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NHS Trusts
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many non -executive directors of trusts have not been given a further term ; and how many have voluntarily stood down in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Dr. Mawhinney : The number of non-executive directors of national health service trusts who have not been appointed for a further term, for whatever reason, or who have voluntarily stood down, in 1991, 1992 and 1993 is as follows :
Year |Number --------------------- 1991 |1 1992 |31 1993 |51
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which element of the rationalisation of national health service trust facilities at Aintree, Liverpool is being put out for private tender.
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Mr. Sackville : The Aintree hospitals national health service trust has recently gone out to open tender for a 100-bed low dependency unit, a conference suite and a kitchen and dining complex.
Asthma (Pollution)
Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 1 December, Official Report , column 587 , when she expects the findings of the sub-group of the Committee on the Medical Effects on Air Pollutants, investigating the links between asthma and air pollution to be published.
Mr. Sackville : The work of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants' sub-group on asthma and air pollution is at an early stage. It is therefore difficult to predict with accuracy when it will be able to publish its report, but it hopes to be in a position to do so in the late summer or autumn of 1994.
Admiral Sir Godfrey Milton-Thompson
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid to Admiral Sir Godfrey Milton-Thompson in the out-of-court settlement.
Dr. Mawhinney : An ex-gratia payment of £12ity Health Services Unit
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations she has had with the North East Thames regional health authority prior to the establishment of the City and East London family and community health services unit ; if she will give its terms of reference ; if she will give the names of its chairman, board and principal officials ; to whom it is accountable ; if she intends it to assume the responsibilities of the family health service authority for its area ; and if it will be eligible for future trust status.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to my reply by letter of 30 November--copies of which are available in the Library--in response to his earlier question about the City and East London family and community services.
Departmental officials have been in discussion with North East Thames regional health authority about CELFACHS. In respect of community health responsibilities, CELFACHS is a directly managed unit, accountable to East London and the City health authority. As such, it does not have a chairman or a management board. Its project director is Ms Hilary Scott. She is also to be employed by the family health services authority, whose responsibilities remain unchanged. Through these arrangements, CELFACHS will support the district and family health authorities in co-ordinating the management of family and community health services and in considering possible national health service trust configurations in east London. Whether or not any unit is eligible for trust status depends on compliance with relevant legislation governing NHS trusts and successful completion of the rigorous assessment process.
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Hospital League Tables
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what categories of measurement are to be used for the compilation of hospital league tables ;
(2) what statistical or other techniques will be used in judging outcomes for use in hospital league tables.
Dr. Mawhinney : The chief executive of the national health service management executive has asked NHS hospitals and ambulance authorities, in an executive letter, dated 20 July
1993--EL(93)64--copies of which are available in the Library, to provide information on the following categories :
Accident and Emergency
The percentage of patients seen and assessed for treatment within five minutes of arriving in the accident and emergency department. Out-patient Appointments
The percentage of patients seen within 30 minutes of their out-patient appointment time.
Day Surgery
The percentage of elective episodes--waiting list and booked--by selected procedures for NHS patients not requiring an overnight stay. The indicator is based on the first episode in the provider spell. Waiting Times
The percentage of NHS patients by selected specialties admitted within three months and within 12 months of being put on a waiting list.
Operations
The number of patients not admitted within a month of their second cancelled operation.
Ambulance Speed of Response
The percentage of emergency--999 calls--ambulances arriving within 14 minutes--urban area--or 19 minutes--rural area.
Statistical or other techniques to be used in judging outcomes for use in hospital league tables are still under discussion.
Chaplaincy Facilities
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance has been issued by her Department to NHS purchasing bodies regarding the need to ensure adequate provision of chaplaincy facilities for those patients who require them.
Mr. Sackville : Guidance issued in January 1992, HSG(92)2, copies of which are available in the Library, reminded purchasing authorities and provider units of the need to make adequate provision for the spiritual needs of patients and staff.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average cost to health authorities and general practitioner fundholders of a visit by an NHS hospital chaplain to one patient.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally.
Health Education Authority
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to announce the results of the review of the Health Education Authority.
Dr. Mawhinney : The final report of the review of the Health Education Authority undertaken by Mr. John Lee and his team is expected shortly.
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Prisoners (HIV)
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list each Department of Health commissioned study of HIV prevalence among prison inmates.
Mr. Sackville : To date, only one Department of Health funded study has taken place and was commissioned jointly with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department. This was an anonymised survey of HIV prevalence in three London prisons and took place earlier this year. The results will be published as soon as possible.
Job Seeker's Allowance
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to exempt claimants of the proposed job seeker's allowance from prescription and dental charges (a) for the first six months after they first claim the allowance and (b) for the next six months.
Dr. Mawhinney : No decision has yet been made.
AIDS
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has as to research into the spreading of AIDS through insect bites.
Mr. Sackville : The possibility that biting insects could be involved in the transmission of HIV has been raised many times in the past. The evidence from epidemiology and knowledge of the ways in which insects bite and transmit other infectious agents indicate that insects play no part in this process.
Epidemiological studies in Africa and in the United States have investigated the hypothesis that HIV is spread by insects and found no evidence to support it. In addition, there is no evidence that hepatitis B, which has similar epidemiological features to HIV, can be transmitted by mosquitoes.
Laboratory experiments have been unable to demonstrate replication of HIV in bed bugs or mosquitoes. Thus biological transmission, where the virus multiplies in the insect and is injected into a person when bitten, would not be possible. The possibility of mechanical transmission, by which the insect transfers fresh blood directly from one person to another when interrupted during feeding, is thought to be remote because the proboscis or mouth of the insect would not hold sufficient blood to provide an infectious dose of virus.
NHS Supplies Authority
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been (a) the total cost of the new corporate look given to the NHS Supplies Authority and (b) the cost for (i) stationery, (ii) publications, (iii) signage and (iv) livery.
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 6 December 1993] : The cost of the logo design was £5,500.
Stationery artwork for 176 relevant sites amounted to £61,000-- £367 per site--publications to launch the new organisation cost £67,000 ; replacement of 376 signs at 245 sites cost £40,000-- £106 per sign--replacement livery costs for 37 vehicles was £20,000--£540 per vehicle.
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EDUCATION
Sex Education
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when the consultative draft on guidelines to schools on the new arrangements for sex education will be issued ; how long the consultation period will be for these guidelines ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Consultative draft guidance on the new arrangements for sex education in schools in England was published on 6 December 1993, inviting comments by 18 February 1994. The draft guidance places sex education in schools firmly within a moral framework. Copies have been placed in the Library. We intend to issue the guidance in final form to schools next spring.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Information Security
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make a statement about the operation of his Department's sensitive documents unit ; how many staff are employed in its operation ; and approximately how many documents per annum come within its purview.
Mr. Sproat : My Department does not have a "sensitive documents unit".
EMPLOYMENT
Government Car Service
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers ; and how many vehicles are involved.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the 1992-93 financial year, the latest year for which annual costs are available, the Department spent £216, 352 on ministerial cars. The Department has a call on four official vehicles for use by its Ministers.
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers in 1990-91 ; and how many vehicles were involved.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the 1990-91 financial year, the Department spent £171,198 on ministerial cars. At that time, the Department had a call on four official vehicles for use by its Ministers.
Access to Work Scheme
Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the proposed budget for 1994-95 for the access to work scheme ; and what were the 1993-94 budgets for the special aids to employment, personal reader service, fares to work, and adaptions of premises and equipment schemes.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange a reply to be given.
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Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Andrew Miller, dated 9 December 1993 :As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to him about the Access To Work budget for 1994-95 and the 1993-94 budgets for the special aids to employment, personal reader service, fares to work, and adaptions of premises and equipment schemes.
The information you have asked for is as follows :
1994-95--Proposed budget (subject to final allocation) :
Access to work = £12.6 million.
1993-94--Budgets :
|£
----------------------------------------------------------
Special aids to employment |6,837,000
Personal reader service |1,430,000
Fares to work |2,352,000
Adaptations to premises and equipment |465,000
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Employment Agencies
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what grounds are taken into account by him in refusing a grant for a licence for an employment agency.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The main grounds for refusing a licence under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 are the unsuitability of the applicant, or any person to be associated with the agency, because of misconduct or other sufficient reason. Factors taken into account when considering whether or not to grant a licence include information from an applicant's or an associated person's previous agency activity, employment history or references, convictions or adverse judgments involving fraud or other dishonesty and objections made by interested parties.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Information Security
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement about the operation of his Department's sensitive documents unit ; how many staff are employed in its operation ; and approximately how many documents per annum come within its purview.
The Attorney-General : There are no dedicated sensitive documents units in the Department for which I am responsible. The handling of sensitive documents forms part of the responsibilities of the departmental records officer for each of the Departments and they carry out their duties in accordance with the guidelines in chapter 9 of the open government White Paper.
Mr. Roger Levitt
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Attorney-General when the Serious Fraud Office (1) first suggested to the counsel to Mr. Roger Levitt that he plead guilty to only some of the charges ; and if he will list the charges concerned ;
(2) what reasons underlay the decision of the Serious Fraud Office not to proceed with the theft charges against Roger Levitt ;
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(3) what was the estimated cost to public funds of the Roger Levitt case ;(4) what actions the Serious Fraud Office took in the Roger Levitt case which were subsequently described as wholly illegal by the trial judge ;
(5) whether the Serious Fraud Office knew when it accepted the guilty plea by Roger Levitt that the judge would impose a non-custodial sentence.
The Attorney-General : In every complex fraud matter it is necessary to ensure that the counts in the indictment are the minimum reasonably necessary for the proper and effective presentation of the case. No counts of theft were in fact alleged in the indictment, although there were a number of counts other than fraudulent trading including counts of obtaining property by deception. An initial decision to proceed on a single count of fraudulent trading was taken in the light of general guidance given by the Court of Appeal and reviewed after the trial judge had given directions limiting the scope of the evidence. A subsequent application to re-join several substantive counts was refused.
No such suggestion of the nature referred to by my hon. Friend was made by or on behalf of the Serious Fraud Office. The offer by Roger Levitt to plead guilty to fraudulent trading on the basis upon which he in fact pleaded was first made on Monday 22 November 1993 by his leading counsel to leading counsel for the Crown.
The Serious Fraud Office was not aware that the judge would impose a non- custodial sentence when it informed the defence that the proposed plea of guilty by Roger Levitt was acceptable. Sentencing is a matter entirely for the judge. The prosecution can never change its mind about accepting a plea on the grounds that a sentence is too lenient.
The trial judge never described any action by the Serious Fraud Office as "wholly illegal" and never criticised the SFO in any way at all.
The best estimate of the cost of the Serious Fraud Office arising from this case as yet available is approximately £1.4 million. I have at present no information about other costs and will write to my hon. Friend.
TRANSPORT
Marine Safety
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the first report of the National Marine Safety Steering Committee was published ; and what proposals he intends to bring forward to tighten safety regulations for powered recreational marine craft, and to control the use of jet skis in the vicinity of bathing beaches.
Mr. Norris : The first report of the National Marine Safety Steering Committee--NMSSC--was issued on 21 October 1993. The report includes a number of recommendations referred to the NMSSC from the district marine safety committees which relate to the regulation and safe operation of recreational craft generally. Those recommendations are now under consideration.
Satellites
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) when a decision is to be announced on differential geostationary positioning satellites ;
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(2) when his Department expects to publish the feasibility report on monitoring the integrity of the United States Norstar global positioning satellite system ;(3) if he will list the representations he has had about differential geostationary positioning satellites ;
(4) when non-encrypted differential geostationary positioning satellites will be available to the leisure market in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Norris : The global positioning system--GPS--is a method of determining position based upon signals from satellites. The system has been developed by the United States of America Department of Defence. It has not yet been declared fully operational. Encrypted differential global positioning system--DGPS--signals are transmitted from the United Kingdom and from the Republic of Ireland. Such signals can improve the accuracy of the position found. Those signals are provided on a commercial basis by Scorpio Marine, under the terms of a 1991 contract with the three general lighthouse
authorities--GLAs. The Department recently received representations from Trinity house, on behalf of the GLAs, to consider the case for transmitting unencrypted signals. Officials from the Department are to meet the GLAs shortly to consider both that proposal and also a draft study by the GLAs on monitoring the integrity of GPS signals.
Electronic Charting
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce a recognised standard for electronic charting.
Mr. Norris : The standards for electronic chart data and information systems--ECDIS--will be announced when performance specifications are adopted by the International Maritime Organisation. We support this move and hope that the standards will be accepted by the IMO's maritime safety committee next May.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about electronic notices to mariners and electronic chart updating.
Mr. Norris : The International Maritime Organisation is developing performance standards for electronic chart display and information systems- -ECDIS. It is anticipated that the standards will call for the promulgation of essential information by appropriate means including notices to mariners.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made of the export potential for British technology in electronic charting ; and what discussions he has had with the hydrographic department.
Mr. Norris : Although discussions have been held with the hydrographic department, particularly within the marine navigational equipment committee on the development of international standards for electronic charting, no estimate has been made of the export potential for the technology.
Thames Rescue Arrangements
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to reviewing his decision to reject the recommendations of the report of the
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Hayes inquiry into river safety--Cm 1991-- that there should be an early review of the rescue arrangements and equipment on the Thames.Mr. Norris : The Government gave careful consideration to this recommendation, which suggested an early review of the rescue arrangements and equipment on the Thames at the time that the report of the inquiry into river safety by John Hayes was published. It was concluded then that a further review of this kind would not be justified. Action has, however, been taken to ensure that appropriate lessons have been learned.
The Home Office has advised that replies from the main agencies involved in River Thames rescue operations confirmed that contingency planning has been adjusted in the light of lessons learned from the Marchioness-Bowbelle disaster.
In addition, a review of rescue arrangements and equipment on the River Thames between Teddington and the Thames barrier has been completed by the relevant district marine safety committee, and a new working group for the lower Thames was set up on 14 July 1993, with the initial task of assessing rescue arrangements on this lower section of the river. The district marine safety committee is also proposing to establish a sub-working group to consider life-saving appliances and escape from water up vertical walls on the banks of the Thames.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of the authenticated transcript of the radio-telephone conversation between the Port of London authority Thames navigation service and the vessels involved in the collision between the Marchioness and the Bowbelle on the night of 29 August 1989.
Mr. Norris : I am arranging for a transcript of the recording made in the early hours of 20 August 1989 to be placed in the Library. The recording was made by the Port of London authority, of communications on VHF channel 14 which were broadcast or received by the Thames navigation service at Woolwich.
Car Crash Tests
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy towards the use by (a) the Transport Research Laboratory or (b) any other transport research centres funded by his Department of human corpses in car crash tests.
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