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employees were involved in each year ; how many of those employees were women ; and how many cases were successful.Miss Widdecombe : The available information, which relates to Great Britain, is set out in the table. The number of employees is the same as the number of applications. I regret that figures for the number of separate employers and the number of women applicants are not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The majority of applications disposed of do not reach an industrial tribunal hearing, being settled under the auspices of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service or withdrawn.
|1 |2 |3
|Applications |Applications |Successful
|registered All |registered Equal |applications Equal
|jurisdictions |Pay Act<1> |Pay Act<1>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |41,244 |191 |n/a
1980 |41,424 |81 |n/a
1981 |44,852 |92 |n/a
1982 |43,660 |788 |n/a
1983 |39,959 |1,258 |n/a
1984-85 |39,191 |350 |n/a
1985-86 |38,593 |1,708 |37
1986-87 |38,385 |612 |44
1987-88 |30,543 |1,823 |7
1988-89 |29,304 |583 |14
1989-90 |34,697 |1,195 |33
1990-91 |43,243 |612 |10
1991-92 |67,448 |887 |<2>5
1992-93 |71,821 |707 |n/a
<1> The statistics for applications under the Equal Pay Act cover all applications under this
Act, not only those involving equal value cases. They are in financial years after 1983.
<2> Provisional.
Palace of Westminster
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will bring forward legislative proposals to bring the Palace of Westminster under the protection of the health and safety at work enactments ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : During recent discussions with the Health and Safety Executive the Palace authorities have agreed in principle to the extension of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 to the Palace of Westminster. This will be implemented as soon as a suitable legislative vehicle becomes available.
In the meantime, there is no suggestion that standards of health and safety at the Palace of Westminster are inferior to those of other employers. Under the current arrangements, the HSE inspects the Palace of Westminster at the invitation of the Palace authorities.
Long-term Unemployment
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what further steps she proposes to reduce the numbers of long-term unemployed.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : At the time of the Budget, a number of new programmes were announced which are aimed at helping long-term unemployed people, and which will start in the summer. They comprise :
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Community Action which will provide 60,000 opportunities for people unemployed over 12 months to do voluntary work of benefit to the community, while looking for work.Learning for Work which will provide 30,000 opportunities for people unemployed over 12 months to pursue vocationally relevant full-time education to enhance their skills and career prospects. Workstart pilots which will test the effectiveness of giving employers a financial incentive to employ people who have been unemployed for a minimum of two years.
A TEC Challenge Fund which will support imaginative ideas to help unemployed people into work.
10,000 further opportunities on the Business Start-Up scheme in addition to the 40,000 which already exist to encourage unemployed people to set up their own businesses.
These are in addition to existing programmes which already provide extensive opportunities for long-term unemployed people, including : Training for Work, offering 320,000 opportunities for skills training, work experience or shorter work preparation courses. Jobplan Workshops and Restart courses offering a total of 410,000 opportunities for unemployed people to assess their employment prospects and skills and to rebuild their self-confidence. Jobclubs offering practical advice and help to 295,000 long-term unemployed people who are looking for work.
Job Interview Guarantee offering 300,000 opportunities to unemployed people to acquire training in self-presentation or work trials followed by a guaranteed interview with an employer with suitable vacancies.
Retail Sectors
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will set out (a) the average hours worked per week and (b) the average gross wage for (i) full-time and (ii) part-time workers in the retail sector.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested for full-time employees is published in table X2.5 of part A of the 1992 new earnings survey. A copy is available in the Library.
In April 1992, the average weekly hours of part-time workers in retail distribution were 18.2 and their average gross weekly earnings were £68.60.
Redundancies
Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals her Department has to introduce regulations which would penalise employers for failing to consult with trade unions prior to announcing redundancies.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Such penalties already exist. Any recognised trade union which considers that the statutory consultation requirements contained in chapter II of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 have been breached may complain to an industrial tribunal. The tribunal may make a protective award to the employees affected. The Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Bill contains a provision that such awards may no longer be offset against wages paid to the employees.
Relocation and Amalgamations
Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the sections and organisations within her Department for which there are plans for relocation or amalgamation.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Employment Department's relocation programme to Runcorn and Sheffield is now complete. There are no present plans for further relocation or amalgamation.
A. H. Marks Ltd.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will call for a report by the Health and Safety Executive on the likely consequences of the removal of any buffer zone round A. H. Marks Ltd. of Wyke in Bradford, South and its replacement with industrial development.
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Miss Widdecombe : The Health and Safety Executive has no plans to remove the consultation distance of "buffer zone" around A. H. Marks and Co. Ltd.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest estimates from the labour force survey for each standard United Kingdom region of the number and percentage of (a) all males, (b) all adults over 50 years and (c) all males between 50 and 65 years, who are recorded as economically inactive.
Miss Widdecombe : The available information from the labour force survey is given in the table :
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Economically inactive persons (not seasonally adjusted)
Region |Men aged 16+ |As percentage of all|All persons aged 50+|As percentage of all|Men aged 50-64 |As percentage of all
|men 16+ |men aged 50+ |men 50-64
|Number (thousands) |Percentage |Number (thousands) |Percentage |Number (thousands) |Percentage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autumn 1992
Great Britain |5,630 |26.5 |11,462 |66.7 |1,125 |26.6
South East |1,609 |24.2 |3,305 |63.3 |266 |20.7
Greater London |650 |25.4 |1,209 |63.6 |107 |22.4
Rest of South East |959 |23.4 |2,096 |63.2 |159 |19.6
East Anglia |202 |25.3 |438 |66.0 |29 |18.6
South West |489 |27.2 |1,054 |66.8 |86 |24.2
West Midlands |522 |25.9 |1,044 |65.5 |104 |25.3
East Midlands |404 |25.8 |804 |65.2 |75 |24.4
Yorkshire and Humberside |509 |27.0 |1,043 |68.5 |109 |28.8
North West |685 |28.5 |1,346 |69.7 |156 |32.3
North |343 |29.4 |694 |72.2 |92 |38.1
Wales |356 |32.4 |683 |73.3 |88 |39.4
Scotland |511 |26.8 |1,049 |68.1 |120 |31.4
Spring 1992
United Kingdom |5,733 |26.3 |11,611 |66.3 |1,122 |26.0
Northern Ireland |154 |27.8 |269 |67.0 |30 |29.4
Source: Labour Force Survey.
Note: The Labour Force Survey is only carried out in Northern Ireland in spring each year.
EC Employment Council
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on matters discussed and decisions taken at the European Employment Council in Luxembourg on 1 June ; and what proposals were put forward by the United Kingdom to the Council.
Miss Widdecombe : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes) on 7 June regarding the outcome of the EC Social Affairs Council held on 1 June.
Newspapers
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many people are directly employed by the national newspaper industry ;
(2) how many people are directly employed in the newspaper publishing industry in Scotland ;
(3) how many people are directly employed by the newspaper publishing industry in Wales ;
(4) how many people are directly employed by the newspaper publishing industry in Northern Ireland.
Miss Widdecombe : The latest available information on regional employment for the newspaper publishing
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industry is from the 1991 census of employment. The estimated number of employees in employment at September 1991 were as follows :
|Number
----------------------------------
Great Britain |76,700
Scotland |7,900
Wales |3,000
Northern Ireland<2> |1,700
<1> Activity heading 4751 of the
Standard Industrial
Classification 1980.
<2> Figure supplied by the
Department of Economic
Development, Northern Ireland.
Manufacturing Jobs
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many manufacturing jobs there were in each region at December each year since 1979 ; and what proportion of the regional total number of jobs they represented.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The available information can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library.
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Fishermen (Redundancies)
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many fishermen have received redundancy payments since 1973 ; what was the average amount paid to each ; how many were paid directly by his Department ; and what was the average amount paid.
Miss Widdecombe : Information is not available for payments made by employers or, in the case of departmental payments, by individual occupation.
Cash Limits
Mr. Hayes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what changes will be made to the cash limits or running costs limits of his Department for 1993-94.
Mr. David Hunt : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made : the cash limit for Class V, Vote 1--Employment Department : programmes and central services--will be increased by £60,647,000 from £2,438,620,000 to £2,499,267,000 ;
the cash limit for Class V, Vote 2--Employment Department : Employment Service--will be increased by £35,562,000 from £603,00o7,00 to £638,569,000 ;
the single running cost limit for the Employment Department--Class V, Votes 1 and 2 will be increased by £8,392,000 from £1,439,658,000 to £1,448,050,000.
The cash limit increases on class V, votes 1 and 2 are mainly the effect of the increased provision to fund the new employment measures announced by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement to the House of Commons on 16 March 1993. The running cost limit increase is mainly to cover administration expenditure on the new measures.
The increase will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Workstart
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how he intends to fund workstart and community action programmes announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement on 16 March.
Mr.Michael Forsyth : In his Budget statement, my right hon. Friend the previous Chancellor announced a new package of employment measures.
The aim of the community action programme is to help long-term unemployed people back into work by providing opportunities for them to do part-time voluntary work of benefit to the community combined with active job search. Participants will continue to receive an allowance equivalent to their benefit plus £10.
The aim of the workstart scheme is to help the long-term unemployed people back into work by paying a temporary employment subsidy to employers for a year. The scheme will be piloted with 1,000 places between four locations, two of which will be run by training and enterprise councils and two run by the Employment Service. Parliamentary approval for these new services will be sought in supplementary estimates for the Employment Department's programmes and central services vote--class V, vote 1--for workstart pilots provided by training and enterprise councils ; and for the Employment
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Department's Employment Service vote--class V, vote 2--for workstart pilots and community action. Pending that approval, the following urgent expenditure estimated will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund :
|£
---------------------------------------------------
Workstart (Class V, Vote 1) |3,000
Workstart (Class V, Vote 2) |7,000
Community Action (Class V, Vote 2) |200,000
Disabled People
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many disabled people under the age of 25 years are currently unemployed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 7 June 1993] : The labour survey--LFS--asks people of working age if they currently have any health problem or disability which limits the kind of paid work they can do. Estimates based on answers to this question will include people with short- term health problems and disabilities as well as those registered as disabled.
LFS estimates for autumn 1992, not seasonally adjusted, show that in Great Britain there were 105,000 people aged 16 to 24 with all such health problems or disabilities who were unemployed on the International Labour Organisation definition.
HEALTH
AIDS
12. Mr. Hanson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the future of funding for AIDS-related projects under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968.
Mr. Sackville : Voluntary organisations have played a crucial role in combating the epidemic in the United Kingdom and have been given substantial funds for this work--nearly £12 million to date. The Government will continue to make help available in this area while also ensuring that total funds available to voluntary bodies under section 64 continue to be distributed from year to year in accordance with developing health priorities.
Drug Abusers
14. Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has as to the number of people aged between 10 and 18 years who have died because of drug abuse since 1979.
Dr. Mawhinney : The data are not available for the age range requested. However, from 1979 to 1991, 92 deaths were registered in the United Kingdom of people aged under 20 where the underlying cause of death was given as drug dependence or non-dependent abuse of drugs. This figure does not include deaths from alcohol, tobacco or volatile substances.
A breakdown of the figures by year is shown in the table.
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Deaths of those aged under 20 with underlying cause described
as drug dependence or non-dependent abuse of drugs
(excluding alcohol, tobacco and volatile substances)
1979 to 1991
Year |Deaths aged under 20
---------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |7
1980 |4
1981 |3
1982 |8
1983 |5
1984 |8
1985 |8
1986 |13
1987 |5
1988 |5
1989 |9
1990 |10
1991 |7
|------
Total |92
Source: OPCS, GRO(S) GRO(NI). Further details available from
Home Office Bulletin "Statistics of Drug Addicts notified to
the Home Office, United Kingdom".
Personal Social Services
15. Mr. Clappison : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was available to councils for spending on personal social services in 1979 ; what is the amount provided for 1993-94 ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Bowis : Expenditure on local authority personal social services increased by 69 per cent. in real terms between 1978-79 and 1992-93. Standard spending for personal social services in 1993-94 including the special transitional grant for community care, is £5,585 million, an increase of 15 per cent. on 1992-93.
Patients, Wessex
16. Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made reducing waiting times for patients in the Wessex region.
Mr. Sackville : Latest provisional waiting time figures for 31 March 1993 show that in the two years since 31March 1991, the number of patients waiting for more than a year in the Wessex region has fallen by more than 40 per cent. from nearly 10,000 to just over 4, 000. No Wessex patient has to wait more than two years for any treatment and patients needing hip, knee or cataract surgery are treated within 18 months.
Hospital Services, Dover
17. Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the provision of hospital services in the Dover area.
Mr. Sackville : The South Kent hospital unit is conducting a review of the provision of acute clinical services currently provided at William Harvey hospital, Ashford, and the Buckland hospital, Dover. Any changes to service provision that are proposed will be subject to full public consultation.
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Patients Charter
18. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the implementation of the patients charter waiting time guarantee in the North East Thames region.
Mr. Sackville : As at 31 March 1993, in North East Thames, as in all other regions, there was no one waiting more than two years for any treatment and no one waiting more than 18 months for a hip replacement or a cataract operation. Only seven patients were waiting more than 18 months for a knee replacement in North East Thames and the region is taking steps to ensure the guarantee is met in full as soon as possible.
Mr. Hawkins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the implementation of the patients charter waiting time guarantee in the north-western region.
Mr. Sackville : Latest provisional waiting time figures for 31 March 1993 show that in line with the patients charter there were no patients waiting two years or more for any in-patient or day case treatment in the region. In addition, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced on 4 May, at 31 March 1993 there were no north-western patients waiting more than 18 months for either a hip or knee replacement or a cataract operation.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent under the patients charter commitment to providing NHS treatment to every citizen based on clinical need doctors may refuse NHS treatment without a change in the patient's lifestyle.
Mr. Sackville : The patients charter states that every citizen has the right to health care on the basis of clinical need regardless of the ability to pay. The assessment of clinical need of individual patient is a matter for the clinicians responsible for their care. In deciding what form of treatment is appropriate, clinicians will need to exercise their clinical judgment and decide the priority between different forms of treatment, having regard to the resources available.
Community Care
19. Mr. Jim Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her policy on the recording at local level of unmet community care needs.
Mr. Bowis : We have made quite clear to local authorities that they should share the results of assessments with clients and collect and record the information they need to plan to improve their services.
Infant and Perinatal Mortality
20. Mr. Waterson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the latest information about the rates of infant and perinatal mortality in the South East Thames region.
Mr. Sackville : The infant and perinatal mortality rates for the South East Thames regional health authority for 1992 are given in the table.
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|South East Thames|Nationally
|RHA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births |6.4 |6.6
Perinatal mortality per 1,000 total births |8.2 |7.6
<1> Details supplied by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys
NHS Dental Treatment
21. Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the availability of NHS dental treatment in Hampshire.
Dr. Mawhinney : In Hampshire, the proportion of patients registered with national health service dentists is above the national average and adult registrations have increased since last July.
NHS Staff
22. Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff were employed as (a) managers and (b) administrators and clerical officers in each year since 1989-90.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information available is shown in the table.
Whole-time equivalent general/senior managers and
administrative and clerical staff in England at 30
September of each year
|1989 |1990 |1991
------------------------------------------------------------
General/Senior Managers |4,610 |9,680 |13,340
Administrative and Clerical |116,840|120,040|127,370
Source: Department of Health non-Medical Workforce Census.
Notes:
1. In 1991 NHS Management accounted for less than 1.7 per
cent. and Administrative and Clerical Staff for less than
16 per cent. of the total NHS workforce.
2. Some management posts are simply re-definitions and
re-categorisations of jobs previously carried out by other
staff groups.
3. The figures for 1991 are the latest available.
Oral Contraceptives
23. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement about the proposed inclusion of oral contraceptives in the selected list.
Dr. Mawhinney : We have asked the Advisory Committee on National Health Service Drugs to advise us on which contraceptives should remain available on NHS prescription in order to meet all real clinical needs as economically as possible.
London Ambulance Service
24. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will direct the London ambulance service to provide a transportation service separate from the vehicles used for rapid response to 999 calls.
Mr. Sackville : In April 1991, the London ambulance
service--LAS--established the patient transport service. It is a separate organisation within the LAS, with dedicated control centres, management, staff and vehicles. The core service operates between 08.00 and 18.00 hours,
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Monday to Friday, to co-incide with the requirements of most hospitals and patients. In addition, the patient transport service operates up to 23.00 hours Monday to Friday and on Saturdays between 08.00 and 16.00 hours in areas where demand for the service warrants it. Outside these hours, patient transport is provided by the accident and emergency service, as part of the regional accident and emergency contracts. We are not aware of any evidence which would justify changing these arrangements.Hospital Beds, Leicester
25. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are currently waiting for a hospital bed in the city of Leicester.
Mr. Sackville : Waiting time information is collected by health authority rather than by city or town. Latest figures for 30 September 1992 show that 90 per cent. of Leicestershire district health authority patients had been waiting for less than a year.
National Health Service Spending
26. Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the review of NHS spending.
Mr. Sackville : My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary announced the review to the House on 8 February at column 681. The aim of this review, as with those being conducted across the other major spending programmes, is to distinguish essential costs of high priority spending, which the Government will continue to fund, from avoidable spending which they cannot afford. The review of health spending aims to ensure that taxpayers' money spent on the national health service is used as efficiently as possible for the benefit of patients, within the context of the Government's commitments to continue to offer national health service care on the basis of need, not ability to pay ; to increase year by year the level of real resources committed to the national health service ; and to plough back savings generated by greater efficiency.
NHS Services
27. Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total amount of income raised from users of NHS services in 1992- 93.
Mr. Sackville : Final accounts for 1992-93 will not be available until later this year. At spring supply, a provisional estimate of income raised from users of national health service services in 1992-93 is £1,207 million. This figure includes some elements which are raised other than from users of NHS services, but which are not identifiable separately in the accounts.
Medical Negligence
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to strengthen the complaints procedure concerning claims of negligence against the medical profession.
Mr. Sackville : We are keen to seek improvements to the way in which medical negligence claims are handled by the national health service and have set up a joint departmental/NHSS working group to that end.
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Departmental Buildings
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the buildings currently owned or rented by her Department, together with (a) the estimated value, (b) the annual rent and (c) the annual maintenance cost of each building in the current financial year.
Mr. Sackville : The only property owned or rented by the Department is the wheelchair test centre, opened in Blackpool in August 1992. This property has not yet been valued. Similarly, the annual maintenance cost is not known. The land on which the centre was built is on a 125-year lease. The opportuniDepartment of the Environment.
NHS Funding
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from the North Western regional health authority with regard to levels of funding to maintain standards of patient care.
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