Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 659
Gosport BCGuildford BC
Halton BC
Havant BC
Hereford CC
Horsham DC
Hove BC
Lancashire CC
Leeds CC
Maidstone BC
Melton BC
Middlesbrough BC
Newark and Sherwood DC
Newbury DC
Norfolk CC
North Cornwall DC
North Yorkshire CC
Peterborough CC
Purbeck DC
Reading BC
Ribble Valley BC
Rochdale MBC
Rother DC
Rotherham BC
Rugby BC
Sedgefield DC
Sefton BC
South Buckinghamshire DC
South Kesteven DC
South Tyneside MBC
South Wight BC
Southwark LB
Stafford BC
Staffordshire Moorlands DC
Stevenage BC
Stroud DC
Tameside BC
Taunton Deane BC
Test Valley DC
Wakefield MBC
Waltham Forest LB
Worcester CC
Worthing BC
Wycombe DC
Wyre Forest DC
York CC
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the highest level of (a) E. coli and (b) total coliforms per 100 ml. found in the 1988 bathing waters survey at Seaton Carew centre, Hartlepool bay ; and if he will publish in the Official Report full details of all the water samples at Seaton Carew centre that failed both the total coliform and the faecal coliform tests.
Mr. Howard [holding answer 25 April 1989] : The results obtained during the 1988 bathing season at the Seaton Carew centre sampling point are as follows :
Date |Total coliforms number |Faecal coliforms number |per 100 ml |per 100 ml ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 May 1988 |110 |80 20 May 1988 |3,500 |680 14 June 1988 |3,700 |1,200 24 June 1988 |10 |10 1 July 1988 |13,000* |13,000* 15 July 1988 |820 |220 29 July 1988 |3,100 |600 3 August 1988 |2,900 |670 25 August 1988 |3,700 |2,000 31 August 1988 |10,000 |3,000* 2 September 1988 |110,000* |110,000* 19 September 1988 |3,000,000* |3,000,000*
Those results marked with an asterisk do not comply with the relevant imperative standard set in directive 76/160/EEC and those for 19 September are wholly exceptional. Northumbrian water authority has plans to improve the bathing waters at Seaton Carew to ensure that they consistently meet the EC standards.
Mr. John Garrett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the cost of bringing beaches in Norfolk up to EEC standards ; and from what date he expects the standards to be met.
Mr. Howard [holding answer 25 April 1989] : My right hon. Friend has asked Anglian water authority to draw up detailed plans with a view to bringing its bathing waters up to EC standards by 1995. Until these plans have been fully assessed it is not possible to give details of the cost involved.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information his Department holds that enables him to assess the extent to which potable water in England complies with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/77/EEC).
Mr. Howard [holding answer 25 April 1989] : The Department has information about supplies which regularly do not meet one or other of the standards in the directive and about programmes to achieve compliance. Information concerning supplies where there is occasional non-compliance is currently being submitted by water undertakers to the Department in the context of further improvement programmes.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the cost at current prices to each water authority in England of complying with the European Community directive relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (80/77/EEC).
Mr. Howard [holding answer 25 April 1989] : Water undertakers have submitted to the Department projections of the costs involved in complying with the EC drinking water directive. We are reviewing these and discussing them with individual water undertakers. Until we have examined all the programmes it is not possible to estimate the costs. However, the programme will be included in prospectuses to be published later this year.
Mr. John Garrett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which of the European Economic Community guide levels and maximum admissible concentration levels for pollutants are exceeded by the drinking water supply in Church house, Westminster.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 19 April 1989] : The maximum admissible concentrations for drinking water are exceeded for sodium and fluoride. Those exceeding the guide levels are chlorides, sulphates, zinc and iron.
Column 661
Sir Dudley Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give details of the new monitoring service he is installing to detect those low-flying service aircraft which disobey their given height instructions.
Mr. Neubert : The RAF police conduct surveys of military low flying in the United Kingdom from time to time to establish that height and other rules are being observed. Following trials, it has been decided that a Skyguard fire control radar system will be deployed in a low-flying monitoring role later this year and this should provide a valuable aid to the RAF police in this work. Surveys of low flying in the United Kingdom have shown that there is a healthy respect for low-flying regulations and the new system should provide further confirmation of the high standards and professionalism of the Royal Air Force.
Sir Dudley Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will arrange for the new monitoring service used to detect aircraft flying below permitted levels to operate in the areas around Leamington Spa which are under the service training flight paths.
Mr. Neubert : The RAF police monitor low flying at different locations in the United Kingdom during the course of the year, but it is not our practice to release details of the programe in advance.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the cost of the new computer system at the recently opened United Kingdom air defence ground defence environment command and control system, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire ; why this computer system was originally specified to use four different programming languages ; why it is being converted to a single language ; what is the cost of this change ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : Only part of the improved United Kingdom air defence ground environment (IUKADGE) command and control system (ICCS) will be at High Wycombe. Equipment and software costs of the entire system, of which NATO is paying over 80 per cent. will amount to some £225 million at September 1988 prices. It would not be meaningful, however, to identify the cost of part of the system in isolation.
The ICCS is being developed and installed by UKSL Ltd. under a fixed-price contract. The number of programming languages was not specified by the MOD and is the responsibility of the contractor.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Siemens ND3 printers are used by his Department, either in-house or through a private contract ; and what is the location of each.
Mr. Sainsbury : Details of the many thousands of printers bought annually by the Department are not kept centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate
Column 662
cost. The Department does not keep records of the printers used by the 10,000 or so companies which are under contract to the Department.Mr. Baldry : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the compensation arrangements to be introduced at RAF Upper Heyford following his visit there on 19 April ; and if he will include the name and address of the official to whom claims should be made.
Mr. Neubert : Details of the new compensation arrangements were announced at the presentation held at RAF Upper Heyford on 19 April and will be made known in the area by newspaper adverstising and by means of a leaflet delivered to every home within the area of the scheme.
From 17 May some 70 additional homes, including the whole village of Stoke Lyne, which fall within the average 70dB(A) contour will become eligible for a grant for the installation of acoustic secondary glazing to all bedrooms and up to two living rooms. In addition, the original noise insulation grant scheme is being re-opened for a period of six months from 17 May to allow the 35 or so residents who did not previously apply a further opportunity to do so.
It is Ministry of Defence policy to offer to purchase homes which are subject of average noise levels of 83dB(A) or more. There is no obligation to sell and this offer is made because some residents may find the noise unacceptably intrusive ; not because of any risk to health or hearing. Letters have already been sent to all property owners within the new 83dB(A) contour informing them of the position.
Although the change of flight paths at RAF Upper Heyford does not satisfy the conditions laid down in the Land Compensation Act 1973 for the payment of injurious affection compensation, it has been decided, exceptionally, to consider claims for compensation. From 1 June 1989 owners of residential property (or small businesses with a rateable value of less than £2,250) in the vicinity of RAF Upper Heyford may submit claims if they believe that the value of their property has been adversely affected as a direct result of an increase in noise following the change in flight paths on 1 June 1988. Claims for such compensation will be considered independently by the district valuer in the light of the evidence available to him.
The noise compensation scheme at RAF Upper Heyford is being administered by the Defence Land Agent, Block D, Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 2DZ.
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the value of military equipment exported under collaborative projects in the year 1987-88 was not the subject of memoranda of understanding which required the agreement of Her Majesty's Government before this equipment could be re-exported to third countries.
Mr. Sainsbury : In the context of Government collaborative ventures involving Her Majesty's Government, all military equipment exported in the year 1987-88 required the agreement of Her Majesty's Government.
Column 663
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the reasons for the difference in the figures quoted on the value of headquarters contracts for goods and services destined for the British armed services awarded by his Department to Rolls-Royce Ltd. and Rolls- Royce plc in 1985-86 given in answers to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East, Official Report, 4 April, columns 127-28 and 12 April, column 612.
Mr. Sainsbury : The answers given earlier about Rolls-Royce plc responded to the terms of the questions, and gave information respectively on the payments made, at columns 127-28, on 4 April, and value of contracts placed, at column 612, on 12 April. Clearly there is a delay between placing a contract and payments being made against that contract.
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make public details of the performance bonuses paid to Sir Colin Chandler as head of defence export services ; and, in each case, when a performance bonus was paid and how it was earned.
Mr. Sainsbury : The terms under which Sir Colin Chandler is seconded from British Aerospace as head of defence export services at the Ministry of Defence do not provide for the payment of performance bonuses.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the captain's narrative of HMS Conqueror covering the years 1982-83 is still in the possession of the Ministry of Defence.
Mr. Neubert : I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the captain's narrative of HMS Conqueror's Falklands deployment. Copies of this are still held by the Ministry of Defence.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to seek from the United States Secretary of Defence full publication of the United States chemical weapons stockpile at the earliest possible date.
Mr. Neubert : The United States has already made available a great deal of information concerning its chemical weapons stockpile : this includes details of its composition by agent type and percentage ; the location of their CW storage facilities in the United States ; and full details of the comprehensive United States programme for the destruction of its unitary CW stocks, which has resulted in the destruction of about 15 million pounds of chemical agent since 1970.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions have taken place with UK Nirex Ltd. on the future disposal options for military radioactive wastes.
Mr. Sainsbury : The Ministry of Defence is represented at official level at the quarterly Nirex customers' meetings,
Column 664
at which representatives of the civil radioactive waste producers are also present. There is in addition a series of technical working groups at which MOD is represented.Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, during the NATO nuclear planning group meeting in Canada in April, consideration was given to the large public demonstration in Belgium against the modernisation of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many United States Air Force A-10 Tank Buster aircraft based in the United Kingdom have crashed in the United Kingdom since 1 January ; how many people have been killed in these accidents ; whether any assessment has been made of the maximum credible accident that could arise from the training exercises involving these aircraft in the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Neubert : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen), at column 365, on 24 April 1989. Every effort is made to conduct essential military aircraft training in as safe a way as is possible. It is not our practice to make statements about hypothetical events.
Mr. Tredinnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any contacts between the Royal Navy and Warsaw pact countries are planned.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : In a move to increase contacts between the Royal Navy and Warsaw pact navies, the destroyer Warszawa, flagship of the Polish Navy, is to visit London from 9-12 May. In a reciprocal visit, HMS Bristol will visit Gdynia from 9-12 June as part of the Dartmouth training squadron's summer deployment to the Baltic. On the same deployment, HMS Bristol will also visit Leningrad from 26-30 May. This will be the first Royal Navy visit to the Soviet Union since HMS Devonshire made a port call in Odessa in 1976, and only the second ship visit since 1966. An invitation has been extended to the Soviet Navy to send a warship to the United Kingdom.
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the introduction at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath of noise insulation grants and injurious affection compensation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Neubert : I am pleased to announce that, following analysis of the results of noise surveys in the vicinity of RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, noise and injurious affection compensation schemes have been approved. From today the occupants of some 5,600 homes in the area will be eligible to claim a grant for the sound insulation of all bedrooms and up to two living rooms. The scheme also provides for the payment of injurious affection compensation, if there is evidence that the value of a residential property, or small business with a rateable
Column 665
value of less than £2,250, was adversely affected by an increase in noise or other physical effects following the bringing into use of hardened aircraft shelters at the airfields in July 1983. As any increase in noise will have been limited to the immediate areas, claims for compensation will only be considered for those residents who live in close proximity to the hardened aircraft shelters. An announcement is being made at RAF Lakenheathtoday to local councils and media and details of the scheme will be made known in the area by advertising and by means of a leaflet delivered to properties within the boundary of the scheme.Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what modifications to the approach routes of military aircraft landing at RAF Lakenheath he expects to be introduced by the United States Air Force ; and if these will reduce noise levels overhead in the residential areas of Brandon, Suffolk.
Mr. Neubert : A minor modification to the visual approach route at RAF Lakenheath has been made following discussions with the Army. This will allow aircraft in the visual pattern to turn over the Stanford training area when joining the final approach path. Although this will affect only a relatively small number of flights, there should be some reduction in the levels of disturbance experienced in residential areas of Brandon, though they will continue to be overflown. All other flight paths remain unchanged.
13. Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the current level of funding of agricultural research.
Next Section
| Home Page |