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Mr. Jonathan Aitken [holding answer 21 October 1994]: The financial framework within which the NHS is required to operate is set out in "Government Accounting". Detailed guidance, such as the NHS trusts finance manual, on the rules governing the financing of capital projects in the health service is supplied by the NHS executive. Copies of "Government Accounting" and the NHS trusts finance manual are available in the Library.
HEALTH
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 17 October, what costs have been incurred in consultancy work related to the study of OPCS market testing; and what assumptions have been made regarding on-going security costs in the event of the contract being awarded to the private sector.
Mr. Sackville: The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys is market testing its computer mainframe service. Consultancy costs of £1,000 have been incurred to date. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency is providing OPCS with procurement assistance at an estimated cost of up to £50,000. The in-house bid team will require consultancy help estimated at £35,000.
When issued, the statement of service requirement for this market test, will contain a mandatory requirement to provide security at a level to maintain OPCS's reputation for careful guardianship of data in its care. All potential
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contractors will have to take this factor into account when submitting tenders, with a full breakdown of costs.Public Appointments
Mr. Grocott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the public appointments for which she is responsible (a) in the west midlands region and (b) in Shropshire, indicating in each case the duration of the appointment, the date when a new appointment is due, and the salary.
Mr. Malone: A full answer could be provided only at
disproportionate cost. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health makes the following appointments to national health service bodies in the west midlands area:
|Appointments
|made by |Annual rates of
|Secretary of |remuneration
Body |State |for chairmen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional health authorities |Chairman and 5 |£20,925
|non-executives
|per board
District health authorities |Chairman |From £15,125
| to £19,285
Family health services |Chairman |From £10,845
authorities |to £12,605
NHS trusts |Chairman and |From £15,125
|up to 3 |to £19,285
|non-executives
|per board
Special trustees |Up to 6 special|Not applicable
|trustees per
|body
The annual rate of remuneration for all non-executives is £5,000. Each
appointment is for a period of up to four years.
National Health Service Trusts
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a current list of the chairmen and non-executive directors of each NHS trust.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide an up-to-date list of all the (a) chairs and (b) non-executive directors of each trust board indicating the gender and occupation of each individual.
Mr. Malone: Many chairmen and non-executive directors of national health service trusts are currently being considered for reappointment. This process will be finished by the end of November. An up-to-date list of appointees will be placed in the Library as soon as possible thereafter.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what expenditure has been incurred on NHS trust chairs, non-executive directors, committee members and sub-committee members for (a) travelling allowances, (b) overnight absence allowances and (c) day subsistence allowances in each year since 1990 91;
(2) what expenditure has been incurred in each region on NHS trust chairs, non-executive directors, committee members and sub-committee members for (a) travelling allowances, (b) overnight absence allowances and (c) day subsistence allowances in each year since 1990 91.
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Mr. Malone: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many company secretaries have been appointed by NHS trusts.
Mr. Malone: It is a matter for each individual trust to decide how they ensure proper corporate control of financial and other business. The number of company secretaries appointed to national health service trusts is not available centrally.
Child Care Staff
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the latest available figures for changes in the number of appropriately qualified staff working in residential care since the publication of the Utting report on children in public care.
Mr. Kirwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the change in the number of appropriately qualified staff working in residential child care since the publication of the Utting report.
Mr. Bowis: The Utting report found that 21 per cent. of all officers in charge of residential children's homes had no relevant qualification. We introduced the residential child care initiative in 1992 to assist authorities to achieve the Utting recommendation that all officers in charge should be professionally qualified by 1995. Under this initiative, the Department is funding 465 places on special DipSW programmes. In addition, the training support programme is available to support the costs of training all social services staff, including those in residential children's homes.
Local authorities social services departments are responsible for ensuring that all heads of residential homes for children are qualified and appropriately trained. Their policies and practice on staff recruitment and retention have a considerable influence on this objective.
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she is taking to ensure a significant expansion of training for residential child care staff.
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health is she will list the fresh initiatives she proposes to take to assure a major expansion of training for residential child care staff; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Bowis: The Government attach great importance to the training of all social services staff who work with children, particularly those in the residential sector. This year the Department is providing £15.4 million under the training support programme for the training of staff working in the child care field. This includes £4 million specifically earmarked for the residential child care initiative, for the professional training of officers in charge of residential children's homes. New occupational standards covering staff in residential child care settings will be available from next spring.
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps (a) she has taken and (b) proposes to take to implement the recommendations of the Utting and Warner reports.
Mr. Bowis: Progress on the implementation of recommendations in the Utting and Warner reports is reported annually in the Children Act reports, copies of which are available in the Library.
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Consultants
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she plans to publish her document on the merit award system for consultants.
Social Work Students
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made as to the adequacy of the daily placement fee budget available to CCETSW and its implications for voluntary and independent sector social work student placements.
Mr. Bowis: The Department gives the Central Council for the Education and Training of Social Work--CCETSW--a budget to support practice learning. The amount assigned to the daily placement fees budget is one element of this, the size of which is for CCETSW to determine within the total allocated for practice learning. The Department continues to work with CCETSW on the provision of student placements in all sectors. Moreover, the Department has set aside £700,000 of the training support grant to local authorities to make additional practice placements available in 1994 95. This has been warmly welcomed by them.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will arrange for an inquiry to be conducted into the use of pituitary derived hormones and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in line with the one being conducted by the Federal Government of Australia; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease--CJD--is a rare but fatal disease. The Government acted promptly in 1985 when evidence of an association between the pituitary derived hormone programmes and CJD first became available. All treatment programmes were brought to an end. As many patients as possible have been traced. Expert counselling and information are available to them, and many patients have used these services. The treatment programme is currently the subject of litigation. We have no plans to set up an inquiry.
Hospitals (Video Surveillance)
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce regulations concerning the use in hospitals of covert video surveillance in child protection.
Mr. Sackville: The particular security measures which are appropriate to individual hospitals are the responsibility of local management.
Blood
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on the regional and local availability of blood from blood banks under the control of the National Blood Authority;
(2) what assessment she has made of the proposed revision of distribution arrangements by the National Blood Authority; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: The National Blood Authority is responsible for co- ordinating the activities of the National
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Blood Service in order to meet the demand from hospitals for blood, both nationally and locally. The authority has made proposals for reorganisation of the National Blood Service and these are out for consultation. The National Blood Authority plans to have a network of stockholding units around the country so that it can maintain supply at its present level and improve it wherever possible. The results of the consultation will be carefully considered before decisions are made.Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in how many places blood donor sessions were held in each year since 1987; in how many places sessions are expected to take place in 1995 and 1996; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: Under the National Blood Authority's proposals to improve the national blood service, blood collection will continue, as at present, to be easily accessible to donors. Collection teams would be larger and locally based, rather than all operating from the transfusion centres as at present. All major population areas would be covered. In 1992 there were 19,000 blood donor sessions. The number of blood donor session locations is not available centrally.
Dental Services
Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide the figures for the number of patients who were registered with dental practices in Devon and Cornwall in (a) July 1992 and (b) July 1994.
Mr. Malone: This information is shown in the table.
Number of patients registered with dentists on the dental list of
Devon and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Family Health Services
Authorities at 31 July 1992 and 31 July 1994.
Family Health
Services Authority
|Cornwall and
Date |Patients |Devon |Isles of Scilly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31 July 1992 |All |681,468 |301,719
31 July 1994 |All |650,645 |286,816
Source:
Dental Practice Board
Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices are currently operating in Devon; and how many are currently accepting NHS patients.
Mr. Malone: This information is shown in the table.
Number of dentists<1> on the dental list of Devon family health services authority at 30 June. Year |Number of dentists --------------------------------------------------------- 1992 |373 1993 |376 1994 |384 Source: Dental Practice Board. At 30 June 1994, 384 dentists were registered to treat National Health Service patients. <1> Includes principals, assistants and vocational trainees. Some dentists may also be on the dental lists of other family health services authorities.
Trained Children's Nurses Survey
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answers of 11 May, Official Report,
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column 160, 19 May, Official Report, column 559, and 21 April, Official Report, column 160, when she expects to announce the publication of the results of the survey of trained children's nurses conducted by the NHS Executive.Mr. Malone: We hope to respond to all the recommendations in the Allitt inquiry report shortly.
Severance Payments
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish details of each of the list of severance payments deemed to be illegal or outside appropriate limits as described in the memorandum dated 10 August 1994 from the NHS Executive to the Treasury, indicating what action is now being taken in each case.
Mr. Malone: The National Health Service Executive is, with the Treasury, examining each payment. It would not be appropriate to publish details while this examination is in progress.
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Residential Care Homes (Deaths)
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many death by misadventure verdicts have been recorded in respect of residents of residential care and nursing homes during the last five years.
Mr. Bowis: The Department does not hold this information.
Private Medical Insurance
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent to which patients of (a) GP fundholders and (b) non-fundholders make use of private medical insurance.
Hospices
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospice beds there have been in each health authority area in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Sackville: The available information is shown in the table.
Hospice beds by regional health authority
Regional health |1985 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992 |1993 |1994
authority
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |57 |71 |80 |80 |98 |101 |96 |102 |105
Yorkshire |127 |179 |180 |180 |224 |243 |263 |220 |221
Trent |66 |91 |91 |105 |125 |135 |147 |153 |161
East Anglian |50 |57 |57 |57 |71 |73 |118 |114 |125
North West Thames |151 |126 |118 |142 |142 |157 |163 |185 |177
North East Thames |75 |169 |169 |169 |180 |182 |201 |195 |214
South East Thames |183 |192 |187 |187 |187 |186 |192 |216 |237
South West Thames |144 |199 |201 |201 |187 |184 |182 |177 |193
Wessex |75 |91 |91 |91 |92 |98 |107 |137 |161
Oxford |90 |103 |98 |98 |110 |102 |108 |130 |141
South Western |118 |143 |141 |141 |144 |144 |149 |166 |179
West Midlands |188 |187 |186 |196 |218 |205 |205 |201 |197
Mersey |78 |88 |104 |104 |110 |149 |161 |156 |146
North Western |114 |186 |186 |186 |205 |212 |229 |257 |264
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |1,516 |1,882 |1,889 |1,937 |2,093 |2,171 |2,321 |2,409 |2,521
Source: Hospice Information Service, St. Christopher's Hospice.
Note: Figures are as at January of each year, except for 1985 (April), for 1987 (December) and for 1988 (July). No figures are available for 1986.
Column 447
General Practitioners
Mr. Hinchcliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent to which (a) GP fundholders and (b) non-fundholding GPs make use of emergency hospital admissions.
Mr. Malone: As part of our plans for developing national health service purchasing, we shall be reviewing contracting for emergency admissions in a number of sites, including the use general practioners make of these services.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been removed from (a) general practitioners' fundholding practice registers and (b) non-general practitioners' fundholding practices in each of the last three years.
Mr. Malone: All general practitioners are bound by the requirements of their terms of service when removing patients from their list. Data collected by family health services authorities on patient movement between general
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practioners does not separately identify the fundholding status of the doctor.Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce a statutory obligation on fundholders to publish their accounts.
Mr. Malone: General practioner fundholders are already required under section 98(2B)(c) of the National Health Service Act 1977, as amended by Section 20(2)(b) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, to produce annual accounts to the relevant family health services authority. These accounts are public documents and are available on request.
Staff Cars
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 25 May, Official Report, column 215, if she is now able to list for 1993 94 the expenditure on staff cars for (a) regions, (b) districts and (c) trusts.
Column 449
Mr. Sackville: Data for 1993 94 will not be available until the end of November when health authorities and trusts' annual accounts will have been received and summarised. I will write to the hon. Member with this information when it is available.
Pinderfields Hospital Trust
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will require a report from the Pinderfields hospital trust as to the reasons for the inability to provide the service of an anaesthetist in certain circumstances within their obstetric care.
Mr. Sackville: This is a local matter for Pinderfields Hospitals national health service trust. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Roy Cusworth, the chairman of the trust.
Salary Costs
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 11 July, Official Report, column 421, what was the total salary costs per regional health authority for (a) managerial staff, (b) clerical and administrative staff and (c) nursing and midwifery staff for 1993 94.
Mr. Malone: The information requested will not be available before June 1995.
Staff Statistics
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) senior and general managerial staff, (b) administrative and clerical staff and (c) nursing and midwifery staff were employed by region in 1993.
Mr. Malone: The information is shown in the table.
Numbers of general and senior managers, administrative and
clerical and nursing and midwifery staff by region-England 30
September 1993-whole-time equivalents.
|General and |Administration |Nursing and
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |830 |7,030 |24,580
Yorkshire |1,920 |9,140 |27,140
Trent |1,210 |10,980 |35,580
East Anglian |810 |4,660 |14,810
North West Thames |840 |8,590 |21,550
North East Thames |1,900 |10,420 |28,280
South East Thames |1,310 |9,760 |24,250
South West Thames |910 |7,070 |21,350
Wessex |1,180 |6,800 |23,000
Oxford |970 |6,040 |16,850
South Western |1,180 |7,880 |26,000
West Midlands |1,970 |13,020 |39,210
Mersey |970 |5,970 |18,170
North Western |1,390 |11,060 |33,830
SHAs and Others |2,630 |14,230 |6,840
|------- |------- |-------
England Total |20,010 |132,650 |361,460
Notes:
<1>Figures are rounded to the nearest ten whole-time equivalents.
<2>"Nursing and Midwifery" excludes agency staff and Project 2000 students.
<3>"SHAs and Others" includes staff in special health authorities, other
statutory authorities and family health service authorities.
<4>Some totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding.
<5>The number of general and senior managers in September 1993 are not directly
comparable with numbers given in the reply my right hon. Friend the Member for
Peterborough (Dr. Mawhinney) gave
him on 4 November 1993 at columns 458-459, which have since been updated. A
change in data collection procedures in September 1993 have since been updated. A
change in data collection procedures in September 1993 resulted in the
recategorisation as managers of many staff who would have been coded as "others"
in the 1991 and 1992 censuses.
Health Service Administration
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 12 May, Official Report , column 220 , if she is now able to publish a table showing the total amount spent on administration by (a) regional health authorities, (b) district health authorities, (c) special health authorities, (d) family health service authorities, (e) trusts, and (f) the Department of Health/NHS executive in 1993 94 in each case breaking the figure down to show expenditure on (i) salaries and wages and (ii) establishment expenses.
Mr. Malone: Expenditure on Department of Health administration, including national health service executive administration in 1993 94, was £251 million, of which £117 million was on salaries and wages. Information on the 1993 94 expenditure of NHS bodies will not be available until December 1994.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 12 May, Official Report , column 219 , if she will list the number of managers and administrative staff that have been employed by each regional health authority in 1993 94.
Mr. Malone: The information is shown in the table.
Administrative and Clerical Staff and General and Senior
Managers with Regional Health Authority Headquarters at 30
September 1993 in Whole-Time Equivalents.
|Administrative |General and
|and Clerical |Senior Managers
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern RHA |1,130 |150
Yorkshire RHA |890 |380
Trent RHA |300 |90
East Anglian RHA |480 |70
North West Thames RHA |380 |-
North East Thames RHA |320 |170
South East Thames RHA |310 |110
South West Thames RHA |410 |110
Wessex RHA |260 |120
Oxford RHA |500 |150
South Western RHA |800 |180
West Midlands RHA |340 |70
Mersey RHA |300 |60
North Western RHA |650 |130
|------- |-------
Total |7,070 |1,790
Source: Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
2. `-'denotes no staff.
3. The figures given are those employed within Regional Health
Authority Headquarters or Headquarters units, or are on their payroll
system.
Ambulances
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 19 May, Official Report, column 561, if she will publish a table listing what percentages of ambulances in each service in England responded within (a) eight minutes and (b) 14 to 20
Column 451
minutes to emergency calls in 1993 94 and the first two quarters of 1994 95.Mr. Sackville: This information is not collected quarterly. Information for 1993 94 was published in June 1994--"Patient Transport Services--1993 94--Summary Information from Form KA34--England copies of which are available in the Library.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Vacant Land
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who owns the vacant ground to the rear of the footway at the northern junction of High street with Harbour road, Ballyhalbert; and if he will make a statement about this vacant plot.
Mr. Moss: The Department of the Environment does not own the land or have any record of who does and, therefore, I have no comment to make.
Road Widening
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals there are to widen the Harbour road, Ballyhalbert from the High street junction in the northern direction; what consultations there will be with the local community; when the scheme will commence; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moss: There are no proposals to widen that section of road. A scheme to provide a footway on the inland side of the road is planned for the current financial year. The proposal has been discussed with the Ballyhalbert community association and further discussions will be held when the detailed design of the scheme has been finalised.
Livestock Marketing
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total expenditure in each of the past two years by the Northern Ireland Livestock Marketing Commission; and how much in each of those two years was expended by the Commission in promoting the marketing of red meat (a) outside Northern Ireland and (b) to the internal Northern Ireland market.
Mr. Ancram: The Livestock Marketing Commission, now the Livestock and Meat Commission, incurred expenditure of £1,139,002 in 1992 93, of which £81,378 was spent on promoting the marketing of red meat-- £14,421 outside Northern Ireland and £66,957 within Northern Ireland. The corresponding figures for 1993 94 are expenditure of £1,036,007 of which £107,304 was spent on promotion--£61,766 outside Northern Ireland and £45,538 within Northern Ireland.
Further information on the commission's income and expenditure is available in the commission's annual reports, copies of which are available in the Library.
Structural Funds Assistance
Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place a copy of the single programming document for the spending of European Union structural funds assistance in the Library; and if he will make a statement.
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Sir John Wheeler: The single programming document is being published by the European Commission and is expected to be available shortly. I shall make arrangements for a copy to be placed in the Library as soon as possible thereafter.
Bill of Rights
Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent representations he has received concerning the issue of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.
Sir. Patrick Mayhew: No further representations have been received since I answered a similar question from the hon. Member on 26 May 1994, Official Report , column 294 .
Opsahl Report
Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which of the recommendations contained in the Opsahl report he has accepted; if it is his intention to issue a formal response to the report; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: The Government recognise the value of the submissions made to the commission by a large number of individuals and organisations. The recommendations made by the commission are wide ranging and are addressed to various groups and bodies, not just to the Government. Accordingly, we have no plans to make a formal response to the report. The commission's main political recommendation is based on the assumption that the talks process has failed. The Government do not accept this premise and remain firmly committed to the political talks process which we believe provides the best opportunity of achieving a widely acceptable political accommodation addressing all the relevant relationships.
Hualon Corporation
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which firm of consultants was commissioned to prepare a confidential report on the implications of the application of the Hualon Corporation for a grant of £61 million for the opening of new facilities in Northern Ireland; when that report was received by his Department; whether, upon what date, and upon what authority sections of the report have been quoted by officials to representatives of the press, and how any such quoted sections were selected; and if he will now make available copies of that report both to the Library and to the Committee of Public Accounts.
Mr. Ancram: The consultants commissioned were Kurt Salmon Associates Ltd. Three separate reports were received--technical review, October 1992, preliminary market report, April 1993, and market assessment report, December 1993.
There have been no quotes by officials to representatives of the press. However, relevant extracts from those reports were quoted by my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) in the Financial Times of 3 June 1994 in response to that newspapers's coverage of the project on 31 May 1994.
Those reports contain commercially confidential information and will not therefore be made available in the Library. Should the Public Accounts Committee
Column 453
decide to examine the project and call for the information, then a decision will be made as to the availability of the reports at that time.
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