Epilepsy
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to ensure that the Quality Standards for epilepsy will be included in the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set; [150066]
(2) what steps his Department and the NHS Commissioning Board will take to ensure that the Quality Standards for epilepsy are employed by clinical commissioning groups before their inclusion in the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set. [150067]
Norman Lamb: It is for the NHS Commissioning Board to make decisions on the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published two epilepsy quality standards on 28 February this year and plan to consider potential epilepsy indicators for the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set in April.
NICE would then develop these indicators further, and its independent committee would then make recommendations to the NHS Commissioning Board (now known as NHS England).
Commissioners can use the quality standards to ensure that high-quality care and services are being commissioned through the contracting process or to incentivise provider performance.
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider the recently published report by Epilepsy Action entitled Critical Time. [150069]
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Norman Lamb: We welcome the recent report by Epilepsy Action on services for people with epilepsy. The report was the focal point of an adjournment debate I responded to on 29 January 2013, which provided an opportunity to consider the issues affecting people with epilepsy and the services they receive. At the debate, I reiterated the Government's commitment to improving the quality of care people with epilepsy receive and improving outcomes.
Clinical commissioning groups must commission health services to meet the reasonable requirements of the people for whom they have responsibility, unless the NHS Commissioning Board is under a duty to commission services. Local clinicians are best placed to make decisions on how to address local health needs, including the provision of services for people with epilepsy.
In terms of social care, local authorities are responsible for providing or arranging such services for their populations and will provide or arrange such care on the basis of need rather than on an individual having a particular diagnosis or condition.
As steward of the health and care system, the Department's role will be to champion health and wellbeing across Government and ensure that the whole system works together to meet the needs of communities.
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health following the incorporation of the new Quality Standards for Epilepsy into the Clinical Commissioning Groups Outcomes Indicator Set, by what mechanisms clinical commissioning groups will be held to account against those standards. [150519]
Norman Lamb: It is for the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England) to make decisions on the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set, and on how they hold clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to account for their performance.
Commissioners can use the quality standards to ensure that high-quality care and services are being commissioned through the contracting process or to incentivise provider performance.
The CCG Outcomes Indicator Set aims to support CCGs in improving health outcomes by providing comparative information on the quality of health services commissioned by CCGs and the associated health outcomes—and to support transparency and accountability by making this information available to patients and the public. However, the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set will not in itself set thresholds or levels of ambition for CCGs.
Fertility
Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who in the NHS Commissioning Board is responsible for overseeing infertility service provision in England. [150435]
Anna Soubry: NHS England has informed us that oversight of the commissioning of national health service fertility services will be the responsibility of its Medical Directorate.
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Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome
Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what criteria his Department used to assess affordability when rejecting the advice of the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services on the commissioning of eculizumab for the treatment of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome; and if he will make a statement; [149828]
(2) what research his Department conducted when rejecting the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services' advice that eculizumab should be nationally commissioned for the treatment of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. [149829]
Norman Lamb: Following consideration of advice from the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services (AGNSS) on this issue, we felt we needed further advice on eculizumab's suitability for direct commissioning taking account of its costs, benefits and affordability.
In reaching this decision, Ministers considered the advice presented by AGNSS, including all the underlying work on which AGNSS had based its conclusions (including, in particular, the Technology Assessment Report commissioned by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme on AGNSS's behalf, and produced by the University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research Technology Assessment Group).
Health and Wellbeing Boards
Dr Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will take steps to ensure that health and wellbeing boards have an active role in addressing rising fuel poverty; and if he will make a statement; [149963]
(2) what assessment he has made of the publication by health and wellbeing boards of the joint strategic needs assessment and the joint health and wellbeing strategies with regard to addressing rising fuel poverty; and if he will make a statement. [149964]
Norman Lamb: Health and wellbeing boards will use Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWSs) to strategically plan local health and care services based on the identified needs of local communities and therefore deliver locally appropriate services, tailored to local circumstances. It would not be appropriate for the Department to make an assessment of, or take steps to mandate the work of health and wellbeing boards in relation to JSNAs and JHWSs and how these address fuel poverty costs. This would risk undermining the purpose of JSNAs and JHWSs being objective, comprehensive and—importantly —locally owned processes for developing evidence-based priorities for commissioning across local health and social care services. Fuel poverty is an important issue that health and wellbeing boards may choose to include within their JSNA and JHWS process.
Health and wellbeing boards are a new part of the modernised health and care system. They took on their statutory functions from 1 April 2013; and JHWSs were not required to be developed until this transition. Many emerging health and wellbeing boards have been developing
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JSNAs and JHWSs while in shadow form. However health and wellbeing boards will continue to develop over the next 12 months.
To support health and wellbeing boards in undertaking and developing JSNAs and JHWSs, the Department has published statutory guidance which explains the duties and powers relating to these. Further supportive materials, including advice on good practice will be published from April.
Health Services
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the draft commissioning guidance for consistency of provision of urgent and emergency care produced by his Department; what plans he has for its adoption; and if he will make a statement. [150068]
Anna Soubry: The Department has not published draft commissioning guidance for consistency of provision of urgent and emergency care.
In January this year, the NHS Commissioning Board announced that it is to review the model of urgent and emergency services in England. The review, led by Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh, will set out proposals for the best way of organising care to meet the needs of patients.
The review team will work with clinical commissioning groups to develop a national framework offer to help them ensure high-quality, consistent standards of care across the country.
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that patient groups will be involved in (a) commissioning decisions made by the clinical commissioning groups and (b) the design of commissioning policies and service specifications by the National Commissioning Board. [150695]
Dr Poulter: The Health and Social Care Act 2012 will require clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England) to involve patients and public in all aspects of the commissioning of health services from 1 April 2013. CCGs must set out how they will involve people in their planning, and then evidence that involvement in their Annual Reports. CCG boards will also have at least two lay members sitting on the Board, to secure strong patient and public voice in their decision making.
NHS England will shortly issue statutory guidance for CCGs on how they can promote the involvement of patients in decisions about their care and treatment, and ensure patients and the public are involved in the planning, development and delivery of health services.
The Patients and Information Directorate, within NHS England, will be working to empower the patient and public voice, within the commissioning process, through the intelligence it gathers from a comprehensive programme of patient and staff surveys, real-time patient feedback, and modern customer insight tools and techniques. NHS England will also be leading programmes of work to support CCGs and direct commissioners in effective public involvement in health service planning and commissioning decisions, working closely with the voluntary sector and other agencies such as Healthwatch and Health and Wellbeing Boards.
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Hip Replacements
Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department (a) has undertaken and (b) evaluated on cobalt and chromium toxicity arising from metal-on-metal hip replacements. [149850]
Norman Lamb: The Department of Health and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have undertaken the following evaluations of cobalt and chromium toxicity arising from metal-on-metal hip replacements.
(a) At the request of the MHRA, the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM) reviewed evidence for genotoxicity arising from biomonitoring studies of individuals who had undergone metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty. The COM published a statement in July 2006. The link to the COM statement is as follows:
www.iacom.org.uk/statements/COM06S1.htm
(b) An Expert Advisory Group (EAG) assessed the clinical significance of the findings of the COM with regard to metal-on-metal and metal-on-polyethylene hip replacements, in order to put those findings into a risk-benefit context so that appropriate practical advice could be offered both to clinicians and to patients considering undergoing hip replacement surgery. The current version of the EAG report “Advice from the CSD Expert Advisory Group on the biological effects of metal wear debris generated from hip implants” was published in March 2010 and a copy of this report has been placed in the Library.
(c) In 2008 the MHRA set up another EAG to assess the significance of soft, tissue reactions associated with metal-on-metal hip replacements. The. report of this group “Report of the Expert Advisory Group looking at soft tissue reactions associated with metal-on-metal hip replacements” was published in October 2010. This document has been placed in the Library.
Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department provides for people with cobalt and chromium toxicity arising from metal-on-metal hip replacements. [149851]
Norman Lamb: To support members of the public with concerns about metal-on-metal (MOM) toxicity arising from hip replacements, the latest advice has been made available on the NHS Choices website at the following link:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hip-replacement/Pages/Introduction.aspx
The guidance includes a ‘question and answer’ section on metal-on-metal hip implants. Those with immediate concerns about their hip replacement should speak to their general practitioner or orthopaedic surgeon.
On 28 February 2012, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued updated patient management and monitoring advice to surgeons and doctors recommending that they should monitor patients every year for the lifetime of their MOM hip replacements sized 36 millimetres or more. This is so that any potential complications can be picked up early. More information can be found on the MHRA website at the following link:
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www.mhra.gov.uk/Safetyinformation/Generalsafetyinformationandadvice/Product-specificinformationandadvice/Product-specificinformationandadvice%E2%80%93M%E2%80%93T/Metal-on-metalhipimplants/
Horses: Slaughterhouses
Mr Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has assessed any evidence that horsemeat contamination in UK meat products has come from horses killed in UK abattoirs. [145361]
Anna Soubry: As part of the ongoing investigation into the mislabelling of meat products, the Food Standards Agency has conducted an audit of all horse producing abattoirs in the United Kingdom. These visits have implicated two meat premises, one in West Yorkshire and the other in west Wales. Investigations are ongoing.
Hospital Beds: Greater London
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the bed occupancy rate of (a) University College Hospital, (b) the Royal Free Hospital, (c) Whittington Hospital and (d) North Middlesex University Hospital was between December 2012 and February 2013. [150984]
Anna Soubry: The information requested is not currently available. Bed occupancy data for Quarter 4 of 2012-13, including the average occupancy rate during January, February and March 2013, will be published on 23 May 2013 on the NHS England's website at:
www.england.nhs.uk/statistics
Isosorbide Mononitrate
Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he is taking to increase the supply of isosorbide mononitrate tablets; and if he will make a statement; [149919]
(2) what discussions he has had on sourcing unlicensed isosorbide mononitrate from Germany or elsewhere; and if he will make a statement. [149930]
Norman Lamb: Isosorbide mononitrate (normal release) tablets are currently in short supply due to problems with the availability of the active ingredient. Departmental officials have been in contact with the pharmaceutical companies who supply this product about ongoing availability. The chief pharmaceutical officer and the interim clinical director for heart disease wrote to health care professionals on 14 February to advise them about the supply situation and provide clinical and professional guidance.
Medicine: Overseas Students
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) actual and (b) maximum allowed proportion is of non-UK European Economic Area students at UK medical schools in each cohort. [150586]
Dr Poulter: The Department does not collect the data requested.
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Data provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England shows that the percentage of students subject to overseas ‘other' fees at medical schools in England was 7.1% in 2010-11 and 7.8% in 2011-12.
Currently there is agreement that the total number of non-European Economic Area students at United Kingdom medical schools should be a maximum of 7.5% of the total in each cohort.
Meetings
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library minutes of all departmental meetings where Sir David Nicholson and Mr Richard Douglas were both present between 1 January 2010 and 31 March 2010. [150988]
Dr Poulter: Officials have established that, for the period referenced, there are no formal records available of meetings involving both Sir David Nicholson and Mr Douglas, other than those already in the public domain. These include a written record of the appearance of Sir David Nicholson and Mr Douglas before the Health Select Committee on 21 January 2010, which can be found at:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhealth/269/10012101.htm
There was also one departmental board meeting during the period in question, of which summary minutes can be found at:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130107105354/http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_117361.pdf
Mental Health Services: Young People
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of spending on children and adolescent mental health services has been made through the Children and Young People's Increased Access to Psychological Therapies programme in the last two years. [150108]
Norman Lamb: There are two separate funding streams which are not directly comparable. Firstly, central funding for the Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) project has been provided to transform services through training therapists and service managers in evidence-based practice. Funding of up to £56 million has been made available for CYP IAPT. This consists of £8 million per year for four years announced in October 2011, additional investment of up to £22 million over the next three years announced in February 2012, and £2 million for new handheld computers announced on 15 March 2013.
Secondly, provision for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is included in both the overall financial allocations made to the national health service and in financial allocations made to local authorities through the Local Government Revenue Support Grant.
NHS spend on CAMHS was £772.114 million in 2009-10 and £755.807 million in 2010-11.
CAMHS funding is included in funding provided to local authorities for On-going Personal Social Services
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of £767.02 million in 2011-12 and £784.43 million in 2012-13. Individual elements of funding are not ring fenced.
The Department for Education has also made funding of £2,212 million in 2011-12 and £2,297 million in 2012-13 available through the Early Intervention Grant to local authorities and schools for a wide range of services for children, young people and families including targeted mental health support in schools.
Mental Health: Young People
Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish the data collections made by his Department concerning children and young people's mental health; and what assessment he has made of that data; [150007]
(2) if he will make it his policy to publish an atlas of variation using data collected on (a) adult and (b) children and young people's mental health. [150110]
Norman Lamb: The CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) Minimum Data Set is currently in its implementation phase. The data have been specified for collection from all national health service organisations from April 2013. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care will make data available to other parties as soon as the data quality and coverage are sufficient to provide a robust national picture. The CAMHS Minimum Data Set will be a key driver to achieving better outcomes of care for children by providing, comparative, linked data that can be used to plan and commission services.
The NHS Atlas of Variation series is intended to support local decision making to increase the value which a population receives from the resources spent on their healthcare. It supports the search for unexplained variations, the identification and attention to unwarranted variation, helping clinicians to understand what is going on in their area and where to focus attention to improve the care they provide. Atlases of variation are an important way of raising standards and we have therefore agreed with Public Health England that they will update the Atlas for children and young people regularly. It is our intention to discuss the future use of adult mental health indicators, their range and availability, with the new commissioning organisations.
NHS Property Services
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library all correspondence between the Shareholder Executive and his Department that names NHS Property Services Company Ltd. [150524]
Dr Poulter: There is no correspondence between the Shareholder Executive and the Department regarding NHS Property Services Ltd, but a member of the Shareholder Executive senior team sits on the Department's PCT Estate Programme Board and has supported the Department in the set up of the company.
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the name is of each senior employee of NHS Property Services Company Ltd. [150594]
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Dr Poulter: Details of the leadership team at NHS Property Services Ltd were published on the company website, in the November 2012 edition of their 'Landscape' newsletter, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. Four non-executive directors were also appointed in March 2013, and a copy of the media release containing their names has also been placed in the Library.
NHS: Land
Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospital trusts in Greater London have disposed of land since May 2010; what the location is of each parcel of land disposed of; what information his Department holds of planned land disposals by hospital trusts in Greater London; and what the location is of each such planned disposal. [150544]
Dr Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available has been placed in the Library.
National health service organisations locally decide on how their estate is used, including the disposal of land.
Data are not collected on land disposal by the NHS or its location. Data are collected on surplus or potentially surplus land from NHS trusts, including its location, in support of the Government's initiative to accelerate the release of public sector land for development. An extract of these data has been published and placed in the Library.
The element of these data not published, nor placed in the Library, relates to sites defined as “sensitive” by the NHS. Subsequently another similar data collection was undertaken in October 2012 which is currently being analysed and will be published in the near future.
NHS: Redundancy Pay
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2013, Official Report, column 361W, on NHS: redundancies, if he will publish an anonymised list detailing the value of each individual redundancy payment referred to in that Answer. [149876]
Dr Poulter: We do not hold information on the value of individual exit packages.
NHS: Reorganisation
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost of the NHS Next Stage Review was for (a) commissioning reports and other evidence, (b) staff salaries, (c) administration, (d) publication, (e) other and (f) in total; [150443]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2013, Official Report, column 794W, on NHS reorganisation, which officials in his Department signed off the expenditure of (a) $162,000 on Quality Oversight in England by Joint Commission International, (b) $319,000 on Achieving the Vision of Excellence in Quality by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and (c) $170,000 on Developing, Disseminating and Assessing Standards in the National Health Service by RAND; and what the date of the sign-off was in each case. [150549]
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Anna Soubry: The reports were commissioned by the then chief medical officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, as part of the wider NHS Next Stage Review. All departmental expenditure is authorised in line with existing controls, and audited by the National Audit Office.
Available information about the costs of the Review were set out by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Ann Keen), on 10 October 2007, Official Report, columns 672-3W. She said that the total departmental spend so far on staff, patients and public engagement in direct connection with the review was £1.2 million.
NHS: Standards
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which civil servants of pay grade (a) SCS1, (b) SCS1A, (c) SCS2, (d) SCS3 and (e) Permanent Secretary level received advanced sight of (i) Quality Oversight in England by Joint Commission International published in January 2008, (ii) Achieving the Vision of Excellence in Quality, by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement published in January 2008 and (iii) Developing, Disseminating and Assessing Standards in the National Health Service by RAND published February 2008; [150296]
(2) which Ministers received advanced sight of (a) Quality Oversight in England by Joint Commission International published in January 2008, (b) Achieving the Vision of Excellence in Quality by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement published in January 2008 and (c) Developing, Disseminating and Assessing Standards in the National Health Service by RAND published in February 2008. [150297]
Anna Soubry: These reports were used alongside evidence and views from thousands of other people and organisations as a basis for ‘High Quality Care for All’, the final report of the NHS Next Stage Review. We have no records of there ever having been a pre-determined publication date for the review's contributory material, nor of when individuals read their copies.
Nurses: East Midlands
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) district nurses, (b) health visitors, (c) community psychiatric nurses, (d) community matrons and (e) community learning disability nurses were employed in each primary care trust in the East Midlands in the latest three periods for which figures are available. [149834]
Dr Poulter: The following tables show numbers of full-time equivalent qualified nursing staff in the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area by organisation in each specified area of work as at 30 September in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Since June 2012, there is an additional Health Visiting Minimum Data Set Collection from SHAs that includes additional full time equivalent health visitors employed by non-national health service organisations, not on the NHS Electronic Staff Record. As at September 2012, there were 26 additional full-time equivalent health visitors employed in the East Midlands SHA area.
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Figures for nursing staff employed by primary care trusts (PCTs) in 2010 are not comparable to those for subsequent years. Under the Transforming Community Services programme, initiated under the previous Administration, most community services and the associated staff transferred from primary care trusts to provider organisations on 1 April 2011.
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The data provided therefore include numbers for both PCT and national health service provider organisations in the East Midlands.
| NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nursing staff in the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority area by organisation in each specified area of work as at 30 September 2010 | ||||||||
| Full-time equivalent | ||||||||
| Of which: | ||||||||
| All specified staff | Community Psychiatry | Community Learning Disabilities | Community Services | Community Matrons | Health visitors | District nurses | ||
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| ‘—’ = Zero Notes: 1. Community Matrons, Health Visitors and District Nurses work exclusively in the Community Services area of work. This area of work also includes Nurse Consultants, Modern Matrons, Nurse Managers, RSCNs, Other 1st Level Nurses and Other 2nd Level nurses who are not separately identified in this table. 2. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. | ||||||||
| NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nursing staff in the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority area by organisation in each specified area of work as at 30 September 2011 | ||||||||
| Full-time equivalent | ||||||||
| Of which: | ||||||||
| All specified staff | Community Psychiatry | Community Learning Disabilities | Community Services | Community Matrons | Health visitors | District nurses | ||
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| ‘—’ = Zero Notes: 1. Community Matrons, Health Visitors and District Nurses work exclusively in the Community Services area of work. This area of work also includes Nurse Consultants, Modern Matrons, Nurse Managers, RSCNs, Other 1st Level nurses and Other 2nd Level nurses who are not separately identified in this table. 2. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. | ||||||||
| NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nursing staff in the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority area by organisation in each specified area of work as at 30 September 2012 | ||||||||
| Full-time equivalent | ||||||||
| Of which: | ||||||||
| All specified staff | Community Psychiatry | Community Learning Disabilities | Community Services | Community Matrons | Health visitors | District nurses | ||
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| ‘—’ = Zero Notes: 1. Community Matrons, Health Visitors and District Nurses work exclusively in the Community Services area of work. This area of work also includes Nurse Consultants, Modern Matrons, Nurse Managers, RSCNs, Other 1st Level nurses and Other 2nd Level nurses who are not separately identified in this table. 2. Since June 2012 there is an additional Health Visiting Minimum Data Set Collection from SHAs that includes additional Health Visitors employed by non-NHS organisations, not on ESR. These figures are provided in a separate table and are only available at SHA level. 3. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. | ||||||||
Nurses: Greater London
Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have been employed by South East London hospitals in each year from 2009-10 to date. [150514]
Dr Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested. Information for nurses, midwives and health visitors employed at the trusts responsible for hospitals within South East London hospitals in each year from 2009 to date is shown in the following table.
| NHS hospital and community health services: qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed by South East London NHS organisations in each specified organisation as at 30 September each specified year | ||||
| Full-time equivalent | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Notes: 1. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed, but unless it is significant at national level, figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census. | ||||
Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurse assistants have been employed in South East London hospitals in each year from 2009-10 to date. [150515]
Dr Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested. Information for nursing assistants and auxiliary nurses employed at the trusts responsible for hospitals within South East London as at 30 September from 2009 to date is shown in the following table.
| NHS hospital and community health services: nursing assistants/auxiliaries employed by South East London NHS organisations as at 30 September each specified year | ||||
| Full-time equivalent | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
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| Notes: 1. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. Data Quality: Clinical support to nursing staff also includes other nursing support staff, health care assistants and other health care support staff in the relevant areas and therefore may explain why some trusts do not have nursing assistants as they may have been coded as other types of nursing support. This is essentially the result of the fact that individual NHS organisations are ultimately responsible for the way in which they code their staff. The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed, but unless it is significant at national level, figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census. | ||||
Pancreatic Cancer
Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to improve the information and advice supplied to nurses providing care and support to pancreatic cancer patients. [150529]
Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department has taken to benefit from the experience of patients with pancreatic cancer; [150830]
(2) what steps he is taking to improve communications between health care professionals and relatives and carers of patients with pancreatic cancer. [150831]
Anna Soubry: To improve the information supplied to nurses providing care and support for pancreatic cancer patients, the Department funded the National Cancer Action Team (now part of NHS Improving Quality) to undertake a series of actions to improve the experience of cancer patients. This included developing a national advanced communication skills training programme; developing an assessment and feedback tool to promote better working between cancer teams in trusts and a quality improvement toolkit for nurses.
An information prescription provides up-to-date and accurate information from the national health service and from patient organisations. There are over 70 site-specific information pathways for cancer, including one for pancreatic cancer. The Pancreatic Cancer pathway on the Information Prescription Service provides
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information on all aspects of the patient journey, which can be shared with the health care professionals who are responsible for the patient's care.
The pathways include prevention, symptom awareness, referral, diagnosis, staging, treatment, follow up, recurrence and advanced disease. The pathway explains what pancreatic cancer is and how it can be treated and provides advice on the side effects of treatment. A variety of supportive care information is also available which covers diet, free prescriptions, getting travel insurance and advice on living with the disease.
The Improving Outcomes in Cancer guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) sets out best practice treatment and support for patients in the provision of care for a range of cancer types, including pancreatic cancer.
To support a positive experience of care, the guidance highlights the importance of effective communication, providing good quality information to patients and supporting access to Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS). The role of CNS is especially important in facilitating continuing good communication; contact with a trained and experienced nurse can reduce patients' anxiety, depression and physical symptoms. The guidance recommends that cancer patients should have the name and contact number for a particular nurse, and should, whenever possible, see and speak to the same nurse.
The above elements of NICE'S Improving Outcomes guidance will continue to be a feature of all commissioned cancer services from April 2013.
Through the 2010 and 2011-12 National Cancer Patient Experience Surveys, published in August last year, we have continued to monitor patients' experience of NHS cancer care. Questions within the surveys have covered important issues such as access to CNS, patient information and effective communication, as well as a range of other areas key to the delivery of high quality cancer care and improved outcomes.
The 2011-12 survey recorded the views of over 71,000 cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer. 88% of pancreatic cancer patients said their care was excellent or very good.
Quality Health, the survey provider, has identified the responses of pancreatic cancer patients from the upper gastro-intestinal cancer grouping to enable comparison of their experience against those of other cancers. The survey results are helping trusts to identify areas in cancer care that need improvement locally and to raise standards across the service.
Prostatitis
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many men were diagnosed with (a) prostatitis and (b) benign prostatic hyperplasia in each primary care trust area in each of the last five years; [150355]
(2) how many men were diagnosed with (a) prostatitis and (b) benign prostatic hyperplasia in each local authority area in England in each of the last five years; [150364]
(3) how many men were diagnosed with (a) prostatitis and (b) benign prostatic hyperplasia in each parliamentary constituency in England in each of the last five years. [150365]
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Anna Soubry: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 20 March 2013, Official Report, column 715W.
Public Expenditure
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the estimated Resource DEL underspend in financial year 2012-13 of £1.4 billion as set out in Table 2.5 of the Budget 2013 Red Book, which service areas in his Department received reduced resources; what the amounts of resource reduction were; and if he will make a statement. [150200]
Dr Poulter: Table 2.5 of the Budget 2013 Red Book shows the difference between Budget 2012 plans and latest forecast of expenditure for 2012-13. For the Department of Health, the table shows an estimated Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) underspend of £1.4 billion against the Budget 2012 plans.
This underspend has arisen mainly because of higher than planned surpluses in the national health service and underspends on central programme expenditure.
The Department has committed to make NHS organisations' underspends available to them in future years to help deliver high quality, sustainable health services for patients.
The Government are delivering on their commitment to increase health spending. Health spending in 2012-13 will be 1% higher in real terms than last year (based on Budget forecast).
The Department will set out its spending for the year in detail in its annual accounts in the usual way.
Self-harm: East Midlands
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of levels of self-harm in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the east Midlands; and what steps he is taking to reduce such incidences of self-harm. [149833]
Norman Lamb: The Department has made no assessment of the levels of self-harm in the above named areas.
The numbers of finished admission episodes (FAEs)(1) with a cause code(2) of self-harm for residents of Ashfield constituency(3), Nottinghamshire County Primary Care Trust (PCX)(4)( )area and East Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA)(4) area, for 2011-12, the most recent period for which data is available, are shown in the following table:
| Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | |
| Patients resident in: | FAEs |
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| (1) The data provided only include admissions for in-patient care for self-harm. Any incidences of self-harm that are either not reported to a health care professional or are treated in a primary care setting will not be included. (2) 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 inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. Cause code—a supplementary code that indicates the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in HES. (3) Parliamentary constituency of residence—the parliamentary constituency containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another parliamentary constituency for treatment. This field is only available from 2008-09 onwards. (4) SHA/PCT of residence—the strategic health authority (SHA) or primary care trust (PCT) containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another SHA/PCT for treatment. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care |
The Department currently funds the Multi-Centre Study on Self-harm which collects data on episodes and trends in self-harm. The Multicentre study has had departmental funding of £2 million over five years.
Our Suicide Prevention Strategy (September 2012) recognises those with a history of self-harm may be at higher risk of suicide, and the Department will continue to support high-quality research on suicide, suicide prevention and self-harm through the National Institute for Health Research and the Policy Research Programme. This programme will collect and analyse data on suicide and self-harm; evaluate different forms of risk assessment following self-harm; develop guidelines on the management of episodes of self-harm where individuals have made advance decisions on treatment; and develop resources for parents of young people who self-harm.
The suicide prevention strategy is backed by up to £1.5 million for suicide prevention research through the Policy Research Programme including a substantial amount of work to look at the issue of self-harm. We will know what awards have been made in spring 2013.
We have made it clear that mental and physical health have to be seen as equally important. For suicide prevention, this will mean effectively managing the mental health aspects, as well as any physical injuries, when people who have self-harmed come to accident and emergency. It will also mean having an effective 24-hour response to mental health crises, as well as for physical health.
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) surgeons were employed at (i) King's Mill Hospital and (ii) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last four years. [149837]
Dr Poulter: Information on numbers of staff employed at individual hospitals is not collected centrally.
Numbers of full-time equivalent qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, and medical and dental staff employed at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last four years, for which data are available are shown in the following table.
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| Full-time equivalents | ||||
| At 30 September each year: | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Sources: Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census. Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. | ||||
Staff
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the names of all staff members, about whom information is releaseable, employed in Sir David Nicholson's private office since 2008; what positions each such person held; and when the (a) commencement and (b) termination of their employment was. [150989]
Dr Poulter: The Department's practice is not to release named information on employees below deputy director (SCS) level. Since 2008, the following individuals have held senior civil service roles in Sir David Nicholson's Private Office:
Jo-Anne Wass was seconded from the national health service to the Department as Sir David Nicholson's chief of staff from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2012;
Jo Lenaghan was seconded from the NHS to the Department as Sir David Nicholson's chief adviser from 9 October 2006 to 23 August 2010;
Ralph Coulbeck was deputy director—policy advisor from 1 April 2011 to 12 August 2012;
Lawrence Tallon was deputy director—principal business manager from 24 December 2007 to 7 June 2011; and,
Jane Robinson was seconded from the NHS to the Department as deputy director—communication advisor from 4 August 2008 to 17 September 2010.
Since August 2012, the day-to-day running of Sir David Nicholson's departmental private office has been fulfilled at a more junior grade.
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the names are of all staff members, about whom information is releaseable, who worked in each of his Department's Ministerial offices since 2003; what position each such person held; and when the (a) commencement and (b) termination of their employment was. [150990]
Dr Poulter: The Department's practice is not to release named data on employees below senior civil servant (SCS).
There is only one SCS role in the ministerial private offices, which is that of the principal private secretary to the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt). Information about the postholders from 2003 is given as follows:
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| Postholder | Date |
Tattooing
Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will bring forward legislative proposals to better regulate the tattoo industry; [150436]
(2) if he will take steps to reduce the number of unlicensed tattooists. [150446]
Anna Soubry: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), currently provides local authorities with the powers to regulate the hygiene and cleanliness of businesses providing tattooing/semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing, acupuncture and electrolysis; through the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.
There are no current plans to revise legislation regulating the tattooing industry in England.
Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been admitted to hospital with infections due to tattoos in the last three years. [150447]
Anna Soubry: The data collected on causes of hospital admissions do not allow separate identification of infections due to tattoos.
Tourette's Syndrome
Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he has given to including indicators on the diagnosis and treatment of Tourette's syndrome in the remit of the NHS Commissioning Board; and if he will make a statement. [150318]
Norman Lamb: The mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board sets out the Government's ambitions for the health service for the next two years. It includes an objective for the NHS Commissioning Board to make measurable progress towards making the national health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with ongoing health problems to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.
The Mandate will be refreshed annually to ensure it remains relevant and up to date following consultation in line with the requirements set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The case for adding new objectives will be considered as part of the process for developing future mandates.
The NHS Commissioning Board is in the process of appointing a new National Clinical Director for chronic disability and neurological conditions who will provide clinical leadership in determining priorities with key stakeholders including for people with Tourette's syndrome.
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Visual Impairment
Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of social care costs were incurred by (a) vision impairment and sight loss and (b) vision impairment and sight loss caused by age-related macular degeneration, by local authority, in each of the last five years for which data are available. [150113]
Norman Lamb: Data on local authority expenditure on personal social services for adults are collected and published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
However, this data are not broken down by specific conditions, so the HSCIC is unable to provide the requested information.
Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will make an assessment of the economic burden of (a) vision impairment and sight loss and (b) vision impairment and sight loss caused by age-related macular degeneration on (i) the NHS and (ii) social care services in each of the last five years for which data are available. [150114]
Dr Poulter: The Department has not made an assessment of the economic burden associated with visual impairment and sight loss. Recent estimates of the costs of blindness and visual impairment are contained in a study commissioned by the Royal Institute of Blind People in 2009(1).
(1) Future sight loss UK: The economic impact of partial sight and blindness in the UK adult population. June 2009
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax: Disability
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities intend to charge council tax to disabled people following the introduction of council tax support in April 2013; and what reports he has received of the rates which such local authorities are planning to charge. [147729]
Brandon Lewis: Information regarding the design of local schemes is not held centrally.
Councils already set council tax, collect it and administer the benefit and it makes sense for them to decide the levels of support people should receive with their council tax bills. Councils are best placed to understand local priorities and to take these local factors into account when deciding on levels of support. Councils are not required to report to Government on the detail of their local scheme.
Councils already have clearly defined responsibilities in relation to equalities groups and their most vulnerable citizens. This includes, for example, through their responsibilities under:
the Equalities Act 2010, which introduces a duty on local authorities to eliminate discrimination and advance equality;
the Child Poverty Act 2010, which imposes a duty on local authorities to have regard to and address child poverty;
the Housing Act 1996, which gives local authorities a duty to prevent homelessness with special regard to vulnerable groups.
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The Department for Communities and Local Government has published guidance to ensure that local authorities understand their existing responsibilities in relation to vulnerable groups.
Electrical Safety: Inspections
Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many notifications his Department expects to be made through its third party inspection regime; and how many such certifiers it expects to register. [150346]
Mr Foster: We estimate that DIYers, jobbing builders and electricians who are not registered with competent person self-certification schemes carry out around 60,000 notifiable jobs annually. We expect that the majority of these notifications will move to third party certifiers. We have made no estimate of the number of registered certifiers. Further details can be found in the relevant impact assessment at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-regulations-part-p-electrical-safety-in-dwellings
Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department will take to promote the use of the third party inspection and testing register to those who undertake DIY electrical work. [150347]
Mr Foster: The Electrical Safety Council is about to mount a campaign to raise awareness of electrical safety, which the Department has agreed to support. The campaign will provide an opportunity to encourage those who undertake DIY electrical work to have their work inspected and tested by a third party certifier. It will target DIY retailers as well as consumers and electricians.
Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effects of his proposed third party inspection and testing regime for notifiable electrical work on the standard of home electrical installations. [150348]
Mr Foster: We do not expect the introduction of third party certification to have any significant impact on the standard of home electrical installations. Part P of the Building Regulations (Electrical safety—Dwellings), which was amended on 6 April, calls for all electrical installation work in homes to follow the rules in the British Standard BS 7671 (the IET Wiring Regulations). However, the proposed third party certification regime should reduce the costs of certification, which may provide a greater incentive for DIYers to have their work properly inspected and tested.
Empty Property: Yorkshire and the Humber
Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant and unused homes there are in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber; what plans he has to promote the use of vacant and unused homes; and if he will make a statement. [150598]
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Mr Prisk: Data for Brigg and Goole constituency are not collected centrally. The constituency falls within the combined local authority districts of East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
As outlined in the written ministerial statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 31-33WS, my Department no longer publishes statistics by Government office region.
Statistics on vacant dwellings in each local authority are published in the Department's live table 615 which is available at the following link. Previously published figures by region can be found in live tables 611 and 613:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
In addition to £160 million the Government have already committed to bringing over 11,200 empty homes back into use, a further bidding round worth around £75 million is underway to bring a further 5,000 empty properties back into use.
Fire Services
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what his policy is on contracting out core fire and rescue services; [150631]
(2) when he plans to publish details of his proposals to allow fire and rescue authorities to outsource services to mutuals or other organisations; [150563]
(3) what assessment he has made of legislative changes that would be required to (a) create mutuals that could deliver fire and rescue services and (b) put in place protections against any future privatisation of these services; [150574]
(4) what assessment he has made of the support or otherwise for outsourcing core fire and rescue services amongst (a) firefighters, (b) other fire service staff and (c) the public; [150626]
(5) what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Fire Officers' Association on proposals to open up delivery of fire and rescue services to other organisations; [150575]
(6) if he will publish details of the dates, agendas and outcomes of meetings (a) he or (b) his officials have held with the Cleveland Fire Authority Chairman over the last 18 months; [150624]
(7) if he will publish details of the dates, agendas and outcomes of meetings (a) he or (b) his officials have held with the Cleveland Chief Fire Officer over the last 18 months. [150625]
Brandon Lewis: I and my officials meet representatives from external interest groups, such as fire and rescue authorities, from time to time on a whole range of issues and details of meetings are published regularly. My position on mutuals has already been set out in my answers of 5 March 2013, Official Report, column 931W and 7 March 2013, Official Report, column 1121W.
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he made of fire service capacity to respond to terrorist attacks, public disorder and other national incidents as part of his plans to contract out 999 services. [150632]
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Brandon Lewis: Assessment of fire service capacity is entirely a matter for individual fire and rescue authorities, which are required under the 2012 Fire and Rescue National Framework to identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks their areas face, make provision for prevention and protection activities and respond to incidents appropriately.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the annual percentage change in total revenue spending power for fire authorities in England was (a) in each year since 2010 and (b) in each year to 2014-15. [150887]
Brandon Lewis: The annual percentage change in total revenue spending power for single service fire and rescue authorities outside London from 2010-11 are shown as follows.
| Percentage | |
| (1) Indicative figures only. | |
As I outlined in my statement of 17 December 2012, Official Report, columns 69-70WS, there is significant scope for fire and rescue authorities to make sensible savings, such as through reforms to flexible staffing and crewing arrangements, better procurement, shared services, collaboration with emergency services and other organisations on service delivery and estates, sickness management, sharing of senior staff, locally led mergers and operational collaborations, new fire-fighting technology, preventative approaches and working with local businesses.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the annual percentage change in central formula funding grant for fire authorities in England was in (a) each year since 2010 and (b) each year to 2014-15. [150888]
Brandon Lewis: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 21 March 2013, Official Report, columns 767-68W.