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Data Collection (Postcodes)
Mr. Barnes: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 11 February, Official Report, column 124, what action is taken when a postcode cuts across local authority boundaries; and what action has been taken in relation to the S12 and S31 post code areas. [19630]
Mr. Greg Knight: The Department does not take action when a postcode cuts across local authority boundaries, since postcodes are not used as the basis for geographically targeted policies.
Business Breakfast Tours
Mrs. Roche:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much each of the business breakfast tours cost; and which hon. Members were present at each. [19246]
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Mr. Lang
[holding answer 10 March 1997]: The information requested is given in the following table.
| Event | Cost including VAT (£) | Members attending |
|---|---|---|
| Luton | 7,706.73 | Mr. Lang, Mr. Page, Sir Graham Bright |
| Lincoln | 1,232.41 | Mr. Knight |
| Leeds | 5,530.70 | Mr. Lang, Mr. Curry, Mr. Kirkhope, Dr. Hampson, Mr. Gunnell |
| Southampton | 3,353.50 | Sir George Young, Mr. Ian Taylor |
| Norwich | 5,650.39 | Mr. Jack, Mr. Knight |
| Ipswich | 7,484.10 | Mr. Curry, Mr. Paice, Mr. Lord, Mr. Cann |
| Birkenhead | 924.95 | Mr. Jack, Mr. John Taylor |
| Leicester | 3,700.43 | Sir George Young, Mr. John Taylor |
| Bath | 5,300.00 | Mr. Waldegrave, Dr. Fox |
| Exeter | 5,000.00 | Mr. Waldegrave, Mr. Streeter |
| Crawley | 5,500.00 | Mr. Forth, Mr. Ian Taylor |
| Bolton | 1,420.00 | Mr. Alistair Burt, Mr. John Taylor |
| Ashford | 6,053.63 | Mr. Waldegrave, Mr. Ian Taylor |
| Birmingham | (18)17,432.00 | Mr. Lang, Mr. Page |
| Grantham | 3,876.79 | Mr. Knight, Mr. Kirkhope, Mr. Davies |
| Worcester | (18)2,000.00 | Sir George Young, Mr. Page |
| Corby | (18)2,426.27 | Mr. Curry, Mr. Knight, Mr. Kirkhope, Mr. William Powell |
| Swindon | (18)4,760.00 | Mr. Waldegrave, Mr. Evans |
| Croydon | 1,184.50 | Mrs. Knight, Mr. Congdon |
| Oxford | (18)2,700.00 | Mr. Forth, Mr. Ian Taylor |
(18) Indicates estimate.
Arms Sales
Ms Short: To ask Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list (a) the countries and other bodies which have bought arms from the United Kingdom in the last 10 years under the export credits guarantee scheme and defaulted on their payments and (b) the sums of money involved in each case. [14007]
Mr. Nelson [pursuant to his reply 14 February 1997, c.337]: I have been asked to reply. Since April 1986 the Export Credits Guarantee Department has paid the following claims on guarantees related to business with defence ministries.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Egypt | 93 |
| Venezuela | 31.7 |
| Jordan | 16.9 |
| Kenya | 13.7 |
In addition, some business not listed was also the subject of claims payments relating to defence ministries. This information cannot be released as it could cause harm in terms of one or more of the defence, security, international relations and commercial confidence exemptions in the code of practice on access to Government information. These were the exemptions in the code referred to the statement on defence exports by my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement on 23 July 1996, Official Report, column 212.
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ECGD does not distinguish specifically arms from other sales to defence ministries but a review of the records and case files indicates that arms account for less than one quarter of the total defence claims.
The figures given do not take into account recoveries of claims paid. Likewise, they do not include any claims in respect of ECGD's former short-term operations which were privatised in 1991 and for which equivalent data are not available.
Mr. Illsley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the recommendations contained in the White Paper, "Working for Patients", relating to patients' access to high-cost drugs, represent current Government policy. [17385]
Mr. Malone:
Measures are in place to ensure that general practitioners are able to take on the prescribing of medicines for patients with unusually high prescribing costs, where it is clinically appropriate for them to do so.
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment of the health effects of CS gas and sprays have been made by the senior medical officers of his Department since 1990; how many published and internal papers have been written by his Department's medical officers on this subject since 1990; and what are the current security classifications of these reports. [17950]
Mr. Horam:
Officials of the Department have reviewed the scientific data on CS gas and sprays but they have not produced any scientific papers or reports on the subject. A list of the published scientific literature which was fully reviewed will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Barron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the number and the percentage of general practitioner surgeries which are computerised for each NHS region; and how many of these operate clinical live on-line systems. [19103]
Mr. Malone:
The information requested is not held centrally. Projected results of a general practitioner computer survey undertaken by Gallup in 1993 are set out in the table:
12 Mar 1997 : Column: 262
Equal Opportunities
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many black and Asian-owned companies have applied for NHS contracts; how many have won the contracts they have applied for; and what plans there are to introduce ethnic monitoring into the contracting process to establish whether stated equal opportunities policies are successful. [19064]
Mr. Horam: The information requested is not available centrally. Trusts and health authorities are required to follow the European Union public procurement directives which set clear standards for the evaluation criteria which may be used in order to ensure openness and fairness of competition. There are no plans to introduce central monitoring of their compliance with the directives.
Health Services (Wandsworth)
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the total funding provided by his Department for health services approved for 1997-98 in the London borough of Wandsworth. [19487]
Mr. Horam: The London borough of Wandsworth is covered by Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth health authority. For 1997-98, the health authority has an initial total cash allocation of £350.8 million plus a further £7.2 million in additional allocations.
Information on the funding of the London borough of Wandsworth is not held centrally. I refer the hon. Member to Mr. Harry Cowd, chairman of Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth health authority.
Smoking (Pregnancy)
Sir Peter Emery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to encourage the reduction of smoking during pregnancy. [19364]
Mr. Horam: The Health Education Authority is continuing its campaign aimed at pregnant women, in conjunction with doctors, nurses, health visitors and pharmacists. In addition, the national smoking educational campaign is designed to motivate and assist those in socio-economic groups C2DE, in particular parents and pregnant women, to quit.
Senior Managers
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many senior managers in the NHS who had resigned after being requested to do so or had their contracts terminated were appointed to another post within the NHS within (a) five years, (b) three years, (c) two years and (d) 12 months. [19428]
Mr. Malone:
The information requested is not available centrally.
12 Mar 1997 : Column: 263
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals are currently seeking PFI contracts in England. [19432]
Mr. Horam:
There are currently 151 national health service trusts seeking private finance initiative contracts with a capital value of £1 million or over in England.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many withdrawals of approval for post have been made by postgraduate deans in each of the last five years. [19379]
Mr. Malone:
New posts require both educational and staffing approval. Postgraduate deans' power to withdraw educational approval from existing posts applies only to pre-registration house officer posts. Information on the exercise of this power is not available centrally.
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