| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA148
No projects or funding streams have been affected to date and we will continue to reimburse projects for all eligible expenditure.
Government: Air Travel
Baroness Sharp of Guildford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they benefit from bulk-buy discounts on long distance business and first class air fares; and what saving this amounts to. [HL5610]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Cabinet Office is currently introducing improved contractual arrangements that will enable it to benefit from government's bulk buying power through the use of new cross-government arrangements which provide for discounted air fares covering the most frequently used destinations. The discounts, which range from 5 per cent to 50 per cent, apply to both long distance and other flights.
Government: Regional Bodies
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much each regional housing board spends annually on internal administration; and what is this figure expressed as a total of the annual budget of each board. [HL5708]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): Regional housing boards ceased to exist in September 2006 when their housing responsibilities were handed over to the regional assemblies and the Mayor in London.
Funding that has been provided by the department to support the regional assemblies and the Mayor in carrying out these functions is set out in the table below. However, as the regional assemblies and the Mayor are independent bodies, we do not hold specific information on how much of this funding goes on internal administration.
| Region | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much each regional development agency spends annually on internal administration; and what is this figure expressed as a total of the annual budget of each agency. [HL5709]
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA149
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Jones of Birmingham): The table below gives for each regional development agency its total grant-in-aid budget, its administration budget and this as a percentage of total budgets for 2007-08. The figures are in £'000.
Government: UN Agencies
Lord Hunt of Chesterton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they are taking to encourage government departments and agencies to consult all interested bodies in the public and private sectors before and after significant meetings of United Nations agencies; and whether they will take steps to include representatives of interested bodies in their national delegation, for example, as practised by national delegations of the United States. [HL5658]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): It is common practice for government departments to undertake consultation with relevant stakeholders before and after governing body meetings of the UN specialised agencies. Such consultations also take place in other parts of the UN system and for major UN summits and conferences, such as the 2005 world summit.
Stakeholder consultation has typically included, though not exclusively, a dialogue across government departments and also with a range of non-government actors, including: private sector companies, industry representatives, non-governmental organisations, professional, academic and research bodies, interest groups and representatives from civil society. Individuals from these groups have often formed part of the UK’s delegation to UN meetings.
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA150
By way of example, the Met Office represents the UK at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a UN specialised agency. In preparing for the WMO’s quadrennial congress, the Met Office consults a number of government departments (e.g. the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Development, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Ministry of Defence) and other meteorological and hydrological stakeholders, including the Royal Meteorological Society and the Natural Environment Research Council. In 2007, the UK's delegation to the WMO congress included officials from Defra, the FCO and representatives from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Bermudan Weather Service, a private sector company.
Health: C Difficile
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many deaths were caused by C. difficile infections (a) in total, and (b) in the area of each primary care trust (PCT), in each of the past seven years for which figures are available; what action was taken by health Ministers in relation to the PCTs with the highest numbers of infections; and what success their actions had. [HL5601]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): In relation to deaths, special analyses of deaths in England and Wales involving Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are undertaken annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and results are published in Health Statistics Quarterly. The latest year for which figures are currently available is 2005. The number of deaths in England and Wales where Clostridium difficile (C. diff) was (a) mentioned and (b) the underlying cause of death from 2001 to 2005 are published in table 3 of Health Statistics Quarterly 33 (p73).1 Figures for deaths in 1999 were also published in table 3 in Health Statistics Quarterly 30 (p58).2 Data are not available for deaths in 2000. Copies of Health Statistics Quarterly are available in the Library but the annual figures for England are given in the table below.
| 1999 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
Figures from ONS for deaths involving CDI for primary care trusts cannot be provided without disproportionate costs.
Mandatory surveillance of CDI was introduced in 2004 to help to establish the extent of the problem. Although not all healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) can be prevented, reduction of HCAIs, including CDIs, is a priority for the National Health Service.
29 Oct 2007 : Column WA151
We have a wide ranging programme to tackle HCAIs and some key elements of this are the new indicator to reduce infections by 30 per cent by March 2011 and a new e-learning tool that we are promoting with British Medical Journal learning.
The Health Act 2006: Code of practice for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections came into force on 1 October 2006 and requires NHS bodies to have appropriate management and clinical governance systems in place to deliver effective infection control.
Saving Lives: a delivery programme to reduce healthcare associated infections including MRSA which included an updated high impact intervention on CDI and Antimicrobial prescribing a summary of good practice. The latter is relevant because improved prescribing helps to prevent CDI.
Improvement teams are now providing tailored support to those trusts that have high numbers of patients with CDI as well as those with the most challenging meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) targets.
- 1 Office for National Statistics (2007) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 2001-2005. Health Statistics Quarterly 33, 71-75.
- 2 Office for National Statistics (2006) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2004. Health Statistics Quarterly 30, 56-60.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |