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Refurbishment
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 23 January 2002, Official Report, column 972W, what the cost of refurbishing each ministerial private office was in each year since May 1997. [37897]
Mr. Wills: The Lord Chancellor's Department has not carried out any refurbishment of Ministers' private offices during the period specified. However, two additional
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ministerial appointments have been made during this period and offices in Selborne house have been adapted for them. The work was carried out under a measured term maintenance contract and was not invoiced separately from other maintenance and repair work. It is not possible, therefore, to identify specific costs, but these are estimated to be less than £20,000 over the period.
Juries (Ethnic Minorities)
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received on the proposals that courts ensure ethnic minority representation on juries in cases where the parties identify the possibility of race being an issue. [38256]
Mr. Keith Bradley: I have been asked to reply.
To date, we have recorded 53 responses to Sir Robin Auld's recommendation on this issue. All the representations on Sir Robin's review of the criminal courts are being carefully considered and analysed in detail.
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMISSION
Al Yamamah Report
Harry Cohen: To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission, pursuant to his answer of 13 February, Official Report, column 402W, who holds copies of the report. [35029]
Mr. Alan Williams: Copies of the 1992 National Audit Office Report on the Saudi Arabian Airforce Project—known as Project A1 Yamamah—are held by the National Audit Office and the Ministry of Defence.
HEALTH
Child Protection
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many case reviews following serious or fatal abuse under the Working Together to Safeguard Children Guidance have been held in each of the last five years; how many involved (a) child deaths, (b) serious physical assaults and (c) serious sexual abuse in each year; and what the ages and sex were of the children concerned. [39172]
Jacqui Smith: Information is not collected centrally on the numbers or types of serious case reviews that have been carried out in accordance with Chapter 8 of "Working Together to Safeguard Children" (1999).
Taken together, the findings of serious case reviews are an important source of information to inform national policy and practice. The Department of Health is responsible for identifying and disseminating common themes and trends across review reports, and acting on lessons for policy and practice. We will shortly be publishing an overview report drawing out the key findings of a selection of case reviews from the last two years, and their implications for policy and practice. At the same time, we are developing a comprehensive database of all serious case reviews.
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NHS Professionals
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) of 11 December 2001, Official Report, column 699, if he will make a statement on the records maintained by NHS Professionals concerning the identity, history, training and qualifications of its temporary staff. [39782]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: Health Service Circular 2001–02 and the guidance NHS Professionals—"A co-ordinated, NHS-led approach to temporary staffing", sets out national standards for good employment practice. This includes, record keeping and using the best of modern information technology and call centre technology within agreed national frameworks for terms and conditions of service, delivering high quality patient care through clinical governance.
The software used by NHS Professionals captures information on the identity, history, training and development and qualifications of its temporary staff helping to ensure the quality and accuracy of records relating to staff recruited through NHS Professionals.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training in clinical matters the staff at NHS Professionals call centres have received. [39678]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: All call centre staff receive appropriate training and induction to ensure quality service and clinical governance.
Clinical specialists are used at the recruitment stage to ensure quality of temporary staff used by NHS Professionals.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the pensions costs of NHS professionals staff are charged out to its clients. [39680]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: Pensions costs are included in the management fee added on top of the hourly rate, currently at a maximum of 7.5 per cent.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what margins are added to the costs charged by NHS Professionals to its clients. [39679]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: The management fee aims to recoup operating costs and is currently set at a maximum of 7.5 per cent.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been spent on the set-up costs of NHS Professionals. [39677]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: National Health Service Professionals has been allocated £4 million to support the start up, as outlined in the Health Service Circular 2001–02, with £3 million this financial year to support the schemes extension. The service will be self-sustaining in the long-term and recoup costs directly from the NHS organisations using NHS Professionals.
Press and Public Relations
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence was used by his Director of Communications as the basis for his claims at a
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conference of NHS trust and health authority chairmen as to (a) the public view of the NHS and (b) the media's responsibility for that public view. [39842]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 1 March 2002]: The information presented to national health service trust and health authority chairman was drawn from the British Social Attitudes Survey and on studies conducted by MORI and Test Research. Copies of these studies have been placed in the Library.
Nurses
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what actions have been taken by the Weston Area NHS trust to recruit nursing staff from the Philippines; what the total cost of such recruitment has been; and whether additional resources have been made available to meet these costs. [40494]
Ms Blears [holding answer 7 March 2002]: Weston Area national health service trust has not actively recruited nursing staff from overseas.
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nursing staff are employed and (b) nursing vacancies there are for (i) the Avon health authority and (ii) the Weston area NHS trust. [40493]
Ms Blears [holding answer 7 March 2002]: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Avon health authority | Weston area health NHS trust | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff | |||
| Three month vacancy rate per cent. | 4.0 | 0.0 | |
| Three month vacancies (wte) | 250 | 0 | |
| Staff in post (wte) | 5,900 | 340 | |
Notes:
1. Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2001 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).
2. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post from the September 2000 medical and dental and non-medical work force census (whole time equivalent).
3. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.
4. Percentages rounded to one decimal place.
Source:
NHS Vacancy Survey, March 2001 and NHS Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2000.
Ambulance Service (Diabetics)
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about his policy in relation to the recruitment and retention of people with diabetes in the ambulance service. [40639]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 March 2002]: There is no bar to the recruitment and retention of people with diabetes in the ambulance service. Decisions on fitness for work are made on an individual basis depending upon the overall status of the applicant and their ability to perform their duties without risk to themselves or others.
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