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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 15 December 1988
NATIONAL FINANCE
Expenditure (EC)
Mr. Redwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total budget expenditure for the EEC, European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom for 1988 ; and what was the total budget in its first full year of operation.
Mr. Brooke : In the ECSC's first year of activity (1952) its budget was 4.6 mecu. In 1968 that part of its budget covering non-operating (that is, largely administrative) expenditure was merged with the EC/Euratom budget, leaving the balance of its budget, covering operating expenditure (mainly aid and restructuring), to stand as a separate budget. In 1968 the ECSC budget, as redefined, amounted to 21.2 mecu ; in 1988 it amounted to 562 mecu (£390.4 million ). The budget for the EEC and Euratom in their first year of activity (1958) amounted to 11 mecu. In 1968 the EC and Euratom budget was merged with the non-operating part of the ECSC budget to form the so-called general budget. In that year the general budget amounted to 1,561.3 mecu ; in 1988 it amounted to 43,820.4 mecu (£30,431.1 million ).
Converted at the Commission's current budget exchange rate of £1 = 1.439421 ecu.
Developing Countries
Sir John Stanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to which recent International Monetary Fund study he was referring in his speech of 6 December in the Grand Committee Room which showed that, among developing countries, liberalising changes in trade outnumbered restrictive changes by nearly two to one in 1987.
Mr. Lawson [holding answer 14 December 1988] : I was referring to table 1 of the 1988 IMF annual report on exchange arrangements and exchange restrictions, a copy of which is in the Library.
Sir John Stanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to which World Bank figures he was referring in his speech of 6 December in the Grand Committee Room which suggest that protection by industrialised countries costs the developing countries more than twice the amount of official aid that they receive.
Mr. Lawson [holding answer 14 December 1988] : The reference was to estimates contained in a paper by World Bank staff "Industrial policies of Industrial Countries : Impact on Developing Countries" which was discussed at the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in September. The World Bank intend to publish the paper in due course.
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Building Societies
Mr. Watts : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will lay a statutory instrument before the House under section 119 of the Building Societies Act 1986 defining deferred shares and the terms on which they are issued.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 12 December 1988] : I expect to lay an order under Section 119(1) of the Building Societies Act 1986, together with a consequential order under section 45(5), early in the new year.
Tax Allowances
Sir Ian Gilmour : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what percentage the rate of single person's and married man's income tax allowances has increased between April 1979 and April 1988.
Mr. Lawson [holding answer 9 December 1988] : Between 1979-80 and 1988-89, the single person's income tax allowance has increased by 22 per cent. in real terms and the married man's allowance has increased by 23 per cent. in real terms.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
PLO (Meeting)
Mr. Adley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent meeting between the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Waldegrave) and the representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Mr. Eggar : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Waldegrave) gave to the hon. Member for Wanstead and Woodford (Mr. Arbuthnot) on 12 December at column 398.
Berlin Security Service
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent the British authorities in Berlin are responsible for the actions of the Berlin security service, Berliner Verfassungsschutz.
Mrs. Chalker : Under the declaration of Berlin of 5 May 1955, the Allied Kommandatura has
"the right to take such measures as may be required to maintain the status and security of Berlin".
However, the Berlin authorities have responsibility for the day-to-day running of the city, including the operation of the security services.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
In-plant Training
Mr. Bright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the future of the in-plant training scheme.
Mr. Newton : The in-plant training scheme, which operates under section 7 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 but is co-funded by the European Social Fund
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and administered under ESF criteria, is to be closed to new applications with immediate effect. The scheme was designed to help companies meet training costs associated with new investment projects in the assisted areas which met the requirements for regional selective assistance. Because of substantial changes which the ESF has made to its criteria, the scheme is in practice no longer achieving this objective.Under the revised rules, trainees must be aged under 25 at the start of the training programme, be trained in the use of new technology and receive a minimum of 200 hours actual training. These requirements have proved difficult for applicants to satisfy and the three operating Departments have made no offers of assistance since the revised criteria were introduced in January 1986. As a result, the Government have decided that there is nothing to be gained by continuing with the scheme.
Closure of the scheme will have no effect on the aount of assistance available to projects which meet the criteria for RSA.
Japan and Taiwan
Mr. Steen : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) if he will list in the Official Report the financial value of United Kingdom exports to Japan and Japanese imports to the United Kingdom in each of the last three years ;
(2) if he will list in the Official Report the financial value of United Kingdom exports to Taiwan and Taiwanese imports to the United Kingdom in each of the last three years.
Mr. Alan Clark : The information is given in the following table :
United Kingdom exports and
imports for Japan and Taiwan
1985-87
Value in £ millions
|Exports|Imports
--------------------------------
Japan
1985 |1,012.3|4,115.5
1986 |1,193.7|4,936.9
1987 |1,495.1|5,463.1
Taiwan
1985 |164.8 |582.6
1986 |192.5 |705.6
1987 |292.3 |1,006.9
Source: Overseas Trade
Statistics
Note:
(1) Figures for 1987 are
provisional.
(2) Exports valued fob, imports
cif.
Estate Agents
Dr. Glyn : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps he is taking to ensure that estate agents disclose major defects in properties before placing them on the market.
Mr. Forth : I have no immediate plans to do so. It is for the purchaser of a property to ensure that he or she has adequate information on the condition of the property before entering into a commitment to purchase.
RENAVAL Programme
Ms. Quin : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on his Department's
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plans for the implementation of the European Economic Community's RENAVAL programme in the United Kingdom.Mr. Atkins : The RENAVAL programme, financed by the European regional development fund, is for areas adversely affected by the restructuring of the shipbuilding and ship repair industries. I am consulting my right hon. Friends about applications which may be submitted to the European Commission for RENAVAL programmes for British areas.
Most shipbuilding areas already receive a full range of benefits from the fund.
Food Poisoning
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what responsibility his Department has for ensuring that foodstuffs are safe for human consumption and carry no risk of food poisoning ; in what way this responsibility is carried out ; how many and what type of staff are required ; what is the annual cost to his Department ; and what has been the change in the number of staff and the annual cost to his Department in each of the last five years.
Mr. Forth : The Department of Trade and Industry has no direct responsibility for food safety for human consumption, although the laboratory of the Government chemist plays an important role in conducting analysis and advising the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Ministry of Defence on contamination by micro-organisms, heavy metals, pesticides and veterinary residues ; the cost of that work rests with those Departments.
The DTI and MAFF have launched a collaborative link research programme (£7 million from Government ; £7 million from industry) to improve control of food processing, which will lead to improvements in food quality and safety.
Multi-Fibre Arrangement
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library the details of the bilateral textile agreement between the Economic Community and the Republic of China as it relates to knitted outerwear under the framework of the multi-fibre arrangement.
Mr. Alan Clark [holding answer 14 December 1988] : Details of the new textiles agreement between the European Community and the People's Republic of China will be placed in the Library when they are made public.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he expects to be able to publish the details of the bilateral agreement on textiles between the European Community and the Republic of China under the framework of the multi-fibre arrangement.
Mr. Alan Clark [holding answer 14 December 1988] : The details of the new bilateral textiles agreement between the European Community and the People's Republic of China are still being finalised. They will be made public as soon as possible.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish in the Official Report the new
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inner limits of knitted outwear agreed between the European Community and the Republic of China to the multi-fibre arrangement bilateral agreement expressed as a percentage of the inner limits contained in the previous agreement.Mr. Alan Clark [holding answer 14 December 1988] : I am writing to the hon. Member.
Small Businesses
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many small businesses have started up and how many have closed over the past five years in Derbyshire ; and how many jobs have been gained and lost in connection with these.
Mr. John Cope : I have been asked to reply.
Over the five years to the end of 1986, the latest year for which the data is available, there have been an estimated 12,237 registrations for VAT in Derbyshire, and an estimated 10,682 deregistrations. The overwhelming majority of these related to small firms. It is not possible to say how many jobs have been gained and lost as a result.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
City Technology College, Nottingham
Mr. Graham Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on his visit to the Nottingham city technology college.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend visited the Djanogly city technology college in Nottingham on Monday 5 December to lay the foundation stone of the building. The development of the college is proceeding well. The principal, deputy principal and four faculty heads have been appointed, the building programme is on schedule and offer letters have been sent to the pupils for the first year's intake next September.
CERN
Mr. Madel : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about future United Kingdom membership of CERN.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : I have now considered the action taken by the CERN council in implementing the reforms recommended by the CERN review committee under the chairmanship of Professor Abragam and concluded that sufficient progress has been made for the United Kingdom to indicate that it will remain a member of the organisation.
There are, however, a number of outstanding matters stemming from the review committee report which the United Kingdom will be expecting to see pursued over the next year. Accordingly, at the CERN council meeting today, the United Kingdom delegate made a statement emphasising the United Kingdom's wish to see CERN's scientific excellence continued and indicating the areas where progress on reducing the cost burden on member states has still to be made. I have arranged for copies of the statement to be placed in the Library.
The Government's decision will be reflected in the forthcoming allocation of the science budget, which I shall make when I have considered the advice of the ABRC.
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F E Colleges (Opting-out)
Mr. Franks : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to allow colleges of further education to opt out of local education authority control ; and if he is considering legislation to extend the relevant provisions of the Education Act 1988 to include colleges of further education.
Mr. Jackson : Sections 139 to 155 of the Education Reform Act 1988 provide for the reform of governing bodies of LEA-maintained further education colleges and for substantial delegation to these bodies of responsibility for finance, staff and the pattern of courses. LEAs are free to go beyond this and grant their colleges corporate status, and my right hon. Friend would welcome such a development. To go further and enable colleges of further education to become fully independent of LEA control would require new legislation. My right hon. Friend has no plans for this.
Research and Development
Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table updating for the years 1987-88 to 1990- 91 that section of table 1.2 in the "Cabinet Office Annual Review of Government Research and Development Expenditure" that relates to the University Grants Committee and the research councils in the light of announcements made subsequent to publication of the 1988 review.
Mr. Jackson : My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced on 1 November increases of £306 million for the science budget over the next three years and of the over £100 million for teaching and research at the universities for the same period. Most, but not necessarily all, of the additional money for research will be for research as defined in the annual review. Neither research councils nor the UGC will be in a position to provide the necessary figures for updating table 1.2 until well into the new year.
Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much of the additional money awarded to the research councils for the years 1989-90 and 1990-91 over and above that given in the table 1.2 of the "Cabinet Office Annual Review of Government Research and Development" has been earmarked for (a) AIDS research and (b) the Antarctic Survey.
Mr. Jackson : I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's replies to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Mr. Janman) on 10 November at columns 253 and 254, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, West (Mr. McLoughlin) on 8 November at columns 134 and 135.
My right hon. Friend will be considering shortly the case for an increase in the Medical Research Council's strategic programme for AIDS research on the basis of advice from the Advisory Board for the Research Councils.
Highbury Quadrant School
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to seek to improve the performance of redeployed teachers from Highbury Quadrant ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mrs. Rumbold : It is not the responsibility of my right hon. Friend to take direct action to improve the performance of individual teachers. That is the responsibility of the employer, in this case the Inner London Education Authority.
Business and Technician Education Council
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many learning establishments in England teach Business and Technician Education Council courses ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : Information from the Business and Technician Education Council is that at 13 December 1988, 601 public and private sector institutions are running courses leading to BTEC qualifications. They are in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A separate figure for England is not readily available. However, the numbers in Wales and Northern Ireland will be relatively small.
Universities (Funding)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is his policy on making new financial arrangements between his Department and the Universities Funding Council ; and what requirements he intends to include in new financial arrangements concerning the monitoring by the Universities Funding Council of individual universities and the transmission of any such monitoring information to his Department ;
(2) what representations he has received concerning draft terms of the new financial arrangements between (a) his Department and the Universities Funding Council and (b) the Universities Funding Council and individual universities ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) what is his policy on making arrangements for annual block grants to be made by his Department to the new Universities Funding Council ; and what account will be taken of information made available by the Universities Funding Council concerning the monitoring by the Universities Funding Council of individual universities.
Mr. Jackson : The Department is preparing a memorandum which will govern its financial relations with the Universities Funding Council under the Education Reform Act 1988. Discussions are being held with the council and with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals on its proposed provisions. Some of those provisions will need to be reflected in the memoranda which the council will draw up with individual institutions. As in the Act, there is a balance to be struck in these matters between institutional autonomy and proper accountability to Parliament for substantial public funds. The council's general responsibilities mean that it needs to have a complete picture of the institutions it funds. While it consequently needs power to require information about the total funding of universities, the Act is clear that such information should not be used to affect funding decisions adversely. In the same way, the Government have made it clear that decisions on funding levels, reached in the light of the council's advice, will not penalise institutions' success in raising private income.
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City Technology Colleges
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the operation of the consultation process leading to the formation of city technology colleges.
Mrs. Rumbold : We shall consider carefully any plans put to us by sponsors which meet the broad objectives of the CTC programme. While there is no general statutory requirement, sponsors will be expected and encouraged to consult the local community, local employers and the local education authority about these plans.
Where local education authorities are considering the possibility of closing an existing maintained school to allow for the establishment of a CTC they will need to publish proposals under section 12 of the Education Act, 1980. We have made clear the importance we attach to appropriate consultations taking place on such proposals with all interested parties. Detailed guidance is given in the Department's Circular 3/87. We set out our policy on deciding section 12 proposals which had as an objective the establishment of a CTC in my right hon. Friend's statement of 28 July at column 402.
Nursery Education
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the percentage difference between the local education authority providing nursery education for the highest proportion of children and that providing the lowest.
Mrs. Rumbold : In January 1988 the percentage point difference between the local education authority where the least proportion of children under five were attending maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in primary schools and the local education authority where the highest proportion were attending such schools and classes was 68.
Marine Research
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on his Department's plans for the future funding of marine research.
Mr. Jackson : On the funding of marine research carried out by the Natural Environment Research Council, my right hon. Friend is considering the advice of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils and hopes to announce his allocations for 1989-90 shortly. As to the wider context, the co-ordinating committee on marine science and technology will report in due course on a national strategic framework for Government-funded marine science.
Agricultural and Food Research
Mr. Brandon-Bravo : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the Government's response to the interim report on agricultural and food research from the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : I have written to the Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, Sub-Committee I ; the following is the text of my letter :
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Lord Butterworth CBEChairman
Sub-Committee I
House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology The House of Lords
Dear Lord Butterworth,
House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Sub-Committee I (Agricultural and Food Research) 1. I am writing to you as Chairman of Sub- Committee I to give the Government's observations on the Sub-Committee's Interim Report which was published on 27 October last.
2. The Government appreciates the thorough and far-reaching enquiry which the Sub-Committee is making into this important subject ; and the reasons that led you to make an interim report. The Government welcomes this report as timely further evidence of the remarkable and exciting developments in the biological sciences ; of the growing realisation of their pervasive and complex nature ; of their enormous potential for good ; and of the way these changes rightly bring under review established perspectives and practices. 3. The Government has noted carefully the Sub-Committee's opinion ; and in particular their recommendations concerning the remit of SERC, the merger of AFRC and NERC, and the related recommendation on the future development of the Biotechnology Advisory Group. It will be giving these and related matters careful consideration over the coming months. As the Sub-Committee knows, the Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC) is currently reviewing the Research Council's responsibilities for biological sciences. The Government believes that the Sub-Commitee's interim report should be helpful to the Board conducting this exercise. The Government would wish to have the results of that review and the Board's advice on it before reaching final conclusions on whether changes are needed in the structure and responsibilities of the Research Councils and, if so, what changes would be appropriate. I hope to have that advice during the early months of next year.
4. In these circumstances, the Government does not intend to respond further at this time to the Sub-Committee's interim report. We look forward with interest to your final report, to which we will respond in the normal way.
5. In accordance with past practice I shall be making this letter available to both Houses, and publishing it.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Baker.
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Education Support Grants
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on expenditure to be supported by education support grants in 1989-90.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The Department has written to all local education authorities in England to inform them of the level of expenditure which I have approved for the purpose of education support grants in 1989- 90.
Expenditure under the programme in 1989-90 will total £125.5m. Some £49.5m of this will be for the continuing support of projects begun in earlier years, and £76m is for new and extended activities. The table sets out the programme and shows the number of LEAs receiving allocations for support of new expenditure.
I am pleased that all local education authorities will be participating in the 1989-90 ESG programme, which is the largest to date. I made clear during the passage of the Education Reform Act that I would use my grant programmes to help with the implementation of the reforms. The approvals I have just announced represent substantial assistance for LEAs with the introduction of local management of schools and colleges and the national curriculum. I am also particularly glad that we have been able to provide support for centres to help adults with literacy and numeracy problems, and that ESGs will be used to allow almost 200 young people to train as youth workers in their own communities.
I have approved £35m of new expenditure in the programme for activities relating to local management, including £25m specifically for its introduction into schools and £5m for governor training. £29m of new expenditure will go towards helping authorities with the various aspects of the introduction of the national curriculum, including £5m for English, £9.5m for the core subjects and technology, and a further £9.5m for the purchase of equipment for information technology in schools. Taking new and committed expenditure together there will be support for over £90m of spending in 1989-90 on activities relevant to the ERA reforms.
The ESG Programme in England in 1989-90
Activities with New Starts in 1989-90
|New Expenditure in |Number of LEAs with |Total of new starts
|1989-90 (cash) |new starts |committed<2>
|£ million |£ million
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Activities
Local Management
1. Local Management of Schools<1> |25.0 |97 |25.0
2. Planning and Delegation Schemes for FE<1> |1.2 |96 |1.2
3. Training for School Governors<1> |4.9 |97 |4.9
4. Training for FE College Governors<1> |0.2 |11 |0.2
National Curriculum Related
5. LEA Inspection<1> |1.9 |96 |1.9
6. National Curriculum<1> |9.5 |97 |9.5
7. English in the Curriculum<1> |5.1 |97 |5.1
Social Responsibility and Inner Cities
8. Youth Leaders for the Inner Cities |2.4 |21 |2.4
9. Establishment of Adult Literacy Centres |3.0 |54 |3.0
10. Improvement and expansion of Educational Guidance for Adults |1.5 |36 |1.5
Extensions
Financial Delegation-Related
11. Management Information Systems in FE<1> |3.5 |28 |6.9
National Curriculum-Related
12. IT in Schools-expansion of hardware scheme<1> |9.5 |97 |20.7
|13. Science and Technology in Primary Schools<1>|2.8 |41
Social Responsibility and Inner Cities
14. Open Learning |1.4 |48 |2.7
15. Action to Combat Misuse of Drugs |2.1 |94 |2.3
Other
16. Computer Aided Engineering |2.0 |21 |2.0
Activities Continuing without New Starts
17. Maths in Schools<1> |- |- |8.4
18. Improving the Quality of Education in Rural Primary Schools |- |- |1.5
19. Improving the Quality of Education in Urban Primary Schools |- |- |0.4
20. Education for a Multi-Ethnic Society |- |- |2.7
21. PICKUP |- |- |0.2
22. IT in Non-Advanced FE |- |- |4.9
23. Education for the Unemployed |- |- |0.3
24. Support for Parents of Children Under 5 with Severe Learning Difficulties |- |- |1.9
25. Pilot projects to develop the use of the spoken word |- |- |0.3
26. Promotion of social responsibility in young people |- |- |1.4
27. Pilot project to develop Records of Achievement |- |- |1.3
28. Diversification of First Foreign Language in Schools |- |- |0.5
29. Learning by Achievement for 14-21 year olds |- |- |2.2
30. School teacher and lecturer appraisal |- |- |0.5
|------- |------- |-------
Totals |76.0 |97 |125.5
<1>Activities of relevance to the implementation of the ERA reforms.
<2>Grant will be paid at 50 per cent. on the second tranche of expenditure and at 70 per cent. on commitments arising from 1988-89.
Freedom of Speech
Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how the Government propose to review section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 in the light of its first year of operation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : I have written to the chairmen of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and of the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics and to the hon. secretary of the Standing Conference of Principals to suggest that as a first step their organisations should examine the working of the section by reference to their members' codes of practice and the way in which they have been applied and should recommend to the Government any desirable changes. The text of my letter to the chairman of the CVCP is as follows. Professor Sir Mark Richmond FRS
Chairman
Committee of Vice-Chancellors
and Principals
29 Tavistock Square
LONDON WC1H 9EZ
Dear Mark 14 December 1988
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
It is just over a year since Section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 came into force. During that period there seems to have been a welcome decrease in the disruption which gave rise to the original legislation. But there have still been some bad incidents, which raise questions about the effectiveness of present arrangements. I am sure therefore that you will agree that we ought now to review the working of Section 43.
2. The Government has indicated its intention to undertake such a review. However, we lack systematic
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