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Epilepsy

Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated in the last five years into the effects on drivers who suffer from epilepsy of light emitting diodes bicycle lights. [8618]

Mr. Bowis: None. The use of flashing LED bicycle lights is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.

NHS Loto

Mr. Tony Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been received by the national health service from the NHS Loto (a) prior to and (b) since June 1995; and how much money has been spent. [8772]

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Mr. Horam: NHS Loto is a lottery run independently of the Government, the Department of Health, and the national health service by Pascal and Company on behalf of the National Hospital Trust, a registered charity. I understand that 25 per cent. of the income of NHS Loto is given to the National Hospital Trust to donate to NHS hospitals. The trust makes substantial donations directly to NHS hospitals for specific projects and not via the Department of Health. The hon. Member may wish to contact the National Hospital Trust at No. 2 Centric house, Shoreditch high street, London E1 6JD for a list of donations.

Travel Vaccination

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is his Department's official policy regarding the provision of travel vaccines on the NHS; and if he is reviewing it; [9816]

(2) what plans he has to make a statement about travel vaccines on the NHS. [9817]

Mr. Horam: The position of successive Governments has been that immunisations against some infectious diseases are provided free for travellers as a matter of public health policy. This is the case for diseases where immunisation benefits not only the recipient but also the community at large by helping to prevent the spread of disease in the United Kingdom. Not all diseases covered by travel vaccines present a similar public health risk. Advice about possible risks, and measures which can be taken to avoid illness abroad, including travel vaccines, continues to be available free from general practitioners.

The Department of Health is currently considering the existing arrangements for travel vaccines in order to resolve the inconsistencies and ambiguities which have arisen over the years.

Hospital Bed Occupancy Rates

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines his Department provides on hospital bed occupancy rates. [9818]

Mr. Horam: None.

Young People (Secure Accommodation)

Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many young people (a) in total, (b) by age and (c) by gender were being held in local authority secure accommodation (i) on criminal grounds and (ii) on care grounds on the last date for which figures are available; [10147]

(2) how many young people were held in local authority secure accommodation on criminal grounds, in total; and how many of them were (a) on remand, (b) sentenced using section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 and (c) on other grounds at the last date for which figures are available. [10148]

Mr. Bowis: The information requested is published in "Children accommodated in secure units during the year ending 31 March 1995, England, A/F 95/21", copies of which are available in the Library.

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Drinking Water

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which is his policy as to the acceptable level of (a) salmonella campylobacter, (b) E. coli and (c) cryptosporidium in potable water. [10340]

Mr. Horam: Standards are laid down in legislation for faecal coliforms, which would include E. coli. The legislation also requires that water does not contain any organism at a concentration detrimental to public health. Water which meets legislative requirements for faecal coliforms indicator organisms is unlikely to contain salmonella or campylobacter. Research has shown that well operated treatment plants reduce cryptosporidium to very low levels. If cryptosporidium is detected, water companies, in discussion with local public health and environmental health officials, are responsible for making decisions.

Legionnaire's Disease, Turkey

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Public Health Laboratory Service was first informed about an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in Kusadasi, Turkey. [10443]

Mr. Horam: The Public Health Laboratory Service will consider that there may be an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease among residents of the United Kingdom only when two or more reported cases appear to be linked. The PHLS first became aware of a second case of Legionnaire's disease in a resident of the UK, associated with a recent stay in Kusadasi, Turkey, on 11 August 1995.

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library the report of the Public Health Laboratory Service into an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in Kusadasi, Turkey, during 1995. [10444]

Mr. Horam: The report entitled, "Outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease Associated with the Hotel Imbat, Kusadasi, Turkey--Final Report and Recommendations from the Epidemiological, Environmental and Microbiological Investigations carried out by the PHLS in conjunction with the Turkish Representative of the European Working Group for Legionella Infections" is currently in preparation. Copies of this report will be placed in the Library.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in respect of which TECs she considers monitoring systems are (a) adequate and (b) inadequate. [10413]

Mr. Paice: The Department assigns financial risk banding to each training and enterprise council after assessing whether it complies with financial control provisions contained in the TEC operating agreement. These require TECs to monitor their own activities, and those of subcontractors, as well as meeting a range of obligations to young people and adults participating in training programmes.

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These assessment do not cover TECs' private income nor any other internal financial matter which fall outside their contracts with Government. Financial control risk banding are reviewed quarterly, but individual TEC results are confidential.

The latest composite TEC risk banding results are for the quarter ended 30 September 1995, when all 74 English TECs fell within the Department's low risk band.

Tree People (Benefit Claims)

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will ensure that her officials enforce the availability for work rule on benefit claimants living in trees near the Newbury bypass; and if she will make a statement. [10526]

Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Mike Fogden to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 19 January 1996:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about ensuring that officials enforce the availability for work rule on benefit claimants living in trees near the Newbury by-pass.
It may help if I explain that the receipt of unemployment benefits is conditional upon a person being available for and actively seeking employment. This means that they must be available to start work immediately; must not place such restrictions on the work they are willing to do which would leave them with no real prospects of finding a job and must take those steps, each week, which offer them their best prospects of obtaining work.
To satisfy the actively seeking employment condition, the steps an individual is required to take in any week are those which are reasonable in their case and which offer them their best prospects of receiving offers of employment. Steps may include applying for jobs, orally or in writing, looking in appropriate newspapers, trade magazines or other publications and following up possible job opportunities and canvassing employers. For the purposes of the actively seeking employment regulation, taking one step on a single occasion in a week is not enough to satisfy the condition unless that was all it was reasonable for the individual to do in that week.
The onus is on the claimant to show what steps they have taken to seek work. The legislation does not require written evidence but claimants are advised to keep records of their jobsearch to help them. Evidence can therefore be given orally or in writing and may include names and addresses of employers approached, copies of any written applications made and replies received, details of advertised vacancies which have been applied for, list of Jobcentres visited and job enquiries made.
I can assure you that my people in Newbury Jobcentre are applying the availability and actively seeking employment conditions to all claimants, including those who are taking part in the Newbury by-pass protest. My manager at Newbury has confirmed that, as with other claimants, protesters are seen regularly to check their jobsearch and some have applied for and been submitted to vacancies on display at the Jobcentre.
If there are any doubts about whether an individual satisfies the entitlement conditions their claim is referred to the independent adjudicating authorities for a decision. A number of adjudication disallowances have been obtained on claims made by protesters.

19 Jan 1996 : Column: 820

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