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Mr. Ivan Biddle
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of her code of practice in relation to the case of Ivan Biddle, who was sacked by Barnet general hospital, for expressing to his trade union his concern about the running of the hospital mortuary.
Dr. Mawhinney : Mr. Biddle was dismissed from his post as anatomical pathology technician at Barnet general hospital in October 1990. The National Health Service Management Executive's "Guidance For Staff On Relations With The Public And The Media" (EL(93)51) was issued on 8 June 1993, copies of which are available in the Library.
Redundancy Payments
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list for each year since 1988, and the first six months of 1993, the gross amount of redundancy payments given out by (a) region, (b) district, (c) special health authorities and (d) trusts.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally.
Spectacle and Contact Lenses
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish a table showing the average price of spectacle lenses and contact lenses for NHS patients, for each year since 1979.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available in the form requested. Until 1986 national health service spectacles were available free of charge to children. Adults choosing NHS spectacles paid a contribution for their spectacle lenses which was determined by the complexity of the prescription. Since 1986 people who are entitled to help with the cost of spectacles and contact lenses have received a voucher which they can use towards the cost of these.
General Practitioners
Mrs. Jane Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 29 November 1993, Official Report, column 307, about general practitioner surgery in Liverpool, South Sefton, Knowsley and St. Helens and Wirral health authorities, what is (a) the largest list and (b) the smallest list size of general practitioner practices in the health authorities.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is shown in the tables.
FHSA |Practice with |Number of general
|smallest list size|practitioners in
|practice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liverpool |1,131 |1
St. Helens and
Knowsley |504 |1
Sefton |1,262 |1
Wirral |1,060 |1
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H
FHSA |Practice with |Number of general
|largest list size|practitioners in
|practice
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liverpool |13,158 |6
St. Helens and
Knowsley |14,161 |6
Sefton |16,047 |7
Wirral |15,464 |8
The data relate to 1 April 1993.
All data relate to partnerships. Some partnerships may practice from more than one surgery.
Partnerships may include one or more general practitioners who are restricted principals. A restricted principal is a GP who either (a) provides the full range of general medical services but whose list is limited to the staff of one or more hospitals or institutions in which he is employed or to patients resident in one or more schools or institutions ; or (b) provides maternity medical services and/or contraceptive services only.
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans she has to increase the budgets of those hospital trusts whose chief executives are to receive a salary increase ; and if she will make a statement ;
(2) when she was first informed of recent increases in salaries for the chief executives of various hospital trusts ; what her response was ; what plans she has to take action to countermand these increases ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : The salaries of chief executives and other directors of trusts are matters for the chairmen and non-executive directors. The budgets of national health service hospital trusts are established on the basis of contracts for services between them and national health service purchasing authorities.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to all chairmen on 12 November 1992 requiring settlements for 1993-94 to conform with the public sector pay restraint limits of 0-1.5 per cent.
Immunisation
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths, occuring within 48 hours of immunisation, were reported on yellow cards or otherwise to the Department or to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines in each year from 1986 to 1992 ; and how many of these deaths occured after the injection of triple or pertussis vaccines.
Mr. Sackville : The total number of reactions or deaths that occur within 48 hours of immunisation is not available. Spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions are received from doctors and dentists under the voluntary "Yellow card" scheme in the United Kingdom. In addition there is a statutory requirement for companies to report adverse reactions to their medicines. The receipt of a report does not necessarily indicate that a specific drug caused the reaction, merely that there was a suspicion that the drug is associated with the reaction specified, many other factors may contribute. The table lists the number of deaths reported to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines in association to vaccines containing pertussis, from 1986 to 1993. Pertussis vaccine is usually given combined with diptheria and
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tetanus vaccine as a triple (DTP) vaccine starting at two months of age. It is therefore not possible to determine which one, if any of these vaccines causes a particular reported reaction.Number of deaths reported to the CSM to a pertussis containing vaccine Year |Number --------------------- 1986 |0 1987 |2 1988 |1 1989 |0 1990 |2 1991 |<1>6 1992 |<1>6 1993 |<1>2 <1> In 1990, the age for routine immunisation was lowered, and coincided with the peak age for deaths due to sudden infant death syndrome. It was therefore anticipated that there would be an increase in sudden infant death syndrome coincidentally associated with vaccine administration. Research studies have demonstrated that the association is temporal and not causal.
Influenza Vaccine
Mr. Whittingdale : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many laboratories in the United Kingdom are currently engaged in the production of influenza vaccine for the NHS ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : One at Evans Medical's premises in Speke, Liverpool. Other distributors import supplies of influenza vaccine.
Mr. Whittingdale : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current availability of influenza vaccine ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Dover) on 29 November at column 305 .
Patient Hotels
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give (a) the number and location of each patient hotel, (b) the number of deaths that have occurred in patient hotels, (c) the nursing to patient ratio in the hotels, (d) the percentage of non-qualified staff attending to patients in hotels, (e) the number of private companies contracted to provide patient services in hotels, (f) details of all ministerial discussions concerning the introduction of charges for facilities in hotels and (g) what consideration she is giving to changing the name patient hotel to convalescent unit.
Mr. Sackville : The information requested is not available centrally. No ministerial discussions concerning the introduction of charges for facilities in hotels have taken place nor are we currently giving any consideration to what these units should be called.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what purposes a district health authority which no longer manages the provision of health care is authorised to apply or spend charitable trust funds retained after health care was transferred to the trusts.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have been asked to reply.
A district health authority is authorised to apply or spend charitable trust funds for all or any purposes relating
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to the national health service. In doing so, it acts as a charity trustee. Under section 90 of the National Health Service Act 1977 it is not necessary for the particular purpose to relate to health service provision made by that authority.The purposes for which any particular fund is to be applied are to be gathered from the written instrument regulating that fund--failing which from the appeal literature. The authority is required to promote these purposes and no others in its use of the funds. In circumstances where such purposes now fall within the responsibility of a NHS trust, the authority should consider asking the Secretary of State for Health for an order under section 92 of the National Health Service Act 1977 transferring the trust property from the authority to the NHS trust. Unless and until the funds are lawfully transferred under that section or otherwise to a new charity trustee, the authority remains fully responsible for the due application of the charitable trust funds.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Benefits Administration
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the administration from Glasgow of Department of Social Service benefits to Ealing ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt : The administration of social security benefits is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mr. M. Bichard to Mr. Harry Greenway, dated 1 December 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security, asking what assessment he has made of the administration from Glasgow of Department of Social Security benefits to Ealing.
Between August 1989 and June 1991 the processing work of 21 London offices was relocated to three Benefit Centres ; at Glasgow, Belfast and Ashton in Makerfield. Both Euston and Ealing districts had their work relocated to Glasgow Benefits Centre. It was envisaged that the Benefits Agency's service to its customers would be improved by moving work which did not require face to face contact with the public away from hard pressed London offices.
Since the processing of claims from benefit customers in Ealing was relocated in 1991, there has been a general improvement in service delivery. As regards Income Support (IS), which is the most frequently claimed benefit, the number of days it takes to clear a claim have been reduced by half. Currently it takes, on average, seven days to clear an IS claim.
Furthermore, accuracy on IS claims has improved from 71 per cent. of claims being processed accurately, prior to relocation, to a rate of 85 per cent. currently.
Similar improvements have been achieved on claims to Sickness Benefits. Prior to relocation it took on average, 29 days to clear a claim, whereas now it takes nine days. The accuracy of processing these type of claims has improved from 92.7 per cent., prior to relocation, to 94.3 per cent. currently.
If you require any further specific information about the administration of benefit claims from Glasgow I would be happy to provide it.
I hope that you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
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Pensioner Incomes
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list those local authorities who disregard war pensions and war widow's pensions when pensioners claim (a) housing benefit, (b) council tax benefit and (c) other benefits.
Mr. Burt : The discretion to disregard up to the full amount of any war pension applies only to housing benefit and council tax benefit, which succeeded community charge benefit in April 1993.
The information requested with regard to housing benefit has been compiled from the latest information from local authorities for the financial year 1990-91 and is listed in the table. No details are available for council tax benefit.
Local authorities operating a local scheme in housing benefit to disregard an amount of war disablement or war widow's pension in addition to the £10 statutory disregard.
Aberconwy
Aberdeen
Adur
Amber Valley
Angus
Annandale and Eskdale
Arfon
Argyll-Bute
Arun
Ashfield
Ashford
Aylesbury Vale
Badenoch
Banff and Buchan
Barking
Barnet
Basingstoke
Bassetlaw
Bath
Bearsden and Milngavie
Berwickshire
Beverley
Birmingham
Blaby
Blackburn
Blackpool
Blaenau Gwent
Bolton
Boston
Bournemouth
Bracknell
Bradford
Braintree
Breckland
Brent
Brentwood
Brighton
Broadland
Bromley
Bromsgrove
Broxbourne
Broxtowe
Burnley
Bury
Caithness
Calderdale
Cambridge
Camden
Cannock Chase
Canterbury
Cardiff
Carlisle
Carrick
Castle Morpeth
Castle Point
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