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Staff (Shareholdings)
Mr. Milburn: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many staff in his Department or its agencies have (a) declared any company shareholdings they hold or (b) been advised to dispose of shareholdings in the last five years indicating the companies concerned. [33422]
Mr. Lang: Each senior official and special adviser is required to make a declaration of his or her financial interests including company shareholdings. This enables the Department to prevent potential conflicts of interest arising. In the case of other officials, conflicts of interest are dealt with by their line management. Records are not kept centrally.
Aerospace (Outsourcing)
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the value of outsourcing in the United Kingdom by Japanese companies working in the aerospace sector for each year since 1990. [33768]
Mr. Eggar: No such estimate has been made.
Tunnel Boring Machines
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many United Kingdom companies manufacture tunnel boring machines of the kind capable of boring the tunnels of the proposed channel tunnel rail link. [33819]
Mr. Page: We know of a number of United Kingdom manufacturing firms which make large tunnel boring machines. The precise type of tunnelling machines suitable for the channel tunnel rail link would depend upon the type of tunnelling methods chosen by they contractor after taking into account the ground conditions.
Loan Guarantee Scheme
Sir Michael Shersby: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the effect of changes to the loan guarantee scheme announced since 1992. [32576]
Mr. Page: Since the changes that took place in April 1993 and July 1993, lending under the scheme has increased considerably.
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In the financial year to 31 March 1994, 3,886 scheme loans were guaranteed at a value of £155 million compared to 2,342 loans at a value of £52 million in the previous year. In the year to 31 March 1995, 6,207 loans were guaranteed to a value of £246 million. This represents the highest level of lending since the scheme began in 1981.We are currently guaranteeing over 600 loans a month.
British Coal (Recreational Estate)
Mr. Tipping: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the planned transfer of British Coal's recreational estate to the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation and to the National Playing Fields Association. [33118]
Mr. Page [holding answer 12 July 1995]: It is the Government's objective that British Coal land currently in active use for sport and recreation is retained for those purposes.
I hope to be in a position to make a further announcement shortly.
PRIME MINISTER
West Midlands (Visit)
9. Mr. Thomason: To ask the Prime Minister what proposals he has to visit the west midlands and the Bromsgrove constituency in particular. [32466]
The Prime Minister: I have no current plans to do so.
Prime Ministerial Duties
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister what proportion of his time he devoted to his duties as Prime Minister between 23 June and 4 July. [34202]
The Prime Minister: I was Prime Minister throughout the entire period in question.
Government Cars
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister what make and type of Government car is allocated to the Prime Minister; and what is the cost of this vehicle to the Exchequer; including the annual cost of the chauffeur. [34014]
The Prime Minister: I have been allocated a Daimler Majestic as my official car. The annual running cost, which includes a number of security measures, is some £100,000. This also includes maintenance and the cost of a chauffeur.
French Nuclear Tests
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister what
representations he has received from the Governments of (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand about French nuclear tests in the Pacific; and what Commonwealth representations he proposes to make to the French Government. [34153]
Column 750
The Prime Minister: We are in regular contact with both Governments and are aware of their views. The United Kingdom does not act on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will protest to the French Government against (a) the proposed French nuclear tests in the Pacific and (b) the French Government's action against the Rainbow Warrior. [34150]
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister on which occasions he has raised the issue of French nuclear testing within institutions of the European Union. [34152]
The Prime Minister: I have discussed nuclear testing with President Chirac on a number of occasions. I have not considered it necessary to do so within institutions of the EU.
Public Interest Immunity Certificates
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list details of the occasions during the past 30 years when public interest immunity certificates have been signed indicating the Minister concerned, the Department and the subject matter to which the certificate was related. [34116]
The Prime Minister: The information as requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
Prime Minister's Questions
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister who will be answering oral questions addressed to him when he cannot be present in the House. [34032]
The Prime Minister: The First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister will answer oral questions addressed to me when I cannot be present in the House.
Prime Ministerial Offices
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the offices in 10 Downing street available to him for his official duties, together with the size of such offices, measured in square feet. [34015]
The Prime Minister: A study is available, which measures approximately 370 sq ft. The Cabinet room and other rooms in No. 10 Downing street are used for Government business. These amount in total to 4,343 sq ft.
Deputy Prime Minister
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister, what role in the presentation and co-ordination of Government policy will be filled by the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary. [34012]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 11 July, Official Report , column 496 .
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister what level has been set for the annual salary of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State. [34010]
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The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on 11 July, Official Report , column 496 .
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister what will be the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary. [34011]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 11 July, Official Report , column 496 .
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister how many rooms in the Cabinet Office have been allocated to the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary and his staff. [34009]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. Four rooms in the Cabinet Office have been allocated to the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister and his staff.
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister if he will estimate the annual cost of running the offices and department of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary, indicating (a) staff costs and (b) rentable value of accommodation occupied. [34008]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. The currently estimated annual cost of running the Cabinet Office (Office of Public Service), including the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary, is £80 million of which £32 million relates to staff costs and £5 million is in respect of accommodation.
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the fixtures and fittings ordered for the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State with particular reference to (a) carpets and (b) pictures. [33999]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. No fixtures or fittings have been ordered for the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister's office. The carpet and pictures were in place and the furniture came from existing stocks.
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister what is the size, in square feet, of the new office of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary, located in the Cabinet Office. [34000]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. The size of the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister's office is 872 sq ft.
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister what refurbishment work is (a) completed, (b) under way and (c) planned for the offices of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary and his staff; and what is his estimate of the costs of such work. [34007]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. None.
Column 752
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister, how many (a) telephones, (b) fax machines, (c) photocopiers and (d) computers have been and will be allocated to the offices and department of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary; and what is the estimated value of the items obtained in each of the above categories. [34006]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. The following items have been allocated to the offices of the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister and his private office staff.
|Cost excluding VAT
|Quantity |£
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telephones |10 |590
Facsimile machines |1 |1,425
Photocopiers |1 |4,017 (annual hire charge)
Computers/printers |7/3 |12,469
Information for the Office of Public Service and its agencies could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Bruce: To ask the Prime Minister (1) what will be the design features of stationery created for the office of the Deputy Prime Minister. [34001]
(2) what orders for new stationery have been placed by the offices and Department of the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary; and what the cost of such orders will be. [34002]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. The stationery for the office of the First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister features the crest used by the Cabinet Office and "Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State". Orders for stationery have so far been placed to an estimated value of £75.
Rose Garden Announcement
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 4 July, which of the means proposed to remunerate the public purse will be used in the particular case of the rose garden announcement of 22 June. [33291]
The Prime Minister [holding answer 10 July 1995]: My announcement on 22 June took place during the normal working hours of No. 10 Downing street. Any additional costs to the public purse were de minimis and, in accordance with long-standing practice, no charge will be levied.
HEALTH
NHS Policy Board
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of (a) the NHS policy board and (b) the private finance panel have employment in the private sector; is she will list details of such employment; and what assessment she has made of the possibility of conflicts of interest. [30437]
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Mr. Malone: Membership of the national health service policy board is drawn from inside and outside the NHS and includes Ministers, senior officials, chairmen of the eight regional health authorities as well as other members who have no formal role in the NHS. No Ministers or senior officials have employment in the private sector. Like all advisory bodies in the NHS, which have no executive responsibility, the NHS policy board is non-statutory and provides advice to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. Members of the board drawn from outside the NHS are under no obligation to declare their employment or interests. Members of the board who are regional health authority chairmen are appointed to those positions through a process requiring them to declare interests which are relevant and material to authorities of which they are a member. Registers of these interests are publicly available and a copy of the relevant entries will be placed in the Library. Membership of the private finance panel is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Staff (Shareholdings)
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in his Department or its agencies have (a) declared any company shareholdings they hold or (b) been advised to dispose of shareholdings in the last five years, including the companies concerned. [33415]
Mr. Sackville: The Department's staff rules require that shareholdings which staff or immediate members of their families hold, and which might be influenced or affected as a result of their official position, must be declared to their line manager. Records of such declarations are not available centrally.
Speech Therapy
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which local authority education departments will fund speech therapy in schools in the case of non- statemented children requiring speech therapy support services. [33511]
Mr. Bowis: This is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Department of Education and Employment but we are co-funding a project which is being carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research to identify models of good collaborative practice. Its findings should be available towards the end of this year.
Blood Bags
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice has been given by the National Blood Authority, and by his Department, to doctors and hospitals which still have Tuta blood bags in their blood stocks; how many such bags have now been destroyed; what consultations the manufacturers of these bags had with the NBA before changing the design; what compensation is being sought from the manufacturers; and if he will make a statement. [33306]
Mr. Sackville: These matters for the National Blood Authority, which is urgently investigating the problems experienced with Tuta blood bags. I understand that on 4 July the National Blood Authority advised blood centres that all Tuta blood bags be withdrawn.
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Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 6 July, Official Report , column 341 , when he expects to announce the results of the investigation by the National Blood Authority into the problems with Tuta bags; and what estimate his Department has been given of the total cost of the exercise involved in replacing the blood stock lost through defective bags. [34305]
Mr. Sackville: I understand that the National Blood Authority's urgent investigation of these matters is continuing.
Consultants
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will indicate which five consultancy firms have received most contracts from his Department by (a) number of contracts and (b) monetary value in the last five years for which figures are available. [33440]
Mr. Sackville: Information on the total number of contracts let to consultancy firms by this Department over the past five years could be provided only at disproportionate cost. By total monetary value, since 1993, the first year that such figures exist, the five leading consultancy firms are as follows:
PA Consulting and its subsidiaries
CSS Trident plc
Touch Ross and Co
Siemens Nixdorf
C International Ltd.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much have (a) health authorities and (b) trusts spent on consultancy services in each year since 1992, by region. [34166]
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many contract and for what total sum were let out by his Department and agencies for which it is responsible to (a) Coopers and Lybrand and its subsidiaries, (b) Peat Marwick and its subsidiaries, (c) Ernst and Young and its subsidiaries, (d) Arthur Andersen and its subsidiaries, (e) Price Waterhouse and its subsidiaries, (f) Grant Thornton and its subsidiaries, (g) Stoy Hayward and its subsidiaries, (h) Robson Rhodes and its subsidiaries and (i) Pannell Kerr Forster and its subsidiaries for privatisation, marketing testing, management advice, accounting, audit, consultancy and other services in 1993 94 and 1994 95. [33911]
Mr. Sackville: Information regarding the total number of contracts let by this Department and agencies for which it is responsible is not available centrally. The total sums paid to those firms listed in 1993 94 and 1994 95 are as follows:
|1993-94|1994-95
|£ |£
------------------------------------------------------------------
Coopers and Lybrand and its subsidiaries |426,942|387,875
Peat Marwick and its subsidiaries |240,513|259,212
Ernst and Young and its subsidiaries |106,904|35,919
Arthur Andersen and its subsidiaries |nil |nil
Price Waterhouse and its subsidiaries |434,354|191,955
Grant Thornton and its subsidiaries |118 |nil
Stoy Hayward and its subsidiaries |150 |nil
Robson Rhodes and its subsidiaries |nil |nil
Pannell Kerr Forster and its subsidiaries |200 |400
NHS Services
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from the Royal College of Physicians and the Prince of Wales Advisory Group on Disability on the establishment of a national standard of national health service services with regular monitoring; and if he will make a statement. [33761]
Physiotherapists
Ms Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the changes in the demand for specialist physiotherapy to treat sufferers with work-related upper limb disorders; and what plans he has to increase the level of funding for this work; [33843]
(2) what has been the annual expenditure on NHS physiotherapy in each of the last five years; and what were these figures as a percentage of the total level of NHS expenditure.[33844.]
Mr. Bowis: The number of people affected by upper limb disorders, or repetitive strain injury as it is also known, is apparently increasing and we are encouraging physiotherapists working in this field to update their practice in line with current thinking and research into the condition.
In the 10-year period from 1982 83 to 1992 93, revenue expenditure on physiotherapy services in England increased by 79 per cent. to £232.4 million, as part of the general increase in funding for the NHS. The figures on the annual expenditure of NHS physiotherapy by health authorities and NHS trusts and their percentage of the total operational hospital and community health care expenditure are shown in the table.
Expenditure on physiotherapy by health authorities and NHS
trusts
in England and as a per cent. of total operational hospital
and
community health services expenditure
|Physiotherapy
|Expenditure as
|Physiotherapy |a per cent. of
|expenditure |total HCHS
|£000 |expenditure
------------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |138,896 |1.02
1990-91 |147,806 |1.00
1991-92 |204,714 |1.09
1992-93 |232,393 |1.16
1993-94 |252,935 |1.23
Notes:
1. HCHS abbreviates hospitals and community health
services.
2. The figures for 1991-92 onwards are not strictly
comparable with those for earlier years due to changes in
accounting practice associated with the introduction of the
internal market, including the introduction of capital
charges.
Source:
1. The annual financial returns of regional and district
health authorities and the special health authorities of
the London postgraduate teaching hospitals.
2. The annual financial returns of NHS trusts.
3. The annual accounts of regional and district health
authorities and the special health authorities of the
London postgraduate teaching hospitals.
Medical Records (Access)
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will amend the Access to Health Records Act 1990 to allow patients full access to their complete records other than in exceptional circumstances; if he will make it his policy that patients will be issued with an explanatory statement when full access is denied; and if he will make a statement. [33655]
Mr. Sackville: The Access to Health Records Act 1990 gives patients a right of access to their own health records compiled on or after 1 November 1991. If the record holder considers that access to earlier records is necessary for the later record to be understood, that also is permitted under the Act.
Access may be denied to all or part of the record if disclosure of any information in it might cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the patient or to protect the health of another person. Access may also be denied if the record contains information which would identify a third party, other than a health professional, unless that person has consented to the disclosure.
Although the Act does not grant a general right of access to records made before 1 November 1991, questions of access to documents made before that date are matters for the judgment of the health professional primarily responsible for the patient's clinical care. However it is our policy that access be given whenever possible. The Act does not require the record holder to inform the applicant when part of the record is withheld. It is a matter for the record holder whether to do so but our guidance does not require it and we have no plans to change the current arrangements.
Drugs
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate the price differential of drugs at the hospital/primary care interface; how this affects patients who are discharged from hospital; and if he will make a statement. [33672]
Mr. Malone: Guidance on these issues was given to health authorities in EL(91)127 and EL(94)72, copies of which are available in the Library.
Infertility Treatment
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will instruct all health authorities to make in-vitro fertilisation or gamete intra-fallopian transfer treatment available to women with a clinical need. [33664]
Mr. Sackville: Decisions about the priority and resources to be given to infertility treatment services must be left to the individual health authorities, which are in the best position to determine priorities in the light of local needs and circumstances.
Column 757
Patients Charter
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will allow nurses and midwives greater discretion under the patients charter in the time scale for operating home visits where this is in the best interests of patients and carers; and if he will make a statement. [33666]
Mr. Malone: The patients charter national standard on home visits by community nurses, health visitors and midwives has been set to provide a challenging but achievable level of service delivery which the national health service must aim to meet in all but exceptional cases. To weaken the standard would not be in the interests of patients.
Community Health Councils
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will allocate further funds to community health councils to enable them to raise their public profile; and if he will make a statement. [33760]
Mr. Malone: No. The working group on the future establishing arrangements for community health councils identified a need for further work in relation to equalising CHC resources after RHA functions transfer to the NHS executive in April 1996. This work will be based on our commitment to ensuring broad consistency in handling CHC affairs.
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