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Dr. Mawhinney : In 1992 over 24 million people were estimated to be eligible for free prescriptions, of which about 20 million were exempt from charges on grounds of status and some 4 million were entitled to remission of charges on grounds of low income. Estimates of the number of people exempt from charges on medical grounds are not available.
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Contracting Out
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list all those services or functions that have been contracted out from her Department since November 1991 without market testing an in-house bid against external competition, with, in each instance, the successful contractor and the reasons for the decision to exclude an in-house bid.
Mr. Sackville : Since the publication of "Competing For Quality," the Department of Health has contracted out a number of building services-- all in its new headquarters building at 80 London road--without entering an in-house bid against the external competition. These are listed with the names of the successful contractors :
--Facilities management : Procord
--Mechanical and electrical : Haden Maintenance Ltd
--Maintenance of lifts : Kone Lifts
--Cleaning : Pall Mall Cleaning Services
--Security : Reliance Security Group
--Waste disposal : Bywater (Leyton) Ltd
--Pest control : Rentokil Environmental Services Ltd.
In the case of Facilities Management, no in-house bid was made as there were insufficient in-house technical skills and expertise to manage a new, high technology building. No in-house bids were made in the other areas because these services were not previously provided by civil servants.
Youth Treatment Centres
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the number of places in, the occupancy rate in, the cost of and the location of youth treatment centres under her control over the last five years ; and whether she has any plans to add to the provision.
Mr. Yeo : The youth treatment service consists of two residential centres--St. Charles in Brentwood, Essex and Glenthorne in Erdington, Birmingham, which have 30 and 40 places respectively. Information on the number of places in the centres occupied, the occupancy rate and the cost of the service over the last five years is shown in the table :
d
Year |Average Occupancy |Per cent. Occupancy|Gross Cost
|Numbers |£ Thousands
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988-89 |63 |90 |Not Available
1989-90 |61 |86 |5,559
1990-91 |61 |87 |6,467
1991-92 |59 |84 |7,223
1992-93 |53 |76 |<1>7,867
<1> Estimated.
Note: Costs include depreciation rather than gross capital expenditure.
There are no plans to expand the service at present.
Secure Units
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what offer she made to the local authorities on Tyneside for support for the capital costs of the provision of additional local authority secure unit provision ; what total level of support for capital costs would be made available from Government sources ; and what offer of assistance has been made in respect of revenue costs.
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Mr. Yeo : No such offer has been made to local authorities on Tyneside. The Government have identified the need for an additional 12 secure places to be provided within the north-east region, and will meet the full capital costs. Revenue costs will be considered in the appropriate public expenditure survey.
Psychotherapists
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many psychotherapists are provided on the national health service per head of the population.
Mr. Yeo : This information is not collected centrally.
Mental Health Services
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps her Department has taken to ensure that there is an easily accessible pool of professional interpreters for approved social workers and doctors, in accordance with 2.35 of the code of practice of the Mental Health Act 1983 ;
(2) how many local authorities and health authorities have drafted guidance on the use of interpreters in accordance with paragraph 2.35 of the code of practice to the Mental Health Act 1983.
Mr. Yeo : The code offers guidance on good practice. It is for health and local authorities to decide on their joint needs and provide accordingly in the light of particular local circumstances. Information on the number of authorities which have drafted guidance on the use of interpreters is not available centrally.
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to set and monitor targets for recruitment and promotion of mental health staff from black and ethnic minority communities.
Mr. Yeo : Arrangements to monitor progressively all groups of national health service staff recruited from black and ethnic minorities were introduced earlier this year.
Women Smokers
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has as to the percentage of women who are (a) employed, (b) on income support and (c) unemployed who smoke.
Dr. Mawhinney : Information relating to the percentage of women aged 16 to 59 in Great Britain who smoke cigarettes is available from the "1990 General Household Survey" by economic status as follows : All working 31 per cent.
Unemployed 54 per cent.
Available analyses do not separately identify those on income support who smoke.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for lowering the smoking rate among low-income females ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : The White Paper "The Health of the Nation" sets a target of 20 per cent. for women smoking by the year 2000. In view of their higher smoking rates, it is clearly essential to reach women on low incomes if this is to be achieved.
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This will be done through the comprehensive programme set out in the White Paper, including health education, action on price, advice from general practitioners and other health professionals and proper controls on advertising and promotion.NHS Procurement
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the name and description of all statutory instruments laid before the House on matters relating to NHS procurement in the last 12 months and which are the subject of annual or other renewal.
Mr. Sackville : I am not aware that any statutory instruments of this description have been laid before the House during the last 12 months.
Women's Mental Health
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to address women's specific mental health needs and to minimise their drug dependency by ensuring that they are offered alternatives to drug treatment.
Mr. Yeo : Women's mental health needs, including alternatives to drug treatment, are addressed in the "Health of the Nation Key Area Handbook on Mental Illness" published in January and "First Steps for the National Health Service", which was published in November 1992, copies of which are available in the Library.
Tobacco Advertising
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average time taken by the Committee on Monitoring the Agreement on Tobacco Advertising and Sponsorship to respond to complaints to it about apparent breaches of the voluntary agreement on tobacco advertising ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the application of restrictions on generic advertisements for smoking of advertising campaigns containing visual clues to, but no reference to, the name of the brand being advertised ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : Complaints about the content of advertisements in relation to the cigarette advertising code of practice, part of the British code of advertising practice, are a matter for the Advertising Standards Authority.
Joint Nutrition Task force
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the members of the four working groups of the joint nutrition task force.
Mr. Sackville : The nutrition task force at its first meeting set up working groups in four important areas. Details of the initial membership are shown in the tables. The members of each working group will be expected to consult widely within their areas of expertise and invite
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others who have particular interest or knowledge in the specific subjects under discussion to contribute as appropriate.Catering Working Group-- :
Chair
Michael Audis--Gardner Merchant Ltd.
Members
Caroline Hurren--Health Education Authority
Chris Bone--Hotel Catering and Institutional Management Association
David Clark--British Hospitality Association
Peter Jones--Bournemouth University
Gill Cawdron--School Meals Assessment Programme
Karen Sorenson--British Dietetics Association
Diane McCrae--Consumers' Association
David Philips--Burger King
Ann Simpson--Dietitian, Private Sector
Marcia Fry--Department of Health
Dr. David Buss--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Alan Clarke-- Department of Education
Secretariat
Bob Wenlock--Department of Health
Roger Taplin--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food NHS Services and Health Care Professionals Working Group-- Chair
Dr. Alan Maryon Davis--Consultant in Public Health Medicine, South East Thames Regional Health Authority
Members
Paula Hunt--Health Education Authority
Carole Middleton--Chairman, British Dietetic Association Dr. E. Jacobs-- Patients Association
Representative of Royal College of General Practitioners-- yet to be appointed
Dr. Aileen Robertson--Postgraduate GP Training
Dr. Suraiya Ismail--London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Dr. K. Carnegie-Smith--Director of Public Health, Scarborough Professor Alan Jackson--Department of Human Nutrition, Southampton University
Ros Meek--Royal College of Nursing
Keith McLean--Regional General Manager, Yorkshire RHA
John Langan--Trust Chief Executive, Kingston Hospital NHS Trust Marcia Fry- -Department of Health
Dr. V. Press--Department of Health
Dr. Alastair Cameron--Department of Health
Ray Churnside--Department of Health
Shirla Philogene--Department of Health
David Hewlett--Department of Health
Gavin Thoms--Department of Health
Secretariat
Robert Wenlock--Department of Health
Food chain working group :--
Chair
Dr. Michael Baxendine--Food and Drink Federation
Members
Dr. David Conning--Director General, British Nutrition Foundation Simon Wallace--Health Education Authority
Professor Philip James--Director, Rowett Institute
Maggie Sanderson--National Food Alliance
Ursula Arens--British Dietetic Association
Ann Foster--Scottish Consumer Council
Dr. David Richardson--Food and Drink Federation
Alister Robertson--British Retail Consortium
Ben Boot--National Farmers Union
John Stevens--Dairy Trades Federation
Dr. Anthony Kempster--Meat and Livestock Commission
David Roberts--National Federation of Bakers
Dr. Martin Wiseman--Department of Health
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Charles Cockbill--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Ken Dale--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodSecretariat
Dr. Sue Martin--Department of Health
Roger Taplin--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Information and education (public, schools and media) working group :--
Chair
Peter Bazalgette--Television Programme Producer
Members
Catherine Stillman-Lowe--Health Education Authority
Gill Fine--British Nutrition Foundation
Miriam Polunin--Guild of Food Writers
Imogen Sharp--National Forum for the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease
Julia Pentelow--Community Dietitian, Kettering Health Authority Joanna Scott--Food and Drink Federation
Wendy Godfrey--British Retail Consortium
Geoffrey Cannon--Chairman, National Food Alliance
Dr. Martin Wiseman--Department of Health
Richard Harding--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Jill Cramphorn --Department for Education
Secretariat
Dr. Sue Martin--Department of Health
Roger Taplin--Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
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