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Glass
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish in the form of a table (a) the
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amount of glass recycled by each west European country in 1988 and (b) the amount of glass recycled as a percentage of the total amount of glass used for packaging for each country.Mr. Atkins [holding answer 11 April 1989] : Figures for the amount of glass recycled by each western European country in 1988 will not be available until June. The amount recycled in the United Kingdom increased to 275,000 tonnes, 16 per cent. of the total amount of glass used in packaging. Figures for the amounts recycled in 1987 in western Europe are recorded in the table.
|Amount recycled (thousand|Percentage of total
|tonnes) |amount of glass used for
|packaging
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Austria |85 |44
Belgium |127 |39
Denmark |35 |32
France |646 |26
West Germany |1,102 |37
United Kingdom |233 |13
Eire |7 |8
Italy |580 |38
Netherlands |320 |62
Portugal |29 |14
Spain |261 |22
Switzerland |140 |47
Turkey |34 |27
Figures supplied by FEVE-the European Glass Containers Federation.
British Shipbuilders
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much was paid by his Department under a single contract in 1986-87 in connection with the sale of certain British Shipbuilders' yards.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 7 April 1989] : I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him on 13 March 1989 at column 100. The information is commercially confidential. The amounts involved do not, however, add significantly to the total of privatisation expenses that I quoted on 13 March.
Beverage Containers Directive
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on his Department's progress on implementing the requirements of the 1985 European Economic Community directive on beverage containers.
Mr. Atkins [holding answer 10 April 1989] : The United Kingdom programme for implementing this directive was submitted by the DTI in November 1987 following consultations with other Government Departments, local authority associations and 28 trade and industry organisations. It consisted of sub-programmes for containers made of glass, metals, plastics and paper composites and a cross-material submission on the soft drinks industry. Copies of the programme are available from the Libraries of both Houses.
The United Kingdom programme is based on voluntary agreements and in line with the Commission's assurance to the Government when the directive was adopted in June 1985, there is not discrimination between different types of container systems or between different types of packaging.
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Good progress is being made in the recycling of beverage containers. There was agreement at a glass recycling commitment conference in July 1986 to double the number of bottle banks to 5,000 over the next five years, equivalent to one bottle bank per 10,000 people. Nationally we are on course to reach this target and the one per 10,000 figure has already been reached in the north of England. With more retailers agreeing to bottle banks being sited on their car parks, the amount of glass recycled is increasing rapidly and reached 275,000 tonnes in 1988.The amount of metal recovered from cans is also increasing. "Save-a-Can" run by the can makers operates nearly 200 skips in England and Wales whilst the newly formed Aluminium Can Recycling Association hopes to have 100 recovery centres operating nationally by this summer. British Steel is encouraging local authorities to become involved in recovering steel cans from incinerated household waste and about 900 million cans a year are now being recovered this way.
A full progress report will be submitted by the Government to the Commission later this year, four years after the original programme was drawn up, and every subsequent four years thereafter.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Immigration
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to what have been the results of enlisting the assistance of managers of hotels used by homeless persons on establishing their residents' immigration status.
Mr. Renton : Under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order, as amended, the keepers of hotels or similar establishments are required to keep a record of all persons aged 16 or over who stay at their premises. As part of their normal duties, the police may need to inspect these records in order to establish the immigration status of any of the residents of such an establishment. We have no plans to seek any special report on the operation of these arrangements.
Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal immigrants were detected, other than at airports and seaports, in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Renton : Information for 1988 on the numbers of illegal entrants detected and of persons dealt with under the deportation process is published in tables 13 and 14 of Home Office statistical bulletin 10/89 "Control of Immigration : Statistics--Fourth Quarter and Year 1988", a copy of which is in the Library. The great majority of persons dealt with under enforcement powers are identified after entry to the United Kingdom.
The information in these tables does not include persons refused entry to and removed from the United Kingdom at airports and seaports : information on such persons is published in table 1 of the annual volume "Control of Immigration : Statistics United Kingdom".
Fire Authorities
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each fire authority
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(a) the date of first appointment of a brigade emergency planning officer and (b) the expenditure incurred on fire service civil defence activities and the amount of grant aid paid towards that expenditure for each year from 1979 to 1989.Mr. John Patten : The dates of first appointments of brigade emergency planning staff officers are shown in the table.
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Figures for the expenditure incurred by each fire authority on civil defence activities and the amount of grant aid paid towards that expenditure for each year since 1979 could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Amounts for 1986-87, the last year for which all audited claims have been received, are in the second table.Column 545
|c|Employment|c|
Region |Regional Fire Adviser |At time of appointment|Now |Date of appointment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. |T. F. Elton |CFO Tyne and Wear |CFO Tyne and Wear |November 1981
3. |P. H. Wilson |CFO Nottinghamshire |Retired |December 1981
|E. Patterson |CFO Nottinghamshire |CFO Nottinghamshire |February 1989
4. |R. C. Paramor |CFO Essex |CFO Essex |February 1979
5. |R. A. Bullers |CFO London |Retired |April 1981
|G. D. Clarkson |CFO london |CFO London |August 1987
6. |J. R. Pearson |CFO Hampshire |CFO Hampshire |September 1984
7. |J. Killoran |CFO Devon |Retired |April 1984
|N. Wallington |CFO Devon |CFO Devon |August 1987
8. |K. Hayton |CFO Clwyd |CFO Clwyd |April 1984
9. |B. L. Fuller |CFO West Midlands |CFO West Midlands |October 1981
10. |M. Killoran |CFO Greater Manchester|Retired |April 1981
|D. T. Davis |CFO Cheshire |CFO Cheshire |September 1986
Expenditure claimed
for grant aid in 1986-87
Fire authority |Date of first |Total expenditure|Grant aid paid
|apppointment |reported
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon |27 October 1986 |12,901 |9,727
Bedfordshire |14 March 1988 |- |-
Berkshire |13 March 1985 |23,054 |17,368
Buckinghamshire |22 January 1985 |24,389 |18,369
Cambridgeshire |21 February 1985 |25,296 |19,093
Cheshire |19 December 1984 |43,982 |32,986
Cleveland |23 September 1986|25,022 |19,066
Clwyd |30 November 1984 |54,158 |40,619
Cornwall |21 October 1985 |24,485 |18,364
Cumbria |20 July 1984 |31,495 |23,866
Derbyshire |No appointment |- |-
Devon |10 December 1984 |50,149 |38,385
Dorset |24 March 1985 |21,707 |16,621
Durham |24 July 1985 |28,559 |21,488
Dyfed |4 April 1984 |17,716 |13,309
Essex |6 August 1984 |69,333 |58,810
Mid-Glamorgan |27 October 1987 |- |-
South Glamorgan |No appointment |- |-
West Glamorgan |23 September 1986|15,456 |11,643
Gloucestershire |15 May 1985 |- |-
Gwent |14 April 1988 |- |-
Gwynedd |6 November 1984 |29,659 |22,244
Hampshire |28 August 1984 |55,299 |42,069
Hereford and Worcester |18 December 1984 |24,916 |18,689
Hertfordshire |22 August 1985 |18,783 |14,221
Humberside |5 June 1985 |27,106 |20,601
Isle of Wight |18 December 1984 |21,278 |15,958
Kent |12 June 1984 |26,229 |19,990
Lancashire |14 March 1985 |22,861 |17,190
Leicestershire |13 December 1985 |- |-
Lincolnshire |26 October 1984 |22,551 |16,913
London |9 July 1986 |51,002 |39,085
Greater Manchester |18 March 1985 |- |-
Merseyside |Appointment under
| consideration |- |-
West Midlands |16 February 1987 |28,030 |21,265
Norfolk |25 September 1985|21,492 |16,215
Northamptonshire |23 November 1984 |25,444 |19,122
Northumberland |25 November 1987 |- |-
Nottinghamshire |21 June 1984 |57,079 |43,160
Oxfordshire |31 May 1985 |22,451 |17,338
Powys |15 August 1985 |21,399 |16,049
Shropshire |26 March 1985 |- |-
Somerset |11 June 1984 |29,033 |21,842
Staffordshire |14 September 1984|20,462 |15,346
Suffolk |12 March 1985 |14,469 |11,066
Surrey |15 May 1985 |23,181 |17,657
East Sussex |11 June 1984 |- |-
West Sussex |4 September 1986 |25,290 |19,050
Tyne and Wear |14 August 1987 |28,692 |21,519
Warwickshire |21 January 1985 |18,996 |14,361
Wiltshire |4 September 1986 |29,096 |23,061
North Yorkshire |23 September 1986|15,876 |11,907
South Yorkshire |No appointment |- |-
West Yorkshire |8 May 1986 |27,001 |21,301
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the dates of all regional fire advisers meetings since 1979 ; if he will give details of the topics discussed at such meetings ; and what is the date of, and the topics to be covered at, the next regional fire advisers meeting.
Mr. John Patten : The dates of regional fire advisers' conferences since 1979 were as follows :
18 May 1979
11 December 1979
19 October 1981
13 April 1982
13 July 1982
27 October 1982
27 January 1983
13 April 1983
13 October 1983
12 January 1984
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3 May 198414 November 1984
24 April 1985
8 October 1985
29 April 1986
24 November 1986
28 April 1987
20 October 1987
26 April 1988
18 October 1988
The next such conference is today, 12 April. These conferences cover a range of matters concerning civil defence planning and training. In addition, regional fire advisers attend various other meetings concerned with civil defence planning.
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the name, present employment, date appointed and terms of reference of the regional fire adviser for each year from 1984 to 1989, (b) the name, present employment and date appointed of the staff officer to the regional fire adviser for each year from 1979 to 1989 and (c) the expenditure incurred by the regional fire adviser and his staff on civil defence duties and the amount of grant aid paid toward that expenditure for each year from 1979 to 1989, for each civil defence region.
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Mr. John Patten : A list of regional fire advisers by region in England and Wales from 1984 to the present is given in the table. There are no formal terms of reference but a regional fire adviser is responsible for the co-ordination of emergency fire service planning in his region. The appointment of his staff officer is a matter for each regional fire adviser. Expenditure incurred in connection with regional fire advisers' responsibilities is not grant-aided, but is directly reimbursed by the Home Office. Figures for individual claims and those prior to 1984 could be calculated only at disproportionate cost but the total reimbursed expenditure since 1984 was :
|£
--------------------
1984-85 |7,206
1985-86 |6,194
1986-87 |7,170
1987-88 |6,467
1988-89 |5,169
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|c|Employment|c|
Region |Regional Fire Adviser |At time of appointment|Now |Date of appointment
2. |T. F. Elton |CFO Tyne and Wear |CFO Tyne and Wear |November 1981
3. |P. H. Wilson |CFO Nottinghamshire |Retired |December 1981
|E. Patterson |CFO Nottinghamshire |CFO Nottinghamshire |February 1989
4. |R. C. Paramor |CFO Essex |CFO Essex |February 1979
5. |R. A. Bullers |CFO London |Retired |April 1981
|G. D. Clarkson |CFO London |CFO London |August 1987
6. |J. R. Pearson |CFO Hampshire |CFO Hampshire |September 1984
7. |J. Killoran |CFO Devon |Retired |April 1984
|N. Wallington |CFO Devon |CFO Devon |August 1987
8. |K. Hayton |CFO Clwyd |CFO Clwyd |April 1984
9. |B. L. Fuller |CFO West Midlands |CFO West Midlands |October 1981
10. |M. Killoran |CFO Greater Manchester|Retired |April 1981
|D. T. Davis |CFO Cheshire |CFO Cheshire |September 1986
Latchmere House
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the estimated additional annual net costs for the immigration and nationality department of moving immigration detainees from Latchmere house, Ham, to Haslar, Hampshire.
Mr. Renton : All aspects of the possible move, including costs, are being examined. The main additional cost for the immigration and nationality department would probably be some £60,000 a year for additional transport and escorts.
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will seek to amend the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act to make it an offence for a third party to require a data subject to seek subject access under the terms of the Data Protection Act to personal data held by the police in order to show that third party the data subject's criminal record ; and whether he will make a statement.
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Mr. Renton : No. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 protects rehabilitated persons by providing that, unless a post is exempted from the provisions of the Act, an employer may not refuse an applicant employment on the grounds of a spent conviction.
Official Secrets Bill
Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has received any recent representations from the National Union of Journalists about the Official Secrets Bill ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hurd : The most recent such representation which I received was sent in January.
Mental Illness (Prisoners)
Mr.Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the mental illness history of current occupants of Her Majesty's prisons in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Douglas Hogg : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question by the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Grocott) on 8 December 1988 at column 283 .
Mr. Goodlad : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is collected by his Department about (a) the medical and (b) the mental illness history of persons found guilty of crimes by the courts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Information is not collected centrally about the medical history, physical or mental, of persons found guilty by the courts.
Woolwich (Court and Prison)
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects construction of the new prison at Woolwich and the associated court complex to be completed ; and when each is now planned to come into operation.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The contract for construction of the prison is expected to be completed in December 1990. The target date for arrival of the first inmates is April 1991. The court complex is the responsibility of my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor. I understand that it is currently estimated that the court complex will be completed towards the end of 1991 and come into operation shortly thereafter.
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the latest estimated cost of (a) the new prison at Woolwich and (b) the associated court complex ; and what were the original estimates.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The original estimated cost for constructing the prison was £59.94 million (at second quarter 1986 prices). Associated advance works were estimated at an additional £4.08 million (at third quarter 1985 prices). The latest estimate for the project as a whole is £88.90 million, at 1988-89 prices. This is subject to adjustment, in the light of further cost increases in the construction industry. The construction of the court complex is the responsibility of my right hon. and noble Friend, the Lord Chancellor. I understand that tenders for this project are being currently evaluated. The provisional pre-tender estimate at second quarter 1988 prices was about £17.5 million. This did not allow for any additional cost arising from the incorporation of the changes subsequently recommended by the Royal Fine Arts Commission.
Animal Experiments
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what efforts are being made to discourage international and foreign regulatory bodies from requiring precise LD50 values.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The Home Secretary is not responsible for the conditions under which LD50 tests are required : but I understand that the Departments concerned are making representations at EC, OECD and UN levels. In particular, the Department of Health is co-ordinating an international study on an alternative British approach to acute toxicity testing, which does not involve the generation of precise LD50 figures.
Column 550
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how effectively the project licensing system is being used to reduce and restrict performance of the classical LD50 test in Britain.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Applications to use animals for this purpose in this country are authorised only in strict accordance with the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Before granting a licence, my right hon. Friend is required to consult an inspector appointed under the Act.
Football Grounds (Arrests)
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to what crowd trouble occurred inside and outside the ground at the Littlewoods Cup Final on 9 April ; how many people were arrested, distinguishing between those arrested by mounted officers and others ; how many people have subsequently been charged ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that no significant crowd trouble occurred inside Wembley stadium, but that there were incidents of crowd trouble outside the ground, the most serious of which happened at approximately 3 pm and required the assistance of mounted officers in order to separate rival supporters. Mounted officers were involved in 26 of the 66 arrests made. Sixty five people were subsequently charged. Such incidents demonstrate that further action is necessary in respect of football hooliganism. The Government believe that the proposed national membership scheme will help to break the link between violence and football by excluding from grounds, and thereby deterring from travelling to matches, those who cause trouble.
Police Cells
Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of prisoners held in police cells at the end of each of the last six months ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hurd : The information requested is as follows. The number of prisoners held in police cells continues downwards and the situation is better than it has been since the end of 1986.
|c|Prisoners held in
Police cells at
unlocking on the last
day of each|c|
|c|month|c|
|Number
-----------------------
1988
October |1,531
November |1,025
December |87
1989
January |349
February |219
March |71
Prison Escapes
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further measures have been taken
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following his review of the circumstances which led to the escape by helicopter of two prisoners from Gartree prison in December 1987.Mr. Hurd : In my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Sir J. Farr) on 21 January 1988 at columns 785-86 I said that a vigorous review of security measures had been carried out immediately at all establishments holding category A prisoners, and that a number of practical measures were taken quickly.
I have now approved a number of other lines of action, including plans for the future shape of the dispersal system, and these are contained in a detailed statement of intention issued to the prison service by the deputy director general. A copy has been placed in the Library.
Diplomatic Passports
Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether foreigners holding diplomatic passports, but not accredited in the United Kingdom, are exempt from normal entry procedures when visting this country.
Mr. Renton [holding answer 6 April 1989] : Possession of a diplomatic passport does not, in itself, afford the holder any special status or entitlement.
Under the Immigration Act 1971, certain persons, including members of diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom who meet the requirements of section 8(3) of that Act as amended by the Immigration Act 1988, are entitled to exemption from immigration control. Members of the family forming part of the household of such members similarly benefit.
Certain members of diplomatic missions which are not based in the United Kingdom who are passing through this country while proceeding to take up or return to their posts, or who are returning to their own countries are, with their families, treated as being exempt from immigration control in order to meet the requirements of article 40 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.
London Underground
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assistance his Department has given towards reducing crime on the London Underground ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The primary responsibility for reducing crime on the London Underground rests with the British Transport police and London Underground Ltd. The Home Office provides guidance and advice to BTP and LUL, as it does in this context to the Department of Transport. My right hon. Friend has approved arrangements under which Metropolitan police officers have been lent to help police the Underground while BTP recruit and train new officers to fill their increased establishment.
Rape
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken on the Women's National Commission's 1985 recommendation that the question of consent should be reconsidered with the aim of reforming the law on rape to make it clear that
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the alleged rapist's assumptions about the complainant's consent should be reasonable according to modern interpretations of women's rights to choose.Mr. John Patten [holding answer 23 March 1989] : The law on rape provides that a man is not guilty if he believes that the woman was consenting to intercourse. Section 1(2) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976 provides that any jury considering a defence based on consent should have regard to the presence of absence of reasonable grounds for such a belief. In R v. Pigg (1982), Lord Lane CJ also ruled that a man who was reckless as to whether the woman consented should also be held guilty. I am not persuaded that the recommendations of the Women's National Commission would improve the present law.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
El Salvador
15. Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the conduct and outcome of the recent election in El Salvador.
46. Mr. Haynes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he is satisfied that the last presidential election in El Salvador was held under free and fair conditions.
54. Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he is satisfied that the recent presidential election in El Salvador was held under free and fair conditions.
Mr. Eggar : Her Majesty's Government's official observer, Dr. David Browning, attended the presidential elections in El Salvador. He is currently preparing his report, a copy of which will be deposited in the Library in due course.
40. Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of the United States of America in relation to El Salvador.
Mr. Eggar : We have regular discussions with the United States on a wide range of topics, including El Salvador.
51. Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to visit El Salvador.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has no present plans to visit El Salvador.
55. Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to meet representatives of the new El Salvadorean Government.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans at present to meet representatives of the new Government of El Salvador.
Anglo-French Relations
16. Mr. Cash : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Anglo-French relations.
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Mrs. Chalker : Anglo-French relations are excellent.
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister had useful talks with President Mitterrand at the Anglo-French summit meeting in Paris on 27 February. The two Governments consult closely on a wide range of issues. There are numerous ministerial and other contacts between the two countries.
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