Hospital Wards Mr. Lansley To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, columns 510-11W, on hospital wards, how many staff at each grade are working in the operations team; and what programme governance infrastructure has been established; (2) pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, columns 510-11W, on hospital wards, which NHS trusts were identified in March 2009 as requiring support from the improvement team; (3) pursuant to the answer of 25 February 2009, Official Report, column 874W, on hospital wards: gender, how many improvement teams there will be; what the size of each team will be; how much funding will be allocated to each team; and what qualifications members of teams will be required to have. Ann Keen There are currently three permanent civil servants working within the core eliminating mixed sex accommodation programme team. These are graded; one grade 6, one senior executive officer and one higher executive officer. Additionally, the programme lead is a hosted NHS1 member of staff working at the equivalent of a senior civil servant grade 1. Each of these members of staff also participate in other areas of departmental work. Working alongside the core team is a group of six hosted national health service staff, two secondees and six contractors. As the programme progresses, it will continue to draw on input from a range of expertise sourced from both the Department and from external organisations, (including the NHS), as determined by the emerging requirements. An internal assurance governance group is in place which includes the programme's Director and policy lead who report directly to the Department's two lead Director Generals; i.e. the Chief Nursing Officer and the Director General, NHS Finance, Performance and Operation. An improvement programme has been developed through a series of initial fact-finding visits to trusts. The sites selected are experiencing a range of problems and volunteered for the visits. Full improvement team support will commence in May this year, beginning with those trusts perceived by the public as having shared accommodation and wash facilities and those who have reported having problems. The total number of trusts with which improvement teams will engage has not been decided, as such the number of teams cannot yet be specified. The size of any one improvement team will vary, as it will be determined by the nature and complexities of an individual trust's requirements. Likewise, the resources allocated to each team will vary in accordance with the objectives of each improvement visit. There are no pre-determined qualification requirements for improvement team members. It is envisaged that teams comprise expertise relating to; nursing, admissions and bed management, estates/hospital design and communications. The main criteria is that members' expertise contributes to delivering the improvement objectives of a particular visit. 1 Via the NHS Business Services Authority Mr. Lansley To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, columns 510-11W, on hospital wards, (1) what funding was released to each strategic health authority on 1 April 2009; and how much has been allocated to each project; (2) if he will place in the Library copies of each of the two-weekly update reports which have been received from strategic health authorities; (3) if he will place in the Library a copy of each strategic health authority plan which were to be submitted to his Department by 9 March 2009. Ann Keen Funding has been confirmed with each strategic health authority (SHA) as follows: --------------------------------------------- |SHA |Allocation (£ million)| --------------------------------------------- |North West |14.8 | --------------------------------------------- |North East |5.7 | --------------------------------------------- |East of England |10.3 | --------------------------------------------- |East Midlands |8.4 | --------------------------------------------- |West Midlands |10.8 | --------------------------------------------- |South West |9.6 | --------------------------------------------- |South Central |6.8 | --------------------------------------------- |South East Coast |7.8 | --------------------------------------------- |London |15.3 | --------------------------------------------- |Yorkshire and Humber|10.5 | --------------------------------------------- |Total |100 | --------------------------------------------- Information is not available to confirm the funding for each individual project. Copies of the SHA plans will be placed in the Library. The two-weekly monitoring reports are subject to revision and may provide an incomplete or misleading assessment of progress against the SHA plans. Each SHA will be required to submit a report in early July confirming delivery of their plans. These will be made available in the Library.