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Mr. Mellor : I am advised that evidence for the efficacy of the drug Zidovudine (AZT) when used in the treatment of patients in the United Kingdom was published in January 1989 in volume 18, supplement 1 of the Journal of Infection.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many AIDS patients have been treated with the drug AZT ; and how many are currently receiving it.
Mr. Mellor : We do not hold this information centrally.
Hospital Consultants
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital consultants held (a) full-time contracts and (b) part-time contracts with the National Health Service in : (i) 1979 and (ii) 1988.
Mr. Mellor : The numbers in England in 1979 and 1987, the latest year for which figures are available, were as follows :
|1979 |1987
--------------------------------------
Full-time contracts |5,080|6,774
Part-time contracts |7,281|7,740
The number with part-time contracts includes university staff who have an honorary contract with a health authority.
District Health Authorities (Assets)
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give details of assets disposed of by each district health authority during 1987-88 ; and what was the total value of those assets.
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Mr. Freeman : I shall let the hon. Member have such information as can be obtained withour incurring disproportionate cost as soon as possible.
Cervical Cytology
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list all district health authorities which operate a computerised call/recall cervical cytology programme for all women aged 20 to 65 years at three-yearly intervals.
Mr. Freeman : I refer the hon. Member to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Lloyd) on 16 February at column 345 .
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list all those district health authorities which have not yet called all women aged 20 to 65 years for a cervical cancer smear ; (2) if he will list the uptake of women called for a cervical cancer smear for each district health authority ; and if he will list those district health authorities which are unable to provide these statistics.
Mr. Freeman : HC(88)1 stated that all women aged between 20 and 64 years should be invited for a cervical smear test within five years of implementation of computerised call and recall systems, unless their GP has indicated that they should be excluded. We are not, therefore, expecting all district health authorities to have completed this task until March 1993--five years from when their computerised systems became operational. Information on the number of eligible women screened for cervical cancer is expected to become available later this year when we receive health authorities' returns from Ko"rner form KC53--"Adult screening programmes-- cervical cytology".
A copy of HC(88)1 is available in the Library.
Spectacle Allowance (VDUs)
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated cost to public funds for the current financial year of the spectacle allowance payable to staff in his Department who work on visual display units ; what is the current allowance ; and when it was last updated.
Mr. Mellor : The estimated 1989-90 cost of spectacles for staff in the Department working on VDUs is £10,000. The current allowance, updated on 1 December 1988, is £50 plus any eyesight testing costs.
Prescriptions
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he will take steps to ensure that each prescription for medicine is accompanied by an information pamphlet describing the relevant drug's indications, side effects and withdrawal symptoms.
Mr. Mellor : No, but other measures to improve communication to patients about medicines are in progress.
At present there is no requirement on pharmaceutical companies to provide leaflets with medicines, but the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) encourages its members to do so. Under the Medicines (Leaflets) Regulations, such leaflets, if supplied, must specify contraindications, warnings, and precautions, and may specify indications for use.
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The Council of Ministers of the European Community (EC) has reached a common position on a proposal to amend pharmaceutical directives which would, amongst other things, introduce a requirement to provide leaflets with medicines. It is expected that this directive will be adopted shortly.Further, the EC Commission is following up a resolution of the Health Council of May 1987 requiring a report and, if appropriate, proposals for further measures to improve patient information leaflets. We understand the aim is to report to the Council by the end of the year. We shall consider constructively the Commission's report, when available.
Benzodiazepine
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he will take steps to ensure that a health warning is given on all bottles of benzodiazepines prescribed to patients, to the effect that those medicines can cause dependence.
Mr. Mellor : I have no present plans to do so. The space available on medicines labels is limited. Leaflets offer greater scope for developing communication to patients about medicines.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds were allocated by his Department in 1987 to assist people dependent on benzodiazepines ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : In 1987-88 the following grants were made under the central drugs initiative to services specifically for those dependent on benzodiazepines :
Mind (Copeland)--tranquilliser withdrawal scheme £33,541
North East Council on Addictions--tranquilliser advice and support scheme £40,662
Grants totalling £4,038,962 were also made to 97 other projects in 1987-88 under this initiative, some of which provided a service for those dependent on benzodiazepines. In addition the Government made available £6 million to regional health authorities specifically for the development of services for those experiencing problems with illicit or prescribed drugs.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the approximate cost to the National Health Service of the prescriptions issued for benzodiazepines by community pharmacists in 1987.
Mr. Mellor : We estimate that the approximate cost to the NHS of prescriptions for benzodiazepines dispensed by community pharmacists in Great Britain in 1987 was £30.2 million.
Drug Usage
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent in 1987 on giving advice on drug usage to general practitioners and hospital doctors ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : In the financial year 1987-88 almost £2 million was spent by the Department on giving advice on drug usage to professional staff working in the NHS. This expenditure is not broken down by professional group. In addition, health authorities provide their own drug
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information services. It is not possible to separate the cost of such services from the total pharmaceutical services provided by health authorities.Health for Year 2000"
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instruction he has given to the Health Education Authority on its work on, "Health for all by the Year 2000" ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : The World Health Organisation's "Health For All By The Year 2000" strategy is one of the considerations that all health authorities, including the Health Education Authority, take into account in developing their programmes of work.
Health Education Authority (Community Participation)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instruction he has given to the Health Education Authority on its work on community participation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : A number of specific action tasks were agreed at the ministerial accountability review of the Health Education Authority on 20 February. One of these was that the authority prepare, by the end of April, a report on the concept of community development and the way in which it might be taken forward in keeping with the authority's health education remit.
Meningitis
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the amount of financial support given to the meningitis trust for the purposes of research into meningitis and meningococal meningitis in 1980 and 1989.
Mr. Freeman : The trust did not exist in 1980 an has not recently applied to this Department for research funding. However, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 21 December by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science at column 292, which listed research projects into meningitis supported by the Medical Research Council.
Pharmaceutical Industry
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce organisational reforms in order to separate more clearly the Department's sponsorship role with regard to the pharmaceutical industry from its regulatory role ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : The two functions are handled by separate parts of the Department. Since 1 April the regulatory role of medicines licensing has become the responsibility of the Medicines Control Agency, so that the two functions are now more widely separated.
Limited List Prescribing
Mrs. Ann Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement outlining the cost savings to his Department realised through the introduction of the limited list prescribing systems ; and if he will indicate the precise manner in which that figure has been calculated.
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Mr. Mellor : In 1985-86 the selected list scheme saved £75 million on the drugs bill. The savings in each of the seven therapeutic groups were :
|£ million
----------------------------------------------------------------
Cough and cold remedies |22
Analgesics for mild to moderate pain |19
Indigestion remedies |8
Vitamins |7"
Laxatives |2
Bitters and tonics |1
Benzodiazepine sedatives and tranquillisers |15"
These savings were calculated by comparing actual expenditure in 1985-86 with an estimate of the expenditure which would have been incurred in that year if the scheme had not been introduced. It is not possible to make meaningful estimates for savings in subsequent years but we have no reason to doubt that significant savings continue to be made.
SCOTLAND
Geriatric Patients
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance he has issued to health boards on the rate of provision of beds for geriatric patients and hospital places for psychogeriatric patients.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Guidance on services for the elderly and the elderly with dementia was set out in the SHARPEN (Scottish health authorities' review of priorities for the eighties and nineties) report, which was published, and commended to health boards, in November 1988. The report contained guidance about bed provision ; it also stressed the need for a range of facilities, and for appropriate placement.
Police Rent Allowance
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report in tabular form details for the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available of the total pay bill, compensatory grant received and income tax paid by each police authority in Scotland in respect of police officers' rent allowance.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information is not held centrally in the detailed form requested, but the table shows the total sums paid by each police authority in the 1987-88 financial year by way of rent allowance and compensatory grant.
Police Authority |£
--------------------------------------------------------
Central |1,278,493
Dumfries and Galloway |686,740
Fife |1,415,990
Grampian |2,396,359
Lothian and Borders |4,253,725
Northern |910,187
Strathclyde |17,982,163
Tayside |2,605,438
|-----
Total |31,529,095
This expenditure attracted 51 per cent. specific police grant.
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Communications (Interceptions)
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information was available to him when he decided not to call for a report from the chief constable of Strathclyde region on the illegal interceptions of communications in Helensburgh.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Sufficient information on which to make a decision.
NHS (Capital Charges)
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland from what date capital charges in the National Health Service will be charged in full ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : As indicated in paragraph 4.1 of the Scottish working paper 5 "Capital Charging", published last month, it is proposed that capital charging will start to operate in Scotland from April 1991.
Highland Health Board
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 14 April, what were those matters of common interest discussed at the meeting with Highland health board.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : It is not normal practice to disclose the nature of informal discussions between Ministers and health boards.
Toxocariasis
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases have been reported in Scotland each year since 1979 of persons suffering from toxocariasis.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Toxocariasis is not a notifiable disease and this information is not held centrally. Between 1979 and 1987, six cases were admitted for in-patient care in Scotland.
Dog Fouling
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will bring forward proposals for legislation with regard to dog fouling to enable local authorities and police to take action against irresponsible behaviour on the part of dog owners.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : It is already an offence under section 48 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 for a person in charge of a dog to allow it to foul any of the places specified in that section. The Act is under review, and proposals for improvements in its provisions will shortly be the subject of consultation.
Community Charge
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East of 17 April, if he will make it his policy to collect from community charge registration officers in Scotland information on the uses made of electoral registers in compiling the community charge registers which they are currently operating ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Lang : My right hon. and learned Friend has no intention of making arrangements to collect information on the use made by community charge registration officers of electoral registers, or other sources of information to which they may have access, in connection with their functions.
Inward Investment
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list all inward investment projects in Scotland in 1988 and 1989 to date.
Mr. Lang : Details of all individuals projects are not published as certain information is supplied by companies on a commercially confidential basis.
The figures based on company plans for inward investment in Scotland where there has been direct involvement by officials of Locate in Scotland or the Industry Department for Scotland are as follows :
|Numbers of projects |Planned investment £|Planned jobs
|million
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |84 |324.2 |11,219
1988-89 |55 |437.6 |7,089
Locate in Scotland is aware of a further four projects which came to Scotland in 1987-88 without officials involvement and of a further five in 1988-89.
Locate in Scotland
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the current staff establishment of Locate in Scotland ; what offices are currently overseas ; and what additional offices are planned.
Mr. Lang : The current staff establishment of Locate in Scotland is 60, of which 25 are based in field offices outwith Scotland. Overseas offices are located as follows :
Brussels 1 ; Tokyo 1 ; London 1 ; United States of America 4 located in Stamford, San Mateo, Houston and Chicago.
At present there are no plans to open additional offices elsewhere.
Hospital Consultants
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospital consultants held (a) full-time contracts and (b) part-time contracts with the National Health Service in Scotland in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1988.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested is shown in the table.
|c|Hospital consultants in the NHS in Scotland|c|
|Full-time |Part-time<1>|Honorary |Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 September 1979
Medical |1,327 |274 |267 |1,868
Dental |27 |6 |38 |71
|--- |--- |--- |---
Total |1,354 |280 |305 |1,939
|--- |--- |--- |---
30 September 1988 (provisional)
Medical |1,529 |305 |295 |2,129
Dental |31 |7 |41 |79
|--- |--- |--- |---
Total |1,560 |312 |336 |2,208
<1>Including maximum part-time.
Health Board Assets
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of assets disposed of by each health board during 1987-88 ; and what was the total value of those assets.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Income from the sale of surplus NHS land and properties amounted to £7.948 million in 1987-88, when the following properties were sold :
Land-property |Health board ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GD surgery, Newmilns |Ayrshire and Arran Broadfield hospital, Port Glasgow |Argyll and Clyde Royal Victoria eye infirmary, Paisley Land at Caldwell House hospital, Uplawmoor Northern hospital, Dunfermline |Fife Land at Royal Northern infirmary, |Highland Inverness East block, Aberdeen royal infirmary, |Grampian Woolmanhill 24 North Silver street, Aberdeen Inverbervie health centre site, Inverbervie 27-28 Park circus, Glasgow |Greater Glasgow 10 Park circus, Glasgow Schaw hospital, Bearsden 13 Woodside place Ophthalmic institute, 126-128 West Regent street, Glasgow 4 Royal crescent, Glasgow Killearn hospital, Killearn Glenfarg street clinic, Glasgow Farmland at Gartloch hospital, Glasgow Land at Craiglea place, Edinburgh |Lothian Hozier house, Lanark |Lanarkshire 32 Bridge street, Kirkwall |Orkney Dundee woman's hospital |Tayside Land at Murthly hospital 185 staff houses |Various 17 small plots of land |Various Total value |£7,947,705.62
Income from the sale of other assets amounted to £145,000 (excluding the income from the sale of assets which are being replaced, which is netted against cost). Details of these assets are not held centrally but the income received by each health board was : --
Health Board |£ --------------------------------------------- Argyll and Clyde |6,600 Ayrshire and Arran |2,800 Borders |47,200 Dumfries |7,750 Fife |Nil Forth Valley |7,100 Grampian |5,850 Greater Glasgow |27,000 Highland |4,000 Lanarkshire |1,200 Lothian |27,500 Orkney |1,200 Shetland |2,200 Tayside |4,600 Western Isles |Nil
Cervical Smear Tests
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will list all those health boards which have not yet called all women aged 20 to 65 years for a cervical cancer smear ;
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(2) if he will list the uptake of women called for a cervical cancer smear for each health board ; and if he will list those health boards which are unable to provide these statistics.Mr. Michael Forsyth : Health boards have been asked to ensure that all women in the age range 20 to 60 in Scotland receive a cervical smear test by 1993. Information on the number of eligible women screened for cervical cancer will be collected from January 1990.
Cornton Vale Prison
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total average number per day during 1988 of females in Cornton Vale prison engaged in (a) work, (b) daytime education and (c) evening education ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : During 1988 the total average number per day of females engaged in those activities at Cornton Vale was as follows :
--------------------------------
Work |123
Daytime education |39
Evening education |17
Attendance by inmates at daytime education is on a part-time basis. Evening education is available only between the months of January to March and September to December.
Alar
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the crops on which the chemical Alar is used and the purposes for its use ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Pesticide usage surveys indicate that there has been a very small use of Alar in Scotland in recent years, on chrysanthemums in 1981 and on seed potatoes in 1987 as a growth regulator. The continued use of this chemical is being considered by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and its views are awaited.
Sewage (Dumping)
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the life cycle in salt water of sewage dumped (a) in the firth of Clyde and (b) of the west coast of Scotland ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the health implications for fishermen fishing in the waters of the firth of Clyde of the dumping of sewage waste.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The only site in the firth of Clyde at which sewage sludge may be dumped under the terms of section 5 of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 is situated off Garroch head. Sewage sludge is an inert organic material which, through time, is dispersed by the natural action of the sea.
The Garroch head site is monitored annually by Strathclyde regional council and biennially by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland to assess the impact of sea disposal operations on the marine environment. There is no evidence to suggest that the site presents any hazard to the health of the public in general or to fishermen in particlar.
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Sand Eels
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many vessels landed sand eels from Shetland waters in 1988 (a) before and (b) after 30 June ; and how many of these vessels were under 50 ft registered length in each of these periods.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information is as follows :
|before 30 June|after 30 June
------------------------------------------------------------
all vessels |6 |4
under 50 ft |2 |2
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the organisations to be consulted by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland over the proposed licensing arrangements for sand eel stocks by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland on 4 April ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Copies of the consultation paper have been given to Government Departments, fishing industry organisations, other organisations which have expressed an interest and have been made freely available to any individual or organisation requesting a copy.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Social Fund
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information is available on the terms of consultation with each social security office regarding the social fund budget for 1989-90 ; and whether there were any discussions with given offices about their particular patterns of allocations.
Mr. Needham : Social fund allocations for 1989-90 were made according to an objective formula and there were no consultations with individual offices. As explained in reply to a question from the hon. Member for Redcar (Ms. Mowlam) on 23 March at columns 739-42 I placed a note in the Library on 23 March setting out the basis on which the allocations were made.
Anglo-Irish Conference
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland upon what policy aspects of extradition and extra territoral jurisdiction further work is to be carried out by the Anglo- Irish conference, as referred to in paragraph 5 of the communique of the 5 April meeting of the Anglo-Irish conference.
Mr. Tom King : As provided by article 8 of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the conference is concerned with policy aspects of extradition and extraterritorial jurisdiction as between North and South. A wide range of issues concerning the law and procedure on these matters is kept under review, to try to ensure effective procedures for dealing with the problem of fugitive offenders. Such issues include the provision for arrest and detention, the arrangements for the transfer of prisoners where extradition is ordered, and the procedural and other requirements which must be satisfied before extradition can be ordered. It would not, however, be appropriate to comment in detail on the substance of these discussions.
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Loyalist Parades
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether, in the report of the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for 1988 the figure of 1,865 loyalist parades includes youth organisation, church and other similar events ; and what criteria the Chief Constable has used to define loyalist parades.
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