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General Chiropractic Council

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects an announcement on the composition of the General Chiropractic Council. [1064]

Mr. Horam: Work on establishing the General Chiropractic Council is proceeding well and we expect to be able to announce its membership shortly.

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Secure Accommodation

Sir Michael Shersby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many places are available in secure accommodation for juvenile offenders in England and Wales; how many extra places will be provided during 1996; and if he will make a statement. [856]

Mr. Burns: There are presently 309 places available for use in local authority secure units in England and Wales. A further 40 places are available at Glenthorne youth treatment centre. We are on course to bring into use another 33 places by the end of 1996, making a total of 94 additional places provided during the year. All these places are available not only for young offenders but for children who need help with severe emotional and behavioural problems.

NHS Cost Inflation

Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the basis for the current national health service cost inflation; and into which categories of patient care it is applied by district health service by his (a) Department and (b) district health services. [879]

Mr. Malone: Estimates of national health service cost inflation are not calculated. A retrospective measure of current inflation in the hospital and community health services--HCHS--sector of the national health service is calculated annually. The inflation measure is calculated as a weighted average of HCHS staff pay inflation and inflation in the purchase of goods and services within HCHS current expenditure.

The inflation estimate is calculated only at the national level, and is not disaggregated by category of patient care.

Community Care (Staffordshire)

Sir Ivan Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the extent of the failure of compliance of Staffordshire county council with the requirement in each of the last three years that 85 per cent. of special transitional grant for community care should go to private sector homes; what action Her Majesty's Government are proposing to take as a result; and if he will make a statement. [1050]

Mr. Burns: The independent sector condition attached to the special transitional grant required local authorities to spend at least 85 per cent. of the Department of Social Security transfer element of the grant on community care services purchased in the independent sector. The audited figures for 1993-94 show Staffordshire county council expenditure in the independent sector of £6.439 million compared with the minimum requirement of £7.958 million, thus failing the requirement by £1.5 million. The Secretary of State exercised his discretion not to require the repayment of the grant after taking account of the representations made by Staffordshire. In 1994-95, its expenditure in the independent sector amounted to £17.618 million, falling short of the minimum requirement of £18.166 by £0.5 million. No decisions have yet been made on the consequences of this failure. Audited figures for 1995-96 will not be available until 31 December.

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School Health Service

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were employed by the school health service in each of the past five years. [1101]

Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for York (Mr. Bayley) on 21 May 1996, Official Report columns 87-88. Information for later years is not available centrally.

Waiting Lists

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients had been waiting for operations in excess of the patients charter waiting time standards at 1 September 1996. [1113]

Mr. Horam: The latest information available centrally is for 30 June 1996. This shows that, on that date, seven patients waiting for operations had been waiting more than 18 months from the date they were placed on a waiting list. Also, 109 patients did not receive coronary artery bypass grafts and associated procedures within the 12 months standard set by the patients charter.

AIDS

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died of AIDS in England and Wales in each year since 1990. [1116]

Mr. Horam: The number of deaths in reported AIDS cases by the end of September 1996 are shown in the table. These data are affected by reporting delays and under-reporting. The figures given exclude deaths reported in HIV-infected individuals who either died without reaching the AIDS case definition of whose AIDS status at the time of death has yet to be confirmed.

Year of death	England and Wales
1990	736
1991	892
1992	1,013
1993	1,192
1994	1,236
1995	1,130
Total	6,199

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died of CJD in England and Wales in each year since 1990. [1117]

Mr. Horam: As at 29 October 1996, the number of deaths in confirmed cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in England and Wales, including sporadic, iatrogenic, familial, new-variant CJD and Gertsmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome in each year since 1990 are as follows:

31 Oct 1996 : Column: 200

Year	Confirmed deaths
1990	27
1991	31
1992	45
1993	38
1994	55
1995	42
1996(4)	29

(4) Up to end of September 1996. Comparable figures for the United Kingdom were published in the chief medical officer's "Update" issue 12, published on 28 October, copies of which are available in the Library.

Lung Cancer

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients with lung cancer were over 75 in the following years (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95 and (c) 1995-96; and what proportion of the total these figures represent. [1118]

Mr. Horam: Information is held centrally in the hospital episode system--HES--for diagnosis using specific codes under ICD9 classification, copies of which are available in the Library. The latest year available is 1994-95. Data for the number of finished consultant episodes with primary diagnosis "Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung"--ICD code 162--in NHS hospitals in England are shown in the table:

Data year	Total cases	75 years and over	Percentage of 75 years and over of total
1993-94	57,822	13,620	24
1994-95	57,823	13,138	23

Episodes where the age of the person was unknown have been allocated pro rata.

Breast Cancer

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of breast cancer were identified in women of 65 years and over for each year since 1992; and what proportion they represent of all women diagnosed as having breast cancer. [1114]

Mr. Horam: Provisional numbers of registrations of breast cancer diagnosed in 1991 in England and Wales were published in the Office for National Statistics "Monitor" MBI 96/1, copies of which are available in the Library. Figures for 1992 and 1993 will be published shortly by the Office for National Statistics and copies will be placed in the Library.

NHS Health Advisory Service

Dame Jill Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what decision has been made on the findings of the review of the NHS health advisory service. [2037]

Mr. Burns: We have decided to merge the NHS health advisory service, from April 1997, with a consortium led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists research unit and comprising members from the Royal College of Nursing Institute, Office for Public Management and British Geriatrics Society.

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I believe this decision develops and builds on the work of the review team. It is the basis for an up-to-date and proactive advisory service, equipped with a multidisciplinary team able to help organisations improve and develop services.

Under a separate contract, the work of the drug advisory service will also change. It will take a more active role in alcohol misuse services and it will develop as a resource for health and local authority purchasers of substance misuse services.

Health Authorities (Manchester)

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding of health authorities in Manchester in the remaining months of the financial year; which authorities expect a shortfall; and if he will make a statement. [1378]

Mr. Horam: All health authorities are expected to remain within their allocated cash limit. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Newham, South (Mr. Spearing) on 17 October 1996 Official Report, columns 1104-05, which provided the estimated outturn position for all English health authorities.

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