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|c|Health Education Authority (
to 31 December 1988)
|£
-------------------------------
Press |1,120,367
Television |2,300,000
Posters |880,694
|------
Total |4,301,061
A list giving the advertising insertions in the national and regional press and magazines for this period has been placed in the Library.
If my hon. Friend would like details of advertising insertions and associated spending from 1 January 1989, he may wish to approach the Health Education Authority for this information.
Information Technology
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement of progress on the introduction of information technologies to facilitate internal communications in his Department and the provision of information to the public concerning those areas for which he is responsible ; and if he has any further plans to apply the newest technologies in these fields.
Mr. Mellor : Personal computers are used extensively throughout the Department, and many already communicate via an electronic mail service or over local area networks.
We are refining further our information technology (IT) strategy, which includes the development of a centrally maintained IT-based information centre. This system draws data from the NHS for use by top management and Ministers.
The Department's information technology branch keeps abreast of developments in the IT field and plans are constantly updated to improve our internal communications facilities where appropriate.
Working for Patients"
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria were used in selecting the audiences of National Health Service staff addressed by him following the launch of "Working for Patients".
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Those invited were people who would be closely connected with the implementation of the review, such as health authority and FPC chairmen and senior managers and professional staff and those who needed to be informed at first hand about the contents of the White Paper and to be able to question Ministers about its proposals.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which district medical officers were invited to the roadshow launch in the west midlands of "Working for Patients".
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The district medical officers invited were : Dr. M. C. T. Wilkes, Kidderminster HA
Dr. H. V. Duggal, Mid-Staffordshire HA
Dr. M. E. Summerly, North Staffordshire HA
Dr. J. S. Dodge, Rugby HA
Dr. R. K. Griffiths, C Birmingham HA
Dr. M. J. Carpenter, E Birmingham HA
Dr. S. Gyde, N Birmingham HA
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Dr. G. T. Pollock, Coventry HADr. J. Middleton, Sandwell HA
Dr. G. M. Singal, Walsall HA
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if any instructions, verbal or written, were given to managers or other National Health Service staff about their comments to the press or media following the launch of "Working for Patients".
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : It is the responsibility of individual health authorities to determine policy on how their staff should deal with questions from the press and media, including questions on "Working for Patients".
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the names of the press/public relations company responsible for the launch of the White Paper "Working for Patients" ; if a process of competitive tendering was used before choosing the company ; and if the press department at his Department was considered for the task.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : NML Presentations Ltd. was contracted by the Department to provide organisational, production and design services in connection with the NHS review launch communication programme. It was chosen from a number of companies which were asked to compete for the job. My Department's information division supervised and monitored the contract.
Management Consultants (Cost)
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give each district health authority the spending on buying in advice from management consultants in the latest available year, giving this sum as a percentage of each district health authority's total revenue spending.
Mr. Mellor : The employment or use of management consultants is a matter for individual health authorities and their annual accounts do not separately identify any expenditure consequently incurred.
Water Supply (Contamination)
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Provan of 27 February, if he will give the total number of qualified members of (i) the medical and (ii) the scientific staff of his Department dealing with matters related to contamination of drinking water by (a) micro-organisms, (b) chemicals, and (c) radiation.
Mr. Mellor : The numbers of qualified medical and scientific staff in post in the divisions which deal with
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matters related to the contamination of food, drinking water and the environment are set out in the table. These figures do not include the chief medical officer and his deputies and the two medical heads of divisions, senior principal medical officers (SPMOs). SPMOs deal with selected issues according to their nature and importance.
Contamination by
|micro-organisms|chemicals |radiation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical |2 |7 |1
Other scientific |2 |16 |4
Cervical Cancer Screening
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the age distribution of screening examinations for cervical cancer in England and Wales in 1988 ;
(2) how many women had a first cervical cancer screen in England and Wales in 1988.
Mr. Freeman : This information is not available at present. However, we hope to be able to provide figures for 1988-89 towards the end of this year, following the introduction of new cancer screening returns in April 1988.
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total number of screening examinations for cervical cancer in 1988.
Mr. Freeman : The information is not available in the form requested but following the introduction of a new cancer screening return from April 1988 it is hoped to be able to give details of women screened in 1988-89 towards the end of this year.
In 1987-88, in England and Wales, 4,322,345 cervical cytology cases were examined. A woman who was tested more than once was counted on each occasion, but where more than one smear was taken from the same patient at the same session, they were counted as one test.
Cash Limits
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give for each year since 1978-79 the percentage increase in the cash limits set for hospital and community health services which was intended to cover pay and price inflation and the percentage increase which would have been required fully to cover pay and price inflation in each year.
Mr. Mellor : The information is as follows :
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|c|Hospital and Community Health Services, England-Percentage increase in net current expenditure|c|
|1979-80|1980-81|1981-82|1982-83|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percentage increases in cash limit |19.4 |31.9 |10.3 |7.7 |5.1 |5.7 |5.3 |7.4 |10.5
Percentage required to fully cover
HCHS pay and price inflation |20.5 |28.0 |8.2 |6.5 |5.1 |5.8 |5.2 |6.9 |8.1
Effective charge in purchasing
power |-0.9 |+3.0 |+2.0 |+1.1 |0.0 |-0.1 |+0.1 |+0.5 |+2.2
The table is based on HCHS net current (outturn) expenditure figures for the years in which HCHS pay and prices information is currently available. These figures do not, of course, take account of income from cash-releasing
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cost improvements which, in the years since 1984-85 provided a significant contribution to the margin available for service development.Column 423
Dental Charges
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on the effects of the introduction of charges on the take-up of dentists' invitations for routine inspections.
Mr. Mellor : Information is not yet available which would enable a comparison to be made between numbers of courses of treatment commenced before and after the introduction of the dental examination charge.
Residential Care
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has received any evidence to indicate that the full cost to public funds of private residential care is less than that which would be incurred if similar care were provided by local authorities.
Mr. Mellor : We are aware of certain studies of the costs of residential care. However, the very limited scope of the studies and the difficulties in making comparisons means that we are unable to draw general conclusions as to the relative cost to public funds of provision in different sectors.
Cook-chill Food
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, following the advice from his chief medical officer that all cook-chill food should be re-heated until piping hot before consumption, what action he is taking about those supermarkets which continue to retail cook-chill chicken labelled "ready to eat".
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The chief medical officer's advice that cooked chilled meals and ready to eat poultry should be re-heated until they were piping hot was directed at pregnant women and certain others at special risk. As far as the rest of the population was concerned, he said that provided good hygiene practices were followed there was no need for them to change the types of foods that they regularly ate and enjoyed.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his policy towards the acceptance by health authorities of commercial sponsorship of the publication of newsheets relating to cook-chill catering.
Mr. Freeman : It is a matter for health authorities to determine their use of commercial sponsorship in the publication of any news sheets that they wish to issue provided they do not contravene current health policy.
Column 424
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will direct Wakefield health authority to ensure that future editions of "Catering Update" relating to cook-chill catering are produced without commercial sponsorship by companies closely associated with the introduction of such catering.
Mr. Freeman : No. Editorial control of such publications rests with the DHA.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Ms. Walley : To the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is his best estimate of the amount of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants under the control of his Department ;
(2) what plans there are to minimise the risk of leaks of chlorofluorocarbons from refrigeration and air conditioning systems under his Department's control.
Mr. Freeman : I refer the hon. Member to the reply by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Merionnydd Nant Conwy (Dr. Thomas) today.
Residential Care
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his latest estimate of the full annual cost to local authorities of supplementing the incomes of residents of private homes whose resources, including income support, fall short of their residential fees.
Mr. Mellor : This information is not available centrally.
Food Poisoning
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will break down the figures for food poisoning according to numbers and types of cases associted with (a) fish, (b) meat, (c) vegetables, (d) eggs and (e) other foods.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke [holding answer 14 February 1989] : A suspected food is identified in only a small proportion of reported outbreaks. The following table gives details of outbreaks of food poisoning reported to the public health laboratory service in 1987, where a suspected vehicle of infection and causative agent has been indentified.
Food |Salmonella SP |Clostridium Perfringens|Staphylococcus Aureus |Bacillus SP |Total ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fish |2 |- |- |- |2 Meat |8 |24 |1 |2 |35 Vegetables |- |- |- |- |- Eggs |6 |- |1 |- |7 Other foods Chicken |24 |5 |2 |2 |33 Turkey |15 |4 |1 |1 |21 Poultry |2 |1 |- |- |3 Other mixed foods |14 |5 |7 |15 |41
Information is not readily available on all cases involved in these outbreaks. Provisional information on outbreaks associated with these foods in 1988 suggests that, with the exception of eggs, there was no significant
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difference in the numbers reported. However in 1988 the public health laboratory service received reports of 60 outbreaks of food poisoning, involving about 1,600 people, associated with the consumption of eggs.Column 425
Mr.Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of food poisoning from salmonella enteritidis have been reported over the past 12 months, broken down by the general circumstances of kitchen hygiene, catering or domestic.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke [holding answer 14 February 1989] : Reports of food poisoning cases are not routinely broken down by general circumstances of kitchen hygiene. Reports of outbreaks give information on such contributory factors. Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 is associated predominantly with chicken and eggs. The number of reported food poisoning outbreaks linked with eggs, but not with chicken, showed a marked increase in 1988. Information suggests that while inadequate kitchen hygiene may have been a contributory factor in some of these outbreaks it cannot account for the marked increase in the total number of egg- associated salmonellosis reported in 1988.
ENVIRONMENT
Teenage Mothers (Council Houses)
64. Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the provision of council accommodation to teenage mothers.
Mr. Trippier : The allocation of council housing to tenants is a matter for local housing authorities.
Homeless Persons (London)
Mr. Randall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the number of men and women who are currently of no fixed abode within Greater London.
Mr. Trippier : It is not possible to make a reliable estimate.
Water Pollution
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will recommend the use of (a) mobile pollution detectors as used by a division of Wessex water authority and (b) the new anti-pollution vessel Thames Bubbler as used by Thames water authority, to other water boards in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : These are both interesting developments whose operational performance will, no doubt, be carefully assessed by the individual water authorities concerned.
After Royal Assent of the Water Bill, the National Rivers Authority will take over the water authorities' regulatory functions. I would expect it to wish to review the scope for using mobile pollution detectors and oxygenating vessels more widely.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the location of each intermediate variation order currently under consideration by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to each of the water authorities.
Mr. Howard : Details of applications made under the Control of Pollution Act 1974, including those for
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time-limited variations, are held on the individual water authorities' registers. These may be inspected, free of charge, by anyone at all reasonable hours.Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how long he expects consideration of each application for intermediate variation orders to take ; and by what date he expects all those applications received by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution on or after 28 March to be processed.
Mr. Howard : It is not possible to say how long consideration of each application for a time-limited consent variation will take. Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution will consider applications and where applicable, grant time-limited variations as quickly as possible. The inspectorate will remain responsible for issuing discharge consents until the National Rivers Authority is established.
Legionella (House of Commons)
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to his answer of 21 February, Official Report, column 582, specific tests for legionella have ever been undertaken in the air conditioning system and standby generator serving the underground carpark of the House ; and if he will construct a table showing the numerical result of the last bacteriological count undertaken.
Mr. Chope : No specific tests for legionella have been necessary following the regular bacteriological sampling counts.
The results of the last count, taken on 16 February 1989, are shown in the table.
|c|Microbiological services report (Standard analyses)|c|
Sample details |K Plant Tower (air |Emergency generator
|conditioning system) |(underground carpark)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerobic Bacteria
Klebsiella spp
(Highly significant potential
slime former in industrial
systems)
Bacillus spp
(Spore and potential slime
formers)
Other potential slime formers |<10<2> |<10<2>
(Enterobacteria,
Pseudomonads, Flavobacteria
etc)
Other Aerobic bacteria |<10<2> |<10<2>
Total Aerobic bacteria |<10<2> |<10<2>
Anaerobic Bacteria
Dissimilatory Sulphate-reducers |Not detected |Not detected
(Principally Desulfovibrio but
includes other corrosive SRSs)
Total Anaerobic bacteria
(Includes Clostridia, facultative
anaerobes and aerotolerant
strains)
Microfungi
Mould-like forms |Not detected |Not detected
(Significant as potential slime
formers)
Yeast-like forms |Not detected |Not detected
(Unicellular microfungi, less
significant as slime formers)
Total Microfungi |Not detected |Not detected
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Information Technology
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement of progress on the introduction of information technologies to facilitate internal communications in his Department and the provision of information to the public concerning those areas for which he is responsible ; and if he has any further plans to apply the newest technologies in these fields.
Mr. Ridley : The Department of the Environment (Central) operates, in accordance with its strategic framework for using information technology, a central computer bureau which runs a number of systems covering the Department's wide-ranging activities ; this is supported by an extensive communications network. In addition, the Department operates office automation systems and standardised word processing facilities designed to expedite internal communications. All these developments assist with the provision of appropriate information to the public.
The Property Services Agency has its own information technology strategy and has embarked on a major programme of computerisation. This is being developed against the back ground of my announcement on 25 May 1988 to put PSA on to a more commercial footing, and move to a trading fund status by 1993. Procurement of hardware began in November 1988 and some computer applications are currently being trialled in PSA's southern region, which includes the group and estates offices in Bournemouth.
The IT strategies of both parts of the Department are subject to continual refinement, monitoring and review. The newest proven technologies will continue to be applied, where they support the Department's business and policy priorities and provide value for money.
London Docklands
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how the recently published expenditure plans for the London Docklands development corporation take into account the securing of essential social infrastructure, and the need for London Docklands development corporation to be more effective in securing this provision, identified in the National Audit Office report on urban development corporations, paragraph 2.27.
Mr. Trippier : The Government's expenditure plans 1989-90 to 1991-92 (Cm. 609) take full account of LDDC's priorities, which include helping to improve social infrastructure. The LDDC is constantly concerned to use the resources which can be made available to it in the most effective way.
Sewage Disposal
Mr. Franks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will exercise his powers to call in for public inquiry the current proposals of the North West water authority for sewage disposal in Morecambe bay.
Mr. Moynihan : My right hon. Friend will consider the need for an inquiry when he has considered North West water authority's applications for discharge consents under the Control of Pollution Act 1974, together with the large number of representations made to him.
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Seal Products
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the Government intend to support an indefinite extension of EEC directive 85/444 banning the importation of the skins of bluebacked and whitecoated seal pups and products derived there from.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms. Walley) on 15 February 1989 at column 281 .
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will investigate allegations that blueback and whitecoat seal skins have been illegally imported into the United Kingdom in contravention of EEC directive 85/444.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Enforcement of the prohibition on commercial importation into the United Kingdom of harp and hooded seal pup skins and products stemming from directive 85/444 (EEC), is the responsibility of Customs and Excise. It has no evidence to support allegations of illegal importation, but would be prepared to consider any such evidence made available to it. No licences have been issued for imports into the United Kingdom that were contrary to the ban.
Water Supply (Contamination)
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish immediately (a) the terms of reference and (b) the membership of the independently-led inquiry into cryptosporidia contamination in the water supply in the Oxford and Swindon areas.
Mr. Howard : Mr. Terry Dick, chairman of the western consumer consultative committee of the Thames Water region, will conduct the independent investigation established by Thames Water into the cryptosporidia contamination of the water supply in the Oxford and Swindon areas. Mr. Dick will be able to obtain whatever support he needs from within or outside Thames Water. The investigation has the following aims :
(i) to describe the events which called into question the purity of the water supply ;
(ii) to review Thames Water's handling of the incident, from both the technical and customer relations standpoints ; and
(iii) to assess the effectiveness of the remedial measures taken. The findings of the investigation will be made public.
Ozone Layer
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the occasion of the forthcoming international conference on "Saving the Ozone Layer" on Her Majesty's Government's policy on the use of R22 in preference to R12 in refrigeration plant ; and if he will give guidance to those making immediate international decisions for refrigeration plant with a life of 10 or more years.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Government's policy on the use of CFC22 is set out in its reply to the first report from the Environment Committee (Session 1987-88 HC 270-1) on air pollution (Cm. 522).
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