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Mr. Michael Forsyth : Information is not held centrally in the form requested, but studies in recent years suggest that under 50 per cent. of the graduates of the Edinburgh school practice in Scotland whereas well over 50 per cent. of the graduates of the Dundee and Glasgow schools do so.
Gaelic Broadcasting
Mr. McKelvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to back the case for a Gaelic broadcasting council funded on a similar basis to S4C.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 13 July 1989] : The implications of the recent White Paper for Gaelic broadcasting are still under consideration. An announcement will be made in due course.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Eggs
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has any plans to define in egg marketing regulations a fresh egg ; and whether he intends to make sell-by stickers compulsory.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The egg marketing standards regulations of the European Community define quality standards for "fresh eggs", and require that the date or period of packing should be shown on the pack and provide that a sell-by date may also be added.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to introduce heavier fines for shops found selling bad eggs or other produce ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The Eggs (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1985 already prescribe a substantial fine of up to £2,000 for an offence relating to the marketing of substandard eggs. Under the Food Act 1984 it is an offence to sell unfit food. The maximum fine applicable is again £2,000. In each particular case it is for the courts to decide upon the appropriate level of fine within the maximum.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to initiate further spot checks in the United Kingdom to test the quality of eggs ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The egg marketing inspectorate already carries out a systematic schedule of inspection visits to egg packing centres and wholesalers, and provides
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technical assistance to trading standards officers at retail outlets, to ensure that eggs meet with requirements for quality, weight and labelling as prescribed by the egg marketing standards regulations of the European Community.Anthrax
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has any record of anthrax being confirmed in any wild animals during the last 10 years.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Anthrax is not notifiable in animals in the wild and there are no records of cases having occurred in Great Britain.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what steps he is taking to determine the cause of the current outbreak of anthrax in Wales ;
(2) whether he has any evidence of contaminated animal feed being the cause of the current outbreak of anthrax in Wales.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Detailed epidemiological investigations have been undertaken including attempts to culture anthrax from food hoppers and environmental supplies. All results have been negative.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the incubation period of anthrax in (a) humans, (b) cattle, (c) sheep and (d) pigs.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The incubation period of anthrax in animals is variable in all species and can range from 24 hours to 14 days. In man, incubation can be up to seven days, and is normally between two and five days.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, in the light of the current outbreak of anthrax in Wales, he will now introduce a compulsory slaughter and compensation scheme in respect of this disease.
Mr. Donald Thompson : I have no plans to do so.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of anthrax have been recorded in the United Kingdom in each of the farm animal species during each of the last five years.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The information requested is set out as follows :
1988 3 cattle
1987 6 cattle
1986 12 cattle ; 2 sheep ; 1 horse
1985 6 cattle
1984 9 cattle
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the susceptibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy- infected cattle to other bovine ailments.
Mr. Donald Thompson : BSE-infected cattle are susceptible to all other bovine ailments.
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Prisons (Education Services)
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the amount of financial assistance given at present by the Inner London education authority towards education services at each London prison.
Mrs. Rumbold : The responsibility for education in Her Majesty's prisons rests with the Home Office. It discharges this responsibility by contracting with the relevant local education authorities to provide an education service to prisons. The Inner London education authority provides this service to Her Majesty's prisons in London. The cost of this provision is met by the Home Office.
Special Needs
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will use his powers under the Education Act 1981 to ensure compliance with the terms of the Act by the seven local education authorities which have failed to offer assessment and statementing procedures for more than 80 per cent. of children in their special schools ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Butcher : The Department has considered the statements made in the fact sheet written by Mr. Will Swann and published recently by the Centre for Studies on Integration in Education (CSIE), in the light of the latest available statistical returns. A number of local education authorities have been asked for further information about the number of pupils who attend special schools and do not have statements of special educational needs. In the light of their replies the Secretary of State will consider what further action may need to be taken.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he is giving to those local authorities where the proportion of children with special needs segregated in special schools is increasing.
Mr. Butcher : It is for local education authorities to decide how they arrange to make the special educational provision required by pupils for whom they have made a statement of special educational needs. Section 2(2) of the Education Act 1981 places LEAs under a duty to secure that pupils with statements are educated in an ordinary school subject to the conditions described in section 2(3) of that Act. The Department will shortly be issuing a revised circular of guidance regarding the implementation of the 1981 Act.
Community Charge
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether head teachers will be required to notify community charge registration officers of the names and home addresses of all pupils in secondary education over 18 years of age.
Mrs. Rumbold : No. Community charge registration officers are not empowered to demand information other than from precepting or charging authorities or to approach schools directly.
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Independent Schools
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many independent schools have been closed following a notice of complaint in the last five years.
Mr. Butcher : Since April 1984, five independent schools have closed following the issue of a notice of complaint.
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to introduce an accreditation for independent schools supervised by Her Majesty's inspectorate.
Mr. Butcher : My right hon. Friend has no plans to introduce an accreditation scheme for independent schools.
Dental Education
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the proportion of students admitted to each of the three dental schools in Scotland in October 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 who graduated on time, and the proportion who failed to graduate in dentistry ; and what the corresponding proportions are for dental schools in the United Kingdom as a whole.
Mr. Jackson : Information is not available centrally which directly relates graduate output with entrants to dentistry courses. The numbers of graduates in clinical dentistry in each of the three dental schools in Scotland in the last four years were as follows :
|1985|1986|1987|1988
--------------------------------------------
Dundee |48 |n/a |33 |44
Edinburgh |45 |53 |47 |36
Glasgow |60 |67 |63 |70
All United Kingdom |830 |n/a |731 |729
n/a not available.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has asked the Universities Funding Council to reach a decision on the undergraduate education recommendations of the report on dental provision in Scotland.
Mr. Jackson : With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland has sent the report of the review of dental provision in Scotland to the Universities Funding Council, and asked the council to consider the working party's advice in reaching decisions on undergraduate dental education.
Motor Neurone Disease
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to increase funding for research into cause and treatment of motor neurone disease, and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : The main agency through which the Government fund medical research is the Medical Research Council, which receives a grant-in -aid from this Department. The council's grant for 1989-90 is £176 million, an increase of 17 per cent. over its grant for
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1988-89 of £150 million. The council itself determines the allocation of the funds at its disposal. The council is always willing to consider soundly-based proposals for new research programmes in competition with other proposals.Dental Schools (Scotland)
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish figures on the average academic attainment in terms of points scores in Scottish certificate of education highers and general certificate of education A-levels for entrants to the three Scottish dental schools and also the number of applicants per place for each school for each of the last nine years.
Mr. Jackson : This information is not collected by the Department.
Grant-maintained Status
Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will clarify the role of teacher governors in decisions by school governing bodies on whether to ballot parents on grant-maintained status.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The Government's intention, as reflected in the provisions of the Education Reform Act, is that teacher governors should play a full part in a decision on whether to ballot parents about grant- maintained status for the school. I am considering what amendments might be made to the School Government Regulations 1987 to ensure they reflect that intention. Revised regulations will be brought into force at the beginning of the next school year.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Fermanagh (Ministerial Visits)
Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when any junior Minister from the Northern Ireland Office last visited either Newtownbutler or Rosslea Royal Ulster Constabulary station in south- east Fermanagh ; and what was the cost of the security operation thus entailed.
Mr. Ian Stewart : No Minister has visited Newtownbutler or Rosslea RUC station recently.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
South Africa (Nuclear Missile Test)
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any information on the Republic of South Africa's plans to test a nuclear capable intermediate-range ballistic missile system developed with the aid of Israel.
Mr. Waldegrave : Although we are aware of recent press reports on this subject, we cannot substantiate them. We have, however, instructed Her Majesty's embassies in Pretoria and Tel Aviv to inquire with the relevant authorities about the validity of the reports.
Tibet
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to monitor the internal situation (a)
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in Tibet in general and (b) in Lhasa in particular, with regard to possible human rights abuses by Chinese forces ; what representations he has made in 1989 to the Chinese authorities regarding their occupation of Tibet ; what steps he is taking to pursue the proposal put forward by the Dalai Lama for a self-governing Tibet under Chinese sovereignty ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Eggar : Although the imposition of martial law has reduced the outward flow of information on Tibet, the British embassy in Peking continues to monitor the situation closely by all available means. We have made clear to the Chinese authorities on many occasions the real concern in this country about human rights in Tibet. While we continue to believe that the most promising solution to the problem of Tibet is through dialogue between the Chinese Government and the Tibetan people, including the Dalai Lama, our immediate concern in recent weeks has been to bring home to the Chinese authorities our sense of shock and outrage at the brutality with which they suppressed those who were demonstrating for democracy in Peking.
Cyprus
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he is having with the Government of Cyprus as to threats that Turkish people leaving Bulgaria could be settled in the Turkish-occupied town of Famagusta ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Chalker : The Turkish Cypriot offer to resettle ethnic Turkish refugees from Bulgaria in Varosha, the sector of Famagusta controlled by the Turkish army, was one of a number of topics I discussed with President Vassiliou on 10 July. We agreed that implementation of that offer would adversely affect the prospects for negotiation of a settlement of the Cyprus problem through the current intercommunal talks.
French Revolution
Mr. Nicholas Baker : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy not to join in celebrations of Bastille day in France on 14 July or the bicentenary of the French revolution.
Mrs. Chalker : France is a close ally and partner. My right hon. and learned Friend will be in Paris on 14 to 16 July for the ceremonies marking the bicentenary of the French revolution and the declaration of the rights of man, followed by the Economic Summit.
Human Rights
Mr. Keith Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about the denial of human rights in the last five years in Czechoslovakia.
Mr. Eggar : We have made a number of representations about human rights to the Czechoslovakian authorities over the last five years, but the precise information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Keith Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in Burkina.
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Mr. Keith Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights and the use of torture in the last five years in Barbados.
Mr. Keith Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about the denial of human rights in the last five years in Brunei.
Mr. Eggar : None. We expressed concern about certain aspects of human rights in Brunei at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The Brunei Government are aware of our concern.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in Burundi.
Mr. Eggar : We have made a number of representations to the Burundi authorities about human rights over the last five years. Following the ethnic violence last August we made a demarche to the Government of Burundi in concert with our EC partners. We are pleased to note the recent efforts of the Burundi Government to improve the human rights situation.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in Bhutan.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in Cyprus.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in Kiribati.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has made complaining about denial of human rights in the last five years in the Marshall Islands.
Entry Clearance
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the hours of opening at the following posts (a) New Delhi, (b) Bombay, (c) Dhaka, (d) Islamabad, (e) Karachi, (f) Nairobi and (g) Dar Es-Salaam ; and how many staff were employed at each post dealing with entry clearance matters on 1 January and for each of the 10 years before.
Mr. Eggar : This information is not readily available. I will reply to the hon. Member in due course.
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Mr. I. A. Alikazi
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Mr. Irfan Abdul Alikazi, whose date of birth is 13 October 1969, first applied to the post in Bombay to enter the United Kingdom ; on what dates he has been interviewed at the post ; and when a decision is to be taken on his application.
Mr. Eggar : The information requested is not readily available. A further reply will be sent to the hon. Member in due course.
Mr. M. Yasin
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Mr. Mohd Yasin, who was born in 1962 and whose reference is SN 81140, first applied to the post in Islamabad to enter the United Kingdom ; and when a decision is going to be taken on his application.
Mr. Eggar : The information requested is not readily available. A further reply will be sent to the hon. Member in due course.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
No-fault Compensation
Mr. Hind : To ask the Attorney-General what progress has been made with Recommendation 62 of the Review Body on Civil Justice that consideration should be given to the feasibility of a no-fault scheme for less serious road accidents.
The Solicitor-General : The Government have accepted the recommendation of the report of the review body on civil justice that the Lord Chancellor should consider the feasibility of a no-fault compensation scheme, restricted to less serious road accidents and financed by private insurance.
The review body pointed out that a number of advantages might flow from the introduction of such a scheme. It suggested that it would reduce uncertainty for claimants, avoid the delays and costs associated with litigation and, by removing disputes from the courts, reduce pressure on the court system.
On the other hand, as the review body made clear, one disadavantage of such a scheme is that motor insurance premiums could rise. Such a proposal gives rise to a number of other difficult issues, including the threshold of seriousness that will determine whether an accident falls outside the scheme ; whether it should cover accidents where the highway authority is held to have been at fault ; and whether certain categories of driver, for example, drinking drivers, should be excluded from the scheme. There is also the danger that such a scheme could undermine efforts of insurance companies to make drivers who cause accidents bear some of the costs through higher premiums. These difficult issues will need to be carefully studied and weighed alongside the possible advantages before any such scheme can be taken forward.
As the review body proposed, consideration of the feasibility of introducing such a scheme will be the subject of consultation with the insurance industry. Other interested parties, including the motoring organisations,
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will also be invited to submit their views. Since no-fault insurance schemes are already in operation in various other countries, including New Zealand and a number of states in the United States, the study will need to take account of the experience of these countries.It must be emphasised that this is a feasibility study, and it would therefore be wrong to assume at this stage that it will necessarily result in a change in existing arrangements.
ENVIRONMENT
Local Government Finance
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish illustrative figures for 1989-90 in respect of Her Majesty's Government's new system of local government finance so that comparison can be made with current local government taxes.
Mr. Gummer : I hope to publish illustrative figures for 1989-90 community charges later this month.
Rating Reform
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will tabulate what a typical married couple with two children and one wage-earner living in the London borough of Waltham Forest would pay (a) in community charge and (b) in a system of capital value rates plus local income tax paid in proportions of 80 to 20, respectively, if the wage earner earned (i) £10,000, (ii) £15, 000, (iii) £20,000, (iv) £25,000 and (v) £30,000 and lived in (i) rented accommodation,(ii) property owned by that wage earner worth £60,000 and (iv) property owned by that wage earner worth £90,000, making the same assumptions as in his reply to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Sir H. Rossi) on 22 March at column 626.
Mr. Gummer : The information requested is provided in the table.
Illustrative annual liability in Waltham Forest under a system of
capital value rates combined with local income tax
1988-89
|(i) and (ii) |(iii)
Earnings |Property value £60,000|Property value £90,000|Illustrative community
|owned or rented |owned or rented |charge 1988-89
|£ |£ |£ |£
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) |10,000 |645 |925 |269
(ii) |15,000 |715 |995 |269
(iii) |20,000 |785 |1,070 |269
(iv) |25,000 |860 |1,140 |269
(v) |30,000 |930 |1,210 |269
The ability of a person in rented accommodation would be the same as for a person living in property owned by that person of the same value. The figures are based on the illustrative tax rates placed in the Library on 23 June 1988 and are for 1988-89. It is assumed that the family has no entitlement to rebates. Taxable income is taken as earnings less £4,095, the married man's allowance in each case.
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