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NHS Trusts

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which NHS trusts (a) have their trust board meetings open to the public, (b) have their board meetings partially open to the public and (c) have their board meetings closed to the public as referred to in his answer of 26 October. [1553]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information is as follows:


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Prisoners (Early Release)

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what would be the effect on the average daily population in penal establishments in Scotland if remission were revoked. [1496]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The Government will be consulting soon on our proposals for changes to the early release arrangements for prisoners in Scotland. In the light of consultation, the Government will publish a White Paper in the course of next year. As assessment of the effects of the proposals upon the prison population is one of the matters I expect to be included in that paper.

Law and Order

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his plans for law and order in Scotland, and what is the period time for the consultation process indicated in his announcement of 12 October. [1261]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: In his announcement on 12 October, my right hon. Friend re-affirmed the Government's commitment to law and order in Scotland and highlighted the measures taken in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1995 which will bring about improvements in the detection, prosecution and conviction of offenders. He also stressed the Government's view that there should be greater honesty in sentencing and outlined his proposals for changes to the early release arrangements for prisoners in Scotland. A consultation paper inviting comments on the range of issues to be considered will be issued soon.

Health Contracts

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the date of the termination of contract in respect of each (a) chief executives of NHS trust and (b) general managers of health boards in Scotland. [1186]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: This information is not held centrally.

Prisoner Statistics

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what variations exist between the average daily prison population in western states in the Council of Europe; and what assessment he has made of the

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reasons for these variations, with particular reference to Scotland. [1414]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Table 1 shows the latest comparable available information on the average daily prison population--and rate per 100,000 population--in the western states in the Council of Europe. Table 2 shows the information for the constituent countries within the United Kingdom.

Table 1: Prison population as at 1 September 1993(19)

Number Rate per 100,000 population
Austria7,09991.0
Belgium7,20372.1
Cyprus18830.0
Denmark3,70271.0
Finland3,13261.8
France51,13486.3
Germany65,83881.0
Greece6,52468.0
Iceland10338.9
Italy50,79489.0
Luxembourg425107.5
Netherlands7,84351.0
Norway2,60760.0
Portugal10,904111.0
Republic of Ireland2,10859.8
Spain45,711114.9
Sweden5,79466.0
Switzerland5,62781.0
Turkey31,30451.6
United Kingdom53,43591.8

Source: Council of Europe Sourcebook.

(19) Some countries were unable to provide this information as at

1 September 1993 therefore the exact date used varies between countries.


Table 2: Prison population as at 1 September 1993

Number Rate per 100,000 population
England and Wales45,63389.0
Northern Ireland1,902118.0
Scotland5,900115.0

The figures in table 1 include all categories of prisoners, that is untried remanded in custody, convicted awaiting sentence, sentenced and civil prisoners. Comparisons of these figures must be treated with caution. There are a number of reasons for variations in the rate per 100,000 population across member states, such as different legal systems, sentencing policies and disposals available, variable use of custodial remand,

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different ages of criminal responsibility and different ages of entry into the prison system. The Council of Europe "Sourcebook" does not cover these issues in detail.

Temazepam

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths in each of the past five years are attributable to abuse of temazepam in each health board area in Scotland. [1506]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: Reliable information on the numbers of such deaths is not available for the years prior to 1994. The figures for 1994 are given in the table:

Deaths in Scotland from drug abuse(20) where temazepam was mentioned, by health board area, 1994.

1994
Argyll and Clyde5
Ayrshire and Arran3
Borders0
Dumfries and Galloway2
Fife0
Forth Valley0
Grampian0
Greater Glasgow36
Highland0
Lanarkshire2
Lothian2
Orkney0
Shetland0
Tayside2
Western Isles0
Scotland52

(20) Deaths coded to WHO International Classification of Diseases (9th

Revision) codes 304 and 305.


Improvements in the collection of information on such deaths were introduced in 1994. A full description of these changes is given in the report, "Collection of information on drug related deaths by the General Register Office for Scotland", a copy of which is in the Library.

Long-term Care

Mr. Robin Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the population in long-term care in Scotland, over 65 years of age, each of the years between 1983 and 1993, by residency in all homes, local authority homes, voluntary homes and private homes. [1139]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: The table shows the information available:

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Number of long-term care residents in residential care homes for the elderly as at 31 March each year

1983(22)1984(22)1985(22)1986(22)1987(22)1988(22)1989(22)(23)1989(23)19901991199219931994
Local Authority8,7178,9018,9859,1619,3029,3249,1188,5768,8548,5477,4947,7017,380
Registered(21)4,6494,998----------------------
Private----9101,4171,9692,7373,3173,2003,2363,6353,6063,6903,631
Voluntary----4,2664,1344,1364,0324,1343,9704,1393,9293,7963,7203,721
Total13,36613,89914,16114,71215,40716,09316,56915,74616,22916,11114,89615,11114,732

(21) Prior to 1985 it is not possible to separate Registered data into Private and Voluntary Homes.

(22) Figures include short-term care residents (e.g. holiday and respite care).

(23) 1989 data has been given on both the old and new basis to aid comparison.


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The 1994 figures have been included in the answer as the 1994 "Community Care Bulletin," which contains this information is published on 22 November 1995.


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