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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 16 March 1990
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
City Technology Colleges
Mr. Fatchett : to ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what safeguards he is proposing to put in place to ensure that the provisions of section 105(5) of the Education Reform Act requiring capital repayments on discontinuance or change of character of a CTC or CCTA will continue to have effect after termination of the agreement with the Secretary of State and subsequent continuation on a fee-paying basis of the school in the same buildings, and so on.
Mrs. Rumbold : Paragraphs 54 to 59 of the model funding agreement between my right hon. Friend and a city technology college/city college for the technology of
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the arts provide that, in the event that my right hon. Friend shall give notice of the termination of this agreement in circumstances which include the CTC/CCTA seeking to charge for admission, "He shall also give notice that the provisions of section 105(5) shall apply, and set out how the CTC/CCTA is to comply with them". Under this provision, my right hon. Friend will set out a method and timetable, which the CTC/CCTA company would be required to follow to fulfill the provisions of section 105(5) following the termination of the agreement. No further safeguard is necessary in this respect.Assisted Places
Mr. Jack : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about the level of parental contributions to the fees of pupils in the assisted places scheme in 1990-91.
Mr. MacGregor : Subject to parliamentary approval, the parental contribution scales will be adjusted upwards for the school year 1990-91 as set out in the table. Total parental contributions for families with four or more assisted pupils will be limited to the amounts payable at any given level of income by parents supporting three assisted pupils.
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OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Technical Training and Education
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Devon, North of 12 March, Official Report, column 63, if he will list the programmes of technical training and education which are being funded over the next three years in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia.
Mrs. Chalker : The information requested is as follows :
Projects
Nigeria :
Current projects :
--National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)
Project
--Federal Technical College Project
--Four Polytechnics Project
(The above three current projects are designed to improve the quality of courses offered at polytechnics and to enhance NBTE's management of Nigeria's technical education programme.)
--Science Teacher Training Project for Junior Secondary
School Teachers
--English Language Training Project for university
teaching staff (in all disciplines)
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--Middle-Level Agricultural Education ProjectProjects under consideration
--University Laboratory Equipment Maintenance Project
--Polytechnic Laboratory Equipment Maintenance
Project
--English Language Training Project (for staff at
universities of technology)
Ghana :
--Junior Secondary Schools Teachers Training Project
--"Non-formal education" (basic literacy for adults)
Sierra Leone
Certificate Training Centre, Njala University College (agricultural extension workers)
English Language Teacher Training Project
(to improve teaching and learning of English in Primary and Secondary Schools and teacher colleges)
Primary Mathematics Education Project
(to improve mathematics teaching methodology in primary schools) Primary Education Support Project
(through the NGO Action Aid, in service training through workshops to improve the quality of teaching and learning in primary schools. The Gambia :
Gambia College Project (teacher training)
Curriculum Development Project (concentrating on English, Mathematics and Science at primary and
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secondary level)Gambia Technical Training Institute Project : and Vocational Technical Training Project (both projects designed to improve the quality of technical education)
Training
UK Training Awards 1989-90
Nigeria about 660--funded from all FCO-ODA schemes
Ghana about 220--funded from all FCO-ODA schemes
Gambia about 99--funded from all FCO-ODA schemes
Sierra Leone about 129--funded from all FCO-ODA schemes
Total 1,108
We plan to continue to offer such training, funded from all FCO/ODA schemes.
TRANSPORT
Severn Bridge
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if non -United Kingdom consortiums will be allowed to bid for the new Severn bridge infrastructure project ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : Applications from consortia wishing to bid for the second Servern bridge project were invited in December 1988. There was no restriction on the nationality of bidders.
Blind People
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to introduce provisions whereby blind people travelling within the EEC by any form of transport will be allowed a travelling companion to accompany them free of charge.
Mr. Portillo : Such provisions already exist for rail travel and, in some cases, for ferries in countries within the European Community. Concessionary schemes on other forms of public transport, where they exist, are of national or local application only.
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what provisions exist in the EEC enabling blind people travelling by rail across internal EEC national boundaries to be accompanied by a sighted companion free of charge ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : Reciprocal rail travel concessions for blind people are available between member states of the European Community. These allow a companion to travel free of charge with a blind person who has purchased a ticket (subject to some restrictions on the type of ticket).
Concessionary Fares
Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will now introduce legislation to make it mandatory for local authorities to provide a uniform concessionary free bus scheme for those aged over 60 years in their area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : Local authorities are best placed to decide what is appropriate for their area, and they already have powers to provide concessionary fares on local bus services for those of state pensionable age.
We have no plans to interfere with these arrangements.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Storm and Flood Damage
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give consideration to a special scheme for compensation for damage to farmers and horticulturalists arising from the storm and floods in February.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The Government do not normally compensate for losses which are insurable or which are the result of weather abnormalities.
Health and Social Services Boards (Appointments)
The Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to advise health and social services boards that intrusive or inquisitive questions irrelevant to the requirements of the post should not be put to candidates in interviews.
Mr. Peter Bottomley [holding answer 12 March 1990] : We should be grateful for information of any specific complaint.
Rev. Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what guidance he has issued to health and social services boards regarding the information which they require from applicants for medical staff appointments and research fellowships ; what guidance his Department issues as to whether health and social services boards should require from applicants information on the primary school attended ;
(2) what information he has as to the inclusion by health and social services boards of questions as to the primary school which a person may have attended in application procedures for medical staff appointments and research fellowships.
Mr. Peter Bottomley [holding answer 12 March 1990] : None. As a result of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989, health and social services boards in Northern Ireland are required to monitor the religious composition of all those who apply to fill vacancies for employment.
Monitoring must be carried out in accordance with regulations made under the Act and guidance on the provisions is contained in the code of practice issued by the Department of Economic Development and which came into operation on 31 December 1989. Copies of the code have been made available to each health and social services board.
Cattle
Mr. Molyneaux : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the figures recently supplied to him by the Ulster Farmers Union on the financial position in relation to the finishing of beef cattle in Northern Ireland during last winter and the present winter.
Mr. Peter Bottomley [holding answer 13 March 1990] : The figures supplied by the Ulster Farmers Union were extracted from "Farm Business Data 1989" which was published by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland in May 1989.
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The figures require adjustment in the light of actual price levels and prevailing market conditions during the autumn and winter. When adjusted in this manner and interest charges excluded, the figures show an overall positive gross margin for autumn-purchased stores last winter and a break-even this winter when account is taken of beef special premium payments.Mr. Molyneaux : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he intends to take to improve the financial returns to the finishers of beef cattle in Northern Ireland in respect of cattle finishers during the present winter season.
Mr. Peter Bottomley [holding answer 13 March 1990] : The Government are seeking a substantial devaluation of the United Kingdom green pound in the context of this year's price-fixing round. We have sought to optimise beef intervention in Northern Ireland in recent months.
Substantial tonnages of beef have been taken off the market recently. This should help to raise producer prices.
HEALTH
Nurses
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many trainees entered the nursing profession in 1989 ; how many nurses are at present employed by the National Health Service ; and what is the estimated number of nurses necessary to staff the National Health Service.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : 20,877 people entered pre-registration nurse training in England during the year ended 31 March 1989. At 30 September 1988, the latest date for which this information is available, there were 241,800 (whole-time equivalent) qualified nurses and midwives employed in the National Health Service in England. The planning and setting of staffing levels is a matter for individual health authorities. Decisions on appropriate levels of staff must be based on local needs and priorities.
NHS Employees (Private Practice)
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to issue guidelines to National Health Service employees with private practice interests in potential competition with their work in income-generating departments in the National Health Service.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : As I stated in reply to the hon. Member on 5 February, at column 489, we are currently considering whether further guidance is needed in this field.
Inspection Units
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision is being made for independent inspection units as proposed in the White Paper "Caring for People".
Mr. Jack : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give details of progress in implementation of his plans for independent inspection units proposed in the White Paper "Caring for People".
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer my hon. Friends to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Mr. Carttiss) on 24 January at column 714.
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Psychotherapy
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) individual patients and (b) families are on waiting lists for admission for in-patient psychotherapy treatment (i) in the North West Thames region and (ii) nationally.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Information about the numbers of patients awaiting specific types of treatment is not collected centrally.
Cassel Hospital, Richmond
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has received any proposal for the Cassel hospital, Richmond, to become a self- governing hospital trust.
Nurses (Grading)
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will introduce a standard set of guidelines in relation to the clinical grading structure for nurses ;
(2) if he will issue a standard set of guidelines agreed by both management and unions on the clinical grading structure for nurses ; and if he will include a provision that Macmillan nursing sisters be on grade H.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The grading definitions in the clinical structure introduced in 1988, and any joint guidance relating to them, are a matter for the Nursing and Midwifery Staffs Negotiating Council. Following prolonged discussions, it was not possible to reach agreement on such guidance between the staff and management sides of the council. It is for health authorities to decide how particular posts should be graded, including those occupied by Macmillan nursing sisters, in the light of the grading definitions agreed by the council, the management guidance which has been issued, and the specifications of the particular post.
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will take steps to establish a timetable for negotiations for those still appealing at district or regional level to deal with the cases of nurses throughout the country who are still awaiting appeals into their grading ;
(2) if he will take steps to speed up the grading appeals process into the new clinical grading structure for nurses.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The procedures for handling NHS appeals are a matter for the General Whitley Council, not Ministers. Health authorities are making efforts to operate the appeals process as quickley as possible.
NHS Staff
Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the current staff vacancy levels and staff turnover rates for the pathology MLSO grades in the National Health Service.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We do not hold this information centrally. At 30 September 1988, the latest date for which data are available, there were 15,180 (whole-time equivalent) medical laboratory scientific officers (including unqualified grades) in post in the NHS in England.
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Income Generation Unit
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the aims of the income generation unit, together with the costs of its operation and details of its staffing levels.
Mr. Freeman : The unit's aims are to develop policy on income generation ; provide a central source of advice on this for health authorities and the private sector ; assist health authorities to develop and implement income generation projects ; monitor their achievements ; and disseminate information and good practice. The income generation unit's running costs in 1989-90 will be approximately £152,200. This is calculated using the average salaries, plus on-costs for accommodation, office services, travel etc. for each staff grade in the unit. In addition, almost £35,000 will be paid for outside consultancy work resulting in operational costs for the unit of approximately £187,200 in 1989-90.
Current staffing levels for the income generation unit are 0.5 grade 5, 2 grade 7s, 1 higher executive officer, 1 executive officer and 0.5 administrative officer.
NHS Reform
Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many, and what representations he has received from general practitioners in south Yorkshire about the proposed changes in the National Health Service ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We have received a number of representations from a wide variety of sources. Many ask questions, and many are in favour of some or all of our proposals. Others comment only on specific elements. However, it is not possible to distinguish them in the way the hon. Member requests.
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