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Mr. Atkins [holding answer 29 April 1994] : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 25 April, Official Report, column 39.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 25 April, Official Report, columns 40-1, if he will list those organisations which favoured the changes to the bird registration system he has now proposed.
Mr. Atkins [holding answer 29 April 1994] : The following organisations fully or partly supported the proposed changes : Avian Incubation Research
The Game Conservancy Trust
Brent Lodge Bird and Wildlife Trust
Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre
Birmingham City Council
Wold Austringers' and Falconry Centre
BCM Environmental Services Ltd
The Hawk Board
TRAFFIC International
British Federation of Bird Importers
New Forest Falconry Club
Hawk and Owl Trust
Bird Aid and Wildlife Rescue
Association of Chief Police Officers
National Association of Private Animal Keepers
Raptor Breeders Association
London Borough of Croydon
Royal County of Berkshire
London Borough of Hounslow
The Borough of Oswestry
International Wild Waterfowl Association
Kilmarnock and Loudon District Council
Reading Borough Council
In earlier consultations, the following organisations had also supported the deregistration proposals :
British School of Falconry
National Council for Aviculture
British Waterfowl Association
Council Tax
Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy that council tax at the full rate be levied on all holiday homes.
Water Quality
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to impose a requirement on water companies to improve water quality.
Mr. Atkins : Drinking water in the United Kingdom is of a very high quality. My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to change the quality standards, which the water companies are required to achieve in advance of the forthcoming revision of the EC drinking water directive.
Correspondence
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will reply to the letter of 13 April from the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East and
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previous correspondence on the exemption of severely mentally impaired people from liability for payment of council tax ; and if he will make a statement regarding the present position.Mr. Baldry : I wrote to the hon. Member on 27 April informing him that this matter was still under discussion.
City Challenge
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much has been spent by each city challenge committee on administration and other non-regenerative expenses in each year since 1992.
Mr. Baldry : Administrative costs defrayed by each round 1 city challenge partnership in 1992-93 and 1993-94 and each round 2 partnership in 1993-94 are as follows :
Administrative costs
(£000s)
Partnership |1992-93 |<1>1993-94
-----------------------------------------------------------
Round 1
Middlesbrough |295 |341
Newcastle |311 |322
Manchester |447 |418
Liverpool |340 |330
Wirral |330 |250
Wolverhampton |370 |257
Nottingham |179 |262
Dearne Valley |150 |150
Bradford |299 |316
Lewisham |281 |320
Tower Hamlets |336 |418
|--- |---
Total (Round 1) |3,338 |3,384
Round 2
Hartlepool |- |316
North Tyneside |- |300
Stockton |- |290
Sunderland |- |300
Blackburn |- |250
Bolton |- |300
Wigan |- |246
Sefton |- |300
Birmingham |- |290
Sandwell |- |355
Walsall |- |317
Derby |- |400
Leicester |- |300
Barnsley |- |370
Kirklees |- |315
Hackney |- |500
Kensington and Chelsea |- |320
Lambeth |- |550
Newham |- |297
Brent |- |445
|--- |---
Total (Round 2) |- |6,761
|--- |---
Total (Round 1 and 2) |3,338 |10,145
<1>All figures for administrative costs in 1993-94 are
provisional. Final figures will not be available until
after the receipt of local authorities' final audited
claims.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was (a) the total budget that central Government have made available and (b) the amount that has been spent by the city challenge committee on regeneration projects for each city challenge area in each year since 1992.
Mr. Baldry : City challenge partnerships have received a total funding allocation of £7.5 million per annum for
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five years. Partnerships' expenditure limits were revised as appropriate in order to offset predicted underspends, as they became known, against opportunities to expedite spend elsewhere. These in-year changes do not affect the overall sum allocated to each partnership, which remains at £37.5 million for the five years.Column 444
Final expenditure limits and outturn, inclusive of administrative costs, against expenditure limits for each round 1 city challenge partnership in 1992-93 and 1993-94 and each round 2 partnership in 1993-94 are as follows :Column 443
£ thousands
1992-93 1993-94
Partnership |Final |Outturn |Final |<1>Outturn
|expenditure limit |expenditure limit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Round 1
Middlesbrough |7,486 |7,492 |8,613 |8,400
Newcastle |7,500 |7,500 |7,675 |7,537
Manchester |7,828 |7,828 |9,376 |9,282
Liverpool |7,500 |7,384 |8,316 |8,304
Wirral |7,500 |7,461 |7,500 |7,500
Wolverhampton |8,250 |8,241 |8,090 |7,396
Nottingham |7,585 |7,574 |8,420 |8,368
Dearne Valley |7,100 |7,101 |7,150 |7,150
Bradford |7,430 |7,420 |6,700 |6,685
Lewisham |7,870 |7,828 |7,824 |7,822
Tower Hamlets |6,451 |6,320 |7,008 |6,938
|------- |------- |------- |-------
(Total) (Round 1) |82,500 |82,149 |86,672 |85,382
<1>All figures for outturn in 1993-94 are provisional. Final figures will not be available until after the
receipt of local authorities' 1993-94 final audited claims.
1993-94
Partnership |Final |Expenditure<1>
|expenditure limit|(£000s)
|(£000s)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Round 2
Hartlepool |7,500 |7,413
North Tyneside |7,500 |7,364
Stockton |7,500 |7,500
Sunderland |7,500 |7,499
Blackburn |7,200 |7,192
Bolton |7,500 |7,499
Wigan |7,791 |7,733
Sefton |6,684 |6,448
Birmingham |6,969 |6,679
Sandwell |7,500 |7,319
Walsall |7,500 |7,496
Derby |7,500 |7,500
Leicester |5,300 |5,300
Barnsley |7,500 |7,495
Kirklees |6,500 |6,445
Hackney |8,384 |8,384
Kensington and Chelsea |8,000 |8,050
Lambeth |5,600 |5,592
Newham |8,400 |8,322
Brent |7,500 |7,381
|------- |-------
Total (round 2) |145,829 |144,611
|------- |-------
Total (round 1 and 2) |232,500 |229,993
<1> All figures for outturn in 1993-94 are provisional. Final figures will
not be available until after the receipt of local authorities' 1993-94 final
audited claims.
HEALTH
Patient Costs
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the average daily cost per patient for all specialties in directly managed units and national health service trusts for each year since 1988-89 ;
Column 444
(2) what was the average daily cost per patient for surgical specialties in directly managed units and national health service trusts in each year since 1988-89.Mr. Sackville : Information for the financial years 1991-92 and 1992 -93 is shown in the table. The first wave of national health service trusts was established in April 1991. Comparable data for previous years are not available.
|1991-92|1992-93
-----------------------------------
Surgical Specialties
NHS Trusts |£227.64|£226.76
DMUs |£228.34|£246.74
All Specialties
NHS Trusts |£175.38|£164.33
DMUs |£155.61|£167.80
Source: Annual financial returns
of regional, district and special
health authorities and NHS trusts (
1991-92 and 1992-93).
Notes:
1. Surgical specialties include
general surgery, urology, trauma
and orthopaedics, ENT,
ophthalmology, gynaecology, dental
specialties, neurosurgery, plastic
surgery, cardiothoracic surgery
and paediatric surgery.
2. Figures are based on
in-patients and day cases.
3. Figures include overheads and
capital charges.
Ms Storrs
Mr. Mudie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the NHS executive has received legal advice in the matter of the £78,000 paid to Ms Storrs by the Wessex regional health authority ; and what steps are being taken to recover this payment.
Dr. Mawhinney : Legal advice has been obtained by the regional health authority and we are discussing with them whether recovery action would be cost-effective.
Column 445
Health Literature Line
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the titles of leaflets sent out by the health literature line since April 1993 and the numbers of each distributed.
Mr. Sackville : Information on leaflet titles and numbers ordered have been placed in the Library. Copies of the publications that are currently available will be placed in the Library.
Computer Reimbursement
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what amount was spent in primary care on computer reimbursement in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table based on quarterly returns from family health services authorities. The amount reimbursed in 1990-91, when the scheme was introduced, includes claims for the years 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1990-91 |17.5 1991-92 |34.0 1992-93 |40.2 1993-94 |<1>36.5 <1>Provisional figure.
Data Protection
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health who holds the copyright on data in primary care (a) in written notes and (b) on computers ; and what statute, regulations or guidance govern this matter.
Mr. Sackville : The physical records on which data about patients is recorded by general practitioners are owned by the family health services authority. The equitable copyright of that data is also vested in the FHSA under common law because the author of the record compiles it pursuant to an obligation to maintain records, his remuneration in part is based on his doing so and he does so in circumstances whereby he owes a duty of good faith and fidelity to the FHSA. The principles apply equally to manual and computerised records.
Advertising
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what television advertisements her Department has paid for to promote Her Majesty's Government's health policy over the last two years ; if she will consider running advertisements to educate the public about not calling out general practitioners unnecessarily at night ; if she will examine the results of similar campaigns in Canada ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : Television advertising campaigns for drug and solvent misuse and for organ donation have been carried out in each of the last two years at a total estimated cost of £5,509,156. We are, jointly with the medical profession, working on an extension of the "Help Us to Help You" campaign to inform patients about making best, and appropriate, use of general practitioner out-of-hours services. We have no plans to use television advertising in this campaign.
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Sex Education
Mr. Alan Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans she has to ensure that health professionals receive training in good educational practice for the delivery of sex education in schools ;
(2) what plans she has to ensure that health professionals will be fully cognisant of their legal responsibilities in the delivery of sex education in schools ;
(3) what steps she is taking to ensure that the skills of health education professionals in her Department are co-ordinated with those of Department for Education professionals teaching sex education in schools.
Mr. Sackville : Arrangements to meet any sex education training needs of health professionals are a matter for local determination by health authorities.
Mr. Alan Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to set up an inter-departmental working group to share, develop and co-ordinate good practice in the delivery of sex education in schools.
Mr. Sackville : None. The Department for Education's forthcoming circular on the provision of sex education in schools will give advice to education authorities on links with health authorities and the role of health professionals in providing sex education.
Family Health Centres (North of England)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many family health centres per 1,000 population there are in (a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley, (c) Rotherham and (d) Sheffield.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is shown in the table.
Family Health |Number of |Population in|Health
Services
Authority |Health |thousands |Centres
|Centres |per 1,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Doncaster |12 |293 |0.04
Barnsley |16 |225 |0.07
Rotherham |11 |255 |0.04
Sheffield |10 |531 |0.02
Notes:
The number of Health Centres is as at 1 October 1993.
The Population data for family health services authorities comes from
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys mid 1992 estimates from the
1991 Census.
Child Mortality Rate
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the national child mortality rate ; and what are the rates in (a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley, (c) Rotherham and (d) Sheffield.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table :
Child mortality<1> rates in England
and Wales, Doncaster, Barnsley,
Rotherham and Sheffield County
Districts for the combined years of
1990-1992.
1990-1992 rate<2>
|Male |Female
---------------------------------------
England and Wales |83 |64
Doncaster |90 |64
Barnsley |90 |67
Rotherham |92 |62
Sheffield |85 |78
<1> 0-14 years of age
<2> Rate per 100,000 population
Note:
The combined years of 1990-92 have
been used to overcome the random
fluctuations due to the small number
of events in these areas.
Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will call for a report on the availability of the speech and language therapy facility at Good Hope hospital in Birmingham between 31 March and 1 July and explanations for the deficiencies in provision ;
(2) if she will call for a report on the procedures adopted for allocating the contract for speech and language therapy at Good Hope hospital up to 31 March.
Mr. Sackville : The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Doug Ellis, chairman of the trust, for details.
DNase
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health with which regional health authorities her Department has had discussions relating to the use of the drug DNase ; if she has recommended its use to regional health authorities ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : The Department has been contacted by Bristol and District health authority about DNase, initially via the South West regional health authority. The
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Department advises health authorities to purchase health care on the basis of the best available information about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions : it has issued no specific advice about DNase.Community Health Councils
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates and where she has held discussions with officers of community health councils in the last five years.
Dr. Mawhinney : Health Ministers have had a number of discussions with individual community health councils and their representative organisations. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met the chief officer and vice chair of West Surrey and North East Hampshire CHC in January of last year. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State the Member for Bolton, West (Mr. Sackville) and I spoke at the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales annual conferences in 1992 and 1993 respectively.
Infant Mortality
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the level of infant mortality in each of the past 10 years in each district health authority in Birmingham.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Column 447
Infant Mortality (Numbers and Rates<2>) for Birmingham DHAs 1983-92
DHA |1983|1984|1985|1986|1987|1988|1989|1990|1991|1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Numbers
East Birmingham |35 |50 |33 |31 |37 |32 |30 |48 |36 |28
North Birmingham |23 |20 |21 |20 |17 |24 |15 |23 |19 |18
West Birmingham |46 |45 |49 |39 |33 |48 |39 |51 |49 |38
South Birmingham |32 |43 |38 |44 |35 |45 |41 |40 |65 |74
Central Birmingham<1> |37 |41 |35 |34 |27 |45 |36 |43 |- |-
Rates
East Birmingham |10.8|15.4|9.7 |9.1 |10.8|9.3 |8.3 |12.7|9.7 |7.5
North Birmingham |12.6|10.2|10.7|9.9 |8.0 |11.3|7.4 |10.9|9.0 |9.0
West Birmingham |11.4|11.3|12.1|10.0|8.3 |12.3|9.9 |12.8|11.9|9.9
South Birmingham |9.6 |12.1|10.6|12.3|9.5 |12.4|11.1|10.7|9.4 |11.5
Central Birmingham<1> |12.8|14.2|11.9|11.3|9.0 |15.0|12.6|14.2|- |-
<1>From 1991 Central Birmingham DHA and South Birmingham DHA merged,
retaining the name South Birmingham.
<2>Rate per 1,000 live births.
Data based on place of usual residence at death.
Bioethics
Sir Gerard Vaughan : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how she proposes to respond to the report of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics "Genetic Screening : Ethical Issues", and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) on 22 February, Official Report, column 203.
NHS Estate
Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she has taken to implement the Audit Commission report on NHS estate management and property maintenance ; what further action she proposes to take to implement the report ; and what additional funds have been allocated for property maintenance.
Column 448
Mr. Sackville : The Audit Commission's report, which was published in 1991, has stimulated the following activities :
(a) all provider units are required to produce estate management and development strategies including projections for auditors in backlog maintenance.
(b) plans for the five year period to March 1997 indicate an intention to reduce backlog maintenance by 37 per cent. or £1.43 billion.
(c) revised guidance on estate maintenance and property utilisation was issued to the National Health Service in October 1993. No separate funds are allocated for property maintenance. These are treated as normal revenue costs which provider units include in their prices.
Column 449
Asthma
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research is being conducted into the rate of increase in the incidence of asthma ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) on 14 February, Official Report, column 627, and my hon. Friend the Member for Chislehurst (Mr. Sims) on 29 March, Official Report, column 684.
Brighton Health Trust
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will ensure the dismissal of the chairman and chief executive of the Brighton health trust in relation to their policy statement on the treatment of people above a certain age.
Security
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the use of private detective agencies and security companies by her Department.
Column 450
Mr. Sackville : The Department does not use private detective agencies but does use security companies to guard official premises where this provides best value for money.
NHS Estates Agency
Mr. Peter Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the plans for 1994-95 for the NHS Estates executive agency.
Mr. Sackville : I am pleased to report that the national health services estates management and health building agency--NHS Estates--has had a successful year as an executive agency of this Department. I have agreed the agency's 1994-95 annual business plan, and have placed in the Library copies of its key tasks and targets for 1994-95.
Civil Servants (Business Appointments)
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many civil servants in her Department and its predecessor department applied in each year since 1986 through the business opportunities system to take up an outside appointment (a) as an independent consultant, (b) with a firm of consultants and (c) in other employment ; how many were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments ; and how many were granted.
Mr. Sackville : The available information from 1989 is shown in the table.
Column 449
Department of Health-Business appointment applications
|1989|1990|1991|1992|1993|1994
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of applicants |11 |11 |10 |6 |13 |5
Independent consultants |1 |2 |3 |1 |5 |0
Unconditional approval |0 |1 |1 |1 |5 |0
Conditional approval |1 |1 |2 |0 |0 |0
Consultant firm |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |1
Unconditional approval |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |1
Conditional approval |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Other |10 |9 |7 |5 |8 |4
Unconditional approval |9 |9 |6 |5 |8 |4
Conditional approval |1 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
Number referred to advisory committee |0 |1 |0 |0 |1 |0
Granted |0 |1 |0 |0 |1 |0
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