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European Union: Public Attitudes
Lord Peston asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they have taken to survey public attitudes to the European Union.[HL1832]
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office commissioned ICM to conduct opinion research to find out what the British public know about our membership of the European Union, which issues they believe are important, what information they want and how they want it delivered.
I will place the full results in the Libraries of both Houses on Wednesday 5 December.
Fuel Poverty
Lord Ashley of Stoke asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What percentage of those in fuel poverty are (a) households containing a pensioner, (b) households containing a disabled person receiving the higher rate or medium rate care components of disability living allowance or the higher mobility rate; and (c) households containing a disabled person receiving either of the higher rates of disability living allowance.[HL1198]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The latest available figures indicate that in England in 1998, 29 per cent of households headed by an older couple or a single person over the age of 60 were in fuel poverty in 1998. This is based on fuel poverty being defined as when a household needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its income (including housing benefit and income support for mortgage interest) on fuel in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. When fuel poverty is defined using income excluding housing benefit or income support for mortgage interest, 35 per cent of households headed by an older couple or a single person over the age of 60 were in fuel poverty in England in 1998.
Information on fuel poverty is not available split by the rate of disability living allowance. However, figures are available on the percentage of households receiving the different components of the disability living allowance that are in fuel poverty. The latest available figures for England relate to 1996 and these are given in the table below. More up-to-date figures are not available at present.
Fuel poverty is a devolved matter and therefore it is for the respective assemblies and Parliament to report on the situation in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
| Fuel poverty defined using income including housing benefit and ISMI(2) | Fuel poverty defined using income excluding housing Benefit and ISMI(3) | |||||
| Percentages | Numbers (thousands) | Percentages | Numbers (thousands) | |||
| Households in receipt of DLA care component | 18 | 66 | 24 | 88 | ||
| Households in receipt of DLA mobility component | 24 | 159 | 32 | 208 | ||
| Households in receipt of either care or mobility components of DLA or both | 22 | 183 | 30 | 249 | ||
Source: English House Condition Survey 1996.
(1) The information in the table is based on the head of household or their partner receiving the disability living allowance.
(2) Fuel poverty defined as when a household needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its income (including housing benefit and income support for mortage interest) on fuel in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime.
(3) Fuel poverty defined as when a household needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its income (excluding housing benefit and income support for mortage interest) on fuel in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime.
Lord Ashley of Stoke asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): There are no centrally held statistics on the number of British sign language tutors. However, inquiries indicate that there are around 700 tutors, but details of the level of qualifications held are not known.
Lord Ashley of Stoke asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: There are currently no plans for government to increase the number of trained and qualified British sign language tutors.
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Bill to make reproductive cloning illegal in the United Kingdom completed its parliamentary passage on Thursday 29 November 2001. The Government are appealing against the court judgment and will consider the implications for cloning for research purposes following the outcome of the appeal and taking account of the report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research due early in 2002. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001 remain unaffected.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many trained and qualified British sign language tutors there are at intermediate and advanced level. [HL1344]
Whether they have any plans to increase the number of trained and qualified British sign language tutors. [HL1345]
What action they intend to take to revoke the statutory instruments governing the use of human embryos for experimental cloning and live birth cloning in the light of the High Court ruling of 15 November; and whether they will make the House aware of their intentions.[HL1411]
Whether the Department of Health is encouraging research by the Medical Research
5 Dec 2001 : Column WA146
- Council to examine the reports of parents whose children became autistic after a normal infancy in order to see if there is any consistency of pattern.[HL1615]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Government take autism very seriously. In March this year the Department of Health commissioned the Medical Research Council to conduct a detailed review of the current state of knowledge about autism and to suggest possible areas for further research. We look forward to receiving its report.
Social Services: Charging Policies
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 26 November (WA 13), whether their guidance to local councils on charging for non-residential social services includes charging working disabled people in proportion to their earnings.[HL1685]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Our guidance to local councils on charging for non-residential social services issued on 23 November states that councils should disregard all earnings in assessing ability to pay a charge. The guidance is available on the Department of Health's website at www.doh.gov/scg/homecare charges.
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 26 November (WA 13), whether the guidance has now been published; and, if so, on what date.[HL1686]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: I regret that the information provided in my previous reply of 26 November at col. WA 13 is incorrect.
The guidance on fairer charging for home care and other non-residential social services was published on 23 November 2001. The guidance is available on the department's website at www.doh.gov/scg/homecare charges.
Infectious Diseases Strategy
Lord Turnberg asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they expect to publish the report of the Chief Medical Officer A Strategy for Communicable Disease.[HL1704]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: It is hoped to publish the Chief Medical Officer's report setting out a proposed strategy for infectious diseases in England shortly.
NHS Register Numbers
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why there are 66 million National Health Service numbers used for the National Health Service in England when the population of England and Wales is 53,137,000; whether all the numbers relate to living persons; and what arrangements exist for the notification to the National Health Service Central Register of the death of United Kingdom citizens.[HL1731]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: There are just over 55 million current numbers on the NHS Central Register. In addition, there are 6 million records relating to deceased patients, nearly 2 million relating to patients who have moved from England and Wales (eg to Scotland, Northern Ireland or abroad) and 3 million numbers which have been cancelled.
NHS numbers are never re-issued. If it is discovered that a duplicate number has been issued, that number is cancelled.
The process for informing the NHS Central Register of patient deaths is as follows:
- 1. Informant presents the medical certificate of cause of death at the Registrar of Births and Deaths and officially registers the death.
- 2. The registrar system passes details of the death to the Office of National Statistics database (at Titchfield) where the death is recorded on their database.
- 3. The Titchfield database transmits details of the deaths on a weekly basis to the NHSCR.
- 4. The NHSCR matches these persons with patients on the NHSCR database and flags them as Xdead".
- 5. The NHSCR forwards a Xdeduction" notification to the patient's HA to request removal of the patient from the GP's list.
Additionally, the NHSCR receives death notifications from the HAs directly, when the GP deducts their patient with a reason of Xdeath".
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