| Previous Section | Home Page |
Young People (Rent)
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that local authority social services departments pay the rent of young persons being helped by the local authority under the terms of section 17 or section 20 of the Children Act 1989.
Mr. Bowis : Young persons may be entitled to housing benefit if they have a legal liability to pay rent. Section 17 of the Children Act is about the provision of services for children in need, their families and others by local authorities, and does not have a bearing on the liability of a young person to pay rent. Section 20 of the Children Act sets out the duties and powers of local authorities to provide accommodation for those children or young persons in need who require it. The Departments of Health and of Social Security are jointly considering going out to consultation on guidance to clarify the responsibilities of local authority social services departments and the benefit position when a young person is helped by an authority under the Children Act.
Column 115
GP Fundholders
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list those general practitioners who will become fundholders in each region on 1 April.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally. Regional health authorities manage the general practitioner fundholding scheme and are responsible for admitting practices to the scheme.
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the procedure for the continuing treatment of patients when a GP fundholder has overspent his budget and therefore run out of funds.
Dr. Mawhinney : Patients of general practitioner fundholders will not suffer because a fundholder overspends his budget. Any overspending will be met from regional health authority contingencies, but where overspending is the result of mismanagement the GP fundholder may have fundholding status withdrawn.
Community Care (Transitional Grants)
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations she has had, and what representations she has received, regarding the implications and operation of the special transitional grant to local authorities in respect of responsibilities arising under the community care policy ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Bowis : We have had discussions with, or received representations from, various people, including the local authority associations and representatives of private and voluntary sector community care service providers.
Standard Spending Assessment, Dorset
Mr. David Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what will be (a) the social service standard spending assessment for Dorset and (b) its mental health specific grant ; and what it was in 1993-94.
Mr. Bowis : The personal social services standard spending assessments for Dorset for 1993-94 and 1994-95 are £59.481 million and, provisionally, £68.429 million respectively. The mental illness specific grant is £427,000 for 1993-94 ; the grant for 1994-95 has not yet been decided.
Dentistry
Mr. Bates : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental domiciliary visits involving a dental chair anaesthetist have been made in each of the last five years.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available centrally.
Health Authorities
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if the proceeds of health authority land are held at central, regional or local health authority level ; and what changes are proposed when the regional authorities are reorganised ;
(2) what are the rules governing the use of proceeds from the sale of health authority land ;
Column 116
(3) what restrictions are placed on health authorities with regard to the use of capital receipts in their area ;(4) what changes are proposed within the national health service reorganisation to the guidelines for the control of capital receipts ;
(5) when health authority land or assets are sold, if the capital receipts are held centrally, regionally or at a local health authority level.
Mr. Sackville : Regional health authorities retain capital receipts as additions to their cash limits. Deployment of this resource to support RHA and trust capital programmes is agreed between RHAs and management executive outposts. In the case of assets which provided services for mentally ill people and people with learning disabilities, regions are expected to make sure that priority in the use of such proceeds is given to the development of services for these groups.
No decision has yet been taken on the handling of capital receipts following the proposed abolition of RHAs.
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what capital receipts were realised from the sale of health authority land and buildings in the Trent region in 1992-93 ;
(2) what capital receipts have been raised in the Trent region over the last five years from the sale of land, buildings and assets.
Mr. Sackville : The available information on capital receipts that have been raised/realised is :
Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1988-89 |13.9 1989-90 |18.7 1990-91 |25.9 1991-92 |4.8 1992-93 |2.9
No breakdown of these figures into land, buildings and other assets is available centrally.
Mr. Kevin Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what will happen to any surplus moneys not spent by district health authorities in the course of the current financial year ; and what effect the fact of the DHA being in surplus will have on the calculation of funding allocation for future years.
Mr. Sackville : Surpluses at regional health authorities are carried forward. They are not taken into account when subsequent allocations are calculated.
Allocations to district health authorities are made by RHAs and there are some variations in the approaches adopted. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairmen of the RHAs for further information.
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Health who are those people currently appointed to serve on district health authorities.
Dr. Mawhinney : The names of district health authority chairmen are listed in the table. Regional health authorities are responsible for the appointment of non-executive members. The appointment of executive members is a matter for individual district health authorities.
|Chairmen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
East Anglian regional health authority
Cambridge |Mrs. M. Hardiment
Suffolk |Mr. N. Ridley
Great Yarmouth and Waveney |Mr. R. Duncan
Huntingdon |Mr. I. Langworthy
North West |Mr. J. Durance
Anglia Norwich |Mr. M. Falcon
Mersey regional health authority
Liverpool |Mr. D. Tod
St. Helens and Knowsley |Mr. G. Murray
Wirral |Mr. R. Gordon
Sefton |Mr. F. Ludlow
Chester |Mr. J. Ross
South and East Cheshire |Mr. S. Cussons
North Cheshire |Mr. C. Hamer
North East Thames regional health authority
Camden and Islington |Mr. R. Everington
Barking and Havering |Mr. B. Littlewood
Redbridge and Waltham Forest |Miss D. Patman
South Essex |Mr. D. Micklem
North Essex |Mr. A. Sexton
East London and The City |Mrs. F. Heidensohn
New River |Mr. D. G. Kleeman
Northern regional health authority
Northumberland |Mr. J. Baker
South Tees |Mr. P. A. Marsden
North Durham |Professor John Clarke
East Cumbria |Mr. I. Carr
Gateshead |(Vacancy)
South Cumbria |Mrs. A. Graham
Hartlepool |(Vacancy)
North Tees |Mr. D. Otter
North Tyneside |Mrs. S. Murray
Newcastle |Mr. A. Crute
Sunderland |Mr. G. Bedell
South Durham |Dr. John Marshall
South Tyneside |Mr. W. Darling
West Cumbria |(Vacancy)
North Western regional health authority
Blackburn, Hyndburn and |(Vacancy)
Ribble Valley
Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde |Mr. R. Parkinson
Bolton |Mr. T. Taylor
Burnley, Pendle and |Mr. W. Ashworth
Rossendale
Bury |(Vacancy)
Central Manchester |Mr. E. Parker
Chorley and South Ribble |(Vacancy)
Lancaster |Professor Alwyn Smith
North Manchester |(Vacancy)
Oldham |Mr. J. Downs
Preston |(Vacancy)
Rochdale |Mrs. P. Hawton
Salford |Dr. Frederick Beswick
South Manchester |(Vacancy)
Stockport |Mr. F. Russell
Tameside and Glossop |Mr. B. Leck
Trafford |Mrs. S. Alexander
West Lancashire |Dr. Kathleen Rowsell
Wigan |Mr. J. McDonald
North West Thames regional health authority
Barnet |Mr. A. Jacobs
Ealing, Hammersmith and |Baroness Eccles of Moulton
Hounslow
North and East Hertfordshire |Mrs. C. Quest
Hillingdon |Mr. D. Evans
South Bedfordshire |Mr. A. Hendry
North Bedfordshire |Mrs. J. Swift
South West Hertfordshire |Mr. D. Rawlings
North West Hertfordshire |Mr. D. Bucknall
Kensington, Chelsea and |Mrs. J. Hughes
Westminster
Oxford regional health authority
Berkshire |Mr. R. Eassie
Kettering |Mr. R. Button
Northampton |Mr. S. Schanschieff
Oxfordshire |Dr. P. Iredale
Buckinghamshire |Sir Norman King
South East Thames regional health authority
Bexley |Dr. Norbert Singer
Bromley |(Vacancy)
Canterbury and Thanet |Mr. H. Bragg
Dartford and Gravesham |Mr. C. Thornton
East Sussex |Mr. J. Wellesley
Maidstone |Mrs. A. Nelson
Medway |(Vacancy)
South East Kent |(Vacancy)
Tunbridge Wells |Mr. P. Edgley
South East London |Mr. I. Mills
Greenwich |Mr. P. Prior
South Western regional health authority
Plymouth and Torbay |Mrs. J. Leverton
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly |Mr. J. Askham
Gloucestershire |Miss J. Trotter
Exeter and North Devon |Mrs. R. Day
Somerset |Mr. T. Ward
Bristol and District |Mr. M. Crowson
South West Thames regional health authority
ChichesterMr. J. Hooley
East Surrey |Mr. J. Poole
Kingston and Richmond |Mr. R. Galley
Merton and Sutton |Mr. H. Cowd
Mid Downs |Mr. M. Long
Mid Surrey |Professor A. Holmes
South West Surrey |Sir Nicholas Hunt
Wandsworth |Dr. E. Vincent
North West Surrey |Professor J. Kennerley
Worthing |Mr. P. Lawson
Croydon |Mrs. A. Fresko
Trent regional health authority
North Nottinghamshire |Mr. A. Tolhurst
Barnsley |Mrs. A. Cook
Doncaster |Mr. J. Smith
Leicestershire |Mr. N. Townsend
North Derbyshire |Mr. R. Robinson
North Lincolnshire |Mrs. K. Hall
Nottingham |Sir David White
Sheffield |Mr. J. Neill
South Derbyshire |Mr. J. Rudd
South Lincolnshire |Dr. J. Brackenridge
Rotherham |Mr. D. Clark
Wessex regional health authority
Basingstoke and North Hampshire |Mrs. A. Sealey
Bath |(Vacancy)
Dorset |Major General R. Keightley
Isle of Wight |Mrs. A. Clarke
Portsmouth and South East |Dr. T. Taylor
Hampshire
Salisbury |(Vacancy)
Southampton and South West |Professor J. Howell
Hampshire
Swindon |Mr. D. Hulme
Winchester |(Vacancy)
West Midlands regional health authority
Coventry |Mr. A. Guy
East Birmingham |(Vacancy)
Herefordshire |Mr. J. E. Bulmer
North Worcestershire |Mr. M. Cooper
Mid Staffordshire |Mr. B. Liss
North Birmingham |Mr. M. Skillicorn
North Staffordshire |Mr. M. Procter
Warwickshire |Mr. G. Jackson
Sandwell |Mr. C. Wilkinson
Shropshire |Mr. D. Lloyd
Solihull |Mr. R. Fordham
South Birmingham |Mr. B. Stoten
South East Staffordshire |Mrs. M. Stanhope
West Birmingham |Mr. G. Coghlan
Wolverhampton |Mr. R. Carver
Worcester and District |Mr. A. Prescott
Walsall |Mr. M. Wolverson
Dudley |Mrs. M. Fenton
Yorkshire regional health authority
East Riding |(Vacancy)
West Yorkshire |Mr. P. Wood
Leeds |Mrs. P. Smith
Wakefield |Mr. B. Hayward
Bradford |Mrs. Z. Manzoor
North Yorkshire |Mrs. S. Wrigley
Grimsby and Scunthorpe |Mrs. V. Pettifer
Confidentiality
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements she has made to replace circular LAC(88)17 on social services confidentiality, which expired on 31 December.
Mr. Bowis : Circular LAC(88)17 was continued in force by virtue of local authority social services letter--LASSL--(92)9 issued to authorities in November 1992. I am arranging for copies of both circulars to be placed in the Library.
Disability Working Allowance
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated cost of extending remission of national health service charges to disability working allowance claimants.
Dr. Mawhinney : The estimated cost of providing automatic remission of national health service charges for disability working allowance recipients with capital of £8,000 or less from 1 April 1995 is about £1 million in the first year.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people United Kingdom have been registered as suffering from ME.
Mr. Sackville : As there is no agreed case definition, accurate figures cannot be collected.
Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated by Her Majesty's Government for research into the causes and treatment of ME.
Mr. Sackville : The main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council, which receives its grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The MRC has been funding a study at the Institute of Psychiatry for four years where researchers are attempting to find ways to help myalgic encephalomyelitis sufferers to cope with their disease and regain their health. The estimated cost of this project is £91,000. The Department and the MRC are always willing to receive and consider soundly based research proposals in competition with other applications.
Clinicians
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance or advice has been issued on the activity rates to be undertaken by clinicians working within the NHS ; and if she will make a statement.
Column 120
Dr. Mawhinney : Guidance from the Department is issued to ensure that the national health service provides high quality, effective and efficient health care. Locally agreed contracts between purchasers and providers specify the level, quality and cost of services. Guidance stresses that clinicians should be involved in this process.
Working Parties
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many working parties she has set up since becoming Secretary of State ; if she will list them ; and if she will provide a breakdown of their cost.
Dr. Mawhinney : Collective discussion involving officials and outside experts, either in a formal or in an ad hoc meeting or series of meetings is an integral part of the way the Department conducts its business.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what visits she has made over the last 12 months ; and what has been the cost of each visit.
Mr. Sackville : Information to this level of detail could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Community Health Sheffield NHS Trust
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health which land and buildings, currently in health authority ownership, will pass to the ownership of the new trust, on the formation of Community Health Sheffield NHS trust.
Mr. Sackville : A final decision on the land and buildings that will transfer to the Community Health Sheffield trust has not yet been made.
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer on 17 January, Official Report , column 393 , what estimates he has made of the additional costs, net of any reduction in employer's national insurance contributions, to her departmental budget for the financial year 1994-95 resulting from the changes in statutory sick pay provision.
Mr. Sackville : Current estimates suggest that the changes in statutory sick pay provision, offset by reductions in employer's national insurance contributions, will result in a net additional cost within the Department of some £50,000 in 1994-95. This additional cost will be absorbed within the Department's running costs of £253 million.
Organ Donations
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals she has to bring forward legislation to increase the number of organ transplant donors by requiring individuals and their families to opt out of organ donation rather than opt in ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : None. Increasing the organ donation rate is a Government priority. We do not believe that
Column 121
opt-out legislation would achieve this. We believe that the decision to donate should continue to be a positive choice made by individuals rather than a presumed statutory right.Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals she has to increase the number of organ transplant donors ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : The Government actively and continuously pursue the promotion of organ donation ; more resources are being devoted to publicity than ever before. Examples of current initiatives are : The scheme for reimbursing costs to donor hospitals which has proved effective.
A programme of information and training for doctors and nurses developed by the European donor hospital education programme which is being piloted in two regions with the co-operation of the professions concerned.
Multi-organ retrieval teams which were introduced in October 1993 to speed up and increase the recovery of organs.
The survey into reasons why some relatives refuse permission to use organs ; the results are expected this summer.
Consideration is being given to a computerised register of organ donors.
Patient S
Mrs. Ann Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which hospitals Patient S, who recently died in Cossham hospital, Bristol, previously received care ; and why he was transferred from those hospitals.
Column 122
Mr. Sackville : The Department does not hold confidential personal information of this nature.
Nuffield Trust Hospital
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions she or her Ministers or officials have discussed with the Brighton health care trust the role to be played in health care provision in the Brighton area by the new Nuffield trust hospital.
Dr. Mawhinney : We are aware of no such discussions.
Back to Basics"
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the implications of the Government's "back to basics" policy for her Department during 1994.
Mr. Rendel : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what working definition of "back to basics" is used by her Department ; and what her Department has done in the past three months to implement the policy.
Mr. Sackville : [holding answer 20 January 1994] : I refer the hon. Members to the reply my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on 21 January at col. 849.
|
| Home Page |