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-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll |500 |669 |771 |444 |551 |777 Lothian and Borders |482 |678 |846 |567 |634 |777 Lanarkshire |469 |623 |691 |483 |561 |782 Highlands and Islands |191 |264 |241 |150 |274 |291 Grampian and Tayside |431 |660 |805 |469 |533 |633 Glasgow city |902 |1,269|1,545|806 |1,162|1,277 Central and Fife |423 |457 |582 |458 |587 |657 Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway |486 |661 |809 |478 |637 |749
Greater Glasgow Health Board
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) in the Greater Glasgow health board, on what basis the number of rehabilitation personnel for children with special needs is assessed ; when the position was last reviewed ; and when it will be reviewed again ;
(2) if he will request Greater Glasgow health board to determine the number of rehabilitation staff required to fulfil the needs of children in schools for children with special needs ;
(3) if he will make additional funds available to Greater Glasgow health board for rehabilitation staff in schools for children with special needs.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Services such as speech therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy for children with
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recorded special educational needs are primarily the responsibility of education authorities, although in practice, they are generally supplied by the health board.Greater Glasgow health board is currently reviewing its provision of rehabilitation personnel for children with special needs as part of its community health services strategy and expects to issue this for consultation shortly. I have drawn the concerns of the hon. Member to the board's attention. Health boards are given an annual revenue allocation and it is for the boards to decide how best to apportion these resources. A decision on the 1991-92 allocations has not yet been made.
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for
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Strathkelvin and Bearsden of 7 December, Official Report, column 237, what are the proposed starting dates for the remaining Seafield units.Mr. Michael Forsyth : I understand that at this time no dates have been set by the Greater Glasgow health board for the start of the remaining planned Seafield units.
West Linton Primary School
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will ensure that the capital consent to Borders regional council for 1991- 92 will be sufficient to replace the primary school at West Linton so as to cater for the private housing developments in the village.
Mr. Lang : Distribution of consents to incur capital expenditure in 1991-92 to local authorities will be announced in February 1991. It will be for Borders regional council to determine what school building work may be required at West Linton in the light of its knowledge of local needs and of the resources available to it.
Cancer
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of (a) men and (b) women whose death was caused by lung cancer for each year since 1979.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested is given in the annual report for 1989 of the Registrar General for Scotland (table Cl.1, pp 42-43, ICD9 162) ; a copy of the report is available in the Library of the House. This year, for the first time, the Registrar General also sent a copy to each Scottish right hon. and hon. Member for reference.
International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision. Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of deaths caused by breast cancer for each year since 1979.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information is as follows :
Deaths from breast cancer, by sex, Scotland 1979-1989
|Male (ICD9<1>|Female
|175) |(ICD9<1> 174)
--------------------------------------------------------
1979 |7 |1,176
1980 |3 |1,214
1981 |7 |1,175
1982 |8 |1,228
1983 |9 |1,262
1984 |6 |1,242
1985 |12 |1,252
1986 |13 |1,313
1987 |11 |1,234
1988 |7 |1,261
1989 |7 |1,356
<1>International Classification of Diseases, Ninth
Revision.
Rent Arrears
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the number of public sector tenants in arrears with their rent in each district and islands council in Scotland ; and if he will give it as a percentage of all tenants in each authority.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information requested is shown in the table below, which is derived from statistical returns made by local authorities to the Scottish Development Department earlier this year.
Authority |Number |Percentage
|in arrears<1>|of tenants<2>
------------------------------------------------------------------
Berwickshire |497 |21.32
Ettrick and Lauderdale |680 |17.81
Roxburgh |677 |13.49
Tweeddale |542 |39.74
Clackmannan |2,902 |36.18
Falkirk |<3>8,000 |28.75
Stirling |5,834 |52.91
Annandale and Eskdale |n/a |-
Nithsdale |<3>2,800 |40.88
Stewartry |964 |43.15
Wigtown |302 |7.36
Dunfermline |7,774 |43.45
Kirkcaldy |7,941 |36.23
North East Fife |1,625 |26.34
Aberdeen |8,557 |23.72
Banff and Buchan |2,993 |27.09
Gordon |674 |12.32
Kincardine and Deeside |504 |14.24
Moray |1,602 |16.76
Badenoch and Strathspey |179 |17.95
Caithness |1,254 |33.65
Inverness |2,017 |31.89
Lochaber |307 |11.46
Nairn |166 |15.70
Ross and Cromarty |2,904 |48.89
Skye and Lochalsh |300 |36.81
Sutherland |229 |13.36
East Lothian |5,911 |45.95
Edinburgh |14,600 |33.54
Midlothian |3,257 |32.52
West Lothian |3,433 |18.41
Argyll and Bute |2,093 |27.59
Bearsden and Milngavie |n/a |-
Clydebank |7,815 |77.14
Clydesdale |3,391 |39.74
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth |1,707 |45.89
Cumnock and Doon Valley |n/a |-
Cunninghame |7,443 |37.48
Dumbarton |5,115 |47.55
East Kilbride |224 |47.43
Eastwood |203 |12.16
Glasgow |78,568 |50.80
Hamilton |7,250 |36.20
Inverclyde |n/a |-
Kilmarnock and Loudoun |5,057 |33.79
Kyle and Carrick |n/a |-
Monklands |6,435 |25.03
Motherwell |15,047 |42.45
Renfrew |n/a |-
Strathkelvin |1,501 |17.05
Angus |1,394 |11.47
Dundee |n/a |-
Perth and Kinross |3,917 |29.37
Orkney Islands |n/a |-
Shetland Islands |818 |31.89
Western Isles |837 |35.78
<1>Number of local authority dwellings in respect of which
tenants were in arrears of rent at 31 March 1990.
<2>Percentage of local authority dwellings in respect of which
tenants were in arrears of rent at 31 March 1990.
<3>Approximate figures.
Registers (Sale of Information)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will describe the pricing structures surrounding (a) the sale of information from the electoral register and (b) the community charges register, and give the reasons why it was decided to use different pricing structures.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Certain persons may obtain a limited number of copies of the electoral register free of charge. Additional copies for such persons, or copies for a returning officer or a local authority are provided at a charge of 25p per thousand entries. In all other cases the fee is £2.50 per thousand entries. There is no provision for the sale of the community charge register.Expenditure
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what was or is the planned expenditure for Scotland at 1990-91 prices for training in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94 ; (2) expressed in 1990-91 prices, what was or will be the combined budget for expenditure in Scotland by the Scottish Development Agency, Highlands and Islands Development Board and Training Agency or successor bodies in 1988-89, 1989- 90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 ; (3) what the expenditure in 1988-89 on the Scottish Development Agency, Highlands and Islands Development Board and Training Agency or their successor bodies would be in 1991-92, expressed in 1990-91 prices.
Mr. Allan Stewart [holding answer 10 December 1990] : Expenditure on training by the Training Agency in Scotland has not been planned separately prior to 1991-92. The only indentifiable figures relating to training by the Training Agency in Scotland for 1989-90 and 1990-91 are figures in the supply estimates for the training programmes, Scotland vote (class XV, vote 4) which covers the contribution made by the Industry Department for Scotland towards the expenditure borne on class VI, vote 1 of the Department of Employment in relation to training activities in Scotland.
This provision is intended to reflect that part of the cost of the Department of Employment's training programme for Scotland which can be separately identified. However, it is not a reliable guide to actual expenditure by the Training Agency in relation to its activities in Scotland. Subject to this caveat, the figures are as follows :
Year |£ million at
|1990-91 prices
---------------------------------------------
1989-90 |298.8
1990-91 |267.3
These figures are not directly comparable with provision for expenditure on training by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in connection with training activity in 1991-92 and future years. 1991-92 is the first year for which it will be possible to identify an accurate figure for central Government expenditure in connection with training activity in Scotland. The component parts of the grant-in-aid for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise for 1991-92 which will be devoted to such activity are still under discussion with them ; and will be reflected in due course in the grant-in-aid tables in the supply estimates for the regional and general industrial supports, Scotland vote (class XV, vote 3). However, it is possible now to identify that proportion of the public expenditure provision for 1991-92 which has been transferred to the Scotland programme from the employment programme. That figure
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is £239.5 million at 1990-91 prices. Comparable figures for 1992-93 and 1993-94 will be published, on a cash basis, in due course in the departmental report.The difficulties referred to above have implications for the validity of any comparisons which combine figures for the Training Agency with those relating to the Scottish Development Agency and the Highlands and Islands Development Board. Subject to this important proviso, the information sought is set out in the table :
|£ million
------------------------------
1988-89 |447.8
1989-90 |515.8
1990-91 |494.9
1991-92 |463.7
Notes:
1. Resources for training
include provision for
expenditure on the Technical
and Vocational Education
initiative, which will be the
responsibility of the
Industry Department for
Scotland from 1 April 1991.
2. The figures for 1990-91
are for planned expenditure
rather than for forecast
expenditure because it would
be particularly misleading to
equate estimated outturn on
Class XV, Vote 4 with
forecasts of actual
expenditure by the Scottish
Development Agency and the
Highlands and Islands
Development Board.
Advertising
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will publish a table showing the amount spent in each of the last five years by his Department on (a) advertising in the press, (b) advertising on television and radio, (c) other advertising and promotion and (d) promotion videos and sound cassettes.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 11 December 1990] : Expenditure by the Scottish Office in 1989-90 on newspaper advertising, television and radio, printed and other material and information videos was £1,022, 000, £1,059,000, £995,000 and £96,000.
The corresponding figures for 1988-89 were £378,000, £617,000, £887,000 and £46,000.
Prior to 1988-89 an analysis of expenditure was not maintained in the form requested. Total expenditure on information publicity for 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-88 was £677,000, £857,000 and £1,094,000.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Income Support
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average value, in the last 12-month period for which records are available, of passport benefits for income support recipients (a) including housing benefit and community charge benefit and (b) excluding these two benefits.
Miss Widdecombe : Comprehensive information is not available on the basis requested ; and, in particular, relevant information about community charge benefit is not yet available.
In any event, it would not be meaningful to try to average the value of all the passport benefits across all income support recipients. Some of the passport benefits are not relevant to everyone who is receiving income support. For example, free welfare milk and free school meals are available only where there are children in the
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family ; and for some other passport benefits the value depends on the extent to which people need to make use of them, such as, exemption from NHS charges and payments from the social fund.Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown of the deductions of income support for other purposes at 31 August as stated in his answer of 4 December.
Miss Widdecombe : Further to my answer of 4 December, the deductions from income support for other purposes at 31 August cover the following direct payments :
|£
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rent arrears and service charges for fuel or water paid
with, or as part of, rent |78,917
Mortgage interest |7,420
Water charges |45,155
Residential care homes, nursing homes or hostels |3,179
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, further to his answers of 27 November, Official Report, columns 365-6, regarding income support, what further specifics concerning circumstances he requires for these comparisons to be made, assuming there had been no change in the previous supplementary benefit scheme.
Miss Widdecombe : Even if the value of benefit in respect of housing costs were excluded, information would still be required to enable an assessment to be made of the additional requirements each beneficiary may have received under the supplementary benefit scheme--for example, the exact age of the claimants and any partner or children, their state of health and whether this meant they had to follow any special diet, needed extra baths or wore out their clothing unusually quickly, what laundry facilities were available and the size and condition of the accommodation. This list is by no means exhaustive but serves to illustrate the complexities of the old scheme and the intrusive questioning necessary to determine entitlement.
Further information would also be required to determine whether each individual satisfied the conditions for receipt of a range of other social security benefits, and, if so, at what level. Furthermore, it is increasingly unrealistic to attempt to make such comparisons on the assumption that, if it were still operating, there would have been no changes whatsoever to the supplementary benefit scheme over the period since 1988. Such an approach would produce results which would be misleading at best and, at worst, almost meaningless.
Child Support
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost in 1991-92 of (a) increasing one-parent benefit in line with inflation, and (b) paying the full £1 per week increase in child benefit to each of the child dependency increases for which there is to be a claw-back and for guardian allowance and child's special allowance.
Mr. Jack : The information is as follows :
(a) £14 million ;
(b) £5 million.
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Note : The figures are net of savings from income support, housing benefit and community charge benefit.Child Benefit
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost per year if there was a full child benefit disregard for recipients of income support.
Mr. Jack : The net cost of disregarding child benefit in the assessment of income support (assuming that the principle of alignment were to be maintained with housing benefit and community charge benefit) is estimated to be in excess of £1 billion a year.
Deductions at Source
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in Greenock and Port Glasgow in receipt of income support are having deductions made at source in order to pay (a) poll tax arrears and (b) crisis loan repayments.
Miss Widdecombe : The information at 30 November is as follows :
Carers
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what types of carers will be helped by the proposed introduction of a carers premium ;
(2) what types of carers have been helped by the introduction of the carers premium ; and how many have been helped.
Miss Widdecombe : The carer premium was introduced from 1 October this year for people claiming income support, housing benefit and community charge benefit who are getting invalid care allowance. It also goes to people who have claimed that allowance since October but could not be paid because they had another, more valuable, benefit. We estimate that 30,000 people will be helped in this way. We have recently announced that from October next year, the premium will continue for up to eight weeks after the caring role ceases. Regulations will be brought before the House in due course.
Residential Homes
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many elderly persons have been placed in a local authority home in cases where supplementary income support for board and lodging payments to elderly people of limited or no means in private or voluntary residential and nursing homes is inadequate or insufficient to pay the costs in the last year for which figures are available.
Miss Widdecombe : This information is not collected centrally.
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Pensions
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been, and what is currently being done to make additional financial provision for pensioners whose sole income is provided by their state pension.
Miss Widdecombe : Any pensioner whose income and capital falls below a prescribed level can claim income-related benefits. If a pensioner is in receipt of the maximum amount of basic state retirement pension only (with no additions) they would be entitled to income support and therefore would also be entitled to receive maximum housing benefit and maximum community charge benefit. From October 1989, we directed an extra £200 million a year to elderly and disabled pensioners through improvements in the premium structure common to income support, housing benefit and community charge benefit. This was in addition to the normal uprating for that year. From April 1991, we will also be increasing the ordinary pensioner premium (pensioners aged 60 to 74) over and above the normal uprating at a cost of around £80 million. This will directly benefit about 400,000 pensioners on income support and well over 1.5 million others who receive housing benefit and community charge benefit.
21. Mr. Donald Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost of uprating the basic pension by £13 for a single person and £20 for a couple.
Miss Widdecombe : Pursuant to the reply given by my hon. Friend the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State on 19 November at column 56, I regret that some of the information given was incorrect.
The rise in the NI contributions paid by an employee on average earnings would be approximately £2.78 per week, not £2.93 per week.
Motor Neurone Disease
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what research his Department has carried out into the household costs of motor neurone disease.
Mr. Scott : This Department has not carried out any specific research into the household costs of motor neurone disease.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether his Department has received any representations concerning the additional costs associated with motor neurone disease.
Mr. Scott : This Department has not received any representations specifically concerning the additional costs associated with motor neurone disease.
Transitional Protection
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants are still in receipt of the transitional protection following the benefit changes in 1988.
Miss Widdecombe : Shortly after last April's uprating of benefits, about 110,000 income support claimants were
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receiving transitional additions. In November this year, about 52, 000 people were receiving housing benefit transitional payments.Blind People
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people whose main disabling condition is listed as blindness or disease of the eye receive attendance allowance.
Mr. Scott : The information requested is not available.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many registered blind people are entitled to the severe disability premium out of the number who live alone.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested is not available.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to change the guidance notes for doctors in the attendance allowance board's handbook, in particular those clauses related to (a) longstanding blindness and attendance allowance and (b) gradual blindness and attendance allowance.
Mr. Scott : A handbook containing guidance notes for the delegated medical practitioners who deal with attendance allowance is produced, by the Attendance Allowance Board, which is independent of the Department of Social Security. I understand that the board is revising this handbook and will look at its guidance on blindness as part of that process.
Personal Pension Schemes
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated amount payable to personal pension schemes in 1991- 92, distinguishing between the contracted-out rebate, the 2 per cent. inducement and tax relief on the rebate.
Miss Widdecombe : On the assumption that, by the end of 1990-91, the number of people with personal pensions is 4.5 million, the Government Actuary estimates that the revenue forgone in 1991-92 will be £1,730 million for the contracted-out rebate, £600 million for the 2 per cent. incentive, and £200 million for the tax relief on the rebate.
Visual Impairment
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people receive attendance allowance solely on the basis of visual impairment.
Mr. Scott : The information requested is not available.
One-parent Benefit
Miss Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much will be saved from freezing one-parent benefit in 1991-92.
Mr. Jack : Pursuant to the reply given by my hon. Friend the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State on 20 November at column 108, I regret that some information has been found to be incorrect. The correct answer is that not uprating one-parent benefit in 1991-92
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saves £23 million on the benefit itself but results in increased spending on income support, housing benefit and community charge benefit. The net saving is £14 million.Benefits (Kilmarnock)
Mr. McKelvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in Kilmarnock in receipt of social security benefits are having deductions made at source for (a) poll tax arrears and (b) loan repayments.
Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 17 December 1990] : Income support is the only social security benefit from which deductions for community charge arrears may be made. The number of deductions at 30 November 1990 was 536.
The number of social fund loans being recovered from income support customers in Kilmarnock at 30 November 1990 was 1,648.
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HEALTH
Pay and Prices
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the price indices, disaggregated to the maximum extent possible to match the economic category analysis of the public expenditure White Paper, which underlay his Department's estimates of pay and price inflation over the period 1974-75 to 1988-89 ; together with the economic category weights for each year used in the calculation of pay and prices indices for (a) national health service total, (b) hospital and community health service current, (c) family practitioner service current and (d) personal social services current and capital.
Mr. Dorrell : The following tables give the information which is readily available, disaggregated as far as possible to match the economic categories in the public expenditure White Paper.
Column 235
Table 1
1975-76 to 1988-89-Sub-programme specific price indices
HCHS current Percentage NHS capital Percentage FPS current Percentage
\ C\ price index of total price index of total price index of total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1975-76 |28.8 |71.0 |30.6 |7.7 |28.4 |21.3 |28.8
1976-77 |13.8 |71.0 |12.0 |7.3 |11.2 |21.7 |13.1
1977-78 |8.6 |71.9 |14.3 |5.9 |8.6 |22.3 |8.9
1978-79 |9.6 |71.5 |11.7 |5.9 |13.2 |22.6 |10.5
1979-80 |20.5 |72.0 |20.7 |5.6 |18.3 |22.5 |20.0
1980-81 |28.0 |72.6 |25.9 |5.8 |22.4 |21.6 |26.7
1981-82 |8.2 |71.4 |3.2 |6.3 |10.8 |22.2 |8.5
1982-83 |6.5 |70.4 |1.6 |6.0 |8.3 |23.6 |6.6
1983-84 |5.1 |70.1 |2.0 |5.9 |5.1 |24.0 |4.9
1984-85 |5.8 |69.2 |4.2 |6.2 |7.3 |24.6 |6.1
1985-86 |5.2 |69.0 |5.9 |6.5 |5.0 |24.5 |5.2
1986-87 |6.9 |68.9 |5.0 |6.6 |5.2 |24.5 |6.4
1987-88 |8.5 |69.1 |5.1 |6.2 |7.1 |24.7 |7.9
1988-89 |10.5 |68.8 |5.8 |6.0 |9.8 |25.2 |10.0
Notes:
1. Figures underlying the indices and percentages for 1978-79 and later years are not directly comparable with figures for 1977-78 and earlier years because of the inclusion, since 1978-79 of direct credits and of differences in the composition of different parts of the programme.
2. The indices shown above cover over 90 per cent. of NHS expenditure. Specific indices are not available for Central Health and Miscellaneous Services and Departmental Administration.
3. Expenditure on HCHS current and FPS current falls into economic categories (i) and (ii) in the annual Public Expenditure White Paper; expenditure on NHS capital falls into economic category (vii).
Table 2
HCHS index disaggregated to show pay and prices
separately
|Percentage |Weighting
|increase over|percentage
|previous year
--------------------------------------------------------
1983-84
Pay |5.0 |73.9
Price |5.3 |26.1
Overall |5.1
1984-85
Pay |5.8 |73.5
Price |5.8 |26.5
Overall |5.8
1985-86
Pay |5.4 |72.5
Price |4.7 |27.5
Overall |5.2
1986-87
Pay |8.2 |72.6
Price |3.2 |27.4
Overall |6.9
1987-88
Pay |9.6 |72.6
Price |5.7 |27.4
Overall |8.5
1988-89
Pay |12.5 |73.6
Price |4.7 |26.4
Overall |10.5
Table 3
PSS pay and prices index
Year |Percentage
|increase over
|previous year
------------------------------------------
1975-76 |20.3
1976-77 |13.3
1977-78 |9.6
1978-79 |8.3
1979-80 |17.9
1980-81 |20.2
1981-82 |12.4
1982-83 |7.2
1983-84 |5.4
1984-85 |4.1
1985-86 |5.6
1986-87 |4.8
1987-88 |7.4
1988-89 |6.7
Hospital Beds
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average number of beds available within Mid Surrey and East Surrey area health authorities for 1980, 1985 and 1990 or latest available date.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is given in the table.
Average number of beds available daily. District Health Authority |1980 |1985 |1989-90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mid Surrey |2,835 |2,275 |1,872 East Surrey |2,666 |2,267 |1,539
A large proportion of this reduction in beds is a result of the successful implementation of the policy of care in the community for the mentally ill and handicapped. Over the period 1979 to 1989-90, there has been an increase in the numbers of patients treated of 18.5 per cent. in mid-Surrey and 26.1 per cent. in east Surrey.
Nurses
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average number of (a) holidays and (b) sickness days taken by nurses in each of the years 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1989.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is not available centrally.
Since 1974, the annual leave entitlement for qualified nurses has been five weeks a year. Unqualified nursing staff receive four weeks, with an additional two days after five years' service and a further three days after 10 years' service. Staff are also entitled to 10 paid public holidays. Prior to 1974, entitlements varied for different groups of staff and for some groups included public holidays.
Village Hospitals (Closure)
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many village hospitals have been closed in the Mid-Surrey and East Surrey area health authorities between 1979 and 1989.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There have not been any small hospital (less than 50 beds) closures between 1979 and 1989 in Mid Surrey district health authority. East Surrey closed three small hospitals, Bletchingley hospital (43 beds), Horley hospital (15 beds) and the old East Surrey hospital (48 beds). Services are being concentrated at the new East Surrey district general hospital.
Column 238
HIV-AIDS
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to account for the movement of people into metropolitan centres providing specialist treatment for HIV and AIDS in determining the charging system between health authorities for treatment of out-of-area patients.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Earmarked funds to the national health service for the treatment and care of people with HIV infection and AIDS are distributed on the basis of the numbers of live AIDS cases reported in each region. This method of allocation is to continue for 1991-92.
We are exploring what changes will be needed in arrangements for funding the provision of services for AIDS treatment and care post 1991-92 to take account of the new purchaser-provider functions of health authorities.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist AIDS facilities there are in London.
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