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Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the financial information in respect of outstanding PFI bids for NHS hospital development contracts. [17]
Mr. Milburn: Information relating to outstanding Private Finance Initiative proposals may be made available from the National Health Service trusts concerned unless it affects on going negotiations. Additionally, NHS trusts must publish and make publicly available an annual report and audited accounts. Trusts have a requirement to include in their annual report a statement regarding PFI proposals and actions. In addition, trusts are required to analyse the impact of all significant items, including PFI deals, in the audited accounts.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the specifications for PFI-funded projects in (a) their original outline and (b) their current form. [19]
Mr. Milburn: Information on original and current specifications for capital investment projects may be obtained from the National Health Service trusts concerned, providing that it does not affect commercial negotiations.
Health Authority Funding
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each English health authority its deficit or surplus for 1996-97, its projected deficit or surplus for 1997-98 and the increase or decrease in its waiting lists over the last available year. [776]
Mr. Milburn: The information on the latest estimated surplus/deficit for 1996-97, of each English health authority will be placed in the Library. Plans for 1997-98 are still being agreed. Waiting list figures for each current English health authority are available from June 1996 and the latest available are for 31 December 1996, both of which have been placed in the Library.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health authorities have reported deficit problems relating to their funding arrangements in (a) the current and (b) the previous year. [1517]
Mr. Milburn: I refer my hon. Friend to the replies given to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) and the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) today.
Health authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their net expenditure remains within their allocated cash limit. In 1996-97 all health authorities achieved this. All health authorities are required to remain within their cash limit for 1997-98.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date the problems of deficits currently having to be considered by ministers were first drawn to the attention of his Department. [1519]
Mr. Milburn:
The National Health Service Executive monitors the performance of health authorities and trusts continually as part of a cycle of planning and regular monitoring reviews. Information on the financial position of health authorities and trusts is published quarterly and was placed in the Library on 17 March in response to a request from my hon. Friend the Member for York (Mr. Bayley).
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health trusts and health authorities were in deficit on 1 April; and by what amounts. [1027]
Mr. Milburn:
Plans for 1997-98 are still being agreed. Information on the 1996-97 quarter 4 position of all health authorities and trusts have been placed in the Library.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of (a) NHS managers, (b) general practitioners, (c) consultants/registrars and (d) nurses, by grade, are from ethnic minority backgrounds; and what steps he proposes to take to increase their numbers. [1046]
Mr. Milburn:
Information about the ethnic origin of National Health Service hospital & community health services managers, nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff and hospital medical staff (including consultants and registrars) is contained in "NHS hospital and community health services non-medical workforce census; England as at September 1995: ethnic group tables" and "Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Service Medical and Dental staff in England 1985 to 1995", copies of which are available in the Library.
The Department has not collected data on ethnic origins of general practitioners or their staff to date. However, the Department holds data on Unrestricted Principals 1 by their country of qualification: 17 per cent. of Unrestricted Principals qualified outside the European Economic Area at 1 October 1995.
Chairs and Chief Executives of NHS trusts and health authorities are accountable for meeting the goals of "Ethnic minority staff in the NHS: a programme of action", the overall aim of which is to secure fair
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representation of ethnic minorities at all levels in the health service. Progress towards these goals forms part of the "NHS as a good employer" benchmark set out in the annual Priorities and Planning guidance, and the NHS Executive is working at a national level to promote and disseminate best practice.
Mr. Martyn Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research his Department has evaluated into possible links between the fatty material in coffee beans and the incidence of heart disease; and if he will make a statement. [1329]
Ms Jowell:
In 1994 the Department published the Report of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy on the nutritional aspects of cardiovascular disease, copies of which are available in the Library. The committee concluded that the evidence that caffeine or coffee consumption may contribute to the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) remains inconsistent and that coffee drinking as practised in the United Kingdom does not appear to affect CHD risk. The Department is aware of more recent Scandinavian research on the capacity of some components present in unfiltered, boiled coffee to raise blood cholesterol, and on the effect of method of preparation on its content of them. Given the different coffee drinking patterns in the UK, it is not clear whether this Scandinavian research is relevant to the incidence of heart disease in the UK.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the disciplinary procedures of NHS trusts with particular reference to offering trust employees the protection provided in paragraphs 189-90 of the 1994 Whitley Council Terms and Conditions of Service. [1337]
Mr. Milburn:
The General Whitley Council protocol on disciplinary procedures was promulgated in February 1995 following the agreement of the Staff Side of the Council. The protocol aims to ensure disciplinary matters are resolved as quickly as possible at local employer level. There are no plans at present to review the procedures.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the level of public funding for drug misuse services; what assessment he has made of the impact of the new methodology for allocating resources for drug misuse services on the level of funding allocated for East Lancashire; and if he will make a statement. [1439]
Ms Jowell:
We have received a number of representations about the level of funding for drug misuse services. No particular assessment has been made of the impact on the new methodology for allocating resources for drug misuse services on the level of funding allocated for East Lancashire. The special allocation for drug
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misuse nationally has increased by over 9 per cent. in real terms in 1997-98 and the allocation to East Lancashire has increased by over 7 per cent.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of (a) deaths and (b) serious illnesses resulting from the use of lariam.[1486]
Ms Jowell:
The Medicines Control Agency receives reports of suspected adverse reactions to licensed medicinal products via the Yellow Card Scheme. A report of a suspected reaction does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the medicine. However, as the scheme is voluntary, not all adverse reactions are reported.
1 An Unrestricted Principal is a practitioner who provides the full range of general medical services and whose list is not limited to any particular group of persons.
Source: GP Census.
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