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Military and Police Training
Ms. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any guidelines are issued to immigration officers on whether to allow entry to people coming in to attend private military or police training courses.
Mr. Renton : The general position is that any overseas national who can satisfy the immigration officer that he is genuinely seeking entry for only a limited period, and that he can maintain and accommodate himself during his stay, may be admitted for a temporary period unless in a particular case there are specific grounds for his exclusion. Certain overseas military personnel may be exempt from immigration control under the provisions of the Immigration Act, 1971 relating to members of visiting forces.
Prisons (Facilities)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking in respect of recommendations by the chief inspector of prisons that all prison cells should have in-cell toilet facilities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons report on prison sanitation will be published on 21 February. We will respond to the recommendations in the report when it is published.
Police Powers
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Home Department if he will set out in the Official Report the current powers of a police officer to stop and require a member of the public to give his name and address.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Unless the police have reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is committing or has
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committed a criminal offence they can stop him and require him to give his name and address only if he is the driver of a motor vehicle (under the Road Traffic Act 1972) or arriving at a port (under the Prevention of Terrorism (Supplementary Temporary Provisions) Order 1984 and its Northern Ireland equivalent).Crime Statistics
Mr. Maples : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of homicides recorded by the police in the Metropolitan police district in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Hurd : The numbers of recorded homicides in the Metropolitan police district during the last 10 years are as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1978 |118
1979 |179
1980 |204
1981 |131
1982 |192
1983 |149
1984 |164
1985 |187
1986 |210
1987 |193
1988 |<1>148
<1> provisonal.
AIDS
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration is being given to testing for AIDS and the HIV virus persons convicted of soliciting for immoral purposes.
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Mr. John Patten [holding answer 6 February 1989] : At present we do not see a balance of argument in favour of compulsory HIV testing for prostitutes, or others convicted of soliciting offences. Available tests cannot be relied upon to detect infection acquired less than three months before the test. In any case a person who is free from infection when tested may become infected soon thereafter. Identifying a number of infected individuals would be likely to have no more than a marginal effect on the general risk of infection through intercourse with prostitutes.
WALES
Housing Plans
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will publish tables on the plans for Welsh housing in a similar form to that of table 9.1, table 9.3, table 9.4, table 9.5, table 9.8, table 9.9 and table 9.12 in Cm. 609.
Mr. Grist : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Jones) on 31 January by my right hon. Friend and to Cm. 617 which was laid before the House on 30 January. Information on local authority lettings is set out in the table and more detailed information will be provided in "Public Expenditure in Wales 1989- 90--1990-91--A Commentary by the Welsh Office", which is to be published shortly.
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Local authority lettings
|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Total lettings to local authority<1> tenants (thousands) |23 |25 |23 |21 |22
2. Total to new tenants (thousands) |14 |15 |14 |13 |13
3. Existing tenants (thousands) |9 |9 |8 |7 |7
4. Homeless households as percentage of new tenants |11.5 |11.7 |15.5 |15.3 |14.0
5. Vacant dwellings (thousands) |3 |3 |3 |3 |3
6. Total stock of dwelings (thousands) |260 |255 |251 |252 |247
7. Vacant as percentage of total |1.3 |1.1 |1.1 |1.3 |1.4
<1> Includes exchanges with other local authorities.
Baglan-Lonlas Road
Mr. John Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he now expects work to commence on the Baglan to Lonlas road ; if he will consider letting the contract in two stages so that a bridge has the first priority ; and when he expects the road to be completed.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Work on the Earlswood to Lonlas section is expected to start towards the end of 1989-90 and be completed in 1992. The crossing of the river Neath will be part of the second phase, which is expected to take three years and is planned for completion simultaneously with the final phase. This phasing minimises the disruption to traffic using the A48 and is the most cost effective.
Public Libraries
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are his plans for the public library service in Wales in the light of the response to the Green Paper on the library service ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Peter Walker : The powers we propose in the Local Government and Housing Bill will preserve the core of the public library service--the borrowing of books and other written materials and the use for reference and consultation purposes of all such materials, microfilm materials or any catalogue of the authority's own holdings. The free service will cover Welsh as well as English language materials in these categories. It is my intention that public library authorities in Wales should have discretionary charging powers comparable to those proposed for introduction in England which were announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Arts in his statement yesterday.
Many of the 70 individuals and organisations in Wales who commented on the Green Paper supported the proposals for joint ventures with the private sector. I would encourage both the private and public sectors to pursue their interest in such ventures. I shall continue to observe the progress of the incentive funding scheme introduced in England by my right hon. Friend the
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Minister for the Arts under which pump- priming funds are to be provided for such ventures there. I shall then consider whether it would be desirable to introduce such a scheme in Wales.Mr. Alan Bellwood
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he intends to bring a prosecution under the Mink (Keeping) Order 1987, or any other regulations against Alan Belwood, formerly of Isfryn, Aber, near Cwrfnewydd, who, until recently, operated an unlicensed mink farm ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker [holding answer 6 February 1989] : I have considered the circumstances of the case very carefully and have concluded that no useful purpose would be served in undertaking a prosecution.
ReChem Plant (Discharges)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will instigate an inquiry into the incidents of alleged pollution and alleged illegal discharges of polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metal pollutants at the ReChem plant, Pontypool
Mr. Grist [holding answer 8 February 1989] : No. I am content for the WWA to continue to give consent to, and monitor, discharges to public sewers in line with their responsibilities.
DEFENCE
Front-line Units (Women)
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he intends deploying women in front-line units of the three services.
Mr. Neubert : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Members for York (Mr. Gregory) and for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) on 7 February 1989.
Royal Naval Dockyards (Radioactivity)
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost of environmental clean-up of (a) Rosyth dockyard, (b) Devonport dockyard, (c) Faslane dockyard and (d) the former Chatham dockyard from radioactivity arising from the use of these ports by nuclear- powered Royal Navy ships.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mr. Sainsbury) to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) on 2 February 1989 at columns 405-6.
Radioactivity (Holy Loch)
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what specific arrangements exist with the United States Government to cover the cost of the environmental clean-up of the Holy Loch military naval complex in the event of an accident involving the release of significant quantities of radioactive material ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The memorandum of understanding which governs the use of the Holy Loch by
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United States missile-carrying nuclear- powered submarines is classified. Her Majesty's Government are satisfied with the provisions of this agreement, including those which relate to financial liability.Nuclear Materials
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has estimated the financial cost of environmental clean-up and environmental protection from the processing and reprocessing of nuclear materials prepared at Springfields, Capenhurst, Sellafield, Aldermaston, Burghfield and Caerwent for the United Kingdom nuclear warhead programme since its inception ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : British Nuclear Fuels plc has, I understand, made provison in its long-term costings for the costs of clean-up and other decommissioning expenses related to the processing and reprocessing of materials for the United Kingdom nuclear warhead programme at all sites at which relevant work takes place. Likewise, MOD has made provision for its own sites.
Nuclear Weapons (Environmental Monitoring)
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what monitoring of the aquatic, aerial and land environment surrounding bases ; (a) storing nuclear warheads, (b) manufacturing nuclear warheads and (c) handling nuclear-powered ships or submarines is conducted by his Department or on behalf of his Department ; at what annual cost ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : Environmental monitoring is performed at all MOD sites as appropriate. It has, however, been the policy of successive Governments for reasons of national security neither to confirm nor to deny the presence of nuclear weapons at any place. The costs of the monitoring operations could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Nuclear Weapons Test Sites
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the total cost to date for the environmental clean-up of radioactive contamination on (a) Christmas Island, (b) Monte Bello and (c) Maralinga nuclear weapons test sites ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : On completion of the United Kingdom atmospheric testing and related programmes and as part of the whole operation, the United Kingdom undertook extensive radiation surveys and rehabilitation work in areas which may have been affected. The costs of these operations to the United Kingdom cannot be separated from the overall expenditure on the whole test series which cannot be published for reasons of national security.
Nuclear Accidents (Sellafield)
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been to date the total cost of the environmental clean-up arising from nuclear accidents in 1973, 1976, 1979, 1983 and 1986 at Sellafield during the processing of nuclear materials for the nuclear warheads programme.
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Mr. Sainsbury : The cost of cleaning up after incidents that have occurred at Sellafield is the responsibility of BNFL. I can neither confirm nor deny the involvement of nuclear materials for the warhead programme in any particular incident.
Chemical Weapons
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newport West, Official Report, 25 January, column 653, on the holding of chemical warfare agents by his Department, he will list the location of each of the chemical agents held.
Mr. Sainsbury : It is not MOD policy to disclose such detail.
Atomic Weapons Establishment
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many information exchange agreements the Atomic Weapons Establishment has with United Kingdom universities or other institutions of higher education.
Mr. Sainsbury : The Atomic Weapons Establishment does not have any information exchange agreements with United Kingdom universities or other institutions of higher education.
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many research contracts or agreements the Atomic Weapons Establishment has placed with universities and other institutions of higher education in each financial year since 1979-80 ; and what was their total worth in each year since 1979-80.
Mr. Sainsbury : The numbers of research contracts and agreements let by the Atomic Weapons Establishment over the last five years, together with the amount expended in each year, is as follows :
T
Financial Year |Number of |£'000
|contracts/Agreements
|operative
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1984-85 |32 |223
1985-86 |30 |261
1986-87 |37 |344
1987-88 |41 |355
<1>1988-89 |39 |330
<1> Estimated
Comparable information for the years 1979-80 to 1983-84 is not available.
Nuclear Submarines
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has received any recent communication from the new Canadian Defence Minister on the prospective purchase of British Trafalgar class nuclear-powered submarines.
Nuclear Power Stations
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role his Department is playing in the feasibility study for the construction of new nuclear power stations which might replace existing ones at Calder Hall and Chapelcross ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Sainsbury : None. The feasibility study has been launched as a commercial initiative by British Nuclear Fuels plc.
Uranium
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has as to whether the health and safety standards for workers at uranium mines, uranium milling plants, and uranium tailing waste disposal facilities from which the United Kingdom has obtained its unsafeguarded uranium for defence uses remain comparable in safety terms with those standards applied to the armed services and British Nuclear Fuels plc work force in the United Kingdom who process military nuclear materials.
Mr. Sainsbury : None. The last delivery of uranium ore concentrate to the United Kingdom for defence purposes was in 1973.
Military Aircraft (Accidents)
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Woolwich on 25 January, Official Report, column 651, if he will give the numbers of military aircraft destroyed or severely damaged by accident during each of the years 1980 to 1985 in the form given in the annual statements on the Defence Estimates for 1987 and 1988.
Mr. Neubert : This information is available in the relevant statements on the Defence Estimates (SDE) as follows :
1980
SDE 1981, Vol. 1 page 103 (Cmnd. 8212-I)
Vol. 2 page 56 (Cmnd. 8212-II)
1981
SDE 1982, Vol. 1 page 53 (Cmnd. 8529-I)
Vol. 2 page 50 (Cmnd. 8529-II)
1982
SDE 1983, Vol. 1 page 49 and 50 (Cmnd. 8951-1)
Vol. 2 page 50 (Cmnd. 8951-II)
1983
SDE 1984, Vol. 1 page 55 and 56 (Cmnd. 9227-1)
Vol. 2 page 49 (Cmnd. 9227-II)
1984
SDE 1985, Vol. 1 page 67 (Cmnd. 9430-1)
Vol. 2 page 49 (Cmnd. 9430-II)
1985
SDE 1986, Vol. 1 page 77 (Cmnd. 9763-1)
Vol. 2 page 46 (Cmnd. 9763-II)
Common Service Discipline Act
Mr. Sayeed : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration has been given to there being a common service discipline Act ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Neubert : Consideration has been given to this from time to time. Given the need, for operational reasons, to preserve differences in the statutory provisions for the different services, and that provision for these differences would continue to have to be made even within a common service discipline Act, our judgment, weighing the considerable effort and upheaval that such a change would
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involve against the benefits to be gained, is that there is not a sufficient case for changing the present statutory framework of service discipline.Nuclear Shells
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what future plans he has to scrap obsolete nuclear shells ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : All the nuclear shells deployed with NATO forces are the property of the United States Government, and it is a United States, not a United Kingdom, responsibility to make plans for disposing of any which become obsolete.
Small Arms
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy on the disposal of surplus small arms.
Mr. Sainsbury : It has been decided that in order to rectify an anomaly in the present rules the special restriction which currently applies to the sale of small arms surplus to service requirements will be lifted. Consequently the export of such weapons will in future be handled in exactly the same way as new weapons, and the same stringent export control measures will apply.
Transmitters (Nuclear Explosions)
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Droitwich BBC low frequency transmitter has been, or will be, hardened to resist the (a) blast and (b) electromagnetic pulse effects of a nuclear explosion.
Mr. Renton : I have been asked to reply. The transmitter has not been hardened, and there are no plans to do so.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Select Committees (Membership)
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will give details of the members of (a) the Treasury and Civil Service and (b) Education, Science and Arts Select Committees from 1979 with membership dates ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Wakeham : Membership of Select Committees for Sessions 1979-80 to 1986-87 inclusive is given in the Select Committee sessional returns for those years. The information sought for the period since the beginning of the 1987-88 Session is as follows :
Treasury and Civil Service Committee
Higgins, Mr. Terence L. (Chairman)
Beaumont-Dark, Mr. Anthony
Beith, Mr. A. J.
Budgen, Mr. Nicholas
Hamilton, Mr. Neil
Quin, Ms. Joyce
Radice, Mr. Giles
Sedgemore, Mr. Brian
Townend, Mr. John
Watts, Mr. John
Winnick, Mr. David
Education, Science and Arts Committee
Raison, Mr. Timothy (Chairman)
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