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Mr. Freeman : The Special Hospitals Service Authority has provided the information requested as follows :
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what is the recorded number of instances of self-mutilation or self harm by women in Rampton, Broadmoor and Moss Side special hospitals during the 12 months from December 1988 to December 1989.
Mr. Freeman : The Special Hospitals Service Authority reports that, during the period in question, 618 such instances were recorded at Moss Side hospital. There is no readily available central record at Rampton and Broadmoor hospitals.
Disabled People
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he now intends to fulfil the commitment to consult voluntary organisations concerning the regulations to be made under section 1 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : This will depend on the outcome of the consultations taking place with the local authority associations on the cost and other implications of implementing section 1 and other remaining sections of the Act.
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Health Service Contracts
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will designate a number to the paper "Contracts for Health Services : Operating Services" within the series of papers on implementing the White Paper, "Working for Patients".
Mr. Freeman : The series of numbered working papers, which were published shortly after the White Paper "Working for Patients", were largely concerned with taking forward detailed analysis of the policy proposals in the White Paper. Later guidance, such as "Contracts for Health Services : Operating Contracts", has not been numbered within this series as it is intended to be guidance to NHS managers in the practical implementation of those proposals. It has been distributed within the NHS under cover of an executive letter from the chief executive of the NHS Management Executive (in a numbered series), its reference being EL(90)MB/24.
However, the wider interest in this and other such guidance has been recognised by arranging for Her Majesty's Stationery Office to publish it, and by placing copies in the Library. We have made copies available through the Vote Office.
Malaria
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of malaria were reported in Britain for each of the last five years.
Mr. Freeman : The information is shown in the table.
Total notifications<1> of malaria
Great Britain: 1985-89
1985 |1,767
1986 |1,747
1987 |1,264
1988<2> |1,333
1989<2> |1,535
<1> Notified in England and Wales
to the Office of Population,
Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), and in
Scotland to the Scottish Health
Service by the individual Health
Boards.
<2> Provisional.
National Assistance Act 1948
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions in each of the last 10 years inquiries have been conducted under section 36 of the National Assistance Act 1948 ; what was the average length of time taken by an inquiry ; on how many occasions the default powers under the section were used ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No inquiries have been set up under section 36 of the National Assistance Act 1948 in the last 10 years. Nor has any order been made declaring an authority to be in default.
Correspondence
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letters sent to his Department on 15 December by the Chesterfield and District branch of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship under the heading "Mental Illness Services in North Derbyshire".
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Mr. Freeman : The Department has no record of having received the letters to which the hon. Member refers. If he would care to let me have copies of them, I will ensure that they are dealt with promptly.Advertising Expenditure
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the figures for the spending by his Department on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what is his latest estimate for the current year and budget for 1990-91.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke [holding answer 12 March 1990] : The Department of Health's budget for communications and publicity includes provision for nurse recruitment, blood donor recruitment and drug misuse campaigns.
Information for the years 1979-80 to 1987-88 is not available in the form requested.
Expenditure for 1988-89 is as follows:
Television |1.662
Radio |0.205
Newspaper |1.196
Other Material |7.736
Estimated expenditure for 1989-90 is as follows:
Television |2.682
Radio |0.127
Newspaper |3.122
Other Material |9.945
The budget for communications and publicity has not yet been agreed for 1990-91.
ENVIRONMENT
English House Condition Survey
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give from the English house condition survey 1986, the number of homes (a) affected by excessive draughts, (b) with penetrating damp, (c) with rising damp, (d) affected by slight mould growth and (e) affected by serious mould growth, together with their incidence in each room surveyed, by tenure.
Mr. Chope : The numbers, estimated from information provided by the English house condition survey 1986, have today been placed in the Library.
County Structure Plans
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to limit the number of county structure plans which may be prepared by any authority.
Mr. Michael Spicer : My right hon. Friend issued a draft planning policy guidance note on structure plans and regional guidance in November 1989 which encouraged county planning authorities with more than one structure plan to make an early start on preparing a single replacement plan. Our proposals for legislation, set out in the White Paper "The Future of Development Plans" (Cm. 569), envisaged a single statement of planning policies for each county and for each national park.
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Water Authority Land (Access)
Dr. Woodcock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is considering any changes to the access arrangements to water authority land which were made at the time of privatisation.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The Water Act 1989 imposes general environmental and recreational duties, enforceable by the Secretary of State, on the new water companies. In particular they are required to have regard to the desirability of preserving freedom of access to areas of natural beauty and to sites of architectural or historic interest, and to ensure that their water and land is made available for recreational purposes in the best manner.
A code of practice approved by Ministers gives practical guidance to and promotes desirable practices by the companies and other relevant bodies on the performance of these duties. A copy of the code is available in the Library of the House.
There are no plans to amend these statutory duties or the code of practice. However, a Standing Committee is to be set up shortly comprising representatives of the water industry and of the main conservation and recreation interests, to monitor the relevance and effectiveness of the code.
Housing Associations
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the percentage increase in housing associations' rent for 1989-90 attributable to the new financial arrangements imposed for market rents on housing associations.
Mr. Chope : This information is not available. But under the tenants' guarantee, housing associations are expected to set and maintain rents at levels which are within the reach of those in low-paid employment.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take to reverse the downward trend in rehabilitation of older property by housing associations since passage of the Housing Act 1988.
Mr. Chope : Housing assocations can provide accommodation for low- income households in a variety of ways, including building new homes, acquiring satisfactory dwellings, and rehabilitation and conversion of older property. The new funding arrangements under the Housing Act 1988 are designed to sharpen the incentives to associations to give value for money, but not otherwise to affect their choice of scheme type. I shall shortly be considering with the Housing Corporation whether any adjustments are needed to the current pattern of grant rates for different types of scheme to ensure this.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much Bournemouth borough council and Dorset county council will receive from the unified business rate for 1990-91 ; how much they received from the commercial rate in 1989-90 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : The expected income from business rates for the Bournemouth area (taking account of the demands
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of both the district and county councils) for 1989-90 was £27.389 million. The amount the area will receive in distributed business rate in 1990-91 is £34.652 million.Mr. Hayward : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will transfer the cost of fire and police from local authorities to central Government ; and if he will estimate the average savings per full community charge payer.
Mr. Chope : The Government have no plans to make such a transfer.
Mr. Hayward : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what would be the cost of calculating transitional relief per individual as against the current practice.
Mr. Chope : The information requested is not available.
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 8 March to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East, if he will reimburse any charging authority the expenditure it is involved in when sending out revised community charge bills following any decision he may make to cap precepting authorities.
Mr. Chope : No. In such circumstances it would be for the charging authority to recover its administrative costs from the precepting authority under section 36 of the Local Government Act 1988.
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list any local authorities known to him which have announced their intention to levy a standard community charge at less than twice the personal community charge.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 8 March 1990] : No information is available at present to the Department about standard community charge multipliers set by charging authorities for properties in their areas. Charging authorities have until 31 March to determine multipliers for the coming year.
Hedgerows
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to the depletion of hedgerows in England and Wales in the last decade.
Mr. Trippier : Various estimates have been made for past periods. However, none covers the whole of the last decade.
A survey of landscape change in England and Wales carried out for my Department and the Countryside Commission by Hunting Surveys and Consultants Ltd. showed annual losses of some 2,900 miles of hedgerow between 1969 and 1980 and 4,000 miles between 1980 and 1985. A survey of environmental topics on farms carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, however, showed annual losses of 500 miles between 1980 and 1985. The two surveys used different methodologies and neither can be regarded as definitive.
Work is continuing to improve information both on the rate of removal and on the extent of new planting.
Water Privatisation
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the organisations which advised his Department on any aspect of the privatisation
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of the water industry giving, in each case, the dates of their involvement and in each case the aspect on which they advised.Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The information is listed in the table :
Water Research Centre British Telecom Hamada and Matsumoto (lawyers) Osler Renault (lawyers) Shearson Lehman Hutton; Shearman and Sterling (lawyers)
Sewage Dumping
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on licences allowing dumping of sewage on the Fylde coast.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The applications made by the North West water authority for the Secretary of State's consent to discharge sewage to the Fylde coast have not yet been determined. It would therefore not be proper for me to comment upon them.
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Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what powers he has to control the dumping of sewage at sea, where such dumping falls under his Department's responsibility.Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The regulation of the dumping of sewage at sea is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, using his powers under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985.
The Secretary of State's powers under the Water Act 1989 relate principally to discharges from land-based sources.
Atmospheric Pollution
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what information his Department has about atmospheric carbon monoxide and lead levels in cities during peak traffic flow ; and if his Department has commissioned studies as to how these levels are anticipated to change in the next decade ;
(2) what information his Department has about atmospheric carbon monoxide and lead levels in city centres during rush hour traffic ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Urban concentrations of both pollutants are monitored on behalf of my Department by Warren Spring laboratory. Between November 1989 and March 1990, and depending upon the prevailing weather conditions, weekly average levels of carbon monoxide in central London varied between 0.9 and 8.1 parts per million at 0800 hours, and between 1.1 and 5.6 parts per million at 1800 hours.
Direct monitoring data for lead are not collected for the short time intervals required by the question. However, estimates from other data suggest that peak lead concentrations in central London would be of the order of 4 microgrammes per cubic metre ( gm), with an annual average of 0.6 gm. For comparison these figures are well below the EC lead in air limit value of 2.0 gm.
My Department has a substantial programme of research into the modelling and assessment of air pollution which takes into account the effects of pollution abatement measures on ambient
concentrations. The increased sales of unleaded petrol and the strict exhaust emission standards set by the EC vehicles directive are expected to reduce urban concentrations of these pollutants markedly well before the year 2000.
North Sea
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the five countries that contribute the highest amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen via direct inputs to the North sea.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The 1990 interim quality status report on the North sea combines information on river and direct inputs to the North sea from all North sea states. These figures are not directly comparable but show the highest inputs from the Netherlands, followed by the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Belgium.
Definitive information on direct inputs will not be available until the 1990 Paris commission survey using standardised measuring techniques.
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Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take urgent steps to reduce by at least 50 per cent. discharges via pipes and rivers into the North sea of all chemicals that are (a) persistent, (b) toxic and (c) liable to bioaccumulate.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The commitment to reduce dangerous substances (defined as persistent, toxic and liable to bioaccumulate) inputs substantially, by the order of 50 per cent., by 1995, was made by the second North sea conference in London in November 1987. Progress in achieving this was among the topics considered by the third conference in the Hague on 7 and 8 March. The United Kingdom has reported the progress it has already achieved and envisages in the national action plan on reducing discharges to rivers, estuaries and coastal waters published on 5 March. At the third conference it was agreed that action should be taken on a list of 36 dangerous substances, most of which are already on the United Kingdom's red list or covered by the national action plan.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the third North sea conference and measures agreed to halt pollution.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 March 1990 by my right hon. Friend to my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre (Mr. Mans) on the outcome of the third North sea conference.
Secure Car Service
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a breakdown of the £34,404 cost of providing a secure car service for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the past 12 months according to (a) running costs and (b) wages and overtime.
Mr. Chope : The breakdown requested is :
(a) running costs £13,101.
(b) wages and overtime £21,303.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the cost of providing a secure car service for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in each of the financial years (a) 1987-88, (b) 1988-89 and (c) 1989-90 to date. Mr. Chope : The costs of providing a secure car service to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster were :
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if any contribution has been made by or requested for any non-governmental body in respect of official car usage by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Mr. Chope : No contribution has been made by or requested from any non-governmental body in respect of official car usage by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
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Competition (Local Government)
Mr. Tracey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress is being made in relation to the enforcement of the competition provisions of the Local Government Act 1988.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend has today issued a direction under section 14 of the Local Government Act 1988 prohibiting the London borough of Hillingdon from carrying out its vehicle maintenance through its own staff as from 1 September 1990. He has taken this action because he was not satisfied with its response to the notice issued under section 13. That notice set out his belief that it had acted contrary to the requirement of section 7(7) of the Act which is that, in awarding a contract it must not "act in a manner having the effect or intended or likely to have the effect of restricting, distorting or preventing competition" in that it awarded its vehicle maintenance work to its own direct services organisation when it had received a bid which was over £109, 000 lower over a four-year period after taking redundancy costs into account.
This makes it absolutely clear that we shall not hesitate to take action when we believe that authorities are distorting the competition process. We have strong powers of enforcement under the Act, and we shall use them where necessary to ensure that charge payers get the full benefits that competition, fairly administered, can bring.
Empty Properties
Mr. Soley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of properties owned by his Department and suitable for residential accommodation has been empty for (a) up to a year and (b) over a year ; and where these properties are located, by region or local authority area.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 27 February 1990] : As at 6 March 1990, six (1.5 per cent.) of the 408 residential properties owned by the Department of the Environment had been empty for less than a year and 10 (2.4 per cent.) for more than a year. Of these, 10 (63 per cent.) are in the process of disposal on the open market. These properties are located in the following regions of the United Kingdom and local authority areas :
Scotland
Argyll, City of Glasgow
North East
Hambleton, Langbaurgh
Eastern
Suffolk Coastal
London
Westminster
Southern
Milton Keynes
South West
Cotswold, Sedgemoor
South East
Medway, South Wight
Property Services Agency
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek a value for money report from the National Audit Office on the guarantees given by the Property Services Agency to the Crown Suppliers of continued work following privatisation.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 12 March 1990] : Where Departments are considering entering into commercial
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agreements with the Crown Suppliers, or any other supplier, whether or not they contain undertakings about future business levels for a period, it is for Departments to satisfy themselves that they provide value for money, and for the National Audit Office to decide whether to investigate.Waste Recycling
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the individuals in each local authority, by name and authority, to whom he has written with a questionnaire concerning best practice in recycling household waste.
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