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Monitor Consultancy

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will list (a) the nature and value of contracts her Department has entered into and (b) discussions ministers or officials have held with the Monitor Consultancy since 1990. [14950]

Mr. Field: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.

The Department of Social Security and its Executive Agencies has not entered into any contracts with Monitor Consultancy since 1993-94 (the latest for which information is available). Neither Ministers nor Departmental Officials have had discussions with them.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Mr. Colvin: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many Land Rovers have been supplied to which Baltic states in each of the last five years; and if they have received ECGD cover. [13908]

Mrs. Beckett: From the data readily available, in the last five years ECGD has supported the following contracts, in relation to Land Rover Vehicles, to Baltic States:

(i) in 1994 the supply of 100 second hand Land Rovers value US$0.7 million to Latvia;


(ii) in 1996 the supply of 97 Land Rovers Defender Vehicles value £1.3 million to Lithuania

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(iii) in 1997 the supply of 152 Land Rovers Defender/Discover Vehicles value £2.2 million to Lithuania

We do not have the total number of vehicles exported during these years.

Energy and Environmental Education

Mr. Stunell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans her Department has to review its relationship with non-governmental organisations involved in energy and environmental education. [12544]

Mr. Battle: I have no plans for such a review. My Department will play a full role in the Expert Panel on Sustainable Education announced by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment on 18 September 1997. This panel will strengthen partnership with key players such as non-governmental organisations in developing policy on environmental and energy education.

Business Links

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what costs have been saved by closures and amalgamations of business links since 1 May; and what are the total projected costs of these closures and amalgamations. [13519]

Mrs. Roche [holding answer 30 October 1997]: There has been no programme of closures or amalgamations of Business Links since 1 May, although individual Business Links may have done so on an independent basis.

Business Links are tasked with preparing business plans from which I would expect efficiency savings to be made.

Plutonium

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations Her Majesty's Government made to the United States Government over the use of plutonium fuel on the recently launched NASA spaceship and the concern for environmental safety. [13663]

Mr. Battle [holding answer 3 November 1997]: The recent launch by NASA was the start of the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. The UK has contributed to ESA's Huygens probe which will land and make measurements on one of Saturn's moons. It is a fundamental priority for the UK that space activities are undertaken in a safe and responsible way. Neither NASA nor ESA underestimate the care required in handling plutonium and have gone to great lengths to ensure the safety of the power sources. I understand these safety measures include: the form of the plutonium--a type of ceramic, the way it is stored--divided into 18 independent units, and the multiple layers of materials preventing accidental release. Her Majesty's Government was satisfied the risk of environmental impact was reduced to an absolute minimum and sufficiently balanced by the valuable scientific data that will be gathered by the mission about the evolution of planets in the solar system and ultimately the Earth itself.

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International Energy Systems Ltd.

Mr. Fallon: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what offers were received by BNFL Ltd. from companies interested in taking over or sharing in the work of International Energy Systems Ltd. [14069]

Mr. Battle: Commercial and operational matters affecting BNFL and its subsidiaries are of course a matter for the Company. However, I understand BNFL will be making contact with the hon. Member.

HEALTH

Fluoridation

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on fluoridation of drinking water indicating those local authority areas in which fluoride is currently added to water. [14392]

Ms Jowell: Some 5.5 million people in the United Kingdom receive water where the fluoride content has been artificially increased to a level of one part of fluoride per million of water. Local authority areas do not necessarily receive a discrete water supply, but the health authorities in England whose populations are wholly or partly served by fluoridation schemes are Bassetlaw, North Bedfordshire, Bromsgrove and Redditch, Birmingham Central, Birmingham East, Birmingham North, Birmingham South, Birmingham West, Coventry, Crewe, Dudley, Durham, North West Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, North Lincolnshire, South Lincolnshire, Newcastle, Northumberland, Sandwell, Scunthorpe, Solihull, Mid Staffordshire, South East Staffordshire, North Tyneside, North Warwickshire, South Warwickshire, Walsall, Worcester and Wolverhampton.

The Government are looking at options for the fluoridation programme and will make an announcement in due course.

In Vitro Fertilisation

Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which health authorities in England provide in vitro fertilisation; and what measures are being taken to tackle inequality of provision between health authorities.[14391]

Ms Jowell: Information on health authority funding of in vitro fertilisation is contained in the Report of the Fourth National Survey of National Health Service Funding of Infertility Services, produced by the College of Health on behalf of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign (published November 1996). Copies are available in the Library.

The Government are committed to tackling the issue of unexplained or unjustified variations in the service provided in different parts of the country. The forthcoming White Paper on replacing the National Health Service internal market and the commissioning process will be founded upon a number of key principles, one of which is fairness. The White Paper will propose a revised framework for monitoring performance which will include equity of access in relation to need.

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Medical Procedures (Success Rate)

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new proposals he has to increase the percentage of NHS operations and other procedures which are successful. [14417]

Ms Jowell: The quality, effectiveness and outcomes of National Health Service services will be a paramount objective of the plans we will bring forward to replace the competitive, contract driven and bureaucratic internal market.

We have already made a clear commitment to put clinical quality at the heart of our plans for the NHS. The Priorities and Planning Guidance for the NHS for 1998-99 made clear that the effectiveness and quality of services is central to the purpose of the NHS. We have in development an integrated approach to improving the quality, effectiveness and outcomes of NHS care.

The law bringing into force the General Medical Council's professional performance procedures was implemented on 1 July 1997 and we will shortly be issuing guidance to the NHS on its role in these procedures.

The Chief Medical Officer has written to all Chief Executives and Medical Directors of NHS trusts asking them to ensure that they have effective procedures in place for doctors to report their concerns about the conduct, performance or health of medical colleagues. This builds on the General Medical Council's guidance in Duties of a Doctor which requires all doctors to:

"act quickly to prevent patients from risk if you have good reason to believe you or a colleague may not be fit for practice".

We also welcome the new Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures, which is meant to help the clinical professions decide how to handle the safe introduction of developments in technology in surgery. Furthermore, the recently introduced reforms of higher specialist medical training, which includes the introduction of improved, more structured medical training programmes, will ultimately lead to improvements in the quality of the care provided to patients.

National Health Service Directorships

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent it is his policy that there should be a presumption that appointments of non-executive directors to NHS directorships should be made from candidates living within the trust's area; in what circumstances candidates from outside the area may be (a) shortlisted and (b) appointed; and if he will make a statement. [14733]

Mr. Milburn: Under the Government's new procedures candidates are expected to live in the area served by the trust involved. This will apply to all current postholders seeking reappointment as well as new candidates. Only in exceptional circumstances would we be prepared to depart from this stipulation. For example,

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where there are severe local recruitment problems; when a particularly strong candidate has demonstrated in some other way their commitment to the local community; or where there is someone living only just outside the core area served by the trust whom it might be sensible to appoint.

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