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St. George's Hospital (Tooting)
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the change in (a) waiting lists and (b) waiting time for consultation at St. George's Hospital, Tooting, in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [81886]
Mr. Denham: At 28 February 1999, 6,464 people were waiting for inpatient treatment at St. George's Healthcare National Health Service Trust, a reduction of 1,668 since 31 March 1998. At 31 December 1998, 2,195 people had been waiting 13 weeks or more for a first outpatient appointment there, an increase of 905 since 31 March 1998.
Osteoporosis
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish clinical guidelines on osteoporosis prevention and treatment. [81884]
Ms Jowell: The Royal College of Physicians published "Osteoporosis: clinical guidelines for prevention and treatment" on 12 March 1999. Copies of the guidelines are available direct from the Royal College.
Ongar War Memorial Hospital
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the closure of Ongar War Memorial Hospital. [81871]
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Mr. Denham:
No decision has been made about the future of Ongar War Memorial Hospital. The health authority has not yet provided all the information necessary to enable Ministers to take a decision on the long-term future of the hospital.
We understand that the National Health Service trust may be considering closing the hospital on health and safety grounds. This is a matter which is the responsibility of the trust.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will estimate the cost to the National Health Service of treating people who have been injured by animals in each of the last three years; [81775]
Mr. Denham:
Central information is collected annually on the cost of treatments and procedures for services undertaken by National Health Services trusts. These costs are not differentiated between the cause of the treatment, for example whether the treatment was required as a result of animals, a fall etc., and therefore we are unable to estimate the costs of services in this way. There are no plans to introduce charges to owners for the cost of treating people injured by their animals.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many existing staff from his Department will be transferred to the Food Standards Agency. [82271]
Ms Jowell:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 29 March 1999, Official Report, column 500.
(2) if he will introduce measures to enable those in charge of animals which have caused injuries requiring health service treatment to be charged for that treatment. [81774]
Second World War Airmen
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will release the information held by his Department on the number of airmen during the Second World War who were classified as lacking moral fibre; and if he will take steps to remove this classification from service records. [81341]
Mr. Doug Henderson: Aircrews in the Second World War included personnel from all three Services, although the Royal Air Force were the only Service to use the classification of "lacking moral fibre". Cases where aircrew had significant psychological problems were dealt with by administrative procedures and fell into two categories; those which were seen as having medical causes, and those where the determination and reliability of the airman in the face of danger were doubted. It was the latter category that were actually classed as "lacking moral fibre".
The Royal Air Force has no central record of officers/airmen classified as "lacking moral fibre" during World War II and this information could be obtained only
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through a manual check of individual personnel files. Whilst it might be possible to obtain background information on officers categorised as "lacking moral fibre", airmen's personal files will have been destroyed, and only a basic Record of Service retained. It would not therefore be possible to discover any background information on the reasons behind any "lack of moral fibre" annotation recorded on an individual airman's record.
Service Records are amended only on those rare occasions when there is irrefutable evidence that inaccurate information has been entered. The Ministry of Defence therefore has no plans to review those cases categorised as "lacking moral fibre" during World War II, or to remove this classification from those airmen's individual records which have survived.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has obtained on the laying of anti-personnel landmines and anti-tank mines by the Yugoslav army in Kosovo. [81994]
Mr. George Robertson:
There is evidence that both anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines have been employed by the Yugoslav army in Kosovo since April of last year. While our information is incomplete, we believe that in central and south west Kosovo, where many of the minefields are laid, these are small scale. Along the Albanian and Macedonian borders with Kosovo, there is evidence of more conventional large scale minefields.
Mr. Frank Cook:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what munitions are being used by the RAF in the Kosovo campaign that employ a form of sub-munition designed to impede damage repair. [82149]
Mr. Keith Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 24 March the Chiefs of Staff have accompanied the Chief of the Defence Staff to meetings of the War Cabinet. [81665]
Mr. George Robertson
[holding answer 22 April 1999]: It is established practice under Section 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information not to disclose information relating to proceedings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees. However, as I have made clear publicly on a number of occasions, we are not at war with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There is therefore no War Cabinet. The Prime Minister regularly discusses the situation in Kosovo with his Ministerial colleagues.
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports he has received of the presence of nuclear material at the Vinca Institute near Belgrade. [82349]
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Mr. George Robertson:
Any nuclear material held at the Vinca Nuclear Research Institute is held under the terms of the Safeguards Agreement between Yugoslavia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and is monitored by its inspectors.
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to cater for those requiring vegetarian food when involved in front-line activities. [81909]
Mr. Spellar:
Where fresh rations are supplied by military catering staff, a vegetarian choice is available on the daily menu for all meals. In the case of Operational Ration Packs, work has begun to identify the requirement to provide a vegetarian option.
Mr. Woolas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for the future of the National Training Centre for Knitting Machine Mechanics and Technicians at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. [81738]
Mr. Mudie:
Having reviewed their mix of training provision, I understand that the college authorities have decided to close the knitting technician facility. That is a business decision for them to take and is not a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. I am advised that there are a number of other institutions offering technician training for the knitting industry. This may well have been a factor in the decision to close the centre at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College.
I can assure my hon. Friend that the prospective National Training Organisation for the Textiles industry--the National Textiles Training Organisation--is very active in linking with education institutions to ensure the availability of an appropriate level of training facilities to meet the needs of the industry.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to ensure that colleges of further education are not penalised financially as a result of the transfer of responsibility for funding part-time higher education courses in further education colleges from the Further Education Funding Council to the Higher Education Funding Council. [81872]
Mr. Mudie:
The funding to transfer from FEFC to HEFCE from 1999-2000 has been calculated based on detailed information from the colleges concerned. These colleges were invited to confirm that the proposed funding transfer is appropriate. HEFCE and FEFC jointly commissioned research, which has shown that HEFCE will fund the transferred provision at, at least, the same level as applies now in FE.
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