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Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what assistance his Department or the Student Loans Company has enlisted from consultants in (a) management, (b) information technology, (c) advertising, (d) marketing and (e) public relations, in respect of the student loans scheme in the current year ; and at what cost.
Mr. Jackson : Relationships between the Student Loans Company and its suppliers are commercially confidential. The Department has not separately received consultancy advice on the student loans scheme in the current year.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will estimate how long after application students can expect to wait until they receive a loan from the Student Loans Company.
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Mr. Jackson : The Student Loans Company's objective will be to make the great majority of loan payments within 21 days of receipt of correctly completed eligibility certificates and application forms. The company's success in meeting that objective will depend upon the speed with which students return the loan agreement forms which they will be sent once their application forms have been processed.Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what communications will take place between the Students Loans Company and the bank branch holding an individual student loan applicant's current account ; and for what purpose.
Mr. Jackson : The Student Loans Company will make loan payments into students' bank or building society accounts by electronic transfer, through the bankers' automated clearing services and will receive repayments by direct debit from borrowers' accounts. The company will have no other contact with banks or building societies holding students' current accounts.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list (a) the banks which have participated in any discussions with the Student Loans Company in the current year, (b) those banks which have not yet participated and (c) those banks which have refused to participate.
Mr. Jackson : Discussions between the Student Loans Company and other financial insitutions are strictly and mutually confidential.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if a student in agreeing to the terms and conditions of a student loan authorises the Student Loans Company to make future searches on their income, via employers and banks.
Mr. Jackson : The terms and conditions of a loan agreement will not authorise the Student Loans Company to investigate borrowers' incomes through their employers or banks. Borrowers wishing to defer repayments will be required to produce evidence that their income falls below 85 per cent. of national average earnings.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what consultations his Department has had with the National Union of Students in respect of administration of the student loans scheme.
Mr. Jackson : The National Union of Students has been kept informed of developments in the student loans scheme. Officials will be meeting shortly to discuss the scheme.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how the Student Loans Company proposes to ensure that student loan applicants' referees maintain regular contact between the Student Loans Company and the student over the repayment period ;
(2) if a student loan applicant who fails to find a referee will be refused a loan.
Mr. Jackson : The Student Loans Company will not ask loan applicants to nominate referees. The company will ask applicants to nominate on the applications form two
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individuals, one of whom should be a relative or guardian, who can be contacts in the event of the company losing touch with the borrower. If the application forms are not fully completed, applicants will not receive a loan.Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if his Department has yet agreed a system of student certification for the purpose of a student loan application with institutions of higher education.
Mr. Jackson : The duties of academic institutions are set out in regulation 10 of the Education (Student Loans) Regulations, laid before Parliament on 13 June. Representatives of the Student Loans Company and the Education Departments will be holding a nationwide series of meetings with the higher education institutions in the next two weeks to help the institutions prepare for their role in the scheme.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if his Department will be reimbursing the total administrative cost of student certification for the purpose of a student loan application ; and if he will estimate that cost in the current and the next financial year.
Mr. Jackson : The Student Loans Company will make a payment to academic institutions of £3.50 for each eligibility certificate which is correctly completed on its first submission to the company. The total administrative cost will depend upon the number of students who seek certification of eligibility and on the number of correctly completed certificates.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the itinerary of visits to be undertaken by the three higher education liaison officers appointed by the Student Loans Company.
Mr. Jackson : The role of the academic liaison officers is to help institutions fulfil their responsibilities under the legislation governing the student loans scheme. To that end, the liaison officers have already visited a wide range of institutions ; are meeting representatives of institutions at regional meetings in the next two weeks ; and will, on request, visit any institution with eligible students.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what guarantees have been offered to staff of the Student Loans Company in the event of a change of Government policy on student finance.
Mr. Jackson : None. Staff of the Student Loans Company are employed under arrangements which reflect current practice in the commercial sector.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when students can start to apply for a loan from the Student Loans Company.
Mr. Jackson : Students will be able to apply for a loan as soon as they have been certified as eligible by their academic institution.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when is the deadline for application for a loan from the Student Loans Company ; and whether students who apply for a loan which is less than that to which they are entitled can later apply for the remainder.
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Mr. Jackson : For the academic year 1990-91, the Student Loans Company will issue loans in respect of loan agreements received by the company by 31 July 1991. Eligible students may make one application for a loan each academic year ; they may draw down the loan in up to three instalments.Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions the Student Loans Company has had with the clearing banks in respect of the payment and repayment of student loans.
Mr. Jackson : The Student Loans Company will make loan payments and receive repayments through the bankers' automated clearing services. These arrangements have been discussed with the company's bankers.
Mr . Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his latest estimate of student take-up of the student loans scheme.
Mr. Jackson : For planning purposes, the Government continue to assume an 80 per cent. take-up rate of student loans.
Access Funds
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he plans to publish details of how institutions of higher education will administer access funds.
Mr. Jackson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffihs) on 21 May 1990, Official Report, column 46.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will have any power to alter the criteria adopted by an institution of higher education in respect of access fund disbursement.
Mr. Jackson : Provided that an institution of higher education complies with the conditions of payment under which it receives an allocation from the access funds, the determining of criteria to be adopted for the disbursement of money from the funds to students is entirely a matter for the institution itself.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if individual students refuse an access fund award by their institution will be able to appeal against the decision.
Mr. Jackson : Institutions will be entirely responsible for the administration of their share of the access funds including the handling of appeals from individual students.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what guidance he will be issuing to institutions of higher education in respect of the disbursement of access funds ; and what will be the nature of any such guidance.
Mr. Jackson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffiths) on 21 May 1990, Official Report, column 46. I understand that the Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council will be issuing guidance to the institutions for which they are responsible by the end of June.
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Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if students will have any powers of appeal in respect of the criteria adoped by an institution of higher education for the disbursement of access funds.
Mr. Jackson : It will be for the higher education institutions themselves to decide what criteria to adopt for the disbursement of the access funds and whether to consult their students about those criteria.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what guidance he is giving to institutions of higher education in respect of disabled students' needs when access funds are distributed.
Mr. Jackson : The Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council will be responsible for giving guidance to institutions in their sectors on the distribution of the access funds. Paragraph 1 of the conditions of payment of the access funds to the two funding councils (a copy of which was placed in the Library on 21 May) make it clear that physical and other disabilities are among the possible reasons for financial difficulties which the access funds are intended to address.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what account will be taken of variations in regional housing costs in respect of the distribution of access funds to institutions of higher education.
Mr. Jackson : It will be for the two funding councils to determine how the access funds are to be distributed to institutions in their sectors. The factors which my right hon. Friend has invited the funding councils to take into account are set out in paragraph 5 of the notes of guidance for the UFC and the PCFC a copy of which was placed in the Library on 21 May. One of the factors is
"the particular needs of students in private accommodation in areas where the cost of accommodation is especially high, eg London and the South East."
Universities and Polytechnics (Funding)
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give the figures for the revenue and research monies received by each individual university and polytechnic, expressed in terms of funding per student.
Mr. Jackson : Information on universities' incomes and student numbers are contained in tables 1 and 12 respectively of volume 3 "University Statistics--Finance" published by the universities statistical record.
Available data on polytechnic expenditure and students are published by the Department in table D15 of "Statistics of Education--Finance and Awards".
Copies of both publications are available in the Library.
HEALTH
Adoption
Mr. Lewis : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures exist to enable adults, adopted early in life, to make contact with siblings.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Adoption Act 1976 gives adopted adults the right, after counselling where required,
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to the information which will enable them to obtain a certified copy of their original record of birth. Some adopted people may wish to use this information as a starting point in an effort to trace the whereabouts of their natural relatives and sometimes to contact or meet them. The Registrar-General is usually prepared to note on a person's adoption record that there is a natural relative, including a sibling, who would welcome contact ; and, if the adopted person applies for information about his birth record, to tell him about his relative's wishes. The Children Act 1989 provides for an adoption contact register to formalise these arrangements ; we plan to implement the Act next year.Waiting Lists
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the costs of the consultancy management team study of waiting lists in Newcastle, Durham and East Cumbria referred to in the reply given to the hon. Member for Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin), Official Report, 20 March, column 555 ; where such costs are accounted for in national health service budgets ; what conclusions this study reached ; what actions have been taken as a result ; and if he will place a copy of the consultancy team's report in the Library.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Waiting lists in these three districts are among 100 specialty lists being investigated by Inter-Authority Comparisons and Consultancy (IACC) in 1990-91. The costs are not separately identified by district, but amount to £420,000 for the national programme of studies and are met centrally from the waiting list fund.
The aim of the studies is to investigate why waiting times for treatment are so long, and to draw up contracts with the districts for agreed workload levels and reductions in waiting time in return for additional funding. A total of £12 million from the waiting list fund has been earmarked to fund the recommendations of the studies. So far £45,000 has been allocated to Durham to reduce the number of patients waiting over a year on the general surgery/urology list, and £121,000 to East Cumbria to reduce the wait for general surgery. Newcastle's plastic surgery list is still under consideration. A copy of IACC's summary report "Examining some of England's longest waiting lists" is in the Library. This describes IACC's work in 1989-90, which by March 1990 had resulted in a reduction from 29, 580 to 15,042 in the number of patients waiting over a year in 43 key specialties. A full-year report is in preparation.
Family Planning
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any plans to improve the family planning service provided by (a) general practitioners, including women doctors and (b) health authorities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The day-to-day management of family planning services is a matter for individual health authorities since they can best judge local circumstances and priorities. The Government continue to regard family planning as an important preventive service. Guidance issued by the Department of Health makes clear that health authorities should ensure that full use is made of family planning services and that a proper balance is struck between services provided by specialist clinics and
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those provided by GPs. This guidance was recently reiterated in a letter to regional general managers by the director of operations and planning on the NHS management executive. The Government also remain committed to encouraging and helping women doctors to enter general practice. The new contract which came into force from 1 April 1990 benefits women doctors in a number of ways :--capitation-based system encourages partnerships to offer the patients the choice of both men and women doctors.
--women doctors will be particularly attractive to partnerships if they offer one of the specialties for which the new fees are being paid, for example, minor surgery, child health surveillance. --arrangements for part- time working and job sharing are being formalised.
--qualifications for locum cover during confinement have been eased.
Head Lice
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence he has received linking lindane, or gamma benzene hexachloride, to leukaemia and kidney damage ; and if he will consider taking action to prevent them being used in head lice treatment.
Mr. Dorrell : Lindane, also known as gamma benzene hexachloride, is an insecticide which has been available for a number of years in low concentrations in licensed medicinal products for external use. The Committee on Safety of Medicines has received no reports of leukaemia or kidney damage associated with lindane treatment.
Lindane is an effective treatment for scabies. As a consequence of the emergence of resistance it is no longer commonly used for the sole treatment of head lice. Low concentrations of lindane when used topically and as recommended have a good safety record over many years of extensive use.
Community Health Councils
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the level of funding of community health councils in England and on the role of his Department in ensuring adequate levels of funding for individual community health councils.
Mr. Dorrell : The expenses of community health councils are met by and form part of the total expenditure of the health authorities concerned. It is for health authorities to decide on the level of funding that they provide to community health councils.
Toxic Shock Syndrome
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of toxic shock syndrome there have been in each of the past five years ; of those cases, how many proved to be fatal ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : Information received by the public health laboratory service (PHLS) indicates that from 1984 to 1989 there were around 15 confirmed cases a year of toxic shock syndrome in the United Kingdom and that around three cases a year proved fatal.
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Transplant Service
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health where the new special health authority to manage the United Kingdom transplant service is to be situated ; what staff and budget it will have ; and when it will be operational.
Mr. Dorrell : We will take decisions on these questions in the light of the implementation study to which I referred in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham) on 11 June at column 35.
Optician Services
Mr. Tom Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the most recent impact of prescription charges on the take-up of opticians' services (a) nationally and (b) by national health service region.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The independent survey of sight tests, carried out by NOP and commissioned by the Government, considered demand on both a national and standard region basis. The information was not, however, analysed by national health service region. The survey found that sight test uptake during the first three months of 1990 was well in line with projected trends over the 10 years up to 1987. It implied that there was no evidence to suggest that people were being deterred from visiting their optician because they now had to pay a modest private charge. Copies of the full NOP report along with an analysis of the findings by the Government statistical service have been placed in the Library.
Larynx Cancer
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has conducted or commissioned any research into cancer of the larynx resulting from asbestosis, explosives or industrial substances.
Mr. Dorrell : No such research has been commissioned by the Department. The Medical Research Council (MRC) is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research in the United Kingdom. The MRC receives its grant in aid from the Department of Education and Science.
Child Abuse
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress which has been made on each of the projects of research on child abuse listed in his answer of 27 January 1989, Official Report, column 798.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The current position on the projects on research on child abuse listed in the reply that my hon. and learned Friend the then Minister for Health gave the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 27 January 1989 at column 798 is as follows :
Intervention in child sexual abuse : project extended to 30 September 1990.
Normal sexual knowledge in children : continuing.
A study of co-ordination in child abuse : continuing.
Decision making intervention and outcomes in respect of children at risk of abuse : continuing.
Parental perceptions in child abuse : commissioned. Period of support, 1 October 1989 to 30 September 1992.
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Feasibility of prevalence study : under consideration.Parental participation in child protection case conferences : commissioned. Period of support, 1 October 1989 to 31 March 1992. A study of the patterns of use of child protection registers : commissioned. Period of support, 1 October 1990 to 31 December 1992. Computer-based techniques in diagnosis : pilot study commissioned. Period of support, 1 January 1990 to 30 April 1990.
Evaluation of inter-disciplinary training : under consideration. Perpetrators of child sexual abuse : under consideration.
Eye Tests
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people on family credit or income support received free eye tests in each district health authority area in England in each quarter of 1988-89 and in each quarter of 1989-90.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Statistics prior to 1 April 1989 were not broken down by patient group. Since then family practitioner committees have collected data on sight tests paid for under the general ophthalmic services on a six-monthly basis. District health authorities do not collect such information. The table gives estimated numbers by patient group and regional health authority for the period in question :
|c|NHS sight tests paid for during April-September 1989|c|
Regional health authority |Adults
|(IS-FC)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |40,000
Yorkshire |39,360
Trent |51,880
East Anglia |16,050
North West Thames |34,030
North East Thames |34,980
South East Thames |39,010
South West Thames |23,510
Wessex |29,390
Oxford |13,510
South Western |46,310
West Midlands |74,690
Mersey |27,810
North Western |60,160
These figures are based on a 2 per cent. sample of NHS sight test application forms processed by family practitioner committees. They do not take into account sight tests paid for after 1 April 1989 but conducted before that period.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with glaucoma and diabetes received free eye tests in England (a) in each quarter in 1988-89 and (b) in each quarter in 1989-90.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 13 June 1990] : Statistics prior to 1 April 1989 were not broken down by patient group. Since then family practitioner committees have collected data on sight tests paid for under the general ophthalmic services on a six-monthly basis. A total of 114,210 NHS sight tests for diabetes and glaucoma sufferers were paid for in England during the period 1 April to 30 September 1989. This figure is based on a 2 per cent. sample of NHS sight test application forms processed by family practitioner committees. It does not take into account sight tests paid for after 1 April 1989 but conducted before that period.
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Abortion
Mr. Duffy : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total number of abortions, under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967, in the Sheffield health authority area for each of the last three years for which figures are available ; how many of these abortions were performed (a) on ground four and (b) ground five ; and how many of these abortions were notified in the national health service sector, and how many in the private sector.
Mr. Dorrell : Abortion data by district of termination are not released on grounds of confidentiality ; data for usual residents of Sheffield district health authority are shown in the table :
|c|Number of abortions performed under statutory
grounds (a) four|c|
|c|and (b) five of the Abortion Act 1967, and by
category of premises,|c|
|c|usual residents of Sheffield district health
authority, 1987, 1988 and|c|
|c|1989<1>|c|
Year Statutory groundTotal Category of premises
|Four |Five |NHS |Non-NHS
--------------------------------------------------------
1987 |28 |- |1,485 |814 |671
1988 |15 |- |1,507 |901 |606
<1>1989 |12 |- |1,503 |889 |614
<1> Provisional
Statutory ground 4: there is a substantial risk that if
the child were born it would suffer from such physical
or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
Statutory ground 5: to save the life of the pregnant
woman.
Performance-related Pay
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which managerial and administrative posts in the Oxfordshire health authority attract performance-related pay ; what proportion of their pay is determined by performance ; how frequently performance is reviewed ; and who is responsible for undertaking the official assessment.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We do not hold this information centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of Oxfordshire health authority for the information he seeks.
General Practitioners Budgets
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners or general practitioner practices have now expressed an interest in becoming practice budget holders within each health authority in England.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The programme "Funding General Practice" issued to all GPs in England in December invited practices that were interested in fund holding to return a form to their regional health authority. By the end of February over 850 practices had expressed an interest in this way and others have done so subsequently. The table sets out the position in each region :
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