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Child Care Facilities

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what child care facilities his Department provides for its employees; what facilities were provided in 1992; and how many employees have used child care facilities in each year since 1992. [6461]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The Department and its agencies provide, or take part in, a number of child care initiatives including subsidised holiday play schemes and nurseries, family care expenses scheme under which expenses are offered to staff for additional child minding costs while they are on work that falls outside normal working hours, membership of child care information services, child care referral service and the provision of a creche for DSS summer school. In 1992, subsidised holiday play schemes and nurseries were provided,

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although the number of places were fewer than are currently available; family care expenses and creche facilities for DSS summer school were also available.

Information on the number of employees who have used child care facilities in each year since 1992 is not available.

Information Technology Projects

Ms Church: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 7 November, Official Report, column 681, on information technology projects, what is his Department's definition of disproportionate cost. [6698]

Mr. Burt: The Department follows the standard guidance that where the cost of collecting information and preparing a reply to a parliamentary question is in excess of £450, it may be considered disproportionately costly to answer it.

WALES

Computers

Mr. Hoon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems. [5347]

Mr. Hague: My Department uses a number of propriety software packages and for these, information on the number of programs or lines of source code is known only to the supplier.

My Department is carrying out an inventory of that bespoke software which is likely still to be in use in 2000 as part of our strategy for dealing with the year 2000 date change, but compilation of the inventory is not yet complete.

Mr. Hoon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many separate computer programs his Department operates. [5356]

Mr. Hague: There is no universal definition of what constitutes a computer program; this could be simply a formula or a line of executable code.

However, my Department is at present responsible for two major software systems.

Disease Statistics

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cases of (a) AIDS, (b) hepatitis B, (c) prostate cancer, (d) tuberculosis, (e) whooping cough and (f) lung cancer were reported in 1995. [5547]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: The latest available information for Wales is as follows:


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Health Variations

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what assessment he has made of the relative health of divorced partners in Wales; [6059]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Assessments of the links between life styles and social factors and the health of individuals or groups are derived from a range of sources, including applied research and initiatives such as the Welsh health survey. Health authorities are responsible for planning and implementing measures to meet the health needs of their areas and are guided by such assessments and those made by their directors of public health.

Welsh Health Common Services Authority

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the post-project evaluation by the Welsh Health Common Services Authority to demonstrate whether implementation of the move to Crickhowell house matched the projections in the option appraisal agreed with the Department, as set out in the letter from the hon. Member for Clwyd, North-West (Mr. Richards) dated 22 August 1994. [5912]

Mr. Hague: A post-project evaluation was completed by the Welsh Health Common Services Authority in November 1994. Its conclusion was that the costs of moving to Crickhowell house represented good value for money in comparison with an alternative scenario.

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the letter from the hon. Member for Clwyd, North-West dated 22 August 1994, if he will place in the Library details of the alternatives to Crickhowell house considered in the option appraisal for the centralisation of the Welsh Health Common Services Authority; what rent levels and rent-free periods were offered by the other property development companies in their negotiations with the authority; and what role former (a) senior civil servants and (b) Ministers took in the negotiations leading up to the lease being signed for Crickhowell house by the Department in late 1991. [5919]

Mr. Hague: It would be inappropriate to publish details of proposals provided by developers on a commercially confidential basis, but they are open to audit. The preferred developer was selected by the authority after appraising competitive bids and approved by Ministers. The chairman of the authority at the time was also director of NHS Wales and a senior civil servant in the Department.

Asthma, Arthritis and Back Pain

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what assessment he has made of the relative

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prevalence of back pain and arthritis in the Welsh population compared with the United Kingdom as a whole; and to what he attributes variations; [6065]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Indications of improvement in the levels of asthma, arthritis and back pain are currently being considered by a working group led by the Welsh Office with representatives of Welsh health authorities.

The working group is to identify a range of indicators and target levels which could be achieved over the next five years by the application of evidence based clinical care.

Before it is issued in March 1997 the list of indictors and targets will be subject to consultation with the health service, starting in December this year.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the current list of all PFI deals already agreed. [5904]

Mr. Hague: Private finance initiative deals agreed include:


Learning Difficulties

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to assist people in Wales with learning difficulties to reduce the side effects of taking medication. [6064]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Welsh health gain protocol sets a target for 2002 of reducing to 10 per cent. the number of mentally disabled persons who suffer side effects from drugs. A first step is a study into the effects of withdrawing drugs from mentally disabled persons.

Health Service (Extra-contractual Referrals)

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what appraisal he has made of the impact of the removal of the requirement for prior authorisation of extra-contractual referrals on the net and gross expenditure profiles of Welsh health authorities; what representations he has had from those authorities concerning the impact of the change; and if he will make a statement. [5911]

Mr. Hague: Discussions are under way with representatives of NHS Wales about potential changes to the ECR administration process. These discussions include the issue of the removal of the requirement for prior authorisation. The impact on expenditure profiles will be dependent on the conclusions of these discussions.

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Buckley Link Road

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total cost and length of the Buckley link road. [6281]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Flintshire county council is responsible for the Buckley link road scheme.

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