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Birth Certificates

Mr. Rooker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he proposes to bring forward legislation to implement the restrictions on access to birth certificates outlined in the White Paper, Cm 939, "Registration: Proposals for Change. [3428]

Mr. Horam: This proposal was part of a wide package of reforms to the system for registering births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. The Government remain committed to introducing the necessary legislation to implement these reforms as soon as a suitable opportunity occurs.

Hospital and Community Health Services

Mr. Lester: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will announce the 1996-97 hospital and community health services revenue allocations for the new health authorities. [3479]

Mr. Dorrell: Actual allocations cannot be made until the new health authorities come into existence on 1 April 1996. For planning purposes general allocations based largely on 1 April 1995 boundaries are given in the table.

1996-97 Planned General Allocations

	£000
Avon	337,304
Barking and Havering	171,182
Barnet	143,641
Barnsley	100,028
Bedfordshire	202,770
Berkshire	277,247
Bexley and Greenwich	205,751
Birmingham	462,072
Bradford	209,879
Brent and Harrow	216,882
Bromley	122,748
Buckinghamshire	239,990
Bury and Rochdale	168,041
Calderdale and Kirklees	249,711
Cambridge and Huntingdon	156,965
Camden and Islington	233,218
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	207,826
County Durham	270,191
Coventry	130,087
Croydon	137,654
Doncaster	126,568
Dorset	303,240
Dudley	122,509
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	323,042
East and North Hertfordshire	191,435
East Kent	265,644
East Lancashire	227,473
East London and the City	337,546
East Norfolk	247,968
East Riding	220,686
East Surrey	166,567
East Sussex	339,567
Enfield and Haringey	227,820
Gateshead and South Tyneside	170,615
Gloucestershire	225,907
Herefordshire	66,306
Hillingdon	106,373
Isle of Wight	62,393
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster	188,705
Kingston and Richmond	140,930
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham	390,098
Leeds	310,704
Leicestershire	345,957
Lincolnshire	256,550
Liverpool	229,833
Manchester	231,624
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	293,838
Morecambe Bay	138,684
Newcastle and North Tyneside	227,875
North and East Devon	203,643
North and Mid Hampshire	220,406
North Cheshire	144,428
North Cumbria	132,664
North Derbyshire	155,004
North Essex	334,368
North Nottinghamshire	159,622
North Staffordshire	202,485
North-west Anglia	163,117
North-west Lancashire	214,847
North Yorkshire	291,886
Northamptonshire	230,680
Northumberland	129,161
Nottingham	262,200
Oxfordshire	213,607
Portsmouth and South-east Hampshire	221,919
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	213,535
Rotherham	108,909
Salford and Trafford	202,844
Sandwell	133,326
Sefton	131,981
Sheffield	247,740
Shropshire	162,556
Solihull	76,909
Somerset	174,035
South and West Devon	259,464
South Cheshire	248,878
South Derbyshire	226,186
South Essex	273,693
South Humber	151,864
South Lancashire	126,771
South Staffordshire	220,006
Southampton and South-west Hampshire	192,698
St. Helens and Knowsley	146,504
Stockport	113,796
Suffolk	258,491
Sunderland	134,128
Tees	244,373
Wakefield	140,480
Walsall	109,564
Warwickshire	201,221
West Hertfordshire	208,469
West Kent	369,257
West Pennine	205,342
West Surrey	256,275
West Sussex	309,922
Wigan and Bolton	249,232
Wiltshire	306,714
Wirral	154,813
Wolverhampton	107,187
Worcestershire	208,121
England	20,884,969

30 Nov 1995 : Column: 869

Community Care

Mr. Lester: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he proposes to announce the allocations of community care special transitional grant to each social services authority in England for 1996-97. [3482]

Mr. Dorrell: I am today publishing indicative allocations showing each English social services authority's share of the special transitional grant for community care in 1996-97. The STG for 1996-97 will be £418 million, bringing to over £2.25 billion the total additional resources provided to local authorities for their new community care responsibilities. As last year, the whole of the STG will be distributed on the basis of personal social services standard spending assessments. Authorities have until 12 January 1996 to make representations about their proposed allocations. A copy of the circular is being placed in the Library.

Personal Social Services

Mr. Matthew Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what specific grants and capital resources he is making available to local authorities for personal social services for 1996-97. [3480]

Mr. Dorrell: Specific grants will again be available in 1996-97 as follows:

	£ million
Mental illness services	58.3
HIV and AIDS services	13.7
Services for alcohol and drugs misusers	2.5
Guardians ad litem and reporting officers	6.3
Social services training	35.5

Each grant will continue to support a maximum of 70 per cent. of total expenditure.

The mental illness grant is planned to increase by a further £9 million in 1997-98. The grant will be targeted on people with severe mental illness.

The capital grant for secure accommodation for young people will be £27.2 million in 1996-97.

Annual capital guidelines of £96.6 million will be notified to local authorities. Supplementary credit approvals will again be available for mental illness services--£11.6 million--and AIDS and HIV services-- £3.1 million. The credit approval for information technology has been phased out.

Mr. Matthew Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for health what resources are being provided through the standard spending assessment for social services for 1996-97. [3481]

30 Nov 1995 : Column: 870

Mr. Dorrell: A total of £6911.6 million will be distributed by the personal social services standard spending assessment in 1996-97, compared with £6212.7 million in 1995-96. Total standard spending on social services, including specific and special grants, will be £7446.5 million in 1996-97, compared with £6965.9 million in 1995-96; an increase of 6.9 per cent.

GP Numbers

Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total number of general practitioners in (a) 1990 and (b) 1994. [3755]

Mr. Malone: The information is shown in the list.

1 October 1990: 25,622


1 October 1994: 26,567

The data relate to unrestricted principals in England.

Investors in People

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to achieve investor in people status; when it started the process; when it expects to achieve investor in people status; and if he will make a statement. [2977]

Mr. Horam: The Department is taking forward work aimed at seeking accreditation as an investor in people by October 1996; the formal commitment was made in December 1994.

Hospitals (Smoking)

Mr. Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is his policy on the provision of smoking rooms for the use of patients, staff and visitors within NHS hospitals; [2966]

(2) how many employees of the Rotherham hospital trust signed a petition seeking the provision of a smoking room at Rotherham district general hospital; and what account he took of the petition before he wrote to the hon. Member for Wentworth recently on this subject; [2970]

(3) under what regulation Rotherham general hospital has barred a person from smoking in his own motor vehicle in the car park at the hospital; and what guidance he has issued on that matter; [3021]

(4) what advice was sought from the South Yorkshire fire service in regard to the prohibition of smoking by the Rotherham hospital trust; [2961]

(5) what considerations underlay (a) his approval of the ban on smoking at Rotherham district general hospital and (b) his Department's letter to the hon. Member for Wentworth in respect of the provision of smoking rooms in hospitals. [3024]

Mr. Horam: The Department of Health issued guidance in 1992 (HSG(92)14), copies of which are available in the Library, to all national health service authorities and trusts, in line with the "Health of the Nation" White Paper, requesting that they implement policies to enable the national health service to become smoke free. Whilst the guidance sets out the basic requirements, detailed implementation is the responsibility of individual authorities and trusts. It is

30 Nov 1995 : Column: 871

therefore for local managers and clinicians to decide whether they feel it necessary or practicable to set aside smoking rooms for staff and patients.

Information on an individual national health service trust's implementation of these policies is not available centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. A. Baker, chairman of Rotherham General Hospitals national health service trust, for details of the trust's policy.

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