To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) general and senior managers, (b) administrative and clerical staff and (c) nursing and midwifery staff were employed in each health region in 1994. [35391]

[holding answer 18 July 1995]: The information requested is shown in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance the Scottish Office has issued to Scottish health boards relating to the provision of private medical insurance as part of the benefit packages of senior management staff within these bodies. [35731]

No such guidance has been issued.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment the Scottish Office has made of savings within the senior management of health boards and NHS trusts arising out of trusts status and general practitioner fundholding initiatives. [35696]

No such assessment has been made.

To ask the Secretary of State, pursuant to his answer of 9 December, Official Report, columns 427–8 if he will provide the latest annual figure for NHS trust start-up costs. [35443]

[holding answer 18 July 1995]: There have been no further start-up costs incurred since the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 9 December.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many beds within each NHS trust in Scotland he has designated amenity beds for each financial year since their establishment. [35701]

I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the date of establishment of each NHS trust in Scotland. [35699]

The information is set out in the table.

To ask the Secretary of Sate for Scotland what has been the cost of supplying cars to senior management in the Scottish NHS in each year since 1989. [35649]

I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the administrative cost of running the NHS in Scotland in (a) 1979 and (b) in the last year for which figures are available as expressed in (i) 1994–95 prices and (ii) as a percentage of the NHS budget. [35654]

The administrative cost of running the NHS in Scotland in 1979–80, adjusted to 1994–95 prices was £166,263,000. This represented 6.8 per cent. of the total NHS budget. Comparable figures for the year 1993–94 adjusted to 1994–95 prices are

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance the Scottish Office have issued to NHS trusts concerning target times for dealing with correspondence. [35697]

The code of practice on openness in the NHS in Scotland, issued by the management executive of the Scottish Office Home and Health Department in May 1995 to all health boards and NHS trusts makes it clear that requests for information, whether made in person or in writing, must be answered promptly. An acknowledgement must be sent within four working days and, where possible, the information should follow within 20 working days.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many employees were in senior management, administrative and accountancy posts in the Scottish health service in each year since 1989. [35650]

Information on whole-time equivalents of employees in senior management and administrative and clerical posts are shown in the table. Information on identifying staff employed in accountancy posts in the NHS in Scotland is not available centrally.£212,678,000 which represents 5.6 per cent. of the total NHS budget.However, changes in the methods of reporting in annual accounts allows a more detailed analysis of costs. This means certain areas of administration at hospital and community level can be separately identified in the annual accounts. The actual adjusted cost of administration in 1993–94 was £324,851,000. This represented 8.6 per cent. of the total NHS budget for 1993–94. In 1979–80 these costs were contained within running expenses and the figures for this year are not directly comparable with those for 1993–94.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list details of travel expense rates for (a) members of health boards, (b) senior management of health boards, (c) members of NHS trusts and (d) senior management of NHS trusts. [34753]

I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what guidance the Scottish Office issued to Scottish health boards on adjustments to the pay and conditions of board general mangers following the implementation of trust status and GP fundholding within their health board's areas. [35719]

No such specific guidance has been issued. New arrangements for the pay of board general mangers were introduced as from 1 September 1993. These arrangements take account of the new roles of health boards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer on 13 July, Official Report, column 741, if he will provide information on expenditure on trust board members as broken down in his answer for each of the last three years. [35857]

I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many calls have been made to the NHS helpline in Scotland both (a) interactive and (b) non-interactive in each month since the end of June 1994. [35728]