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Post Office
Mr. Fallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he was consulted by the Post Office before its decision to appeal against the minimum wage ruling of the Employment Tribunal in the case of Sub-postmistress Elizabeth Bain of Tone, Inverness. [97863]
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Mr. Alan Johnson:
No. This is an operational matter, which is the responsibility of the Post Office Board and management.
Life Support
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce legislation requiring that the withdrawal of food and fluid from persistent vegetative state patients be subject to a court order but otherwise following the Guideline of the British Medical Association on the withdrawal of treatment. [97097]
Ms Stuart: The courts have ruled that the withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration from a patient who is diagnosed in a persistent vegetative state should first be referred to a court for a decision. We have no plans to change the law in this respect.
We have no plans to introduce legislation requiring the guidelines of the British Medical Association on the Withholding and Withdrawal of Life-prolonging Medical Treatment to be followed.
Departmental Expenditure Limit
Ms Kingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if there are any proposals to amend his Department's Departmental Expenditure Limit/running cost limit for 1999-2000. [98079]
Mr. Milburn: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates for Class II, Votes 1 and 2, the Department of Health Departmental Expenditure Limit for 1999-2000 will be increased by £109,984,000 from £40,345,035,000 to £40,455,019,000. The increase is the net effect of changes to Class II, Vote 1 (Hospital, community health, family health and related services, England) of £207,861,000 made up of £114,058,000 in respect of the take up of end year flexibility as announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 27 July 1999, Official Report, column 393, and £100,000,000 for the take up of departmental unallocated provision. In addition the following transfers will take place: £1,177,000 from Scotland (£47,000 for the High Security Infectious Diseases Unit and £1,130,000 for out of area treatments); £877,000 from Wales for out of area treatments and £7,464,000 from Class II, Vote 2 (Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health and personal social services, England) (£662,000 for the Public Health Development Fund and £802,000 for regional professional development projects). The overall increase is partially offset by transfers of £8,364,000 to Wales, (£6,720,000 for high security psychiatric services and £1,644,000 for cross border adjustments for primary care groups); £4,800,000 to Class I, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services) for the King's College Hospital/United Medical and Dental School merger and £2,551,000 to Class II, Vote 2 (£2,500,000 for publicity on Meningitis C vaccine and £51,000 for cancer prevention).
The increase of £770,000 for Class II, Vote 2 (Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health and personal social services, England) is the net
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effect of transfers to Vote 1 of £4,913,000 (detailed above), £6,293,000 take-up of end year flexibility (mentioned above) for claims in respect of 1998-99 asylum seekers grant; £315,000 (£10,000 running costs) from Class IV, Vote 1 (Home Office administration, police, probation, immigration and other services, England and Wales) mainly for research; £500,000 (running costs) from Class IV, Vote 2 (Prisons, England and Wales) for prison health care services. The overall increase is partially offset by a transfer of £1,425,000 to Class I, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services) for a contribution towards the healthy schools initiative.
The amount required for non-voted supplementary credit approvals for personal social services (DoH/LACAP) in England is to be increased by £1,353,000 from £18,700,000 to £20,053,000 in respect of take up of end year flexibility entitlement as mentioned above.
The Department's gross running cost limit will be increased by £510,000 from £279,940,000 to £280,450,000 as detailed above.
All increases will either be offset by transfers to or from other Departmental Expenditure Limits (detailed above) or take-up of end year flexibility and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Mr. Michael J. Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what were (a) the number of people waiting for 12 months or more for hospital treatment and (b) the total number of people waiting for hospital treatment, in May in each year from 1992 to 1999 in the Worcester Royal Infirmary Trust area. [96414]
Mr. Denham:
The figures are for the Worcester Royal Infirmary National Health Service Trust for the end of March every year. Monthly collection of data only started in April 1998 so a time series for May was not possible. Trusts, as they are coded today, have only supplied data from June 1994. Prior to 1994-95 waiting list data were compiled from district health authorities returns. Therefore, there is no comparable data available for 1992 to 1994.
| Total | Over 12 months | |
|---|---|---|
| March 1995 | 3,092 | 0 |
| March 1996 | 3,230 | 0 |
| March 1997 | 4,111 | 29 |
| March 1998 | 5,047 | 191 |
| March 1999 | 4,302 | 282 |
Clinical Suspicion
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for New Forest, West will receive a substantive response to his question of 19 October on discussions with the professions regarding levels of clinical suspicion. [97827]
Yvette Cooper:
I replied to the hon. Member on 8 November.
9 Nov 1999 : Column: 482
Arms Exports
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 25 October 1999, Official Report, column 738, on how many occasions Her Majesty's Government have denied an arms export licence, notified EU partners and objected to another member state's stance on the appropriateness of export; what value of exports was involved; and what (a) values and (b) type of exports have been approved for export by another EU state despite United Kingdom notification. [97247]
Mr. Hain: The UK has issued 54 denial notifications under the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports between the adoption of the Code on 8 June 1998 and 31 October 1999.
Operative Provision 4 of the EU Code of Conduct states that "EU member states will keep such denials and consultations confidential and not use them for commercial advantage".
Mont Tremblant Conference
Sir Richard Body: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list (a) British and (b) European Communities delegations to the conference on federalism at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, in October; which members of either gave speeches; and if he will deposit texts of the speeches in the Library. [97523]
Mr. Battle: There were no formal delegations from the UK or the EC to the conference on federalism held recently at Mont Tremblant in Canada, at which participation was in a personal, rather than governmental capacity. A few, invited British officials attended but they did not make speeches. A British journalist and the Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament did speak, but these were statements of their own views. Information and documentation on the conference may be obtained from the organisers' website (address: www.ciff.on.ca).
Treaty Modifications
Sir Richard Body: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will deposit in the Library a list of those areas which the Government have indicated a willingness to discuss as focus points for Treaty modification. [97531]
Mr. Vaz: The conclusions of the Cologne European Council set out the topics which are likely to be on the agenda for the IGC. A copy of the Cologne conclusions is in the Library.
Russian Federation
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which (a) regions and (b) cities there are European Commission representative offices in the Russian Federation outside of Moscow. [97405]
Mr. Vaz
[holding answer 8 November 1999]: The European Commission does not have any representative offices outside Moscow in the Russian Federation.
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Mr. Mackinlay:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which (a) regions and (b) cities there are diplomatic representations of European Union member states in the Russian Federation outside of Moscow, indicating which of these posts issue visas to Russian nationals to travel to (i) EU countries in the Schengen zone and (ii) EU countries outside the Schengen zone. [97400]
Mr. Vaz
[holding answer 8 November 1999]: The following European Union member states have representations in the Russian Federation outside Moscow:
Austria--St. Petersburg (Honorary Consulate--no visa service)
Denmark--Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg
Finland--Karelyia, Murmansk, St. Petersburg
France--St. Petersburg
Germany--Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Saratov
Greece--Novorosisk, St. Petersburg
Italy--St. Petersburg
Netherlands--St. Petersburg
United Kingdom--Ekaterinburg, St. Petersburg.
Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are represented only in Moscow.
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