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clinical management of drug misuse and dependence. These are being circulated to every doctor in England, Scotland and Wales. The guidelines include information for doctors on the problems associated with use of ecstasy and similar drugs and recommend a range of treatments for these problems.Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what changes he has made to the terms and conditions of employment of the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency subsequent to the appointment of Dr. Gwyn Jones as national governor for Wales on the British Broadcasting Corporation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave him on Tuesday 14 January 1992 at col. 549-50.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his reply of 14 January, Official Report, columns 549-50, if he proposes any alterations in the terms and conditions of the deputy chairman and chief executive of the Welsh Development Agency.
Shellfish
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the locations in Wales where shellfish samples were taken for testing for paralytic shellfish poisoning ; and what was the frequency of such sampling at these locations in 1991.
Mr. David Hunt : During 1991, no specific programme of sampling shellfish for paralytic shellfish poisoning was carried out in Wales. Maritime environmental health departments routinely monitor shellfish for a variety of microbiological and chemical contaminants.
Apprentices
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action he intends to take to assist apprentices in their final year of training to obtain employment.
Mr. David Hunt : The Employment Service offers a range of services aimed at helping people to find employment.
DEFENCE
Union Flag
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why the Union flag was not flown on the flag poles at Drumadd barracks, Armagh on Christmas day 1991 ; what new arrangements will be made to fly the Union flag on appropriate dates at this location ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The flying of flags at Army establishments is governed by Queen's regulations for the Army. Drumadd barracks, Armagh is not one of the locations in Northern Ireland which is listed in Queen's regulations as authorised to fly the Union flag. The list has not been revised for some time however, and it is now being reviewed.
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Nuclear Convoys
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what policy and precautions his Department implements when a convoy carrying nuclear warheads travels on United Kingdom public roads in adverse weather conditions ; and what other public authorities and emergency services are informed.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It is our policy not to undertake nuclear weapon convoys when adverse weather conditions are forecast along the route. Local police forces are always informed in advance when convoys will enter their area of responsibility, and close contact is maintained throughout a convoy movement.
Injury Insurance
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will obtain an estimate, on the open insurance market, of the approximate annual premium required to provide blanket insurance cover against injury whilst on duty--equivalent to that generally accepted in industry--for (a) all armed service personnel, and (b) all civilian personnel under the command of the Ministry of Defence.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No. Service and civilian personnel are eligible for benefits under the Armed Forces pension scheme and principal civil service pension scheme respectively where injury or illness results in premature retirement. In addition, the war pensions scheme administered by the Department of Social Security provides benefits to former service personnel who experience disability attributable to their service in the Armed Forces. Civilian personnel are eligible for an enhanced pension for loss of earning capacity resulting from injury or illness attributable to their employment. All personnel are eligible for compensation when the injury or illness results from MOD negligence. A voluntary personal accident insurance scheme is available for service personnel and a similar scheme is likely to be offered to civilian personnel.
Simon Britten
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to decide on the release from medical cadetship of Simon Britten, currently a senior house officer in accident and emergency at Queen Alexandra hospital, Portsmouth.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The earliest that a decision can be made on Captain Britten's application for premature voluntary retirement is 7 February 1992.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Terrorist Firebomb Attacks
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish a table to show for each year or financial year since 1972 in (a) Belfast and (b) the rest of Northern Ireland, the number of terrorist firebomb attacks, the amount of damage, the number of persons who have (i) been arrested, (ii) charged and (iii) convicted in respect of the attacks and the rate of convictions.
Dr. Mawhinney : I regret that the information requested is not available from existing records.
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The best available relevant information is set out in the table. This shows, for each year since 1974, the number of incendiary devices which have exploded or have been defused in Northern Ireland. It also shows the number of persons charged with and convicted of explosives offences (it is not possible to identify separately explosives offences in which an incendiary device was an ingredient).
|Incendiaries |Persons |Persons
|exploded/ |charged with |convicted for
|defused |explosives |explosives
|offences |offences
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1974 |270 |161 |<1>-
1975 |56 |100 |91
1976 |236 |215 |80
1977 |608 |146 |146
1978 |115 |79 |78
1979 |60 |40 |72
1980 |2 |39 |50
1981 |49 |39 |28
1982 |36 |41 |39
1983 |43 |48 |31
1984 |10 |21 |18
1985 |36 |37 |33
1986 |21 |31 |32
1987 |9 |22 |28
1988 |8 |29 |33
1989 |7 |24 |30
1990 |33 |22 |21
1991 |237 |24 |<2>-
<1> Not recorded.
<2> Not yet available.
Note:
(a) Statistics on charges and convictions are kept according to the
most serious offence with which an individual has been charged.
The figures above do not therefore include persons convicted of
explosives offences who have also been charged or convicted of a
more serious offence, eg. attempted murder.
(b) A person convicted in a particular year was not necessarily
charged in the same year.
Disability Allowances
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what work is being considered or begun, or for which funding is earmarked by the Department or the Social Security Agency for publicity in connection with the introduction of disability allowance and disability working allowance.
(2) how much money will be allowed for public education to be undertaken by his Department and/or the Social Security Agency prior to and following the introduction of the disability allowance and disability working allowance so that those who are disabled, informal carers and advice workers with caring professions are aware of the changes ; and how the funds available will be spread over the number of staff/hours, print and broadcast media work, and printed materials on the benefits.
Mr. Hanley : A comprehensive publicity programme is planned to launch disability living allowance and disability working allowance in Northern Ireland. This will complement national advertising and will include local television commercials, advertisements in both the press and specialist publications for general practitioners, consultants and other health professionals. Education and awareness programmes aimed at carers, advisers, health professionals and the social security office staff will also run throughout 1992.
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The Social Security Agency has established a communications team to take forward the publicity and education and awareness programmes. Leaflets explaining basic entitlement and eligibility criteria for the new benefits and the dates from which new claims will be accepted have been sent to organisations concerned with disabled people. A special disability living allowance leaflet for potential claimants with a tear-off coupon to obtain the claim pack will be available in post offices and social security offices from the end of January 1992. The disability working allowance claim pack will be available from the same sources from February 1992.The Social Security Agency will be writing to people who are currently getting mobility allowance and/or attendance allowance to tell them that they will be transferred automatically in April to disability living allowance at the same rate of benefit and to inform them how to claim extra help if they think they are eligible. A benefits inquiry line will be established to provide specific information about the new benefits and where a caller is experiencing difficulty completing a claim form arrangements can be made for an officer to visit his or her home.
Information about the cost of these measures is not readily available.
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the projected targets of people to be in receipt of disability working allowances in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Mr. Hanley : It is estimated that by October 1992 approximately 1, 700 people in Northern Ireland will be in receipt of disability working allowance and that this will increase to around 1,900 by October 1993. A further increase for 1994 is not anticipated at present.
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people he expects to be in receipt of disability living allowance on its introduction in April ; and how many people currently receive attendance allowance and mobility allowance.
Mr. Hanley : The total numbers of people in Northern Ireland in receipt of attendance allowance and mobility allowance at the latest date for which information is available are 37,991 and 16,600 respectively.
It is estimated that some 32,600 attendance allowance and mobility allowance recipients will transfer automatically to disability living allowance when it is introduced on 6 April 1992. Additionally it is estimated that in the first year around 9,500 disabled people who currently do not get either attendance allowance or mobility allowance will qualify for the new benefit.
Terrorism
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish a table to show for each year since 1 January 1968 the number of terrorist incidents by category in which they were recorded in police records, the sums of (a) criminal damage and (b) personal injury, assessed by his Department in each year as arising from those incidents, the sums claimed, and the sums paid in each year to the latest available date.
Dr. Mawhinney [holding answer 14 January 1992] : It is not known precisely how many terrorist incidents there have been since 1968. However, information about
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terrorist crime is published in the annual report of the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and his 1990 report, a copy of which is in the Library, provides information for the years 1969-1990. Information about criminal damage and criminal injury claims is not held in the form requested but such information as is readily available is set out in the following table :Total compensation paid in settled claims which were terrorist related Financial |Criminal |Criminal year of |Damage |Injuries settlement |£ million|£ million ------------------------------------------------ 1979-80 |24.8 |1.2 1980-81 |34.2 |5.1 1981-82 |26.4 |3.5 1982-83 |24.4 |3.9 1983-84 |21.4 |4.6 1984-85 |22.0 |5.5 1985-86 |15.9 |7.9 1986-87 |18.0 |4.2 1987-88 |9.9 |4.3 1988-89 |16.2 |5.6 1989-90 |15.3 |6.3 1990-91 |17.3 |7.5 <1>1991-92 |14.6 |7.1 <1>To 18 December 1991.
Amounts exclude costs paid to applicants for making out and verifying their claims.
Shellfish
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the locations in Northern Ireland where shellfish samples were taken for testing for paralytic shellfish poisoning ; and what was the frequency of such sampling at these locations in 1991.
Mr. Hanley : In 1991 samples were taken from the northern and southern sides of Belfast lough between May and September at intervals of a week to a fortnight. Strangford lough, Carlingford lough, Dundrum bay and Lough Foyle were sampled on two occasions during this period and the North coast at Portrush once.
SCOTLAND
University of Dundee
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many undergraduates entered the University of Dundee in the 1991-92 academic year ; and how many of these were from (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) the Republic of Ireland and (e) Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The latest available information, which relates to 1990-91, is given in the table :
Undergraduate entrants to Dundee university
1990-91
Domicile |Full-time|Part-time
|entrants |entrants
--------------------------------------------------
England |317 |-
Wales |8 |-
Northern Ireland |116 |-
Scotland |623 |14
Republic of Ireland |8 |-
Other overseas |102 |0
|--- |---
Total |1,174 |14
Ecstasy
Mr. Rathbone : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been done to inform all of those concerned with drugs misuse about ecstasy, its symptoms and its harmful effects.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : A comprehensive programme of information and education to prevent and discourage drug misuse is undertaken by the Health Education Board for Scotland. Material is regularly updated and contains information about "ecstasy". The Chief Medical Officer recently issued to every doctor and final year medical student in Scotland revised guidelines on the clinical management of drug misuse and dependence, which include information on the problems associated with the use of "ecstasy". The Scottish Office Education Department makes specific grant available for the in-service training of teachers in health education, including education about drugs, which keeps abreast of trends in drug misuse. Training for police officers covers aspects of drug misuse including current trends in drug taking and symptoms and harmful effects. The Scottish Drugs Forum, which is funded by the Scottish Office Home and Health Department, has produced a comprehensive guide to drugs currently used by drug takers, for use by drug workers.
Royal Parks
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the companies that have tendered for each of the royal parks maintenance contracts.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The issue raised concerns operational matters within Historic Scotland, the executive agency within the Scottish Office which maintains the royal parks at Holyrood and Linlithgow Peel, and I have therefore asked the director to write to the hon. Member. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Shellfish
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the locations in Scotland, outside Orkney waters, where shellfish samples were taken for testing for paralytic shellfish poisoning ; and what was the frequency of such sampling at these locations in 1991.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The basic programme for monitoring for PSP toxins around the Scottish coast which began in April 1991 was based on 46 primary sampling sites (listed). In addition, secondary sites were included if certain levels of PSP toxin were detected. The frequency of sampling necessarily varied from site to site according to local conditions, but areas where PSP problems were detected were targeted for intensive weekly sampling. Between April and September an average of 64 sites per week were tested (this figure includes Orkney, since data on sampling frequency at individual sites cannot readily be disaggregated). After September, sampling was largely confined to primary and secondary sites in areas which had known PSP problems.
List of Sites
1. Eyemouth
2. Musselburgh
3. Elie/Pittenweem
4. Eden Estuary, St. Andrews
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5. Montrose6. Aberdeen
7. Fraserburgh
8. Macduff
9. Lossiemouth
10. Tain
11. Moray Firth scallop grounds
12. Wick
13. West Shetland
14. East Shetland
15. Loch Eriboll/Kyle of Tongue
16. Kinlochbervie
17. Lochinver
18. Ullapool/Loch Broom
19. Little Loch Broom
20. Loch Ewe
21. North Minch scallop grounds
22. Stornoway/Loch Erisort
23. Loch Roag/West Lewis
24. Uists
25. North Skye
26. Loch Eishort
27. Loch Gairloch
28. Loch Torridon
29. Kyle
30. Mallaig
31. South Minch scallop grounds
32. Ardtoe
33. Loch Sunart/Loch Teacuis
34. Tiree Passage
35. Loch Spalve
36. Oban/Loch Etive
37. Seil/Loch Melfort
38. Islay scallop grounds
39. West Loch Tarbet
40. Campbeltown
41. Tarbert/Loch Fyne
42. Inveraray
43. Cumbrae
44. Ayr
45. Loch Ryan
46. Solway cockle beds
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GP Contracts
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the effect of the introduction of the new general practitioner contract on general practitioners' incomes and the service offered to the public.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the first year of the new contract GPs average incomes have risen substantially.
Despite the reservations expressed by the profession there has been a positive and impressive response to the new contract which was designed to encourage and reward improved performance by GPs. It is already clear that the range of services offered to the public has expanded. In particular, the introduction of new target payments has proved very successful in helping to stimulate high levels achievement by practice teams ; as at 1 April 1991 over 97 per cent of GPs in Scotland had achieved target levels for primary immunisation, over 88 per cent. for pre-school boosters and over 96 per cent. (excluding Greater Glasgow where comparable figures are not available) for cervical cytology. Where GPs undertake their own night visits, for example, or offer a wider range of services such as a minor surgery, health promotion or child health surveillance, this has been reflected in their income ; during the year ended 31 March 1991 GPs in Scotland undertook over 76,000 minor surgery procedures and over 69,000 health promotion clinics. And most importantly of all, we are seeing high levels of patient satisfaction
Electoral Registration
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of electors in the 1992 provisional electoral register for each constituency in Scotland and the equivalent number on the 1991 register.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 16 January 1992] : The information requested by the hon. Member is set out in the table. I must emphasise, however, that the numbers in the draft registers are likely to differ from those in the final registers because of late returns. The final registers will be published in a few weeks' time.
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