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Lough Neagh (Search and Rescue)
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he intends to take any action to enhance search and rescue facilities on Lough Neagh.
Dr. Mawhinney : Responsibility for the preservation of life on Lough Neagh rests with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In addition to the RUC and other emergency services there is a voluntary search and rescue service for the lough which has a vessel maintained by Craigavon borough council. In order to enhance this service the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland intends to make a one-off grant of £60,000 to the council for the purchase of a second vessel and ancillary equipment.
Parliamentary approval to this new expenditure will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, vote 4, section G. Pending that approval urgent expenditure estimated at £60,000 will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.
Nursing Homes
Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has any information on the costs of independent homes for persons in need and nursing homes in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hanley : Copies of a report of a survey undertaken by Price Waterhouse, management consultants during July and August 1990 have been placed in the Library. Information about running and other costs was obtained from a sample of 72 registered homes for persons in need and nursing homes in respect of financial years commencing between October 1989 and May 1990. The key findings of the survey are as follows :
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Costs per bed per week<1>
|Sample size |Running costs |Running costs |Running costs,
|and capital |capital costs
|costs |and profit
|£ |£ |£
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homes for persons in need |35
Median |102.60 |126.10 |134.41
Mean |112.03 |137.80 |146.76
Nursing homes |37
Median |160.17 |197.01 |209.82
Mean |157.90 |194.22 |206.85
<1>Assuming a 90 per cent. occupancy rate.
The present income support levels exceed these figures.
EMPLOYMENT
HSE Inspectors
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment on what date the HSE began separately to itemise expenditure on overseas subsistence and travel by inspectors of principal grade and above in its budget.
Mr. Forth : Expenditure on overseas travel and subsistence is not recorded separately from other travel and subsistence costs on HSE's accounting system.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many fraudulent claims by HSE principal grade and above inspectors have been identified in each of the last four years ; and what action has been taken against those involved.
Mr. Forth : No fraudulent claims by HSE inspectors have been identified in the last four years.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the current procedures for the authorisation and payment of overseas travelling and subsistence allowances for HSE inspectors of principal grade and above ; and what steps are taken to check the validity of all such payments.
Mr. Forth : All journeys to foreign countries by HSE staff require prior written approval at unified grade 3 or above before the visit can be undertaken.
Staff are provided with guidance on their entitlement to travelling and subsistence allowances by a headquarters section which checks for accuracy all claims made. As a further check on the validity of the claims, a proportion are returned to line managers.
Youth Training Scheme
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young persons aged 16 or 17 years have applied for, and have been turned down for, a YTS place in the last year ; and how many 16 or 17-year-olds he estimates are currently without a job, YTS place, or any benefit.
Mr. Forth : All young people under 18 years who are not in full-time education or a job and are seeking training are guaranteed a suitable place on youth training. The number of 16 and 17-year-olds who are currently without a job, YTS place, or any benefit, and who are not in full-time education, is not available.
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Training (Budget Allocations)
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will produce a table showing the budget allocations for the financial year 1990- 91 for each(i) Training Agency area office and (ii) approved TEC showing the planned budget allocations for each area office and approved TEC for the financial year 1991-92.
Mr. Jackson : The allocated budgets for each of the approved training and enterprise councils for the financial year 1990-91 are set out in the table. Budget allocations for the financial year 1991-92 are not yet available. Budgets are not allocated to area offices.
|Total
|allocated
|budget
|£ million
------------------------------------------------------------
South East
Isle of Wight |1.50
Hertfordshire |10.10
Heart of England |4.25
Hampshire |13.18
Milton Keynes and North Buckinghamshire |2.80
Kent |8.54
Essex |14.47
Thames Valley |10.50
London
AZTEC |4.68
South West
Somerset |6.88
Dorset |10.74
Devon/Cornwall |39.94
West Midlands
Walsall |4.24
Coventry and Warwickshire |12.94
Staffordshire |16.71
Birmingham |12.35
East Midlands
North Nottinghamshire |12.02
Suffolk |8.40
Norfolk and Waverney |17.33
Calderdale/Kirklees |17.58
North Yorkshire |10.02
Rotherham |6.99
Sheffield |11.59
Leeds |8.59
South and East Cheshire |6.67
East Lancashire |12.56
METROTEC (Wigan) |6.12
Cumbria |13.94
Rochdale |5.60
Bolton and Bury |4.50
Oldham |7.40
Stockport and High Peak |4.76
Manchester |32.09
County Durham |15.91
Tyneside |31.23
Wearside |17.39
Teeside |28.68
Northumberland |7.04
West Wales |17.74
North East Wales |5.48
Mid Glamorgan |11.83
Individual budget figures relate to the period from the date when the TEC became operational to the end of the 1990-91 financial year.
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will produce a table showing the ET and YT budget allocations for each Training Agency area office and each approved TEC for the financial year 1990-91 and the planned budget allocations for the same during the financial year 1991- 92.
Mr. Jackson : The allocated budgets for ET and YT for each of the approved training and enterprise councils (TECs) for the financial year 1990-91 are set out in the table. Budget allocations for the financial year 1991-92 are not yet available. Budgets are not allocated to area offices.
£ million
|YT |ET
------------------------------------------------
South East
Isle of Wight |0.65 |0.34
Hertfordshire |4.44 |1.96
Heart of England |2.24 |0.81
Hampshire |7.72 |3.00
Milton Keynes and North Bucks |1.52 |0.59
Kent |5.36 |2.66
Essex |9.90 |5.41
Thames Valley |5.04 |2.02
London
AZTEC |1.72 |1.40
South West
Somerset |3.69 |1.24
Dorset |5.9 |2.15
Devon-Cornwall |21.05|10.98
West Midlands
Walsall |2.09 |1.43
Coventry and Warwickshire |7.08 |3.14
Staffordshire |10.02|3.43
Birmingham |4.86 |4.25
East Midlands
North Nottinghamshire |6.70 |2.56
Suffolk |4.84 |1.29
Norfolk and Waveney |9.39 |4.56
Yorkshire and Humberside
Calderdale/Kirklees |9.40 |5.13
North Yorkshire |4.71 |2.78
Rotherham |2.97 |2.58
Sheffield |5.23 |3.85
Leeds |3.77 |2.48
North West
South and East Cheshire |3.77 |0.92
East Lancashire |6.71 |2.95
METROTEC (Wigan) |3.42 |1.83
Cumbria |7.77 |2.92
Rochdale |2.64 |1.61
Bolton and Bury |2.58 |0.79
Oldham |4.36 |1.40
Stockport and High Peak |2.55 |1.11
Manchester |14.29|9.56
Northern
County Durham |8.64 |5.15
Tyneside |17.10|7.60
Wearside |8.50 |6.40
Teesside |14.80|11.80
Northumberland |3.49 |1.77
Wales
West Wales |7.15 |6.11
North East Wales |3.05 |1.28
Mid Glamorgan |6.70 |4.28
Individual budget figures relate to the period
from the date when the TEC became operational
to the end of the 1990-91 financial year.
Tourism (Northumbria)
Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the numbers employed in tourism and related employment in the Northumbria tourist board area in each of the last five years.
Mr. Jackson : The only information for the Northumbria tourist board area in the period requested is for September 1987, when the estimated number of employees in tourism-related industries was 60, 000. This figure does not include the self-employed, for whom comparable estimates are not available.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Lee : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the method of calculation of estimates of monthly and quarterly employment in the apparel, knitting and textiles industries ; and what is his Department's assessment of the possible margin of error ;
(2) what was the extent of revisions to his Department's estimates of employment in the apparel, knitting and textiles industries following the most recent census of employment and labour force survey ; and what were the reasons for these ;
(3) what expressions of concern he has received from the apparel, knitting and textiles industries about the accuracy of his Department's estimates of employment in these industries ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : Estimates are based on periodic censuses of employment, updated by employment trends shown in the monthly and quarterly samples of employers in the relevant industries. Estimates for periods since the latest census are adjusted to reflect employment trends indicated in the annual labour force surveys. Margins of error depend on a number of factors which are not capable of being fully quantified. Between censuses, samples for the apparel and knitwear industries are too small to merit their separate publication. Revisions to the estimates for the textile industries are shown in the table.
Current methods for producing monthly and quarterly estimates do not fully reflect the opening and closures of
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business after the latest census benchmark. Officials met representatives of the Apparel, Knitting and Textiles Alliance on 12 April 1990, and acknowledged that this would be a problem for industries characterised by a high number of closures. Officials explained that work on improving the monthly and quarterly estimates had begun in September 1989 and that progress was carefully monitored by Ministers. Details of these plans were revealed at the statistics users conference in November 1990.
Employees in employment-Great Britain
Textiles industry (Class 43) (SIC 1980)
Thousands
|Pre Census|Post |Post LFS
|1987 |Census |1989
|1987
----------------------------------------------------------
June 1989 |206.4 |217.8 |217.7
December 1989 |- |- |214.6
Accident Claims
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his reply of 3 December, Official Report, column 40, what is the statutory basis for the Health and Safety Executive's charge for factual statements requested in connection with civil claims.
Mr. Forth : Section 13(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 empowers the Health and Safety Executive acting on behalf of the Health and Safety Commission to charge for the provision of factual statements.
Employers (Prosecutions)
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions of employers there have been in Scotland in every year since 1960 for producing false records.
Mr. Forth : Since 1960 there has been one such prosecution under wages council legislation and that was in 1982.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions of employers there have been in Scotland in every year since 1960 for illegal underpayment of wages.
Mr. Forth : There have been five such prosecutions under wages council legislation since 1960, one in 1962 and four in 1977.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions of employers there have been in Scotland in every year since 1960 for failure to produce records.
Mr. Forth : Since 1960 there has been one such prosecution under wages council legislation and that was in 1979.
Restart
Mr. Lee : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people attended a restart interview in the six months ended September, and what were the results of those interviews.
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Mr. Jackson : The restart interview programme provides a framework within which the Employment Service provides help for long-term unemployed people. It provides a gateway to the range of employment and training opportunities available as well as being a means of ensuring that claimants remain available for and are actively seeking work.
During the period in question 630,000 people were interviewed and immediately following their interview 10,500 started work, 35,600 began training under employment training, 27,300 started in job club, 14,400 started a restart course and 4,200 attended an enterprise allowance scheme awareness day.
These figures reflect only the direct results of restart. We do not know how many people subsequently take up a job or a place on an employment or training programme as a result of the guidance given to them at their interview.
Over the same period the Employment Service as a whole placed 118, 000 long -term unemployed people into work, 74,500 into employment training, 68,600 into job club and 7,700 into enterprise allowance schemes.
HEALTH
Family Doctors
2. Mr. Moss : To ask the Secretary of State for Health by how much spending on the family doctor service has risen in the last 11 years.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Eighty-five per cent. in real terms.
Cornwall Air Ambulance
15. Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he will review his decision not to contribute to the funding of the Cornwall air ambulance during the period of its evaluation.
Drug Prescribing
16. Mr. Illsley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that general practitioners will not be prevented or restricted from prescribing drugs by the action of family health service associations.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The indicative prescribing scheme will promote quality in this part of the health service and will in no way prevent general practitioners from prescribing all the drugs their patients need.
Rural Health Facilities
17. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he now proposes to introduce any new initiatives to improve health service facilities in rural areas.
Mr. Dorrell : From 1 April 1991 we shall introduce significant improvements with the rural practice payments scheme for general practitioners in truly rural areas and the health service reforms will ensure health and family health service authorities will in future pay particular attention to the needs of their residents for co-ordinated hospital, community and primary health care.
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Nottingham Health Authority
18. Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the rate of increase in funding for the Nottingham health authority over the last five years has been.
Mr. Dorrell : Over the period 1985-86 to 1990-91 Nottingham health authority received an average annual revenue cash increase of 8.6 per cent., which represents a 13.1 per cent. real increase in resources.
National Health Service and Community Care Act
19. Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which local authorities are planning to implement the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 before April 1993.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The first phase of community care implementation under the Act begins in April 1991, when authorities will introduce complaints procedures and inspection units and the specific grants for services for mental illness and drugs and alcohol become available. But we know that many authorities intend to implement, at least in part, proposals scheduled for introduction in phases 2 and 3, in advance of the statutory requirements.
Health Care Purchasing
20. Sir Hal Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessments he makes of the balance of advantage between health care providers and purchasers.
Mr. Waldegrave : Patients will be the prime beneficiaries of the separation of the roles of purchasers and providers in the reformed national health service.
Waiting Lists
21. Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what initiatives he has to reduce hospital waiting lists.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) earlier today.
Community Health Services
22. Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to improve the arrangements for liaison between community health service and social services departments concerning individual patient care.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : In implementing our policy for community care, social services departments and national health service authorities will be required by the National Health Service and Community Care Act to liaise in planning services. They will also need to work closely in the development of assessment and care management arrangements for the delivery of services to individuals.
Family Planning
23. Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the future of family planning services.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We continue to regard family planning as an important health care service. Our policy
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remains that people should be free to choose their source of family planning advice and treatment and that health authority clinic services complement those provided by family doctors.London Ambulance Service
24. Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the proceedings of the London ambulance service board are made public.
Mr. Dorrell : The South West Thames regional health authority has overall responsibility for the London ambulance service--LAS--and the LAS board reports to the RHA. The purpose of the board is to develop and improve the management and operations of the LAS. It would not be appropriate for its proceedings to be made public. But an annual report will be published.
NHS Trusts
25. Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to allow new hospitals or existing non-national health service hospitals such as military hospitals to become self-governing national health service trusts.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : New national health service hospitals will be eligible to apply for NHS trust status once they are operational. Any NHS hospital or other unit actively involved in patient care may apply for trust status. Military hospitals are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and thus are not eligible.
28. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many national health service trust applications were rejected on the grounds of financial non-viability.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : None. The decisions on the trust applications were taken in the light of all the information available to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, of which the financial assessment was one element.
Junior Doctors
26. Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in reducing the hours worked by junior doctors.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Yesterday I signed an agreement with the medical profession to reduce junior doctors' hours. Under the agreement-- the result of intensive talks by representatives of all the relevant bodies --junior doctors will move towards a maximum working week of 72 hours on duty--and preferably less. As a first step, the Government will fund 200 new consultant and 50 new staff grade posts in England in 1991-92 in order to stimulate the introduction of changed working patterns. The other United Kingdom health departments will be making their financial contribution in support of this initiative.
General Practitioners
27. Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for Health by how much funding for general practitioner practice improvements has increased in the last 11 years.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Expenditure on GP premises has risen fourfold in real terms since 1979-80, with much of the increase due to payments through cost rent and improvement grants for improvements to premises.NHS Funding
29. Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of national health service funding will be next year ; and what it was in 1978.
Mr. Dorrell : Next year the national health service in England will have a total of £26.2 billion to spend. This represents a real terms increase of 50 per cent. on the 1978-79 gross spending total of £6.5 billion.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
30. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the level of funding undertaken by his Department to promote hormone replacement therapy as a preventive treatment for menopausal illnesses.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Decisions on prescribing hormone replacement therapy rest on clinical judgment and are therefore a professional matter. We were pleased to provide funding of £9,500 for a workshop on HRT and osteoporosis, a total of £53,000 to three voluntary organisations in this field, and £128,000 for research projects. The number of prescriptions for HRT in 1989 was 2.9 million which cost the NHS £29.5 million.
Nurses (Training Courses)
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average number of nurses attending training courses in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not available centrally.
Neuroscience
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated net present value of the proposed capital spending of over £50 million to move neuroscience services from Shooters Hill to Denmark Hill.
Mr. Dorrell : The option appraisal demonstrated that the development at Denmark Hill would be the cheapest in capital terms and significantly better on non-financial service criteria such as integration, turbulence and timing. Calculation of the net present value would require non- financial service benefits to be expressed in monetary terms and this was not considered necessary.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the numbers of extra neuroscience consultations and procedures expected as the result of the proposed move of neuroscience from Shooters Hill to Denmark Hill.
Mr. Dorrell : The new centre at Denmark Hill will be a replacement facility designed for the same population served by the existing centres but which will offer a much improved standard of service. It is anticipated that it will treat approximately the same number of patients.
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In addition, a completely new magnetic resonance imaging facility will be available which will offer a non- invasive, faster and more accurate diagnostic service.Nurses' Homes
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each London borough the amounts by which lodging charges in nurses' homes have been abated in 1990-91 to take account of the abolition of domestic rates.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Lodging charges in nurses' homes were abated from 1 April 1990 by standard percentages varying between 18.6 per cent. and 21.7 per cent.--the precise figure depending on the category of accommodation--after increases for 1990-91 were applied, to take account of the abolition of domestic rates. Health authorities have had a degree of flexibility over the charges they make since April 1989. Information on the cash value of abatements by London boroughs is not held centrally.
Residential Homes
Mr. McCartney : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from organisations representing private care home owners regarding the availability of residential care for elderly and disabled persons.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Representations from private care home owners have been received on a variety of issues including residential and nursing home aspects of the Government's plans for the future provision and development of community care.
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many local authorities have transferred elderly residents' homes to independent trusts.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not available centrally.
Mental Health
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department has considered an application for an exhibition relating to MIND's work for people with mental health problems to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Mr. Dorrell : I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Services Committee, arrangements have been made with the authorities of the House for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 4 to 8 February 1991.
Operations
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of national health service patients in 1990 who have had operations for (i) hysterectomies and (ii) prostate gland removals ; and what is his estimate of the number of patients on the waiting list for these operations and the average time spent on the waiting list.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The latest figures available centrally show that in the year ending March 1989 there
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were an estimated 65,000 completed episodes of hospital care for patients having an hysterectomy and 46,700 episodes for prostate gland removal. The estimated mean waiting time before admission for these operations was 14.1 weeks and 15.9 weeks respectively. Information about patients currently on waiting lists is collected by the specialty of intended treatment, not by individual diagnosis or condition.Juveniles (Remand in Custody)
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the numbers and percentages of juveniles remanded to secure establishments by the magistrates courts of Cardiff, Bristol and London for the last available year ; and what were the comparable figures five and 10 years ago.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There is no power for the courts to remand juveniles direct to local authority secure accommodation. Local authorities can place juveniles in secure accommodation who have been remanded to their care, but information is not collected centrally on the courts at which such juveniles appeared.
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