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Health Authority Appointments

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects to receive recommendations from the NHS executive, west midlands region, for the appointment of a chairman of the new South Staffordshire health authority; [5502]

(2) if he will examine the consultation procedures and periods adopted by the NHS executive, west midlands region, leading to their recommendation for a chairman for the new South Staffordshire health authority; [5503]

(3) what guidance is issued regarding the consultation period and names to be considered for appointment of chairmen to the new health authorities. [5501]

Mr. Malone: Ministers are now considering regional chairmen's recommendations on the appointment of chairmen to the new health authorities.

The regional chairmen followed the guidance on appointments procedures published by my Department in February this year, together with supplementary guidance prepared in response to the Nolan committee's recommendations. Copies of the guidance are available in the Library.

Local Members of Parliament were consulted on all candidates recommended to Ministers.

Redundancy and Retirement

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 December, Official Report, column 190, relating to redundancy and retirement payments what guidelines his Department has issued to trusts regarding redundancy payments and retirement packages; and what monitoring his Department undertakes of such arrangements. [5440]

Mr. Malone: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 5 December, column 190 relating to guidance issued. My Department does not monitor national health service trusts' redundancy and retirement arrangements.

Medium Secure Units

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account is taken of the costs of care in medium secure units for patients discharged from special

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 682

hospitals in the distribution of funding to health authorities. [5478]

Mr. Bowis: The formula for determining health authorities' share of overall resources takes account of the age and needs of their resident populations and the relative cost of providing services. No particular adjustments are made in respect of individual patients who are transferred from the special hospitals to medium secure units or any other national health service service.

NHS Transport

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of annual NHS transport hire expenditure devoted to staff taxis and private hire. [5003]

Mr. Malone: The information is not available centrally.

Unregistrable Children's Homes

Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what written guidance he has issued to directors of social services in respect of how placing authorities should communicate concern about poor practice in unregistrable children's homes to area authorities; and if he will make a statement. [5466]

Mr. Bowis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 6 December 1995, Official Report, column 228.

Each local authority which places a child carries full responsibility to satisfy itself that the proposed placement is likely to promote and safeguard that child's welfare.

Meningitis

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of meningitis have occurred in each of the last 48 months; and what has been (a) the number and (b) percentage of fatalities. [4804]

Mr. Horam [holding answer 8 December 1995]: The information is shown in the tables.

Meningitis notifications and deaths, by month, England and Wales

	Notifications	Deaths	Percentage fatalities
1991
January	308	37	12.0
February	215	25	11.6
March	294	32	10.9
April	226	25	11.1
May	260	28	10.8
June	199	16	8.0
July	206	24	11.7
August	247	14	5.7
September	173	12	6.9
October	184	23	12.5
November	277	13	4.7
December	171	40	23.4
1992
January	364	39	10.7
February	240	22	9.2
March	214	25	11.7
April	197	23	11.7
May	218	23	10.6
June	168	16	9.5
July	228	26	11.4
August	169	21	12.4
September	126	12	9.5
October	222	15	6.8
November	213	15	7.0
December	212	28	13.2
1993(11)
January	274	37	13.5
February	203	24	11.8
March	195	23	11.8
April	211	28	13.3
May	149	22	14.8
June	168	16	9.5
July	173	18	10.4
August	105	15	14.3
September	79	8	10.1
October	146	16	11.0
November	180	30	16.7
December	199	35	17.6
1994(11)
January	201	24	11.9
February	218	18	8.3
March	160	26	16.3
April	142	16	11.3
May	115	13	11.3
June	140	24	17.1
July	141	16	11.3
August	115	12	10.4
September	112	8	7.1
October	138	18	13.0
November	145	16	11.0
December	173	17	9.8
1995(12)
January	267	25	9.4
February	206	23	11.2
March	169	24	14.2
April	167	22	13.2
May	165	14	8.5
June	147	19	12.9
July	182	11	6.0
August	159	13	8.2
September	128	15	11.7
October	173	17	9.8
November	214	19	8.9

Notes:

(11) Denotes provisional data regarding deaths.

(12) Denotes Provisional data regarding notifications.

1. 1995 data for deaths up to and including November are provisional occurrences relating to the most recently available registrations. 2. 1995 data for notifications are provisional notifications and do not contain the corrected notifications which can be received up to 3 months after original notification. 3. New procedures for coding cause of death from 1993, and the absence of medical enquiries, mean that figures for 1993 onwards may not be exactly comparable with earlier years. For most conditions however, including meningitis, these effects are small. More details may be found in OPCS Series DH2 for 1993, which was published in October 1995. Copies are available in the Library. 4. Notifications are assigned to month by date of end of week of notification. 5. Deaths are assigned to month by date of occurrence. 6. International Classification of Disease codes used for deaths are 013.0, 036.0, 047.0, 047.1, 047.8, 047.9, 049.0, 049.1, 053.0, 072.1, 091.8, 094.2, 320.0 and 322.0. 7. Percentage fatalities is the deaths as a percentage of notifications. 8. The notifications including meningococcal, pneumococcal and HIb meningitis.

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13 Dec 1995 : Column: 684

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Consultants

Mr. Fisher: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those (a) consultants, (b) outside organisations and (c) individuals employed in his Department in each year since 1990, indicating the purposes of their employment and the total payments made to them. [3957]

Mr. Boswell: Consultants employed in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in each financial year from 1990-91 to 1994-95, and the subjects with which they were concerned, are indicated in the attached lists. Central records are not yet available in a form which directly relates the two lists, and such correlation could only be achieved at disproportionate cost. Total expenditure in each of the years concerned was:

1990-91: £4,495,793
1991-92: £5,374,284
1992-93: £7,010,814
1993-94: £12,169,785
1994-95: £11,551,382

Consultants 1990-91 Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte KPMG Peat Marwick Mclintock National Remote Sensing Centre PA Consultants Price Waterhouse Touche Ross Worthy Associates Wye College 1991-92 Building Energy Solutions Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Clark Whitehill Coopers and Lybrand David Thompson DEGW Duhig Berry Ltd. DWJ Ernst and Young Institute for Terrestrial Ecology KPMG Mouncey and Partners P. A. Christensen Price Waterhouse PSA Purcon Quentin Bell Robertson Gould Sir Ronald MacIntosh TM Energy Consultants Touche Ross Vauntberry PLC Worthy Associates Worthy Management Consultants Wye College 1992-93 Asbourne BioSciences BNSS Brandt Computers Building Energy Solutions CCTA Coopers and Lybrand DIS Industrial Consultants Disability Matters Ltd. E. M. Consultants

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 685

Ernst and Young Ferriby Marine Fletcher King Forward Hoskyns Johnstone and Wright Consultants Mouncey and Partners Mr. Peter Goodall NIFES Consulting Group Price Waterhouse PSA Sequent Computer Systems Shreeveport Management Consultancy Sir Ronald MacIntosh SRU Theodore Goddard Touche Ross Triad University of Hull 1993-94 ARC International PLC Ashbourne BioSciences BMT Reliability Consultants Ltd. BNSS Building Energy Solutions Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Cambridge Ergonomics Ltd. Civil Service College Coopers and Lybrand Currie and Brown Dr. R. A. Hoodless E. G. Burnett Aberdeen Energy Auditing Agency Ltd. Ernst and Young Ferriby Marine Forward Catering Consultancy Service Halcrow and Partners Hoskyns Group PLC Insight Korda and Co Ltd. KPMG Peat Marwick L. G. Mouchel and Partners Lawrence Hewitt Partnership McNeil Robertson Miro Communications Ltd. MJN Facilities Management Mott Macdonald Mouncey and Partners P. E. International plc PA Consulting Group Pentana Ltd. Personnel Health and Safety Consultants Ltd. Posford Duvivier PSA Quanta Learning Systems Risk and Policy Analysts RNIB SEMA Group Sequent Computer Systems Shreeveport Management Consultancy Siemens Nixdorf Stoy Hayeard Teodore Goddard Touche Ross Triad Special Systems Ltd 8 Universities and Agricultural Colleges A.D.C. CEAS (Consultants) Ltd. Centre for Agricultural Strategy Christopher Absolon Coopers and Lybrand Ernst and Young Euro P. A. Associates G. Lewis George Trew Dunn Partnership

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 686

Institute for Employment Research Institute of Educational Technology, O J. M. Consulting Ltd. K.P.M.G. Laurence Gould Partnership Lawrence Hewitt Partnership M. Fussey National Remote Sensing Centre Persona Professor Bruce Traill Project Management Services Prospect Management Services R.A.S. Safety First SEMA Split Image Stoy Hayward Thorburn Colqhoun Ltd. University of Reading W. S. Atkins WEFA Ltd.

PROJECT 1990-91 Assistance with Efficiency Scrutiny on staff attitudes Dairy Crest Foods Helping with the CVL transition to Agency status Human Resource development project Performance measurement of the efficiency of licensing measures Pilot Beef and Sheep Extensification schemes Regional Structure Review--administration of grants and subsidies Remote sensing of land affected by set-aside and oilseeds schemes Training Needs Analysis Training Review 1991-92 Advice on development of ADAS marketing plan, restructuring and corporate image Advice on Omicron Invoicing System Advice on work recording system Aid for Soviet Union Dairy Crest Foods Efficiency Scrutiny--reorganizing of Purchasing and Supply Helping with CVL transition to Agency status Helping with CSL transition to Agency status Monitoring and Targeting Service Monitoring of the Meadowland option of the countryside premium scheme Performance measurement of the efficiency of licensing measures Placement of Contracts and central call-off agreements PM's help to Soviet Union Potential uses of set-aside land to benefit wildlife Processing controls for PES data within FP Division Project management system development Review of Meat Hygiene (Enforcement and Inspection Charges) Review of Ministry's Regional Organization Socio-economic evaluation of the 1-year setaside scheme in England St. Petersburg "Model Farm" Study Survey of office chairs Survey of Whitehall complex Visits of various RSCs 1992-93 ADAS Technical Advice on work recording system CSL QA CSL Technical Development of payment record system DFR Systems conversion Energy Efficiency Audit European Network HECTOR (Personnel) Legal Advice

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 687

Market Test--Cleaners Monitoring and targeting service PM's help to Soviet Union Preparation of guidance manuals Relocation Review Review of Agency internal audit Review of Food From Britain Review of internal audit practices and procedures Surveys of Nobel. Ergon and Eastbury Houses Trader Information System Valuation of Market Visits, commenting on strategy, and speaking at seminar 1993-94 Advice on part-time working Coastal Protection Survey Consultancy service for attendance at a meeting with Mr. Griffiths in August Core-MAFF Installation project management Core-MAFF technical requirement DCM Development of new reporting database Development of PC version of food model Development of project management software Development of project reporting system DSE Workstation Assessment Efficiency Review--cleaning services at Carlisle RSC EO Policy Ergonomic appraisal of furniture Evaluation of CVL Evaluation of VMD Examination of food Feasibility study on the market testing of pesticide residue analysis Furniture assessment for screen equipment users Grade 7 development Health and Safety Assessment HEO development In-house training for ITD staff involved in Customer Service Support market test Introduction to EC Introduction to EC Juniors Market Testing Training Market Testing Training and Briefing Market testing training for the in-house team at DFR Monitoring and Targeting MRP PFM Preparation of draft contract/SLA documentation in the free pollution advice to farmers market test Principles and Practices of Market Testing Production of Instructions Project Management Building Works Relocation Consultancy Review Review of audit risk index Review of specification for audit planning control system Risks assessment of workstations to comply with H and S Regs, 1992 SMDP Workshop Support to project sponsor Survey of Guildford site Team software Update of HGCI forms Valuation consultancy

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