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Prison Officers (Assaults)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the figures for the number of assaults on prison officers within Her Majesty's prisons and remand centres, which resulted in injuries sustained by officers or prisoners together with a breakdown of type of injury and their number.
Mr. Mellor : The readily available information is about prisoners found guilty on adjudication of gross personal violence to a prison officer or of assault or attempted assault on a prison officer. Figures for 1988 were published in table 14 of Statistics of Offences Against Prison Discipline and Punishment, England and Wales 1988 (Cm 929). Data for earlier years appear in chapter 9 of Prison Statistics England and Wales. Copies of both publications are held in the Library.
Details of injuries are not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Concessionary Television Licences
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to correspondence from the hon. Member for Harborough, together with Harborough district council, relating to the intended removal of sheltered residents at Hill court, Bushby, Leicestershire from the concessionary television licence scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : We have now seen copies of the correspondence and confirm that the Hill court scheme cannot qualify for the concession under the 1988 regulations. The fact that the scheme and adjoining doctor's surgery were built as one structure means the scheme fails to satisfy the common and exclusive boundary criterion.
However, residents who had the concession before the change in the regulations in May 1988 will continue to benefit from it under the preserved rights provision of the 1988 regulations.
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Chief Inspector of Prisons
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the report of the chief inspector of prisons.
Mr. Mellor : No. I have nothing to add to the commentary on the 1988 report of Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons, placed in the Library on 25 July 1989.
Animal Experiments
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each of the last 10 years, how many animals were used to test cosmetics and toiletries, the types of animals used and how many died during the course of the test.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on the number of experiments or procedures involving each type of animal is published in table 2 (cosmetics and toiletries) of the annual "Statistics of Experiments on Living Animals, Great Britain" for the years 1979-86 inclusive (Cmnd. 8069, 8301, 8657, 8986, 9311, 9574, 9839, and Cm. 187) and table 3 of "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain" for the years 1987- 88 inclusive (Cm. 515 and 743). Copies of all these publications are in the Library.
Forensic Pathology
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a list of the responses that he received to the proposals in the report of the working party on forensic pathology ; together with the date that each of those responses was received by his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responses were received from the following on the dates shown :
|Date
Dr. R. M. Whittington |23 August 1989
Her Majesty's Coroner
Dr. G. Garrett |24 August 1989
Home Office Pathologist (on behalf of
North West Home Office Pathologists)
Mr. C. W. P. Newell |31 August 1989
Crown Prosecution Service
Mr. David Owen, QPM |11 September 1989
Chief Constable, North Wales Police;
Chairman, Crime Committee, Association
of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales
and Northern Ireland
Dr. M. A. Green |12 September 1989
Secretary, British Association in Forensic
Medicine
Mr. S. R. Barter |22 September 1989
Her Majesty's Coroner
Mr. J. E. H. Pendower |28 September 1989
Dean, Charing Cross and Westminster
Medical School
Mr. A. A. Mullett, QPM |11 September 1989
Chief Constable, West Mercia Police;
Honorary Secretary, Crime Committee,
Association of Chief Police Officers of
England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Dr. I. E. West |5 October 1989
Head of Department of Forensic
Medicine, United Medical Schools of
Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals
Mr. D. R. Bowman |13 October 1989
Environmental Services Department,
Birmingham City Council
Dr. M. Rufus Crompton |16 October 1989
Department of Forensic Medicine, St.
George's Hospital Medical School
Dr. P. R. Acland |26 October 1989
Home Office Pathologist
Dr. J. D. K. Burton |27 October 1989
Her Majesty's Coroner; Honorary
Secretary, Coroners Society of England
and Wales
Mr. A. Bosi |27 October 1989
British Medical Association
Dr. A. R. Williams |30 October 1989
Home Office Pathologist
Professor Bernard Wood |31 October 1989
Department of Human Anatomy and Cell
Biology, The University of Liverpool
Dr. W. R. Timperley |2 November 1989
Honorary Secretary, Association of
Clinical Pathologists
Mr. K. Lockyer |3 November 1989
Secretary, The Royal College of
Pathologists
Dr. J. Burston |6 November 1989
Immediate past President, Association of
Clinical Pathologists
Miss S. Bonfield |6 November 1989
Association of Metropolitan Authorities
Mr. A. H. Pitts |22 November 1989
City Secretary, City of Coventry
Mr. C. Grenyer |14 December 1989
Association of County Councils
Homosexual Acts
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1988 how many men aged between 16 and 21 years were convicted for consenting homosexual acts with other males in England and Wales ; and, in the cases of those convicted and receiving custodial sentences, what were the durations of those sentences in each individual case.
Mr. John Patten [holding answer 5 March 1990] : Information is not available centrally on the number of males of 16 or over but under 21 who are convicted for the offences of buggery and attempted buggery with another male with his consent. In England and Wales in 1988 68 males of 16 or over but under 21 were convicted for an act of gross indecency with another male, of whom none received a custodial sentence.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Doran : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet representatives of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Mr. Ryder : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has no plans to do so.
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Civil Service Relocation
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further proposals he has to relocate Civil Service staff outside London.
Mr. Ryder : I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley) on 17 January 1990, at columns 289-90.
Tax Harmonisation
Mr. Dykes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next intends to meet other EC Finance Ministers to discuss indirect tax harmonisation.
Mr. Ryder : The question of indirect tax in the single market has been tabled for discussion at the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers on 12 March.
European Monetary System
Mr. Butler : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact on the future of the European monetary system of the absorption of the East German currency into the West German mark.
Mr. Ryder : Decisions on German monetary union have yet to be taken. The United Kingdom Government are watching developments with interest.
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in fulfilling the conditions laid down by Her Majesty's Government for the United Kingdom's membership of the exchange rate mechanism of the European monetary system ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lilley : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave him on 1 March, Official Report, column 276.
Motor Vehicles (Customs Seizure)
Mr. Stern : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was realised, in the latest available year, from the sale by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise of motor vehicles seized on suspicion of carrying drugs.
Mr. Ryder : In the year to 31 December 1989, the net proceeds of selling motor vehicles seized by Customs in connection with drugs smuggling were £39,850.
Manufacturing Investment
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what net investment in manufacturing industry has been undertaken (a) in total, (b) by foreign companies, (c) by indigenous companies, for each of the years since 1979 for which figures are available.
Mr. Norman Lamont : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member of Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) on 8 March 1990, Official Report, column 749.
Inflation
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes he has made to his forecast on inflation for 1990 since the Autumn Statement.
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Mr. Ryder : A revised forecast for inflation will be published with the forthcoming Financial Statement and Budget Report.Taxation
Mr. Boateng : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what income tax a husband and a wife would each have to pay if each earned £10, 000 gross per annum (a) before April and (b) after April ; and what tax a single man and a single woman would each have to pay if each earned £10,000 gross per annum.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 5 March 1990] : Information is given in the table.
Income tax liabilities of types of taxpayers in 1989-90 and 1990-91
Type of taxpayers |<2>Before |<1><3>After
|April 1990 |April 1990
|£ pa |£ pa
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Husband on earnings of
£10,000 pa<4> |1,406.25 |1,318.75
and
Wife on earnings of £10,000 pa<4> |1,803.75 |1,748.75
(b) Single Man on earnings of
£10,000 pa<5> |1,803.75 |1,748.75
(c) Single Woman on earnings of
£10,000 pa<5> |1,803.75 |1,748.75
<1>Calculations based on standard assumption that 1989-90 personal allowances and the
basic rate limit have been indexed by 7.7 per cent. for 1990-91.
<2>1989-90 tax regime.
<3>Assumes independent taxation plus indexation of allowances.
<4>Assumes that the husband and wife receive no other forms of income and that they do
not receive any tax allowances or reliefs other than (i) the married man's allowance (for
the husband) and the wife's earned income allowance (for the wife) in 1989-90, and (ii)
the personal allowance plus married couple's allowance (for the husband) and the personal
allownce (for the wife) in 1990-91.
<5>Assumes that no other forms of income are received and no tax allowances or reliefs
are received other than (i) the single person's allowance in 1989-90, and (ii) the
personal allowance in 1990-91.
VAT
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost to the Exchequer of reducing the value added tax on fitting catalytic converters to (a) zero, (b) 5 per cent. and (c) 10 per cent. on the assumption that the number of catalytic converters fitted (i) stayed at the current rate, (ii) increased by 3 per cent., (iii) increased by 5 per cent. and (iv) increased by 10 per cent.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 March 1990] : Information on which to base an estimate is not available.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of reducing the value added tax rate levied on non-recyclable, non-biodegradable packaging to (a) 10 per cent., (b) 5 per cent. and (c) zero on the assumption that packaging was not regarded as an integral part of the goods it contains and therefore could be taxed at a different rate.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 March 1990] : Information on which to base an estimate is not available.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue would be raised if the value added tax rate levied on non- recyclable, non-biodegradable packaging was increased to (a) 20 per cent.,
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(b) 25 per cent. and (c) 30 per cent. on the assumption that packaging was not regarded as an integral part of the goods it contains and therefore could be taxed at a different rate.Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 March 1990] : Information on which to base an estimate is not available.
DEFENCE
Computer Hacking
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many NATO military databases were infiltrated by computer hacking by the three West Germans convicted on 15 February in West Germany of selling the information they obtained to a foreign power ; and if he will list each such database located in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Ministry of Defence is responsible only for the security of the United Kingdom military database. I am not aware of any evidence that the three West Germans convicted by a West German court on 15 February 1990 breached the security of a United Kingdom database.
ICI War Materials Factory
Mr. Jack : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who currently holds the employment records of those employed by the Ministry of Supply, between 1942 and 1946, at the ICI war materials factory sited at Springfields, Solwick near Preston.
Mr. Neubert : The files of certain former employees of the Ministry of Supply are held in confidence, among other personal records, in Ministry of Defence archives. They are stored by date of birth and not by work areas. Without further details, I cannot confirm whether they include any personnel from the ICI site at Springfields.
Land Forces Pension Scheme
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the considerations behind the requirement on single people to contribute towards a widow's pension under the United Kingdom land forces pension scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Superannuation benefits for eligible personnel of Her Majesty's armed forces are provided through the armed forces pension scheme. That scheme, which includes pension provision for the widows or widowers of deceased members, is non-contributory. The cost of benefits is met from funds allocated to the appropriate defence vote. However, the armed forces pay review body, in determining recommended rates of pay for the armed forces, makes an adjustment which takes into account differences in pension arrangements between those for the armed forces and those of comparator organisations.
Falkland Islands (Forces Deployment)
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he proposes to make changes in the composition of the land and sea and air forces presently
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deployed for the protection of the Falkland Islands in the light of the resumption of diplomatic relations with Argentina.Mr. Archie Hamilton : I welcome the resumption of diplomatic relations with Argentina and the reciprocal consultation system that has been agreed for military movements in the south Atlantic. This agreement does not affect force levels, but will enable us to lift the Falkland Islands protection zone from the end of this month. Force levels are, however, kept under review to ensure that we continue to provide appropriate forces to maintain our commitment to the defence of the Falkland Islands.
HEALTH
Children (Illegal Employment)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is collected on numbers of illegally employed children in Great Britain ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of the number of children illegally employed in Great Britain ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The available information relating to prosecutions and convictions for the illegal employment of children in different areas of employment is shown in the tables.
(a) Non-Industrial undertakings
Figures notified to the Home Office for prosecutions and convictions in England and Wales under sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 :
Year |Prosecutions|Convictions ---------------------------------------------------- 1979 |23 |18 1980 |26 |25 1981 |24 |22 1982 |17 |16 1983 |12 |12 1984 |12 |9 1985 |11 |9 1987 |8 |8 1988 |28 |22 Comparable figures are not available for Scotland.
(b) Industrial undertakings
Prosecutions by the HM factory and agricultural inspectorates under Section 1 of the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act 1920 and concerning the illegal employment of children :
Year (a) |Informations|Convictions
|Laid
----------------------------------------------------
1981 |4 |4
1982 |4 |4
1984 |6 |6
1985 |8 |6
1986-Q1 |4 |4
1986-87 |11 |9
1987-88 |2 |2
1988-89p |7 |7
1981-1985-Calendar years
1986-Q1-1 January to 31 March
1986-87 onwards-Years commencing 1 April
p-provisional
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(c) Agricultural undertakingsInformation laid by HM agricultural inspectorate against persons at work who put at risk children under the age of 16 by the contravention of agricultural legislation :
Year (a) |Informations|Convictions
|Laid
----------------------------------------------------
1981 |40 |37
1982 |31 |24
1983 |18 |16
1984 |16 |15
1985 |30 |27
1986 |27 |22
1987 |21 |15
1988-Q1 |3 |3
1988-89p |18 |17
1981-1987-Calendar years
1988-Q1-1 January to 31 March
1988-89p-Year commencing 1 April
p-provisional
Figures for industrial and agricultural
undertakings apply to Great Britain.
Ambulance Dispute
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what costs are to be levied on local health auhorities towards the cost of Army and police services during the ambulance dispute ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The additional cost of military and police assistance incurred by health authorities during the ambulance dispute are still being assessed. The cost of all non-military assistance is being met by the various health authorities which have contracted for those services and which have been responsible for negotiating locally the terms of such contracts. The cost of military assistance, which stem partly from the training and general preparation needed to achieve a state of readiness across the country, is being apportioned among regional health authorities in line with their share of main revenue allocations.
Food Poisoning
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of food poisoning in 1989 were associated with the consumption of eggs ; and in how many of those the vehicle of infection was suspected or known to have been home-made mayonnaise.
Mr. Freeman : Most cases of food poisoning are sporadic and cannot be linked to a particular food vehicle with any confidence. In 1989, salmonella was the causative organism of 42 outbreaks (involving 549 people) in which eggs, or egg-containing foods, were the suspected vehicle of infection. A further five outbreaks were due to Bacillus cereus. In four of these egg was a component of egg fried rice, and since B. cereus is particularly associated with rice it is likely that rice was the source. In the fifth an omelette was reported as the vehicle ; one of the constituents other than the egg may have been the source. In three of the 42 egg- associated outbreaks (involving 96 people) due to salmonella, the food suspected was mayonnaise made from fresh shell eggs.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many outbreaks of food poisoning have been associated with eggs in each of the last five years which involved mayonnaise, where human sources of contamination have been implicated.
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Mr. Freeman : In no outbreak reported to (or investigated by) the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre in the last five years (1985-89 inclusive) in which mayonnaise was suspected has a human source of contamination been implicated.Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many outbreaks of food poisoning have been associated with eggs in each of the last five years where the causative organism was not salmonella.
Mr. Freeman : Eggs or egg-containing foods were the suspected vehicle of infection in 10 outbreaks due to organisms other than salmonella in the last five years (1985-89 inclusive). Five of these outbreaks occurred in 1989 and, as described in my previous answer today, in four of these egg fried rice was suspected, with rice the probable source of the infection. In the fifth, an omelette was the vehicle.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any evidence of any cases of food poisoning being caused by the consumption of pasteurised liquid egg within the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Freeman : In no outbreak reported to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre in the last five years (1985-89 inclusive) has pasteurised liquid egg been suspected as the vehicle of infection.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he intends to take in respect of the Exeter public health laboratory report to the effect that eggs when fresh are unlikely to constitute a significant potential health hazard.
Mr. Freeman : Research carried out by the Exeter public health laboratory showed that eggs laid by two infected flocks were intermittently infected with less than 10 organisms of S. enteritidis phage type 4 per egg at point of lay. However, a substantial number of outbreaks of human salmonellosis where the source of infection was identified have been caused by eggs. In the examination of shell eggs, the numbers of salmonellas are not routinely estimated. This is because the presence of even small numbers is regarded as a potential health hazard. During limited special investigations, two shell eggs containing many hundreds of salmonellas have been found. Research continues to investigate the factors which govern the multiplication of salmonella in shell eggs.
Meanwhile, the chief medical officer continues to advise the public not to eat raw eggs or uncooked foods made with them, and for vulnerable people to consume only eggs which have been cooked until the white and yolk are solid.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the reasons why the number of laboratory- confirmed cases of food poisoning reported to the communicable disease surveillance centre for the first six weeks of the year are at a record level.
Mr. Freeman : Fluctuations in single weekly reports of salmonella isolates to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre are not a guide to long-term trends. Any weekly reporting system will inevitably be subject to short-term anomalies. This occurred during the postal strike of 1988, and was also the case for weeks 2 and 3 of this year when delayed reporting and a backlog of data entry gave rise to an artificial increase. The apparent
Column 892
increase in reports for this year over last is likely to decline as the anomalous weeks 2 and 3 contribute a smaller proportion of the total.It is to permit analysis of trends that the public health laboratory service and the state veterinary service has introduced recently the quarterly publication "Update on Salmonella Infection". The figures published in this for 1986-89 indicate a recent levelling-off in the incidence of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 infections, which account for the greatest number of all human salmonella infections. The volume of laboratory work undertaken by the PHLS division of enteric pathogens for the beginning of this year confirms this trend.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the risk to health from meat birds which have been infected with salmonella enteritidis PT4 being sold to domestic consumers where they might be undercooked, recontaminated after cooking or, in their raw state, provide a source of contamination which might, directly or indirectly, contaminate other foods.
Mr. Freeman : It is well established through microbiological surveys that poultry are frequently contaminated with salmonella. Consumers are well aware of the need for good hygienic handling of poultry meat in the kitchen and of the need for thorough cooking. The current wide circulation of the Government's "Food Safety" leaflet has reinforced these needs.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has issued any specific guidance to caterers for the production of home- made mayonnaise, so as to prevent the multiplication of salmonella or other organisms introduced into the mix by whatever means ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : On 26 August 1988 caterers were first advised to use pasteurised egg for uncooked egg dishes since such commercially produced products, manufactured with pasteurised egg, had not been implicated as a source of infection. This was reiterated on 21 November and again by the Chief Medical Officer on 5 December 1988. This advice endorsed the egg industry's own code of practice on the hygienic handling and use of eggs.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has assessed the risk to health from eating poultry meat derived from hens which have been infected with salmonella enteritidis PT4, after the hens have been cooked for three hours at 97 deg C in industrial cooking equipment.
Mr. Freeman : Salmonella enteritidis PT4 can be destroyed by appropriate heat treatment.
North West RHA
Mr. Ken Hargreaves : To ask the Secretary of State for Health by how much National Health Service waiting lists have changed between 1979 and 1989 in (a) the North West regional health authority and (b) the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley district health authority ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is given in the table.
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In-patient waiting list, North Western and Blackburn, Hyndburn and
Ribble Valley health authorities, 31 March 1979 and 31 March 1989
|1979 |1989<1> |Per cent. change
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Western |77,368 |67,228 |-13.1
Blackburn, Hyndburn and
Ribble Valley |5,512 |3,761 |-31.8
<1> Less self deferred cases.
Source: 1979 SBH203 return-1989 KH07, KH07a returns.
We are pleased to see that both region and district have considerably fewer patients waiting than in 1979. The North Western region allocated nearly £300,000 to Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley health authority from the waiting list fund over the last three years. The district has also been allocated a new fully funded consultant urologist post from the 100 new consultant posts announced in the White Paper "Working for Patients".
Day Care
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional resources are being made available to local authorities to enable them to implement the day care provisions of the Children Act 1989.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Provision for implementation of the Children Act 1989 in October 1991 will be included in the Government's expenditure plans for 1991-92, to be announced later this year.
Electronic Tagging
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any plans to increase the security of babies and children in hospital by introducing electronic tagging.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. Local health authorities determine their own security arrangements.
Family Practitioner Services
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to change the family practitioner services complaints' procedures.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Government announced their intention to simplify and streamline the complaints procedures in its White Paper, "Promoting Better Health", which was published in 1987. We consulted widely with the professions, FPCs and consumer groups about the proposed changes.
Regulations are to be laid today which will bring into effect the changes on 2 April 1990. These new regulations will make it easier for patients to file a complaint and will improve the arrangements for ensuring the complaints are fairly and properly resolved. The changes will allow some people to make oral complaints to FPCs rather than written ones and will also extend the time limit for filing a complaint from eight to 13 weeks.
In future FPCs will be able to decide the outcome of some cases without reference to the Secretary of State. They will also be required to operate an informal conciliation procedure for dealing with complaints against family practitioners.
These changes are a first step which will help patients, including those from ethnic minorities who may feel
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intimidated by an unfamiliar language and bureaucracy, to lodge a complaint should they feel that their treatment has been unsatisfactory.The next step, which was also outlined in "Promoting Better Health", is to write the regulations in simpler and plainer language. We hope to achieve this early next year.
Clinical Research Centre, Northwick Park
Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the implications for the local health service will be taken into account in the consideration of the Medical Research Council's proposal to close the clinical research centre at Northwick Park.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The Medical Research Council (MRC), with the support of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils, has agreed that resources invested currently in the clinical research centre (CRC) at Northwick Park should be reinvested in other centres. The MRC and North West Thames and Harrow health authorities have agreed to join a steering group, chaired by my Department, which will keep under review the implications for the local health service with the following terms of reference.
Terms of reference
Provided that satisfactory progress can be made on the issues to be addressed by the Steering Group listed below, the aim is to move towards the closure of the clinical research centre (CRC) and dispersal of its work by December 1994.
The steering group will accordingly oversee the action being taken by the research and health authorities to achieve a withdrawal from the clinical research centre (CRC) facilities at Northwick Park hospital. They will report periodically to Ministers and the chief executive on progress being made to secure
--an orderly withdrawal ;
--minimum disruption of NHS service ;
--the effective continued use of the CRC buildings and ancillary facilities ; and
--compatibility with national and local service and research strategies.
The steering group would make its first report to Ministers and the chief executive by spring 1990, and aim to make a further report by
autumn 1990.
Health Authority Chairmen
Mr. Knox : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will now announce details of the appointment and reappointment of chairmen of district health authorities and of the special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals from 1 April.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : I have today placed in the Library a list of the appointments made with effect from 1 April 1990.
Five district chairmen's appointments are still under consideration and announcements on these will be made shortly.
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