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Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The following table shows the number of telephone calls to NHS Direct from patients seeking dental treatment from November 2001 to April 2002. The percentage of calls meeting local distance standards for referral to dental services is also included.

No information is available about the dental services which these callers subsequently received.

29 Jul 2002 : Column WA154

NHS Direct: Total number of dental related calls and percentage of calls meeting the Prime Minister's pledge distance standards, November 2001 to April 2002

MonthNumber of Calls(3)Percentage within distance standards
November-0110,90094
December-0110,00095
January-0213,10094
February-0210,30093
March-0212,90092
April-0215,50093

Notes:

(6) Information from some call centres is not available in some months due to data-processing problems.


Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is the average cost of a course of dental treatment within the general dental services for (a) adults; and (b) children exempt from payment.[HL5452]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The average cost per course of dental treatment in the general dental service (GDS) for adult patients exempt from paying dental charges for England was £53.17 in 2001–02. This exludes patients who are partially exempt from paying dental charges. Including the partly exempt patients, the average cost was £53.45 for 2001–02.

The average cost per course of dental treatment in the GDS for children in 2001–02 was £34.53 for England. Remuneration for courses of treatment involving an examination only are covered by the registration payment so are excluded from this average cost.

Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is the average adult patient contribution towards the cost of dental treatment within the general dental services.[HL5453]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The average charge-payers contribution rate per course of treatment in the general dental service was £23.28 in 2002–02 in England. This figure includes patients with an HC3 certificate for partial remission from dental charges.

People who fall into the following categories are exempt from charges.


    Aged under 18.

Aged under 19 and in full-time education.

Receiving income support or income-based jobseekers allowance.

Pregnant or has borne a child within the last 12 calendar months.

Receiving working families tax credits or disabled person's tax credits, which are not reduced by more than £72.20 per week.

Hold a current HC2 exemption certificate.

Those people who do not fall into these categories may be able to receive partial help through the low income scheme.

29 Jul 2002 : Column WA155

Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:

    When they expect to publish the Department of Health's report Options for Change; and whether they have decided the locations of the 10 demonstration sites.[HL5454]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: We intend to publish the Options for Change report on NHS dentistry shortly.

Options for Change will propose that new approaches are tested, assessed and fine tuned at a local level through demonstration sites to provide a better deal for patients, dentists and the NHS before any national decisions are made. Demonstration sites will be run through the Modernisation Agency, which will be inviting formal expressions of interests following the publication of the Options for Change report.

Physiotherapists

Lord Dubs asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How many (a) physiotherapists and (b) neuro-physiotherapists are currently employed in the National Health Service; and what are their plans to increase the numbers.[HL5505]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: As at 30 September 2001, there were 16,210 physiotherapists employed in the National Health Service in England. Neuro-physiotherapists are not identified separately in the Non-medical Workforce Census.

Our latest workforce projections estimate that there will be around 8,000 more physiotherapists in 2009 than there were in 2001.

NHS Efficiency

Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they will publish the underlying data for changes in activity levels and hospital and community health services expenditure expressed in volume form which are shown in graphical form in Figure 7.7 of the Department of Health's departmental report (Cm 5403) so that the efficiency increase of 3 per cent over the 10 years to 1999–2000 referred to on page 71 of the report can be analysed for each of those years. [HL5524]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The table shows the underlying changes in activity levels and hospital and community health service expenditure over last 10 years for which data is available.

CWAIVolume GrowthReal Terms
HCHS cost weighted activity indexExpenditure adjusted for changes in input unit costsExpenditure in real terms
Index 1988–89 = 100Index 1988–89 = 100Index 1988–89 = 100
1989–90100.0100.0100.0
1990–91101.3100.9101.8
1991–92106.6103.6108.4
1992–93109.9106.8115.7
1993–94114.3108.5118.6
1994–95119.1110.0121.7
1995–96123.8111.9125.0
1996–97125.8113.6126.3
1997–98128.1116.1127.4
1998–99130.7119.5132.6
1999–00132.1127.7144.6

29 Jul 2002 : Column WA156

Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What estimates they have made of the difference between changes in activity levels in hospital and community health services expenditure expressed in volume terms for the year 2001–02.[HL5525]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: No estimates have been made of the differences between changes in activity levels and in hospital and community health services expenditure expressed in volume terms for the year 2001–02.

Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:

    When they expect to publish final figures for general and acute activity, analysed into elective and non-elective activity, for the year ended 31 March.[HL5526]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Department of Health expects to publish the hospital episode statistics for the year 2001–02 in the autumn. Figures will be available on the DH website at www.doh.gov.uk/hes/

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is their response to the judgment of the House of Lords of 20 June concerning the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, in particular the comments of Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough in paragraph 72 on amici curiae.[HL4912]

The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The Government are pleased that the House of Lord's ruling has confirmed that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission may apply to the courts to intervene in legal proceedings when there is an issue about human rights.

We were interested to read Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough's comments.

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is their response to the request of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to have a say in the allocation of public finance in Northern Ireland.[HL5045]

29 Jul 2002 : Column WA157

Lord Williams of Mostyn: Paragraph 2.1.1 of the minutes of the commission meeting held on 14 January 2002 states that the chief commissioner will write to the Northern Ireland Executive with regard to the commission monitoring the allocation of public funds in Northern Ireland. As this is a matter between the commission and the devolved administration in Northern Ireland, it is not for Her Majesty's Government to comment.

A copy of the minutes of the meeting will be placed in the Library.

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they were asked by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to intervene in the House of Lords case about its powers; and, if so, whether they declined to support the commission.[HL5056]

Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission wrote to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 14 February 2002 requesting that the Government intervene in the commission's appeal to the House of Lords on 11 March. The Government, who had always understood the commission to have the power to intervene as a third party, was happy to intervene on behalf of the commission.

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they will provide a breakdown of the composition of the staff of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission by (a) religion, (b) by gender and (c) by the number of staff who are disabled; and whether this breakdown represents a true reflection of the Northern Ireland workforce as a whole.[HL5444]

Lord Williams of Mostyn: This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission as the commission directly employes its own staff.

The chief commissioner has been asked to write to the noble Lord and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library.


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