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Health: Botox
Baroness Tonge asked Her Majesty's Government:
What regulations exist to cover the sale and application of Botox; and whether any plans exist to amend such regulations. [HL1789]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine and its sale and use is governed by the Medicines Act 1968. Only specified persons such as doctors and dentists can order and receive wholesale supplies of botulinum toxin. Botulinum toxin can be prescribed only by an authorised prescriber—a doctor, a dentist, a nurse independent prescriber and a pharmacist independent prescriber, and administered by the practitioner themselves or under their direction. Treatments involving botulinum toxin must not be advertised direct to the public. In addition, any clinical professionals involved providing treatments which make use of botulinum toxin should adhere to the codes of professional conduct set out by their regulatory bodies.
There are no plans to change the requirements set out above. However, to supplement these requirements, the department has asked the Independent Healthcare Advisory Service to take the lead in setting up a self-regulatory scheme to improve the quality and safety of non-surgical cosmetic treatments, including those which involve botulinum toxin.
Health: Cosmetic Surgery
Baroness Tonge asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many patients the NHS has treated as a result of complications arising from cosmetic surgery performed outside the NHS. [HL1788]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): This information is not collected centrally.
Health: Emergency Care Practitioners
Baroness Tonge asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many patients were visited by emergency care practitioners instead of ambulance crews over the last 36 months; and [HL1786]
Whether they will provide a breakdown in figures for the outcomes for patients visited by emergency care practitioners in the place of ambulance crews. [HL1787]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The information is not collected centrally. It is a matter for individual ambulance trusts as to whether and how they employ emergency care practitioners.
18 Feb 2008 : Column WA16
Health: Foetal Surgery
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
What provision for foetal surgery for babies affected by disabilities exists within the United Kingdom; how many babies have been treated; on what conditions it has been used; and how the service is being developed. [HL836]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Hospital episode statistics for England show that in 2006-07 192 operations were performed on a foetus in National Health Service hospitals in England. It is not possible to identify for which specific condition the foetus received the intervention. These procedures are uncommon and will be performed in a few highly specialist centres. They are carefully controlled and all cases should be audited and a review of the clinical outcomes for all patients should be undertaken. There are promising scientific developments in this area.
Health: London Hospital Beds
Baroness Tonge asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many beds have been closed and how many beds have been reopened by London hospital trusts in the last 36 months. [HL1784]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The requested information is not held centrally. However, the following table shows total numbers of general and acute hospital beds, as reported by National Health Service trusts within London Strategic Health Authority (SHA) boundaries at end of 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Please note that the 2006-07 figure is for London SHA as a whole, due to the merger of the five former London SHAs—North Central London, North East London, North West London, South East London, South West London—in 2006.
18 Feb 2008 : Column WA17
Health: Northumberland
Lord Vinson asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the Northumberland Care Trust is cutting its financial support for the enhanced primary care services in Wooler, Northumberland, thereby requiring patients to make 80-mile round trips to an NHS hospital, bearing in mind the Government's community-based care policy. [HL1643]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): It is appropriate that the Northumberland Care Trust reviews its personal medical services (PMS) contracts to ensure value for money. All primary care organisations in the north-east are looking to ensure that contracts deliver value.
The proposals that have been brought forward by the Northumberland Care Trust are not about closing individual practices. The aim of these proposals is to ensure the continuity of the existing general practitioner (GP) services and, subject to agreement being reached, this will set a good foundation for the further development of primary care services for the benefit of patients across Northumberland.
PMS contracts, including the terms of these contracts, are negotiated locally between primary care trusts and GP practices. It would not be appropriate for the department to become involved in these local negotiations. However, if a practice is unhappy with any of the proposed terms of the contract that is being offered to it, it can raise this through the contractual dispute resolution processes that are set out in legislation.
Health: Showers in Hospitals
Baroness Barker asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Local health service managers are responsible for ensuring that there are proper and sufficient facilities to meet patients' personal hygiene needs. Best practice guidance made available to the National Health Service recommends that for new-build and major redevelopment the ratio of patient showers in NHS hospitals should be one en-suite shower for each four-bed room and one en-suite shower for each single room.
House of Lords: Black Rod's Garden Entrance
Lord Laird asked the Chairman of Committees:
Further to his Written Answer on 6 February (WA 189), when the last health and safety audit was carried out on Black Rod's Garden Entrance; and whether it took into consideration potential injury caused to staff by strong winds. [HL1917]
18 Feb 2008 : Column WA18
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): A health and safety review of all police officer posts and accommodation was undertaken on 13 and 14 September 2007. The inspection of Black Rod’s Garden Entrance did not identify any potential hazards created by weather conditions.
House of Lords: Mail
Lord Norton of Louth asked the Chairman of Committees:
How many items of mail were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2007; and what proportion was received by the House of Lords. [HL1930]
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): 4,199,853 items of post were received by the Houses of Parliament during 2007. The House of Lords received an estimated 20 per cent of this total number, giving an annual figure for the Lords for that year of approximately 839,970.
Iraq: Baha Mousa
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any inquiry or investigation into the wider aspects of the Baha Mousa court martial case will take place; and, if so, when. [HL1738]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): I refer the noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence made on 25 January (Official Report, col. 66WS).
Iraq: Prisoners
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Following publication of the The Aitken Report: An Investigation into Cases of Deliberate Abuse and Unlawful Killing in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, on 25 January, whether the Ministry of Defence will amend Joint Doctrine Publication 1-10 Prisoners of War, Internees and Detainees to make clear the distinction between the roles of professionally trained interrogation and tactical questioning (I&TQ) experts and other personnel who may be tangentially involved in the business of detention and I&TQ; and whether that publication will specifically proscribe the “five techniques” as an aid to interrogation. [HL1739]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): Joint Doctrine Publication 1-10 (JDP 1-10) is in the process of being amended to include these specific recommendations of the Aitken report.
18 Feb 2008 : Column WA19
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Following publication of The Aitken Report: An Investigation into Cases of Deliberate Abuse and Unlawful Killing in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, on 25 January, whether the Ministry of Defence will produce guidance on those occasions following disciplinary cases where the Army's Adjutant General rather than the immediate chain of command should take the decision to proceed with administrative action or further inquiry. [HL1741]
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Guidance on the application of administrative action or further inquiry is contained in Army General and Administrative Instruction 67. This is being amended to include provision for the Director Personal Services (Army), on behalf of the Adjutant General, to direct the chain of command to undertake an investigation.
Law Commission: Ministerial Committee
Lord Norton of Louth asked Her Majesty's Government:
When the Ministerial Committee on the Law Commission last met; and how many times the committee has met since its establishment in 2000. [HL1704]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Ministerial Committee on the Law Commission has met 10 times, most recently on 19 April 2007.
Law Commission: Reports
Lord Norton of Louth asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many reports published by the Law Commission from 1995 to 2007 inclusive did not receive a response from the Government within six months of publication; and, of these, how many have still not received a response; and [HL1701]
What steps they have taken to ensure that government departments are aware of the recommendations in the 2006 protocol The Law Commission and Government—Working Together to Deliver the Benefits of Clear, Simple and Modern Law; and [HL1702]
What action they have taken to ensure that responses to Law Commission reports are published within six months of the report's publication. [HL1703]
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