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Road Traffic Accident Costs
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional revenues he estimates will accrue to the NHS in 1997-98 from the recovery of moneys made by trusts under the terms of the Road Traffic Reduction Act 1997. [11042]
Ms Jowell:
None. The Road Traffic Reduction Act does not give revenue-raising powers to national health service trusts.
30 Jul 1997 : Column: 392
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if income received by an NHS trust from the recoupment of road traffic accident costs is repayable to purchasing authorities. [11279]
Ms Jowell:
No, but trusts must take income from this source into account when setting the prices they charge to health authorities and general practitioner fundholders.
Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many community mental health nurses were employed in the NHS in each year since 1979. [10904]
Mr. Milburn
[holding answer 28 July 1997]: The number of community mental health nurses employed by the NHS in each year since 1981--the earliest year for which figures are available--is shown in the table.
| Year | Nursing staff in the community psychiatric area(24) |
|---|---|
| 1981 | 1,080 |
| 1982 | 1,270 |
| 1983 | 1,430 |
| 1984 | 1,880 |
| 1985 | 2,310 |
| 1986 | 2,530 |
| 1987 | 2,770 |
| 1988 | 3,080 |
| 1989 | 3,380 |
| 1990 | 3,600 |
| 1991 | 3,760 |
| 1992 | 4,210 |
| 1993 | 4,320 |
| 1994 | 4,760 |
| 1995(25) | 7,980 |
| 1996(25) | 10,530 |
Notes:
(24) Includes qualified, unqualified and other nursing staff working in the community psychiatric area of work.
(25) A new classification of non-medical NHS staff was introduced in 1995. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.
Figures are rounded to the neared 10 whole-time equivalents.
Source:
Department of Health non-medical work force census.
NHS Cleaning, Catering and Laundry Services
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on cleaning, catering and laundry services in (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95 and (c) 1996-97.[11275]
Mr. Milburn:
For England, the information requested is available only for 1993-94, as shown in table 1, as a result of decisions by Conservative Ministers. In subsequent years, expenditure on cleaning cannot be separately identified and information on catering and laundry is confined to expenditure on external contracts as contained in table 2. Data for 1996-97 are not yet available.
30 Jul 1997 : Column: 393
| Total £000 | |
|---|---|
| Cleaning | 426,745 |
| Catering | 446,219 |
| Laundry | 164,693 |
| 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catering | 57,740 | 50,939 | 60,250 |
| Laundry | 24,367 | 30,047 | 34,581 |
Source:
1. The annual financial returns of NHS trusts.
2. The annual financial returns of district and regional health authorities, and the special health authorities of the London Postgraduate teaching hospitals.
Prescription Fraud
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his estimates of the savings which will result from his efficiency scrutiny report into prescription fraud. [11278]
Mr. Milburn: We shall publish estimates of savings later this summer, once a full assessment of the recommendations has been completed.
Dental Services
Mrs. Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the spending on (a) NHS dentistry and (b) directly employed NHS community dentists for each of the last five years. [11091]
Mr. Milburn: Expenditure on general dental services, the main element of national health service dentistry, and the community dental services in England between 1992-93 and 1996-97 is given in the tables. For the CDS in 1994-95 and 1995-96, we have only information provided by NHS trusts on their expenditure on paediatric dental community services. Information for 1996-97 will not be available until the end of the year.
| Year | Gross expenditure | Net expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 1,306 | 911 |
| 1993-94 | 1,222 | 855 |
| 1994-95 | 1,279 | 896 |
| 1995-96 | 1,290 | 908 |
| 1996-97(27) | 1,323 | 940 |
(26) Figures are based on appropriation accounts (cash) data. Net expenditure shows cost after taking account of patient charge income, net of refunds.
(27) Data for 1996--97 is provisional.
30 Jul 1997 : Column: 394
| Year | Expenditure |
|---|---|
| 1992-93(28) | 75.8 |
| 1993-94(28) | 78.5 |
(28) The figures include all expenditure on clinical dentists and medical anaesthetic staff together with technical dental and secretarial support staff. It also includes staff expenses, drugs, other medical supplies, and all furniture and equipment. Based on annual financial returns of regional and district health authorities, and NHS trusts.
| Year | Expenditure |
|---|---|
| 1994-95(29) | 84.0 |
| 1995-96(29) | 88.4 |
(29) The figures include all expenditure on surveillance, investigation and treatment of dental disease in the community. It also includes overheads. The figure excludes dental health education and costs of fluoridation.
Ministerial Engagements
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list for himself and each of his Ministers (a) the official engagements, meetings and functions to which they are currently committed until the end of the year, (b) the dates of these engagements, (c) the activity the Ministers will be carrying out and (d) if a speech is being made; [11034]
- (2) if he will publish a list of the organisations he and each of his Ministers are committed to meeting between now and the end of the year; and when these meetings will take place. [11033]
Mr. Dobson: Ministers attend a variety of meetings, throughout the year which are all subject to confirmation. It would be open to misunderstanding and therefore potentially misleading to provide provisional details of meetings which may or may not take place.
Tobacco Duty
Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the health implications of the introduction of a banding of tobacco products duty related to their nicotine content; and if he will promote the introduction of such banding. [11269]
Ms Jowell: Given the recognised dangers of cigarettes, the best advice for smokers must always be to give up.
We recognise that for many this is a difficult option, and how best to limit the addictive properties of cigarettes will be considered, together with all other aspects of harm reduction, in the preparation of the Government's tobacco control strategy.
Hove General Hospital
Mr. Caplin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he was informed of the closure of Hove general hospital by Brighton Health Care NHS trust; and if he will discuss this matter with the chief executive of the trust. [10789]
30 Jul 1997 : Column: 395
Mr. Milburn
[holding answer 28 July 1997]: The closure of Hove general hospital is part of the plan to redevelop the Royal Sussex county hospital agreed following public consultation in 1991, and approved by Ministers in March 1994. We understand that the services currently provided at the hospital will be provided from the new polyclinic in Hove and Brighton general hospital.
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