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23 Feb 2007 : Column WA277
Written Answers
Friday 23 February 2007
Avian Flu
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether all the employees who worked for Bernard Matthews in the shed infected by the H5N1 avian flu outbreak have received the Tamiflu antiviral drug. [HL1936]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): All those who had exposure to the infected premises were offered Tamiflu and all accepted.
Care Services: Bedblocking Charges
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much each local authority with social service responsibilities has paid for bedblocking charges since their introduction. [HL2032]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Information on charges for reimbursements for delayed discharges is not held centrally.
The department holds data on the number of reimbursable hospital bed days by local authority and National Health Service trust. Collection of these data began on 5 October 2003 with the last available data being for the week ending 4 February 2007.
The available data held by the department have been placed in the Library.
Crime: Rape
Lord Campbell-Savours asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the average cost of awards made to victims of rape attacks by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in the last year for which statistics are available. [HL1894]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) advises that in 2005-06 it made 1,194 awards in respect of “non-consensual vaginal and/or anal intercourse”. The median average award was £11,990, and the mean average award was £14,839.
House of Lords: Membership of Public Bodies
Lord Tebbit asked the Chairman of Committees:
How many members of the House of Lords, by party and from the Cross-Bench group, occupy salaried positions in government departments, government agencies and public bodies funded in part or wholly from national taxation. [HL2254]
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The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): The Register of Lords’ Interests, to which I refer the noble Lord, gives details of the information requested. The Register is available for consultation in the Library of the House and on the parliamentary website (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldreg.htm).
NHS: IT Strategy
Lord Hayhoe asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress is being made in implementing the National Health Service information technology strategy; and what are the latest estimates for its completion dates and its costs. [HL1948]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Very substantial progress has been and continues to be made in implementing the national programme for information technology.
Of the key centrally funded programme projects, the first elements of the NHS care records service—to provide a transaction messaging service, a personal demographics service, a spine directory service and secure access controls via smartcards—went live on time and to budget in July 2004. The software to support the Choose and Book electronic booking system is complete and went live on time and to budget, also in July 2004. The software to introduce the quality management and analysis system (QMAS) in support of the general medical services contract went live on time and to budget in August 2004 and was fully rolled out within three months, supporting payments to 100 per cent of general practitioners (GPs) under the quality outcomes framework (QOF) every month since. The software to allow electronic prescriptions to be issued went live on time and to budget in February 2005. The rate of connections to the new national broadband network (N3) remains, ahead of schedule, and 98 per cent of general practitioner practices now have a broadband connection. NHSmail was implemented on time in October 2004 and currently has over 230,000 registered users sending 1 million e-mails per day.
The National Health Service has already become a digital organisation that is dependent on IT delivered through the national programme for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. So, for example, the first picture-archiving and communications system under the programme was implemented in April 2005 and 69 systems have now been implemented, and around 160,000 patients are treated each week using the technology. Over 38 million patients can now benefit from Choose and Book, and over 2.54 million bookings have been made to date, with daily bookings now exceeding 18,000. Over 11.8 million prescription messages have been issued electronically, with the daily count exceeding 85,000.
There is no single national start or completion date for the programme as a whole, or for its individual systems and services. The aim is to achieve substantial
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The value of contracts let for the core components of the national programme for information technology, which is being delivered by the department's NHS Connecting for Health agency, amounts to £6.2 billion over 10 years. The National Audit Office (NAO) has calculated that the full gross cost of the programme including national contracts and legitimately approved additions, other central expenditure and local implementation costs is some £12.4 billion at 2004-05 prices. However, this figure does not take into account anticipated savings in the price paid by the NHS for information-technology goods and services due to the central buying power of NHS Connecting for Health, or in NHS staff time saved through using the programme's systems and services. The NAO also acknowledges an independent evaluation that confirms that £4.5 billion has been saved by central rather than local procurement, and a further £860 million of savings achieved through centrally negotiated enterprise-wide arrangements.
Young Offender Institutions: Segregation
Lord Carlile of Berriew asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many juveniles were held in segregation in Werrington young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days; and [HL1729]
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How many juveniles were held in segregation in Wetherby young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days; and [HL1730]
How many juveniles were held in segregation in Brinsford young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days; and [HL1731]
How many juveniles were held in segregation in Castington young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days; and [HL1732]
How many juveniles were held in segregation in Feltham young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days; and [HL1733]
How many juveniles were held in segregation in Hindley young offender institution in each month since January 2005; and how many have been held for more than seven days and for more than 28 days. [HL1734]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The information, provided by each establishment from their records, is contained in the following table. Werrington does not have a segregation unit.
| Feltham | Hindley | |||||
| Date | Total | Between seven and 28 days | Over 28 days | Total | Between seven and 28 days | Over 28 days |
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