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Official Ministerial Visits

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list for each of the Ministers in her Department how many official ministerial visits they have undertaken since 1 January; and how many of these have been abroad.[9379]

Mr. Horam: The information requested is shown in the table:

	Total number of visits in UK	Total number of visits abroad
Secretary of State for Health	23	nil
Minister of State for Health Mr. Malone	58	3
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mr. Horam	28	nil
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mr. Bowis OBE/ Mr. Burns	51	nil
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Baroness Cumberlege CBE	64	1

Staff

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for his Department (a) how many people in total are employed, (b) how many of the total number of staff are (i) male and (ii) female and (c) how many (I) men and (II) women are employed on a (1) full-time and (2) part-time basis. [9490]

Mr. Horam: The information requested is in the table.

1 December 1996

Total: 4,799
Male: 2,119		Female: 2,680
Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
2,094	25	2,415	265

On 1 April 1996 the national health service regional office staff became part of the Department of Health.

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff there have been in (i) his Department and (ii) executive agencies of his Department in each year since 1992.[9616]

Mr. Horam: The available information is set out in the table:

	Non-casual	Casuals(33)
1 April 1992
Total DH	4,649	159
Executive agencies	412	30
1 April 1993
Total DH	4,716	228
Executive agencies	889	68
1 April 1994
Total DH	4,525	244
Executive agencies	954	65
1 April 1995
Total DH	4,282	271
Executive agencies	985	66
1 April 1996 (34)
Total DH	4,588	271
Executive agencies	1,002	56

(33) Includes inward secondees and staff on fixed term appointments which can last up to a maximum of five years.

(34) On 1 April 1996 some 800 national health service regional office staff became part of the Department of Health.

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 706

Peanut Allergy

Sir Cranley Onslow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the members of the expert group he is commissioning to report on peanut allergy. [9412]

Mr. Horam: Current membership of the peanut allergy working group, a sub-group of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, is as follows:

Members:

Professor H. F. Woods (Chair): Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield

Professor J. O Warner: School of Medicine, Child Health, University of Southampton

Professor S. Strobel: Institute of Child Health, London

Dr. I Kimber: Zeneca Central Toxicology Laboratory, Cheshire

Professor S. T. Holgate: School of Medicine, University of Southampton

Ms V. Shaw: Dietetics Department, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

Professor Caines

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the value for money provided by his Department's funding of Professor Caines' post at Nottingham. [9590]

Mr. Horam: The former Trent regional health authority and, from April 1996, the Trent regional office of the national health service executive have undertaken regular reviews with the centre for health services management at the university of Nottingham to ensure value for money from their funding.

People with Learning Difficulties

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring has been conducted by or on behalf of his Department on, the implementation of the provisions of the guidance issued in 1992 to health and local authorities on the provision of residential accommodation and support for people with learning difficulties; and if he will make a statement on its effectiveness. [9498]

Mr. Burns: Implementation of the guidance is being monitored in the usual way including through the work of the social services inspectorate, and statistical returns. As envisaged in the guidance, services for people with learning disabilities are becoming increasingly responsive to individual needs. There is to be an SSI inspection of learning disability services in 1997.

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 707

Mental Health Green Paper

Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish his Green Paper on mental health. [9878]

Mr. Burns: We intend to publish the Green Paper in the new year.

Domiciliary Care

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are contributing towards the cost of domiciliary care as a result of local authority means tests; and how many liability orders have been issued by local authorities on properties owned by those receiving residential care. [9348]

Mr. Burns: The information requested is not available centrally.

Partnership Insurance Legislation

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the draft Bill on partnership insurance and long-term care. [9346]

Mr. Burns: My. right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced on 24 October 1996 that the Government would publish a draft Bill for consultation in the new year.

Care Service Charges

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assumptions he made about the income which social service departments would recover from charges for care services in the current year and in each of the past five years; and what estimate he has made of the number of people in receipt of such services in each year. [9347]

Mr. Burns: No such assumptions or estimates are made.

Free Eye Examinations

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of restoring free eye examinations to all those over the age of (a) 65, (b) 60 and (c) 55 years. [9664]

Mr. Malone: Our estimates of the cost per annum are:

(a) £24 million


(b) £32 million


(c) £40 million.

Information Technology (Euro)

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what tenders his Department has put out to convert its information technology systems to be euro compliant; what are the cost and person hours required to convert the systems to handle the euro; and when he expects his Department's systems to be fully economic and monetary union compliant. [9451]

Mr. Horam: The Department and its agencies will need to assess the impact which a single currency, assumed to be starting on 1 January 1999, would have

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 708

on their information systems whether or not the United Kingdom decides to participate in the third stage of economic and monetary union.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

Ms Jowell: To ask the secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA have been recorded in England and Wales for each year since 1990. [9512]

Mr. Horam: Information on the total number of cases of infection or colonisation with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus is not collected centrally. Information on the numbers of people affected by MRSA incidents since 1992 is set out in the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Carmarthen (Mr. Williams) on 3 December, Official Report, column 634.

Ms. Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital beds have been closed because of MRSA for each year since 1990. [9513]

Mr. Horam: The information requested is not held centrally.

Political Activity

Ms. Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the political affiliation of those candidates appointed to public positions in the health service after July whose appointments fall within the guidance on declaration of political activity from the Commission for Public Appointments. [9511]

Mr. Malone: Work is currently under way on compiling the Department's second annual report of public appointments which will include information on the political activity of those appointed to serve on health bodies since April 1996.

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