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Food Safety
Miss Emma Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what representations his Department has received from the cheese manufacturing industry concerning the proposals made in the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations ;
(2) how many cases of food poisoning have been traced to hard cheeses in the last three years ;
(3) whether the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations will apply to traditionally produced hard cheeses when (a) vacuum packed and (b) wax coated ;
(4) how many cases of food poisoning have been traced to hard cheeses delivered in the post over the last five years.
Mr. Dorrell : The Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1990 specify that mould (or other micro-organism) ripened soft cheese should be temperature controlled. Hard cheese is only covered by the regulations in cooked products. The regulations do not differentiate vacuum packed or wax coated cheeses.
Data on the incidence of outbreaks of food poisoning related to particular foods is not in itself a conclusive indicator of the need for controls to improve food hygiene.
Miss Emma Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the effect of the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations on the mail-order food industry.
Mr. Dorrell : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Mitchell) on 21 February at columns 245-46. The Government are consulting mail order firms and others on proposals for amendments to these regulations, including an exemption for mail order to allow industry more time to develop practical means of achieving necessary controls. Amending regulations will be laid before Parliament when the consultation is complete.
Supra-regional Services
Sir David Price : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he received the recommendations of the supra-regional services advisory group on the future funding and management of the supra-regional services ; and what response he has made.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Chairman of the Supra Regional Services Advisory Group sent his recommendations to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 21 December 1990. We accepted the recommendations in full, and issued an announcement to health authorities on 8 February. A copy of this announcement has been placed in the Library.Officials are arranging contracts with the designated centres. When these are complete, we will make a further announcement of the agreed funding level for each unit.
NHS Pay
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the average rates of pay for NHS ancillary staff (a) in Yorkshire and Humberside and (b) nationally.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The estimated average gross annual rate of pay for NHS ancillary staff in Yorkshire region at September 1990 was £8,200 per whole-time equivalent compared with a figure of £8,170 nationally.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department last conducted a survey of the ethnic origins of its employees ; when it next plans to do so ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : The last survey of ethnic origin conducted in the Department was over the period June to October 1989. In accordance with the Department's action plan on equal opportunities, a further survey is planned to commence in June this year.
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of officers in each grade (1-7) and overall in the Department are (a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities, respectively.
Mr. Dorrell : The information requested is set out in the table :
Grade Total Female Ethnic Minority<2>
|Staff<1>
|Number |Per cent.|Number |Per cent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |1 |0 |- |0 |-
2 |9 |2 |22.2 |0 |-
3 |24 |5 |20.8 |0 |-
4 |24 |7 |29.2 |0 |-
5 |173 |55 |31.8 |7 |4.0
6 |183 |51 |27.9 |5 |2.7
7 |341 |94 |27.6 |8 |2.3
|-- |-- |-- |-- |--
Total |755 |214 |28.3 |20 |2.6
<1> Figures from the Department's payroll as at 31 January 1991.
<2> Figures based on questionnaires voluntarily completed by staff.
For the grades shown the overall response rate was 89.4 per cent.
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to recruit members of ethnic minorities in top grades of employment at his Department.
Mr. Dorrell : Recruitment for established appointments at senior level is undertaken by the Civil Service Commission. The Department supports the various initiatives which the Civil Service Commission is taking to aid the recruitment of members of the ethnic minorities.
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Pharmaceuticals
Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his response on 30 January, Official Report, column 530, if he will name the major manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products that has opposed the restoration of patent term protection by the European Commission and indicate what is its manufacturing capacity in the United Kingdom.
Personal Social Services
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated outturn of expenditure on the personal social services for each local authority in 1990-91 ; and what was the level of each authority's expenditure on the personal social services in 1979-80 adjusted by (a) the gross domestic product deflator and (b) the change in input unit costs.
Mr. Dorrell : The information is shown in the table :
Net current expenditure on personal social services
1990-91 1979-80 outturn revalued
budgets to 1990-91 using
|GDP |PSS pay
|and prices
|index
|£ million|£ million|£ million
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shire Counties
Avon |73.3 |54.6 |59.6
Bedfordshire |38.9 |26.6 |29.1
Berkshire |53.4 |30.8 |33.6
Buckinghamshire |44.2 |20.8 |22.7
Cambridgeshire |43.6 |25.0 |27.3
Cheshire |68.0 |44.2 |48.3
Cleveland |47.2 |33.3 |36.3
Cornwall |28.5 |15.3 |16.7
Cumbria |31.8 |21.6 |23.6
Derbyshire |81.5 |42.8 |46.7
Devon |63.0 |39.9 |43.5
Dorset |35.3 |27.4 |29.9
Durham |36.3 |31.4 |34.2
East Sussex |52.4 |41.2 |45.0
Essex |107.1 |56.9 |62.1
Gloucestershire |31.2 |22.3 |24.4
Hampshire |81.0 |61.1 |66.7
Hereford and Worcester |38.5 |26.8 |29.3
Hertfordshire |64.9 |39.9 |43.6
Humberside |69.0 |41.8 |45.6
Isle of Wight |8.8 |4.8 |5.3
Kent |99.1 |63.2 |69.0
Lancashire |109.7 |76.3 |83.2
Leicestershire |63.1 |39.6 |43.3
Lincolnshire |32.9 |26.2 |28.5
Norfolk |42.5 |30.9 |33.7
Northamptonshire |41.6 |23.0 |25.1
Northumberland |22.5 |14.5 |15.8
North Yorkshire |39.9 |26.9 |29.3
Nottinghamshire |88.5 |54.5 |59.5
Oxfordshire |37.4 |27.2 |29.7
Shropshire |24.3 |12.9 |14.1
Somerset |32.7 |18.8 |20.5
Staffordshire |57.2 |39.9 |43.5
Suffolk |35.1 |22.3 |24.3
Surrey |57.7 |36.8 |40.1
Warwickshire |31.0 |19.4 |21.1
West Sussex |38.7 |27.9 |30.5
Wiltshire |35.0 |21.5 |23.5
Isles of Scilly |0.1 |0.1 |0.1
Metropolitan Districts
Bolton |22.0 |15.3 |16.7
Bury |13.8 |10.2 |11.1
Manchester |63.1 |59.8 |65.3
Oldham |19.8 |15.1 |16.5
Rochdale |23.7 |15.7 |17.1
Salford |25.6 |18.7 |20.4
Stockport |22.4 |15.2 |16.5
Tameside |21.9 |14.4 |15.8
Trafford |16.2 |11.0 |12.0
Wigan |21.0 |16.4 |17.9
Knowsley |14.1 |11.8 |12.8
Liverpool |57.1 |44.6 |48.7
St. Helens |17.4 |16.9 |18.4
Sefton |24.5 |9.8 |10.7
Wirral |29.8 |21.4 |23.3
Barnsley |15.2 |12.3 |13.4
Doncaster |19.9 |18.0 |19.6
Rotherham |21.0 |13.3 |14.5
Sheffield |56.4 |42.8 |46.7
Gateshead |19.7 |15.4 |16.8
Newcastle |35.7 |31.7 |34.6
North Tyneside |22.3 |13.6 |14.9
South Tyneside |14.3 |11.7 |12.8
Sunderland |24.4 |22.2 |24.2
Birmingham |112.0 |82.5 |90.0
Coventry |33.8 |24.0 |26.2
Dudley |20.0 |11.2 |12.2
Sandwell |32.7 |16.6 |18.1
Solihull |15.1 |6.8 |7.4
Walsall |19.8 |14.2 |15.5
Wolverhampton |27.6 |14.9 |16.2
Bradford |47.7 |34.2 |37.3
Calderdale |18.0 |10.8 |11.8
Kirklees |31.7 |20.8 |22.7
Leeds |72.2 |40.0 |43.7
Wakefield |24.1 |18.8 |20.5
Inner London Boroughs
Camden |42.5 |41.0 |44.8
Greenwich |42.0 |25.5 |27.9
Hackney |46.4 |36.9 |40.3
Hammersmith |35.8 |27.6 |30.1
Islington |45.5 |32.7 |35.7
Kensington |29.0 |21.9 |23.9
Lambeth |. . |51.1 |55.7
Lewisham |44.7 |37.7 |41.1
Southwark |49.3 |37.3 |40.7
Tower Hamlets |28.3 |27.8 |30.4
Wandsworth |52.0 |45.9 |50.0
Westminster |41.8 |32.1 |35.0
City of London |3.0 |1.1 |1.2
Outer London Boroughs
Barking |16.5 |10.8 |11.8
Barnet |27.4 |21.0 |23.0
Bexley |15.9 |11.6 |12.7
Brent |42.2 |28.3 |30.9
Bromley |21.8 |15.8 |17.3
Croydon |32.6 |21.7 |23.7
Ealing |37.5 |23.6 |25.8
Enfield |26.3 |14.9 |16.3
Haringey |. . |29.9 |32.7
Harrow |18.6 |12.8 |14.0
Havering |19.9 |13.7 |14.9
Hillingdon |25.8 |16.3 |17.8
Hounslow |27.0 |16.0 |17.4
Kingston-upon-Thames |13.9 |9.3 |10.1
Merton |19.1 |14.8 |16.1
Newham |37.5 |21.5 |23.5
Redbridge |21.2 |14.2 |15.4
Richmond-upon-Thames |16.9 |9.3 |10.1
Sutton |16.8 |9.7 |10.6
Waltham Forest |33.3 |21.5 |23.5
Notes:
1. 1990-91 budgets are based on authorities own estimates.
2. Budget returns have not been received from Lambeth and Haringey.
3. Shire Counties figures for 1979-80 exclude expenditure by Shire
Districts of £8 million revalued.
Salmonella
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factor he attributes the latest annual increase in salmonella enteritidis infections in humans.
Mr. Dorrell : Epidemiological and microbiological work by the public health laboratory service on salmonella enteritidis phage type 4, which is the main salmonella associated with food poisoning in humans, continues to demonstrate that this organism is predominantly associated with poultry meat and eggs. Reports of illness are still being received where the public health advice about the safe consumption of eggs and the hygienic handling of raw meats especially poultry, is not being followed. It is important that producers, caterers and consumers continue their efforts to control this problem.
Deaths
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of deaths of persons classified as of no fixed address for each year since 1980.
Mr. Dorrell : The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
GP Budgets
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practices intend to hold their own budget from 1 April.
Mr. Waldegrave : I shall make an announcement shortly.
NHS Expenditure
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much cash is currently being spent on the national health service ; what was the figure for the year to May 1979 in real and actual terms ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : Expenditure figures for England are available on a financial year basis only. This year gross spending on the NHS in England will be £23.7 billion compared with £6.6 billion, or £16.5 billion in today's prices in 1978-79. This represents a real terms increase of nearly 44 per cent.
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Dental Contract
Sir John Hunt : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in the Bromley area have withdrawn from the national health service since the introduction of the new dental contract.
Mr. Dorrell : Since the introduction of the new dental contract on 1 October 1990, two dentists in the Bromley area have withdrawn from the national health service. This compares with eight withdrawals for the corresponding period in the previous year.
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Nurses' Accommodation
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has investigated the amount of surplus nursing accommodation in the London area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : The Department recently commissioned a further study of the utilisation of the NHS residential estate and the report of that study is presently being considered. The details of the availability and utilisation rates of health authorities in the Greater London area and the special health authorities for the London post-graduate teaching hospitals are shown in the table.
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Table showing availability and utilisation rates for
health authorities in the Greater London area.
(Figures as at 30 November 1990)
-----------------------------------------------------------
North West Thames
Barnet |930 |<1> |<1>
Ealing |328 |100 |97
Harrow |639 |100 |97
Hillingdon |904 |92 |100
Hounslow and Spelthorne |<1> |<1> |<1>
Parkside |1,991|96 |96
Riverside |1,908|94 |100
North East Thames
Barking Havering and Brentwood |1,247|92 |85
Bloomsbury |<1> |<1> |<1>
City and Hackney |1,139|91 |97
Enfield |510 |93 |91
Hampstead |1,029|98 |87
Haringey |402 |99 |100
Islington |<1> |<1> |<1>
Newham |412 |98 |98
Redbridge |476 |78 |95
Tower Hamlets |1,165|<1> |<1>
Waltham Forest |802 |87 |86
South East Thames
Bexley |<1> |<1> |<1>
Bromley |<1> |<1> |<1>
Camberwell |799 |92 |93
Greenwich |805 |90 |89
Lewisham and North Southwark |<1> |<1> |<1>
West Lambeth |<1> |<1> |<1>
South West Thames
Croydon |780 |96 |100
Kingston and Esher |681 |96 |84
Merton and Sutton |<1> |<1> |<1>
Richmond Twickenham and Roehampton |417 |99 |95
Wandsworth |1,141|85 |86
SHAs for the London Post-Graduate Teaching Hospitals
Bethlem and Maudsley |307 |100 |90
Hospital for Sick Children |903 |97 |91
Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte |623 |95 |93
National Neurology |240 |100 |93
Royal Marsden |323 |97 |94
National Heart and Chest |557 |86 |93
<1>Figures not provided.
Notes:
(b) Percentage of units available for letting out of the
total stock.
(c) Percentage of (b) actually occupied.
Gulf Casualties
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans have been made to provide the rehabilitation which may be needed for service personnel injured in the Gulf ; and how it will be financed.
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Mr. Dorrell : Injuries to service personnel in the Gulf have been mercifully few. We anticipate that any rehabilitation needed after their treatment can be provided within existing plans.
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Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans have been made to provide adequate social services for service personnel wounded in the Gulf ; and how these will be financed.Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Kent (Mr. Rowe) and the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on 5 February at columns 154-55.
AIDS
Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the Government are doing to combat the spread of AIDS.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Government are fully committed to the fight against AIDS. Since 1985, we have allocated more than £500 million of earmarked funding to health and local authorities for the development of AIDS-related services and nearly £8 million to the voluntary sector. During this period we have also allocated over £62 million to support a major public education campaign and made some £50 million available for research into AIDS. In addition, we have played a full part in supporting international initiatives ; we are the third largest contributor to WHO's global programme on AIDS.
Achondroplasia
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has to improve the availability of treatment facilities for achondroplasia.
Mr. Dorrell : It is for local health authorities to decide what services to make available for the treatment of achondroplasia, in the light of their assessment of local health needs and priorities, as against resources.
Hospital Treatment, York
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the numbers of in-patients and day cases treated respectively in the York health authority area were in (i) 1979 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : The information requested is given in the table.
In-patients and day cases in York health authority
Year |In-patients|Day cases
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1979
Discharges and deaths |27,296 |4,444
1988-89
Discharges and deaths |34,176 |5,523
Finished consultant episodes |38,184
1989-90
Finished consultant episodes |39,434 |5,626
Source: 1979 SH3; 1988-89 SH3A; 1989-90 KP70.
Taylorplan Services Ltd.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Bradford hospitals national health service trust assumed responsibility for hospitals in Bradford ; when the
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contract for catering was signed with Taylorplan Services Ltd. ; whether he was asked to supply any information about companies tendering for the catering contract ; and if he will make a statement.Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Bradford hospitals NHS trust was established on 17 December 1990 and has certain functions, which include entering into contracts, before it becomes fully operational on 1 April. The tenders and the contract for catering services are a matter between the Trust and the contractors concerned and the Department has no direct involvement.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the technical evaluation by Price Waterhouse of the tender submitted by Taylorplan Services Ltd. to North Lincolnshire district health authority in 1988 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. The evaluation was a contract matter between Price Waterhouse and the North Lincolnshire district health authority, and formed only part of a wider tendering exercise by that authority. Its contents are commercial in confidence. I can confirm that the authority has awarded two contracts to Taylorplan Services Ltd.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Soviet Union
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made in respect of Boris Nepomniashy of Moscow who has been unsuccessfully applying to leave the Soviet Union.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We have included Mr. Nepomniashy's name in the list of cases regularly brought to the attention of the Soviet authorities and will continue to make firm representations in support of his application to leave the Soviet Union.
Israel
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received from the international nuclear-free zone local authorities conference, held in Glasgow last November, concerning the imprisonment in Israel of Mordechai Vanunu.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We are aware of representations made by this body to the Israeli embassy in London. As we have stated on previous occasions, Mr. Vanunu appears to have been treated in accordance with the normal judicial process in Israel and his conditions of imprisonment are compatible with normal Israeli practice.
United Kingdom Embassies
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the role of British military attache s at United Kingdom embassies.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The role of British military attache s at United Kingdom embassies and high commissions is to liaise with defence authorities of host countries on a range of military topics of common interest.
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The Gulf
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy on the end of hostilities in the Gulf to investigate the extent to which non-lethal and lethal military technology sold by British firms to Iraq since 1979 was used by Iraq in abuses of the human rights of Kuwaitis or Iraqi dissidents since 2 August 1990.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Such an investigation is neither practicable nor necessary.
Libya
Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current state of relations with Libya ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We see no prospect of an improvement in Anglo- Libyan relations until we are satisfied that Libya has terminated its support for international terrorism.
Nature and Natural Resources
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on resolution 18/7 which was passed by the 18th General Assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in Perth in 1990.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Kingdom state delegation to the 18th general assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources explained that it could not support resolution 18/7 on Antarctica because the resolution endorsed only one possible mechanism for the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment. Had the general assembly been required to vote on that resolution the United Kingdom state delegation would have abstained. The state delegations of the United States of America and Norway associated themselves with the United Kingdom's position. A copy of the delegation's statement is being placed in the Library of the House.
Competitive Tendering
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs under what circumstances he would consider it appropriate to seek a single tender rather than open a contract to competitive tender in public relations or similar areas of work.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : It is FCO policy to award contracts on the basis of competitive tender for all kinds of work. Single tender action is used only when there are compelling reasons to do so, for example : (a) When only one supplier on the bid list submits a bid. (b) In cases of extreme urgency.
(c) In cases where only one source is acceptable for technical or quality reasons.
(d) When we are seeking extensions to existing contracts.
Hong Kong
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Hong Kong citizens have applied for United Kingdom passports ; what
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is the likely proportion that will be granted passports ; and how many dependants are likely to attach to each passport granted.Mr. Lennox-Boyd : As at 4 March, the total number of applications, including those made by registered post before the 28 February deadline, stands at 65,623. It will not be possible to estimate the proportion of applicants who are likely to succeed, nor how many dependants there may be until all applications have been processed.
Embassy and Consular Staff
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any plans to increase embassy and consular staff in former Warsaw pact countries ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : There are no further plans to increase embassy and consular staff in eastern European posts. These were inspected at the end of 1990 when increased staffing levels, authorised during 1990, were endorsed. Future staffing requirements for the Soviet Union are currently under review.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Disability
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many (a) 16 and 17 year-olds and (b) people aged 18 to 25 years have (i) lost entitlement to or (b) been refused income support since the introduction of the age additions in severe disablement allowance ;
(2) how many recipients of severe disablement allowance have lost entitlement to income support as a result of the introduction of age- related additions from December 1990.
Miss Widdecombe : It is estimated that up to 5,000 people no longer require income support as a result of the award of age-related additions to severe disablement allowance. This is because their incomes are above income support level. Information about the number of people affected by reference to their ages is not available. Source : Modelled using data drawn from the 1989 ASE.
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many people aged between six months and two years have (a) claimed and (b) been awarded attendance allowance for each year since 1971 ; and what is the total number of awards made to two-year-olds since 1971 ;
(2) how he plans to identify the people who were entitled to attendance allowance before their second birthday prior to the commissioner's decision CA/380/199 ; and what plans he has for compensating those who have been awarded the benefit following the commissioner's decision.
Mr. Scott : Attendance allowance has been payable to persons aged between six months and two years only since 9 April 1990. Claims decided during the period April 1990 to end of January 1991 are as follows :
|Number
-----------------------------
Decisions made |6,800
Awards |5,300
Figures for awards made to two-year-olds could be separately identified only at disproportionate cost.
An application for leave to appeal has been lodged against the commissioner's decision CA/380/1990.
Pregnancy
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of making income support payable to pregnant 16 and 17-year-olds from the date that their pregnancy is confirmed.
Mr. Jack : There is inadequate information on which to make a reasonable estimate, because it is not known how many pregnant 16 and 17- year-olds would prefer to claim income support and not take up youth training, which pays an allowance at, normally, a higher rate than income support.
Child Benefit
Mr. McCartney : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many (a) children and (b) families are in receipt of child benefit in the parliamentary constituencies of (i) Bury, North and (ii) Bury, South ;
(2) how many children are expected to be in receipt of the higher-rate child benefit from 1 April in the parliamentary constituencies of (i) Bury, North and(ii) Bury, South.
Mr. Jack : Information relating to child benefit is available only on a national basis and cannot be given for particular areas.
Severe Disability Premium
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will outline the grounds on which payments and backpayments of the severe disability premium are being withheld from those on income support and attendance allowance ; and whether he has plans to legislate retrospectively so that payments do not have to be made if the Court of Appeal decides in favour of disabled people.
Miss Widdecombe : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Easington (Mr. Cummings) on 27 February 1991 at column 541.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when his Department last conducted a survey of the ethnic origins of its employees ; when it next plans to do so ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : The Department last conducted a full survey of the ethnic origins of its employees in June 1989. The survey was by means of a voluntary questionnaire. The data from the survey is routinely up-dated with information on new staff and leavers. As part of our equal opportunities action plan and in common with other Government Departments, we are committed to improving the results of the last survey to achieve a 90 per cent. response rate. In consequence, some parts of the Department, where response rates were low, are currently conducting a resurvey.
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Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he has taken to recruit members of ethnic minorities in top grades of employment at his Department.
Miss Widdecombe : In addition to steps being taken by the Civil Service Commission on recruitment, the Department has developed an action plan on equal opportunities. This includes several initiatives, to improve the representation of staff from ethnic minorities at all stages from recruitment to promotion.
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what percentage of officers in each grade (1-7) and overall in the Department are (a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities, respectively.
Miss Widdecombe : The information for the Department at 1 February 1991 is in the table.
Grade Total Women Ethnic minority staff
|Number |Per cent.|Number |Per cent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0
2 |4 |0 |0 |0 |0
3 |14 |6 |43 |0 |0
4 |11 |0 |0 |1 |9.1
5 |81 |19 |23 |2 |2.5
6 |190 |29 |15 |16 |8.5
7 |564 |74 |13 |3 |0.5
Others |85,434 |57,925 |68 |3,295 |3.9
|------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |86,299 |58,052 |67 |3,317 |3.8
Note:
Ethnic minority figures are based on questionnaires voluntarily
completed by staff (82 per cent. response rate to date).
Social Fund
Mr. Sumberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many payments were made from the social fund in 1988-89 and 1989-90 analysed by type of payment.
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