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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : In the year ending 31 March 1988, the latest date for which this information is available centrally, there were 56,447 nursing staff (whole-time equivalents) employed in private hospitals, homes and clinics in England.
Source : KO36 return 1988. Private hospitals, homes and clinics registered under Section 23 of the Registered Homes Act 1984.
Special Hospitals
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects a review to be undertaken into the special hospitals system ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : Major changes in the management of the special hospitals service were made during the latter half of 1989, including the transfer of management responsibility to the new special hospitals service authority and the introduction of general management. We have instructed the authority to review existing policies and priorities within the strategic framework provided by the Government's stated objectives for the further development of the service, to provide an effective basis for its management of special hospitals in future years. We will review its progress regularly, and a comprehensive evaluation of the new arrangements will be undertaken in due course.
Drugs
Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Morris) on 4 April at column 652 , if his Department has made any forecast of the likely increase in the cost of drugs in 1990-91 ; what this increase is likely to be ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department's forecast of the cost of drugs and appliances prescribed by general practitioners and dispensed by pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors in England is published in the supply estimates 1990-91 (242-XIII, HMSO), a copy of which is in the Library.
The forecasts of expenditure are the subject of continual updating as new information becomes available, and the statistical models from which the forecasts are derived are subject to close monitoring and development. The Department has recently commissioned management consultants to review its models and suggest improvements. The Department will shortly be revising its forecast of drugs expenditure in the family practitioner service in the light of both the forthcoming consultants' report and recent outturn information.
Blood Transfusion Service
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes are planned in the funding arrangements for the blood transfusion service.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No fundamental changes to the arrangements for blood supply to the National Health Service are planned.
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New accounting arrangements are being introduced which will help to establish closer relationships between regional transfusion centres and their hospitals and so enable an even better service to be provided. These changes affect the way in which the regional transfusion centres are funded for their operating costs of approximately £70 million per annum. The regional health authorities have traditionally allocated funds direct to the regional transfusion centres. In future those funds will be devolved to the district health authorities and the regional transfusion centres will recover their operating costs in proportion to the districts' demands on the regional transfusion centre for blood supplies.The reimbursement of the regional transfusion centres will not include any element for the blood itself. This is freely donated by voluntary donors to whom we are all indebted.
I understand that two regional transfusion centres have introduced the new arrangements from 1 April this year and the others plan to do so from 1 April 1991.
Adoption (Romania)
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the procedures to be followed when couples in the United Kingdom wish to bring a baby from Romania for adoption in the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are established procedures whereby prospective adopters, once the Romanian authorities have provisionally agreed to place a child with them, should obtain entry clearance for the child. The application is made to the consulate in Bucharest. This must include information about the child, his state of health, and documents to verify that the child is legally available for adoption, with parental consent where appropriate. The application is transmitted without delay to London where my Department requests that the applicants' local authority undertakes, within a maximum of six weeks, the inquiries necessary to determine that the applicants are suitable adopters for that child. We have asked local authorities to act swiftly in the current Romanian crisis.
These procedures are necessary to protect the children in accordance with the central principle of adoption law that the child's welfare is the first consideration. It would be wrong--and in breach of the United Nations declaration on adoption and fostering--if lower standards were applied to Romanian children who are especially in need of protection from further risk.
Residential Care Homes
Mr. Forman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure the quality of care in residential care homes.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We are today publishing "Caring for Quality" guidance on standards for residential homes for elderly people. Copies have been placed in the Library. This SSI publication is an important further component of the Department's programme to raise standards in residential care. Steps are being taken to improve standards in residential care homes. Other measures include : The setting up by local authorities of arms length inspection units to inspect all homes, whether public or independent, in an even-handed way ;
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A training pack for registration and inspection staff commissioned by the Department which was published earlier this year ; A £2.2 million development programme, the caring in homes initiative, aimed at improving life for people in residential care homes ;From 1 April 1991 social services authorities will be responsible for meeting the care costs of people eligible for public support who enter independently run residential and nursing homes. In entering into contracts with such homes authorities will be expected to satisfy themselves of the quality of care provided. In addition, care managers will ensure that the needs of the individual continue to be monitored.
The complaints procedures for personal social services to be set up and publicised by all social services authorities will provide additional safeguards.
The Registered Homes Act 1984 and associated regulations placed a responsibility on local authorities to register private and voluntary residential care homes catering for four or more residents, to inspect them at least twice a year and to ensure that good standards are maintained. Fresh legislation is under consideration to bring homes for fewer than four residents under control.
Health Service Indicators
Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Health Service indicators for 1988-89 will be published.
Mr. Freeman : The set of 1988-89 indicators, which has just been sent to every English health authority, has been placed in the Library.
Kidney Patients (HIV Infection)
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many kidney patients have received HIV-contaminated blood as a result of transfusions ; and if he will take steps to make such persons eligible to benefit from the funds held by the Macfarlane Trust.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Of the reports received by the communicable disease surveillance centre of cases of HIV infection among the recipients of blood transfusions, none relates to kidney patients.
Energy Consumption
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the target reductions for energy consumption in the buildings occupied by his Department.
Mr. Freeman : The Department of Health is currently considering its energy policy and aims to achieve the target suggested by the ministerial group on energy efficiency of a 15 per cent. improvement over five years.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the energy consumption, broken down by fuel, of the buildings occupied by his Department, for the latest year available.
Mr. Freeman : The last year for which figures are available is 1988- 89 and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security will provide the figures for the then Department of Health and Social Security.
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Capital Accountancy System
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what grounds underline the decision to use an interest rate figure of 6 per cent. in the new capital accountancy system to be introduced into the National Health Service in 1991.
Mr. Freeman : The 6 per cent. interest rate is a real (as opposed to nominal) rate based on the long-term cost of capital, and is the same as the discount rate used for the non-trading part of the public sector. The discount rate is based on the cost of capital for low-risk purposes in the private sector, and aims to ensure that investments in the public sector are broadly comparable, in terms of economic efficiency, to those undertaken in the private sector.
Regional Allocations
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate what the allocations would have been to each English regional health authority for 1990-91 if the same cash total had been distributed on the same basis as
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the 1988-89 allocations ; what is the difference between the allocation estimated as above and the actual allocation ; and if he will express the actual allocation as a percentage of the estimated allocation.Mr. Freeman [holding answer 4 April 1990] : The table shows the information which is available, and 1988-89 was the final year of allocations under the resource allocation working party (RAWP) formula. Allocations in 1989-90 were based on a uniform increase for all regions, while 1990-91 allocations represent the beginning of the introduction of the new weighted capitation formula proposed in "Working for Patients".
It is not possible to estimate what regions would have received in 1990-91 if the old RAWP formula had been applied. Allocations in 1988-89 were based on ministerial judgment about the right pace of movement towards funding targets set by the old allocation formula. The question of how Ministers would have exercised their judgment in 1990-91 if the old system had continued is an entirely hypothetical one.
Furthermore, the application of the RAWP formula would require information which is no longer collected.
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£000s at cash
Regions |Total main |Percentage |Total main |Percentage |1990-91 |Percentage |Total main |Percentage
|allocation |share of |allocation |share of |allocation |share of |allocation |share of
|available |total |available |total |for spend |total |available |total
|for services|allocation |for services|allocation |on resident |allocation |for services|allocation
|in region |in region |population |in region
|1988-89 |1989-90 |1990-91
|(1) |(2) |(3) |(4) |(5) |(6) |(7) |(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |735,253 |6.64 |817,311 |6.63 |885,403 |6.63 |884,179 |6.61
Yorkshire |829,677 |7.49 |920,376 |7.46 |1,005,316 |7.53 |999,322 |7.47
Trent |1,010,146 |9.12 |1,126,131 |9.13 |1,261,890 |9.45 |1,227,583 |9.18
East Anglian |437,676 |3.95 |488,050 |3.96 |529,280 |3.96 |539,690 |4.03
North West Thames |808,071 |7.30 |895,111 |7.26 |995,223 |7.45 |968,446 |7.24
North East Thames |1,007,139 |9.09 |1,114,489 |9.04 |1,164,301 |8.72 |1,197,287 |8.95
South East Thames |897,538 |8.10 |1,000,077 |8.11 |1,098,777 |8.23 |1,092,602 |8.17
South West Thames |745,778 |6.73 |828,304 |6.72 |866,378 |6.49 |900,756 |6.73
Wessex |614,551 |5.55 |687,346 |5.57 |770,975 |5.77 |757,653 |5.66
Oxford |482,415 |4.36 |548,386 |4.45 |609,466 |4.56 |595,806 |4.45
South Western |731,564 |6.61 |818,155 |6.64 |888,517 |6.65 |896,046 |6.70
West Midlands |1,185,562 |10.70 |1,316,619 |10.68 |1,414,673 |10.59 |1,419,349 |10.61
Mersey |585,517 |5.29 |652,367 |5.29 |702,087 |5.26 |699,175 |5.23
North Western |1,004,859 |9.07 |1,117,456 |9.06 |1,164,562 |8.72 |1,199,999 |8.97
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |11,075,746 |100.00 |12,330,178 |100.00 |13,356,848 |100.00 |13,377,893 |100.00
Notes:
1. Column (5) adjusted for the effect of cross-boundary flows.
2. The difference of £21,045 between columns (5) and (7) reflects the cost of net cross boundary flows between England and
Wales/Scotland.
Cot Deaths
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has examined the findings of the Bristol pathologist specialising in sudden infant deaths.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 27 April 1990] : We are aware of a three-year study due for completion in 1993 which the department of child health at Bristol maternity hospital is undertaking into factors which may be contributing to sudden infant deaths. I understand that the team, which includes a paediatric pathologist, will be collecting information on the social and medical history of infants who die and recording data on the thermal environment and levels of electro- magnetic radiation present in their homes. Comparisons will be made with a control group of healthy infants. We await the outcome of this research with keen interest.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Birmingham Pub Bombings
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the case of the Birmingham pub bombings was raised by either side at the recent meeting of the Anglo-Irish conference.
Kincora Boys' Home
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what contacts his Department has had with the BBC over its preparation for the "Private View" programmes about the Kincora boys' home.
Mr. Cope : None. I am not aware of any programmes called "Private View". An approach was made to my
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Department's press office by the BBC's "Public Eye" programme but no assistance was offered to the programme.Terrorism (Use of Stolen Vehicles)
Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been charged in (a) the Irish Republic and (b) Northern Ireland with the theft in the Irish Republic of vehicles which were subsequently used in terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Cope [holding answer 2 April 1990] : The information is not collated centrally, but I understand that since 1 January 1989, no such charges have been brought.
Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vehicles stolen in the Irish Republic have been used in bombings, shootings or other terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland since the beginning of 1989 ; and if he will give details.
Mr. Cope [holding answer 2 April 1990] : Comprehensive and reliable information is not available.
ENERGY
Nuclear Power
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what contribution the United Kingdom has made to the International Atomic Energy Agency's assessment of safety significant events team programme ; and what benefits he expects to accrue to safety of nuclear facilities in the United Kingdom from ASSET.
Mr. Baldry : The United Kingdom endorses the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) "Assessment of Safety-Significant Events Team" (ASSET) service, and recognises the contribution which it makes to the improvement of operational safety worldwide by assisting nuclear operators to achieve the safe operation of installations. However, given the expertise of the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate, we see no current need to request the services of ASSET in order to ensure a safe operating regime at the United Kingdom's civil nuclear installations.
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the recent meeting he had with the trade unions at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.
Mr. Baldry : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and I met Atomic Energy Authority staff trade unions representatives on 22 January 1990. We discussed a range of issues, including the formation of Nuclear Electric, the maintenance of the nuclear option and the greenhouse effect.
Electricity Companies (Audits)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will take steps to ensure that independent audits in respect of (a) the finances and (b) the environmental commitment of electricity companies are made freely available to the public.
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Mr. Baldry : All limited liability companies are obliged to have an independent audit of their accounts under the Companies Act 1985. The annual accounts of the companies must be submitted to Companies House where they are available for inspection. Schedule 9 to the Electricity Act 1989 requires licence holders to prepare and publish an environmental statement, after consultation with the Countryside Commission, Nature Conservancy Council and other statutory bodies. These documents, when finalised, should complement the guiding principles set out in the statement of environmental care prepared and publicised by the generators last year.
Pollution Abatement Technology
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what plans he has to create a fund for National Power and PowerGen to fund the installation and maintenance of pollution abatement technology.
Mr. Baldry : I have no such plans.
Oil and Gas Resources
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he will publish his next report on the development of the oil and gas resources of the United Kingdom, the Brown Book.
Mr. Peter Morrison : I have today published the latest edition of the Brown Book, and have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library of the House and the Vote Office. The report gives a detailed account of the development of oil and gas resources during 1990.
Energy Consumption
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give the target reductions for energy consumption in the buildings occupied by his Department.
Mr. Wakeham : The only building of which the Department of Energy is the sole occupant is its London headquarters, into which it moved in September 1989. That building already has an up-to-date building energy management system and other energy-saving measures judged likely to be cost -effective after the necessary period for the building, plant and equipment to settle down. In its premises in Aberdeen, Glasgow, London and Lytham the Department is a minor occupant ; and it is for the major occupants to set targets for reductions in energy consumption within the Government's overall policy. At Leicester, where energy consumption is determined by the meter testing operations carried out by the Department's gas and oil measurement branch, I have set a target for reductions of 15 per cent. over the next five years.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give the energy consumption, broken down by fuel, of the buildings occupied by his Department, for the latest year available.
Mr. Wakeham : In 1989-90 my Department spent a total of £186,585 on fuel, of which £167,655 was spent on electricity and £18,930 on gas. The Department moved to new headquarters premises during the year and complete consumption figures are not available. The figures do not include fuel consumption at the Department's former headquarters building, where fuel was included within the overall accommodation charge paid to the Property Services Agency.
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Fuel Exports and Imports
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what was the total value at constant prices of oil, natural gas and coal exported and imported, respectively, in March on the same basis as his answer of 9 November 1989, Official Report, columns 767-68 ; (2) what was the total tonnage of oil, natural gas and coal exported and imported, respectively, in March on the same basis as his answer of 9 November 1989, Official Report, columns 767-68.
Mr. Wakeham : The equivalent information for exports and imports of oil, gas and coal for March 1990 as set out in my earlier answer of 9 November 1989, Official Report, columns 767-68 is not yet available.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what was the total of electricity imported and exported through the channel link with France in each month of 1989 and each of the first three months of 1990 ; and what was the value of such imports and exports in each month in question.
Mr. Wakeham : The most up-to-date information on electricity imports is as follows :
|Volume |Value
|(gigawatt hours)|(£ million)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1989
January |1,259.5 |26.7
February |1,004.9 |21.2
March |1,007.5 |21.3
April |1,129.9 |24.0
May |1,339.4 |29.9
June |1,210.3 |27.0
July |1,419.7 |33.2
August |1,150.1 |24.9
September |1,227.8 |27.0
October |1,426.6 |28.5
November |962.9 |21.6
December |834.8 |19.7
1990
January |1,092.5 |25.8
February |0 |0
Source: Customs and Excise, Overseas Trade Statistics.
There were no exports of electricity in any of the above months except January 1990. In January 1990 electricity exports amounted to 1,069 gigawatt hours, worth £25.2 million.
Figures for March 1990 are not yet available.
Industrial Development Grants
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list in the Official Report the grants made by his Department under section 13 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 showing the value of the grant as a percentage of the whole project cost.
Mr. Wakeham : No such grants have been made.
Energy Efficiency Office
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the advertising component of the budget of the Energy Efficiency Office for each year since its inception.
Mr. Peter Morrison : Advertising is part of a much wider marketing strategy for the Energy Efficiency Office.
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However, the advertising component of the Energy Efficiency Office's budget since its inception in 1983 is as follows :
|£000
--------------------
1983-84 |1,630
1984-85 |4,227
1985-86 |4,191
1986-87 |6,062
1987-88 |942
1988-89 |1,842
1989-90 |806
Coal Industry (Privatisation)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on his privatisation plans for the coal industry.
Mr. Baldry : It remains the Government's intention to introduce legislation during the next Parliament to return British Coal's coal mining activities to the private sector. The timing and form in which they will be privatised have yet to be decided.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Reduced Earnings Allowance
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will make a statement on reduced earnings allowance.
Mr. Scott : Our policy on reduced earnings allowance, which was thoroughly discussed during the passage of this year's Social Security Bill, is set out in Cm. 917 "The Way Ahead", copies of which are available in the Library.
Vaccine Damage
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) whether any departmental advice has been given to the independent doctors who sit on vaccine damage tribunals regarding the implications of the Loveday judgment on their consideration of whether or not, on the balance of probabilities, a child has been damaged by whooping cough vaccine ;
(2) how many doctors sit on the vaccine damage tribunals, and what are their specialties and experience.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : These matters are the responsibility of the president of social security and medical appeal tribunals and vaccine damage tribunals and arrangements have been made for him to respond to the right hon. Member.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications for a vaccine damage payment because of alleged damage from the whooping cough vaccine, given either separately or in combination with other vaccines, were received in 1989 and in each of the preceding four years ; and in each case what proportion were successful.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The available information is given in the table.
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|c|Number of claims and awards under
the Vaccine Damage Payments|c|
|c|Act on the grounds that whooping
cough vaccine (administered either|c|
|c|singly or in combination with other
vaccines) caused severe|c|
|c|disablement 1985 to 1989|c|
|Number of|Number of
|claims |awards<1>
----------------------------------------
1989 |20 |nil
1988 |23 |3
1987 |37 |9
1986 |42 |15
1985 |52 |23
<1> The awards in each year do not
necessarily relate to the claims made
within the same year.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what evidence from other countries is considered by doctors adjudicating on applications for vaccine damage payments because of alleged damage from the whooping cough vaccine ; and whether they are encouraged to consider evidence from those countries which also have vaccine damage payments schemes.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : In considering whether severe disablement was caused by a particular vaccine the doctor will have regard to the body of research and medical opinion emerging worldwide. In particular, as part of the evidence, account has to be taken of Lord Justice Stuart-Smith's decision in the case of Loveday v . Renton. After taking evidence from a wide range of medical opinion both from this country and abroad, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith concluded that he was not satisfied on the balance of probability that pertussis vaccine can cause permanent brain damage in young children.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether any vaccine damage payments have been made to children allegedly damaged by the whooping cough vaccine since the announcement of the Loveday judgment.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Since April 1988, when judgment was given in Loveday v . Renton, there have been no vaccine damage payments in respect of claims made on the grounds that whooping cough vaccine caused severe disablement.
Bronchitis and Emphysema
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what response has been made to the letter from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council recommending further research into bronchitis and emphysema following the council's 1988 report (Cm. 379).
Mr. Scott : Various avenues are being pursued, including consultations with the Medical Research Council, and I understand that the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council is discussing ways of establishing a formal study with the steel industry, the European coal and steel fund and the Health and Safety Executive.
21-hour Rule
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether his Department has any plans to issue new guidelines to social security officials on how to apply the 21-hour rule for unemployed adults wishing to study ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The Department is shortly to issue to officials clarification of its existing procedures. The
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instruction will be designed to ensure that the Department's policy is operated as efficiently as possible and no new guidelines on its policy concerning the application of the 21-hour rule or changes of that policy are involved.Family Credit
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will supply figures for the number of people claiming family credit for each district authority in the counties of (a) Cleveland, (b) Cumbria, (c) Durham, (d) Northumberland and (e) Tyne and Wear ; and if he will indicate in each case what percentage this represents of the total eligible to claim family benefit.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Information is available only in relation to the Department's own local office areas. The latest available information about the number of families receiving family credit who at the time their awards were made were living in the areas covered by the local offices in the counties concerned is as follows.
|Number
-----------------------------------------
Ashington |661
Barrow in Furness |482
Berwick upon Tweed |277
Bishop Auckland |929
Blyth |713
Carlisle |701
Chester-le-Street |360
Darlington |855
Durham |691
Eston |208
Gateshead |1,172
Hartlepool |815
Hexham |343
Houghton-le-Spring |294
Jarrow |307
Kendal |296
Middlesbrough |1,264
Newcastle upon Tyne (West) |443
Newcastle (St. James) |796
Newcastle upon Tyne (East) |899
North Shields |683
Penrith |246
Peterlee |264
Redcar |396
Seaham |196
South Shields |555
Stanley |649
Stockton |1,075
Sunderland (North) |1,442
Sunderland (South) |695
Wallsend |428
Whitehaven |299
Workington |422
Information about the total numbers of families eligible for family credit can be obtained only for Great Britain as a whole, and only retrospectively, from family expenditure survey data.
Vibration White Finger
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Birkenhead of 23 April, Official Report, column 87 , how many of the new and review applications relating to vibration white finger were completed in each calendar month since January of this year.
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