Written Answers
Friday, 13th November 1998.
Use Of Animals In Scientific Procedures
asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made with regard to the use of animals in scientific procedures. [HL3855]
My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Howarth) will be making a statement on Monday.
Scottish Local Boundary Commission Recommendations
asked Her Majesty's Government:Which organisations and public authorities have made representations concerning the implementation of the Scottish Local Boundary Commission's proposals for new ward boundaries; and [HL3585]How many representations they have received concerning the Scottish Local Government Boundary Commission's proposals for new ward boundaries; how many of these support implementation ahead of the 1999 local government elections; and what view the Government take. [HL3586]
The Secretary of State has received about 400 representations on the various reports from the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Most of these, however, concern the substance of the proposals themselves rather than the timing of the review. We have had correspondence with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and with the Association of Electoral Administrators about the question of completing the review in time for it to take effect for the 1999 local elections.The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 contains provisions requiring the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland to review the ward boundaries as soon as practicable after 1 April 1996; and it also requires the Secretary of State to make orders giving effect to the Commission's recommendations, either with or without modifications. The intention from the outset has been to complete the review before the 1999 local elections. The Government are aware that the recommendations for some areas have been controversial. However, we take the view that, at this stage, the priority must be to complete the review according to the original timetable, so as to allow the administrative arrangements for the 1999 local elections, which coincide with the first election of the Scottish Parliament, to be completed in good time.
London Transport Targets 1998–99
asked Her Majesty's Government:What targets London Transport has been set for 1998–99.
Tables showing the targets London Transport has been set for 1998–99 are below. All targets relate to average performance throughout the year.
| London Underground | 1997–98 | 1998–99 |
| Excess journey time: (mins) | N/A | 6.251 |
| Escalators: % of scheduled service hours operated | 93.0 | 91.42 |
| Lifts: % of scheduled service hours operated | 96.0 | 93.82 |
| Reliability of service: % of kilometres operated | 96.9 | 96.9 |
| Train service regularity: % planned intervals achieved | 95.9 | N/A |
| Ticket Purchase: % of customers queuing less than 3 minutes | 98.0 | N/A |
| Customer satisfaction ratings | ||
| train and station cleanliness | 69 | 69 |
| security safety | 83 | 83 |
| staff helpfulness and availability | 70 | 70 |
| train and station information | 75 | 75 |
| train service | 77 | 77 |
| Financial targets | ||
| operating costs per train km3 | [note5] | £10.28 |
| LUL gross margin4 | [note5] | £310.0m |
| 1 This is a new target replacing previous targets on train service headways and ticket office queues. See note below for details. | ||
| 2 See below for explanation of lower targets in 1998–99 than in 1997–98. | ||
| 3 Costs per operated train kilometre to exclude depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs. | ||
| 4 LUL gross margin before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs. | ||
| 5 Financial targets were set in 1996 over a three year period i.e. to be achieved in 1998–99. The figures shown in the 1998–99 column reflect the original targets, revalued at 1998–99 prices. | ||
| LT Buses | 1997–98 | 1998–99 |
| Reliability of service: % kilometres operated | 99 | 99 |
| Excess wait on high frequency routes (mins) | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Departures on time: % on low frequency routes | 74 | 77 |
| Early departures: % on low frequency routes | 4.0 | 3.4 |
| Night bus: % departures on time | 65 | 70 |
| Customer satisfaction ratings6 | ||
| Condition of bus stops and shelters | 57 | 76 |
| Internal cleanliness of buses | 63 | 83 |
| External cleanliness of buses | 55 | 78 |
| Staff helpfulness | 66 | 87 |
| Bus station environment | 71 | 76 |
| Bus station information | 68 | 68 |
| Financial targets | ||
| subsidy per bus km7 | [note5] | not more than |
| 6.53p | ||
| LT Buses gross loss8 | not more than | |
| [note5] | £21.7m | |
| 6 These targets have been recalibrated for 1998–99 and so are not directly comparable to previous years. | ||
| 7 Net subsidy per operated bus kilometre before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs. | ||
| 8 LT Buses gross loss before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs. | ||
Other Services
| 1997–98
| 1998–99
|
Customer satisfaction ratings
| ||
| Travel information call centre: ease of reaching Enquiry service | n/a | 77 |
| Travel information call centre: operator helpfulness | n/a | 91 |
| Dial-a-Ride: percentage of calls answered first time | n/a | 20 |
| Dial-a-Ride: percentage of punctual arrivals | n/a | 93 |
Financial targets
| ||
| Group services gross loss9 | [note5] | not more than |
| £23.4m | ||
| Property rental income growth10 | [note5] | IPD index |
| Dial-a-Ride cost per trip | [note5] | £10.80 |
9. Includes Victoria Coach Station, Unit for Disabled Passengers, PASS and LT Museum but excluded Bus Insurance Liability costs. To be amended to reflect transfer of PASS to the private sector following the signing of Prestige. | ||
10. To be at least as good as the average shown by the IPD index, (Investment Property Databank Index) on a three year rolling basis. | ||
Explanatory note
Lifts and escalators
1. This year's targets for lift and escalator availability on the Underground are lower than last year. That reflects the short term impact of the increased levels of investment in the Underground following the announcement of an extra £365 million of funding for the Underground. We will be expecting improvements in future years as the benefits of the investment programme become apparent.
Journey time metric
2. This year's targets include a new target for excess journey time. This is based on a new measure LT have introduced-the journey time metric. The journey time metric is a system developed for measuring customers'
NHS unqualified nursing staff and healthcare assistants in specific areas* of work by NHS regions As at 30 September of each year.
| |||||||
whole-time equivalents
| |||||||
English Regional Health Authority areas
| 1993
| 1994
| English NHS Executive Regional Office areas
| 1994
| 1995
| 1996
| 1997
|
| Northern | 5,840 | 6,010 | Northern & Yorkshire | 11,970 | 11,980 | 12,760 | 12,970 |
| Yorkshire | 6,310 | 6,300 | Trent | 10,160 | 10,490 | 10,800 | 11,330 |
| Trent | 9,810 | 10,160 | Anglia & Oxford | 9,330 | 9,470 | 9,940 | 9,800 |
| East Anglia | 4,380 | 4,480 | North Thames | 10,740 | 11,680 | 12,050 | 12,400 |
| North West Thames | 4,990 | 5,160 | South Thames | 11,470 | 11,570 | 11,920 | 12,000 |
| North East Thames | 5,910 | 6,280 | South & West | 14,550 | 14,370 | 14,560 | 14,110 |
| South East Thames | 5,700 | 6,020 | West Midlands | 9,500 | 9,500 | 10,570 | 11,130 |
| South West Thames | 5,350 | 5,360 | North & West | 13,430 | 13,370 | 13,890 | 14,170 |
| Wessex | 7,140 | 6,850 | Other | 1,400 | 2,250 | 2,190 | 2,230 |
| Oxford | 4,370 | 4,070 | |||||
| South Western | 7,920 | 7,750 | |||||
| West Midlands | 9,900 | 9,510 | |||||
| Mersey | 4,470 | 4,340 | |||||
| North Western | 8,740 | 8,900 | |||||
| Other | 1,120 | 1,360 | |||||
England
| 91,950 | 92,550 | 92,550 | 94,690 | 98,670 | 100,130 | |
Scotland
| 17,360 | 17,140 | 17,140 | 17,040 | 16,590 | 16,230 | |
Wales
| 7,520 | 8,420 | 8,420 | 8,020 | 6,270 | 7,890 | |
Northern Ireland
| 3,310 | 3,210 | 3,210 | 3,250 | 3,310 | 3,210 | |
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
2. Figures for England from 1995 and for Wales from 1996 are not directly comparable with those for earlier years because of changes to the classification of non-medical staff.
* Figures exclude HCAs working in support of therapy staff and other non-nursing areas of work.
overall journey time on the network. It breaks down a journey into its component parts (ticket purchase time, access time to platforms, platform waiting time etc.) and measures them in a way which reflects customer's perceived time rather than actual time. This is done by the application of weightings. For example, people dislike waiting for trains, therefore a weight of 2 is applied to the actual wait time (doubling the figure for time spent waiting on platforms).
3. LT use this measure to build up a scheduled journey time, reflecting the amount of time a journey should take in free flow conditions, when there is no queuing, every train runs precisely to timetable, and there is no disruption. The excess journey time is then calculated by observing the difference between the scheduled journey time and the observed journey time. Both measures have the relevant weightings applied, and the difference between them will be the excess journey time.
Nhs Unqualified Nursing Staff And Assistants
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many employees described as nursing or healthcare assistants or nursing auxiliaries have been employed by each NHS region in each of the past five years. [HL3766]
The information requested is shown in the table.
The Prudential: Attribution Of Inherited Estate
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have had any discussions with the Prudential concerning the division of the surplus in the Prudential Pension Fund between shareholders and policy holders; and, if so, what view they have formed of this issue as a result of these discussions. [HL3785]
The Prudential announced in 1996 that it was opening discussions with the DTI on the attribution between shareholders and policyholders of the inherited estate in its long term business fund (rather than its pension fund). These discussions are continuing with the Treasury, which took over responsibility for insurance regulation from the DTI in January 1998. The total amount involved was estimated by an official of the Prudential, when the company gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on 2 July 1998, to be between £6 billion and £8 billion.It is the Treasury's policy not to comment publicly on discussions which it may have with companies in its regulatory capacity in the interests of effective regulation and commercial confidentiality. But the previous Government's position on inherited estates was set out in a statement by the then Minister for Corporate Affairs (Mr. Evans) in February 1995, and reaffirmed by the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mrs. Liddell) in a written reply to the honourable Member for Halton (Mr. Derek Twigg) on 24 July 1998 (
Official Report, cols. WA 750–752). The Treasury will deal with the Prudential's proposals, and any other proposals for attribution of the inherited estates of life offices in accordance with the principles set out in those statements. The Treasury will place particular emphasis on protecting the interests of policyholders.