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|Proportion of gross |Proportion of gross
|income derived from |income derived from
|original income<1> |Retirement Pension and
|income-related benefits
|Percentage |Percentage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All pensioners tax units<2>
Lowest Q1 |8 |90
Q2 |11 |86
Q3 |16 |80
Q4 |36 |57
Highest Q5 |72 |25
All |42 |55
All single pensioners
Lowest Q1 |7 |92
Q2 |9 |89
Q3 |11 |87
Q4 |25 |69
Highest Q5 |67 |29
All |34 |62
Single men over pension age
Lowest Q1 |9 |91
Q2 |11 |88
Q3 |14 |86
Q4 |38 |59
Highest Q5 |74 |24
All |42 |56
Single women over pension age
Lowest Q1 |6 |92
Q2 |8 |90
Q3 |10 |87
Q4 |22 |72
Highest Q5 |63 |31
All |32 |64
<1> Original income consists of occupational and personal pensions, income from savings and
investment, and any earnings from employment or self-employment.
<2> A pensioner tax unit is a single person of state pension age or over, or a married couple where
the man is of state pension age or over.
Each group has been divided into quintiles on the basis of equivalised gross income.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Members Dining Room
Mr. Ashton : To ask the Lord President of the Council on how many occasions tables have had to be removed from the Members Dining Room because of staff shortages in the last year.
Mr. Wakeham : On four occasions.
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Mr. Ashton : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons Commission, what is the hourly rate of pay for waitresses employed in the Members Dining Room ; and what rate is paid to agencies supplying waitresses.
Mr. Beith : I shall write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Ashton : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons
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Commission, what is the full establishment of waitresses in the Members Dining Room ; and how many are currently employed.Mr. Beith : The full establishment of waiters/waitresses (excluding those who serve only wine) is 15. The current complement is eight.
Mr. Ashton : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons Commission, what discussions the Commission has had with trade union representatives of dining room staff ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Beith : None by the Commission. Formal discussions with union representatives take place with management through the Whitley committee machinery in accordance with recognised procedures.
Mr. Ashton : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons Commission, when he expects the Members Dining Room to return to a full complement of fully employed staff.
Mr. Beith : It is not possible to be precise. Four more waitresses are expected to begin duties in the very near future and efforts are being made to recruit the staff needed to fill the remaining three posts. I shall arrange for the hon. Member to be informed when the staff is back to full strength.
HEALTH
Putting Patients First"
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information on opting out or indication of interest in opting out under the terms of his White Paper "Putting Patients First", has been required from hospitals in the south west region by 8 May ; what is the significance of this date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : The chief executive of the NHS management board wrote to all regional general managers on 14 March about the preparation of expressions of interest in self-governing hospital status. A copy of the letter (reference : EL(89)MB/58) has been placed in the Library. Regional returns are to be made to the Department by 31 May ; expressions of interest are to reach RHAs by 8 May to give them time to comment.
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Dental Services
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average number of weeks per year worked by the dental staff of the former Dental Estimates Board in each year during the period 1985 to 1988, excluding sick leave, leave, study leave and attendance at courses.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is as follows :
Year |Weeks ------------------ 1985 |43.17 1986 |44.45 1987 |42.95 1988 |43.05
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current time input relating to an estimate form submitted for prior approval compared with the average payment case.
Mr. Freeman : During March 1989 the dental practice board returned requests for approval of dental treatment within 18 days of receipt and took 24 days to issue payment schedules for treatment fees claimed by dentists. Both these figures are averages.
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the last date when the work of the dental estimates board was subjected to an approved efficiency study ; and what was the result.
Mr. Freeman : The most recent efficiency study was undertaken in 1984. A number of recommendations concerning improvements in the board's organisation and procedures were made and implemented. In line with other health service bodies the board is subject to the annual accountability review arrangements. A comprehensive review of the board's role and function is planned for later this year.
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of dental estimates authorised for payment in each quarter from the beginning of 1985 until the most recent date when figures are available.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is as follows :
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Number of Estimates Scheduled (England and Wales)
Quarter |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988
------------------------------------------------------------------
1st. |8,198,837 |8,363,883 |8,153,035 |8,494,306
2nd. |8,000,376 |8,692,834 |8,615,213 |8,378,456
3rd. |8,564,944 |8,075,163 |8,623,781 |9,112,402
4th. |8,286,568 |8,933,076 |8,467,152 |9,481,178
|------- |------- |------- |-------
|33,050,725|34,064,956|33,859,181|35,466,342
Defibrillators
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give, region by region, the number of defibrillators which have been purchased (a) by the health authority, (b) not by the health authority and (c) in the latter case, the main source of funding for each defibrillator.
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Mr. Freeman : This information is not available centrally. Arrangements for purchase of equipment of this kind are a matter for each separate health authority.
Nurses (Assaults)
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he has held, or proposes to hold, discussions with the police about assaults on nurses ;
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(2) what is the trend in the number of assaults on nurses ; (3) how many nurses' homes are signposted in hospital grounds ; (4) how many nurses have been issued with personal alarms by their employers ;(5) what steps he is taking to train nursing staff in violence avoidance ;
(6) in how many nurses' homes full-time security staff are employed ;
(7) what is his estimate of the number of nurses who have been assaulted in hospitals or hospital grounds in the last year for which figures are available ;
(8) if he will set up a working party to study the incidence of violence against nurses and the reasons for it and to make recommendations ;
(9) if he will provide central funding and specific grants for measures to prevent violence against nurses ;
(10) if he has issued any recent circulars to health authorities about measures to be taken to cope with violence against nurses ; (11) what information he has as to how many break-ins have been reported in nurses' homes in the last year for which figures are available ;
(12) what steps he has taken to ensure that nurses are provided with transport after working on late duty ;
(13) if he has made any recommendations to health authorities about standards of lighting in hospital grounds.
Mr. Mellor : Although we do not hold the detailed information about nurses requested by the right hon. Member centrally, many health authorities have taken effective measures to ensure the safety of their staff. These include the employment of contract security staff ; close circuit television ; personal alarms ; two way radios ; improved lighting and the introduction of professional nurse triage to reduce waiting times in accident and emergency departments. At national level the DHSS advisory committee on violence to staff was established in February 1987 to examine the problem throughout the caring services. The committee, which comprised management, professional bodies, family practitioners and trades union representatives from all the services, was chaired by my noble Friend Lord Skelmersdale. Its report was published in July last year. Copies were issued to all NHS general managers and placed in the Library. The report stresses the importance of accurate reporting of incidents and its principal recommendations relate to the need for employers to recognise the fundamental place of a safe working environment in the determination of local priorities and budgets and the development of local safety and security policies. Specifically, it urges liaison with the police and with staff and their representatives ; training in the avoidance and control of violent situations ; local collaboration and the sharing of experiences ; and the counselling of victims. A video reinforcing the committee's recommendations and in which I stressed ministerial concern about this important issue was sent to all health authorities in February this year.
I strongly endorse the theme of the report that the issue of violence to staff is one which can be most effectively tackled locally by management and staff working together.
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Aluminium
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health as part of the research that is to take place into the effects of aluminium in infants, if he will include a study of the extent to which aluminium sulphate added to water supplies as a cleaning agent enters the body and is hazardous.
Mr. Freeman : The Medical Research Council, which is the main Government-funded body dealing with biomedical and clinical research, and which receives its grant-in-aid from the Department of Education and Science, is sponsoring research into the uptake and biological effects of aluminium from all sources, including drinking water. Other independent research is being undertaken into the sources of aluminium in infants' diet and its absorption and excretion. The Department of Health's independent advisory committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment will be asked to advise on the results of this research when they are available.
Cholesterol
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the cost to the National Health Service of carrying out a test to establish a patient's blood cholesterol level ; and whether such a test can be requested on a routine visit to a general practitioner.
Mr. Freeman : Information on actual cost of tests to establish a patient's blood cholesterol level is not collected centrally. It is known however that the cost will vary depending on whether such tests are carried out at a large NHS laboratory or elsewhere,--for example in a GP's surgery. These tests are available under the National Health Service.
Hospices
Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has yet completed his review into the funding of hospices ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : No. I hope to complete the review shortly.
Airline Foods
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his reply of 6 April, Official Report, columns 289-90, if he has now given consideration to the report "A Survey of Microbiological Quality of Airline Foods" by three London boroughs ; and if he will now make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : We have recently received a copy of the survey of the microbiological quality of airline meals. It is still receiving careful consideration within the Department.
Consultants
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by each health district the number of consultants in each specialty who have merit awards ; what this figure represents as a percentage of the total number of consultant posts ; whether he has any proposals to change the way in which merit awards are allocated ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Mellor : We do not have information by district readily available. Information for each region of England and Wales and for each specialty on the number of holders of distinction awards is given in the tables.
The working paper 7 "NHS Consultants : Appointments, Contracts and Distinction Awards", following the White Paper "Working for Patients", sets out the Government's proposals to change the way in which distinction awards are allocated, and will be discussed with the medical profession.
Distinction awards: Analysis by specialty and percentage
distribution
31 December 1988
England and Wales
Total awards
|Number |per cent.
---------------------------------------------------------------
All specialties: Total |5,648 |35.0
Accident and emergency |32 |17.0
Anaesthetics |598 |29.0
Cardiology |76 |53.0
Cardio-thoracic surgery |55 |47.0
Clinical neurological physiology |18 |32.0
Community medicine |162 |31.0
Oral surgery |112 |39.0
Orthodontics |46 |30.0
Restorative dentistry |33 |32.0
Dermatology |85 |36.0
Diseases of the chest |54 |48.0
General medicine |705 |47.0
General surgery |572 |49.0
Genito-urinary medicine |26 |18.0
Geriatric medicine |117 |21.0
Infectious diseases |13 |45.0
Mental illness |367 |29.0
Child and adolescent psychiatry |79 |21.0
Forensic psychiatry |13 |22.0
Mental handicap |35 |19.0
Psychotherapy |22 |25.0
Neurology |96 |55.0
Neurosurgery |55 |56.0
Nuclear medicine |16 |55.0
Obstetrics and gynaecology |325 |40.0
Occupational medicine |2 |12.0
Ophthalmology |156 |35.0
Orthopaedic surgery |269 |36.0
Otolaryngology |144 |36.0
Paediatrics |269 |37.0
Paediatric surgery |24 |55.0
Pathology: General |3 |50.0
Blood transfusion |11 |39.0
Chemical pathology |75 |40.0
Haematology |126 |32.0
Histopathology |203 |33.0
Immunopathology |22 |52.0
Medical microbiology |112 |35.0
Neuro-pathology |13 |42.0
PHLS only |12 |41.0
Plastic surgery |45 |43.0
Radiology |289 |27.0
Radiotherapy |82 |38.0
Rheumatology and rehabilitation |79 |32.0
Distinction awards: Analysis by specialty and percentage
distribution
31 December 1988
England and Wales
Total awards
|Number |per cent.
---------------------------------------------------------------
All specialties: Total |5,648 |35.0
Accident and emergency |32 |17.0
Anaesthetics |598 |29.0
Cardiology |76 |53.0
Cardio-thoracic surgery |55 |47.0
Clinical neurological physiology |18 |32.0
Community medicine |162 |31.0
Oral surgery |112 |39.0
Orthodontics |46 |30.0
Restorative dentistry |33 |32.0
Dermatology |85 |36.0
Diseases of the chest |54 |48.0
General medicine |705 |47.0
General surgery |572 |49.0
Genito-urinary medicine |26 |18.0
Geriatric medicine |117 |21.0
Infectious diseases |13 |45.0
Mental illness |367 |29.0
Child and adolescent psychiatry |79 |21.0
Forensic psychiatry |13 |22.0
Mental handicap |35 |19.0
Psychotherapy |22 |25.0
Neurology |96 |55.0
Neurosurgery |55 |56.0
Nuclear medicine |16 |55.0
Obstetrics and gynaecology |325 |40.0
Occupational medicine |2 |12.0
Ophthalmology |156 |35.0
Orthopaedic surgery |269 |36.0
Otolaryngology |144 |36.0
Paediatrics |269 |37.0
Paediatric surgery |24 |55.0
Pathology: General |3 |50.0
Blood transfusion |11 |39.0
Chemical pathology |75 |40.0
Haematology |126 |32.0
Histopathology |203 |33.0
Immunopathology |22 |52.0
Medical microbiology |112 |35.0
Neuro-pathology |13 |42.0
PHLS only |12 |41.0
Plastic surgery |45 |43.0
Radiology |289 |27.0
Radiotherapy |82 |38.0
Rheumatology and rehabilitation |79 |32.0
Cervical Cancer Tests
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking urgently to review the system of cervical cancer smear tests so that no women whose tests have proved positive suffer delays of more than three to four weeks before starting treatment.
Mr. Mellor : Department of Health guidance, HC(88) 1, states that district health authorities should ensure that adequate facilities are available for the prompt investigation, treatment and follow-up of women whose smears show that this is necessary. In order to monitor health authorities' achievement in this respect we have asked them to notify us in their 1989 planning statements of waiting times for further diagnosis and treatment, particularly colposcopy, where these exceed four weeks. We shall then be pressing health authorities to take action where there are problems.
Publicity
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library details of each major publicity campaign mounted by his Department in 1985-86 and each successive year, including in each case the objectives of the campaign, the intended audience and the outcome of the monitoring of the achievement of the intended objectives, and national research conducted for him by the Central Office of Information together with a note of the intended objectives in the campaigns in 1989-90.
Mr. Mellor : I shall let the hon. Member have such information as can be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost as soon as possible.
Baby Food
Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement about the health risk in baby food ; (2) when he was first warned of the health risk in baby food ; (3) whether he has obtained the advice of the chief medical officer about the health risk in baby food ;
(4) whether he plans to issue any advice to baby food manufacturers about continuing sale of baby food ;
(5) whether he plans to issue any advice to parents about the health risks in baby food ;
(6) whether he plans to issue any advice to health workers about the risks in baby food.
Mr. Freeman : We first became aware of particles of glass being found in jars of baby food in March 1989, when the manufacturers arranged withdrawal of the batch
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concerned and advised the Department. Since then, as my hon. Friend said on 26 April at column 949, there have been growing numbers of reports which have been recognised as deliberate contamination and this is the subject of police inquiries. The Department on 28 April endorsed common-sense advice to the public which, if followed, should remove any risk. This advice is being passed also to the National Health Service and to chief environmental health officers of local authorities. The question of continuing the sale of these products is for the manufacturers in consultation with the police.Population Statistics
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of the present population of England and Wales who are over the age of 18 years.
Mr. Freeman : It is estimated that the resident population of England and Wales aged 18 and over was 38,607,700 at mid-1987. An estimate relating to mid-1988 will be available shortly.
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Coastal Waters (Pollution)
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department has any record of specific skin diseases and infections occurring amongst fishermen operating in British coastal waters ; and what investigations his Department has carried out into the incidence of skin diseases and infections occurring amongst fishermen operating in British coastal waters.
Mr. Freeman [holding answer 26 April 1989] : These diseases are not notifiable diseases and, therefore, this Department does not keep any records. No investigations have been carried out by this Department.
Stump Socks
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what representations have been received by his Department about stump socks for amputees ;
(2) where National Health Service supplies of stump socks are listed.
Mr. Mellor [holding answer 26 April 1989] : These are matters for the Disablement Services authority to which the hon. Member should address his question.
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