Written Answers of 25 April 1989

EMPLOYMENT

  Young Employees
  Ms. Short
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total cost to central Government funds of the community industry scheme in 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89; what was the cost per young employee; and how much each young employee was being paid on average in each year.

  Mr. Nicholls
  The information requested is given in the following tables:

  Table 1

  Community Industry Scheme—total costs to central Government funds in 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89

  Year

  Amount £

  1986–87

  25,011,000

  1987–88

  25,513,000

  1988–89

  25,203,000

  Table 2

  Community Industry Scheme—cost per young employee in 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89

  Year

  Amount £

  1986–87

  3,682

  1987–88

  3,870

  1988–89

  4,000

  Table 3

  Community Industry Scheme—average pay per young employee in 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89

  Year

  Amount £

  1986–87

  1,915·08

  1987–88

  1,819·65

  1988–89

  1,666·64

  Notes:

  1. In Tables 1–3 the figures for the year 1988–89 are estimated, as final year end information is not yet available.

  2. The decrease in average pay per young employee in 1987–88 and 1988–89 reflects the scheme's success in attracting a greater number of 16 and 17-year-olds whose rates of pay are lower than those per 18 and 19-year-olds.

  Community Options Programme
  Ms. Short
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether employment training trainees who opt to take up voluntary work organised under the community options programme will be required(a) to sign on as unemployed and (b) to satisfy the availability for work condition; and whether they will continue to receive the £10 training premium.

  Mr. Nicholls
  People who choose to take up community opportunities after employment training, and who wish to claim unemployment benefit and/or income support, will be required to satisfy the appropriate legislation.
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  Participants on community opportunities are not trainees and so will not receive a training premium. Their travelling expenses will be met in full.

  Community Industry Scheme
  Ms. Short
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to merge the community industry scheme with employment training; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Nicholls
  There are no plans to merge the community industry scheme with employment training.

  Redundancy Notices
  Ms. Short
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has as to how many employees of(a) the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, (b) the community task force and (c) the Apex trust, supported by funds from the community programme or job training scheme, have been issued with redundancy notices during the transition from CP/JTS to ET; and how many have been issued with redundancy notices during the operation of ET to date.

  Mr. Nicholls
  Information is not available in the precise form requested.

  The following figures are for employees declared redundant, within the meaning of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978, during the transition from the community programme and the job training scheme to employment training and during the operation of employment training to date:

  Organisation

  Number of redundancies

  National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders

  250

  Community Task Force

  150

  Apex Trust

  7

  Mines (Health and Safety)
  Mr. Hardy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if the proposed amendments to the regulations on health and safety in the mines are intended to leave these matters within the discretion of management rather than subject to the authority of Her Majesty's inspectors.

  Mr. Nicholls
  No. Responsibility for health and safety continues to rest primarily with management. It is the duty of HSE's inspectors to ensure that the law is being observed and advise on working practices. Any new regulations proposed by the Health and Safety Commission will maintain or improve safety standards.

  Regional Policy
  Mr. John Evans
  To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will reconsider his Department's regional employment policies in the light of the unemployment figures released by his Department on 13 April.

  Mr. Lee
  The policies of my Department are kept under continuous review in the light of changing circumstances.
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  The March unemployment figures published on 13 April showed that in all regions of the United Kingdom unemployment was at a lower level than in March 1988. Total United Kingdom unemployment has fallen to its lowest level for over eight years, and there are well over 26 million people in employment—the highest number ever.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Waldegrave
  There are no Siemens ND3 printers in either the ODA or Diplomatic Service wings of the FCO.

  E1 Salvador
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made, or plans to make, to the E1 Salvadorean Government concerning the case of Eliseo Cordova Aguilar, vice-president of the Salvadorean Institute of Social Security Co-operative, abducted by E1 Salvadorean authorities on 12 July 1988.

  Mr. Waldegrave
  We understand that Sr. Cordova Aguilar was sized by armed men in civilian clothing on 12 July 1988. He has not been seen since.

  We have made no specific representations to the Government of E1 Salvador on this case. However, we have made plain the importance we attach to proper respect for human rights both to the present Government in E1 Salvador and to President-elect Cristiani, as well as in international fora, most recently at the UNCHR in February 1989.

  We remain in close touch with human rights organisations and other interested bodies in E1 Salvador, and we shall continue to monitor the situation closely.

  Immigration
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Mr. Aushad Iqbal is to be issued with a visa by the post in Islamabad to join his wife in the United Kingdom; when Mr. Iqbal's appeal, No.—TH/36030/87/6216 was upheld by the immigration appeal tribunal; and when the post was instructed to issue a visa to Mr. Iqbal.

  Mr. Waldegrave
  The information required is not immediately available and a further reply will be sent to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

  Foreign Affairs Council
  Mr. Greg Knight
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council held on 24 April.

  Mrs. Chalker
  The Foreign Affairs Council met in Luxembourg on 24 April. I represented the United Kingdom.
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  The Council agreed on the continuing need for a coherent and carefully differentiated policy towards the countries of eastern Europe.

  With the regard to Romania, the Council agree on the suspension of negotiations for a trade and co-operation agreement. Their resumption would require clear evidence of a significant improvement in Romania's respect for human rights, and observance of its CSCE obligations. The United Kingdom strongly endorsed this unequivocal message of serious Community concern at the situation in Romania.

  The Council also noted encouraging developments in the situation in Poland, and agreed that the Community should adopt a more flexible position in current negotiations for a trade and co-operation agreement. The United Kingdom strongly supports a positive Community approach to Poland, reflecting progress in the implementation of Polish economic and political reforms.

  The Council also received reports on preliminary Commission discussions with the Soviet Union on a trade and co-operation agreement, and with the Gulf Co-operation Council on a second stage agreement.

  Noting the concerns of some member states on textiles, the Council generally welcomed the results of the mid-term review of the Uruguay round, completed in Geneva earlier this month, which laid the foundations for substantive negotiations for the remainder of the round. The Council also noted progress in negotiations with the United Kingdom on the dispute over the EC's directive banning meat from animals reared with hormones.

  An EC/Morocco Co-operation Council was held in the margins of the Council meeting.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

  Judges (East Anglia)
  Sir Eldon Griffiths
  To ask the Attorney-General how many additional judges he has appointed in the East Anglian region; what additional court rooms and related resources and staff have been provided to support them; and at what cost.

  The Attorney-General
  In the period 1 January 1988 to 31 December 1988 the number of judges assigned to the Chelmsford courts administrator's group within the south eastern circuit increased by two. The salary of a circuit judge is £48,100. During the same period, a combined court centre was opened in Norwich, being a net addition of one courtroom at a cost of a little more than £7 million. There has been no change in the complement of staff.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  New Knitwear Machinery (Greece)
  Sir John Farr
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what action he is taking to seek to bring to an end the current payments of 50 per cent. grant in Greece on the purchase of new knitwear machinery in that country.

  Mr. Alan Clark
  I understand that assistance of this type would be permissible for investments in the Attica and border regions of Greece. Regional assistance is a legitimate form of assistance under article 93(2) of the
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  Treaty of Rome. Under certain circumstances, United Kingdom knitwear companies investing in particular areas of the United Kingdom could be eligible for similar support.

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Forth
  There are no Siemens ND3 printers in use in my Department.

  GATT
  Mrs. Peacock
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress his Department has made in the recent GATT negotiations in Geneva; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Alan Clark
  I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Monklands, West (Mr. Clarke) on 10 April at column 396.

  House of Fraser
  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under what section and subsections of the Companies Act he initiated his Department's inquiry into the affairs of the House of Fraser Holdings.

  Mr. Maude
  The inspectors were appointed to investigate the affairs of House of Fraser Holdings plc under the provisions of section 432(2) of the Companies Act 1985.

  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the inspectors who considered the report dated 15 July 1988 submitted by buyers acting for the House of Fraser considered that report prior to its presentation to Ministers on 23 July 1988.

  Mr. Maude
  The inspectors considered fully and carefully all information and evidence received by them before submitting their report to my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State.

  Airtours
  Sir John Farr
  To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he is satisfied that the interests of passengers are fully protected in travel schemes to the Caribbean offered by companies such as Airtours; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  Yes. Airlines operating charter flights originating in the United Kingdom and carrying United Kingdom passengers are required to operate aircraft in accordance with the airworthiness standards of the state with whom the aircraft is registered. Such standards must be equal to or above the airworthiness standards specified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Operators are also required to maintain adequate insurance cover. Charter flights of this nature must also be organised through a travel organiser holding a valid Air Travel Organisers Licence issued by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority.

WALES

  Bathing Water
  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many E. coli per 100 ml. of water were found in the 1988 bathing water survey at Saundersfoot.

  Mr. Grist
  The information is shown in the following table:

  Sample

  Date

  Time

  E. coli per 100 ml

  18 May 1988

  1145

  20

  1 June 1988

  1215

  110

  8 June 1988

  1215

  800

  15 June 1988

  1200

  10

  22 June 1988

  1200

  170

  29 June 1988

  1230

  15,000

  6 July 1988

  1230

  <100

  13 July 1988

  1200

  200

  20 July 1988

  1200

  1,300

  27 July 1988

  1200

  600

  3 August 1988

  1045

  500

  10 August 1988

  1215

  500

  11 August 1988

  1210

  100

  17 August 1988

  1145

  600

  24 August 1988

  1150

  400

  31 August 1988

  1200

  600

  13 September 1988

  1215

  600

  14 September 1988

  1145

  100

  21 September 1988

  1200

  155

  26 September 1988

  1230

  300

  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report the actual E. coli figures for the three samples in Swansea bay which failed the EEC coliform directive in the summer of 1988.

  Mr. Grist
  The information is shown in the following table:

  Sample

  Date

  Time

  E. coli per 100 ml

  28 June 1988

  0945

  2,100

  31 August 1988

  1200

  11,000

  27 September 1988

  1200

  5,200

  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what was the highest level of E. coli per 100 ml found in the 1988 bathing water survey at(a) Cold Knapp, Barry, and (b) Oxwich bay;

  (2) what was the highest level of total coliforms per 100 ml found in the 1988 bathing water survey at (a) Oxwich bay, (b) Saundersfoot and (c) Whitesands.

  Mr. Grist
  The information requested is contained within the 1988 bathing water survey report, a copy of which, as the hon. Member will know, has already been placed in the Library of the House.

  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report the details of those samples in (a) Kinmel bay, (b) Rhyl and (c) Cold Knapp, Barry, sampled during the 1988 bathing water survey which failed to conform to the standards of the EEC coliform directive; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Grist
  The information is shown in the following table:
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  Date

  Time of sample

  Total Coliforms per 100 ml

  E Coli per 100 ml

  Kimnel Bay1

  4 July 1988

  1140

  24,500

  3,100

  29 August 1988

  1130

  11,000

  2,940

  1 September 1988

  1130

  >50,000

  4,400

  28 September 1988

  1120

  12,200

  4,700

  Rhyl1

  5 May 1988

  1150

  23,600

  —

  29 July 1988

  0850

  >30,000

  5,300

  29 August 1988

  1055

  17,400

  8,400

  I September 1988

  1240

  11,300

  2,600

  28 September 1988

  1045

  10,700

  2,090

  Cold Knapp2

  26 September 1988

  0935

  12,100

  4,700

  27 September 1988

  1350

  32,000

  20,000

  1 Total number of samples taken 21.

  2 Total number of samples taken 18.

  The samples which failed account for only a small proportion of those taken throughout the 1988 season. The medians were much lower. The Welsh water authority has in hand a programme of remedial works to ensure full compliance with the EC bathing water directive of all listed bathing waters in the Principality.

  M4 Motorway
  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action his Department will be taking to minimise delays to traffic during the construction of the M4 between Baglan and Lonlas.

  Mr. Wyn Roberts
  Only that part of the A48 trunk road between Earlswood and Lonlas is likely to be significantly affected by construction of this final section of the M4. Detailed traffic management measures will be taken by the appointed contractor to ensure the continuing free flow of vehicles along it.

  Drinking Water
  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information his Department holds that enables him to assess the extent to which potable water in Wales complies with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/77/EEC).

  Mr. Grist
  Welsh water authority has the responsibility for ensuring that potable water within the Principality meets the standards of the directive.

  The Welsh Office holds information concerning time-limited derogations and delays, which have been granted under articles 9 and 20 of the directive, in respect of sources which do not fully meet the standards. The water authority's progress in achieving compliance where derogations and delays have been granted is regularly reviewed.

  The authority and the water companies in Wales have also submitted preliminary programmes of remedial work in relation to the proposed drinking water quality regulations.

  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate the cost at current prices to the 466
  Welsh water authority of complying with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water for human consumption (80/77/EEC).

  Mr. Grist
  The full cost of the programme is still being evaluated.

  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate the cost at current prices to the Welsh water authority to bring the 11 bathing beaches which failed to comply with bathing water directive (76/160/EEC) into conformity.

  Mr. Grist
  The authority is currently reviewing its programme of remedial works which aims to achieve compliance of all listed waters. The full cost of the programme has yet to be evaluated.

  Countryside Commission
  Mr. Ron Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was his Department's response to the Countryside Commission's consultation papers "Paths, Routes and Trails" and "Changing the Rights of Way Network."

  Mr. Wyn Roberts
  The Welsh Office received copies of both papers but did not comment on either since it was neither necessary nor appropriate to do so.

ENERGY

  Oil and Gas Resources
  Mr. Bright
  To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he will publish his next report on the development of the oil and the gas resources of the United Kingdom (the Brown Book).

  Mr. Peter Morrison
  My right hon. Friend has today published the latest edition of the "Brown Book", and has arranged for copies to be placed in the Library of the House and the Vote Office. The report gives a detailed account of oil and gas development during 1988.

PRIME MINISTER

  Westland
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Prime Minister whether Sir Leon Brittan cleared with No. 10 Downing street his statement on Channel 4 television, broadcast on 7 April, that Mr. Charles Powell and Mr. Bernard Ingham had expressly approved the decision to disclose a Law Officer's letter in the Westland affair.

  The Prime Minister
  I have nothing further to add to the many answers given in statements and in reply to questions on this subject.

  Penrhiwceiber
  Mrs. Clwyd
  To ask the Prime Minister when she next expects to visit Penrhiwceiber.

  The Prime Minister
  I have at present no plans to do so.

  International Sugar Organisation
  Mr. Shersby
  To ask the Prime Minister what information she has concerning an offer by the French
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  Government to provide free office accommodation and diplomatic immunity to the International Sugar Organisation if it moves from London to Paris; what benefits accrue to Britain from the location of the sugar, wheat, cocoa and coffee organisations in London; what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards this matter; and if she will make a statement.

  The Prime Minister
  I understand that the International Sugar Organisation is examining a number of locations, including proposals from France and other countries as well as alternative sites in London. Her Majesty's Government welcome the location of these organisations in London which reflects the merits of London as the leading international trading centre in these products. We already provide diplomatic immunity and rates concessions for these organisations as we do for all international organisations of similar standing.

  Engagements
  Mr. Pike
  To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 April.

  Mr. Barry Field
  To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 April.

  Mr. Harry Greenway
  To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 April.

  The Prime Minister
  This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

CIVIL SERVICE

  NUCAPS
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Minister for the Civil Service when he last met the general secretary of NUCAPS; and what topics were discussed.

  Mr. Luce
  I have meetings from time to time with representatives of Civil Service trade unions both centrally and during visits to Departments. Matters of mutual interest are discussed.

NATIONAL FINANCE

  Government Debt
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which major issues of debt have come up for redemption in the financial years(a) 1987–88 and (b) 1988–89; and which are expected in 1989–90.

  Mr. Lilley
  The information is as follows:

  Per cent.

  £ million

  (a) The stocks of over £500 million redeemed in 1987–88 were:

  10½

  Exchequer

  Stock

  1987

  1,550

  6½

  Funding

  Loan

  1985–87

  559

  10

  Treasury

  Stock

  1987

  1,600

  3

  Treasury

  Stock

  1987

  950

  12

  Treasury

  Stock

  1987

  1,950

  7¾

  Treasury

  Loan

  1985–88

  500

  2

  Index-linked Treasury

  Stock

  1988

  1,352

  468

  Per cent.

  £ million

  (b) The stocks of over £500 million redeemed in 1988–89 were:

  10½

  Exchequer

  Stock

  1988

  1,450

  9¾

  Treasury Convertible

  Stock

  1988

  1,147

  3

  British Transport

  Stock

  1978–88

  1,302

  9½

  Treasury

  Stock

  1988

  2,050

  11½

  Treasury

  Stock

  1989

  2,250

  (c) The stocks of over £500 million redeemed in 1988–89 are:

  9½

  Treasury Convertible

  Stock

  1989

  854

  3

  Treasury

  Stock

  1989

  500

  10½

  Treasury

  Stock

  1989

  1,400

  10

  Exchequer

  Stock

  1989

  2,400

  11

  Exchequer

  Stock

  1989

  2,000

  5

  Treasury

  Stock

  1986–89

  601

  13

  Treasury

  Stock

  1990

  1,000

  2

  Index-linked Treasury

  Stock

  1990

  500

  11

  Exchequer

  Loan

  1990

  1,400

  12½

  Exchequer

  Stock

  1990

  1,250

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the rules relating to the holding of Government debt by insurance companies and pension funds.

  Mr. Lilley
  I do not know which rules the hon. Member has in mind.

  Departmental Staff
  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with respect to the support grades in his Department(a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are in London and elsewhere and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.

  Mr. Brooke
  The number of support grades employed in the Treasury is 241; the number of vacancies in London and elsewhere are five and none respectively, of which two have existed for over one month and three have existed for over three months; there are no temporary appointments and 1 casual appointment; in 1988–89 about 49,500 hours overtime were worked in London and 1,600 hours overtime elsewhere.

  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with respect to the support grades in his Department(a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.

  Mr. Brooke
  The number of support grades employed in the Treasury is 241; the number of vacancies is five, of which two have existed for over one month and three for over three months; there are no temporary appointments and one casual appointment; in 1988–89 about 49,500 hours of overtime were worked in London and about 1,600 hours overtime elsewhere.

  Computers
  Miss Emma Nicholson
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many instances have been detected in his
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  Department of computer (a) hacking, (b) viruses, (c) logic bombs, (d) trojan horses or (e) other types of computer misuse, whether perpetrated by authorised or unauthorised users of computers; and how many unsuccessful attempts have been recorded.

  Mr. Brooke
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: It is not the policy of the Treasury to make public details and circumstances of computer security incidents, their perpetrators and their success or failure, since such information might be of assistance to potential attackers.

  Capital Charges
  Mr. Ralph Howell
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer at what level the interest elements of capital charges are set for public sector capital assets; how this figure is arrived at; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Major
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: I assume my hon. Friend has in mind the returns the Government expect the public sector to earn on capital assets. I refer him to my statement on 5 April, at column 187.

  Fees and charges for non-trading public bodies will normally be set to recover a cost of capital of not less than 6 per cent. in real terms. This is based on the real pre-tax costs of capital to a private sector company raising funds for low-risk purposes.

  Trading bodies such as nationalised industries are required to earn a real rate of return of 8 per cent. on their new investment programmes as a whole. This is derived from the average pre-tax real rate of return achieved on assets in the private sector.

  Empty Property
  Mr. Soley
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of properties owned by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise and suitable for residential accommodation have been empty for (i) up to a year and (ii) over a year; and where these properties are located, by region of the United Kingdom or local authority area.

  Mr. Lilley
  [holding answer 20 April 1989]: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise does not own any property. Apart from a few properties which are provided by traders as a condition of the grant of privileges, the freehold or leasehold of all properties on the Department's estate is vested in the Secretary of State for the Environment.

  Only one building on the estate can be regarded as suitable for residential accommodation. This is situated in the Isles of Scilly and has been vacant for almost one year pending the appointment of an officer to the post for which the accommodation is provided.

EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

  Special Education Needs
  Mr. John Evans
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the level of spending on special education needs, as a proportion of the education budget, in each of the last three years.

  Mr. Butcher
  Local authority current expenditure on special education was 4·23, 4·25 and 4·26 per cent. respectively of total local authority current expenditure on education in 1985–86, 1986–87 and 1987–88.

  Henry Mellish School, Nottingham
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will visit the Henry Mellish school, Nottingham, to speak to parents and children about the Government's education policies.

  Mr. Butcher
  My right hon. Friend has no present plans to do so.

  Education Reform
  Mr. Redmond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many local education authorities in the course of compiling their strategic plans for further education under the requirements of the Education Reform Act and the guidance of his Department's circular 9/88, have sought and received advice from his Department.

  Mr. Jackson
  Representatives of 73 local education authorities have received advice on the preparation of their schemes for planning, funding and delegation under circular 9/88 at meetings with officers of the Department. A large number of authorities have also received advice over the telephone and in writing.

  Departmental Staff
  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science with respect to the support grades in his Department(a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.

  Mrs. Rumbold
  The Department employs a total of 140 staff in the support grades in London and Darlington, including 12 casual appointments. There are seven vacancies, all of which have existed for over three months. On average these staff work a total of 93 hours of overtime a week.

  Language Teaching
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he plans to encourage more teaching of the Russian language; and if he will make a statement.

  Mrs. Rumbold
  The national curriculum will include a modern foreign language as a foundation subject at secondary level to be studied by all pupils between the ages of 11 and 16. Russian is among those modern foreign languages specified as eligible for inclusion in the national curriculum, within the framework of the proposals announced by my right hon. Friend in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Knapman) on 3 March, at columns 338–39. Within this framework, my right hon. Friend is encouraging schools to offer a greater diversity of languages, including Russian, and we are providing education support grants for pilot projects in some local education authorities in England to promote the preparation and implementation of plans for language diversification.

  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the numbers of foreign
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  language assistants, by subjects, in maintained schools for each year from 1978–79 to the last year for which figures are available.

  Mr. Jackson
  The numbers are as follows:

  Year

  French

  German

  Spanish

  Italian

  Russian

  Total

  1978–79

  1,710

  668

  162

  17

  4

  2,561

  1979–80

  1,783

  718

  187

  16

  4

  2,708

  1980–81

  1,558

  640

  150

  16

  2

  2,366

  1981–82

  1,314

  539

  145

  16

  4

  2,018

  1982–83

  1,279

  524

  127

  12

  3

  1,945

  1983–84

  1,301

  523

  138

  11

  1

  1,974

  1984–85

  1,241

  537

  132

  8

  2

  1,920

  1985–86

  1,211

  502

  126

  7

  2

  1,848

  1986–87

  1,260

  522

  149

  7

  2

  1,940

  1987–88

  1,503

  556

  186

  12

  2

  2,259

  1988–89

  1,371

  539

  163

  7

  2

  2,082

  Industry and Education (Links)
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to ensure that representatives of the management and trade unions are treated equally in establishing links between industry and educational institutions; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Butcher
  The Department welcomes the involvement of all sections of industry in the establishment of links with schools. The management of such links is for local determination; however, the DES guides for employees and schools on "Education at Work" recognise the role of trade unions in the workplace and the TUC's strong support for workplace activities for school pupils. The TUC is also involved in education through, for example, its participation in the school curriculum industry project, which is developing teaching material for schools and teacher training, and its work with the National Curriculum Council "Educating for Economic Awareness" initiative.

  Home full-time students in higher education in Great Britain

  Thousands

  Academic year beginning in

  1979

  1980

  1981

  1982

  1983

  1984

  1985

  1986

  1987

  Total all students of which

  451·2

  465·0

  488·4

  504·6

  517·5

  525·1

  530·6

  540·0

  549·7

  Arts

  253·1

  256·8

  267·3

  273·0

  278·2

  278·8

  281·2

  286·8

  293·3

  Sciences

  198·1

  208·2

  221·1

  231·5

  239·3

  246·3

  249·4

  253·1

  256·5

  Figures may not sum due to rounding.

  Sciences are defined as medicine, engineering and technology, agriculture, science and professional and vocational studies while arts includes education, business and social studies, language, arts other than language and music, drama, art and design.

  Mr. Greg Knight
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any proposals to shift the balance of public funding of higher education towards the tuition fee.

  Mr. Straw
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has for the future funding of higher education.

  Mr. Kenneth Baker
  Higher education funding councils and other interested bodies have today been sent a paper seeking views on proposals to increase the full-time undergraduate tuition fee met through mandatory awards from its 1989–90 level of £607 to £1,600 in 1990–91 and to

  City Technology Colleges
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress he has made on his plans for city technology colleges; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Butcher
  The CTC programme is making excellent progress. Kingshurst opened last year. The Nottingham and Teesside CTCs will open in September, with those in Bradford, Gateshead and Dartford together with the London school for performing arts and technology due to open in 1990. Further announcements will be made soon.

  Disabled People
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he plans to encourage more disabled people to become teachers; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Butcher
  The Department's action campaign on teacher recruitment aims to encourage more potentially good teachers to join the profession, including disabled people. Teacher training institutions and employers would of course need to satisfy themselves that all entrants to the profession possess the mental and physical capacity for the demanding job of teaching.

  Higher Education
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the numbers of students in higher education in(a) arts and humanittes and (b) sciences in each year from 1978–79 to the last year for which figures are available.

  Mr. Jackson
  Readily available information is shown in the following table:
  introduce, from 1991–92, fees differentiated by the cost of groups of courses. Copies of the paper have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

  Music Education
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the latest available figure for the number of pupils in secondary schools to whom music education is available only upon the payment of fees.

  Mrs. Rumbold
  This information is not available. The Education Reform Act prohibits charging for all tuition provided during school hours, with the sole exception of individual tuition in the playing of a musical instrument.

  Paper (Recycling)
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to encourage the recycling of paper; and what advice is given to schools and colleges on this.

  Mr. Butcher
  The statutory attainment targets for science in the national curriculum include a requirement for children to know that some waste materials can be recycled. The recycling of paper, and the use of recycled paper, by educational institutions is a matter for them and, as appropriate, their maintaining LEAs. I hope they will consider the matter sympathetically. The Department is currently considering the use of recycled paper for its own purposes.

  Expenditure (Derbyshire)
  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he proposes to make additional funds available for the Derbyshire county council's capital expenditure on education as a consequence of the recent visit of a delegation to his Department; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Butcher
  As I said at the meeting on 6 April, the application of our normal criteria resulted in Derbyshire receiving 52 per cent. of its submitted plans for prescribed capital expenditure in 1989–90 compared with a national average for LEAs of 34 per cent. There are no extra resources over and above those notified for distribution to LEAs for the financial year 1989–90.

  Mr. Harry Barnes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much money was spent per pupil in Derbyshire in(a) special education, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools and (d) tertiary education from each of the years from 1978–79 to the last year for which figures are available.

  Mr. Butcher
  The available information is given in the table:

  Net institutional expenditure1 per pupil2

  Primary £

  Secondary £

  Special £

  1978–79

  340

  490

  n/a

  1979–80

  395

  565

  n/a

  1980–81

  500

  705

  2,445

  1981–82

  575

  795

  2,985

  1982–83

  635

  870

  3,305

  1983–84

  690

  950

  3,450

  1984–85

  730

  1,020

  3,855

  1985–86

  780

  1,125

  5,060

  1986–87

  875

  1,305

  5,495

  1987–88

  3990

  1,530

  6,220

  1 Net institutional expenditure includes the cost of salaries and wages, premises and certain supplies and services. It does not include the cost of school meals, central administration and inspection, debt charges or revenue contributions to capital outlay.

  2 The figures are based on LEA expenditure returns to DoE and pupil number returns to DES.

  3 The figure for 1987–88 includes nursery school pupils.

  Separate figures are not available for tertiary education which forms a part of further education.

  Ethnic Minorities
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will report on progress on monitoring, by ethnicity, applications to universities and polytechnics.

  Mr. Jackson
  I understand that the Universities Central Council on Admissions and the Polytechnic Central Admissions System will include an ethnicity question on application forms for candidates applying for full-time degree course places in autumn 1990.

  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on steps taken by his Department to secure improved access to higher education by people from ethnic minorities.

  Mr. Jackson
  The Department has made clear the priority it attaches to increasing participation in higher education, particularly from groups that are currently under-represented and it has taken a number of measures to that end. The Universities Central Council on Admissions and the Polytechnic Central Admissions System will include an ethnicity question on application forms for candidates applying for full-time degree course places in autumn 1990. In addition, my right hon. Friend announced on 12 April at column 528, the establishment of a national framework for the recognition of access courses for students who lack the traditional qualifications for entrance to higher education. Some access courses are specifically targeted at ethnic minorities and staff are funded under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966.

  We are funding a number of projects which are investigating and developing ways of enhancing the provision of access courses. Initial teacher training institutions have also developed a range of courses specifically aimed at people from ethnic minorities which are designed to build on their previous experience.

  All these measures should help to improve access to higher education for people from ethnic minorities.

  Student Unions
  Mr. Andrew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much has been spent on student unions in each of the last 10 years by(a) central Government and (b) local government expressed in (i) cost terms and (ii) real terms with 1979 = 100.

  Mr. Jackson
  This information is not available. I shall write to the hon. Member.

  Mr. Andrwew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much his survey on student unions cost to compile

  Mr. Jackson
  As I indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Mr. Amess) on 1 December 1988, at column 356, work on the survey was undertaken by a team of officials which includes student affairs among its normal responsibilities. This was supplemented, from 9 December, by overtime payments and part-time assistance, the total cost of which was £1,720.

TRANSPORT

  Rotherhithe Tunnel
  Mr. Austin Mitchell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reason a traffic census point was established at the north end of the Rotherhithe tunnel on the morning of 11 April.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  This is one of a number of sites being used for a traffic survey to collect data needed to develop proposals for improving the A 13 trunk road in the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham.

  Air Security
  Mr. Litherland
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he has received a request for a meeting with the chairman and members of the board of Manchester international airport to discuss the introduction of an airports departure tax; and if he will make a statement;

  (2) if he will consider revising the existing methods of funding security methods at airports; and if he will make a statement;

  (3) if he will support measures to introduce the funding of security costs at Manchester international airport through the imposition of an airports departure tax; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  My right hon. Friend has received a letter from the chairman of Manchester Airport plc proposing the introduction of an airport departure tax and requesting a meeting to discuss the matter. He has replied as follows:"Thank you for your letter of 22 March proposing a meeting to discuss your proposal for an Airport Departure Tax to finance aviation security.

  This ground has been gone over many times in recent years. As you say, from 1978 to 1983 aviation security was financed through the aviation security fund, set up under the powers which are now contained in part IV of the Aviation Security Act 1982. This proved to be bureaucratic, complicated and costly to administer, with the Department collecting money from the industry with one hand and paying it out to it again with the other, and it provided little incentive to efficiency. Consequently, a review undertaken in 1982, at the request of the industry and in consultation with all sections of it, concluded that the financing of aviation security would be more straightforward, that unnecessary and complex procedures would be avoided, that incentives to carry out security measures effectively would be increased, and that cross-subsidisation would be eliminated, if the fund were abolished. The fund was wound up accordingly in 1983, and the airports and airlines became responsible for financing aviation security costs from their revenue, in exactly the same way as they meet other operating expenditure.

  This arrangement has much to commend it. It is simple and logical, and it is consistent with the arrangements in other areas, such as aviation safety. It ensures that costs fall where they are incurred, and thus produce an incentive to avoid waste and inefficiency

  The whole matter was reviewed again most thoroughly after the publication in 1986 of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee's report on airport security. It recommended that an aviation security fund should be
  476
  re-established, and that it should be financed by a levy on passengers which should be clearly itemised on the ticket price. In their response to this report the Government rejected these recommendations, pointing out that the arguments against financing aviation security through a Government-administered fund were still as strong as when the original fund was wound up.

  However, the response went on to say that, as some sections of the industry had recently proposed a variety of possible alternative arrangements, the Department would look at these suggestions further in consultation with the industry. This review was carried out through the National Aviation Security Committee, It examined in detail all the suggestions put forward, including some very similar to the arrangement you now seem to be proposing. It found that there was no widespread support for any of these schemes, and no grounds for believing that any of them would be more satisfactory overall than the present arrangements.

  In connection with the various proposals put forward for some kind of airport departure tax the review noted that security costs are not necessarily directly proportional to the number of passengers passing through a particular airport. Consequently either such a tax would have to be set at different levels for each airport—in which case considerable accounting resources would need to be devoted each year to working out the appropriate level at which it should be set for the coming year at each of the 50 airports in the national aviation security programme and in checking that the money was being properly used; or the tax would have to be the same as each airport—which would involve virtually the same arrangements as did the aviation security fund for the Government collecting the money and paying it out again against authorised expenditure.

  After considering the findings of the review, Ministers reaffirmed their belief that the current arrangements were the most satisfactory and effective ones possible and that they should not be changed. That remains our position, and I must tell the hon. Gentleman frankly that I can see no point in meeting him to discuss his proposal for a departure tax unless and until he can demonstrate that:

  (a) it has substantial support within the industry as a whole;

  (b) it would not suffer from the same disadvantages as did the aviation security fund or involve additional accounting resources; and

  (c) it would be more satisfactory overall than the present arrangements.

  Mr. Litherland
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will meet the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority to discuss the imposition of a total ban on the carriage of personal radios on aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  It is not just personal radios, but a whole range of portable electrical items, from pocket calculators, through electric shavers and hair driers, to lap top computers, which pose particular security problems.

  A complete ban on the carriage of such items on aircraft is not practicable.

  We have reinforced the advice to airports and airlines about the dangers, and instructed that such items should be examined particularly closely. Passengers will be prevented from retaining them in cases where the security staff are unable to satisfy themselves that they are harmless.
  477
  As the problem is an international one we have, as my right hon. Friend announced on 21 February, at columns 556–57, arranged for the International Civil Aviation Organisation to address the matter.

  Flight Paths
  Mr. Spearing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what actions he has taken, consequent to the air disaster on the M1 motorway adjacent to the east midlands airport, to review the rules and practices concerning the siting of residential, commercial, or industrial buildings and public transport facilities beneath, or adjacent to, the flight paths to and from airport runways.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  Department of the Environment circular 39/81, a copy of which is in the Library, already requires planning authorities to refer to the Civil Aviation Authority or the Ministry of Defence for advice details of proposed developments close to busy airports. The 1989 review of accident statistics relative to public safety zones will pay particular regard to roads and railways running through such zones.

  Trunk Roads
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which stretches of road are currently subject to negotiation 478
  with Staffordshire county council on trunk road status; and whether he will require standards currently adopted by Stoke on Trent city council for principal roads to apply on roads which change to trunk road status.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  We are discussing with the county council proposals to trunk part of A500 and to detrunk parts of A34, A5 and A449 in Staffordshire. The improvement and maintenance of trunk roads is carried out to the Department's standards.

  Hazardous Cargoes
  Mr. Atkinson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has received any recent representations seeking amendment of existing international marine law regarding the carriage and protection of dangerous chemicals at sea, in the light of the recent sinking in the English Channel of a tanker carrying toxic material; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Portillo
  Following the recent incident in the English Channel I have received one representation seeking amendment to the international marine law. I have also received a number of suggestions on how the marine environment can be protected when such an incident occurs. Some of these have been foreshadowed by the International Maritime Organisation and will become part of the regulatory regime in the near future.

  A6 (M) Bypass
  Mr. Tom Arnold
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the report of the inspector on the proposed route of the Stockport north-south A6 (M) bypass.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  The inspector's report is being considered. We hope to announce a decision soon.

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  None. Nowhere.

  Roads (Financing)
  Ms. Ruddock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he intends to publish a consultative paper on the private financing of roads.

  Mr. Portillo
  Shortly.

  Midland Mainline Electrification
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Rail about the midland mainline electrification.

  Mr. Portillo
  The midland main line already has a good service which is being improved. It is for British Rail to consider whether the very large cost of electrifying the line would be justified by operating improvements and revenue gains, and to put forward a case if it believes it to be worthwhile. The completion of the single European market in 1992 is unlikely to have a significant effect on this essentially business decision.

  Orange Badge Scheme
  Mr. Alfred Morris
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has completed his review of the operation of the orange badge scheme; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  Yes. The review raised many complex issues. We are grateful to all those who commented, and in particular for the report from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC). A copy of its report has been placed in the Library.

  The rate at which badges are issued has increased rapidly since 1986. Between March 1986 and March 1988, the number of badges rose from about 800,000 to about 1 million. The scheme is losing the respect of the general public, who see apparently able-bodied people using cars bearing badges. Without changes the scheme will become unworkable.

  The parking concessions provided by the scheme are essential to those with the greatest mobility problems. We propose to accept the DPTAC's main recommendation —that eligibility for badges should be more closely related to eligibility for mobility allowance. This will concentrate badges on those severely disabled people who need them most.
  480
  We intend to hold further discussions with organisations representing people with disabilities, the British Medical Association and local authority associations to establish ways in which the new eligibility criteria can be introduced and to explore the implications for the financing of the scheme.

  Badges will continue to be issued automatically to people receiving mobility allowance, or using a vehicle supplied by a Government Department or getting a grant towards their own vehicle and to registered blind people.

  We propose to introduce a redesigned passport-type badge which will be more robust and will incorporate space for a photograph of the holder. The new badge will be designed to reduce abuse of the scheme and to make it clear that it is for the personal use of the badge holder. We shall be consulting on the design and wording of the new badge.

  The DPTAC proposed that the two-hour limit on parking on yellow lines should be removed completely or, at the very least, extended to four hours. Such an extension could lead to problems of traffic management and increase congestion, given the number of badges currently on issue. We propose to discuss with local authority associations and the police extending the limit to three hours and providing more designated spaces for parking by people with mobility handicaps.

  I have today written to the four central London authorities asking them to explore with the DPTAC the scope for introducing some elements of the scheme in those parts of central London where it does not at present apply. This could do much to give disabled people greater mobility in central London.

  We propose further measures to simplify the operation of the scheme. In particular, these would:

  (a) make recipients of war pensioners' mobility supplement automatically eligible for badges.

  (b) permit the issue of badges for the same period as mobility allowance and war pensioners' mobility supplement. for those in receipt of those allowances, up to a maximum of five years. Other badges would continue to be reviewed at three-yearly intervals.

  (c) allow local authorities to introduce four-hour time limits in on-street parking bays reserved for disabled people, where local authorities wish to encourage the use of such bays by shoppers rather than for all-day parking.

  (d) encourage local authorities to warn badgeholders who are misusing badges prior to considering withdrawing the badge, and to issue renewal reminders. Many authorities do this already.

  Further possible changes to the scheme were aired in the discussion paper, or suggested in response to it. We believe that other aspects of the scheme should continue as they are. In particular, we consider that registered blind people should continue to qualify automatically for badges and that otherwise eligibility should be restricted to those with the most severe mobility problems. We must protect the value of the orange badge if it is to be of real help to those who need it most.

  Validity of orange badges which are already issued will not be affected by the proposals. Badge holders will be assessed under new criteria only when their current badges have expired and following introduction of the new criteria. Badges are reviewed every three years.

  The Department has produced a leaflet in the traffic topics series explaining in more detail the proposals and the background to them. Copies have been placed in the Library.

  Vehicle Inspectorate Plan
  Mr. Holt
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the vehicle inspectorate executive agency business plan for 1989–90 will be published.

  Mr. Peter Bottomley
  The business plan has been published today. Copies are available in the Library.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Turbines (Rivers)
  Mr. McCusker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many privately operated electricity generating turbines are installed on rivers in Northern Ireland; and which Government Department has responsibility for permitting and overseeing their operation.

  Mr. Viggers
  No central register of privately operated electricity generating turbines is held by Northern Ireland Government Departments and thus the information sought is not available.

  No one Government Department has overall responsibility for privately operated electricity generating turbines on rivers. The Northern Ireland Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Economic Development have statutory responsibilities for installations affecting the flow in a particular watercourse for water abstraction and for health and safety at work considerations arising from the operation of such turbines.

  Equal Opportunities
  Mr. Janner
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) when his Department last conducted a survey of the ethnic origin of its employees; when it next plans to do so; and whether he will make a statement;

  (2) what steps he has taken to recruit members of ethnic minorities in top grades of employment at his Department.

  Mr. Ian Stewart
  Within Northern Ireland religious affiliation is a more significant consideration for equality of opportunity than ethnic origin. The Northern Ireland Civil Service therefore records details of religious affiliation together with sex (and disabilities if any) of applicants. It does not monitor the ethnic origin of staff nor has it any plans to do so.

  The home Civil Service conducted a programme of ethnic origin surveys over four years, covering all staff, and these surveys were completed in June 1988. The Northern Ireland Office in London took part in these surveys.

  The Northern Ireland Office continues to monitor staff as they join and to update its records. The home Civil Service and the Northern Ireland Civil Service are fully committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all applicants including any from ethnic minorities.

  The Northern Ireland Office is an equal opportunity employer and this is emphasised in all our recruiting campaigns and advertising.
  482
  Promotion opportunities are open to all our staff and in all cases the promotion is gained on merit. No specific steps have been taken to recruit ethnic minorities to top grades.

  Agriculture Improvement Scheme
  Mr. Mallon
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount, in grants, paid out by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, under the agriculture improvement scheme in each of the years since 1985 to applicants from each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.

  Mr. Viggers
  The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency. It has been given by county.

  Agriculture Improvement Scheme

  Agriculture Improvement Regulations

  Agriculture Improvement Scheme (National)

  Counties

  Grant 1986–87

  Grant 1987–88

  Grant 1988–89

  Antrim

  2,706,655

  1,711,213

  545,763

  Armagh

  1,240,358

  1,016,101

  445,891

  Down

  361,852

  452,119

  265,245

  Fermanagh

  708,371

  730,625

  618,072

  Londonderry

  839,608

  582,122

  416,779

  Tyrone

  2,567,134

  2,320,384

  1,561,530

  TOTAL

  8,423,978

  6,785,564

  3,853,280

  Agriculture Improvement Regulations (European Community)

  Counties

  Grant 1986–87

  Grant 1987–88

  Grant 1988–89

  Antrim

  396,137

  972,419

  1,479,959

  Armagh

  357,520

  1,158,318

  1,849,241

  Down

  206,003

  682,963

  859,574

  Fermanagh

  191,618

  604,120

  1,139,423

  Londonderry

  282,782

  785,043

  826,249

  Tyrone

  439,408

  1,424,132

  2,142,174

  TOTAL

  1,873,468

  5,626,995

  8,296,620

  Job Creation
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the number of jobs promoted by the Industrial Development Board and its predecessor, the Department of Commerce, for(a) indigenous firms and (b) overseas firms in Northern Ireland since 1978–79; how many of these jobs are the result of (i) new enterprise or (ii) expansion; what is the average cost per job; and how many of these jobs promoted were actually realised;

  (2) how many jobs have been promoted by the Industrial Development Board or its predecessor the Department of Commerce in the following industrial groups (a) engineering, (b) textiles, clothing and leather, (c) food, drink and tobacco and (d) all other industries; what was the average cost of each job promoted; and how many of these jobs were actually realised.

  Mr. Viggers
  [holding answer 21 April 1989] : Job promotion figures for the period April 1978 to December 1988 inclusive are as follows:

  483

  Job promotions

  Indigenous firms

  Overseas firms

  New

  Expansions

  New

  Expansions

  Total

  Department of Commerce

  1978–79

  357

  1,204

  4,165

  1,364

  7,090

  1979–80

  308

  1,793

  3,100

  2,333

  7,534

  1980–81

  430

  769

  178

  1,928

  3,305

  1981–82

  131

  381

  348

  815

  1,675

  1982–83 (from 1 April 1982 31 August 1982)

  41

  312

  —

  513

  866

  Industrial Development Board

  1982–83 (1 September 1982 31 March 1983)

  224

  751

  159

  1,791

  2,925

  1983–84

  715

  1,191

  539

  1,111

  3,556

  1984–85

  394

  1,478

  548

  2,847

  5,267

  1985–86

  204

  1,224

  224

  1,258

  2,910

  1986–87

  208

  1,124

  415

  2.440

  4,187

  1987–88

  183

  2,616

  867

  1.634

  5,300

  1988–89 (9 months to 31 December 1988)

  329

  1,071

  1,664

  1,428

  4,492

  Total

  3,524

  13,914

  12,207

  19,462

  49,107

  In this period offers of assistance have been made with the intention of safeguarding employment as well as promoting new jobs. In such cases the assistance offered is not disaggregated between various job categories and

  Jobs promoted by industrial group

  Engineering

  Textiles clothing and leather

  Food drink and tobacco

  All other industries

  Total

  Department of Commerce

  1978–79

  4,634

  1,282

  144

  1,030

  7,090

  1979–80

  4,802

  1,786

  325

  621

  7,534

  1980–81

  1,494

  1,092

  264

  455

  3,305

  1981–82

  667

  450

  89

  469

  1,675

  11982–83

  542

  204

  16

  104

  866

  Industrial Development Board

  21982–83

  1,773

  394

  551

  207

  2,925

  1983–84

  1,276

  1,425

  545

  310

  3,556

  1984–85

  1,615

  1,286

  1,309

  1,057

  5,267

  1985–86

  465

  1,194

  401

  850

  2,910

  1986–87

  1,678

  1,177

  507

  825

  4,187

  1987–88

  836

  1,839

  1,452

  1,173

  5,300

  31988–89

  2,038

  1,124

  547

  783

  4,492

  Total

  21,820

  13,253

  6,150

  7,884

  49,107

  1 From 1 April 1982 to 31 August 1982.

  2 From 1 September 1982 to 31 March 1983.

  3 9 months to 31 December 1988.

  Human Rights
  Mr. Vaz
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many representations he has received about the denial of human rights or the use of torture in Northern Ireland; and which organisations made these representations.

  Mr. Ian Stewart
  I receive representations on a wide range of matters but no central record is kept of those which allege denial of human rights in Northern Ireland.

SCOTLAND

  Playgrounds
  Mr. Sillars
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what correspondence he has received from Nithsdale road 484
  consequently it is not possible to identify separately the average cost per job promoted. The average cost for all jobs assisted during 1987–88 was £9,362. Job realisation figures could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  link-up group expressing concern about supervision of children in school playgrounds; what reply he has sent; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  My right hon. and learned Friend has received representations from the Nithsdale road link-up group and many other expressions of concern from parents and parents' groups about the absence or inadequacy of playground supervision in education authority schools generally.

  Local arrangements for playground supervision are for education authorities, who have a duty of care at common law for pupils at their schools. The Government share the concern of parents that children should be properly cared for, and have made provision of £4 million within total education provision for 1989–90 to enable authorities to discharge their duty in this matter.

  A new clause—which would have the effect of putting a statutory duty on authorities to provide adequate levels

  485
  of supervision of pupils—has been tabled for discusion by my hon. Friend the Member for Eastwood (Mr. Stewart) in the Committee which is currently considering the Self-Governing Schools Etc. (Scotland) Bill. The hon. Gentleman may wish to attend the public gallery to listen to the debate.

  Competitive Tendering
  Mr. Galbraith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if, when evaluating contracts in competitive tendering of ancillary services, the cost of redundancy and early retirement is set against the private tender.

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  Yes. Redundancy payments are real costs to the Health Service and boards are specifically instructed to have regard to them in the final assessment of all bids relating to competitive tendering. Similarly premature retirement costs, if any, are also required to be taken into account.

  Press Releases
  Mr. Galbraith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many press releases have been issued by himself, his Minister of State and each of his Parliamentary Under-Secretaries since June 1987.

  Mr. Rifkind
  The total number of news releases issued by the Scottish Information Office in the period 1 June 1987 to 31 March 1989 covering the activities of myself and my ministerial colleagues was 2,078. The number issued on behalf of each Minister was as follows:

  Number

  Secretary of State for Scotland

  561

  Minister of State (Commons)

  426

  Minister of State (Lords)

  238

  Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment

  331

  Minister for Education and Health

  522

  Highland Health Board
  Mr. Galbraith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 14 April, why a separate meeting was held with the manager and chairman of Highland health board.

  Mr. Michael Forsyth
  To discuss matters of common interest.

  Departmental Staff
  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland with respect to the support grades in his Department(a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.

  Mr. Rifkind
  The Scottish Office (including Scottish Prison Service) position at 1 April 1989 is as follows:

  a. 318·5;

  b. 26, of which 20 had existed for over one month and 14 for over 3 months;

  c. 7·5 (all casual appointments);

  d. since May 1988 overtime hours worked amount to 1,097 (London) and 28,762 (elsewhere).

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Rifkind
  None.

  Forest Workers
  Mrs. Margaret Ewing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the numbers of forest workers employed on forest management activities and harvesting activities by the Forestry Commission in each conservancy area since 1979.

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  The information is given in the following tables:

  Conservancy

  Total1

  19792

  North East England

  391

  North West England

  387

  East England

  418

  South East England

  254

  South West England

  370

  North Wales

  474

  South Wales

  445

  North Scotland

  547

  East Scotland

  358

  West Scotland

  440

  South Scotland

  552

  Great Britain

  4,636

  Conservancy

  Forest management

  Harvesting

  Total1

  1984

  North East England

  170

  121

  291

  North West England

  125

  184

  309

  East England

  146

  180

  326

  South East England

  134

  69

  203

  South West England

  142

  168

  310

  North Wales

  183

  177

  360

  South Wales

  204

  106

  310

  North Scotland

  275

  135

  410

  East Scotland

  129

  132

  261

  West Scotland

  214

  101

  315

  South Scotland

  295

  211

  506

  Great Britain

  2,017

  1,584

  3,601

  Conservancy3

  Forest management

  Harvesting

  Total1

  1989

  North England

  222

  129

  351

  East England

  188

  159

  347

  West England

  166

  108

  274

  Wales

  276

  149

  425

  North Scotland

  298

  114

  412

  Mid Scotland

  215

  61

  276

  South Scotland

  234

  134

  368

  Great Britain

  1,599

  854

  2,453

  1 The figures do not include contractors.

  2 The 1979 figures arc not available by activity.

  3 The number of conservancies was reduced from 11 to 7 on 1 April 1985.

  Radioactive Waste
  Mrs. Margaret Ewing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information his Department gave to Nirex
  487
  which enabled Dounreay to be placed on the short list as a possible site for the disposal of radioactive waste; and if he will make a statement.

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  The decision by Nirex to include Dounreay on the short list of sites for investigation was taken as a result of their own site selection procedure. I am not aware of any information provided by the Scottish Development Department which was material to this decision.

  Mrs. Margaret Ewing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his Department has made any predictions of the economic effects upon the local economy of Caithness should Dounreay be chosen by Nirex for the disposal of solid low and intermediate-level radioactive waste; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Lang
  The economic effects would depend on the nature of any disposal facility which might be established. As a basic guide Nirex has suggested that, if construction were phased, some 350 jobs on construction and operation would be created during the 50-year operational life of the repository, without taking account of associated secondary employment.

  Public Rights of Way
  Mr. Ron Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was his Department's response to the Countryside Commission's consultation papers "Paths, Routes and Trails" and "Changing the Rights of Way Network".

  Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
  No response has been made as the papers relate specifically to the situation in England and Wales.

  Renaval Fund
  Dr. Godman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will detail any recent applications, made by the Scottish Office, for financial assistance from the European Community by way of the Renaval fund which is designed to provide assistance to those communities which have suffered a decline in their shipbuilding and marine engineering industry; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Lang
  [holding answer 21 April 1989]: Applications under Renaval are currently under consideration and should go forward very shortly to the European Commission.

  Employment Training
  Mr. Allen Adams
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will name the local authorities in Scotland which are training agents or training managers for employment training.

  Mr. Lang
  [holding answer 17 April 1989]: Scottish local authorities operating as training agents or training managers for employment training are as follows:

  Training Agents

  Borders Regional Council

  Caithness District Council

  Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council

  Fife Regional Council

  Grampian Regional Council

  Orkney Islands Council

  488

  Wigtown District Council

  Training Managers

  Angus District Council

  Argyll and Bute District Council

  Borders Regional Council

  Caithness District Council

  Clydesdale District Council

  Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council

  Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council

  Dunfermline District Council

  East Kilbride District Council

  Fife Regional Council

  Grampian Regional Council

  Hamilton District Council

  Highland Regional Council

  Kirkcaldy District Council

  Lochaber District Council

  Midlothian District Council

  Moray District Council

  North East Fife District Council

  Orkney Islands Council

  Ross and Cromarty District Council

  Wigtown District Council

DEFENCE

  Air Crash (Pembrokeshire)
  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to publish the findings of the inquiry into the air crash on 6 May 1988 near Solva St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, involving an RAF aircraft.

  Mr. Neubert
  I believe that my hon. Friend may be referring to the accident to a Royal Air Force Hawk aircraft which took place shortly after take off from. RAF Brawdy on 13 May 1988. The board of inquiry into this accident is now complete and a summary of its findings will be published shortly. I will send a copy to my hon. Friend.

  Gamma Shine
  Mr. Alton
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on the phenomenon of gamma shine and its implications for the safety of naval personnel;

  (2) what studies have been carried out into the possible hazardous effects of gamma shine; and if he will place such reports in the Library.

  Mr. Archie Hamilton
  In the context of submarine nuclear reactors, gamma shine is the term used to refer to the gamma radiation emitted by fission products contained within the vessel in the unlikely event of an accident. The hazardous effects of gamma radiation are well known and are documented in numerous published reports.

  Mr. Alton
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) why the Clyde area public safety scheme was revised in May 1985 and the gamma shine maximum hazard distance increased from 50 to 250m; and why the Scottish special safety scheme was similarly revised;

  (2) if he will list the date of the latest revision of the special safety schemes at all ports with Z berths; and if he will state in each case the recommendations for dealing with gamma shine.

  Mr. Archie Hamilton
  All public and special safety schemes lay down a distance within which automatic countermeasures would be taken against radiation
  489
  hazards, including gamma shine, in the event of an accident. Monitoring equipment is in place at every berth visited by nuclear powered submarines, either permanently or for the duration of the visit, in order to detect and quantify any radiation hazard. The countermeasures are designed to ensure that radiation dose rates to personnel do not exceed the limits set by the National Radiological Protection Board for nuclear accidents. Specific measures may vary depending on the circumstances of each particular berth; they include sheltering and/or evacuation.

  In addition, some safety schemes give an estimate of the extent of the hazard from gamma shine in the event of an accident. In all cases this is less than the distance within which automatic countermeasures would be taken. The estimates contained in the Clyde public safety scheme and the Scottish special safety scheme were revised in the light of NRPB recommendations in 1985, but no change to the planned countermeasures was required.

  The dates of the most recent revisions of public and special safety schemes for ports with Z berths are as follows.

  Dates

  Portsmouth Special Safety Scheme

  October 1988

  Southampton Special Safety Scheme

  February 1988

  Devon Public Safety Scheme

  September 1988

  Barrow Public Safety Scheme

  August 1988

  Barry and Cardiff Special Safety Scheme

  September 1988

  Liverpool Special Safety Scheme

  December 1988

  Torbay Special Safety Scheme

  August 1988

  Scotland Special Safety Scheme

  August 1988

  Clyde Public Safety Scheme

  July 1988

  Currently under revision

  Portland Special Safety Scheme

  August 1988

  Rosyth Public Safety Scheme

  March 1986

  Lance Missile
  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has received from his United States counterpart concerning the length of time required to modernise the Lance missile; and what assessment he has made.

  Mr. Archie Hamilton
  [pursuant to his answer, 20 April 1989, c. 279]: The US Administration has kept allies fully informed about their development programme for a successor to the Lance missile. The selection by the US of a launcher at the end of last year was geared to having a new system available for deployment by the mid-1990s.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

  Eggs
  Mr. Ralph Howell
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will press the European Commission to introduce equivalent standards for egg producers as those now pertaining in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on measures being taken to ensure equality of competition between European egg producers.

  Mr. Donald Thompson
  I refer my hon. Friend to the replies given to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 4 April at column 51 and the hon. Member for Angus, East (Mr. Welsh) on 20 April at column 280.
  490
  My Department has supported the EC Commission's initiative in proposing measures to deal with a range of zoonoses, including salmonella, on a Communitywide basis, and is contributing constructively to ensure that progress is as rapid as possible.

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Donald Thompson
  My Department does not use any of the printers specified.

  Potato Marketing Board
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to review the working of the Potato Marketing Board; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food when he expects to make an announcement on the result of the Potato Marketing Board review.

  Mr. Ryder
  I refer the hon. Members to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) on 19 April at column 175.

  Pesticides
  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report the pesticides for which there are international safety limits; and if he will indicate in each case whether the safety limit is accepted by his Department and what action is taken to see that the limit is invariably observed.

  Mr. Ryder
  International acceptable daily intakes for pesticide residues are published by the codex alimentarius commission of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation. The United Kingdom accepts these unless there are sound scientific reasons for not doing so. Our approval procedures take ADIs into account; we have a range of maximum residue levels which, while they are not themselves safety limits, must be toxicologically acceptable; and regular monitoring of pesticide residues in food provides a check that MRLs—and hence ADIs—are not being exceeded.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the pesticides used on food are used in order to(a) preserve the food or prolong the shelf life, (b) improve the appearance and (c) increase the yield of the crop.

  Mr. Ryder
  It is not possible to provide the information requested. All agricultural pesticides, including herbicides are used with the ultimate aim of producing good quality marketable produce with minimal crop losses.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his Department was informed by his United States counterpart of the concern in the United States of America, about the apple spray Alar; what action he took following the receipt of information; and when he did so.
  491
  Mr. Ryder
  Officials in my Department received information about the United States Environmental Protection Agency's action on daminozide (marketed as Alar) on 9 February 1989. On 10 February they requested all available data from the manufacturer and supplier, including the studies submitted to the EPA, in order to carry out an emergency review. The data have been supplied and have been considered by independent experts on the advisory committee on pesticides, whose conclusions will shortly be made public.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what evidence of safety was considered by the advisory committee on pesticides when, in 1980, it approved the apple spray Alar.

  Mr. Ryder
  The advisory committee on pesticides considered an application for clearance of daminozide, the active ingredient of Alar products, in 1967. The application was supported by a full toxicological, residue and environmental data package according to the standards of the time.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the response of his Department to the European Economic Community directive which would compel retailers to inform customers of the pesticides used on the fruit and vegetables they sell.

  Mr. Ryder
  While I am in favour of informative labelling of food there are a number of technical problems that will arise if the European Commission's proposal is implemented. The United Kingdom delegation has therefore expressed some reservations in the discussions which have taken place to date.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take steps to prevent retailers from selling fruit and vegetables which have pesticide residues which are above international safety limits.

  Mr. Ryder
  I am not aware of any international safety limits for pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables. However the Government brought into force on 1 January this year a wide range of maximum residue levels for pesticides in foodstuffs. These take account of acceptable daily intakes for individual chemicals published by the codex alimentarius commission as described in my reply earlier today.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many pesticides are known to be used on food; and which of these are thought to be the most dangerous if excessive residues remain.

  Mr. Ryder
  Of the 400 or so active ingredients currently approved for use in the United Kingdom, some two thirds do not leave detectable residues. Ministers in six Government Departments must be satisfied that usage will not result in residue levels likely to pose a hazard to health before any pesticide is approved for use.

  Consumer Pressure Groups
  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the number of consumer pressure groups which have an interest in food and on how they are financed; and if the Government make a financial contribution to any of these groups.
  492
  Mr. Ryder
  Because of our statutory requirement to consult on proposals for regulations under the Food Act 1984, I am aware of up to 100 organisations which broadly represent consumer interests and have an interest in food matters. I have no detailed information on how they are financed.

  The Government wholly fund the National Consumer Council, the Welsh Consumer Council, the Scottish Consumer Council, the Consumers in the European Community Group and the headquarters organisations of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and Citizens Advice Scotland. It also makes a contribution to the funding of the National Federation of Consumer Groups. All this funding is for consumer interests in general and is not specifically related to food issues.

  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will consider providing financial resources to recognised food consumer groups to permit them to carry out independent food testing similar to that carried out in the United States of America by the Natural Resources Defence Council.

  Mr. Ryder
  My Ministry already carries out an extensive programme of food surveillance and I am satisfied that this, together with local authority enforcement of legislative requirements, is entirely adequate to protect the interests of the consumer.

  Apple Juice
  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report the names of the processed apple juices on sale in the United Kingdom that have been made from apples sprayed with Alar.

  Mr. Ryder
  This information is not held by my Department.

  Surplus Food
  Mr. Michael Brown
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when there is to be a further distribution of European Community surplus food; if applications will be invited from old people's welfare groups, charities and similar bodies to distribute the food; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Ryder
  When the EC surplus food scheme was introduced in 1988 certain charitable and non-profit making organisations were designated to operate the scheme both in 1988 and in 1989. My officials have recently consulted these organisations about the quantities of beef and butter they wish to distribute in 1989 and are currently considering each bid against the United Kingdom's budget of about £14·8 million to operate the scheme in 1989. We expect to be contacting designated organisations again shortly with details of their allocations. Once tendering, processing and packaging arrangements have then been made, produce will be made available for distribution.

  Salmonella
  Mr. Allen McKay
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give, by each local authority area, the number of poultry keepers who have had hens culled because of salmonella and the number of hens culled in each case.
  493
  Mr. Donald Thompson
  It is not my Department's policy to divulge information which could be used to deduce the identity of individual flock owners who have had hens culled or whose flocks have been compulsorily slaughtered because of salmonella. This risk would be inherent if the information were supplied by each local authority area as requested.

  The following tables set out the information for the United Kingdom as a whole.

  Hen Culling Scheme (closing date for applications 5 January 1989)

  Number of applications1

  Number of hens culled

  44

  372,120

  1 Each from a separate establishment.

  Compulsory Slaughter of Flocks infected with Invasive Salmonella organisms (with effect from 1 March 1989 in Great Britain)

  Number of birds in each flock slaughtered

  4,263

  35,369

  489

  20,227

  65,249

  419

  53

  49,279

  16,537

  2,300

  6,580

  14,226

  51

  17,743

  80,000

  Total

  312,785

SOCIAL SECURITY

  Benefits
  Mr. McCrindle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will take steps to exclude from the calculation of entitlement to family credit and income support, the receipt of child benefit; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Peter Lloyd
  No. Provision is already made in income support for children's requirements. In family credit the support for children is the total of child benefit and the child credit rates. Thus in both schemes to ignore child benefit would mean double provision.

  Transitional Additions (Dumbarton)
  Mr. McFall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many claimants were awarded a transitional addition in the Dumbarton social security region in April 1988; and how many will as a result receive in April(a) reduced uprating and (b) no uprating;
  494
  (2) how many claimants in Dumbarton constituency were awarded a transitional addition in April 1988; and how many of these will as a result receive in April 1989 (a) reduced uprating and (b) no uprating;

  (3) what percentage of (a) pensioners, (b) persons in receipt of a disability premium, (c) single parents, (d) unemployed married, (e) unemployed single, (f) unemployed with children and (g) others in receipt of income support in Dumbarton constituency will receive no increase in their benefit payments as a result of the current year's uprating because of the effect of transitional additions.

  Mr. Peter Lloyd
  I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 6 March, at column 445.

  Vaccine Damage Payments
  Mr. Ashley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many vaccine damage payments were made in 1986; and if he will categorise these according to the age of the child, when vaccination took place, the year of the vaccination and the nature of the vaccination.

  Mr. Peter Lloyd
  Fifteen payments were awarded in 1986 under the provisions of the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979. Details are in the table.

  Vaccine damage payments scheme

  Awards made in 1986 by age of child at date of vaccination, year of vaccination and type of vaccination

  Age at date of vaccination (months)

  Year vaccination was given

  Type of vaccination cited on claim form

  1.

  3—6

  1973

  Triple/polio

  2.

  6—9

  1974

  Triple

  3.

  6—9

  1978

  Pertussis

  4.

  3—6

  1982

  Triple/polio

  5.

  3—6

  1962

  Triple

  6.

  0—3

  1984

  Triple

  7.

  3—6

  1967

  Pertussis

  8.

  9—12

  1981

  Triple/polio

  9.

  9—12

  1973

  Pertussis

  10.

  3—6

  1983

  Pertussis

  11.

  3—6

  1982

  Pertussis

  12.

  6—9

  1965

  Triple/polio

  13.

  0—3

  1983

  Pertussis

  14.

  6—9

  1974

  Pertussis

  15.

  15—18

  1949

  Diptheria

  Social Fund
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of(a) budgeting loans and (b) community care grants were awarded to each of the 15 client groups defined by his Department for (i) Great Britain as a whole, (ii) the north-east region and (iii) each of the four offices serving the Bradford metropolitan area, for the financial year 1988–89.

  Mr. Peter Lloyd
  [holding answer 20 April 1989]: The information available is shown in the table.
  495

  Table

  Budgeting Loans and Community Care Grants: Percentage Awards by Client Groups for Year 1988–89

  Budgeting Loans

  Client Group (See key)

  00

  01

  02

  03

  04

  05

  06

  07

  08

  09

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  Great Britain

  0·3

  0·4

  0·6

  4·1

  0·5

  2·5

  3·5

  41·8

  0·9

  2·1

  16·0

  18·9

  0·9

  4·8

  0·0

  0·1

  North East Region

  0·2

  0·3

  0·7

  4·1

  0·4

  4·5

  2·9

  40·5

  0·9

  2·2

  19·8

  18·1

  0·9

  4·3

  0·0

  0·1

  Bradford East

  0·1

  0·3

  0·2

  3·6

  0·5

  4·4

  2·4

  42·9

  0·4

  2·0

  18·1

  18·8

  1·9

  4·3

  0·0

  0·1

  Bradford South

  0·1

  0·3

  0·6

  2·9

  0·3

  3·7

  2·2

  49·3

  1·0

  3·0

  13·8

  17·3

  0·9

  4·2

  0·0

  0·0

  Bradford West

  0·3

  0·5

  0·6

  2·9

  0·3

  3·7

  2·2

  35·9

  1·8

  5·3

  10·1

  25·0

  1·0

  6·7

  0·0

  0·3

  Keighley

  0 0

  0·3

  0·7

  5·7

  0·6

  6·5

  3·8

  40·0

  1·0

  2·8

  13·4

  18·3

  0·3

  6·2

  0·0

  0·2

  Community Care Grants

  Great Britain

  0·4

  4·5

  3·6

  14·2

  1·0

  4·3

  9·7

  24·3

  0·9

  1·7

  9·2

  16·5

  1·9

  7·0

  0·0

  1·0

  North East Region

  0·4

  3·6

  3·7

  14·3

  1·1

  4·2

  9·0

  25·2

  0·9

  1·5

  11·2

  16·3

  1·9

  5·9

  0·0

  0·8

  Bradford East

  0·0

  1·0

  1·2

  10·9

  0·8

  3·8

  5·9

  30·1

  0·4

  0·6

  8·3

  28·7

  0·6

  4·8

  0·0

  2·8

  Bradford South

  0·2

  0·2

  2·0

  7·6

  1·7

  2·7

  8·1

  31·8

  1·2

  1·0

  8·1

  23·9

  2·0

  7·6

  0·0

  1·7

  Bradford West

  0·9

  2·8

  1·8

  9·4

  1·4

  1·8

  7·1

  20·5

  0·5

  3·7

  4·6

  28·3

  3·0

  12·0

  0·0

  2·3

  Keighley

  0·0

  1·5

  1·1

  5·2

  0·0

  4·4

  4·4

  35·9

  0·4

  2·2

  8·5

  20·0

  2·2

  9·6

  0·0

  4·4

  Key

  Code Meaning

  00 Unallocated (by default).

  Applicant or partner aged 60 or over

  01 over 80—with income support higher pensioner premium.

  02 aged 60–79—disabled with higher pensioner premium.

  03 aged 60–79—with ordinary pensioner premium, or over 60 without pensioner premium.

  Applicant and partner aged under 60

  04 lone parent with income support disability premium.

  05 family with disability premium.

  06 other with disability premium.

  07 lone parent without disability premium.

  08 signs at UBO quarterly with income support family premium.

  09 signs at UBO quarterly without family premium.

  10 signing unemployed or with training allowance with family premium.

  11 signing unemployed or with training allowance without family premium.

  12 others with family premium.

  13 others without family premium.

  14 involved in trade dispute.

  15 applicant not in receipt of income support.

HEALTH

  NHS Reform
  Mr. Thurnham
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from general practitioners in Bolton and other areas in the north-west about proposals for reform of the National Health Service; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Freeman
  We have received a number of representations from GPs from Bolton and the north-west, including some passed on to me by my hon. Friend.

  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider withdrawing the proposals on self-governing trusts contained within "Working for Patients."

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  No.

  Sir David Price
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals within the National Health Service are currently in a position to provide a complete price list of all their treatments, operations and investigatory services; and how many will be required to do so by April 1991 in order to fulfil the terms of the Government's White Paper "Working for Patients."
  496
  Mr. Roger Freeman
  The current level of information about costs varies from hospital to hospital. A key element of our programme of reform is to provide all 260 major acute hopitals with the computerised systems they need to manage their resources more effectively. By April 1991 significant progress in implementing these new systems will have been made at a number of sites. However, the timetable for reform set out in the White Paper will not require any hospital to be in a position then to cost each of its services at the level of detail suggested by my hon. Friend's question.

  Mr. Stern
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from overprescribing doctors in connection with the National Health Service review.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  We have received many representations from many doctors. I regret to say that it is not possible to distinguish between those from doctors who overprescribe and those from doctors who do not. The review will ensure that all doctors will always be able to prescribe all necessary medicines to patients.

  Mr. Hardy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many letters his Department has received since 1
  497
  January concerning the Government's approach to the National Health Service; and what proportion of these letters has been congratulatory.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  We have received 3,500 representations about our proposals in "Working For Patients", expressing a wide range of questions and views which I shall take into account as part of the process of implementation. Many are broadly supportive, but it would not be possible, except at disproportionate cost, to establish the proportion which are congratulatory and those which are not. I am more interested in constructive comments than in congratulations or political opposition.

  Mr. Sumberg
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received from general practitioners following the publication of his White Paper "Working for Patients;" and of these, how many contained requests for further details on the proposals contained therein.

  Mr. Mellor
  We have received some 1,200 representations from general practitioners, many asking questions. Information on the numbers requesting further details rather than expressing views is not available.

  Mr. Wallace
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider introducing a pilot scheme for indicative drug budgets before going ahead with the proposals in "Working for Patients."

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor) on 21 March, at column 562.

  Mr. Colvin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what further representations he has received from general practitioners about the proposals for practice management in the National Health Service review.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  We continue to receive representations from general practitioners expressing a wide range of views. We shall take these carefully into account as the implementation process goes forward.

  Mr. Tim Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contribution general practitioners are making in explaining to patients the National Health Service review proposals.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  Some general practitioners are giving their patients a fair description of the benefits which will result from the White Paper proposals. I have also received representations from some GPs who are plainly misleading their patients particularly by use of BMA leaflets and causing unnecessary anxieties to old and sick people. I regret this and I am taking all possible steps to correct it. I have written to all general practitioners to set the record straight and to refute the inaccuracies contained in the BMA leaflet. I hope that all responsible general practitioners will respond by entering into constructive discussion of my proposals and by ceasing to cause unnecessary concern to their patients.

  Mr. Hind
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any plans to meet representatives of the British Medical Association to discuss the White Paper "Working for Patients"; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I have had three meetings with the general medical services committee on the remuneration of 498
  general practitioners and I will have another meeting if it requests one. I will be meeting the joint consultants committee, which includes representatives of the BMA, tomorrow. I look forward to hearing that committee's views on the review proposals. The British Medical Association has not formally put any views on the review to me, although I have read its leaflets and pamphlets.

  Mr. Matthew Taylor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from the south-west concerning the proposed changes for general practitioners contained in the "Working for Patients" document.

  Mr. Mellor
  We have received a number of representations from the south-west, as from the rest of the country. Many are supportive of the proposals.

  Mr. Ron Brown
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has received recent representations from the Medical Practitioners' Union about reform of the National Health Service.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I am not aware of any such representations.

  Mr. Tredinnick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received recently from doctors and other medical professions concerning his White Paper on the Health Service; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I have received a wide range of comments from doctors and other medical staff and shall take them carefully into account as the process of implementation goes forward.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the recent representations he has received from family practitioners about his White Paper.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I have received a wide range of comments from family practitioners and shall take them carefully into account as the process of implementation goes forward.

  British Medical Association
  Mr. McLoughlin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met representatives of the British Medical Association; and what matters were discussed.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I met members of the general medical services committee on 20 March to discuss the proposed new contract for general practitioners.

  Mr. John Greenway
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the chairman of the British Medical Association; and what was discussed.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I last met him formally on 22 February, when I discussed with him the remuneration of hospital doctors in the light of the Government's decisions on the nineteenth report of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body.

  Mr. Gow
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to meet the British Medical Association; and what he expects to discuss.
  499
  Mr. Mellor
  I refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. and learned Friend's reply earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Adley).

  Mr. Ian Bruce
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he has taken to answer the British Medical Association leaflet being distributed through doctors' surgeries.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I disapprove strongly of the BMA leaflet which grossly misrepresents the Government's proposals. It is inaccurate and misleading and I believe could cause unnecessary and unjustified alarm to more vulnerable patients. I have therefore written to all GPs to set the record straight on the BMA's five key untrue allegations.

  1. None of my proposed reforms will result in doctors running out of money, leaving them unable to prescribe for ill patients.

  2. The Government's intention to reward doctors who deliver high quality care to an average list of patients will not reduce the time given to patients when they need it. Doctors who choose to have more patients will need to be available for longer hours than their colleagues with small lists. However, the contract encourages new services and higher performance rather than bigger lists. Patients will not move to doctors who have little time to see them.

  3. No hospital is being encouraged to opt out of the NHS nor to reduce the range of services provided. All essential local services will be safeguarded by the DHA's legal powers and duty to require local delivery of them.

  4. The Government do not wish to save money by doctors taking the cheapest option. They wish to ensure that, within the resources available, more patients receive high quality care. Doctors who are given more choice and control over resources will make judgments over quality of care more than cost.

  5. The commitment of the Government to the NHS is absolute and will remain so. However, after 40 years, it is sensible to seek ways of improving the way in which its huge and growing resources are used.

  I will continue to take every opportunity to set out an accurate account of my proposals and to try to engage members of the medical profession in serious discussion of them.

  General Practitioners
  Mr. Madden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners have indicated their intention of resigning their contracts.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I am aware that some local medical committees have discussed the question of resignation, but very few indeed of the letters I have received refer to this possibility.

  Mr. Knox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average number of people registered with each doctor under the National Health Service in each year since 1959.

  Mr. Mellor
  The average number of patients on general medical practitioners' lists in England for each year since 1959 is:

  Number

  1959

  2,300

  1960

  2,305

  1961

  2,308

  1962

  2,322

  1963

  2,343

  1964

  2,379

  500

  Number

  1965

  2,428

  1966

  2,470

  1967

  2,490

  1968

  2,494

  1969

  2,495

  1970

  2,478

  1971

  2,460

  1972

  2,421

  1973

  2,398

  1974

  2,384

  1975

  2,365

  1976

  2,351

  1977

  2,331

  1978

  2,312

  1979

  2,286

  1980

  2,247

  1981

  2,201

  1982

  2,155

  1983

  2,116

  1984

  2,089

  1985

  2,068

  1986

  2,042

  1987

  2,020

  Mr. Knox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners worked in the National Health Service in each year since 1959.

  Mr. Mellor
  The information requested is set out in the table.

  Date

  Number of unrestricted principals in England

  1 July 1959

  18,467

  1 July 1960

  18,643

  1 October 1961

  18,905

  1 October 1962

  19,031

  1 October 1963

  19,065

  1 October 1964

  18,978

  1 October 1965

  18,784

  1 October 1966

  18,612

  1 October 1967

  18,617

  1 October 1968

  18,732

  1 October 1969

  18,901

  1 October 1970

  19,099

  1 October 1971

  19,374

  1 October 1972

  19,775

  1 October 1973

  19,997

  1 October 1974

  20,219

  1 October 1975

  20,377

  1 October 1976

  20,551

  I October 1977

  20,796

  1 October 1978

  21,040

  1 October 1979

  21,357

  1 October 1980

  21,812

  1 October 1981

  22,304

  1 October 1982

  22,786

  1 October 1983

  23,254

  1 October 1984

  23,640

  1 October 1985

  24,035

  1 October 1986

  24,460

  1 October 1987

  24,922

  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what prior consultations were held with the medical profession before the publication of the new contract proposals for doctors in general practice.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I remember the need for a more performance-related contract for GPs being a widespread subject of discussion with members of the medical profession about six or seven years ago. The need for a new
  501
  contract for general medical practitioners was first set out formally by the Government in the Green Paper "Primary Health Care: An Agenda for Discussion", published in April 1986. Eight months public consultation with the medical profession resulted in the proposals for a new contract set out in the White Paper "Promoting Better Health" published in November 1987.

  Detailed discussions of the proposed new contract with the general medical services committee, which negotiates for GPs, began in March 1988. Between March 1988 and the publication by the GMSC of its account of the negotiating position and my publication of "A New Contract", my officials held 17 meetings lasting 80 hours with the GMSC. I also held two meetings personally with the negotiators before publication and a third, protracted one afterwards. Subsequent meetings between my officials and the GMSC have taken the total time spent on detailed negotiations past 100 hours.

  The GMSC is now consulting its local medical committees and has summoned a conference for 27 April 1989. I wait to see whether it will wish to resume constructive discussions after the conference. In the meantime my officials are now preparing amendments to the regulations governing the GM services, including amendment to GPs' terms of service, and revised sections of the statement of fees and allowances (which sets out GPs' entitlement to those payments).

  The new contract will not reduce the average remuneration of GPs. It will however result in good GPs—those who provide all the services that patients need, attract patients to their practices and achieve high levels of performance—being paid more. This will be achieved by redistribution of existing levels of remuneration enhanced by increased investment in the family practitioner services as promised in the White Paper "Promoting Better Health".

  I believe that the GMSC agrees that the existing contract should be changed and that the changes should be introduced with effect from 1 April 1990. I hope, therefore, that the longest, most protracted, detailed and painstaking discussion of amendments to a contract in which I have ever been involved will soon come to an end. Both sides are agreed that our sole aim is to provide incentives to and fair reward for good quality primary health care and that publicly professed agreement should assist in any further discussions.

  Mr. Latham
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he will make a statement on the response which he has received from general practitioners to his proposals for a new contract.

  Mr. Mans
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received in the last 12 months on the subject of general practitioners' contracts.

  Mr. Hayes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the British Medical Association's campaign against the proposed general practitioners' contract; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Mellor
  Since the publication of "General Practice in the NHS—A New Contract" on 23 February, I have received about 800 letters from individual GPs and their representative organisations. Prior to 23 February 502
  discussions on the GPs' contract with the GPs' representatives, the general medical service committee, were confidential.

  Sir David Price
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in negotiations with the general medical services committee over a new contract for general practitioners since his publication of the Government's proposals on 23 February; and whether any of the outstanding issues have been settled.

  Mr. Malins
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards settling general practitioners' contracts.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer my hon. Friends to my right hon. and learned Friend's reply to my hon. Friends the Members for Fylde (Mr. Jack), for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) and for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter) earlier today.

  Mr. Robert B. Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to replace the General Medical Council with an independent body to investigate ethical complaints against general practitioners.

  Mr. Freeman
  The General Medical Council is an independent statutory body whose constitution and functions are regulated by the Medical Act 1983. Under this legislation the council has power to provide advice for members of the medical profession on standards of professional conduct and on medical ethics and to discipline doctors found guilty of serious professional misconduct. There are no plans to change existing arrangements.

  Mr. Baldry
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to make any amendments to the draft general practitioners' contract.

  Mr. Mellor
  The proposals set out in "A New Contract" are based on a year's intensive discussions with the general medical services committee negotiators. The principles are now settled but there will be plenty of opportunity to consider amendments to the detail as we proceed with the preparation of amendments to regulations and the statement of fees and allowances.

  Mr. Amos
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the proposed level of capitation supplements in rural areas for rural general practitioner practices.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  I propose that general practitioners should receive a rural capitation supplement to their basic practice allowance for each patient on their list who lives in a sparsely populated area. I envisaged three payments, the highest being for patients in the most sparsely populated areas. The amounts of these payments has not yet been decided.

  Community Care
  Mr. John Marshall
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he now expects to make a statement on his response to the Griffiths report.

  Rev. Martin Smyth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a further statement about the Government's response to Sir Roy Griffiths' report "Agenda for Action".
  503
  Mr. Mellor
  We remain committed to a policy of promoting the development of community services so that people can return to, or remain in, the community and live as independently as possible, wherever this is best for them. We are currently giving active consideration to the future organisation and management of community care following Sir Roy Griffiths' report and hope to be in a position to bring forward our own proposals in the near future.

  Mr. Wigley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received(a) generally in favour and (b) opposed to the main principles of the Griffiths report; and if he will now make a statement on the Government's intentions with regard to these recommendations.

  Mr. Mellor
  The representations we have received contain a wide and varied range of views on the Griffiths report. We shall take all reactions into account in framing our own proposals, which we hope to be in a position to bring forward in the near future.

  Mr. Fearn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to introduce changes in the reorganisation and delivery of community care.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) on 6 April, at column 291.

  Mr. Bowis
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to increase support services for carers.

  Mr. Mellor
  The Department has, for a number of years, grant-aided national voluntary organisations directly concerned with the needs of carers. In 1988–89 these grants totalled nearly £1/4 million. Total grant-aid to the voluntary sector by the Department now exceeds £36 million per annum, a substantial proportion of which is directed at organisations providing services for sick, elderly and disabled people and their carers. I have recently approved a grant of £150,000 for a carers training project and we have provided funding of £19,000 for an information pack about carers' services to accompany a forthcoming BBC local radio series. Under our helping the community to care programme we have made available £10·2 million for projects to support people looking after sick, disabled and elderly people in the community, including £ ½ million to the King's Fund informal caring support unit and £1·8 million to develop services for carers in three demonstration districts in Sandwell, Stockport and East Sussex. We are also funding a programme of research on carers at the university of York and have commissioned some further analysis of the carers data from the 1985 general household survey which, together with data emerging form the OPCS surveys of disability, will inform decisions about the future planning of community care policies.

  Mr. Tom Clarke
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to meet the organisation MIND to discuss Sir Roy Griffiths' report on community care.

  Mr. Mellor
  We are currently giving active consideration to the future organisation and management of community care following Sir Roy Griffiths' report. We hope to be in a position to bring forward our proposals in the near future and will consider requests for meetings from the organisations involved at that stage.

  Ladywell Hospital, Eccles
  Miss Lestor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will pay a visit to Ladywell hospital in Eccles.

  Mr. Freeman
  I have no plans to make such a visit in the' near future.

  Patients (Mixing)
  Mr. Cran
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring is undertaken by his Department of the numbers of mixing of elderly physically frail patients and elderly mentally ill patients.

  Mr. Freeman
  It is departmental policy that there should be separate services for elderly physically frail patients and elderly mentally ill patients. But where elderly people have multiple disabilities they are likely to be in the sort of facility best placed to meet their major need. The provision of services is the responsibility of the district health authority concerned. Overall levels of provision are monitored through the regional review process and through the Health Advisory Service programme of visits.

  Eyesight Testing
  Mr. Shersby
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he is giving to the introduction of a low-cost private eye test.

  Mr. Mellor
  We are presently considering comments from professional and other interested bodies on a proposal that in the case of private sight tests a patient, under certain circumstances, will be able to choose to have a vision only test to determine whether spectacles are required. No decision on the proposal has yet been reached.

  Mr. Evennett
  To ask the Secretary of State far Health what representations he has received concerning his Department's proposals relating to sight testing.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer my hon. Friend to my reply of 13 April to the hon. Member for Preston (Mrs. Wise), at column 699.

  Mr. Wareing
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health of he will make a statement on the levels of prices being charged for eyesight testing.

  Mr. Mellor
  Indications are that fees for private sight tests range between £7 and £15, though one chain of opticians is offering sight tests for old age pensioners at £2·50. Some opticians I understand who are charging about £10 are offering package deals which may give a discount on glasses if these are bought at the branch where the sight test takes place.

  NHS (Private Laboratories)
  Mr. Michael Brown
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the consequences of the increasing use of private sector laboratory facilities within the National Health Service.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Cash) on 21 March 1989, at column 893.

  Nurses
  Sir Fergus Montgomery
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses there are at present; and how many there were in 1979.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, West (Mr. McLoughlin) on 21 March, at column 567.

  Mr. Burt
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to encourage the private health care sector to increase its contribution to nurse training.

  Mr. Mellor
  I am pleased to announce that representatives of the private sector, the English National Board and the Department have recently established a joint working group to identify the extent of the private sector's capacity to participate in pre-registration nurse training. The group will also identify the sector's demand for post-registration nurses and its capacity to provide an input consistent with its capacity to train, and its demand for, staff.

  GP Drug Lists
  Mr. Amess
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Government's policies for general practitioner drug lists.

  Mr. Brandon-Bravo
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the Government's policy towards general practitioner drug lists.

  Mr. Mellor
  We are encouraging the continued development of voluntary local formularies (locally agreed lists of drugs which would normally be prescribed in the majority of cases) as a means of achieving more effective and economical prescribing by general medical practitioners. Formularies might cover a single practice, a group of practices or a family practitioner committee area. As we stated in working paper number 4, "Indicative Prescribing Budgets for General Medical Practitioners", it will be a responsibility of regional health authorities to encourage the development of joint formularies between FPCs and district health authorities.

  West Midlands RHA
  Mr. Gill
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the chairman of the West Midlands regional health authority; and whether the question of hospital trusts was discussed.

  Mr. Mellor
  My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State last met the chairman of the West Midlands regional health authority, together with the chairmen of all other regional health authorities, on 14 and 15 March. NHS hospital trusts were among the many questions that we discussed.

  Asset Registers
  Mr. Cousins
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what practical and financial assistance he proposes to offer to health authorities in the compilation of asset registers.

  Mr. Freeman
  Health authorities have been given details of the pilot studies of asset recording as noted in 506
  paragraph 4.2 of working paper No. 5 "Capital Charges" together with details of asset register software which is available to them free of charge. The Department is forming a capital charges unit, headed by an experienced and professionally qualified financial manager seconded from the NHS, which will be available to advise authorities.

  Speech Therapists
  Mr. Kirkwood
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what will be the extent of control over professional and budgetary matters available to speech therapists under the White Paper "Working for Patients" proposals.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  The White Paper proposals apply to all branches of the professional services delivered by the National Health Service. The question is too vague to permit any precise answer at this stage.

  Health Authorities (Insurance)
  Sir Michael McNair-Wilson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his policy towards enabling health authorities to insure themselves against risk.

  Mr. Mellor
  Health authorities follow the practice of Government Departments, which normally do not insure unless it would be more economical for them to do so than to carry the risks themselves. This long-standing arrangement is something authorities take into account in deciding what provision for contingencies should be made in their financial plans.

  Waiting List Fund
  Mr. Patnick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources have been allocated for 1989–90 to the waiting list fund; and of this what proportion will be allocated direct to regional health authorities.

  Mr. Mellor
  The sum of £31 million will be made available through the waiting list fund in 1989–90. Of this, £25·3 million has already been allocated to regional and special health authorities to fund projects aimed at reducing the time patients have to wait for hospital treatment. The remaining £5·7 million will be targeted, through regions, at health districts with particular waiting problems.

  Acute Hospital Beds (West Midlands)
  Mr. Grocott
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute hospital beds there are in the West Midlands regional health authority and how many there were in 1979.

  Mr. Freeman
  The information requested is given in the table. The number of in-patient cases treated per available bed has increased from 28 in 1979 to 42 in the financial year 1987–88.

  Average daily available acute beds. West Midlands regional health authority, 1979 and 1987–88

  Available beds

  In-patient cases treated

  1979

  14,669

  414,865

  1987–88

  13,179

  550,698

  Source: SH3: 1979.

  KH03: 1987–88.

  Prepared Foods
  Mr. Duffy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the regulations governing the preparation and distribution of the products of the prepared food industry; and if, as a matter of urgency, he will discuss this with representatives of the industry.

  Mr. Freeman
  The provision of the Food Act 1984, together with the food hygiene regulations, made the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations 1970 and the Food Hygiene (Markets, Stalls and Delivery Vehicles) Regulations 1966, as amended, apply to the preparation and distribution of food products. The wider application of storage temperature controls in the food hygiene regulations, including those required for delivery vehicles, is currently being considered and revised draft regulations will be issued for consultation shortly. Food industry concerns will be included in this exercise.

  Prescriptions
  Mr. McAllion
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to modify the costs of prescriptions for those with incomes above income support level.

  Mr. Mellor
  The Government have maintained the wide-ranging exemptions from prescription charges under which more than 75 per cent. of all items dispensed in the NHS are free of charge as well as continuing to provide pre-payment certificates for persons who are not exempt but who need frequent medication.

  Hospital Pharmacists
  Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in recruiting more hospital pharmacists.

  Mr. Mellor
  Recruitment of hospital pharmacists is a matter for individual health authorities.

  NHS (Privatisation)
  Mr. Devlin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans for privatising the National Health Service.

  Mr. Conway
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to privatise the National Health Service.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  No, and I never have had any such plans.

  Family Care
  Mrs. Maureen Hicks
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much on average is being spent in the current year on each family from the current health budget; and how much is planned for each of the three subsequent years.

  Mr. Freeman
  Average gross NHS spending (current and capital) per head in England will be £442 this year (1989–90) and is planned to be £461 in 1990–91 and £479 in 1991–92. If the average family is considered to consist of four persons the average spending per family will be £1,767 508
  this year and £1,845 and £1,917 in each of the following two years respectively. Planned expenditure figures for future years are subject to further consideration in future public expenditure surveys. The level of planned spending on the NHS for 1992–93 has not yet been decided.

  Nursing Homes
  Mr. Andrew Bowden
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms exist to safeguard the interests of elderly residents of residential and nursing homes.

  Mr. Mellor
  The Registered Homes Act 1984 and associated regulations place the responsibility on local authorities and district health authorities as registering authorities to register private and voluntary residential care homes and nursing homes respectively and inspect them at least twice a year; the inspections may be unannounced and "out of hours". In addition, general guidance on the running of these homes is available in "Home Life" a code of practice for residential care, and the National Association of Health Authorities' "Handbook on Registration and Inspection of Nursing Homes", and in departmental guidance. Local authorities are also responsible for ensuring adequate standards in their own homes. The Department's social services inspectorate monitors and advises local authorities on the discharge of their duties.

  Hospitals (Opting Out)
  Mr. Litherland
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of district health authorities in the north-west expressing an interest in hospitals opting-out.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  It is too early to do so. Mr. Duncan Nichol, the chief executive of the National Health Service, has asked for outline expressions of interest relating to proposals for self-governing hospitals within the NHS to come to my Department through RHAs, by 31 May.

  Mr. Skinner
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will now withdraw his proposals for the opting-out of hospitals from the National Health Service; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Mellor
  I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. and learned Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) earlier today.

  Smoking
  Mr. Foulkes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what policy his Department has adopted in regard to smoking in departmental offices.

  Mr. Mellor
  The Department's policy has been under review and management and representatives of staff have discussed the introduction of a reviewed policy in line with the Health Education guidelines "Smoking Policies at Work" (ISBN 090365251X). On the basis of these discussions we will be moving towards a no smoking working environment by agreement in the Department's offices.

  Health Districts (Treatment Costs)
  Mr. David Shaw
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the variations in cost of treatment between different health districts.

  Mr. Freeman
  I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter) by my right hon. and learned Friend on 21 March 1989, at columns 562–63.

  Drug Costs
  Mr. Rooker
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to take account in the analysis made of family doctors' drug costs of the savings in hospital treatment costs.

  Mr. Mellor
  Any analysis made of drug costs incurred by a general medical practice takes account of the reason for the prescribing pattern of that practice. This might include arrangements to treat patients with drug therapy in the community in preference to hospital treatment.

  Doctors
  Mr. Franks
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors there are, and how many there were in 1979.

  Mr. Mellor
  In 1979 there were 60,764 doctors in the hospital and community health and family practitioner services in England. By 1987 the number was 68,777.

  NHS (Contracting-out)
  Mr. Andrew MacKay
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he can give an estimate of the savings made in the last available year from the contracting out of services within the National Health Service.

  Mr. Freeman
  I refer my hon. Friend to my reply on 21 March to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. King), at column 564.

  Clinical Efficiency
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has received copies of the COHSE document on clinical efficiency.

  Mr. Mellor
  Yes.

  Clinical Audit
  Mr. Campbell-Savours
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has received from trade unions on the development of clinical audit.

  Mr. Mellor
  Comments on the development of clinical audit have been received from the British Medical Association, the general medical services committee, the Royal College of Nursing and the Confederation of Health Service Employees.

  Hearing Aid Services
  Miss Emma Nicholson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received concerning the case for improving hearing aid services.
  510
  Mr. Mellor
  We are continuing to receive a wide range of views on the provision of hearing aid services following the launch of the Royal National Institute for the Dears "Fair Hearing" campaign. The Department is giving careful consideration to all suggestions for change in examining the available options.

  Listeria
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will initiate additional scientific research into the epidemiology of listeriosis and the behaviour of its causative organism and as to whether the current statutory HTST milk pasteurisation temperature is fully effective in the destruction of listeria monocytogenes.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  We will consider carefully any proposals to study the epidemiological risk factors (with particular reference to food) for the development of listeriosis. The behaviour of the causative organism has already been studied by the public health laboratory service and Camden Food Research Association, which were Government funded for this work. There is general international consensus that the HTST milk pasteurisation temperature and time requirements of 71·7°C for 15 seconds in the existing regulations is fully effective in the destruction of listeria monocytogenes.

  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will establish a microbiological standard for listeria in foods.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  The Government have established a committee chaired by Sir Mark Richmond to advise them on the microbiological safety of food. The work of the committee will include consideration of listeria. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and I will consider its recommendations on this and all related subjects as and when they are available.

  Cook-chill Food
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce statutory control of cook-chill methods of food production, storage and display for sale.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  The present food hygiene regulations cover all food business including those handling cook-chill foods. These are currently under review and we expect to be consulting on draft amending regulations in the near future.

  Legionnaire's Disease (Nottingham)
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the outbreak of legionnaire's disease at the Queen's medical centre, Nottingham.

  Mr. Freeman
  The Department is aware of the outbreak and is satisfied that effective measures are being taken urgently to trace the source of infection.

  Offerton House, Stockport
  Mr. Tom Arnold
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to receive the report of the town planning consultant who is examining the alternative uses of Offerton house, Stockport.

  Mr. Mellor
  I understand that the Stockport health authority which commissioned the report, has no plans at present to send it to me.
  511
  Mr. Tom Arnold
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many former patients of Offerton house, Stockport, are taking part in the care in the community scheme; and how many have since returned to Offerton house.

  Mr. Mellor
  I understand that 30 patients have been discharged from Offerton house and none has returned.

  Food Poisoning
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the main reasons for food poisoning outbreaks according to his departmental research; and how many of these relate to temperature control.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  We do not hold figures centrally on the reasons for reported outbreaks of food poisoning.

  Outbreaks of bacterial food poisoning and salmonella infection by location

  1979

  1980

  1981

  1982

  1983

  1984

  1985

  11986

  Private Homes

  325

  297

  410

  467

  439

  367

  259

  326

  Restaurants/receptions

  99

  89

  88

  70

  96

  94

  64

  71

  Hospitals

  37

  37

  24

  39

  37

  37

  36

  33

  Institutions

  20

  17

  11

  28

  25

  13

  19

  19

  Schools

  13

  10

  9

  9

  5

  7

  8

  8

  Shops

  12

  5

  17

  5

  15

  10

  5

  4

  Canteens

  11

  10

  12

  15

  13

  16

  10

  9

  Farms

  8

  8

  —

  16

  6

  9

  3

  2

  Infected abroad

  7

  5

  —

  4

  7

  14

  9

  12

  Other

  2

  9

  69

  23

  23

  20

  24

  18

  Unspecified

  31

  26

  27

  52

  26

  14

  TOTAL

  534

  518

  640

  702

  693

  639

  463

  516

  1 Provisional.

  Source:

  PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

  Note:

  The data relates to the place where the outbreaks occurred; no information is held on where the food was prepared.

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) salmonella, (b) campylobactor and (c) listeria outbreaks were reported in each year since 1979; and what estimate he has of the level of unreported outbreaks.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  The information requested is available until 1987 and is as follows.

  Reports of outbreaks of salmonellosis, food and water borne campylobacter enteritis and listeriosis since 1979

  Number of outbreaks

  Year

  Salmonellosis

  Food and water borne Campylobacter enteritis

  Listeriosis

  1979

  2455

  3

  —

  1980

  2439

  3

  —

  1981

  568

  3

  1

  1982

  612

  3

  —

  1983

  594

  3

  —

  1984

  540

  24

  —

  1985

  372

  25

  —

  1986

  269

  15

  —

  1987

  294

  18

  —

  Notes:

  1 Reported to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

  2 Reports from PHLS and hospital laboratories only.

  3 Information not available.

  I am unable to estimate the level of unreported outbreaks.
  512
  Studies on a number of food poisoning outbreaks reported between 1970 and 1982 showed that inadequate temperature control was the main factor contributing to the growth of food poisoning organisms in food, but the problem can arise at any stage form production to consumption.

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of food poisoning outbreaks were attributed to(a) catering type establishments, (b) retail, (c) home and (d) others in the last 10 years.

  Mr. Kenneth Clarke
  the table shows the number of outbreaks of bacterial food poisoning and salmonella infection reported from 1979 to 1986 (the last year for which figures are currently available).

  Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Radiation)
  Mr. Speller
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the delay in reaching agreement on a cash settlement for patients damaged by excessive radiation in 1988 at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital.

  Mr. Freeman
  I refer my hon. Friend to my statement in the Adjournment debate on 6 April 1989, at columns 468–70.

  Siemens Printers
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract; and what is the location of each.

  Mr. Freeman
  None that I am aware of.

  Ambulance Personnel (Sunderland)
  Mr. Clay
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list in the Official Report (a) the number of ambulance personnel employed at the Sunderland ambulance station, (b) the number of ambulance personnel who have died from coronary attacks and related conditions while so employed and (c) the number of ambulance personnel who have retired from service due to heart conditions and related illnesses, showing each category year by year since 1985.
  513
  Mr. Freeman
  The information requested is not held centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of Northern regional health authority.

  Stomach Cancer
  Mr. Alton
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Mossley Hill, of 9 March,Official Report, columns 585–86, whether his Department will conduct statistical tests on the rates of stomach cancer per 100,000 population for the figures he gave; and what assessment has been made of the causes of the differences between the rates for Liverpool and Warrington district health authorities and the national mean.

  Mr. Freeman
  I believe the hon. Member is referring to figures given in my answer to him of 15 March, at columns 233–34. There is a statistically significant difference between the rates for Liverpool, but not for Warrington, and the national average. It is a matter for health authorities in the first instance to monitor and investigate information on the incidence of disease as part of their responsibility for the planning and delivery of services.

  Lung Disease (Miners)
  Mr. Hardy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of working miners were diagnosed as suffering from lung disease in each of the years(a) 1959, (b) 1961, (c) 1966, (d) 1971, (e) 1976, (f) 1981, (g) 1986 and (h) 1988; and what was the average incidence in the country as a whole.

  Mr. Freeman
  Information about numbers of working miners with lung disease or incidence of lung disease in the population as a whole is not collected centrally. The annual report of the Health and Safety Commission in its tables of cases of occupational diseases awarded benefit includes figures on occupational lung diseases. A copy of the report is in the Library.

  Midwives
  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in the Leeds western health authority(a) what was the average increase in midwives' pay following the recent regrading, (b) how many midwives received increases of £2,000 or more and (c) how many midwives are employed on the F grade, E grade and D grade.

  Mr. Mellor
  We hold no information centrally on average pay increases for groups of staff within an individual district health authority, or on the numbers of staff within a district who received increases of a given amount.

  The only information we hold here on the results of clinical regrading at district level relates to the assimilation at 1 April 1988 from old grades to new. This information has already been placed in the Library.

  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to introduce an appeal procedure for student midwives; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Mellor
  Midwifery students already have a right of appeal under a long-standing agreement between the management and trades union sides of the General Whitley council on procedures for settling differences over NHS employees' conditions of service.
  514
  Mr. Redmond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of home delivery training is given to trainee midwives in the Trent regional health authority ; and what is the percentage nationally.

  Mr. Mellor
  We do not hold this infomation centrally. I suggest the hon. Member writes to the chairman of the Trent regional health authority for the information he seeks.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Grand National
  Mr Vaz
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations, and from whom, he has received about the deaths of horses at the current year's Grand National meeting at Aintree racecourse.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  My right hon. Friend has received one from an hon. Friend and 14 from members of the public.

  Police Rent Allowance
  Mr. Shersby
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report in tablular form details for the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available of the total pay bill, compensatory grant received and income tax paid by each police authority in England and Wales in respect of police officers' rent allowance.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  Expenditure incurred by police authorities in England and Wales on salaries for police officers in 1987–88 is shown in the table. The figures for allowances include compensatory grant payments but it is not possible to identify such payments separately.

  £ million

  Salaries1

  Allowances

  Total

  Avon and Somerset

  45,719

  7,801

  53,520

  Bedfordshire

  15,727

  2,523

  18,250

  Cambridgeshire

  17,691

  2,536

  20,227

  Cheshire

  28,239

  4,642

  32,881

  Cleveland

  22,567

  4,332

  26,899

  Cumbria

  17,797

  2,249

  20,046

  Derbyshire

  27,485

  4,592

  32,077

  Devon and Cornwall

  43,769

  7,733

  51,502

  Dorset

  18,790

  3,163

  21,953

  Durham

  20,422

  3,022

  23,444

  Dyfed-Powys

  13,924

  1,839

  15,763

  Essex

  43,246

  8,794

  52,040

  Gloucestershire

  17,265

  3,123

  20,388

  Greater Manchester

  106,342

  15,977

  122,319

  Gwent

  15,172

  2,411

  17,583

  Hampshire

  49,364

  8,633

  57,997

  Hertfordshire

  24,760

  3,724

  28,484

  Humberside

  30,630

  5,454

  36,084

  Kent

  48,454

  8,313

  56,767

  Lancashire

  49,173

  6,637

  55,810

  Leicestershire

  26,921

  4,981

  31,902

  Lincolnshire

  18,641

  3,014

  21,655

  Merseyside

  74,855

  13,066

  87,921

  Norfolk

  20,764

  3,584

  24,348

  Northamptonshire

  16,898

  2,513

  19,411

  Northumbria

  54,245

  8,201

  62,446

  North Wales

  19,825

  2,621

  22,446

  North Yorkshire

  20,550

  2,561

  23,111

  Nottinghamshire

  32,661

  5,844

  38,505

  South Wales

  46,005

  8,603

  54,608

  South Yorkshire

  44,876

  7,512

  52,388

  Staffordshire

  32,702

  4,872

  37,574

  515

  Salaries1

  Allowances

  Total

  Suffolk

  18,287

  2,987

  21,274

  Surrey

  25,961

  3,965

  29,926

  Sussex

  43,266

  6,651

  49,917

  Thames Valley

  56,679

  10,124

  66,803

  Warwickshire

  15,338

  2,675

  18,013

  West Mercia

  29,994

  4,614

  34,608

  West Midlands

  106,742

  15,659

  122,401

  West Yorkshire

  79,035

  13,603

  92,638

  Wiltshire

  17,160

  2,952

  20,112

  City of London

  14,390

  2,457

  16,847

  Metropolitan

  503,180

  84,328

  587,508

  TOTAL

  1,975,511

  324,885

  2,300,396

  1 Includes National Insurance.

  Prisoners (Rule 43)
  Mr. Cummings
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are serving sentences under the protection of rule 43; and what is the percentage in relation to the numbers of prisoners, by prison.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  Statistics of prisoners on rule 43 have hitherto been collected centrally only in relation to adult males and the latest figures available are as at 31 December 1988. The information available is set out in the table. The percentages relate to the total sentenced adult male population at each establishment.

  Sentenced adult males at 31 December 1988

  Establishment

  Number on Rule 43 (own protection)

  Percentage of total

  North Region

  Acklington

  0

  —

  Durham

  112

  15·7

  Frankland

  40

  10·1

  Full Sutton

  13

  5·1

  Garth

  0

  —

  Haverigg

  2

  0·7

  Hull

  53

  22·2

  Kirkham

  0

  —

  Lancaster

  0

  —

  Leeds

  144

  27·1

  Lindholme

  3

  0·4

  Liverpool

  165

  13·4

  Manchester

  93

  108

  Preston

  4

  1·2

  Risley

  0

  —

  Rudgate

  0

  —

  Thorp Arch

  0

  —

  Wakefield

  31

  4·2

  Wymott

  1

  0·3

  661

  South West Region

  Bristol

  36

  9·5

  Cardiff

  28

  5·1

  Channings Wood

  4

  0·8

  Dartmoor

  27

  4·3

  Dorchester

  5

  6·0

  Erlestoke House

  0

  —

  Exeter

  29

  14·2

  Gloucester

  14

  7·1

  Grendon

  55

  27·1

  Leyhill

  0

  —

  Long Lartin

  10

  2·5

  Oxford

  8

  6·4

  Pucklechurch

  0

  —

  Reading

  6

  4·8

  Shepton Mallet

  1

  0·4

  Swansea

  29

  9·9

  516

  Sentenced adult males at 31 December 1988

  Establishment

  Sentenced adult males at Number on Rule 43 (own protection)

  31 December 1988 Percentage of total

  The Verne

  0

  —

  Winchester

  60

  20·5

  312

  Midland Region

  Asgwell

  2

  0·5

  Bedford

  6

  5·5

  Birmingham

  34

  6·1

  Featherstone

  0

  —

  Gartree

  17

  5·5

  Leicester

  43

  21·2

  Lincoln

  88

  26·8

  Littlehey

  0

  —

  Morton Hall

  0

  —

  North Sea Camp

  0

  —

  Nottingham

  1

  0·3

  Ranby

  2

  0·6

  Shrewsbury

  23

  11·9

  Stafford

  45

  5·6

  Stocken

  2

  0·7

  Sudbury

  0

  —

  263

  South East Region

  Albany

  2

  0·5

  Aldington

  0

  —

  Blantyre House

  0

  —

  Blundeston

  4

  1·0

  Brixton

  44

  24·2

  Camp Hill

  23

  4·7

  Canterbury

  28

  28·9

  Chelmsford

  11

  11·4

  Coldingley

  0

  —

  Ford

  0

  —

  Highpoint

  0

  —

  Kingston

  0

  —

  Latchmere House

  0

  —

  Lewes

  15

  6·0

  Maidstone

  2

  0·4

  Northeye

  8

  3·4

  Norwich

  59

  15·3

  Parkhurst

  12

  5·1

  Pentonville

  45

  7·5

  Rochester

  0

  —

  Send

  0

  —

  Standford Hill

  0

  —

  Swaleside

  7

  1·8

  Wandsworth

  382

  26·2

  Wayland

  3

  0·6

  Wormwood Scrubs

  37

  9·4

  682

  Police (Escort Duties)
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has of the number of police who currently undertake escort duties of inmates from prison to courts; and what steps he is taking to encourage reallocation of this task.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  In a report produced in July 1988, the police requirements support unit of the Home Office estimated, on the basis of a survey in four police areas, that the handling and escorting of prisoners to magistrates' courts cost the police in England and Wales more than £31 million per year. On the basis of the same report it has been estimated that approximately 1,000 officers per day are involved in this work.
  517
  As my right hon. Friend announced to the House on 1 March at columns 277–78 further work is in hand towards contracting out the escorting, custody and control of prisoners with the aim of relieving both the police and prison service of this task.

  Crowd Control
  Mr. Spearing
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library any manual, advice or other paper produced by his Department or the Police Staff College at Bramshill or any other official body relating to the control of crowds outside sports stadia.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  Chapter 14 of the "Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds", HMSO, 1986, offers guidance on crowd control. Paragraph 205 emphasises that effective arrangements to counter crowd disorder outside the ground must also be made. A copy of the guide is in the Library.

  The Association of Chief Police Officers issues to its members general guidance on the policing of football matches, part of which relates to policing outside stadia. Disclosure of such guidance is a matter for the association.

  Civil Defence
  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give details of any emergency duty system for firefighters that he has considered for use in the event of hostilities or a war emergency;

  (2) what advice he has issued to chief fire officers concerning wartime or emergency duty systems for firefighters; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. John Patten
  Guidance on wartime duty systems is contained in fire service circular 6/1984, paragraph 17. Detailed arrangements would be for the individual fire authorities to decide in the light of circumstances at the time. No such guidance has been given in relation to peacetime emergencies.

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the criteria for determining the eligibility for civil defence grant aid of local authority emergency centre proposals.

  Mr. John Patten
  Relevant statutory provisions are contained in the Civil Defence (General Local Authority

  District/Borough Authorities in England and Wales which had received message switch equipment by 31 December 1988

  County

  District/Borough

  Bedfordshire

  Luton, Mid Bedfordshire, North Bedfordshire, South Bedfordshire

  Cambridgeshire

  Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdon, South Cambridgeshire

  Cheshire

  Vale Royal

  Cleveland

  Middlesborough, Stockton on Tees

  Cornwall

  Caradon, North Cornwall, Penwith

  Cumbria

  Allerdale, Barrow in Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden

  Derbyshire

  Chesterfield, High Peak, West Derbyshire

  Devon

  East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, Plymouth, Teignbridge, Torbay

  Dorset

  Bournemouth, Christchurch, East Dorset, Poole, Purbeck, West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland

  Durham

  Chester le Street, Derwentside, Durham, Easington, Teesdale

  Essex

  Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Tendring, Thurrock, Uttlesford

  Gloucestershire

  Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Tewkesbury

  Hampshire

  New Forest, Winchester

  Hertfordshire

  East Hertfordshire, St. Albans

  Humberside

  Beverley, Cleethorpes, East Yorkshire, Glanford, Great Grimsby

  518
  Functions) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1634) and the Civil Defence (Grant) Regulations 1953 (SI 1953/1777) as amended. Proposals for such emergency centres should be in accordance with the guidance contained in the "Emergency Planning Guidance to Local Authorities", a copy of which is in the Library. In particular, information on the minimum standards for emergency centres is set out in annex D of section 4 of the EPGLA and on eligibility for grant aid in section 19.

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those county and fire and civil defence authorities that had had message switch equipment installed in their emergency centres by 31 December 1988; and if he will list those county and fire and civil defence authorities that were expected to receive such equipment during the current year.

  Mr. John Patten
  The information requested is as follows:

  County and Fire and Civil Defence Authorities (FCDAs) in England and Wales which had received message switch equipment by 31 December 1988:
  Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, West Yorkshire FCDA, Wiltshire.

  County and Fire and Civil Defence Authorities (FCDAs) in England and Wales which have received or are expected to receive the equipment during the year to 31 December 1989:
  Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Clwyd, Dyfed, East Sussex, Greater Manchester FCDA, Gwynedd, Hampshire (to complete), Hereford and Worcester, Isle of Wight, Kent, London FCDA, Oxfordshire, Powys, Shropshire, South Glamorgan, Staffordshire (to complete), Surrey, Tyne and Wear FCDA, Warwickshire, West Glamorgan, West Midlands FCDA, West Sussex.

  Some revisions and additions to the above list can be expected in the light of site availability, following discussion with the authorities concerned.

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those district authorities that had had message switch equipment installed in their emergency centres by 31 December 1988: and if he will list those district authorities that were expected to receive such equipment during the current year.

  Mr. John Patten
  The information requested is as follows:
  519

  Country

  District/Borough

  Lancashire

  Blackburn, Blackpool, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre

  Leicestershire

  Blaby, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Leicester, Melton, Rutland

  Lincolnshire

  Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Kesteven

  Norfolk

  Breckland, Great Yarmouth

  Northamptonshire

  Daventry, Northampton, Wellingborough

  North Yorkshire

  Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Scarborough, Selby

  Northumberland

  Alnwick, Tynedale

  Nottinghamshire

  Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark, Nottingham

  Somerset

  Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane

  Staffordshire

  East Staffordshire, South Staffordshire

  Suffolk

  Babergh, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St Edmundsbury

  West Yorkshire

  Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees

  Wiltshire

  Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, West Wiltshire

  District/Borough Authorities in England and Wales which have received or are expected to receive the equipment during the year to 31 December 1989

  County

  District/Borough

  Berkshire

  Bracknell, Newbury, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead

  Buckinghamshire

  Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, Milton Keynes, South Buckinghamshire, Wycombe

  Clwyd

  Colwyn

  Dyfed

  Carmarthen, Llanelli

  East Sussex

  Brighton, Hove, Lewes, Rother, Wealden

  Greater Manchester

  Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Trafford

  Gwynedd

  Aberconwy, Ynys Mon

  Hampshire

  Basingstoke and Dene, Eastleigh, Fareham, Hart, Havant, Portsmouth, Rushmoor, Southampton, Test Valley

  Hereford and Worcester

  Leominster, Redditch, Worcester, Wyre Forest

  Kent

  Dover, Gillingham, Sevenoaks, Shepway, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge and Mailing, Tunbridge Wells

  London

  Barnet, Brent, Camden, City of London, Ealing, Enfield, Harringey, Harrow, Havering, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames

  Oxfordshire

  Cherwell, Oxford, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, West Oxfordshire

  Powys

  Brecknock, Radnor

  Shropshire

  Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shropshire

  South Glamorgan

  Cardiff

  Staffordshire

  Lichfield, Staffordshire Moorlands

  Surrey

  Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley, Woking

  Tyne and Wear

  North Tyneside, Sunderland

  Warwickshire

  Rugby, Stratford on Avon

  West Midlands

  Birmingham. Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Wolverhampton

  West Sussex

  Adur, Arun, Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex

  In a few cases, equipment for the above districts has been accommodated elsewhere pending completion of site preparations. Also, some revisions and additions to the list can be expected in the light of site availability following discussions with the authorities concerned.

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the emergency planning communications handbook will be published; when the proposed circular on wartime communications will be published; when the guide to message writing being drafted by the ad hoc working party on emergency communications will be published; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. John Patten
  The emergency planning guidance handbook on communications and the guide to message writing are due to be published later this year.

  Consideration is being given to the need for a circular to update existing references to emergency communications provision and associated arrangements for grant aid. Any such circular is unlikely to be issued before next year.

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the written reply to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) of 7 December 1988,Official Report, columns 204–5, (1) how many of the 35 emergency planning officers and 10
  520
  administrative and support staff employed by district authorities are wholly funded by his Department's civil defence grant;

  (2) if he will list those district authorities which employ the 35 emergency planning officers and 10 administrative and support staff which are wholly or partly funded by Home Office civil defence grant.

  Mr. John Patten
  The aggregate figures quoted in the earlier reply derive from the employment of 22 full-time emergency planning officers, four full-time administrative and support staff and a number of part time staff in each category. The full-time posts are wholly funded by civil defence grant.

  The districts which employ these staff are as follows:

  Avon

  Wansdyke

  Buckinghamshire

  Aylesbury Vale

  Milton Keynes

  South Buckinghamshire

  Wycombe

  Chiltern

  Cambridgeshire

  East Cambridgeshire

  Cheshire

  Congleton

  Essex

  Braintree

  Southend

  521

  Brentwood

  Tendring

  Chelmsford

  Uttlesford

  Epping Forest

  Isle of Wight

  Medina

  South Wight

  Kent

  Canterbury

  Gravesham

  Dartford

  Sevenoaks

  Dover

  Norfolk

  Broadland

  South Norfolk

  Breckland

  West Norfolk

  North Norfolk

  Oxfordshire

  Cherwell

  West Oxford

  South Oxford

  Vale of White Horse

  Suffolk

  Babergh

  Suffolk Coastal

  St. Edmundsbury

  East Sussex

  Eastbourne

  Rother

  Hove

  Wealden

  Lewes

  West Sussex

  Adur

  Horsham

  Arun

  Mid Sussex

  Chichester

  Worthing

  Communications
  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there are any plans to hold further exercises of communications similar to the COMTEST 89 exercise held on 12 January; if he has had any representations about the lack of translation capability for non-European languages highlighted by the COMTEST exercise; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. John Patten
  COMTEST 89 was arranged by the Association of Chief Police Officers and funded by the Home Office. I understand a report on the exercise is now being drawn up and while we shall consider it carefully, it will be for ACPO to consider the operational implications and to take any decisions on the need for further exercises. No representations have been received about language problems.

  Civil Defence College, Easingwold
  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of expenditure on building maintenance at the civil defence college, Easingwold for each year from 1979 to the present time.

  Mr. John Patten
  The information requested is as follows:

  Year1

  £

  1979–80

  34,049

  1980–81

  47,858

  1981–82

  83,032

  1982–83

  32,037

  1983–84

  34,094

  1984–85

  42,276

  1985–86

  59,763

  1986–87

  75,482

  1987–88

  200,190

  1988–89

  165,284

  1 (1 April—31 March).

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of capital 522
  expenditure on building improvements and extensions at the civil defence college, Easingwold for each year from 1979 to the present time.

  Mr. John Patten
  Details of capital expenditure in the years 1979–1984 are not available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information for subsequent years is as follows:

  Year1

  Minor works £

  Major works £

  1984–85

  27,082

  —

  1985–86

  12,765

  —

  1986–87

  29,538

  —

  1987–88

  60,854

  —

  1988–89

  47,714

  —

  1 (1 April—31 March).

  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give current valuations for(a) the buildings, (b) the furniture, fixtures and fittings and (c) the land at the civil defence college, Easingwold.

  Mr. John Patten
  The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Firearms Expert Consultative Committee
  Mr. Martin Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will appoint a chairman to the firearms expert consultative committee set up under the provisions of the Firearms (Amendment) Act.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Waterside (Mr. Colvin) on 13 April at column 718.

  Police (Ports)
  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each port in England and Wales at which police including special branch officers, are stationed either on a full-time or part-time basis the following information:(a) the name of the relevant police force, (b) the number of full-time equivalent police officers stationed there or the number of police man hours, (c) the total direct costs associated with policing each port, (d) the total indirect costs associated with policing each port and (e) the amount of money provided to each police force in respect of policing each port.

  Mr. Hurd
  Special branch offices are stationed on a full-time basis at those seaports and airports in England and Wales which are designated under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. In addition, uniformed police are stationed on a full-time basis at those airports in England and Wales which are designated under the Aviation Security Act 1982. The table shows which police force is responsible for the policing of each of the ports designated under these statutes. Police are also present on an ad hoc basis at a number of other ports in England and Wales.

  The cost falls to the appropriate police authority and comes within the normal police funding arrangements. Under these arrangements the Home Office meets 51 per cent. of whatever a police authority spends on policing and

  523
  an additional contribution is made from central Government funds by way of block grant. It would not be right in the interests of national security to publish information about numbers of officers, police man hours, or the costs associated with the policing of individual ports.

  Information is not held centrally for sea ports whose owners appoint their own constables under local and private legislation and where costs are met by the harbour authorities.

  Designated Ports under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989

  Force Area

  Seaports

  Fishguard

  Dyfed-Powys

  Fleetwood

  Lancashire

  Heysham

  Lancashire

  Holyhead

  North Wales

  Pembroke Dock

  Dyfed-Powys

  Plymouth

  Devon and Cornwall

  Port of Liverpool

  Merseyside

  Poole Harbour

  Dorset

  Portsmouth Continental ferry port

  Hampshire

  Southampton

  Hampshire

  Swansea

  South Wales

  Torquay

  Devon and Cornwall

  Weymouth

  Dorset

  Airports

  Biggin Hill

  Metropolitan

  Birmingham1

  West Midlands

  Blackpool

  Lancashire

  Bournemouth (Hurn)

  Dorset

  Bristol

  Avon and Somerset

  Cambridge

  Cambridgeshire

  Cardiff

  South Wales

  Carlisle

  Cumbria

  Coventry

  West Midlands

  East Midlands

  Leicestershire

  Exeter

  Devon and Cornwall

  Gloucester/Cheltenham (Staverton)

  Gloucestershire

  Humberside

  Humberside

  Leeds/Bradford

  West Yorkshire

  Liverpool

  Merseyside

  London—City

  Metropolitan

  London—Gatwick1

  Sussex

  London—Heathrow1

  Metropolitan

  Luton

  Bedfordshire

  Lydd

  Kent

  Manchester1

  Greater Manchester

  Manston

  Kent

  Newcastle

  Northumbria

  Norwich

  Norfolk

  Plymouth

  Devon and Cornwall

  Southampton

  Hampshire

  Southend

  Essex

  Stansted1

  Essex

  Teeside

  Durham

  1 Also designated under the Aviation Security Acct 1982.

  Courts
  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has as to the annual number of court hours which are lost as a result of the non-delivery or lat delivery of prisoners to court; and if he will make a statement as to the estimated cost.

  Mr. John Pattern
  The information requested is not routinely collected. Where defendants do not appear it will 524
  often be possible to rearrange business so that court time is not lost. There is insufficient information on which to base an estimate of cost.

  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent examination he has made of the reasons for delays in courts trying cases down for hearing; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. John Patten
  We are carrying out a survey of the reasons for adjournments in cases before magistrates courts. A range of courts will take part in the survey in the last week in April.

  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has to the annual number of(a) magistrates court, (b) Crown court and central criminal court cases which are delayed or postponed as a result of the non-delivery of the defendant to the court by the police or prison service; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. John Patten
  This information is not routinely collected. We expect to obtain information relating to cases postponed in a sample of magistrates courts from our forthcoming survey of reasons for adjournments.

  Police (Prisoners)
  Mr. Nicholas Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give for each police force area the average number of police officers involved each day in the transport of prisoners to and from court; and what percentage of the average daily manpower of each force this represents;

  (2) if he will give for each police force the daily and yearly cost of providing transport for prisoners to and from court.

  Mr. Douglas Hogg
  I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given today to a question from the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox) for the information which is available.

  Firearms (Police)
  Mr. Sims
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many operations firearms were issued to police officers in England and Wales in 1988; in how many of those operations shots were fired by police officers; how many police officers are currently qualified to carry firearms; and what were the equivalent figures for each of the previous five years.

  Mr. Hurd
  Information relating to the police use of firearms in operations against criminals or others known or believed to be armed in the years in question is given in the table.

  Year

  Number of operations

  Number of times shots fired

  Number of authorised firearms officers

  1983

  3,180

  3

  13,044

  1984

  2,667

  6

  11,873

  1985

  2,488

  7

  10,244

  1986

  2,453

  1

  8,395

  1987

  2,185

  7

  7,349

  1988

  2,227

  2

  7,194

  The figures show that over five years the police have been issuing and using firearms less often. The figures

  525
  show the continuing determination of the Government and of chief officers of police that the police use of firearms should remain a measure of the last resort, and that traditional methods of policing should continue.

ENVIRONMENT

  Property Services Agency
  Sir Eldon Griffiths
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply of 8 March to the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds,Official Report, column 521, on what basis he determined in 1986 that the Property Services Agency site at Falmouth avenue, Newmarket, was too small to be redeveloped to accommodate civil servants located in Cambridge; and what was, and is, the average number of square feet he requires per civil servant doing the type of work in which the Property Services Agency is engaged in its Cambridge and Newmarket offices.

  Mr. Chope
  On the basis that the site of 1.21 acres could not be developed to provide the office space and parking facilities necessary for an establishment of some 400 staff.

  Rates
  Mr. John Marshall
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, if he will make a statement about the level of rate increases in Greater London.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The average rise in domestic rate poundages in 1989–90 for the London boroughs and the City is 9·9 per cent., slightly above the national average.

  The average masks a wide range of changes. In the six rate-capped authorities in London the average domestic rate poundage has decreased by 4·7 per cent. In Conservative boroughs the average rise is 7·6 per cent., compared wth 21·6 per cent. in those Labour boroughs which are not rate capped.

  Mr. David Nicholson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the total rate in the pound payable by a resident in the London boroughs of (a) Lambeth, (b) Camden, (c) Islington, (d) Southwark, (e) Brent and (f) Haringey, including Greater London council, Inner London education authority and other precepts where appropriate, and the district of Taunton Deane, Somerset, in the years 1980–81, 1984–85, 1986–87 and 1989–90.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The total rate in the pound, payable by a resident in the authorities listed for the years specified, is as follows:

  Domestic Rate Poundage (P)

  1980–81

  1984–85

  1986–87

  1989–90

  Lambeth

  145·4

  233·1

  217·2

  202·6

  Camden

  118·4

  202·7

  209·4

  210·7

  Islington

  117·9

  233·5

  184·3

  224·4

  Southwark

  118·0

  260·5

  212·2

  193·5

  Brent

  109·5

  223·5

  223·5

  344·5

  Haringey

  131·5

  259·3

  267·8

  363·4

  Taunton Deane

  104·4

  140·7

  186·8

  247·7

  Rateable Values
  Mr. David Shaw
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of business premises taken 526
  from the recent Inland Revenue sample survey will have a rateable value between £1,000 and £7,500 in London and between £1,000 and £5,000 elsewhere in England; and what percentage of business premises will have a new rateable value between £7,500 and £22,500 in London and between £5,000 and £15,000 elsewhere in England.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  It is estimated that nearly half the properties covered by the Inland Revenue survey will have a new rateable value from 1 April 1990 of between £1,000 and £7,500 in London and between £1,000 and £5,000 elsewhere in England. Slightly more than a quarter of properties will have a new rateable value of between £7,500 and £22,500 in London, and slightly less than a quarter between £5,000 and £15,000 elsewhere in England.

  This information is based on a sample survey of the effects of the revaluation of non-domestic properties and the introduction of a uniform business rate. The new valuations supplied for the sample of properties were best estimates, not actual revaluations. The results must therefore be treated with caution.

  Crown Suppliers
  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many executive officers, higher executive officers, senior executive officers and grade 7 (administration) staff were in post in the Crown Suppliers on 1 April.

  Mr. Ridley
  The number of executive staff in post in the Crown Suppliers on 1 April 1989 was as follows:

  Number

  Executive Officers

  111

  Higher Executive Officers

  52

  Senior Executive Officers

  23

  Grade 7 (administrative)

  14

  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average length of tour in the Crown Suppliers of executive grades.

  Mr. Ridley
  My Department has no recognised average length of tour in the Crown Suppliers for any grade of staff.

  Mr. Sean Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many executive staff, namely, executive officers, HEOs, SEOs and grade 7 (administration) have since 1 April 1988(a) transferred from other parts of the Civil Service into those areas of the Crown Suppliers intended for sale and (b) been posted in following direct recruitment into the Civil Service.

  Mr. Ridley
  Since 1 April 1988, three executive staff have transferred from other parts of the Civil Service into those areas of the Crown Suppliers intended for sale; and two administrative officers already in the Crown Suppliers have gained executive appointments in those areas through an open competition for recruitment into the Civil Service.

  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out the criteria he will apply in deciding to whom to sell the Crown Suppliers should appropriate legislation be obtained.

  Mr. Chope
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: No decisions have yet been taken upon the detailed criteria which will apply.

  Defective Housing
  Ms. Walley
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what additional housing investment programme allocation he has made in respect of(a) the Galleys Bank estate in Kidsgrove and (b) the Park Lane estate in Biddulph, in respect of problems concerning defective housing; what is the average allocation per affected dwelling in each estate; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Trippier
  Additional housing investment programme allocations of £389,000 and £690,000 were notified to Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire, Moorlands councils respectively to help them meet their housing defects obligations. These allocations are not made for specific estates or properties; it is for authorities to decide how to use them, together with their initial allocations and any other resources they have available.

  Mr. Summerson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has reached a decision on proposals to amend the housing defects provisions following consultations with interested bodies.

  Mr. Trippier
  Yes. In the light of helpful comments from local authority associations, home owners groups and other interested bodies, we have decided to introduce certain amendments in the current Local Government and Housing Bill. This should help achieve a sound and practical streamlining of the housing defects scheme for the benefit of owners and local authorities alike. On the basis of consultations in Scotland, the Scottish Office proposes to introduce similar amendments to the parallel Scottish housing defects legislation.

  The main proposal is for the taking down and reconstruction of an individual property, in an equivalent position, to be treated as reinstatement under the scheme so that grant-aid can be made available. Although somewhat less radical than our consultation suggestion, it would he more in line with Housing Defects Act reinstatement and, in certain circumstances, could offer a sensible and cost-effective alternative to reinstatement, provided that it is in accordance with the Act's other conditions. We also intend to bring eligible "shared owners" within the scheme by requiring local authorities to submit schemes for the Secretary of State's approval; and to allow the Secretary of State to extend the present two-month period for deciding local designations, where he needs more information.

  Local Authority

  Scheme

  Number of units borought back into use

  Permanent/temporary accommodation

  Allocation 1987/88 £

  Allocation 1988/89 £

  Camden

  Various

  35

  permanent

  —

  632,000

  Hammersmith and Fulham

  White City

  56

  permanent

  349,000

  —

  Tower Hamlets

  Ocean

  20

  permanent

  126,000

  516,000

  Middlesbrough

  Broughton Avenue

  6

  temporary

  12,900

  122,640

  South Tyneside

  Tyne Dock

  16

  permanent

  55,000

  —

  Bradford

  Woodside

  14

  permanent

  37,000

  —

  Bradford

  Pennington Terrace

  22

  permanent

  —

  533,564

  Leeds

  Gipton

  10

  permanent

  200,000

  —

  Sheffield

  Various

  57

  permanent

  560,000

  —

  Wakefield

  Airedale

  16

  permanent

  90,000

  —

  York

  Various

  22

  permanent

  62,700

  —

  Nottingham

  Macedon Trust

  7

  permanent

  —

  150,000

  Rochdale

  Smallbridge

  13

  temporary

  —

  150,000

  Blackpool

  Mereside

  24

  permanent

  —

  269,500

  Guildford

  Guildford Park and Westborough

  17

  permanent

  57,500

  —

  528
  We also propose a minor clarifying amendment to make it explicit that local authorities should decade owners' applications as soon as reasonably practicable.

  We have decided at this time against the introduction of the proposed package of lifting Government-set limits on local authority reinstatement grants, with a revised degree of Exchequer contribution: consultees' responses generally favoured retaining existing controls, for the time being, to help ensure reinstatement is carried out cost effectively under the scheme.

  Homelessness
  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many units of accommodation his Department estimates were brought into letting for homeless households(a) in Greater London, (b) in the south-east outside London and (c) in England as a whole, through local authority schemes to give existing council tenants cash incentives to buy a property on the open market (i) in 1986–87, (ii) in 1987–88 and (iii) in 1988–89; and at what average cost.

  Mr. Trippier
  Regional and national estimates are not available. An exploratory research study of the majority of those Brent and Bromley tenants who received cash payments for home purchase in 1986 was published in May 1988 and a copy was placed in the Library. The department expects that the further studies of schemes in Tauntan Deane, Southend and Croydon will be received shortly from the survey organisation.

  Grants paid under section 129 of the Housing Act 1988 will be monitored for 1989–90 and subsequent years.

  Mr. Battle
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list each scheme selected for an additional allocation of housing investment programme funds, under the homeless initiative promoted by his Department's Estate Action team(a) during 1987–88 and (b) during 1988–89; how many units of accommodation each scheme brought into use for homeless households; and whether each scheme provided permanent or temporary accommodation for homeless households; and what was the date of completion of each scheme.

  Mr. Trippier
  Additional allocations under the Estate Action homelessness initiative have been made for the following schemes in 1987–88 and 1988–89. According to information supplied by local authorities all schemes were completed within the financial year in question.

  Archaeological Diggings
  Mr. Dalyell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what additional funds are being made available to English Heritage in respect of the archaeological diggings in Lower Thames street; what further action his Department is taking; and if he will make a statement.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  I refer the hon. Member to my replies to the hon. Member for Newham North-West (Mr. Banks) on 18 April, at columns 77–78. English Heritage has not asked for additional funds for this purpose.

  Community Charge
  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration he has given to the effects of the introduction of the community charge on the tenants of almshouses; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Gummer
  We considered the position of people in various types of accommodation when deciding on the definition of hostels, the residents of which will be exempt from the community charge. Our conclusion was that, in general, only establishments offering a high level of care should qualify. The tenants of almshouses will be able to apply for rebates of up to 80 per cent, if their incomes are low. Those in receipt of income support will have their income support increased to help them meet their 20 per cent. community charge payment.

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from hon. Members on the levying of a community charge on second homes.

  Mr. Gummer
  We have received a good many representations on this and other aspects of the community charge.

  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he intends to publish guidelines for private landlords on the need to deduct rates from combined rent and rates charges with the introduction of the community charge in April 1990;

  (2) what protection will be offered to tenants in the private rented sector, who presently pay combined rent and rates charges, with the introduction of the community charge in April 1990.

  Mr. Gummer
  [holding answer 24 April 1989.1: I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) on 21 April.

  Mr. Buckley
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce a transitional period for households with substantial increases in payments following the introduction of the poll tax in April 1990.

  Mr. Gummer
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: The Government have no plans to introduce a poll tax.

  The Government have proposed a safety net which will provide transitional protection for areas in which there would otherwise be substantial increases in average bills per household. The community charge rebate system will give further protection to chargepayers with low incomes.

  Mr. Blunkett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish for each local authority in 530
  England (a) the illustrative community charge for 1989–90 (i) within and (ii) without safety net, (b) the comparable figures for 1988–89, (c) the percentage changes between the two years, (d) the average rate bill per household for 1989–90 and (e) the average number of adults per household.

  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment in which month he expects to announce illustrative 1989–89 community charges for Nottingham based upon the forthcoming year's rate support grant settlement.

  Mr. Gummer
  As in previous years, I intend publishing illustrative community charges for all local authority areas in England when detailed budget returns have been received. The date of publication will depend on prompt submission of those budget returns. So far 343 out of the 426 returns have been submitted.

  Mrs. Margaret Ewing
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the regulations which give poll tax registration officers access to local education authority lists containing the names and addresses of school pupils' parents; and if he will make a statement.

  Mr. Gummer
  The Government have no plans to introduce a poll tax. The regulations governing the administration of the community charge in England and Wales are the Community Charges (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989/438). Regulation 6 requires certain public bodies on request to provide the community charges registration officer (CCRO) with names, addresses and periods of residence where such information is within the possession or control of those bodies. The local education authority is among the bodies concerned, but the governors or proprietors of schools (who maintain registers containing the names and addresses of parents) are not. Whether such names and addresses can be given to the CCRO will therefore depend upon whether they have been passed into the possession or control of the authority. The authority may not inspect or take an extract from a school register other than for educational purposes.

  Nuclear Waste
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if Her Majesty's Government have identified a safe long-term method of disposing permanently of nuclear waste.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The Government believe that safe disposal routes for radioactive wastes can be developed in the United Kingdom. The Government have accepted Nirex's recommendation that a repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste should be constructed in the form of a mine under the land and that further investigations should be undertaken to determine the suitability of Sellafield or Dounreay for construction of a repository. Heat-generating radioactive wastes will be stored for at least 50 years to allow them to cool before a final decision on disposal is taken.

  Caravan Parks
  Sir Eldon Griffiths
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish his new model standards for caravan parks.
  531
  Mr. Trippier
  My right hon. Friend published the revised model standards on 19 April. Separate standards have been specified for permanent residential mobile home sites and for holiday caravan sites. As a result of research sponsored by my Department, the spacing standard for holiday caravans with aluminium or other similar fire-resistant exteriors has been reduced from 6 to 5m. This takes account of the changes which have occurred in the caravan industry over the past decade and, together with other changes in the new standards, should lead to more attractive holiday caravan site layouts.

  The standards have been circulated to all local authorities in England and Wales and to other interested bodies and copies have been placed in the House Libraries. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy.

  London Docklands Development Corporation
  Mr. Heddle
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what the status of the London Docklands development corporation will be upon the expiry of its enterprise zone status.

  Mr. Trippier
  When the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone expires the corporation will cease to be the enterprise zone authority for the purposes of part XVIII of and schedule 32 to the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, and will then gain the full range of planning powers in that area of docklands. Its status will otherwise be unchanged.

  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all planning permissions given by the London Docklands development corporation along the river Thames in the borough of Southwark which secure a public riverside walkway.

  Mr. Trippier
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: A list of 17 permissions given by the LDDC since 1981 has been placed in the Library. The corporation is committed to securing extensive riverside and dockside access throughout its area. Twelve miles of waterside are so far accessible, and a further 15 miles are proposed.

  Lindane (Lost Container)
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the current whereabouts of the container of lindane lost on 13 March.

  Mr. Portillo
  I have been asked to reply.

  The container, lost while under tow by a French ship to Cherbourg, was thought to be about 25 km north-west of the Cap de la Hague. The French authorities, who are responsible for co-ordinating counter-pollution operations in that area of the Channel, have carried out an intensive but unsuccessful search for it using both surface vessels and a submersible. That special search has now been called off on the basis of a joint Anglo/French scientific assessment of the pollution threat which concluded that the physical nature of the lindane, the packaging, depth of water in which the container was lost, water currents and other factors, are such that the likelihood of contamination is much less than at first feared.

  In the process of normal training and exercises, the French Navy will continue to look for the missing container. The French authorities also continue to carry out an intensive programme of sampling and analysis of seawater and fish.

  Bathing Water
  Mr. Gareth Wardell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the cost at current prices to each water authority in England to bring the bathing beaches that fail to meet the standards laid down in the European Community bathing water directive (76/160/EEC) into conformity.

  Mr. Howard
  Water authorities are spending about £100 million a year on schemes to improve the quality of bathing waters and this rate of spending is likely to increase. However, detailed proposals for schemes to improve bathing waters are still being formulated and it is too soon to estimate the total spending required by each authority to meet EC bathing water quality standards.

  Public Rights of Way
  Mr. Ron Davies
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was his Department's response to the Countryside Commission's consultation papers, "Paths, Routes and Trails" and "Changing the Rights of Way Network".

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The Department has not commented on either paper.

  Mr. Andrew F. Bennett
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how his Department measures the reduction in the time taken to decide opposed rights of way orders in the absence of information on the receipt of, and replies to, letters by his Department's offices in Bristol; and if he will publish such information as is available to indicate how substantial the reduction is.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  The time between the submission of an order to the Department's Bristol office and the issue of a decision is recorded for every case. The median from submission to decision in 1987–88 was 53 weeks; in 1988–89 this time was reduced to 40 weeks.

  Housing Statistics
  Mr. Norman Hogg
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number and proportion of empty dwellings at the latest available date in(a) the private rented sector, (b) the housing association sector, (c) the central Government sector and (d) the local authority sector.

  Mr. Trippier
  [holding answer 24 April 1989]: Estimates derived from the housing investment programme returns of English local authorities for April 1988 are as follows:

  Vacant dwellings (number in '000s)

  Vacant dwellings as a percentage of stock

  Local authority1

  101·2

  2·4

  Housing Association

  12·7

  2·5

  Other public sector2

  16·1

  6·5

  Private3

  579·5

  4·1

  1 Includes dwellings which are closed or have been acquired for demolition but excludes dwellings on overspill estates.

  2 Includes housing owned by new towns, county councils, Government Departments, nationalised industries, other public bodies and council dwellings on overspill estates. Many of these are vacant because of operational requirements, notably those owned by the Ministry of Defence and others have been acquired for demolition for example, by the Department of Transport. The Government are encouraging the sale of housing which is surplus to requirements and many of those that are vacant are in the process of disposal.

  3 Includes owner-occupied as well as private rented dwellings.

  Local Authority Employees (Pensions)
  Mr. Favell
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will introduce regulations to allow part-time local government employees to buy additional service for pension purposes.

  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  [holding answer 14 April 1989]: These proposed regulations were held up for a long time by a dispute between the local government employers and unions. Since this was settled we have needed to consult other Departments on the proposal that the regulations should apply not only to present employees but to those who have retired since April 1986. This has just been agreed. We will now give the preparation of the regulations as much priority as possible. In view of this agreement those employees who retire before the regulations are made will not be placed at a disadvantage.

  River Mersey (Pollution)
  Mr. Alton
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what chemicals the Norsochem works is allowed to discharge into the Mersey; and in what quantities.

  Mr. Moynihan
  [holding answer 20 April 1989] : I understand that the company currently has deemed consent to discharge a range of organic chemicals into the Mersey. Details of the type and quantity of chemicals which the company is allowed to discharge are on the public register maintained by the North West water authority and available for inspection.

  I understand that the North West water authority is shortly to replace the deemed consent with a positively determined consent. Details of this consent including the conditions to which it is subject, will also be entered on the public register.

  Mr. Alton
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions relating to pollution of the Mersey his Department has brought against companies for the time for which figures are available; and what were the verdicts and fines in each case.

  Mr. Moynihan
  [holding answer 20 April 1989]: Responsibility for enforcement of water pollution controls over industry rests with the regional water authorities and comprehensive information about prosecutions is not held centrally.

  However, I understand that in 1987, the North West water authority brought a total of 23 prosecutions for
  534
  offences committed under part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, in the Mersey catchment as a whole. All resulted in convictions, with an average fine imposed of £680. Of the prosecutions brought in 1988, 17 have so far been tried, all resulting in convictions with average fines of £670.

  Local Authority Services
  Dr. Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report (a) those services which local authorities must presently provide free of charge; (b) those services for which local authorities are permitted to charge in accordance with regulations or primary legislation, where the charges are set in those regulations of primary legislation, where the charges are set in those regulations or primary legislation or otherwise by the Government and (3) those services for which local authorities are permitted to charge in accordance with regulations or primary legislation, where the charges are for local discretion.

  Mr. Ridley
  [holding answer 19 April 1989]:This information is not available in precisely the form requested by the hon. Member. I am placing in the Library such information as is available about local authorities' charging powers.

  Peak Park (Planning Applications)
  Mr. McLoughlin
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many planning applications for house building have been made to the Peak park planning board; how many have been successful; and how many have been for starter homes and how many for family residences.

  Mr. Trippier
  Since April 1984, the Peak park joint planning board has dealt with 1,110 planning applications for house building, of which 11 were for starter homes. A total of 626 applications (56·4 per cent.) were approved including six for starter homes. No records are kept of the number of family residences involved in the applications.

  Council Houses
  Mr. Allen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement further to his reply of 7 February,Official Report, column 600, about council houses.

  Mr. Trippier
  No.

  FIREARMS: USE BY POLICE
  FIREARMS: USE BY POLICE
  TIBET: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
  TIBET: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS