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School League Tables

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans her Department has to investigate claims that school league tables are misleading indicators of educational achievement; and if she will make a statement. [19880]

Mrs. Gillan: My right hon. Friend consults each year on the indicators to be included in school performance tables. The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority has confirmed that key stage 2 data are appropriate for use in tables, and a large scale independent evaluation by the University of Bath reported general satisfaction with the 1995-96 testing arrangements.

Early Retirement (Teachers)

Mr. Rendal: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the number of identified incompetent headteachers and teaching staff who have been granted pension enhancement in return for their early retirement since 1990. [19705]

Mrs. Gillan: The Department does not collect information on the reasons why individual teachers are granted enhancements to their pensions.

Education Council

Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what items were on the agenda for (a) discussion, and (b) decision, at the meeting of Education Ministers of member states of the European Community held in Amsterdam on 3 March. [19743]

Mr. Paice: The informal meeting of EC Education Ministers on 2 and 3 March, at which I represented the UK, discussed a Netherlands presidency paper on information and communications technology and teacher training and the European Commission Green Paper, "Education, Training Research: The Obstacles to Transnational Mobility". No decisions were taken at the meeting.

Residential Visits

Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her estimate of the number of school children who have been on residential visits in the last year. [19702]

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Mrs. Gillan: The Department does not collect this information.

School Governing Bodies

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment by what means the competence of school governing bodies is monitored. [19703]

Mr. Robin Squire: Under the Ofsted inspection framework registered inspectors comment on the overall management of schools, including aspects of school governance. Significant national trends are reported in HM chief inspector's annual report. At local level governors are directly accountable to parents and the local community, both through their published annual report, and the meeting they have to hold annually with parents.

There are 350,000 school governors in England and Wales working as unpaid volunteers. The Government welcome the considerable contribution they are making to the education system.

Teachers (Disciplinary Procedures)

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) headteachers and (b) teaching staff have been suspended and subsequently dismissed without proper procedures being used since 1990. [19704]

Mrs. Gillan: The Department does not collect this information. My right hon. Friend occasionally receives representations from teachers and other staff in schools about their employers' actions, including questions about the use of dismissal procedures.

Assisted Places Scheme

Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list by participating

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school in Nottinghamshire the number of pupils and cost of the assisted places scheme for the last three years for which figures are available. [19735]

Mrs. Gillan: The information requested is given in the following table:

Assisted places scheme in Nottinghamshire

School nameAcademic year 1993-941994-951995-96
Nottingham High SchoolNumber of assisted pupils170171174
Cost of places £000s445466498
Nottingham High School for Girls (GPDST)Number of assisted pupils210204197
Cost of places £000s514526529
Worksop CollegeNumber of assisted pupils252527
Cost of places £000s113122131

Mr. Tracey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement about the level of parental contributions to the fees of pupils in the assisted places scheme in the next academic year. [20007]

Mrs. Gillan: Remission of tuition fees under the assisted places scheme is dependent on the level of fees at participating schools and the amount parents can afford to contribute. Subject to parliamentary approval of regulations to be laid in due course, the parental contribution scales will be adjusted for the school year 1997-98 to allow for inflation, so that the cost to parents remains broadly the same in real terms. Where the relevant income for the appropriate financial year does not exceed £10,135, the tuition fees will be wholly remitted so that the pupil receives a free place. The new scales are set out in the following table.

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1997-98 Percentage

Part of relevant income to which percentage appliesOne assisted pupil Each of two assisted pupilsEach of three assisted pupils
That part which exceeds £9,969 but does not exceed £10,84096.755.25
That part (if any) which exceeds £10,840 but does not exceed £11,7251297
That part (if any) which exceeds £11,725 but does not exceed £13,4811511.258.75
That part (if any) which exceeds £13,481 but does not exceed £16,1862115.7512.25
That part (if any) which exceeds £16,186 but does not exceed £19,712241814
That part (if any) which exceeds £19,7123324.7519.25

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HEALTH

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the number of beds and wards closed, and admissions and operations postponed or cancelled, as a result of outbreaks of MRSA in the last year. [18712]

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

Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will call for a report on the recent incidence of MRSA among patients at Walsgrave hospital, Coventry,

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with particular reference to the manner in which the hospital has complied with the 1986 national guidelines on MRSA infection control systems. [19596]

Mr. Horam: Guidance on the control of methicillin-resistant staphylococcos aureus in hospitals was issued in September 1994 and work is currently underway to revise the guidance. The hon. Member may wish to contact Mr. Gary Reay, chairman of the Walsgrave Hospitals NHS trust for information on the local application of these guidelines.

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of screening all hospital patients for MRSA; [19888]

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Mr. Horam: Cost-effective strategies for screening are outlined in the guidelines on control of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus which were issued to the NHS in 1994 under cover of EL(94)74. Implementation of screening policies is for local determination based on local circumstances.

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what antibiotics are available to combat MRSA; and how many hospitals currently hold supplies of these. [19845]

Mr. Horam: Antibiotics effective in combatting methicillin-resistent staphylococcus aureus will be dependant on the particular strain of MRSA. Two of the strains associated with a large number of MRSA occurrences can be combated by a number of antibiotics such as rifampicin, fusidic acid and tetracycline. The glycopeptide antibiotics--vancomycin and teicoplanin--are effective against all strains of MRSA. The range of antibiotics held by hospitals and the control over their use are a matter for local decision.

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating those infected with MRSA in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [19862]

Mr. Horam: MRSA infection can take the form of many different diseases from trivial skin infections to pneumonia or septicaemia. No estimates have been made of the costs of treating MRSA nationally.

Negligence Claims

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the total amounts paid out by (a) NHS trusts and (b) health authorities, in response to negligence claims in each of the last 10 years; and if he will list the amounts by region. [18768]

Mr. Horam: I refer the hon. Member to replies given to the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) on 6 March 1995, columns 41-42, and 17 May 1996, column 586, and to the hon. Member for Dulwich (Ms Jowell) on 28 November 1996, columns 371-72. These replies still give the current figures for clinical negligence for health authorities.

Further to the reply given to the hon. Member for Darlington on 4 December 1995, column 44, with regard to expenditure by trusts, the tables show the information given in that reply broken down by region.

Clinical negligence claims settled in the year by NHS trusts

£ thousand
1991-921992-931993-94
Northern0038
Yorkshire2348
Trent8510
East Anglian000
North West Thames133140203
North East Thames03164
South East Thames028370
South West Thames1372135
Wessex00119
Oxford0024
South Western099155
West Midlands0025
Mersey0299304
North Western0019
Total England2806261,414

Source:

NHS trust TAC summarisation schedules.


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Clinical negligence claims settled in the year by NHS trusts, 1994-95

1994-95 £000
Northern and Yorkshire241
Trent100
Anglian and Oxford229
North Thames858
South Thames642
South and West841
West Midlands26
North West370
Total England3,307

Source:

NHS trust TAC summarisation schedules.



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