To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what date each primary care trust must have produced their local strategy for meeting the guarantees made in maternity matters; if her Department will require that these local strategies are (a) placed on the internet and (b) otherwise made available to the public; and what assessment her Department plans to make of these strategies. (143626)

In maternity matters, we state that primary care trust (PCT) prospectuses would be published in autumn 2007. These prospectuses should include the PCT proposals for increasing choice and improving maternity services. It is for strategic health authorities (SHAs) to ensure that PCTs complete their prospectuses and publish them. Although the documents will be readily accessible to the public there is no requirement to publish on the internet. However, we understand that a number of PCTs plan to do so.

We have no plan to make any assessment other than to ensure that, via SHAs, the strategic needs assessments are completed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 June 2007, Official Report, column 584W, on mothers: home help, how many hours per week of support the intensive nurse-led home visiting programme provides for each family. (144491)

Nurses in the family nurse partnership intervention pilot project visit each client during pregnancy and until the child’s second birthday. Prenatal visits occur once a week for the first four weeks after enrolment, usually between 16 and 28 weeks into the pregnancy, then every other week for the rest of the pregnancy. After the baby is born, visits are increased again to once a week for the first six weeks, then level out at every other week until the child is 21 months old. Visits then continue once a month until the child’s second birthday. Each visit is expected to last from one to one and a half hours.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 June 2007, Official Report, column 584W, on mothers: home help, on what date her Department (a) first announced and (b) first started testing the intensive nurse-led home visiting programme. (144492)

In “Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion” (September 2006) the Government announced a proposal to establish 10 pilot projects to test a specific model of intensive home visiting for vulnerable first time young mothers. The 10 sites began testing this model of intervention from April 2007.