To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the level of funding identified and required to support the development of allergy services in the pilot area of north west England.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding has been committed by Primary Care Trusts in north west England to support the development of allergy services in that pilot area.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what contribution the development of the Manchester Academic Health Services Centre will make to their pilot allergy project in north west England.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how their pilot allergy project in north west England will address primary care provision, education and training.

The Department provided £60,000 in 2008-09 to support a dedicated project manager to take forward the proposed improvements in allergy service provision in north-west England. This resource will also be used to support the official launch of the North West Allergy Network in autumn 2009. Further resources to progress work are currently under consideration by the department.

In 2008-09 north-west primary care trusts (PCTs) provided £110,000 to University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust for the part-year appointment of a full-time consultant adult allergist with additional nursing and other support staff. A further £115,000 was allocated in 2009-10 to account for the full-year effect of these appointments. A total of £256,000 has been allocated in 2009-10 to Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust and Central Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (£128,000 each) for the part-year appointment of full-time consultant paediatric allergists, nursing and other support staff. North-west PCTs are currently considering how to develop a means by which allergy services can be developed, supported and sustained through a tariff based approach.

The Manchester Academic Health Services Centre (MAHSC) is a collaboration between the NHS and the University of Manchester and will help drive improvements in the quality of healthcare, including in allergy services. Academic allergists, who are world leaders in their field of expertise, will play a key leadership role in the north-west pilot allergy project in education, training and research. They will also support the development of standards and monitoring mechanisms, working with clinical colleagues, for allergy service providers within the north-west project.

The north-west regional model for the provision of allergy services will involve the development of agreed regional protocols for the referral and management of services in primary, secondary and tertiary care. In addition, NHS Manchester, the lead PCT for the pilot, has started work to review the opportunities for service design in primary care to improve access, experience and outcomes for patients with allergies.