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30 Mar 2004 : Column 1376W—continued

NHS Childcare Provision

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners' surgeries take advantage of NHS child care provisions. [163085]

Mr. Hutton: Information on how many general practitioners' surgeries take advantage of national health service child care provision is not collected.

Recruitment/Retention Premiums

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 10 March 2004, Official Report, column 1592W, on Agenda for Change, what maximum limits have been set on recruitment and retention premiums to (a) individual postholders and (b) groups of postholders. [163486]

Mr. Hutton: The "Agenda for Change" proposed agreement states that the combined value of any nationally awarded and locally awarded recruitment and retention premium shall not normally exceed 30 per cent. of basic salary. This applies to individual postholders and groups of postholders.

Rescue Services

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much joint training in chemical, biological,

30 Mar 2004 : Column 1377W

radioactive and nuclear duties (a) has been and (b) is being carried out between ambulance services and fire and rescue services. [162706]

Mr. Hutton: Training courses to allow front tine ambulance staff to respond safely and effectively to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents have been, and are being, conducted by each ambulance service to a standard syllabus delivered by nationally trained local instructors. That syllabus was developed, and the instructors trained, through the police national training centre at Winterbourne Gunner, with combined input from each of the three main blue light services. The course content places particular emphasis on multi-agency aspects and requires input from the other emergency services at local level.

Confidence in dealing with chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) incidents is further strengthened through multi-agency exercises and combined CBRN training for ambulance, police and fire incident commanders.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of decontamination training has been given to ambulance crews. [162707]

Mr. Hutton: Each ambulance service has a cadre of staff trained to deal with the health aspects of the response to a chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear incident. Those staff have been trained to work safely in a contaminated area, to decontaminate patients and to deliver basic life support.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of ambulance crews have been trained in the use of chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear protective equipment. [162719]

Mr. Hutton: The Ambulance Service Association reports that, to date, specialist training in the use of personal equipment has been provided for 2,500 front-line ambulance staff and that number is expected to increase to 3,000 by early summer 2004. The target is to create and maintain a trained cadre of 3,000 staff, which represents about 20 per cent. of front-line accident and emergency staff from ambulance services in England by the end of the year.

The Government have provided equipment and an additional financial contribution of £5,454,200 in 2003–04 to enable ambulance services to continue to develop and maintain specialist teams and training activities.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what type of chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear protective equipment has been given to ambulance crews. [162720]

Mr. Hutton: Every ambulance service has been equipped with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) and mobile decontamination units to allow safe working for front-line staff and to enable the decontamination of patients.

The protective equipment supplied to national health service staff provides adequate protection against a wide range of industrial chemicals and other specifically identified hazards to which NHS staff might be exposed.

30 Mar 2004 : Column 1378W

Strategic Health Authority Staff

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are reported in the September 2003 Workforce Census as being employed by each strategic health authority. [163927]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 26 March 2004]: The information requested is shown in the table. Between September 2002 and 2003, the number of staff employed by strategic health authorities (SHAs) fell by 12 per cent.

Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS) staff and NHS hospital and community health services: Medical and non-medical staff directly employed by Strategic Health Authorities in England as at 30 September 2003Headcount

		All medical and dental and non-medical staff
	England	3,540
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA	65
Q02	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA	70
Q03	Essex SHA	69
Q04	North West London SHA	109
Q05	North Central London SHA	131
Q06	North East London SHA	163
Q07	South East London SHA	104
Q08	South West London SHA	91
Q09	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA	105
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley SHA	92
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA	67
Q12	West Yorkshire SHA	82
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire SHA	55
Q14	Greater Manchester SHA	169
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside SHA	208
Q16	Thames Valley SHA	133
Q17	Hampshire and Isle Of Wight SHA	144
Q18	Kent and Medway SHA	89
Q19	Surrey and Sussex SHA	299
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA	66
Q21	South West Peninsula SHA	114
Q22	Dorset and Somerset SHA	103
Q23	South Yorkshire SHA	402
Q24	Trent SHA	139
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA	86
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA	93
Q27	Birmingham and the Black Country SHA	189
Q28	Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire SHA	103

Note:

Medical staff figures do not include staff employed by other organisations, even when they work in the SHA.

Sources:

Department of Health medical and dental workforce census.

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

Working Time Directive

Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has negotiated a concession in the European Working Time Directive that will allow postponement of implementation of the Directive beyond August for junior doctors. [163924]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 26 March 2004]: No. We are actively seeking changes to the Working Time Directive (WTD) through the European Commission's consultation process to enable national health service employers to comply with the WTD more easily.

30 Mar 2004 : Column 1379W

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Easter Uprising

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what his policy is regarding returning original documents held by the Public Record Office from the Easter uprising in Dublin in 1916 to (a) the nearest living relative and (b) the National Archives of Ireland. [162317]

Mr. Leslie: Public records relating to the British administration in Ireland in 1916 and subsequently selected for permanent preservation because of their historical importance form part of the archives of the UK Government, now held by the National Archives at Kew. They are kept there so that present and future generations of researchers can access the nation's collective memory as expressed in the written record.

The National Archives runs a full range of well-publicised copying services which are readily available to individuals and institutions if they wish to obtain copies of specific records. Further details can be obtained from its website at: http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordcopying/default.htm

In addition, the National Archives is willing to consider special copying arrangements in cases where it can be demonstrated that this would provide easier access to a significant number of people directly affected by the events described in those records.

Employment Agencies

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the employment agencies which the Department and its predecessors have used to supply temporary staff in each financial year since 1996–97 to the most recent date for which figures are available. [163809]

Mr. Leslie: My Department, and its predecessor, has a national contract with Kelly Services which began in April 2001 for the supply of temporary staff. Prior to that my Department had a contract with Manpower between 1996 and 2001.

My Department uses other agencies but information relating to these during the period in question is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

My Department uses temporary agency staff to meet short-term requirements and in areas where it is difficult to recruit and retain staff.

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