HC Deb 12 March 1985 vol 75 cc93-4W
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the British guarantee on loans from the European Investment Bank provided under the Lomé conventions has ever been called.

Mr. Raison

Yes. The European Investment Bank made a loan from its own resources provided under the first Lomé convention to the Liberian Electricity Corporation. During 1984 the Liberian Electricity Corporation failed to repay two instalments of the loan totalling 706,772 ecu (about £444,000) and the Government of Liberia failed to meet the bank's call on its guarantee. The loan is also guaranteed by the member states of the Community. Her Majesty's Government therefore paid 157,474,33 ecu (approximately £99,000) to the bank in two instalments which was drawn from the accumulated British share of repayments by African, Caribbean and Pacific states on loans made from the European development fund, which are lodged in a special account at the European Investment Bank. We were informed on 27 February that the Liberian authorities have now paid the instalment originally due on 30 April 1984; the British share of this was 77,524,80 ecu (approximately

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Unfair dismissal 3,585 3,704 3,912 3,894 3,584 3,756 3,524 3,177 3,043
Redundancy Payments 389 394 324 287 1,191 590 499 440 619
Unfair dismissal/Redundancy payments 316 607 272 101 167 247 256 226 182
Sex discrimination 21 21 15 22 15 18 15 30 42
Equal Pay 199 80 35 9 8 12 46 2 9
Race Relations 5 2 3 4 3 2 4
Other employment protection rights 67 143 143 431 184 152 217 167 261
Health and Safety 4 7 8 14 14 15 8 10 10
Industrial training levy 6 2 4 6 7 13 14 11 3
Miscellaneous 20 8 2 2 1 3 5 4 6
TOTAL 4,607 4,966 4,720 4,768 5,174 4,810 4,587 4,069 4,179

I regret that information on the number of applications made in each of the districts in Glasgow is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Information on the causes of complaint is not available in the form requested for the years prior to 1976.

Figures on the number of complaints in all jurisdictions which were upheld by the industrial tribunals over the last

£49,000), which is being refunded by the European Investment Bank. The bank, with support from the Community is continuing its efforts to obtain complete settlement from the Liberian authorities.

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