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Benefit Payment Card
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to ensure that information currently contained in the pension book will be preserved and improved with the proposed new benefit payment card system with particular reference to (a) a permanent record of pension payments received, (b) details of how the pension is made up, (c) clear information on the
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amount due and the date available, (d) information on change of circumstances and (e) details of claiming income support. [11750]
Mr. Heald [pursuant to his reply, 31 January 1996, c. 947]: I am advised that Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, is writing again to clarify his reply of 31 January 1996.
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Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Keith Bradley, dated 20 March 1996:
I am writing to clarify the information provided to you in my letter of 31 January 1996 in response to your Parliamentary Question. You asked the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to ensure that information currently contained in the pension book will be preserved and improved with the proposed new benefit payment card system with particular reference to (a) a permanent record of pension payments received, (b) details of how the pension is made up, (c) clear information on the amount due and the date available, (d) information on change of circumstances and (e) details of claiming Income Support (IS).
The potential service suppliers have been asked to produce a receipt which will only include the following information; details of the type(s) of benefit paid, the amount(s) payable and the due date and the date of payment, but not the date of the last payment(s) made, as indicated in my earlier reply. As I explained in my earlier letter, customers should have no difficulty keeping a record of payment collected from the post office as a receipt will be given and the facility to request a full statement of the benefit account will be retained. This statement will be available on request from the local benefits office.
I hope this explains the position and I apologise for any confusion.
HEALTH
Hertfordshire Health Authorities
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional costs to public funds will result from the division of the Hertfordshire health authorities. [17955]
Mr. Malone: The costs of running health authorities in Hertfordshire, to be met from within the allocation is planned to increase for £7.66 million in 1995-96 to £8.16 million in 1996-97.
Doctors and Nurses
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many doctors and nurses have been employed in NHS hospitals in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) Leeds since 1990; [18433]
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- (2) how many vacancies for doctors and nurses in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) Leeds remained unfilled in 1995. [18434]
Mr. Malone: Information about the number of vacancies for doctors and nurses which remained unfilled in 1995 in West Yorkshire and Leeds, and the number of doctors in hospitals in these areas for the last five years is not available centrally.
Figures for medical staff working in the hospital and community health service (HCHS) are collected by the Department of Health's medical and dental work force census. Copies of the census results at national and regional level, including figures on the number of vacancies at September each year, are in the Library.
Figures on vacancies for HCHS nurses and midwives are collected by the Office of Manpower and Economics and published in the annual reports of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine; copies are in the Library.
Information on vacancies for general medical practitioners and general medical services practice staff is not available centrally.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leeds DHA | 5,140 | 5,470 | 5,290 | 5,250 | 5,210 |
| West Yorkshire DHA | 3,030 | 2,750 | 2,780 | 2,820 | 2,810 |
| Excluded from foregoing figures: | |||||
| Learners(8) | |||||
| Leeds DHA | 870 | 300 | 180 | 60 | 30 |
| West Yorkshire DHA | 820 | 720 | 540 | (9)-- | (10)-- |
Notes:
(8) Learners are nurses on traditional nurse training courses and are directly employed by the NHS HCHS. Project 2000 training was introduced in 1989 and has gradually replaced traditional pre-registration nurse training. Project 2000 students are funded by bursaries, they are supernumary not employees, and are thus excluded from the count of NHS HCHS nursing staff. Figures for Project 2000 students are not available by DHA.
All figures are rounded to the nearest ten whole-time equivalents.
(9) Denotes five or less.
(10) Denotes zero.
Source:
Department of Health annual non-medical work force census.
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Executive Agencies
Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions in each of the past five years Ministers in his Department have passed (a) hon. Members' letters and (b) hon. Members' questions to agencies for response; and what this figure is as a percentage of the total number of letters and questions received. [19425]
Mr. Horam: The information requested on questions passed to agencies for response is shown in the table.
| Session | Number of questions passed to agencies | Percentage of questions passed to agencies |
|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992-93 | 5 | 0.08 |
| 1993-94 | 2 | 0.04 |
| 1994-95 | 17 | 0.35 |
| 1995-96(11) | 12 | 0.63 |
(11) Figures as at 18 March 1996.
The other information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Anaesthetists
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received about the shortages of qualified anaesthetists in NHS trusts. [20325]
Mr. Malone: Representations have been received from various trusts and the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
I recently announced additional funding of £5.7 million in 1996-97 to provide a significant increase in training opportunities for doctors wishing to become consultants. In anaesthetics, the increase for 1996-97 is substantial and regional postgraduate deans will be expected to target the available resources on those specialities such as anaesthetics which are most in need.
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Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many questions were tabled to his Department in each Session since 1987-88; and how many were not answered on the grounds of disproportionate cost; what percentage of the total number of questions this represented; how many were not answered on the grounds that the information was not centrally available; and what percentage of the total number of questions this represented. [21145]
Mr. Horam:
The Department of Health was not formed until July 1988, so information is not available for the Session 1987-88. The number of questions answered since the 1988-89 Session are shown in the table.
| Session | Number of questions |
|---|---|
| 1988-89 | 3,311 |
| 1989-90 | 4,588 |
| 1990-91 | 3,072 |
| 1991-92 | 1,523 |
| 1992-93 | 5,932 |
| 1993-94 | 5,033 |
| 1994-95 | 4,836 |
Source:
POLIS and JUSTIS Parliamentary.
| Session | Number answered "disproportionate cost" | Percentage of total answered | Number answered "not available centrally" | Percentage of total answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988-89 | 71 | 0.72 | 71 | 2.14 |
| 1994-95 | 12 | 0.25 | 176 | 3.64 |
Source:
POLIS and JUSTIS Parliamentary.
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Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average cost of answering an (a) oral and (b) written parliamentary question from (i) Opposition and (ii) Conservative hon. Members in each Session since 1989-90. [21796]
Mr. Horam: This Department does not collect the information in the form requested.
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