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Mr. Forth : My noble Friend the Baroness Blatch announced in another place on 29 June that we shall issue shortly a consultation paper which will set out the Government's proposals for legislation relating to special educational needs in these respects.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the average cost of producing a statement of special educational needs in each local education authority.
Mr. Forth : This information is not available centrally.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to amend the statement of special educational needs so that the provision required for the pupil is precisely stated.
Mr. Forth : Guidance to ensure that any provision set out in a statement of educational needs is stated precisely
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already exists in circular 22/89, September 1989, and its addendum, March 1992, issued jointly by the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Health. However, as part of the Government's current initiative in special education, my right hon. Friend will shortly be consulting widely on the procedures for issuing statements of special educational needs.Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to ensure that all inspections of schools will involve an assessment of the school's work with children with special educational needs.
Mr. Forth : At present, all full inspections of schools by Her Majesty's inspectorate cover all aspects of provision, including special educational needs. The arrangements from 1 September 1992 will be a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to clarify the requirements for formula funding schemes to allow the local education authority accurately to determine the level of funding required for each pupil's special educational needs to be met as defined by their statement.
Mr. Forth : Guidance to authorities on the question of formula funding for special educational needs is provided at paragraph 101 of DES circular 7/91. My right hon. Friend will consider the possibility of further guidance in the light of the wide-ranging consultation on special educational needs which he is about to undertake.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to introduce national guidelines defining the level of responsibility mainstream schools should have for pupils with special educational needs.
Mr. Forth : This question will be considered in the light of responses to the wide-ranging consultation on special educational needs which my right hon. Friend will shortly undertake.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the average length of time it takes to produce a statement of special educational needs in each local education authority.
Mr. Forth : This information is not available centrally.
Pupil Exclusions
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has to make a study of indefinite pupil exclusions from school ;
(2) whether he will make it his policy to collect statistics from local education authorities on pupil exclusions annually ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Information on pupils permanently excluded from school is already being collected from local education authorities over a two-year period starting with the summer term 1990 under the national exclusions reporting system (NERS). My right hon. Friend will review the need for further statistics or studies in the light of the findings from NERS and other intelligence.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) whether he will issue guidance to local
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education authorities on (a) the recording of pupil exclusions from school and (b) the tuition of pupils excluded from school ; (2) whether he will commission an independent study of the underlying causes of the increase in pupil exclusions from schools.Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend will consider the need for such guidance, and for further study, as part of his forthcoming review of the operation of the exclusion provisions in the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 in the light of the returns from the national exclusions reporting system and other information.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he intends to publish the report on the two-year study of pupil exclusions.
Mr. Forth : Final returns under the national exclusions reporting system must reach the Department for analysis by 30 September. When that process is completed, and in the light of his review of the exclusions procedures more generally, my right hon. Friend will consider how the information should be made available.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he intends to monitor the incidence of exclusions from school among pupils from ethnic minorities.
Mr. Forth : Information on the ethnic origin of pupils permanently excluded from school is already collected under the national exclusions reporting system.
Getting in on the Act"
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he will publish his response to the joint Audit Commission and Her Majesty's inspectorate's report "Getting in on the Act" ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : A press statement welcoming the publication of the report was issued on 25 June and was placed in the Library.
Extra Education Assistance
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to introduce national guidelines for education authorities to identify when a child requires extra educational assistance.
Mr. Forth : The Government are already considering the development of this sort of guidance. My right hon. Friend will be consulting the local authority associations shortly.
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to clarify the number of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties and the provision currently available to them and to assess the effectiveness of such provision.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend has no such plans. Under the terms of the Education Act 1981, provision is made not for different categories of handicap but for the
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special educational needs of individul children. Proposals to improve access to the present arrangements for assessments and statements will be brought forward later in the year.Education Act 1981
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to introduce incentives for local education authorities to implement fully the Education Act 1981.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend will consider fully this proposal, which is one of the recommendations of the recent Audit Commission/Her Majesty's inspectorate study of special educational needs, later in the year. He wishes first to receive responses to a wide-ranging consultation exercise on special educational needs which he is about to undertake.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Members Pay and Allowances
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council when he drew the question of the hon. Member for Nottingham, North, Official Report, 11 November 1991, column 365, to the attention of the review body ; and if he has now received a reply.
Mr. Newton : My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk, South (Mr. MacGregor) drew the hon. Member's question to the attention of the Top Salaries Review Body on 12 November 1991. I understand that a reply was not expected.
Energy Select Committee
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Lord President of the Council if the Energy Committee will be retained in its current status as a separate Select Committee ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Newton : No. It is the Government's intention to have, where possible, Select Committees shadowing the principal Government Departments.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many and what percentage of officers in grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, and overall in his Office are women.
Mr. Newton : The Privy Council Office has no staff at grades 1 or 2. At grades 3 to 7 it has five staff, one of whom is a woman (grade 7). Overall, 43 per cent. of current Privy Council Office staff are women.
HEALTH
Counterfeit Medicines
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many instances of counterfeit medicines reaching the United Kingdom market have been reported to the Medicines Control Agency in each of the years 1989, 1990 and 1991 ; and if she will state by what means those counterfeit products were detected.
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Dr. Mawhinney : There was one instance in 1989 and one in 1990. Both instances were reported to the Medicines Control Agency by pharmaceutical companies, and arose from inquiries made by those companies.Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has any plans to introduce new measures to reduce the risk of counterfeit medicines being introduced into the United Kingdom.
Dr. Mawhinney : There are no plans to introduce new measures. Any reports of alleged import of counterfeit medicines into the United Kingdom are immediately investigated by the enforcement unit of the Medicines Control Agency. The United Kingdom licensing system introduced by the Medicines Act 1968 and covering the import, sale and production of medicinal products is continually kept under review to ensure appropriate safeguards against counterfeit products are maintained.
Family Health Service Authorities
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish a list of family health service authorities showing their expenditure under the indicative prescribing scheme for 1991-92 ; if she will set out the figures for actual spending as a percentage of their allocation ; what is the expenditure per head in each family health service authority ; and on how many occasions, in each family health service authority, the family health service authority made inquiries of general practitioners about their prescribing practices.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information on how many occasions, in each family health service authority, the family health service authority made inquiries of general practitioners about their prescribing practices is not held centrally.
The other information requested has been placed in the Library.
Asthma Inhalers
Ms. Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what figures her Department holds for the estimated total numbers of prescriptions for asthma inhalers to (a) the whole population and (b) under 16-year-olds in the United Kingdom for each of the last 10 years ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information on the number of prescriptions for individual drug preparations by population groups in the United Kingdom is not available. The table sets out information on the number of prescriptions for the treatment of asthma by British National Formulary therapeutic classification for England only for 1982-91. For 1991 the table also shows the total prescriptions for asthma preparations for "Young People" based on exemption categories.
|c|Prescriptions for the treatment of asthma|c|
Millions
Year |Total |Inhalations
-------------------------------------------------
1982 |15.3 |6.5
1983 |16.5 |7.6
1984 |17.7 |8.5
1985 |19.0 |9.7
1986 |20.0 |10.6
1987 |21.0 |11.6
1988 |22.6 |12.6
1989 |22.9 |12.9
1990 |24.1 |13.7
1991 |27.6
Young people
1991 |13.8
Notes:
1.The data from 1982 to 1990 are estimates based
on a sample of 1 in 200 prescriptions dispensed
by chemists and appliance contractors.
2.The data for 1991 are actual prescriptions and
include those dispensed by chemist and appliance
contractors, dispensing doctors, and personal
administration prescriptions.
3.The data for the 1991 exemption category Young
People{cdq}, i.e. children under age 16 and
persons under age 19 in full-time education, are
based on a sample of 1 in 20 exemption
prescriptions dispensed by chemist and appliance
contractors.
4.All figures for 1991 are based on the new PCA
statistical returns and refer to the number of
prescriptions items as opposed to fees used in
previous years.
Midwives (Grading)
Mr. Connarty : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what response she has made to the report "Post Registration Education in Clinical Midwifery", funded by the Department of Education and Science with reference to the differences between the regions in the clinical grading of staff midwife and midwifery sister posts ; and if she will make a statement ;
(2) if she will make a statement about the differences between regions in the grading of similar clinical midwifery posts ; (3) what response she has made to the recommendations of the review body concerning the differences between regions in the grading of similar midwifery posts.
Mr. Sackville : The responsibility for grading all midwifery posts rests with the employing authorities. Complete uniformity in the outcome of grading decisions could not be expected, and variations between regions and countries reflect local organisation of services and the skill mix necessary.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of officers in grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively and overall in her Department are women.
Mr. Sackville : The information requested is shown in the table :
Grade Total stafWomen
|Number
------------------------------------------------------
1 |1 |0 |0.0
2 |7 |2 |28.6
3 |27 |6 |22.2
4 |29 |9 |31.0
5 |204 |61 |29.9
6 |173 |42 |24.3
7 |532 |151 |28.4
All grades<1> |4,951 |2,704 |54.6
<1>Including grades 1 to 7.
Notes:
1.Based on figures obtained from the Departments
personnel computer system as at 23 June 1992.
2.Figures exclude secondees into the Department,
special hospitals, youth treatment centres, members
of staff on special leave without pay and casual
staff of all grades.
Adoption
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make representations to the Romanian Committee for Adoptions on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. D. Mann of Presteigne, Powys in support of their application for adoption of a child from a Romanian orphanage ;
(2) if she will make representations to the Romanian Committee for Adoptions on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Robinson of Brecon, Powys in support of their application for adoption of a child from a Romanian orphanage ;
(3) what representations her Department has made to the Romanian Committee for Adoptions on behalf of prospective British adoptive parents failing to meet the conditions contained in the agreement on adoptions signed by the Government on 19 March.
Mr. Yeo : Prior to signing the agreement between the United Kingdom and the Romanian Committee for Adoptions on 19 March 1992, officials made several approaches to the committee to obtain exemptions to conditions set out in their draft, including a waiver for those prospective adopters who had already applied. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and Mr. and Mrs. Mann are among those who had made applications.
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the British Government intend to seek re-negotiation of the agreement on adoptions signed by her Department and the Romanian Committee on Adoptions on 19 March.
Mr. Yeo : The Romanian Committee for Adoptions has agreed to meet officials in December this year to review the working arrangements of the agreement on the adoption of children from Romania to the United Kingdom. The meeting will provide an opportunity for discussions about the conditions contained in the agreement.
Residential Homes
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how she plans to ensure that people in residential homes who experience a sudden down-turn in health will be able to be transferred to nursing homes.
Mr. Yeo : From April 1993 local authorities will be responsible for assessing individuals' needs and arranging placements in residential care and nursing homes for those people who need to be publicly supported. Our guidance makes clear that care needs should be regularly reviewed and care packages revised as necessary.
Solvent Abuse
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures the Government are taking to reduce the incidence of solvent abuse among juveniles ; what representations she has received about the work of Re-Solv in this field ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : In February of this year the Government launched a national publicity campaign on
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solvent misuse consisting of television and press advertising. The objective of the campaign was to raise parental awareness of the problem, and to make further information available by means of a booklet. Re-Solv played a valuable part in the development of the publicity campaign. The Department has recently awarded Re-Solv a grant of £33,000 per year for the next two years towards their central administration costs. The Department of Trade and Industry contributed £37,000 earlier this year towards the cost of producing a new training package developed by Re-Solv to help retailers identify and deal with solvent abusers. An exhibition of Re-Solv's work in combating solvent misuse was held recently in the Upper Waiting Hall.Disabled Employees
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of officers in grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively, and overall in her Department are registered disabled people.
Mr. Sackville : The information requested is shown in the table :
Grade Total staffRegistered disabled people
|(numbers)
|Number |Percentage
------------------------------------------------------------
1 |1 |0 |0
2 |7 |0 |0
3 |27 |0 |0
4 |29 |2 |6.9
5 |204 |1 |0.5
6 |173 |0 |0
7 |532 |3 |0.6
All grades
(including 1-7) |4,951 |72 |1.5
Notes:
1.Based on figures obtained from the Departments personnel
computer system as at 23 June 1992.
2.The figures exclude secondees into the Department,
special hospitals, youth treatment centres, members of
staff on special leave without pay and casual staff of all
grades.
Community Care
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether KPMG Management Consultants have completed their report on local authorities community care plans ; whether she will place this report in the Library ; and what was the cost of this consultancy exercise.
Mr. Yeo : KPMG Peat Marwick were commissioned to look at how the independent sector was being involved in the preparation of community care plans. Their report has recently been received and we are considering how its findings may best be made available. The cost of the consultancy is £42,200 exclusive of VAT and expenses.
Nurses' Grading
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurse clinical grading appeals remain outstanding ; what is the average time that has elapsed since they were lodged ; how long she expects it will take to clear the backlog ; what steps she is taking to expedite hearings ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : The Department does not collect information on appeals at employing authority level. The
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director of personnel of the NHS management executive wrote to regional general managers on 31 March stressing the importance of ensuring that any remaining backlog of cases at local level should be cleared as soon as possible,At 31 May 1992 there were 20,412 appeals outstanding at regional level (including those in Scotland and Wales) and 1,890 at national level. The Nursing and Midwifery Staffs Negotiating Council has recently reached agreement on streamlining the appeals process by setting up experimental standing appeals panels at national level--these have now started work--and by providing a facility for referring appeals direct from employing authority to national level if both parties agree. These changes should enable outstanding appeals to be dealt with more expeditiously, although it is too early to estimate how long it will take to complete the exercise.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical grading appeals have been submitted by nurses in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland since the start of the current process.
Mr. Sackville : The Department does not collect information on appeals at employing authority level. In England at 31 May, 20,775 appeals had been submitted at regional level and 1,430 at national level. Information relating to Scotland and Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales.
Ambulance Service (London)
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average cost per head of population of the ambulance service in London ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : The London ambulance service has advised me that the net cost of the ambulance service in London for 1991-92 was £9.48 per head of population.
AIDS
Mr. Dicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much Government money has been spent on HIV/AIDS awareness and related campaigns over the past five years ; and how many HIV/AIDS cases have been diagnosed during that period.
Mr. Sackville : The table sets out the allocations from April 1988 onwards to the health education authority (HEA) towards the development of HIV and AIDS related public awareness and education initiatives. These amounts include the contributions towards the costs of the National AIDS Helpline and related telephone information services. Not shown in the tables are the amounts spent by other Government Departments on HIV prevention work within their own spheres of interest.
Between 1985-86 and 1992-93 the Government have allocated over £73 million to the development of the national AIDS public education campaign. Over and above this, since 1989-90 contributions have been made towards the additional costs incurred by regional and district health authorities in the development of local HIV prevention initiatives. For 1992-93 these amount to £21 million.
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|c|Education HEA/helpline|c| Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1988-89 |10.00 1989-90 |12.00 1990-91 |10.00 1991-92 |11.00 1992-93 |11.225
The number of HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed for the five year period within the United Kingdom is as follows :
1988 to the end of March 1992--4,574 AIDS cases.
1988 to the end of March 1992--9,141 HIV infected persons.
Mr. Dicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what study has been undertaken of the similarity between the type of birth control practised in some parts of Africa and known homosexual behaviour, and the implications of this for the increase in HIV/AIDS among heterosexuals in Africa and homosexuals elsewhere.
Mr. Sackville : I will write to my hon. Friend with the information that he requests as soon as it is available.
Mr. Dicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what forecasts were made by her Department for the number of heterosexuals likely to be affected by the HIV/AIDS virus in each of the past five years ; and what were the actual numbers so affected, excluding drug users and the suffering from contaminated blood.
Mr. Sackville : The Day report, "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in England and Wales" estimated that at the end of 1988 between 13,000 and 26,000 individuals were infected with HIV and that between 750 and 3,750 had been infected through sexual intercourse between men and women. Up to the end of March 1992, 1,769 cases of HIV infection acquired through heterosexual intercourse had been reported to the communicable disease surveillance centre. This underestimates the true level of infection as only those who recognise themselves to be at risk will seek a test. The Day report did not make predictions for individual years for HIV infected persons.
Mr. Dicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of those affected by the HIV/AIDS virus over the past five years have been known to be (a) homosexual and (b) heterosexual, excluding drug users and those suffering from contaminated blood.
Mr. Sackville : By the end of March 1992 there had been a cumulative total of 15,501 newly diagnosed HIV-1 infected persons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reported to the communicable disease surveillance centre (all exposure categories combined) since the HIV test became available in 1984. This number may considerably underestimate the total number infected in certain exposure categories because in order to have their infection diagnosed infected persons must recognise their risk, present for an HIV-1 test and agree to have a test after pre-test counselling. A detailed breakdown is contained in the following table 12 from the AIDS/HIV Quarterly Surveillance Tables (No. 15, Data to end of March 1992).
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|c|Table 12|c|
|c|Trends in exposure category distribution (per cent.) of HIV-1 infected persons|c|
|c|Reported to 31 March 1992|c|
|c|England, Wales and Northern Ireland|c|
Sexual intercourse
Year of Between men Between men and women Injecting drug use<1> Mother to infSub total Blood<2> Other/undetermined Grand
report |Male |Female |NS |Male |Female |NS |100 per cent |Male |Female |NS |total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To end
1985 |1,400 |19 |12 |4 |51 |20 |3 |1,509 |649 |139 |6 |14 |2,317
|(93) |(2) |(5) |(<1)
1986 |1608 |40 |49 |1 |169 |69 |2 |8 |1,946 |361 |114 |7 |3 |2,431
|(83) |(5) |(12) |(<1)
1987 |1,552 |86 |104 |1 |204 |101 |5 |2,053 |106 |102 |3 |9 |2,283
|(76) |(9) |(15) |(<1)
1988 |1,070 |86 |93 |1 |149 |66 |2 |12 |1,479 |55 |108 |12 |5 |1,659
|(72) |(12) |(15) |(1)
1989 |1,120 |111 |120 |1 |156 |42 |13 |1,563 |40 |87 |25 |3 |1,718
|(72) |(15) |(13) |(1)
1990 |1,438 |181 |195 |1 |169 |42 |1 |29 |2,056 |92 |46 |11 |6 |2,211
|(70) |(18) |(11) |(1)
1991 |1,539 |262 |277 |4 |155 |60 |23 |2,320 |26 |62 |31 |1 |2,440
|(66) |(29) |(8) |(<1)
<3>1992 |256 |56 |63 |2 |29 |5 |1 |412 |6 |21 |2 |1 |442
|(62) |(29) |(8) |(<1)
Total |9,983 |841 |913 |15 |1,082 |405 |5 |94 |13,338 |1,335 |679 |107 |42 |15,501
|(75) |(13) |(11) |(1)
<1>Includes 199 male drug users who had sex with other men.
<2>Includes 239 children aged 14 years or less.
<3>1992 1st quarter.
Miss Jennifer Bennett
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she proposes to reply to the letter sent to her by the Director of the Matthew Trust, dated 20 May, regarding the case of Miss Jennifer Bennett.
Mr. Sackville : I have replied today to the Matthew Trust.
International Peto Institute
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 18 June, Official Report, column 677, if she will specify the component parts of the International Peto Institute proposed development in Budapest, which are either under construction or completed and occupied as a result of the initial payment of £1, 750,000 by Her Majesty's Government to the Hungarian Government.
Mr. Yeo : No construction work is yet under way. Our agreement with the Hungarian Government and the Peto Foundation provided for one initial payment at this stage, with the remainder dependent on construction progress.
Juvenile Delinquents (Secure Places)
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many secure places there are in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire for juvenile delinquents.
Mr. Yeo : On 29 June 1992 there were 292 places in local authority secure units in England, of which 36 were in Yorkshire and Humberside. These units form a network to which all local authorities have access. They are not designed solely for juvenile delinquents ; they may accommodate any child who is being looked after by a local authority and who needs a secure placement.
In addition, the youth treatment service runs two youth treatment centres (YTCs)--Glenthorne in Birmingham
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and St. Charles in Essex. These provide, between them, up to 70 places for disturbed young people. Again, not all these young people have committed an offence.NATIONAL FINANCE
Savings
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the average personal savings rate per adult in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Nelson : The generally accepted measure of the average rate of saving by individuals in the United Kingdom is the saving ratio, which measures the proportion of personal disposable income not spent on purchases of consumer goods and services. The latest annual estimates of the saving ratio are published in quarterly articles on United Kingdom national accounts in Economic Trends, which is available from the Library. The most recent article, giving figures back to 1985, appeared in the issue for April 1992. Figures for earlier periods are available on the CSO database, series AIIM, which can also be accessed through the Library.
Separate ratios for juveniles and adults are not available.
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