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Hostels for the Homeless in London and Liverpool: Funding
Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many hostels for the homeless receive government funding (a) in London and (b) in Liverpool.[HL1100]
Lord Evans of Temple Guitting: This year the Homelessness Directorate is providing funding for
two hostels in Liverpool and 41 hostels (includes three rolling shelters) in London. This includes direct payments and payments via local authorities.Hostels (including those not funded by the Homelessness Directorate) with residents receiving housing benefit, will also receive transitional housing benefit via the Supporting People Programme to pay for the element of housing costs which provide housing-related support services.
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Baroness Masham of Ilton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many cases of (a) syphilis, (b) gonorrhoea, and (c) chlamydia were recorded in the Greater Manchester area in the last year for which figures are available; and what are these figures expressed as a percentage increase or decrease in the previous year.[HL1075]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The data are shown in the table and were derived from statutory reporting of diagnoses made at genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics on form KC60. Data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are only collected from GUM clinics, so STIs diagnosed and treated by general practitioners or in other settings do not form part of the data set.
| Condition | Sex | 2000 | 2001 | % increase |
| Primary and secondary infectious syphilis | Female | 3 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Primary and secondary infectious syphilis | Male | 40 | 121 | 202.5 |
| Uncomplicated gonorrhoea | Female | 412 | 385 | –6.6 |
| Uncomplicated gonorrhoea | Male | 985 | 1,002 | 1.7 |
| Uncomplicated chlamydial infection | Female | 2,299 | 2,854 | 24.1 |
| Uncomplicated chlamydial infection | Male | 1,762 | 1,867 | 6.0 |
Baroness Masham of Ilton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many case of (a) syphilis, (b) gonorrhoea, and (c) chlamydia were recorded in the United Kingdom in the last year for which figures are available; and what are these figures expressed as a percentage increase or decrease in the previous year.[HL1076]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: These data are only available for England, Wales and Northern Ireland due to delay in reporting from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in Scotland. The data were derived from statutory reporting of diagnoses made at GUM clinics on form KC60. Data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are only collected from GUM clinics, so STIs diagnosed and treated by general practitioners or in other settings do not form part of the data set.
| Condition | Sex | 2000 | 2001 | % Increase |
| Primary and secondary infectious syphilis | Female | 75 | 102 | 36.0 |
| Primary and secondary infectious syphilis | Male | 252 | 613 | 143.3 |
| Uncomplicated gonorrhoea | Female | 6,406 | 6,794 | 6.1 |
| Uncomplicated gonorrhoea | Male | 14,725 | 15,903 | 8.0 |
| Uncomplicated chlamydial infection | Female | 36,700 | 40,362 | 10.0 |
| Uncomplicated chlamydial infection | Male | 28,100 | 30,763 | 9.5 |
King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst
Lord Holme of Cheltenham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they are proposing any action to avert the closure of the King Edward VII hospital in Midhurst.[HL1181]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Ministers and officials at the Department of Health have received a number of representations regarding the situation at the hospital. Discussions with the Liquidator are currently ongoing. In view of that, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to comment further, although these discussions will of course focus on the continuing provision of appropriate care for National Health Service patients.
Donor-conceived People: Access to Information
Lord Lea of Crondall asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether people conceived as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation will be able to find out information about their donors in the future; and, if so, what information they will have access to.[HL1327]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Following a consultation exercise carried out between December 2001 and July 2002, we propose to lay regulations before Parliament, so that people conceived as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation will be able to obtain more information about their donors in the future. The information will not identify the donors.
We hope that donor-conceived people are all part of loving families, but we also understand that at some point in their lives they may decide they want to know more about their genetic origins and we think it is right that they should be able to ask for non-identifying information.
We propose that the regulations enable the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to provide non-identifying information about donors to donor-conceived people aged 18 or over who request that information and who were born after the HFEA's register came into effect in 1991. In practice the information would be available from 2010 (18 years after the register came into operation).
To enable standardised information to be available in the future, we will seek approval for the regulations to require the HFEA to collect standardised non-identifying information with immediate effect.
We will also explore the possibility of setting up a pilot scheme for a voluntary contact register for donor-conceived people aged 18 and over.
The summary of responses to the consultation exercise is on the Department of Health's website at www.gov.uk/consultations.
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