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Departmental Suppliers

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has to ensure that her Department identifies the size of its suppliers by the number of their employees. [15611]

Mr. Sproat [holding answer 20 February 1996]: In view of the relatively small expenditure on goods and services by my Department and its two agencies, we have no plans to identify the size of suppliers by the number of their employees.

Regulatory Bodies

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list each regulatory body for which she is responsible indicating for each the percentage of business people on the board. [15732]

Mr. Sproat [holding answer 20 February 1996]: The information is provided below. The figures exclude the Office of the National Lottery which is responsible for

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regulating the national lottery but does not have board members.

English Heritage: 33 per cent.
Football Licensing Authority: 25 per cent.
Independent Television Commission: 40 per cent.
Radio Authority: 42 per cent.
S4C: 42 per cent.

SCOTLAND

GP Fundholding

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the findings of the study of general practitioner fundholding commissioned by his Department and carried out by John Howie of the department of general practice at Edinburgh university during 1995. [13250]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The findings of the project were reported as follows:

"Summary of Conclusions"
In relation to prescribing
1. Both holding a fund and being subject to the constraints of an indicative prescribing budget are associated with a reduced volume of prescribing;
2. fund-holders may be more cautious than non fund-holders in introducing new and more expensive preparations to their repertoire. (This is not itself necessarily a 'quality' issue);
3. the quality of prescribing has been maintained in that prescribing volume has risen in three clinical areas where this has been generally recommended by consensus thinking; and
4. budgets should be set on a per capita rather than on an historical basis, and that research aiming to identify what that per capita basis should be needs to be based on more sensitive measures of volume (for example 'DDD's') and not simply on formulae derived from 'prescribed-items.'
In relation to referral
5. Fund-holding has been associated with a significant change in the pattern of use of hospital services; the downward trend in most areas of activity has been matched by an upward trend in the use of direct access services;
6. the changes in waiting time and outcome have not been dramatic but are generally favourable; and
7. development of the process of setting capitation-based allocations will be difficult.
In relation to clinical care
8. The clinical care of patients at consultations has remained generally stable; however,
9. patients in some groups have done well in relation to others when consultation length and enablement are considered together. These include patients with angina, diabetes, chronic bronchitis and difficulties with seeing. They have in common that they are low prevalence problems, are associated with lower levels of social problems, affect older patients and (in the case of diabetes, angina and chronic bronchitis) belong to categories whose care has been subject to 'new contact' incentives.'
10. Patients in the other eight clinical groups (we studied) have done less well in relation to the above in that they report falling enablement and generally higher levels of increase in social morbidity. In the three most prevalent categories (pain, skin disorders, digestive problems) the falls in satisfaction have reached statistical significance;

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11. patients with social problems which they wish to discuss have done well (receiving generally longer consultations and reporting sustained and average levels of satisfaction); and
12. patients with social problems they do not state they wish to discuss and who have high GHQ scores receive only average length consultations and report low enablement while those with low GHQ scores receive below average length consultations but report average enablement. Both these groups could be regarded as having done less well than others. Each is more prevalent than all but four of the clinical categories we studied.
In relation to administration
13. The process of negotiating the nature of specialist care between practitioners and specialists has been novel, has shifted ownership of care significantly and appropriately from secondary to primary care, and has been conceptually beneficial to general practitioners and patients; and

14. that further thought needs to be given to the evolution of fund-setting both for the prescribing and hospital services components of funds.



About perceptions of cost and benefit
15. Patients are generally very satisfied with the quality of the services they receive from general practitioners and the level of satisfaction has been maintained over the period in the fund-holding practices we studied and;
16. being the 'lead' doctors in a fund-holding practice has time and perhaps other costs which are higher than those experienced by other doctors. Their perceptions of benefits are also higher. Fund managers perceive higher costs than benefits. Non-lead doctors perceive both costs and benefits at a lower level than do the other groups.
Amongst respondents from fund-holding practices in March 1994
17. Sixty two per cent. are positive or very positive about fund-holding, 24 per cent. are neutral and 15 per cent. are negative; and more generally;
18. the concept of centrally funded evaluative work by independent researchers has been a strength of the 'shadow' experiment; it has worked acceptably (probably on both sides), and it could be a repeatable model in the future.
We finally conclude
19. That discussion of the possible benefits which might follow if the investments in management and in information technology given to fund-holders were also given to non fund-holders should be encouraged".

Lingerbay Inquiry

Mr. Galbraith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost to Scottish Natural Heritage of the Lingerbay inquiry. [14611]

Mr. Kynoch: Scottish Natural Heritage estimates that it has spent £530,985 on the inquiry to date. This excludes an estimate of staff time, which could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Publications

Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which of his Department's administrative manuals and internal guidance are now made public; and which remain private. [14022]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: My Department's record of making publicly available internal guidance documents and administrative manuals is extremely good. The following examples give a good indication of the wide range of information that is available or will be made available:

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The Scottish Office Staff Handbook.
Staff guidance: Implementation of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
The Coast Protection Act 1949: A summary guide to legislative powers, definitions and Grant Assistance.
The Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants (Scotland) Scheme Handbook (available from Spring 1996).
The Farm Woodland Premium Scheme Guidance Notes for Area Office Staff (available from Spring 1996).
Grants paid under section 10(1) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. Desk instructions/procedure manual.
NHS Employers Code of Procedure on the NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland).
Confidentiality of Personal Health Information: Code of Practice.
Access to Health Records Act 1990--A guide for the NHS.
Teachers Employers Code of Practice on the Teachers Superannuation Scheme (Scotland).
Departmental Instructions relating to changes in fisheries licensing arrangements and quota management.
The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency: Code of Enforcement Practice.
The Scottish Prison Service Operating Standards.
Historic Scotland: Nature Conservation and Management Manual.
Historic Scotland: Policy on the Preservation of Monuments in State Care.

The following are examples of material which is not available for public inspection:

The Scottish Office Security Handbook.
Scottish Prison Service Security Manual.
Departmental Instruments relating to fisheries enforcement matters.

Village Shops

Mr. Macdonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the total amount of rates currently payable by village shops in Scotland. [15073]

Mr. Kynoch: This information is not held centrally.

Set-aside Payments

Dr. Strang: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many payments were made in Scotland in 1994-95 for set-aside of between (a) £0 and £5,000, (b) £5,001 and £10,000, (c) £10,001 and £15,000, (d) £15,001 and £20,000, (e) £20,001 and 25,000, (f) £25,001 and £50,000, (g) £50,001 and £75,000 and (h) over £75,000. [15336]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: Set-aside payments which have been made to farmers in Scotland under the 1994 arable area payments scheme are as follows:

	Number
(a) £0-£5,000	3,090
(b) £5,001-£10,000	1,036
(c) £10,001-£15,000	275
(d) £15,001-£20,000	106
(e) £20,001-£25,000	41
(f) £25,001 and over	(13)42

(13) It is not possible to identify separately the number of payments above £50,000 for reasons of confidentiality.

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