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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 13 November 1992
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Departmental Properties
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list, for each local authority area in south Yorkshire, how many residential properties are currently owned by his Department ; and if he will list, by location, those residential properties which are empty, giving the type of accommodation available, the length of time each property has been vacant, and its intended future use.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor's Department does not own any residential property in south Yorkshire.
Public Record Office
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many papers his Department has currently withdrawn from the Public Record Office ; if he will list their titles ; and when he estimates that they will be returned.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Government Departments have a statutory right to retrieve records temporarily from the Public Record Office for their own administrative use. The Lord Chancellor's Department currently has 45 records out on loan. They will be returned when the current administrative need to keep them is over. I will write to the hon. Gentleman with details of their titles.
TRANSPORT
Agencies
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of the health and safety policy of each of the agencies within his Department.
Mr. Norris : A copy of the health and safety policy of each of the Department's agencies has been placed in the Library today.
Jubilee Line
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what costs have been incurred as a result of the delay in announcing the building of the Jubilee line extension.
Mr. Norris : About £10 million.
Rail Station, Ashford
Sir Keith Speed : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards the building of an international passenger station at Ashford.
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Mr. Freeman : Outline planning consent has been obtained for the new station at Ashford. I am pleased to say that British Rail has confirmed to me that it is now able to progress the first stage of the project which is the track and signalling work necessary before the station itself can be built.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Set-aside
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what evaluation his Department has carried out of set-aside policy.
Mr. Gummer : In accordance with my Department's standard practice, studies of both the five-year and one-year set-aside schemes were commissioned from independent bodies. I have today placed in the Library of this House a copy of the report by Reading university of its socio-economic study of the first year of the five-year scheme in England, which my Department commissioned in 1989. A copy of the report of a similar evaluation of the scheme in Scotland by the Scottish agricultural colleges was recently placed in the Library by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. I am also placing in the Library today a copy of the report by Wye college, university of London, of its socio-economic evaluation of the one-year set-aside scheme in England, also commissioned by my Department. In addition, I have placed in the Library a summary of the report of monitoring of the public access provisions of the countryside premium scheme, carried out for my Department by independent consultants. I have given all these studies careful consideration, although clearly the European Community's set-aside policy has developed significantly since they were carried out.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Crime, North Yorkshire
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes of (a) violence against the person, (b) burglary, (c) theft or handling stolen goods and (d) criminal damage, and how many crimes in total, were reported to the North Yorkshire police in the 12-month period July 1978 to June 1979, and in the 12-month period July 1991 to June 1992.
Mr. Jack : The available information is for the number of offences recorded by the police in north Yorkshire and is contained in the following table :
Notifiable Offences Recorded by the Police in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire Number of offences
Offence group |July 1978 to June|July 1991 to June
|1979 |1992
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violence against the person |873 |2,115
Burglary |4,873 |13,804
Theft and handling goods |12,061 |30,453
Criminal damage |2,486 |5,726
Other offences |1,635 |1,975
|--- |---
Total |21,928 |54,073
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Wolds Remand Centre
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of each racial incident leading to disciplinary action at the Wolds remand centre since it opened ; and if he will outline what action he intends to take to tackle racial tension at the Wolds.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There have been no racial incidents leading to disciplinary action at Wolds remand prison since it opened. Tackling issues based on race, including racial tension, is the responsibility of all staff and they receive appropriate training. In addition, a race relations committee and a race relations officer are specifically charged with the task of ensuring that attention is paid to racial matters.
Female Prisoners
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for places in mother and baby units in prisons in England and Wales are currently outstanding ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Applications for a place on a mother and baby unit are considered by a multi-disciplinary team at a case conference. At present the units have no outstanding applications awaiting consideration.
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mother and baby unit places were available (a) at 1 January and (b) at 1 November ; how many further places are planned for, in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On both 1 January and 1 November there were 38 places available in prison mother and baby units.
At Styal, a further house is being converted to create 10 additional places and will be available before the end of the year. Work will commence over the winter months on a new unit at New Hall, which will provide a further nine places.
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many pregnant female prisoners are currently on remand or sentenced in England and Wales.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On 11 November there were 38 pregnant women currently on remand or sentenced in England and Wales.
Insurance Fraud
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home department how many firms have been prosecuted for submitting fraudulent insurance claims for fire-damaged property for each of the last three years.
Mr. Jack : Information as to whether prosecutions for fraud offences specifically related to fraudulent insurance claims for fire damaged property is not collected centrally.
Police Funding
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to discuss with police authorities the report by Richard Kornicki on the future of police funding before any decision is taken on its conclusions.
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Mr. Charles Wardle : Mr. Kornicki's review of police funding is a working document offering internal advice to Ministers. Further work has since been commissioned. No conclusions have yet been reached, but when Ministers have proposals to put forward, we intend that the local authority associations should be among those who are consulted.
Colin Wallace
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of state for the Home Department if he will refer back to the Court of Appeal the conviction of Colin Wallace for manslaughter following new forensic evidence submitted by Professor Bernard Knight.
Mr. Jack : No representations have yet been received containing any such evidence.
Party Conferences
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the additional policing costs arising out of (a) the Liberal Democrat party conference, (b) the Labour party conference and (c) the Conservative party conference in 1992.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I understand from the chief officers of the forces concerned that the estimated additional costs are : (
(a) Liberal Democrat (North Yorkshire) Nil
(b) Labour (Lancashire) £110,000
(c) Conservative (Sussex) £2,200,000
Women
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those crime prevention initiatives and publicity campaigns which have been directly targeted at women in the last five years.
Mr. Jack [holding answer 9 November 1992] : Effective action against crime is of benefit to all citizens, men and women alike. But we know that matters such as personal safety can be of particular concern to women. A range of actions has been taken in recent years to enhance the response of the police and other agencies to rape and domestic violence, and there are a number of crime prevention initiatives specifically directed at improving women's safety. These include more than 200 schemes in the safer cities programme and three innovative projects aimed at tackling domestic violence in Islington, Leeds and Merseyside. These are being developed and evaluated by the Home Office. Most police forces produce material giving information and advice for the victims of domestic violence. In addition the Home Office's crime prevention handbook, "Practical Ways to Crack Crime" deals in detail with aspects of personal safety for women.
Broadcasting
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for extending the moratorium on takeovers of ITV companies until the BBC charter is renewed.
Mr. Brooke : I have been asked to reply.
None.
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ENVIRONMENT
Community Care
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance he will issue to housing authorities on their role in providing community care services from April 1993.
Mr. Baldry : My Department and the Department of Health jointly issued guidance to local authorities about their role under the new arrangements in circular 10/92, "Housing and Community Care", on 24 September. A copy of the circular was placed in the Library.
Hedgerows
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the change in the number of kilometres of hedgerow in Great Britain since 1984 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 11 November 1992] : The survey carried out by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology as part of my Department's 1990 countryside survey indicates that in 1984 there was an estimated total length of 549,000 km of hedgerow in Great Britain. By 1990 there had been a net loss of some 121,000 km. This figure includes losses due to poor management as well as deliberate removal.
The Government are firmly committed to measures that will safeguard hedgerows. Under the Ministry of Agriculture's farm and conservation grant scheme an estimated 2,000 km of hedgerow were planted or improved in 1991. In July we launched the hedgerow incentive scheme with a budget of £3.5 million over three years to promote improved hedgerow management. Furthermore, although pressure on the parliamentary programme for this Session prevented a place being found for a Government Bill on hedgerow protection, we welcome and support the introduction of a Bill with similar objectives by my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey, East (Mr. Ainsworth).
Council Tax
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of the council tax on house prices ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 12 November 1992] : I have made no such estimates.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each county council in England the total amount of unapplied capital receipts.
Mr. Robin Squire [pursuant to his reply, 5 November 1992, c. 371] : The total usable receipts for each county council in England as at 31 March 1992 are shown in the table.
|£000s
-------------------------------------
Avon |9,488
Bedfordshire |204
Berkshire |566
Buckinghamshire |1,765
Cambridgeshire |296
Cheshire |0
Cleveland |13
Cornwall |0
Cumbria |822
Derbyshire |6,930
Devon |0
Dorset |0
Durham |139
East Sussex |3,096
Essex |726
Gloucestershire |240
Hampshire |52
Hereford and Worcester |1,318
Hertfordshire |853
Humberside |5,369
Isle of Wight |0
Kent |4,432
Lancashire |1,961
Leicestershire |2,519
Lincolnshire |0
Norfolk |2,409
North Yorkshire |651
Northamptonshire |11,829
Northumberland |496
Nottinghamshire |358
Oxfordshire |0
Shropshire |1,029
Somerset |240
Staffordshire |125
Suffolk |386
Surrey |605
Warwickshire |963
West Sussex |0
Wiltshire |350
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each housing authority in England and the amount of unapplied capital receipts from (a) housing sales and (b) other capital sales.
Mr. Robin Squire [pursuant to his reply, 5 November 1992, c. 371]: I have arranged for the revised information to be placed in the Library of the House.
Separate figures for housing receipts and other capital receipts are not available.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Charterline
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress has been made in the creation of the charterline telephone advice service.
Mr. Waldegrave : I have today appointed consultants Price Waterhouse to develop a pilot charterline service. The pilot will be launched early in 1993 ; if successful, it will be extended to cover all public services nationwide.
Our market research shows strong public demand for charterline. People often find it difficult to make complaints, or seek information, about public services. They need up-to-date and reliable information on the services available, and on how to complain if things go wrong. Charterline will provide details of the citizens charter and published statements of service standards ; contact numbers to help people find out more about public services ; and contact numbers for making complaints.
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Charterline will also link in with existing telephone helplines, and other sources of help such as the ombudsmen.ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Public Record Office
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Attorney-General how many papers his Department has currently withdrawn from the Public Record Office ; if he will list their titles ; and when he estimates that they will be returned.
The Attorney-General : The Law Officers' Departments occasionally exercise their statutory right to retrieve records temporarily from the Public Record Office for their own administrative use. Neither the legal secretariat to the Law Officers nor the Serious Fraud Office has any records out on loan. The Crown prosecution service has 14 records on loan and the Treasury Solicitor's Department one record on loan. All these records will be returned as soon as departmental action has been completed. I will write to the hon. Member about the titles.
Departmental Properties
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Attorney-General if he will list for each local authority area in south Yorkshire, how many residential properties are currently owned by his Department or the Crown prosecution service ; and if he will list, by location, those residential properties which are empty, giving the type of accommodation available, the length of time each property has been vacant, and its intended future use.
The Attorney-General : None of the Departments for which I am responsible own any residential property in south Yorkshire. One house is currently being administered by the Treasury Solicitor's Department pursuant to a grant of letters of administration.
EMPLOYMENT
Labour Statistics
Mr. Olner : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were employed in the textile industry, the clothing industry and the mining industry in the west midlands in 1980 and for each subsequent year to date.
Mr. McLoughlin : The available information on regional employment for the industries requested is from the censuses of employment taken in 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1989. Data for the west midlands can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library, subject to the confidentiality restrictions of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947.
Minimum Wage Legislation
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions by the wages inspectorate for breaches of the minimum wage rates legislation have been undertaken in (a) Pendle, (b) Lancashire, (c) the north west region and (d) the United Kingdom for each year since 1979.
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Mr. McLoughlin : The information held is for Great Britain, not the United Kingdom, and is detailed in the following table :
The number of prosecutions by the wages inspectorate for breaches under part 2 of the Wages Act 1986 Year |Pendle |Lancashire |North west division|Great Britain ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1979 |0 |0 |0 |12 1980 |0 |0 |1 |8 1981 |0 |0 |1 |10 1982 |0 |0 |1 |7 1983 |0 |0 |0 |2 1984 |0 |0 |0 |2 1985 |0 |0 |0 |2 1986 |0 |0 |0 |3 1987 |0 |1 |2 |8 1988 |0 |0 |2 |11 1989 |0 |0 |0 |10 1990 |0 |0 |1 |9 1991 |0 |0 |1 |17 <1>1992 |0 |0 |0 |11 <1> To date.
Wages Councils
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to the answer of 6 November, Official Report, column 432, what was the lowest rate of actual payment found by inspectors in 1991-92.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will place in the Library (a) the responses to the 1988 consultative paper on the future of wages councils and (b) representations, including notes of oral or telephone representations, received since 1988 on the future of wages councils which were taken into account in the drafting of the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Bill.
Mr. McLoughlin : No. We treat responses to consultation exercises, as with other representations, on the basis that they have been offered "in confidence".
EDUCATION
Class Sizes
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many children in each English education authority were in classes of 41 pupils or more in each year since 1988 ;
(2) if he will list, for each year since 1988, the English education authorities in which no children were in classes of 41 pupils or more.
Mr. Forth : The information requested for classes taught by one teacher is given in the table for maintained primary and secondary schools for each year up to 1991. Information is not collected centrally on class sizes in either maintained nursery or maintained special schools. The information is derived from a census of schools on one day in January of each year, and may not be representative of classes over the whole academic year.
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Numbers of pupils in classes of 41 and over in Maintained
Primary,
Middle and Secondary Schools (including Grant-maintained)
in
England-Position as at January each year
|1988 |1989 |1990 |1991
----------------------------------------------------------
City |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Camden |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Greenwich |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Hackney |n/a |n/a |n/a |44
Hammersmith |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Islington |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Kensington and Chelsea |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Lambeth |n/a |n/a |n/a |48
Lewisham |n/a |n/a |n/a |108
Southwark |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
Tower Hamlets |n/a |n/a |n/a |51
Wandsworth |n/a |n/a |n/a |106
Westminster |n/a |n/a |n/a |-
ILEA |97 |- |86 |n/a
Barking |- |48 |- |-
Barnet |- |- |- |54
Bexley |- |- |- |46
Brent |- |- |41 |-
Bromley |- |- |- |-
Croydon |- |- |- |-
Ealing |- |58 |47 |-
Enfield |- |- |41 |-
Haringey |46 |- |47 |93
Harrow |- |- |- |-
Havering |- |- |- |-
Hillingdon |43 |41 |- |-
Hounslow |72 |41 |- |-
Kingston upon Thames |- |- |- |-
Merton |- |177 |- |41
Newham |48 |106 |288 |214
Redbridge |- |139 |- |-
Richmond upon Thames |- |- |- |-
Sutton |79 |197 |- |-
Waltham Forest |112 |60 |- |44
Birmingham |94 |141 |145 |43
Coventry |118 |102 |45 |135
Dudley |281 |180 |246 |354
Sandwell |- |41 |143 |53
Solihull |- |- |- |90
Walsall |- |- |89 |44
Wolverhampton |101 |83 |85 |-
Knowsley |42 |- |- |50
Liverpool |118 |169 |160 |250
St. Helens |41 |- |- |-
Sefton |- |82 |- |89
Wirral |49 |- |73 |52
Bolton |403 |349 |366 |479
Bury |85 |- |99 |-
Manchester |739 |639 |791 |862
Oldham |- |149 |95 |133
Rochdale |97 |- |- |41
Salford |102 |141 |151 |183
Stockport |42 |84 |- |-
Tameside |41 |89 |- |-
Trafford |- |- |44 |52
Wigan |- |57 |45 |45
Barnsley |41 |- |45 |45
Doncaster |- |- |- |-
Rotherham |- |- |- |121
Sheffield |87 |43 |41 |46
Bradford |- |106 |121 |-
Calderdale |- |- |- |-
Kirklees |131 |157 |172 |132
Leeds |87 |135 |285 |620
Wakefield |93 |211 |56 |42
Gateshead |- |- |58 |60
Newcastle upon Tyne |- |- |52 |69
North Tyneside |- |- |- |-
South Tyneside |- |57 |- |-
Sunderland |- |44 |- |43
Isles of Scilly |- |- |- |-
Avon |124 |97 |175 |101
Bedfordshire |208 |344 |280 |478
Berkshire |67 |218 |93 |95
Buckinghamshire |52 |137 |149 |349
Cambridgeshire |- |49 |- |43
Cheshire |167 |311 |319 |184
Cleveland |93 |- |90 |312
Cornwall |- |- |88 |-
Cumbria |94 |128 |48 |111
Derbyshire |49 |129 |210 |61
Devon |208 |206 |88 |455
Dorset |209 |51 |127 |-
Durham |82 |86 |42 |135
East Sussex |- |- |41 |-
Essex |42 |- |- |189
Gloucestershire |41 |- |- |-
Hampshire |197 |150 |91 |85
Hereford and Worcester |86 |- |- |43
Hertfordshire |47 |- |105 |143
Humberside |585 |605 |676 |560
Isle of Wight |- |- |- |-
Kent |- |45 |171 |103
Lancashire |347 |221 |256 |272
Leicestershire |498 |319 |410 |692
Lincolnshire |42 |125 |93 |-
Norfolk |42 |- |62 |-
North Yorkshire |46 |48 |132 |99
Northamptonshire |43 |49 |148 |241
Northumberland |- |43 |- |146
Nottinghamshire |390 |371 |170 |124
Oxfordshire |97 |131 |87 |222
Shropshire |50 |149 |106 |135
Somerset |- |45 |- |41
Staffordshire |313 |192 |135 |99
Suffolk |47 |110 |- |50
Surrey |- |- |- |191
Warwickshire |41 |88 |127 |-
West Sussex |140 |53 |47 |42
Wiltshire |170 |- |44 |-
England |7,906 |8,426 |8,567 |10,783
Teachers' Pensions Agency
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library a copy of the Teachers' Pensions Agency's health and safety policy.
Mr. Forth : Responsibility for health and safety policy has been delegated to the Teachers' Pensions Agency under its chief executive Mrs. Denyse Metcalfe. I have asked her to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Denyse Metcalfe to Mr. John McAllion, dated 11 November.
The Secretary of State for Education has asked me to supply an answer to the following question you tabled about the Teachers' Pensions Agency's health and safety policy :--
"To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Teachers' Pensions Agency's health and safety policy."
The Agency is committed to complying with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Agency occupies premises on the same site as the Department for Education in Darlington, and the Darlington Site Controller has oversight of health and safety matters for the site.
The provision of health and safety advice and compliance with the Act is covered in our service level agreement with the Department. The Department's written policy is still in draft form at the moment.
Post-16 Education
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to set a target date for achieving an 80 per cent. participation rate in post-16 education.
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Mr. Forman : The Government's expenditure plans for further education are intended to lift this country towards the top of the international league table in staying-on rates for 16-19 year olds within the next three years.
Technology
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what efforts are currently undertaken to ensure a progression in content between technology courses in the national curriculum and similar courses in higher education.
Mr. Forman : National curriculum technology provides knowledge, skills and understanding which offer a general basis for further study or employment. Post-16 the Government are committed to securing a range of high quality study options leading to well regarded qualifications and further progression, including to higher education. It expects vocational qualifications and A level and AS examinations to build on national curriculum technology. National vocational qualifications (NVQs) are now becoming available in most areas of employment, including those which build on a good basis in technology. The introduction from this year of general NVQs will strengthen still further the vocational route to higher education in technology and related subjects such as engineering and design.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Footpaths
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when plans were first made by the Department of Environment Northern Ireland roads service to provide a footpath on the south side of Upper Greensland road, Carrickfergus between Downview Park and Goldenview Park ; and what is the likely start date for a minor works scheme to provide this footpath.
Mr. Atkins : There have been no minor works proposals for the construction of a footpath on the southern side of this section of road. A major works scheme which will involve the construction of this section of road and the provision of footpaths on both sides will be undertaken when the necessary funds become available.
Drugs
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has any plans to establish local drugs prevention teams in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hanley : There are no plans at present to establish local drug prevention teams in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what support is available to district councils for anti-drug or drug awareness campaigns.
Mr. Hanley : In Northern Ireland health education on drugs including anti-drug and drug awareness campaigns is a matter for health and social services and education authorities.
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HEALTH
Health Service, Doncaster
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the annual cost improvement programme in Doncaster health authority for each of the last five financial years.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not collected centrally. The regional health authority is responsible for monitoring cost improvements of individual districts. The hon. Member may wish to contact Sir Michael Carlisle, chairman of the Trent regional health authority, for details.
General Practitioners
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average number of applicants for vacancies for general practitioner posts in the United Kingdom every year since 1989.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information available is shown in the table. The figures are based on records kept by the Medical Practices Committee only in relation to general practitioner vacancies advertised by family health services authorities, which are 11 per cent. of the total. They are not comprehensive for England as a whole. Information relating to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
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