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Student Grants

Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to end the administration of student grants by local education authorities. [40558]

Mr. Forth: The Government have no plans at present to alter the current arrangements. The national committee of inquiry into higher education has been asked to look into the longer-term funding of higher education, including student support. The committee will report in the summer of 1997.

15 Oct 1996 : Column: 894

Grant for Education Support and Training

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the GEST funding per pupil in (a) grant-maintained schools and (b) local education authority schools, in each local education authority for (i) 1994-95, (ii) 1995-96 and (iii) 1996-97; and if she will make a statement. [40593]

Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 14 October 1996]: The table shows GEST funding per pupil in local authority-maintained schools for 1995-96 and 1996-97 based on the latest available figures. Variations reflect such factors as the impact of bidding and the incidence of

15 Oct 1996 : Column: 895

small schools. Figures for 1994-95 are not readily available. Grant-maintained schools are outside the scope of GEST, but are funded for similar activities through special purpose (development) grant. SPG (D) grant is paid direct to GM schools at the rate of £42.50 per pupil in 1995-96 and £44.50 in 1996-97. GEST and SPG(D) are not directly comparable because the responsibilities of LEA and GM schools differ.

GEST funding per pupil

	Funding per	Funding per
	pupil 1995-96	pupil 1996-97
LEA	£	£
Corporation of London	231.60	258.49
Camden	59.09	50.07
Greenwich	41.64	42.36
Hackney	47.79	54.14
Hammersmith and Fulham	44.54	58.18
Islington	48.64	57.93
Kensington and Chelsea	45.47	63.37
Lambeth	52.18	68.49
Lewisham	44.06	52.66
Southwark	53.29	50.78
Tower Hamlets	51.75	56.50
Wandsworth	59.13	66.44
Westminster	40.27	47.48
Barking	39.19	40.96
Barnet	41.99	32.20
Bexley	33.06	37.13
Brent	72.42	73.16
Bromley	35.49	37.35
Croydon	36.24	37.06
Ealing	45.38	36.33
Enfield	40.08	42.02
Haringey	44.79	47.97
Harrow	38.62	33.74
Havering	35.01	32.11
Hillingdon	43.14	38.84
Hounslow	35.54	36.21
Kingston upon Thames	34.80	28.64
Merton	44.74	46.13
Newham	46.39	41.75
Redbridge	32.68	30.83
Richmond upon Thames	33.84	35.92
Sutton	51.53	52.62
Waltham Forest	38.58	47.84
Birmingham	35.91	34.81
Coventry	42.23	44.79
Dudley	40.45	40.09
Sandwell	34.42	43.23
Solihull	32.98	31.42
Walsall	41.87	42.88
Wolverhampton	43.50	44.94
Knowsley	41.25	46.49
Liverpool	39.39	41.76
St. Helens	34.56	35.20
Sefton	38.53	28.67
Wirral	30.57	35.56
Bolton	30.46	35.66
Bury	33.18	35.56
Manchester	40.38	41.31
Oldham	37.78	39.58
Rochdale	34.80	37.54
Salford	31.96	36.44
Stockport	39.42	36.07
Tameside	34.89	38.01
Trafford	33.89	37.12
Wigan	33.74	40.31
Barnsley	38.39	43.37
Doncaster	39.60	33.99
Rotherham	38.87	37.70
Sheffield	36.36	36.92
Bradford	42.83	45.92
Calderdale	36.10	44.62
Kirlees	40.82	43.20
Leeds	37.89	35.49
Wakefield	35.18	35.94
Gateshead	40.52	39.44
Newcastle upon Tyne	48.85	48.84
North Tyneside	39.44	43.91
South Tyneside	42.13	38.37
Sunderland	23.98	32.64
Isle of Scilly	273.50	293.64
Bath and North-east Somerset	n/a	30.99
City of Bristol	n/a	37.74
North-west Somerset	n/a	32.26
South Gloucestershire	n/a	34.54
Hartlepool	n/a	35.24
Middlesbrough	n/a	32.57
Redcar and Cleveland	n/a	34.51
Stockton on Tees	n/a	31.26
City of Kingston upon Hull	n/a	30.53
East Riding of Yorkshire	n/a	38.07
North east Lincolnshire	n/a	33.89
North Lincolnshire	n/a	38.98
North Yorkshire	37.12	40.71
York	n/a	49.21
Avon	31.26	n/a
Bedfordshire	32.36	36.39
Berkshire	37.24	36.55
Buckinghamshire	40.96	38.90
Cambridgeshire	43.69	39.87
Cheshire	36.25	34.78
Cleveland	29.62	n/a
Cornwall	38.96	36.76
Cumbria	46.14	44.35
Derbyshire	39.93	41.30
Devon	34.57	39.80
Dorset	35.06	35.17
Durham	34.63	38.28
East Sussex	36.53	34.92
Essex	41.59	43.22
Glouchestershire	45.73	49.45
Hampshire	34.25	35.15
Hereford and Worcester	36.19	35.67
Hertfordshire	41.39	41.66
Humberside	32.39	n/a
Isle of Wight	58.56	52.85
Kent	39.88	42.10
Lancashire	36.98	37.04
Leicestershire	29.57	30.50
Lincolnshire	39.58	42.80
Norfolk	39.63	42.16
Northamptonshire	37.67	38.50
Northumberland	37.15	40.50
Nottinghamshire	33.63	34.13
Oxfordshire	40.48	40.81
Shropshire	39.61	41.55
Somerset	37.26	38.57
Staffordshire	32.07	34.23
Suffolk	36.75	38.06
Surrey	35.67	35.51
Warwickshire	33.76	34.96
West Sussex	35.22	34.61
Wiltshire	41.46	44.39
England	37.76	39.02

n/a = not applicable due to local government reorganisation.

15 Oct 1996 : Column: 896

15 Oct 1996 : Column: 897

HEALTH

Suicide Attempts

Mr. Parry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many suicide attempts have been made at the Broadoak psychiatric unit, Broadgreen hospital during the past two years; and if he will make a statement. [40301]

Mr. Burns: The available information is as follows:

September 1994 to August 1995: two unexpected deaths; one open verdict, one still awaited;
September 1995 to August 1996: two unexpected deaths; inquest verdicts awaited.

Figures relating to suicide attempts are not available centrally.

Health Information Service

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls the health information service has received in each year since 1992; and how much funding it has received in each year. [40565]

Mr. Horam: The health information service was established in April 1992. Table A provides details of the number of calls received by the service since its establishment and table B provides information on the cost of providing the service for the financial years 1992-93 to 1996-97.

Table A: Number of calls received by the health information service between April 1992 and September 1996

Year	Number of calls
1992	51,252
1993	136,293
1994	275,404
1995	457,187
1996 (January-September)	442,424

Table B: Cost of providing the service between 1992-93 and 1996-97

Financial year	Cost £
1992-93	1,507,643
1993-94	1,881,998
1994-95	2,045,338
1995-96	2,337,766
1996-97(40)	2,718,933

(40) Projected expenditure for 1996-97.

Mr. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are followed in respect of monitoring the subjects of inquiry or complaint to the health information service. [40566]

Mr. Horam: Health authorities have responsibility for securing the provision of the freephone health information service in line with health service guidance HSG(95)44, copies of which are available in the Library.

Arrangements for monitoring calls made to the health information service are for determination between individual health authorities and their health information service providers. However, any system of monitoring must respect the callers right to confidentiality.

15 Oct 1996 : Column: 898

New Hospitals

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new hospitals have been built in 1996 and in each of the previous five years in (a) London and (b) each health region. [40569]

Mr. Horam: This information is not collected centrally.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accident and emergency departments have been closed in each health region in 1996 and in each of the previous five years. [40570]

Mr. Horam: It is the responsibility of each health authority to ensure the provision of adequate accident and emergency services for its resident population. Trusts with an accident and emergency department are listed in table 9 of "Bed availability for England". Booklets for 1993-94 and 1994-95 are available in the Library. The 1995-96 figures are expected to be available in November.

Care should be taken in interpreting any reduction in the number of trusts with accident and emergency departments as closures. A trust may have more than one A and E department but will be listed once only. Mergers of trusts each with an A and E department would be listed once following a merger.

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