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Source : 1988 returns from 476 of the 483 local authorities in Great Britain.Broadcasting
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the likely implications on public service broadcasts emanating from his Department of the White Paper, "Broadcasting in the '90s : Competition, Choice and Quality."
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There is no reason to suppose that the proposals in the White Paper will alter the present arrangements whereby public service messages are broadcast by the BBC. It will be for the new Channel 3 and 5 licensees to consider whether they will broadcast such messages. The arrangements for paid Government advertising on television will not be affected by the proposals.
Student Grants
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if local authorities treat a full-time student who receives no grant as though he did receive a full grant, for the purpose of assessing housing benefit eligibility.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : When an award is made in respect of student maintenance, the full grant is taken into account for the purposes of establishing entitlement to housing benefit. This applies even when the amount of grant payable has been reduced or extinguished by an assessed contribution in respect of the income of a parent or a spouse of the student, whether or not that contribution has actually been received by the student.
When no award has been made, however, there is no provision to take a notional grant into account.
Housing Benefit
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is his estimate of the annual amount which will be saved as a result of the £2 cut on housing benefit transitional payments ; (2) what is his estimate of the saving in public expenditure which will result from his imposition of a closing date of 31 March 1989 for applications for housing benefit transitional payments. (3) what is the estimated take-up of housing benefit transitional payments.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : In view of the number of applications for housing benefit transitional payments which continue to be received and to ensure the maximum take-up of these awards the closing date for receipt of housing benefit transitional payments has been extended to 30 June 1989. It is not yet possible to estimate either the final expenditure and caseload or the effect of the £2 flat rate deduction from 10 April 1989. By the time the closing date is reached we expect the vast majority of people eligible for transitional payments to have applied for them and we do not, therefore, expect any significant saving in expenditure.
Young Homeless People
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he has any plans to assist financially young people of 16 and 17 years of age who have been excluded from the parental home or who have no parental home to go to ; and if he will make a statement ;
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(2) what are the means being used by his Department to determine the extent and degree of poverty among those aged 16 and 17 years who, for whatever reason, are not living in the parental home ; and if he will publish the results of any such examination.Mr. Peter Lloyd : In addition to our monitoring we have examined evidence from organisations such as Barnardo's and the Church of England Children's Society. We have also had discussions with representatives from these and other bodies in the voluntary sector as well as local authority associations.
Our own monitoring has included careful observation of the types of cases referred for consideration under the severe hardship provision.
Our current policies are sound for the overwhelming majority of 16 and 17- year-olds. However, our studies reveal that a minority of young people who, for good reason, have to live independently are facing difficulties. We have therefore decided to introduced the changes announced by my hon. Friend on 13 March at columns 27-28 .
Elderly People (Care Provisions)
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) whether the personal allowance element of pensions paid to elderly persons in hospitals, nursing homes and residential care homes is intended for the personal use of pensioners for the purchase of items not provided by the establishment, such as clothing and stationery ; (2) what evidence he has that some residential institutions include the personal allowance of pensions in the minimum charge demanded of the pensioner.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The level of fees in an independent residential care home or nursing home is a matter between the resident and the proprietor and depends on the level of services to be provided. The income support personal expenses allowance is intended to cover day-to-day living expenses but claimants are, of course, free to spend this money in any way they choose.
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) during the benefit year April 1988 to April 1989 how many claims for attendance allowance were received ; how many claims for attendance allowance were granted ; how many claims for attendance allowance were awarded posthumously ; and what is this figure as a percentage of total number of claims received and number of claims granted ; of the posthumously awarded claims, how many were granted following a request for review or appeal after initially being refused ; and what is this figure as a percentage of total claims made and number of claims granted ;
(2) during the benefit year April 1987 to April 1988 ; how many claims for attendance allowance were received ; how many claims for attendance allowance were awarded ; how many claims for attendance allowance were awarded posthumously ; what is this figure as a percentage of total claims made and number of claims granted ; of the posthumously awarded claims, how many were granted following a request for review or appeal after initially being refused ; and what is this figure as a percentage of total claims made and number of claims granted.
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Mr. Scott : Information about posthumous awards of attendance allowance is not recorded as a matter of course and could be extracted only at disproportionate cost. The information which is available is in the table.
|c|Table|c| |c|Attendance allowance: Numbers of claims received and awards made|c| |c|1987-88 and 1988-89|c| Year |Number of claims received|Number of awards made -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1987-88 |351,554 |213,907 1988-89 |<1>292,485 |<2>156,137 <1>To 28 February 1989. <2>To 31 December 1988.
Family Credit
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much of the extra spending on family credit is attributable to the freeze in child benefit.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : When the 1989 uprating was announced it was estimated that the total cost of the family credit uprating would be £128 million, of which £23 million was directly attributable to the 45p added to the child credit rates as compensation for the child benefit standstill.
Benefit
Mr. Battle To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion and how many supplementary benefit/income support claims from couples are made by women.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The number of supplementary benefit claims from couples made by women is 19,000. This represents 1.77 per cent. of supplementary benefit claims from couples.
I regret income support information is not yet available. Note : Number of claims rounded to nearest thousand.
Source : May 1987 Annual Statistical Inquiry.
Retirement Age
Mr. McCrindle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated cost for equalising retirement ages for men and women at the ages of 60, 62, 63 and 65 years assuming everyone elects to retire at the specified age ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [pursuant to his reply, 21 February 1989, c. 598] : I regret that the reply given has been found to contain an error. The information requested with the amended figures is as follows. The most recent estimates, which are based on 1985-86 benfit rates, are that the approximate net annual cost to public funds of equalising state pension age at 60 years would be £3,000 million and at 63 years £800 million ; equalisation at 65 years would save about £500 million. Estimates are not available for equalisation at 62 years.
Social Fund
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish in the Official Report (a) the anticipated end of the year out-turn on the numbers of
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claimants and levels of expenditure, (b) the most recent figures for the numbers of claimants and levels of expenditure and (c) the anticipated numbers of claimants and levels of expenditure for 1988-89 for (i) funeral payments from the social fund and (ii) maternity payments from the social fund.Mr. Peter Lloyd [pursuant to his reply, 13 December 1988, c. 534] : The available information is as follows :
|c|Anticipated end of year out turn|c| Type of payment |Number of claimants |Expenditure £ million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maternity payments |173,000 |15 Funeral payments |48,000 |21
|c|Actual claims and expenditure to and including October 1988|c| Type of payment |Number of claimants |Expenditure £ million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maternity payments |102,603 |9 Funeral payments |28,582 |11
EMPLOYMENT
Perivale Skill Centre
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the future of the Perivale skill centre.
Mr. Cope : Perivale skill centre is part of the Skills Training Agency which, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in the House on 13 March, is to be offered for sale through a private tender process.
Wages Council
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Leeds, Central, 6 March, Official Report, column 412, whether he will now indicate the current level of total responses received on his wages councils consultative document ; and if he is now in a position to break down the responses into those supporting and those opposing the abolition of wages councils.
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Mr. Nicholls : The current level of total responses is 394. The breakdown of the responses into those supporting and those opposing the abolition of wages councils will be published in due course.
Employment Training
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many approved employment training agencies deal solely with unemployed graduates ; and if he will list them.
Mr. Nicholls : None. All training agents and training managers will deal with unemployed graduates as required.
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many unemployed graduates are currently on employment training courses ;
(2) how many unemployed graduates have left employment training courses since September 1988.
Mr. Nicholls : Information about the number of graduates on or leaving employment training is not yet available.
Docklands
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the level of unemployment in the Docklands urban development area as a percentage of the total London figure in each year since 1981 ; and what are the same calculations for the three Docklands boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Southwark.
Mr. Cope : The following information is also available from the Library. The table shows the annual average number of unemployed claimants in London docklands and the London boroughs of Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets for the years 1983 to 1988, in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the number of unemployed claimants in Greater London. Comparable figures for earlier years are not available on the same geographical basis. Comparisons are affected by changes in the coverage of the count.
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4
|c|Annual average unemployment 1983 to 1988|c|
1983<1> 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater|Unemployed claimants |Percentage in Greater
|London |London |London |London |London |London
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
London Docklands |5,109 |1.4 |5,465 |1.4 |5,775 |1.4 |5,762 |1.4 |5,236 |1.4 |4,274 |1.5
Newham |15,673 |4.3 |16,254 |4.5 |17,007 |4.2 |17,468 |4.4 |15,746 |4.3 |12,825 |4.4
Southwark |17,991 |5.0 |19,563 |5.1 |21,016 |5.2 |21,632 |5.3 |19,820 |5.4 |16,819 |5.8
Tower Hamlets |15,451 |4.3 |15,457 |4.0 |16,132 |4.0 |16,257 |4.0 |15,346 |4.2 |12,955 |4.4
<1> Average of seven months June to December 1983, comparable figures for earlier months are not available on the same geographical basis.
Tourism
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when the review of tourism will be published.
Mr. Lee : We shall announce decisions following the review of tourism policy as soon as possible.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many TECs he is planning for London.
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Mr. Cope : The prospectus for training and enterprise councils was published on Friday 10 March. It is now for business leaders wishing to establish a TEC to come together and apply for development funding, and it is for the employers themselves to propose the area the TEC should cover, having consulted the regional director of the Training Agency.
Because of London's unique labour market, it is important that the development of the TEC network there should be considered very carefully, particularly in the centre of London. I have therefore decided, in consultation
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with Brian Wolfson, chairman of the National Training Task Force, that a small temporary group of employers should look at the issues in London and report to the task force accordingly.Allen Sheppard, chairman and chief executive of Grand Metropolitan plc and a member of the task force, has agreed to lead the group's discussions. Employers and others wishing to make their views known to the group should do so through the Training Agency's regional director for London, Mark Addison.
Open College
Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has plans for further funding for the Open college ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Cope : I am pleased to announce that we have decided to provide further funding for the Open college to develop its important work. We are currently discussing with the college arrangements for this further funding, which would be up to a maximum of £12 million for its commercial activities over the next three years, and further £6 million for broadcasting activities.
The college's recent performance has been very encouraging. Sales of courses are now running at over 5,000 a month, and over 60,000 learners have taken college courses since its start. Some 600 companies are associated with the college and many major companies and institutions are collaborating with the college to produce training materials to meet their specific training needs. The achievement of self-financing of the college within the next three years remains our firm goal. However, in order to give the college the secure base it needs to achieve this, further funding would be required. Support will also be needed for broadcasting. In order to ensure the best value for money for the public purse, this funding is subject to important conditions, not least that the college should have agreed with us the next stage of its business plan setting out the route to self-financing over the three year period without any further calls on public support thereafter. The plan would also outline how the college's work over this period would support out training objectives. Michael Green, the college's chairman, has welcomed our decision and fully accepts these conditions.
This further funding provides the opportunity the college needs to secure its work with others in industry and education in helping to meet the nation's skill needs. The college will encourage employers to provide more effective training for their workforce ; it will help individuals including the unemployed to gain the skills they need to contribute effectively to the economy ; and will support us in our task of persuading individuals and employers increasingly to invest in their future by providing effective training.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
South Africa
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has given consideration to the recent Disclosure of Foreign Funding Bill, passed by the South African Government, which will place
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restrictions on organisations in South Africa receiving financial support from abroad ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Waldegrave : We made clear to the South African Government our serious concern about certain features of the draft Disclosure of Foreign Funding Bill, which has since been amended substantially. We shall continue to make clear the unacceptable nature of any legislation which restricted or inhibited the provision of aid funds to the black community.
Sudan
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the present situation in Sudan.
Mr. Waldegrave : We call on all parties in Sudan to work for the restoration of peace and stability and the early implementation of the plan of action agreed in Khartoum on 9 March by the United Nations conference on the displaced.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Guillotine
Mr. Richard Shepherd : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will list the occasions on which the Government have introduced the guillotine since 1979 and indicate after how many hours in Committee on each Bill.
Mr. Wakeham : The information requested is as follows :
|c|Guillotining of Bills|c|
Session and Bill |Hours in committee before|Total hours in committee
|guillotined
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80
Education (No. 2) | 82 |104
Social Security | 60 | 99
Housing |110 |149
Social Security (No. 2) | 44 | 66
1980-81
Transport | 55 | 95
British Nationality | 90 |145
1981-82
Oil and Gas (Enterprise) | 70 |104
Employment | 91 |107
Northern Ireland (CWH) | 54 | 63.30
1982-83
Transport | 80 |100
Telecommunications |110 |158
Housing and Building Control | 90 |110
1983-84
Telecommunications | 80 |112
Rates | 80 |112
Rating and Valuation
(Amendment) (Scotland) | 82 | 99
1984-85
Local Government | 86 |153
Transport | 76 |134
1985-86
Gas | 85 |129
Social Security |115 |167
European Communities
(Amendment) (CWH) | 18 | 23
1986-87
Local Government Finance
(CWH) | 14.50 | 20.50
Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc
(Scotland) |101 |124
1987-88
Education Reform | 88 |151
Local Government Finance | 72 |129
Social Security<2> | - | -
Firearms (Amendment)<1> | - | -
School Boards (Scotland)<2> | - | -
Housing<2> | - | -
1988-89
Prevention of Terrorism
(Temporary Provisions) | 52 | 63
Water | 75 |145
Official Secrets (CWH) | 14 | 29
(CWH=Committee of the Whole House).
<1>Guillotined on consideration on Report.
<2>Guillotined on consideration of Lords Amendments.
Parliamentary Passes
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many passes have been issued to persons acting as secretarial or research assistants to the hon. Member for Dover (Mr. Shaw) on (a) 1 October 1988, (b) 1 November 1988 and (c) 1 February 1989.
Mr. Wakeham : It would be inappropriate for me to provide information about passes sponsored by individual right hon. and hon. Members.
SCOTLAND
Agriculture
72. Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last made a speech outlining the Government's plans for developing Scotland's agriculture in less populated areas.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The importance of agriculture in Scotland's rural areas is a regular theme of speeches by my right hon. and learned and noble Friends. Most recently my noble Friend dealt with this among other issues in his keynote address to the annual general meeting of the Scottish National Farmers Union last week.
Dialysis
Mr. McLoughlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many new patients per million population in Scotland received (i) haemodialysis and (ii) continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in 1988 or the most recent year for which figures are available.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : This information is not available in the exact form requested. In 1987 (the most recent year for which figures are available) the number of new patients per million of the population (pmp) received on to all
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forms of dialysis was 58.2. This includes continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. The total number of patients (both new and existing) receiving dialysis in 1987 was as follows :
|Actual
--------------------------------------------------------
Hospital dialysis |264
Home dialysis |181
Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis |346
Electoral Register
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if, pursuant to his answer of 23 February, Official Report , column 749 , he will update the 1985-86 review of the arrangements to sell the electoral register to include consideration of (a) the ability of the electoral register being able to access copies of the information held by the community charge officer and (b) the restriction placed on the sale of the extract of the community charge register ; if he will publish the 1985-86 review ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I have no plans for a further review, for the reasons given in my previous answer to the hon. Gentleman on 24 February at column 749 . Copies of the consultation paper which instituted the 1985-86 review were deposited in the Library in December 1984 ; subsequently, regulations authorising the supply of the register in computer-compatible form were debated in the Standing Committee on Statutory Instruments on 21 January 1986.
A850 Broadford-Kyleakin Road, Skye
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the proposal which he has received from Highland regional council concerning the upgrading of the A850
Broadford-Kyleakin road, Isle of Skye, with particular reference to (a) the number of objections received and (b) whether he intends to call the application in for public inquiry procedures.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. and learned Friend considered the notice of intention to develop, submitted to him by Highland regional council as planning authority on 15 December 1988, together with the 213 letters of objection received, and has decided that the issues involved do not warrant his intervention. A letter was sent to Highland regional council on 23 February indicating that planning permission for the proposed development was deemed to have been granted.
Youth Unemployment
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish figures from all available sources as to the number of 16 to 18- year-olds in Greenock and Port Glasgow without a YTS place, and known to the local careers office to be without work.
Mr. Lang : The only information available on the number of young people seeking YTS places is that held by the local careers services. I understand that on 9 March 1989, 116 young people were registered for work or a YTS place at careers offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow.
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Self-Governing Hospitals
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will name the two hospitals he expects to have self-governing status by 1992.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : This will be a matter for discussion with health boards in the light of responses to the White Paper "Working for Patients".
Crack
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on Government measures being taken to reduce the availability and use of the drug known as crack.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Government's strategy and the wide range of measures being taken to deal with the problem of drug misuse, including the interdiction of cocaine of which "crack" is a derivative, are described in "Tackling Drug Misuse--A Summary of the Government's Strategy", copies of the third (1988) edition of which are available in the Library.
Single European Market
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many members of his Department are employed specifically to assist firms preparing for the single European market of 1992 ; and if he will give a breakdown of the number by grade.
Mr. Rifkind : Within the Industry Department for Scotland there are 63 officers, plus appropriate clerical support staff, employed to deliver assistance to industry under the enterprise initiative. This number comprises :
1 Grade 3
2 Grade 5
1 Grade 6
6 Grade 7
8 Senior Executive Officers
1 Senior Scientific Officer
1 Senior Professional and Technical Officer
22 Higher Executive Officers
21 Executive Officers
The enterprise initiative schemes, although capable of wider application, can all be used by companies to help prepare for the single market. There are also staff in other Scottish Office Departments whose duties include the monitoring of single market developments in specific industrial sectors and to provide appropriate assistance to their client groups.
Investment Grants
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what was the total number of applications (a) received and (b) approved for investment grants from 1 April 1988 to 31 December 1988 ; what was the total amount of expenditure involved ; and what the total estimated expenditure planned for that period ;
(2) what was the total number of applications (a) received and (b) approved for innovation grants from 1 April 1988 to 31 December 1988 ; the total amount of expenditure involved ; and the total estimated expenditure involved and (c) the total estimated expenditure planned for that period ;
Mr. Lang : The information requested is shown below for the period 1 April to 31 December.
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|c|Regional Selective Assistance|c|
|Number
------------------------------------------------
Applications received |188
Applications processed |171
|£ million
Payment authorisations made |23.5
The provision of the financial year 1988-89 is £60.4 million. Expenditure under this scheme is normally concentrated in the last quarter of the financial year.
ENVIRONMENT
London Docklands
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many firms or businesses have been relocated with London Docklands development corporation assistance since 1981 ; how many of these firms were moved to locations outside the urban development area ; and how many jobs were in firms or businesses relocated with London Docklands development corporation assistance since 1981.
Mr. Trippier : I will write to the hon. Member.
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