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NHS (Capital Projects)
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give details of each capital project costing more than £1 million (a) actually under construction and (b) at the proposal or planning stage ; if he will give the estimated date of completion for each project ; and if he will break this list down by each DHA.
Mr. Grist : The details, as provided by DHAs in their 10-year capital programmes, are shown in the tables :
(a) Captial Projects Under Construction
District health Estimated completion date
authority and project
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd
1 |Chirk Commnity Hospital |March 1990
East Dyfed
2 |Llanelli Hospital |1989-89
Gwent
3 |Royal Gwent Hospital Development Scheme VI|November 1989
Mid Glamorgan
4 |Prince Charles Hospital Development Scheme|August 1990
South Glamorgan
5 |Llandough Hospital Obstetrics Unit |May 1989
6 |UHW Paediatric Cardiac Unit |1991
West Glamorgan
7 |Tonna Hospital Development |May 1991
8 |Morriston Hospital Development (Phased) |1992-93
9 |Singleton Hospital West Ward Block |1991
10 |Singleton Hospital Physical Medicine |1991
| Department
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(b) Capital Projects at the Proposal or Planning Stage
District health Estimated completion date
authority and project
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd
1 |Phase 2, Wrexham Maelor Hospital |Part of 10
| Development |year
|development
|scheduled for
|completion
|1999
2 |Ysbyty Glan Clwyd-Mental Illness Unit |1992-93
3 |Ysbyty Glan Clwyd-Phase II Development |1992-93
|(Obstetrics and Gynaecology)
4 |Deeside Community Hospital-Phase I |1991-92
East Dyfed
5 |Llanelli Hospital-Phase II |1993-94
Gwent
6 |Ebbw Vale Community Hospital-Phase I |1991
7 |Royal Gwent Hospital-Scheme VII |1993
8 |Islwyn Community Hospital |1994
9 |Chepstow/Caldicot Community Hospital |1997
10 |Torfaen Community Hospital |1995
Gwynedd
11 |West Mon Community Hospital |1997
12 |Ysbyty Gwynedd-Phase II Development |1991-92
13 |Druid/Cefni Hospital Amalgamation |1991
14 |Garth Angharad Interim Development |1990-91
15 |East Dwyfor/North Merionydd Community |2001
| Hospital
Mid Glamorgan
16 |Aberdare Hospital Elderly Unit |1990-91
17 |Ystrad Fechan Community Hospital |1991
18 |East Glamorgan Hospital Geriatric Unit |1991
19 |Princess of Wales Hospital Development- |1995
| Scheme II
20 |Ystrad Mynach Hospital Development |1989-90
21 |Proposed Rationalisation of Hospital
| Services in Rhondda/Taff Ely. Proposals
| currently the subject of Secretary of State
| consideration
Pembrokeshire
22 |Withybush Hospital-Psychogeriatric Wards |1991-92
Powys
23 |Brecon Hospital |1992
24 |Machynlleth Hospital-Phase I |1990-91
South Glamorgan
25 |Radical Reorganisation of Hospital Services |2000
| over next 10 years is proposed including
| the establishment of a new DGH and four
| neighbourhood hospitals. Proposals are
| currently the subject of Secretary of State consideration.
26 |UHW-Replacement Energy Sources |1991-92
27 |Develop |1993-94
West Glamorgan
28 |Singleton Hospital-East Ward Block |2001
29 |Singleton Hospital Out-Patients Department |1994-95
30 |Singleton Hospital-Reorganisation of |1993-94
| Operating Department
31 |Singleton Hospital-Staff Residences |1991-92
32 |Morriston Hospital-Scheme 4 (Burns and |1993
| Plastics and Associated Works)
33 |Tonna Hospital Development |1991-92
34 |Neath/Port Talbot DGH |1999
Health and Personal Social Services
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give for each year since 1979 the total health and personal social services (a) current expenditure (gross) and (b) capital expenditure (net) ; and if he will give those totals adjusted by the HCHS pay and price deflator.
Mr. Grist : The information requested is as follows :
Total Health and Personal Social Services
£ million
|Current expenditure |Capital expenditure (net)
|(gross)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1978-79 |460.1 |27.4
1979-80 |544.3 |29.9
1980-81 |692.8 |37.5
1981-82 |779.2 |45.8
1982-83 |856.5 |50.5
1983-84 |913.3 |54.2
1984-85 |979.9 |58.5
1985-86 |1,047.6 |59.5
1986-87 |1,124.6 |66.7
1987-88 |1,252.7 |69.8
1988-89 |1,403.3 |64.8
Separate pay and price factors are not maintained for Wales. The hospital and community health services pay and price deflator, maintained for England by the Department of Health, is an index of inflationary pressures on current expenditure in the hospital and community health services alone. It would be inappropriate therefore to apply this index to total health and personal social services expenditure.
Standard Business Rate
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the level of the standard business rate which will come into force in Wales in April 1990.
Mr. Peter Walker : I have made no such estimate. It will not be possible to make an estimate until I have the results of the revaluation of non-domestic property.
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European Tourist Year
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the Wales tourist board will have a direct involvement in developing the European Tourism Year 1990.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Yes. The Wales tourist board is represented on both the United Kingdom steering committee and the United Kingdom national examining committee.
Work-related Training
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what has been the total amount of money spent on work-related Government training schemes in each of the years 1983 to 1988 inclusive.
Mr. Peter Walker : The following figures represent expenditure by the Manpower Services and the Training Commission on work-related Government training programmes in Wales in the relevant financial years. Records are kept on the basis of the standard financial year for accounting for Government expenditure. This year runs from 1 April to 31 March.
|£ millions
---------------------------------
1983-84 |44.2
1984-85 |58.1
1985-86 |55.8
1986-87 |71.5
1987-88 |79.6
Health Expenditure
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give details of expenditure in real terms in (a) Wales and (b) Gwent regional health authority annually since 1979 indicating what proportion of that expenditure relates to (i) wage inflation, (ii) debt charges, and (iii) committed capital expenditure.
Mr. Grist : It is assumed the hon. Gentleman wishes to compare expenditure in real terms by Gwent district health authority with that by all health authorities in Wales since 1979-80. The information is given in the table.
£000
Gwent DHA Wales
|Revenue|Capital|Revenue|Capital
------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |88,997 |4,146 |579,298|43,213
1980-81 |97,485 |1,736 |631,042|48,132
1981-82 |98,339 |3,979 |639,077|53,673
1982-83 |100,031|4,864 |648,467|59,995
1983-84 |101,612|4,348 |659,229|60,630
1984-85 |102,224|4,696 |667,978|59,171
1985-86 |101,574|4,374 |674,539|58,822
1986-87 |105,146|7,320 |704,376|63,765
1987-88 |109,122|6,910 |742,014|60,570
Note: All figures are expressed at 1987-88
outturn prices. 1987-88 is the latest year for
which information is available.
Source: Health Authorities Annual Accounts.
Health authorities' accounts do not disaggregate outturn expenditure on salaries and wages between sums attributable to pay inflation and sums attributable to changes in the numbers and mix of staffing. Health authorities do not raise finance from private sources and are therefore not subject to debt charges.
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Hospital Wards
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many hospital wards are not in use in (a) Wales, (b) Gwent and (c) Newport due to staff shortages.
Mr. Grist : Information is not available centrally in the form requested.
Medical Staff
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed in (i) Newport (ii) Gwent and (iii) Wales in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Grist : The available information is given in the table. Information on medical and dental staff is not centrally available below district health authority level. Nursing and midwifery staff figures are not available below district health authority level prior to 1980.
Medical and dentalNursing and midwifery
staff<1> staff<1><2><3><4>
|Gwent |Wales |Newport |Gwent |Wales
---------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |318 |2,181 |n/a |3,663 |23,031
1980 |321 |2,234 |1,018 |3,964 |24,366
1981 |330 |2,308 |1,096 |4,061 |25,362
1982 |338 |2,353 |1,107 |4,141 |25,909
1983 |342 |2,404 |1,272 |4,221 |25,981
1984 |340 |2,420 |1,329 |4,312 |26,448
1985 |340 |2,465 |1,309 |4,351 |27,014
1986 |345 |2,470 |1,316 |4,354 |27,187
1987 |<5>359 |<5>2,488|1,364 |4,337 |27,764
1988 |n/a |n/a |1,391 |4,310 |27,918
n/a-Not available.
<1>NHS directly employed staff. Whole-time equivalents in post
as at 30 September.
<2>No adjustment has been made for the change in working hours
(from 40 to 37" hours per week) during 1980.
<3>Based on NHS pay records for staff paid at the Royal Gwent,
St. Woolos and Allt-yr-yn hospitals and at community pay units
in Newport. It is not possible to adjust for staff paid at one
unit working partly at another.
<4>Learners are excluded because they are mostly paid (ie
recorded) at one central point and it is hence not possible to
break doen their numbers by hospital.
<5>Provisional.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the latest available figures for waiting lists in (a) Gwent and (b) Newport for (i) trauma, (ii) orthopaedic, (iii) general surgery and (iv) eye, ear and throat operations also in comparison with the other counties in Wales and in comparison with 1979.
Mr. Grist : Available information on in-patient and day case waiting lists is given in the table :
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Traumatic anGeneral surgEar, nose anOphthalmology
orthopaedic surgery
|1979 |1988 |1979 |1988 |1979 |1988 |1979 |1988
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) In-patient waiting list as at 31 March
Gwent |1,396|1,859|1,677|1,749|2,064|840 |650 |767
Newport<1> |812 |1,751|1,338|601 |1,216|840 |435 |767
Clwyd |493 |879 |663 |1,193|314 |1,756|708 |284
East Dyfed |637 |575 |620 |1,093|348 |812 |416 |418
Gwynedd |461 |163 |575 |831 |247 |355 |486 |390
Mid Glamorgan |2,709|1,163|2,780|2,188|2,266|1,790|3,147|359
Pembrokeshire |207 |908 |306 |1,572|401 |- |243 |-
Powys |20 |- |19 |- |12 |- |13 |-
South Glamorgan |1,697|1,877|571 |1,397|1,968|957 |1,244|552
West Glamorgan |3,454|1,224|2,762|1,231|3,978|651 |197 |738
(b) Day-case waiting list as at 31 March
Gwent |103 |67 |185 |£99 |- |11 |121 |160
Newport<1> |- |55 |103 |6 |- |11 |121 |160
Clwyd |156 |111 |410 |642 |5 |51 |- |50
East Dyfed<2> |124 |48 |180 |161 |4 |13 |- |20
Gwynedd |43 |48 |338 |286 |- |3 |70 |117
Mid Glamorgan |270 |- |331 |100 |10 |- |17 |-
Pembrokeshire |- |462 |- |212 |- |50 |- |13
Powys |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
South Glamorgan<3> |- |113 |29 |500 |- |55 |- |25
West Glamorgan |114 |82 |41 |132 |2 |- |3 |-
<1> People waiting for treatment at Royal Gwent and St. Woolos hospitals.
<2> Includes Pembrokeshire for 1979.
<3> Excludes figures for the University hospital of Wales.
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new measures he is proposing to reduce the hospital waiting lists in Gwent.
Mr. Grist : In order to assist Gwent health authority in reducing hospital waiting times in its district the Welsh Office has offered £220,000 to the authority for the continuation of the initiative in orthopaedics during the current financial year. In addition, Welsh Office officials will be meeting representatives of health authorities,
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including Gwent, to discuss the establishment of treatment centres as envisaged in the Welsh chapter of the White Paper "Working For Patients".Hospitals (Gwent)
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has any plans to allocate more funds to hospitals in Gwent.
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Mr. Grist : My right hon. Friend announced in January allocations for the current financial year. The authority's initial revenue cash allocation for 1989-90 is £127.4 million, an increase of 5.8 per cent. over last year ; in addition the authority is expected to achieve cost improvements and generate additional income equivalent to a further 1.3 per cent. of its recurrent revenue allocation. The authority's capital allocation is £7.3 million, an increase of nearly 43 per cent. over 1988-89.
Community Charge (Injunction)
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's publications of the High Court decision to grant a temporary injunction to Greenwich borough council in respect of a Department of Environment leaflet on the poll tax ; and whether he will make it his policy to delay the publication or distribution of any Welsh Office document on the poll tax pending a full hearing of the case.
Column 46
Mr. Grist : The decision by the High Court relates solely to the leaflet produced by the Department of the Environemnt entitled "The Community Charge (the so-called Poll Tax) How It Will Work For You". The bilingual leaflet "Your Guide to the Community Charge", which is being distributed in Wales, is separate and different. I have no plans to halt its distribution.
Overseas Residents
Mr. Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money has been obtained from overseas residents in total, and in each of the health authorities, since the inception of the charging scheme.
Mr. Grist : The income received from overseas visitors by district health authorities in Wales since the inception of the charging scheme on 1 October 1982 has been as follows :
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£ thousands
|1982-83 |1983-84 |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88<1>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |- |2.6 |1.7 |5.2 |-2.9 |9.4
East Dyfed |- |0.7 |1.4 |6.6 |2.0 |0.9
Gwent |- |4.2 |6.3 |19.7 |9.3 |6.6
Gwynedd |- |4.8 |2.9 |12.0 |2.4 |15.4
Mid Glamorgan |- |2.5 |0.6 |0.0 |- |0.2
Pembrokeshire |- |- |1.3 |3.8 |0.1 |2.0
Powys |- |0.3 |0.6 |0.4 |- |-
South Glamorgan |1.4 |16.8 |29.8 |17.6 |-0.4 |28.4
West Glamorgan |0.4 |7.4 |4.4 |-0.1 |0.1 |4.1
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Wales |1.8 |39.3 |49.0 |65.2 |10.6 |67.0
<1>Latest year for which the information is available.
Source: Health Authorities Annual Accounts.
Advertising
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much advertising air time his Department purchased with each commercial television company in each of the last five years.
Mr. Peter Walker : Advertising air time purchased with each commercial television company in each of the last five years is commercially confidential.
ENVIRONMENT
Water Authorities (Fords)
Mr. Nicholas Baker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the responsibility of water authorities or other bodies for the maintenance of fords.
Mr. Howard : Water authorities have no responsibility for the maintenance of fords. Where a ford has been dedicated as a highway maintainable at public expense, responsibility for its maintenance rests with the highway authority.
Advertising
Mr Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much has been spent by his Department on advertisements on commercial television in each of the last five years, listed by each television company.
Column 46
Mr. Ridley : My Department advertised on commercial television as follows :
--in September 1984 at a total cost of £516,000 (including production charges)
--in April 1989 at a total cost of £1 million (including production charges)
No television advertising appeared between 1985 and 1988. The sums paid to individual stations is a matter of commercial
confidentiality.
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much advertising air time his Department purchased with each commercial television company in each of the last five years.
Mr. Ridley : I have nothing further to add to the reply that I gave earlier today because the sums paid to individual stations is a matter of commercial confidentiality.
Water Privatisation
Mr Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who will pay the water bill incurred by the fire brigade putting out (a) domestic and (b) industrial fires once the water authorities are privatised.
Mr. Howard : Clause 79 of the Water Bill will prohibit water undertakers from charging for water taken from a public hydrant or from private premises for fire fighting purposes.
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Departmental Property
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the property costs, including rent, asset replacement and rates, of his Department in total in each standard both in total and per square foot for each year since 1983.
Mr. Ridley : Information in the form requested is not available except at disproportionate cost. However, central DOE has paid the PSA for accommodation and services under the property repayment system (PRS) since 1 April 1984. Under these arrangements, annual charges for the accommodation occupied have been as follows :
Figures in brackets are costs per square foot
Year Rent and rates Total cost
|£ million|£ |£ million|£
------------------------------------------------------------
1984-85 |22.9 |(9.8) |26.7 |(11.4)
1985-86 |22.5 |(10.1) |26.7 |(12.0)
1986-87 |18.2 |(8.4) |22.5 |(10.4)
1987-88 |19.3 |(8.7) |23.9 |(10.7)
1988-89 |19.7 |(8.8) |25.7 |(11.6)
Departmental Plant and Equipment
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the last revaluation of plant and equipment employed by his Department was carried out ; and what plant and equipment asset replacement charges are incurred by his Department.
Mr. Ridley : The Department of the Environment operates a cash-based system which enables Parliament to be satisfied that the amounts of cash voted to be spent on activities have been so spent. There has, therefore, been no overall need to maintain comprehensive up to date valuations of plant and equipment, the purchase cost of which is tightly controlled through the cash accounting system.
Rights of Way
Dr. Glyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has had to make a legal definition of the entire rights of way network legally defined by the year 2000.
Mr. Virginia Bottomley : A number of representations have been received supporting the Countryside Commission's objective that the rights of way network should be legally defined, properly maintained and well publicised by the end of the century.
Council Housing (Rents)
Mr. McCrindle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what effect ring fencing of the housing revenue account will have on the ability of councils (a) to set rents in their areas and (b) to control future rent rises ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) if he proposes to reduce housing subsidy to an authority which does not increase rents in line with Government policy ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) if he expects local authorities in deficit on the housing revenue account to increase rents twice in the year of account ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : In the new regime, my right hon. Friend will set an annual guideline rent increase for each local
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authority. Housing revenue account subsidy will be paid on the assumption, among other things, that the authority increases rent in accordance with the guideline. Subsidy for the year will not be reduced if the authority raises rents by a different amount. Local authorities will be free to set their own rents so long as they do not budget to make a deficit on their housing revenue account for any year. If, despite this, it appears during the year that a deficit is likely to arise on the account, the authority will be required to take all such steps as are reasonably practicable to avoid that outcome. In such a case it will be for the authority to decide whether a rent increase is necessary.Housing Action Trusts
Mr. Clay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has for the expenditure by his Department on the further consultation period for the proposed HAT in Sunderland, from the publication of the consultant's report to the ballot of tenants.
Mr. Trippier : My right hon. Friend has appointed a consortium led by Peat Marwick McLintock to discuss with local people the proposal for a trust in Sunderland. The cost of the contract will remain commercially confidential until it has been completed. No estimates have yet been made of the costs of a ballot which would be arranged by the Electoral Reform Society.
Assisted Private Purchase Schemes
Mr. Malins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to grant the London borough of Croydon's application to administer an assisted private purchase scheme.
Mr. Trippier : The Department wrote to approve one scheme on 8 May, and will shortly be writing about two more.
Community Charge
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many Ministers have delivered the leaflet "The Community Charge : The So- Called Poll Tax : How It Will Work For You" to private homes ; and in what places.
Mr. Gummer : Two Ministers delivered the leaflet to homes. I delivered it in Westminster and my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State, the Member for Surrey, South-West (Mrs. Bottomley) in Kirkstall, Leeds.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the leaflets on the community charge/poll tax delivered on the morning of Wednesday 10 May to homes in Fife terrace, London N1, by the Post Office were delivered on the instructions of his Department.
Mr. John Gummer : The Post Office was contracted by the Central Office of Information, on the instructions of the Department of the Environment, to deliver a copy of the leaflet to every household in England. However, at approximately 6.30 pm on Tuesday 9 May the Post Office was instructed to discontinue delivery.
Column 49
Water Pollution
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the effects on pollution levels of the granting to water authorities of lower discharge consents under the Water Bill.
Mr. Howard : On 7 December I announced a capital programme costing around £1 billion to bring substandard sewage treatment works into compliance with their discharge consents by March 1992. In line with established practice, water authorities may apply for time-limited discharge consents for these works to regularise current performance while improvements take place. The remedial programme is expected to lead to significant improvements in river quality and consent conditions no less stringent than those that currently apply will be reintroduced once improvements are completed.
In the interim, and as an additional environmental safeguard, the time- limited consents will incorporate new upper-tier conditions defining absolute maximum limits for specified pollutants. The Water Bill will strengthen the framework for water pollution control. It will be for the new National Rivers Authority (NRA) to determine discharge consents and, in doing so, it will have a duty to achieve the statutory quality objectives to be set for all rivers.
Shopping Developments (Greater Manchester)
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environent when he intends to announce his decision about planning applications for out-of-town shopping developments in Greater Manchester ; and to which organisation and individuals this information has already been given by Ministers.
Mr. Chope : The decisions on these applications will be announced as soon as possible. A number of organisations and individuals, particularly applicants and their agents, have inquired about the expected decision date, but no details of inquirers have been recorded.
Lawyers
Mr. Adley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many lawyers are retained by his Department.
Mr. Ridley : The Department currently has 44 lawyers in post, including three part-timers.
Property Valuation
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his Department or its agencies last carried out a valuation of its property assets ; what the total property portfolio is worth in each standard region ; and what charges for asset replacement are made.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 11 May 1989] : The PSA is responsible for the management of the civil estate vested in me and it is currently undertaking a valuation of the estate which will include an asset valuation.
This major exercise, which is being carried out by independent valuers, will not be completed until the end of the year. Neither the depreciation of assets, nor the cost of replacing assets, are directly provided for in the existing annual vote structure.
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Anti-competitive Practices
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, further to his answer of 27 April, Official Report , column 660 , to the hon. Member for Copeland, he will list for each authority the nature of the complaints of alleged anti-competitive practices and the individual or organisation responsible for making the complaint.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 11 May 1989] : No. I do not propose to give such information about individual authorities while allegations are being investigated. Nor do I consider it relevant or necessary to name those making complaints. I do, however, intend to inform the House when I have used my powers of sanction under paragraph I of the Local Government Act 1988.
Dredged Aggregates
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the principal areas of dredging for aggregates.
Mr. Major : I have been asked to reply. The principal areas licensed by the Crown Estate Office for the purpose of dredging aggregates are as follows :
The Bristol Channel
Off Great Yarmouth
The mouth of the Humber
The mouth of the Thames
Around the Isle of Wight.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Short Brothers
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he has any plans to improve (a) the security fence and (b) general security at the missile production facility belonging to Short's in Belfast.
Mr. Ian Stewart [holding answer 2 May 1989] : Since the theft in October last year from a Short's factory, there has been a review of security arrangements at all Short's establishments. A number of additional security measures, both physical and procedural, either have already been, or are being, implemented following that review. Security arrangements at all establishments belonging to Short's are the primary responsibility of the company, though my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State maintains, given his overall responsibility for security in Northern Ireland, a close interest in such matters.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to be in a position to announce the new owner of Short Brothers plc ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Viggers [holding answer 11 May 1989] : I have now received detailed proposals from Fokker/GEC and Bombardier. The two proposals are different in nature but both offer considerable opportunities for Short's. It will take some time to evaluate them fully, but I am conscious of the need to end any uncertainty about the future of the company as soon as possible.
Column 51
EMPLOYMENT
Community Energy Action
64. Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects the number of trainees undertaking community energy action work in draughtproofing and loft insulation to equal the number so engaged under the community programme in 1988.
Mr. Nicholls : No direct comparison can be made between the number of trainees in a particular occupational area under employment training and the number of participants that were engaged in such work under the community programme. The number of trainees in draughtproofing and loft insulation is determined by the demand for training in these and related occupational skills.
High Moor Pit (Inquiry)
65. Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his response to the recommendations of the report of the inquiry into the fall of roof which occurred at High Moor pit on 13 January.
Mr. Nicholls : My right hon. Friend welcomes the comprehensive report by British Coal and its recommendations, which were agreed by all sides of industry, the trade unions and by the Health and Safety Executive's mines and quarries inspectorate. I also understand that the recommendations are in the process of being implemented.
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