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HEALTH
NHS Capital Prioritisation
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health according to which criteria the national health service executive's capital prioritisation advisory group will assess health service need; and which agencies will be asked to contribute to this assessment. [12600]
Mr. Milburn:
The National Health Service Capital Prioritisation Advisory Group will be responsible for determining the criteria for assessing health service need. It is expected that the criteria will include the ability of schemes to deliver benefits such as improved quality
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of clinical services, better access to services, development of training teaching and research, and improved environment.
Preliminary assessments are expected to be made by NHS Executive regional offices and the NHS trusts and the health authorities concerned. These assessments will be reviewed by the NHS Capital Prioritisation Advisory Group.
Mr. Norman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the capital prioritisation exercise by the national health service executive's capital prioritisation advisory group will begin; who will be consulted; and when the results are expected to be announced. [12599]
Mr. Milburn:
The National Health Service Capital Prioritisation Advisory Group's first exercise will be to prioritise those schemes wishing to go forward in the second tranche of the Private Finance Initiative, which we expect to announce in the spring.
The process for prioritisation has yet to be finalised. Details will be announced before the of the year, following which work on this first exercise will begin.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the cost to the national health service of the abuse of cannabis. [13178]
Ms Jowell:
It is not possible to assess the costs related to a single drug.
Ms Jennifer Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospital trusts charge their patients for parking on hospital sites in the west midlands; and what is the scale of charges. [13690]
Mr. Milburn:
National Health Service trusts are free to make their own decisions about whether charges for car parking should be made in the light of particular local circumstances. The information on exactly how many do is not collected by the Government.
The majority of NHS hospital trusts in the West Midlands Region charge users for car-parking on hospital sites. Of the few that do not, some are now looking carefully at and, in at least one case, consulting on this option. Charges are generally in the region of 50p to £1.00 per day; considerably less than standard car parks or parking meter fees.
Patients who are eligible, under the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme, to claim reimbursement of travelling expenses to and from hospital may also be able to have car parking charges reimbursed.
Dr. Starkey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government have for legislative recognition of the claim of lesbian and gay co-parents to be equivalent to those of step-parents. [14362]
Mr. Boateng:
Section 14 of the Adoption Act 1976 only permits a joint adoption application to be made by a man and woman married to each other; co-habiting couples are therefore excluded from making a joint
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application but an application may be made by one of them. Decisions about the child's placement for adoption will always be determined by the welfare and needs of the child. The Government have no plans to amend the relevant sections of the Act.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of (a) the cost to each local authority of subsistence payments to asylum seekers since January 1997 and (b) the number of people each authority has made payments to. [13671]
Mr. Boateng:
The information requested is not comprehensively available for the period January 1997 to date. Three special grants were made available to local authorities for 1996-97 in respect of their expenditure on support for: adults, families and unaccompanied children. The table below details the amount of grant paid to individual authorities for supporting adult asylum seekers and unaccompanied children in 1996-97 and the estimated expenditure incurred from 1 January to 31 March 1997 by authorities claiming a grant for supporting asylum seeking families.
Total figures may not be exact due to rounding.
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Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Trust
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the membership of the selection-interviewing panel for the vacant non-executive posts of the Basildon and Thurrock hospital trust; [13728]
- (2) on what basis and to what extent the selection panel gave separate job descriptions for the two vacant non-executive posts on the board of the Basildon and Thurrock hospital trust. [13729]
Mr. Milburn: The membership of the selection/interviewing panel for the two vacant non-executive posts of the Basildon and Thurrock General Hospitals National Health Service Trust was:
- Mr. Geoff Jennings, Chairman, Havering Hospital NHS Trust
- Mr. Ian Macpherson, Chairman of Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust
- Mr. Iain MacDonald, Employee Relations Manager, New Holland Tractors
- Mr. Ian Robertson, Non-Executive Director South Essex Health Authority.
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The advertisement for the two posts indicated that one of the appointees would be expected to chair the trust's audit committee and would need to have appropriate skills. However, separate job descriptions were not given to those interviewed.
Health Service (London)
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to be able to announce the results of the review of London's health service; and if he plans to keep the review group in existence afterwards. [13499]
Mr. Milburn: The Independent Advisory Panel is expected to report to me shortly. Their advice and the Government's response will be published in due course. No decision has yet been made about the future existence of the Panel.
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