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NHS: Ministry of Defence Hospitals
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessments they have made of the adequacy of the present number of Ministry of Defence hospital units located within National Health Service hospitals to meet current and projected patient volumes; and how these assessments might impact on the planned decision to close the remaining military hospital at Haslar.[HL7541]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): Ministry of Defence hospital units (MDHUs) were set up following the decision taken over a decade ago to close military hospitals. It had become clear that our existing military hospitals did not have a sufficient patient volume or range of cases to develop and maintain the skills of our medical personnel. This would, over time, impact upon the level of care we would be able to provide to our military patients. The same rationale lies behind the MoD’s decision in 1998 to withdraw from the Royal Hospital Haslar.
The principal rationale behind MDHUs, located as they are within NHS hospital trusts, is to enable military medical personnel to maintain their clinical skills in an active, up-to-date hospital environment.
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Service patients can, and do, receive treatment from any NHS hospital, not just those hosting MDHUs; the question of being unable to meet the projected “patient volumes” would not arise. In addition, it should be noted that the current requirement for hospital in-patient beds for military patients still barely represents two full wards nationwide.
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Tom Watson, on 4 September (HC Deb, 1693W), when they expect the new defence medical staff manning requirement figures to be available; and whether these manning requirements will address current shortages in key medical officer and nursing specialities.[HL7543]
Lord Drayson: The final Defence Medical Services manning requirement figures are expected to be available before the end of this year.
The new requirement figures will indicate the number and type of medical personnel necessary for Defence Medical Services (DMS) to support operations, based on current defence planning assumptions contained in Defence Strategic Guidance 05.
NHS: Recycling
Lord Redesdale asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The Department of Health has not set any targets for paper recycling in the National Health Service in England.
The department collects data from the NHS on estates and facilities-related matters, including recycling, but the figures cover all types of recoverable and recycled waste and are not specific to paper.
The Department of Health publication, Sustainable Development: Environmental Strategy for the NHS, advocates that NHS bodies produce locally based strategies and plans of action against a number of environmental aspects, including waste. This adopts a holistic waste management regime based on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Waste not, want not report and waste strategy recommendations. This waste management procedure aims to prevent waste occurring in the first instance. Then it advocates a waste hierarchy approach, which addresses the issues of recovery, reuse and recycling.
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NHS: Redundancy Costs
Baroness Barker asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much the National Health Service has spent on redundancy costs in each of the last 10 financial years.[HL8024]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): This information is not held centrally.
NHS: Smoking
Lord Naseby asked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they propose to take to ensure that National Health Service patients referred by their general practitioner for surgery are treated equally and fairly, regardless of whether they smoke.[HL7928]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): Primary care trusts commission surgery services based on their assessment of the needs of their local population and available service capacity. The provision and availability of a particular surgical intervention should be dependent on the clinical need of the individual patient.
An assessment of the benefits of stopping smoking ahead of planned surgery was published in May 2006 by the London Health Observatory. It was entitled Stop before the Op: the short-term benefits of preoperative smoking cessation in London. It estimated that, if London patients admitted for planned surgery were to stop smoking prior to operation, 2,500 to 5,300 fewer post-operative complications would be avoided each year. A copy is available in the Library.
Northern Bank Robbery
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people have been charged as a result of the raid on the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004.[HL7963]
Lord Rooker: Three persons have been charged in connection with the robbery of the Northern Bank: two with actual robbery and another with an associated offence.
Official Documents: Twelvetrees Crescent Warehouse
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the estimated financial cost to the Government of the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; whether government property was covered by suitable insurance; whether they implemented a disaster recovery operation; and when Ministers were informed of the loss of government property.[HL7905]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The National Archives (TNA) has collected further detail from those public bodies that reported losses in the Iron Mountain warehouse fire. Because of the varied nature of the information provided, it is not practicable to make an overall estimate of the financial cost to government. However, the information collected on costs, insurance, recovery planning and reporting to Ministers has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the Crown Estate in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the Crown Estate; whether any work or projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL7907]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Crown Estate had 220 boxes of legal documents stored at Iron Mountain, of which 65 were destroyed in the fire. This amounted to around 7,300 documents ranging in date from 1968 to 2005. The documents were leases, deeds, conveyances, licences and the like, some expired and some current.
The immediate impact has been low to date, since the documents have not so far been required. A small pilot study has been undertaken to retrieve copies of some of the documents from other sources, mainly the Crown Estate's own back-up files, and copies of all documents in the pilot were retrieved. No current work or projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire.
To date, the actual costs incurred are legal costs in obtaining advice on the Crown Estate's potential claim against Iron Mountain and the time and management costs of the Crown Estate's personnel in retrieving copies of documents in the pilot retrieval exercise and any photocopying expenses.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the institute; whether any work or projects will be affected, delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL8040]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The files lost in this fire were 71 boxes of scientific test records from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls (NIBSC) immunology, haematology and bacteriology divisions and some staff health records of former employees.
Most of the consequences of the losses are contingent on future events. The loss of the scientific records could make replacement of some future
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No projects will be abandoned as a result of the fire and no current projects depend on these records. Many test materials are also archived and remain available if the documentary records of their test results do not.
The financial value of the documents lost is impossible to define. So far, the costs incurred by the NIBSC have been modest staff costs for assessing the loss.
Passports: Belfast Office
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many passports have been issued by the Belfast passport office in each of the past five years.[HL8018]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The table below specifies the number of passports issued by the Identity and Passports Service (IPS) Belfast office during the past five full calendar years, and includes the number of passports issued for the current year up to 22 October 2006. These numbers include passports issued based on both applications received from customers by the Belfast office and applications received following internal work transfers.
| Calendar Year | Passports issued by the IPS Belfast Office |
| * 2006 data include passports issued up to 22 October 2006 | |
Pensions: Armed Forces
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they were satisfied with the accuracy of the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Amendment Regulations 2006; and, if not, what action they have taken to correct it.[HL7986]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): We are satisfied that the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Amendment Regulations 2006 was accurate, as we had no reason to believe that there would be any adverse reaction to the proposals from the bodies that we consulted.
The ex-service organisations had been briefed in 2005 on the late inclusion of temporary awards into the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme Order 2005 and of our intention not to extend appeal rights to such decisions. These groups had already accepted the absence of appeal rights on interim awards, which are in principle similar to temporary awards.
No objections were raised on the lack of appeal rights on interim awards when the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Regulations 2005 were scrutinised by Parliament early last year. It was therefore felt that temporary awards would similarly not attract any adverse comment.
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What representations they have received from the president of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals regarding the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (Additional Rights of Appeal) (Amendment) Regulations 2006, the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Amendment Regulations 2006 and the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2006 (SI 2006/1438); and what action they have taken.[HL7987]
Lord Drayson: Officials have exchanged correspondence with the president of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (England and Wales) concerning temporary awards under the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme (Rights of Appeal) Amendments Regulations 2006. The issues raised have been fully considered and our position has been explained and clarified in correspondence with the president.
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What representations they have received from the Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments regarding the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (Additional Rights of Appeal) (Amendment) Regulations 2006, the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Amendment Regulations 2006 and the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2006 (SI 2006/1438); and what action they have taken.[HL7988]
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Lord Drayson: A letter was received on 12 July 2006 from the chairman of the Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments in relation to consultation arrangements on the Pensions Appeal Tribunals (Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme) (Rights of Appeal) Amendment Regulations 2006. A response was provided by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence on 30 October. We understand that these letters will be published by the Merits Committee in due course.
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