(2) what income from charging for podiatry services each English health trust accrued in each of last five years;
(3) how much was spent on podiatry services in each English health trust in each of the last five reported years.
All national health service podiatry services are provided free of charge on the basis of assessed clinical need. It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) in partnership with local stakeholders, including practice based commissioners, local government and the public to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health and to commission services accordingly.
Guidance for access to foot care is included in the national service frameworks for older people, diabetes, and long-term conditions, and the White Paper, “Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services”.
Information about how much funding PCTs allocate to podiatry services is not collected centrally.
Foot care services for older people are being reviewed as part of the prevention package announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health (Alan Johnson) in May. The purpose of the package is to raise awareness among older people, of the existing core prevention services to which they are entitled and to support the service in making improvements in other key areas such as foot care. The package is due to be launched in spring 2009.