Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 14 June 2007
Health
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
The Department, in partnership with the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA), published Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers in November 2005. Models of Care was informed by the review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems commissioned by the NTA. Both publications have been placed in the Library and are available at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Healthandsocialcaretopics/Alcoholmisuse/Alcoholmisusegeneralinformation/DH_4130659
www.nta.nhs.uk/publications/documents/nta_review_of_ the_effectiveness_of_treatment_for_alcohol_problems_ fullreport_2006_alcohol2.pdf
The Health Technology Assessment Programme, part of the Department's National Institute for Health Research, is currently supporting two studies looking in part at the cost effectiveness of therapies designed to help people stop smoking. These are:
a systematic review of the effectiveness and an economic analysis of cut down to quit with nicotine replacement therapies; and
relapse prevention in NHS stop smoking services: a review of current practice, potential effectiveness and cost effectiveness.
Angina: Medical Treatments
(2) which primary care trusts fund the provision of enhanced external counter pulsation treatment;
(3) what assessment she has made of the availability of enhanced external counter pulsation treatment for individuals with angina in (a) South East Essex primary care trust and (b) primary care trusts which do not provide enhanced external counter pulsation treatment.
Enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) is not routinely offered to patients with angina by the national health service. There is currently insufficient evidence on the benefits of using EECP to treat angina. Although there is currently insufficient evidence, should this situation change the position can be reviewed. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence were made aware of EECP in 2004, but were unable to pursue an appraisal.
Most central funding is allocated directly to local primary care trusts (PCTs) and health authorities. Individual PCTs are responsible for funding services that reflect the priorities and needs of the local population. The Department is unable to comment on the funding decisions each PCT makes.
Arthritis: Young People
(2) how many adults in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England (i) were diagnosed with and (ii) required treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in each year since 1997.
The information is not available.
Bereavement Counselling: Buckinghamshire
This is a matter for Buckinghamshire primary care trust (PCT). PCTs are responsible for the provision of local services, including bereavement services.
Blood Transfusions
The Department will take advice on the use of prion reduction filters from independent evaluations recommended by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to test the efficacy and reproducibility of the filters, an approach endorsed by Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Blood and Tissues and Organs. The Department will take the following factors into account when considering prion reduction filters: the results of clinical safety trials and whether they indicate no adverse effect on patients with the use of filtered blood; that filtered blood units meet the required product specification; the results of an independent evaluation of the efficacy of the filtered in reducing variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (vCJD) infectivity in blood; estimates of the prevalence of preclinical vCJD or a carrier state in the donor population and consequent estimates of infections prevented through filtration and the benefit of life years saved; the cost of implementation of filtration compared with the benefit received and the availability of other technologies to reduce infectivity in blood.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has a duty to investigate any new technologies which might improve the safety of the blood supply. Currently, NHSBT is investigating vCJD screening, new filters to remove infectious prions, bacterial screening of platelets and pathogen inactivation of platelets. Such assessments consist of review of manufacturers’ data on efficacy and quality of the product, laboratory studies and clinical trials as appropriate. NHSBT might need to perform additional studies. Only licenced methods are considered.
All blood safety measures are considered by the Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Blood, Tissues, and Organs for Transplantation.
Blood: Contamination
The review identifies that 20.5 per cent. of papers have been categorised as relating to self sufficiency. The focus of the review was 1970-85, and 90 per cent. of the documents related to this time period, just under 10 per cent. fell outside this timeline.
Lord Archer has been advised that the Department will release all papers identified in the review, in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The papers will be released to Lord Archer’s inquiry as quickly as possible, in batches on a monthly basis.
British Food
80 per cent. of food served through the approved supplier of catering and hospitality services to the Departmental estate was home-grown and 20 per cent. produced from other countries in 2005 and 2006.
National health service trusts select the suppliers that provide food for their trust and information relating to the proportion of food served of British origin in all NHS hospitals is not held centrally. However, NHS Supply Chain manages approximately 55 per cent. of the NHS food market, with the balance via facilities management companies and smaller wholesalers. For the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006, NHS Supply Chain sourced 59 per cent. of meat from the United Kingdom, while the remainder was imported. The organisation sourced 40 per cent of fruit and vegetables in the UK, while 60 per cent. was imported.
Dental Services
Information on people accessing open access dental surgeries is not collected centrally. However, information on patients seen in the last 24 months in all dental primary care settings is available.
Numbers of patients seen in the previous 24 months ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2006 are available in Section Fl of Annex 3 of the National Health Service Dental Statistics for England Q3: 31 December 2006 report, and copies are available in the Library.
Information is as at strategic health authority and primary care trust level in England and the report, published by The Information Centre for health and social care, is also available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/primary-care/dentistry/nhs-dental-statistics-for-england-q3:-31-december-2006
Departments: Data Protection
The definition of found to have been in breach can be broad. Depending on their nature, breaches by Government Departments of the Data Protection Act 1998 can be dealt with by the Information Commissioner, the courts or by Departments at an informal local level. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Gateway Reference Number
The information is shown in the following table.
The Department external gateway reference numbers issued 2000 and 20011 — 20022 445 20032 887 20043 820 20053 1,045 20063 1,148 1 For years 2000 and 2001: no figures available as the Department’s external gateway was introduced in December 2001. 2 For years 2002 and 2003: the figures include all documents received by the Department’s external gateway; and the way the data is captured does not allow reference numbers issued to arms length bodies, other Government Departments and external organisations to be excluded. 3 The Department’s external gateway database was introduced in August 2003 and the quality of data is much more robust for years 2004-06 and not comparable to pre-August 2003.
The table highlights the number of documents/communications approved for publication/issue to the national health service/social care and that received a departmental external gateway reference number. However, these figures do not represent actual documents/communications issued, as the publication of some could have been re-considered following approval.
In addition, the majority of approved documents/communications are not directly issued to the NHS/social care as individual communications. Instead, brief summaries of the document are communicated via weekly, monthly or quarterly bulletins, with web addresses where more detailed information can be found. In some instances, documents may be approved simply for publication on the Department website only.
No one in the NHS will receive all of these documents/communications. The vast majority are targeted to specific organisations. For example, some will go to ambulance trusts, some to primary care trusts, some to strategic health authorities and so on. The communications are then further targeted so that only the appropriate audience within those organisations receive the documents, for example, cancer leads, public health leads, mental health leads, chief executives, finance directors etc.
Ministerial Travel
The Government publishes an annual list of Cabinet Ministers’ travel overseas costing over £500 along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 and is available in the Library. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as it is ready.
All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
A detailed list of visits by all United Kingdom Ministers to India since 2003 can be found on the British High Commission website at:
www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1038154781863
Departments: Internet
The Department has ownership of two main websites. They are:
Visits 2004-05 8,643,914 2005-06 10,980,854 2006-07 10,168,508
Costs:
(a) the cost of establishing the Departmental corporate website site on a new service in 2006-07 was £1,570,000
(b) the cost of maintaining the existing service in parallel in 2006-07 was £2,343,643. This includes the cost of contingency arrangements due to the late delivery of the new service, most of which will be recovered in compensation from the supplier.
Visits 2005-06 12,404,000 2006-07 17,657,409
Costs:
The cost in 2006-07 (covering development, content, delivery and staffing) was £1.7 million.
In addition to the two main websites (above), the Department funds and/or manages a further 111 websites.
The Department is actively engaged in reducing this number of sites, in accordance with the guidelines and timetables set for website rationalisation under Transformational Government.
Indeed, the Department has already shut down 27 websites and has plans in place to terminate 53 sites out of the 111 figure above. By the end of this project in 2011, all 111 sites will either be closed or migrated to DH.gov.uk, NHS.uk, NHS Direct, Directgov or Business Link.
The information in the table lists visitor figures for 35 sites. To assemble the statistics for the other sites would incur disproportionate cost.
The total estimated cost for these websites in 2006-07 was £699,134. This cost is approximate and cannot be broken down further. Some sites include campaign expenditure and start-up funding and therefore costs will be spread over a period of years.
Visits www.hepc.nhs.uk 6,750 www.immunisation.nhs.uk 35,000 www.gosmokefree.co.uk 167,500 www.condomessentialwear.co.uk 181,000 www.stayinghard.info 1103,000 www.talktofrank.com 1443,000 www.uglysmoking.info 1123,000 www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk 3,250 www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk 6,000 www.photolibrary.nhs.uk 200 www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk 20,000 www.nhscommslink.nhs.uk 1,625 www.pathologyimprovement.nhs.uk 1,500 www.clean-safe-care.nhs.uk 850 www.18weeks.nhs.uk 9,000 www.socialworkandcare.co.uk 123,000 www.smokefreeengland.co.uk 16,000 www.nhsprocure21.dh.gov.uk 1000 www.nhs-procure21.gov.uk 1500 www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/iar.nsf?open 150 www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/notice.nsf/frames2?openform 200 www.info.doh.gov.uk/renalnsf/renaltrans.nsf 36 www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/depisusers.nsf/Main?readForm 369 www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/oldpeople.nsf/main?readform 138 www.info.doh.gov.uk/pathology/patdis01.nsf 329 www.info.doh.gov.uk/publichealth/hidis.nsf 197 www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk 64,000 www.info.doh.gov.uk/cmo/CMOUpdate.nsf/RegistrationMenu?OpenForm 61 www.info.doh.gov.uk/Cvts/VTSPCW.nsf 24 www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/embroadcast.nsf 1,150 www.info.doh.gov.uk/nhs/cdoweb.nsf/Main?OpenFrameset 181 www.info.doh.gov.uk/nhsfactsheets.nsf 2,600 www.info.doh.gov.uk/sar/cmopatie.nsf 3,039 www.nationalleadershipnetwork.org 800 www.performance.doh.gov.uk 96,000 Total monthly visits 1,112,449 1 Peak figure when running campaigns.
Departments: Manpower
The individual and full-time equivalent breakdown for each of the Department's directorates, as at 30 April 2007, is shown in the following table.
Directorate Number of individuals Number of full time equivalents Clinical Programmes 67 61.6 Commercial 5 4.6 Commissioning 264 257.4 Communications 107 105.4 Connecting for Health 29 28.5 Departmental Management 596 583.0 Equality and Human Rights1 24 22.7 Experience Involvement and Professional Leadership 75 72.9 Finance and Investment 215 208.6 Health and Care Partnerships 94 92.3 Health Improvement2 203 196.4 Healthcare Quality 51 48.2 Health Protection, International Health and Scientific Development 149 145.9 Policy and Strategy 137 133.5 Provider Development 44 43.0 Research and Development 55 51.0 Social Care 72 68.5 Workforce 106 101.2 1 Headed by a Director rather than a Director General. 2 Includes Regional Public Health Groups.
The Department currently has 47 people not in permanent posts but carrying out meaningful work across the organisation until a permanent post can be identified to which they are then deployed.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Special advisers involvement in party political matters is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, including section 22 (iii), and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Secretary in December 2006 and May 2007, copies of which are available in the Library.
Departments: Pay
The available information is as follows:
Number of bonuses awarded Total cost (£) 2004-05 123 642,625.00 2005-06 172 884,985.88 2006-07 164 1,073,050.62
The information for years between 1997-98 and 2003-04 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Number of bonuses awarded Total cost (£) 2005-06 62 254,567.60 2006-07 60 342,597.00
Number of bonuses awarded Total cost (£) 2005-06 2 7,430.00 2006-07 7 31,758.45
Both the MHRA and NHS PASA do not hold bonus information going back any further then 2005-06.
The national health service does not employ senior civil servants.
Departments: Public Relations
The information requested is not available.
Diabetes
The number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is not available in the format requested. Figures are not available for type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately.
The total number of patients aged 17 and over on practice registers in England who have an appropriate diabetes diagnosis in 2004-05 was 1.77 million people1.
The total number of patients aged 17 and over on practice registers in England who have an appropriate diabetes diagnosis in 2005-06 was 1.89 million people2.
It is estimated that over 90 per cent. of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
Notes:
The difference between 1.77 million in 2004-05 and 1.89 million in 2005-06 does not mean that extra 0.12 million patients were diagnosed within those 12 months. The figures are a function of diagnosis recording on practice registers, and therefore were subject to data quality review in that period, as the QOF was being established. Patients with diabetes aged under 17 are not included because they are regarded as receiving their diabetes management in the secondary care sector.
Sources:
1 “2004-05 Quality and Outcomes Framework” (QOF) data published by The Information Centre for health and social care. This is the first year of data from this source.
2 Source 2005-06 QOF data published by The Information Centre for health and social care.
Doctors: Training
Not all doctors in training will change jobs on the same date at the beginning of August. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice as most doctors at the level equivalent to the senior house officer grade will start in the first week of August, while doctors at the equivalent of the specialist registrar grade will have staggered start dates.
To ensure service is maintained at the beginning of August and patient care is not compromised, NHS Employers are working with trusts to plan now for managing the transition in the period after 1 August. These plans include advertising locum posts on NHS jobs to fill training posts and using extensions to contracts or service posts.
The previous policy has not been abandoned. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice.
In the past most doctors at senior house officer (SHO) level changed over in the first week of August. The doctors at specialist registrar (SpR) level traditionally change over in July, September or October.
New specialty training programmes commence in August 2007. Most doctors at the level equivalent to the SHO grade will continue to start in the first week of August. Doctors at the equivalent of SpR level will continue to have staggered start dates.
[holding answer 6 June 2007]: The Department’s supplier monitors the number of visitors to the Medical Training Application Service website and page visits. The total average daily visits and peak daily visits are reported to the Department monthly. The most recent figures are for the month of April and are shown in the table.
April Total number of visits to the website in period 245,314 Average number of visits per day within the period 8,177 Peak number of visits in one day within the period 22,423 Cumulative number of users registered 51,474
Elderly: Malnutrition
The Department and stakeholders are drawing up an action plan to tackle the nutritional care of all adults in health and social care settings (which will include older people). The plan will be made available once it has been shared and discussed with stakeholders this summer.
GMOs: Contamination
The Food Standards Agency has not estimated the cost of the genetically modified rice (LL601) incident to itself, food businesses, Government Departments, local authorities (including port authorities) or the catering and food service sectors.
Health Services
To ensure service is maintained at the beginning of August and patient care is not compromised, strategic health authorities are working with trusts and NHS Employers are working with the Department to plan now for managing the transition in the period after 1 August. These plans include advertising locum posts on NHS Jobs to fill training posts and using extensions to contracts or service posts.
Not all doctors in training will change jobs on the same date at the beginning of August. Arrangements for 2007 will reflect current practice as most doctors at the level equivalent to the senior house officer grade will start in the first week of August, while doctors at the equivalent of the specialist registrar grade will have staggered start dates.
A copy has been placed in the Library.
Health Services: Social Work
As stated in the Government response to the Health Select Committee report, laid in Parliament on Monday 11 June, an organisation being a social care provider does not prevent it from also advocating on behalf of patients and users of health and social care services. We believe it is more than reasonable to expect potential host organisations to demonstrate that they are able to manage their existing responsibilities as well as take on the role of supporting a LINk.
The host will be accountable to the LINk and in its support function will be required to follow the LINk’s direction irrespective of what its own interests might be. The sort of organisations that we expect to become hosts are used to dealing with these kinds of issues all the time, as indeed are local authorities.
The model contract specification currently being drafted, addresses this issue and will include a requirement for an organisation to demonstrate it can deliver the contract without any conflict of interest.
Health Visitors
The Agenda for Change pay system does not specify the roles or functions of staff but it does provide an objective means of determining the weight of jobs whose role and function is determined by the employer, and therefore the pay band in which those jobs should be placed. To assist employers in objectively assessing health visitor jobs, two national job profiles have been prepared for typical health visitor roles, which would fall in pay band 6 and pay band 7. Health visitors whose jobs match these profiles would have basic pay in the ranges of £23,458 to £31,779 and £28,313 to £37,326 (1 November 2007) respectively.
Health Visitors: Manpower
(2) how many health visitors were working for the NHS in (a) September 2005 and (b) September 2006;
(3) what work force planning the NHS has undertaken, with particular reference to the future recruitment and retention of health visitors;
(4) what assessment she has made of (a) the age profile of health visitors working for the NHS and (b) its implications for future recruitment and retention of health visitors.
Table 1 shows the number of health visitors in the national health service in England over the last 10 years.
The number of health visitors has remained static over the last 10 years but there has been significant growth in the overall number of nurses working in primary and community care settings in both 2005-06 of 1,039 (1 per cent.) and since 1997 of 29,543 (38.2 per cent.).
Work force planning in terms of the recruitment and retention of health visitors is a matter for local work force planners in local primary care trusts and strategic health authorities as they are best placed to assess the health visiting needs of their local population.
Table 2 shows the age profile of health visitors as at September 2006.
Headcount Full time equivalent 1997 12,410 10,030 1998 12,570 10,070 1999 12,800 10,160 2000 12,827 10,046 2001 13,053 10,186 2002 12,774 9,912 2003 12,984 9,999 2004 13,303 10,137 2005 12,818 9,809 20061 12,034 9,376 1 More accurate validation in 2006 has resulted in 232 headcount duplicate records being identified and removed from the non-medical census. Source: Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census
Headcount Health visitor Under 25 13 25 to 29 274 30 to 34 672 35 to 39 1,402 40 to 44 2,257 45 to 49 2,590 50 to 54 2,126 55 to 59 1,588 60 to 64 672 65 and over 89 Unknown 351 All staff 12,034
Health Visitors: Training
This information is not held centrally.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Web-based reporting systems were introduced for all cases of Clostridium difficile associated disease in patients aged two years and over from April 2007 and for all cases of bloodstream infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from October 2005.
These web-based systems replace the quarterly reports sent by trusts to the Health Protection Agency regional offices. They have been introduced to support initiatives to control and prevent healthcare associated infections. These systems allow more efficient collection of reports and enable trusts to enter data at any time and view their own data. They provide trusts with a more accurate picture and contribute to building a better evidence base regarding risk factors for infection as trusts can see the data to assess the effectiveness of the interventions to reduce infections.
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust: Hospital Wards
This information is not collected centrally.
This information is not collected centrally. Responsibility for local health services lies with the local national health service. It is now for primary care trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to plan, develop and improve services for local people in accordance with local health needs.
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust: Redundancy
No redundancies have been reported for the Hull and East Yorkshire hospitals NHS Trust in 2006-07.
Junior Doctors: Taunton
The General Medical Council (GMC) keeps an up-to-date register of qualified doctors; all doctors must be registered with the GMC before they can work in the United Kingdom. Further information on the CMC can be found at:
www.gmc-uk.org
The number of doctors in training and equivalent grades employed by national health service organisations within Taunton constituency is shown in the table.
Hospital and community health services (HCHS): medical and dental staff, showing doctors in training and equivalent grades for NHS organisations within Taunton constituency as at 30 September 2006.
Total Yeovil DistrictHospital NHS Foundation Trust Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust All staff 568 185 383 Doctors in training and equivalents of which: 269 75 194 Registrar group 76 10 66 Senior house officer 133 31 102 Foundation year two 19 19 0 House officer 41 15 26 Source: The Information Centre for health and social care medical and dental workforce census.
Lincolnshire
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has accepted an invitation to visit The Pilgrim hospital in Boston at a date to be agreed. No other Ministers have visited Lincolnshire.
Medical Training
I refer to the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) on 19 April 2007, Official Report, column 745.
Medical Training Application Service
It is too early at this stage to say exactly what run-through and fixed-term posts will be available next year. This will depend, as it did this year, upon the results of local discussions between trusts and deaneries to establish the appropriate number of training posts required to meet patient and service needs.
The number of training posts agreed for the first round was available on the Medical Training Application Service while it was open.
Interviews for the further recruitment round will be managed locally and will start once the offers for each individual specialty in round one have been accepted or rejected. The number of additional training posts will include at least 200 run-through posts plus substantial further opportunities.
As outlined in the statement by the Review of Recruitment and Selection for Specialty and General Practitioner Training in England on 4 April 2007, all eligible applicants to specialty training (excluding general practice) in England will be invited to an interview for their affirmed first preference.
NHS Work Force
One of the recommendations of “The Action Plan - A Social Partnership Forum Action Plan for Maximising Employment Opportunities for Newly Qualified Healthcare Professionals in a Changing NHS” published on 13 April is that East of England strategic health authority undertake a feasibility study to maximise employment opportunities for newly qualified health care professionals. This will include assessing the feasibility of an employment guarantee scheme for newly qualified health care professionals.
The feasibility study will last for one year and was officially launched on 15 May by East of England strategic health authority.
The outcome of the feasibility study will determine whether employment guarantee schemes are a viable option. If so, the nature and length of these schemes will be defined upon relevant factors established through the study.
Stakeholder representatives on the social partnership forum will be involved in this decision-making process and the final outcome, once known, will be published.
The recently published census showed there has been a small reduction in the overall national health service work force of 8,118 full-time equivalent (FTE) or 0.7 per cent. of the total (17,390 headcount) in England from September 2005 to September 2006. This should be seen in the context of there being almost 250,000 FTE (280,000 headcount) more staff working in the NHS in England than in 1997 as there are now over 34,000 FTE (35,000 HC) doctors and over 65,000 FTE (79,000 HC) more nurses in the NHS than in 1997.
Doctors account for 13.9 per cent. of the FTE increase in the work force and nurses 26.5 per cent., compared with just 5.5 per cent. managers.
There has been an increase in the number of doctors and an increase in the number of permanent qualified nurses now in the system. In addition, there are now fewer managers working in the NHS, the first fall since 1995.
The numbers show that the work force overall is starting to re-balance with demand equalling supply.
NHS: Consultants
New contracts for doctors formed part of the discussions between the Department and HM Treasury during the 2002 Spending Review, which concluded in July 2002.
The Department set up a number of working groups and reference groups, which included key stakeholders, during the negotiation and implementation of the consultant contract.
NHS: Finance
The review body on nurses and other health professions is required to have regard to the Government’s inflation target, and its consideration of pay and price changes in relation to its recommendation of a 2.5 per cent. increase in nurses pay this year is set out in chapter 7 of its “Twenty Second Report on Nursing an Other Health Professions 2007” (Cm 7029) published in March.
No account was taken of forecast rates of inflation in determining the increase in the prescription charge from 1 April 2007.
There would be disproportionate costs incurred to produce information at this level of detail across the whole time period requested. The following table therefore shows the information (in cash terms, including adults and children's social care) from 2000-01, from which time an improved means was introduced for collecting these data through an annual return.
£ 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Cumbria 169 189 217 247 283 308 Northumberland 212 240 260 314 349 387 Gateshead 278 288 322 338 377 396 Newcastle upon Tyne 282 306 416 378 412 429 North Tyneside 251 274 350 396 405 442 South Tyneside 286 303 332 403 511 429 Sunderland 236 257 290 330 334 347 Hartlepool UA 232 242 287 305 356 385 Middlesbrough UA 243 274 313 324 344 382 Redcar and Cleveland UA 225 236 260 274 324 347 Stockton-on-Tees UA 194 205 221 236 263 294 Durham 204 226 260 319 349 365 Darlington UA 197 217 254 311 294 316 Barnsley 203 223 259 251 322 340 Doncaster 212 224 237 273 285 304 Rotherham 227 237 260 288 329 353 Sheffield 254 260 270 310 335 358 Bradford 218 229 258 303 335 343 Calderdale 216 229 252 285 308 335 Kirklees 207 226 247 268 321 358 Leeds 219 246 273 312 341 361 Wakefield 203 215 233 270 309 340 East Riding of Yorkshire UA 154 161 188 217 246 261 Kingston upon hull UA 300 312 338 345 370 428 North-east Lincolnshire UA 208 216 262 282 296 333 North Lincolnshire UA 189 209 246 268 298 313 North Yorkshire 159 167 201 238 266 282 York UA 166 169 208 228 242 260 Bolton 213 224 240 275 307 333 Bury 200 219 246 270 307 323 Manchester 324 368 414 462 515 557 Oldham 232 241 270 336 324 349 Rochdale 238 249 264 275 310 350 Salford 296 310 338 373 409 433 Stockport 224 229 249 278 309 322 Tameside 233 239 258 285 305 323 Trafford 198 215 240 267 286 312 Wigan 200 216 238 263 290 303 Knowsley 244 263 308 326 354 389 Liverpool 354 336 377 414 412 443 Sefton 238 249 295 316 337 352 St. Helens 246 256 263 295 330 372 Wirral 239 269 307 329 367 382 Cheshire 171 187 211 228 259 288 Halton UA 212 221 251 300 331 362 Warrington UA 163 177 207 228 259 286 Lancashire 194 206 237 286 313 331 Blackburn with Darwen UA 244 260 309 331 369 390 Blackpool UA 266 271 292 366 413 428 Warwickshire 151 168 197 235 255 267 Birmingham 266 277 302 332 371 411 Coventry 248 257 300 319 347 393 Dudley 188 202 231 260 292 318 Sandwell 261 283 322 352 425 433 Solihull 184 196 232 268 316 348 Walsall 243 263 319 394 439 457 Wolverhampton 268 281 315 343 386 424 Staffordshire 155 167 190 225 254 289 Stoke-on-Trent UA 221 240 276 306 345 377 Herefordshire UA 174 181 218 235 265 283 Worcestershire 170 178 207 254 270 288 Shropshire 161 178 203 252 258 271 Telford and the Wrekin UA 192 195 214 236 277 295 Lincolnshire 164 172 204 256 292 303 Northamptonshire 190 177 221 265 301 322 Derbyshire 194 202 225 268 293 313 Derby UA 233 247 253 283 304 329 Leicestershire 134 143 167 200 215 229 Leicester UA 258 276 309 330 357 379 Rutland UA 139 151 168 182 197 218 Nottinghamshire 172 181 212 280 305 315 Nottingham UA 287 298 324 338 371 375 Hertfordshire 189 207 236 285 315 333 Norfolk 185 198 233 277 309 356 Oxfordshire 190 200 214 252 262 265 Suffolk 177 193 225 269 307 336 Bedfordshire 181 192 216 261 294 284 Luton UA 239 253 266 293 355 376 Buckinghamshire 157 171 195 224 265 274 Milton Keynes UA 183 191 224 233 246 283 Bracknell Forest UA 201 219 226 246 266 298 West Berkshire UA 188 201 232 245 286 305 Reading UA 241 270 296 324 351 357 Slough UA 304 265 313 340 352 370 Windsor and Maidenhead UA 188 190 210 243 274 280 Wokingham UA 156 177 195 228 228 248 Essex 184 200 241 290 320 347 Southend-on-Sea UA 248 266 308 341 375 386 Thurrock UA 202 220 241 268 299 99 Cambridgeshire 161 178 203 248 277 307 Peterborough UA 231 237 283 267 307 330 Camden 471 469 480 502 525 540 Greenwich 402 414 447 477 509 517 Hackney 489 464 469 576 556 586 Hammersmith and Fulham 492 509 523 562 557 566 Islington 596 591 613 645 670 667 Kensington and Chelsea 462 434 438 430 424 411 Lambeth 473 497 519 589 607 631 Lewisham 384 429 452 498 549 546 Southwark 523 501 496 529 589 603 Tower Hamlets 450 502 537 540 581 615 Wandsworth 337 323 357 355 429 404 Westminster 516 514 537 513 505 472 City of London 1,005 929 920 926 816 817 Barking and Dagenham 373 391 439 468 497 521 Barnet 271 316 322 358 353 388 Bexley 216 232 256 279 291 306 Brent 278 272 303 358 360 381 Bromley 274 235 235 269 289 301 Croydon 242 268 315 364 380 401 Ealing 285 309 318 356 383 404 Enfield 266 285 310 370 347 388 Haringey 478 529 521 614 563 583 Harrow 267 278 290 310 350 361 Havering 210 232 259 265 304 312 Hillingdon 229 326 357 383 433 453 Hounslow 283 301 326 376 408 439 Kingston upon Thames 231 246 284 306 326 347 Merton 245 261 276 313 314 309 Newham 424 431 460 496 491 520 Redbridge 264 270 284 310 307 317 Richmond upon Thames 227 323 321 321 329 342 Sutton 228 227 266 288 311 333 Waltham Forest 353 355 372 403 401 403 Isle of Wight UA 203 212 259 301 334 361 Surrey 167 180 205 248 281 297 West Sussex 183 195 235 276 299 317 Dorset 165 179 200 252 279 310 Bournemouth UA 260 274 302 327 347 376 Poole UA 174 196 225 231 255 280 Hampshire 141 153 177 199 239 251 Portsmouth UA 257 262 303 308 340 359 Southampton UA 249 225 297 330 345 354 East Sussex 211 227 264 320 350 370 Brighton and Hove UA 267 285 332 376 430 439 Wiltshire 163 164 192 233 265 289 Swindon UA 178 200 232 250 279 292 Kent 211 225 270 302 310 311 Medway Towns UA 169 188 208 231 257 269 Cornwall 167 184 209 256 293 305 Gloucestershire 168 176 208 277 307 315 Somerset 167 174 203 231 264 288 Isles of Scilly — 192 250 265 237 264 Bath and North-east Somerset UA 192 211 245 260 288 294 Bristol UA 242 261 298 325 369 381 North Somerset UA 157 168 223 288 322 337 South Gloucestershire UA 140 153 177 198 226 265 Devon 178 189 231 253 277 294 Plymouth UA 240 253 282 309 362 379 Torbay UA 238 250 301 392 425 445 England total 222 236 265 301 329 348 Notes: 1. The table shows total net cost of social services per head of population, this is the total spend excluding capital charges minus income received from client contributions and other income which includes income from the national health service. 2. In 2003-04 the supported people grant was introduced which should be taken into consideration when making comparisons over time. The expenditure information is actual spend and has not been adjusted for inflation. 3. Data are unavailable for the Isles of Scilly for 2000-01.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for meeting the health needs of their population using the resources available to them. The following table shows the revenue resource limit for PCTs in Greater Manchester from the published accounts and the draft figures for 2006-07.
Organisation name 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Oldham PCT 267.9 300.4 318.5 Tameside and Glossop PCT 263.5 292.0 311.5 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 357.9 392.3 418.2 Bolton PCT 300.5 342.6 351.2 Bury PCT 194.4 214.3 231.6 Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 247.1 274.4 288.5 Salford Teaching PCT 325.6 344.3 368.3 Manchester PCT 672.5 735.4 781.6 Stockport PCT 313.8 356.8 366.2 Trafford PCT 239.7 271.4 275.3
NHS: Labour Turnover
This information is not collected centrally.
NHS: Overseas Workers
Anyone who is not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom is subject to the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended and will be liable for charges for any hospital treatment they receive unless they are exempt from charge under a number of exemption categories listed in these regulations.
One exemption category relates to people engaged in employment outside the UK for no more than five years. Another relates to anyone who is working overseas as a missionary for an organisation with its principal place of business in the UK, for any length of time and regardless of whether they derive a salary or wage from the organisation, or receive any type of funding or assistance from the organisation. We have no plans to extend that to other unpaid charitable or aid workers. Such people will be able to access national health service hospital treatment, but they will be liable for charges for it unless considered exempt under another category.
NHS: Sick Leave
Average sickness absence for national health service organisations (excluding foundation trusts) from April to December 2006 is estimated at 10 working days, reported through the financial information management system. This figure equates to 4.0 per cent.
NHS: Training
The information requested in show in the following table.
Post types (percentage) Specialty Theme Specialty training Fixed-term specialist training appointment (FTSTA) Academic Acute care common stem (ACCS) Acute medicine 83 17 0 Anaesthesia 80 20 0 Emergency medicine 70 29 1 Intensive care medicine 0 100 0 Acute medicine 100 0 0 Allergy 100 0 0 Anaesthesia 71 28 0 Audiological medicine 67 0 33 Cardiology 98 0 2 Cardiothoracic surgery 83 0 17 Chemical pathology 100 0 0 Child and adolescent psychiatry 100 0 0 Clinical genetics 80 0 20 Clinical neurophysiology 88 0 13 Clinical oncology 97 0 3 Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics 75 0 25 Clinical radiology 96 0 4 Core medical training 65 34 1 Dermatology 100 0 0 Emergency medicine 94 6 0 Endocrinology and diabetes 97 0 3 Forensic psychiatry 96 0 4 Gastroenterology 100 0 0 General adult psychiatry 99 0 1 General practice 100 0 0 General surgery 99 0 1 Genito-urinary medicine 100 0 0 Geriatric medicine 97 0 3 Haematoloqy 95 0 5 Histopathology 100 0 0 Immunology 80 0 20 Infectious diseases 100 0 0 Infectious diseases and medical microbiology and virology (MMV) Medical microbiology 100 0 0 Infectious diseases and MMV Virology 50 0 50 Medical microbiology and virology 87 13 0 Medical microbiology and virology 100 0 0 Medical oncology 75 0 25 Medical ophthalmology 100 0 0 Neurology 90 0 10 Neurosurgery 60 39 1 Nuclear medicine 100 0 0 Obstetrics and gynaecology 85 14 1 Occupational medicine 100 0 0 Old age psychiatry 100 0 0 Ophthalmology 59 40 0 Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) 78 22 0 Otolaryngology (ENT) 98 0 2 Paediatric cardiology 100 0 0 Paediatric surgery 100 0 0 Paediatrics 72 28 1 Palliative medicine 100 0 0 Plastic surgery 98 0 2 Psychiatry 67 32 1 Psychiatry of learning disability 100 0 0 Psychotherapy 100 0 0 Public health 90 0 10 Rehabilitation medicine 96 0 4 Renal medicine 93 0 7 Respiratory Medicine 100 0 0 Rheumatology 96 0 4 Sports and exercise medicine 100 0 0 Surgery in general Cardiothoracic Surgery 3 97 0 Surgery in general General surgery 33 66 1 Surgery in general Generic 56 42 2 Surgery in general Otolaryngology (ENT) 36 62 2 Surgery in general Paediatric surgery 45 55 0 Surgery in general Plastic surgery 38 61 1 Surgery in general Trauma and orthopaedic surgery 41 59 0 Surgery in general Urology 41 57 3 Trauma and orthopaedic surgery 98 0 2 Urology 96 0 4 14,600 4,400 200 Grand total (76) (23) (1)
Nurses
(2) what plans she has to minimise the paperwork which needs to be completed by nurses as part of their duties;
(3) what estimate she has made of the proportion of time spent on a shift by a nurse who was assigned to (a) administrative work and (b) caring duties in (i) 1997 and (ii) the latest date for which figures are available.
No estimates have been made centrally. Nurses work in teams of nursing staff of different grades as well as being members of multi-disciplinary teams. They will spend differing time on patient care according to their roles and responsibilities in the team.
The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) is working with the National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement and the Royal College of Nursing to promote the spread of good practice being generated by the productive ward programme. The programme will remove processes that distract nurses and will help staff reorganise wards so that the focus is on needs of patients and on easing the workload generated by some activities.
The report of the programme, “Releasing Time to Care: Productive Ward”, was released by the CNO in April and aims to promote greater efficiency so that more nursing time is released for direct patient care.
Nutrition: Drinking Water
Physiotherapy: Graduates
The Secretary of State for Health met the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy on 11 July 2006. There were no formal minutes of the meeting.
Public Private Partnerships: Hearing Aids
Following a public tendering process, the National Framework Contract (NFC) Public Private Partnership (PPP) with David Ormerod Hearing Centres and Ultravox Holdings plc was announced in October 2003.
The contract allowed national health service trusts to use the two private hearing aid dispensers to see NHS patients.
It was fundamental to the NFC that the quality of service, and hearing aid, that the patient received mirror those of the local NHS audiology department. Quality assurance was key in the initiative. Both companies demonstrated their commitment to meeting these standards and invested resources in terms of equipment, information technology and staff training in order to do so.
The NFC PPP was successful in increasing capacity in the NHS, with over 50,000 patient journeys completed through the partnership. NHS trusts have also benefitted from the competitive pricing and quality of service provision available through the PPP.
Social Services: Warrington
(2) how much funding was allocated to Warrington borough council to provide services for (a) adults with learning difficulties and (b) children and young people with learning difficulties in each year since 1997.
[holding answer 11 June 2007]: The Government do not make allocations to social care (other than for relatively limited specific grants) but only for local government as a whole.
Within those allocations, it is for local councils to fund and provide appropriate services for their population in the light of local needs and priorities.
Overall, local councils will receive more than £65 billion in 2007-08, a 4.9 per cent. increase on 2006-07.
Transplant Surgery
The number of people registered on the organ transplant list as at 20 May 2007 is shown in table 1. Table 2 shows the number of people joining the list in years 1997, 2000 and 2003 and the percentage that have subsequently received transplants or are still listed.
The transplant list does not reflect the true extent of need for a transplant, as clinicians are reluctant to list more patients than are likely to receive organs.
An organ donation taskforce is currently looking at the barriers to increasing organ donation and will put recommendations to the Department later this year.
Organ Active Suspended1 Total Kidney 6,326 1,842 8,168 Pancreas 62 44 106 Kidney/pancreas 145 80 225 Heart 97 6 103 Lung(s) 269 7 276 Heart/lungs 25 1 26 Liver 316 4 320 Total organs 7,240 1,984 9,224 1 Suspended means the patient has been temporarily removed from the list. This happens for such reasons as being too ill to undergo the operation or being away on holiday.
Organ Joining Percentage transplanted Percentage still listed 2003 Kidney 1,964 54.8 29.4 Pancreas 12 50.0 8.3 Kidney/pancreas 72 75.0 13.9 Heart 196 65.8 1.0 Lung(s) 174 58.0 4.0 Heart/lungs 39 17.9 2.6 Liver 839 82.1 — Total organs 3,296 62.6 18.1 2000 Kidney 1,985 66.1 10.1 Pancreas 16 37.5 6.2 Kidney/pancreas 68 79.4 2.9 Heart 222 64.0 0.9 Lung(s) 178 59.6 1.7 Heart/lungs 92 38.0 1.1 Liver 785 84.1 — Total organs 3,346 69.2 6.3 1997 Kidney 2,210 70.6 3.4 Pancreas 5 80.0 — Kidney/pancreas 34 73.5 2.9 Heart 365 67.1 — Lung(s) 185 51.4 — Heart/lungs 80 56.2 — Liver 726 80.3 — Total organs 3,605 71.0 2.1
vCJD: Blood
There is currently no validated diagnostic test that would allow blood donors to be assessed as asymptomatic carriers of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Therefore, together with the National Blood Service, the Department has introduced a range of measures to minimise the possible risk of secondary vCJD infection through the blood supply. In July 1998 the Department announced that plasma for the manufacture of blood products, such as clotting factors, would be obtained from non-United Kingdom sources. Since October 1999, white blood cells (which may carry the greatest risk of transmitting vCJD) have been removed from all blood used in transfusion. In August 2002 the Department announced that fresh frozen plasma for treating babies and young children born after 1 January 1996 would be obtained from the United States of America, and from summer 2005 this was extended to all children under 16 years of age. In December 2002, the Department completed its purchase of the largest remaining independent USA plasma collector, Life Resources Incorporated to secure long-term supplies of non-UK blood plasma for the benefit of national health service patients. Since April 2004, blood donations have not been accepted from people who have themselves received a blood transfusion in the UK since 1980. This was extended in August 2004 to include apheresis donors and donors who are unsure if they had previously had a blood transfusion. Since late 2005, blood donations have not been accepted from donors whose blood was transfused to patients who later developed vCJD.
The Department will continue to consider further steps to ensure the safety of the blood supply as new evidence or suitable technologies become available.
A cost/benefit analysis of introducing prion removal blood filters can only be completed once the Department has received both results of clinical safety trials and the independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the filters in reducing infectivity requested by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Blood and Tissues and Organs. The analysis will also need to be informed by the outcome of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease prevalence studies currently under way.
Written Answers to Questions
Friday 15 June 2007
Communities and Local Government
Arlington House Camden
Before its redevelopment Arlington House provided 399 beds. Following the hostels capital improvement programme (HCIP) investment this number has been reduced to 130. This has been agreed with the local authority in order to create more non-accommodation space where training, other support activities can take place, and to move homeless people out of long-term large institutional provision.
Novas who own and run Arlington House worked in close partnership with the Camden council to ensure that every client was resettled appropriately.
Council Tax Benefit
[holding answer 12 June 2007]: The average time taken by Warrington borough council and councils in the north-west and England to determine an application for council tax benefit is set out in the following table:
Average days taken in 2006-071 Warrington 27 North-west 36 England 34 1 April to December 2006 Source: Department for Works and Pensions
Information on the average time taken to determine planning permission is not collated centrally. However, the number of applications decided in 2006-071 is set out in the following table:
Percentage Up to 8 weeks Up to 13 weeks More than 13 weeks Warrington 91 98 2 North West 84 94 6 England 82 93 7 1 April to December 2006 Source: Communities and Local Government
Departments: Recruitment
The central part of Communities and Local Government and its predecessor Departments paid the following amounts to recruitment agencies in the specified years:
Amount (£) January-April 2007 34,519.80 January-December 2006 92,444.78 January-December 2005 123,600.08 January-December 2004 155,135.14 January-December 2003 93,604.62
Information prior to January 2003 and in relation to the Department’s agencies is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Temporary Employment
The Department for Communities and Local Government and its predecessor Departments employed the following numbers of casual staff in each of the last five years:
Number 2002-03 54 2003-04 129 2004-05 131 2005-06 166 2006-07 53
This does not include staff in the Government Offices or the Department’s agencies.
The information requested about agency staff is not held centrally.
Departments: Travel Agents
The Department for Communities and Local Government and its predecessor, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, were created following Machinery of Government changes on 5 May 2006 and 29 May 2002 respectively.
The Department (and its main predecessor the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) uses one fee-based travel agency contract administered by the Department for Transport at a combined annual fixed rate (since July 2005) of £50,000. Individual Departments’ elements of this annual fixed rate are not separately identifiable. From May 2002 to July 2005, travel agent’s fees were paid at 1.5 per cent. of contract turnover, an average figure of £12,500 per quarter.
It is not possible to identify separately fees for other travel contracts used by the Department, as any such fees are built in to the individual ticket prices.
The Department’s Executive agencies have separate procedures for making travel arrangements, but have advised that they have not paid any travel agent fees during the period in question.
Fire Services: Cornwall
I have had no discussions with Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority seeking to resolve any disputes in that county. Industrial relations are a matter for the Fire and Rescue Authority. There is not currently an official dispute.
Fire Services: Information and Communications Technology
New mobile control rooms are not being provided as part of the FiReControl or Firelink Projects.
Fire and Rescue Services currently provide mobile incident command units which enable effective management of large incidents. The Firelink contract provides for those existing mobile command units and all other Fire and Rescue Service emergency response vehicles, as identified by the respective FRS, to have Firelink equipment installed. The utilisation of the data capability will only be realised once the FiReControl capability is rolled out.
Green Belt
[holding answer 11 June 2007]: The regional spatial strategy (RSS) is the statutory strategic development plan. Any proposed changes to the general extent of green belt will therefore need to be set out and taken forward through that process.
[holding answer 11 June 2007]: Current policy, set out in Planning Policy Guidance note 2 (PPG2): Green Belts, makes it clear that is the responsibility of regional planning bodies and local planning authorities to designate land as Green Belt through the development plan process. Any proposed changes to Green Belt boundaries should also be made through the development plan process as set out in PPG2.
Green Belt: Gloucestershire
[holding answer 11 June 2007]: The draft regional spatial strategy does not contain site specific proposals. It will be for the local planning authorities to identify specific site allocations sites in their local development documents to accommodate the housing provision in the final RSS. However, the draft RSS identifies two broad ‘Areas of Search’ for sustainable urban extensions, to the north of Gloucester and to the north west of Cheltenham. Both ‘Areas of Search’ extend into the neighbouring Tewkesbury district and both would require changes to be made to the general extent of the green belt. The draft RSS also indicates possible additions, as well as deletions, to the general extent of the green belt.
The draft RSS is currently at Examination in Public before an independent Panel. The Panel is expected to submit its report, with recommendations, to Government later this year. The Government will then consider that report and their response to it. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to make a statement at this time.
Green Belt: East Sussex
There is no designated green belt in Eastbourne or in East Sussex.
Home Information Packs
The Treasury Solicitor’s Office, who were acting for the Department, received a facsimile copy of the order, dated 17 may, at 12.27 pm on 17 May. Neither lawyers nor others representing the Department were present when the ruling was given.
There is nothing in the regulations to prevent an estate agent from selling a property with a home information pack produced by another estate agent, provided that the pack complies with the terms of the regulations.
Advertising for the home information packs have been placed in the following journals:
The Negotiator
Mortgage Solutions
Estate Agency News
Mortgage Strategy
Lending Strategy
Money Marketing
Financial Adviser
Law Society Gazette
RICS Business
Period Living
House Beautiful
Good Housekeeping
House and Garden
25 Beautiful Homes
Country Living
World of Interiors
BBC Good Homes
Country Homes
Homes and Gardens
BBC Home and Antiques
Ideal Home
Living Etc
Real Homes
Daily Telegraph
Times
Guardian
Independent
Daily Mail
Express
Evening Standard
Londonpaper
Metro
London Lite
City AM
Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Times
Observer
Independent on Sunday
Mail on Sunday
Sunday Express
Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Exclusive Magazine
Southern Property Adviser
Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Cambridge Evening News
Cambridge Property News
South Shields Gazette
Teesside Evening Gazette
Sunderland Echo
Northern Echo
Hartlepool Mail
Shields Gazette
South Tyne Star
Yorkshire Evening Post
Hull Daily Mail
Sheffield Star
Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Yorkshire Evening Press
Grimsby Evening Telegraph
Halifax Evening Courier
Brighton Evening Argus
Portsmouth News
Reading Evening Post
Basildon Evening Echo
Colchester Evening Gazette
Kent Messenger
Bournemouth Daily Echo
Gloucester Citizen
Swindon Evening Advertiser
Bath Chronicle
Gloucestershire Echo
Liverpool Echo
Lancashire Evening Telegraph
Blackpool Gazette
Oldham Evening Chronicle
Amra and Clacksons Evening package
Birmingham Evening Mail
West Midland Express and Star
Stoke on Trent Evening Sentinel
Oxford Mail
Derby Evening Telegraph
Worcester Evening News
Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Ipswich Evening Star
Norwich Evening News
Southern Daily Echo
Exeter Express and Echo
Lincolnshire Echo
Bolton Evening News
Chester Chronicle
Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph
Western Mail
Wrexham Evening Leader
South Wales Evening Post
South Wales Argus
Bangor Mail
Cambrian News
Carmarthen Journal
Pontypridd Observer
Manchester Evening News
Plymouth Evening Herald
Torquay Herald
Coventry Evening Telegraph
Nottingham Evening Post
Southwark News
Leicester Mercury
Norwich Evening News
Bristol Evening Post
Bath Chronicle
Chelmsford Weekly News
Hereford Times
Basingstoke Gazette
Daily Post—Welsh Edition
Caernarvon Herald
Holyhead and Bangor Mail
South Wales Echo
(2) how many advertisements have been placed on behalf of her Department in relation to home improvement packs.
Between April 2006 and May 2007 the Department placed a total of 852 advertisements in the press and relevant magazines—of these, a total of 538 were in magazines or newspapers published before the announcement on 22 May.
299 advertisements have now been re-scheduled and will be used to promote the phased introduction of home information packs on 1 August.
15 adverts went to print before the announcement was made but are in publications appearing after 22 May. It would be irresponsible for the Government not to inform people about this important change to the way homes are bought and sold. It is vital consumer information.
The Department has spent £82,335 on the promotion of home information packs and energy performance certificates in the south-east Government office region.
Homelessness
Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level, in respect of households rather than people.
Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
The data are published in our quarterly statistical release on statutory homelessness, which includes a supplementary table showing the breakdown of key data, including acceptances and temporary accommodation, by each local authority. This is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 11 June 2007 and contains data for the period January to March 2007:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2438
Since 1998, information has also been collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are also published on our website, by local authority.
Summary tables showing the total number of households (a) accepted under homelessness provisions and (b) in temporary accommodation, from 1997-98 to 2006-07, and (c) rough sleeper estimates from 1998 onwards, for each local authority are provided with this answer and have been placed in the Library.
(2) what proportion of all registered social landlord lettings, excluding sheltered and supported housing, were let to homeless households in (a) each London local authority and (b) in England in each of the last five years.
The main sources of data on total lettings and lettings to homeless households are:
1. COntinuous REcording (CORE) data on general needs lets by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs)
2. Annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) data collected by local authorities
The proportions of all RSL lettings (excluding sheltered and supported housing) to statutorily homeless households in each London borough for the past five years are provided in the following tables.
A household is found to be statutorily homeless by a local authority if it is eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless (or threatened with homelessness) and in priority need. The main duty owed to households accepted as being statutory homeless is to secure suitable accommodation.
Percentage 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Barking and Dagenham 3 4 3 5 2 Barnet 19 21 16 14 12 Bexley 27 25 22 23 17 Brent 24 33 30 29 24 Bromley 34 43 38 44 47 Camden 12 10 16 14 15 City of London 8 11 0 0 0 Croydon 22 28 28 27 36 Ealing 22 27 16 18 17 Enfield 20 31 17 19 22 Greenwich 9 7 7 7 8 Hackney 19 20 17 24 26 Hammersmith and Fulham 22 23 24 25 19 Haringey 35 32 30 17 20 Harrow 39 26 28 12 26 Havering 7 4 5 17 2 Hillingdon 39 34 21 25 34 Hounslow 24 27 26 30 23 Islington 21 23 23 10 13 Kensington and Chelsea 28 26 33 24 18 Kingston upon Thames 25 38 21 31 32 Lambeth 31 23 30 21 20 Lewisham 17 19 14 19 26 Merton 13 15 14 26 31 Newham 14 18 12 10 11 Redbridge 17 14 20 10 8 Richmond upon Thames 32 35 38 47 50 Southwark 25 18 20 15 14 Sutton 16 20 8 13 21 Tower Hamlets 19 17 18 23 23 Waltham Forest 28 25 22 16 15 Wandsworth 14 19 17 21 22 Westminster 26 22 27 18 24 London average 23 24 22 22 23 England 12 13 14 15 17 Source: RSL CORE data
The proportions of all local authority lettings to statutorily homeless households in each London borough for the past five years are provided in the following table. These figures include sheltered and supported housing.
Percentage 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Barking and Dagenham 0 4 21 32 4 Barnet 42 36 33 26 21 Bexley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Brent 63 52 46 41 53 Bromley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Camden 33 46 35 36 36 City of London 2 12 5 9 7 Croydon 16 7 15 16 12 Ealing 45 47 52 36 42 Enfield 46 46 44 38 38 Greenwich 35 33 37 34 30 Hackney 36 44 46 44 40 Hammersmith and Fulham 37 37 35 32 23 Haringey 34 32 37 40 44 Harrow 36 34 35 31 28 Havering 10 0 0 26 8 Hillingdon 24 43 39 29 24 Hounslow 43 33 46 54 41 Islington 49 51 53 45 34 Kensington and Chelsea 25 34 30 37 41 Kingston upon Thames 51 51 47 45 39 Lambeth 38 46 56 58 66 Lewisham 30 35 37 42 21 Merton 19 20 24 29 27 Newham 33 20 13 12 16 Redbridge 29 35 27 17 18 Richmond upon Thames n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Southwark 59 54 49 46 36 Sutton 37 26 8 15 20 Tower Hamlets 27 27 32 25 57 Waltham Forest 58 56 41 33 38 Wandsworth 33 37 35 34 37 Westminster 53 44 53 47 47 London average 35 35 36 35 32 England 16 19 23 24 22 Source: HSSA
Housing: Camden
[holding answer 11 June 2007]: The Government have increased the basic funding for council housing by 30 per cent. in real terms since 1997. Where local authorities need more than this funding to make all social housing decent, additional funding is available through setting up a high-performance Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO); entering into a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract; or transferring stock to Registered Social Landlords.
Camden has one PFI scheme which covers the refurbishment of the Chalcots Estate, in Swiss Cottage. The scheme was awarded £65 million in PFI credits, and will receive PFI subsidy from 2006-07 onwards.
Housing: Construction
We have no plans to introduce penalties for failure to comply with a completion notice. Completion notices are rare, but effective in most cases. If a completion notice is ignored, the relevant planning permission ceases to be valid, except insofar as it authorises the development already carried out. Any further development carried out after the period specified in the completion notice is over may be liable to enforcement action.
It would be impracticable to give the local planning authority power to compel the completion of a development once started, for example where the developer lacked the finance to complete the work.
However, a local planning authority may compel the removal of any partially erected buildings by making a discontinuance order under section 102 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. If an order, confirmed by the Secretary of State, is not complied with, the authority can enforce it in accordance with sections 189 and 190 of the Act. Where a discontinuance order has not been complied with, section 190 of the 1990 Act enables the local planning authority to take the steps required under the order (such as removal of buildings, works or any plant or machinery, or steps to protect the environment), and to recover any expenses reasonably incurred by them in doing so from the owner of the land.
Housing: Expenditure
[holding answer 1 February 2007]: 44 of the 650 registered social landlords funded by the Housing Corporation in the three years 2003-06 could be considered in some way faith-based on the basis of their constitutions. These received £52.2 million in grant over the three-year period out of a total spend of £4.9 billion, or just over 1 per cent. We do not currently have figures covering the years 1997 to 2003.
‘Faith-based’ here includes several categories:
(i) organisations which are run only or substantially by members of that faith;
(ii) those required to operate in the spirit of a faith or in furtherance of that faith; or
(iii) those that require that homes are let only or substantially to members of that faith, or ethnic groups closely identified with a particular faith.
In 2003-06, £40.8 million was paid to organisations in the second category, i.e. which operate in the spirit of a faith.
The majority of faith-based organisations are Christian, but we do not hold details on how many are Catholic.
Housing: Low Incomes
[holding answer 19 March 2007]: English Partnerships are running the Design for Manufacture competition on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government. All English Partnerships' costs are expected to be balanced out by receipts of more than £50 million from the sale of the land. This exceeds the reserve price across this portfolio of sites by more than £3 million.
The competition involved additional costs compared to ordinary site disposals. These costs are for specialist technical advice to ensure the quality of these innovative homes (£470,000), for monitoring and evaluation to learn lessons from the construction phase (£70,000) and for research and information (£136,400). This latter category includes holding a public exhibition attended by over 5,000 people and circulating some 30,000 copies of the document setting out the lessons learnt so far from the competition.
Part of the competition involved a target construction cost of £60,000 for a high-quality 76.5 sq metre home, with larger and smaller homes being built at a similar cost-efficiency. The competition is creating 10 new mixed communities developments with homes of different sizes and tenures to suit families and single people. Overall, 50 per cent. of the homes being provided will be affordable, including shared ownership/equity, social housing, low cost home ownership and other supported housing such as for the elderly.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North-East Milton Keynes (Mr. Lancaster) on 6 March 2007, Official Report, column 1890W, which set out precise details of one of the sites in the competition.
The other nine sites are at different stages of construction and are spread around the country. The prices of the units for sale will reflect the land value, the local market at the time they go on sale and the equity share as well as the construction cost. In total only about half the homes will be for sale at full market price.
Based on current sales prices we anticipate that on every site where homes are being sold, there will be homes available at shared ownership or shared equity stakes of between £60,000 and £70,000. The exception is on the Hastings site where all the homes will be for affordable rent.
The definition of affordable housing for planning purposes established by “Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing” and the accompanying guidance “Delivering Affordable Housing” includes the requirement that affordable housing should:
“meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes.....”
What this means is that, in considering whether a home falls within the definition of ‘affordable housing’ or not, local authorities are required to assess whether or not the home is affordable to those eligible for such housing. One of the factors used in this assessment must be levels of local household incomes.
Housing: Northamptonshire
As set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands (RSS8), the annual average housing provision for the period 2001 to 2021, split into five year periods, is as follows:
Per annum 2001-06 3,095 2006-11 3,475 2011-16 3,665 2016-21 3,665 1 Excludes the Northampton figure quashed as a result of a high court challenge. This figure is being reviewed as part of the Revision to the Regional Spatial Strategy.
Per annum 2001-06 2,225 2006-11 2,605 2011-16 2,795 2016-21 2,795
Per annum 2001-06 595 2006-11 595 2011-16 685 2016-21 685
The housing figures beyond 2021 to 2026 are currently being assessed through the Revision to the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands.
[holding answer 12 June 2007]: The Secretary of State has no plans at present to visit Wellingborough and Kettering.
However, my noble Friend, Baroness Andrews, chairs the Milton Keynes South Midlands Inter-Regional Board which gives the opportunity for discussions relating to sustainable housing and infrastructure developments on an on-going basis. The community is represented at these meeting by members from local authorities across the Milton Keynes and south midlands area.
Housing: Surveys
Participation in the English House Condition Survey is entirely voluntary for all householders regardless of their tenure. Addresses are selected at random and householders are contacted through a letter from our contractors, the Office for National Statistics, and invited to take part in both an initial household interview and in the follow-up property inspection.
Infrastructure
Chapter 10 of the white paper “Planning for a Sustainable Future” (Cm 7120) sets out our proposals in relation to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Government intends that any national policy statements for air transport and for energy would be developed for the whole of Great Britain or the UK as appropriate. These policies would be developed with the full involvement of the devolved Administrations and the consultation proposed in Chapter 3 of the white paper would encompass the whole of Great Britain or the UK. Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Ministers would be statutory consultees in the development of relevant national policy statements.
Planning Permission
[holding answer 14 June 2007]: The planning White Paper, “Planning for a Sustainable Future” proposes a three stage system for nationally significant infrastructure projects, with opportunities for public engagement at each stage.
There would be national consultation on the country’s infrastructure needs. The Government would consult the public on national policy statements, which would be scrutinised by Parliament. Promoters would be required to consult the public before submitting a planning application, allowing local communities to influence a promoter’s proposals early on. At the examination stage, direct questioning and a new open floor stage would help members of the public engage on a more equal footing with the professional advocates who currently dominate the process.
Planning: Use Classes Order
We have no plans to undergo a full scale review of the Use Classes Order.
We are looking at the operation of the Use Classes Order in some areas where concerns have been raised, such as around houses of multiple occupation. We have not set a timetable for this work.
Prisons: Planning Permission
Local planning authorities have been encouraged to make adequate provision for new prison developments through the planning system by means of DETR Circular 03/98 “Planning for Future Prison Development”. For extensions to existing prisons, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has access to the permitted development rights in Part 34 (Development by the Crown) of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (SI 1995 No 418 as amended). The main restrictions to the permitted development right are that any extensions may not exceed 25 per cent. of the cubic content or 1,000 square metres of the floor area of the existing building (reducing to 10 per cent. of the cubic content or 500 square metres of the floor area in certain sensitive landscape areas and conservation areas). NOMS may also use other general permitted development rights for minor works.
Regeneration: Mining
Considerable progress has been made over the past 10 years revitalising the former English coalfields, raising aspirations in these communities through regeneration, education and job creation. People are being given access to the skills and jobs they need, the environmental legacy of the coal industry is being cleaned up and the housing, economic and social needs of the local communities are being addressed. The English Partnership’s Coalfield Programme; the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Coalfields Enterprise Fund, are delivering real change with combined budgets of over £0.5 billion. A recent independent evaluation of the Department’s coalfield specific regeneration programmes available at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1508895, gave strong support to the approach we have taken and confirmed the effectiveness of these programmes.
Regional Government: Offices
All eight regional assemblies have use of office facilities in Brussels. These facilities are shared with other regional partners.
Service Charges
The statement is based on the results of a survey conducted in March 2007 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government by London Councils, the representative body of the London boroughs. No distinction was made between resident and buy-to-rent leaseholders.
Culture, Media and Sport
Alcoholic Drinks: Licensing
We do not currently hold this information centrally. The Licensing Act 2003 devolved the administration for licensing to individual licensing authorities who should hold information about licensed premises in their area.
DCMS plans a data collection exercise over the summer to gather this, and other licensing information. Results will be published in the form of a new National Statistics bulletin, currently scheduled for release in October 2007.
Broad estimates collated by the department in November 2006, based on a small sample of licensing authorities, suggested that following review, approximately 100 licences had been revoked across England and Wales in the first year under the new Licensing Act.
Cultural Heritage: Ownership
The effect of the Federal Law on Cultural Valuables Displaced to the USSR 1998 on the ownership of cultural objects situated in Russia is a question of Russian law, whether the objects in question come from Germany or other countries. It is not a matter of departmental policy. If an issue was raised in relation to the applicable law of a foreign country in legal proceedings in this country, it would be regarded as a question of fact, to be determined by the judge with the assistance of appropriate expert evidence.
The organisations and individuals who responded to the consultation are as follows:
Art Loss Register
British Library
Charity Commission
Commission for Looted Art in Europe
CyMAL Museums Archives and Libraries Wales
CyMRU National Museums Wales
ICOM UK
Marbles Reunited
Museums Association
National Gallery
National Museums of Science and Industry
Royal Academy of Art
Sotheby's
Tate
The National Archives
Withers LLP
Fiona Fuller
Michael Heaps FRICS
I intend to publish the responses to the consultation and a summary paper before the summer recess.
Departments: Advertising
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not receive advertising revenue from public information leaflets or public websites.
Departments: Sick Leave
Sick absence figures are contained in the annual report “Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service” published by the Cabinet Office. Table 3-4: AWDL for small and micro Departments of the report gives details of both the average working days absence per staff year and the total staff years for each department. The most recent report for the calendar year 2005 is available in the Library of the House. This report and those from 1999 are available on the Cabinet Office website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/occupationalhealth/publications/index.asp
Digital Broadcasting: BBC
This is a matter for the BBC. I have therefore asked the BBC's Director of Finance to consider the question raised by my hon. Friend and to write to him direct. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Sky Digital launched on 1 October 1998, followed by ONDigital on 15 November the same year. Both of these offerings included BBC services.
Digital Broadcasting: Copeland
According to the Digital UK/Ofcom Q1 2007 Tracker, awareness across the UK is higher in rural areas than in urban areas (88 per cent. in rural areas compared to 81 per cent. in urban areas). All households in the Copeland area will receive a doordrop in the next month as part of the ongoing communications campaign to drive up awareness in the final three months before switchover.
Digital UK run drop-in sessions in places throughout Copeland including the rural areas of Moor Row, Seascale, Parton and Eskdale.
Private tenants cannot be identified by name or address. To communicate with tenants and residents, Digital UK has distributed a specific leaflet to libraries and CAB in the area, and on its website. Digital UK ran an advertising campaign targeting tenants in the Whitehaven News, letting them know where to find the leaflet. Digital UK provided particular information to tenants and residents in the Switchover supplement in the Whitehaven News on March 15, which is also available for download on the Whitehaven News website. In addition, Digital UK has written to the main lettings agents in the area with a letter and a factsheet about switchover, with a request to copy to their lists of tenants and landlords.
For tenants in social housing, all providers in the area have been contacted twice, including close contact with Copeland Homes, and followed up by a phone call or visit, if they had no plans. In addition, all care homes in the area have been identified, written to and contact made.
Digital UK have prepared a teaching pack for primary schools which 92 per cent. of schools in Copeland have agreed to use.
Digital UK and the relevant central Government Departments have also been proactively contacting local service providers, including West Cumberland hospital, to ensure they are aware of the need to prepare for switchover.
A number of other public facilities are used by Digital UK to convey communication material including local libraries, churches, the local newspaper Whitehaven News, social and community groups, West Cumbria Older People’s Forum, Copeland Disability Forum and the Women’s Institute.