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Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the advice contained in the guidelines on cook-freeze catering published by his Department in 1970 is still operational.
Mrs. Currie : Yes. However, the reference made in these guidelines to the use of chilled pre-cooked food was superseded by the guidelines on pre-cooked chilled foods published in 1980 ; the latter are being updated.
Adoption
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what basis local authorities use in assessing an upper age limit for adoption ; what that limit is ; and whether he intends to review present arrangements governing adoptions.
Mrs. Currie : Adoption agencies, which include local authorities, are under a statutory obligation to choose the most suitable available family for each child. Age is one factor taken into account by agencies in making a decision. Agencies follow the accepted good practice that babies should generally be placed with adopters who are at an age at which most couples start a family. However, many
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agencies welcome prospective adopters beyond this age to meet the needs of older children or children whose care and upbringing call for experience or particular skills.Having introduced the Children Bill we plan to turn to a reivew of the adoption legislation as soon as the opportunity occurs and will examine the present arrangements as part of that review.
Nursing Homes
Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of places in (a) private and (b) voluntary nursing homes in each district health authority area in (i) 1979 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Mellor : Comparable information is available only for 1982 to 1986 (SBH212). Copies are available in the Library. The data do not separately identify voluntary and private homes. Data for 1987 should be available early next year.
European Childcare Network
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to implement the recommendations contained in the European childcare network report by Dr. Bronwen Cohen ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : The ministerial group on women's issues, which is chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford (Mr. Patten), Minister of State, Home Office and on which my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Health is considering children's day care and women's employment. Dr. Cohen's report, "Caring for children--services and policies for Childcare and Equal Opportunities in the United Kingdom", which contains recommendations of interest to several Government Departments, is being considered in that context.
Registration Service
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the consultative document on the reform of the registration service.
Mrs. Currie : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health today published a Green Paper entitled "Registration : a modern service", Cm. 531, containing proposals to reform the system for registering births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. In presenting these proposals the Government have recognised that the present 150-year-old system places severe limitations on the service and those responsible for it and that there is a need to restructure it to make it more up to date, flexible and responsive to the demands of today's public.
The Government propose that responsibilities for the management of the registration service should be clarified : local authorities would be fully responsible for managing the service while the Registrar General would set national standards for it and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) would monitor their implementation. Other measures are proposed which the Government believe will provide a more helpful and supportive service to the public. These include a greater choice for members of the public over the registration district and the building
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in which they marry ; a facility for registering deaths which does not require the informant to travel to the district where the death occurred ; some changes in still-birth registration to help meet public concern ; improvements in the statistical information collected at the time of registration ; safeguards on people's ability to buy certified copies of certificates which relate to the recent births, deaths or marriages of complete strangers ; and the legal changes necessary to permit access to early registration records on similar terms as to other historic records. The overall financial effect of these reforms would be to reduce the present net cost of the service both locally and centrally.These proposals are based upon the efficiency scrutiny of the registration service in England and Wales, which reported in 1985, and on the conclusions of a joint working group of officials from OPCS and the Home Office and representatives of the local authority associations which reported earlier this year.
The majority of these proposals will require amendments to main legislation but before any legislative proposals are presented to the House the Government are inviting comments on the proposals in the Green Paper to be sent to OPCS by 31 March 1989.
Waiting Lists
Mr. Harris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will announce the allocations to regional health authorities from the waiting list fund for 1989-90 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : The Government are making a further £30 million available through the waiting list fund in 1989-90 to help tackle the problem of long waits for hospital treatment : £25 million will be allocated direct to regional health authorities so that there can fund projects aimed at reducing the time patients have to wait and the remaining £5 million will fund projects in health districts which have particular waiting problems.
This is the third phase of the waiting list initiative. Last year the £25 million fund enabled health authorities to treat some 100,000 additional in-patients/day cases and 44,000 out-patients. In 1988-89 the £30 million is enabling health authorities to treat even more additional patients from the waiting list. The further £30 million that I am announcing today represents the third year of special funding and will build on the successes already achieved. The allocation to regions are as follows :
Region |Allocation
|£ million
----------------------------------------
Northern |1.627
Yorkshire |1.886
Trent |2.488
East Anglian |0.889
North West Thames |2.004
North East Thames |2.108
South East Thames |1.956
South West Thames |1.549
Wessex |1.358
Oxford |0.992
South Western |1.547
West Midlands |2.743
Mersey |1.445
North Western |2.407
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Care of the Elderly
Mr. John Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by regional health authority (a) the number of people between 65 and 75 years old who have been identified as needing or having (i) hip replacement, (ii) cataracts, (iii) chest complaints, (iv) heart disease, (v)
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strokes, (vi) Parkinson's disease, (vii) Alzheimers's disease and (viii) osteo/rheumatoid arthritis and (b) the number of people over 75 years old who have been identified as needing or having the above.Mrs. Currie [holding answer 25 November] : The available information is given in the table.
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Estimated number of In-Patients with main diagnosis/operation (as shown), by region of residence, discharged from NHS non-psychiatric hospitals, England 1985
|Age Group |Northern |Yorkshire |Trent |East Anglia |North West Thames |North East Thames |South East Thames |South West Thames |Wessex |Oxford |South Western |West Midlands |Mersey |North Western |England not otherwise|<1>England
|stated
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hip replacements (CSO 810, |65-74 |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>11,980
811)
|75 and |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>16,130
|over
Cataracts (CSO 170-179) |65-74 |710 |1,310 |1,410 |700 |650 |810 |1,100 |860 |930 |500 |740 |1,310 |670 |1,300 |0 |13,010
|75 and |950 |1,970 |2,940 |1,520 |1,050 |1,280 |1,440 |1,330 |1,630 |800 |1,250 |1,570 |1,280 |1,900 |(10) |20,940
|over
Diseases of the respiratory |65-74 |4,130 |5,590 |5,870 |1,820 |4,160 |4,720 |3,930 |2,830 |2,260 |2,170 |3,320 |6,220 |3,580 |6,800 |(50) |57,450
system (ICD 460-519)
|75 and |5,470 |8,540 |9,820 |3,570 |7,180 |7,140 |6,820 |5,250 |3,710 |3,820 |5,730 |7,640 |5,270 |8,660 |(30) |88,660
|over
Ischaemic heart diseases |65-74 |3,580 |4,880 |5,020 |1,830 |3,580 |3,730 |3,570 |2,390 |2,180 |1,600 |2,890 |6,120 |3,040 |7,660 |(10) |52,070
(ICD 410-414)
|75 and |3,440 |4,600 |4,700 |1,680 |3,130 |3,550 |4,150 |2,810 |2,020 |1,350 |2,680 |3,950 |2,700 |6,220 |(10) |46,990
|over
Acute but ill-defined |65-74 |1,600 |1,990 |1,920 |580 |1,290 |1,340 |1,630 |1,140 |1,110 |710 |1,530 |2,870 |1,150 |2,600 |(20) |21,470
cerebrovascular disease
(ICD 436)
|75 and |2,670 |3,150 |3,950 |1,610 |2,550 |3,220 |3,680 |2,230 |2,230 |1,530 |3,580 |4,650 |2,060 |3,880 |(10) |41,010
over
Parkinsons disease (ICD 332) |65-74 |250 |300 |430 |(90) |210 |360 |220 |210 |240 |(180) |220 |550 |(170) |460 |0 |3,870
|75 and |360 |760 |1,070 |200 |460 |480 |670 |550 |470 |300 |440 |1,020 |420 |990 |0 |8,210
|over
Alzheimers Disease (ICD |65-74 |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>(60)
331.0)
|75 and |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>(80)
|over
Rheumatoid arthritis and |65-74 |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>21,090
osteoarthrosis (ICD
741,715)
|75 and |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |<2>22,450
|over
<1> England total may not equal sum of regions due to roundings
<2> Includes patients normally resident outside England.
Figures in brackets should be treated with caution as they are based on small sample numbers.
ICD-International Classification of Diseases; 9th revision.
CSO-Classification of Surgical Operations; 3rd revision.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Family Incomes
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update the example given on page 94 of "Social Trends 18" of a family man earning £73 in April 1987.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend on 28 July 1988 at column 509. This gives an example of a married man with a non-working wife and four children living in local authority accommodation and earning £75 during 1988-89.
Earnings Allowance
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if those achieving retirement with an established reduced earnings allowance before April 1989 will retain that allowance for life.
Mr. Scott : A recipient of the allowance who retires before 10 April 1989 will retain his existing entitlement for life.
Hostel Dwellers
Mr. Allen Adams : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will give the value of the board and
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lodging allowance paid to hostel dwellers in April 1985, 1986 and 1988 in 1988 prices ; and if he has any plans to increase the current rate ;(2) what proposals he has for raising allowances for hostel dwellers in the current financial year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Hostel dwellers do not receive income support (and formerly supplementary benefit) at a fixed rate. Income support includes help towards the accommodation charge and meals subject to a maximum limit, together with a personal allowance. Personal allowances are normally increased each April along with increases in other benefits. These will be increased from 10 April 1989 as follows :
|April 1988|April 1989
|£ |£
----------------------------------------------------
Lower
Single |10.30 |11.95
Couple |20.60 |23.90
Higher
Single |11.50 |13.25
Couple |23.00 |26.50
Dependant children
under 11 |3.45 |4.10
age 11-15 |5.30 |6.05
age 16-17 |6.20 |7.00
age 18 |10.30 |11.95
There are no plans to increase the maximum hostel limit which continues to cover the majority of charges.
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The following table shows the average amounts of income support (and formerly supplementary benefit) paid to hostel dwellers in cash terms and at May 1988 values. May figures are used, because information for April is not available. No figures on average payments are available before December 1985.
|Average payment |At May 1988 prices
|£ |£
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 1986 |65.76 |71.38
May 1987 |67.24 |70.08
May 1988 |70.72 |70.72
Benefit Offices
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the staffing levels for the Carlisle benefit office for each of the years from 1979 to 1987.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There are no figures available before 1983. The staffing levels for each of the years 1983-87 were :
|Number
----------------------
1983-84 |117
1984-85 |110
1985-86 |111
1986-87 |118
1987-88 |117
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in the Coventry and Warwickshire area have claimed unemployment benefit and satisfied all the necessary conditions of entitlement, except that of voluntary unemployment, for each month of 1988 to date ; and of these how many were disqualified from unemployment benefit, broken down by age, sex and duration of disqualification.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I regret that the information requested is not available.
Attendance and Mobility Allowances
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if there is any facility for claimants for the attendance and mobility allowances to be examined by a woman doctor or a doctor from a particular ethnic background.
Mr. Scott : If claimants for the attendance allowance and mobility allowance specifically request to be examined by a woman doctor or a doctor from a particular ethnic background, these requests are dealt with on an individual basis by the regional office senior medical officer. Every effort is made to meet the claimant's request but the ability to do so largely depends upon the availability of doctors meeting the requirements among the examining medical practitioners in any one locality who have been recruited and trained for the undertaking of such examinations.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many examining medical practitioners for the attendance and mobility allowances are (a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities with language skills or a particular cultural background where this is relevant.
Mr. Scott : There are 4,863 examining medical practitioners who undertaken examinations on claimants
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for the attendance and mobility allowances. Of these 816 are women, and 908 are from ethnic minorities with language skills or a particular cultural background.Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will tabulate the number of successful applications for review of the attendance allowance and break down the figures into those who sought review because they were dissatisfied with the original decision and those who did so because their condition had deteriorated.
Mr. Scott : Figures for 1987, the latest year for which information is available, are in the following table.
Attendance allowance reviews 1987
Number of successful<1> applications by reason for
review
Reason for review |Number
------------------------------------------------------
Dissatisfaction |19,190
Deterioration |23,933
Other |981
|-------
Total |44,104
<1> Successful reviews include those where an
allowance is awarded for the first time, those where
an allowance is increased from the lower to the
higher rate and those where the period covered by a
certificate of attendance needs is increased.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the procedures for dealing with doctors who are not fulfilling their duties to claimants for mobility and attendance allowance satisfactorily ;
(2) how complaints against examining doctors for attendance and mobility allowance are dealt with.
Mr. Scott : Complaints against examining doctors for attendance and mobility allowance are dealt with by the Department's senior medical officer in the appropriate regional office. The doctor is provided with a copy of the complaint and of the report of the examination concerned and is asked to comment. The senior medical officer considers the complaint, the doctor's reply, any previous complaints made against that doctor and the SMO's personal knowledge of the doctor. The SMO then decides what action to take and arranges for a reply to be sent to the complainant.
Dissatisfaction with the work of an examining medical practitioner may arise as a result of complaints or during the course of monitoring his or her work. There are two main causes for dissatisfaction, inadequacy of the reports or a defect in the doctor's conduct, manner or behaviour. In the former case the unsatisfactory reports are discussed with the doctor in detail by the SMO or a full-time medical officer. Deficiencies are pointed out and the doctor is advised how his work can be improved. The doctor's subsequent reports are monitored and if they fail to reach a satisfactory standard, and if it is clear that no further significant improvement can be expected, he or she is not asked to provide any further reports.
If the doctor's conduct is cause for complaint individual cases are discussed in detail. Advice is given by the SMO or MO on how a change of conduct might prevent further complaints. A doctor whose conduct continues to provoke complaints is not asked to provide further reports.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if there is any matching of doctors with particular specialisations and attendance and mobility allowances claimants with particular disabilities.
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Mr. Scott : The medical criteria to be met for attendance allowance and mobility allowance are not dependent on the claimant's exhibiting any particular disabilities. The Attendance Allowance Board, or its delegate, decides whether the conditions for attendance allowance are met on the basis of a report of an examination of the disabled person undertaken by a registered medical practitioner. That report provides an assessment of the nature and extent of attention to bodily functions and/or of supervision to avoid substantial danger which the disabled person reasonably requires from another by day and/or by night by reason of the medical condition(s) from which the claimant suffers. The decision by an adjudication officer to award mobility allowance rests on an examination and assessment by an examining medical practitioner of the claimant's walking difficulties due to a physical disorder.
By their very nature the medical examinations required for the purposes of determining eligibility for these allowances need the expertise and experience possessed by general practitioners who make up the great majority of the doctors selected and recruited by the regional office senior medical officer to perform this function. Consistency of advice across a wide range of disabilities and age-groups is also desirable. This is obtained by employing general medical practitioners. In the small number of cases where a specialist opinion is required to determine diagnosis, or assist in resolving complex cases, an independent report is solicited from a consultant clinician who would possess the necessary specialist knowledge applicable to the individual case.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give (a) the total number of claims for mobility allowance in 1985- 86, 1986-87 and 1987-88 for Scotland, England and Wales, (b) average lengths of time involved in processing these claims, (c) the length of time considered reasonable for an individual claim to be processed and (d) the total number of applications which remain to be processed to payments or refusal stage claims first submitted in the period 1 April 1987 to 31 March 1988.
Mr. Scott : The available information about the numbers of mobility allowance claims received is in the table ; separate figures for Scotland, England and Wales are not available as claims are administered centrally. We endeavour to deal with all claims as quickly as possible but it is unlikely that the current average processing time of 7.8 weeks can be significantly reduced. I regret that figures for claims received up to 31 March 1988 and awaiting decision are not available.
Mobility allowance: Claims received 1985-86 to
1987-88
|Numbers received
---------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |151,000
1986-87 |169,000
1987-88 |223,000
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give (a) the total number of claims for attendance allowance in each of the years 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-88 for Scotland, England and Wales, (b) the average length of time involved in processing an individual claim, (c) the length of time considered reasonable by the Department for an individual claim to be processed and
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(d) the total number of applications which remain to be processed to payment or refusal stage for claims first submitted in the period 1 April 1987 to 31 March 1988.Mr. Scott : The information requested about numbers of attendance allowance claims received is in the table. We endeavour to deal with all claims as quickly as possible but it is unlikely that the current average processing time of 7.3 weeks can be significantly reduced. I regret that figures for claims received up to 31 March 1988 and awaiting decision are not available.
Attendance allowance: Claims received
1985-86 to 1987-88
Numbers received
|Scotland|England |Wales
---------------------------------------------
1985-86 |24,063 |230,434 |21,969
1986-87 |26,897 |246,650 |23,620
1987-88 |31,266 |280,969 |25,628
Reduced Earnings Allowance
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people now receiving the reduced earnings allowance were awarded this payment when it was known as the special hardship allowance ; and what undertakings were given to those recipients as to the duration of these payments.
Mr. Scott : I regret that the information requested is not available. Special hardship allowance was awarded for a period of up to six years subject to review if circumstances changed.
Family Credit
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on what assumptions about take-up rates the provision for family credit in the 1988 public expenditure White Paper was based.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The estimates of 470,000 family credit claimants and expenditure of £409 million were based on the assumption that the proportion of eligible employed earners who claimed family credit would be one fifth higher than for family income supplement. The estimates of total eligible population and expenditure were themselves subject to a number of assumptions, for example, about the movement in the levels of earnings and other income. They must therefore be treated with some caution.
Young People
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security why copies of leaflet FB23, "Young People's Guide to Social Security," were not circulated to independent advice centres in Bradford, Bradford benefit advice shops, youth clubs, church groups, hostels and other organisations which come into contact with young people.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : One million copies of the leaflet "Young People's Guide to Social Security April 1988" have been printed at a total cost of £77,430. In order to ensure that the leaflets are readily available to all young people they have been distributed to all parts of Great Britain, including Bradford. A total of 45,000 of the leaflets have been issued to career offices, 50,000 to
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Department of Employment offices, 589,000 to our own local offices and Her Majesty's Stationery Offices. The Department of Social Security "Freephone" service also arranges for copies of the form to be sent to inquirers. In addition, the 17,000 organisations and individuals on the Department's mailing list, many of whom are involved with or represent young people, would automatically have received copies of the form. Any organisation or individual wishing to be added to the Department's leaflets mailing list may do so by making a written request.Correspondence
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he intends to reply to the letter of 27 October from the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North, on the loss of benefit by 16 and 17-year-olds.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I wrote to the hon. Member yesterday.
Pensioners
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how much of the proposed increase of £2.50 a pensioner of over 75 years will retain in net additional income if he is in receipt of housing benefit ;
(2) how much of the proposed increase of £3.50 a pensioner couple of over 75 years will retain in net additional income if they are in receipt of housing benefit.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : It is the intention that all pensioners currently on income support will see a gain in net additional income of either £2.50 or £3.50 with any housing benefit entitlement remaining unchanged. Those pensioners with incomes remaining above income support levels after the changes but receiving housing benefit should see a cash increase in their housing benefit but this will be affected by the housing benefit tapers as shown in the following table :
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|Couple |Single person
|£ |£
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increase in rent rebate or allowance |2.28 |1.63
Increase in rate rebate |0.70 |0.50
Increase in community charge
rebate |0.53 |0.38
Retirement Pensions
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to increase the level of retirement pensions.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has a statutory duty to review the level of state retirement pension every year, and to increase it at least in line with the movement in prices. He informed the House on 27 October that from 10 April 1989 retirement pension will be increased by £2.45 and £3.90 for single pensioners and couples respectively. He also informed the House on 24 November of additional resources of £200 million to be made available to pensioners on low incomes.
Family Credit
Sir Ian Gilmour : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing family credit ceilings in 1988 and 1989, for (a) a single person with one child under 11 years, (b) a single person with two children under 11 years, (c) a married couple with one child under 11 years, (d) a married couple with two children under 11 years and (e) a married couple with two children under 11 years and two over 11 years, as percentages of their income support allowances, including family premium, free school meals and free welfare milk, but excluding housing.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 29 November 1988] : The information is set out in the table. The results for April 1989 are speculative as assumptions have had to be made about tax rates, tax thresholds and local authority rate levels.
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Family Credit Ceilings Net income after
(£pw) housing costs on income
support (£pw)
Family Type (Gross Wage) (Net Wage)
|1988 |1989 |1988 |1989 |1988 |1989 |(iii) as per cent. of (v)|(iv) as per cent. of (vi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Single person with one child
aged 3 |130 |139 |105 |113 |54.29 |57.24 |193 |197
Single person with two
children aged 4 and 6 |114 |155 |114 |123 |67.49 |71.44 |169 |172
Married couple with one
child aged 3 |130 |139 |105 |113 |68.64 |73.24 |153 |154
Married couple with two
children aged 4 and 6 |143 |155 |114 |123 |81.84 |87.44 |139 |141
Married couple with four
children aged 3, 8, 12 and 16 |200 |218 |152 |165 |122.44 |130.69 |124 |126
Notes:
(a) Family credit ceiling rounded to nearest £.
(b) Net income after housing costs is defined as income support allowance plus free school meals and free welfare milk less 20 per cent. rate contribuition.
(c) Rates are assumed to be the local authority average for council tenants with the appropriate family accommodation.
(d) The approximate possible 1989 rate levels are those for 1988 enhanced by 5.9 per cent.
(e) The average value of free school meals is assumed to be £2.55pw.
(f) The average value of free welfare milk is assumed to be £1.83pw.
(g) Tax thresholds for 1989-90 have been calculated using a simple uplifting of 1988 thresholds.
(h) The basic tax rate is assumed to remain at 25 per cent. in 1989-90.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Prison Department Houses
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present waiting time for the allocation of prison officers' housing for officers serving at London prisons.
Mr. Hurd : Prison service grades are no longer entitled to occupy official quarters as a condition of service and only in exceptional circumstances can such accommodation be provided. Allocation depends on a number of factors including availability and the compelling nature of the applicant's circumstances. Routine statistics are therefore not maintained but information from the five major establishments in London suggests that the waiting time can vary from three months to well over two years.
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Criminal Injuries Compensation Board
Mr. Ground : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cases were awaiting resolution by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board at the end of each month since January ; (2) how many cases were resolved by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in each month since January ;
(3) how many staff were employed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board at the end of each month since January.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested is given in the following table :
Column 393
Month |Cases awaiting resolution|Cases resolved during |Staff in post (part-time
|at the end of each month |each month |staff being each counted
|as one half)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 1988 |76,000 |3,652 |310.5
February 1988 |77,000 |3,353 |309.5
March 1988 |78,000 |3,180 |301.5
April 1988 |79,000 |2,724 |305.5
May 1988 |80,000 |2,699 |304.5
June 1988 |80,000 |3,393 |311.5
July 1988 |80,000 |2,970 |313.5
August 1988 |81,000 |2,964 |312.5
September 1988 |80,000 |2,813 |319.5
October 1988 |81,000 |3,201 |320.5
Mr. Ground : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting resolution by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
Mr. John Patten : We have increased the board's staff to 320 (including 107 at a new office in Glasgow) and we hope that this will enable the board to reduce the backlog by at least 2,500 cases during 1989- 90.
Immigration
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his best estimate of the cost of measuring the average waiting time of sponsors living in the United Kingdom in relation to applications from relatives living in the Indian sub-continent at his Department's Birmingham office over (a) a three month period and (b) a 12 month period ; and if he will outline the basis on which this estimate is made.
Mr. Renton : I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave to her questions on 29 June, at column 234, and 14 July, column 329. The cost of measuring the average waiting time over any period would include the resources involved in examining files at the port, in various parts of Lunar house and in transit to and from entry clearance posts abroad. I am satisfied that it would be disproportionate.
Norris v. Ireland
Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the light of the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Norris v. Ireland, re-affirming that the complete illegality of
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consensual homosexual acts between males violates article 8 of the European convention on human rights, what steps Her Majesty's Government proposes to take to ensure that the laws outlawing consensual homosexual acts between males in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are brought into line with the court's ruling.Mr. Douglas Hogg : The law in Guernsey has been amended in order to avoid a breach of the convention in this respect. Further discussions have already been held with the law officers in Jersey and the Isle of Man drawing attention to the judgment in Norris v. Ireland.
Homosexuality
Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to bring before Parliament proposals to amend the law on sexual offences to implement (a) the recommendations of the Policy Advisory Committee (Cmnd. 8216, 1981) and the Criminal Law Revision Committee (Cmnd. 9213, 1984) concerning the age of consent, the definition of privacy and other matters on which the law treats homosexual conduct more harshly than comparable heterosexual conduct and (b) the resolutions passed by large inter-party majorities in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 1981 and the European Parliament in 1984 calling on those member states with laws discriminating against homo-sexuals to end such discrimination.
Mr. John Patten : We have no present plans to do so.
Vietnamese Refugees
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of Vietnamese refugees admitted for settlement in the United
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Kingdom (a) from Hong Kong and (b) from other areas in each of the past five years ; and whether he has any proposals to increase these numbers.Mr. Renton : The number of south-east Asian refugees accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom in the years 1983 to 1987, as published in table 18 of "Control of Immigration : Statistics, United Kingdom 1987" (Cm. 415) was :
|Number
---------------------
1983 |1,220
1984 |800
1985 |530
1986 |830
1987 |440
In the first six months of 1988 the figure was 300. A breakdown of these figures between those from Hong Kong and those from other areas is not available.
My right hon. Friend has received proposals that we should admit a greater number of south-east Asian refugees from Hong Kong. These proposals are being considered.
Mr. Ronald Joseph McCartney
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether a visit to establish home circumstances was carried out in the case of Ronald Joseph McCartney before deciding not to allow a transfer to Northern Ireland ;
(2) why the decision was taken that there were no compelling circumstances to merit the transfer of Mr. Ronald Joseph McCartney from an English prison to Northern Ireland ;
(3) what assessment has been made of the suitability of Ronald Joseph McCartney for transfer to a prison in Northern Ireland ; and what is his general policy in regard to such transfers.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : No decison has yet been taken on Mr. McCartney's application to be permanently transferred to Northern Ireland to serve the remainder of his sentence. A visit to establish home circumstances for this purpose is not standard practice, and was not considered necessary in this case. Permanent transfers to Northern Ireland will normally be granted if the applicant has at least six months to serve, if he was domiciled in Northern Ireland before he committed his offence and his family still live there, and the Home Office and Northern Ireland Office are satisfied that he will not, if transferred, disrupt or attempt to disrupt the operation of any prison establishment or otherwise pose an unacceptable threat to security. Even if these criteria are met, however, a transfer may be refused if the inamate has been convicted of a particularly horrific crime ; on the other hand, a transfer may be granted where the criteria are not met if there are exceptional and compelling circumstances in the case.
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