| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Minimum Age Requirements
Mr. Barry Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the minimum age requirements enforced by his Department. [15915]
Mr. Horam: This Department sets out the following age requirements in primary legislation:
under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, section 18, children may not in general be employed under the age of 13. Restrictions also apply to hours worked by children up to the minimum school leaving age. Street trading under the age of 16 is also prohibited under section 20 of the Act as amended, but children of 14 or over can be employed by their parents. These requirements are enforced by local authorities; and
an application for a licence to set up a nurses agency may be refused by a local authority under section 2(3)(a) of the Nurses Agencies Act 1957 if the applicant, or licence holder, is under 21.
NHS Funding (North-West)
Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much money was spent on the NHS in the north-west in 1979; [16146]
- (2) how much money has been spent on the NHS in the north-west for each year since 1992. [16145]
Mr. Horam: Figures for 1979 are not available. The table gives details from 1992-93 to 1995-96.
| 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue expenditure (£ million) | 3,592 | 3,785 | (23)4,149 | 4,388 |
(23) Includes Cumbria FHSA.
Tropical Diseases
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent during each of the last five years on provision of travel vaccinations. [16266]
Mr. Horam:
Information is not collected in the form requested. The net ingredient costs in England for vaccines which may be given for the purposes of travel
24 Feb 1997 : Column: 68
are given in the table. Some of the vaccines in this group will have been prescribed for reasons other than travel. The costs do not include dispensing costs. Information on the costs of administration of these vaccines by general practitioners is not held centrally.
| Year | Total cost (£ million) |
|---|---|
| 1991 | 7.3 |
| 1992 | 16.5 |
| 1993 | 29.1 |
| 1994 | 40.5 |
| 1995 | 47.0 |
(24) The travel vaccines are those preparations in the British National Formulary Issue 28, September 1994, section 14.6--International travel: BCG, cholera, diphtheria, hepatitis A, meningococcal A and C, normal immunoglobulin, poliomyelitis, typhoid, typhoid-paratyphoid A and B and yellow fever. Some of these vaccines will have been prescribed for reasons other than travel.
Notes
1. The data cover all prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England.
2. The net ingredient costs refers to the cost of the drug before discounts and does not include any dispensing costs or fees.
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the impact of introducing charges for travel vaccines on (a) the number of cases of travellers returning to the UK infected with disease and (b) the number of people receiving vaccinations before travelling abroad. [16268]
Mr. Horam: People do not have to pay for all travel vaccines and this policy has not changed. Travellers have always had to pay a prescription charge or the full cost for some vaccines. Free advice on appropriate measures to protect health when travelling abroad, including advice on immunisation and malaria prophylaxis, is available under the national health service.
The Department of Health keeps under review all available information on imported infectious diseases and the risk to travellers and this is taken into account in formulating policy on travel vaccines.
Private Patients
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private patients as (a) in-patients and (b) day cases in NHS pay beds received treatment in each specialty in 1995-96; and how many have received such treatment so far in 1996-97. [16646]
Mr. Horam:
Information for 1995-96 and 1996-97 is not yet available.
24 Feb 1997 : Column: 69
Mr. Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions to NHS hospitals in England there were of patients from (a) non-NHS hospitals, (b) private nursing homes and (c) private health care or residential institutions in each year from 1985-86 to 1995-96. [16649]
Mr. Horam:
The information that is available relates to the years 1989-90 to 1994-95 and is for the total number of admissions to national health service hospitals in England from non-NHS hospitals, private nursing homes, private health care or private residential institutions.
| Year | Number of admissions to NHS hospitals in England from other non-NHS hospitals, nursing homes, health care or residential institutions |
|---|---|
| 1989-90 | 41,192 |
| 1990-91 | 39,766 |
| 1991-92 | 36,535 |
| 1992-93 | 32,225 |
| 1993-94 | 30,612 |
| 1994-95 | 24,124 |
Note:
Data is grossed for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data.
Source:
Department of Health, Hospital Episode Statistics.
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many private patients in NHS pay beds underwent surgery or day surgery (a) in total and (b) under each chapter of the OPCS operation short list in 1995-96. [16660]
Mr. Horam: Information for 1995-96 is not yet available.
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many out-patient consultations with private patients were held in NHS hospitals (a) in total and (b) in each surgical and non-surgical specialty in 1990-91 and each subsequent year. [16615]
Mr. Horam: The information requested is contained in the statistical publication. "Outpatients and ward attenders, England", copies of which are available in the Library.
Attention Deficit Disorder
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the relationship between attention deficit disorder and learning difficulties; and if he will make a statement. [16622]
Mr. Burns: There is no specific research being undertaken into the relationship between attention deficit disorder and learning difficulties but research on learning difficulties is included in the current National Health Service research and development programme.
National Health Service Executive
Mr. Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the annual budget for the NHS Executive in 1997-98; and how many people he estimates it will employ in that year. [16645]
24 Feb 1997 : Column: 70
Mr. Horam:
The National Health Service Executive's provisional annual budget for 1997-98 is £107.5 million. This is £9.5 million less than in 1996-97. Precise staffing figures will emerge as part of the detailed business planning round for 1997-98, which is now under way.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many breast implants have been carried out in each year since 1985 on the national health service; and how many have leaked. [16902]
Mr. Horam:
The available data on the number of primary operations carried out in national health service hospitals covering the years 1989-90 to 1994-95 are shown in the table. Information on the number of implants that have leaked is not available centrally.
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 1989-90 | 3,080 |
| 1990-91 | 3,342 |
| 1991-92 | 4,300 |
| 1992-93 | 5,360 |
| 1993-94 | 4,781 |
| 1994-95 | 5,478 |
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics, Operation Code B30 and B31.
Children (Policy Co-ordination)
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the co-ordination of Government policies relating to children. [15529]
Mr. Burns: There are many mechanisms--formal and informal--already in place to facilitate co-ordination between Government Departments on policies for children. We believe these work well, especially as they have been recently expanded by the forming of the children services strategy group which was established by the Department.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |