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Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many complaints have been received from subcontractors on phase 2 of the Wrexham Maelor hospital, Wrexham, about non-payment from the prime contractor.
Mr. Richards: Payment disputes are a matter for the contracting parties. I understand that two subcontractors have complained about aspects of payment and one of them is currently pursuing the matter through court proceedings against the main contractor.
Dental Services
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will ensure the availability of free national health dentistry to all who require it; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Richards: This Government remain committed to a comprehensive NHS dental service and the Green Paper "Improving NHS Dentistry" reinforces our commitment
"to ensure that all patients who want NHS services have adequate access to them".
It is for health authorities to assess the adequacy of NHS dental services in their locality and it is for them to decide on the extent of community dental services they need to contract in light of local circumstances. Family health services authorities are encouraged to seek the Secretary of State's permission to employ salaried dentists in areas where there is a shortfall in service provision.
Special Advisers
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which of the special advisers serving in his Department during the last five years were subject to positive security vetting.
Mr. Redwood: All special advisers are currently required to have positive vetting.
Health Service Staff
Mr. Ron Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what were the costs of (a) managers and administrators and (b) medical staff in the health service in Wales for each year from 1979 to 1994.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 21 November 1994]: The information requested is set out in the table:
Medical and front-line support
|(2)
|(1) Directly |(3)
|Administrative |employed NHS |FHSA
and clerical |staff |contractual staff
|£000 |£000 |£000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |27,837 |159,593 |27,238
1980-81 |33,986 |220,857 |36,434
1981-82 |36,702 |239,751 |40,921
1982-83 |37,504 |261,243 |46,444
1983-84 |42,697 |278,551 |50,538
1984-85 |46,136 |303,396 |56,803
1985-86 |48,130 |327,455 |55,020
1986-87 |50,430 |360,269 |63,485
1987-88 |57,170 |408,732 |70,996
1988-89 |63,526 |475,481 |82,607
1989-90 |73,630 |542,564 |86,186
1990-91 |87,367 |593,407 |91,753
1991-92 |107,018 |626,260 |121,454
1992-93 |117,687 |683,080 |124,219
Source:
Annual accounts-financial returns of HAs, SHAs, FHSAs and Pembrokeshire NHS trust.
Notes:
(1) Final figures for 1993-94 are not yet available.
(2) Column (1) figures include the salaries and wages of general and senior managers, and
administrators and clerks in health authorities, SHAs, FHSAs and Pembrokeshire NHS trust,
including agency staff.
(3) Column (2) figures include the salaries of medical, dental, nursing, professional and
technical staff employed in HAs, SHAs, FHSAs and Pembrokeshire NHS trust. They exclude
the costs of ancillary, maintenance and ambulance staff.
(4) Column (3) figures include the estimated earnings and staff costs of GPs and
dentists. Those for pharmaceutical and ophthalmic contractors cannot be disaggregated
from service costs and are not included.
Mr. Ron Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the number of (a) managers and
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administrators and (b) medical staff working within the health service in Wales in each year from 1979 to 1994.Mr. Redwood [holding answer 21 November 1994]: The information is given in the table:
Medical and front-line support
|<3>FHSA
|contractural staff
|<2>Directly |(numbers of
|<1>Administrative |employed NHS |people
|and clerical |staff |employed
|(whole-time |(whole-time |full-time or
|equivalents) |equivalents) |part-time)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |6,229 |25,303 |2,329
1980 |6,287 |26,749 |2,373
1981 |6,398 |27,629 |2,415
1982 |6,446 |28,391 |2,500
1983 |6,530 |28,824 |2,572
1984 |6,675 |29,700 |2,618
1985 |6,837 |30,606 |2,692
1986 |6,969 |30,959 |2,725
1987 |7,087 |31,780 |2,811
1988 |7,326 |32,239 |2,863
1989 |7,667 |32,839 |2,936
1990 |8,185 |33,160 |2,979
1991 |8,865 |33,548 |3,000
1992 |9,498 |34,318 |3,037
1993 |10,082 |34,517 |3,075
1994 |9,905 |N/A |N/A
<1> These figures include all administrative, clerical and managerial staff employed by health
authorities, NHS trusts, family health services authorities and the Welsh Health Common
Services Authority at 30 September.
<2> These figures include:
-medical and dental staff-working in the hospital and community health service, excluding
hospital practitioners and clinical assistants.
-nurses and midwives-excluding pre-registration learners.
-professional and technical staff.
Since 1991, student and pupil nurses have been classified as students and are no longer
included in NHS staff figures.
<3>These figures include GPs, principal and assistant dentists, ophthalmic medical
practitioners and ophthalmic opticians. Staff directly employed by contractual staff-e.g.,
practice nurses-are not included since complete information is not collected centrally.
Tourism
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total value of section 4 grants distributed by the Wales tourist board in (a) 1991, (b) 1992 and (c) 1993; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones [holding answer 12 December 1994]: The amounts for the years in question are:
1991-92 |1992-93 |1993-94 ---------------------------------------- 3,617,000 |3,738,000|4,092,000
EDUCATION
Performance Tables
10. Mr. Jacques Arnold: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what prospects there are for the assessment of added value in schools arising from the introduction of testing and the publication of performance tables.
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Mr. Forth: We are giving priority to the development of a reliable measure of value added by schools. The report by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority taking this work forward has just been published and copies have been placed in the Library. My right hon. Friend has now commissioned the SCAA to undertake further developmental work.
19. Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proposals she has for making school performance tables a measure of value added.
Mr. Forth: We shall include value added in school performance tables as soon as reliable, easily understood measures are available. As the recent report by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority recognised, such measures cannot be calculated until the same cohort of pupils has been reliably tested at different ages.
Grant-maintained Schools
16. Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the latest figure she has for the number of schools that have now voted in favour of grant-maintained status.
Mr. Robin Squire: To date, a total of 1,153 schools in England have voted in favour of grant-maintained status.
29. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will list the circumstances in which she has required a second ballot on grant-maintained status.
Mr. Robin Squire: Under the Education Act 1993, a second ballot on whether a school should apply to become grant-maintained is required if fewer than 50 per cent. of eligible parents vote in the ballot, or the result is a tie.
My right hon. Friend has powers to declare a ballot void and require that a fresh ballot be held if it appears to her that the ballot has not been held in accordance with provisions in the 1993 Act, that the governing body has not acted in accordance with the statutory guidance, that there has been interference in the ballot process or that voting in the ballot has been influenced to a significant extent by false or misleading information.
To date, six ballots have been declared void using the powers in the 1993 Act and those they superseded in the Education Reform Act 1988. In one case, this was as a result of the dissemination of false or misleading literature. Ballots held at the other five schools were declared void because of irregularities in the electoral roll.
Self-defence Courses
17. Mrs. Gorman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to introduce self-defence courses for girls in schools.
Mr. Robin Squire: None. It is for schools to decide what to offer their pupils outside of the minimum statutory national curriculum which applies to all pupils, regardless of gender.
School League Tables
18. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to provide new data in school league tables.
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend will be consulting in due course on the content of the 1995 performance tables, taking account of feedback on this year's tables. In the longer term performance tables will include the national
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curriculum assessment results of 11-year- olds and, as soon as reliable and easily understood measures have been developed, data on value added.Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment she has made of the extent to which the Government's school league tables reflect the true record of schools, with particular reference to Rochdale.
Mr. Forth: The information in the performance tables was provided by or checked with the schools concerned prior to publication. We have not been notified of any errors in the data in respect of schools in Rochdale.
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support he has received from educational organisations for the introduction of league tables for schools.
Mr. Forth: In commenting earlier this year on proposals for the 1994 round, many organisations acknowledged that the annual performance tables provide information that parents and others want about the performance of schools and colleges. A range of different views were expressed about the coverage and presentation of the data.
School Funding
20. Mrs. Angela Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement about funding for schools for the coming year.
Mr. Robin Squire: Education standard spending will increase by 1.1 per cent. in 1995 96. Local authorities will decide what to spend on the various services for which they are responsible, including schools.
Pupil Numbers, Liverpool
21. Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in Liverpool are currently educated in schools with classes of over (a) 30 children and (b) 35 children; and how many such classes there are.
Mr. Robin Squire: In January 1994, 14,250 pupils were in 439 classes of more than 30 and, of these, 960 pupils were in 26 classes of more than 35. But the great majority of Liverpool pupils were in classes smaller than these.
Discretionary Grants
22. Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations she has received regarding the availability of discretionary grants.
Mr. Boswell: My right hon. Friend has received representations from a variety of sources about the availability of discretionary awards.
Further Education, Rotherham
23. Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on the funding of further education in Rotherham.
Mr. Boswell: The funding of further education in Rotherham is a matter for the Further Education Funding Council.
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Nursery Education
24. Mr. Barry Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps she is taking to further the spread of pre-school education and playgroups.
25. Sir Thomas Arnold: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement about her future plans for the expansion of nursery education.
26. Ms Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans her Department has to expand nursery provision for children under the age of four.
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has established a task force to draw up proposals to implement my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's commitment to provide a pre-school place for all four-year-olds whose parents wish them to take it up. We are looking at a range of options to achieve the Prime Minister's target. As the expansion is achieved we want to ensure that it will add to the choice parents have among a range of provision--public, private and voluntary.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress has been made in her policy in respect of universal nursery education.
Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education is looking at a range of options and is consulting widely with practitioners and existing providers of pre-school provision with a view to drawing up detailed proposals to fulfil my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's commitment to provide, over time, a pre-school place for all four-year-olds whose parents wish to take it up.
Technology Colleges
27. Mr. Thomason: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have now obtained technology college status.
Mr. Robin Squire: To date, 50.
Expenditure Priorities
28. Mr. Colin Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice she gives local education authorities in respect of their priorities for expenditure.
Mr. Robin Squire: It is for local authorities to make their own decisions about spending priorities within the total resources available to them. We do, however, encourage spending in particular areas through our specific grants programmes and through the allocation of credit approvals.
City Technology Colleges
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on the record of (a) city technology colleges and (b) the CTC in Birmingham, in the school league tables.
Mr. Robin Squire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson) on 5 December 1994, Official Report, column 125. The table shows something of the progress that the city technology colleges are making. Of the 10 CTCs which had pupils taking GCSEs in 1994, four bettered the average of their local education authority on the measure of five or more GCSEs at A to C, four improved their results over last year, and all exceeded the
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local LEA average for pupils gaining one or more grades A to G. Kingshurst CTC in Solihull takes pupils from Solihull and from Birmingham. The college's GCSE results are above the national average, on a par with the Solihull average, and well above the average for Birmingham.State Schools (Private Industry)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the policy of attracting private industry into state schools; and if she will be considering a new approach to providing vocational education in schools.
Mr. Forth: The Government's education policy has consistently encouraged greater interaction between business and schools. The latest data show that 90 per cent. of maintained secondary schools and over half our primary schools now have links of some kind with business, and the range and nature of the interaction is growing broader. General national vocational qualifications are already providing a new approach to vocational education in schools. More than 1,500 schools are now approved GNVQ centres. In October, a GNVQ scholarship scheme was launched with sponsorship from 12 major companies.
Language Training
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to improve the linguistic abilities of children; and if she will examine the best practises in language training in other EEC countries.
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend aims to raise linguistic competence principally through the national curriculum, which requires all pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 to study a modern foreign language. She also provides grant to the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, whose working brief is to promote a greater national capability in languages. In addition, she recently announced plans to extend the specialist schools programme to include modern foreign languages.
My right hon. Friend is informed of practice in other member states through our participation in European Community activities such as the Lingua programme.
Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on section 11 funding for the next financial year.
Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend keeps these matters regularly under review with ministerial colleagues. She was pleased that her Department has been able to contribute £5 million in each of the 1995 96 and 1996 97 financial years towards the additional funding for section 11 grant announced by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary on 22 November Official Report, column 64 .
Capital Expenditure
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations she has had from the
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Confederation of British Industry on the length of the capital expenditure programme replacement cycle.Research
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what sum was spent by her Department on research in each of the last 10 years; what percentage this was of the total annual budget; what is the research budget for the forthcoming year; what percentage this is of her total budget; and what additional new research is to be undertaken.
Mr. Forth: The sums spent on research and development by the Department for the last 10 years were reported in the statistical supplement to the 1994 "Forward Look" of Government-funded science engineering and technology. The expenditure on research and development and the percentage that this expenditure was of total Departmental expenditure are as follows:
|R&D Expenditure |Percentage of total
|expenditure
|£ million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |70.7 |2.9
1986-87 |68.9 |2.7
1987-88 |105.4 |3.7
1988-89 |73.4 |2.1
1989-90 |75.1 |1.5
1990-91 |87.8 |1.6
1991-92 |53.0 |0.8
1992-93 |43.4 |0.6
1993-94 |22.3 |0.2
1994-95 |<1>23.1 |0.2
<1> Provisional.
The R and D figures do not include research carried out or funded by the Department's funding agencies.
Total departmental expenditure covers central Government expenditure and grants to local authorities within the Department of Education's programme.
The expenditure on research and development in the coming year has still to be determined, and will be reported in the statistical supplement to the 1995 "Forward Look".
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which of the appointments made to public bodies by her Department were advertised in the period from April 1992 to December 1993.
Mr. Boswell: The Department placed no advertisements for the members of public bodies during the period in question. It did, however, place an advertisement for the first chief executive of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, as responsibility for that appointment lay with the Secretary of State.
Special Advisers
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which of the special advisers serving in her Department during the last five years were subject to positive security vetting.
Mr. Boswell: All special advisers have been positively vetted.
Column 612
Higher Education (Application Refusals)
Mr. French: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is her estimate of the annual number of students whose applications to take courses at colleges of higher education are refused.
Mr. Boswell: Higher education colleges received some 162,000 applications for entry to full-time undergraduate courses by the polytechnics central admissions system during the 1992 93 applications cycle. On the broad assumption that each applicant made on average 3.2 applications, this is equivalent to some 51,000 total applicants. Some 32,000 students were admitted to the relevant courses in the academic year 1993 94. This suggests that an estimated 19,000 or 37 per cent. of applicants may have gained entry elsewhere, withdrawn from the system, deferred entry or been refused places. These figures include applicants who will not have been considered suitable for higher education.
Student Awards
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether there is any difference under the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1994 in the assessment of parental income in respect of a student whose parents are (a) marred or (b) cohabiting on the assumption that the parents in either case have identical financial circumstances and no other dependants.
Mr. Boswell: Under the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations the assessment of the parental income of married and cohabiting parents in identical financial circumstances will usually be the same, unless one of the cohabiting parents is wholly or mainly financially dependent on the other.
Schools Expenditure
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the total figure for the financial balances held by all (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools.
Mr. Robin Squire: The Department is at present collating the information on balances contained in the outturn statements prepared by local education authorities for the financial year 1993 94 under section 42 of the Education Reform Act 1988, and I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete.
Older People (Learning)
Sir Andrew Bowden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what contribution her Department has made in 1994 to follow up the European Year of Older People and Solidarity between Generations in 1993.
Mr. Boswell: The Department for Education is committed to working with employers and other providers of education and training to maximise participation and attainment by people of all ages, as the national targets for education and training make clear.
Specifically, the Department provides a programme of grants to a number of voluntary bodies--including the Pre-Retirement Association--for work with older learners. The Department also funds the family literacy initiative, which promotes inter-generational learning.
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HEALTH
Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Trust
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she or her Department has had with the chairman of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust, following his remarks in the course of a mental health review meeting in January 1994; what plans she has to seek his resignation; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) on 20 October at columns 310 11.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of financial support the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts receives from her Department.
Mr. Sackville: In the current financial year, the Department has, to date, agreed to payments totalling £58,500 towards the cost of specific projects undertaken by the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts. The Department does not offer financial support to the association's general running costs.
GP Fundholding
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on representations by Angela Fulter, director of the King's Fund, on the use of general practitioner fundholders' resources for the purchase of property and property improvements to fundholder premises;
(2) what arrangements she is intending to make for the return to the taxpayers of financial resources used by fundholders for the purchase of property and property improvement to fundholders' premises, where fundholder general practitioners dispose of their practices' pecuniary interests on retirement.
Mr. Malone: Under the National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Regulations 1993, general practitioner fundholders may use efficiency savings to improve practice premises where this is for the benefit of patients. These rules are kept under review. Fundholding general practitioners may not use efficiency savings to purchase new premises.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence she has of fundholding general practitioner practices selling premises purchased out of public funds for windfall profits.
Prescriptions
Sir Andrew Bowden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her best estimate of the average number of prescription items used each year by people over state retirement age.
Mr. Malone: In 1993, some 176.5 million prescription items were dispensed free of charge by community pharmacists and appliance contractors in England to people who declared on their prescription form that they were either a woman aged 60 and over or a man aged
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65 and over. This equates to an annual average of 17.6 prescription items per head for each person of state retirement age or over, resident in England.
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