figures also include an estimation of special health authority expenditure. 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 is excluded from estimates of expenditure on cancers and tumours.
In order to improve data quality, continual refinements have been made to the programme budgeting data calculation methodology since the first collection in 2003-04. The underlying data which support programme budgeting data are also subject to yearly changes. Programme budgeting data cannot be used to analyse changes in investment in specific service areas between years and it should be noted that significant changes to the data calculation methodology were introduced in 2010-11.
| Programme budgeting c ategory : C ancers and tumours | |
| Gross expenditure (£ billion) | |
The Department funds a wide range of campaigns to provide advice on healthy living, many of which promote lifestyle advice relevant to reducing the risk of cancer. However, the only campaign that could be described as providing specific advice on the prevention of cancer is SunSmart.
SunSmart is the national skin cancer prevention campaign run on behalf of the UK Health Departments by Cancer Research UK. The Department has contributed £500,000 in funding to the campaign for 2011-12 and this money has supported the production and distribution of educational materials, a schools campaign, helped local providers working on skin cancer prevention and delivered a major targeted marketing campaign in conjunction with the popular music festival ‘T4 on the Beach’. Spend in previous years on SunSmart can be found in the following table:
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| SunSmart | |
| £ | |
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the current survival rates for (a) metastatic kidney, (b) multiple myeloma, (c) metastatic colorectal, (d) gastrointestinal stromal tumour, (e) metastatic liver, (f) metastatic lung and (g) metastatic breast cancer when treated by (i) chemotherapy, (ii) radiation and (iii) surgery; and if he will estimate how such survival rates would be affected by coupling such treatments with angiogenesis. [103095]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the current survival rates for (a) metastatic kidney, (b) multiple myeloma, (c) metastatic colorectal, (d) gastrointestinal stromal tumour, (e) metastatic liver (f) metastatic lung and (g) metastatic breast cancer when treated by (i) chemotherapy, (ii) radiation and (iii) surgery; and if he will estimate how survival rates would be affected by coupling such treatments with angiogenesis. [103095].
Detailed information about levels of metastasis, treatment of individual cancer cases and angiogenesis are not routinely recorded on individual cancer registrations sent to ONS for processing and publishing as National Statistics. For this reason, it is not possible to:
1.) provide survival rates for metastatic cancers when treated by (i) chemotherapy, (ii) radiation and (iii) surgery
2.) estimate how survival rates would be affected by coupling such treatments with angiogenesis
ONS publish one and five-year cancer relative survival (percentage) in England, for the 21 common cancers. Gastrointestinal stromal tumour and liver cancer are not one of the 21 common cancers, therefore survival figures for these cancers are not routinely available.
Table 1 provides the latest one and five-year survival figures available for males and females in England, for (a) kidney, (b) myeloma, (c) colorectal, (f) lung and (g) breast cancer.
The latest published figures on cancer survival in England are available on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition=tcm%3A77-21521
| Table 1: One and five-year relative survival (%) for males and females (aged 15 to 99) diagnosed with cancer in England, for the period 2005-09 and followed up to 2010 (1, 2, 3) | ||||||||||||
| Males | Females | |||||||||||
| One-year survival | Five-year survival | One-year survival | Five-year survival | |||||||||
| % | 95% CI | % | 95% CI | % | 95% CI | % | 95% CI | |||||
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| (1) Relative survival is the probability of survival (shown here as a percentage) after correction for other causes of death. (2) Because cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, the summary survival estimates for all ages combined (15 to 99 years) have been age-standardised to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time. (3) Kidney cancer is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) code C64-C66, G68, myeloma is defined as ICD-10 code C90, colorectal cancer is defined as ICD-10 code C18-C20, C21.8, lung cancer is defined as ICD-10 code C33-C34 and breast cancer is defined as ICD-10 code C50. (4) It is not possible to give an age-standardised figure if there are too few patients in a given age group to provide a reliable survival estimate or if very few patients actually died in one of the intervals of time since diagnosis in which survival was estimated. That may happen because survival is very high (there are very few deaths) or because it is very low (most of the patients died). These figures refer to the unstandardised survival. | ||||||||||||
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2012, Official Report, columns 109-11W, on cancer: health services, (1) for what reasons his Department does not collect data on cancer that would allow it to identify instances of the disease, patient numbers and expenditure on treatment broken down by geographical area; [103116]
(2) what steps his Department has taken to measure the annual NHS spend on cancer since the publication of the Cancer Reform Strategy in 2007. [103117]
Paul Burstow: National cancer spend is measured annually via the programme budgeting returns and we are continually looking to improve data quality. Commissioner level programme budgeting data are also published annually in the form of a benchmarking tool that enables commissioners to identify how they spend their allocation over 23 disease categories, including cancer, and compare this with other commissioners. National programme budgeting data are published on the Department's website alongside the commissioners toolkit at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation/Financeandplanning/Programmebudgeting/DH_075743
In “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published on 12 January 2011, we highlighted the vital role that information has to play in driving up the quality of services and outcomes and we are committed to improving the quality, transparency and availability of cancer data. In August 2011, the Department and the National Cancer Action Team published the “Radiotherapy Dataset First Annual Report” to help tackle unwarranted variation in radiotherapy services. From April 2012 we are also mandating the collection of chemotherapy data. In time, these data collections will enable us to undertake more sophisticated analyses around the cost of cancer treatment.
Through the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) we are also supporting work to link existing data sets to develop new insights into cancer services and outcomes. During 2011, the NCIN published 18 new reports and data briefings that are helping providers benchmark their services against one another and to identify where improvements need to be made.
In December 2011, in partnership with the NCIN, we published the Cancer Intelligence Framework. The Framework sets out plans to address existing gaps in cancer intelligence and highlights specific areas where the costing of cancer care needs to be improved, such as chemotherapy.
The Framework also reports that the NCIN has already run a workshop bringing together leading national and international experts on health economics and will be developing a programme of partnership working to develop and publish information and intelligence on the health economics of cancer. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
In “Improving Outcomes: a Strategy for Cancer: First Annual Report”, published on 13 December 2011, we have said that continuing to provide the NHS with benchmarked data on variations in services and outcomes as a lever for improvements is a priority for 2012.
Christmas Trees
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Christmas trees were purchased by his Department and each of its public bodies in each of the last two years; what the cost was of those trees in each year; from where the trees were sourced; what account was taken of the sustainability of the sources of the trees; and by what process the trees were disposed of. [102318]
Mr Simon Burns: In 2010 and 2011, no Christmas trees were purchased by the Department nor most of its public bodies. The exceptions were as follows:
The Health Protection Agency purchased one tree in 2010 for its Leeds office, costing £25;
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence purchased an artificial tree in 2011 costing £50;
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency purchased an artificial tree in 2010 costing £65.97;
NHS Blood and Transplant purchased six Christmas trees, natural and artificial in both 2010 and 2011. The cost was £373.94 in 2010 and £416.20 in 2011; and
The Care Quality Commission purchased one artificial tree in 2010 for its London office and another in 2011 for its Nottingham office. The total cost was £79.98.
The trees were sourced from a number of high street and local retailers and where possible from sustainable sources. Artificial trees have been retained for use in future years and, where facilities exist, natural trees were recycled.
Civil Servants: Code of Practice
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many investigations into breaches by civil servants of the Civil Service Code of Conduct occurred in his Department in each month from May 2010 to March 2012. [103153]
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Mr Simon Burns: There have been five or fewer investigations into breaches of the Civil Service Code. These have been launched under the Department's whistleblowing policy since May 2010.
Cystic Fibrosis
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average life expectancy was for a person with cystic fibrosis (a) in 1982, (b) in 1987, (c) in 1992, (d) in 1997, (e) in 2001, (f) in 2005, (g) in 2010 and (h) on the most recent date for which figures are available; and whether his Department has estimated the likely life expectancy in (i) 2015, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2025. [102309]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the average life expectancy was for a person with cystic fibrosis (a) in 1982, (b) in 1987, (c) in 1992, (d) in 1997, (e) in 2001, (f) in 2005, (g) in 2010 and (h) on the most recent date for which figures are available; and whether there is an estimated likely life expectancy in (i) 2015, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2025. (102309)
It is not possible provide estimates of life expectancy for persons who are diagnosed with cystic fibrosis from routine death registration data since when a person is diagnosed with a condition is not recorded on the death certificate.
The Cystic Fibrosis Trust maintains the UK Cystic Fibrosis Registry, an anonymous database of all those diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in the UK. Mean predicted survival and median age at death figures are published in the latest annual report from the registry which is available to download from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust website:
www.cftrust.org.uk/aboutus/what_we_do/care/ukcfregistry
Darent Valley Hospital
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) midwives and (d) staff were employed at Darent Valley hospital in each of the last five years. [101946]
Mr Simon Burns: The information is shown in the following table.
| NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): doctors, nurses, midwives and all other staff in Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust (1) (, 2) , as at 30 September each year | |||||
| Headcount | |||||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 (3) | 2011 (3) | |
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Dental Services
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) requirements and (b) guidelines his Department has put in place in respect of weekend provision of dental services; and who is responsible for providing such services. [102602]
Mr Simon Burns:
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for ensuring out of hours urgent care services are available in their area. They contract with local
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high-street dental practices and/or the community dental service to deliver this care. PCTs are required by regulation to ensure out of hours services are available. This is part of their general legal duty to commission dental services to meet local need.
Diabetes: Leicester
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people with diabetes in Leicester Primary Care Trust had kidney failure in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2006-07; [102705]
(2) how many people with diabetes in Leicester Primary Care Trust had a stroke in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2006-07. [102706]
Paul Burstow: The information is not available in the format requested. Participation in the National Diabetes Audit (NDA), which audits diabetes registrations in primary and secondary care, is not mandatory. NDA in 2009-10 comprised data from 1,929,985 persons with diabetes and 6,507 practices in England. Quality Outcomes Framework data are an aggregate return and do not contain the detail required to respond to this question. Growth in numbers of registrations in NDA needs to be assessed in the context of the growth in coverage for the audit.
The prevalence rate (%) of strokes and renal failure among diabetic patients registrations included in the NDA is given in the following table:
| Registrations to the NDA | Stroke prevalence (%) | Renal failure prevalence (%) | ||
| Source: National Diabetes Audit and linked one year Hospital Episode Statistics data | ||||
Diabetes: Research
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 31 October 2011, Official Report, column 451W, on diabetes: research, if he will place in the Library data on National Institute for Health Research spending on diabetes in 2010-11. [102523]
Paul Burstow: Expenditure by the National Institute for Health Research in 2010-11 on diabetes research was £23.8 million.
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Dietary Supplements
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many illnesses attributable to the use of food supplements were recorded in the last two years; and if he will make a statement. [102186]
Anne Milton: The Government do not keep central records of illnesses attributed to the use of food supplements.
Food supplements are regulated under food law, and must be safe for human consumption and meet specific compositional and labelling requirements under European Directive 2002/46/EC. Local Authority Trading Standards and Environmental Health Departments are responsible for ensuring businesses comply with the law and that products posing a risk to public health are removed from the market.
Diets
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of poor diets to the NHS. [102141]
Anne Milton: The latest estimate of the cost of poor diet was made by Scarborough and colleagues (2011) in their paper, ‘The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006-07 NHS costs’. This analysis showed that poor diet related health cost the NHS £5.8 billion in 2006-07.
Disability Aids: Communication
Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the commissioning arrangements for augmentative and alternative communication aids. [102712]
Mr Simon Burns: No separate assessment has been made.
Alternative and Augmentative Communication Aid Services are incorporated into definition five (Assessment and Provision of Equipment for People with Complex Physical Disabilities (all ages)) of the Specialised Services National Definitions Set.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 enables the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) to take responsibility for commissioning specialised services which are currently commissioned at both a national and regional level and as informed by the Specialised Services National Definitions Set.
No final decisions have yet been taken over which services will be directly commissioned by the NHS CB. Ministers expect to be able to confirm this later in the year after consultation with the NHS CB.
Disciplinary Proceedings
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of his Department's officials have (a) been reprimanded and (b) had their contract of employment terminated in the last two years. [102387]
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Mr Simon Burns: 10 departmental officials were reprimanded in 2010 and seven were reprimanded in 2011. No officials have had their contract of employment terminated for the past two calendar years.
We have defined “reprimanded” as being either a first written warning or as the issuing of a formal improvement note.
Diseases
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) males and (b) females in each age group in (i) Essex, (ii) Southend West constituency and (iii) England and Wales had (A) cystic fibrosis, (B) muscular dystrophy, (C) severe asthma, (D) primary cilary dyskinesia and (E) other rare lung diseases in each of the last five years for which information is available; [102330]
(2) how many (a) males and (b) females in each (i) age group and (ii) local authority area had (A) cystic fibrosis, (B) muscular dystrophy, (C) severe asthma, (D) primary cilary dyskinesia and (E) another rare lung disease in each of the last five years for which information is available. [102332]
Paul Burstow: The information is not held in the format requested. The NHS Information Centre has provided data showing finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and asthma broken down by gender and age, 2006-07 to 2010-11. Following clinical coding advice, it is not possible to provide any data specifically for severe asthma, primary cilary dyskinesia or another rare lung disease. A copy of the information has been placed in the Library.
Doctors: Training
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in endocrinology; [102119]
(2) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in geriatrics; [102120]
(3) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in neurology; [102121]
(4) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in radiology; [102122]
(5) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in cardiology; [102127]
(6) what steps he is taking to increase the number of doctors specialising in immunology. [102128]
Anne Milton: The Postgraduate Medical Specialty Training Numbers Joint Working Group (JWG) which is part of the Medical Education England advisory structure, recommends and reviews the postgraduate medical speciality training numbers. This is an annual review of proposals from the service for specialty training posts in programmes that provide training to consultant level.
The Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI) is commissioned to advise which specialties are at risk of over or undersupply and identify geographical imbalances in supply, making recommendations on the number of training posts in each specialty. During 2011, the CfWI
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published a series of fact and summary sheets which supported the “Shape of the Medical Workforce: Informing Medical Specialty Training Numbers” report that made recommendations on the number of training posts in each specialty available at:
www.cfwi.org.uk/publications/medical-shape-2011
Working with health care employers and the CfWI, the JWG will develop planning guidance for 2013 and the document will be published in June 2013. This will include recommendations of steady state, increases or decreases in the number of training posts by individual specialty.
Drugs
Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to support the pharmaceutical industry and its domestic supply chain. [101987]
Mr Simon Burns: “Strategy for UK Life Sciences” launched in December 2011, alongside the NHS chief executive’s review “Innovation, health and wealth, accelerating adoption and diffusion in the NHS” sets out a range of measures which the Government will undertake to strengthen the environment for life sciences including pharmaceutical companies, in the United Kingdom.
Drugs: Prices
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that agreements with pharmaceutical companies and prescribers provide the same pricing policy for foundation trusts and those prescribers in primary care; and if he will make a statement. [102060]
Mr Simon Burns: National arrangements are in place for setting the prices of medicines across the national health service. In addition, pharmaceutical companies may offer discounts or other arrangements to the local NHS as long as these do not contravene any aspect of the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme or any relevant legal provisions. Decisions on whether to participate in such arrangements and the terms on which they are offered are matters for the relevant pharmaceutical companies and the local NHS.
Eating Disorders
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) children and (b) adults were admitted to hospital for a suspected eating disorder in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) the latest period for which figures are available in 2012. [101792]
Paul Burstow: The information requested is given in the table.
| Finished admission episodes (1) with a primary diagnosis of eating disorders (2) by age, from years 2009-10 to 2011-12 (3) —Activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | ||||
| 0-17 years | 18 years and over | Unknown age | Total for year | |
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| Notes: 1. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 2. 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 hospital episode statistics dataset and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. ICD10 code used is F50 = eating disorders. 3. The data for 2011-12 are provisional, cover the period April 2011 to November 2011, and may contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, i.e. November from the April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | ||||
Epilepsy
Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the letter from the Minister of State, Department of Health, the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow) to the Co-Chair of Epilepsy Advocacy Europe of 8 February 2012, who is undertaking the scoping study commissioned by his Department to examine issues regarding late diagnosis; when he expects the study to be available; whether it will be published; whether issues regarding misdiagnosis will form part of the study; whether late diagnosis of epilepsy and non-epileptic seizure disorders will form part of the study; and whether the study will include consultation with patients and patient groups. [102550]
Paul Burstow: Departmental officials have no knowledge of this letter.
Exercise
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of lack of physical exercise to the NHS. [102140]
Anne Milton:
The estimated direct cost of physical inactivity to the national health service across the United Kingdom is £1.06 billion. This is based upon five conditions specifically linked to inactivity, namely coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colorectal cancer and breast cancer. This figure represents a conservative estimate,
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since it excludes the cost of other diseases and health problems such as osteoporosis and falls, which affect many older people.
Eyesight: Testing
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners in Havering have received free eye tests in each year since the scheme's inception. [102203]
Mr Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested. Information is provided by primary care trust (PCT) and by strategic health authority. Information on the number of national health service sight tests by patient eligibility is available at a local level only from 2007-08.
The number of NHS sight tests for persons aged 60 and over, in the Havering PCT area from 2007-08 to 2010-11 is shown in the following table. This information is taken from Table C1 of Annex C of the “General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England, Year ending 31 March 2011” report and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gosactivity1011
| Number | |
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners have received free eye tests in each year since the scheme's inception. [102204]
Mr Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested.
From 1 April 1999, eligibility for a free national health service sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over.
The following tables show the number of NHS sight tests for persons aged 60 and over, in England from 1999-2000 to 2010-11. This information has been extracted from the report, “General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England, Year ending 31 March 2011”. This report is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gosactivity1011
Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60, with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Patients may also have had more than one sight test in the specified time period.
| Annex C, Table A1 : NHS sight tests, by patient eligibility, in England, as at the specified financial years | ||||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999 - 2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002- 03 | 2003-04 | |
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| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
| n/a = Not applicable. Prisoner on Leave was introduced in October 2008. (1) Income support includes patients receiving pension credit guarantee credit as well as income-related employment and support allowance, which was Introduced in October 2008. (2) Job seekers allowance. Notes: 1. From 1 April 1999, eligibility for an NHS sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over. 2. Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rattier than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60, with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | |||||||