| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 428
Demographic Change
67. Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact on the economy of demographic change.
Mr. Norman Lamont : There will continue to be significant demographic changes in the United Kingdom in the next decade and beyond. In particular there will be an increase in the numbers of the elderly, and especially those aged over 85, while fewer young people will be entering the labour force.
The interactions between the structure of the population and the state of the economy are complex and uncertain, and demographic change is only one of the many factors that affect the economy.
Consumer Credit
68. Mr. Wilkinson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any proposals to improve the effectiveness of the Government's policy to control consumer credit.
Mr. Ryder : The only fair and effective way to control consumer credit is, as now, by the use of interest rates.
Eastern Europe
69. Mr. David Martin : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the increased opportunities for the British economy following recent events in eastern Europe.
Mr. Norman Lamont : The Government very much welcome recent developments in eastern Europe. The dismantling of barriers to trade and investment and the freeing of eastern European economies which is likely to follow should provide opportunities for United Kingdom firms to greatly increase the business they do there.
Productivity
70. Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the figures for productivity per man hour in manufacturing industry for the last three years.
Mr. Norman Lamont : Output per man hour in United Kingdom manufacturing industry grew by an average of 1.6 per cent. a year over the last three years. The annual figures are 3.4 per cent. in 1986, 6.0 per cent. in 1987 and 4.8 per cent. in 1988.
Manufacturing Output
81. Mr. Dykes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the latest available index figures for real output in manufacturing industry together with figures for the time period or periods in 1973 for the United Kingdom with France, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Mr. Ryder : Following is the information requested.
|Manufacturing Output Indices (
1985=100)
|1973 |1988
---------------------------------
United Kingdom |110.4|114.0
Germany |90.7 |106.8
France |95.0 |107.6
Italy |84.1 |112.3
Source: OECD except United
Kingdom, CSO.
Pensioners (Free Shares)
Mr. Butler : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider giving all retirement pensioners free shares in forthcoming privatisations.
Mr. Lilley : The arrangements for each sale are a matter for the relevant Secretary of State. In past privatisations, it has not been the practice to offer all retirement pensioners free shares. There have, however, been special terms for the past and present employees of the privatised company.
Stamp Duty
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current yield from stamp duty split between the major transactions from which it is derived ; and what proportion of total taxation revenues it forms.
Mr. Lilley : The yield from stamp duty, including stamp duty reserve tax, in 1989-90 is forecast to be £2,260 million, about 1.4 per cent. of the latest forecast of total receipts in 1989-90 from taxes on income, expenditure and capital. The stamp duty yield is forecast to be split as follows :
|£ million
--------------------------------------------
Land and property |1,210
Stocks and shares |980
Life insurance policies |60
Other duties |10
|------
Total |2,260
National Savings Schemes
Mr. French : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he has taken to encourage savings in national savings schemes.
Mr. Ryder : The Government wish to attract into national savings funds which investors will leave untouched for several years. They therefore introduced the capital bond last January, offering a taxable guaranteed return of 12 per cent. a year if held to maturity after five years. The Government also aim to provide through national savings a fair return on the savings of non-taxpayers. Interest on national savings income and deposit bonds, and on deposits in the national savings bank investment account, is therefore paid or credited gross of income tax. The Government recently announced that the interest rate on these products would be increased by 1 per cent.
Civil Service Staff
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of Civil Service Staff are currently based outside London and what were the figures five, 10 and 15 years ago.
Mr. Ryder : The servicewide information available on numbers and proportions of civil servants working outside London is given in the table.
Column 430
Staff numbers (thousands)
|1 April |1 January|1 January
|1989 |1984 |1979
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-Industrial
London |112.9 |119.8 |138.6
Outside London |386.9 |389.1 |427.5
Proportion outside London (per cent.) |77.4 |76.5 |75.5
Industrial
London |6.1 |11.7 |10.7
Outside London |63.3 |112.1 |156.4
Proportion outside London (per cent.) |91.2 |90.6 |93.6
Total
London |119.0 |131.5 |149.3
Outside London |450.2 |501.1 |583.9
Proportion outside London (per cent.) |79.1 |79.2 |79.6
Figures for non-industrial staff are extracted from a computer system which came into being in 1975. Before that date figures were collected by means of manual returns which gave no separate information about London-based staff numbers.
Current Account Deficit
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the elimination of deficit on current account.
Mr. Ryder : The current account deficit will narrow as the Government's tight monetary and fiscal policies continue to slow domestic demand.
Capital Goods
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the proportion of imports of capital goods bought by manufacturing industry ; and what is the ratio of imports to United Kingdom production of capital goods.
Mr. Norman Lamont : No estimates exist giving the proportion of imports of capital goods bought by manufacturing industry, or of the ratio of imports of capital goods to United Kingdom production of capital goods. To derive these estimates would involve
disproportionate costs. This is due to the lack of consistency between the definition of capital goods according to the standard industrial trade classification (SITC) used for overseas trade statistics, and the standard industrial classification (SIC) used to define United Kingdom industries and commodity groupings.
Trade Statistics
Mr. Pike : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of imports were production and investment goods in (a) 1974, (b) 1984 and (c) 1988.
Mr. Norman Lamont : Up until 1979 it fell continuously to 74 per cent., but since 1979 the share has risen to 75 per cent., in both 1984 and 1988.
Column 431
Charities
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions since 1959 Governments have borrowed money from a charitable trust.
Mr. Major : I regret that this information is not available. When the Government borrow they do so mainly through the issue of securities, which may be bought by charitable trusts, either directly or in the market. The extent of such purchases is not known.
PRIME MINISTER
Local Government Finance
Mr. Jack : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the introduction of the community charge.
The Prime Minister : Following the successful introduction of the community charge in Scotland, I understand that most local authorities in England and Wales are making excellent progress in preparing for the community charge. Many chargepayers will already have received notification that they are on their authority's community charge register. I have every confidence that all authorities will wish to ensure that bills, with any necessary adjustment for transitional relief and rebates, will be issued to chargepayers on time next April.
Engagements
Mr. French : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 November.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 November.
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 November.
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 November.
The Prime Minister : This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.
This evening I shall attend a dinner given by the Royal Green Jackets to mark the retirement of my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Holderness as their honorary colonel.
Official Duties
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister whether any of her official engagements have been cancelled or postponed in the week up to Wednesday 6 December.
The Prime Minister : Previous official engagements for Monday 4 December have had to be changed to enable me to attend the NATO summit in Brussels on that day. That is the only change to my earlier plans.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister how many hours she devoted or expects to devote to official duties in the weeks 21 to 28 November and 29 November to 5 December.
The Prime Minister : Most of my waking hours.
Column 432
Hospitality
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister what official hospitality will be extended by her to hon. Members in the week up to Tuesday 5 December ; and to which parties the hon. Members receiving such hospitality belong.
The Prime Minister : I meet right hon. and hon. Members from time to time from all parties.
South Korea
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister what
representations she has made to the President of South Korea during his visit about the prisoners of conscience detained by his Government for political activities in contravention of article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights.
The Prime Minister : In our talks on 28 November, I congratulated President Roh on his achievements in extending democracy in Korea but did not discuss article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Prime Minister what is the sum above which an answer to a parliamentary question is considered to represent disproportionate cost.
The Prime Minister : Any parliamentary question likely to cost more than £250 is referred to the responsible Minister before significant resources are committed.
Access to Information
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Prime Minister if she has plans to change the current public right of access to official information ; and if she will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : No. The policy remains to make as much information available as possible while preserving the
confidentiality essential to the effective working of the Government. I continue to think that a statutory general public right of access to official information is inappropriate for our system of Government.
Vietnamese Boat People
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Prime Minister whether she discussed the proposal compulsorily to repatriate Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong at her recent meeting with President Bush ; and if she will make a statement on her current policy on this issue.
The Prime Minister : The repatriation of Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong was discussed with President Bush. I explained that all who arrive are screened. Those who are found to be genuine refugees will not be returned. Those who are not genuine refugees will be regarded as illegal immigrants and repatriated as provided for in the comprehensive plan of action agreed at the international conference on Indo-Chinese refugees last June in Geneva.
Correspondence
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Prime Minister when she proposes to reply to the letter she has received from B. J. Allen of 72 Salters road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Column 433
The Prime Minister : I am unaware of any such correspondence having been received in my office.Commonwealth Conference
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Prime Minister if, during her visit to Kuala Lumpur for the Commonwealth conference in October, she discussed with any other political leaders the sale of United Kingdom designed fluidised-bed combined cycle coal-fired power plants to Commonwealth nations.
Sir Leon Brittan
Q23. Mr. Cox : To ask the Prime Minister when she last met Sir Leon Brittan, the European Economic Community Commissioner ; and what subjects were discussed.
The Prime Minister : I last saw Sir Leon Brittan on 1 November. We discussed a range of issues.
Mr. Nelson Mandela
Q53. Mr. Latham : To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has made to the President of the Republic of South Africa regarding the release of Mr. Nelson Mandela immediately and without conditions ; and what reply she has received.
The Prime Minister : We have made frequent representations to the South African Government calling on them to release Mr. Mandela immediately and without conditions. We continue to look for a positive response from the South African Government.
National Health Service
Q94. Mr. Hannam : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a further statement on proposals in the Gracious Speech relating to the National Health Service.
Q116. Mr. Kirkhope : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a further statement on proposals in the Gracious Speech relating to the National Health Service.
Q189. Mr. Hind : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a further statement on the proposals in the Gracious Speech relating to the National Health Service.
The Prime Minister : The National Health Service Bill will implement the reforms that will ensure that the resources and talent devoted to the NHS are used to give patients an even better service and the widest possible choice.
Column 434
The hospitals that give the best service to the greatest number of patients will receive more resources. General practitioners who believe that they can give better value to patients by holding their own budgets will be able to do so. Together with the improved GP services that we have introduced, the changes should mean that patients will be able to get operations more quickly, hospitals will have a reliable appointment system for outpatients, more children will be vaccinated against disease and there will be more regular check-ups on people's health. The Bill will also implement care which will enable growing numbers of elderly and disabled people to live at home and will direct more resources and assistance to the relatives and friends who help to look after them.Dunchurch
Q117. Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to make an official visit to Dunchurch, near Rugby.
The Prime Minister : I have at present no plans to do so.
English History
Q150. Mr. Boswell : To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received on the teaching of English history.
The Prime Minister : I have received a number of representations on the teaching of English history. The Government intend that under the national curriculum the teaching of history should have at its core the history of Britain.
Poland
Q178. Mrs. Currie : To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to visit Poland.
The Prime Minister : I have no plans to visit Poland at present. I very much look forward to meeting Mr. Lech Walesa, chairman of Solidarity, on 2 December.
Strasbourg Summit
Q188. Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what subjects she expects to be discussed at the European Community summit meeting in Strasbourg.
The Prime Minister : I expect discussion of a range of issues, including eastern Europe, the single market, economic and monetary union and the social charter.
|
| Home Page |