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Environment and Local Economy
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what input Her Majesty's Government had into the energy, environment and local economy conference, held at Wakefield in West Yorkshire on 21 November.
Mr. Wakeham : No Minister was invited.
PRIME MINISTER
Lancashire
Mr. Hind : To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to visit Lancashire.
The Prime Minister : I have at present no plans to do so.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Cambodia
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last reviewed Her Majesty's Government's aid and development embargo on Cambodia.
Mrs. Chalker : I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) on 23 November, at col 17.
Horn of Africa
Mr. Amess : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about
inter-governmental co-operation and co-ordination with
non-governmental organisations, in the light of the situation in the Horn of Africa.
Mrs. Chalker : At the European Community Development Council on 21 November I drew attention to the serious threat of famine in northern Ethiopia and urged that all possible diplomatic channels be used to exert pressure on the parties to the conflict to secure free access for food supplies. We are also liaising closely with other donor Governments and international agencies. Similar co-ordination takes place on the situation in Sudan. I meet regularly with the British non-governmental organisations working in the Horn of Africa.
Sri Lanka
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if h has any plans to increase overseas aid to Sri Lanka.
Mrs. Chalker : Aid disbursements were £19.2 million in 1988-89, but will be less this year. We have plans for a number of new projects including some in the natural resources sector and further assistance with reconstruction, but some of these have been or are being held up due to civil disturbances in the country.
Animal Conservation, Africa
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make additional resources available for those African countries implementing animal conservation and anti-poaching measures.
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Mrs. Chalker : We are already funding a number of wildlife conservation activities in Africa, and are always ready to consider new requests for help. The hon. Gentleman may wish to refer to the list placed in the Library of the House, which was referred to in the answer I gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Bosworth (Mr. Tredinnick) on 6 November, at column 437, as an indication of the sort of assistance we are able to provide.Ethiopia
Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further emergency assistance he is providing to Ethiopia in the light of reports of impending famine.
Mrs. Chalker : I approved on 27 November a further allocation of £2 million of emergency relief aid for Ethiopia. This is in addition to more than £7.5 million already agreed this year. This new money will probably be channelled largely through British voluntary agencies involved in the provision of food to those at risk of famine in Eritrea and Tigray.
WALES
M4
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate by how long the start of work on the missing link on the M4 motorway between Baglan and Lon Las has been delayed by expenditure on roads in the former county of Pembrokeshire.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave on Tuesday 28 November, at column 206.
Local Authority Expenditure
216. Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will make known his plans for local authority capital expenditure for 1990-91.
Mr. Peter Walker : Following the autumn review of public expenditure, I have decided to issue, in accordance with the new planning total arrangements, capital grant and credit approvals to local authorities in 1990-91 amounting to £414.3 million. In addition, there is no limit being set on the amount district councils can spend on mandatory home renovation grants next year. I have already provided £75 million for this purpose. Additional resources will be made available if local authorities spend beyond this level.
My proposals include priority for investment in personal social services and transport ; gross provision for both is being increased by 16 per cent. in real terms. The increase in personal social services provision reflects the need for local authorities to provide services for the rising number of the elderly as well as to provide for the shift in the burden of care in the mental health services from the NHS to local authorities. The increase in transport provision allows for three major road schemes to progress. The new arrangements for capital expenditure embodied in part IV of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 enabled local authorities to enhance the spending authorised by grant and credit approvals by the use of capital receipts not required for debt redemption and by an unfettered use of contributions from revenue.
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Assuming they continue previous trends in spending from these sources, total spending in the year will be of the order of £475 million. This compares with an equivalent total gross provision in 1989-90 under the previous capital control system of £444 million ; and represents an increase of around £30 million.Within the total for housing, £38.5 million has been set aside for highly cost-effective group repair schemes and to complete approved enveloping schemes ; to support renewal areas ; to support the priority estates programme (to improve the quality of the housing service to the customer in council estates) ; to help rural authorities with a high concentration of rural homes and to assist specific homelessness projects. In addition, £10 million has been distributed to authorities in the form of supplementary credit approvals for discretionary home renovation grants.
Local authorities are being notified today of their individual annual capital guidelines and basic credit approvals on all services including supplementary credit approvals and grant in respect of major road schemes (£51 million) and projects of regional or national importance and special projects (£14.7 million).
The distribution of urban programme capital resources, totalling £24.9 million, will be announced shortly.
Details of the allocation of resources to individual authorities have been placed in the Library.
Tai Cymru
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what level of funding he is providing to Tai Cymru in 1990-91 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker : I am delighted to announce that I shall be providing for an increase of over £27 million in the funds made available to Tai Cymru in the next financial year. This is an improvement of over 40 per cent. and will result in a major advance in the activities of housing associations within the Principality. The gross programme for Tai Cymru increases to over £102 million. Tai Cymru has been established only since April 1989. It has made an excellent start. I want to see its work develop strongly so that housing associations can provide many more homes for people in housing need in Wales, both now and for the future.
The increase in provision is planned to rise further over the period to 1992-93. I shall be reviewing the allocations year by year in the light of Tai Cymru's overall performance, and that of housing associations generally --not least in developing further partnership arrangements with local authorities. But already I expect that as early as 1991-92, and just three years after Tai Cymru's inception, net provision will have increased to nearly double that provided for housing associations in 1988-89.
Hazardous Waste
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the country of origin and the destination of all toxic waste imports through the ports (a) Briton Ferry (Neath), (b) Fishguard, (c) Holyhead and (d) Newport for the last three available years, together with the nature of toxic waste in each case.
Mr. Grist : The information for the period is not available in the detail requested. Since the implementation of the Transfrontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste
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Regulations in October 1988, more detailed information is being collected, and the first full financial year's data will be available after March 1990.Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether there have been any movements of special hazardous waste through Swansea in the last 10 years.
Mr. Grist : None was reported in the local authority returns for the period to March of this year, but we understand that a consignment of special waste was imported through Swansea in July.
Intensive Care (Babies)
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the total number of intensive care baby cots available in Wales, the number in each health authority and their locations within each health authority.
Mr. Grist : Specialist care for new-born babies in Wales, including intensive care, is presently provided in special care baby units, the disposition of which is shown in the table :
Health Authority |Hospital |Cots
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |HM Stanley |15
|Wrexham Maelor |22
East Dyfed |Bronglais |2
|West Wales General |12
Gwent |Nevill Hall |15
|Royal Gwent |20
Gwynedd |Ysbyty Bangor |22
Mid Glamorgan |Prince of Wales |17
|East Glamorgan |15
|Merthyr General |12
South Glamorgan |University Hospital|25
|St. David's |16
West Glamorgan |Morriston |16
|Neath |10
Pembroke |Withybush |8
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to increase the number of intensive care baby cots available in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : My right hon. Friend has recently received the report of the advisory group on perinatal intensive care in Wales which was set up to inform the Department of development requirements. It will be considered carefully in formulating plans.
Chernobyl
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what expenditure he has incurred in compensation for farmers as a result of the Chernobyl accident for each year since 1986 in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 27 November, at column 118.
Interest Rates (Farmers)
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has received about high interest rates from the Farmers Union of Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker : I have received two representations in writing and the matter was discussed in my meeting with the union on 23 October.
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Rivers (Protection)
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many rivers in Wales have protection zone status ; and if he will extend the scheme to cover other rivers.
Mr. Grist : None. It is for the National Rivers Authority or a water undertaker to apply to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State if they consider it necessary to restrict particular activities likely to result in the pollution of water.
Roads
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will set out his allocation for Welsh roads.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Our proposals for the development of the motorway and trunk road network in Wales are set out in "Roads in Wales 1989". Details of the schemes programmed to start in 1990-91 will be given in the Welsh Office commentary to be published early next year. We have announced today the provision made for local authority programmes. Within the total available, gross provision for local roads is £86.6 million, an increase of 22 per cent. over the provision for the current year. Local authority expenditure accepted for transport grant in 1990-91 is £50.9 million, an increase of 29 per cent. over that for 1989-90. Details of the transport grant settlement for individual county councils in Wales have been sent to each chief executive today.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Management Studies
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has made to the Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council and the Universities Funding Council to change the funding of courses and student places in management studies.
Mr. Jackson : My right hon. Friend has made no such proposals.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the number of students involved in (a) degree courses and (b) Higher National Diploma or equivalent courses in management in each of the last three years.
Mr. Jackson : The available information is given in the table.
Full-time and part-time higher
education students<1>
thousands
|1985|1986|1987
------------------------------------
Management
and management
related studies
Degree |45.8|48.0|51.2
Sub-degree |75.1|83.2|89.2
<1>Universities in Great Britain,
polytechnics and colleges in
England.
Secondary Schools
Mr. Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table to show, for secondary schools in England (a) how many have been
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closed, (b) how many have been subject to significant change of character by (i) loss of sixth form and (ii) other means and (c) how many have been subject to significant change of capacity for (i) girls' schools, (ii) boys' schools, (iii) mixed schools, (iv) voluntary schools and (v) county schools for the last five years ; and if he will indicate in each case how many schools there were in that category at the commencement of the five-year period.Mr. Alan Howarth : The information is given in the following table ; figures are in respect of schools approved for closure in the year in question :
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Calendar year |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989<1>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of maintained secondary schools approved for closure |61 |53 |43 |24 |43
Total number of maintained secondary schools in 1985 |4,382
Number of maintained secondary schools for which proposals were
approved for significant change of character
(i) By loss of sixth form |18 |46 |16 |8 |27
(ii) Otherwise |13 |29 |2 |27 |10
Number of maintained secondary schools for which significant
enlargement proposals were approved
(i) Girls' schools |- |- |- |- |1
Total number of maintained girls' secondary schools in 1985 |333
(ii) Boys' schools |- |- |- |- |-
Total number of maintained boys' secondary schools in 1985 |318
(iii) Mixed schools |2 |6 |3 |5 |1
Total number of maintained mixed secondary schools in 1985 |3,731
(iv) Voluntary schools |- |2 |1 |1 |1
Total number of maintained voluntary schools in 1985 |871
(v) County schools |2 |4 |2 |4 |1
Total number of maintained county schools in 1985 |3,511
<1> 31 October 1989.
Nursery Education (Bolton)
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of children under the age of five years who are currently receiving nursery education provided by Bolton education authority ; and what was the figure 10 years ago.
Mrs. Rumbold : The number of children under five attending maintained nursery schools and classes in Bolton in January 1989 and January 1979 are as follows :
January 1989 : 2,785.
January 1979 : 1,941.
Safety (London Schools)
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the safety of school buildings in London, following the death of Richard Cooney at Sir James Barrie primary school, Battersea, on 23 November.
Mr. Alan Howarth : I was greatly saddened to hear of this tragic accident. I understand that the Inner London education authority, which is responsible for the safety of school premises in inner London, is preparing a report on the incident. I am asking the Inner London education authority to make a copy of its report available to my hon. Friend.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Seat Belts
Mr. Amess : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) males and (b) females, aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 18, (iii) 19 to 21, (iv) 22 to 24,
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(v) 24 to 30 and (vi) 30 years and over were (aa) charged and (bb) convicted of failure to wear a seat belt in each month in 1987, 1988 and to date in 1989 in England and Wales ; what percentage the latter was of the former ; and what was the average fine ; (2) how many (a) males and (b) females, aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 18, (iii) 19 to 21, (iv) 22 to 24, (v) 24 to 30 and (vi) 30 years and over were (aa) charged and (bb) convicted of failure to war a seat belt in each month in 1987, 1988 and to date in 1989 in the Basildon area ; what percentage the latter was of the former ; and what was the average fine.Mr. John Patten : Breaches of regulations requiring wearing of seat belts are normally fixed penalty offences. The amount of the fixed penalty was £12 during 1987 and 1988, but the motorist could opt instead for court proceedings.
The table gives the number of court proceedings and convictions for each month in 1987 and 1988 in England and Wales and for Billericay petty sessional division ; details for the Basildon area are not available. Separate figures are shown for males and females and an age breakdown is given ; no sub-division of those aged 21 and over is available. Data for 1989 are not yet available.
In 1987 and 1988, the proportion of those charged who were convicted was 77 per cent. in England and Wales and 90 per cent. in the Billericay petty sessional division. The average fined for those offenders fines were £15 and £16 respectively.
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Proceedings at magistrates' courts for seat belt offences
England and Wales
Under 16 16-18 19-20 21 and over Total
|Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proceedings
1987
January |- |- |40 |2 |84 |8 |879 |80 |1,003 |90
February |2 |- |31 |3 |76 |3 |796 |72 |905 |78
March |1 |- |33 |2 |52 |6 |703 |52 |789 |60
April |4 |- |27 |- |57 |2 |645 |40 |723 |42
May |- |- |28 |5 |42 |4 |550 |45 |620 |54
June |2 |- |17 |5 |58 |3 |647 |50 |724 |58
July |- |- |25 |2 |42 |1 |566 |48 |633 |51
August |1 |- |22 |5 |49 |5 |519 |35 |591 |45
September |1 |- |30 |3 |54 |3 |511 |34 |596 |40
October |1 |- |33 |1 |45 |10 |619 |32 |698 |43
November |2 |- |35 |- |58 |2 |564 |46 |659 |48
December |2 |- |20 |1 |50 |2 |469 |34 |541 |37
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |16 |- |341 |29 |657 |49 |7,468 |568 |8,482 |646
1988
January |1 |- |20 |2 |44 |1 |550 |30 |615 |33
February |3 |- |26 |- |49 |2 |543 |43 |621 |45
March |3 |- |27 |- |62 |4 |613 |55 |705 |59
April |- |- |32 |1 |45 |3 |536 |40 |613 |44
May |1 |- |31 |- |67 |5 |559 |37 |658 |42
June |1 |- |29 |- |51 |6 |622 |49 |703 |55
July |- |- |29 |2 |73 |1 |520 |37 |622 |40
August |2 |- |31 |4 |64 |4 |601 |46 |698 |54
September |1 |- |31 |4 |48 |2 |537 |42 |617 |48
October |2 |- |27 |1 |57 |2 |529 |56 |615 |59
November |3 |- |29 |- |62 |2 |575 |48 |669 |50
December |- |- |24 |- |34 |3 |422 |29 |480 |32
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |17 |- |336 |14 |656 |35 |6,607 |512 |7,616 |561
Found Guilty
1987
January |- |- |36 |- |75 |8 |743 |70 |854 |78
February |1 |- |21 |3 |62 |2 |649 |64 |733 |69
March |1 |- |30 |2 |43 |6 |565 |43 |639 |51
April |3 |- |23 |- |43 |2 |513 |33 |582 |35
May |- |- |24 |4 |40 |3 |435 |37 |499 |44
June |1 |- |13 |5 |53 |2 |523 |43 |590 |50
July |- |- |19 |2 |32 |1 |469 |43 |520 |46
August |1 |- |18 |5 |42 |4 |415 |28 |476 |37
September |1 |- |27 |3 |42 |2 |432 |30 |502 |35
October |1 |- |25 |1 |39 |9 |490 |27 |555 |37
November |2 |- |30 |- |42 |2 |468 |38 |542 |40
December |2 |- |18 |1 |41 |2 |381 |31 |442 |34
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |13 |- |284 |26 |554 |43 |6,083 |487 |6,934 |556
1988
January |1 |- |16 |2 |35 |- |426 |26 |478 |28
February |3 |- |23 |- |41 |1 |446 |39 |513 |40
March |2 |- |24 |- |49 |4 |513 |46 |588 |50
April |- |- |29 |1 |42 |2 |442 |36 |513 |39
May |1 |- |28 |- |53 |5 |475 |31 |557 |36
June |1 |- |26 |- |45 |6 |511 |42 |583 |48
July |- |- |29 |2 |66 |1 |434 |34 |529 |37
August |2 |- |27 |4 |56 |4 |502 |43 |587 |51
September |1 |- |26 |4 |42 |2 |451 |36 |520 |42
October |2 |- |25 |1 |47 |2 |442 |52 |516 |55
November |3 |- |25 |- |52 |2 |465 |47 |545 |49
December |- |- |22 |- |29 |2 |351 |24 |402 |26
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |16 |- |300 |14 |557 |31 |5,458 |456 |6,331 |501
Proceedings at magistrates' courts for seat belt offences
England and Wales
Under 16 16-18 19-20 21 and over Total
|Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female |Male |Female
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proceedings
1987
January |- |- |40 |2 |84 |8 |879 |80 |1,003 |90
February |2 |- |31 |3 |76 |3 |796 |72 |905 |78
March |1 |- |33 |2 |52 |6 |703 |52 |789 |60
April |4 |- |27 |- |57 |2 |645 |40 |723 |42
May |- |- |28 |5 |42 |4 |550 |45 |620 |54
June |2 |- |17 |5 |58 |3 |647 |50 |724 |58
July |- |- |25 |2 |42 |1 |566 |48 |633 |51
August |1 |- |22 |5 |49 |5 |519 |35 |591 |45
September |1 |- |30 |3 |54 |3 |511 |34 |596 |40
October |1 |- |33 |1 |45 |10 |619 |32 |698 |43
November |2 |- |35 |- |58 |2 |564 |46 |659 |48
December |2 |- |20 |1 |50 |2 |469 |34 |541 |37
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |16 |- |341 |29 |657 |49 |7,468 |568 |8,482 |646
1988
January |1 |- |20 |2 |44 |1 |550 |30 |615 |33
February |3 |- |26 |- |49 |2 |543 |43 |621 |45
March |3 |- |27 |- |62 |4 |613 |55 |705 |59
April |- |- |32 |1 |45 |3 |536 |40 |613 |44
May |1 |- |31 |- |67 |5 |559 |37 |658 |42
June |1 |- |29 |- |51 |6 |622 |49 |703 |55
July |- |- |29 |2 |73 |1 |520 |37 |622 |40
August |2 |- |31 |4 |64 |4 |601 |46 |698 |54
September |1 |- |31 |4 |48 |2 |537 |42 |617 |48
October |2 |- |27 |1 |57 |2 |529 |56 |615 |59
November |3 |- |29 |- |62 |2 |575 |48 |669 |50
December |- |- |24 |- |34 |3 |422 |29 |480 |32
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |17 |- |336 |14 |656 |35 |6,607 |512 |7,616 |561
Found Guilty
1987
January |- |- |36 |- |75 |8 |743 |70 |854 |78
February |1 |- |21 |3 |62 |2 |649 |64 |733 |69
March |1 |- |30 |2 |43 |6 |565 |43 |639 |51
April |3 |- |23 |- |43 |2 |513 |33 |582 |35
May |- |- |24 |4 |40 |3 |435 |37 |499 |44
June |1 |- |13 |5 |53 |2 |523 |43 |590 |50
July |- |- |19 |2 |32 |1 |469 |43 |520 |46
August |1 |- |18 |5 |42 |4 |415 |28 |476 |37
September |1 |- |27 |3 |42 |2 |432 |30 |502 |35
October |1 |- |25 |1 |39 |9 |490 |27 |555 |37
November |2 |- |30 |- |42 |2 |468 |38 |542 |40
December |2 |- |18 |1 |41 |2 |381 |31 |442 |34
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |13 |- |284 |26 |554 |43 |6,083 |487 |6,934 |556
1988
January |1 |- |16 |2 |35 |- |426 |26 |478 |28
February |3 |- |23 |- |41 |1 |446 |39 |513 |40
March |2 |- |24 |- |49 |4 |513 |46 |588 |50
April |- |- |29 |1 |42 |2 |442 |36 |513 |39
May |1 |- |28 |- |53 |5 |475 |31 |557 |36
June |1 |- |26 |- |45 |6 |511 |42 |583 |48
July |- |- |29 |2 |66 |1 |434 |34 |529 |37
August |2 |- |27 |4 |56 |4 |502 |43 |587 |51
September |1 |- |26 |4 |42 |2 |451 |36 |520 |42
October |2 |- |25 |1 |47 |2 |442 |52 |516 |55
November |3 |- |25 |- |52 |2 |465 |47 |545 |49
December |- |- |22 |- |29 |2 |351 |24 |402 |26
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |16 |- |300 |14 |557 |31 |5,458 |456 |6,331 |501
Mr. Amess : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females, aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 18, (iii) 19 to 21, (iv) 22 to 24, (v) 24 to 30 and (vi) 30 years and over were sent to prison for failure to pay a fine for not wearing a seat belt in (aa) England and Wales and (bb) the Basildon area in each month since 1987.
Mr. Mellor : The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Discrimination
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will consider whether there should be further general guidelines as to the amount of an award of damages for compensation for injury to feelings in cases brought under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976 following the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Alexander v. Home Office and Noone v. North West Thames regional health authority.
Column 265
Mr. John Patten : My right hon. and learned Friend considers it neither necessary nor appropriate for him to issue any such guidelines.Probation Service
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends to monitor the effectiveness of the probation service's action plans during the next two years.
Mr. John Patten : The effectiveness of the probation service's action plans will be monitored by analysis of national sentencing and probation statistics, with special reference to young adult offenders ; by the collection of core monitoring data from probation areas which are establishing intensive probation programmes ; and by detailed research projects funded by the Home Office in five probation areas. Good progress is being made.
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many action plans he has received from probation services in England and Wales during the course of 1989.
Mr. John Patten : Action plans have been received from 55 of the 56 probation areas. No action plan has been received from the City of London probation service.
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the aims and objectives of the probation service's action plans.
Mr. John Patten : In general the action plans have the following aims and objectives : improving the presentation to courts of proposals for supervising offenders under non-custodial orders ; confronting offending behaviour and reducing the risk of further offending ; improving co- operation and co-ordination between different local services which can contribute to effective supervision ; and improving information systems within the probation service for monitoring the effectiveness of their work with the courts and with offenders.
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to increase the resources available to the probation service during the financial years 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mr. John Patten : The Government have provided for the following increase in specific grant payable to local authorities in support of current and capital expenditure on the probation service :
millions 1989-90 |1990-91|1991-92 £ |£ |£ -------------------------------- 184 |206 |223
The Government also plan to increase their capital and current expenditure on probation and bail hostels from £22 million in 1989-90 to £24 million in 1990-91 and £28.1 million in 1991-92. Between 1979-80 and 1988-89 there has been a 51 per cent. increase in expenditure on the probation service.
Child Abuse
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will identify the number of cases in the last year in which the child has been removed from the home instead of the abuser.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I have been asked to reply.
Information available centrally relates solely to the number of children for whom a place of safety order was made and where the local authority was responsible, or where the local authority made provision for a child removed on the authority of some other person or body. The most recently published information is in "Private Fostering and Place of Safety Orders in the year ended 31 March 1988 : England" and is available in the Library. Provisional estimates for the year ended 31 March 1989 are that there were 7,100 children subject to such orders.
Statistics are not available centrally about whether the suspected abuser was part of the household.
Birmingham Six
Sir John Farr : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that members of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, in their inquiry into the conviction of the Birmingham Six, are given full access to information about those west midlands police force members who at the time were members of the recently disbanded regional crime squad.
Mr. Waddington : I understand that the Legal Affairs Committee has not yet decided whether to conduct such an inquiry, and if so, what its terms of reference should be. We believe it would be wholly inappropriate for the European Parliament to inquire into the convictions of the Birmingham Six, which are within national competence.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Private Advisers
Mr. Rathbone : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what rules or guidelines govern the use by Government Departments of paid advisers or consultants from the private sector.
Mr. Ryder : Central terms and conditions and guidance, supplemented as appropriate by individual Departments, govern the use by Government Departments of paid advisers or consultants from the private sector.
Special advisers are appointed by Ministers under terms and conditions of service which in the main are the same as for civil servants. They are used by Ministers as considered necessary subject to those terms and conditions.
Guidance on the use of consultants is contained in the establishement officers guide. For management consultancy this is supplemented by the Treasury's "Seeking Help from Management Consultants" booklet. Other central advice is also provided, by, for example, the Treasury's central unit on purchasing for works consultants and by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency for computer consultancies.
Government Purchasing
Mr. Burt : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made in implementing the report, "Government Purchasing", of December 1984.
Mr. Ryder : A report by the central unit on purchasing on progress in Government purchasing during 1988-89 is published today. It records that central Government
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Departments (excluding the Ministry of Defence) reported value-for-money improvements in their purchasing totalling over £350 million equivalent to 5.3 per cent. of total reported expenditure. This represents an increase of over £100 million, or 1.4 percentage points, over last year's achievement and exceeds the 5 per cent. target originally set by Ministers.For 1989-90, these Departments have set targets for value-for-money improvements totalling about £450 million, equivalent to over 6 per cent. of expenditure. Greater emphasis is being given to monitoring Departments' current performance within this target, with a separate and sharper focus on value for money improvements arising from actions taken by Departments during the year. The purchasing initiative has now resulted in value for money improvements equivalent to some £850 million during the period 1985-86 to 1988-89.
A copy of the report has been placed in the Library of the House.
Import Penetration
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the proportion of imports of semi-manufactures bought by manufacturing industry ; and what is the ratio of imports of consumer goods to United Kingdom production of consumer goods.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 28 November 1989] : No estimates exist giving the proportion of imports of semi-manufactures bought by manufacturing industry, or of the ratio of imports of consumer goods to United Kingdom production of consumer goods. To derive these estimates would involved disproportionate costs.
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