| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 690
Department does not keep its overtime records in a form which makes it possible to split overtime worked in London from overtime worked outside London.Computers
Sir Anthony Grant : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he proposes to make a response to the Law Commission's working paper No. 110 on computer misuse ; whether he will make it public ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : I have no plans to make a formal response.
Information Technology
Mr. Faulds : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what non-formal representations he has received on his response to the Select Committee on Trade and Industry's report into information technology.
Mr. Forth : I have received no non-formal representations on this response.
Companies (South African Subsidiaries)
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the names of United Kingdom registered companies which have broken the EEC code of conduct in respect of their South African subsidiaries ; and if he will forward such a list to the European Commission.
Mr. Alan Clark : My Department's analysis and summary of company reports submitted in accordance with the EC code of conduct was placed in the Library of each House last month. It has also been made available to officials in Europe.
Guarantees
Mr. McCrindle : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he has received any complaints concerning the guarantees provided by companies with their products ; what steps he has taken to assess whether it is possible for consumers to distinguish between a good guarantee and a worthless one ; if he proposes to bring foward proposals to require any changes to the guarantees provided by companies ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Only a small proportion of the consumer problems raised with my Department are concerned with guarantees. The National Consumer Council recently published a consultative document on some aspects of the use of guarantees ; any recommendations resulting from the NCC consultation will be carefully considered. The subject of guarantees generally has been examined, and remains under review, by the Office of Fair Trading. The Director General of Fair Trading's report entitled "Consumer Guarantees", published in June 1986 makes recommendations aimed at industry and offers good advice to consumers. The Government have no present plans to legislate.
Girobank
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the future of Girobank's corporate lending and leasing business in the event of its being sold to a building society.
Column 691
Mr. Forth : Under the Building Societies Act 1986, as amended, building societies are not permitted to undertake leasing business or make unsecured loans to corporate bodies. Arrangements would therefore need to be made for Girobank's leasing and corporate lending business to be removed from its balance sheet before it could be purchased by a buidling society. Such arrangements would be a matter for negotiation between the Post Office and the building society concerned in the first instance. The arrangements would need to satisfy the regulatory authorities.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what weight he gave to the net asset value of Girobank and to the current year's retained earnings in considering the Alliance and Leicester's £130 million bid for Girobank.
Mr. Forth : As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced on 20 April, at column 260 , we are satisfied that the Post Office Board's decision to accept the conditional offer made by Alliance and Leicester Building Society to purchase Girobank takes full account of the factors, of which price was one, which we announced would be taken into account in evaluating bids.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Fax Charges
Mr. Ashton : To ask the Lord President of the Council what representations he has received from hon. Members seeking a reduction in the charge made by the Post Office in the Palace of Westminster of £5.80 to hon. Members for transmitting one page of A4 by fax to a London address.
Mr. Wakeham : I have received no representations about the cost of the service provided by the Post Office since the matter was last considered by the Accommodation and Administration Sub-Committee in May 1988. The charge made by the Post Office in the Palace of Westminster for its facsimile (Intelpost) transmission service reflects the tariff in use throughout the country. For parliamentary business, right hon. and hon. Members may purchase fascimile machines for their personal use from their office costs allowance.
WALES
ESA Payments
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received about the extension of the ESA payment eligibility to farms within national parks in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker : Six representations have been received on behalf of farmers in the national parks in Wales for the extension of the ESA scheme to their land. I shall give careful consideration to these requests if and when further ESA designations are in prospect.
NHS Reform
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has as to the likely change in the level of rural general practitioner's remuneration as a result of the introduction of the new contract for general practitioners.
Column 692
Mr. Grist : The Government's proposals for linking family doctors' pay more closely to the range and quality of their resources to patients are set out in the report "General Practice in the National Health Service- -A New Contract", and appendix F provides illustrative assessments of the effects on different types of practice. The implications for rural practice are fully considered in that report, copies of which were sent to all GMPs. The proposals include a rural areas supplement to the basic practice allowance which is designed to recognise the particular nature of practice in sparsely populated rural areas and to ensure that GMPs practising in such areas are not unduly disadvantaged by the nature of the area in which they work.
Hospital Operations
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has as to the costs of the 10 most common operations in each Welsh hospital.
Mr. Grist : The information requested is not available centrally.
Post-16 Education
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give for the latest available year the post-16 staying on rate for each Welsh local education authority.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : The percentage of 16 and 17-year-olds staying on in full-time education at schools, tertiary and colleges of further education for the academic year 1987-88 is shown in the following table :
|<1>16-year-olds|<2>17-year-olds
----------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |47 |31
Dyfed |54 |40
Gwent |47 |31
Gwynedd |52 |37
Mid Glamorgan |47 |31
Powys |55 |36
South Glamorgan |51 |33
West Glamorgan |52 |34
Wales |50 |33
<1> As a percentage of 15-year-old pupils in schools in the
academic year 1986-87.
<2> As a percentage of 15-year-old pupils in schools in the
academic year 1985-86.
School Attendance Rates
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give for the latest year for which figures are available the school attendance rate for (a) the years one to five secondary school, (b) fourth- year secondary pupils, (c) fifth-year secondary pupils and (d) primary schools for each Welsh local education authority.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Information in the form requested is not collected centrally. However, data in respect of primary and secondary school attendance as a whole on a census day in September 1988 are as follows :
|c|Percentage of pupils on role in
attendance|c|
|Secondary|Primary
----------------------------------------------
Clwyd |91 |88
Dyfed |90 |90
Gwent |90 |89
Gwynedd |90 |92
Mid Glamorgan |85 |89
Powys |92 |94
South Glamorgan |88 |88
West Glamorgan |86 |84
General Practitioners (Remuneration)
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the average remuneration per general practitioner in (a) each family practitioner committee area, (b) urban areas, (c) rural areas and (d) Wales as a whole.
Mr. Grist : The information is not readily available centrally. The review body on doctors and dentists' remuneration recommends the level of general medical practitioners' income. In 1989-90 the average gross income of GMPs in the United Kingdom is intended to be £60,000. This figure reflects the review body's recommendation in respect of GMPs' net income and indirectly reimbursed expenses which the Government have accepted in full, plus estimated directly reimbursed expenses. The recommended average net income is £31,105.
Try-butyl-tin
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what tests have been conducted in the Milford Haven and the river Cleddau to ascertain pollution caused by Try-butyl-tin (TBT) ; and what were the results.
Mr. Grist : This is a matter for the Welsh water authority and the information is not held by the Welsh Office.
HEALTH
NHS (Reform)
Mr. Brandon-Bravo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many permanent consultant posts, inclusive of the addition of 100 in the White Paper proposals, he estimates will be in place by the late 1990s ; what is the estimated cost of this programme ; how the cost of additional consultants is shown in forward National Health Service spending plans ; and if he will make a statement.
Column 694
Mr. Mellor : The projections prepared for "Hospital Medical Staffing --Achieving a Balance--Plan for Action" published in October 1987 suggested that the number of consultants in England and Wales in 1998 would be 19,473. The 100 new consultants announced in "Working for Patients" are not included in this figure.
Expenditure on consultants is not separately identified in NHS spending plans.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health with respect to the support grades in his Department (a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.
Mr. Mellor : The figures are :
|Figures
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) The number of staff employed |325
(b) The number of vacancies:
i. currently |9
ii. that have existed for over one month |8
iii. that have existed for over three months |3
(c) The number of casual appointments at present |28
The number of limited period appointments
currently |8
(d) The amount of overtime worked by them
during March 1989, all within the London
pay area |2,518.5 hours
Population Statistics
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Caernarfon of 18 April, Official Report, column 122, if he will analyse the total population growth by standard region between 1990 and 2000 for people (a) over 75 years of age and (b) over 85 years of age, as between (i) the growth caused by projections of existing population and (ii) the change caused by net movements of population.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is in the table.
Column 693
|c|Change in population between 1990 and 2000 by Standard Region|c|
Thousands
|Total |(1) |(2)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North |75 and over|28.4 |25.0 |3.4
|85 and over|15.5 |14.8 |0.7
Yorkshire and Humberside |75 and over|26.1 |29.7 |-3.6
|85 and over|23.7 |24.8 |-1.1
East Midlands |75 and over|39.0 |35.0 |4.0
|85 and over|23.1 |22.1 |0.9
East Anglia |75 and over|28.3 |16.6 |11.6
|85 and over|17.5 |14.3 |3.2
South East |75 and over|97.5 |123.0 |-25.6
|85 and over|93.5 |100.7 |-7.1
Greater London |75 and over|-14.2 |37.1 |-51.3
|85 and over|24.6 |39.5 |-14.9
Rest of South East |75 and over|111.7 |85.9 |25.7
|85 and over|69.0 |61.2 |7.8
South West |75 and over|46.7 |26.6 |20.1
|85 and over|38.6 |32.5 |6.1
West Midlands |75 and over|49.6 |54.9 |-5.3
|85 and over|26.6 |28.1 |-1.5
North West |75 and over|21.5 |26.7 |-5.2
|85 and over|27.6 |29.0 |-1.4
Wales |75 and over|29.5 |30.4 |-0.9
|85 and over|16.0 |16.1 |-0.1
Figures may not add due to rounding.
(1) The change caused by projections of existing population.
(2) The change caused by net movement of population.
Dental Services
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what current channels of communication he uses to keep in touch with opinion among practising dentists in the general dental service in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Mellor : Apart from the Department's standing dental advisory committee, the Department's chief dental officer, who is a member of the General Dental Council keeps, in close touch with the academic and professional leaders of the dental profession. Officials maintain close relations with the officers and senior officials of the British Dental Association and negotiate with the general dental services committee which represents all general dental practitioners.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Handicapped People (Claims)
Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what information his Department makes available to people who are mentally handicapped and their families about any benefits that they may be entitled to ;
(2) if he intends to make any special efforts to ensure that people who are mentally handicapped receive all the benefits that they are entitled to ;
(3) if mentally handicapped persons who claim severe disablement allowance are automatically advised of the possibility that they may be entitled to claim income support.
Mr. Scott : People who are mentally handicapped qualify for benefits under the same criteria as people suffering from other disabilities so the same steps are taken to help them, and those who are acting for them, to claim the benefits to which they may be entitled. Information about these benefits is available in a range of leaflets from Social Security offices, and the freeline telephone inquiry service.
The leaflet about severe disablement allowance, which includes the claim form, draws attention to the possibility of claiming income support. Additionally, all young people, under age 18, who claim the allowance are issued with a leaflet about income support, and an explanation of how to claim it, unless it is clear that they have already done so.
Transitional Payments
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in receipt of benefit were entitled to transitional payments in 1988 ; and how many in the current year in (a) Huddersfield and (b) Dewsbury.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 6 March at column 445.
Column 696
Disabled People (Charity Advertising)
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will draw up a code of practice to regulate charity advertising about disabled people.
Mr. Scott : There are no present plans to draw up such a code of practice.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Road Drainage (Claim)
Mr. Clifford Forsythe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many claims regarding road drainage have been made against (a) Belfast divisional roads service and (b) Ballymena divisional roads service during the last three financial years ; and how many of these claims were (i) decided by the courts and (ii) settled out of court.
Mr. Needham : Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Sheep
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of maedi-visna disease in sheep have been recorded by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, in each of the years from 1980 to 1988, in each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Viggers : There have been no clinical cases of maedi-visna disease in sheep recorded in each of the years from 1980 to 1988 in any of the Parliamentary constituencies of Northern Ireland.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are being taken to ensure that all sheep imported into Northern Ireland are tested for maedi-visna disease.
Mr. Viggers : Sheep may be imported into Northern Ireland only if they meet stringent licensing conditions. These conditions require resting for maedi-visna disease in pre-import and post-import isolation, except where the sheep come from fully accredited maedi-visna-free flocks in the country of origin.
There are no maedi-visna testing requirements for sheep from the Republic of Ireland which, like Northern Ireland, is regarded as maedi-visna free.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total number of sheep imported into Northern Ireland in each of the years since 1980 ; and what were the individual breeds.
Mr. Viggers : The information is as follows :
Column 697
|Number
------------------------
1980 |88,014
1981 |105,314
1982 |42,863
1983 |41,403
1984 |58,971
1985 |67,274
1986 |57,249
1987 |77,175
1988 |55,535
The records available do not indicate the individual breeds.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sheep were quarantined in Northern Ireland in each of the years since 1980.
Mr. Viggers : The information is as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1980 |531
1981 |440
1983 |500
1984 |400
1985 |341
1986 |66
1987 |170
1988 |196
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many flocks of sheep in Northern Ireland have been maedi-visna tested.
Mr. Viggers : A total of 418 flocks of sheep in Northern Ireland have been maedi-visna tested. These are flocks which joined the voluntary Northern Ireland maedi-visna register of accredited flocks.
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Scheme
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount, in grants, paid out by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, under the agriculture and horticulture development scheme in each of the years since 1980, to applicants from each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Viggers : The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency. It has been given, however, by county.
Column 697
Year |Antrim |Armagh |Down |Fermanagh |Londonderry|Tyrone |Total ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1980 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- 1981 |- |- |13,173 |2,241 |7,226 |1,466 |24,106 1982 |20,553 |23,743 |38,656 |101,771 |46,968 |151,280 |382,971 1983 |134,863 |196,344 |197,546 |386,516 |198,696 |333,162 |1,447,127 1984 |261,115 |366,192 |203,254 |782,518 |327,484 |838,121 |2,778,684 1985 |356,332 |677,989 |353,037 |1,076,299 |488,054 |1,433,728 |4,385,439 1986 |1,010,000 |1,386,458 |707,924 |1,882,423 |863,477 |3,335,010 |9,185,292 1987 |1,220,903 |2,158,513 |459,335 |2,105,015 |963,866 |3,782,671 |10,690,303 <1>1988 |420,719 |1,344,994 |270,874 |1,263,507 |501,118 |2,132,351 |5,933,563 <1>Three quarters only.
Agricultural Development Programme
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount, in grants, paid out by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, under
Column 698
the Northern Ireland agricultural development programme, in each of the years since 1982, to applicants from each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.Mr. Viggers : The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency. It has been given by county.
Column 697
|c|Northern Ireland ADP expenditure 1982-83 to 1988-89|c|
£ million
Counties |1982-83 |1983-84 |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89 |Total
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antrim |4.978 |3.241 |3.088 |1.926 |1.390 |0.585 |0.242 |15.45
Armagh |1.063 |1.110 |1.585 |1.304 |0.817 |0.961 |0.357 |7.197
Down |0.272 |0.441 |0.481 |0.484 |0.417 |0.362 |0.071 |2.528
Fermanagh |12.040 |10.107 |12.215 |5.760 |3.299 |1.475 |0.226 |45.122
Londonderry |3.614 |2.077 |2.292 |1.210 |0.794 |0.543 |0.190 |10.72
Tyrone |6.536 |4.658 |7.074 |2.952 |2.391 |0.980 |0.465 |25.056
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
|28.503 |21.634 |26.735 |13.636 |9.108 |4.906 |1.551 |106.073
Diversification Grant Scheme
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount, in grants, paid out by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, under the farm diversification grant scheme in each of the years since 1980 to applicants from each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Viggers : The farm diversification grant scheme was introduced on 1 January 1988. In 1988 there was one payment which amounted to £5,391.52 in county Antrim.
Column 698
Grassland Scheme
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount, in grants, paid out by the Department of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, under the grassland scheme (N.I.) in each of the years since 1987 to applicants from each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Viggers : The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency. It has been given by county.
Column 699
8
Counties |Grant 1987-88|Grant 1988-89
--------------------------------------------------------
Antrim |130,714 |11,480
Armagh |89,249 |8,716
Down |117,247 |25,718
Fermanagh |70,927 |1,106
Londonderry |135,925 |7,132
Tyrone |284,272 |12,347
|------- |-------
Total |828,334 |66,499
Bridging Allowance
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people completed their eight-week eligibility period for bridging allowance during March 1989.
Mr. Viggers : Information concerning bridging allow-ance recipients is not held in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people exhausted their eight-week bridging allowance payment during October 1988, November 1988, December 1988, January 1989, February 1989 and March 1989.
Mr. Viggers : Information concerning bridging allow-ance recipients is not held in the form requested and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
YTS
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many YTS places remained unfilled at the end of September 1988, October 1988, November 1988, December 1988, January 1989, February 1989 and March 1989.
Mr. Viggers : The Northern Ireland equivalent of YTS is the youth training programme (YTP). The number of training places unfilled in each month is as follows :
-----------------------------
September 1988 |1,024
October 1988 |796
November 1988 |887
December 1988 |912
January 1989 |1,201
February 1989 |1,436
March 1989 |2,078
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were on YTS schemes at the end of September 1988, October 1988, November 1988, December 1988, January 1989, February 1989 and March 1989.
Mr. Viggers : The number of participants in the youth training programme in each month is as follows :
-----------------------------
September 1988 |14,596
October 1988 |14,562
November 1988 |14,306
December 1988 |13,255
January 1989 |12,585
February 1989 |11,995
March 1989 |11,418
HOME DEPARTMENT
Notifiable Offences (Mansfield)
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish current figures for notifiable offences recorded by the police in the Mansfield area, by offence, showing the percentage change over the most convenient period.
Mr. John Patten : The information readily available to the Home Office is for recorded crime in the Nottinghamshire police force area in 1988 and was published in Home Office statistical bulletin 7/89 on 16 March 1989 (Table 8 shows changes over 1987 by offence group for each police force area.) More detailed information, for areas within Nottinghamshire such as Mansfield, will be published later in the year in the report of the chief constable for Nottinghamshire. Copies of these publications will be available in the Library.
Hillsborough Disaster
Mr. Beaumont-Dark : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will meet the costs accruing to the West Midlands police authority of the participation of West Midlands police officers in the investigation of the Hillsborough disaster, and of arranging policing cover in the West Midlands as a result of these duties.
Mr. Hurd : As I said in a letter which I sent to my hon. Friend yesterday, no additional costs will be borne by the West Midlands police authority. "Additional costs" include the cost of overtime worked by the west midlands police officers in their own force area to cover duties which would otherwise have been undertaken by officers seconded to the Hillsborough inquiry. The means of reimbursing the West Midlands police authority will be for further consideration.
Pesticides
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been in each of the last three years on charges arising from the misuse of alphachloralose.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : This information is not available centrally.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the officers of his Department in each grade from 1 to 7 are (a) women and (b) members of ethnic minorities ; and what proportion each such figure represents of the total numbers of officers at that grade.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : According to the latest available figures, in the unified grades 1 to 7 there are two women at grade 3, 15 at grade 5, three at grade 6 and 73 at grade 7. The proportions in each grade were provided in my earlier reply of 20 April. There are in addition 33 women in grades equivalent to grades 1 to 7.
In the unified grades nine members of staff in grades 6 and 7 described themselves as of ethnic minority origin. This represents 2 per cent. of respondents to staff surveys in these grades. Twenty-seven senior medical offices and
Column 701
medical officers who are in grades equivalent to grades 5 and 6 described themselves as of ethnic minority origin. This represents 30 per cent. of respondents in these grades.Personal Identity Numbers
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to bring forward proposals whereby all individuals would have a personal identity number ; and what representations he has received on the matter.
Mr. John Patten : We have no such plan and have received no such representations.
| Next Section
| Home Page |