HC Deb 06 May 1994 vol 242 cc664-5W
Mr. Milburn

To ask the Prime Minister how many civil servants in his Department applied in each year since 1986 through the business appointments system to take up an outside appointment(a) as an independent consultant, (b) in a firm of consultants and (c) in other employment; how many were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments; and how many were granted.

The Prime Minister

[holding answer 3 May 1994]: The information for the areas covered by the Cabinet Office and the Office of Public Service and Science votes is set out in the table.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 6 May 1994: The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to respond to your recent Question on tuberculosis in prisons. Records of the number of prisoners in England and Wales who have required "treatment or special precautions" for active tuberculosis are recorded by prison medical officers and are reported to Prison Service Headquarters on an annual basis. The figures for the last four years are as follows:

Numbers
1988–89 22
1989–90 11
1990–91 13
1991–92 13
1992–93 28

In all of the cases the disease was judged to be in its infectious stage. Because of the capacity of this infection to become active after years of dormancy and because of the very variable incubation period prior to manifest illness, it is not possible to determine how many of these cases of infection have taken place in custody.

The Prison Service recognise tuberculosis as a re-emerging problem. The Director of Health Care for prisoners has issued guidance to prison doctors reminding them of the need to undertake careful screening and examination of prisoners on first reception with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases in mind. Further detailed guidance specific to tuberculosis has been prepared in consultation with the Department of Health and the Tuberculosis Sub-Committee of the British Thoracic Society, and has been issued to prison doctors together with separate advice to prison staff relating to occupational health.