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Mr. Allan Stewart : The final meeting of the Lanarkshire working group took place on Friday 10 May. The group's conclusions and recommendations are being finalised in the light of members' comments at that meeting ; I expect to receive its report shortly, and to publish it as soon as possible thereafter.
NHS Funding
34. Mr. Ernie Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he next intends meeting chairs of health boards in Scotland to discuss funding and organisation of the national health service.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I met the chairmen of health boards on 3 May and do so regularly. I will be meeting with them again on 28 June.
Industrial Estates
35. Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any plans to increase investment in the refurbishing of industrial estates.
Mr. Allan Stewart : One of the principal functions of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise is to encourage the provision of suitable property to meet the needs of industry in Scotland. The refurbishment of property is primarily a matter for the property owners ; but Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the local enterprise companies, may assist with refurbishment costs where a failure in the market is creating an obstacle to the private sector investment and in order to promote the normal functioning of the market. The Government have made substantial resources available to them for this purpose.
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Employment
36. Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he makes of the likely implications for employment of the recession in Scotland.
Mr. Allan Stewart : In keeping with the practice of previous Governments, no forecasts of Scottish employment are published.
Public Sector Housing
37. Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the capital debt faced by Scottish public sector housing.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The outstanding capital debt associated with public sector housing in Scotland at 31 March 1991 amounted to £4.7 billion, or about £5,700 per house. The Government provide subsidy to those public sector housing authorities with relatively high levels of capital debt.
Dr. Gray's Hospital, Elgin
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the approval in principle of the establishment of (a) a specialist maternity gynaecology and obstetrics unit and (b) a specialist orthapaedic unit at Dr. Gray's hospital, Elgin, have now been fully funded ; what progress is being made, and when he expects the work to be completed.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Approval in principle for the redevelopment of Dr. Gray's at a cost of £16.1 million has now been given to Grampian health board. The development will include the full range of maternity, gynaecology, obstetrics and orthopaedic services. Work on the redevelopment is expected to be phased starting in August 1992 and being completed by early 1997.
Grampian Health Board
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what money has been allocated by Grampian health board or the Scottish Home and Health Department for the exploration by Grampian West unit of the possibility of establishing trust status.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Scottish Office Home and Health Department and Grampian health board have made available £90,000 to help the West Grampian unit to implement a number of White Paper initiatives including preparing an NHS trust plan, following an expression of interest in acquiring trust status from the unit.
Day-care Places
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many day-care places for adults who are (a) mentally handicapped, (b) mentally ill or recovering from mental illness and (c) physically handicapped are provided by (i) local authorities and (ii) health authorities in Scotland in each regional council and health board area in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The latest figures, based on annual statistics provided by local authorities and information obtained from recent inquiries of the health boards, are shown in the following tables :
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Persons attending local authority day centres at 31 March 1989
Client group
Region |Mentally |Mentally |Physically |Multiply |Total |Total
|handicapped|ill |handicapped|handicapped|persons |places<1>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borders |121 |0 |57 |27 |205 |169
Central |313 |0 |100 |61 |474 |492
Dumfries/Galloway |213 |4 |10 |37 |264 |274
Fife |430 |1 |93 |136 |660 |565
Grampian |603 |2 |178 |81 |867 |873
Highland |161 |3 |13 |13 |190 |205
Lothian |786 |300 |392 |230 |1,708 |1,424
Strathclyde |2,906 |117 |662 |376 |4,061 |3,997
Tayside |447 |1 |11 |7 |466 |466
Orkney |31 |5 |9 |0 |45 |54
Shetland |27 |0 |3 |0 |30 |55
Western Isles |30 |0 |34 |4 |68 |40
| ------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | -------
Total Scotland |6,068 |433 |1,562 |975 |9,038 |8,614
<1>Places in local authority day centres relate to the capacity of the centre. Places can be occupied
by more than one client during a week.
Places available cannot be classified as they are not designated to any group in the centres which
provide for several client groups. However,
centres specifically for the elderly have been excluded.
Current number of day hospital places provided by health boards in Scotland<1>
Health board |Mentally |Mentally ill|Physically |Total
|handicapped |handicapped
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borders |3 |33 |- |36
Forth Valley |- |90 |- |90
Dumfries and Galloway |4 |70 |- |74
Fife |46 |243 |12 |301
Grampian |53 |220 |10 |283
Highland |- |207 |- |207
Lothian |31 |643 |30 |704
Greater Glasgow |- |441 |- |287
Lanarkshire |12 |63 |- |75
Argyll and Clyde |5 |201 |- |206
Ayrshire and Arran |9 |75 |- |84
Tayside |30 |244 |13 |287
Orkney |- |- |- |-
Shetland |- |- |- |-
Western Isles |- |4 |- |4
|------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |193 |2,534 |65 |2,792
<1> Adult places in some areas may be used by children from time to time. These "joint
use" places have been included in the total.
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many day-care places for children who are (a) mentally handicapped, (b) mentally ill or recovering from mental illness and (c) physically handicapped are provided by (i) local authorites and (ii) health authorities in Scotland in each regional council and health board area in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The latest available information which relates to children attending local authority services at 31 March 1990 is given in table A. Table B gives information about places provided by health boards at 31 March 1991.
Table A
Children attending local authority day services
|Mentally |Physically |Multiple
|handicapped|handicapped|handicapped
|(mental and
|physical)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Borders |7 |2 |2
Central |0 |0 |0
Dumfries and Galloway |1 |0 |0
Fife |12 |19 |8
Grampian |0 |1 |3
Highland |0 |0 |1
Lothian |47 |111 |27
Strathclyde |38 |39 |22
Tayside |14 |11 |3
Orkney |0 |0 |0
Shetland |0 |0 |0
Western Isles |0 |0 |0
In addition, local authorities make use of facilities provided by voluntary and private establishments.
Table B
Day hospital places for children provided by health boards
|Mentally |Mentally |Physically
|handicapped|ill |handicapped
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Borders |0 |0 |0
Forth Valley |0 |0 |0
Dunfries and
Galloway |0 |10 |0
Fife |0 |0 |0
Grampian |0 |8 |0
Highland |0 |0 |0
Lothian |0 |0 |0
Greater Glasgow |0 |13 |0
Lanarkshire |0 |0 |0
Argyll and Clyde |0 |44 |0
Ayrshire and
Arran |0 |0 |0
Tayside |27 |0 |0
Orkney |0 |0 |0
Shetland |0 |0 |0
Western Isles |0 |0 |0
Strathclyde
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any plans to meet the leader of Strathclyde regional council to discuss central Government funding for the region ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Allan Stewart : The leader of Strathclyde district council was among representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities who met my right hon. Friend and I on 8 April 1991 to discuss local authority finance.
Truancy
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the amount of truancies affecting the education authorities in (a) Scotland, (b) Strathclyde region and (c) Renfrew division in each year since 1979.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : This information is not available. However, on 9 May I announced that I had commissioned the biggest survey of truancy in Scotland ever undertaken. Results from the survey will be available in early summer.
Renfrew District Council
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any plans to meet the leader of Renfrew district council to discuss central Government funding for the district ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Allan Stewart : I last met the leader of Renfrew district council on 13 May when he and a delegation discussed economic issues relating to Barrhead and Neilston.
Horticulture
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what consultations he has had with the horticultural industry in Scotland in the last year ; and when he next plans to consult the industry on contemporary matters.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the last year the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department has had consultations with the industry on a number of issues such as research and development, the impact of imports from eastern Europe on the soft fruit sector and the introduction of a statutory certification scheme for raspberry canes. My right hon. Friend has no plans at present for further consultations but regular contact with the industry will be maintained.
Health Boards
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the remuneration for each health board chairman for the financial year 1989-90.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The levels of remuneration paid to health board chairmen reflect their heavy burden of
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responsibility and time commitment, and take into account the variations in the size of boards. For the financial year 1989-90 they were :