§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the EU Scientific Committee on medical products and medical devices is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United482W in the table. Figures available for periods prior to June 2002 were based on forecast information from National Health Service trusts. No information about the position at the end of March 2002 was collected.
The better hospital food programme, announced in the NHS Plan and launched in May 2001, is a long-term initiative aimed at improving the quality and availability of food in hospitals. It is backed by the provision of an extra £38.5 million.
The NHS Plan made it clear that the variability in the quality of hospital food across the country is not acceptable. The standards set out in the better hospital food programme are designed to reflect changes in preferences and lifestyles over the past few years, provide patients with better access to meals/drinks and ensure that patients get the help they need through the housekeeper programme.
The NHS has made a great deal of progress with the implementation of the better hospital food programme. Where progress has been made with introducing the programme, patients are already noticing and appreciating the difference. The current position means that each day nearly 100,000 patients can access catering services around the clock; some 55,000 now get two new snacks twice a day and some 60,000 enjoy the new dishes designed by leading chefs.
However we are aware of a number of cases where sufficient progress has not been made, and we have set up teams to work directly with these hospitals to ensure that remedial action is taken.
To assist in this £2.1 million has recently been allocated to a number of NHS trusts and primary care trusts to enable them to further develop house-keeper services and to accelerate the progress already made in improving the range and quality of food services available to patients.
Our plans are for further and sustained improvements to the standard and range of hospital food which will in turn mean that clinical benefits of improved nutrition are also realised with consequential benefits for patients and the NHS as a whole.
Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [63637]
§ Ms BlearsThe mandate of the Scientific Committee on Medicinal Products and Medical Devices is to consider scientific and technical questions relating to Community legislation concerning medicines for 483W human and veterinary use without prejudice to the specific responsibilities of the Committee for Proprietary Medical Products and the Committee on Veterinary Medicinal Products in the context of the evaluation of medicines. The Committee also considers scientific and technical questions relating to Community legislation concerning medical materials and equipment.
The Committee normally meets five times each year. In the last 12 months the Committee met on 1 October 2001, 18 January 2002 and 17 June 2002.
The United Kingdom's representative on the Committee is David Williams, Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The European Commission pays the travel expenses for the Committee representatives. The costs to UK public funds are therefore the accommodation costs for the delegate attending meetings. Such costs are not readily available and would incur disproportionate cost to identify.
The Committee considers a wide range of scientific and technical issues relating to medicinal products and medical devices. Subjects raised at the last meeting of the Committee included discussion of an interim report on PVC in medical devices for infants and the effects of Xylitol and other Polyols on Caries development. Agendas for Committee meetings can be accessed on the European Commission's website. A summary of the Committee's discussions is posted to the European Commission's website after each meeting and further details and documents are available from the European Commission on request.