Answers to the Written Assembly Questions for answer on
7 October 2009
[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
Contents
Questions to the First Minister
Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport
Questions to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing
Questions to the Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Questions to the Minister for Heritage
Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government
Questions to the Counsel General
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the First Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54917)
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54919) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister (Rhodri Morgan): This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for the Economy and Transport
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): Will the Minister state what budget is made available for the training and support of new account managers that support the Flexible Support for Business policy and program. (WAQ54912)
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): Will the Minister state how much money has been spent on training new account managers that support the Flexible Support for Business policy and program. (WAQ54913)
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): Will the Minister make a statement on the training provided to the new account managers that support the Flexible Support for Business policy and program. (WAQ54914)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
Since April 2008, a dedicated budget of £154,000 has been made available specifically for the professional development of relationship managers in my department. To the end of September 2009, £114,000 has been spent in this area. A total of 65 relationship managers, including those newly appointed, have received training to support the Flexible Support for Business programme.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54918) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54920) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 7 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54922) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for Health and Social Services
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): What support does the NHS provide to military personnel in their recuperation and rehabilitation after injury in conflict and has there been an increase in support due to the current burden on the armed forces. (WAQ54903)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
Outlined below are details of the Welsh Assembly Government’s current work in relation to veteran-related issues. It covers health, housing and general support for veterans’ events and groups.
1. Veterans and Health
Veterans’ Priority Healthcare and Treatment on the NHS
• On 23 November 2008, you announced that all service veterans will be entitled to priority NHS treatment and care for service-related conditions, extending the current priority access to NHS services from war pensioners to all veterans.
• A Welsh Health Circular (WHC) has been distributed to NHS Trusts, LHBs, GPs and other health-related bodies in order to clarify the extension of priority treatment to veterans.
Prosthetic Limb Provision
• The standard of prosthetic limb provision to injured personnel by the Defence Medical Services will as a minimum be matched by the NHS Wales when out of service.
• The gap between demand and levels of current provision has been identified and advice will be submitted to you shortly.
NHS Waiting Lists - Retention of Place
• When patients move across the UK, previous waiting time will be taken into account with the expectation that treatment will be within national waiting time standards.
• Guidance to be issued to NHS trusts to reinforce that waiting time will be taken into account when service personnel move across UK.
• Total wait from primary care to start of definitive treatment will be 26 weeks.
Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards
• Welsh Assembly participates in the Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards scheme, which are hosted by Scotland this year. It may be Wales’ turn to host in 2010/2011.
Departments of Health/MoD Partnership Board
• WAG officials are members of the Departments of Health/MoD Partnership Board and are supporting working groups.
Veterans and Mental Health
• Veterans, and all people who access mental health services, will benefit by the Welsh Assembly Government's determination to ensure that the quality and availability of services improves over the next three years. As a fundamental part of the new integrated local NHS bodies, mental health services will have a strengthened presence across the NHS to the benefit of all service users.
Community-based Mental Health Therapy Service pilot
• The pilot project is currently identifying the level of veterans’ need and most appropriate model of delivery for addressing these needs, part of which is to ensure that the health needs of veterans are able to be met within mainstream NHS services.
• The pilot is a two-year project launched on 4 February 2008, costing £135,000 and co-funded with the MoD. It is based at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff and provides services to areas covered by Cardiff & Vale and Cym Taf NHS Trusts. You agreed to provide additional funding after officials became aware that the project needed a further £5,000 for 2009/10 (SF/EH/0642/08).
• The project has had over 90 veterans referred since 17 March 2008. The majority of veterans referred live within the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and Cwm Taf NHS Trust areas but 20 individuals have been referred from outside the catchment area.
• The roll-out of the project across Wales is being considered with discussions regarding proposals for dedicated posts in the new health bodies which have a focus on veterans’ health.
• The above pilot has the support and assistance of Combat Stress (The Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society). WAG also contributes annual funding to Combat Stress through the mental health National Voluntary Organisation grant.
2. Veterans and Housing
Homelessness and Allocation of Social Housing
The Welsh Assembly Government is:
• Introducing secondary legislation to commence the provisions in s153 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, in order to ensure that periods of time applicants spend living in an area whilst serving in the armed forces is included in assessing their local connection to the area, for the purposes of allocation of social housing and homelessness assistance.
• Exploring with Cymorth Cymru, MoD and Veterans Agency how organisations can join up more effectively in providing housing and welfare services for veterans
• Contributing to the development of a UK homelessness strategy for veterans led by the MoD, which will focus on raising awareness of services amongst the veterans of the housing services that are available to help them.
• Consulting on a ten year Homelessness Plan for Wales, which will aim to prevent homelessness amongst veterans and link them to services where it is not prevented
• Introducing legislation to provide easier access to Disabled Facilities Grants for people injured in the armed services.
3. General Veterans’ events/interest groups
Annual Veterans Day events in Wales and Veterans Focus Group
• In 2007 and 2008, Assembly Government provided funding, advice and support to the annual flagship Veterans Day events, which were North Wales (Caernarfon) and South Wales (Cardiff).
• The next Veterans Day, now called 'Armed Forces Day (Past and Present)’, is scheduled for 27 June 2009 (venue to be confirmed). A briefing on this issue is being prepared.
• Assembly officials also chair the regular Veterans Day planning meetings and provide secretariat.
• Assembly officials also chair the regular All-Wales Veterans Focus Group and provide administrative support.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): What percentage of eligible women are screened for breast cancer every three years, broken down per local health board and in each of the last five years. (WAQ54904)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
The four countries of the UK take their advice on cancer screening from the UK National Screening Committee. For breast cancer screening, the Committee advises that women should be screened for breast cancer between the age of 50 and 70.
Screening for women aged 64-70 began in Wales in 2006 and a full three year round is needed before it is appropriate to report coverage for this age group.
Breast screening coverage reflects a combination of the proportion of eligible women invited for screening in the period, and the proportion of those women who attend. Breast Test Wales invites around 120,000 women in Wales each year. Around 100,000 women take up the invitation and attend for screening.
The tables below show coverage by Local Health Board area for women aged 53-64 for the five years from 2004/05 to 2008/09:
Local Health Board |
Coverage at 31/03/05 |
Coverage at 31/03/06 |
Coverage at 31/03/07 |
Coverage at 31/03/08 |
Coverage at 31/03/09 |
Anglesey |
77.4% |
77.4% |
73.7% |
78.1% |
77.6% |
Blaenau Gwent |
81.0% |
79.3% |
78.5% |
78.1% |
78.0% |
Bridgend |
81.2% |
74.8% |
74.1% |
79.7% |
79.3% |
Caerphilly |
75.1% |
79.6% |
79.4% |
76.0% |
77.5% |
Cardiff |
74.4% |
74.3% |
73.2% |
71.5% |
72.5% |
Carmarthen |
79.6% |
79.7% |
73.8% |
77.2% |
78.5% |
Ceredigion |
67.9% |
79.2% |
79.2% |
72.4% |
76.7% |
Conwy |
53.4% |
74.3% |
75.5% |
71.4% |
74.2% |
Denbighshire |
58.2% |
63.5% |
71.6% |
71.2% |
70.7% |
Flintshire |
34.3% |
77.8% |
75.1% |
65.4% |
71.6% |
Gwynedd |
75.1% |
63.2% |
75.7% |
75.7% |
75.2% |
Merthyr Tydfil |
78.5% |
57.7% |
77.1% |
77.1% |
54.2% |
Monmouthshire |
82.9% |
82.5% |
74.2% |
80.1% |
80.3% |
Neath Port Talbot |
79.4% |
81.2% |
79.2% |
76.8% |
64.8% |
Newport |
76.6% |
76.6% |
73.1% |
74.5% |
74.0% |
Pembrokeshire |
80.8% |
56.4% |
73.6% |
80.4% |
61.6% |
Powys |
80.1% |
76.1% |
78.4% |
74.6% |
75.6% |
Rhondda Cynon Taff |
75.9% |
78.8% |
78.6% |
77.3% |
77.4% |
Swansea |
69.7% |
76.5% |
77.5% |
73.8% |
68.0% |
Torfaen |
75.8% |
77.3% |
79.0% |
77.2% |
77.6% |
Vale of Glamorgan |
76.1% |
73.2% |
78.3% |
77.9% |
76.7% |
Wrexham |
74.0% |
75.4% |
49.6% |
72.3% |
73.8% |
Wales |
72.7% |
74.9% |
75.0% |
75.1% |
73.7% |
Breast Test Wales offers screening as locally as possible to women. Most screening is carried out on ten mobile screening units, which travel around Wales in a planned three yearly cycle, visiting 119 locations in each three yearly period. Once all the eligible women in one location have been invited, the mobile unit moves to the next location and so on, returning to the original site three years later.
When reporting coverage by LHB area, the figures can be distorted when, the mobile is in the area at the cusp of the year. Some women receive invitations in March of one reporting year but will not be screened until April of the following reporting year.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): How many (a) missed diagnoses of cancer, (b) radiotherapy errors and (c) chemotherapy errors were reported in each of the last five years for which figures are available. (WAQ54905)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
Not all of the requested information is held centrally. All NHS organisations are required to report incident data to the National Patient Safety Agency’s reporting and learning system. Quarterly Data Summary reports of this information can be accessed at:
http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/type/data-reports/
Under the requirements of the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2000 (IR(ME)R), radiotherapy incidents are reported to the Welsh Assembly Government. The available figures are as follows:
2005 - 1 incident
2006 - 2 incidents
2007 - 1 incident
2008 - 5 incidents
2009 - 1 incident
The Welsh Assembly Government also receives reports from NHS organisations of serious incidents. The following reports were received relating to cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy incidents.
2004 - 1 cancer incident
2005 - 1 cancer incident
2006 - 1 chemotherapy incident
2007 - 6 cancer incidents; 1 chemotherapy incident
2008 - 4 cancer incidents
2009 - 1 cancer incident
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): What is the total amount paid by NHS dental patients in charges in each year since 1999. (WAQ54906)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
The table below details the total NHS dental patient charges collected each year since 1999/00 to 2005/06.
NHS dental Patient charges collected £m |
|
1999/00 |
23.5 |
2000/01 |
24.7 |
2001/02 |
24.4 |
2002/03 |
25.5 |
2003/04 |
25.3 |
2004/05 |
25.0 |
2005/06 |
22.0 |
The information from 2006/07 onwards is available in the individual LHB Audited annual accounts and can be accessed at the following link
http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-guide-docs-pub/bus-business-documents/bus-business-documents-doc-laid.htm
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Per NHS Trust how much have individual hospitals spent on chemotherapy drugs in each year since 1999, or for which figures are available, and what was the number of patients given chemotherapy. (WAQ54907)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
The Welsh Assembly Government does not collate information on spend by individual hospitals on chemotherapy drugs.
The number of patients receiving chemotherapy as regular day and night attenders for 2004/05 to 2007/08 is available in Table 8.3 of Health Statistics Wales 2009 and can be found at: http://wales.gov.uk/docs/statistics/2009/090930healthstatistics09en.pdf
Information relating to numbers of patients receiving chemotherapy prior to 2004/05 may be obtained by writing to Health Solutions Wales.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Per Local Health Board, how much has been spent per patient on stroke care in each year for which figures are available. (WAQ54908)
Answer issued on 06 October 2009
The Welsh Assembly Government does not collate this information.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): What is the annual spend per Local Health Board on cancer drugs via prescriptions for patients to pick up at pharmacies in each year for which figures are available. (WAQ54909)
Answer issued on 06 October 2009
This information is not held by the Welsh Assembly Government but is available from Health Solutions Wales.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Per Local Health Board, how much has been spent per patient on cancer care and in each of the last five years. (WAQ54910)
Answer issued on 06 October 2009
The Welsh Assembly Government does not collate this information.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): How many people in Wales have been diagnosed with cancer in each year since 1999, broken down into specific conditions. (WAQ54911)
Answer issued on 06 October 2009
The Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit publishes reports which include data on the incidence and registration of cancer in Wales.
"Cancer in Wales 1992-2006: A Comprehensive Report” is available at http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/page.cfm?orgid=242&pid=33893 and "Cancer Incidence in Wales, 2003-2007” is available at http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/page.cfm?orgid=242&pid=35385
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54915) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): Where do patients from Powys travel to receive dialysis treatment. (WAQ54925)
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister give an update on the number of patients within Powys who require dialysis treatment. (WAQ54926)
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
Patient flow from Powys to receive dialysis is quite complex and includes a number of units depending upon where each individual lives. These include Aberystwyth, Merthyr Tydfil, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Wrexham. The development of dialysis units in Welshpool and Llandrindod Wells will improve this.
In January 2009 the renal networks reviewed patient numbers to assist planning and prioritisation across Wales. This recorded 34 Powys patients receiving haemodialysis. The incidence and prevalence of dialysis in Powys is not significantly different from the national average and numbers of dialysis patients can be expected to increase by approximately 6-7% per annum. The development of dialysis capacity in Powys will be future-proofed to ensure capacity for the next ten years, where possible.
Paul Davies (Preseli Pembrokeshire): What funding is proposed for Stake Holder Reference Groups at a County level. (WAQ54927)
Answer issued on 06 October 2009
The Stakeholder Reference Groups will be established by the Local Health Boards as part of their stakeholder engagement responsibilities.
To ask the Minister for Heritage
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54923) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
To ask the Minister for Rural Affairs
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54921) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): What information does the Minister hold on the number of electric-shock dog collars used in Wales. (WAQ54928)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
There have been two consultations on this issue and the Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association (ECMA) estimated, in 2007, that there were about 6,000 collars being used in Wales.
Mick Bates (Montgomeryshire): How many prosecutions have been made in Wales over the past three years for cruelty to dogs through the use of electric-shock dog collars. (WAQ54929)
Answer issued on 08 October 2009
This is not information that is collected centrally.
To ask the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Minister responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 1999. (WAQ54916) Transferred for answer by the First Minister
Answer issued on 07 October 2009
The First Minister: This answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost. All responses to written questions are published on the National Assembly for Wales website.
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): In response to how many written questions has the Counsel General responded 'This information is not held centrally’ and would the Minister provide figures for each year since 2007. (WAQ54924)
Answer issued on 09 October 2009
None.