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Dr. Mawhinney : The term paediatric hospital is not used in central returns. Information on children's beds is contained in the publication "Bed Availability for England Financial Year 1992-93", copies of which are available in the Library.
Treatment Costs
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average cost of treating a patient on the waiting list.
Mr. Sackville : Provisional figures show that in 1992-93, for cases involving the use of a bed, the average cost of treatment per patient was £1,241.69. This average applies to all admissions, including those from the waiting list.
GPs (Deprivation Payments)
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average deprivation payment to general practitioners in (a) inner London and (b) the 10 biggest cities outside London, at the latest available date.
Dr. Mawhinney : The average deprivation payments to general practitioners in 1992-93, the last year for which figures are available, were :
|£
-------------------------
Inner London |6,265
Birmingham |5,223
Leeds |3,282
Sheffield |1,332
Bradford |4,719
Liverpool |2,922
Manchester |4,413
Avon<1> |1,144
Wakefield |59
Coventry |3,164
Sunderland |1,690
<1> Including Bristol.
Food Poisoning
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the United Kingdom died from all forms of food poisoning in the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Sackville : Figures for England and Wales are shown in the table.
Deaths from food poisoning:
England and Wales 1988-92
Year |Number of
|Deaths
------------------------------
1988 |63
1989 |67
1990 |71
1991 |64
1992 |64
Source: Office of Population
Censuses and Surveys.
Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Heart Surgery (Waiting Lists)
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what figures she has on the number of patients dying on waiting lists for cardiac or heart bypass surgery.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary gave her on 14 April 1993, Official Report, column 608.
Perinatal Mortality Rate
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the perinatal mortality rate for all areas covered by the London implementation group, and the national average, at the latest available date.
Mr. Sackville : Perinatal mortality rates for health authorities in Greater London are shown in the table.
Perinatal mortality rate 1992
District health authorities in the Greater London area
(DHAs as at 1 April 1992)
District health |<1>Rate
authority
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnet |6.0
Barking, Havering and Brentwood |9.1
Bexley |6.3
Bloomsbury and Islington |8.0
Bromley |6.4
Camberwell |10.3
City and Hackney |7.1
Croydon |7.2
Ealing |10.7
Enfield |7.2
Greenwich |10.8
Hampstead |7.4
Haringey |9.6
Harrow |7.8
Hillingdon |7.6
Hounslow and Spelthorne |4.5
Kingston and Esher |4.2
Lewisham and North Southwark |10.0
Merton and Sutton |6.6
Newham |10.5
Parkside |8.1
Redbridge |8.0
Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton |8.5
Riverside |7.9
Tower Hamlets |9.4
Waltham Forest |11.9
Wandsworth |7.6
West Lambeth |9.6
All Greater London DHAs |8.5
England |7.9
<1> Stillbirths and deaths under one week combined per 1,000 total
live plus still births.
Source: Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
Children (Employment)
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will bring the Employment of Children Act 1973 into force ; and what plans she has to introduce other legislation which would afford equal or greater protection to children at work.
Mr. Bowis : No. We are satisfied that the current safeguards which exist in legislation and byelaws to protect children who work are adequate.
Press Office
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will set out the total budget for her Department's press office in each year from 1990-91 to 1994-95 ; how many press officers work at her Department ; and how many press releases have been sent out in the name of each Minister in the last six months.
Mr. Sackville : The budget for the press office is not available in the form requested. The number of staff employed in the press office is 14. The number of press releases sent out in the name of each Minister can be identified separately before 1 January 1994 only at disproportionate cost. The number of press releases issued in the name of each Minister since 1 January 1994 are :
|Number
-------------------------------------------------------
Secretary of State |45
Minister of Health |45
Parliamentary Secretary (Health) |24
Parliamentary Secretary (Community Care) |41
Parliamentary Secretary (Lords) |24
Consultant Episodes
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes were purchased from non-NHS providers in 1992- 93 by NHS trusts, regional health authorities, district health authorities and family health service authorities.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally for 1992 -93 and is available only on an individual basis from those purchasers-- district health authorities and general practitoner fundholders--who contract with non-NHS providers--hospital and community units.
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Mental Health
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to institute a review of the therapeutic suitability of mental health units within district general hospitals.
Mr. Bowis : A review of the therapeutic suitability of mental health units within district general hospitals was one of the recommendations in the recent report of the mental health nursing review team. This report is still being disseminated throughout the national health service and three regional conferences will consider how the recommendations may be taken forward.
Children's Hospital Services
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 21 April, Official Report, column 669-70, when the survey results will be made available.
Dr. Mawhinney : When validation, aggregation and analysis is complete.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the name, occupation and age of each non-executive director of NHS trusts operating in Nottinghamshire.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) on 17 January, Official Report, column 385. The amendments listed below apply. We are not prepared to disclose the ages of these individuals without their permission.
Central Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Non-executive directors
Mr. M. Everitt, an engineer, has replaced Mr. A. Slade.
Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust
Non-executive directors
Mr. L. Coppel, an accountant, in addition to those listed. Nottingham Community Health NHS Trust
Non-executive directors
Mr. V. Oliver, a computer/training consultant, has replaced Mr. M. Rudge.
Pocket Guide to Sex
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 12 April, Official Report , column 82 , if the cost given for withdrawing the Health Education Authority's pocket guide to sex included the cost of (a) commissioning, (b) printing, (c) distributing and (d) promoting the guide ; and if she will break down the figure into its components.
Dr. Mawhinney : The estimated costs of withdrawing the guide totalled almost £17,000. This figure represents :
|£
--------------------------
Commissioning |4,500
Printing |9,000
Distributing |1,200
Recalling |2,000
There were no promotion costs as space reserved for advertising was used for other existing Health Education Authority material.
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These costs will stand to be offset, at least in part, by financial compensation accruing to the HEA from the reversion of publishing rights to the author under a confidential agreement.AIDS (Prisons)
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will seek a report into the extent of the connection between the refusal of the prison medical service to treat drug-addicted prisoners with methadone treatment and the spread of the AIDS virus in prisons through the sharing of heroin needles ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have been asked to reply.
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 11 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about methadone treatment in the Prison Service.
Current guidance on the use of methadone in the Prison Service is set out in "Caring for Drug Users : A Multi-disciplinary Resource for People Working with Prisoners" and Circular Instruction 12/1991. Copies of these are available in the Library of the House. The guidance recommends the use of a methadone detoxification programme for prisoners addicted to opiates although individual decisions on the use of methadone are a matter for the clinical judgement of the doctor concerned.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Brcko
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he and the United Nations are taking to ensure the safety of Brcko.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The Security Council agreed a presidential statement on 4 May calling on all parties to agree to a resumption of negotiations and demanding that they refrain from any offensive military action, or any action likely to lead to renewed fighting. The statement noted with concern indications of increased tension in the Posavina corridor area where Brcko is situated, welcomed the steps taken by UNPROFOR to deploy military observers there and warned the parties of the serious consequences of any offensive military action in the area. The Security Council is keeping the situation under review.
Rwanda
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the United Nations' calculation about the number of troops that would be necessary to make an effective peacekeeping intervention in Rwanda.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The United Nations Security Council has judged that conditions in Rwanda would not allow any force to fulfil an effective peacekeeping role.
The United Nations Secretary-General is still pursuing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire and a return to the peace process. These conditions must be fulfilled if any United Nations force is to help keep the peace.
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Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has financially to support an Organisation of African Unity peacekeeping force in Rwanda ; and what obstacles exist to doing this.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The OAU Secretary-General has made known his view that the OAU is not best placed to launch a peacekeeping force in Rwanda. Accordingly, we have made no plans to offer financial support.
Aqaba
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy on the lifting of the marine blockade of Aqaba ; and if he will make a statement on proposals for its replacement with a land-based system.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs gave him on 5 May, Official Report, column 677.
Nuclear Weapons
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy on allowing no arms sales to countries unless there is a verifiable cap on their nuclear weapon programme ; and to what countries Britain has sold arms which have not had such a verifiable cap in the past 10 years.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The United States and Russia are the only nuclear weapon states which have accepted a verifiable ceiling on their nuclear warhead numbers under the START treaties. We do not have a policy of refusing arms sales to countries which have not accepted similar restraints.
BBC World Service
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commownealth Affairs what is the size of his Department's grant to the BBC World Service expressed over the next three years in both cash and constant price terms.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Total grants-in-aid to the World Service in the 1994-95 to 1996-97 funding triennium, including the contribution from the MOD to monitoring, are as follows, in £ million :
|1994-95|1995-96|1996-97
---------------------------------------------------------------
FCO grants-in-aid |171.5 |175.0 |175.0
MOD contribution |3.6 |3.7 |3.7
Total |175.2 |178.8 |178.8
at constant prices |175.2 |172.3 |168.1
(using official GDP deflators)
(Figures rounded to the nearest 100K)
United Nations Preventive Diplomacy
Mr. Matthew Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been done to follow up the Franco-British initiative to assist the United Nations in its preventive diplomacy launched by him in his address to the General Assembly on 28 September 1993.
Column 163
Mr. Hurd : Since the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Alain Juppe , and I launched our joint initiative, our officials have been working with the United Nations to see how best we can help the organisation. Following those discussions, our two permanent representatives to the United Nations handed over to the Secretary-General on 29 April detailed information on the support we can provide, including, for our part, mobile communications equipment and illustrative lists of personnel who might be made available for preventive diplomacy missions.
SCOTLAND
Nursery Education
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will encourage local authorities to seek tenders for the provision of nursery education.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : It is for education authorities to decide on the arrangements they make for the provision of nursery education in their area. I believe that co-operation between private and public sector as part of those arrangements can offer real opportunities and I am happy to commend such developments.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what he regards as a satisfactory pupil-teacher ratio in nursery schools ; and what proposals he has to introduce national standards.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The adequacy of teaching staffing employed in nursery schools depends crucially on the number and expertise of other staff working alongside them. It follows that the appropriate level of teaching staff in nursery classes is best decided by education authorities in the light of their own policies and the particular needs of children.
Section 23(3) of the Schools (Scotland) Code states that the education authority shall employ nursery nurses or helpers in the proportion of not less than one such person for 20 pupils.
Primary Schools
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many primary schools there are ; and how many have fewer than 35 pupils.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In September 1993 there were 2,341 education authority primary schools and departments in Scotland, of which 338 had fewer than 35 pupils on their register.
United States Attorney-General (Meeting)
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for what purpose he authorised Chief Constable George Essen to make an official visit to the United States Attorney-General Janet Reno.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Ms Janet Reno, the Attorney-General of the United States, invited Mr. George Esson, who was about to retire and has now retired from the police service, to call on her in order to thank him for the important part which he had played in the Lockerbie investigation, which was conducted jointly between Dumfries and Galloway constabulary and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Column 164
Glenfeshie Estate
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his discussions with interested parties about the future of the Glenfeshie estate.
Sir Hector Monro : The future of the Glenfeshie estate is a matter for the current owner and any prospective purchaser. My right hon. Friend has no plans to meet interested parties to discuss its future. However, the matter was discussed during a recent meeting I held with representatives of the voluntary environmental sector, including representatives from Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Irrespective of ownership, the Government will look to Scottish Natural Heritage to continue to protect the natural heritage value of the estate through the range of powers at its disposal.
Sheriffs' Courts
Mr. Gallie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has to improve the programming of business in the sheriffs' courts.
Mr. Lang : Consultations with interested parties indicated general support for the recommendations in the first report on court programming prepared by groups under the chairmanship of Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson QC and Sheriff Principal, then Sheriff, Graham Cox, QC. Following consultation with the sheriffs principal, I have decided to set up a group under the chairmanship of Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson, QC to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations in the first report and to bring under review other aspects of court programming. The membership of the group will be as follows :
Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson, QC (Chairman), Lothian and Borders
Mr. Roy Cameron, QPM, Chief Constable, Dumfries and Galloway Sheriff Robert Dickson, Airdrie
Mr. James Friel, Regional Procurator Fiscal, North Strathclyde Mr. Andrew Gallen, Solicitor, Glasgow
Mr. Duncan Lowe, Crown Agent
Mr. Gordon Murray, CB, Director, Scottish Courts Administration Ms Alison Paterson, Director, Victim Support
Ms Marilyn Riddell, (Secretary), Edinburgh Sheriff Court Mr. John Robertson, Regional Sheriff Clerk, Grampian, Highland and Islands
Mental Health, Glasgow
Mr. Gallie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what progress is being made by Greater Glasgow health board in developing a mental health services strategy for its area.
Mr. Stewart : My noble and learned Friend the Minister of State has today endorsed Greater Glasgow health board's mental health strategy 1993- 2000, and given his approval to the planned closure of Gartloch hospital by 1995 as part of the specific proposals to put the strategy into effect.
The strategy, which has been subject to full public consultation, proposes a new model of care based on a fundamental shift away from large institutions towards care provided in local community settings. Two key
Column 165
elements of the strategy are that the alternative community-based care services must be in place before patients begin to transfer in substantial numbers and hospitals finally close and the development of locality-based resource centres. The strategy plans to establish up to 25 such centres. Each will house multi-disciplinary teams consisting of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists and social work staff providing care, treatment, supervision and counselling. The teams will be involved in the entire range of care, from hospital settings to domiciliary care, and available 12 hours a day, seven days a week with crisis team cover outside these times.The board plans to implement the strategy in three phases. Phase 1 will focus on the north and east of Glasgow and involve the establishment of 10 resource centres and the creation of an additional 90 day hospital places. As a first step towards implementing the strategy, the board has submitted a bridging finance application to the management executive for funds covering the period to March 1997. While certain details of the application remain to be agreed, the Minister of State has today approved an initial allocation of bridging finance of £6 million for 1994-95. This will go towards the initial start-up and double running costs that will be incurred as the alternative community based services are put into place.
The bridging finance application was co-signed and submitted by the health board, Strathclyde regional council social work department, and Glasgow district council. The application contains a far-reaching set of proposals and some considerable commitments by the individual agencies involved. This, in my view, is an excellent example of joint working and co-operation and one that I would urge others to follow.
Local Government Reform
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will visit meetings of Elderly Forums in the Glenburn, Foxbar, South End, West and Central, and Elderslie areas of Renfrew district to discuss local government reform, water and sewerage services, concessionary travel schemes, standing charges for utilities and other topics of interest ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 29 April 1994] : My right hon. Friend has no current plans to attend any such meetings.
EMPLOYMENT
Security
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the use of private detective agencies and security companies by his Department.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Employment Department group regularly contracts with security companies to provide protection for a number of its headquarters premises and occasionally employs them to protect temporarily empty premises, patrol jobcentres and hold keys for emergency call-outs.
The Employment Service has used private detective agencies, through retained solicitors, on two occasions--to
Column 166
make financial inquiries when an individual was in default of rent payment commitments and when proceedings had to be served on an individual who was negligent in a land transaction.Internet
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment 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 openess of his Department.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I have asked officials to look into this matter. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing this to my attention.
Health and Safety
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he will publish the Health and Safety Commission report on the review of regulations covering health and safety.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Health and Safety Commission submitted the final report on its review of health and safety regulation to me at the end of April. The Government are currently considering the report's findings and recommendations and plans to make a statement on them as soon as possible.
European Committee of the Regions
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has for regular contact with the European Committee of the Regions.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Department will be able to provide information for the United Kingdom members of the European Community's Committee of the Regions on proposals that come before the Committee for an opinion, where they relate to areas for which we have responsibility.
Privatised Utilities
Mr. Heppell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what measures have been taken to alleviate the problems of people made unemployed in the privatised gas, water and electricity industries.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : People who are unfortunate enough to lose their jobs from any sector can benefit from the Department's extensive range of measures designed to help them find new jobs, re-train or set up in business. This year, the Employment Service and training and enterprise councils will provide around 1.5 million opportunities to help unemployed people find the best route back to employment.
Civil Servants (Business Appointments)
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many civil servants in his Department applied in each year since 1986, through the business appointments 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.
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