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NHS Reform
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings she has held with, and what representations she has received from, the Institute for Economic Affairs, Centre for Policy Studies, Adam Smith Institute and Institute of Directors regarding reform of the NHS.
Dr. Mawhinney : Since late 1992, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has met only once with the Institute of Directors and once with the Institute of Economic Affairs. I am not aware, since then, of any written representations which have been received from these organisations on the subject of National Health Service reform.
Surgical Operations
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reports have been made to her of instances in which surgical operations have been conducted without an anaesthetic in NHS hospitals because of lack of supplies.
Care Orders
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 29 March, Official Report, column 687, where those children aged 16 or 17 years
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subject to care orders, were discharged to other than those placed with foster parents or become residents in community homes.Mr. Bowis : The latest centrally available information relates to the position at 31 March 1992, when of the estimated 6,900 children aged 16 or 17 subject to care orders, 2,900 were in placements other than with foster parents or in community homes. Details of these are shown in the table.
Number of children looked after by local authorities under care orders
aged 16 or 17 years by placement at 31 March 1992, England, excluding
children in foster placements and community homes
|Number
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
England-Estimated Total |2,900
In lodgings, living independently of residential employment |1,100
Placed for adoption |30
Placement with parents regulations |1,100
In private registered homes |50
In schools for children with special needs, residential care
and other schools and homes |130
In voluntary homes and hostels |170
Remaining placements<1> |390
<1>Remaining placements include: youth treatment centres, mother and baby
homes, national health service or other establishments providing medical
and/or nursing care, young offender institution or prison establishment,
children absent from agreed placement, and placements not specifically
categorised.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 for estimates of a thousand or more
and to the nearest 10 otherwise.
GP Fundholders
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 14 March, Official Report, column 537, what was the average, maximum and minimum overspend by the 49 fundholders in 1991-92 ; and when she expects figures for 1992-93 to be available.
Dr. Mawhinney : Out of the 49 fundholders who overspent in 1991-92, the average overspend was £51,481. The maximum overspend was £158,988 and the minimum £1,236. We are not yet able to say when final audited information for 1992-93 will be available.
Unwanted Pregnancies
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will bring forward proposals to help reduce unwanted pregnancies.
Mr. Sackville : The Government have for some years been actively promoting initiatives to enable people to plan and space their families as they wish and avoid unwanted pregnancies. This activity has received renewed impetus with the publication of the "The Health of the Nation" White Paper which sets challenging targets, in particular to reduce unwanted conceptions amongst under 16s. I am today writing to the hon. Member with further details. A copy of this letter will be placed in the Library.
Your Pocket Guide to Sex"
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the cost of (a) commissioning, (b) printing, (c) distributing, (d) promoting and (e) recalling "Your Pocket Guide to Sex", written by Nick Fisher for the Health Education Authority, which was withdrawn on 23 March.
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Dr. Mawhinney [holding answer 29 March 1994] : The Health Education Authority estimate the total cost of withdrawing "Your Pocket Guide to Sex" as £17,000. This should be seen in the context of estimated publication income generated by the HEA in 1993-94 of £700,000.
TRANSPORT
New Roads
Mr. Lewis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new road schemes have attracted more than 17,500 representations in the past five years in England and Wales.
Mr. Lewis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the 10 new road schemes which have attracted the most representations in the past five years.
Mr. Key : The 10 new road schemes which have attracted the greatest number of representations arising out of public consultation over the last five years are as follows :
Scheme |Number of
|representations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. M1-M62 link road<1> |26,700
2. M62 relief road |18,000
3. M25 junctions 12-15 link roads |11,800
4. A453 Clifton lane |7,200
5. Greater Manchester western and northern relief
road (M56-M62)<1> |6,300
6. Western orbital route/Kidderminster,
Blakedown and Hagley bypass<2> |6,000
7. A3 Hindhead improvement |5,000
8. A418 west of Aylesbury to Wing |5,000
9. A27 Lewes to Polegate improvement |4,300
10. Gateshead western bypass |3,900
Included in the totals given are the numbers of signatures to petitions as well as
those returning departmental questionnaires or other forms of pre-printed reply.
<1> Schemes have been withdrawn from the road programme.
<2> Schemes separated in May 1991.
Driving Standards Agency
Mr. Lester : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what targets he has set for the Driving Standards Agency for 1994-95.
Mr. Key : My right hon. Friend has set the following key targets for the Driving Standards Agency, which are contained in the agency's business Plan, a copy of which will be placed in the Library : to achieve, or better, unit costs of £24.50 for car tests ; £59.03 for bus, coach and lorry tests ; £32.66 for motorcycle tests ; and £38.62 for overall approved driving instructor register activities ; to recover full costs through fees and charges, including the recovery of accumulated deficits by 1995-96 ; to achieve a national average waiting time of no more than six weeks for car tests and no more than four weeks for motorcycle, bus, coach and lorry test ; and to answer 90 per cent. of telephone calls to booking offices within one minute.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Institute of Professional Driving Examiners is a recognised trade union in the Driving Standards Agency for the purposes of negotiation or consultation.
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Mr. Key : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Driving Standards Agency under its chief executive, Dr. John Ford. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Dr. S. J. Ford to Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, dated 30 March 1994 :
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked to reply to your question about recognition of the Institute of Professional Driving Examiners (IPDE) by this Agency.
IPDE has been recognised as a trade union in the Driving Standards Agency only for the purposes of consultation. I have no plans at present to recognise IPDE for negotiation purposes.
British Rail (Coal Tonnage)
Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was (a) the national figure and (b) the regional figures for the total coal tonnage carried by British Rail in 1993.
Mr. Freeman : The most recent national data can be found in table 1.12 of "Transport Statistics Great Britain 1993," a copy of which has been placed in the Library. Regional figures are not available.
Roads (Worcestershire)
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what effect his review of the trunk roads programme in England will have on the availability of transport supplementary grant for the Worcester western orbital road and the Wyre Piddle by-pass.
Mr. Key : None. As my right hon. Friend made clear in answering a question following his statement in the House on 30 March on the trunk road programme review, the review does not affect local authority roads.
Health and Safety Inspectors
Mr. Keith Hill : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many health and safety inspectors were employed to cover each section of the transport industry in (a) 1978-79 and (b) 1992-93.
Mr. MacGregor : The definition and responsibilities of health and safety inspectors varies greatly from sector to sector of the transport industry. Details are as follows :
Rail : HM Railway Inspectorate employed 21 inspectors in 1978 and 30 in 1992.
Aviation : Responsibility for safety inspections rest with the Safety Regulation Group of the Civil Aviation Authority which employed 777 people in 1992-93, not all of whom work as safety inspectors. Figures for 1978-79 are not available due to organisational changes.
Shipping : The Surveyor General Organisation of the Department of Transport employed 186 marine surveyors involved safety inspection work in 1992-93. Comparable figures for 1978-79 are not available. Road transport : The Vehicle Inspectorate Executive Agency employs 925 staff in vehicle inspection and enforcement work. Figures for 1978-79 are not available.
Roundabouts (Safety)
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research has been conducted on the correlation between the diameter of roundabouts and the occurrence of vehicular accidents around them.
Mr. Key : An investigation into accidents at roundabouts, and which addressed the effects of roundabout
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diameters, has been undertaken by the Transport Research Laboratory and is reported in TRRL Laboratory report 1120. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.Running Costs Review
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress of the review of running costs within his Department ; and if he will make it his policy to inform the appropriate trade union as soon as surplus posts are identified.
Mr. MacGregor : The Department or its agency will enter into consultation with the trade unions if a surplus staffing situation occurs which might result in the declaration of redundancies.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list each meeting held by central Department of Transport management, since the announcement of the running costs review in his Department, to discuss this matter ; and who was the senior manager present at each of these meetings.
Mr. MacGregor : I understand that running costs are discussed at many meetings of management within the Department. It is not normal practice to provide information of the sort which the hon. Lady requests about the internal management of a Government Department.
Channel Tunnel Freight Lines
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that sound-proofing insulation is installed along the two south London rail lines to be used by channel tunnel freight traffic to protect local residents from increased noise levels ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : Steps being taken by British Rail (Railfreight Distribution) to reduce the effect of the international rail freight traffic include the introduction of new locomotives and rolling stock and continuously welded rail. In addition, BR (RfD) has agreed jointly funded schemes with local authorities, including the London borough of Bromley, for the provision of acoustic barriers alongside existing tracks expected to be most affected at night. BR (RfD) is willing to hold talks on a corresponding basis with any other local authority whose area is likely to be similarly affected.
I have recently agreed to provide supplementary credit approval for £0.336 million to Bromley in this context. I and my colleagues will be prepared to consider TPP--transport policies and plans--applications for resources in 1995-96 from other authorities in London which agree schemes with BR (RfD). Such applications will be considered on their merits and in the light of the resources available.
Staff Redundancies
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will define (a) skills and (b) individual ability as used in his Department's "Establishment News", ENT 2/94 ; and how the criteria will be used to select staff for compulsory redundancy.
Mr. Norris : The Department's "Establishment News", ENT 2/94, set out the principles and procedures the
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Department or its agencies would follow in dealing with potential redundancy situations. The actual criteria adopted to deal with each situation and the way in which they would be used will be decided following consultation with the trade unions at the time.Staff, Newcastle
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the offices of his Department in the Newcastle upon Tyne travel- to-work area ; and how many posts at each are covered by (a) casual, (b) agency or (c) fixed-term appointment staff.
Mr. Norris : The Department and its agencies have 30 offices of varying size in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne travel-to-work area. At present, a total of 27 casual staff are employed at six of these offices, and one person is employed on a fixed-term appointment. Details are as follows.
Building |Casuals |Agency |Fixed term
|appointments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Longbenton Newcastle upon
Tyne Tyne and Wear |- |- |-
Government buildings Kenton
Bar Newcastle upon Tyne
NE7 2YY |- |- |-
Priory Grounds North Shields
Tyne and Wear NE30 4DA |- |- |-
12-16 Woodlands Road
Middlesbrough Cleveland
TS1 3BE |- |- |1
Amble Morpeth
Northumberland NE65 0AP |- |- |-
Government Buildings
Broadway West Newcastle
upon Tyne |1 |- |-
Seahouses Northumberland |- |- |-
Wellbar House Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne |- |- |-
Bovis House Victoria Road
Hartlepool TS24 7EA |- |- |-
Eagle Star House Regent Farm
Road Gosforth NE3 3JN |2 |- |-
Corporation House Albert Road
Middlesbrough TS1 2BP |3 |- |-
Maxwell Road Middlesbrough
Cleveland TS3 8TE |- |- |-
St. Andrews House Industrial
Trading Estate Haugh Lane
Hexham |- |- |-
The Call Stand Low Quay
Blyth Northumberland
NE24 3EX |- |- |-
Banks Road Darlington Co.
Durham DL1 1YE |- |- |-
Wyveston Lodge Sunderland
Road South Shields |- |- |-
Crown House Surtees Street
Hartlepool TS24 7AN |- |- |-
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1TW |16 |- |-
Brus House Thornaby
Cleveland |- |- |-
McMullen Road Darlington
Durham |3 |- |-
Sandy Lane Gosforth Wideopen
Newcastle upon Tyne |- |- |-
159 High Street Stockton on
Tees Cleveland |- |- |-
Station Approach Bishop
Auckland Durham |- |- |-
5 Stanley Street Blyth
Northumberland |- |- |-
Elvet House Hallgarth Street
Durham |- |- |-
Mainforth Terrace Hartlepool
Cleveland |- |- |-
5 Albert Terrace Linthorpe
Middlesbrough TS1 3PA |- |- |-
1 The Cloisters Stockton Road
Sunderland Tyne-Wear |2 |- |-
Corporation Road Darlington
Durham |- |- |-
Seventh Avenue Team Valley
Estate Tyne and Wear
NE11 0NG |- |- |-
|------- |------- |-------
Total |27 |- |1
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will hold open all vacant posts currently covered by casual staff in the Newcastle vehicle registration office in order that staff declared surplus in the Driving Standards Agency can be redeployed.
Mr. Norris : It is the Department's practice to manage staffing so as to allow where possible for the redeployment into other posts of suitable staff who become surplus from their existing work. Firm plans for the posts referred to will not be possible until the current review of the vehicle registration office network, and market testing of work in the Driving Standards Agency, are complete.
Permanent Secretary
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the objectives set by his Department for the Permanent Secretary for the financial year 1994-95.
Mr. Norris : The permanent secretary supports my right hon. Friend in securing the aims and objectives set out in the Department's annual report.
Child Care Schemes
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the child care schemes operated by his Department and agencies and the number of places available on each scheme.
Mr. Norris : Child care schemes operated in the Department of Transport and its agencies are listed in the table :
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Swansea |DVLA Nursery |60 Swansea |DVLA Holiday Playscheme |70 Crowthorne |TRL Summer Holiday Playscheme|24
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the child care schemes with which his Department has an involvement excluding those run solely by the Department of Transport and the number of places offered on each scheme.
Mr. Norris : Child care schemes in which the Department of Transport has involvement are listed in the table :
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Location and |Number of
childcare scheme
|places
|available
|overall
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hastings
Child Support Agency Nursery |35
Bristol
Bristol Acorns Nursery |25
Bristol Civil Service Holiday Playscheme |40
Exeter
Exeter Civil Service Holiday Playscheme |30
London
Westminster Holiday Playscheme |64
Newcastle
Newcastle City Council Holiday Playscheme |100
Nottingham
Nottingham Inland Revenue Holiday Playscheme |30
Manchester
Manchester Midland Bank Holiday Playscheme |7
Liverpool
Ministry of Defence Holiday Playscheme |3
Bedford
Bedford Civil Service Holiday Playscheme |42
Birmingham
Ladywood Civil Service Holiday Playscheme |40
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport under what authority the DVLA passes information about drivers to commercial organisations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : No information from the DVLA driver record is disclosed to any commercial organisation other than with the express consent of the driver concerned.
Railway Stations (Safety)
Ms Jowell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much Railtrack will spend in its first year of operation on measures to improve passenger safety at United Kingdom rail stations ; how much it will spend at stations in south London ; and how much British Rail spent on passenger safety improvements at stations in each of the last five years.
Mr. Freeman : Expenditure on safety is no longer recorded separately because it is impossible to identify precisely what proportion of expenditure on infrastructure and other improvements is related to safety as opposed to such things as quality of service or efficiency.
Roads Expenditure, West Midlands
Mr. Mills : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the total expenditure in 1992-93 prices for all expenditure involved on new road construction and maintenance on all roads in the west midlands in each year from 1982-83 to 1992-93.
Mr. Key : The figures include expenditure on both new construction and maintenance on all roads--motorways,
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trunk roads and local authority roads. Some estimation has been involved, particularly for 1992-93 where not all figures are yet available.
|£ million
|(1992-93 prices)
---------------------------------------------------
1982-83 |370
1983-84 |400
1984-85 |410
1985-86 |410
1986-87 |410
1987-88 |400
1988-89 |520
1989-90 |560
1990-91 |460
1991-92 |510
1992-93 |490
Redundancies
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what provision has been made in the next financial year's budget for his Department or agencies to run an early retirement/redundancy scheme.
Mr. Norris : The position remains as in the reply on severance payments which I gave the hon. Lady on 24 March.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the Driving Standards Agency management will consult the Institute of Professional Driving Examiners in line with the departmental redundancy arrangements in the event of any IPDE members becoming surplus.
Mr. Key : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Driving Standards Agency under its chief executive, Dr. John Ford. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Dr. S. J. Ford to Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, dated 30 March 1994 :
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your question about consultation with the Institute of Professional Driving Examiners (IPDE) in the event of any of their members becoming surplus.
In accordance with the departmental redundancy arrangements the Agency will consult with IPDE, and any other Trade Union representing the staff involved, in the event of staff in the Agency becoming surplus.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy that the relevant trades unions will be consulted at the earliest opportunity if staff within his Department are going to be made surplus.
Mr. Norris : The Department or its agency will, in seeking to address any surplus staffing situation which might result in the declaration of redundancies, consult the trades unions representing the staff concerned at the earliest opportunity.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider, when faced with a surplus staff situation or redundancies, redeploying staff elsewhere in the Department even if that means transferring staff from one agency to another.
Mr. Norris : The Department or its agency will consider the transfer of staff to other areas of work in the event of a surplus staffing or redundancy situation.
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Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether any of his staff are likely to become surplus as a result of the forthcoming move of the traffic area office in Edinburgh.
Mr. Key : As a result of the move of the Edinburgh traffic area office, two members of staff will become surplus to the traffic area office requirements. The traffic area office is working with the regional personnel unit to find alternative posts.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what access his Department has to European Union funds to retrain staff who are liable to be made redundant or who are made redundant.
Mr. Norris : I understand that the European Union funds in question- -the European social fund--may be used only for those who are already unemployed. The Employment Department administers the European social fund in Great Britain. Any retraining of staff still employed by the Department would therefore not be eligible for such funds.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the practice of his Department when faced with a potential need to declare redundancies of the type requiring consultation between his Department, and its agencies, and the recognised trade unions, regarding the seeking of agreement about the means of (a) avoiding redundancies, (b) reducing the numbers of redundancies or (c) mitigating the consequences of redundancies.
Mr. Norris : In seeking to address any surplus staffing situation which might result in the declaration of redundancies, the Department or its agency will at the earliest opportunity consult the trade unions representing the staff involved. Such consultation will be with a view to considering the ways and means of avoiding compulsory redundancies and with a view to meeting management needs and ending staff uncertainty as quickly as possible.
Highways Agency
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the objectives set by his Department for the newly appointed chief executive of the Highways Agency for the financial year 1994-95.
Mr. Key : The Secretary of State has set the following objectives for the chief executive of the Highways Agency which are published in the Highways Agency framework document :
to provide the best possible service both to road users and those affected by roads ;
to manage the new construction and maintenance programmes to secure the best value for money within the Government's overall strategy for trunk roads ;
to contribute to the Secretary of State's target of reducing road casualties by one third by the year 2000 compared with the annual average from 1981 to 1985 ;
to give full weight to both the environmental and economic costs and benefits associated with the use, construction and maintenance of trunk roads and to strike a balance accordingly ;
to improve the efficiency of the Agency year on year.
The chief executive has been set a number of key tasks and targets for the financial year 1994-95 which underpin these objectives. The key tasks and targets are published in the agency's 1994-95 business plan, a copy of which has been placed in the House Library.
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Taxi Drivers (Nottingham)
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Nottingham, North of 21 February regarding Nottingham taxi drivers.
Mr. Norris : My reply to the hon. Member was sent on 7 March 1994. With receipt of the hon. Member's letter of 22 March, it became clear that he had not received my letter and my private secretary thereupon faxed him a copy of it.
Birmingham Northern Relief Road
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date the public inquiry on the Birmingham northern relief road will commence ; how long it is expected to take ; if he will set out the terms of reference for the public inquiry with particular reference to whether it is open to the public inquiry to reject the possibility of building the road ; and if the terms of reference will be restricted to the line of the road.
Mr. Key : The inquiry will commence on 21 June. It will consider all the draft schemes and orders which have been published. If made, these would establish the route of BNRR, junction and side road arrangements, the compulsory purchase of the land needed for the scheme and ancillary features and the right to levy tolls. The inquiry could last several months.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the tolling design of the Birmingham northern relief road is consistent with the recommendations of his Department's Green Paper on motorway charging ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : The Green Paper, "Paying For Better Motorways" suggested that while conventional tolling, with toll booths and barriers, had several advantages it would be impracticable to toll the entire motorway network by conventional methods. This is because existing motorways were not designed for tolling and land was therefore not set aside for the purpose ; and because conventional tolling over the whole network would cause unacceptable traffic delays. These arguments do not apply to individual stretches of road, such as the Birmingham northern relief road, where provision for tolling is part of the design.
Shipping Subsidies
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he is making to the French Government and the European Commission about the plans developed by the French Government to subsidise the state-owned shipping company Compagnie Generale Maritime.
Mr. Norris : The EC Commission has responsibility for initial consideration of these matters. My Department has made clear that we consider that a number of subsidies to shipping companies in the Community may represent illegal state aids within the terms of the treaty of Rome. We understand that the Commission is investigating whether subsidies paid by the French Government to Compagnie Generale Maritime, or proposed to be paid in the future, contravene the treaty.
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Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessement he has made of the subsidy and tax concessions made available by member states of the European Union to their domestic shipping companies ; and if he will make a statement.
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