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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 9 May 1994
HEALTH
Internet
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has (a) to utilise the Internet, (b) to make available on the Internet press releases and other departmental information which the public wish to have access to and (c) to use the Internet as a means of increasing the openness of her Department.
Mr. Sackville : The Department's press releases issued electronically through the Central Office of Information are accessible to users of the Internet via Data-Star Dialog (Europe) or Mead/Lexis/Nexis. They are also available to subscribers to FT Profile, Reuters Textline and to POLIS.
The Department's press releases are also available through the COI's fax retrieval service, details of which can be provided by their news distribution service.
There are no further plans to use Internet.
Eye Tests
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has issued relating to charges for eye tests and visual field tests ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : No guidance has been issued about charges for eye sight tests and visual field tests. Under the general ophthalmic services certain groups of people are entitled to a free sight test on the national health service.
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Dental Services
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps she will take to introduce the licensing and registration of denturists and dental technicians following the Nuffield report ; (2) if she will take steps to establish a separate profession of clinical dental technicians covered by legislation.
Dr. Mawhinney : Under the terms of the Dentists Act 1984 it is for the General Dental Council to make regulations to establish classes of dental auxiliaries who may undertake dental work.
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates she has made of the number of dentures fitted by denturists and dental technicians ; and what percentage this represents of the total number of dentures fitted.
Dr. Mawhinney : The Dentists Act 1984 does not permit dental technicians to fit dentures.
Hospital Consultant Posts
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 28 April, Official Report, column 307, how many hospital consultant posts have been vacant, by specialty, in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is shown in the table.
This indicates trends in consultant vacancies notified to the Department as at 30 September of each year. As a snapshot of vacancies on a single date they may not fairly reflect the trend for the number of vacancies over the year as a whole.
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Vacant Hospital Consultant Posts by Specialty Group England-30 September 1988-1992
Specialty Group |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Medicine Group |133.4 |119.7 |129.2 |86.3 |82.8
Accident and Emergency |17.0 |15.0 |18.4 |12.6 |15.6
Surgical Group |110.5 |88.2 |135.3 |77.7 |63.8
Obstetrics and Gynaecology |25.0 |17.9 |23.4 |12.6 |15.0
Anaesthetics |100.2 |70.3 |87.9 |44.8 |66.7
Radiology Group |38.3 |34.6 |33.9 |16.8 |15.0
Radiotherapy |6.7 |4.2 |7.2 |2.0 |4.0
Pathology Group |70.3 |39.0 |49.9 |31.5 |16.6
Psychiatry Group |268.9 |193.4 |217.3 |137.9 |131.6
Dental Specialties |20.1 |10.0 |10.5 |12.3 |9.0
|--- |--- |--- |--- |---
All Specialties |790.4 |592.3 |713.0 |434.5 |420.1
Note: The table shows whole time equivalent.
Junior Doctors
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she expects to meet the target of 72-hour maximum contracts for junior doctors by 31 December.
Dr. Mawhinney : Returns from regional task forces for the six months to 31 March 1994 are currently being analysed. We will make an announcement in due course.
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Ministerial Visits
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the hospitals that each of her Ministers and she has visited in the last three months where journalists have not been present ; and for what percentage of the total number of their hospital visits journalists have not been present.
Mr. Sackville : Ministerial visits to hospitals are not planned on the basis of whether journalists will or will not be present. The Department does not keep records of their attendance on such visits.
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Mr. George Henry Dance
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will require a report from the director of Berkshire county council social services department on the circumstances of the case of Mr. George Henry Dance.
Mr. Bowis : We have received a report on this case from the Berkshire social services department.
Registered Homes
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what use is made of the annual reports of local authority registration and inspection units.
Mr. Bowis : The purpose of inspection unit annual reports is set out in chapter 5 of "Caring for People--Community Care in the Next Decade and Beyond", copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 26 April, Official Report, column 160, how many entries there were in the national list of cancelled registrations for each year since the Registered Homes Act 1984 came into force.
Mr. Bowis : The number of names reported to the Department for inclusion in the national list of cancelled and refused registrations since 1985 when the Registered Homes Act 1984 came into operation is shown in the table.
|Residential |Nursing |Dually regis-
|care homes |homes |tered homes
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |2 |3 |-
1986 |16 |5 |-
1987 |28 |4 |-
1988 |54 |15 |2
1989 |44 |1 |2
1990 |54 |21 |2
1991 |74 |16 |-
1992 |38 |3 |-
1993 |34 |10 |-
Notes:
1. The figures may include some cases where the registration of more
than one person was cancelled in respect of the same home.
2. Since 1990 the list has included those cases where an initial
request
for registration has been refused.
Prescription Charges
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will reduce the charge for prescription charges to the same amount in current prices as in May 1979.
Guy's Hospital
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give a full reply to the April letter from the chair of the Southwark community health council on the subject of her statement of 10 February as it affects Guy's hospital by 9 May.
Community Care (Local Government Reorganisation)
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that the new authorities established following the review of local government are
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of appropriate geographical size and population and have sufficient human and financial resources to work effectively with health authorities in the commissioning of community services, provide specialist services within a soundly based, multi- disciplinary framework and secure the cost-effective provision of a wide range of care services within a mixed economy of care.Mr. Curry : I have been asked to reply.
We will not implement changes to local government structure unless we are satisfied that effective provision can be made for all local authority functions, including personal social services. That provision may include shared arrangements in some cases. The resources available to new authorities will be decided in the same way as for existing authorities.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Rhinoceros Horn and Ivory
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will engage in discussions with representatives from Hong Kong, Japan and China for the purpose of eliminating the demand for rhinoceros horn and ivory ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Kingdom works actively through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species--CITES--and bilateral contacts to persuade consumer states to stamp out the illegal trade in rhino horn and ivory. The CITES standing committee in March called for further progress in enforcement before its conference in November. The committee particularly commended Hong Kong for its recent efforts.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has received concerning the slaughter of rhinoceros and elephants for rhinoceros horn and ivory ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We receive a great many representations and share public concern about trade in endangered species. We are actively involved in international efforts, through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species--CITES--to stamp out this activity.
Rwanda
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations has made to the Security Council members about upgrading the United Nations involvement in Rwanda ; and what was his response.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Nations Secretary-General has made no requests to the Security Council about upgrading United Nations involvement in Rwanda. He did present a series of options to the Security Council in his report of 20 April, on the basis of which it adopted Security Council resolution 912.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with the Organisation of African Unity over Rwanda ; and what material, financial and diplomatic support he is offering to the OAU for the peace process.
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Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have welcomed the involvement of the Organisation of African Unity and countries of the region in attempts to bring about a ceasefire and advance the peace process. The United Nations Secretary-General is in touch with OAU states about their possible involvement in further international operations in Rwanda. We await the Secretary-General's recommendations in the light of these discussions.
Belize
Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 26 April, Official Report, column 123, what steps he is taking to secure the recognition by Guatemala of Belize as a sovereign and independent state.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Guatemala recognised Belize as a sovereign and independent state in September 1991. This was reaffirmed by the new Guatemalan Government in August 1993. We will continue to encourage both countries to work for a full settlement of their territorial dispute.
Conventional Arms Register
Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the Government submitted to the United Nations Secretary-General a return from the United Kingdom to the United Nations register of conventional arms ; and if he will place a copy of the return in the Library.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We submitted our return to the UN register covering the calendar year 1993 to the UN Secretary-General on 29 April. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
King Charles Street Building
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will reconcile the figures of the estimated total cost of refurbishment of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office building in King Charles street, as given in his answers to the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Taylor) of 12 April, Official Report, column 14, and to the hon. Member for South Hams on 25 April.
Mr. Goodlad : The figures given in my answer of 25 April were restricted to expenditure totalling £86 million by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Prior to 1988 the Property Services Agency--PSA--was responsible for major works. It would be possible to quantify PSA expenditure only at disproportionate cost. The balance of £14 million represents an assessment of works costs based on such evidence as is readily available. It covers essential maintenance works when the Home Office vacated part of the building in 1978 and refurbishment of one part of the former India Office between 1984 and 1986.
Angola
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress in the Angola peace talks in Lusaka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : At the Lusaka talks, the Government of Angola and UNITA have reached agreement on military issues, the formation and
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composition of the police and the general principles of the electoral process. They are still discussing national reconciliation, including the issue of UNITA participation in government, upon which they have yet to agree.HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will consider introducing a system enabling hon. Members to table written questions by E-mail.
Mr. Newton : Such a change would need to be considered by the appropriate Committees of the House.
Private Members' Bills
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Lord President of the Council what facilities the Office of Parliamentary Counsel offer to hon. Members representing Opposition parties in the drafting of amendments to public Bills which were not originally drafted for the Government.
Mr. Newton : The Office of Parliamentary Counsel does not offer facilities to hon. Members except at the request of Ministers.
Deregulation Orders (Scrutiny)
Sir Peter Emery : To ask the Lord President of the Council when the Government will reply to the fourth report of the Select Committee on Procedure on the parliamentary scrutiny of deregulation orders, and publish their response.
Mr. Newton : Copies of the Government response are now available from the Vote Office.
TREASURY
G10 General Agreement to Borrow
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the G10 general agreement to borrow power has been used in the last 10 years ; and what was the United Kingdom contribution on each occasion.
Mr. Nelson : The general arrangements to borrow have not been used in the last 10 years.
Internet
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans his Department has (a) to utilise the Internet, (b) to make available on the Internet press releases and other departmental information which the public may wish to have access to and (c) to use the Internet as a means of increasing the openness of his Department.
Mr. Nelson : The Treasury is planning to use the Internet for the exchange of electronic mail.
Press releases issued by the Treasury are distributed by the Central Office of Information through its news distribution service--NDS. The NDS advises that :
(i) Most Government press releases issued electronically via NDS are accessible to users of the Internet via Data-Star Dialog (Europe) or Mead/Lexis/Nexis.
(ii) It is up to the "hosts", i.e. the organisations who hold databases of Government press releases, to negotiate
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access via the Internet. Neither the COI nor its Government clients can insist on this, as there are commercial and security implications that only the "hosts" can decide upon.( The use of the Internet is one of a number of options being examined for increasing openness.
Tropical Rainforests
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received asking that pension and other institutional funds be required to make available to their investors details regarding the identity and work of companies involved in timber exploitation in tropical rainforests.
Mr. Nelson : None. It is for institutions, their auditors and regulators to settle the contents of their annual reports and other information provided to investors, with due regard to legal requirements.
Self-assessment
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he intends to consult on the role of employers in self-assessment as announced in his November 1993 Budget.
Mr. Dorrell : The Inland Revenue is today publishing a consultative document entitled "Self-assessment : what it will mean for employers and employees." The document considers where changes may be necessary or desirable for self-assessment. It makes proposals for employers to give their employees information they will need to complete a self-assessment tax return after the new system has come in. In designing the proposals the Inland Revenue has aimed to keep any burden on employers to the minimum necessary to enable those employees who receive tax returns after 6 April 1997 to self-assess. The proposals have been discussed with employers' representatives and they are now being set out in the document for wider consultation and comment.
Copies of the consultative document will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Consultants
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 12 April, Official Report, column 46, if he will list the firms of consultants employed by his Department and the number of contracts they have undertaken.
Mr. Nelson [holding answer 19 April 1994] : Firms of consultants employed by my Department, including in privatisation contracts, for the period August 1991 to March 1994 are listed. The remaining consultancies were carried out by individuals, academics and academic institutes.
Consultancy firm |Number ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Price Waterhouse |12 TPF & C |2 BDO Binder Hamlyn |3 Mouchel Management Ltd. |1 Inenco Group |2 Demograft Recruitment Consultants |3 Wyatt Company (UK) Ltd. |3 Touche Ross & Co. |3 Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte |2 Arthur Walton & Partners |1 KPMG |5 Ernst & Young |8 KPG Computer Support |7 PMMS Consulting Group Ltd. |1 Dunnett Shaw and Partners |3 DW Diamond Management Consultants Ltd. |1 Hay Management Consultants |1 Grosvenor Consultancy Services |1 William M. Mercer |2 Montrose |2 Kingsley Lord Ltd. |1 Achilles Consultancy |1 Solid Solutions Associates |3
HOME DEPARTMENT
Lake Windermere
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will estimate the cost to public funds of the public inquiry shortly to be held into the proposed byelaws and objections concerning Lake Windermere in the Lake District national park ; (2) what steps his Department is taking to safeguard the position of sport and recreation on Lake Windermere, without recourse to a public inquiry, following the proposal of byelaws seeking to introduce a 10 mph speed limit on Lake Windermere.
Mr. Charles Wardle : We consider that the terms of reference of the public inquiry which my right hon. and learned Friend has ordered to be held into the proposed byelaws should be sufficiently broad to encompass matters such as the practicality of alternative approaches to the management of Lake Windermere advocated by the Sports Council and others. I understand that the council and a number of other sports bodies are due to give oral evidence at the inquiry. It is not possible to estimate the cost of the inquiry at this stage.
Neighbourhood Watch Schemes
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many neighbourhood watch schemes there are in operation in (a) each country in Wales, (b) Wales as a whole and (c) England as a whole.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Information on the number of neighbourhood watch schemes is recorded at police level and so it is not possible to attribute schemes to individual Welsh counties. The number of schemes recorded by the police at the end of December 1993 for England and Wales is as follows :
Police Force Area |Neighbourhood
|Watch Schemes
------------------------------------------------------
Dyfed-Powys |1,257
Gwent |210
North Wales |2,989
South Wales |1,292
|----
Total Wales |5,748
|----
Total England |124,856
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Juvenile Offenders
Sir Ivan Lawrence : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he will put in place to assist financially the families of juvenile offenders in secure training centres when visiting their children in the centres.
Mr. Howard : I intend to put in place a scheme which will enable a juvenile offender, on one occasion each week, to receive a visit from immediate family members, foster parents or guardians with the visitor able to claim reimbursement of the cost of that visit. I hope that this will encourage more frequent contacts between families and offenders, thus helping to maintain ties and promoting the involvement of families in offenders' training plans and in their progress in the centre prior to returning to the community.
Police, Peterlee
Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police constables were deployed in the Peterlee sub-division in each of the last five years ;
(2) how many women police officers were deployed in the Peterlee sub- division in each of the last five years.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The deployment of police resources within a force area is a matter for the chief constable. I understand from the chief constable that the Peterlee sub-division was merged with the Seaham sub- division on 1 January 1989 to form the Easington sub-division. The information provided relates to that part of the division made up of the Peterlee area.
Year As at 31 |Strength |Strength
|(male and |Officers
|female)
--------------------------------------------------------
1989 |91 |10
1990 |92 |11
1991 |98 |12
1992 |103 |13
1993 |110 |21
Mobile Telephones and Pagers
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) portable telephones, (b) pagers and electronic bleepers and (c) car telephones are currently used by his Department ; what are the annual costs of operating this equipment ; and to which personnel it is made available.
Mr. Howard : About 1,250 mobile telephones are in use in my Department, including executive agencies. About a dozen are installed in official vehicles. There are about 2,100 pagers. Mobile telephones and pagers are used mainly by staff in Her Majesty's Prison Service and Her Majesty's Immigration Service, who for operational reasons need to maintain immediate contact with their offices or other officials. Annual expenditure is estimated to be about £745,000, excluding capital costs which are variable.
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Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 943-45, what were the numbers in each local education authority of (a) asylum seekers and refugees, (b) children of asylum seekers and refugees, (c) unaccompanied children admitted as asylum seekers or refugees and (d) children admitted for family reunion reasons, admitted to the United Kingdom for the years (i) 1990-91, (ii) 1991-92, (iii) 1992-93 and (iv) 1993-94, derived from addresses notified to the Immigration and Nationality Department.
Mr. Charles Wardle : This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Internet
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has (a) to utilise the Internet, (b) to make available on the Internet press releases and other departmental information which the public may wish to have access to and (c) to use the Internet as a means of increasing the openness of his Department.
Mr. Howard : Limited use of the Internet is made by research and development scientists in my Department for communicating with universities and other research organisations. My Department's press notices are passed electronically to the Central Office of Information, through which they are made available to users of the Internet. We have no further plans to use the Internet.
Immigration
Mr. Mudie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the carrying companies that have failed to pay expenses incurred in respect of persons detained, or liable to be detained, under the Immigration Acts, the amounts owing, and which amounts are still being pursued.
Mr. Charles Wardle : It is not normal practice to disclose information on the amounts owed in detention expenses by individual carrying companies, nor their payment record. The total amount currently owed to the Immigration Department is £2.7 million. Similar information about the amount due by carriers to police forces and the Prison Service for immigration detention costs is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for leave to remain in the United Kingdom have been granted in each of the last five years on the basis of a common- law relationship with a British citizen.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The available information is given in the table. Information on cases where the partner was a British citizen is not separately identifiable in these statistics.
Acceptances for settlement on the basis of a common-law relationship with a partner who is settled in the United Kingdom or who is a British citizen.
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Year |Number --------------------- 1989 |110 1990 |170 1991 |310 1992 |290 1993 |400 <1>On a discretionary basis.
Integrated National Criminal Intelligence Systems
Mr. Mudie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list in each financial year the amount spent on the development of the integrated national criminal intelligence systems computer project ; which private sector firms participated in this project ; and what amounts have been paid to them.
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