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- 1 ICD-10 codes are taken from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (Tenth Revision) published by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- .. Fewer than 10 cases (between 0 and 9) or where a presented figure would reveal a suppressed value.
Alcohol
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
What reports they have received from primary care trusts (PCTs) about the appointment of alcohol nurse specialists by PCTs; and whether there will be enough alcohol nurse specialists to cover the brief interventions envisaged in their revised alcohol harm reduction strategy. [HL145]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): We do not collect this information centrally. The alcohol nurse specialists are not the only staff who deliver brief interventions; they can be undertaken by other healthcare workers and appropriate professionals in other settings, such as probation officers in the criminal justice setting.
Buses
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have agreed arrangements with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly and Transport for London for mutual recognition of passes issued under the pensioners concessionary bus travel scheme. [HL283]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area and the devolved Administrations have their own arrangements in place.
From 1 April 2008, people aged 60 and over and eligible disabled people in England will be entitled to free off-peak local bus travel anywhere in England, not just within their local area as at present. This is provided for in the Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007.
The Act contains a power to allow, via future secondary legislation, for the possibility of mutual recognition of bus passes across the UK. The Department for Transport had initial discussions with the devolved Administrations last year about the proposal and all indicated support for inclusion of this power. However, it was also acknowledged that we would need to discuss it further and work together to resolve various technical and resource issues before mutual recognition could be pursued in practice.
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Children: Missing
Lord Bradley asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many children were reported missing in England in each police authority area in each of the past five years. [HL269]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): This is a matter for individual police forces.
China: Tibet
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
What representations they have made to the Government of China about the arrest and conviction by a court in Sichuan of the Tibetan nomad, Runggye Adak, who was imprisoned after he called for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet. [HL132]
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The EU raised Runggye Adak's case with the Chinese Government on 21 August, following his detention in Lithang on 1 August 2007, and continues to monitor his case. We regularly urge China to lift restrictions on freedom of expression, including free speech, in line with international standards. My right honourable friend the Minister for the Olympics and London (Tessa Jowell) raised freedom of expression during her visit to Beijing from 11 to 15 November. We continue to raise our concerns about minority rights in Tibet both bilaterally and through the EU.
Cultural Olympiad
Lord Addington asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their specific strategy to ensure that the Cultural Olympiad has a lasting legacy beyond the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for continued participation in cultural activities and events. [HL58]
Lord Davies of Oldham: We are working with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and with a number of our non-departmental public bodies, to deliver a range of projects that will inspire and involve young people and will generate a positive legacy. Leaving a legacy for continued participation beyond 2012 is a significant consideration of the planning and development of projects.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion and level of funding for the Cultural Olympiad is budgeted to come from commercial sponsorship; and [HL66]
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What proportion of the existing budget for the Cultural Olympiad will be spent on (a) the opening ceremonies; (b) the closing ceremonies; and (c) the torch relay; and [HL67]
Whether they anticipate that money originally allocated to the Cultural Olympiad will need to be diverted to cover other costs of staging the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and [HL68]
How much funding Cultural Olympiad projects will receive from the Legacy Trust UK Consortium; and how much of this funding has already been spent; and [HL70]
What is the total amount of money specifically available to fund the Cultural Olympiad; and from what sources is that money available; and [HL146]
What is the anticipated total cost of the Cultural Olympiad as currently planned; and how they plan to meet any funding gap between the available funds and the anticipated cost. [HL147]
Lord Davies of Oldham: We expect the funding of the Cultural Olympiad to come from a range of private and public sources. The positive outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review enables our non-departmental public bodies to spend some of their budget on the Cultural Olympiad. LOCOG's sponsors are keen to play a part in the Cultural Olympiad, but it is too early to say the extent to which they will offer specific funding or value-in-kind.
LOCOG will deliver all the component parts of the host city contract. This includes the mandatory ceremonies element of the Cultural Olympiad, including the torch relay and ceremonies which are funded by LOCOG's privately financed budget. LOCOG continues to develop the programmes to deliver these projects within its £2 billion budget.
LOCOG is also working closely with a range of organisations to deliver a number of nationwide projects. It is too early to specify the precise component parts of tier 2 of the Cultural Olympiad as these projects are currently in the planning and development stage—which includes consideration of costs and funding.
Tier 3 of the Cultural Olympiad—a UK festival of culture—is also undergoing further development. LOCOG anticipates that this will be led by arts and cultural organisations inspired by the opportunities to link to the London Games.
The Legacy Trust, which has £40 million of funding, will be launched in November 2007. It will provide an additional source of funding for Cultural Olympiad projects.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration has been given by the Culture and Creativity Advisory Forum to incorporating involvement from all nations and regions of the United Kingdom in the Cultural Olympiad. [HL71]
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Lord Davies of Oldham: The Culture and Creativity Advisory Forum (CACAF) is attended by officials from the nations and regions who are working to ensure that the whole of the UK benefits from the Cultural Olympiad.
CACAF has had a number of discussions on regional and UK-wide plans, including contributing to plans for all tier 2 projects to have a UK-wide element, and to the role that the creative programmers will play in opening up opportunities in all nations and regions of the UK.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the main projects for the Cultural Olympiad; and which organisations or individuals are leading these. [HL148]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The overall structure of the Cultural Olympiad is: tier 1, the mandatory ceremonies; tier 2, the major projects specified in the bid book; and tier 3, the UK-wide cultural festival.
Tier 1, led by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), includes: handover ceremonies in 2008; the opening and closing ceremonies in 2012; medal ceremonies; team welcome ceremonies; the torch relay; and Olympic youth camp.
Within tier 2, there are 10 major projects in development. The working titles of these are: film and video nation; artists taking the lead; 2012 sounds; international museums exhibition; live sites; international Shakespeare festival; world festival of youth culture; 2012 carnival; world cultural festival; and celebration of disability arts and sport.
LOCOG, working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is working in partnership with a number of bodies to develop the vision, scope and detailed business plan for each of these projects, including a consideration of costs and options for funding. Further details will be announced shortly.
Tier three, the UK-wide cultural festival, will include a number of cultural events in each region and nation of the UK. Creative programmers have been appointed to shape this programme of events.
Lord Addington asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the key implications of the Cultural Olympiad legacy action plan; and what impact this has on the funding and costs for the Cultural Olympiad. [HL155]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government's legacy action plan will be published in the next few months. It will explain to the public how the Government will deliver their commitments for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games as set out in Our Promise for 2012. This will include reference to Cultural Olympiad projects, in line with LOCOG’s current planning for delivering these projects. There are no additional impacts on the Cultural Olympiad.
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Embryology
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 23 October (WA100-01) regarding relevant paragraphs in the Declaration of Helsinki and guidelines produced by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, whether they will seek to enshrine in primary legislation a simple yet unambiguous prohibition of all such experiments that lack a compelling scientific rationale. [HL73]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The United Kingdom is a world leader in stem cell research. This is largely due to the fact that we have legislative regulation which is internationally recognised as supportive, flexible and facilitating. Current legislation and regulation are both in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (paragraph 11) and paragraphs 8.3 and 10.3 of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Proposals for changes to legislative regulation contained in the recently published Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will ensure this remains the case.
Fluoridation
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 12 July (WA 242), how parents in artificially fluoridated areas who rely on reconstituted infant formula are made aware of the Department of Health's advice to use water with a low fluoride content; and where the department recommends that they obtain it. [HL7]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): An advice note is on the website of the British Fluoridation Society. If parents make inquiries of the department, they are offered a copy of the note.
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 1 October (WA 145) and in the light of the response to the report of the United States National Research Council in March 2006 on the potential risks of water fluoridation at 4 parts per million (ppm), whether the findings of the report have relevance for areas fluoridated at 1 ppm in view both of the wide variations in individual human response and of the council's finding that infants and young children are three to four times as susceptible to fluoride as adults; and [HL8]
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 1 October (WA 145—46), whether they will now address the possibility that infants and young children may suffer a range of adverse
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Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 1 October (WA 145—6), why they now believe that the findings of the United States National Research Council (NRC) in March 2006 are “not directly applicable” to water fluoridation in the United Kingdom because of the differing concentrations of fluoride involved, when as indicated by the Written Answer by Lord Warner on 24 July 2006 (WA 240) they had delayed their own research programme in order to take account of the NRC's findings in the knowledge that the council were addressing fluoridation at the higher concentration of 4 parts per million. [HL10]
Lord Darzi of Denham: The main recommendation of the National Research Council's (NRC) committee on fluoride in drinking water that the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum fluoride level of 4 parts per million (ppm) should be lowered is not relevant to the United Kingdom where the maximum concentration permitted is 1.5 ppm. The findings of the NRC report are consistent with our view that water is safe and healthy at the levels used for water fluoridation. However, the committee's report includes a wide-ranging review of the effects of fluoride with a number of recommendations for further research, which are informing the development of our research programme. While we remain of the view that the only risk to infants and young children from their higher exposure to fluoride is the cosmetic effects of dental fluorosis, we will ensure that research and monitoring of the effects of water fluoridation on systematic health is sensitive to any unique effects on this age group.
Gibraltar
Lord Luce asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will report on the progress which has been made on the implementation of the arrangements at the Cordoba ministerial meeting in 18 September 2006 between the United Kingdom, Spain and Gibraltar. [HL245]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): Implementation of the 2006 Cordoba trilateral arrangements is on track and working well, improving the quality of life for citizens on both sides of the border.
New border arrangements came into force in December 2006 which have substantially improved border fluidity. The airport arrangements have delivered more connections from Gibraltar airport and since December 2006 direct flights between Madrid and Gibraltar have become routine. Gibraltar is also now included in new EU aviation measures and
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Health: Dermatology
Baroness Masham of Ilton asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Education and training of practice nurses is a matter for their employers and for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which requires its registrants to work within their competence, and to update and maintain their knowledge and skills throughout their professional life.
Baroness Masham of Ilton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the average time from first out-patient appointment to the completion of a consultant episode in dermatology. [HL138]
Lord Darzi of Denham: Data are not collected in the format requested in the Question.
Baroness Masham of Ilton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of an average general practitioner's budget is currently spent on dealing with consultations with a dermatological component. [HL139]
Lord Darzi of Denham: This information is not collected centrally.
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