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NORTHERN IRELAND
Care Homes
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the projected admissions to residential and nursing homes in the various districts of the Eastern health and social services board for the years 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : The information requested is not available. In Northern Ireland as a whole, based on the numbers used in the calculation of the sum transferred from the social security system to the health and personal social services budget, it was estimated that in each of the years in question the number of claimants expected to enter independent homes would grow by 2,135 per annum. From 1 April 1993, the number of actual admissions to residential and nursing home care will be determined by the outcome of the assessment of need which boards will be required to carry out on individuals.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the number of people in care in independent homes in the area of the Northern Ireland Eastern health and social services board on which the budget for community care will be calculated from 1 April ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : The projected number of people in independent care homes in the Eastern board area at 1 April is not available. However, the number of people expected to enter independent homes in Northern Ireland as a whole under the previous arrangements was projected to grow by 2,135 per annum. In 1993-94, £29.5 million, including £24.63 million transferred from social security, has been allocated to the four boards in Northern Ireland on the basis of the capitation formula giving the Eastern board additional community care resources of £12 million. The deployment of these funds together with the existing community care resources is for the board to take forward through its purchasing plans.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in care in independent homes in the area of the Northern Ireland Eastern health and social services board will qualify for preserved rights under the community care reforms.
Mr. Hanley : All those in care in independent homes in the Eastern health and social services board area on 31 March 1993 have a preserved right to claim the higher rates of income support under the community care reforms.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were recorded as in care in independent homes in Northern Ireland by the Eastern health and social services board on 31 March.
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Mr. Hanley : A provisional total of 5,932 beds were available in independent homes in the Eastern board area at 31 March 1993. It is not known how many of these beds were occupied. Prior to 1 April the majority of residents made private arrangements for admission to these homes and the Eastern board does not have a record of their numbers.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what system was used to obtain the projected number of people in care in independent sector homes in the area of the Eastern health and social services board as at 1 April ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : Projections of the number of people in care in independent sector homes were made for the purposes of the transfer of resources from social security and therefore reflected numbers of demands in social security districts and not individual board areas. These projections were derived from numbers collected from two surveys of all income support claimants and updated by computerised scans of resident numbers in independent homes. Projections do not include residents who were not relying on income support for help with the cost of their accommodation.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what department will make the necessary assessments under the community care reforms for people applying for residential and nursing home care in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hanley : Health and social services boards, through their units of management, are responsible for carrying out an assessment of need for any individual living within their area who requires community care services, including residential care and nursing home accommodation.
Community Care
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans the health and social services boards in Northern Ireland have to meet the needs of those people admitted to community care from 1 April for all the costs of care required to be covered where the applicant is on income support.
Mr. Hanley : Each board, through its units of management, is responsible for assessing the needs of individuals living within its area who require community care services. The costs of providing the necessary community care services will be met by boards. Where this includes residential or nursing home accommodation boards will seek to recover the cost from the person according to his ability to pay, irrespective of whether income support is in payment. Boards must, however, ensure that individual residents are left with at least an amount equivalent to the personal expenses element of income support payable to those in registered independent sector homes.
Cardiac Surgery
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients, in each of the health board areas, have been waiting for cardiac surgery for more than (a) one year, (b) two years, (c) three years and (d) four years.
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Mr. Hanley : The information is not available in the precise form requested. The numbers waiting for cardiac surgery as recorded by board of residence at the end of February 1993 are as follows :
Board |Number |Number |Total
|18-23 months|24 months+
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern |37 |183 |220
Northern |12 |43 |55
Southern |9 |23 |32
Western |3 |24 |27
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients were offered cardiac surgery outside the Province in 1992 ; and of those offered, how many refused.
Mr. Hanley : The information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, I can say that some 230 patients have been treated in Great Britain during the last 18 months.
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 8 December, to the hon. Member for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross) Official Report, column 601-02, how much additional money will be made available for heart operations in the financial year 1993-94 ; and how it will be allocated between the four health boards.
Mr. Hanley : A total of £1.62 million additional money will be made available for cardiac surgery in 1993-94. This will be divided among the four health and social security boards as follows :
Eastern--£1,011,348
Northern--£283,458
Southern--£189,318
Western--£135,876
Clinical Care
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been carried out of the quality of clinical care in Northern Ireland hospitals ; and if he will publish the results.
Mr. Hanley : Clinical care is constantly being assessed by clinicians. Arising from the NHS reforms additional funds have been made available to boards to assist in the process of audit and the Department has centrally funded various medical audit projects. A regional audit advisory committee and area audit advisory committees in each board are all required to produce annual reports which are presented to the Minister. There are no plans to publish these. In addition Northern Ireland has been an active participant in national studies such as the confidential inquiry into maternal deaths and the confidential inquiry into perioperative deaths. These inquiries are conducted in a formal way and are published widely. Northern Ireland is also participating fully in the confidential inquiry into stillbirths and deaths in infancy. It is a rolling programme and will be published annually.
Bangladeshi Population
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps have been taken since 1986 to improve employment and training opportunities for the Bangladeshi population in Britain.
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Mr. McLoughlin : The Employment Department is committed to the principle of equality of opportunity in all its employment and training programmes. This policy is implemented through the race relations advisory service (RREAS), which helps to improve opportunities for all ethnic minority groups, and training and enterprise councils (TECs). TECs have a contractual obligation to ensure equality of opportunity in all their activities.
The Employment Act 1989 encouraged wider use of positive action training both in training providers and employers. The RREAS helps by publicising what the special provisions allow and encouraging employers to use them.
The Government recognise that those with little English language or low levels of literacy skills will face significant barriers to getting the skills and qualifications to help them get jobs. Those with such needs are eligible to start training for work, the main programme for unemployed adults, without having to be unemployed for six months.
TECs are uniquely placed to work with local communities and all relevant agencies to help address specific needs and overcome barriers. Since their launch in 1989, some TECs have developed provision specifically for local Bangladeshi communities, and others provide a wide range of support for all ethnic minority groups, to which members from Bangladeshi communities have equal access. The ethnic minority grant, administered by the Home Office, has been successful in providing TECs with extra help in overcoming language or cultural barriers in particular.
Advertisements (Age Bar)
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she intends to introduce legislation to ban advertisements for job vacancies which place an age bar.
Mr. McLoughlin : Employers who refuse to consider people purely becauthing to prevent discrimination occurring later on at the interview or selection stages. The way forward is to persuade employers who discriminate that it is in their own best interests to treat everyone on their merits, regardless of age.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Iran (Death Sentence)
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy towards Iran as long as the death sentence on a British citizen living in the United Kingdom is not withdrawn.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We remain greatly concerned by the continuing failure of the Iranian authorities to repudiate the incitement to murder Mr. Rushdie and the bounty on him offered by an Iranian organisation. This failure inevitably prevents the establishment of full and friendly relations with Iran.
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TRANSPORT
Railway Stations (Staffing)
12. Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will discuss the safety aspects of staffing levels at railway stations with the chairman of British Rail.
Mr. Freeman : The Secretary of State regularly meets the BR chairman and board members to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the railways, including the safety and security of the travelling public. Staffing levels at railway stations are a matter for the board.
Freight Traffic
13. Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what support the Government are giving to encourage the transfer of freight traffic from the roads to the railways.
Mr. MacGregor : I recently announced three important new measures to boost the prospects for rail freight. These provided for improvements to the existing freight facilities grant scheme ; the introduction of a new grant scheme to assist with Railtrack's charges ; and the publication of a paper on the potential for weight incentives for lorries used in combined transport.
These measures taken together with privatisation, open access, and substantial investment in channel tunnel services, will provide the best prospects for encouraging more freight traffic to the railways.
West Coast Main Line
14. Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to what extent performance levels on the west coast main line are affected by the age of the infrastructure and the age of the rolling stock.
Mr. Freeman : I recognise that the age of equipment on particular lines can affect performance. That said, British Rail intends to start work soon on renewing the infrastructure on the west coast main line. The precise timing will be decided later in the spring when British Rail has finalised its spending plans. New stock for the line is, as I announced earlier, one of two options under consideration for the planned £150 million leasing facility announced at the time of the autumn statement.
16. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations the British Government have made to European institutions with a view to securing financial support for investment in the west coast main line.
Mr. Freeman : The west coast main line is included in the outline plan for the European high speed train network. The Commission has requested further information on such projects. The Commission is at present assessing the likely demand for the proposed networks fund rather than inviting bids for funds.
18. Mr. Eastham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the economic potential of the west coast main line to carry intercontinental freight and passenger services via the channel tunnel.
Mr. Freeman : It would be for British Rail, not the Department, to make such an assessment. British Rail's
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current assessment underlies their proposals for international freight and passenger services using the west coast main line.25. Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the chairman of British Rail to discuss services on the west coast main line.
Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport regularly meets the chairman of British Rail to discuss a variety of railway issues.
Bus Services (London)
15. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received regarding deregulation of bus services in London.
Mr. Norris : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) earlier today.
Motorway Repairs
17. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many working hours he estimates were lost in 1992 due to motorway repairs.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : All motorway repairs are planned so as to keep delays to a minimum.
A40 (Feeder Routes)
19. Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to develop improvements to the feeder routes into the A40 in the Northolt and Ealing area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Norris : This is a matter for the London borough of Ealing which has responsibility for the roads in question.
West Midlands (Continental Rail Links)
20. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to improving rail links between the west midlands and the continent.
Mr. MacGregor : British Rail is investing over £1.4 billion in rolling stock and infrastructure for their channel tunnel services. Projects particularly benefiting the west midlands include the upgrading of the existing freight terminal at Birmingham. This will enable high-quality rail freight services to operate from the region to the continent and allow goods to transfer from road to rail. British Rail is also investing in rolling stock to provide a direct day service for passengers linking Manchester, Birmingham, Stockport and Crewe to both Paris and Brussels and a passenger night service via Lancaster, Preston and Crewe to those cities.
Disabled People (London)
21. Mr. Deva : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures his Department will take to facilitate travel by the disabled in London.
Mr. Norris : My Department's disability unit works closely with the unit for disabled passengers at London Transport in promoting a wide range of accessible mainstream and specialist transport services.
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Dial-a-ride services in London are funded by my Department and administered on our behalf by London Transport. The level of funding for this year is £12 million--which represents a real increase of 60 per cent. since 1985-86, the last year of GLC funding.Traffic Congestion (London)
22. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his current estimate of the annual cost of traffic congestion on London's roads.
Mr. Norris : No single figure can be quoted because there is no generally accepted norm against which any measure of congestion can be compared. However, it is an aim of the Department's expenditure and policies to reduce congestion and make the best possible use of available road space.
Pilotage (The Minches)
23. Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider a compulsory pilotage scheme in the Minches.
Mr. Norris : I refer the hon. Member to my reply on 17 March, Official Report, column 262.
Road Accidents
24. Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the most recent figures for progress towards the aim of reducing the numbers of road accidents between the years 1985 and 2000.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The aim is to reduce road accident casualties by one third by the year 2000, compared with the annual average for 1981- 85. The provisional figures for 1992 show that fatalities are down by 24 per cent., serious injuries by 34 per cent. and all casualties by 3 per cent. on the target baseline.
North Nottinghamshire Coalfield
26. Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has for further investment in road and rail links in the north Nottinghamshire coalfield.
Mr. Freeman : Central Government investment for road infrastructure proposals in north Nottinghamshire ranges from direct investment in motorway and all-purpose trunk road improvement schemes, such as widening the M1 and A1, to possible support through transport supplementary grant for local highway improvements. Assistance towards the construction of Bosford and Balwell stations on stage 1 of the Robin Hood rail line has also been given.
Rail Privatisation
27. Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received about the franchising of Great Western main line passenger services.
Mr. Freeman : We have so far received four expressions of interest in a franchise for the Great Western main line inter-city services. As promised in our consultation document, we are treating all expressions of interest as strictly confidential.
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British Rail Rolling Stock
28. Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much capital was spent on rolling stock at British Rail in (a) 1979 and (b) 1992.
Mr. Freeman : In 1991-92 prices expenditure on rolling stock by British Rail in 1979 was £226 million and in 1991-92 was £331 million.
Roads (North Yorkshire)
29. Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road schemes in North Yorkshire were approved for 1993-94 and their costs ; and which schemes are under consideration for construction in 1994-95.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Two major trunk road schemes have been approved to start construction in 1993-94. A contract has just been let for one and construction works are about to start. Together they are currently estimated to cost over £80 million.
Two trunk road schemes may start construction in 1994-95 at an estimated cost of over £14 million subject to the completion of statutory procedures and the availability of funds.
Thirty-seven smaller trunk road improvement schemes are programmed to start in 1993-94 costing about £1 million overall and a similar number is under consideration for 1994-95, costing about £1.5 million.
My right hon. Friend is supporting six major local authority schemes in North Yorkshire in 1993-94, costing nearly £48 million. Support for local authority schemes for a start of construction in 1994-95 will be considered after North Yorkshire county council submits its transport policies and programme bid in July.
Helicopter Sites (London)
30. Ms Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the working party on helicopter sites in London will report.
Mr. Norris : The Secretary of State hopes to receive the report of the London heliport study working group in late summer, and to publish the report as soon as possible thereafter.
20 mph Zones
Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what evidence he has that the experimental 20 mph zones are reducing accidents ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Preliminary indications are that 20 mph zones reduce casualties by well in excess of 50 per cent. There have also been small reductions on surrounding roads. It is particularly pleasing that they seem to be especially effective in reducing accidents to children.
Buses (Disabled Access)
Ms Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to increase the number of low floor buses for use by people with disabilities.
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Mr. Freeman : Decisions on the purchase of buses are a matter for the commercial judgment of bus operators. However, the Government wish the merits of low-floor buses to be fully assessed. I have therefore allocated resources for a trial of such vehicles in North Tyneside. London Transport have also decided to purchase 68 low-floor buses at a cost of £8 million, the first of which will come into service shortly. Both these schemes will be monitored and the results made widely available.
Climate Change Policies
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff in his Department have responsibility for implementing climate change policies arising out of Agenda 21.
Mr. MacGregor : Agenda 21 raises a wide range of environmental policies which fall within the responsibility of many of the Department's divisions. It is not therefore possible to specify the precise number of staff concerned with this issue. Work on implementing policies arising out of agenda 21 is co-ordinated by the transport policy unit.
Mail Services
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the security of the conditions under which the royal mails are conveyed by train ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : This is an operational matter for the British Railways Board and the Post Office.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents involving theft of mail bags from trains have occurred in each of the past five years.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1988 |602
1989 |564
1990 |337
1991 |224
1992 |123
Maritime Transport (Safety)
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received from, and what recent meetings he has had with, Lloyd's Register regarding environmental safety in maritime transport.
Ministerial Engagements
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list (a) his official engagements and (b) those of the Minister for Aviation and Shipping on (i) 30 March, (ii) 31 March and (iii) 1 April.
Mr. MacGregor [holding answer 14 April 1993] : On 30 March, I met Mr. Israel Kessar, the Israeli Minister of Transport. Later that day I attended a lunch hosted by the British Ports Association and in the evening I had to be in
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the House of Commons for important votes. On 31 March, I announced the publication of the Department's report on options for city congestion charging. On 1 April, I attended Cabinet. Over these three days, I also chaired some 15 meetings with officials from my Department. On 30 March, my right hon. and noble Friend was in Shetland to open a conference on "Managing the Marine Environment", organised by the Shetland islands council. On 31 March and 1 April he was overseas.
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