§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment 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) with 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.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 3 May 1994]: The information is given in the following table, which includes applications by staff of the Property Services Agency:
duty he is required to take into account, in particular, the interests of those who are disabled or of pensionable age. The Director General is currently undertaking a periodic review of charge limits for the 10 years from 1 April 1995 and will be announcing the results of his review in July.
Both the Government and the Director General are aware of the impact of rising water charges on all customers and are very keen to ensure that future charges are no higher than necessary. Specific assistance to those in need is a matter for the Secretary of State for Social Security.