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Dioxin Emissions
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the health hazards associated with dioxin emissions; and if he will make a statement. [10423]
Mr. Horam: The expert advisory Committee on the Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment has reviewed the toxicology of dioxins on a number of occasions. A tolerable daily intake for dioxins of 10 picograms per kilogram of body weight per day was set in by the committee in 1991. Following a United States Environmental Protection Agency draft report on dioxins in September 1994, COT reviewed all the available data and concluded that the new information continued to support its earlier advice and the TDI remained unchanged.
The results of the first review on dioxins were reported in "Pollution Paper No. 27: Dioxins in the Environment"--HMSO: London, 1989. Pollution papers are available in the Library.
Food Poisoning
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recent Ecoli epidemic; what plans he has to introduce new measures to prevent such epidemics; and if he will make a statement. [10424]
Mr. Horam: An assessment of the outbreak in Scotland is being made by an expert group under the chairmanship of Professor Pennington. I refer the hon. Member to the statement made to the House by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland on 15 January 1997, Official Report, columns 323-26.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the annual number of cases of food poisoning in each year since 1980; and if he will make a statement. [10463]
Mr. Horam: The number of cases of food poisoning notified to the Office for National Statistics is published
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in "Series MB2 Communicable Disease Statistics", copies of which are available in the Library.
Edgware General Hospital
Mr. Dykes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the letter from the hon. Member for Harrow, East sent to him on 6 December, if he will invoke his powers under National Health Service Acts to secure from the Barnet district health authority an extension of the range of emergency services available at Edgware general hospital, in accordance with the terms of his written undertaking to the hon. Members for Hendon, North (Sir J. Gorst) and for Harrow, East submitted on 11 June; and if he will place a copy of this letter in the Library.[10537]
Mr. Dorrell: I do not intend to publish private and confidential correspondence between myself and hon. Members; I have no intention of using my reserve powers under the National Health Service Acts in respect of current proposals for Edgware hospital; I believe that the decisions reached by Barnet health authority at a meeting on 25 September 1996 reflect the real commitment of the NHS to respond to the concerns of the people of Edgware.
Life Expectancy
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent life expectancy has changed since 1979. [10661]
Mr. Horam: Life expectancy at birth in England has increased in men from 70.4 years in 1979 to 74.3 years in 1995 and in women from 76.4 years in 1979 to 79.6 years in 1995.
GP-prescribed Drugs
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the expenditure on general practitioner-prescribed (a) tranquilisers and (b) anti-depressants in each health district in England over the last three years and for the half year to October 1996 in cash terms as expenditure per head of resident population in each district. [11612]
Mr. Malone: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 22 July 1996, Official Report, column 112. Information before 1995-96 is not held and available information for the half year to September 1996 will be placed in the Library.
Suicides
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many suicides occurred in (a) each health district in England, and (b) NHS institutions in the last three complete years, and for the half year to October 1996; and if he will express these figures as a rate per head of the population. [11616]
Mr. Burns: Details of the number of suicides in (a) each health district in England and (b) NHS facilities in the last three complete years will be placed in the Library. Data for the first half of 1996 are not yet
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available. For (b) it is not possible to calculate population rates because there are no hospital populations available to use as denominators.
Ambulance Trusts (Staff)
Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) paramedics, (b) technicians and (c) staff in total were employed by ambulance trusts in each of the last five years. [8505]
Mr. Malone [holding answer 12 December 1996]: The information available centrally is shown in the table. Ambulance technicians are not separately identified in the Department of Health's annual non-medical work force census and paramedics were not separately identified until 1995--the latest year for which census information is available.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1991 | |
| Ambulance staff(26) | 1,240 |
| All staff | 1,420 |
| 1992 | |
| Ambulance staff(26) | 4,620 |
| All staff | 5,320 |
| 1993 | |
| Ambulance staff(26) | 10,260 |
| All staff | 11,810 |
| 1994 | |
| Ambulance staff(26) | 14,960 |
| All staff | 17,160 |
| 1995 | |
| Ambulance paramedics | 5,240 |
| All staff | 17,540 |
Notes:
(25) Figures are based on trusts described as "ambulance trusts" in their title. Ambulance staff employed by other trusts e.g. whole district trusts or community trusts, are excluded. The figures exclude staff not employed in trusts e.g. directly managed units (including the London Ambulance Service).
(26) Ambulance staff include ambulance men and women, ambulance officers and control assistants.
Source:
Department of Health's annual non-medical work force census.
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