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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 18 May 1990
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Inner London Education Authority
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science who has responsibility for paying arrears of pay to former employees of ILEA whose contracts of employment were not taken over by the successor boroughs.
Mrs. Rumbold : The London residuary body has that responsibility for all ex-ILEA employees who were not transferred by statutory order to the employment of the inner London councils.
Special Needs Education (Training Grants)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will extend the in-service support from the local education authority training grants scheme for special support assistants, nursery nurses and other carers involved in providing special needs education.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The Government have no plans to extend the scheme specifically to cover these or other groups.
Zidovudine
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe, 15 December 1989, Official Report, column 832, he will make a further statement on the progress of the Medical Research Council/INSERM trial of zidovudine.
Mr. Jackson : I understand from the Medical Research Council that the trial is continuing satisfactorily and that there is no significant information to add to that provided in my previous reply of 15 December 1989.
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will update the figures of participants in the Medical Research Council/INSERM trial of zidovudine given in reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe, on 15 December 1989, Official Report, column 832.
Mr. Jackson : The number of participants enrolled in the Medical Research Council/INSERM trial of zidovudine up to 15 May was 772 in the United Kingdom and 727 in France.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the total of the capital allocations to grant-maintained schools in 1990-91.
Mrs. Rumbold : On 26 January I announced allocations of capital grant to grant-maintained schools totalling £6.6
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million for the financial year 1990-91, at columns 900-2. I said that a further sum of up to £1.9 million was available for grant-maintained schools to meet commitments and contingencies. A total of about £8 million has now been allocated.HOME DEPARTMENT
Electoral Rights
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Commonwealth countries and colonies enjoy reciprocal arrangements by which their citizens resident in the United Kingdom enjoy the right to vote in United Kingdom elections ; and what is his estimate of the number of such people who had that right at the time of the 1987 general election.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Commonwealth citizens resident in the United Kingdom, who are not otherwise disqualified, are eligible to register as electors and vote at elections here. The table lists those Commonwealth countries and dependent territories which allow British citizens, subject to residency qualifications, to register as electors. Approximately half a million Commonwealth citizens living in the United Kingdom were eligible to vote at the 1987 general election. Of these, about 150,000 were from countries which allow reciprocal voting rights to British citizens.
Commonwealth Countries and United Kingdom Dependent Territories which allow voting rights to British citizens
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Grenada
Guyana
Hong Kong
Jamaica
Montserrat
Mauritius
New Zealand
Pitcairn
St. Helene
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent
Sierre Leone
Trinidad and Tobago
Tristan da Cunha
Passports
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why it was decided that British passports should no longer specify residence, height and distinguishing marks.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : These details, which are no longer considered to be essential for identification of the passport holder, were deleted in the interests of efficiency, and to meet the requirements of the international standard for machine-readable passports.
New Hall Prison
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the categories of prisoners to be accepted by New Hall prison when the present extension is complete.
Mr. Mellor : It is planned that Her Majesty's prison and young offender institution New Hall should continue to hold both remand and sentenced female prisoners who are required to be kept in closed conditions, with the exception of those classified as category A (prisoners requiring the highest level of security).
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Immigration
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arriving persons at United Kingdom points of entry have been allowed to go to
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temporary addresses while their cases have been considered in each of the last five years and the current year to date ; and, in each year, how many have absconded.Mr. Peter Lloyd : The available information is given in the table :
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|c|Number of passengers (a) granted temporary admission and (b) who absconded|c|
Number of passengers granted temporary admission
Year |Pending further|After being |Total |Total number of
|examination |refused entry |passengers who
|absconded<1>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |<2>6,746 |<2>6,595 |<3>- |388
1986 |12,414 |10,757 |<3>- |1,161
1987 |<3>- |<3>- |7,517 |821
1988 |<3>- |<3>- |8,692 |401
1989 |<3>- |<3>- |13,744 |475
Year ending 31 March 1990 |<3>- |<3>- |14,870 |488
<1>Includes passengers who absconded from the control, temporary admission and detention.
<2>For April to December. Comprehensive data are not available for the first three months of 1985.
<3>Not available.
The temporary admission figures for 1985 and 1986 were on a different basis from those for later years. Figures for 1985 and 1986 separately identified those granted temporary admission pending further examination, from those granted temporary admission after being refused entry, with the result that those granted temporary admission under both circumstances were counted twice. In subsequent years those granted temporary admission under both circumstances have been counted once only.
Prison Population
Mr. Lawrence : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his most recent figures for the movement in the overall prison population over the last 12 month period.
Mr. Mellor : On Friday 11 May the total prisoner population including those in police cells was 45,671. This compares with 49,147 at the same time last year.
Suicide
Mr. Terry Davies To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many attempted suicides have taken place in Birmingham prison in each of the last five years ;
(2) if he will provide a month by month breakdown of the number of attempted suicides by inmates in Birmingham prison in 1989.
Mr. Mellor : The number of inmates who were recorded as having attempted suicide at Birmingham prison in 1987 was 25 ; in 1988, 13 ; and in 1989, 24. No information is available for earlier years. A month-by- month breakdown of the figure for 1989 is given in the table :
|c|Number of inmates
recorded as having
attempted suicide at|c|
|c|HM Prison Birmingham
in 1989|c|
|Numbers
--------------------------
January |2
February |2
March |4
April |3
May |-
June |2
July |2
August |-
September |4
October |1
November |-
December |4
|---
Total |24
Magistrates
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to what extent race-awareness training is a part of the current training procedure for magistrates.
The Attorney-General : I have been asked to reply.
The Judicial Studies Board is responsible for supervising the training of the lay magistracy, which is carried out locally. The revised syllabus set out in the "Handbook For The Training of Magistrates", published by the board earlier this year and approved by the Lord Chancellor, requires newly appointed magistrates to be given instruction in
"awareness of the different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds of those with whom they may have to deal as defendants or witnesses".
In addition, "Ethnic Minority Cultures" is an approved subject for inclusion in further training for magistrates.
Mr. Kemel Karaca
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will expedite the date for the appeal of Mr. Kemel Karaca, formerly of Crewe, to enter the United Kingdom.
Mr. Sainsbury : I have been asked to reply. In accordance with the guidelines on the handling of representations by Members of Parliament in immigration cases, issued to Members on 14 December 1988, I have referred the question to the correspondence unit of the migration and visa department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The hon. Member will receive a reply from the unit as soon as possible.
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TRANSPORT
Channel Tunnel
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has agreed British Rail's recent proposals for further investment connected with channel tunnel passenger rail services.
Mr. Parkinson : I am pleased to announce my approval of British Rail's proposals for investment of £174.2 million to build an international passenger terminal at Waterloo and a train depot at Willesden for maintaining international trains. These are major items in British Rail's plans to spend over £1 billion so that a full international passenger and freight service can begin on the day that the channel tunnel opens.
Sir John Stanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it remains his policy that British Rail's commuter services in peak hours should not be cut back to accommodate channel tunnel international passenger and freight trains when the channel tunnel opens in 1993.
Mr. Freeman : I understand that British Rail stands by its assurance given to Parliament during the passage of the Channel Tunnel Act that existing services would not be curtailed by the introduction of channel tunnel rail services.
Search and Rescue Service
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether any hoax telephone call or message was received on Wednesday 16 August 1989 which interfered with the search and rescue service in the Bristol channel area.
Mr. McLoughlin : Nationally some 30 per cent. of calls received by the coastguard are false alarms and a further 3 per cent. are "hoaxes", so officers must be alert to this possibility. However, there were no hoax calls or messages which interfered with search and rescue operation in the Swansea coastguard district on 16 August 1989.
London Taxi Fares
Mr. Bendall : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement about London taxi fares.
Mr. Freeman : The Secretary of State has made an order increasing London taxi fares by about 9.2 per cent. on average with effect from Friday 8 June 1990. The new tariff will incorporate a minimum fare of £1.00 (including an unchanged hire charge of 40p) for the first 1, 021.5 yd or3 minutes 36 seconds. The rate will then be 20p for every 340.5 yd or 1 minute 12 seconds up to 6 miles and 20p for each 227 yd or 48 seconds thereafter.
British Rail Freight
Mr. Key : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about investment in British Rail's deepsea container freight business.
Mr. Freeman : I am pleased to announce that I have given approval to the Board's proposal to invest in 700 new container-carrying wagons for BR's deepsea container business at a cost of some £40 million. This will
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enable British Rail to offer its customers a more reliable service and to improve the financial performance of this part of its freight business.HEALTH
Nurses (Training)
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many trainees have entered nursing for a state registered nurse or registered general nurse course in England for each of the last five years.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information is given in the table :
|c|Numbers of
entrants to
registered
general nurse
training|c|
|c|in
England-years
ended 31 March
1985 to 1989|c|
----------------
1985
1914,208
1914,002
1913,581
1914,473
Source:
Statistics
provided by the
English
National Board
for Nursing,
Midwifery and
Health
Visiting.
Sight Tests
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on the average cost of private sight tests.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The price of a private sight test is a matter for individual opticians. It is up to them to use their best commercial judgment and set their prices accordingly.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people annually he expects to qualify for help with the cost of a private sight test on the grounds of low income.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not available.
Community Care
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities are required to allow disabled people to give their views about their community care needs during the assessment procedure and are required to produce a written statement of the outcome of the assessment procedure if requested by the disabled person.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Our White Paper "Caring for People" said that assessments should take account of the wishes of the individual. This includes disabled people. In our guidance to local authorities on assessment procedures we intend to emphasise the importance of involving the individual user in the assessment. We also intend to make it clear that decisions should be conveyed in writing when requested by the person concerned.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received regarding the effects of hormone replacement therapy in connection with osteoporosis.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave her on 19 March at column 460. Since then we have received representations about osteoporosis and hormone replacement therapy from the all-party parliamentary group for pensioners on behalf of the National Federation of Women's Institutes and from hon. Members on behalf of the National Osteoporosis Society. I shall also be meeting the National Osteoporosis Society shortly to discuss these matters.Alcohol Services
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the allocation of £3.83 million for the development of alcohol services, announced by Baroness Hooper, includes an amount for Scotland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : No. The sum to which the hon. Member refers has been allocated to Alcohol Concern for the development of alcohol services in England.
Health Benefit Scheme
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people claimed health benefits in 1989-90 through their automatic entitlement as claimants of income support or family credit ; how many claimed help as a result of the low income scheme : and if he will estimate how many people would be able to claim in 1990-91 if the passport was extended to cover housing benefit and community charge benefit ;
(2) what is the rate of take-up of health benefits for (a) claimants with automatic entitlement and (b) claimants entitled to help under the low income scheme.
Mr. Dorrell : Information concerning help with NHS charges and hospital travel costs for people receiving income support or family credit or who qualify for help on low income grounds is derived from the number of occasions help is provided which does not always identify the numbers of individual patients who have benefited. Nor is it possible to estimate how many people would be able to claim health benefits if the passport was extended to cover housing benefit and community charge benefit because some of them will already qualify for health benefits on other grounds.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health for every £ sterling of expenditure on the agency benefits low income scheme for help with costs of glasses, wigs and fabric supports, prescriptions, dental charge and hospital travel costs, how much is spent on administering the scheme.
Mr. Dorrell : Information in the form requested is not available.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average time taken to process a claim for help under the low income scheme for health benefits ; how it differs between the different benefits ; and what is the average time taken to process a claim from a claimant with automatic entitlement to health benefits.
Mr. Dorrell : The Department of Social Security administers the low income scheme for health benefits and help with hospital travel costs on behalf of the Department of Health. It has advised that in the year ending 30 April 1990 around 86 per cent. of all claims received were cleared within 10 working days.
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Persons who have automatic entitlement to help with those benefits and those who have established their entitlement under the low income scheme obtain that help simply by declaring that entitlement when requiring those benefits.Cancer
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what form of report he receives from the Yorkshire regional cancer registry.
Mr. Dorrell : The Yorkshire regional cancer registry submits records of newly diagnosed cases of cancer for its region to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) in the form of a magnetic tape once the data for a particular year are judged to be complete. The records contain information which enables OPCS to maintain its cancer surveillance system and to produce the national annual reference volumes on cancer incidence.
General Practitioner Beds
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's policy towards the provision of general practitioner beds as a move towards more comprehensive community care, respite care, and recuperation in the community.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Health authorities are required to draw up plans for the provision of health care services to the population for whom they are responsible. The provision of general practitioner beds is an option we would expect them to consider as part of this process.
Resource Management Programme
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the money made available by his Department for the resource management programme has been allocated to (a) St. James hospital, Leeds, (b) Pontefract general infirmary and (c) Pinderfields hospital, Wakefield.
Mr. Dorrell : Since March 1989 Yorkshire regional health authority has been allocated nearly £7 million for the resource management programme. In March 1989 nine hospitals in the Yorkshire region, including St. James' hospital, Leeds and Pontefract general infirmary, were selected to prepare and implement the resource management programme. In January 1990 a further five hospitals, including Pinderfields general hospital, were selected to prepare and implement the programme in 1990-91. Although the financial allocation made to Yorkshire regional health authority takes account of the number of its designated hospital sites it is for the regional health authority to decide how these additional funds are allocated to the sites.
Psychiatric Patients
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on the number of patients from psychiatric institutions who were released into the community who have been readmitted to psychiatric institutions ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : Most readmissions to mental illness hospitals are of short duration and are part of a planned
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programme of care. No information is available centrally on emergency readmissions of long-stay patients released into the community.The total number of readmissions to mental illness hospitals and units in England is set out in the table :
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