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New Patients
Mr. McLoughlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of new patients were attended to in the private sector and in public sector units.
Mr. Peter Walker : This information is not available centrally.
Regional Assistance
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will provide figures on regional selective assistance for (a) the total number of applications received since 1 April 1988, (b) the number of the above applications that have been processed and (c) the total amount of money paid out since 1 April 1988.
Mr. Peter Walker : A total of 231 applications for regional selective assistance grants were received by my Department and 181 of these processed in the period from 1 April 1988 to 28 February 1989. The total amount of grant paid out over the same period was £27.4 million (RSA project and training grants).
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will provide figures on regional development grants for (a) the number of applications outstanding on 31 March 1988, (b) the number of those outstanding applications that have subsequently been processed, (c) the number of those applications that are still outstanding and (d) the total amount of money paid out since 31 March 1988 in regional development grants to those applicants.
Mr. Peter Walker : A total of 1,935 applications for revised regional development grant (RDG II) were outstanding on 31 March 1988. All these have since been actioned, and decisions had been made on 1,821 as at 28 February 1989, leaving a balance of 114. Actual payments on applications outstanding at 31 March 1988 totalled £13.3 million as at 28 February. Total expenditure on RDG II between 31 March 1988 and 28 February 1989 was £34.85 million.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the total expenditure on regional development grant for each of the years 1983-84 to 1987-88 inclusive, and the estimated expenditure for 1988- 89, 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92.
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Mr. Peter Walker : Expenditure on regional development grants in Wales for the years 1983-84 to 1987-88 inclusive was as follows :
|£ million<1>
---------------------------------------
1983-84 |72.1
1984-85 |92.7
1985-86 |84.4
1986-87 |88.8
1987-88 |53.4
Notes:
Estimated outturn for 1988-89 is £57.5
million<1> and the provision for
1989-90 is shown in the Supply
Estimates published on 14 March.
Planned provision by my Department for
1990-91 and 1991-92 is, respectively
£43.6 million<2> and £34.3 million<2>.
<1>Gross expenditure on original (RDG
I) and revised (RDG II) schemes.
<2>Expenditure net of domestic
receipts and recoveries, gross of EC
receipts.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the total expenditure on regional selective assistance for each of the years 1983-84 to 1987-88 inclusive, and the estimated expenditure for 1988- 89, 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mr. Peter Walker : Expenditure on regional selective assistance in Wales for the years 1983-84 to 1987-88 inclusive is as follows :
|£ million<1>
---------------------------------------
1983-84 |18.2
1984-85 |25.1
1985-86 |28.0
1986-87 |35.6
1987-88 |36.7
Notes:
Estimated outturn for 1988-89 is £43.0
million<1> and the provision for
1989-90 is shown in the Supply
Estimates published on 14 March.
Planned provision by my Department for
1990-91 and 1991-92 is, respectively
£61.2 million<2> and £62.7 million.<2>
<1> Gross expenditure on industrial
and training grants, exchange risk
losses on European loans, payments
under the business improvements
services scheme.
<2> Expenditure net of domestic
receipts, gross of EC receipts.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give (a) the total number of applications received for innovation grants from 1 April 1988 to the most recent date for which figures are available, (b) the total number of applications approved, (c) the total amount of expenditure involved and (d) the total estimated expenditure planned for that period and the estimated expenditure for 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mr. Peter Walker : Under the regional enterprise grant scheme 106 applications for innovation projects were received by my Department and 28 offers of grant to the value of £538,000 were made in the period 1 April 1988 to 28 February 1989. Most of these offers will not fall due for payment until 1989-90 and subsequent years. The revised total provision for payments in the 1988-89 financial year is £0.1 million. Vote provision for 1989-90 is shown in the Supply Estimates published on 14 March and planned provision in 1990-91 and 1991-92 is £1.8 million in each year.
Investment Grants
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give (a) the total number of applications received
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for investment grants from 1 April 1988 to the most recent date for which figures are available, (b) the total number of applications approved, (c) the total amount of expenditure involved and (d) the total estimated expenditure planned for that period and the estimated expenditure for 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92.Mr. Peter Walker : Under the regional enterprise grant scheme 277 applications for investment projects were received by my Department and 111 offers of grant to the value of £688,350 were made in the period 1 April 1988 to 28 February 1989. Most of these offers will not fall due for payment until 1989-90 and subsequent years. The revised total provision for payments in the 1988-89 financial year is £0.2 million. Vote provision for 1989-90 is shown in the Supply Estimates published on 14 March and planned provision in 1990-91 and 1991-92 is £5.6 million and £5.7 million respectively.
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SCOTLAND
Waste Disposal
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of convictions, by district, for illegal waste-dumping in Scotland in each of the last five years.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 16 March 1989] : The information requested is not available.
Nurses
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give for each year the number of nurses employed by the National Health Service in the following categories (a) qualified, (b) untrained and (c) in training in terms of whole-time equivalents.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested is set out for selected years :
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|c|Nursing and Midwifery Staff NHS Scotland (WTE)|c|
|1975 |1980 |1985 |1986 |1987 |<1>1988
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total |52,540 |58,602.5|62,562.1|62,868.2|63,388.3|63,909.0
Qualified |24,246 |28,028.4|33,803.3|34,426.1|35,109.8|35,663.4
In training |11,096 |12,414.3|11,366.7|11,190.7|10,830.4|10,828.4
Unqualified |17,198 |18,159.8|17,392.1|17,251.4|17,448.1|17,417.2
<1>Provisional.
Note: Data at 30 September.
Teachers (Vacancies)
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many vacancies exist currently in (a) primary, (b) junior and (c) secondary schools for teachers in (i) English, (ii) mathematics, (iii) languages, (iv) science, (v) craft and (vi) art subjects in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The numbers of vacancies for full-time teaching posts in Scotland which education authorities had advertised but not filled, at 31 January 1989, are as follows :
Type of school or subject |Vacancies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (a) Primary |70 (b) Junior |<1>- (c) Secondary |58 (i) English |9 (ii) Mathematics |3 (iii) Languages |2 (iv) Science |8 (v) Craft (Technology) |4 (vi) Art |4 (vii) Other subjects |28 <1>Not applicable in Scotland.
Remand
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he has taken to ensure that minor offenders are not given remand ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The decision to grant bail or, to remand an offender in custody is entirely one for the courts, which have before them the facts of each case and can consider all the circumstances.
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Incinerators (Pollution)
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any proposals for new guidance on practices at incinerators to reduce dioxin discharges ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 16 March by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment to the hon. Member for St. Helens, South (Mr. Bermingham). In Scotland, large incinerators will be under the control of HM industrial pollution inspectorate.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any proposals for new limitations on pollution from incinerators of municipal rubbish ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 16 March by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment to the hon. Member for St. Helens, South (Mr. Bermingham).
Salmon Farming
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research has been conducted into the metabolism and depuration rate of dichlorvos in farmed salmon ; and what regulations are in place to ensure that farmed salmon is not marketed within an appropriate period following treatment.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : No research has been carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland into the metabolism and depuration rate of dichlorvos in farmed salmon. The veterinary products
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committee would require any company applying for a licence for a dichlorvos-based product to provide data of this kind for evalution. However, information in support of an application for a medicinal product licence is a matter of commercial confidentiality and its publication would be a matter for the company concerned. It is the responsibility of the user and his veterinary adviser to comply with the conditions of use stipulated for any veterinary medicinal product.Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when and where the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland's marine laboratory will publish its research result on (a) the toxicity of dichlorvos to marine organisms, including phytoplankton species, copepod species and larval stages of various marine organisms and (b) the persistence of dichlorvos in the marine environment and the form in which it is dispersed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Toxicity experiments on phytoplankton and copepod species were carried out by scientists of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland's marine laboratory as preliminary "range-finder" tests on a number of species to determine the most sensitive and therefore appropriate species for more detailed work. Subsequent detailed studies of the toxicity of dichlorvos to lobster and herring larvae have been carried out and it is hoped that reports will be published in the scientific press later this year.
No measurements of the persistence of dichlorvos in the marine environment have been carried out by scientists of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland. Published work on the degradation rate of dichlorvos indicates a half-life in sea water of 6-7 days at 10-15c.
The marine laboratory is currently developing numerical models of the dispersion of dichlorvos away from release points in a fish farm, and field studies are planned for later this year to measure the horizontal and vertical diffusion coefficients and other hydrographic parameters required for these models. It is too early to say when this work will be sufficiently progressed to consider publication.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will issue a template for future environmental assessment statements in connection with proposed salmon farming developments to include a full marine impact statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : No. Schedule 1 of the Environmental Assessment (Salmon Farming in Marine Waters) Regulations 1988 already provides a framework for preparing environmental statements including the assessment of the effect of the proposed development on the marine environment.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he has taken to ensure that the environmental assessment statement submitted to the Crown Estate Commissioners by Marine Harvest Ltd. for a proposed salmon farm development in Lamlash bay, Isle of Arran (ref. XX100/660a) meets the requirements of (a) the Environmental Assessment (Salmon Farming in Marine Waters) Regulations 1988 and (b) the European Community directive 85/337 as implemented by Statutory Instrument 1218.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Whether the requirements of European Community Directive 85/337, as implemented by the Environmental Assessment (Salmon Farming in Marine Waters) Regulations 1988, are met is the responsibility of the Crown Estate Commissioners who are the competent authority under the regulations.
Schools (Self-Government)
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the organisations he has met with to discuss the consultative document on self-governing schools.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Over recent months I have met a number of education organisations and discussed a range of topics, including our explanatory paper on self-governing schools.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the schools which have expressed an interest in changing to self- governing status.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Pending the establishment of school boards there is no formal means by which a school corporately can register interest in changing to self-governing status.
Deprivation
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information his Department has gathered, and what research it has sponsored or carried out regarding the effect of deprivation on the physical and mental health of the Scottish people.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Scottish Home and Health Department is funding a research project into "Community Health Promotion in a Deprived Area" and has funded studies into aspects of health care in the community. The Department is aware of work undertaken by the Medical Research Council sociology unit in Glasgow, which may be relevant.
Grant Maintained Trust
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he or his Ministers have met representatives of the Grant Maintained Trust.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has received any requests from the Grant Maintained Trust for forward support.
City Technology College Trust
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has received any request from the City Technology College Trust for financial support.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he or his Ministers have met representatives of the City Technology College Trust.
Column 447
Regional Assistance
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide figures on regional development grants for (a) the number of applications outstanding on 31 March 1988, (b) the number of those outstanding applications that have subsequently been processed, (c) the number of applications that are still outstanding and (d) the total amount of money paid out since 31 March 1988.
Mr. Lang : The figures requested for applications in Scotland under the revised regional development grant scheme are as follows : Number of applications outstanding at 31 March 1988 : 5,117 Number of these fully processed by 15 March 1989 : 4,414 Number under consideration but awaiting response from applicants : 703
Number of applications awaiting attention : nil
Total payments made between 31 March 1988 and 10 March 1989 : £47.7 million
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide figures on regional selective assistance for (a) the total number of applications received since 1 April 1988, (b) the number of applications that have been processed and (c) the total amount of money paid out since 1 April 1988.
Mr. Lang : In the period 1 April 1988 to 15 March 1989, 242 applications for regional selective assistance (RSA) were received in Scotland. Of these, 199 have been fully processed. The remaining 43 are being processed. Total payments of RSA in Scotland in the same period have amounted to £33.0 million.
Cancer Screening
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what consideration he has given to the allocation of a mobile cancer screening unit to the Highland health board for use wholly in that board's area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I have agreed that Highland health board will receive a mobile breast cancer screening unit for use wholly within their area as part of the programme to implement a comprehensive breast cancer screening service in Scotland by March 1991.
Water Pollution
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will list those sewage treatment works in Scotland that discharged effluent below the required standard during 1988 ;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report the number of recorded incidents of river pollution, the number of related prosecutions and the number of convictions in Scotland in each of the last 10 years.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information is not held centrally in the form requested. In Scotland river purification authorities are responsible for water pollution control. The information sought on compliance, pollution incidents and prosecutions is generally available in the annual reports of river purification boards which are lodged in the Library.
Column 448
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Rights of the Child (United Nations Convention)
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy in respect of negotiations on the United Nations convention on the rights of the child ; whether it is intended that Her Majesty's Government should be a signatory to that convention ; and what reservations Her Majesty's Government have expressed on the convention.
Mr. Eggar : The United Kingdom has played a leading role in the drafting of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child and intends to sign and ratify soon after its adoption. We indicated at the working group in December last that we may need to enter reservations on various articles of the convention but the scope of these reservations has yet to be determined.
South Africa
Mr. Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will take steps to express Her Majesty's Government's concern at the recent visit to Chile by General Magnus Malan, the South African defence minister, and the resultant agreements between Chile and South Africa for military collaboration, in contravention of the United Nations arms embargo on South Africa.
Mrs. Chalker : We faithfully implement the United Nations arms embargo. It is for the United Nations Security Council arms embargo committee to investigate alleged breaches by other countries. We would deplore any breach shown to have occurred.
Vietnam
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is his policy to support the policy of the European Community Commission to establish a special office of trade and co -operation in Hanoi to further commercial relations between the European Community and Vietnam.
Mrs. Chalker : We understand the Commission has no plans to open an office in Hanoi.
El Salvador
Mr. Wood : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's Government will be sending observers to the forthcoming presidential elections in El Salvador.
Mr. Eggar : We have accepted an invitation from the Salvadorean Government to observe the presidential election in El Salvador on 19 March. Dr. David Browning, fellow of St. Cross college, Oxford has been appointed as official Government observer. He will report his findings to my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary in due course.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Special Constables
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Attorney-General what guidance the Lord Chancellor gives to justices of the peace
Column 449
regarding their powers under section 79 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 to swear in as special constables persons nominated for the purpose by harbours, docks or piers undertakers and as to the nature of the inquiries to be made before such swearing in ; and when such guidance was last amended.The Solicitor-General : The Lord Chancellor does not give guidance to justices of the peace on the exercise of their powers. They receive advice as to the law and procedure on such matters from their justices' clerk.
Duty Solicitors
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General what representations have been received by the Lord Chancellor's Department on the draft Legal Advice and Assistance (Scope) Regulations 1989 concerning duty solicitor schemes in the county court ; and if he will publish the responses to any such representations.
The Solicitor-General : The Lord Chancellor's Department has received five representations on the draft Legal Advice and Assistance (Scope) Regulations 1989 which concern the provision of assistance by way of representation in county courts. Representations were also received on this subject during the preparation of the regulations from a further nine bodies or individuals to whom individual replies have been sent. These replies are on similar lines and I will place a copy of the letter of 15 November 1988 from the Lord Chancellor's Department to the Law Society in the Libraries of both Houses.
Legal Aid
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General what steps have been taken in the last year to obtain accurate estimates of the percentage of the adult population eligible for legal aid.
The Attorney-General : Studies have been carried out on the basis of family expenditure survey data in relation to households of different compositions.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General what estimate he has made of the number of persons who will (a) cease to be eligible and (b) pay increased contributions in respect of legal advice and assistance, civil legal and criminal legal aid consequent upon proposals for assessment of cohabitees' resources when assessing legal aid eligibility.
The Solicitor-General : The proposals in respect of the assessment of cohabitants' resources for legal advice and assistance, civil legal aid and criminal legal aid reflect the rules applicable to social security benefit applicants and implement a recommendation made by the legal aid advisory committee in its 34th annual report (1983-84). The Government announced their acceptance of this recommendation in 1986. It has not been possible to estimate the numbers who might benefit and the numbers who might lose as a result of this change.
Single Parents (Custody)
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the requirements for judges to inquire into the circumstances of single parents and the provision for any children before any custodial sentence is passed.
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The Solicitor-General : When passing sentence judges are required to take into account all the relevant circumstances.
Crown Court Judges
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Attorney-General how many Crown court judges are in post ; what is their current training ; what social services, psychological, or community service training is undertaken before or during appointment ; and if he will make a statement.
The Solicitor-General : There are 405 circuit judges of whom the majority regularly sit in the Crown court. Circuit judges are appointed from recorders and assistant recorders who will have sat regularly on a part-time basis.
Before assistant recorders are permitted to sit they must have completed a study programme which comprises :
(a) visits to the prison and probation services ;
(b) attendance at a residential 3 day induction course ; (
(c) sitting in with an experienced judge for a minimum of five days.
Every year each circuit holds one or more conferences which all circuit judges and part-time members of the judiciary are expected to attend. Speakers from the prison and probation service regularly attend these conferences. After 3 years' sitting assistant recorders attend a three-day residential refresher seminar. Thereafter, together with all circuit judges and other part-time members of the judiciary they attend further refresher seminars every five years. In addition, the judicial studies board has initiated a series of induction and refresher courses in the civil and family field which have, inter alia, dealt with housing benefit.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the occasions when people have been imprisoned for contempt by Crown court judges or their equivalent for each year from 1970 ; and if he will make a statement.
The Solicitor-General : It is not possible to distinguish between contemnors committed to prison by reference to the type of tribunal ordering the committal. However, the table provided shows the numbers of men and women committed to prison for contempt for the period 1970 to 1987 and the average length of imprisonment for all contemnors for each year during the period 1975 to 1987.
|c|Receptions|c|
|Males |Females|Total
----------------------------------------
1970 |289 |10 |299
1971 |318 |42 |360
1972 |534 |23 |557
1973 |500 |18 |518
1974 |547 |15 |562
1975 |751 |15 |766
1976 |810 |24 |834
1977 |900 |33 |933
1978 |923 |34 |957
1979 |923 |31 |954
1980 |804 |24 |828
1981 |877 |36 |913
1982 |933 |40 |973
1983 |934 |37 |971
1984 |1,020 |38 |1,058
1985 |936 |46 |982
1986 |976 |40 |1,016
1987 |924 |41 |965
|c|Estimated
Average time
spent in
custody by
persons
committed
in|c|
|c|Contempt of
Court (in
days)|c|
|Days
---------------
1975 |14
1976 |14
1977 |17
1978 |18
1979 |18
1980 |19
1981 |15
1982 |13
1983 |14
1984 |14
1985 |17
1986 |18
1987 |18
Justices of the Peace
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Attorney-General if he will provide details of how the north-east London area advisory committee on the appointment of justices of the peace is undergoing the process of reconstitution ; for what purpose ; and what progress has been made.
The Solicitor-General : The reconstitution of the north-east London area advisory committee is a routine matter. All the Lord Chancellor's advisory committees on the appointment of justices are subject to a similar process every three years. Appointments are made by the Lord Chancellor on the recommendation of the chairman. The purpose is to obtain a balance of new and experienced members who broadly reflect the composition of the area served.
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