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Mr. Kenneth Clarke : It is not possible to give a precise estimate but, as I told the House on 5 December at column 19, the risk of infection to any individual is small and the risk to the healthy adult is very small so long as the egg is cooked.
Nurses and Midwives (Pay)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date the next nurses and midwives pay award will be implemented.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Decisions on implementation of the review body's recommendations will be taken in the normal way after the review body has submitted its report to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.
Hypothermia
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new measures his Department is seeking to implement in order to minimise the risks of hypothermia this winter.
Mrs. Currie : On 17 November the Government launched this year's "Keep Warm Keep Well" campaign. This is a health promotion campaign designed to give people information and advice about how to combat the risks of cold weather and is supported by the Departments of Health, Social Security, Environment, Welsh Office and Energy and several voluntary organisations.
As well as supporting the "Keep Warm Keep Well" campaign, the Department of Social Security provides cold weather payments, the Department of the Environment runs the home insulation grants scheme, and the Department of Energy supports neighbourhood energy action, which organises community insulation projects.
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We printed around 750,000 copies of the campaign booklet and there has already been sufficient demand to order a reprint. The telephone help line on 0800-289404, the Winter Warmth line, is receiving around 200 calls a day.Immunisation
Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if children in the (a) Lewisham and North Southwark district health authority and (b) Camberwell district health authority will be able to have mumps, measles and rubella immunisation at the age of (i) one year, (ii) two years, (iii) three years, (iv) four years or (v) five years.
Mrs. Currie : Following advice from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, we recommended to health authorities that MMR vaccine should be offered to infants at age 15 months with an additional "catch-up" programme to take in four to five-year-olds at the time of their diphtheria, tetanus and polio pre-school boosters. Vaccination of children at other ages is a matter for decision by individual clinicians.
AIDS
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many persons in England and Wales have contracted (a) human immunodeficiency virus, (b) acquired immune deficiency syndrome and (c) hepatitis B since monitoring commenced.
Mr. Mellor : The available information is as follows :
(a) The recently published Cox report estimated that there were 20,000- 50,000 cases by the end of 1987.
(b) 1,847 cases reported to the end of November 1988.
(c) 8,074 cases reported from 1982 to mid-1988.
Mental Health Services (Spending)
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department is monitoring the priority given to spending by health regions on mental health services.
Mr. Mellor : We look to regional health authorities, who are responsible for monitoring their services, to promote development of mental health services within their total financial allocations. The Department regularly assesses progress through the annual planning and review process.
Pharmacies
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Health Service review will consider the way in which the location of pharmacies is decided by family practitioner committees.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke [holding reply 9 December 1988] : Separately from the review, we shall be issuing further advice on this matter in the light of experience of the operation of the current system and a recent court judgment.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will investigate the claim by Mrs. Eva Davison, now deceased, for attendance allowance in 1985 ; and why no final settlement has yet been made.
Mr. Scott : The attendance allowance board has completed its review of the late Mrs. Davison's claim and its decision will be sent to Mr. Davison as soon as possible. I regret the delay in dealing with this case and I am writing to my hon. Friend.
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Boateng : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he intends to increase the level of cold weather payments this winter.
Dr. Reid : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he intends to increase the level of cold weather payments this winter.
Mr. Scott : No. We believe the sum of £5 per week is a reasonable amount to pay towards the cost of extra heating needed in particularly cold weather.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much he would expect to spend on advertising cold weather payments if a spell of cold weather covered the whole of Great Britain.
Mr. Scott : Local office managers are required to advertise the availability of cold weather payments in the press immediately a spell of cold weather is declared. Costs will vary depending on the size of the geographic area covered by the particular newspaper and the extent of advertising needed. However, total expenditure for the winter of 1986-87, which included a particularly cold spell of weather, was £414,000.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what additional information local offices of his Department would need in order to identify income support claimants entitled to cold weather payments without requiring them to claim individually.
Mr. Scott : Payment in the manner suggested would require local offices to search through their entire live load of cases to identify case papers for those in the eligible groups. Information would then also be required to establish the amount of capital held by each potential beneficiary.
Leaflets
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations his Department has received about the difficulties experienced by public libraries in receiving an adequate stock of up-to- date leaflets from his Department in order to satisfy inquiries from members of the public about social security benefits.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 7 December 1988] : I understand that the Department has received a number of letters about this matter. The Department has not sought libraries' agreement to their acting as a principal source of
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social security leaflets for the public and therefore no specific arrangements have been made. We do, however, recognise the valuable resource that libraries represent in directing members of the public to the appropriate agencies and providing reference materials and officials are exploring ways of resolving any supply difficulties.Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, further to his reply of 14 November, Official Report, column 450, concerning leaflet FB23, what is the practice of his Department in relation to the inclusion of evaluative statements within explanatory leaflets issued for the guidance of the public.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Department does not include evaluative statements in the information it provides on social security benefits in its explanatory leaflets. The additional information in FB23 concerning the Department of Employment's YTS scheme is fact and relevant to the decisions made by very many of the young people who are likely to consult this leaflet.
Taxes and Benefits
Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he is able to estimate the latest figures for the numbers of family credit applications awaiting a decision ; and if he is able to break down the reasons for the delays in processing them.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on 8 December.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much a full uprating in 1989-90 of the illustrative rates of income support personal allowances would cost as published in the technical annex of the White Paper, "Reform of Social Security", in line with the retail prices index, less housing, in 1988-89, excluding compensation for the 20 per cent. contribution to rates.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett) on 28 November 1988, at column 94.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people claimed unemployment benefit only ; and what number and proportion of them had been on unemployment benefit alone for six months or more in each year since 1979.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The available figures relate to the numbers in receipt of unemployment benefit only in November each year rather than to the number of claims.
Number of persons receiving unemployment
benefit only
Number receiving
----------------------------------------------
November 1979 |386,619|78,369 |20.3
November 1980 |778,606|158,679|20.4
February 1982 |837,230|238,650|28.5
November 1982 |713,731|230,536|32.3
November 1983 |684,037|227,617|33.3
November 1984 |699,489|228,555|32.7
November 1985 |679,005|219,994|32.4
November 1986 |741,684|252,871|34.1
November 1987 |548,765|189,441|34.5
Notes:
1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample
of cases taken on the second Thursday in
November.
2. No figures are available for November 1981
owing to industrial action; information was,
however, collected in February 1982.
Disabled Persons
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) on what date he plans to implement section 7 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) on what date he plans to implement section 11 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : As part of the discussions to implement section 7 of the Act, officials met local authority representatives on 17 November 1988. The timetable for implementation will depend on the outcome of further discussions with local authority and health authority representatives. The first report required under section 11 is expected to be laid before the House before the end of 1989.
Benefits
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people were claiming supplementary benefit on 1 April ; and how many were claiming income support on 1 May (a) for United Kingdom as a whole and (b) for each of his Department's local offices in the counties of : (i) Cleveland, (ii) Cumbria, (iii) Durham, (iv) Northumberland and (v) Tyne and Wear.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information is available in respect of 17 November 1987 for supplementary benefit and 31 May 1988 for income support as follows :
Number receiving
-------------------------------------------------------
National (Great Britain) |5,045,062|4,508,724
Cleveland
Eston |8,445 |7,572
Hartlepool |12,365 |11,083
Middlesbrough |23,141 |20,854
Redcar |9,492 |8,528
Stockton |20,321 |17,597
Cumbria
Carlisle |8,430 |7,913
Kendal |2,732 |2,418
Workington |5,755 |5,337
Whitehaven |4,617 |4,218
Penrith |2,043 |1,747
Barrow |8,116 |7,504
Durham
Bishop Auckland |14,762 |12,396
Chester-Le-Street |6,794 |6,059
Darlington |13,905 |13,110
Durham |6,174 |5,452
Peterlee |7,396 |6,145
Seaham |3,154 |2,680
Stanley |10,502 |9,482
Northumberland
Ashington |7,097 |6,503
Berwick |1,887 |1,738
Blyth |8,872 |7,816
Hexham |2,865 |2,613
Tyne and Wear
Gateshead |23,898 |21,267
Houghton-Le-Spring |4,541 |4,092
Jarrow |8,693 |7,582
Newcastle St. James |17,303 |15,156
Newcastle East |17,170 |15,278
Newcastle West |11,836 |10,336
North Shields |11,462 |9,812
South Shields |14,040 |12,130
Sunderland North |20,612 |18,670
Sunderland South |16,131 |15,014
Wallsend |9,202 |8,035
(The source is a 100 per cent. count of cases in
action. These figures may, however, overstate the
number of people receiving supplementary benefit.
Claims records were updated during the conversion to
income support. The exercise showed that some claims
were still recorded as live even though the person was
no longer receiving supplementary benefit. This means
that some counts of the number of supplementary
benefit claims do not reflect the fall in the number
of people receiving supplementary benefit.)
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants will not receive any overall increase in their benefit income in April 1989 (a) for the United Kingdom as a whole and (b) for each of his Department's local offices in the counties of (i) Cleveland, (ii) Cumbria, (iii) Durham, (iv) Northumberland and (v) Tyne and Wear, both numerically and as a percentage of benefit claimants.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Estimates are readily available only for those receiving income support. The latest figures for Great Britain as a whole indicate that about million or 11 per cent. of claimants will not receive any overall increase in their income support in April. The information is not available on an office by office basis.
Single Parents
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many persons in Shetland, who are in receipt of income support, receive the single parents supplement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On 31 August 1988, the latest date for which information is available, 145 people were receiving the lone parent premium.
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the number of single parents on income support who have ceased working since the change in the disregard rules.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I regret this information is not available.
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Grants and Loans
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many applications for a loan or community care grant have been made for help with payment of a fuel supply since April 1988 to the Erdington and Perry Barr offices of his Department ; how many of these have been awarded ; and what is the total cost of such grants ;
(2) how many applications for a loan or community care grant have been made for reconnection of a fuel supply since April to the Erdington and Perry Barr offices of his Department ; how many of these have been awarded ; and what is the total cost of such loans and grants.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Other than where the need arises as a consequence of an emergency or disaster, awards from the social fund in respect of the cost of mains fuel consumption and associated standing charges are excluded from payment by direction of the Secretary of State. In the period from April 1988 in the Erdington and Perry Barr local offices the latest available figures show that there has been a total of 72 applications for assistance with fuel meter reconnection, installation or re-siting costs of which 36 have received awards totalling £4,787.43.
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many community care grant applications have been made each month since April 1988 to the Erdington and Perry Barr offices of his Department ; how many have been awarded ; and what is the total cost of such grants ;
(2) how many applications each month have been made for a community care grant for families under stress ; how much was awarded ; and what percentage this represents of the community care grant budget each month since April to the Erdington and Perry Barr offices of his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on the numbers, by month, of applications for social fund community care grants, together with the numbers and value of awards made is available in the Library. Details of applications for awards of such grants to families under stress are not recorded as a separate identifiable category and the information which the hon. Member seeks could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many social fund loan applications have been made each month since April to the Erdington and Perry Barr offices of his Department ; how many of these have been awarded ; and what is the cost of such loans.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on numbers of applications for social fund loans received, processed and awarded, listed by local office, including information on budget allocations and expenditure, is available in the Library.
Relocation of Work
Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a further statement on the relocation of some work from London local offices.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Our plans for relocating some work from some local social security offices in London are still
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under detailed consideration. Final decisions have not yet been taken, but we hope to make a full announcement shortly. The offices currently under consideration are Acton, Brixton, Camberwell, Chelsea, Cricklewood, Crystal Palace, Ealing, Euston, Finsbury Park, Greenwich Park, Harlesden, Highgate, Hither Green, Kensington, Lewisham, Neasden, Notting Hill, Oval, Paddington, Peckham and Southall.Housing Benefit
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants on transitional protection of housing benefit will lose all of it in April as a result of the application of the erosion factor.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Applications for transitional payments will continue to be received until 31 March 1989. Until they have all been received it is not possible to give figures on the numbers who will cease to receive payments when the erosion factor is implemented. However, as these transitional payments are to be reduced by £2 a week in April anyone receiving less than this amount will cease to receive payments in April 1989.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in what way the treatment of payments for rental purchase of a house under the income support regulations differs from the treatment of such payments under the supplementary benefit regulations prior to 11 April.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There was no change. Payments under rental purchase schemes have not been met from supplementary benefit or income support since 1983, when help with such payments was transferred to the new housing benefit scheme. Housing benefit continued to be available to rental purchasers after 11 April 1988, and as I announced in my reply to the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) on 14 November 1988 at columns 631-632 we have no plans to change this.
Availability for Employment
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether an income support claimant who is incapable of work but not entitled to sickness benefit, invalidity pension or severe disablement allowance can qualify for exemption from the requirement to be available for employment under paragraph 5 of schedule 1 to the Income Support General Regulations as amended with effect from 10 April 1989.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Yes, so long as the claimant provides medical evidence which satisfies the adjudication officer that he is incapable of work.
Tax Liability
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total net tax liability on earnings of £6,500 for (a) two single people sharing accommodation where income is equally divided, (b) a married couple with a single wage, (c) a married couple with two equal wages, (d) a married couple on a single wage with two children, and (e) a married couple on a single wage with four children.
Column 457
Mr. Norman Lamont : I have been asked to reply.
Information is given in the table.
Income tax liability less child benefit
on earnings of £6,500 in 1988-89
Income tax
liability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Two single people
(a) | sharing accommodation, each earning £3,250|322.50 |6.20
|Married couple, husband
(b) | earning £6,500 |601.25 |11.56
|Married couple,
(c) |each earning £3,250 |- |-
|Married couple,
| husband earning £6,500,
(d) | with two children |-152.75 |-2.94
|Married couple,
| husband earning £6,500
(e) | with four children |-906.75 |-17.44
Child Benefit
Mr. Jack : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many tax units paying the higher rate of tax receive child benefit ; and how much these payments cost.
Mr. Norman Lamont : I have been asked to reply.
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 17 May 1988 at column 419.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Prisons (Psychiatrists)
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full and part-time psychiatrists, respectively, are employed to treat persons detained in Her Majesty's prisons.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : None of the full-time medical staff in the prison service is employed wholly on psychiatric work but over 40 (about 40 per cent.) full-time medical officers have a qualification in psychiatry. Over 130 psychiatrists, most of consultant status, hold appointments to undertake sessional work.
Prison Staff (Psychiatric Training)
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training staff in Her Majesty's prisons receive in dealing with persons with psychiatric problems.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Opportunities are available to full-time medical officers to acquire additional psychiatric qualifications or experience by study and suitable attachments. Arrangements for medical officer training generally are to be reviewed in the light of the imminent report of an advisory working group chaired by the president of the Royal College of Physicians. Many (over 40 per cent.) full-time medical officers hold post- graduate qualifications in psychiatry.
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A qualification in psychiatric nursing is held by some hospital officer and nurse grade staff. A substantial element of the induction training received by hospital officers is concerned with aspects of psychiatric care. Development training is also provided for both hospital officer and nurse grade staff in the form of prison service courses dealing with the principles of psychiatric care in a secure environment and opportunities exist for external studies and placements.Extradition
Mr. Randall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for extradition in the last year have been made to the Irish authorities ; how many have been refused ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : In the last year requests by police forces in England and Wales for arrest warrants to be backed in the Republic of Ireland have been made in respect of seven persons. None of these requests have been refused.
Disabled Persons (Staff)
Mr Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department's staff are classed as disabled.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Excepting staff in prison officer grades (whose duties preclude the employment of disabled persons) the number of registered disabled represents 0.7 per cent. of the Department's staff. There is no record of the number of staff with disabilities who elect not to register.
Information (Security)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether specific changes of procedure have been introduced to improve the security of information from unauthorised use or disclosure that arise from the prosecution of Mr. C. Gumbrell for use of information from the police national computer for unauthorised purposes.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that he has not considered it necessary at this stage to introduce any futher improvements in procedures to protect information available to the Metropolitan police from the police national computer, as a result of the prosecution of Mr. C. Gumbrell. The force is already able to trace the originating officer for all inquiries to the PNC from terminals in the force and indeed this facility was used in the case of Mr. Gumbrell. The procedures, however, are kept under constant review and in this task the force has the assistance of the Home Officer adviser on the protection of data held on the PNC.
Police Liaison Committees
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many London boroughs have police liaison consultative committees ; how many are officially supported by the majority party of the local council ; which borough council majority parties refuse to nominate representatives to their local police consultative committee ; and if he will make a statement.
Column 459
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Police/community consultative groups are now established in all London boroughs. The majority parties of five borough councils have refused to nominate representatives to their local group. They are : Brent, Ealing, Hackney, Haringey and Lambeth.
I congratulate the many people of good will who are working so hard to make the consultative process a success, and I deplore the decision by a small minority of councils not to participate. I hope that they will reconsider their position.
Police (Traffic Duties)
Mr. Adley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total amount of time spent by the Metropolitan Police on traffic matters ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : At 31 December 1987, 881 police officers, 1,527 traffic wardens, 1,100 school crossing patrols and 150 civilian administrative support staff were deployed on specialist traffic duties by the Metropolitan police. The total police strength on that date was 27,438 and that of the civilian staff was 16,360. Detailed information about man hours and about the time spent on road traffic matters by non-specialist personnel is not available.
Immigration
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons detained under the Immigration Act 1971 have been held at police stations in excess of seven days in (a) Scotland, (b) England and Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.
Mr. Renton : I am not aware of any such current case.
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons detained under the Immigration Act 1971 are at present held in police stations in (a) Scotland, (b) England and Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.
Mr. Renton : On 7 December 1988 the number of persons detained in police stations under the Immigration Act 1971 were (a) in Scotland-nil (b) in England and Wales-37 and (c) in Northern Ireland-nil.
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether immigration officers have been instructed to use endorsement under section 3(3)(b) of the Immigration Act 1971 in respect of all persons who are eligible for such endorsement.
Mr. Renton : No. Immigration officers are instructed to make use of section 3(3)(b), which enables conditions of leave already granted to be re -imposed, where the passenger's circumstances following examination on arrival warrant its use.
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons have been deported under section 3(5)(a) of the Immigration Act 1971 since the coming into force of the Immigration Act 1988 ; and how any persons were so deported in the same period preceding the coming into force of the 1988 Act ;
(2) how many voluntary supervised departures have been effected (a) in the period since the coming into force of the Immigration Act 1988 and (b) in the same period preceding the coming into force of the 1988 Act.
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