§ Q3. Mr. PawseyTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 1 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. PawseyWill my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the initiative of the Secretary of State for Education, who has today announced measures to combat truancy? Does he further agree that the main responsibility for ensuring that children attend school lies not with teachers but with parents?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree with my hon. Friend about that. Truancy is a terrible problem in schools and one which needs increasingly to be tackled with the head teachers and with the staff in the schools. All too often, the child who is found loitering on the street subsequently gets into trouble with the law. That is a problem which we need to tackle, Government and schools together, and we are determined to do so. That is one of the reasons for publishing performance tables, which help to reveal the size of the problem. It is a pity, to put it mildly, that the Opposition talk about the problem but argue against one way of dealing with it.
§ Mr. AshdownIt is now some three weeks since the Prime Minister told us of his personal determination to open Tuzla airport—"as soon as possible", in his words —for humanitarian aid to Bosnia. Is he able to tell us what steps he has taken to fulfil that commitment, and in what time frame we might expect it to happen?
§ The Prime MinisterI also told the right hon. Gentleman that we would take the advice of the commanders on the ground. That is most certainly what we will do and the right hon. Gentleman will learn what is happening when we have had that advice and when we have taken the action that is appropriate.
§ Sir Ralph HowellMay I remind my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister of the excellent and far-sighted speech that he made a year ago—[Interruption.]—at the Carlton club—[Interruption.]—in which he suggested that the unemployed might be offered work or even required to work? May I thank him for setting up the North Norfolk action pilot scheme, which has proved a great success and is already saving £1,500 a year per person engaged in it? If that scheme were introduced throughout the country, would not it save £4 billion? Could I ask him—[Interruption.]—if he will now sanction the Fakenham right-to-work pilot scheme which, if operated throughout the country, would save at least £13 billion?
§ The Prime MinisterAs far as I could hear, my hon. Friend was welcoming the pilot schemes that were set up some time ago to help unemployed people. We are evaluating those schemes; they are showing signs of being successful. We shall examine them and decide to what extent they may be extended.
§ Q4. Mr. EtheringtonTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 1 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. EtheringtonThe Prime Minister will undoubtedly be only too well aware of the fact that only one in four crimes is being solved. Instead of following a path of retribution and vengeance, will he now consider crime prevention and the causes of crime? Instead of forever telling the House about rising crime trends in other countries, will he now do something for the citizens of this country, whom he purports to represent?
§ The Prime MinisterWe spend a great deal of time, trouble and effort on crime prevention, but I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that I also believe in the principle of punishment for crime when people are caught. The hon. Gentleman may have noticed the remarkable success of the Metropolitan police in dealing with burglary. Operation Bumblebee has cut burglary in recent months by around 15 per cent. That is but one illustration of a series of innovative policing efforts, which are increasingly successful, by chief constables.
Mr. LidingitonDoes my right hon. Friend agree that the protestations of Mr. Gerry Adams about his 740 commitment to peace should be taken seriously only when he has been able to announce that the IRA will cease its violence for good?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree with my hon. Friend. Neither Mr. Adams nor the Provisional IRA has given a commitment to end violence for good—a commitment which the House and everybody in the country and Ireland is waiting to hear. We should be clear about that central point. The joint declaration leaves no conceivable excuse for violence. All the words, all the prevarications and all the evasions of Sinn Fein will be utterly and completely hollow until they end violence.
§ Q5. Mr. MandelsonTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 1 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. MandelsonIs the Prime Minister aware of the deep anxiety among parents and local communities in coastal areas as far apart as Scotland, the north-east, the Isle of Wight and Cornwall about clusters of babies born with almost identical limb defects, in most cases without hands? Is not the best way to get to the truth of that disturbing development to set up a properly resourced, national investigation? Will he therefore ask the Secretary of State for Health to establish such a study without further delay?
§ The Prime MinisterI will certainly seek advice from my right hon. Friend about the matter that the hon. Gentleman raises. Whether his proposition of how it should be dealt with is the right one needs further consideration. Clearly, it is a matter of concern, not only to the communities that he mentioned, but to others.