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19 Dec 2002 : Column 1035W—continued
Winter Fuel Payment
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many men aged 60 to 64 received a winter fuel payment in each of the last two winters; and how many men in this age group have applied for a payment for this year. [88200]
Mr. McCartney: Around 1.1 million men aged 60 to 64 received winter fuel payments in each of the last two winters (2000–01 and 2001–02). This winter, men aged 60 to 64 will have received a winter fuel payment automatically if they were receiving a social security benefit (excluding child benefit, housing benefit and
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council tax benefit) in the qualifying week, or they had received a winter fuel payment last year and their circumstances had not changed. People who are not entitled to an automatic payment need to make a claim. We are currently unable to identify the number of men in this age group who have claimed so far this year, but we may be able to do so by May 2003 once the final administrative data is available.
Work Opportunities (Older People)
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made in supporting work opportunities for older women. [83642]
Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding answer 5 December 2002]: New Deal 50 plus offers personal advice, jobsearch help, and back to work financial support through an Employment Credit for clients on taking up either full-time or part- time work. We are ensuring that New Deal 50 plus offers effective back to work help for women over 50 by making partners, as well as the main benefit recipient, eligible for help through the programme. By October 2002, New Deal 50 plus had helped 26,780 women back into work—a third of all clients moving into work through the programme.
We are encouraging employers to realise the benefits of employing older workers through our Age Positive campaign. The campaign raises employer awareness through events, awards, initiatives, guidance and publications such as 'Good Practice in Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers' (DWP December 2001). We are also encouraging employers to adopt more flexible approaches to retirement to give individuals more choice and opportunity to stay in work longer. This can be important for those women who want to stay in work longer and also move from full-time to part-time work. The Green Paper on pensions, which we published on 17 December, includes proposals to support the development of flexible retirement. We will also reinforce our commitment to tackle age discrimination in employment by implementing age legislation covering employment and vocational training by 2006.
Earlier this month we had Age Positive Week which included a range of events to further raise awareness of the benefits of employing older men and women as part of an age diverse workforce. On 3 December we also launched an updated Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, which includes a range of new good practice case studies for employers.
Our policies have contributed to a rise of 4.6 percentage points in the employment rate of women aged 50 to state pension age since 1997, to 65.6 per cent. This increase is greater than the increase in the overall employment rate of women, which stood at 69.7 per cent in spring 2002.
HEALTH
Abattoirs
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which abattoirs in the South West have a licence to remove and test the spinal columns of animals slaughtered under the Beef Assurance Scheme. [85371]
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Ms Blears [holding answer 9 December 2002]: All licensed abattoirs are permitted to slaughter Beef Assurance Scheme over 30 month cattle, provided they are willing to facilitate their testing for BSE. On receipt of a negative test result, the carcase must be sent to a licensed cutting plant that is separately licensed to remove the vertebral column and dorsal root ganglia before the meat is released for human consumption. All licensed cutting plants are free to apply to the Food Standards Agency for an additional licence to remove vertebral column. It is a simple process, no fee is charged, and all have been encouraged to apply. None has done so in the south-west peninsular.
Accident and Emergency Units
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instructions his Department issued to acute trusts on planning bed allocations to reduce the length of waiting times in accident and emergency units. [87530]
Mr. Lammy: Creating more capacity in hospitals is key to reducing long waits to be admitted to a bed from accident and emergency. Over the last two years, the number of beds have increased, reversing a 40 year decline.
The Department has not issued any specific instructions to acute trusts regarding bed allocations to reduce the length of waiting times in accident and emergency departments.
As part of routine capacity planning each national health service trust needs to establish the levels of occupancy required for different specialties and types of care, depending on their own particular circumstances. Appropriate levels of occupancy will depend on a number of factors including specialty, the balance between emergency and planned admissions and the size of the hospital.
Acute Hospitals (Nurse Training)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS nurses are trained to deliver minor injury and assessment services in acute hospitals. [87537]
Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of nurses trained to deliver minor injury and assessment services is not collected centrally.
Acute Trusts (Nurses)
Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level is of nurse understaffing in England's acute trusts. [87767]
Mr. Hutton: Levels of staffing are a matter for individual trusts. The three month vacancy rate is an indicator of the number of posts in their establishment which trusts are finding difficult to fill.
Information on the level of three month vacancies in acute trusts in England will be placed in the Library.
Between March 2001 and 2002 the three month vacancy rate for qualified nurses fell from 3.4 per cent., to 3.1 per cent. This is the second successive fall for nurse vacancies and shows that our recruitment and retention policies are bearing fruit.
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Adult Placement Schemes
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received about the regulation of adult placement schemes; and if he will make a statement. [82049]
Jacqui Smith: We have recently received representations from the national association of adult placement services and others about the regulation of adult placement schemes. We have carried out a thorough review of these issues and intend to propose changes to the way in which both adult placement carers and the schemes that manage them are regulated. We will be consulting on this shortly.
Agency Nurses
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the figures for spending on agency nurses by the NHS in 2001–02 will be available. [85415]
Mr. Hutton: Fully validated information for spending on agency nurses by the national health service in 2001–02 will be available in February 2003. Information for 2000–01 is available and I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 7 November 2002, Official Report, column 538W.
Alcohol Reduction Strategy
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many responses he has received to the national alcohol reduction strategy consultation paper. [87578]
Ms Blears: 37 formal responses to the national alcohol harm reduction strategy had been received by the end of Tuesday 17 December 2002. The consultation began on 15 October 2002 and will run until 15 January 2003.
The Department of Health and the Cabinet Office strategy unit (COSU) have also held four regional consultation events in London, Newcastle, Manchester and Bristol to allow key stakeholders to discuss the issues and to put their views forward. Additionally, the COSU holds informal, on-going meetings with key stakeholders to ensure that their views can be fed into the work on the strategy at all stages of its development.
Antipsychotic Drugs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the age-standardised prescription ratio was of (a) atypical and (b) typical antipsychotic drugs in each primary care trust area in each month during the period from 1 April to 31 October; and what the national averages were. [86370]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 9 December 2002]: The information requested is not collected centrally. However, information on the estimated number of prescription items dispensed in the community in England for antipsychotics by broad age group for the 28 strategic health authorities for April to September 2002 has been placed in the Library.
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Assisted Dying
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the frequency of assisted dying in the UK in the last 10 years. [87034]
Mr. Lammy: We have no information about the frequency of assisted dying because it is an illegal act, if this means a deliberate intervention to end life. It is not for the Department to undertake any investigation into this matter, as this is a matter for the Criminal Justice Service.
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