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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 9 February 1996
HEALTH
Community Psychiatric Nurses (Northumberland)
Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner fundholders in the Northumberland health authority employed community psychiatric nurses in each year since 1992. [13485]
Mr. Malone: This information is not available centrally.
Alternative Medicine
Sir David Steel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department encourages the provision of alternative medicine in the national health service. [13974]
Mr. Horam: As with other forms of treatment, it is for local purchasers to decide, in the light of available resources and competing priorities, on the purchase of the most appropriate forms of treatment to meet the assessed health needs of their population. The reforms we have introduced into the national health service have made it easier for those doctors who would like to provide alternative medicine services for their patients to do so.
Departmental Publications
Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which of his Department's administrative manuals and internal guidance are now made public and which remain private. [14030]
Mr. Horam: My Department has a good record for publishing internal guidance documents. In the last 12 months, examples include:
Department of Health: Public Health, the National Health Service and Social Care: Statement of Responsibilities and Accountabilities.
NHS Executive Business Plan--1995-96.
Guidance to NHS bodies--71 health service guidelines were issued in 1995.
The NHS Priorities and Planning Guidance for 1996-97 issued to all health authorities, trusts and general practitioners and freely available to others who have requested them.
Guide to the NHS, published in March circulated to all parts of the NHS to explain to staff and the public how the NHS works and the basis on which it works.
The Medicines Control Agency's updating "Mail", issued bimonthly, giving guidance on new operational procedures and information on licensing times.
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This guidance makes it clear that any requests for information about administrative manuals and internal guidance should be dealt with in accordance with the code of practice. Each particular request should be individually assessed, and non-disclosure of information should occur only where the exemptions in part II of the code apply.
Junior Doctors (Hours)
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctors are currently working more than 72 hours per week. [14056]
Mr. Malone: Our task forces report that at 30 September 1995, there were 1,719 junior doctors and dentists contracted to work for more than an average of 72 hours a week. That is just 6.1 per cent. of the 27,994 junior doctors and dentists in England and includes 1,424 juniors in non-onerous posts where the limit on hours is not due to fall to 72 a week until the end of 1996.
Spare Computer Capacity
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list all cases where spare computer capacity has been sold to other Departments since 1987, giving the Department and value of each contract. [14089]
Mr. Horam: We have not sold and do not sell spare computer capacity. The Department of Health's information technology infrastructure comprises personal computers on the desk, linked to servers in each office via local area networks which in turn are linked nationally via a wide area network. Any spare capacity, such as there is, does not lend itself to being sold for both technical and security reasons. The Department outsourced its mainframe computer capacity to the private sector last year following a market test.
Central Sheffield University Hospitals Trust
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to dismiss the chairman of the Central Sheffield University Hospitals trust. [14524]
Paediatric Consultant Posts
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many paediatric consultants have been employed by the NHS in each year since 1991. [14459]
WTE = whole time equivalent.
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Accident and Emergency Departments
Dr. Hampson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will include in the next set of NHS performance tables information on the patients charter standard on emergency admission through accident and emergency departments. [14909]
Mr. Malone: As my answer of 28 November, Official Report, columns 601-02 implied, there are no immediate plans to include information on trusts' performance in meeting the patients charter standard on emergency admission through accident and emergency departments.
Disabled People
Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to limit direct care payments to physically disabled people under 65 years of age. [14132]
Mr. Bowis: The Government issued a consultation paper on 15 January 1996 on the Community Care (Direct Payments) Bill and copies are available in the Library. The paper sets out a number of alternatives as to which groups of people will be eligible in the first instance to receive direct payments in lieu of community care services, and seeks views. We shall consider carefully the responses that we receive before deciding on the definition of eligibility to be used.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy that those asylum seekers who are granted exceptional leave to remain in the United Kingdom are not required to renew that leave annually. [14128]
Mr. Kirkhope: Exceptional leave to remain is not a permanent status and it is appropriate to review periodically whether a person granted it continues to qualify. Although exceptional leave is normally granted for 12 months in the first instance, extensions are usually for a three-year period.
Immigration Officers
Mr. Henderson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration officers there are under the enforcement directorate employed in the
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areas of (a) London, (b) west London, (c) the south-west, (d) the midlands, (e) East Anglia, (f) the north-west, (g) the north-east and (h) Scotland. [14239]
Mr. Kirkhope:
The information set out in the table relates to warrant-holders at all levels in the enforcement directorate engaged in the enforcement of the immigration laws or in detention-related activities. In addition, immigration officers within the ports directorate are engaged in after-entry enforcement work subject to the needs of the on-entry control.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| London (excluding west London) | 153 |
| West London | 144 |
| South-west | 1 |
| Midlands | 33 |
| East Anglia | 1 |
| North-west | 13 |
| North-east | 7 |
| Scotland | 1 |
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Crown Copyright
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the arrangements proposed for the administration of Crown copyright. [14926]
Mr. Freeman: The Government propose to privatise Her Majesty's Stationery Office during the summer of 1996. We shall retain a residual body, which will keep the title "HMSO", to administer Crown copyright and to fulfil certain statutory responsibilities and oversight of the Gazettes. The residual body could also administer parliamentary copyright if Parliament so wished. Irrespective of the privatisation, we intend that administration of Crown copyright should be further separated from official publishing functions.
The residual HMSO will continue to administer Crown copyright with a view to making official information as widely and readily available as possible, taking into account the need to protect the interests of the taxpayer.
The Government will continue the existing arrangements for non-exclusive licensing of Crown material. These include concessionary arrangements for certain educational and non-commercial purposes. The Government will continue the existing policy of allowing secondary publishers, without charge or prior permission and on a non-exclusive basis, to reproduce in value-added print format Acts, statutory instruments and statutory rules and orders. I have decided that this concession should now be extended to electronic and microform formats.
Reproduction in printed format of quasi-legislative material will continue to be licensed on a non-exclusive basis, according to the policy described in HMS0's "Dear Publisher" letter of 6 February 1995, reference QLM/2, and the Cabinet Office circular DEO (PM)(95)4), copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House.
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Protection and enforcement of Crown copyright will be a function of residual HMSO, in collaboration with the originating Department or agency. Where material created in Government has inherent commercial value and the interests of the taxpayer in recovering the costs of preparation and production can best be ensured by a commercial approach to copyright licensing and charging, this will be continued. The existing delegations covering Ordnance Survey and the Hydrographic Office will remain unchanged.
Copyright and charging policy on the statute law database, a value-added electronic version of the whole statute book now in preparation by the Statutory Publications Office, will be decided nearer the time of implementation in 1997.
On privatisation, Crown copyright will be retained by the Crown for all the Crown copyright material in the back catalogue of HMSO publications. The new owner will be licensed to reprint back list titles, but will have obligations to make them readily available. The aim will be to ensure the continuing availability of official publications in response to public demand. In respect of future Crown copyright material, the privatised Stationery Office will be required to be licensed, in the same way as other private sector publishers.
Arrangements for printing and publishing Government material are already designed to secure best value for money in making information available to the public at least cost to taxpayers and purchasers of publications. Except for current arrangements covering certain documents published by order of Parliament, Departments are not tied to HMSO and there will be no change in competitive purchasing arrangements after privatisation of the Stationery Office. There will also be no change in the need to recover, where appropriate, the costs of preparation, production and dissemination of material. As now, some official publications will be made available free of charge while others will be priced.
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