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Mr. Stewart : The curricula vitae of people nominated for appointment to health boards and NHS trusts receive close scrutiny as they help to identify those likely to be able to contribute to the effective running of the NHS in Scotland.
36. Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many ancillary workers are employed by (a) health boards and (b) hospital trusts in Scotland.
Mr. Stewart : At 30 September 1992 there were 20,106 ancillary staff representing 13,033 whole-time equivalents employed by health boards in Scotland. National health service trusts in Scotland employed 1,384 ancillary staff representing 938 whole-time equivalents at that date.
Local Government (Employment)
37. Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the current levels of employment in local government.
Mr. Stewart : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 March 1993 at column 173.
Car Theft (Strathclyde)
38. Mr. Michael J. Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were convicted for car theft in Strathclyde region during 1992.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information is not available in the form requested. In 1991--the latest year for which data are available-- there were 1,220 persons convicted in Strathclyde police force area on a main charge of theft of a motor vehicle.
Ambulance Service
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will place in the Library the assessments made of the likely effectiveness of the paramedic ambulance service before its introduction ;
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect of the paramedic ambulance service on mortality and morbidity of the patients previously managed by the ambulance service ;
(3) what assessments are currently being made of the effectiveness of the paramedic ambulance service ; and if they will be made public.
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Mr. Stewart : Pre-hospital care is provided by GPs, ambulance staff or hospital outreach teams and research has shown that rapid response by skilled staff to a seriously ill patient enhances recovery and survival. Ambulance staff are generally the first NHS response to patients in an emergency and it was for this reason that training in more advanced lifesaving techniques was introduced to provide a better standard of pre- hospital care for patients.
The Scottish ambulance service has appointed a consultant medical director who is an experienced consultant in accident and emergency medicine. He is responsible for supervising the training arrangements for all extended trained ambulance staff throughout Scotland and for the audit of the outcomes of their interventions in individual cases. Arrangements are in place for measuring the outcome of patients defibrillated by SAS staff. Measuring the outcome of ambulance staff intervention in other types of cases requires link-up with hospital records and and the consultant medical director is involved in identifying the means of linking the ambulance patient report form with the Scottish NHS clinical information systems.
In line with the rest of United Kingdom, records are kept of procedures which paramedics carry out in attending to patients, but these are not as yet linked to outcome. The intention is to measure clinical outcomes as part of quality assurance of ambulance service work. When the systems allow the results will be published.
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost of ambulance provision in Angus district, for each hospital, in each of the past five years.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : Ambulance provision to any part of Scotland is not based on the number of hospitals in any particular district. In 1992-93 the annual direct cost of ambulance provision in the Angus area will be £840,000. Information relating to earlier years is not readily available.
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what extra ambulance provision is planned as a consequence of Tayside health board's acute services review.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : Until the board has made a decision on the future of acute services in the area it is not possible to determine what changes might be required to the ambulance service.
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many single and double-manned ambulances are currently available in Angus district.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : There are eight double-manned and two single-manned accident and emergency ambulances and seven single-manned non-emergency patient transport vehicles.
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions have taken place with Tayside health board on the subject of ambulance services in connection with Tayside health board's acute services review.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : Officials from the Scottish Office Home and Health Department, Tayside health board and the Scottish ambulance service met on 10 February to discuss the impact on ambulance services in Angus of the options set out in the board's consultation document on its review of acute services.
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Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many ambulances and ambulance crews are currently available in Angus district ; and what were the comparable figures for each of the past five years.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : There are currently 17 ambulances and 35 ambulance staff serving the Angus area. Staffing levels have increased by 30 per cent. since 1991. Other information over the past five years is not readily available.
Angus Hospitals
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state the value of bequests attached to each Angus hospital.
Mr. Stewart : The information available from the 1991-92 endowment fund report from Tayside health board shows the value of endowments at 31 March 1992 for Angus hospitals, which includes donations, bequests, endowments and revenue from endowments is as follows :
Hospital |Amount (£)
-----------------------------------------------
Arbroath Infirmary |19,522
Rosemount Day Hospital |593
Brechin Infirmary |1,283
Forfar Infirmary |10,823
Fyfe Jamieson |764
Little Cairne |9,775
Montrose Royal Infirmary |15,389
Stracathro |41,124
Sunnyside Royal |8,903
Whitehills Hospital |3,019
|------
Total |111,195
In addition to these endowments, £5,044 is held for community care units provided by the health board in the Angus area and a further £1,269,252 is held in a general fund not associated with particular hospitals.
Hospital Admissions
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give for each health board the percentage of admissions to acute beds that are (a) elective and (b) emergency.
Mr. Stewart : The table shows discharges in 1991, the latest year for which figures are available, from Scottish NHS hospitals by type of admmission and health board area within which treatment was received.
Health Board of |Admission Type |Emergency per cent. Treatment |Elective per cent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Argyll and Clyde |46.0 |48.3 Ayrshire and Arran |51.1 |42.9 Borders |40.1 |51.6 Dumfries and Galloway |43.6 |45.1 Fife |52.5 |38.7 Forth Valley |53.9 |40.8 Grampian |46.1 |43.2 Greater Glasgow |52.8 |35.8 Highland |49.8 |42.8 Lanarkshire |43.7 |46.5 Lothian |47.9 |40.7 Orkney |42.5 |53.5 Shetland |54.0 |44.1 Tayside |45.2 |43.7 Western Isles |44.4 |51.8 Scotland |48.7 |51.6
Inter-hospital transfers are not included.
Psychiatric Beds
Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many psychiatric beds are projected to close in each Scottish health board in each of the next nine years.
Mr. Stewart: Health boards are constantly reviewing their assessment of need and as a consequence no figures for future years are available. It remains the case that every admission to and discharge from hospital is based on individual clinical assessment.
Electoral Rolls
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the total electorate in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland as at 16 February.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The total electorate for each parliamentary constituency in Scotland, as at 16 February 1993, is as follows :
Parliamentary Electors: 1993 Register: by constituency
(alphabetical order)
Constituency |Total
------------------------------------------------------------
Scotland |3,931,429
Aberdeen North |60,242
Aberdeen South |59,389
Angus East |64,223
Argyll and Bute |48,995
Ayr |66,495
Banff and Buchan |66,721
Caithness and Sutherland |31,113
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley |55,821
Central Fife |56,491
Clackmannan |49,538
Clydebank and Milngavie |47,900
Clydesdale |62,978
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth |47,422
Cunninghame North |55,564
Cunninghame South |49,644
Dumbarton |57,525
Dumfries |61,876
Dundee East |58,570
Dundee West |59,624
Dunfermline East |50,700
Dunfermline West |51,713
East Kilbride |65,051
East Lothian |67,541
Eastwood |64,506
Edinburgh Central |57,127
Edinburgh East |45,779
Edinburgh Leith |56,662
Edinburgh Pentlands |56,171
Edinburgh South |62,330
Edinburgh West |59,331
Falkirk East |52,550
Falkirk West |50,220
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale |55,074
Glasgow Cathcart |44,623
Glasgow Central |47,963
Glasgow Garscadden |40,975
Glasgow Govan |45,629
Glasgow Hillhead |57,524
Glasgow Maryhill |48,109
Glasgow Pollok |45,786
Glasgow Provan |36,625
Glasgow Rutherglen |52,903
Glasgow Shettleston |52,263
Glasgow Springburn |46,016
Gordon |82,654
Greenock and Port Glasgow |52,185
Hamilton |62,364
Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber |70,955
Kilmarnock and Loudoun |62,638
Kincardine and Deeside |68,218
Kirkcaldy |52,322
Linlithgow |61,884
Livingston |61,905
Midlothian |60,831
Monklands East |49,041
Monklands West |49,903
Moray |64,592
Motherwell North |57,955
Motherwell South |50,327
North East Fife |55,657
North Tayside |57,135
Orkney and Shetland |32,052
Paisley North |46,491
Paisley South |47,937
Perth and Kinross |66,672
Renfrew West and Inverclyde |59,430
Ross, Cromarty and Skye |56,967
Roxburgh and Berwickshire |44,201
Stirling |58,786
Strathkelvin and Bearsden |61,678
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale |40,220
Western Isles |23,127
Local Enterprise Companies
Ms Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland in what ways the eligibility, financial and operating rules which apply to coal enterprise companies in Scotland differ from those outlined in the 1993-94 training and enterprise council operating agreement for (a) youth training and training credits, (b) training for work and (c) business start-up allowance ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Stewart : The rules which govern the delivery by local enterprise companies in Scotland of the principal Government-funded training and enterprise programmes for 1993-94 are set out in an operating agreement between Scottish Enterprise/Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the local enterprise companies which follows closely that for training and enterprise councils.
Badger Setts
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of badger setts, by county, closed or otherwise, seriously interfered with by or under licence from his Department's officials in each month from October 1991.
Sir Hector Monro : The information requested is as follows :
Month |Number of setts |District council
|area
--------------------------------------------------------------------
November 1992 |2 |Clydesdale
|Moray
January 1993 |1 |Nairn
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Fisheries Protection Agency
Mr. Gallie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about performance targets for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency for 1993-94.
Mr. Lang : For the financial year 1993-94 I have set the following targets :
|Target
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerial surveillance-per cent. of hours flown on task |85
Aerial surveillance-cost per aircraft sighting (£) |95
Marine surveillance-number of boardings at sea |2,500
Marine surveillance-cost per boarding (£) |2,625
Sea Fisheries Inspectorate-cost per log sheet check (£) |57
50 per cent. of cases for prosecution to be reported within six weeks of offence being detected and 90 per cent. within eight weeks
Number of cases where court proceedings are taken as percentage of offences reported to prosecuting authorities (per cent.) |75
In order to ensure that the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency uses its resources efficiently, I have set it a target to achieve cash releasing efficiency gains of 1 per cent. over 1992-93. The chief executive will be directly accountable to me for the achievement of these targets, which will be reported in the agency's annual report.
Prison Service
Mr. Gallie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what targets he will set the Scottish prison service on achieving executive agency status ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lang : I have decided that, under the next steps initiative, the Scottish prison service will become an executive agency on 1 April 1993. I am arranging for copies of the framework document to be placed in the Vote Office and in the Libraries of the House. I shall remain accountable to Parliament for the activities of the Scottish prison service. I am delegating to the chief executive full managerial authority for the agency and its day-to-day operation. For the future I envisage greater flexibilities to help the Scottish prison service meet increasingly demanding targets and further improve its standards of service.
I have set the following key performance targets for the Scottish prison service for 1993-94 :
|Target
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The number of prisoners unlawfully at large. |1. No A' category prisoners should escape.
|2. The number of escapes by B' category prisoners should not be higher than 2.5 per 1,000 prisoners
2. The number of significant incidents. |A database will be devloped and a target set from 1994-95.
3. The number of serious assaults on staff and prisoners. |1. The number of serious assaults on staff should not be higher than 6 per 1,000 staff.
|2. The number of serious assaults on prisoners should not be higher than 11 per 1,000 prisoners.
4. Basic quality of life for prisoners. |By April 1994 52 per cent. of prisoners will have access to forms of night sanitation.
5. The amount of available opportunities for prisoners' self development. |That 80 per cent. of convicted prisoners should have the opportunity of at least 6.5 hours per working day of programmed activities.
6. Time out of cell for unconvicted prisoners. |On average 25 per cent. of unconvicted prisoner hours should be available for out of cell activities.
7. Average annual cost per prisoner place. |To keep costs within £26,170 per place available for use.
8. The level of absence through staff sickness. |To reduce the average number of days lost per person per year through staff sickness to 16.
School Management
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about devolved school management.
Mr. Lang : When I launched the draft guidelines for consultation in November, I said that I believed that devolving the management of schools as far as possible to the schools themselves would provide new opportunities to improve the quality of the education our children receive. I also said then that no single scheme could cover the diversity of our schools and regional differences and that that was why I was asking education authorities to devise their own schemes to suit the particular schools and the particular circumstances in their areas.
We received well over 1,000 responses during and just after the consultation period. I am grateful to all those who responded and also to those who gave of their time to attend the working group which was set up following a suggestion in the consultation paper and which met on three occasions to consider in detail the workings of the new arrangements.
Having carefully considered the responses made and the very helpful and constructive suggestions put, we have clarified and revised the guidelines in a number of important respects. In particular, we have recognised the concerns of many about the very tight timescale under which implementation is to proceed. That is why we have extended to end September 1993 the period within which education authorities are to submit draft schemes and why we have extended to 1 April 1997 the period in which devolved school management is to be introduced in special schools. Devolved management is still to be introduced in all primary and secondary schools by 1 April 1996.
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We have also extended the number of categories which need not require to be devolved to school level to include, for example, home-to-school transport, school meals and milk and, importantly, provision for special educational needs. These measures will safeguard resources in these special areas which are pupil-led rather than school led. And we have also recognised the concerns of many school boards by building greater flexibility into the arrangements for consultation with head teachers on spending decisions and participation in arrangements for school staff appointments. I have said all along that the arrangements for devolved school management must build on the strengths of our education system. To do so most effectively they will require to forge an even stronger partnership between education authorities, head teachers, school boards, school staff, parents and pupils. That can only be to the benefit of all.Experience here and abroad shows conclusively that there are real benefits to be gained by devolving responsibility for day-to-day decisions down to school level. Not only is each school better able to judge its own priorities, but each education authority is also free to concentrate on the important tasks of strategic planning, quality assurance and in providing an enabling and support role for its schools. That is why I look to all sides to make the new arrangements work for the benefit of our children's education and the education of our children's children.
Registers of Scotland
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the targets he expects the Registers of Scotland to achieve in 1993-94.
Mr. Lang : I have set the registers of Scotland the following key targets for 1993-94 :
to reduce turnround times for recording writs on the Sasines Register from 10 to 8 weeks.
to reduce turnround times for dealings on the Land Register not attached to a First Registration or Transfer of Part from 15.5 to 12 weeks.
to implement the agreed Land Register extension programme. to reduce unit costs in real terms for each of its main categories of work by 2 per cent.
Higher Education Funding Council
Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in applying the next steps management approach to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The Secretary of State has now agreed a management statement with the council. This is an important part of the application of the next steps approach to executive non-departmental public bodies. The management statement describes the council's aims and objectives and their relationship with the Secretary of State and provides the broad policy and managerial framework within which the council will operate. A copy of the management statement has been placed in the Library.
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Cash Limits
Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes he intends to make to the cash limits for 1992-93 to class XV, vote 12.
Mr. Lang : I intend to decrease the cash limit for class XV, vote 12 : law, order, miscellaneous health and social work services, Scotland by £312,000 from £249,628,000 to £249,316,000. This is required due to increased expenditure on class XV, vote 10 : police grant, legal aid, criminal injuries compensation and welfare food, Scotland which will be contained within the planning total.
Agricultural Science Agency
Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the performance of the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency against its targets for 1992-93 and the setting of targets for 1993- 94.
Mr. Lang : The agency has very largely achieved the key performance targets for 1992-93, the first year of its operation, which I set out in my answer of 9 March 1992 at column 397 .
For 1993-94 I have set the agency the following key performance targets.
completion of 95 per cent. of all scientific tests and analyses within the timescale set by the customers ;
evaluation of quality assurance schemes for all major services leading to candidature for accreditation during 1994-95 ; improvement of the quantitative indices of performance of the Agency (ie its unit costs) by at least 1.5 per cent. ;
recovery of full economic costs for charged services ;
formal consultation of the views of all customers on the quality of the work done by the Agency in 1993-94 ;
completion of the first annual cycle of the accruals accounting system developed in 1992-93.
Scottish Record Office
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about his plans to establish the Scottish Record Office as a next steps agency.
Mr. Lang : I informed the House on 5 February that the Scottish Record Office was to be established as a next steps agency. It is to be launched as an agency on 1 April.
I have set the Scottish Record Office the following key targets for its first year of operation :
Efficiency
to reduce the unit cost of preserving and making available the records of Scotland by 8 per cent. ;
Quality of Service
to increase the number of catalogue pages available for public scrutiny on the electronic system from 24,600 in 1992-93 to 30,740 in 1993-94 ;
to maintain the recently achieved standards of reader services : material produced for readers in 30 minutes or less in 90 per cent. of cases,
90 per cent. of photocopying for legal customers produced in 24 hours,
95 per cent. of correspondence dealt with in 10 days,
while absorbing an expected 2 per cent. increase in demand. Effectiveness
to survey the electronic and paper based information systems as a first step towards agreeing standards for the transfer of electronic records to the SRO.
The Keeper of the Records of Scotland as the agency's chief executive will be directly accountable to me for the agency's achievements.
I have placed a copy of the agency's framework document in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Superannuation Division
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a further statement about establishing the Scottish Office superannuation division as an executive agency.
Mr. Lang : As I announced on 20 November 1992 the Scottish Office superannuation division will become an executive agency on 1 April. Its main role is to administer the occupational pension schemes covering the national health service and the teaching service in Scotland, on my behalf, and to advise me on the regulation of these schemes and other superannuation schemes for which I am responsible. The agency will be known as the Scottish Office Pensions Agency (SOPA) and will continue to be part of the Scottish Office Home and Health Department.
For 1993-94, the first year of its operation, I have set the following key targets for the agency :
1. To complete by August 1993 an exercise to verify the accuracy and completeness of the computer based members' records.
2. To develop an improved system for measuring customer satisfaction.
3. To ensure that awards and transfer payments are accurate to within 2 per cent. of their value in 97 per cent. of cases. 4. To pay on time 99 per cent. of all pensions and lump sums where the target date for receipt of claims is met.
5. To respond to all enquiries within 3 weeks.
6. To progress specification, procurement and implementation of new integrated IT systems to completion of tender evaluation stage. 7. To optimise use of budgetary provision while keeping within direct running costs limits.
8. To provide policy advice which is consistent with public service pension policy and takes account of operational objectives of Scottish Office departments, within the required timescales.
Community Midwives
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the qualifications and training required for a local community midwife.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 30 March 1993] : A local community midwife must have the appropriate professional qualifications required by section 11 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979, as amended, for admission to part 10 of the register maintained by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifert Local Government Electoral Boundaries
Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about progress in the current review of the boundaries of local government electoral areas, stating whether public inquiries can still be held and whether there will be future opportunities for making representations to the appropriate authorities before final decisions are taken.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 30 March 1993] : To date my right hon. Friend has received reports from the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland for the three islands councils
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and all regional councils other than Strathclyde. The Commission has recently commenced its programme of reviews of the 53 district councils.No further public inquiries can be held for the islands and regions. However, in the case of the districts, where the reviews are in progress, the commission will publish in the local press the time limits for lodging of representations and details of any public inquiries to be held. When the commission submits its reports to the Secretary of State there is a further opportunity for representations to be made about the commission's final recommendations.
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