§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what areas will have individual assessors appointed following local government reform in Scotland on 1 April 1996. [17151]
§ Mr. KynochHaving considered representations made in response to consultation on this subject, I have decided that in terms of each assessor's geographical area of responsibility, apart from in Strathclyde region, the present arrangement should continue whereby there are joint arrangements for Highland and Western Isles and Orkney and Shetland and there is one assessor appointed for each other present regional council area. In the Strathclyde area, we propose that there should be five separate assessors with geographical responsibilities extending respectively to Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Argyll and Bute together with Dunbartonshire. The new local authorities for the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife and Glasgow will therefore each appoint their own assessor and in other areas joint boards will be introduced to oversee this service.
§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what compensation will be available for staff who are obliged to take lower-paid jobs as a result of the reorganisation of local government in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [17153]
§ Mr. KynochOn 5 December 1994, my hon. Friend, the former Minister with responsibility for industry and local government issued for comment proposals for compensating local authority staff who may be obliged to 581W accept lower-paid jobs as a result of local government reorganisation in Scotland. The responses have been carefully considered and I will be bringing forward shortly regulations to introduce a new scheme for compensation.
In essence, the scheme will allow for current staff appointed during the period 6 April 1995 to 31 March 1997 to lower-paid jobs in the new local authorities, the new water and sewerage authorities or the Scottish children's reporter administration to have their present salary maintained for a transitional three-year period.
The scheme will allow the new authorities, during the crucial transitional period, to retain and make use of experienced personnel who would otherwise be made redundant. By avoiding the need for redundancy payments and encouraging councils to retrain existing employees in
Pay Beds £ Ayrshire and Arran Borders Dumfries and Galloway Fife Forth Valley Grampian Highland Lothian Tayside Scottish totals 1979–80 570 606 28,556 3,456 6,184 96,705 4,599 50,551 4,719 195,946 1980–81 960 387 18,384 4,327 6,436 88,698 4,635 51,909 4,332 180,068 1981–82 552 204 13,850 3,709 6,444 89,711 754 52,388 5,490 173,102 1982–83 628 1,729 10,377 4,921 3,292 93,309 994 44,907 10,212 170,369 1983–84 1,584 345 7,195 8,570 845 92,987 1,613 63,629 10,324 187,092 1984–85 1,305 995 6,102 6,700 1,295 36,747 3,057 63,260 6,718 126,179 1985–86 1,488 1,142 5,301 5,280 1,479 37,022 1,666 64,334 7,499 125,211 1986–87 1,032 1,254 8,624 5,768 528 33,433 2,603 91,264 9,551 154,057 1987–88 507 670 6,337 6,771 1,359 40,957 3,671 88,027 6,871 155,170 1988–89 1,360 3,322 5,100 7,020 1,443 35,573 4,896 106,790 9,449 174,953 1989–90 819 9,563 4,274 6,986 4,199 33,821 3,840 126,520 5,229 195,251 1990–91 468 10,936 0 7,358 9,810 39,135 6,425 158,204 6,480 238,816 1991–92 325 12,144 1,094 8,608 11,000 49,862 7,813 194,065 7,451 292,362 1992–93 0 11,773 252 9,380 15,858 19,978 9,799 180,223 11,060 258,323 1993–94 0 9,403 0 8,357 3,177 0 51 133,854 8,534 163,376 The following health boards have not had pay beds since 1979–80: Argyll and Clyde, Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what guidance his Department has issued to NHS trust hospitals on the operation of pay beds with particular reference to patients with private medical insurance; [16332]
(2) what representations his Department has received from private medical insurance companies on the operation of pay beds by NHS trust hospitals in the last three years. [16333]
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 27 March 1995]: There is no compulsion on health boards and NHS trusts to provide pay beds but they are encouraged to do so as a means of contributing to income generation. The decision whether or not to provide pay beds is entirely for boards and trusts to determine within the terms of Section 55 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978.
No representations have been received from private medical insurance companies and no specific guidance has been issued to NHS trusts on the operation of pay beds.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list(a) the number of pay beds in (i) 1979 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available and (b) the amounts of revenue raised through the operation of pay beds in 1979 for the latest year 582W new jobs, this scheme should benefit staff, employers and the taxpayer.