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However, information relating to British Coal redundancies, where former workers have been refused Income Support on grounds of deprivation of resources, has been collected nationally since November 1992. I am therefore able to let you know that, since 16 November 1992, there have been a total of five refusals on these grounds. All of these have been made at the Chesterfield and Worksop Benefits Agency offices.I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list by year for the last five years (a) the number of people employed by grade and (b) the annual cost of the contributory benefits section at his Department's offices at Castle house, Doncaster, classified by (i) sickness benefit, (ii) invalidity benefit, (iii) severe disablement allowance and (iv) maternity benefit.
Mr. Burt : The administration of benefits is a matter for Mr Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency and he will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 10 March 1993.
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking if he will list by year for the last five years (a) the number of people employed by grade and (b) the annual costs of the Contributory Benefits Section at his Department's offices at Castle House, Doncaster ; classified by (i) sickness benefit, (ii) invalidity benefit, (iii) severe disablement allowance and (iv) maternity benefit.
For operational reasons it is not possible to identify separately staff on sickness benefit and invalidity benefit or between severe disablement allowance and maternity benefit because the work is merged within staff sections. Figures are also only available for 1991-92 and 1992-93 since the Benefits Agency was formed. The information available is set out below :
Sickness and Invalidity
Benefit
Year
-------------------------------
1991-92
Staff |LO1 5.5
Staff |LO2 17.5
Staff |AA 3.0
Total Cost |£306,000
1992-93
Staff |LO1 5.5
Staff |LO2 22.5
Staff |AA 3.0
Total Cost |£366,000
Severe Disablement Allowance and Maternity Benefit--
1991-92 and 1992-93.
LO2 1.5 staff at a cost of £17,000.
Note : All totals are rounded to the nearest £1,000.
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
Pensions
Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the savings to the national insurance fund if both men and women started to receive the state retirement pension at (a) 65 years, (b) 66 years, (c) 67 years, (d) 68 years, (e) 69 years and (f) 70 years.
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Miss Widdecombe : On the same basis as the estimates set out in the discussion documents, "Options for Equality in State Pension Age", the savings to the national insurance fund from equalising state pension age at 65 and 67 are as follows :
|2025|2035
----------------------
Age 65 |5.1 |4.3
Age 67 |9.3 |8.5
Estimates for the remaining ages are not available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Ms Corston : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the proportion of pensioners receiving income from occupational pensions identified as (a) all pensioners, (b) single male pensioners aged under 75 years, (c) single female pensioners aged under 75 years, (d) pensioner couples aged under 75 years, (e) single female pensioners aged 75 years or over, (f) single male pensioners aged 75 years or over and (g) couples where at least one partner is aged 75 years or over, and the median amount received.
Miss Widdecombe : Estimates for 1989--the latest year for which information is available--are in the table.
---------------------------------------------------- All pensioner units |56 |27.20 Single male pensioners aged under 75 |58 |23.10 Single female pensioners aged under 75 |59 |27.40 Pensioner couples where both are aged under 75 |77 |35.90 Single female pensioners aged 75 or over |30 |14.40 Single male pensioners aged 75 or over |50 |21.80 Pensioner couples where at least one is aged 75 |64 |30.80 Notes: 1. Estimates are based on the 1989 Family Expenditure Survey and the 1987 GAD Survey of Occupational Pensions. 2. A pensioner unit is defined to be a single person aged above State Pensionable Age (SPA) or a couple where the head is aged above SPA.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what impact denial of unemployment benefit to persons over the age of 55 years due to interaction with pension provision has on unemployment statistics.
Mr. Burt : I refer the hon. Member to my reply on 10March 1993 to the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon).
War Pensions
Mr. Michael Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to increase war pensions.
Miss Widdecombe : An amendment order, which increases in line with the retail prices index, war pensions
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and allowances in respect of ex-service men and women, and which introduces some changes which will help simplify the scheme, was made yesterday by the Privy Council. The order will be laid before Parliament for information on 22 March. Legislation to make similar amendments to the scheme for civilians was laid today. The main element of the changes is that, in addition to the uprating from 12 April, the basic war disablement pension has been increased by £5 a week ; this change will result in considerable cash gains for some 200,000 pensioners.Order Books
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will give the cost of issuing a Department of Social Security additional order book ;
(2) in what circumstances additional order books are issued in respect of one payment only ; how many have been issued in the last 12 months in respect of payments of 35 pence or less ; and what consideration is given to incorporating such payments into the main order book.
Mr. Burt : The administration and payments of benefits is the responsibility of Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Ms Joan Walley, dated 10March 1993.
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking what is the cost of issuing a Department of Social Security additional order book ; in what circumstances additional order books are issued in respect of one payment only ; how many have been issued in the last 12 months in respect of payments of 35 pence or less ; and what consideration is given to incorporating such payments into the main order book. Additional order books in respect of one payment only are sometimes necessary in connection with the uprating announcement.
Order books normally cover a period of 20 weeks and renewal books are issued some 4 or 5 weeks in advance of the first order. If uprating details are not available when books are prepared, any which span the uprating date will not include the new rates. When the uprating date coincides with the date of the last order in an order book, an additional book covering just one payment is necessary. Normally, the number of additional books issued with one order is negligible but the date of the latest uprating announcement was such that a more significant number of additional Child Benefit books were issued. It is estimated that the number of order books issued in the last 12 months for payments of 35p or less is 110,000.
The decision to issue additional order books rather than include arrears in the next main book was based on customer service and economic grounds.
Issue of the additional book ensured that the correct rate of benefit was available to all customers on the due date. The child benefit computer system already has in place a facility to issue additional order books in such circumstances and to introduce a facility to include the increase in the next renewal book would have involved substantial computer reprogramming costs.
The estimated cost of issuing, centrally, an additional order book is estimated, from the latest available data, to be approximately 2p (two pence), plus the cost of second class postage. There are no figures currently available for the cost of a locally produced additional order book.
I hope that you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
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Departmental Staff
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list by year for the last five years (a) the number of persons employed by grade and (b) the annual cost of the pensions section at his Department's offices in Castle house, Doncaster, classified by (i) income support pension, (ii) retirement pension, (iii) widow's benefit and (iv) death grant.
Mr. Burt : The administration of benefits is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, who will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 10 March 1993.
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking if he will list by year for the last five years (a) the number of persons employed by grade and (b) the annual cost of the Pensions Section at his Department's offices in Castle House, Doncaster, classified by (i) income support pension, (ii) retirement pension, (iii) widow's benefit and (iv) death grant.
For operational reasons it is not possible to identify separately staff on Retirement Pensions and Widow's Benefit because the work is merged within staff sections and figures are not available on the Death Grant because it has been abolished.
The figures available are only for 1991-1992 and 1992-93 since the Benefits Agency was formed.
The information available is set out below :
Year
---------------------------------------------------------
Retirement Pension and Widow's Benefit
1991-92
Staff |LO1 1
Staff |LO2 4
Staff |AA 1
Total cost |£69,000
1992-93
Staff |LO1 1
Staff |LO2 6
Staff |AA 1
Total cost |£92,000
Income Support Pensions
1991-92
Staff |LO1 0.5
Staff |LO2 2
Total cost |£30,000
1992-93
Staff |LO1 0.5
Staff |LO2 2
Total cost |£31,000
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
HEALTH
Elderly People (Care)
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance she has given to district health authorities regarding the contracting out of continuing elderly care ; and if she will make a statement ;
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(2) how many health authorities have contracted out the provision of continuing elderly care in the last year ; and if she will list them, stating the number of patients affected.Mr. Yeo : In purchasing continuing care, health authorities are expected to consider the whole range of available services, including those in the independent sector. The extent of such provision, including any purchased from independent providers, is a matter for individual health authorities to determine in the light of local needs and priorities.
Cannabis
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to investigate the use of cannabis for certain medical conditions.
Women
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of women doctors were obstetricians and gynaecologists in each of the last five years.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is set out in the table.
Women doctors (whole time equivalent England)
|All hospital doctors|Obstetricians and |Obstetricians and
|Gynaecologists |gynaecologists as
|percentage of all
|hospital doctors
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987 |9,049.9 |805.5 |8.9
1988 |9,693.3 |907.8 |9.4
1989 |10,126.6 |912.8 |9.0
1990 |10,736.3 |954.5 |8.9
1991 |11,232.8 |1,000.9 |8.9
Dental Treatment
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average cost of dental treatment in (a) the north west and (b) England for the latest year for which figures are available.
Dr. Mawhinney : The table shows the average payments for registered patients in the general dental services (GDS) in 1991-92, the latest year for which figures are available.
|Gross payments |Number of patients|Average gross
|1991-92 in <1>£ |registered at 30 |payments 1991-92
|million |September 1991<2> |per registered
|patient
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North western region |108.20 |1,881,311 |57.51
England |1,210.06 |21,570,226 |56.10
Notes:
<1>The total of payments scheduled by the Dental Practice Board in
respect of child and adult items of servie fees, continuing care and capitation payments, and
weighted entry payments. Taken together, these payments represent about 95 per cent. of the
total gross cost of the GDS. The figures include charge income collected from patients.
<2>The figures do not include patients who received "occasional treatment", that is, without
registering with the dentist.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists are in practice in (a) Pendle, (b) the north-west standard region and (c) England who (i) take NHS patients, (ii) take private patients only and (iii) until 1990 took NHS patients but no longer do so.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information in not held centrally. The table shows the number of national health service dentists by family health service authority (FHSA), regional health authority (RHA) and for England as a whole.
|30 September 1990|30 September 1992
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lancashire FHSA |400 |421
North West RHA |1,232 |1,258
England |15,480 |15,411
Dentists are independent contractors and are free to practice privately if they wish. Information is not held about those who decide to do so.
Prescription Errors
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the information held by her Department on the scale of general practitioners prescribing errors, together with the response of her Department.
Dr. Mawhinney This information is not collected.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the drugs in the British National Formulary containing chlorofluorocarbons.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available in the form requested but records held by the Medicines Control Agency show there are 119 products containing chlorofluorocarbons, licensed under the Medicines Act for human use at present. A small number, which are listed, contain chlorofluorocarbons as active ingredients including inhalational and anaesthetic agents.
The remainder of the licensed products (104) contain
chlorofluorocarbons used as excipients usually in the form of a propellant.
It is not normal practice to disclose excipients since to do so could prejudice companies' commercially sensitive information which they are required to provide to obtain a product licence.
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Product licences with chlorofluorocarbons as active Product Licence No. |Product Name |Licence Holder ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 00189/0018 |Deep freeze aerosol spray |Mentholatum Co. Ltd. 00327/5910R |PR freeze spray (liquid aerosol) |Crookes Healthcare Ltd. 00347/0001 |Pain relief spray |Aerosols International Ltd. 00424/0068 |Spreeze aerosol (formerly Relcram aerosol) |Tillott JB Ltd. T/A Tillotts Laboratories 00457/0010 |Stingo (aerosol spray) |Potter and Clarke Ltd. 00484/0009R |Astroplast burn spray |Dalmuir Trading Co. Ltd. 00504/5001R |Ultrakool aerosol spray |Wallace Cameron and Co. Ltd. 03873/0003 |Gola freeze spray |Gola Sports Ltd. 08313/0030 |Pharmaethyl (pressurised gas-aerosol presentation)|Deproco UK Ltd. 10655/0001 |Burnzap |Health Foundation Ltd. 00029/5058R |Fluothane |Imperial Chemical Industries PLC 00037/0053 |Ethrane or Enflurane (generic name) |Abbott Laboratories Ltd. 00037/0115 |Forane or Isoflurane (generic name) |Abbott Laboratories Ltd. 02240/0001 |Isoflurane |I S C Chemicals Ltd. 05247/0001 |Alyrane (nonflammable liquid) |Anaquest Ltd.
Passive Smoking
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the leaflet on passive smoking to become available again.
Dr. Mawhinney : There are four main booklets concerning passive smoking--the Department of the Environment's "Code of Practice on Smoking in Public Places"; the Health and Safety Executive's booklet "Passive Smoking at Work"; a booklet "Passive Smoking A Health Hazard" produced by a coalition of statutory and voluntary organisations ; and "Passive Smoking Questions and Answers", published by the Health Education Authority (HEA).
The first three booklets are in print and copies are available from the Library. The HEA booklet "Passive Smoking Questions and Answers" is currently being reprinted and will be available again shortly. A copy will be placed in the Library.
Hospital Meals
Ms Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines she issues to national health service management regarding the minimal nutritional standards of meals in hospitals ; what monitoring there is of in-patient meals to see whether they meet nutritional criteria ; and when the guidelines were last reviewed.
Mr. Sackville : None. Hospitals and other national health service units are required to ensure that adequate meals are provided and that they meet the nutritional requirements of all their patients.
Aycliffe Secure Unit
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the results of the inquiry into the Aycliffe local authority secure unit, the number of visits her inspectors have made to this unit in the last two years and the conclusions they reached ; and how many children from Newcastle upon Tyne have been placed in the unit.
Mr. Yeo : Durham area child protection committee inquired into a number of allegations of child abuse at Aycliffe community home in 1992 and produced a report of their findings which was published in November 1992.
Formal inspections of Aycliffe were carried out by the social services inspectorate in March and July 1989 and in March 1991. Reports on these inspections were published in 1990 and 1991. Copies are available in the Library. A further visit, not resulting in a published report, to review the findings of the earlier inspections was made in March 1992.
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Others visits are made to units such as Aycliffe. They are not inspections or assessments of practice and no reports are published. Information about placements of children by local authorities in individual secure units is in the annual statistical publication "Children Accommodated in Secure Units during the year ending 31 March", copies of which are available in the Library.Health Education Authority Leaflets
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what charges are made for Health Education Authority leaflets.
Dr. Mawhinney : The Health Education Authority's policy is to produce and distribute leaflets free of charge to the general public, through local health promotion units, to general practitioners' waiting rooms for example. Charges on a cost-recovery basis only are made to non- national health service organisations seeking bulk orders.
Local Authority Homes
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what will be the payment made to voluntary and private sector residential and nursing homes for the aged made in respect of individual residents each week from 1 April ;
(2) what account she takes of the capital costs incurred by private and voluntary sector residential care and nursing homes in calculating the payments for the care of residents in those homes.
Mr. Yeo : The price paid by local authorities for places in residential care and nursing homes is a matter for negotiation between the homes and authorities locally.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what will be the payment to local authority homes for the aged made in respect of individual residents each week from 1 April ;
(2) what account she takes of the capital costs incurred in construction of local authorities' residential care homes in calculating the payments for the care of residents in those homes ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : Each local social services authority sets a standard rate for the provision of residential care in its own homes which it is required to seek to recover from each resident, subject to their ability to pay. The standard rate takes into account local factors, including capital expenditure, and is based upon a formula produced by the local authority associations. From 1 April 1993 local authorities will be required, by section 22(2) of the National Assistance Act 1948, to set the standard rate at an amount which represents the full cost to the authority
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of providing the accommodation. In addition to income from charges, resources for local social services authorities for these purposes are available through the revenue support grant, the business rate and the council tax, when introduced.Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will list the research currently being funded by her Department on the incidence of mental disorder in ethnic minority groups ; (2) what research is being funded by her Department into the provision of mental health services to meet the needs of black and ethnic minority communities.
Mr. Yeo : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) on 23 February at column 544.
Psychotropic Medicines
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of prescriptions for psychotropic medicines were issued to women in the last available year.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information is not held centrally on the gender of patients for whom prescriptions are issued.
Mental Health Services
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to ensure that users of mental health services are actively involved in discussions about who should be their care manager.
Mr. Yeo : The White Paper, "Caring for People" stresses the importance of consulting mentally ill people, their relatives and carers about their care. The "Caring for People" policy guidance (HMSO ISBN 0 11 321338 7) specifies that the individual service user, and with his or her agreement any carers, should be involved throughout the assessment and care management process.
The "Health of the Nation" mental illness key area handbook for health and social services managers published in January this year gives managers practical advice on involving users and seeking their views. Copies of all the documents are available in the Library.
Hospital Travel Costs
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hospital travel costs scheme was established ; what are the arrangements for payments to claimants ; and what records there are of the number of claimants for travel costs under the scheme for each of the last three years.
Mr. Sackville : There have been arrangements for the reimbursement of national health service travel costs to hospital since 1948. Under the current scheme, which has been in place since 1988, assistance with the costs of travel to hospital for treatment is available to patients on income support or family credit or who are otherwise assessed to be on a low income. Patients who can demonstrate entitlement are usually able to obtain their travel expenses at the hospital when they attend for treatment ; otherwise payment is subject to confirmation of entitlement. Information on the number of claims made is not held centrally.
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Low Income Scheme
Mrs. Lait : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes are planned in the future administration of the NHS low income scheme and the health benefits unit.
Dr. Mawhinney : The future of the health benefits unit at Newcastle which assesses claims for charge remission under the national health service low income scheme has been under consideration for some time in parallel with a wide ranging review of the scheme itself. I have now concluded that the best option for improving administration is to transfer responsibility for the scheme to the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA), a special health authority within the NHS. This transfer will take effect on 1 April 1993. Some 360 Department of Social Security (DSS) staff currently employed at the unit and who handle approximately 1.2 million claims per annum on behalf of the Department of Health will be seconded to the PPA from that date. Thereafter, they will be given the opportunity either to transfer to the NHS on a permanent basis or return to DSS as vacancies arise. There are no plans for either voluntary or compulsory redundancy. DSS Ministers have agreed the planned transfer.
Transferring responsibility to the PPA generates significant opportunities for improving the administration of the scheme, and will enable progress to be made towards computerisation of both record keeping and the claims assessment process. The extent to which the recommendations made following the review of the scheme's administration, which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced on 22 May 1991, might contribute to these opportunities is receiving careful study. In reaching final decisions we shall need to take account of current public expenditure constraints, but I hope to make a further announcement soon. Arrangements have been made with the Scottish and Welsh Offices that claims from these countries should, for the present, continue to be handled by the PPA.
National Blood Authority
Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in establishing the national blood authority.
Mr. Sackville : I have today laid before the House an order to establish the national blood authority from 1 April 1993. From that date it will replace the Central Blood Laboratories Authority and the national directorate of the National Blood Transfusion Service. We propose that the new authority should assume responsibility for managing the regional transfusion centres from 1 April 1994. I am pleased to announce that Mr. Lawrence Banks, a director of Robert Fleming Holdings Limited and Mr. Dennis Allison, general manager of the North Western regional health authority have agreed to serve as non-executive members of the new national blood authority. Mr. John Adey, former managing director of Baxter Healthcare Ltd, has been appointed to be the chief executive of the new authority. Additional appointments will be made shortly.
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Medical Advisers
Sir Michael Grylls : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the total number of family health service authority medical advisers in post ; and what is the total salary cost for the financial year 1991-92 and the projected cost for the current financial year.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 10 March 1993.
Suicide
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many suicides there have been by (a) women and (b) women in rural areas in each year since 1979 ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : The exact information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information for the years 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1991 however are available and are shown in the table.
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