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Trusts (Appointments)
Mr. Mackinlay:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) in which instance the final interviews for trust non-executive directors' posts in the North Thames region
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have been conducted during the appointment process for the new chairman of the trust, and before the Secretary of State made the appointment; [13204]
Mr. Milburn:
In the current round of appointments to national health service trusts in the North Thames region, there are vacancies for 24 chairmen and 91 non-executive directors. All these appointments are made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health on the advice of the regional chairman. Given the time constraints for this year's trust exercise, it has not always been possible to involve new chairmen in shortlisting candidates for non-executive directors for their trusts. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote on 30 October inviting a candidate to accept the post of chairman of Basildon and Thurrock General Hospitals NHS trust. The new chairman's views will be taken into account on who should fill the two non-executive posts at the trust which fall vacant on 1 December.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the suppliers to whom payments from NHS trusts are outstanding beyond the due date for payment, indicating in each case the name of the trust and when the payment was due. [13526]
Mr. Milburn:
National health service trusts make over 3 million payments per quarter to a very large number of suppliers. The details are not therefore collected by the Department. In the first quarter of 1997-98, approximately 80 per cent. of payments were made on time.
Information on the compliance of individual NHS trusts with the public sector payment policy is collected quarterly. The information provides the numbers of bills paid, the numbers paid within the prompt payment target and the percentage paid within target.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the suppliers to his Department who are owed outstanding amounts, indicating the amounts and the due date on which the account should have been settled. [13542]
Ms Jowell:
All Departments are required to pay all their bills within agreed contract terms, or 30 days from receipt of the goods or service or a valid invoice, whichever is later, where no such terms exist. Such detailed information on payment performance for the current financial year could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Treasury will shortly be publishing a league table of departmental payment performance for 1996-97.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how may (a) kidney, (b) heart, (c) lung, (d) heart-lung, (e) liver and (f) other transplants have been carried out in each of the last 10 years, broken down into health authority district; and if he will make a statement. [12906]
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Mr. Boateng
[holding answer 27 October 1997]: The information available on numbers of transplants has been placed in the Library. These show the numbers of transplants carried out for the last 10 years broken down by region. Many hospitals do not perform kidney transplants, and there are just eight designated cardiothoracic transplant units and six designated liver units in England. This is the main reason for the considerable variation in the numbers of transplants performed in different regions.
Mr. Maclennan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the Transport costs incurred by jobseeker's allowance claimants in rural areas in meeting the requirement regularly to sign on at their local jobcentre by virtue of their residence within four hours' travelling distance; and if he will make a statement. [13218]
Mr. Alan Howarth:
We want as many jobseekers as possible to have regular access to jobcentre advice and services, to help them return to work as quickly possible. The great majority therefore attend each fortnight. However, a small minority sign by post instead, because of the distance they live from the jobcentre. Postal signing is normally agreed for anyone whose normal door-to-door journey to the jobcentre using public transport using public transport would take more than an hour in either direction, or would have to be away from home for more than four hours in total.
We have made no estimate of the costs incurred in fortnightly attendance at the jobcentre. Most people incur some costs, and it has never been the practice to refund them. Jobcentres can of course consider accommodating jobseekers' normal day of attendance to any weekday on which they may regularly travel to the town concerned.
Mrs. Betty Williams:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what arrangements have been made to transfer the relevant assets from La Sainte Union college of higher education to the university of Southampton following the merger of the college with the university. [14239]
Dr. Howells:
La Sainte Union college of higher education merged with university of Southampton on 1 September 1997. The congregation of La Sainte Union des Sacres Coeurs owns the land and buildings used by the college. The congregation has agreed to sell the academic and associated buildings to the university and to grant the university an option to purchase the student residence at a later date. The estate has been partly financed by public funds and Government have an interest in ensuring that any disposals or transfers comply with requirements for propriety, regularity and value for money.
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The Government have agreed that the Higher Education Funding Council for England may waive the standard condition in its financial memorandum with the college requiring it to repay the Government interest in the estate to the Exchequer when it is transferred to the university. In return, the university has agreed that the estate will continue to be used for higher education, and has accepted responsibility to repay the Government interest in the estate to the Exchequer if it is disposed of in the future.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's implementation report following the efficiency scrutiny into the training and enterprise company contract and management fee; and if he will make a statement. [14238]
Dr. Howells:
A copy of the implementation report that his Department has produced in response to the findings of the above scrutiny has been placed in the Library.
The great majority of the scrutiny's 40 recommendations have been implemented in line with the agreed action plan. The overall result is a less bureaucratic and more productive relationship between his Department and TECs.
The Government will continue to seek ways to ensure that the cost of administering programmes is the minimum that is necessary, consistent with proper accountability for public funds.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the total additional budget allocation for grant-maintained schools in England, in addition to that which they received through their local management of schools funding allocation, for (a) 1989-90, (b) 1990-91, (c) 1991-92, (d) 1992-93 and (e) 1993-94. [13176]
Mr. Byers:
For the years in question, the annual maintenance grant for grant-maintained schools consisted of three principal elements. The first--direct AMG--is what the GM school would have received under the local management of schools scheme of its former maintaining LEA. The second--meals AMG--consisted of an amount for school meals reflecting subsidy levels in the relevant LEA for net expenditure on school meals. The third--central AMG--is an amount for services which LEA schools received free of charge but for which GM schools assumed direct responsibility, and was a simple percentage of the first sum. The central percentage is determined by the Secretary of State and under current arrangements is calculated for individual local education authorities by reference to the financial returns that they make.
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We recognise that the current arrangements for funding GM schools treat them differently from LEA schools, and can lead to unwarranted financial advantage to some GM schools. We are proposing in 1998-99 to move to a fairer funding system and we are presently considering the responses to consultation on our proposals. These proposals include transitional arrangements, where necessary, to minimise disruption to individual GM school budgets.
Mr. Opik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how he intends to deal with those students who fail to meet their repayments on tuition fees; what provision he has made for this; and if he will make a statement. [13160]
Dr. Howells:
Universities and colleges will be responsible for collecting tuition fees from their students and for deciding what should happen in the case of students who fail to pay their fees, bearing in mind that their grants from the Higher Education Funding Council for England will assume this new source of income.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if all university students from throughout the United Kingdom will be charged a flat rate tuition fee of £3,000 for a degree level course. [13361]
Dr. Howells:
Full-time undergraduate students will be required to contribute up to £1,000 a year towards tuition fees, depending on the assessment of parental or spouse's income. It will be possible for full-time undergraduate students from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to undertake a degree course for a maximum contribution of £3,000 to tuition fees, but students may opt for degree courses lasting longer than three years. In that case, the total level of contribution, depending on assessment of parental or spouse's income, will be higher, subject to the special arrangements which will apply to students on medical and dental courses in year five and beyond and to Scottish students taking four-year honours degrees, in recognition of the fact that many Scottish students will have spent only one year in the sixth form. No contributions will be required from students from low-income families.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has made to the Scottish Office in respect of university tuition fees for students from England and Wales. [13362]
Dr. Howells:
We have asked the Scottish Office to encourage Scottish universities, where they do not do so already, to admit English and Welsh students with appropriate A-levels into the second year of their four-year honours degree courses, so that English and Welsh students will be able to obtain a Scottish honours degree for the same maximum contribution--£3,000--towards tuition fees as Scottish students. Students from low-income families will not, however, be required to contribute to fees.
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(2) when he made the appointment of the new chairman of the Basildon and Thurrock Hospital trust; and when the final interviews for non-executive directors for the Basildon and Thurrock Hospital trust were conducted. [13203]
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