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Telephone Bills
Mr. Webb: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate she has made of the real level of average household telephone bills in Great Britain as a whole and for each region of Great Britain in each year since 1978. [12832]
Mrs. Roche: The first table gives an index of BT's telephone charges for the period of 1978-79 to 1988-89, since values for these years are not readily available. From 1988-89, BT started providing values for the median residential bill, which unlike the first set of figures relates to actual use and provides the most accurate view of an average bill. Values for these for 1988 to 1996 are shown in the second table. Statistics for each region of Great Britain are not available. Figures for other operators are not available.
| Year | Great Britain |
|---|---|
| 1978-79 | 100 |
| 1979-80 | 92.6 |
| 1980-81 | 102.4 |
| 1981-82 | 110.9 |
| 1982-83 | 110.2 |
| 1983-84 | 105.6 |
| 1984-85 | 104.9 |
| 1985-86 | 105.3 |
| 1986-87 | 106.5 |
| 1987-88 | 104.4 |
| 1988-89 | 99.1 |
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 696
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1989-90 | 47.64 |
| 1990-91 | 48.15 |
| 1991-92 | 48.44 |
| 1992-93 | 48.99 |
| 1993-94 | 49.38 |
| 1994-95 | 50.55 |
| 1995-96 | 48.67 |
| 1996-97 | 47.69 |
The above figures make it look as if prices have not changed in real terms since the late 1980s. These figures do not however take account of increased use of the telephone throughout the period.
Supply Teachers
Dr. Vis: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will instigate an investigation into the businesses that supply supply-teaching staff. [12868]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
My Department's employment agency standards inspectorate is responsible for regulating businesses providing supply teaching staff under the terms of the Employment Agencies Act 1973. In addition to investigating complaints, proactive checks of standards in this and other sectors of the industry are conducted from time to time. Any information about suspected breaches of the legislation should be brought to my Department's attention.
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 697
Ms Keeble:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what plans he has to impose anti-dumping duties on footwear imported from (a) Thailand, (b) Indonesia and (c) China; [12345]
Mrs. Roche:
Definitive anti-dumping measures may be imposed only by the Council of the European Union, acting on a recommendation from the European
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 698
Commission and by a simple majority of member states. They then apply to all imports of the product from the countries concerned into the EU.
In the case of leather and synthetic footwear from China, Indonesia and Thailand, it seems likely that the Council will agree to a minimum price regime in November. The duty payable would be equivalent to the difference between a minimum price and the import price, where the import price is lower.
In the case of footwear with textile uppers from China and Indonesia, the Commission has put forward a proposal for duties on which discussions continue.
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 699
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of staffed beds projected in the published Lothian health acute strategy for (a) all hospitals in the Lothian health board area, (b) the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh trust and (c) the West Lothian NHS trust. [12748]
Mr. Galbraith:
Lothian health board's 1993 public consultation document on the acute services strategy indicated that following implementation of the proposals there were expected to be 2,042 acute hospital beds--excluding obstetrics, special care baby unit, geriatric assessment and elderly continuing care beds--within the new royal infirmary, Western general and St. John's hospitals.
Total projected bed numbers--excluding only continuing care elderly beds--for the new royal infirmary and St. John's hospital were 942 and 654 respectively.
Since consultation, Lothian health board has continued to refine and revise its plans in consultation with the trusts, and relevant clinicians.
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of staffed beds by specialty for the latest date for which information is available for (a) all hospitals in the Lothian health board area, (b) the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh trust and (c) the West Lothian NHS trust. [12747]
(2) what action the Government plan to take over the dumping in the United Kingdom of footwear from China, Indonesia and Thailand. [12288]
(20) Provisional.
(21) Beds allocated as "unspecified" are not allocated to any particular specialty, and are lent to specialties on demand.
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 700
Lothian Health Board (Acute Services)
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has assessed in respect of changes to the Lothian health acute services strategy; when proposed revisions will be made available for public consultation; and when the acute services strategy will be implemented in full. [12751]
Mr. Galbraith: It is estimated that Lothian health board's acute services strategy will be implemented in full once the new royal infirmary of Edinburgh is operating, currently expected to be in 2003. Scottish Office officials are in regular contact with Lothian health board and the relevant trusts so that they are aware of any revisions to the original proposals within the acute services strategy. I would be informed of, and assess appropriately, any revisions which substantially affected the objectives or implementation of the strategy.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will make available a detailed analysis of the costs associated with specific projects of all proposed health service PFI contracts in Scotland. [12749]
Mr. Galbraith: NHS trusts responsible for individual PFI projects account for the costs they incur in pursuing them. The Scottish Office management executive estimates that costs should not be more than 1.5 per cent. of the capital value of the project.
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