| Previous Section | Home Page |
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department has increased its grant to the Pre -school Playgroups Association for staff training and development from £179,000 in 1990-91 to £887,000 in 1993-94. It also supports training and development work undertaken by the British Association for Early Childhood Education and by the Early Childhood Unit of the National Children's Bureau.
Ms Estelle Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pre-school education places were available in England at the latest available date ; and what percentage that number is of the total number of children in the relevant age group.
Column 500
Mr. Robin Squire : Information on the number of education places is not available. In January 1992 there were nearly 630,000 pupils below compulsory school age in maintained nursery and primary schools in England of whom 330,000 were in nursery provision. The under-fives participation rates were 49 per cent. and 26 per cent. respectively.
Youth Service
21. Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his estimate of the total sum needed on an annual basis to meet the current statutory requirements in respect of youth service provision.
Mr. Boswell : The Government do not determine centrally how much should be spent on particular local government services. It is primarily for individual local authorities to decide how to discharge their duty to secure adequate provision out of the resources made available to them under revenue support grant.
Schools (Funding)
22. Mr. Brandreth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received regarding the balance of funding between primary and secondary schools ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : We have received a number of recent representations from schools and hon. Members about primary and secondary school funding under local management of schools, including one from the North West Primary Heads Forum. We have made clear that this is a matter for individual local education authorities.
Further and Higher Education Charters
23. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received from students on the further and higher education charters ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Boswell : We are currently consulting on the draft further and higher education charters. To date two representations have been received from students ; from the University college London union and the other from the South East Wales Students Association.
Grammar Schools
25. Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that there will be continued provision of grammar school places.
Mr. Forth : The provision of school places to be filled on the basis of academic ability is a matter for local education authorities and governing bodies, taking account of local needs and the wishes of parents and the community. My right hon. Friend will continue to consider very carefully any proposals put to him for the introduction or cessation of selective admission arrangements which would amount to a significant change in the character of the school.
Financial Assistance
28. Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the adequacy of financial assistance to enable people to continue or re-enter education.
Column 501
Mr. Boswell : Most students on designated full-time and sandwich courses leading to a first degree or certain comparable qualifications are eligible for mandatory awards and student loans. Students on other courses can apply for a discretionary or postgraduate award. The Government have commissioned a survey of the income and expenditure of students on designated courses, and the Gulbenkian and Sir John Cass's Foundations are undertaking a study of the provision of discretionary awards.
Oxford and Cambridge College Fees
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received about the basis for calculating grants for college fees at Oxford and Cambridge.
Mr. Boswell : The Department has received representations from those acting on behalf of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, as part of the annual negotiations on the level of college fees.
Music Funding
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to ring-fence funding at local education authority level for (a) inter-school instrumental teaching, (b) orchestras, (c) choirs and (d) chamber music.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend has no plans to change the current arrangements for funding school music at local education authority level. He considers it right that local authorities should determine the appropriate level of spending on music services in the light of their judgment of local needs and priorities and in the light of the demand from schools.
Outdoor Education
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to ensure that local education authorities have a continuing responsibility to provide outdoor education for pupils at all state sector schools in their area.
Mr. Robin Squire : No. Where funds have been delegated to individual schools, it is their responsibility to determine--having regard to the requirements of the National Curriculum Order for Physical Education--the level of provision for outdoor education needed, and how it should be provided.
Pupil Selection
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to alter the interpretation of significant change of character to increase the selection of pupils in (a) local authority maintained and (b) grant-maintained schools.
Column 502
HEALTH
Mental Health
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the percentage of acutely mentally ill statutorily detained in each of the last five years, by region and in London.
Mr. Bowis : The latest available information is shown in the table.
A change in the method of data collection following the Korner review in 1987 means that figures for years prior to 1987-88 are not directly comparable with later years.
Precise figures for London are not readily available, but an approximation can be made by amalgamating the four Thames regions.
Patients formally admitted to NHS facilities as a percentage of all admissions under the
mental illness specialty, by regional health authority, 1987-88 to 1989-90
Year ending 31
March
Regional Health |1987-88 per cent.|1988-89 per cent.|1989-90 per cent.
Authority
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |7 |6 |7
Yorkshire |6 |7 |8
Trent |8 |10 |11
East Anglia |7 |9 |10
North West Thames |18 |12 |15
North East Thames |10 |9 |10
South East Thames |7 |7 |7
South West Thames |16 |20 |15
Wessex |8 |7 |6
Oxford |5 |7 |8
South Western |12 |7 |8
West Midlands |8 |8 |9
Mersey |7 |8 |8
North Western |7 |8 |8
Special Hospitals |8 |8 |9
Thames Regions |12 |12 |12
Note: The above figures are calculated using data from the Korner aggregate return KH15
and the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system. 1987-88 was the first year of
collection. The figures for that year may therefore be less reliable than later years.
Hospital Beds
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds are currently available at (a) the Royal London hospital, (b) St. Bartholomew's hospital and (c) the London chest hospital.
Dr. Mawhinney : The available information is at unit level only and details by specific site are not separately identifiable. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of the respective national health service trust and health authorities for details.
Paediatric Beds
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many paediatric beds there are in each provider unit in the Thames regions.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Column 503
Average daily number of available paediatric<1> beds by provider unit Thames
regions
|1991-92
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North West Thames Region
Bradford General Hospital south wing |34
South Bedfordshire General hospital and Maternity Services Unit |50
South Bedfordshire Community and Mental Health Services Unit |10
East Hertfordshire Health Services |20
St. Albans City |40
South West Hertfordshire Provider Unit |32
Barnet General Hospitals Unit |56
Northwick Park Hospital |45
Harefield Hospital |8
Ashford Hospital |22
West Middlesex University Hospital |41
Ealing Hospital |24
Riverside Health Unit |83
St. Mary's Hospital Group Services |36
Mount Vernon Hospital NHS Trust |16
The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust |20
Central Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust |25
North Hertfordshire NHS Trust |31
North East Thames Region:
Basildon and Thurrock Acute Unit |30
Mid Essex Hospital Services Unit |47
North East Essex Acute Unit |28
North East Essex Community Unit Central Clinic |13
Essex and Hertfordshire Health Services |33
Oldchurch Hospital |38
Harold Wood Unit |17
City and Hackney Health Service |38
Newham Health Services |30
Enfield Acute Unit |31
Redbridge Unit |25
Waltham Forest Health Authority Acute Unit (Provider) |31
Bloomsbury and Islington Acute Unit (Southside) |58
Bloomsbury and Islington Acute Unit (Northside) |36
Southend Health Care NHS Trust |21
Royal London Hospital and Associated Community Services NHS Trust |40
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust |39
Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital NHS Trust |11
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust |46
North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust |27
South East Thames Region:
Brighton Health Care |71
Eastbourne Hospitals |24
Hastings Learning Disabilities Unit |29
South East Kent General Hospitals Unit |47
Thanet General Unit |24
Canterbury General Unit |36
Dartford and Gravesham Acute Services Unit |19
Maidstone Acute and Community Care Unit |39
Medway Acute Unit |20
Medway Priority Care Unit |33
Tunbridge Wells Acute Unit |43
Queen Victoria Hospital Provider Unit |26
Bexley (Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup) Unit |20
Greenwich District Hospital Provider Unit |28
Brook General Hospital Provider Unit |28
Bromley Acute Unit |29
St. Thomas' Hospital Provider Unit |42
King's Health Care Provider Unit |53
Guy's and Lewisham NHS Trust |144
South West Thames Region:
North West Surrey Acute Unit |42
Frimley Park Unit |28
East Surrey Hospital and Community Healthcare |19
St. Richard's Hospital (Unit 1) |24
Crawley-Horsham Unit |26
Mid Sussex Unit (East Unit) |18
Worthing and Southlands Hospital Unit |32
Croydon Health Services Unit |40
Queen Mary's University Hospital |33
St. George's Group Acute Services Unit |64
Queen Mary's Hospital for Children |70
Epsom Health Care NHS Trust |20
Royal Surrey County and St. Lukes Hospital NHS Trust |32
Kingston Hospital NHS Trust |43
St. Helier NHS Trust |5
<1> Beds in wards open day and night and classified for use by general
patients-children.
Doncaster Health Authority
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Doncaster health authority made an application for authority by statutory instrument to distribute trust charitable funds to health trusts ; and what is the number of the relevant statutory instrument.
Dr. Mawhinney : Doncaster health authority lodged a request to transfer charitable funds to the Doncaster Royal infirmary and Montague national health service trust on 24 May. The statutory instrument has not yet been made.
Trent Regional Health Authority
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she is yet able to make a statement over the location of a new high-security unit in the Trent regional health authority area.
Mr. Bowis : Rampton hospital already provides high security psychiatric services. There are no current plans for a further high security unit to be located in Trent region. I understand that Trent regional health authority is planning further development of its medium- secure service, but that no firm decision have been taken about this.
Single General Practitioner Practices
Mr. Duncan Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many single-handed general practitioner practices there are (a) in England and (b) in London ; and what is their average patient holding.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is shown in the table :
|England |Greater London
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of single-handed GP practices |2,867 |772
Average patient list size for single-handed GPs |2,118 |2,276
Note: Data relate to 1 October 1992 except for the average patient list size for Greater
London, for which the latest available figure is for 1 April 1992.
Prescriptions
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what would be the cost of exempting all recipients of disability working allowance from the payment of prescription charges ;
(2) how many recipients of disability working allowance qualify for free prescriptions on the ground of low income in the most recent 12-month period available ;
Column 505
(3) what is her response to recommendation 16 of the third report of the Social Security Select Committee (HC, 1992- 93, No. 284 I) that disability working allowance recipients should be entitled to free prescriptions in the same way that family credit recipients are.Dr. Mawhinney : The health benefits unit does not keep a record of the social security benefits received by people who claim help from the national health service low income scheme. The estimated current annual cost of extending automatic help with national health service costs, to recipients of the allowance and their dependants, on the same basis as it is available to those receiving income support or family credit, would be around £0.75 million. The Government will respond in due course to the third report of the Social Security Select Committee (HC 1992-93, No. 284 I).
Patients Charter
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish for each health authority the reports on the performance of individual local hospital and ambulance services against patients charter rights and standards.
Mr. Sackville : Health authorities will be publishing annual reports on performance by their principal providers against patients charter rights and standards as required under the charter.
Notifiable Diseases, Avon
Mr. Aspinwall : To ask the Secretary of State for Health is she will state the number of cases of notifiable diseases reported in the County of Avon in 1992, by category.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Number (Provisional) of Notifiable
Diseases reported in the County of
Avon in 1992
|Total
--------------------------------------
Food poisoning |1,130
Dysentery |271
Rubella |137
Viral hepatitis |120
Scarlet Fever |103
Measles |98
All meningitis |69
Tuberculosis |52
Mumps |43
Whooping Cough |23
Malaria |18
Meningococcal septicaemia |6
Ophthalmia neonatorum |5
Typhoid fever |2
Leptospirosis |1
Tetanus |0
Acute poliomyelitis |0
Acute encephalitis |0
Cholera |0
Plague |0
Anthrax |0
Diphtheria |0
Smallpox |0
Yellow fever |0
Typhus |0
Relapsing fever |0
Rabies |0
Viral haemorrhagic fever |0
Column 506
Dryburn Hospital, Durham
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many admissions there were to wards 2 and 10 of Dryburn hospital, in the City of Durham constituency, for the last 12 months for which figures are available ; and what figures she has for the time periods for which beds in those wards were occupied by each of those admissions ;
(2) how much was spent in the last 12 months for which figures are available, by Dryburn hospital in the City of Durham constituency on (a) nursing appointments, (b) administrative appointments and (c) medical appointments.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact Professor John Clarke, the chairman of the North Durham district health authority, for details.
Practice Charters
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many family health services authority and general practitioner practice charters have now been produced ; and if she will list them.
Dr. Mawhinney : All family health services authorities were required to develop and produce local charters by 1 April 1993. We do not yet have any information on the numbers of general practitioner practices which have voluntarily produced their own practice charter.
Hospital Ophthalmic Departments
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidelines her Department gives to health authorities for record keeping and collating statistics in hospital ophthalmic departments ;
(2) what data health authorities are required to collate from hospital ophthalmology departments.
Dr. Mawhinney : Purchasers and providers are required to keep agreed sets of data on all general in-patient and out-patient activity and for patients awaiting elective admission. The information requirements are described in module 1 (hospital services) and module 3 (paramedic and cross -sector services) of the national health service data manual, copies of which are available in the Library. In addition, in relation to hospital ophthalmic departments, details of sight tests undertaken and numbers of glasses prescribed by the hospital eye service must be kept.
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of referrals from general practitioners and optometrists to hospital ophthalmology out-patients clinics in each year since 1985.
Dr. Mawhinney : The available information is shown in the table. Separate figures for referrals from optometrists are not available centrally.
i
Consultant out-patient activity-ophthalmology departments
|Referral attendances|Consultant initiated|GP written referral
|attendances |request<1>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |588,973 |2,277,436 |451,006
1988-89 |574,532 |2,264,752 |467,371
1989-90 |579,693 |2,308,099 |462,710
1990-91 |599,520 |2,331,682 |478,141
1991-92 |663,192 |2,350,056 |529,243
<1> GP written referrals are included in the referral attendances column.
Blind and Partially Sighted People
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were registered blind and partially sighted in each year since 1985 ; and what figures are projected for registration in (a) five and (b) 10 years time.
Mr. Bowis : The information held centrally is shown in the table. The Department has not made projections for future registrations.
Number of people registered as blind and partially sighted as at 31 March
1986-91, England
|1986 |1988 |1991
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total registered as at 31 March
Blind |120,548|126,828|136,195
Partially sighted |71,104 |79,048 |93,777
New registrations in year ending 31 March
Blind |12,026 |13,901 |13,629
Partially sighted |10,466 |12,014 |13,639
Source: DH Return SSDA902.
Eye Diseases
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged (a) under 40, (b) 41-65, (c) 66-70 and (d) over 70 years suffered from glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular eye disease and cataracts in each year since 1985.
Mr. Bowis : This information is not available centrally. Data on the causes of blindness and partial sight was first collected by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in 1990-91 and is currently being processed.
Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has regarding the incidence of eye disease leading to blindness or hospital treatment in the United Kingdom, each of the EC countries, the United States of America and Japan.
Mr. Bowis : Information on the incidence of all eye disease is not available centrally. Data have been collected for 1990-91 on the causes of blindness and partial sight
Column 508
referred to opthalmologists and this information is being prepared by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Comparative data for other countries are not available.In 1991-92, in England, there were 184,000 finished consultant episodes and 64,000 day cases in the hospital eye service, and 613, 910 referrals made by the general optical service to opthalmologists.
Hospital Places (Allocation)
Mr. Burden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she is taking to ensure equality of treatment between patients of fund- holding and non-fund-holding general practitioner practices in the allocation of hospital places.
Dr. Mawhinney : Guidance agreed with the joint consultants committee was issued to hospital consultants in June 1991, in EL(91)84, a copy of which is available in the Library. This stated that waiting times should not be offered to one general practitioner which would disadvantage the patients of another practice. Where a unit has spare capacity, this may be offered to any purchaser.
Nurse Grading Appeals
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will set out by regional health authority how many nurse clinical grading appeals are pending at a national level ; what amount of money these claims involve ; what steps are being made to speed the appeal process ; and when she estimates this process will be completed ;
(2) if she will set out by each health authority region the number of nurse clinical grading appeals still outstanding, the amount of money these claims involve, the steps being made to speed the appeal process and when the region is expected to have dealt with all appeals.
Mr. Sackville : The information on the number of appeals outstanding is shown in the table. No estimate of the total sum of arrears of pay due to be paid as a result of grading appeals has been made. Regional health authorities have been asked to clear all outstanding appeals by 31 October 1993.
Column 507
Nurses and midwives clinical grading appeals outstanding
as at 31 May 1993
Region |Employing authority|Regional level |National level |Total
|level
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |40 |1,678 |127 |1,845
Yorkshire |134 |1,057 |222 |1,413
Trent |538 |1,695 |115 |2,348
East Anglian |0 |359 |115 |474
North West Thames |84 |986 |85 |1,155
North East Thames |62 |587 |97 |746
South West Thames |0 |324 |174 |498
South East Thames |8 |707 |123 |838
Wessex |0 |543 |163 |706
Oxford |0 |29 |233 |262
South Western |0 |1,066 |103 |1,169
West Midlands |1,526 |1,424 |81 |3,031
Mersey |413 |1,516 |315 |2,244
North Western |369 |2,811 |201 |3,381
|------ |------ |------ |------
Total |3,174 |14,782 |2,154 |20,110
Limited List Prescribing
Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many letters have been received by her Department about the proposed extension of the limited list for pharmaceutical products from (a) the medical profession, (b) right hon. and hon. Members, (c) members of the public and (d) patient representative bodies ; and if she will indicate in each case broadly how many of those letters supported the proposed extension and how many opposed it ; (2) how many representations she has received from right hon. and hon. Members about her proposed extension of the limited list for pharmaceutical products ; in what form those representations were made ; in how many cases those representations supported the extension of the list.
Dr. Mawhinney : There have been 174 letters from the medical profession ; 981 letters from right hon. and hon. Members ; 438 letters from members of the public and several letters from 11 of the bodies representing patients. A total of 130 representations have been received from right hon. and hon. Members in the form of parliamentary questions to Ministers. There have also been a number of requests for meetings with Ministers. These letters and representations have raised concerns about the selected list scheme.
Clothier Inquiry
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the location of (a) the administration and secretarial facilities for the Clothier inquiry and (b) Sir Cecil Clothier's office ; and what links the administration of the inquiry has with the Trent regional health authority headquarters ;
(2) where the Clothier inquiry is to be based ; and what funding is to be made available for witnesses and the parents of the victims in respect of their travel expenses, loss of time from work and child minding.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The address of the independent inquiry is :
Office of Sir Cecil Clothier KCB QC
c/o Davies Arnold Cooper Solicitors
6-8 Bouverie Street
LONDON
EC4Y 8DD
The inquiry will be conducted independently of Trent regional health authority. One employee of the RHA has been seconded permanently to the inquiry for its duration, to act as the clerk. Reasonable expenses incurred by witnesses in assisting the inquiry will be met. Claims for such expenses should be submitted to the clerk for consideration.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements have been made under the present Clothier inquiry in respect of financing legal representation for the parents.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The investigative rather than adversarial nature of the Clothier inquiry means that there is not the need for extensive legal representation of witnesses. If the parents wish to be accompanied to give evidence to the inquiry, by a lawyer or anyone else, additional expenses will be allowed to cover reasonable costs incurred.
Column 510
United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visitors
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many disciplinary hearings the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visitors has held within the last five years ; and what was their outcome ;
(2) if she will list the members of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visitors professional conduct committee stating (a) their profession, (b) the body from which they were elected or appointed and (c) the chair of that body.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally. The hon. Member may wish to consult the council for details.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary odings.
Mr. Sackville : Section 12 of the Nurses Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979, requires the council to constitute committees, by rules, to deal with proceedings for a person's removal from, or restoration to, the register, for the suspension, or termination of the suspension, of a person's registration in the register and to make rules governing the procedure of these committees. The relevant rules are set out in the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Professional Conduct) Rules 1993 Approval Order 1993 (Statutory Instrument 1993 No. 893).
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the members of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visitors, stating (a) their profession, (b) the body from which they were elected or appointed and (c) the chair of that body.
Mr. Sackville : The information requested has been placed in the Library. Members of the council are either elected under the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (Electoral Scheme) Order 1992 (Statutory Instrument 1992 No. 2159) or appointed by the Secretary of State under section 1 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1992. Members are not elected or appointed as representatives of particular bodies.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Television Licences
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many people paid their television licences at a concessionary rate in each year since 1985.
Mr. Brooke : The estimated number of households covered by a concessionary television for each year since 1985-86 is as follows :
Period |Number ------------------------ 1985-86 |502,000 1986-87 |554,000 1987-88 |596,000 1988-89 |645,000 1989-90 |688,000 1990-91 |635,000 1991-92 |630,000 1992-93 |639,000
Albert Dock
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what are the latest tourist figures for the Albert dock ; and how they are calculated.
Mr. Sproat : I understand that the Albert dock received 5 million visitors in 1992. This figure is calculated by an independent research company on behalf of the Albert Dock Company.
Community-based Sport
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what measures he is taking to promote community-based sports programmes in England ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Brooke : The Sports Council, which is funded by my Department, is active in promoting and funding community-based sports programmes. In 1992-93 they provided over £13 million to assist the development of over 500 projects. The business sponsorship incentive scheme for sport launched in November 1992 aims to increase the amount of business sponsorship going into grass roots sport including community-based projects. The scheme has a budget for Great Britain of £3.7 million in 1993-94. In addition schedule 12 to the Education Bill will enable school governing bodies to enter into joint management agreements for the community use of school facilities.
Performing Arts
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what measures he is taking to promote the performing arts in England ; and if he will make a statement.
| Next Section
| Home Page |