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Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many motor accidents there were in 1988 on the Ballyrainey road, Nowtownards ; why the surface of the road is not cleaned ; what is its average width ; how many 40-foot lorries travel along it as shown by recent traffic surveys ; and what proposals he has to improve this roadway.
Mr. Needham : Two "damage only" and one personal injury accident were recorded on the Ballyrainey road during 1988. The road surface is being cleaned as roadside drainage work is completed. The average width of the carriageway is 4.7m and recent traffic surveys have shown that between 19 and 70 40-foot lorries travel along this road on a working day.
The Department of the Environment's roads service is currently carrying out drainage and verge reconstruction work.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he has taken to ensure that there is no conflict of interest within the Department of the Environment, Northern Ireland regarding an application No. 0175 for planning permission in respect of the proposed residential training school-depot at Jordanstown from the Northern Ireland Fire Authority, for which the transportation section of the Department of the Environment has responsibility ; and if he will make available to objectors a copy of the report on the noise levels carried out by Dr. Crawford for the Northern Ireland Fire Authority when this is received by the Department of Environment planning service.
Mr. Needham [holding answer 12 January 1989] : None. There is no conflict of interest within the Department of Environment (Northern Ireland) in respect of a planning application from the Northern Ireland Fire Authority (NIFA) for a residential training school in Jordanstown. This application is being handled in accordance with normal planning procedures.
The release of the report on noise levels to objectors is a matter for NIFA.
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Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what capital expenditure has been authorised to be undertaken by each invididual housing association which is currently receiving Government grant aid in Northern Ireland in the eight months ended 30 November 1988 : and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Needham [holding answer 13 January 1989] : The amount of new capital expenditure authorised for each individual housing association in the eight-month period ended 30 November 1988 was :
|£ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abbeyfield (Northern Ireland) Development Society Ltd. |224,565 Ballynafeigh Housing Association Ltd. |68,203 Baptist Union of Ireland Housing Association Ltd. |148 Belfast Community Housing Association Ltd. |15,970 Belfast Improved Houses Ltd |774,120 Ben Madigan Housing Association Ltd. |1,505 Botanic Housng Association Ltd. |22,500 Broadway Housing Association Ltd. |36,000 James Butcher Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |79,550 Church of Ireland Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |42,900 Clonard Housing Association Ltd. |20,540 Connswater Housing Association Ltd. |18,526 Covenanter Residential Association Ltd. |6,101 Craigavon and District Housing Association Ltd. |559,704 Craigavon Housing Association Ltd. |103,895 Derry Housing Association Ltd. |210,797 Dungannon and District Housing Association Ltd. |960,252 Fold Housing Association |870,624 Gosford Housing Association (Armagh) Ltd. |20,943 Grove Housing Association Ltd. |14,080 Habinteg Housing Association (Ulster) Ltd. |240,000 Hearth |10,122 Latharna Housing Association Ltd. |51,100 Malone Housing Association Ltd. |6,633 Masonic Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |15,121 Newington Housng Association (1975) Ltd. |551,433 Nih Housing Association Ltd. |63,593 Open Door Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |147,067 Presbyterian Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |776,269 Royal British Legion Housing Association (Northern Ireland) Ltd. |141,873 St. Matthews Housing Association Ltd. |10,578 Students Housing Association Co-op Ltd. |3,329,650 Tennent Street District Housing Association Ltd. |39,030 Triangle Women's Housing Association Ltd. |40,940 Ulidia Housing Association Ltd. |59,611 Willowfield Parish Church Housing Association Ltd. |20,341 Woodvale and Shankill Housing Association Ltd. |232,500
Nine registered housing associations did not receive any authorisation for new capital expenditure during this period. Capital expenditure of £31.47 million will be incurred by housing associations during 1988- 89. This expenditure is related to projects approved over the last few years, but now under construction, in addition to projects approved during 1988-89.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will implement the recommendations contained in paragraphs 15.5 to 15.110 and 15.112 to
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15.123 of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights' report on fair employment, Cm. 237 ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Viggers [holding answer 16 January 1989] : The Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Bill contains provisions which reflect the main recommendations of the SACHR report on fair employment in Northern Ireland. The Bill's provisions will implement, in whole or in part, well over half the 123 recommendations. In addition, the Government have broadly accepted a number of recommendations whose implementation does not require legislation.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, in considering his evidence on the GEC--Siemens proposed bid for the Plessey company, he will seek assurances from the predator companies that their proposed collaboration with Plessey will not jeopardise his Department's range of choice in defence procurement.
Mr. Sainsbury : As my hon. Friend will appreciate, the proposed bid has been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. All interested parties, including the MOD, have been asked for their view and we shall, of course, take into account all relevant factors before making our submission to the MMC.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy with regard to maximising competition in the letting of defence procurement contacts.
Mr. Sainsbury : As part of our commercial approach to defence procurement, we use competitive tendering, wherever practicable, in the letting of contracts. The proportion by value of contracts let on a competitive basis in 1986-87 was 53 per cent., reflecting a sustained improvement on the 38 per cent. of contracts let in this way in 1983-84. Where work has to be placed without the benefit of competition, we negotiate taut contract terms and conditions. On all contracts, whether competitive or not, we also encourage our prime contractors to make maximum use of competition in placing work. On all contracts over £1 million in value we review with the prime contractor his plans for sub-contract competition.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what area, in hectares, will be covered by the ELF transmitter station at Glengarry Forest.
Mr. Sainsbury : This will not be known until the summer of 1989 when the results of surveys to determine the position of the ELF demonstrator aerial will have been evaluated.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which Scottish local authorities were in receipt of levy-free
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beef and veal under the provisions of European Community Council regulation 3929/86 ; in what quantities ; and under what conditions.Local authority |Tonnes ------------------------------------------------------------- Central Regional Council |2.935 Lothian Regional Council |8.009 Strathclyde Regional Council |25.509 Orkney Islands Council |0.204
Local authorities are required to ensure that the produce is used in institutional catering in their areas and that the allocations represent an economic benefit to them. Successful applicants must allow their uptake of quota to be monitored by the member state.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which firms in Scotland are licensed to receive and distribute levy-free beef and veal ; and what records are kept as to the ultimate destinations of the carcases or finished products.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth Information about the firms licensed to receive and distribute levy free beef and veal is a matter of commercial confidentiality. No records are kept centrally as to ultimate destinations of the carcases or finished products.Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many football-related arrests took place outside grounds during Scottish league and cup matches in the 1987-88 season.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give for each health board the movement of nurses from the old grades to the new grades.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 10 January 1989] : Details of the numbers of nurses in each health board assimilated to each of the new grades are given in the tables, in terms of whole-time equivalent.
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Post Basic Students
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Post Basic Students
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make it his policy to direct officials at Harwell to instruct their wave energy consultants to reveal cumulative failure rate figures for wave energy devices to the designers of those devices, and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Spicer : Failure rate data for all wave energy devices assessed were made available to the device teams. A report from 1983 by Yard summarising this data entitled "Review of Yard's Studies of the Reliability and Maintainability of Wave Energy Devices" is available and copies have been placed in both Houses of Parliament.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what is his Department's estimate of the failure rate, in terms of kilometre years per fault, of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board electrical cable crossing the Pentland Firth from Caithness to Orkney ;
(2) what are his Department's estimates for the failure rate, in terms of kilometre years per fault, of the rigid sea bed connections assessed by wave energy consultants in their series of reports to his Department ;
(3) if his Department has ever consulted the North of Scotland Hydro- Electric Board about the failure rates of
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sea bed cables ; and what steps he has taken to assess whether the rates quoted by his Department's consultants, Rendel, Palmer and Tritton, are realistic.Mr. Michael Spicer : I am informed that various data were collected by the wave energy consultants on reliability of cables and related components from the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board and other sources in their assessment of large-scale wave energy. Typical failure rates for conventional submarine power cables were in the range 0.3-1.0 per 100 km per year. These data were not directly used in the estimation of the reliability of large scale wave energy power collection and transmission systems because of the complex nature of the systems assessed. It was accepted however that loss in availability due to transmission systems unreliability was unlikely to be large and 6 per cent. for fixed devices and 9 per cent. for floating devices were finally assumed based on previous work and engineering judgments of the independent consultants.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the outcome of discussions between his officials and the costing department of the civil engineering company Whessoe concerning the application of parametric costing techniques to the prediction of the capital cost of offshore
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wave power devices ; and what conclusions have been reached as to why his Department's estimate was greater than that calculated by Whessoe.Mr. Michael Spicer : The parametric costing technique is a useful tool in assisting the assessment of the costs of the various renewable energy technologies including wave energy. The total cost estimated by parametric techniques for a component when fully integrated into a system will inevitably be higher than the cost of that single component estimated by a company such as Whessoe. Systems costs include such factors as system design, installation, commissioning, quality assurance and project management and these extra costs have to be added to the "off the shelf" component cost in order to derive the full system cost used in the parametric method of costing.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if the decision to close the offshore wave energy programme was made unanimously by the members of the Advisory Council on Research and Development.
Mr. Michael Spicer : The collectively agreed view of the Advisory Council on Research and Development on the wave energy programme and other renewable energy sources was made availalbe to the Libraries of both Houses on 27 April 1982.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will initiate a reassessment of the technical quality of the advice which led to the closure of the first offshore wave programme.
Mr. Michael Spicer : A major input to the discussion in 1982 by the Advisory Council on Research and Development of the renewable energy programme was a strategic review by the chief scientist's group at ETSU. This review was subsequently published as ETSU R13. Information and advice on wave energy for the review was supplied by the device teams. Subsequent work and a report by consultants confirmed that large offshore wave energy was unlikely to be cost effective. I am satisfied that advice on the wave energy programme was the best available at that time and no useful purpose would be served by reviewing the decision procedure then used.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will establish an inquiry to determine whether the programe for wave energy of the energy technology support unit, made all the relevant papers on the methods of reliability calculation written by Professor Stephen Salter available to his Department's wave energy steering committee.
Mr. Michael Spicer : All relevant papers on reliability calculations by Professor Salter were circulated to members of the wave energy steering committee. Indeed in 1984, Professor Salter gave a presentation to that committee putting the Edinburgh university device team's case for the duck device, and a summary of his presentation including such matters as availability and reliability was circulated to the committee members after the meeting.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will take steps to ensure that the memorandum by Dr. Roy Taylor of the energy technology support unit dated 25 April 1985, relating to the costs of an offshore wave device is communicated to the appropriate Advisory Council on Research and Development committee.
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Mr. Michael Spicer : The memorandum for Dr Roy Taylor dated 25 April 1985 was a partial calculation in support of other work which was made available to the wave energy steering group and summarised in "Wave Energy- -The Department of Energy's R&D Programme 1974-1983", published as ETSU R.26 in 1985.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list the assignments given to Mr. Peter Davies subsequent to his work as manager of the wave energy programme.
Mr. Michael Spicer : Mr. Peter Davies was the programme manager of the electricity producing renewable technologies at the Department's energy technology support unit. This included the technologies of wind, hydro, and wave energy. Mr. Davies was appointed to ETSU after the decision to close the large-scale wave energy programme was made and was charged with the difficult job of running down the programme and completing the various contracts satisfactorily.
In 1985, Mr. Davies was transferred to the northern division of the UKAEA at Risley. Since that time his work has included leading the authority inquiry team for the European demonstration reprocessing plant public inquiry. He is currently head of the technical policy division in the UKAEA Risley technical services at Risley.
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is the number of staff in his Department, by grade, in receipt of local pay additions outside London and the south-east economic planning region ; what are the different amounts paid to staff, by grade ; whether this figure varies due to location ; what qualifying period of scale-related criteria is used ; and whether this varies by location.
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether the cost of pensions paid to disabled ex-miners plays any part in British Coal's determinations over the price of coal.
Mr. Michael Spicer : The price of coal sold by British Coal is a commercial matter for the corporation.
Mr. Flannery : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many times petroleum engineering directorate inspectors have arrived unannounced at a heliport or airport in order to travel offshore for an unannounced inspection of oil installations.
Mr. Parkinson : A short period of notice is normally given by my inspectors when they intend to visit offshore installations.
Mr. Flannery : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many times petroleum engineering directorate inspectors have carried out unannounced inspections of offshore oil installations.
Mr. Parkinson : It is impossible for an inspector to arrive on an offshore installation unannounced. During
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1988, however, my inspectors carried out a total of four inspections of offshore installations when the installation to be visited was notified only when the inspector checked in for the helicopter flight.Mr. Flannery : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many of the existing inspectors in the petroleum engineering directorate have had previous experience working offshore in the employment of an oil company ; and what was the duration of the experience for each inspector.
Mr. Parkinson : Of my Department's 32 inspectors 10 were previously employed by oil companies, the majority of whom have had experience of working offshore. Records are not kept of the duration of offshore experience for each inspector.
Mr. Ronnie Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will send a message of thanks to the men and management of High Moor colliery for their response to the accident that occurred on Friday 13 January.
Mr. Parkinson : I sent a message on the day of the accident to the chairman of British Coal. I should like to take this further opportunity to express my admiration of the efforts of all those involved in the rescue operation.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many members of the Water Space Amenity Council, other than the chairman of the Welsh water authority, have been appointed by him under section 23(1) of the Water Act 1973 since the enactment of that Act.
Mr. Peter Walker : None. This section has been repealed by the Water Act 1983.
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the number of staff in his Department by grade, in receipt of local pay additions outside London and the south-east economic planning region ; what are the different amounts paid to staff, by grade ; whether this varies due to location ; what qualifying period of scale-related criteria is used ; and whether this varies by location.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action has been taken by his Department to increase the number of teachers of Welsh in order that the provisions of the national curriculum can be fulfilled ; and if he will make a statment.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : A quantification of the future requirement for Welsh language teachers is being
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prepared. Meetings have been held with local education authority representatives to explore the scale and nature of retraining that will be needed. Discussions are also taking place with the higher education sector about the provision of suitable in-service training courses for serving teachers to equip them to teach Welsh as a second language. The Welsh Office is also liaising closely with the Curriculum Council for Wales about the training needs created by the introduction of the national curriculum.Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he and the Welsh working party have received about the inclusion of Welsh as a foundation subject in the national curriculum by (a) 1990 and (b) 1992 ; and how many schools in each local education authority and parliamentary constituency have indicated that they will seek exemption.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : The Education Reform Act make Welsh a foundation subject in the national curriculum in Wales. Around 100 responses to the interim report of the Welsh working group have been received to date and more are still coming in. The majority have addressed the question of timing of implementation, but only a small minority have indicated that they will consider seeking exemptions.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what estimates he has as to the additional cost of providing sufficient teachers of Welsh to enable the requirements of the national curriculum to be implemented in every school in Wales by (a) 1990 and (b) 1992 ;
(2) what estimates he has as to the additional number of teachers of Welsh who would be needed if the national curriculum requirements for the teaching of Welsh were to be implemented in every school without exemptions by (a) 1990 and (b) 1992.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : We do not expect any significant increase in the overall number of teachers needed to deliver the national curriculum. In the case of Welsh the results of the primary and secondary staffing surveys suggest that there are sufficient teachers in Wales as a whole; but there are shortages in certain parts of Wales and a programme of in-service teacher training will be necessary. The Department is currently considering detailed teacher requirements and will be conducting a survey of secondary staff shortly, which will help establish more precise estimates of numbers and costs.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the sewage works in South Yorkshire that are to be allowed relaxation in breaching the legal limits on effluent set by him ; what is the time scale for this relaxation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : We have confirmed that applications for temporary variations in consent conditions will continue to be considered in cases where improvements to sub-standard sewage treatment works are in hand or are programmed for completion by March 1992. Applications will be considered over the coming months and it is not, therefore, possible to indicate at this stage in which cases they will be approved.
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Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by water authority the public funds being used to improve the sewerage system prior to the proposed privatisation of the water industry ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : Improvements to water authorities' sewerage and sewage treatment works are generally financed by charges and borrowing. In a small number of cases, this investment is assisted by EC funding. Grants are also available under the Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Acts 1944- 1971 towards the first-time provision of mains water and sewerage in rural areas and under the Industrial Development Act 1982 in assisted areas. It is not possible, however, to say to what extent authorities will be financed in these ways prior to privatisation.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received an invitation to visit Notts County football club at Meadow lane.
Mr. Moynihan : Notts County football club has invited me to attend a match at Meadow lane and I hope to take up the invitation this season or early in the 1989-90 season.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority houses sold to tenants under the right-to-buy legislation have subsequently been found to be defective.
Mr. Trippier : We know that some 31,000 ex-public sector properties, of types designated under the housing defects legislation, were sold before the defects became generally known ; and that those owners are therefore likely to be eligible for assistance, under that scheme. If the hon. Member has a specific point in mind, perhaps he could write to me.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if there have been any occasions since May 1979 when information on radioactivity released from nuclear facilities has been withheld for reasons of national interest.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Radioactive Substances Act 1960 provides in section 8(5)(b) for restriction of knowledge of an authorisation for disposal of radioactive waste should the Minister or Ministers concerned consider it necessary for reasons of national security. It is not Government policy to reveal the existence of any such restricted authorisation.
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to undertake (a) newspaper, (b) radio or (c) television advertising at the time when he plans that most community charges registration officers will be undertaking a canvass in order to construct a register ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ridley : I have no plans to undertake paid advertising on television or radio at the time of canvassing
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to compile the registers. My Department will, however, commission some newspaper advertising to draw attention to the information leaflet which we intend to send to all households in England in May, to coincide with canvassing.Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received any complaints about alleged, factual inaccuracies or misleading statements in "You and the Community Charge" ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ridley : We have received a very positive response to the booklet, reflected in the high level of demand. We have received one representation on a few very detailed points.
Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to designate Berwick Rangers football club under the football identity card scheme.
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the source of funding for the series of television commercials currently being made for the water industry.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 19 January 1989] : I understand that the advertisements are being paid for by the Water Authorities Association out of funds provided by the individual water authorities.
Ms. Gordon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of capital allowances claimed so far in the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone.
Mr. Norman Lamont : I have been asked to reply.
Information on expenditure qualifying for enterprise zone allowances in the Isle of Dogs up to 1985-86 is given in the HMSO publication "Enterprise Zone Information 1985-86 Great Britain". Some further information will be published shortly in "Enterprise Zone Information 1986-87 Great Britain", but commercial confidence will preclude giving the full details.
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