| Home Page |
Column 107
Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 14 February 1989
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
AIDS
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made an assessment of the stability of the sub-Saharan countries under the long-term impact of AIDS.
Mr. Eggar : Research into the long-term demographic, social and economic consequences of AIDS are being financed under the overseas aid programme. We are also providing support through the World Health Organisation to those countries affected by the disease.
Nuclear Weapons
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiatives under article VI of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty 1986 are planned by Her Majesty's Government with regard to United Kingdom nuclear weapons, in advance of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty 1990 review conference.
Mr. Eggar : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State on 8 December 1988, at column 316.
Council of Europe
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government plans to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Council of Europe during 1989.
Mrs. Chalker : We will be represented at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1989. A postmark bearing the Council of Europe's slogan will be in use in Mount Pleasant sorting office for four weeks from 1 May 1989. We are considering what else might be done to mark this anniversary.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Trees
Mr. Onslow : To ask the Attorney-General if the Lord Chancellor will draw the Magistrates' Association's attention to the requirement for the courts to have regard to any financial benefit which may accrue, or appear likely to accrue, to offenders convicted of unauthorised felling of a protected tree ; and if he wil make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The possibility of benefit is a matter which magistrates should take into account in such cases. The Lord Chancellor, in his capacity as president of the Magistrates' Association, will take the opportunity of referring to this matter, and expressing his personal views on it, on a suitable occasion when addressing members of the association.
Column 108
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council what is the total annual cost of written parliamentary questions each year since 1979 ; how such a figure is calculated ; and what is the average cost per hon. Member in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Wakeham : Records of the total cost of answering parliamentary questions are not kept and details of the average cost per hon. Member are not, therefore, available. However, an assessment is made of the average cost of answering a written question. This average figure is updated regularly and currently stands at £51. The calculation is based on a sample of staff time using average rates of pay and associated costs (such as national insurance and superannuation) for the Civil Service grades concerned and substantive non-staff costs such as computer usage.
Paper Products
Ms. Walley : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will make it his policy to buy chlorine-free recycled paper products for the House.
Mr. Wakeham : Responsibility for monitoring the safety and health aspects of paper products supplied to the House lies with Her Majesty's Stationery Office. There is no reason to believe that its present policy in this respect is in need of change.
TRANSPORT
Trunk Roads
Mr. Alexander : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many single carriage equivalent miles of trunk roads his Department will have renewed in the year 1988-89.
Mr. Bottomley : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) on 8 December 1988, at column 243.
Cherished Number Plates
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department auctions cherished number plates on newly issued registered numbers 1 to 40.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : Not at present. Proposals for selling attractive registration marks are being prepared. Auctions, and sales of new year-letter numbers in the series 1-20 which are currently not issued, are both under consideration.
Vehicle Excise Duty
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the estimated costs of administration, per vehicle registered, of road fund licences issued in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : Registration, licensing and taxation of vehicles forms part of the same administrative
Column 109
process. The total cost of that process in 1987-88 was £108.3 million. Thirty-three million vehicle licences were issued in that year ; there were also 20 million other vehicle transactions, such as new registration documents issued.Driving Licences
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the estimated costs of administration, per licence issued, of driving licences in Great Britain in 1987-88.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The overall cost of administration of the driver licensing system in 1987-88 results in an average cost of £3.24 per driving licence issued.
Merchant Fleet Tonnage
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will be revising his assessment of the merchant fleet tonnage emergency requirements, in the light of the further loss of North sea output from the Fulmar Auk and Clyde oilfields in December 1988.
Mr. Peter Morrison : I have been asked to reply.
No. The temporary loss of North sea output in peacetime would not affect the merchant tonnage needed to service the North sea in wartime.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Lancashire Constabulary
Mr. Ken Hargreaves : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police posts have been civilianised by Lancashire constabulary since 1979 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I understand from the chief constable of Lancashire that 235 police posts have been civilianised in this period.
Naturalisation
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many naturalisation applications are at present outstanding ; and how many of these applications were made one or more years ago.
Mr. Renton : Precise figures are not available. Estimates suggest that around 80,000 applications for naturalisation are now outstanding, of which about three quarters were made over a year ago.
Crime Statistics
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what have been the crime clear-up rates for the area covered by Lincolnshire constabularly for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The recorded clear-up rate in the Lincolnshire constabulary was 49 per cent. in 1983, 35 per cent. in 1984 and 42 per cent. in 1985. From 1986 the information is published annually in table 2.18 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales".
Civil Defence
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to issue guidance on
Column 110
planning for the National Health Service in war for inclusion in current emergency planning guidance to local authorities.Mr. John Patten : Revised guidance on civil defence planning was issued by the Department of Health and Social Security to the National Health Service in July 1988. The guidance was also circulated to all local authorities in England and Wales. The substance of the guidance will be incorporated shortly in the emergency planning guidance to local authorities.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Don Valley of 7 December 1988, Official Report, column 205, if he will give details of the amounts of capital expenditure by the United Kingdom warning and monitoring organisation since 10 July 1987 ; and if he will give details of the purposes to which such expenditure was put ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : Capital expenditure by the United Kingdom warning and monitoring organisation since 10 July 1987, when my right hon. Friend announced a review of warning and monitoring arrangements, has been limited to items essential to the maintenance of the organisation's effectiveness and readiness for operation. The carrier warning system was completed with expenditure of £2.1 million, automatic telephone exchanges were installed in operational controls at a cost of £1.75 million, and building projects amounted to £0.43 million.
Missing Persons
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will consult the appropriate police authorities concerning increased police liaison with Interpol in respect of persons missing in the United Kingdom and wanted in connection with criminal inquiries.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : No. I refer the hon. Member to the reply to his question on 19 December 1988, at column 144.
Voting Rights
Mr. Thorne : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he hopes, with the aid of modern technology, to be able to give service personnel the right to vote by post.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Service personnel may vote in person or by post or by proxy if they are living in the United Kingdom. Service personnel overseas must vote by proxy, because the Representation of the People Act 1983 does not permit ballot papers to be sent outside the United Kingdom. To be useful, alernatives or new aids provided by modern technology to the letter post would need to be consistent with the arrangements for the secrecy of the ballot.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) blacks, (b) Asians, (c) men and (d) women are currently serving in (i) the Metropolitan police, (ii) other police forces, (iii) the prison service and (iv) the probation service.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The available information is as follows :
Column 111
Police |Officers<1>|Men |Women ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metropolitan Police (as at 5 February 1989) |414 |24,788 |3,220 Other police forces (as at 30 November 1988) |769 |87,000 |9,929 <1> From ethnic minorities.
Prison Services
Of some 11,500 members of the service (including staff in headquarters and regional offices) who responded to a survey in 1986, 111 stated that they were of ethnic minority origin. The results of a more recent survey of those who did not respond are currently being analysed. Information on the number of women and men in the service is not immediately available.
Probabtion Service
Information on the ethnic composition of the probation service derives from a survey as at 31 December 1987. Of all employees 330 were recorded as Afro -Caribbean or Other Black and 86 as Asian. Because of the extent of non- recording these figures are minima. As at 30 September there were 3,811 men and 2,972 women (whole-time and part-time) in the probation officer grades.
Broadcasting (Training)
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what information he has on the level of expenditure on training made by (a) the BBC and (b) ITV companies in each of the last five years ;
(2) what provision he intends to make for training by (a) the BBC and (b) ITV companies after 1992 ;
(3) if he has any plans to bring forward proposals for training in broadcasting.
Mr. Renton : No information is available centrally on expenditure incurred on training by the BBC and ITV companies. It is for the broadcasting industry to provide its training, and there are no plans for Government intervention.
Television Licences
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the estimated costs of administration, per licence issued, of television licences in Great Britain in 1987-88.
Mr. Renton : The figure for the United Kingdom is £3.15, exclusive of VAT. A separate figure for Great Britain is not available.
Metropolitan Police
Dr. Twinn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what will be the total cost to public funds of the Metropolitan police in 1989-90 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hurd : As police authority for the metropolis I have approved estimates which provide for net revenue expenditure by the Metropolitan police of £1,082.391 million in 1989-90, an increase of 7.7 per cent. on the expenditure I approved for 1988-89. This will be a cash limit.
The increase in expenditure is largely to meet increased manpower costs including the extra 300 police officers and 250 civilian staff which I announced on 30 January.
I have also authorised the issue of a precept requiring rating authorities to levy rates at 18.88p in the pound for Metropolitan police purposes. This is an increase of 14.4 per cent. on the 1988-89 precept of 16.5p.
Column 112
The precept has been affected by block grant payments to the Metropolitan police due in 1989-90. The Metropolitan police are subject to the same block grant arrangements as local authorities and like them benefits from block grant in some years more than others. Although the Metropolitan police will receive over £9 million less in block grant in 1989-90, overall, London will receive £175 million more.Viraj Mendis
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the costs of the operation by police and immigration service officers to seize Mr. Viraj Mendis ; and by whom these costs will be borne.
Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 25 January 1989] : Additional costs of the operation were in the region of £5,000, of which about £1,100 were police costs and about £3,900 immigration service and prison department costs. For this purpose the operation includes the removal of Mr. Mendis from the church ; escorting him to London ; his detention for two nights at Her Majesty's prison Pentonville ; and his deportation under escort to Sri Lanka. Normal police funding arrangements apply to the additional police costs. Immigration service and prison department costs are borne by the Home Office.
THE ARTS
Disabled People
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Minister for the Arts (a) how many civil servants and (b) what percentage of the total number of civil servants in the Office of Arts and Libraries were registered disabled in each of the last five years.
Mr. Luce : There are at present no registered disabled persons in the Office of Arts and Libraries. The Departments for which I am responsible continue to pursue opportunities to employ people with disabilities.
NATIONAL FINANCE
IMF
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions since becoming Chancellor he has met representatives of the International Monetary Fund in London ; and if he will list the individuals who were present, the date and the topic discussed on each occasion.
Mr. Lilley : Since becoming Chancellor, my right hon. Friend has met representatives of the International Monetary Fund on six occasions :
Representatives |Date -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. P. de Fontenay, Mr. H. Vittas |9 December 1983 Mr. H. Schmitt, Mr. H. Vittas |10 December 1984 Mr. P. de Fontenay |13 December 1985 Mr. P. de Fontenay, Mr. H. Vittas |28 November 1986 Mr. M. Russo, Mr. H. Vittas |27 November 1987 Mr. M. Russo, Mr. B. Smith |2 December 1988
The discussions have covered United Kingdom economic developments and policies in the context of the fund's annual article IV review of the United Kingdom's economic policies.
Column 113
In addition, my right hon. Friend has met the managing director of the International Monetary Fund in London on four occasions. He met the then MD, Mr. J. de Larosiere on 28 June 1983, 17 April 1984 and 3 February 1986 to discuss a wide range of international economic issues and met the current MD, Mr. M. Camdessus on 11 May 1988 on the occasion of the United Kingdom's formal agreement to a contribution to the IMF's enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF).GNP
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the gross national product has been received by the Exchequer in each year since 1979 ; from which sources it came ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major : The information on receipts by the Government can be found in "Financial Statistics" tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. Figures for GDP are shown in Economic Trends, table 2.
East Midlands Business Survey
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has received a copy of the half yearly east midlands business survey commissioned by Price Waterhouse and the business school of Trent polytechnic ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major : The recently published east midlands business survey confirms that the region shares in the strong economic performance of the country as a whole. In particular, the survey highlights the high percentage of businesses expecting to increase capital investment and to take on more employees in the next six months.
Public Sector Debt
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect on the monetary aggregates of public sector debt repayment in 1988.
Mr. Lilley : The Government's policy is to fund fully the net total of maturing debt, the PSBR and any underlying change in foreign exchange reserves by sales of debt outside the banking and building society sectors. This policy neutralises the impact of the public sector on the monetary system. The progression from public sector borrowing to the net repayment of public sector debt does not affect this. Should the net total be negative "unfunding" is required, that is, the Government make purchases of debt.
PRIME MINISTER
Clifton-on-Dunsmore
Q39. Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to visit Clifton-on-Dunsmore, near Rugby.
The Prime Minister : I have at present no plans to do so.
Senior Private Secretary
Q41. Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make it her policy to introduce Civil Service regulations whereby no civil servant shall occupy a post of a senior private secretary in No. 10 Downing street for a period of more than three years.
Column 114
Retirement
Q104. Sir David Price : To ask the Prime Minister what steps she proposes to take to implement the concept of the decade of retirement, outlined in the Government's Green Paper, Cmnd. 9517, of June 1985.
The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security to my hon. Friend the Member for St. Ives (Mr. Harris) on 18 January 1988, at column 246.
Central Statistical Office
Mr. Fishburn : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list the budget for and the number of people employed by the Central Statistical Office over the past five years.
The Prime Minister : The net expenditure of the Central Statistical Office for each of the financial years 1984-85 to 1988-89 and the number of staff employed at 1 April in each year are given in the table :
@
Financial year |Number of staff|Net expenditure
|£ million
----------------------------------------------------------------
1984-85 |191 |3.8
1985-86 |187 |3.3
1986-87 |<1>200 |3.5
1987-88 |173 |3.0
1988-89 |160 |3.2
<1> Twenty-five computer staff were transferred to Treasury
between 1 April 1986 and 1 April 1987.
Mr. Fishburn : To ask the Prime Minister what funds have been spent by the Central Statistical Office buying in statistical services or market research from the private sector.
The Prime Minister : In the past, CSO has spent very little on buying in statistical or market research services. In 1988-89 it expects to spend around £1,000. However, in 1989-90, a programme of external studies and research into problem areas of the national accounts undertaken by individuals and organisations in the private sector amounting to over £100,000 has been planned.
Mr. Fishburn : To ask the Prime Minister what income was generated last year by the Central Statistical Office from the commercial sale of its services to the private sector.
The Prime Minister : Information is not available in the precise form requested. In 1987-88 total income to the CSO from the sale of publications was £314,000. In the same year sales to the private sector from the CSO commercial databank service generated £34,000.
Pensioners
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Prime Minister if she will appoint a Minister for pensioners' affairs.
The Prime Minister : Pensioners' affairs already fall within the responsibilities of the Secretary of State for Social Security.
Column 115
Mr. Rupert Murdoch
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list the occasions since 1979 when she has met Mr. Rupert Murdoch at No. 10 Downing street.
The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Provan (Mr. Wray) on 13 February 1989, at column 1.
Engagements
Mr. Cran : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Sumberg : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Hind : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Dykes : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Greg Knight : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
Mr. Stern : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 February.
| Next Section
| Home Page |