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Fire Service Pensions
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to publish the review of fire service pensions; and if he will make a statement. [12741]
Mr. George Howarth: We have undertaken to publish the review as a basis for consultation with fire service interests on the future arrangement for fire service pensions. It will be issued as soon as is practicable.
HEALTH
Huntingdon Life Sciences
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many experimental studies at Huntingdon Life Sciences have been invalidated as a result of his Department's investigation; and what was the fate of the animals involved. [12297]
Ms Jowell:
The United Kingdom's Good Laboratory Practice Monitoring Authority has investigated Huntingdon Life Sciences. The authority decided that five
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toxicity studies within the dog toxicology unit did not meet good laboratory practice standards. The authority has required the company to notify each study's sponsors accordingly.
On completion of the studies, the dogs will be put down humanely in accordance with normal practice.
Mr. Amess:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the working of the Abortion Act 1967. [12579]
Ms Jowell:
Data on all terminations of pregnancy and the non-national health service places which provide abortion continue to be monitored by the Department.
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average cost of reopening a bed in a general ward of a hospital. [12693]
Mr. Milburn:
The costs would depend on a number of factors including geographical location, the level of staffing required to open the bed, when the bed was required--weekend or overnight.
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average salary of a nurse with five years' experience. [12694]
Mr. Milburn:
Nurses' salaries are dependent on a wide range of factors such as grade and length of service. It is therefore not possible to provide the average salary of a nurse with five years' experience. However, current salary rates are published in advance letter (NM) 1/97, copies of which are available in the Library. Additionally, new earnings survey figures for 1996 show that the average gross weekly earnings of a full-time nurse on adult rates was £325.70.
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average cost of (a) a hip replacement operation, (b) a cataract operation and (c) a heart bypass operation in the last year for which figures are available.[12723]
Mr. Milburn:
The information is given in the following table:
| Operation | In-patient case | Day case |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Hip replacement(45) | ||
| primary | 3,290 | -- |
| revision | 4,330 | -- |
| Cataract(46) | 900 | 475 |
| Coronary artery by-pass graft | 5,930 | -- |
(45) 1996-97
(46) 1994-95
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Official Hospitality
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total expenditure on official hospitality by his Department to date in the current session. [12582]
Mr. Milburn: Expenditure on hospitality for the period 1 May 1997 to 30 September 1997 is as follows.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Department | 41,803 |
| Agencies | 7,159 |
| Total | 48,962 |
Goods and Services (Payments)
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list each of the functions relating to payment for goods services supplied for which his Department is responsible indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other departments; and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available. [12558]
Mr. Milburn: The process for making payments for goods and services forms the latter part of the purchasing process. The Department of Health has developed procurement procedures based upon guidance issued by Her Majesty's Treasury and those procedures are designed to ensure probity and fairness in procurement decisions. The processing of payments and the issue of payable instruments form part of the Department's accounting systems. The procedures for both placing orders and making payments to suppliers requires the necessary certification and authorisation that ensures an adequate separation of duties, thus conforming with Government accounting.
The Department does not use sub-contractors for payment work nor have co-operative arrangements with other departments for the payment of goods and services. The payment of welfare foods benefit does involve both the Benefit Agency in the issue of welfare milk tokens and a contractor to authorise payments against surrendered tokens. The Benefits Agency also authorises payments on the Department's behalf in respect of European Economic Area medical costs.
The Department's accounting system is based on a proprietary accounting package--Sun Accounts--amended by departmental staff to meet specific needs. The Department makes some 180,000 payments a year, which include payments to health authorities, local authorities, non-departmental public bodies and voluntary organisations. Payments to other Government Departments and health authorities are made by means of transfers. Whenever possible, other payments are made by means of bank automated clearing system and the remainder are paid by payable order.
The accounts payable and cashiering applications which support departmental payments form part of the accounting system and specific capital and development costs of the computer systems are not therefore readily available. The salary costs of providing a cashiering service are estimated to be £216,000 for 1997-98.
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The Department has four executive agencies and the following table summarises the position of each.
| Medicines Control Agency | Medical Devices Agency | NHS Estates Agency | NHS Pensions Agency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contracting arrangements for payments | None | None | None | The payment of medical fees to independent advisers form part of the total service provided |
| Co-operative arrangements with other government departments | None | None | None | None |
| Estimated costs of making payments | £105,000 | £30,000 | £40,000 | £15,000 |
St. Bartholomew's Hospital
Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the independent review panel considering the future of St. Bartholomew's hospital will be allowed a fully day for visits and discussions at the hospital. [12294]
Mr. Milburn: The review panel visited the Royal Hospitals NHS trust on 4 September 1997 for a full day. This included visits to the St. Bartholomew's hospital and Royal London hospital sites. The members of the panel also made further visits to the London chest hospital, St. Bartholomew's and other London sites later that month.
Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the arrangements made by the Royal Hospitals NHS trust for the independent review panel to visit St. Bartholomew's hospital. [12293]
Mr. Milburn: Ministers have not been involved in the detailed arrangements made for visits by the independent review panel, but we understand that the arrangements for the panel's visit to the Royal Hospitals NHS trust on 4 September 1997 were satisfactory.
Liverpool Blood Services
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will be announcing his decision about the future of the Liverpool blood transfusion service; and if he will make a statement. [12287]
Mrs. Ellman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received (a) directly and (b) indirectly from clinicians and their professional associations since 1 May in respect of the proposals to remove blood processing and testing from the Liverpool blood centre; and if he will publish those representations. [12295]
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Mr. Boateng:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has announced the setting up of an independent review into clinical concerns raised about the proposals for the transfer of bulk processing and testing of blood from Liverpool to Manchester. Professor John Cash, president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and former director of the blood transfusion service in Scotland, is leading that review.
On 8 September, Professor Cash submitted an urgent interim report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in which he advised that, given that the original plans were then largely implemented, and in particular the run-down of experienced and skilled staff in the Liverpool centre,
"it is now in the best interests of patients in Merseyside and the surrounding area that the transfer of bulk blood processing and testing to Manchester goes ahead as planned on 19 September."
On 9 September, the Secretary of State announced his reluctant acceptance of that recommendation on grounds of patient safety.
However, the Secretary of State also made it clear that that was not the end of the matter. Professor Cash is to make a final report in November, when he will advise on how blood services can be developed to meet the needs of people in Merseyside and the surrounding areas as well as the requirements of local clinicians. Meanwhile, two steps have already been taken to aid that development. In line with the interim recommendations made by Professor Cash, the Secretary of State announced in September the appointment of two experts, Professor Alistair Bellingham and Dr. Ian Gilmore, to two critical new posts. Their respective roles are transition director of the Liverpool blood centre, and chair of a Merseyside and area clinical user group set up to monitor the quality of blood services in Merseyside and north Wales. Both Professor Bellingham and Dr. Gilmore have an important part to play in working with local clinicians to ensure the safety and the reliability of the supply of blood components to local hospitals.
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