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Hospital and Health Services Contracts

Ms Rachel Squire: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the contracts for hospital and health services awarded under the competitive tendering process

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to date by (a) Argyll and Clyde, (b) Ayrshire and Arran, (c) Borders, (d) Dumfries and Galloway, (e) Fife, (f) Forth Valley, (g) Grampian, (h) Greater Glasgow, (i) Highland, (j) Lanarkshire, (k) Lothian, (l) Orkney, (m) Shetland, (n) Tayside and (o) Western Isles health boards; and if he will indicate the successful tenderers and the value of the contracts. [28618]

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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Newcastle Upon Tyne, East (Mr. Brown) on 29 March 1995, column 581, which stated that the information requested had been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Since that date, information subsequently received on contracts awarded is set out as follows.

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Contracts Awarded

	Service type	Contractor	Commence date	Previous cost	Tender value
				£000	£000
By Health Board
Highland	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	38	38
Orkney	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	18	18
Shetland	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	18	18
Western Isles	Domestic	In-house	1 January 1996	433	410
	Catering	In-house	1 January 1996	456	433
	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	30	30
	Laundry	In-house	1 January 1996	119	119
	Laundry	In-house	1 January 1996	74	55
By NHS Trust
Aberdeen Royal Hospitals	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	78	78
	Occupational health	RGIT Health Ltd.	1 April 1995	95	(10)160
Caithness and Sutherland	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	28	28
Dundee Teaching Hospitals	Catering	In-house	1 August 1995	1,337	1,324
Fife Healthcare	Supplies	In-house	1 April 1996	223	221
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	Hotel services	Initial	28 January 1996	774	713
Grampian Healthcare	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	70	70
Highland Communities	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	50	50
Moray Health Services	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	44	44
Raigmore Hospital	Internal audit	Coopers and Lybrand	1 October 1995	43	43

(10) Higher specification of services being provided with the new contract.

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Bursaries

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the amount of money (a) allocated in the current financial year to each further education college in Scotland for bursaries and (b) spent on bursaries for each college by the previous regional councils in 1995-96. [28648]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: The information is set out in the table.

College	1996-97 bursary allocation	1995-96 local authority expenditure
Aberdeen	3,416,389	3,362,732
Angus	1,254,211	1,234,513
Anniesland	517,128	509,007
Ayr	1,022,273	1,006,217
Banff and Buchan	1,032,714	1,016,494
Barony	150,002	147,826
Bell	--	--
Borders	1,162,435	1,144,178
Cambuslang	509,326	501,326
Cardonald	1,674,300	1,648,003
Central	522,465	514,259
Clackmannan	630,934	621,025
Clydebank	1,295,143	1,274,802
Coatbridge	862,214	848,672
Cumbernauld	561,627	552,806
Dumfries and Galloway	1,381,549	1,359,851
Dundee	2,335,871	2,299,184
Elmwood	481,628	474,064
Falkirk	1,624,131	1,598,623
Fife	924,418	909,899
GCBP	683,312	672,580
GCFT	659,434	649,077
GCNS	570,988	562,020
Glenrothes	880,220	866,395
Inverness	1,545,448	1,521,176
James Watt	1,605,220	1,580,009
JEVC	995,670	980,032
John Wheatley	368,111	362,329
Kilmarnock	1,578,468	1,553,677
Langside	970,046	954,811
Lauder	1,020,161	1,004,138
Lews Castle	388,848	382,741
Moray	1,423,876	1,401,513
Motherwell	1,833,883	1,805,081
North Glasgow	831,965	818,898
Oatridge	252,429	248,465
Perth	1,305,562	1,285,057
Reid Kerr	1,436,578	1,414,015
Stevenson	1,375,391	1,353,789
Stow	792,189	779,747
Telford	1,974,867	1,943,850
Thurso	449,325	442,268
West Lothian	753,819	741,980
Total	45,054,568	44,347,129

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Ambulance Base, Kyleakin

Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many representations he received in favour of the proposal to site an ambulance base at Kyleakin, Isle of Skye; and if he will make a statement. [29238]

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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: None. However, the Scottish Ambulance Service NHS trust aims to make the most efficient and effective use of the resources at its disposal to improve the quality of service to its patients. In view of the changes brought about by the opening of the Skye bridge, the Scottish Ambulance Service has conducted a review and has concluded that the additional costs of establishing an ambulance station in Kyleakin will be justified by improved activation and response times. Highland health board, which is responsible for purchasing appropriate levels of emergency ambulance provision in the area, has supported these proposals.

Mr. Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will hold an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the decision to site an ambulance base at Kyleakin, Isle of Skye, with specific reference to the prohibition upon serving personnel to discuss the issue with others; and if he will make a statement. [29239]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: No. The deployment of its staff and vehicles and the siting of ambulance stations are operational matters for the Scottish Ambulance Service NHS trust to decide in agreement with the purchasing health board. The staff are fully aware of the proposals and have the opportunity to make any observations on these to senior officers of the service.

Caledonian MacBrayne

Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the subsidy to be paid to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. for the financial year commencing 1 April 1996; what it was for the year ended 31 March; how much of the difference in the figures is attributable to the withdrawal of the Kyle of Lochalsh-Kyleakin service; and if he will make a statement. [29240]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Subject to approval of the estimates, the Government propose to make available to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. in 1996-97 revenue deficit grant amounting to £11.7 million. The amount of revenue deficit grant made available to Caledonian MacBrayne in 1995-96 was £8.3 million. The increased requirement for revenue deficit grant in 1996-97 reflects a number of factors, including the loss of the revenue contribution from the Kyle of Lochalsh-Kyleakin service and the cost of compliance with additional safety requirements applying to ro-ro ferries. It is not the Government's practice to disclose information about the profit or loss incurred by Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. in providing ferry services on individual routes.

NHS Consultants

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a breakdown of the number of current vacancies for consultants in each NHS trust in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [29496]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information requested is not held centrally.

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many doctors were in higher training for consultancy positions in each year since 1990. [29498]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information requested is shown in the table.

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Hospital medical senior registrars in Scotland at 30 September

	Senior registrars
1990	405
1991	403
1992	390
1993	424
1994	467
1995	479

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many vacancies for consultants there currently are in the NHS in Scotland; how many of these posts have been vacant for six months or more; how many vacancies for consultants there have been in each month since 30 September 1995; and if he will make a statement. [29495]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The latest information available centrally shows that at 30 September 1995 there were 201 consultant vacancies in the NHS in Scotland; 72 of these had been vacant for six months or more.

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a breakdown, by specialist field, of the current vacancies for consultants in the NHS in Scotland. [29497]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The latest information available centrally is shown in the table.

Consultant vacancies in the NHS in Scotland at 30 September 1995

Accident and Emergency	12
Anaesthetics	29
Laboratory and support specialists	9
Blood transfusion	1
Clinical chemistry	1
Haematology	2
Microbiology	4
Pathology	1
Medical specialists	46
Dermatology	1
General medicine (group)	21
Cardiology	4
Communicable diseases	1
Gastroenterology	4
General medicine	10
Nephrology	1
Respiratory medicine	1
Geriatric medicine	3
Medical paediatrics	14
Neurology	2
Palliative medicine	2
Radiotherapy	1
Rehabilitation medicine	2
Obstetrics and gynaecology	5
Occupational health	1
Psychiatric specialists	46
Child and Adolescent psychiatry	5
Forensic psychiatry	2
General psychiatry	29
Mental handicap	4
Old age psychiatry	6
Radiology	6
Diagnostic radiology	6
Surgical specialties	31
ENT surgery	6
General surgery	5
Ophthalmology	5
Orthopaedic surgery	6
Plastic surgery	2
Surgical paediatrics	1
Urology	6
Public health medicine	8
Community Specialties	3
Community child health	2
Family planning	1
Dental specialties	5
Oral surgery	1
Orthodontics	3
Restorative dentistry	1
Total	201

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