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Nurses

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people (a) undertook nurse training and (b) qualified as trained nurses, and how many and what percentage of qualified nurses gained employment in the NHS, in each year since 1992. [74514]

Mr. Galbraith: The available information is as follows:

	(a) Student nurse intakes	(b) Student nurse completions
1992-93	2,325	2,359
1993-94	2.377	2,295
1994-95	2,230	2,047
1995-96	2,209	1,805
1996-97	2,386	1,683
1997-98	2,367	1,606

(c) Information on the percentage of qualified nurses gaining employment in the NHS is available centrally for the years 1992 to 1994 only. It is published in Table 9.16 of Scottish Health Statistics 1996, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House.
Note:
The reduction in completions results from reduced intakes during the period 1990-95, which included the introduction of P2000 courses in place of the old style '1982' courses.
From 1997-98 onwards, intakes have been informed by the annual Student Nurse Intake Plans, which assess the supply and demand of nurses. These exercises are conducted in partnership with the Management Executive, NHS Trusts, Health Boards and the Private Sector and includes all specialist areas in nursing. The model used takes account of demographic trends including the age profiles of nurses currently employed within the NHS, and the number of students which require to be trained is estimated over a 5 year cycle.
Source:
Training Data--National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland
Employment Data--Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency for the NHS in Scotland.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

NHS Bureaucracy

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money has been saved from reducing bureaucracy in the NHS in Scotland since 1 May 1997; and what these savings have been spent on. [74540]

Mr. Galbraith: The estimated savings from reducing bureaucracy for 1997-98 and 1998-99 are approximately £25 million.

The savings have been generated and retained at individual Health Board level and have been re-invested in patient care in line with local priorities and needs.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

9 Mar 1999 : Column: 140

Class Sizes

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list by individual school and local authority, the average number of pupils per (a) primary school class, (b) primary years one, two and three class and (c) secondary school class. [74545]

Mrs. Liddell: The answer to parts (a) and (b) of the question is lengthy and I have arranged for a table giving the information requested to be placed in the Library. The information requested in part (c) of the question is not held centrally.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

NHS Staff

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) NHS administrators and managers, (b) nurses, (c) hospital doctors, (d) hospital consultants and (e) general practitioners there were in each health board area, in each year since 1992. [74512]

Mr. Galbraith: As the information requested is rather lengthy, I have arranged for copies to be placed in the House of Commons Library.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

Primary Care Trusts

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the cost (a) in total and (b) by health board area for the introduction of primary care trusts and local health care co-operatives. [74516]

Mr. Galbraith: The introduction of Primary Care Trusts is part of the overall reconfiguration of NHS Trusts in Scotland that is expected to yield net savings of £6 million per annum. With mergers taking place in all 12 mainland Health Board areas, the saving per Board area will be £500,000 on average.

In 1998-99, just under £1 million was made available to mainland Health Boards to support the development of Local Healthcare Co-operatives.

Individual Health Board allocations are detailed in the table.

Health board	Support for LHCCs 1998-99
Argyll and Clyde	100,000
Ayrshire and Arran	80,000
Borders	30,000
Dumfries and Galloway	70,000
Fife	70,000
Forth Valley	95,000
Grampian	90,000
Greater Glasgow	120,000
Highland	80,000
Lanarkshire	80,000
Lothian	101,500
Tayside	80,000
Total	996,500

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

9 Mar 1999 : Column: 141

Nursery Education

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) free nursery school places, (b) hours of free nursery schooling per child and (c) children in the nursery school age group, there are in each local authority area. [74530]

Mrs. Liddell: Information on the number of free nursery school places available in each local authority area is not held centrally. Government grant funding covers up to 412½ hours of pre-school education for each eligible child over the school year. The Government's pledge to provide a free, quality, part-time education place for every child in their pre-school year, whose parents want one, has been met in Scotland: I announced this on 4 March. The estimated number of pre-school children in each local authority area eligible for pre-school education grant in the school year 1998-99 is in the table.

Local authority	Estimate of pre-school year children (12)
Aberdeen City	2,433
Aberdeenshire	2,717
Angus	1,021
Argyll and Bute	1,296
Clackmannanshire	643
Dumfries & Galloway	1,708
Dundee City	1,637
East Ayrshire	1,487
East Dunbartonshire	1,380
East Lothian	1,245
East Renfrewshire	1,089
City of Edinburgh	5,039
Eilean Siar	290
Falkirk	1,758
Fife	4,129
City of Glasgow	5,863
Highland	2,506
Inverclyde	1,055
Midlothian	998
Moray	1,057
North Ayrshire	1,649
North Lanarkshire	4,168
Orkney Islands	232
Perth and Kinross	1,452
Renfrewshire	2,152
Scottish Borders	1,169
Shetland Islands	293
South Ayrshire	1,197
South Lanarkshire	3,711
Stirling	926
West Dunbartonshire	1,252
West Lothian	2,059
Scotland	59,611

(12) The estimated number of children in each local authority is based on information provided by GRO, incorporating information provided by authorities where appropriate.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

Ministerial Costs

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the total cost to his Department of all Ministers at the Scottish Office for each of the years (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97, (c) 1997-98, (d) 1998-99 and (e) 1999-2000 broken down by (i) salaries, (ii) travel and (iii) other costs; and if he will make a statement. [74497]

9 Mar 1999 : Column: 142

Mr. Dewar [holding answer 4 March 1999]: For information on 1996-97 to 1999-2000 I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 March, Official Report, column 753. Expenditure for 1995-96 is shown in the table. The table shows Ministerial pay and total non-pay expenditure for ministerial offices. This includes travel and subsistence, office services and general administration costs for both Ministers and the staff of their offices. It is not possible to disaggregate this amount into the categories requested.

		£
	Ministerial pay	Ministerial office non-pay
1995-96	178,943	766,483

Victim Support

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on Government measures for Victim Support in Scotland and its future plans for this work in Glasgow. [74884]

Mr. McLeish: Government measures for Victim Support Scotland include an increase in funding for 1999-2000 of £200,000 to £1.705 million. This is made up of £105,000 for general support and £95,000 to allow a roll-out of court-based witness support programmes beyond the current services at Ayr, Hamilton and Kirkcaldy.

Victim Support Scotland has recently completed a reorganisation of local services from 77 to 32 to coincide with local authority boundaries. The level of funding for loam services is a matter for the organisation.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

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