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Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally.
Tomlinson Report
Ms. Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish her financial analysis on the capital cost of implementing the recommendations of the Tomlinson inquiry.
Dr. Mawhinney : We received Sir Bernard Tomlinson's report on 15 October, and we shall consider its recommendations carefully. We shall publish our proposals for action, and their financial implications, in the new year.
Ms. Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the detailed evidence on which Sir Bernard Tomlinson based his view that St. Thomas's and Guy's hospital should merge on to one site without detriment to patient care in south London.
Dr. Mawhinney : Sir Bernard Tomlinson's report refers to meetings with more than 1,000 people, and to 127 written submissions. Sir Bernard distilled this material into the strategic report requested by Ministers.
Krypton-85
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies have been conducted by her Department into the health effects of Krypton-85.
Mr. Sackville : Assessments of the dose to a local population resulting from a release of the currently allowed does limit of Krypton-85 have been made by the National Radiological Protection Board, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution. I am advised that the dose at this level would be of the order of one microSievert per annum and may be regarded as negligible in relation to the average natural background dose from all types of natural radiation of 2,200 microSievert per annum.
Vaccination
Ms. Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she intends to make vaccination against Hepatitis B part of normal national health service vaccination procedure ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : Hepatitis B immunisation is already recommended for a number of at-risk groups, and is kept under constant review, with expert advice from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and the advisory group on hepatitis. The continuing decline in laboratory reports of the disease is very welcome.
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Hyberbaric Medicine
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health(1) what percentage of the budget of each regional health authority is spent on research into hyperbaric medicine ; and what information he has on expenditure on hyperbaric medicine of other EC countries for each of the last three years ;
(2) what percentage of the budget of each regional health authority has been spent on hyperbaric medicine for the last three years.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the extent of Government funding of research into hyperbaric medicine.
Dr. Mawhinney : The main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid through the Office of Science and Technology under the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. I understand that the MRC is currently funding a number of research projects into hyperbaric medicine at its clinical research centre at Northwick Park.
The Department of Health is not currently funding any research into hyperbaric medicine.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the start-up cost for each of the second and third wave hospitals and national health service unit trusts ; and if she will state which budget has met this cost in each instance.
Dr. Mawhinney : In the second wave, £226,000 was allocated to each NHS trust as a start-up cost. This non recurring revenue addition, top sliced from vote 1, hospital and community health services, is paid to regions to help cover expenditure incurred by trusts during their shadow running period--the period immediately prior to their operational date when they have no access to money of their own. This covers shadow board costs, legal expenses connected with the transfer of assets, employment of staff and other miscellaneous expenses. A similar sum will be allocated to third wave trusts.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 180, how much grant was paid to each national health service unit applying for trust status for (a) training and (b) development costs during the application process.
Dr. Mawhinney : Training and development grants were not paid to individual units.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 180, how much of the revenue grant paid to trusts during their shadow running period was for (a) shadow board costs, (b) legal expenses, (c) employment of staff and (d) miscellaneous expenses.
Dr. Mawhinney : This allocation is not broken down centrally and is for the trusts themselves to determine, depending on their individual circumstances.
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Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 180, how much each trust has spent on (a) shadow board costs, (b) legal expenses, (c) employment of staff and (d) miscellaneous expenses ; and if she will define what costs are included under miscellaneous expenses.
Dr. Mawhinney : The amount spent by each trust on these individual items is not held centrally. Miscellaneous expenses include any expense connected with tasks necessary to take over full operational responsibility from 1 April.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 180, how the revenue grant to trusts during their shadow running period is calculated.
Dr. Mawhinney : The amount allocated for top-sliced funding to meet start-up costs and consultation costs is divided on an equal basis and paid to successful trusts in each wave.
Birth Statistics
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to her answer of 30 October, Official Report, column 936, if she will list by Benefits Agency district the number of live births during 1989, 1990 and 1991.
Mr. Sackville : The boundaries of some Benefits Agency districts split postcodes and the data requested are therefore not available in the form requested.
NHS Staff
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the number of redundancies among national health service staff by profession, that have taken place in each region for each of the last three years.
Dr. Mawhinney : Data on redundancies in the national health service are not collected centrally, other than in respect of staff who are both over 50 years of age and have at least five years' reckonable service for superannuation purposes. These data are not broken down by grade.
Qa Business Services Ltd.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the operation of the Qa Business Services Ltd. pension scheme.
Dr. Mawhinney : Administration of the Qa pension fund, following the collapse of Qa Business Services Ltd., is being undertaken by the independent trustees, Bradstock Financial Services Ltd.
Grants
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish her Department's policy on the issuing of grants under its section 64 general scheme ; and if she will make a statement on changes to the policy agreed for the last 12 months.
Mr. Sackville : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) on 29 October at columns 842-43. Copies of the notes of guidance for
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applicants for 1993-94, together with the covering letter I sent to all voluntary organisations receiving, or applying for, a section 64 general scheme grant, have been placed in the Library.NHS Costs
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 180 , how much was spent by each region (a) on statutory consultation costs and (b) on conveyancing costs ; and how much was spent by each trust (i) during their shadow running periods and (ii) on training and developmental costs.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not held centrally.
Regional Health Authorities
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to make a statement on the future of regional health authorities.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We are consulting interested parties over the future relationship between Ministers, the NHS Management Executive and NHS authorities and trusts.
Computerised Records
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the guidelines issued by her Department on the use of computerised patient records by general practitioners ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : No specific guidelines have been issued on the use of computerised patient records by practitioners. General practitioners are required by their terms and conditions of service to keep adequate patient records on forms supplied by family health service authorities. We will be reviewing the extent to which these terms of service should be amended to take account of new technology.
Drugs
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on drugs in the national health service for 1990-91 and 1991-92 ; what is the latest estimate for expenditure in 1992-93 ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : Expenditure on drugs by the family health services in England amounted to £2,080 million in 1990-91 and £2,317 million in 1991-92. Provision in main estimates for 1992-93 is £2,444 million. A revised forecast will be available at the time of the Chancellor's autumn statement.
The annual accounts of health authorities in England record total expenditure on drugs of £460 million for 1990-91l An equivalent figure for 1991-92 will be available later this year. Analyses of expenditure are not collected in-year and any estimate for 1992-93 would therefore be speculative.
London Ambulance Service
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish (a) the proposed terms of reference for the inquiry into the London ambulance service, (b) the
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membership of the inquiry team, (c) the timetable for the inquiry's work and (d) the likely publication date of the inquiry's report ; and if she will make a statement.Mr. Sackville : I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave the Member for Bromsgrove (Mr. Thomason) on 6 November at columns 445-46.
NHS Management Executive
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times the chief executive of the National Health service Management Executive has visited the executive's headquarters in Leeds in the last six months.
Dr. Mawhinney : The Leeds headquarters of the National Health Service Management Executive--NHSME--have been occupied from 6 July 1992. The chief executive of the NHSME has visited the headquarters on six occasions since 6 July. His own office will be ready for occupation early in the new year.
Women's Refuges
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give an estimate on the numbers of places per 10,000 women in women's refuges throughout England and Wales for each year since 1979 and at present.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not held centrally. The Women's Aid Federation (England) Ltd. estimates that about 30,000 women and children are admitted to refuges each year. Refuge provision in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Vitamins
Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information is held by his Department about problems which have arisen in the United Kingdom in each of the past 10 years for which figures are available which have involved incidents of poisoning or illness following self-overdosing with vitamin, mineral or other dietary supplements.
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases there have been in each of the last 10 years when individuals suffered adversely as a result of self-overdosing wtih (a) vitamin C, (b) multi- vitamins, (c) vitamin and iron supplements and (d) salt.
Mr. Sackville : I have been asked to reply.
This information is not collected centrally. The Government are considering whether a spontaneous reporting scheme for adverse reactions in association with use of dietary supplements should be established.
EMPLOYMENT
Wages Councils
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 201, on the levels of wages received by those covered by wages councils, how many employers records were checked in the analysis, what was the date of
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the analysis, when it was carried out, how many wages councils were covered and what was the geographical distribution of the employers concerned ;(2) pursuant to her oral answer of 3 November to the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms. Eagle), Official Report, columns 129-30, what was the source and date of the information about the proportion of people covered by wages councils who are paid more than the rate set by those councils.
Mr. McLoughlin : The estimate of around 3 to 4 per cent. of employees found to be underpaid is based on the annual statistics compiled by the wages inspectorate covering the inspection of some 30,000 establishments in all parts of the country. The estimate that two thirds of employees are paid significantly above the wages council minima is based on special information collected by wages inspectors in 1987 supplemented by up to date figures from the new earnings survey. The earlier information covered some 3,650 employers in all the inspectorate divisions. There are no separate details of the councils covered and their geographical distribution.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her oral answer to the hon. Member for Strathkelvin and Bearsden (Mr. Galbraith) of 3 November, Official Report, columns 130, whether the other sources of income referred to include benefits, earned income or unearned income, respectively.
Mr. McLoughlin : The 80 per cent. of wages council workers referred to are in households with two or more wage earners.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her answer of 3 November, Official Report, columns 199-200, what was the basis of her approximation that two thirds of wages council workers are women.
Mr. McLoughlin : The estimate is based on the Department's quarterly statistics of employees in employment for industry headings covering the main wages councils.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many cases of underpayment of wages council workers were discovered by the wages inspectorate in the last year for which figures are available ; and what percentage this represented of premises inspected and of the number of workers in those premises.
Mr. McLoughlin : During 1991, the wages inspectorate discovered 12, 812 cases of underpayment of wages council workers in 5,971 establishments. This represented 18.3 per cent. of all establishments checked and 4.5 per cent. of all workers covered by checks.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many cases of underpayment of wages council workers were reported to the wages inspectorate in the last year for which figures are available ; and what percentage that represented of premises visited.
Mr. McLoughlin : In 1991, 1,486 complaints of underpayment were received from wages council workers, which resulted in visits to 1, 195 establishments, 6.5 per cent. of the total establishments visited.
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Health and Safety Commission
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many members the Health and Safety Commission has ; how many of them are (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) from ethnic minorities and women.
Mr. McLoughlin : The Health and Safety Commission currently comprises the chairman and nine other members. At present, one member is a woman and none is from an ethnic minority.
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many health and safety inspectors are (a) female or (b) from ethnic minority backgrounds ; and in each case what proportion this figure is of the total number.
Mr. McLoughlin : At 1 November 1992, 209 or 14 per cent. of inspectors were women and 23 or 1.5 per cent. were from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Industrial Tribunals
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many (a) chairs and (b) members of industrial tribunals are (i) women and (ii) from ethnic minorities.
Mr. McLoughlin : The figures are as follows :
|Number
-------------------------------------------------
Chairmen
Women |16
Members of the ethnic minorities |2
Lay members
Women |592
Members of the ethnic minorities |77
ENVIRONMENT
Hazardous Waste
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make it his policy to make representations to the Council of Ministers in order to allow EC member states to ban unilaterally waste imports and exports ;
(2) what action is currently undertaken by his Department to ensure that all transfers of hazardous waste from the United Kingdom for recycling in non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries ;
(3) if he will make representations to the Council of Ministers to secure that any ban on waste exports from the EC includes OECD green list wastes ;
(4) if he will make it his policy to support measures to ban hazardous waste trafficking with developing countries ;
(5) if he will make representations in the OECD to oppose the introduction of red, amber and green lists to cover transfers of hazardous wastes to non -OECD countries.
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Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms. Walley) on 27 October, Official Report, column 534, with the addition of the following. Under the regulation, before any green list waste for recovery is exported outside the OECD, the country of destination will be asked to state whether it will accept shipments without going through the amber, red or Basel control procedures. Where the country of destination regards a green list waste as hazardous, shipments of that waste will be subject to the appropriate control regime.
Household Waste
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the results of his Department's national household waste analysis project.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridgeshire, South-East (Mr. Paice) on 5 November, Official Report, column 374.
Urban Regeneration Agency
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will meet representatives from Staffordshire county council to discuss the proposed urban regeneration agency.
Mr. Robin Squire : We have no plans for a series of meetings with individual authorities to discuss the urban regeneration agency. We have just concluded a wide-ranging consultation exercise to which many local authorities, including Staffordshire, submitted their comments. These have been taken into account in preparing the legislation currently before the House. They will also form a useful input to our future work on the development of the guidance under which the agency will operate.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how he intends the urban regeneration agency to determine its strategy.
Mr. Robin Squire : The urban regeneration agency will determine its strategy in the light of its financial regime and the guidance we will issue to it.
Derelict Land
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy that there will be no transfer of resources from existing derelict land reclamation undertaken by local authorities to prestigious projects ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : I am well aware of the good work done by local authorities in reclaiming derelict land with the aid of grants from my Department. The urban regeneration agency will operate a new, unified grant regime to build on the success of derelict land grant and the other programmes it will inherit. It is, however, too early to take decisions on the agency's first work programme. This will be for the agency to determine in the light of guidance we will issue to it.
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Leasehold
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many court orders have been made in each year since 1988 under part III of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, approving the compulsory acquisition of premises whose landlord has been found to be in breach of obligations owed to their leaseholders ; and how many leaseholders in total have benefited from such orders.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many court orders have been made in each year since 1988 under part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 appointing a manager to act in respect of premises whose landlords have been found to be in breach of their obligations ; and how many tenants in total have benefited from such orders.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not collected centrally.
Housing Inspectorate
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to establish an independent housing inspectorate with responsibility for enforcing basic standards on housing improvements.
Mr. Baldry : No, the basic standard on housing improvements is laid down by section 604 of the 1985 Housing Act as amended by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the responsibility for enforcing this standard falls to the local housing authorities and ultimately to the courts.
Abandoned Mines (Water Pollution)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the National Rivers Authority assessment of data on water pollution from abandoned mines will include information on the 31 mines which British Coal had scheduled for closure ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The content of the forthcoming report is a matter for the NRA. I am sure that the NRA will have regard to the circumstances of these mines.
Housing Waiting Lists
Ms. Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice his Department issues to local authorities to ensure that housing waiting list criteria reflect social need.
Mr. Baldry : The allocation of local authority accommodation is entirely the responsibility of individual local authorities. Section 22 of the Housing Act 1985 requires authorities to give reasonable preference to people in housing need, such as those living in unsatisfactory conditions. It is for each authority to consider whether an applicant is in housing need.
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