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South Thames Medical Directors

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken in response to a letter to him from the South Thames medical directors dated 26 February; and if he will place a copy of his reply in the Library. [40598]

Mr. Malone: The Secretary of State asked William Wells, chairman, South Thames region, to consider the medical directors' letter in carrying forward the programme of work on emergency and intensive care that he announced in Parliament on 6 March 1996. A copy of the correspondence will be placed in the Library.

Health Services (London)

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the number of cancellations of elective surgery in London hospitals last winter and the consequent impact upon both (a) patients and (b) the health service; and what action he has taken to prevent a recurrence of such cancellations; [40596]

(2) what assessment he has made of the congestion in accident and emergency departments in London last winter; and what action he has taken to remedy the situation. [40595]

Mr. Malone: The Secretary of State assured the House on 6 March 1996, Official report, column 356, that the national health service would learn from the experiences of last winter. Since then, preparing for emergency demand in winter has been a priority, and every health authority working with its trusts has prepared plans. The plans reflect local circumstances and national guidance and good practice. In drawing them up, health authorities and trusts have considered relevant local factors such as trends in activity and emergency admissions, the capacity for providing treatment and the scheduling of non-urgent treatments, the provision of intensive care facilities, bed management within hospitals and arrangements for the admission and discharge of patients, and developments and initiatives in patient care and treatment. The Secretary of State received a report, on those plans from the chief executive of the NHS Executive at the end of September.

14 Oct 1996 : Column: 761

Health authorities and NHS trusts across the two Thames regions have produced action plans for improving emergency care services which are being refined and will be monitored throughout the winter. Implementation plans for the co-ordination of accident and emergency services across London are being consulted upon.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects to conclude negotiations on the 1993 annual financial returns for the PPRS; [40357]

(2) what excess profits have been repaid by rebate or price reduction, and by how many pharmaceutical companies, for their 1993 PPRS sales. [40358]

Mr. Malone: Aggregate information on repayments for the 1993 round of annual financial returns will be published next spring in the Department of Health's second report to Parliament on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.

Children's Services

Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals his Department has made for revising the formula used to calculate the standard spending assessments for children's services to be used in the financial year 1997-98; and what assessment he has made of the effect of those revisions on the annual allocations for the London borough of Newham in (a) cash and (b) percentage terms compared to 1996-97. [40408]

Mr. Burns: All proposals for changes to the calculation of standard spending assessments for 1997-98 are described in the report of the standard spending assessments sub-group of the settlement working group, copies of which are available in the Library.

Research Funding

Sir Julian Critchley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research funding the Government have provided for (a) breast cancer, (b) AIDS and (c) prostate cancer in each of the last five years. [40399]

Mr. Horam: The information is shown in the tables:

(a) Breast cancer£000s

	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Medical research council	2,700	1,600	3,100	3,100	3,114
Department of Health	381	526	607	725	888
Scottish Office Home and Health Department	138	13	84	123	282

(b) AIDS£000's

	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Medical research council	13,300	15,900	15,300	16,200	14,900
Department of Health	593	786	789	834	693
Scottish Office Home and Health Department	163	139	97	78	169

14 Oct 1996 : Column: 762

(c) Prostate cancer£000's

	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Medical research council	300	300	300	78	0
Department of Health	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Office Home and Health Department	0	0	0	0	0

Government funding for research takes account of activity in other sectors. The cancer charities spent some £105.6 million on research into cancer in 1994-95. There is very little charity research expenditure on AIDS.

Occupational Ill Health

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the average annual costs to the NHS of treating occupational ill health over the last 10 years. [40418]

Mr. Horam: This information is not collected centrally.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Out-of-hours Service

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the demand on the out-of-hours emergency payments service of the Benefits Agency (a) nationally, (b) in the north-west and (c) in Warrington for the financial year 1995-96. [37556]

Mr. Roger Evans: The administration of Income Support is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 19 July 1996:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will make a statement on the demand on the out of hours (emergency payments) service of the Benefits Agency (a) nationally, (b) in the North West and (c) in Warrington for the financial year 1995-96.

The information is not available in the format requested. This is because statistics are collated at Area Directorate (AD) level and not by region. The "North West" region is taken to be the area covered by Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire. Prior to April 1996, the ADs covering the north west were Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire and Cumbria.

Below I have, listed the number of referrals to the Out of Hours Service (OOHS) for the year 1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996. The number of referrals for Warrington is included in the total referrals for Greater Manchester (AD).

It should be noted that a referral means a contact by the customer or by a third party on their behalf. Approximately 50 per cent. of the referrals require a visit by the Benefits Agency. There are no figures kept about the success or otherwise of those visits.
1995-96 referrals to OOHS
National: 54,868
Merseyside AD: 4,405
Greater Manchester AD: 2,977
Lancashire and Cumbria AD: 2,648

14 Oct 1996 : Column: 763

From April 1996 these ADs have merged into two which are North West Coast and Greater Manchester ADs.
I hope you find this reply helpful.

Ethnic Minorities

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many women from ethnic minorities are employed by his Department and its agencies; at what grade; and what measures he has taken to encourage the (a) recruitment, (b) employment and (c) promotion of women from ethnic minorities within his Department and its agencies. [39904]

Mr. Burt: The Department employs 3,179 ethnic minority women. Eight of these are in grades 3 to 7, 552 are in middle management grades and 2,620 are in clerical or other grades.

The Department and its agencies follow the Cabinet Office guidance and civil service recruitment policies and procedures which incorporate best recruitment practices. This includes placing advertisements in the ethnic minority press and with local racial equality councils. The adverts routinely incorporate a welcoming statement to minority groups including ethnic minorities.

Where there are significant ethnic minority populations in the catchment areas, outreach work has been undertaken. Recruitment exercises are monitored to ensure equal treatment for all applicants and recruitment panellists have received equal opportunities awareness training.

14 Oct 1996 : Column: 764

The Department and its agencies monitor by gender, disability and ethnicity all its personnel policies, practices and procedures to ensure that they are free of bias and prejudice. They are committed to following the policies in the Cabinet Office programme for action on race and have actively supported research commissioned by the Cabinet Office into the potential double disadvantage faced by ethnic minority women in the civil service.

Staff are encouraged to attend appropriate development training, giving them the opportunity to develop skills that will better prepare them for promotion opportunities. Also available are positive action training courses for women, ethnic minorities and staff with disabilities.

Each step in the promotion process is subjected to equal opportunities monitoring. All promotion board panellists have received appropriate equal opportunities, to ensure staff are promoted on merit.

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