| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 312
PortsmouthPort Talbot
Preseli
Preston
Reading
Restormel
Rhondda
Rhymney Valley
Rochdale
Rotherham
Rural Wales
Salisbury
Scarborough
Sedgemoor
Sheffield
Shepway
Shrewsbury and Atcham
South Hams
South Kesteven
South Norfolk
South Pembrokeshire
Stafford
St. Edmundsbury
Sunderland
Swansea
Taff-Ely
Taunton Deane
Teesdale
Teignbridge
Telford
Thamesdown
Tonbridge and Malling
Torridge
Tynedale
Uttlesford
Vale of Glamorgan
Warrington
Warrington DC
Warwick
Waveney
Wealden
Wear Valley
Wellingborough
West Devon
West Dorset
West Lancashire
West Lindsey
West Norfolk
West Somerset
Weymouth and Portland
Wigan
Worcester
Wrexham Maelor
Wychavon
Wyre
Wyre Forest
Ynys Mo n
Sight Tests
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people had sight tests in all health board areas for which figures are available in (a) the last 12-month period for which figures are available and (b) in each year since 1987-88.
Column 313
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 2 February, 1993] : The information requested for each of the financial years from 1987-88 to 1991- 92 is shown in the table. Information for the period October 1991 to September 1992, the last full 12-month period for which information is available, is shown separately in the table.
Column 313
Numbers of NHS sight tests<1> in Scotland by Health Board area
Health Board |1987-88 |1988-89 |1989-90<2> |1990-91 |1991-92 |1 October 1991 to 30
|September 1992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Argyll and Clyde |95,153 |98,926 |30,636 |39,703 |46,243 |48,096
Ayrshire and Arran |80,202 |85,746 |34,754 |34,606 |38,236 |39,902
Borders |16,123 |17,981 |7,176 |5,240 |6,316 |7,163
Dumfries and Galloway |29,324 |31,007 |11,761 |11,336 |13,637 |14,704
Fife |72,534 |76,854 |24,821 |28,556 |34,049 |35,453
Forth Valley |54,525 |58,847 |26,276 |18,426 |21,637 |22,354
Grampian |96,777 |108,592 |30,582 |33,367 |36,977 |39,129
Greater Glasgow |237,924 |252,843 |131,605 |110,697 |122,878 |128,436
Highland |36,185 |36,599 |15,841 |13,091 |15,476 |16,073
Lanarkshire |119,371 |119,307 |47,680 |47,983 |56,269 |58,527
Lothian |162,353 |176,902 |74,531 |56,682 |66,297 |69,096
Orkney |2,674 |2,972 |862 |873 |1,034 |1,156
Shetland |7,000 |7,069 |2,808 |2,420 |2,834 |2,700
Tayside |83,680 |90,498 |28,103 |28,132 |32,642 |34,802
Western Isles |4,320 |4,467 |2,043 |1,773 |2,073 |2,035
|----- |----- |---- |---- |---- |----
Scotland Total |1,098,145 |1,168,610 |475,479 |432,885 |496,598 |519,626
<1> One person may have more than one sight test in the period.
<2> Since 1 April 1989 free NHS sight tests have been available only to children, full-time students under 19, those in receipt of income support or family credit, the
registered blind and partially sighted, complex lens users, those who hold an AG2 exemption certificate from the health benefits unit, diagnosed diabetic or glaucoma
sufferers, and close relatives aged 40 or over of glaucoma sufferers. Information is not collected on private sight tests.
EMPLOYMENT
Maternity Leave
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will review the maternity leave provisions to take account of (a) very premature birth of a baby of low birth weight, (b) multiple birth and (c) combination of (a) and (b).
Mr. McLoughlin : The Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Bill gives all women, irrespective of length of service or hours of work, the right to 14 weeks' statutory maternity leave. Women with premature babies or multiple births will benefit from this right in the same way as other women.
Employment Training
Mr. Pope : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people resident in the area in which East Lancashire training and enterprise council
Column 314
operates are engaged on employment training and employment action ; and what proportion they represent of the total number of eligible people.Mr. McLoughlin : At December 1992, the latest date for which information is available, for the area covered by East Lancashire TEC (ELTEC) it is estimated that there are 1,200 people in training on employment training and 221 employment action participants. Information on the number of eligible people is not available.
Health and Safety Executive
Ms. Eagle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of persons, full-time equivalent, in each grade for each section of the Health and Safety Executive in the north-west for each of the last 10 years.
Mr. McLoughlin : Available information about staffing in HSE's Field Operations Division, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and North West areas is given in the table for 1 April 1991, 1 April 1992, and 1 January 1993. Figures for earlier years could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Column 313
Greater Manchester
Grade |1 April 1991 |1 April 1992 |1 January 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior executive officer |1 |1 |1
Higher executive officer |1 |1 |2
Executive officer |3 |3 |4
Administrative officer | 14.5 |16 |14
Administrative assistant |8 |9 |11
Typing manager |1 |1 |-
Typist |11 |9 |9
Personal secretary |4 | 3.5 |3
Support grade band 2 |1 |1 |-
Superintending inspector factories |1 |1 |1
Deputy superintending inspector factories |2 |2 |2
Inspector class 1A |7 |7 |6
Inspector class 1B |13 | 10.5 | 12.5
Inspector class 2 |9 |8 |8
Superintending specialist inspector C |1 |1 |1
Principal specialist inspector |6 |7 |5
Specialist inspector |11 |11 |9
Senior scientific officer |1 |1 |1
Higher scientific officer |1 |1 |1
Scientific officer |- |1 |2
Assistant scientific officer |2 |1 |-
Senior inspecting officer |1 |1 |1
Higher professional technological officer |2 |1 |1
Senior employment medical adviser |1 |1 |1
Employment medical adviser | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5
Senior employment nursing adviser |1 |1 |-
Employment nursing adviser |1 |2 |2
Ward sister (SRN) |1 |- |-
|------- |------- |-------
Total |107 |103.5 |100
Column 315
North West
Grade |1 April 1991 |1 April 1992 |1 January 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Higher executive officer |1 |1 |1
Executive officer |2 |2 |3
Administrative officer |9 | 9.5 | 10.5
Administrative assistant |8 | 6.5 | 7.5
Typing manager |1 |1 |1
Typist | 6.5 |6 | 5.5
Personal secretary |2 |2 |2
Support grade band 1 |1 |1 |1
Support grade band 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5
Superintending inspector factories |1 |- |-
Deputy superintending inspector factories |1 |1 |1
Inspector class 1A |5 |5 |5
Inspector class 1B | 7.5 | 8.5 |11
Inspector class 2 |9 |12 |10
Specialist inspector |2 |- |1
Senior employment medical adviser |1 |1 |-
Employment medical adviser |1 |1 |1
Employment nursing adviser |1 |1 |2
Deputy chief inspector agriculture |- |1 |1
Principal agricultural inspector |1 |1 |1
Agricultural inspector |5 |7 |7
Assistant agricultural inspector |2 |2 |3
Inspector of quarries |1 |- |1
|------- |------- |-------
Total |68.5 |70 |76
Column 315
Merseyside
Grade |1 April 1991 |1 April 1992 |1 January 1993
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Higher executive officer |1 |1 |1
Executive officer |3 |2 |4
Administrative officer |9 |8 |10
Administrative assistant |5 | 8.5 | 4.5
Typing manager |1 |1 |1
Typist |7 |8 |8
Personal secretary |2 |2 |2
Support grade band 2 |- |1 |1
Superintending inspector factories |1 |- |1
Deputy superintending inspector factories |1 |1 |1
Inspector class 1A |6 |6 |6
Inspector class 1B |13 | 11.5 | 11.5
Inspector class 2 |10 |10 |10
Specialist inspector |1 |- |1
Senior employment medical adviser |1 |1 |1
Employment medical adviser | 0.5 |2 |2
Employment nursing adviser |1 |2 |2
Ward sister (SRN) |1 |- |-
Principal agricultural inspector |1 |1 |1
Agricultural inspector |3 |2 |2
Assistant agricultural inspector |2 |3 |1
|------- |------- |-------
Total |69.5 |3 |71 |71
Column 317
Unemployment Benefit Disqualification
Mr. Illsley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information is available regarding the lengths of periods of unemployment benefit disqualification imposed by adjudication officers in the area which includes Barnsley, Central.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Mr. M.E.G. Fogden to Mr. Eric Illsley, dated 4 February 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about the length of periods of unemployment benefit disqualifications in the Barnsley Central area. This is something which falls within the responsibilities she has delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
All decisions on claims for unemployment benefit are made by the independent adjudicating authorities.
Information about length of disqualification periods imposed is not collated or published as each is decided in the light of the circumstances surrounding the individual case. Without knowledge of these circumstances no meaningful interpretation of the information could be made.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many of the official total of unemployed for December 1992 were self-employed immediately before registering as unemployed.
Mr. McLoughlin : No information is available in respect of the claimant count. Estimates from the summer (June to August) 1992 labour force survey indicate that there were 275,000 people in Great Britain unemployed on the international standard ILO definition (not seasonally adjusted) who reported their employment status in their last job as self- employed. This represents 9.8 per cent. of total unemployed.
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many vacancies in the shipbuilding and manufacturing engineering sectors have been (a) notified to and (b) filled through the Newcastle area job centres in each year since 1987 ; and how many people were (i) employed and (ii) seeking employment in those sectors in the Newcastle area in each of those years.
Mr. McLoughlin : Information on the total numbers of people seeking employment, regardless of their current employment status, is not available.
The information requested on vacancies can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library. Information on the numbers employed is available only for the years 1987, 1989 and 1991 and can also be obtained from the NOMIS database there.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were unemployed in the Cheshire area in (a) September 1990, (b) September 1991 and (c) September 1992.
Column 318
Mr. McLoughlin : On the unadjusted basis, there were 23,518 unemployed claimants in the county of Cheshire in September 1990, 34, 916 in September 1991 and 38,655 in September 1992.
Redundancies
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what contingency planning is undertaken by the Employment Service concerning large-scale redundancies.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Mr. M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Nicholas Brown, dated 4 February 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about what contingency planning is undertaken by the Employment Service concerning large-scale redundancies. This is something which falls within the
responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. My Jobcentre managers get advance warnings of major redundancies and will contact the employer and offer appropriate support. We try to get involved as soon as possible in major redundancies and will normally approach the employer as soon as there is reason to believe our help is needed. We can offer a wide range of help and facilities to redundant workers, including a job placing service, special jobshops and benefit advice, depending on the actual requirements of the people and companies concerned.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administrative Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Redundancies
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the numbers of redundancies involved in each of the six largest cases of company closures in each of the last four years (a) in Newcastle and (b) nationally.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested is not available.
Opportunity 2000
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what conclusions and evaluations of the Opportunity 2000 initiative have been made ; and what plans she has to ask training and enterprise councils to report to her on their plans for increasing child care provision and training for 1993-94.
Mr. McLoughlin : Opportunity 2000 is not an Employment Department initiative and arrangements for its formal evaluation are those for Business in the Community to make. However, the lessons learnt so far have been that issues concerning people returning to the labour market, who are predominantly women, are being addressed in a positive and constructive way. An increasing number of employers are realising the important contribution that women make towards economic growth and stability.
Column 319
TECs are required to support, where necessary, the child care costs of those in the youth training guarantee group and may make similar help available to those entering the new adult programme, Training for Work.From 1 April 1993 TECs will also be able to apply for a new child care grant. The purpose of the grant is for TECs, working closely with other agencies, such as local authorities and schools, to promote, set up and run after-school childcare provision. TECs will continue to be monitored by my Department, as they have been since their introduction.
Enterprise Allowance
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of enterprise allowance claimants are still pursuing the business for which they received an allowance a year after the allowance was exhausted in (a) each region, (b) each TEC and (c) nationally.
| Next Section
| Home Page |