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Mr. Sackville: West Midlands regional health authority was given formal status within existing legislation to act as agents of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the employment of centre for information technology staff.
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health trusts hired private detectives in the last year; for what purpose; at what cost; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what circumstances regional health authorities may make use of private detectives; and what guidelines her Department has issued on their use.
Mr. Sackville: The information requested is not available centrally. It is the responsibility of each health authority and trust, after seeking appropriate advice, to consider the circumstances under which they would wish to take such action.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by authority the amount of special transitional grant for 1993 94 spent on (a) nursing home placements, (b) residential home placements and (c) non-residential services.
Mr. Bowis: This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which authorities failed to spend 85 per cent. of the special transitional grant in the independent sector during 1993 94.
Mr. Bowis: Audited returns detailing community care spending in the independent sector by local authorities in 1993 94 were due to be submitted to the Department by 31 December 1994. Some returns are still outstanding and are being followed up through the Audit Commission.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide a full list of tests undertaken to identify pathogens in donated blood.
Mr. Sackville: In the United Kingdom, all blood donations are screened for hepatitis B surface antigen, and antibodies to hepatitis C and HIV1 and 2, and syphilis.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to require NHS trusts (a) to hold all meetings in public and (b) to publish minutes of all meetings.
Mr. Malone: No. National health service trusts are already required to hold one public meeting each year, at which they must present their annual accounts, annual report and any report on the accounts.
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Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many trusts have introduced some aspect of performance-related pay for their staff;
(2) how many trusts have negotiated their own pay awards for staff.
Mr. Malone [holding answer 20 January 1995]: As national terms and conditions for management, ancillary, maintenance and ambulance staff have included performance-related pay for some time all trusts will have staff who benefit from such pay. Comprehensive information is not available centrally about the nature of new local terms and conditions being introduced in national health service trusts. However, from responses to a survey of trusts in autumn 1994, it is estimated that around 70 per cent. of trusts already had some staff on locally determined pay--involving over 10,000 nursing staff and a small but growing number of hospital doctors.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she has taken or intends to take against Doncaster royal infirmary and Montagu Mexborough NHS trust in their selling to the public at the Doncaster royal infirmary coffee shop European Community intervention board butter; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: We have been assured that no charge was made for the European Community intervention board butter when a small quantity was used in the hospital's coffee shop, and that all remaining supplies will be used, as the scheme intends, solely for the benefit of hospital patients and staff. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of the Doncaster Royal and Montagu national health service trust, Mr. Raymond Tonkinson, for further details.
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the number and percentage of emergency ambulance calls in the London area that took (1) up to 14 minutes, (2) 15 minutes, (3) 16 minutes, (4) 17 minutes, (5) 18 minutes, (6) 19 minutes, (7) 20 minutes, (8) 21 minutes, (9) 22 minutes, (10) 23 minutes, (11) 24 minutes, (12) 25 minutes, (13) 26 minutes, (14) 27 minutes, (15) 28 minutes, (16) 29 minutes, (17) 30 minutes, (18) 31 minutes, (19) 32 minutes, (20) 33 minutes, (21) 34 minutes, (22) 35 minutes, (23) 36 minutes, (24) 37 minutes, (25) 38 minutes, (26) 39 minutes, (27) 40 minutes, (28) 41 minutes, (29) 42 minutes,
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(30) 43 minutes, (31) 44 minutes, (32) 45 minutes, (33) 46 minutes, (34) 47 minutes, (35) 48 minutes, (36) 49 minutes, (37) 50 minutes, (38) 51 minutes, (39) 52 minutes, (40) 53 minutes, (41) 54 minutes, (42) 55 minutes, (43) 56 minutes, (44) 57 minutes, (45) 58 minutes, (46) 59 minutes and (47) 60 minutes during (a) October 1994, (b) November 1994, (c) December 1994 and (d) in total since April 1994.Mr. Sackville: The information requested has been supplied by the London ambulance service, and will be placed in the Library. The hon. Member may wish in future to write to Martin Gorham, chief executive of the LAS, asking for the information.
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the absenteeism rate for the London ambulance service in 1994.
Mr. Sackville: The London ambulance service states that in the year 1994 95 to date the absenteeism rate is as follows:
|Per cent. --------------------------------------------------- Accident and Emergency Service |7.79 Central Ambulance Control |8.14 Patient Transport Service |10.51
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in respect of the recent appendicectomy case in Cornwall, what considerations underlay the decisions (a) to suspend the theatre sister, (b) initially not to suspend the surgical registrar and (c) to take no action against the anaesthetist.
Mr. Malone: This is a matter for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals national health service trust and the South and West regional health authority. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. John Williams, chairman of the trust, and Ms Rennie Fritchie, chair of South and West regional health authority, for details.
Mrs. Maddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many employees for which her Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
Mr. Sackville: The information is shown in the table.
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Female |All |UG3 |UG7 |EO |AO |AA --------------------------------------------------------- 1991<1> |2,431 |- |- |- |- |- 1992<1> |2,586 |- |- |- |- |- 1993 |2,552 |6 |108 |389 |494 |185 1994 |2,584 |7 |135 |384 |537 |205 Note: <1> Individual grade data not available. Source: DH staff in post returns for 1 April in each of the years. Figures represent a head count of full and part-time staff.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the rate of conceptions among
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under-16s for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.Mr. Sackville: The information is shown in the table.
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Conception rates per thousand girls under 16 (England and Wales) Year --------------- 1982 |7.8 1983 |8.3 1984 |8.6 1985 |8.6 1986 |8.7 1987 |9.3 1988 |9.4 1989 |9.4 1990 |10.1 1991 |9.3
The provisional figure for 1992 is broadly in line with the 1991 figure.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospitals, overall and by region, have been closed since 1979; and how many NHS hospitals there are at present.
Mr. Sackville: There are at present, depending on definition, 1, 600 national health service hospitals in England. Information about the numbers of hospital closures since 1979 is not available centrally.
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS consultant doctors currently opt for maximum part-time NHS contracts; and what is the average and median amount of hours per week that these consultants spend in their private practices.
Mr. Malone: At 30 September 1993, 28.7 per cent. of national health service hospital medical consultants in England were on maximum part-time contracts. Information is not available on the amount of hours per week that those consultants spend on private practice.
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospital consultants also practise in the private sector of health- care.
Mr. Malone: This information is not available centrally.
Mrs. Golding: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to introduce a compulsory registration process for all paid care workers.
Mr. Bowis: Many people in the care professions already have to be registered with a professional organisation. Proposals for a general social services council have been submitted to the Government. These include a recommendation that all persons employed in the personal social services should be registered. We are considering these.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who appoints those individuals who have responsibility for interviewing and assessing the suitability of applicants for positions as non-executive members of NHS boards; and what criteria are used to select them.
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Mr. Malone: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health appoints the chairmen of regional health authorities, who are responsible for making recommendations to Ministers on appointments in their region. Regional chairmen are appointed for their personal qualities, knowledge and skills.
Mr. Couchman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to extend statutory powers to require continuing professional development in medical and nursing professions to professions supplementary to medicine.
Mr. Sackville: We are considering the scope for a review of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act 1960.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were removed from general medical practitioners' lists in each year since 1989 (a) in total and (b) at the request of the doctor by regional health authority area.
Mr. Malone: Information is available only for 1992 93 and I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given by the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Minister for Battersea (Mr. Bowis), to the hon. Member for Ynys Mon (Mr. Jones) on 19 July 1994, Official Report, columns 367-68.
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a copy of the statistical model used by her Department to forecast future expenditure on medicines.
Mr. Sackville: No. The details of the Department's spending models comprise an important strand of the Government's internal public expenditure discussions, informing but not determining decisions about public spending priorities. It would not be appropriate to publish this material.
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what increased resources she has provided for the NHS to fulfil the standards and expectations raised by the patients charter.
Mr. Malone: The patients charter is about doing things differently, changing ineffective working practices, providing a more patient-orientated service and adopting good practice from elsewhere. This need not require additional resources. Funding for the national health service in 1995 96 will increase by £1.3 billion--that is 1 per cent. in real terms. In addition, we expect hospital and community services to improve efficiency by at least 3 per cent. which is equivalent to an extra £600 million for patient care. As a result patients will continue to receive improving standards of service across the whole of the NHS, including those set out in the patients charter.
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Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average number of operations carried out per NHS hospital surgeon per week.
Mr. Sackville: This cannot be determined from the data available. Information on the number of cases operated on in operating theatres in 1993 94 is available in "NHS operating theatres availability and use: England 1993 94", and the number of hospital medical staff at 30 September 1993 is available in the "Statistical Bulletin: Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Service Medical and Dental Staff in England 1983 to 1993". Copies of both publications are available in the Library.
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will commission a report into the level of asthma in rural areas; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville: We have no plans to do so.
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average time it takes for a patient to be admitted on to a waiting list including time accounted for by self-deferral; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Malone: Data on the time to first appointment are collected. It is not possible to separate data relating to patients who have out-patient appointments and who are then put on to waiting lists for in-patient or day case treatment; nor does it include time elapsed as a result of self- deferral.
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the findings of a recent survey on the level of compliance with the voluntary agreement covering cigarette advertising at newsagents.
Mr. Sackville: As part of the 1991 voluntary agreement on tobacco products' advertising and promotion, the industry undertook to reduce the number of external permanent advertising signs for cigarette and hand- rolling tobacco brands at retail premises by 50 per cent. over five years. The committee for monitoring agreements on tobacco advertising and sponsorship last year commissioned an independent survey to monitor the industry's progress in this undertaking in the year from July 1993. The findings of the survey will be announced in the committee's eighth report, which is expected to be published in summer 1995.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) on how many occasions in the last four months of which she has knowledge any civil servants in her Department have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements;
(2) on how many occasions in the last four months she or any of her Ministers have been approached by commercial lobbying organisations on behalf of their clients at informal or unofficial engagements.
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Mr. Sackville: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave him today.
Ms Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the latest available data on the percentage of abortions which are funded by the national health service in each regional health authority area.
Mr. Sackville: The latest year for which the data requested are available is 1992.
|NHS funded |percentage |of total ---------------------------------------- England |56.8 RHA Northern |85.4 Yorkshire |58.3 Trent |70.6 East Anglian |82.9 North West Thames |47.0 North East Thames |56.2 South East Thames |53.6 South West Thames |41.4 Wessex |51.5 Oxford |55.7 South Western |79.2 West Midlands |53.0 Mersey |51.3 North Western |45.0
Ms Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many breast cancer (a) cases and (b) deaths occurred in each health region in the latest available year.
Mr. Sackville: The information is shown in the table.
Deaths and new registration of malignant neoplasm of female breast--ICD 174 --by regional health authority, for the latest years for which data are available.
|Deaths (1992) |Registrations (1989) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Northern |796 |1,472 Yorkshire |888 |1,918 Trent |1,287 |2,166 East Anglian |593 |1,144 North west Thames |819 |1,821 North east Thames |938 |2,125 South east Thames |1,061 |2,069 South west Thames |885 |1,762 Wessex |871 |2,004 Oxford |648 |1,132 South Western |989 |1,976 West Midlands |1,402 |2,860 Mersey |646 |1,356 North Western |981 |2,032 Wales |824 |1,931 <1> International classification of diseases, 9th revision.
Ms Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of female deaths were a result of (a) breast and (b) cervical cancer in each regional health authority area, in the latest period for which data are available.
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Mr. Sackville: This information is shown in the table. Percentage of all female deaths that were a result of (a) malignant neoplasm of female breast (ICD 174) and (b) malignant neoplasm of cervix uteri (ICD 180), by regional health authority 1992.
RHA |Breast |Cervix uteri --------------------------------------------------------- Northern |4.2 |0.5 Yorkshire |4.2 |0.6 Trent |4.9 |0.6 East Anglian |5.3 |0.5 North west Thames |5.0 |0.6 North east Thames |4.8 |0.6 South east Thames |4.9 |0.6 South west Thames |5.1 |0.4 Wessex |5.1 |0.4 Oxford |5.5 |0.5 South western |4.9 |0.7 West Midlands |5.0 |0.6 Mersey |4.5 |0.6 North western |3.9 |0.6 Wales |4.7 |0.6 <1> International classification of disease, 9th revision.
Ms Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which health authorities routinely carry out cervical smear tests every (a) two, (b) three, (c) four and (d) five years.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many dentists were offering national health service treatment in September 1994;
(2) how many salaried dentists were employed by English family health service authorities in December 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Mr. Malone [holding answer 23 January 1995]: At 30 September 1994, excluding salaried dentists, there were 15,084 principal general dental practitioners on the dental lists of family health services authorities. Additionally, although not on family health services authority lists, there were 801 assistants and vocational trainees working under the supervision of a principal.
The number of salaried dentists employed by English family health services authorities is shown in the table.
Table 1: General Dental Service: Number of salaried dentists<1> by family health services authority as at 31 December<2> ]England |31 December |31 December |30 September FHSA |1992 |1993 |1994 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- All FHSAs |66 |91 |115 Cumbria |- |- |1 Derbyshire |1 |1 |3 Cambridgeshire |2 |3 |3 Norfolk |- |1 |3 Kensington, Westminster and Chelsea |8 |9 Essex |2 |3 |2 City and East London |8 |8 |9 Kent |3 |5 |5 Greenwich and Bexley |6 |7 |7 Bromley |- |1 |1 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham |28 |31 |31 Surrey |- |3 |5 West Sussex |1 |1 |1 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth |1 |1 |2 Wiltshire |- |1 |2 Isle of Wight |- |1 |2 Buckinghamshire |1 |2 |4 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly |2 |4 |3 Gloucestershire |- |1 |3 Somerset |- |4 |4 Staffordshire |- |- |1 Cheshire |- |- |8 Liverpool |2 |2 |2 Lancashire |- |1 |2 Manchester |- |- |1 Salford |1 |1 |1 Source: Dental Practice Board. Notes: <1> This is the number of salaried dentists with contracts registered at the DPB. It is not the number of salaried dentists in employment at the actual specified dates. <2> December data for 1994 are not available.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many unfilled vacancies for salaried dentists there were in English family health service authorities in December 1994;
(2) how much was spent on providing the services of salaried dentists employed by English family health services authorities, including establishment costs for 1992 93, 1993 94 and to date in 1994 95; and if she will provide a breakdown of those costs.
Mr. Malone [holding answer 23 January 1995]: The information is shown in the table:
Expenditure on salaried dentists employed by English family health service authorities |£ million ----------------------------------------------------- 1992-93 |Remuneration|1.805 |Expenses |0.594 |Total |2.399 1993-94 |Remuneration|2.729 |Expenses |1.907 |Total |4.636 1994-95 |Remuneration|2.398 (to November) |Expenses |1.439 |Total |3.837 Notes: 1. The above figures show a gross expenditure by FHSAs for the provision of general dental services by salaried dentists and include National Insurance costs and superannuation contributions. These figures are reported by the FHSA through the financial information system. 2. Figures under the heading of expenses, including establishment costs. 3. Figures for 1994-95 are year to date to November.
The information on numbers of unfilled vacancies in December 1994 is not available centrally.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will list the average value of capital projects (a) at general practitioner fundholders' surgery premises and (b) non-general practitioner fundholders' premises in each regional health authority area in each of the past three years;
(2) what estimate she has made of the average capital value of the surgery premises of (a) general practitioner fundholders and (b) non-fundholders and of any change in the average value of such premises since 1991; and if she will make it her policy to carry out a full valuation of all surgery premises at five-yearly intervals.
Mr. Malone [holding answer 23 January 1995]: General practitioners are independent self-employed contractors to the national health service. Under their terms of service, they are required to provide adequate practice premises from which to see their patients. The capital value of and investment in premises they own is a matter for them or the owners of any accommodation they rent.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been allocated to general practitioner fundholders for (a) computer hardware costs and (b) computer software costs in each of the last five years in each region.
Mr. Malone [holding answer 23 January 1995]: Family health services authorities are not allocated separate funds for general practitioner fundholder computers. Available information about expenditure is shown in the table. It is not possible to identify hardware and software costs.
Spend on information technology to Support GP fundholding £000s Region |1991-92|1992-93|1993-94 -------------------------------------------------- Northern |736 |900 |835 Yorkshire |1,363 |2,193 |1,294 Trent |1,337 |2,949 |2,395 East Anglian |200 |612 |752 North west Thames |741 |1,411 |1,298 North east Thames |95 |398 |367 South east Thames |783 |1,455 |1,868 South west Thames |1,029 |916 |1,160 Wessex |952 |626 |939 Oxford |1,246 |1,377 |1,392 South western |1,165 |1,121 |1,149 West Midlands |1,152 |2,371 |2,413 Mersey |463 |731 |1,024 North western |361 |994 |1,619 Total |11,623 |18,054 |18,505
Expenditure figures are estimates taken from FIS4 returns by English FHSAs.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if his Department accepts responsibility for payments due from South Thames training and enterprise council to Lambeth college; and how much his Department estimates is due from the council to the college.
Mr. Paice: The Department is making payments for legitimate claims to providers, including Lambeth college, for training delivered under the terms of their contract with South Thames training and enterprise council between 7 November 1994 and 1 January 1995 for the following Government programmes: training for work, youth training/credits, careers and guidance years nine and 10, work-related further education, child care and careers libraries.
For the period of three months from the appointment of the receiver the Department will make available to the receiver sufficient funds to ensure that providers receive payments for training delivered by them under the terms of their contract with South Thames TEC for the same programmes.
The amount of money owed by South Thames TEC to Lambeth college prior to 7 November 1994 is a matter for the administrative receiver.
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which the integrated regional offices are required to advise him on the allocation of resources and, for each integrated regional office, the annual expenditure on each programme;
(2) if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities which are administered by the integrated regional offices and, for each integrated regional office, the estimated annual expenditure on each of these responsibilities;
(3) if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which integrated regional offices are responsible for preparing, advising on or implementing regional policy.
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Mr. Paice: Government offices for the regions are primarily concerned with delivering the Department's training, enterprise and education responsibilities. The estimated allocation of resources for the administration and the programmes delivered through the offices in 1994 95 is shown in the following tables:
Administration expenditure |£000 --------------------------------------- South East |2,170 London |3,653 Eastern |1,960 South West |2,098 West Midlands |2,456 East Midlands |1,941 Yorkshire and Humberside |2,508 Merseyside |1,371 North West |2,904 North East |2,018 Total |23,079
Programme expenditure £000 |Employer |Youth |Training for |investment in Region |training |work |People ------------------------------------------------------------------------ East Midlands |57,644 |36,309 |3,440 South West |55,568 |28,115 |2,738 London |58,441 |58,430 |5,967 South East |68,028 |26,967 |4,488 Eastern |56,713 |22,892 |2,260 Northern |60,784 |39,137 |3,574 North West (GM) |46,958 |23,573 |3,089 North West |74,718 |37,914 |4,353 Yorkshire and Humberside |80,136 |47,047 |3,978 West Midlands |74,916 |44,052 |5,247 Total |633,906 |364,436 |39,135
Programme expenditure continued £000 |Local |TEC |Business |initiative |management Region |start up<1>|fund<1> |fee ---------------------------------------------------------------- East Midlands |7,230 |5,539 |9,259 South west |9,230 |4,638 |11,089 London |9,447 |6,497 |19,809 South east |7,868 |4,461 |13,031 Eastern |5,405 |3,094 |9,842 Northern |4,938 |4,933 |11,730 North west (GM) |5,869 |3,083 |8,720 North west |6,833 |2,845 |12,543 Yorkshire and Humberside |11,140 |8,373 |16,159 West Midlands |9,416 |4,206 |14,775 Total |77,377 |47,669 |127,303
1. Programme expenditure based on 1993 94 estimated regional expenditure (latest available figures).
Business start up and local initiative fund now form part of the single regeneration budget.
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