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Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his plans to restructure the disablement advisory service ; how many staff were employed before the restructuring ; and how many will be employed once it is completed.
Mr. Jackson : In a statement on 16 April my right hon. and learned Friend announced plans to restructure the way in which the Department provides employment services for people with disabilities. The plans include the formation of new, local teams incorporating the present functions of the disablement advisory service, disablement resettlement officers and the employment rehabilitation service's assessment teams. The aim of the new teams will be to provide a more professional, coherent service for people with disabilities. The service will operate to nationally defined standards, but in a way which will allow for the development of more flexibility in meeting local needs.
Information about the number of people employed within the disablement advisory service is not at present collected on a regular basis. The number of disablement advisory service personnel in post on 11 June 1990, the latest date for which information is available, was 181.
The resource currently used to provide the disablement advisory service will be transferred to the new teams. Added to it will be the resource currently used to provide the disablement resettlement officer service and the employment rehabilitation assessment service.
Officials are presently engaged in taking forward action to implement the new service.
Training Schemes
Mr. Clelland : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list all current training schemes and measures to reduce unemployment ; and if he will give any details of (a) the number of people participating at any one time and (b) the separate and overall expenditure in each case.
Mr. Jackson : Most of the current training schemes and Employment Service measures to reduce unemployment are detailed in the Employment Department's annual report (Cm 1506) published on 13 February 1991, copies of which have been placed in the House of Commons Library. Planned expenditure for 1991-92 on training schemes is also given.
Currently it is estimated that there are 157,000 adults and about 300,000 young people on Government training programmes. Around 50,000 people are assisted by enterprise allowance at any one time. Information on the numbers currently participating on ES measures is not available. However, planned expenditure for ES programmes in 1991-92, together with the number of places available is as follows :
Programme |1991-92 |Places/
|programme |numbers
|(£ millions)|helped
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jobclubs |27.5 |156,000
Job Interview Guarantee |4.1 |39,000
Restart Courses |8.1 |90,000
Jobsearch Seminars |2.5 |40,000
Travel to Interview Scheme |1.2 |25,000
Jobshare |0.6 |<1>132
Joblink (Pilot) |0.3 |900
Programme Development Funds |3.0 |<2>-
Employment Rehabilitation |8.6 |43,700
Sheltered Employment
Programmes (including
Remploy) |121.5 |20,900
Special Programmes for People
with Disabilities |13.0 |9,400
In addition to the sums shown above and those published in the annual report, further funding has been provided, as follows : In February 1991 a further £120 million was made available for Employment Training.
In March 1991 an extra £55 million was also provided for the ES to maintain customer service standards and to provide an enhanced placings service, through job referral teams, for recently unemployed people who are job ready and do not need further advice on how to look for work.
On 19 June an extra £100 million was announced to provide a comprehensive package of measures including :
a new programme, employment action, which will help 40,000 people at a cost of £48.5 million ;
Employment Training to be increased by a further £35 million to help a further 15,000 people ;
an expansion of Employment Service measures to help 135,000 people through expansion of job clubs (places for extra 40,000 people), Restart courses and assessment/counselling activities (to help 95,000 people).
In total we are providing 840,000 opportunities this year and 900, 000 opportunities next year to help get people back into work as quickly as possible. This represents the most comprehensive range of help and advice ever made available to the unemployed.
(1) This is the number currently being supported.
(2) Programme development funds are used by the ES to participate in and develop local initiatives to help reduce unemployment in areas of particular need. They are not directly linked to particular schemes or programmes.
(3) Table shows GB total.
Construction Training
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what training the TECs are providing in London and the south-east in plumbing, wall and floor tiling, roofing and slating.
Mr. Jackson : The information is not available in the form requested. It is a matter for individual TECs to design and deliver provision which meets the needs of the local labour market. I know, for example, that LETEC is providing training in plumbing and plans to introduce training in wall and floor tiling in the autumn.
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of cash for construction training on employment training is spent in London and the south-east.
Mr. Jackson : The figures are not available in the format requested.
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are waiting for a place at Laings and Mowlems construction industry courses in east London.
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Mr. Jackson : Information of this kind is held by the TECs and I have asked the chief executive of East London TEC to write to the hon. Gentleman with this information.Jobs (Travel and Subsistence)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will institute a study into the numbers of registered unemployed in receipt of travel and interview expenses to pursue work in other areas of the country who are subsequently offered employment, but are unable to accept it due to the lack of funds for travel to the place of work and subsistence, pending their initial pay packet.
Mr. Jackson : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service executive agency are the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assistance is available from (i) the social fund and (ii) other public sources for those on income support who, after securing employment in other areas of the country, require temporary financial assistance for (a) travelling expenses to reach their place of work and (b) subsistence pending their initial pay packet.
Mr. Jackson : The information is not available in the form requested. Many of the TECs in London and the south-east include the provision of construction training opportunities as one of their priorities. Nationally, the construction industry training board is providing over 10,000 places on youth training.
Graduate into Enterprise Project
Mr. Clelland : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the differences between the graduate into enterprise project and employment training with particular reference to any formal and written agreement drawn up between trainees on each of the relevant schemes and their training managers or providers.
Mr. Jackson : The graduate into enterprise project comprises a series of programmes operated by Durham university business school in collaboration with other universities and polytechnics in the north-east. Including among these programmes are some, for example, graduate enterprise and graduate gateway, on which participants are supported by local training and enterprise councils through employment training. ET is for unemployed people and includes enterprise training for those wishing to become self employed. All trainees in ET must receive full information in writing about their individual training plan and the terms and conditions of training.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Clelland : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what the projected cost for training and enterprise councils when they are fully established was estimated at on 1 January ; and what the current estimate for that cost is.
Mr. Jackson : At the beginning of the year, the administrative cost for TECs and remaining Employment Department area offices for 1991-92 was estimated at £124.3 million. It is expected that all TECs will be fully operational this year. This estimate still stands.
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Barking Skill Centre
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what training is now taking place on the site of the Barking skill centre ; and what uses the land and building have been put to.
Mr. Jackson : Barking skill centre was purchased by Astra Training Services Ltd. and is now in the private sector. Issues relating to training undertaken at the skill centre and what use the land and buildings located on the site are put to, are now matters for the owners.
Earnings, Scotland
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment pursuant to his answer of 10 June, Official Report, columns 435-38, on employees earning less than £3.40 hourly, if he will provide the information given in percentage form in terms of the absolute number of employees affected in each category.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is not available.
Rehabilitation Centres
Mrs. Heal : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has given any further consideration to the number of employment rehabilitation centres required in London and the south-east.
Mr. Jackson : My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State announced on 16 April, in a written reply to a question from the hon. Member for Wyre (Mr. Mans), Official Report, columns 157-59, that employment services for people with disabilities are to be improved and developed.
It was also announced that greater use will be made of the voluntary sector and others to provide employment rehabilitation and that nine Employment Service centres of excellence, including one in London and the south-east, were to be established over, approximately, the next five years.
Operational responsibility for the development of the centres of excellence and for the range of employment services for people with disabilities rests with the chief executive of the Employment Service, Mike Fogden, to whom I have referred the hon. Lady's question for a more detailed reply.
Earnings
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state separately for full-time workers, part-time workers and all workers (i) the number and (ii) the percentage earning less than £130 for (a) women, (b) men and (c) all workers, excluding overtime pay in (1) Wales, (2) each county in Wales and (3) Great Britain, for the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Jackson : The information available from the April 1990 new earnings survey is shown in the tables. The results of the April 1991 survey will be published this November and December.
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Earnings in April 1990: New earnings survey
A. Full time employees on adult rates with weekly earnings
excluding overtime less than £ 130
Number in the sample Percentage of total
|Women |Men |Total |Women |Men |Total
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wales |564 |397 |961 |30.7 |11.1 |17.7
Clwyd |91 |52 |143 |34.7 |9.7 |17.9
Clywd-West |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
Clwyd-East |58 |36 |94 |34.9 |9.0 |16.7
Dyfed<2> |58 |33 |91 |38.7 |14.2 |23.8
Gwent |86 |69 |155 |33.5 |11.3 |17.8
Gwynedd |39 |46 |85 |31.7 |17.2 |21.8
Mid Glamorgan |94 |52 |146 |28.5 |9.8 |16.9
Powys |27 |19 |46 |37.0 |15.7 |23.7
South Glamorgan |78 |57 |135 |21.4 |8.4 |12.9
West Glamorgan<3> |91 |69 |160 |33.0 |11.3 |18.0
Great Britain |10,056|6,308 |16,364|23.0 |7.6 |13.0
<1> Sampling error too large or numbers too small for reliable
estimate.
<2> Excluding Llanelli.
<3> Including Llanelli.
Source: New Earnings Survey 1990.
B. Part time employees on adult rates with weekly earnings
exluding overtime less than £ 130
Number in the sample Percentage of total
|Women |Men |Total |Women |Men |Total
Great Britain |22,736|3,117 |25,880|89.8 |85.0 |89.2
Source: New Earnings Survey 1990.
C. All employees on adult rates with weekly earnings excluding
overtime less than £ 130
Number in the sample Percentages of total
|Women |Men |Total |Women |Men |Total
Great Britain |32,819|9,425 |42,244|47.6 |10.9 |27.2
Source: New Earnings Survey 1990.
B. Part time employees on adult rates with weekly earnings excluding overtime less than £130 Number in the sample Percentage of total
Women Men Total Women Men Total
Great Britain 22,763 3,117 25,880 89.8 85.0 89.2
Source : New Earnings Survey 1990.
C. All employees on adult rates with weekly earnings excluding overtime less than £130 Number in the sample Percentage of total
Women Men Total Women Men Total
Great Britain 32,819 9,425 42,244 47.6 10.9 27.2
Source : New Earnings Survey 1990.
Industrial Tribunals
Mr. Graham : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will take steps to ensure that the results of industrial tribunals are notified to the appellants before being released to the media ; (2) if he will investigate the recent leaks of the results of industrial tribunals ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Forth : In accordance with the Industrial Tribunal (Rules of Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1985 decisions are entered in the register and then sent to the parties. The register is open to the public, as required by the regulations. I am not aware of any problems arising from this procedure, but if the hon. Member has a specific case in mind perhaps he will let me have the details so that I can examine it.
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PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMISSION
House of Commons Commission
40. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission if the Public Accounts Commission has considered the staffing implications of a requirement to examine the value for money spending of the House of Commons Commission.
Sir Peter Hordern : No. It is for the National Audit Office to identify its staffing requirements in the light of its programme of value- for-money studies. The Comptroller and Auditor General determines the actual programmes of value-for-money studies, and in so doing he takes account of the views of the Public Accounts Committee. The Comptroller and Auditor General is able to decide whether or not to include House of Commons Commission expenditure among his value-for-money studies.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
New Parliamentary Building
47. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will make a statement on the criteria used in assessing the allocation of new accommodation in phase I of the new parliamentary building.
Mr. MacGregor : The New Building Sub-Committee resolved at its meeting on 21 May 1991 the allocation of offices in phase I as between Members of political parties.
Individual offices will be allocated to Members by the accommodation Whips of the Government and official Opposition parties on behalf of the Services Committee in the usual way.
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Envelopes
Sir Geoffrey Finsberg : To ask the Lord President of the Council, pursuant to his oral answer of 3 June, Official Report , column 18, to the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway), what reasons account for the delay in providing the European envelope facility due to be made available in June ; and when it will be available.
Mr. MacGregor : Initial samples of envelopes provided for use by Members in correspondence to official destinations in the European Community were found not to be sufficently strong. I am assured that supplies of higher quality envelopes will be available from the Serjeant at Arms' stores on Monday 15 July.
Parliamentary Regional Sittings
Mr. Hind : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he has any plans to hold sittings of Parliament in regional centres other than London ; and if he will make a statement.
HEALTH
NHS Trust Board
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many regional health authority, district health authority, and national health service trust board posts are due to be filled in the current round of appointments ; how many appointments have been made to date ; and what proportion of the appointees are women.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is set out in the table.
We envisage that the second wave of NHS trusts will be established in the autumn. The appointment of chairmen and non-executive directors will be announced at the same time.
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~
Current Appointment Rounds
Type of Appointment Next Review Number Appointments
made
|M |F
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional Health Authority Chairmen |31 July 1991 |2 |2 |-
Regional Health Authority Non-Executives |31 October 1992 |11 |- |-
District Health Authority Chairmen |31 March 1992 |108 |- |-
NHS Trust Chairmen |30 November 1991|1 |- |-
NHS Trust Non-Executives |30 November 1991|3 |- |-
Basildon Community Health Council
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any plans to increase the funding of the community health council for Basildon and Thurrock ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : The funding of community health councils is a matter for the relevant regional health authority.
Partially Sighted Register
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what benefits are available to people on the partially sighted register.
Mr. Dorrell : People who are registered as partially sighted are entitled to free sight tests. Local authority
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social services departments have a duty to provide services to people who are partially sighted, whether or not they are registered, if there is an established need. A range of services or concessions for people who are partially sighted is available from opticians, libraries, voluntary organisations, transport authorities and other public and private bodies, some of which may make registration a condition of eligibility. There is no specific social security provision for people who are registered as partially sighted.Food Businesses (Training)
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to use those powers available to him under the Food Safety Act 1990 to make regulations requiring training for those employed in food businesses.
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Mr. Dorrell : I shall be making an announcement shortly.Pharmaceutical Companies
Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the impact on (a) profitability of pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines to the national health service and (b) the national health service drugs bill of the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The pharmaceutical price regulation scheme seeks to strike a balance between securing the supply of drugs to the national health service at an acceptable cost to the taxpayer and offering pharmaceutical companies a reasonable level of profitability on their NHS sales.
It is not possible to estimate the impact of the PPRS on companies' profitability or the NHS drugs bill since that would depend on what the level of drug prices might be or what other expenditure controls might exist in the absence of the agreement.
NHS Consultants
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average earnings level of an NHS consultant net of expenses.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The consultant's whole-time salary ranges from £34,960 to £45,130 with the majority of consultants being on the maximum point. In addition, approximately one third of consultants have distinction awards. The value of a distinction award ranges from £7,955 to £42,870 per year. Consultants may also be paid fees and allowances for work outside the basic NHS contract. The salary includes no allowance for expenses.
Waste Incinerators
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the minimum temperature needed for waste incinerators in national health service hospitals adequately to burn all waste, in particular that resulting from treatment to patients who suffer from serious infectious diseases.
Mr. Dorrell : Health authorities and NHS trusts are required to comply with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment's guidelines, issued under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which specify operating temperatures for incinerators. The minimum temperature for new plant installed after 1 April 1991 is 1000 deg. C. Under the interim arrangement provided by the Act, existing plants may operate at a minimum temperature of 850 deg. C. for a maximum of five years, but I have stressed to NHS management the importance of meeting the higher minimum temperature standard as quickly as possible.
Dental Care
Mr. Rathbone : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he is encouraging better dental care and dental hygiene among children in advance of completion of the consultation period on the health strategy Green Paper.
Mr. Dorrell : Under the new contract general dental practitioners are paid on a capitation basis for their child
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patients. This is designed to encourage dentists to place emphasis on preventative measures including advice on oral hygiene and a healthy diet.The redesigned role of the community dental service is also intended to help improve dental health education and preventive measures.
More than £1 million has already been spent in support of oral health education projects since the publication of the White Paper "Promoting Better Health", and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 9 May that up to £750,000 would be available from the Department to support oral health education projects this year. In addition, funding is provided to the health education authority which has a long-established programme of providing education to patients and children on matters relating to nutrition and dental health.
Medicine Imports
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many umbrella product licences for parallel imported medicines that can be exploited by all its members have been granted to the Association of Pharmaceutical Importers ;
(2) whether he has any plans to discontinue issue of umbrella product licences for parallel imported medicines to the Association of Pharmaceutical Importers, as an alternative to issuing licences to individual importers.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Association of Pharmaceutical Importers is not a parallel import licence holder. Licences can be issued to any company or individual meeting the criteria laid down in the Medicines Act 1968 ; related regulations and European guidelines may provide for a product to be placed on the market by named distributors.
We have no present plans for changing these arrangements.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether all persons or organisations involved in the parallel importing of medicines hold wholesale dealers licences.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. Not all importers are wholesale dealers, but those that are should either hold a wholesale dealer licence or operate from premises which are registered as pharmacies.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organisations hold product licences to engage in the parallel importing of medicines ; and how many such organisations hold wholesale dealers' licences.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : As at 30 June 1991 there were 38 parallel import licence holders of which 32 held wholesale dealers' licences.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the premises of all parallel importers of medicines who hold wholesale dealers' licences have been inspected by the United Kingdom medicines inspectorate.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Yes, the premises of all wholesalers who are licensed to import medicines are inspected regularly.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many product licences have been granted for generic
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