§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if his attention has been drawn to the fact that at certain health centres staff have easy access to private and confidential files concerning individual patients; and what steps he intends to take about this situation.
§ Mr. Harry EwingMy attention has not been drawn to any particular causes for concern regarding the handling of confidential records in health centres.
ASSAULTS ON PRISON OFFICERS Year Number of assaults Dealt with by referral for police investigation Resulting in criminal prosecutions Dealt with by internal discipline procedures 1973 … … 40 5 2 35 1974 … … 62 31 24 31 1975 … … 51 33 28 18 1976 … … 59 38 36 21 1977 … … 55 37 28 18 1978 (to 20th November 1978) … 63 45 18 (to date) 18
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many assaults on prison warders were recorded in the most recent annual period for which figures are available; and what were the comparable figures in each of the previous 10 years.
§ Mr. MillanThe following table gives the relevant information:
ASSAULTS ON PRISON OFFICERS Year Number of assaults Serious assaults 1968 38 10 1969 46 13 1970 46 8 1971 48 19 1972 46 13 1973 40 5 1974 62 16 1975 51 1 1976 59 16 1977 55 8 1978 (to 20th November 1978) 65 7 Assaults involving the use of weapons are classified as serious assaults.
760WGeneral practitioners, as independent contractors in contract with health boards, are responsible for maintaining their own high ethical standards and those of staff directly employed by them. Health board staff who may have access to personal information about patients are made fully aware of the need to maintain the confidentiality of the information and it is the board's responsibility to ensure that its staff comply with instructions.