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Waiting Lists (Women)
Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women are currently waiting to be admitted to any waiting list for treatment as an in-patient or day case. [34068]
Mr. Horam: Waiting list information which is held centrally does not differentiate between genders.
NHS Pension Scheme
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 4 June, Official Report, column 384, if he will set out the complex issues delaying the entry of general practitioner practice staff into the NHS pension scheme. [34265]
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Mr. Malone: Before the scheme could be extended to general practitioner practice staff, we need to consider the potential effect in actuarial terms of the increase in the scheme's overall liabilities; the appropriate scope of the scheme if made available to the employees of independent contractors rather than national health service staff; the appropriate employer's contribution rate for a new category of staff not employed by the NHS; as well as resourcing and streams of funding.
Compliance Cost Assessments
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has to ensure that each legislative measure put forward by his Department contains a compliance cost assessment (a) relating to small firms and (b) in respect of which small firms have been consulted. [34124]
Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave her today.
Contracts
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the average value of contracts awarded by his Department, (b) the value of (i) the smallest and (ii) the largest contract awarded, (c) the number of contracts with a value of (1) £0 to £999, (2) £1,000 to £9,999, (3) £10,000 to £49,999, (4) £50,000 to £99,999, (5) £100,000 to £499,999, (6) £500,000 to £999,999 and (7) above £1,000,000 and (d) the total number of contracts awarded in 1995-96. [34125]
Mr. Horam: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many instances of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and/or toxic epidermal necrolysis have occurred in each of the last five years; and in respect of how many of these cases (a) paracetamol or codeine and (b) other drugs were assessed to be the cause. [33892]
Mr. Malone [holding answer 24 June 1996]: The information available centrally is shown in the table.
The estimated numbers of finished consultant episodes--ordinary admissions and day cases combined--in national health service hospitals in England with a principal diagnosis of erythema multiforme--which includes Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis--in each of the five years is as follows:
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1990-91: 821
1991-92: 823
1992-93: 843
1993-94: 859
1994-95: 1,148.
Source:
Hospitals Episode Statistics
An individual patient may be included more than once in the figures. The number of cases from these episodes which were assessed as being due to drugs is unknown. Various non-drug causes for erythema multiforme are well recognised.
| Year | All reports where paracetamol and/or codeine were a suspect drug | All reports involving drugs other than paracetamol and/or codeine | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EM | EN | EM | EN | |
| 1991 | 2 | 0 | 112 | 13 |
| 1992 | 4 | 0 | 145 | 19 |
| 1993 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 28 |
| 1994 | 0 | 0 | 138 | 18 |
| 1995 | 1 | 0 | 174 | 20 |
| Totals | 7 | 0 | 708 | 98 |
Some of the reports associated with paracetamol and/or codeine concerned products containing multiple active ingredients. The figures provided are for the number of suspected adverse drug reactions where the reaction began in the year specified. A report of a suspected adverse drug reaction does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the drug cited; other factors may have contributed.
There are fewer cases of erythema multiforme reported to be associated with medicines than the number of cases from hospital statistics. Several factors account for this difference--one patient may account for more than one consultant episode, not all cases of erythema multiforme are drug-induced and not all adverse drug reactions are reported through the yellow card scheme. Therefore, direct comparisons between these two data sources cannot be made.
Health and Safety
Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the cost in each of the past five years of (a) sick pay and (b) compensation paid to employees of his Department or their families, or members of the public, as a result of (i) minor, (ii) major and (iii) fatal injuries related to the work of his Department, detailing incidents involving information technology and those involving expenditure of more than £5,000. [33506]
Sir John Wheeler: Within the Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments the information is not available in the format requested. However the following information is available.
26 Jun 1996 : Column: 150
| Year | Compensation paid (£000s) |
|---|---|
| 1991-92(12) | 4,959 |
| 1992-93 | 5,654 |
| 1993-94 | 6,483 |
| 1994-95 | 6,641 |
| 1995-96 | 4,742 |
(12) Excludes DOE employees liability claims.
In the same five years, 538 payments of over £5,000 were paid and one case in 1993-94 related to information technology.
The information on sick pay could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McCartney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) minor, (b) major and (c) fatal injuries have been suffered by staff in his Department and its agencies in work-related incidents in each of the past five years, showing in each year how many were related to information technology and giving details of all incidents involving fatalities. [33505]
Sir John Wheeler:
Within the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Departments, the information is not fully available in the format requested and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost. However all the available information follows.
| Year | Number of injuries | Fatalities | I.T. related injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92(13) | 854 | -- | -- |
| 1992-93(13) | 878 | -- | -- |
| 1993-94 | 911 | -- | 1 |
| 1994-95 | 696 | -- | -- |
| 1995-96 | 739 | 1 | 1 |
(13) Excludes DHSS. The fatality was a result of a hit and run accident during a road inspection.
| Year | Number of injuries | Fatalities | I.T. related injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991(14) | 300 | 1 | -- |
| 1992 | 291 | -- | -- |
| 1993 | 299 | -- | -- |
| 1994 | 240 | -- | -- |
| 1995 | 200 | -- | -- |
(14) Excludes the Northern Ireland Office. The fatality was a result of a tree felling incident.
School Staff
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in what circumstances schools with similar enrolments may be unable to employ similar numbers of teaching staff under current financial arrangements; and what proposals he has to deal with this issue. [33875]
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Mr. Ancram: It is for the board of governors of each school with a delegated budget, irrespective of the size of the school's enrolment, to decide on the number of teaching staff it employs in order to ensure the effective delivery of the curriculum to its pupils. I do not propose to change this situation.
Education and Library Boards
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number of teacher and lecturer redundancies made by education and library boards during each year since 1990 at (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) further education level. [33874]
Mr. Ancram: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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