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East Timor
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received about how many refugees have been returned from West Timor to East Timor and how many refugees remain in West Timor. [116105]
Mr. Battle: Over 150,000 refugees have now returned to East Timor. There are no reliable figures for the number remaining in West Timor, but as of 22 March the UN estimated the number at up to 100,000 refugees.
We will continue to press the Indonesian authorities to enable those who wish to return to East Timor to do so safely and speedily.
Diplomatic Relations
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries with which the UK has no diplomatic relations. [116210]
Mr. Battle: The United Kingdom has no diplomatic relations with Bhutan, Iraq, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or North Korea.
Minority Languages
Mr. Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what UK regional or minority languages the Government recognises in relation to the recent UK signing of the Council of Europe Charter on Regional or Minority Languages. [115997]
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Mr. Vaz:
The UK will apply the general provisions of the Charter in respect of all the languages which meet the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language. The Government recognise that this definition embraces Scots and Ulster-Scots and are considering what other languages, including Cornish, also meet the definition. To fulfil the Charter's requirement to implement specific provisions to promote the use of certain languages in public life, the Government intend to specify Welsh, Scots-Gaelic and Irish.
Medical Technical Officers
Mr. Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take in respect of the survey published recently by the MSF union on levels of pay and morale of medical technical officers in the NHS. [112443]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 1 March 2000]: We recognise that the Scientific and Technical staff groups employed and trained in the National Health Service have been experiencing recruitment, retention and a range of other human resource problems. Therefore, we aim to develop a human resource strategy that will underpin the education and training, recruitment and retention and general career development for NHS HCHS scientists and technicians. Medical Technical Officers (MTOs) are a part of this work force.
This work will be taken forward as an integral part of the work programme of the National Advisory Group for Scientists and Technicians (NAGST).
NAGST is collaborating with the professions to ensure the National Health Service has an adequate supply of competent scientists and technicians. There are three strands to the current work programme:
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adoption breakdowns there have been in each of the last five years; and what plans he has for greater funding of post-adoption support and advice. [112750]
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Mr. Hutton:
Information about the number of adoption breakdowns in the last five years is available in the form of the number of children who enter care as a result of adoption breakdowns. The figures do not distinguish between the adoption breakdowns of "looked after" children placed for adoption by local authorities; children placed by voluntary adoption agencies; children placed privately with relatives by birth parents; children adopted by step-parents.
collection of work force data;
A pay offer is with the staff side of the Professional and Technical Staffs' B Whitley Council covering Medical Technical Officers for:
work force planning;
implementation.
an increase of 3 per cent. or £250, whichever is the higher for 1999-2000;
an increase of 3.25 per cent. or £300 whichever is the higher for 2000-01; and
in the context of agreement on the negotiations on Agenda for Change (including the principle of pay linkage as set out in paragraph 7.4 of the Joint Framework of Principles and Agreed Statement on the Way Forward issued on 8 October 1999) and the joint commitment to lifelong learning, a minimum RPI(X) at December 2000 reported in January 2001, plus 0.5 per cent.
| Year ending 31 March | Number of children starting to be looked after |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 50 |
| 1996 | 70 |
| 1997 | 60 |
| 1998(23) | 50 |
| 1999(23) | 50 |
(20) Data are rounded to the nearest 10
(21) Excludes children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements
(22) Only the first occasion on which a child started to be looked after in the year has been counted
(23) Estimates based on a one third sample of looked after children
The Government's Quality Protects programme aims to develop a modern adoption service that is more responsive in all its aspects, including post-adoption support, to meet the best interests of children and the needs of birth parents and adoptive parents. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is reviewing with ministerial colleagues how we can build on Quality Protects, moving further and faster to secure our aim of maximising the use of adoption for all children for whom it is appropriate and also minimising delay.
The table shows the number of pre-adoptive breakdowns for the same period.
| of which | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total number of placements | Percentage that ended in adoption | Percentage that did not end in adoption |
| 1995 | 1,600 | 80 | 20 |
| 1996 | 1,620 | 77 | 23 |
| 1997 | 1,560 | 78 | 22 |
| 1998(26) | 1,790 | 85 | 15 |
| 1999(26) | 1,800 | 82 | 18 |
(24) Data are rounded to the nearest 10
(25) Excludes children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements
(26) Estimates based on a one third sample of looked after children
HSG(94)27
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list by name of subject and health authority the independent inquiries established under HSG(94)27 which are currently being conducted; [113748]
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Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 9 March 2000]: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
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Mr. Gareth R. Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses there were (i) nationally and (ii) in London in each year between 1979 and 1999. [115086]
Mr. Denham:
The available information is shown in the table.
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(2) if he will list by name of report and health authority all the independent homicide inquiries established under HSG(94)27, the reports of which were published since February 1994. [113749]
| All nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff | Practice nurses | NHS doctors | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-time equivalent | Numbers (headcount) | Whole-time equivalent | Numbers (headcount) | |||||
| London regional office area | England | London regional office area | England | London regional office area | England | London regional office area | England | |
| 1979 | (27)-- | 316,840 | (27)-- | 372,070 | (27)-- | 990 | (27)-- | 59,850 |
| 1980 | (27)-- | 327,800 | (27)-- | 381,560 | (27)-- | 1,070 | (27)-- | 61,270 |
| 1981 | (27)-- | 347,010 | (27)-- | 397,420 | (27)-- | 1,240 | (27)-- | 62,560 |
| 1982 | 64,370 | 391,110 | 71,210 | 447,540 | (27)-- | 1,450 | (27)-- | 63,540 |
| 1983 | 67,380 | 394,680 | 76,410 | 452,380 | (27)-- | 1,660 | (27)-- | 64,820 |
| 1984 | 66,680 | 393,740 | 77,320 | 452,450 | (27)-- | 1,920 | (27)-- | 65,130 |
| 1985 | 64,990 | 397,030 | 77,270 | 458,410 | (27)-- | 2,210 | (27)-- | 66,040 |
| 1986 | 63,920 | 397,240 | 75,260 | 459,080 | (27)-- | 2,500 | (27)-- | 66,770 |
| 1987 | 59,270 | 397,910 | 72,900 | 463,310 | (28)300 | (28)2,770 | 11,800 | 69,530 |
| 1988 | 62,920 | 397,840 | 76,200 | 465,060 | 410 | 3,480 | 12,050 | 70,910 |
| 1989 | 63,670 | 398,660 | 77,890 | 467,700 | 570 | 4,630 | 12,580 | 72,450 |
| 1990 | 58,020 | 395,360 | 64,630 | 463,790 | 1,140 | 7,740 | 12,560 | 73,720 |
| 1991 | 63,960 | 396,130 | 73,520 | 477,570 | 1,230 | 8,780 | 12,880 | 74,680 |
| 1992 | 65,640 | 382,020 | 76,850 | 463,740 | 1,210 | 9,120 | 12,910 | 75,740 |
| 1993 | 57,480 | 366,240 | 66,160 | 450,360 | 1,390 | 9,600 | 13,910 | 77,280 |
| 1994 | 55,160 | 353,130 | 64,340 | 436,100 | 1,320 | 9,100 | 14,630 | 77,970 |
| 1995 | 49,410 | 330,440 | 59,010 | 411,840 | 1,370 | 9,740 | 15,560 | 81,000 |
| 1996 | 51,180 | 332,660 | 60,910 | 415,750 | 1,460 | 9,820 | 15,790 | 83,090 |
| 1997 | 51,450 | 330,620 | 62,140 | 417,570 | 1,530 | 10,080 | 16,550 | 86,050 |
| 1998 | 51,610 | 332,200 | 63,870 | 421,750 | 1,550 | 10,360 | 16,870 | 88,230 |
(27) Not applicable.
(28) Data for London in 1987 are incomplete, there are no data below national level prior to 1987. In April 1996, FHSAs merged to form Health Authorities, in this process some of Barnet FHSA split to form part of West Hertfordshire (which is not in the London Region).
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
2. 1995 to 1998 figures exclude learners and agency staff. Figures from 1982 to 1994 include learners, trainees and students.
3. England figures for 1979 to 1981 include staff in certain centrally-based services, ie, family planning, occupational health and staff nurseries. Excluded are regional nursing officers, nursing cadets, agency staff and staff in the blood transfusion service and primary health care services. These figures were taken from 'Health and personal Social Services Statistics for England'.
4. London Regional Office Area figures from 1979 to 1981 are not available.
5. Due to a change in classification in 1995 for collecting the data, from payscale to occupation code, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 figures are not comparable with earlier years.
Source:
Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.
Notes for Practice Nurses:
1. The whole of Barnet FHSA has been included prior to 1996, data from 1996 onwards will not include staff who left Barnet FHSA to join West Hertfordshire HA.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.
Notes for NHS Doctors:
1. All Doctors includes doctors in hospitals, public health medicine, the community health services. General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services. Hospital Practitioners and Clinical Assistants are excluded, as most of these are also GPs. The figures exclude doctors working in the HCHS sector in one of the dental specialities.
2. London figures should be interpreted with caution. The London Regional Office came into being on 1 April 1999 while the former Thames Regional Offices covered areas outside London. The 1998 figures are for the (shadow) London Regional Office. The 1987 to 1997 figures are estimates from Health Authorities (Family Health Service Authorities and District Health Authorities prior to 1996) or NHS Trusts that would now be in the London Region. Some HCHS doctors may be counted more than once. This is because they will be counted once for each region where they worked, based on the regional structure in place at the time, and also in the current London region which overlaps with more than one of the former regions.
3. It is not possible to provide numbers for all doctors in London from 1979 to 1986. While estimates for GPs are available, because these were returned by Family Service Health Authorities, estimates for all other doctors are not because these were only returned at regional level and the former Thames regions are not comparable with the new London region.
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