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Infections (Schools)
Mr. Eastham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is pursuing to combat head lice infestation in schools. [31621]
Mr. Horam: The Department launched an information campaign on 22 April. This was ably assisted by the voluntary organisation Community Hygiene Concern--CHC--which provides support and advice to families on dealing with this problem. CHC currently receives grant aid from the Department of £75,000 over three years.
Our campaign leaflet, "The Prevention and Treatment of Head Lice" gives advice to parents and teachers on the options available. The campaign has proved popular with community health professionals, including those in the school health service. In excess of 750,000 leaflets have been distributed.
Paediatric Intensive Care Beds
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the provision of paediatric intensive care beds per head in (a) Yorkshire and (b) England; [31989]
- (2) what is the number of paediatric intensive care beds per capita in each of the regional health authorities in England. [31899]
Mr. Horam: A recent survey of dedicated general and specialist paediatric intensive care beds open in England, by regional health authority, indicates current bed distribution relative to resident child populations as shown
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in the table. This does not take account of intensive care for children provided in adult intensive care units or of care provided outside the region in question. A report by the chief executive of the national health service executive on paediatric intensive care was published last month, copies of which are available in the Library. The report describes plans to develop this service further, and to provide additional beds.
| Region | Beds open: April 1996 | Population (0 to 16 years)(2) | Bed per capita ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern and Yorkshire | 28 | 1,463,395 | 1:52,264 |
| Anglia and Oxford | 8 | 1,163,777 | 1:145,472 |
| North Thames | 43 | 1,474,719 | 1:34,296 |
| South Thames | 29 | 1,404,969 | 1:48,447 |
| South and West | 13 | 1,353,775 | 1:104,136 |
| North West | 37 | 1,490,184 | 1:40,275 |
| Trent | 21 | 1,023,528 | 1:48,739 |
| West Midlands | 17 | 1,181,847 | 1:69,520 |
| England total | 196 | 10,556,194 | 1:53,858 |
(2) Source: Office for National Statistics (1994 estimate).
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Sharks
Ms Walley: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures have been taken over the last five years to assess the stock size of the basking shark in United Kingdom waters; and what the stock size is currently estimated to be. [31329]
Mr. Baldry: Between 1987 and 1992, the basking shark was the subject of a survey programme carried out by the Marine Conservation Society. The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department monitored the very limited Scottish basking shark fishery while it was in operation, and collated data from other nations. However, no estimates of basking shark stock size were made, due in part to their erratic and highly variable appearances off western European coasts.
Live Animal Exports
Mr. Morley: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) who is the legally responsible attendant for livestock on vehicles carried by sea between Dover and Dunkirk when the driver of the vehicle is travelling on an alternative sea route; [31774]
- (2) what measures are in place to ensure that vehicles carrying livestock between Dover and Dunkirk keep within their journey plans, in the event that they must wait at Dunkirk for absent drivers travelling on other sea routes. [31775]
Mrs. Browning: The Welfare of Animals during Transport Order 1994, as amended, requires every person in charge of any animal transport undertaking that transports animals in the course of business or trade to ensure that, when animals are unaccompanied, the consignee is prepared to receive them and, to ensure that the animals are transported without delay to their place of destination.
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Mr. Morley: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many communications he received in 1995 regarding the export of live farm animals; and how many were from hon. Members. [31786]
Mrs. Browning: In 1995, the Ministry received 19,695 communications regarding the export of live farm animals, of which 1,966 were from hon. Members.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Marlow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects (a) interim judgment and (b) full judgment in the case on BSE which he is placing before the European Court of Justice. [31828]
Mrs. Browning: The United Kingdom's challenge to the legality of the export ban was placed before the European Court of Justice on 24 May. We have not yet been given a date for the hearing on the application for an interim injunction, but expect this to take place in about three to four weeks, with the ECJ issuing its interim judgment within a further week. Given the usual timetable for this type of case, we expect final judgment to take about 18 months.
SCOTLAND
Compulsory Competitive Tendering
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for what reasons he changed the terms of previous Scottish Office guidance issued to Scottish local authorities relating to the compulsory competitive tendering of council services under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1986. [30537]
Mr. Kynoch: The early reintroduction of compulsory competitive tendering of services under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 is designed to ensure value for money for council tax payers. The decision follows complaints that some councils have failed to obtain value for money when existing arrangements expire, notwithstanding a warning issued on 15 November 1995 that the Government would reconsider the length of the CCT moratorium if authorities did not approach the suspension of CCT in a constructive manner.
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the value of services that will be subject to the competitive tendering exercise under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980; and how many jobs in Scottish councils will be covered by these contractual arrangements. [30595]
Mr. Kynoch: Precise information is not available. However, we estimate that in 1994-95 local authorities were carrying out in-house work valued at about £560 million and employing 20,000 following competitive tendering exercises under the 1980 Act.
The extent to which this work will be subject to a competitive tendering exercise for re-introduction on 1 January will depend on when the present arrangements expire.
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Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to reverse his recent change of guidance to Scottish local authorities, issued on 13 May, relating to the compulsory competitive tendering of services under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and to extend the deadline for this exercise to 1 July. [30540]
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to publish information on the private finance initiative in Scotland. [32461]
Mr. Michael Forsyth:
I am publishing today a document entitled "Private Finance and Public Services: A Partnership for Scotland". It summarises guidance on the preparation of private finance initiative projects and lists sources of advice for those sponsoring projects in Scotland. It also describes the progress and potential of the initiative in Scotland and includes a list of actual and potential projects. I shall arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what valuation was put on the housing stock of each of Scotland's development corporations by the appropriate district valuer; and when these valuations were made. [30543]
| Corporation | District valuer's valuation £ million | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Glenrothes | 47.673 | 31 March 1994 |
| East Kilbride | 57.277 | 30 November 1993 |
| Cumbernauld | 29.835 | 31 March 1995 |
| Livingston | 42.133 | 8 August 1995 |
| Irvine | 33.043 | 17 August 1995 |
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the organisations that were allowed to bid for the housing stock of each development corporation in Scotland, the valuations put on the housing stock of each corporation by each bidder, the names of the successful bidders, the number of properties successfully bid for in each case and the amounts that each organisation paid for these properties. [30551]
Mr. Kynoch: The guidance issued by the Scottish Office on the disposal of tenanted housing owned by the new town development corporations provided that local authorities, registered housing associations or approved landlords could bid for the stock. The table shows in column 2 the organisations that submitted bids, in column 3 the number of areas of each town for which each organisation submitted bids and in column 4 the total of the cash bids made by each organisation. The successful bidders for the tenanted stock in Glenrothes and East Kilbride, the new towns where disposal has been completed, were Kirkcaldy district council, which paid £51.682 million for 4,783 houses, and East Kilbride
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district council, which paid £56.2 million for 7,834 houses. The purchase prices are lower than the cash bids as the number of tenanted houses fell, mainly due to sales to tenants, in the period between submission of the bids and completion of the sale.
| Corporation | Bidders | Number of | Cash bids £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| areas bid for | million | ||
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
| Glenrothes | Kirkcaldy District Council | 15 | 53.619 |
| Hillcrestt Housing Association | 4 | 15.340 | |
| Kingdom Housing Association | 3 | 4.843 | |
| (15 areas)(3) | Glenrothes Community Housing Association | 13 | 37.236 |
| Collydean Community Housing Association | 1 | 5.800 | |
| The Munro Trust | 15 | 45.798 | |
| East Kilbride | East Kilbride District Council | 10 | 63.582 |
| (10 areas) | The Munro Trust | 10 | 44.173 |
| Cumbernauld | Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Council | 5 | 20.108 |
| (5 areas) | Abronhill Housing Association | 1 | 5.238 |
| Livingston | West Lothian District Council | 10 | 40.026 |
| (10 areas) | Almond Housing Association | 3 | 14.482 |
| Castle Rock Housing Association | 3 | 10.975 | |
| Edinvar Housing Association | 3 | 10.159 | |
| Bield Housing Association | 1 | 0.825 | |
| Viewpoint Housing Association | 1 | 0.860 | |
| Irvine | Cunninghame District Council | 5 | 32.375 |
| (5 areas) | Irvine Housing Association | 5 | 22.777 |
(3) Each Corporation divided the housing stock into discrete geographical areas for the purposes of disposal of the tenanted stock. Bidders could bid for any number or all of the areas.
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