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Shared Parenting

Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many divorce settlements have made use of the provision for shared parenting in Scotland since 1 November. [9414]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Statistics on the number of divorce settlements involving shared parenting since 1 November are not available. Courts

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will make no order under part I of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 unless it is essential to do so, and what orders are made will be particular to the needs of each case. Raw data from the courts will therefore be of limited value. The Scottish Office will, however, evaluate the impact of the provisions of part I as part of a comprehensive research programme on the operation of the provisions of the whole Act.

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Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidelines have been produced on the use of shared parenting in divorce in Scotland in relation to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. [9415]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: No guidelines as such on the use of shared parenting on divorce in Scotland have been produced by the Scottish Office. The interpretation of part I of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 is for the courts.

Divorce Settlements

Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what mechanism he has set up to monitor the effect of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 on divorce settlements in Scotland. [9411]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The Scottish Office is planning to evaluate the effect of part I of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. I intend to announce details of a research programme on the impact of the Act on children and their families early in the new year.

Hospital Admissions (Complications)

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate (a) how many people and (b) the percentage of people who have been admitted to hospital as a direct result of complications after (i) surgery and (ii) medicinal treatment in Scotland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9641]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 17 December 1996]: The information requested is set out in the table.

Discharges of patients from Scottish hospitals with any diagnosis of (a) complications following surgery or (b) adverse effects of drugs, medicaments or biological substances 1991-95

Diagnosis	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
	Complications following surgery(29)
Number	10,304	11,559	12,516	14,149	16,526
Percentage of all discharges	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.5
	Adverse effects of drugs, medicaments or biological substances(30)
Number	2,631	2,601	2,678	3,032	3,634
Percentage of all discharges	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3

(29) Surgical operation and other surgical procedures as the cause of abnormal reaction of patient, or of later complication, without mention of misadventure at the time of operation.

(30) Drugs, medicaments and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use. This includes the "correct drug properly administered" and excludes accidents in dosage or administration. The figures include cases where the initial treatment was not in hospital.

Electors

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the number of electors in each local authority area when the current electoral register was published on 16 February. [9399]

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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 17 December 1996]: The information is set out in the table.

	Parliamentary electorate	Local Government electorate
Scotland	3,963,072	3,971,203
Aberdeen City	171,619	172,841
Aberdeenshire	170,725	171,080
Angus	86,456	86,532
Argyll and Bute	69,462	69,594
Clackmannanshire	37,058	37,087
Dumfries and Galloway	116,639	116,815
Dundee City	116,054	116,290
East Ayrshire	94,936	94,983
East Dunbartonshire	84,194	84,268
East Lothian	69,171	69,242
East Renfrewshire	66,884	66,923
Edinburgh, City of	356,439	358,737
Falkirk	110,544	110,584
Fife	274,585	274,967
Glasgow, City of	469,791	470,878
Highland	162,890	163,154
Inverclyde	68,666	68,694
Midlothian	61,131	61,180
Moray	65,216	65,351
North Ayrshire	106,098	106,164
North Lanarkshire	246,114	246,223
Orkney Islands	15,652	15,678
Perth and Kinross	103,259	103,442
Renfrewshire	138,178	138,245
Scottish Borders	85,281	85,386
Shetland Islands	16,983	17,003
South Ayrshire	90,312	90,417
South Lanarkshire	234,593	234,800
Stirling	64,871	65,255
West Dunbartonshire	72,449	72,459
West Lothian	113,614	113,705
Western Isles	23,208	23,226

Prednisolone

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people (a) have been prescribed and (b) took the steroid Prednisolone in Scotland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9640]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 17 December 1996]: This information is not available in the form requested. It is not possible to identify the number of people who were prescribed or took Prednisolone. Data collected cover the number of prescription items dispensed in Scotland.

Non-custodial Penalties

Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the introduction of stronger non-custodial penalties for convicted offenders. [8136]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Bill introduces electronic tagging so that hooligans can be confined to their homes, or within a very restricted area, and disqualification from driving will be available for all offences.

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NORTHERN IRELAND

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Rev. Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the names of those who have been appointed to serve on the Criminal Cases Review Commission, indicating those from Northern Ireland.[8707]

Sir John Wheeler: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given today by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in response to a question from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence).

The member of the commission with knowledge and experience of the Northern Ireland criminal justice system is Mr. John Leckey, coroner for Belfast since 1992.

Vocational Qualifications

Ms Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the percentage change in the number of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland between 1993-94 and 1994-95. [8713]

Mr. Ancram: Between 1993-94 and 1994-95, there was a decline of 15 per cent. in the number of all types of vocational awards--national vocational qualifications and general national vocational qualifications--made by the main awarding bodies to candidates in Northern Ireland.

As regards GNVQs only, however, there was an increase in the number of students in schools and colleges in Northern Ireland gaining full qualifications. The percentage increases from 1993-94 to 1994-95 were as follows:

Foundation level: 200

Intermediate level: 28

Advanced level: 316.

Royal Ulster Constabulary (Equal Opportunities)

Sir David Steel: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will ensure that the RUC includes sexual orientation within the scope of its equal opportunities policy. [8914]

Sir John Wheeler: There is currently a working party within the RUC considering the concept of sexual orientation and its implications for the force, in terms both of service delivery and human resource management.

Dundonald Training Centre

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the annual saving from the closure of Dundonald training centre; how many staff are employed at the centre; how many persons were trained in the centre in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [9276]

Mr. Ancram: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Training and Employment Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Ian Walters. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

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Letter from Ian Walters to Mr. John D. Taylor, dated 18 December 1996:

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me, as Chief Executive of the Training & Employment Agency (T&EA), to reply to your question about the proposed closure of Dundonald Training Centre.

The closure of Dundonald Training Centre will result in estimated programme expenditure savings of £1.2 million in a full financial year. This saving will be offset by the cost of providing Jobskills training for young people at other training organisations which will be in the region of £500,000 per year.

At present, 40 staff are employed at Dundonald Training Centre. We will seek to avoid compulsory redundancies through re-deployment to other Agency Training Centres, voluntary premature retirement and natural wastage.

In each of the past three years the number of people who enrolled for training at Dundonald Training Centre was as follows:

Year	Numbers of trainees
1996-97	(31)328
1995-96	327
1994-95	304

(31) At 13 December 1996.

The Agency will ensure that all trainees currently at Dundonald Training Centre are allowed to complete their agreed period of training at the Centre. Following the closure of the Centre, trainees who, in accordance with their training programme, are placed with employers for their further training will be supervised by staff from other parts of the Agency's Training Centre network.

I hope you find this information useful.

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