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Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is as follows : (a) and (b) £1.75p a week ; (c) £2.75p a week if both partners are debtors to the levying authority.
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether the powers of his Department to deduct sums from income support where the recipient has failed to pay his or her poll tax are subject to a time to pay direction under the Debtor (Scotland) Act 1987.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. In terms of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 (as amended by the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987) section 1(5)(ee), the court cannot make a time direction in an action by or on behalf of a levying authority for the payment of any community charge.
DEFENCE
RAF (Front-line Aircraft)
Mr. Allan Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the Royal Air Force's front-line aircraft is not fully operational.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It has been the policy of successive Governments not to provide detailed information about the operational readiness of elements of the armed forces. All Royal Air Force aircraft assigned to operational duties are fully manned and equipped and thus able to undertake their designated missions.
US Competitive Strategies Doctrine
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his (a) Belgian, (b) Canadian, (c) Danish, (d) French, (e) Greek, (f) Norwegian, (g) Spanish and (h) West German counterparts regarding the United States' new competitive strategies doctrine.
Near Miss (Somerset)
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports he has received of an alleged near miss by two low-flying military aircraft over Cannington, Somerset, on Friday 7 April ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Neubert : There has been no report of an alleged airmiss involving military aircraft over Cannington, Somerset, on Friday 7 April.
TRANSPORT
M40 (Southern Extension)
Mr. Baldry : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement as to the tender process and timings he intents to adopt for the southern section of the M40 extension.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : We plan to invite competitive tenders later this month and to expedite our normal arrangements for their submission and evaluation. Subject to the outcome and to the satisfactory completion of the statutory procedures this should enable construction to start this summer.
The contract will include provision for a bonus for early completion and a charge for late completion in relation to the contractor's own tendered period. This should ensure completion of the M40 as soon as practicable.
Roads (Investment)
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the amount of road investment in the United Kingdom, France and West Germany for each of the last five years.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The information readily available is as follows :
d
|c|Capital expenditure on road infrastructure|c|
|c|National currency-millions|c|
|United Kingdom |Federal Republic of|France
|Germany
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983 |1,425 |13,550 |26,900
1984 |1,570 |13,450 |28,800
1985 |1,678 |13,250 |35,700
1986 |1,801 |14,500 |37,800
1987 |1,871 |- |-
|c|Exchange rates taken from
CSO "Economic Trends"|c|
|DM |FF
--------------------------------
1983 |3.870 |11.5471
1984 |3.791 |11.6349
1985 |3.784 |11.5494
1986 |3.193 |10.1569
1987 |- |-
|c|Sterling-millions|c|
|United Kingdom |Federal Republic of|France
|Germany
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983 |1,425 |3,501 |2,330
1984 |1,570 |3,548 |2,475
1985 |1,678 |3,502 |3,091
1986 |1,801 |4,555 |3,722
1987 |1,871 |- |-
The information for the United Kingdom and West Germany comes from the latest ECMT publication "Statistical Trends in Transport". That for France was obtained from the statistical office of the French Transport Ministry in November 1988. ECMT is currently collecting the relevant information for 1987--it should be available in the autumn.
Railway Stations (Staff and Information)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations has he received from commuters about lack of staff and information at British Rail stations ; whether he has any plans to alter the quality of service objectives set for British Rail to take account of these representations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo [holding answer 13 April 1989] : We regularly receive representations on all aspects of the quality of service of British Rail. There are already quality of service objectives covering train enquiry bureaux and queuing times at ticket offices. Staffing matters generally are the responsibility of the British Railways Board and we have no plans to introduce objectives to cover staffing levels at stations.
Trains (Overcrowding)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has any plans to change British Rail's quality of service objectives to seek a reduction in overcrowding on trains ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo [holding answer 13 April 1989] : We are discussing with BR new quality of service objectives for the provincial sector. We shall be reviewing BR's other quality of service standards in setting new objectives for the period from 1990 to 1993.
The Government have approved increasing levels of investment to reduce overcrowding and to meet the agreed quality of service objectives on all passenger sectors.
British Rail (Service Objectives)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the extent to which British Rail is meeting the quality of service objectives set by him with regard to train punctuality and cancellations.
Mr. Portillo [holding answer 13 April 1989] : The results available to the Department for the first three quarters of the financial year 1988-89 are as follows :
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Percentage
Punctuality Reliability
|Objective |Within in minutes of |Attainment |Objective (services to|Attainment
|timetable |run)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inter City |90.0 |10 |87.3 |99.5 |99.0
Network SouthEast |90.0 |5 |91.3 |99.0 |98.7
Provincial |85.0 to 97.0 |5 |<1>90.0 |98.5 |99.0
<1> On average.
Trains (Cleaning)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to change British Rail's quality of service objectives to take account of the need for improved standards of cleaning on British Rail trains ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo [holding answer 13 April 1989] We have no plans to change British Rail's carriage cleaning objectives. BR is making every effort to achieve the standards that have already been agreed.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Edible Dormice
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the estimated cost to his Department of administering his scheme to control the numbers of edible dormice.
Mr. Ryder : Licences to trap edible dormice are issued as a small part of my Department's general licensing responsibilities under the Widlife and Countryside Act 1981. There is no specific scheme of control. The administrative cost of issuing licences in 1989 is estimated at £80.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his assessment of the damage inflicted to the commercial timber industry by the six edible dormice, the destruction of which he authorised in 1988.
Mr. Ryder : Damage to commercial woodland by edible dormice is assessed by local Ministry biologists. The dormice strip off bark, mainly from larch trees. Such damage occurs in very localised areas but can considerably reduce the long-term value of the stands of trees affected. The success of control varies markedly from year to year but actual trapping occurs only when damage becomes apparent and local Ministry staff have been notified.
European Monetary System
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has made any assessment of the impact on British agriculture of Britain becoming a member of the European monetary system ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. MacGregor : The United Kingdom is already a member of the European monetary system (EMS). Were we to join the exchange rate mechanism (ERM) of the EMS, within what is known as narrow-band divergence limits, there would be implications for the monetary compensatory amounts (MCAs) applied to trade in agricultural products.
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Currently MCAs applied in the United Kingdom can vary weekly if sterling's market exchange rate varies. If we joined the ERM, our MCAs would become fixed, changing only at EMS realignments or following changes in the "green rates" which apply to the conversion of ECU prices into sterling. The green rates themselves would not be directly affected by membership of the ERM, and changes to them would continue to be subject to decisions by the Council. Joining the ERM would not, in itself, affect our CAP support level, expressed in sterling, either way.Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) on how many occasions during 1988 cattle submitted for slaughter at European Economic Community export approved slaughterhouses were identified by ante-mortem veterinary inspections as bovine spongiform encephalopathy suspect ; and in how many of these cases bovine spongiform encephalopathy subsequently was confirmed by post-mortem inspection.
(2) how many cattle entered for slaughter at non-EEC export approved slaughterhouses during 1988 were found, on inspection, to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy ;
Mr. Donald Thompson [holding answer 13 April 1989] : We consider this monitoring very important indeed. It is essential that no animals slip through. There has been no evidence of negligence. Thorough inspection has resulted in 63 suspect cases of BSE, 40 of which were subsequently confirmed, being reported from markets and slaughterhouse from 21 June 1988, when the disease was made notifiable, to the end of the year. During this period a total of 2, 186 cases were confirmed.
Sheep Dipping
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his proposals for compulsory sheep dipping in 1989.
Mr. Donald Thompson [holding answer 7 April 1989] : The Government have examined the arrangements for controlling sheep scab with a view to securing effective regulation while avoiding unnecessary burdens on the industry.
It has been decided that there will be a single compulsory national dip in the autumn of 1989 and a further dip in the autumn of 1990. A system of movement controls will be introduced following this autumn's dip and arrangements for 1991 onwards will be decided in the light of the effectiveness of the new measures. The dates of the compulsory dip will be announced after consultation with the industry.
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HEALTH
Meningitis
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by year for the last 10 years and to date for 1989, the number of cases of meningitis treated in the Trent regional health authority, the years in which there were clusters, the number of fatal cases and the number of cases involving children under five years and of school age.
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Mr. Freeman : The information is not available in the precise form requested. In particular, data on clustering of cases within a local authority area are not available, since addresses are not noted on the infectious disease notification reports sent by regional health authorities to the OPCS.
The tables show the nearest equivalent readily available data.
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|c|Table A|c|
|c|Number of cases of (a) all forms of meningitis (b) meningococcal meningitis notified in Trent
Regional Health Authority, 1979-89<1> all ages|c|
|c|and selected age-groups.|c|
|c|Notifications|c|
|1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |<1>1989
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acute Meningitis All forms
All ages |84 |74 |93 |104 |91 |103 |135 |170 |186 |309 |71
0-4 |30 |28 |30 |42 |47 |48 |56 |88 |79 |117 |41
5-14 |25 |12 |25 |19 |16 |15 |21 |26 |37 |39 |5
Acute Meningococcal Meningitis
All ages |58 |76 |27 |26 |41 |33 |44 |69 |72 |111 |33
0-4 |28 |39 |14 |11 |22 |15 |23 |34 |43 |61 |17
5-14 |15 |25 |6 |7 |7 |2 |9 |9 |9 |15 |3
<1> 1 January-31 March (1988 and 1989 provisional).
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|c|Table B|c|
|c|Number of deaths with meningococcal infection<1> as
underlying cause|c|
|c|of death, usual residents of Trent Regional Health
Authority, all ages and|c|
|c|selected age-groups, 1979-1987.|c|
|c|Deaths|c|
|1979|1980|1981|1982|1983|1984|1985|1986|1987
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meningococcal Infection
All ages |11 |11 |6 |4 |14 |6 |11 |10 |15
0-4 |6 |4 |4 |2 |7 |1 |7 |8 |7
5-14 |1 |2 |- |1 |1 |- |- |- |1
<1> International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 9th
Revision 036.0
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|c|Table C<2>|c|
|c|Numbers (10 per cent. sample) of hospital
inpatient cases recorded with|c|
|c|meningococcal infection<1> as principal
diagnosis, Trent Regional Health|c|
|c|Authority, 1979-85.|c|
|c|Trent RHA-Region of treatment|c|
|1979|1980|1981|1982|1983|1984|1985
------------------------------------------------
Numbers |11 |8 |6 |8 |14 |4 |6
<1> ICD 9th Revision 036.0
<2> These data are taken from the Hospital
in-patient inquiry, a 10 per cent. sample of
NHS non-psychiatric in-patient records. The
last data year for this study was 1985.
Mental Health
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what information his Department collects on the movement of people after discharge from mental illness hospitals ;
(2) what information is collected by his Department about people who have been discharged from mental illness hospitals.
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about the mental health history of the boarders in each local authority area in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : I have been asked to reply.
Since 1 April 1987, annual figures are collected about the intended destination of patients on completion of a
Column 746
duration of stay within National Health Service hospitals and units in a district health authority in England. The destinations recorded are :1. Usual place of residence, other than those institutions noted below (including patients with no fixed abode) ;
2. Temporary place of residence, when usually resident elsewhere (eg hotels, residential educational institutions) ;
3. Penal establishment, court or police station ;
4. Special hospitals ;
5. National Health Service hospital outside district--general ward/younger physically disabled ;
6. National Health Service hospital outside
district--maternity/neonates ward ;
7. National Health Service hospital outside district--mentally ill/handicapped ward ;
8. Local authority residential accommodation (including foster care) ;
9. Deaths ;
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10. Other, including non-National Health Service hospital or nursing home.The annual figures are not linked to individual patients and will include data on the same patient when admitted more than once during the year.
Certain statistics are collected about those for whom residential provision is made in the community. Those mentally ill people whose accommodation costs are met in whole or in part by local authority social services departments are counted at 31 March each year by sex, broad age band, and by whether they are in local authority homes, registered care homes or other accommodation. These statistics do not distinguish those who have at any time been resident patients in mental illness hospitals.
In March 1987 and March 1988, all local authority staffed homes and registered care homes catering for mentally ill people were asked to provide details of individual residents admitted during the previous year, including whether their most recent previous accommodation had been in a hospital or other NHS establishment.
The adequacy of current statistics about mentally ill people will be reviewed during the coming year as part of the Department's information systems strategy.
Statistics about local authority and other provision in Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with a main diagnosis of schizophrenia psychosis were discharged from mental illness hospitals in each of the last three years ; and how many of them were taken into local authority residential care in the same year.
Mr. Freeman : The table shows the number of discharges, excluding deaths and transfers, with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia from National Health Service mental illness hospitals and units in England for the latest three years for which information is available. The figures are for discharges, and not individual patients, since the same patient may be discharged more than once during the year.
|c|Discharges<1> from mental illness hospitals and units, with a diagnosis|c| |c|of schizophrenia<2>, England 1984-86|c| Year |Numbers ------------------------ 1984 |23,879 1985 |24,091 1986 |23,975 <1>Excludes deaths and transfers to other hospitals. <2>9th Revision, International Classification of Diseases,295.0-295.9.
Information is not collected by diagnosis on the numbers of people entering into care, or taking up accommodation, provided by the local authorities.
Mr. Goodlad To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people discharged from hospital following a main diagnosis of schizophrenia psychosis and subsequently taken by the police under section to hospital have been refused admission in each health region in each of the last three years.
Mr. Freeman : This information is not centrally available.
Column 748
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department collects about admission under section and refusals of admissions under section to mental illness hospitals ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : From 1987 information has been collected centrally about the number of patients detained, within each district health authority, under each of the following sections of the Mental Health Act, 1983 : section 2, 3, 4, 35, 36, 37/41, 37, 37(4), 38, 44, 46, 47/49, 47, 48/49, 48, 135 and 136. This information is available correlated to the mental category and sex of patient. Comparable information is available for earlier years and is contained in the Department's statistical note 1/88, a copy of which is in the Library. No information is centrally available on the refusal of hospitals to admit patients under sections of the Act.
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people discharged from mental illness hospitals after a main diagnosis of schizophrenia psychosis having been proved vulnerable boarders subsequently became voluntary boarders in each of the last two years in each health region.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is not available centrally.
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential places in the community are currently available for those discharged from mental hospitals in each health region ; what is the current rate of occupancy ; and what are the projected figures for the next two years.
Mr. Freeman : Information on residential places specifically for people discharged from mental hospitals is not available. The estimated numbers of places in local authority, voluntary and private homes and hostels for mentally ill people in each health region in England, in the latest year for which figures are available, are given in the table. Neither occupancy rates nor projected figures for subsequent years are available centrally.
|c|Numbers of places in local authority, voluntary and private homes|c| |c|in health regions in England-Places available at 31 March 1987|c| Health region |Number ---------------------------------------------- Northern |482 Yorkshire |778 Trent |821 East Anglian |382 North West Thames |770 North East Thames |678 South East Thames |1,160 South West Thames |627 Wessex |473 Oxford |394 South Western |495 West Midlands |982 Mersey |464 North Western |662
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many mental illness beds there were in each health region in each of the last five years ; what was the rate of occupancy ; and what is the planned number of beds in each health region in the current year.
Mr. Freeman : The table shows the number of staffed beds in mental illness hospitals and units, and their
Column 749
occupancy rate, for 1982-1986. Since 1987- 88, the first year of Korner data, information has been collected on "daily available beds", and is available in the booklet "Summary of KHO3 pt 2 Wards open overnight". A copy has been placed in the Library. The figures for occupied bed days for 1987-88 are not yet available and so a rate of occupancy cannot be calculated. The information about planned number of beds for 1988-89 is still being processed.Column 749
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Region |Beds |Percentage occupied|Beds |Percentage occupied|Beds |Percentage occupied|Beds |Percentage occupied|Beds |Percentage occupied
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |5,879 |87 |5,739 |88 |5,652 |87 |5,606 |88 |5,375 |87
Yorkshire |7,001 |83 |6,561 |84 |6,455 |81 |6,070 |82 |5,660 |84
Trent |7,263 |88 |7,104 |86 |6,910 |86 |6,679 |86 |6,520 |84
East Anglian |2,940 |83 |3,039 |81 |2,855 |78 |2,756 |79 |2,655 |81
North West Thames |7,389 |87 |7,193 |86 |6,657 |88 |6,433 |88 |5,968 |89
North East Thames |6,681 |86 |6,556 |87 |6,147 |90 |5,887 |90 |5,771 |89
South East Thames |6,581 |81 |6,268 |83 |6,103 |82 |5,774 |83 |5,417 |81
South West Thames |6,645 |89 |6,425 |90 |6,270 |89 |6,061 |89 |5,528 |91
Wessex |4,034 |86 |4,005 |85 |3,850 |84 |3,626 |85 |3,411 |84
Oxford |2,349 |80 |2,316 |82 |2,244 |85 |2,290 |83 |2,195 |82
South Western |5,283 |84 |5,058 |83 |4,586 |85 |4,454 |84 |4,226 |79
West Midlands |7,962 |83 |7,664 |84 |7,352 |83 |6,964 |84 |6,764 |81
Mersey |6,201 |85 |5,913 |85 |5,596 |85 |5,421 |86 |5,062 |88
North Western |6,781 |85 |6,734 |84 |6,594 |85 |6,359 |85 |6,199 |84
Special H.A. |508 |69 |457 |78 |459 |81 |457 |81 |464 |69
England |83,500 |85 |81,032 |85 |77,730 |85 |74,837 |85 |71,215 |77
Ambulance Calls (Kidsgrove)
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will direct extra resources to be made available to the North Staffordshire district health authority to enable the response to ambulance calls from Kidsgrove to meet the Occon standard.
Mr. Freeman : The allocation of resources to the Staffordshire ambulance service is the responsibility of the West Midlands regional health authority which has this year increased its allocation to the service by £403,000 to £6,229,000. I understand that the Staffordshire ambulance service has commissioned a full review of its services to identify areas for improvement.
Kreutzfeldt-Jakob Dementia
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he now has any plans to introduce reporting procedures in respect of Kreutzfeldt-Jakob dementia.
Mr. Freeman : The chief medical officer is discussing with the Medical Research Council and the medical profession the most effective way of monitoring the incidence of Kreutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Mental Health Act 1983
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Health since the introduction of the Mental Health Act 1983, how many people have been removed from the United Kingdom under section 86 ; and if he has any plans to review the operation of this section of the Act.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I have been asked to reply.
Two patients detained under the Act have been removed under this provision. There are no plans to review its operation.
Column 750
SCOTLAND
Highland Health Board (Meeting)
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland who attended the meeting between his Department and the chairman and general manager of Highland health board ; what was the purpose of that meeting ; and if he will place a copy of any minutes taken of the meeting in the Library.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : An informal meeting between the chairman and general manager of Highland health board and myself was held on 24 February to discuss matters of common interest. An official of the Scottish Home and Health Department was in attendance. No formal record of the meeting was made.
Ambulance Drivers (Overtime Ban)
Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has received any recent representations from the trades union movement about the overtime ban by Edinburgh's ambulance drivers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : No representations have been received from the trades union movement. The unofficial overtime ban ended on 27 March 1989 following a ballot of the membership.
Animal Diseases Research Association
Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has received any recent representations from the Animal Diseases Research Association about a reduction in research funding at its Edinburgh base ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The president of the association wrote to my right hon. and learned Friend on 28 February drawing attention to the alleged effects on work at the Moredun Research Institute of reductions in Government funding of near-market research.
Column 751
The position is that a programme of Government-funded research for 1989-90 amounting to £2.558 million has been agreed with the institute's director, based on his recommendations on scientific priorities taking account of the Government's policy to phase out public support of near-market R and D. Additional resources will be directed towards molecular biological and immunological work, which offers the best opportunities for faster progress in animal disease control and prevention. Other work of lower scientific priority will be terminated or reduced. The allocation of recurrent expenditure for 1989-90 compares with the allocation of £2.596 million in 1988-89. In addition, the institute received £0.166 million from the DAFS increased flexibility scheme, and will be eligible to enter further bids in 1989-90.
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