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M4
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to introduce variable text signs to warn motorists of problems on the M4 on the approaches to the motorway in south Wales sited at places that would allow drivers to take alternative non-motorway routes.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The motorway network in south Wales has a system of variable message signs providing advanced warning for the Severn bridge. These signs will be upgraded in preparation for the completion of the second Severn crossing and additional variable message signs will be installed on the immediate approaches to the crossings. At present, the Welsh Office has no plans to extend this network.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to (a) appoint a road manager for the M4 and (b) introduce active traffic management measures to reduce congestion arising from accidents on the M4.
Sir Wyn Roberts : I have no plans to appoint a road manager for the M4. The Welsh Office manages the M4 in conjunction with the county highway authorities as its agents.
Traffic management measures already exist. These will be added to should circumstances indicate the need.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to section B, subhead B1 of vote 7 of his Department's spring supplementary estimates, if he will list each additional loan to NHS trusts, and the principal capital items for which they are required ; and if he will list those trusts which have interest bearing loans outstanding.
Mr. Redwood : The information is as follows :
|Amount £
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bridgend and District NHS trust |4,703,000
Princess of Wales hospital, psychiatric unit
Carmarthen and District NHS trust |2,345,000
West Wales hospital ward blocks
Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS trust |432,000
North Road Development
Clwydian Community Care NHS trust |2,013,000
Psychiatric unit, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd
Glan Clwyd district general hospital NHS trust |1,515,000
Upgrading of wards, paediatric unit
Glan Hafren NHS trust |3,306,000
Reorganisation of acute service
Gwent Community Health NHS Trust |3,000,000
Community hospital developments
Llandough hospital NHS trust |3,615,000
Barry neighbourhood hospital
Llanelli Dinefwr NHS trust |341,000
Minor capital schemes
Pembrokeshire NHS trust |670,000
Minor capital schemes
Powys health care NHS trust |2,545,000
Brecon war memorial
South and East Wales ambulance NHS trust |600,000
Vehicle replacement
Swansea NHS trust |1,097,000
Operating theatres
Wrexham Maelor hospital NHS trust |3,723,000
Wrexham Maelor phase IIA
|-------
Total |29,905,000
All NHS trusts have a long-term loan established via their originating capital debt or new long-term loans agreed with the Welsh Office.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to issue guidelines to trusts in the NHS in Wales on the refinement of the estimating procedure for the level of interest-bearing loans they will require.
Mr. Redwood : Through the process of setting, on an annual basis, the external financing limit for each trust, the element for new loans to fund capital developments is determined. Currently, there are no plans to issue further guidance but the position is kept under constant review via the monitoring regime applicable to trusts in Wales.
Milk Marque
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to establish a regional office of Milk Marque in Wales, to cover the whole of Wales as a single region.
Mr. Redwood : Decisions on where Milk Marque should locate its area offices is an operational matter for the Milk Marketing Board initially and for Milk Marque after vesting day.
Child Care
Ms Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spends on child care provision for the under-fives and out-of school provision for children aged over five either directly, excluding provision for departmental staff, or indirectly through resources made available to local authorities or other organisations ; what form of provision is thereby provided ; how many places are thereby provided ; and if he will make a statement on child care.
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Mr. Gwilym Jones : Welsh Office circular 13/93 stated that the Government see a continuing need for expansion in the range and scale of day care services available to parents and children. It referred to the duty on local authorities under the Children Act 1989 to review the level and pattern of such services, including those available through the medium of Welsh, and to the basis this would provide for planning future provision for their area.
Tables 11.1 and 11.2 of "Activities of Social Services Departments : Year Ended 31 March 1992" show, for example, that numbers of places with registered childminders and in day nurseries have increased by 71 per cent. and 207 per cent. respectively since 1988. Nearly 70 per cent. of children aged three and four attend a maintained school. Detailed figures are contained in "Statistics of Education and Training in Wales : Schools No. 2 1994".
Local authority resources provided under the local government revenue settlement are unhypothecated. It is for each local authority to decide in line with its statutory duties and local needs and priorities how much they provide for these services.
No information is held centrally about expenditure on child care provision by the national health service in Wales.
The Welsh Office has made available £153,000 in 1993-94 for after school and holiday care through the out-of-school grant initiative which the Chwarae Teg consortium is co-ordinating on behalf of the training and enterprise councils. No information is yet available on numbers of places provided. Grants in support of child and family services and for the promotion of the Welsh language, together amounting to some £1,180,000, have gone to voluntary organisations whose members provide day care service for children under eight.
Capital Expenditure
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list those capital expenditure items that have given rise to the supplementary amount of £263,000 required by his Department under subhead A3 of vote 9 of the Welsh Office spring supplementary estimates.
Mr. Redwood : The increase for capital expenditure obtained under subhead A3 of class XV, vote 9 of the Welsh Office spring supplementary estimate was £283,000. This was covered by unspent resources within my Department's planned total of public expenditure, which was not therefore increased. The bulk of the expenditure is towards the costs, of relocating the training, education and enterprise department from Companies house, Cardiff to the Welsh Office's main building at Cathays park. This follows the release of floor space by the Export Credits Guarantee Department, it will lead to a substantial annual savings in accommodation costs, of around £250,000 per annum. The balance is being spent on (i) capital requirements--furniture and information technology--of the Advisory Committee on Staffing Matters in connection with local government reorganisation, £38,000, and (ii) Welsh Office information technology, £33,000, which represents take-up of entitlement to end-year flexibility following an underspend in 1992-93.
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Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development agency in relation to the motions of no confidence in the board and in the executive directors passed by the UNISON WDA staff branch.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 11 March] : None.
GPs (Gymnasiums)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will issue guidelines to family health service authorities concerning the prescribing by general practitioners of sessions in a gymnasium for NHS patients ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 11 March 1994] : I understand that a growing number of GPs are making arrangements with their local leisure centres for vouchers which the doctors can give to patients whom they have assessed as likely to benefit from a suitable course of exercise. This is a matter for GPs' clinical judgment : these are local initiatives, I have no current plans to issue guidance on the subject.
EDUCATION
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will approve a proposed development, which he has rejected, for a local authority or voluntary-aided school upon educational grounds should the school become grant maintained.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend considers all statutory proposals relating to a significant change of character in grant-maintained and local education authority schools on their merits, and takes full account of all the circumstances.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his estimate of the expenditure upon capital works which will be undertaken by grant-maintained schools in the current year and in 1994-95.
Mr. Robin Squire : Capital grant of £85.7 million was set aside for 1993-94 and £114.9 million is available for 1994-95 to grant maintained schools for expenditure on capital work, reflecting their increased numbers.
Grant-maintained schools are also free to use annual maintenance grant and other funds available to them for capital expenditure.
Cornish Language and Culture
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to restore the education and support training funding in Cornwall to assist the teaching of the Cornish language, Cornish history and culture.
Mr. Robin Squire : None. The Department funded this work for five years as a pilot project which the education support grant programme related to educational needs in a multi-ethnic society. It is for the local education authority to determine whether or not to continue the work as part of its mainstream provision.
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City Technology Colleges
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his estimate of the number of surplus places in each city technology college.
Mr. Robin Squire : Some city technology colleges are still building up to full capacity. Total numbers will rise from about 12,000 pupils now to about 15,000 pupils in steady state. Recruitment at age 11, however, is in all cases oversubscribed ; there are typically around three applications for every place.
Schools (Surplus Places)
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give, for each local education authority for which figures are available, the number of surplus places in (a) maintained primary schools and (b) maintained secondary schools in January 1992 and January 1993 ; and what percentage each is of the capacity of school places in each category.
Mr. Forth : The Department collected comprehensive information on surplus school places through a detailed survey in 1991. For the figures derived from that survey, I refer the hon. Member to the reply to the hon. Member for Warwickshire, North (Mr. O'Brien) on 31 January 1994, Official Report , columns 517-21.
We intend to make regulations later this year under section 21 of the Education Act 1993 requiring all LEAs and, where it has relevant responsibilities, the new Funding Agency for Schools, to submit information to the Secretary of State annually, beginning in 1994, on the numbers of surplus places in LEA-maintained and grant-maintained schools respectively.
Child Care
Ms Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spends on child care provision for the under-fives and out-of- school provision for children aged over five either directly, excluding provision for departmental staff, or indirectly through resources made available to local authorities or other organisations ; what form of provision is thereby provided ; how many places are thereby provided ; and if he will make a statement on child care.
Mr. Robin Squire : In 1993-94, my Department has made grants totalling £1,004,000 to national organisations--including the Pre- School Playgroups Association, the British Association for Early Childhood Education and the National Children's Bureau--concerned with promoting good practice in educational provision for the under-fives. This Department does not currently fund out-of-school provision for children aged over five. Information on local education authority expenditure on under-fives is not held centrally. In 1992-93, local education authorities in England spent some £6,954 million on provision for all pupils in maintained nursery and primary schools. In 1993, 656,000 children aged under five attended maintained nursery and primary schools, and nearly 700,000 attended pre- school playgroups. Other forms of provision for children under five are matters primarily for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health.
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Further Education Colleges
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the projected total cost, as identified by the 1993 Hunter building conditions survey, of repairing and restoring the colleges which are the responsibility of the Further Education Funding Council to maintain.
Mr. Boswell : The survey commissioned from Hunter and Partners by the Further Education Funding Council estimated that the total cost of remedial works at colleges entering the further education sector was £839 million, of which £359 million was needed for urgent health and safety work. The maintenance of college premises is the responsibility of the colleges themselves ; but the Further Education Funding Council is assisting them through capital grant with the costs of the necessary work.
St. Patrick's School, Birkby
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what consultation process occurred with the head teacher of St. Patrick's Catholic primary school, Birkby, Huddersfield, before his Department issued an instruction to the governors of the school to conduct a ballot on the question of grant-maintained status ;
(2) what consultation he had with the Bishop of Leeds before issuing instructions to the governors of St. Patrick's Catholic school, Birkby, Huddersfield with regard to grant-maintained status ;
(3) what reason he had for issuing a directive to the governors of St. Patrick's Catholic primary school, Birkby, Huddersfield, to carry out a ballot of parents on the issue of grant-maintained status ; (4) what consultation he had with the chairman of governors of St. Patrick's Catholic school, Birkby, Huddersfield, before issuing instructions to the governors in relation to grant-maintained status.
Mr. Robin Squire : On 31 August 1993, the governing body of St. Patrick's Catholic primary school received a parents petition in favour of the school holding a ballot on grant-maintained status. As that petition met the requirements of section 60(2) of the Education Reform Act 1988, the governing body were placed under a duty to hold a ballot.
The Department wrote to the chairman of governors of the school on four occasions during October 1993 about this. The governing body having failed to initiate a ballot within the period required by the Act, the Department informed the chairman of governors on 2 December 1993 that the Secretary of State was minded to direct the governing body to hold a ballot.
In the light of the chairman of governors' response to that letter, the Secretary of State directed the governing body to hold a ballot and to give notice in writing of that ballot to the local education authority and to the trustees of the school.
Neither my right hon. Friend nor the Department has consulted the head teacher of the school or the Bishop of Leeds about this matter.
Ministerial Offices
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost of new furniture for his private office during the year 1993-94.
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Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many bottles of (a) whisky and gin and (b) sherry and port were consumed by his private offices in 1993-94.
Mr. Patten : Information at this level of distillation is not readily available.
Ministerial Receptions
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost of receptions held by Ministers in his Department in 1993-94.
Mr. Patten : The cost of such receptions is included in the administration expenditure for my Department, which is published in the annual report.
Schools, London
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary and (b) secondary local authority controlled schools in (i) London and (ii) Lewisham he has visited in the last 12 months.
Mr. Patten : I have visited four local authority secondary schools in London in the last 12 months. None of these schools is in Lewisham.
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School Discipline
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the implications of the Children Act 1989 for discipline in schools.
Schools, Gloucestershire
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the date on which all schools in Gloucestershire that have been transferred from grammar to comprehensive status in the last 20 years changed status.
Mr. Robin Squire : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member on 8 March, Official Report, column 288.
Undergraduates (Subjects)
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish a table giving for every year since 1979 the total number of undergraduates in (a) mathematics, (b) physics, (c) chemistry, (d) all science subjects and (e) all subjects.
Mr. Boswell : This information is shown in the table. All figures relate to England only.
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Numbers of school leavers and students in further education attempting A levels
(Thousands)
|Maths |Physics |Chemistry |All science|Any subject
|subjects<1>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980 |64.11 |46.67 |39.48 |196.37 |206.02
1981 |65.69 |47.98 |41.51 |202.22 |206.75
1982 |71.08 |51.77 |44.48 |216.89 |219.21
1983 |72.49 |50.10 |43.95 |218.54 |216.15
1984 |73.46 |50.49 |43.86 |219.09 |227.67
1985 |73.64 |48.21 |43.56 |215.13 |223.86
1986 |72.40 |45.70 |42.58 |208.41 |221.87
1987 |70.16 |42.56 |39.79 |201.53 |225.11
1988 |69.42 |41.26 |39.47 |194.03 |220.50
1989 |65.27 |40.14 |37.41 |183.09 |221.90
1990 |64.02 |40.14 |40.25 |188.39 |238.54
1991 |60.07 |36.86 |37.80 |176.37 |240.39
1992 |60.44 |36.74 |37.86 |184.05 |244.18
1993 |59.37 |36.76 |38.12 |184.93 |283.64
Notes:
<1>The "all science subjects"category contains the total number of students
attempting mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology or other science.Students
taking more than one science subject will therefore be counted more than once.
Sources:
From 1980 to 1991, figures come from the DFE School Examinations Survey and the
FE113 survey. They relate to school leavers and students in FE institutions, of any
age.
From 1992, the figures come from the DFE database of information for the school
performance tables. They relate to pupils of any age, and students in FE of any
age.
Grant-maintained Technology Colleges
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools, other than those 12 announced on 28 February, are at each stage of preparing an application to become grant-maintained technology colleges ; and if he will name them.
Mr. Robin Squire : There are no separate formal stages in preparing an application to become a technology college. Over 200 secondary schools have asked for information on the technology colleges initiative. We know that many of these are actively seeking to prepare applications, but we are not collecting centrally
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information on precisely which schools are doing so. Technology colleges will be either grant-maintained or voluntary- aided secondary schools.Departmental Property
Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what property, leased or owned for the purposes of his Department, is not in current use.
Mr. Boswell : All property currently leased to the Department for its central purposes is part of the Government's common user estate. The Department of the Environment--Property Holdings--will be replying for the common user estate.
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HEALTH
NHS (Fraud)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to her answer of 21 February, Official Report, column 37, for what reasons her Department does not monitor the progress of fraud investigation in the national health service ;
(2) what conditions she considers need to change before she will institute routine monitoring of fraud in the NHS.
Mr. Sackville : Responsibility for taking action on suspected fraud lies with the health body concerned. Standing financial instructions of each body should set out responsibilities if fraud is suspected. The Department collects information on completed fraud investigations but it is not necessary or practicable continuously to monitor the status of each inquiry.
Vacant Accommodation
Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many rooms, previously occupied as living accommodation by hospital and ancillary staff are currently vacant in each regional health authority.
Mr. Sackville : The results of a survey carried out in December 1992 estimated that there were 1,800 empty residential houses and flats and 11,400 vacant places in staff hostels ; of these 150 and 1, 019 respectively were identified as surplus, the balance were vacant between lettings. Separate figures for regional health authorities are not available.
Guy's Hospital
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health where each department of Guy's hospital will physically go if the hospital is closed ; and how many of the jobs in each department will remain.
Dr. Mawhinney : Following my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's announcement on 10 February, the Guy's and St. Thomas's hospital trust is working with the London implementation group and other key parties to work up detailed proposals for developing Guy's as a centre for local health services and for teaching and research. The future location of departments and staffing implications will depend on the outcome of this work, which will be subject to public consultation.
Maternity Units
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the most recent average length of stay in maternity units in London hospitals is ; and what it was in 1984.
Mr. Sackville :a Figures for London could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Figures available for the average length of stay, ordinary admissions, non- psychiatric hospitals, by sector, national health service hospitals, England for 1984 and 1991-92 are :
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Maternity |1984 |1991-92<1> ------------------------------------------------ Number of days |4.8 |3.3 <1>(Provisional data for 1991-92). Source: Table 14 Department of Health statistical bulletin on hospital activity statistics 10/93, a copy of which is availablein the Library.
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any London hospitals require patients in maternity units to provide their own bedding for themselves and their new-born babies.
Mr. Sackville : This is a matter for the hospitals themselves, although we are not aware of any such requirements.
Primary Health Care Funding
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of her recently announced package of £85 million funding for primary health care is new money which has not hitherto been set aside for any health programme.
Dr. Mawhinney : The £85 million funding for primary health care in the London initiative zone in 1994-95 comprises £57 million from central funds and £28 million from funds specifically set aside for this purpose by health authorities in LIZ.
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list each primary care project within the London implementation zone, giving the amount of money already expended and the proposed date of completion of the project.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 18 January Official Report, column 525 , for much of this information. This stated that detailed management and monitoring of development programmes is carried out by local health authorities. Expenditure details and proposed completion dates of individual projects are not held centrally.
Financial Information Project Ltd.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health who decided upon the rate of interest to be payable by FIP Ltd. on the unauthorised unsecured loan from West Midlands regional health authority.
Dr. Mawhinney : West Midlands regional health authority was responsible for calculating the interest payable on the loan to FIP Ltd.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action was taken about the unauthorised transfer of £300,000 to FIP Ltd. with a view to investigation of whether a criminal offence had been committed.
Dr. Mawhinney : This is a matter for West Midlands regional health authority.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she has taken to establish whether directors of FIP Ltd. have personally benefited from the £300,000 loaned to it.
Dr. Mawhinney : Financial Information Project Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Health Management Trust, a registered charity, and has no directors.
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Birth Defects
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been born with missing or defective limbs in (a) the Trent regional health authority and (b) the Yorkshire regional health authority in each year for the last 10 years.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
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