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Mr. Moynihan : The number of fatalities and serious accidents, injuries to persons, on or near to offshore installations on the United Kingdom continental shelf reported to my Department from 1980 to September 1990 are as follows :
|Fatalities|Serious
|Accidents
--------------------------------------------
1980 |4 |45
1981 |6 |59
1982 |14 |39
1983 |10 |47
1984 |13 |59
1985 |8 |103
1986 |3 |101
1987 |6 |59
1988 |<1>173 |<2>85
1989 |3 |85
<3><5>1990 |<4>10 |52
<1>167 relate to Piper Alpha.
<2>Includes 11 of the 61 Piper Alpha
survivors.
<3>Provisional.
<4>Six relate to the helicopter crash on
the Brent Spar.
<5>January-September.
Information on the location of these incidents could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
National Power
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy with which countries National Power refuses to trade.
Mr. Baldry : Decisions on countries with which to do business are a commercial matter for National Power.
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the refusal of National Power to trade with Israel.
Mr. Baldry : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) on 26 October at column 338.
Energy Conservation
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he has any plans to increase the level of Government funding for (a) renewable energy, (b) energy conservation and (c) energy efficiency.
Mr. Baldry : The Department of Energy's expenditure plans for the next three years are currently being reviewed in the Public Expenditure Survey. A statement on the outcome of the survey will be made shortly. It is our policy to seek to ensure that all economic and environmentally acceptable energy sources should be exploited fully.
Electricity Privatisation
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what representations he has received about the payment to Universal Studios for alleged breach of copyright in respect of the similarity between Frank N. Stein and the character Herman Munster.
Mr. Baldry : The only representation received by the Secretary of State was correspondence from Bridge Wolsey, a firm of solicitors. This representation has been referred to the Department of Trade and Industry.
Renewable Energy
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will set out the financial or other resource contributions made by his Department to renewable energy research undertaken at (a) the Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth and (b) the Centre of Solar Energy at University college, Cardiff ; and whether he has any plans to increase contributions to these centres.
Mr. Moynihan : My Department has a substantial programme to promote the use of renewable energy. However, we have not funded any research at the centre for alternative energy nor at the centre of solar energy at University college, Cardiff.
Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when the first non-fossil fuel obligation order for renewables came into force ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Baldry : The first order for renewables under the non-fossil fuel obligation came into force on 29 September 1990.
The order was set in accordance with advice from the Director General of Electricity Supply and specifies the initial levels of renewables-sourced electricity generating capacity that the 12 regional electricity companies in England and Wales are required to have available from1 October 1990 until 31 December 1998. They will build up to 102.25 MW declared net capacity at April 1995. As a result of this order, 75 projects have been contracted by the 12 regional electricity companies and have been approved by the Director General of Electricity Supply as meeting the requirements of the Electricity Act 1989. If these projects come to fruition they will total a declared net capacity of 152.1 MW.
Over half the 75 projects are new projects, which would not have proceeded without the benefit of the above market price available under the non- fossil fuel obligation.
The 75 projects are made up of 25 landfill gas, 26 hydro, eight bio-gas, seven waste incineration and nine wind.
HEALTH
Waiting Lists, Leicestershire
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the current waiting list for each specialty in Leicestershire health authority.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is given in the table. The number of patients waiting for treatment is not a relevant measure of the quality of service provided. It is the length of time that patients wait that matters, and the number of patients waiting over a year in Leicestershire district health authority has fallen by over 60 per cent. from 2,800 in March 1979 to 1,100 in March 1990. In addition, the number of patients treated in this district has risen by nearly 49 per cent. between 1979 and 1990 from 74,000 to 110,000. The total waiting list also reduced over the same period, from 10,777 to 9,098. The total number waiting in March 1990 therefore represented on average four weeks' work in hand, compared with the eight weeks' work represented by the total list in March 1979.
Leicester Health Authority: Waiting List at 31 March 1990
|Patients |Over 1 year|Percentage
|waiting |over 1 year
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Surgery |1,135 |29 |3
Urology |330 |4 |1
Trauma and Orthopaedics |1,601 |152 |9
ENT |1,950 |249 |13
Ophthalmology |438 |1 |0
Oral Surgery |508 |14 |3
Neurosurgery |14 |0 |0
Plastic Surgery |874 |480 |55
Cardiothoracic Surgery |560 |71 |13
Accident and Emergency |24 |0 |0
General Medicine |5 |0 |0
Cardiology |336 |16 |5
Nephrology |5 |0 |0
Neurology |8 |8 |100
Rheumatology |16 |0 |0
Paediatrics |2 |0 |0
Geriatric Medicine |10 |0 |0
Gynaecology |1,082 |47 |4
General Practice |147 |0 |0
Mental Handicap |30 |24 |80
Mental Illness |18 |5 |28
Radiotherapy |5 |0 |0
|----- |----- |-----
|9,098 |1,100 |12
Source: KHO6, KHO7 KHO7A.
HIV
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the latest information he has on the percentage of pregnant women in England who are HIV-positive.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The latest published information on the percentage of pregnant women in England who are HIV seropositive is based on a study of the prevalence of infection in newborn babies. The work was published in the Lancet on 3 March 1990. A total of 114,515 babies born in North East Thames, North West Thames and South West Thames were tested.
Of the babies born in inner London, 0.49 per 1000 showed evidence of maternal infection. For outer London the rate was 0.33 per 1000, and for babies born outside London the rate was 0.04 per 1000. The overall rate was 0.24 per 1000.
Further information will become available in 1991 from the unlinked anonymous HIV prevalence monitoring programme, which will include samples from 120,000 women attending ante-natal clinics in 40 health districts.
Prescription Charges
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will extend the list of those entitled to free national health service prescriptions to include those suffering from serious mental illness.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. As the result of the present wide- ranging exemption arrangements, over 75 per cent. of all items dispensed in the NHS are provided free. Many patients with mental illness benefit from these arrangements. Those who are not exempt but who need a lot of medication can save money by buying prescription prepayment certificates, or season tickets. Those certificates can lead to significant savings for anyone needing more than 14 items in a year or five items in a four-month period.
To extend the exemption arrangements for all patients who suffer from mental illness would benefit only those whose resources exceed the qualifying threshold for help on low income grounds and would not make the best use of the resources available to the NHS.
Elderly Mentally Ill People
Mr. Whitney : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total cost to his Department of the evaluation of three experimental units for elderly mentally ill people at High Wycombe, Liverpool and Hertford conducted by a team from the university of Liverpool under the leadership of Professor Copeland between 1984 and March 1990 ; and whether the team's report is yet available.
Mr. Dorrell : The total cost of the evaluation was £305,405. Professor Copeland has undertaken to deliver the final report in November.
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Hospital Trusts
Sir Cyril Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent he proposes to answer parliamentary questions about hospitals which acquire trust status.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : NHS trusts will remain an integral part of the national health service. We shall continue to answer questions on all national health service matters to the extent that information is available centrally. Hon. Members should continue to look in the first instance to the chairmen of regional, district and family health service authorities for information about day-to-day local management issues in all directly managed NHS hospitals and units. In future, they should look in the first instance to the chairmen of NHS trusts for similar information about self- governing units.
Eggs
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of food poisoning outbreaks has been traced back to eggs in the current year.
Mr. Dorrell : In the first 39 weeks of 1990, 616 outbreaks of salmonellosis were reported to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre. Of the 71 in which a vehicle was specified, 33 or 46 per cent. included egg or egg products.
Company Cars
Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the district health authorities throughout England which are now providing cars for their district managers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : We do not collect this information centrally.
Confidential Files
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recommendations he has made to local authorities on the disclosure of confidential social services files to the person to whom they relate since the Graham Gaskin case.
Mr. Dorrell : The implications of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Mr. Graham Gaskin's case are being studied. The need for any further guidance to local authorities on disclosure of personal social services records will be determined when the study is completed.
VAT
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional capital provision will be made to the national health service in the current year to reflect the cessation of value added tax refunds on construction work.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : In 1990-91 £160 million additional funding is being made available to the NHS to compensate for the termination from 1 April 1990 of refunds of VAT paid on construction work and for other minor capital expenditure.
Column 445
North East Thames Regional Health Authority
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the capital allocations from his Department and the total capital spending by the North East Thames regional health authority per year for each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Dorrell : [holding answer 26 October 1990] : The information requested is as follows :
Year |Capital |Expenditure
|allocations|£ millions
|£ millions
------------------------------------------------
1980-81 |38.267 |48.652
1981-82 |46.615 |51.592
1982-83 |49.798 |56.016
1983-84 |51.005 |61.600
1984-85 |54.577 |66.652
1985-86 |55.372 |65.932
1986-87 |55.920 |75.904
1987-88 |69.407 |92.794
1988-89 |70.350 |121.074
1989-90 |80.423 |<1>120.070
<1> Provisional.
All figures at cash prices.
The allocation figures do not include sums generated through land sales or other capital income, other than as a result of brokerage, nor do they take account of virement from revenue to capital or vice versa.
Nephrologists
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the total number of nephrologists employed in the national health service now, in 1985 and in 1980 ; and what is the ratio of nephrologists to kidney patients for those three dates.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 26 October 1990] : The information is not available in precisely the form requested. The number of consultant nephrologists in post in England in 1989, the latest year for which information is available, was 69. The figures for 1985 and 1980 were 69 and 63 respectively. This does not take account of other physicians who have an interest in nephrology. The available information indicates that in 1989 in England and Wales there were 53 other consultants who registered nephrology as a second speciality compared with 45 in 1988.
According to data reported to the European Dialysis and Transplant Association the number of patients in the United Kingdom being treated for end stage renal failure at the end of the years 1988--the latest year for which information is available--1985 and 1980 were 16, 155, 12,154 and 7,146 respectively.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Alcohol Consumption
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to see the changes in law and practice which reflect the recent experiment in Coventry in regard to drink-related anti-social practice brought into effect ; and what action he plans to take in regard to this matter.
Mr. John Patten : The results of the byelaw which prohibits the consumption of alcohol in designated areas
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have been carefully monitored by the Home Office and the local authorities concerned. The effectiveness of the byelaw has been demonstrated sufficiently for it to be made generally available subject to applicant authorities satisfying themselves as to local need and police capacity to enforce it. We will be writing to local authority chief executives next month inviting them to consider applying for the byelaw.Overseas Voters
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the latest date that an application can be accepted by an electoral registration officer for an overseas voter to be included on the electoral roll effective from 15 February 1991.
Mrs. Rumbold : Overseas electors' declarations must be made on or before 10 October but, as with returns from domestic electors, need not necessarily be received by the electoral registration officer by that date : they may be treated as claims for inclusion in the draft register or, depending on when they are received, for inclusion in the published register.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of overseas electors applications received by the electoral registration officer in each parliamentary constituency as at 10 October.
Mrs. Rumbold : The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
African Immigrants
Mr. Dicks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has concerning the arrival at Heathrow airport of immigrant minors from Ethiopia and adjacent African countries ; what criteria are being operated regarding their admission ; what inquiries are being made for financing their travel to the United Kingdom ; and what accommodation is available for them and at whose expense.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We do not record separately the entry to the United Kingdom of minors from Ethiopia or other countries. Their entry is governed by the immigration rules. Under the rules, minors with no support or accommodation to go to would be liable to refusal. If such minors sought asylum it would be necessary to consider their claims to refugee status under the 1951 United Nations convention before a refusal decision could be taken. In fact, very few unaccompanied children seek asylum on arrival in the United Kingdom. We assume that the Ethiopian children whose cases have been publicised recently entered the United Kingdom in another capacity, for example, visiting with an accompanying adult, before being abandoned. We have seen no evidence of organised abuse in arrangements for travel or entry to this country. The statutory responsibility for the care of any child in this country without adult support rests with local authorities.
Food Sabotage
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has of the number of incidents of food sabotage to food manufacturing and
Column 447
retail outlets in 1990 ; whether any injuries to persons resulted ; and whether any information is available on the number of companies that have given way to this form of blackmail.Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that so far this year there have been two confirmed incidents of malicious contamination of a food product linked to an extortion threat. No injuries resulted and the police have no evidence of any companies having given way to such extortion threats.
Prisons
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the publications now available which explain the management changes being introduced in prisons in England and Wales ; how hon. Members can obtain copies of such documents ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The joint prison service/PA Consultants report which recommended changes in the management of the service at above establishment level was published on 10 August 1989 and copies were placed in the Library. We announced our acceptance of those recommendations on 11 January 1990. Since then the changes have been published throughout the prison service and the wider Home Office by in-house newsletters named "Briefing" and "Update". I am arranging for copies of the relevant issues of both publications to be placed in the Library.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how resources are to be provided to ensure that the best results are obtained from management changes now being introduced in prisons in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The recent management changes introduced into the prison service have been at above establishment level and have involved the closure of regional offices and the introduction of area managers based in headquarters but spending a great deal of time in their prisons. Care has been taken to ensure that the necessary resources have followed the introduction of the new management features following the reorganisation.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the new London prison of Belmarsh is to be opened ; how the prison is to be staffed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The proposed date for the opening of Belmarsh is April 1991. There will be a phased introduction of the work during the remainder of the year.
Belmarsh will be staffed by a mixture of experienced staff who have applied to go there, new entrant prison officers on their first posting and those staff invited to take up post at Belmarsh on promotion.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the medical facilities to be provided at the new London prison Belmarsh ; what will be the staffing levels and their position ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : Belmarsh will have a fully equipped medical centre with 74 beds for in-patients in single rooms and six small wards. The medical team will be led by a
Column 448
senior medical officer who is already in post. The remainder of the medical complement has yet to be decided. The doctors will be supported by a health care team of 69 comprising hospital officers and civilian nurses in about equal proportions and in a range of grades under a governor IV.Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the last prison food rations price review took place ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The ration scale in prisons is expressed in terms of weight or volume, not price. Movements in prices do not therefore affect the amount of main food items available for inmates. Cash allowances for dietary extras, which in total constitute less than 10 per cent. of the total spent on food items, are reviewed each autumn. This year's review is just being completed and revised cash allowances will be promulgated shortly to become effective from 29 November.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether local prison governors are allowed to transfer surplus funding not used on one listed expenditure to another item of expenditure within the same prison ; and if he will make a statement on his present policy on local prison expenditure.
Mrs. Rumbold : I will write to the hon. Member.
Prison Officers
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of his Department on helping the families of a serving prison officer who dies, who are living in prison accommodation, to ensure that accommodation continues to be available to the family ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : We cannot undertake to provide accommodation for widows of deceased prison officers, but we treat such cases sympathetically and do not enforce eviction until we are satisfied that they have obtained alternative accommodation.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the number of new prison officers received into the prison services in each of the last three years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : In the last three years the recruitment and training of new prison officers has reached unprecedented levels. The number of new prison officers posted to establishments in each of these years was :
|Number
----------------------
1987-88 |1,644
1988-89 |2,372
1989-90 |1,555
Of those officers 3,321 were recruited for the opening of new accommodation for inmates and to meet in full management's commitment under the "fresh start" framework agreement ; and 2,270 were recruited to replace wastage.
Column 449
Electoral Registers
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to require the electoral register to include postal codes ; and if he will make a statement.
Prisoners (Sickness)
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the (a) sickness rates and (b) long-term sickness rates, that is more than one month, for each prison in the United Kingdom for each quarter year for the two previous years before "fresh start" was implemented and the subsequent years.
Mrs. Rumbold : This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Parole
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans his Department has to tighten security measures when prisoners are allowed out on parole ;
(2) how many (a) life and (b) other prisoners have escaped while out of prison on parole for the most recent year for which figures are available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the temporary release of prisoners under rule 6 of the prison rules. In the period 1 October 1989 to 30 September 1990 there were 1,381 recorded instances in which an inmate failed to return on time from a period of temporary release. Separate figures are not available for those prisoners serving sentences of life imprisonment and those serving determinate sentences. The arrangements governing temporary release are under review.
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the grounds on which life prisoners can obtain parole.
Mrs. Rumbold : Life sentence prisoners are not eligible for parole, but may be granted temporary release and escorted absences to test them under conditions of trust and responsibility and facilitate their eventual resettlement and reintegration into society. Those with provisional release dates and those in open prisons are generally eligible, as, on a highly selective basis, are some life sentence prisoners in category C prisons who have made good progress during their sentence and where the risks are judged to be acceptably low.
Broadcasting Bill
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from Elderpark housing association about amendments to the Broadcasting Bill ; and what replies he has sent.
Mr. Mellor : I have been asked to reply.
The Home Office replied to the letter of 10 October from the director of Elderpark housing association on 26 October. I have today sent the hon. Member a copy of that reply.
Column 450
Police Interviews
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by police force and by location those police stations that are now equipped with recording machines, so that police interviews with suspects can be recorded.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Violent Crime
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest figures for crimes of violence and the percentage difference since 1978.
Mr. John Patten : Information on notifiable offences of violent crime--violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery--is published in tables 2.8 to 2.10 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1988", Cm 847 and in table 4 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 31/90 ; copies of these publications are available in the Library. Between 1978 and the 12 months to June 1990 violent crime approximately doubled and represents only 6 per cent. of total recorded crime, similar to the proportion in 1978.
Kingston Prison, Portsmouth
Mr. David Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he plans to review security arrangements at Her Majesty's prison Kingston (Portsmouth), following the escape of John Gary Hilton on 6 October.
Mrs. Rumbold : An immediate review of security arrangements was carried out by the governor of Her Majesty's prison Kingston, Portsmouth following the escape of this prisoner on 6 October 1990. Immediate action was taken to improve the security of the establishment. In addition, a longer-term review of security arrangements is currently being carried out which will include the type of prisoner allocated to the establishment, the overall security of the buildings, the day and night staffing levels and the suitability of the current regime for the present population.
Ticket Touts
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration his Department is giving to counteracting the problem of ticket touts at sporting or entertainment events ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten [holding answer 23 October 1990] : Lord Justice Taylor has recommended that there should be a new criminal offence to meet the specific problem of ticket touting at football matches. We have not yet reached any final decision, but we see great force in his argument that touting at football matches can have particularly grave implications for public order and public safety and therefore deserves special treatment.
More generally, although touting may be considered offensive, we doubt that it warrants prohibition. The tout will normally simply exploit unsatisfied demand for tickets, without misrepresenting their face value. The more objectionable aspects of touting are already covered by the
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