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NHS Trusts
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department collects on (a) travel expenses and (b) overseas visits made by trust personnel. [13751]
Mr. Malone:
The National Health Service Executive collects annual information on the total staff travelling and subsistence expenditure by each trust. Information is not held centrally on overseas visits by trust personnel.
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Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department maintains on (a) sickness levels and (b) employee dismissals in trusts. [13750]
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. Strang: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of BSE were confirmed in cattle (a) under two years of age, (b) between two and three years, (c) between three and four years, (d) between four and five years, (e) between five years and six years, (f) between six and seven years and (g) seven years and over for each breed of cattle in the United Kingdom, for each year since 1985. [12177]
Mr. Douglas Hogg: Tables showing the number of cases of BSE by breed and age and by year of the disease for Great Britain and Northern Ireland are being placed in the Library of the House.
Cyclamates
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each European Community country the permitted amount of cyclamates which were granted with effect from 1 January; what were the figures 12 months ago; and if he will make a statement. [12865]
Mrs. Browning: From 1 January 1996, all member states were required to permit the use of cyclamates in table-top sweeteners and in certain foods up to specified maximum levels in accordance with European Parliament and Council directive 94/35/EC of 30 June 1994 on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs--OJ No. L237, 10.9.94, p.3). Details concerning the maximum permissible levels of use of cyclamates in those foods are given in the annex to that directive.
Prior to the 1 January 1996 the use of sweeteners in foods was not subject to Community legislation and national rules applied in each member state. While precise details are not available, it is understood that the use of cyclamates was authorised to varying degrees in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Although these sweeteners were not permitted for food use in the United Kingdom because of uncertainties over their safety, the Department of Health's independent expert committee, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, has recently advised on the basis of the results of new studies, that there are no longer any health concerns preventing their use.
I have arranged for the COT's statement to be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Morley:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in how many cases in September 1995 animal export health certificates were presented to his officials at Dover where the certificates or
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their accompanying schedules had not been completed in accordance with his Department's instructions to local veterinary inspectors; and if he will make a statement. [12637]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 30 January 1996]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Nottingham, East (Mr. Heppell) on 26 October 1995, Official Report, column 751. Subsequent returns have identified two further minor deficiencies in documentation of which one was resolved locally and the other was referred back for resolution to the divisional veterinary manager for the area from which the animals originated.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether all consignments of animals for further fattening and calves destined for export from Brightlingsea between 18 January and 25 October 1995 arrived at the port with completed export certificates; and if consignments were unloaded from their respective vehicles and loaded into the MV Caroline with the same accompanying certificates. [12541]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 1 February 1996]: All consignments of animals for export from Brightlingsea, with one exception, arrived with completed export health certification although a number of minor irregularities were identified and resolved. The sole exception related to one certificate for slaughter sheep which was not signed and stamped by a LVI and the consignment had to be re-certified by a LVI at the port. All consignments were loaded on to the vessel in such a way as to ensure that individual consignments of animals remained segregated, each with the same accompanying health certification.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many consignments of sheep for further fattening and calves were issued with an export health certificate for exit through the port of Brightlingsea between 18 January and 25 October 1995. [12542]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 1 February 1996]: Export health certification is not specific to a port, but 384 consignments of sheep and 664 consignments of calves were exported from the port in this period. It is not possible to given separate figures for sheep for slaughter and for further fattening except at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the anomalies in respect of the implementation of health export certificates for calves between (a) Holland, (b) Belgium, (c) France, (d) Italy and (e) the United Kingdom. [12916]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 1 February 1996]: All certificates for export of live animals to other EC member states are drawn up to ensure that they meet the necessary animal health requirements.
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Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions since 9 June 1995 when answers given at Prime Minister's Question Time were subsequently corrected or otherwise qualified. [13669]
The Prime Minister:
This is a matter of public record.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 30 January, Official Report, column 773, if he will set out the basis of his statement that crime is falling for the first time in 40 years. [13721]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the hon. Member to the oral answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) on 1 February 1996, Official Report, columns 1120-21.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the organisations located within the boundaries of Pendle borough council that received grants from the Duchy's benevolent fund in (i) 1994 and (ii) 1995. [13144]
Mr. Freeman:
I am not a trustee of the benevolent fund and thus do not have details of donations. However the Secretary of the fund has provided the following information:
| Year | Fund | £ |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Burnley and Pendle Greenspace | 400 |
| A handicapped lady in Nelson | 250 | |
| 1995 | A young person in Earby | 200 |
| Mansfield High school Brierfield | 400 | |
| Barnoldswick Park Rovers FC | 450 | |
| Pendle Duke of Edinburgh's award team | 1,000 | |
| Colne parish church | 500 |
Donations are also made to other charities which may assist causes or individuals within the boundaries of Pendle borough council.
Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what cost savings he expects to accrue from the contracting out of the principal civil service pension scheme; [12932]
- (2) what representations he has received from members of the principal civil service pension scheme concerning the contracting out of the scheme; and what percentage of those representations have been in favour of the contracting out proposals; [12936]
(3) when the decision to contact out the principal civil service pension scheme was taken; [12934]
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(4) what the level of investment in the administration of the principal civil service pension scheme has been since 1992; [12933]
(5) how many members there are in the principal civil service pension scheme; [12937]
(6) if he will make a statement on the conclusion of the efficiency scrutiny into the principal civil service pension scheme, published in December 1992, with particular reference to administration of the scheme; [12931]
(7) what discussions his Department has had with the current administrators of the principal civil service pension scheme with respect to the contracting-out of the principal civil service pension scheme. [12935]
Mr. Willetts: The efficiency scrutiny of administration of the principal civil service pension scheme identified the administration function as suitable for market testing and recommended that departments should be encouraged to pursue this. All the recommendations of the scrutiny were accepted, including those directed at raising standards of service quality and delivery to scheme members. New pensions administration software is being developed at a cost of some £1.2 million. This will facilitate the market testing process and make it particularly effective. Employing departments have been fully involved in the development of the new software, as they have with other aspects of implementation of the efficiency scrutiny recommendations.
There are some 520,000 active members of the PCSPS. Some 544,000 former civil servants or their dependants are in receipt of a pension, and there are approximately 240,000 former civil servants with pension benefits preserved for payment at pension age.
It is not possible to specify in advance the savings which result from subjecting particular activities to competition, but I have no reason to doubt that market testing PCSPS administration will identify cost savings consistent with the average saving of 21 per cent. that has resulted from the £2.6 billion worth of activities reviewed under the competing for quality programme in the three years to March 1995.
My predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Mr. Horam), announced in a written answer on 17 October 1995, Official Report, columns 184-85, that an order under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 opening up administration of the PCSPS to the private sector would be laid in this Session of Parliament. Various representations that had been made were taken fully into account in the decision to open up to competition the administration of the PCSPS. The Council of Civil Service Unions and the Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance have been formally consulted. I can assure scheme members that occupational pension arrangements for civil servants will continue to be provided through the PCSPS and that the scheme will continue to be managed and controlled by the Office of Public Service. It is scheme administration that is to be market tested.
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