| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Blind and Partially Sighted People
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people are registered (a) blind and (b) partial-sighted. [19085]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: At 31 March 1995, there were 21,124 people registered blind and 9,351 people registered partially-sighted in Scotland.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many answers to parliamentary questions by
11 Mar 1997 : Column: 138
Ministers in his Department in the last 12 months have exceeded the advisory cost limit; and if he will make a statement. [19339]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 10 March 1997]: Where the cost of answering a particular parliamentary question is estimated to exceed £450, it is the general practice for Departments to make clear that the question could be answered only by incurring disproportionate cost. Given the large number of questions tabled, it would be unreasonable for the Scottish Office to systematically calculate the exact cost of answering every single parliamentary question.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many patients received hospital in-patient or day care for oral cancer in each of the last five years. [19315]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
The information is set out in the table.
| Year | In-patient | Day case | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 1,014 | 66 | 1,080 |
| 1992-93 | 1,063 | 93 | 1,156 |
| 1993-94 | 1,107 | 128 | 1,235 |
| 1994-95 | 1,087 | 115 | 1,202 |
| 1995-96 | 1,164 | 207 | 1,371 |
Cataracts
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many patients received hospital in-patient or day care for cataracts in each of the last five years. [19316]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information is set out in the table.
| Year | In-patient | Day case | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 10,645 | 41 | 10,686 |
| 1992-93 | 12,384 | 324 | 12,708 |
| 1993-94 | 12,276 | 1,420 | 13,696 |
| 1994-95 | 12,270 | 2,847 | 15,117 |
| 1995-96 | 11,459 | 4,332 | 15,791 |
Housing
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to his answer of 20 February, Official Report, column 678, in what circumstances a local authority can act under the terms of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 against the owner of a privately owned property in a state of disrepair; what action these powers require the owner of the property to take; what liability use of this legislation beings on the local authority; and which clauses of that Act confer on the local authority the power to act. [19530]
11 Mar 1997 : Column: 139
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson:
Section 87 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 enables a local authority to serve a notice on the owners of buildings requiring that they be brought into a reasonable state of repair. If the owners comply the authority may be liable to pay repairs grant. If they do not comply the local authority may arrange and pay for the works to be carried out and recover the cost from the owner. If in the interests of health or safety, or to prevent damage to any property, it appears necessary to an authority to repair a building immediately it may do so without prior notice and recover the costs from the owner.
Mr. Barnes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the numbers of electors in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland on the registers that will be used in the general election. [19622]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
The information is set out in the table.
11 Mar 1997 : Column: 140
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many hospitals screen patients for MRSA on admission; [19846]
- (2) how many hospitals have reported cases of MRSA in the past 12 months; how many cases there were in total; and in how many cases MRSA was the cause of or contributed to death; [19847]
(3) what measures are being taken to prevent the spread of MRSA outside hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [19848]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Information regarding hospitals is not held in the form requested, but the Scottish centre for infection and environmental health monitors the overall incidence of MRSA across Scotland.
In May 1996, the Scottish Office issued information and advice to health boards, social service departments and residential nursing homes about the care of people in the community with MRSA and about infection control generally in residential and nursing homes. This included Department of Health publications entitled "MRSA--What nursing and residential homes need to know" and "Guidelines on the Control of Infection in Residential Homes", copies of which are in the Library.
Fisheries Research Services Agency
Sir Hector Monro: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the Fisheries Research Services Agency will be established; and when its framework document will be published. [20101]
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson:
Fisheries Research Services will come into existence as an executive agency on 1 April 1997. Its framework document has been published today and a copy has been placed in the Library.
11 Mar 1997 : Column: 141
Private Employment Agencies
Mr. Hall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the private employment agencies used by his Department and its agencies in each of the last three years for which figures are available, indicating (a) the names of the agencies, (b) the numbers employed by the agencies in work for his Department, (c) the total cost to his Department of using employment agencies and the median cost paid to the agency per person recruited and (d) the average length of contract for persons recruited via such agencies. [16178]
Mrs. Angela Knight: The Treasury does not use private employment agencies for the recruitment of permanent staff. In the last three years, it has used only the Recruitment and Assessment Agency. However, it does use Brook Street Bureau plc and Excel Recruitment Ltd. to provide emergency secretarial cover on an ad hoc basis--and also Employment Services to recruit administrative staff on a casual basis.
The responses for the Department's agencies are given below.
HM Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue
As the recruitment of staff has been delegated to local budget holders the information requested is not readily available.
11 Mar 1997 : Column: 142
Royal Mint
In 1996 the Royal Mint used two agencies. The answers to the specific points are given below.
(a) NBS consultants
(b) 1
(c) £14,000
(d) Permanent
(a) Office Angels
(b) 1
(c) £3,000
(d) Permanent
In 1995, the Royal Mint also used the following agency to employ a casual for six months: Hays Accountancy Personnel--cost £916.
Paymaster
Paymaster has not used private employment agencies during the past three years.
Office for National Statistics
The ONS was formed on 1 April 1996 following the merger of the Central Statistical Office--a Chancellor's Department--and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys--formerly the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Health. The CSO assumed responsibility for part of the former Employment Department in July 1995. The answer refers only to the former CSO part of the ONS.
The CSO used private employment agencies to provide short-term only temporary cover, usually for secretarial staff and messengers. The number of such staff employed is not readily available, nor the cost to CSO. The usual period of employment was about two weeks.
The private employment agencies used for the employment of temporary staff were: Josephine Sammons Ltd., Adecco Alfred Marks and Meridian.
The Recruitment and Assessment Agency was used to assist in recruitment when it was a Government agency. Its successor, Capita, was similarly used in November-December 1996 for an executive officer recruitment scheme. The total cost was £14,733.32. The
median cost per person recruited was £998.75. All 13 recruits were offered initial one-year contracts, with the possibility of subsequent permanent status.
Valuation Office
The following is all the information available from the Valuation Office's new financial system. The system holds information relating to payments made on invoices but does not hold the detail necessary to ascertain the answers to parts (b) and (d) of the question.
(a) The agencies used by the VA are:
Brook Street Bureau
Back-up Training and Personnel
Blue Arrow Personnel
Susan Hamilton Personnel
Michael Page UK Ltd.
Reed Staffing Services
The Capita Group PLC
Manpower PLC
Kelly Services (UK)
Adecco Alfred Marks.
(c) Figures are only available from the NFS for this financial year--1 April 1996 to date: £66,280.82.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |