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Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The information is not available in the format requested. Data are not held separately for the All Work Test element within the allocations for the administration of Incapacity Benefit.
However, the total additional funding for the administration of Incapacity Benefit was £42,571 million for 1995-96 and £39,454 million for 1996-97. This does not include any funding for Sickness or Invalidity Benefits.
Baroness Cumberlege asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Baroness Jay of Paddington): None of the trust board vacancies arising on 31 October 1997 had been filled by 30 September 1997. Apart from exceptional cases, these
appointments will be confirmed very shortly. Appointments have been delayed this year because of the introduction of new criteria for board membership, and the need to consider new candidates arising from over 1,800 nominations by Members of Parliament and local authorities.
Lord Alderdice asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Jay of Paddington: Health Authorities, Trusts and Consortia concerned with commissioning education and training are expected to take account of national guidance on good practice in the Review of NHS Psychotherapy Services in England alongside the views of professional and user groups and employers in health and social care. A wide variety of different professional staff are involved in the provision of the "talking therapies". The Government believe that all those who provide such therapies should be competent and appropriately qualified.
Lord Rix asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone): We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for advice on the mechanisms for setting future funding for universities and colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. We shall want to consider the options very carefully as soon as we receive their advice.
Lord Stewartby asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The introduction of self-assessment had no effect on the rules on expenditure which is deductible when computing trading profits from farming for tax purposes.
Lord Rowallan asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has a statutory duty to compile lists of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. All list entries include a description of the building and the features that led to it being listed. It is intended principally to aid identification and holds no information about ownership or whether a building is vacant or not.
Lord Rowallan asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: For England our records indicate that there are currently 1,473 buildings listed as hotels or conference centres which have at some stage in their history been used as houses. Information on the ownership of these buildings is not held centrally. Listing in Scotland and Wales is the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales respectively but I understand that none of the information sought is held centrally for either of these countries.
Lord Braine of Wheatley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Braine of Wheatley from the Director of the Office for National Statistics, Dr. T. Holt, dated 10 November 1997:
I have been asked to reply, as the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to your recent question on abortion figures.
The latest information for residents and non-residents of England and Wales is available in Table D for 1993 and 1994, and table D1 for 1995, in the OPCS/ONS publication Abortion Statistics. Series AB Nos. 20-22.
Copies of these publications are available in the House of Lords Library.
Lord Monkswell asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The Director General has now completed an internal review of the management and organisation of the Prison Service.
The review has recommended, and we have endorsed, a programme of action with the following key elements:
(i) measures to assert and reinforce ministerial responsibility for the Prison Service. The Government have already made clear their commitment to taking proper ministerial responsibility for the Prison Service. Parliamentary Questions are now answered by Ministers and not by the Director General. Further measures to be taken in the light of this review are as follows:
the Agency Framework Document will be updated and reissued with a new ministerial preface when the Comprehensive Spending Review is further advanced;
the Prison Service will take action to develop a greater sensitivity to the nature and demands of ministerial responsibility for the service at all levels in the agency. This will be reflected in specific training programmes and in key documentation.
create a stronger capacity within headquarters to develop regime standards and policies for all prisoner groups and to support the operational line in monitoring performance and spreading best practice. This will be provided by a Director of Regimes at Prisons Board level, supported by
more effective standard-setting and performance management systems. A clear set of core standards will be formulated, supported by a set of functional standards for different types of prisoner and prison. The contract between the Governor and the Area Manager will be used as the key business management tool of the Prison Service; and in the longer term the service will move towards the replacement of contracts with more formal service level agreements, providing a form of internal purchaser/provider arrangement;
a major investment in management development and training will be taken forward when the Prison Service can identify efficiency savings. The net for recruiting managers to all levels in the Prison Service will also be widened.
A copy of the review is being placed in the Library.
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