Engagements

HC Deb 15 February 1994 vol 237 cc800-4

Q1. Rev. Martin Smyth

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton)

I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is in Moscow for a series of meetings, including meetings with President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin.

Rev. Martin Smyth

Has the Lord President of the Council noticed the response of Mr. Reynolds in Dail Eireann when Miss Mary Harney asked what representations had been made to the United States over the Gerry Adams visit? His response is that we do not get involved in trying to tell foreign Administrations what decisions to make. Will the Lord President press the Prime Minister to exercise the same restraint with the United Kingdom, especially Northern Ireland?

Mr. Newton

As the hon. Gentleman will know, the issue of the visa was a decision for the United States authorities, although our own advice, as the House knows, was clear. The hon. Gentleman will know that we believe it to be right and in the interests of all people in Northern Ireland that the British and Irish Governments should work closely together. As he knows, the talks process brings together the two Governments and the main constitutional parties who will work together to find an accommodation. I believe that that is right.

Mr. Day

Would my right hon. Friend agree that the appearance of Gerry Adams on "Walden" proved beyond any doubt that whatever Sinn Fein says, it has rejected the Downing street declaration? Would he join me in urging Sinn Fein to reconsider its position and would he also agree and confirm to the House that the Government will never do what Mr. Adams requests—become a persuader of the people of Northern Ireland to join an united Ireland? Does he recognise that many Conservative Members remain committed to the Union of Northern Ireland and Great Britain?

Mr. Newton

My hon. Friend will know that my right hon. Friend has on many occasions made clear the position of the British Government on the question of persuasion. Of course, I suspect—in fact, I know—that everybody in the House would urge Sinn Fein to consider seriously a positive response to the joint declaration.

Mrs. Beckett

As Ministers are still proclaiming that "back to basics" is the lodestar guiding Government policy while the Prime Minister is dodging all questions about it, does that not show yet again that "back to basics" is making the Government a laughing stock?

Mr. Newton

I do not know whether I am sorry to have to say that the right hon. Lady is a bit out of date. My right hon. Friend has today given a clear explanation of the "back to basics" theme and has once again made it clear that it is especially important in such spheres as standards in education, law and order and the provision of public services, and it applies also to the range of our increasingly successful economic and business policies.

Mrs. Beckett

I notice once again that the Lord President's list, and presumably the Prime Minister's, does not include standards in telling the truth about tax. Why are the Government refusing to come clean about the size of the further tax increases that British families will face in 1995?

Mr. Newton

What I and my right hon. Friend will continue to emphasise is the contribution that our tax policies are making to the economic strength and improved standards of living in this country.

Mrs. Beckett

As the Lord President must be aware, my hon. Friend the shadow Chief Secretary has tabled questions about the extra taxes that people will pay in 1995, but no answers are being provided. The Government must have the figures—we know that the Government have the figures—and the people of Britain will have to pay the extra tax, so why do the Government not have the guts to tell people how much they will have to pay?

Mr. Newton

My right hon. and hon. Friends have answered many questions and will continue to answer the questions that the right hon. Lady's colleagues ask—[HON. MEMBERS: "Answer this one."]—but what we want to know from the right hon. Lady is when the Labour party will come clean about its public spending policies which will put up taxes.

Mr. Shersby

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue yesterday told the Public Accounts Committee that some £550 million of unclaimed tax remains to be picked up by taxpayers who have been affected by changes in the tax regime in the past couple of years whereby, for example, women are now assessed independently? Is he further aware that that amounts to about £880,000 per parliamentary constituency? Will the Government do everything possible to ensure that the Inland Revenue makes that fact known to every taxpayer?

Mr. Newton

The Government and, I am sure, the Inland Revenue are always anxious to ensure that taxpayers are properly informed of their rights and receive their correct entitlement. I am sure that every effort will be made to achieve what my hon. Friend seeks.

Q2. Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Jones

As the real value of pensions has been falling for many years, following the breaking of the link with earnings, the value of pensions in the United Kingdom is out of line with virtually every other comparable European country, the compensation package for value added tax will not compensate pensioners in full as was promised, and we have had extremely cold weather for the past week, will the Government now introduce a special heating allowance for pensioners?

Mr. Newton

The hon. Gentleman must have a rather curious source for his statistics, because the truth is that not only have the Government protected the real value of the state retirement pension but the combination of our policies on social security and pensions and in the economic world have led to a position in which pensioners' average real incomes have risen by more than 40 per cent. since the Government took office.

Q3. Lady Olga Maitland

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Lady Olga Maitland

Will my right hon. Friend join me in condemning the nonsensical advice given by Liberty to truanting schoolchildren that they should defy police and is it not typical that the Labour party tends to support them?

Mr. Newton

I would certainly join my hon. Friend in condemning the advice which has been reported in the papers today. The Government's efforts to improve the campaign against truancy and to succeed in getting errant pupils back to school—which is where they should be—is, and should be, widely supported. For Liberty to oppose it in the way it does shows that it does not remotely understand the best interests of our children or our schools.

Mr. Jamieson

Will the Leader of the House therefore express his concern that at the end of the March, when the Tory party conference comes to Plymouth, 135 children will miss one and a half days' schooling because of that conference?

Mr. Newton

I do not suppose that they will be playing truant.

Q4. Mr. Whittingdale

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Whittingdale

Has my right hon. Friend had time to study the recent annual survey of grant-maintained schools, which shows that since becoming grant maintained the schools have been able to recruit more teachers, improve their results and offer better facilities to their pupils? Does he not therefore find it extraordinary that the Labour and Liberal parties remain committed to the abolition of grant-maintained schools, and that in local government they are waging a relentless campaign of hostility against GM schools, as typified by the behaviour of Essex county council?

Mr. Newton

My hon. Friend is right that the latest survey confirms the benefit of grant-maintained status. Those schools are achieving improved academic results, better staying-on rates and lower pupil-teacher ratios. They are popular with parents and it is no surprise that well over 1,000 schools have voted in favour of such status. As to my hon. Friend's worries about Essex—his constituency borders mine—he will be as pleased as I am to know that in Essex there are now 63 secondary and 55 primary schools operating with grant-maintained status. That represents 60 per cent. of secondary schools and 17 per cent. of primary schools. In spite of the endeavours to which he refers on the part of Essex county council, the latest school to decide to hold a ballot on such status is The Notley high school, Braintree.

Q6. Mr. Bryan Davies

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Davies

When my constituents complain about high fuel bills and watch the bosses of privatised utilities coining money, am Ito say to them that so far as the Prime Minister is concerned it is nothing to do with him?

Mr. Newton

The hon. Gentleman's question appears to be founded on a rather curious premise. Electricity prices have decreased by 6 per cent. in real terms in the past two financial years. If the hon. Gentleman wants to know another interesting statistic, I can tell him that, in 1979, the electricity companies—then nationalised—lost the equivalent at today's prices of £465 million. In 1992–93, they paid £420 million to the Exchequer in corporation tax.

Mr. Butcher

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the use of American, French and British planes to bomb the hills around Sarajevo may not necessarily produce lasting peace in Bosnia? Does he further agree that if the idea is to achieve a demilitarised zone, policed effectively, around Sarajevo, the best chances of so doing are by ensuring that Russian soldiers in United Nations uniform, in integrated units with British and French forces, help in the policing of that zone?

Mr. Newton

My hon. Friend knows well that the purpose of what has been said and what is being considered in relation to air strikes is to bring about the cessation of the type of bombardment that has taken place in Sarajevo. I think that everyone will want that effort to be successfully completed.

Q7. Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Foulkes

Will the Leader of the House confirm that the Government will announce today, by means of a written answer, an increase of 50p in the prescription charge? Why will there be no oral statement in the House? Is it because, having taxed the disabled and the divorced, the Government are afraid to face the music and announce that they are to increase tax on the sick?

Mr. Newton

First, I confirm that an announcement will be made today. Secondly, I confirm that it is not usual for such announcements to be made by way of oral statement. Thirdly, 80 per cent. of prescribed items are now free of charge, compared with 60 per cent. in 1979. Fourthly, prescription charges will raise nearly £300 million in the forthcoming year. Fifthly, that amount will pay for more than 200,000 cataract operations or more than 70,000 hip operations. Sixthly, will the hon. Gentleman tell me where he would find the money?

Q8. Mr. Nigel Evans

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.

Mr. Newton

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Evans

Has my right hon. Friend had an opportunity to read the report from 3i—Investors in Industry—which surveyed 500 of the companies in which it invests? The confidence of those businesses is higher now than it has been since the 3i started the survey in 1988. Is that not further evidence that the Government have the right policies for British business and the British people?

Mr. Newton

My hon. Friend is right. The survey shows that firms in both the north and south of the country report greater improvement than in the previous survey and that they have become more optimistic about their prospects. British business is now increasingly confident about the economy and about the Government's policies for business.