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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 29 November 1989
ENVIRONMENT
Environmental Protection
142. Mr. David Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on United Kingdom participation in international efforts to protect the environment.
143. Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what international initiatives Her Majesty's Government are taking to protect and improve the natural environment ; and if he will make a statement.
144. Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what initiatives Her Majesty's Government are taking to protect and improve the international environment ; and if he will make a statement.
145. Mr. Mans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the United Kingdom's participation in international efforts to protect the environment.
146. Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what international initiatives Her Majesty's Government are taking to protect and improve the national and international environment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what role Britain can play in international efforts to protect the environment.
Mr. Chris Patten : I will write to my hon. Friends.
Tritium
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will investigate the reasons why 5 gm of radioactive tritium imported from the United States of America to the United Kingdom for the use in lighting has gone missing ; if he will instruct Her Majesty's chief inspectors of pollution and nuclear installations to produce a report on the disappearance of the tritium ; and if he will seek details from the United States Department of Energy on the background to its report on the incident issued in November 1989.
Mr. Trippier : Users of tritium are either registered under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 or, in the case of licensed nuclear installations, licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and are regulated by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution or Her Majesty's nuclear installations inspectorate as appropriate. In all cases the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985, which control the storage and provide for accountancy for all radioactive substances, apply.
Officials of the United States Department of Energy met recently with the United Kingdom Department of
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Energy and with United Kingdom customers for United States tritium to discuss improved measurement and auditing procedures.Rating Reform
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why he decided to use 1981 census information about the numbers of persons in households without inside lavatories in setting the all-ages social index for his calculation of standard spending assessments in respect of poll tax.
Mr. Chope : Decisions on information to use for standard spending assessments were taken after full discussion with the local authority associations. The proportion of persons in private households without exclusive use of a bath or inside WC has been used as one of a number of factors selected to identify those local authorities with relatively inferior living conditions. The information from the 1981 census is the latest available on a consistent basis for each local authority.
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why he has used 1981 census information about the numbers of elderly living alone in calculating standard spending assessments in respect of poll tax.
Mr. Chope : Decisions on information to use for standard spending assessments were taken after full discussion with the local authority associations. The information from the 1981 census on the number of elderly people living alone is the latest available on a consistent basis for each local authority for which the assessments are made.
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why he has used 1981 census information in respect of children of lone parents in calculating standard spending assessments in respect of poll tax.
Mr. Chope : Decisions on information to use for standard spending assessments were taken after full discussion with the local authority associations. The 1981 census is the most recent source of this information on a consistent basis for each local authority.
Caravan Sites
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list the caravan sites owned by local authorities which afford permanent housing yet lack a bathroom, indoor lavatory and hot water system ; and if he will give the reasons why he decided to withhold permission for the necessary expenditure in these cases.
Mr. Howard : My Department does not keep detailed records of the standards of facility local authorities provide on caravan sites they own, and councils do not need my permission to spend money on such sites. Grant is available to meet 100 per cent. of the reasonable capital costs of provision.
Rifle Range (Palace of Westminster)
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the proposals which his Department has received since 1979 for alternative uses for the Palace of Westminster rifle range.
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Mr. Chope : No alternative proposals have been put to my Department.Standard Spending Assessments
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the standard spending assessments for highway maintenance for each highway authority in England giving, in each case, the actual spending for 1988-89 adjusted for inflation ; (2) if he will list the 1990- 91 standard spending assessment for (a) personal social services, (b) social services for children, (c) social services for the elderly and (d) other social services for each social services authority in England, giving in each case the actual spend for 1988-89 adjusted for inflation.
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Mr. Chope : The information requested on SSAs has been placed in the Library. The provisional figures are those underlying the exemplifications in the consultation paper my right hon. Friend issued on 6 November. Outturn expenditure figures for 1988-89 are not yet available for all relevant authorities.
Housing Starts
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing housing starts in each region to May 1989, showing the percentage change in starts from the same quarter in 1988.
Mr. Chope : Housebuilding starts for regions in England are now available for the September quarter of 1989, and are given below, together with figures for the corresponding quarter of 1988 :
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Housebuilding starts in thousands
|September |September |Percentage
|quarter 1988|quarter 1989|change
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
North |2.6 |2.5 |-4.2
Yorkshire and Humberside |4.9 |3.9 |-19.3
East Midlands |6.0 |3.9 |-35.5
East Anglia |4.5 |2.9 |-36.0
South East:
Greater London |3.6 |2.3 |-34.6
Rest of South East |16.2 |8.4 |-48.1
South West |7.3 |4.3 |-41.3
West Midlands |4.8 |3.3 |-31.0
North West |4.5 |4.4 |-3.1
|----- |----- |-----
England |54.4 |35.9 |-34.0
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions there have been or are pending as a result of damage caused by agricultural or forestry activities to sites of special scientific interest under part II of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for each year since 1981 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The information requested is as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1981 |None
1982 |None
1983 |None
1984 |1
1985 |2
1986 |None
1987 |None
1988 |4
1989 |1
Details of these cases are set out in the Nature Conservancy Council's annual reports.
Basking Sharks
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about his investigations into giving basking sharks protection under part I of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; and when he expects to make an announcement.
Mr. Trippier : The Nature Conservancy Council recommended protection for the basking sharks under section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as part
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of its first statutory quinquennial review of schedules 5 and 8 to that Act. This recommendation is the subject of ongoing consultation with other Government Departments and an announcement will be made when the consultation is complete.Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to research into the status of basking sharks in the United Kingdom ; what financial resources have been devoted to this by his Department ; when he expects the results of this research be published ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Research on basking sharks populations is being carried out by the Marine Conservation Society with grant aid from the Nature Conservancy Council which also holds the data bank for the project. No date has yet been fixed for the publication of the results.
Uniform Business Rate
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to make a statement on the uniform business rate.
Mr. Chope : My right hon. Friend told the House on 6 November his provisional view that the non-domestic rating multiplier for 1990-91 would be 36p. The final figure, which will appear in the revenue support grant report to be laid in January, will depend on later information about the non-domestic revaluation.
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Housing Grants
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing housing grants in each region to June 1989 showing the percentage change in grants for the same quarters in 1988.
Mr. Chope : The total number of conversion and improvement, intermediate, repairs and special grants paid in each region in the June quarters of 1988 and 1989 are shown in table 2.19, part C, of "Housing and Construction Statistics, Part 2" No. 38. A copy of the publication is available in the Library.
Pensioners
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice the Government have received from the Audit Commission and from the Government Actuary's department about the proposal that in future local authorities should not be allowed to fund fully their obligations to future pensioners, but should be restricted to 75 per cent. of this obligation.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory [holding answer 28 November 1989] : The proposals for funding the payment of pensions increases, as well as basic pensions in the local government superannuation scheme, have been developed in full consultation with the Government Actuary's department. They have been the subject of consultation with various bodies, including the Audit Commission.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Pensions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost of re-establishing the link of pensions to the rise in earnings.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : In 1988-89 the cost of restoring the link between retirement pension and average earnings would have been £3.58 billion.
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the obstacles to reaching a reciprocal agreement which would allow indexing of British pensions abroad in each of the countries where unindexed pensions are paid ;
(2) what would be the net cost of providing a reciprocal agreement which would allow the uprating of British pensions abroad in each of the countries where pensions are paid but not currently indexed.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : British pensions are payable anywhere in the world, but pension increases are not paid in some 145 countries where British pensioners live. The primary obstacle to paying full British pensions in these countries is the high cost, which would be of the order of an additional £248 million a year at April 1989 rates of benefit and a further £38.2 million at the April 1990 uprating.
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the net cost of uprating British pensions in each of the countries with which the United Kingdom has a reciprocal agreement to index pensions.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The current annual cost of British pensions in the 30 countries where pension
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increases are paid is of the order of £266 million. The cost of uprating these pensions in April 1990 will be about £20.2 million.ENERGY
Electricity Privatisation
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what reduction in civil servant numbers there will be in existing Government Departments presently dealing with the electricity industry after its privatisation.
Mr. Wakeham : There will be a reduction in civil servants employed in my Department to deal with the electricity industry after privatisation, but I cannot at this stage say what the full extent of the reduction will be.
Collieries
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list the collieries closed or merged since 1979, by British Coal area.
Mr. Michael Spicer : In his reply of 13 May 1987 to my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Mr. Stewart), my predecessor gave details of collieries closed between 1960 and March 1987 by British Coal area, at columns 237-54.
The following brings the list of colliery closures up to date : 1987-88
Scottish
Seafield/Frances
North East
Ashington
North Yorkshire
Wheldale
Nostell
Woolley/Redbrook
South Kirby/Riddings
South Yorkshire
Manvers
Nottinghamshire
Linby
Mansfield
Central
Arkwright
Cadley Hill
Western
South Wales
Lady Windsor/Abercynon
Abernant
Kent
Snowdown
1988-89
Scottish
Barony/Killoch
North East
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
Nottinghamshire
Blidworth
Central
Baddesley
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Renishaw ParkWestern
South Wales
Cynheidre
Marine
Kent
1989-90
Scottish
Bilston Glen
North East
North Yorkshire
Royston Drift
South Yorkshire
Barnburgh
Nottinghamshire
Sutton
Central
Warsop
Western
Holditch
South Wales
Trelewis
Oakdale
Methyr Vale
Kent
Betteshanger
The following list shows those pits which have merged since 1979 : Scottish
Seafield/Frances
Barony/Killoch
North East
Shilbottle/Whittle
South Hetton/Murton
Lynemouth/Ellington
Vane Tempest/Seaham
North Yorkshire
Caphouse/Denby Grange
Caphouse/Denby Grange/Bulcliffe Wood
Woolley/North Gawber
Haughton Main/Darfield Main
South Kirkby/Ferrymoor Riddings
Denby Grange/Park Mill
South Yorkshire
Shireoaks/Streetley
Goldthorpe/Highgate/Hickleton
Manvers/Wath/Kilnhurst
Nottinghamshire
Huchnall/Babbington
Annesley/Bentinck
Shirebrook/Pleasley
Markham/Ireland
Snibston/South Leicester/Whitwick
Western
Donisthorpe/Measham/Rawdon
Bayworth/Ellistown
South Wales
Oakdale/Celynen North
Blaensercan/Six Bells
Tower/Mardy
Marine/Six Bells
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