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NORTHERN IRELAND
House Purchase (Carrickfergus)
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action is being taken by Her Majesty's Government to assist tenants of houses in Unity street, Carrickfergus, to purchase these properties from the Charles Legg Trust.
Mr. Cope : The solicitor acting on behalf of some of the tenants of houses belonging to the Charles Legg Trust in Unity Street, Carrickfergus, has brought this matter to the attention of the Department of Finance and Personnel. There are apparently no effective trustees at present. The Department is therefore making inquiries with a view to the appointment of the new trustees, who will be in a position to deal with the tenants' application for the purchase of the properties in question.
Student Loans
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he last met representatives of the National Union of Students and the Union of Students in Northern Ireland to discuss top-up loans for students ; and if he will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : No such meetings have taken place. However, I discussed top-up loans at a recent meeting with representatives of the university of Ulster which included members of the university's students union.
Social Fund
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the financial amount allocated to each social security office in South Down in the financial
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year 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1989 and from 1 April 1989 to 31 October in respect of the social fund by central Government ; how much of this amount was actually spent in each office ; and whether the Government will carry out a review of the social fund system in Northern Ireland.Mr. Peter Bottomley : Allocations are made for a full year. Information on the amounts allocated for 1988-89 and 1989-90 and on monthly expenditure is available in the Library. The Government continue to monitor the operation of the social fund, but there are no plans for a review of the scheme.
Police
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people claiming Irish nationality are currently employed as (a) full- time members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and (b) members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary reserve.
Mr. Cope : The Chief Constable of the RUC had advised me that the information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total number of people whose applications for employment for the post of traffic warden were refused by the Northern Ireland police authority on the grounds that they did not hold British nationality since 1980.
Mr. Cope : The Police Authority for Northern Ireland has advised me that the total number is not known as records are not maintained in the form requested. However, the hon. Member will be aware that one recent application has been refused on nationality grounds.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total number of people who were refused employment as full-time members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the grounds that they did not hold British nationality since 1980.
Mr. Cope : This information is not available. People, including those who are not British citizens, are eligible for appointment to the Royal Ulster Constabulary or any other United Kingdom police force providing that they are able to fulfil the criteria set out in my answer to the right hon. Member for Strangford (Mr. Taylor) in the Official Report on 16 November 1989, at column 401.
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people who have been in receipt of attendance allowance at either (a) the higher rate or (b) the lower rate have had their attendance allowance reduced in each year since 1983.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The number of people receiving either the higher or lower rate of attendance allowance who were not awarded any further allowance at the renewal stage of their claims was as follows :
<
|Higher rate|Lower rate |Total
------------------------------------------------------------
1983 |127 |467 |594
1984 |128 |524 |652
1985 |132 |515 |647
1986 |171 |412 |583
1987 |82 |227 |309
1988 |77 |231 |308
<1>1989 |41 |141 |182
Information is not available about the number of people whose award at the renewal stage was reduced from the higher to the lower rate of attendance allowance.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions the present general practitioner of an applicant for attendance allowance was present when their medical assessment for eligibility for the allowance was carried out in the last year.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : All applicants for attendance allowance are medically examined, but information is not recorded about whether or not their personal general practitioners are present at the examination. Neither the applicants nor their personal general practitioners are present when the reports of the medical examinations are considered by the attendance allowance board or its delegated medical officers.
Rivers and Lakes
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of each river in (a) Newry and Mourne district council area, (b) Armagh district council area and (c) Fermanagh district council area which is maintained by the Department of Agriculture drainage division, as a designated watercourse.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : I will write to the hon. Member.
Civil Service
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the procedures for appealing against decisions of the Department of the Environment's promotion selection boards.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The Northern Ireland Civil Service pay and conditions of service code contains no provision for an appeal against the decision of a departmental promotion board.
A candidate who is dissatisfied by the results of a promotion board may refer the matter to the PCA, EOC or FEA where the grounds for dissatisfaction are maladministration, equal opportunities or fair employment.
Prison Officers
Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether arrangements are being made to pay prison officers in the Northern Ireland prison service arrears of lodging allowance in the light of the negotiated settlement of a civil claim taken against his Department.
Mr. Cope : The civil claim in question related to the question of entitlement of lodging allowances under the Civil Service regulations for periods of detached duty, where prison officers were provided with official accommodation. The regulations provide for an abatement of certain detached duty allowances in these
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circumstances and until 1972 they provided for payment at half-rate in the case of lodging allowance. It has now been settled that from July 1972 the abatement to half-rate lodging allowance was not in accordance with the Civil Service code. Accordingly, following negotiations between the Prison Department and the POA(NI), agreement has been reached and arrangements are being made for paying arrears of the allowance due to those prison officers who had an entitlement covering the period July 1972 to March 1982.Vibration White Finger
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the number of applications made by applicants claiming to suffer from vibration white finger, under regulation 13 of the Social Security (Industrial injuries and Diseases) Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 1986, at local offices of his Department in (a) Belfast and (b) towns throughout Northern Ireland in each of the past two years and in the current year up to the most recent date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Bottomley [holding answer 6 December 1989] : We are aware of no such applications in Northern Ireland to date.
ENVIRONMENT
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what finance is being planned by his Department for the next five years to assist householders in energy efficiency and saving.
Mr. Chope : Under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 we are introducing a new system of renovation grants which will enable local authorities to assist householders to carry out a range of measures to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. There will be no limit on the proportion of their housing resources that councils will be able to devote to these purposes.
Right to Buy
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council houses have been sold to former council tenants under the right-to- buy legislation ; what percentage of the total council stock they represent ; how many council houses were built by the local authority over the same period ; and how many people are on council housing waiting lists for each local housing authority in the country.
Mr. Chope : A table showing each local authority's total sales under the right-to-buy legislation including the percentage of April 1979 stock sold was laid in the Library on 5 December 1989. Reported annual housing completion figures for 1980 to 1987 appear in "Housebuilding in England by Local Authority Areas : 1980 to 1987". Figures for 1988 and the first quarter of 1989 are given in tables 1 (b) and 1 (a) , respectively, of issue 90 of "Local Housing Statistics". Copies of both publications are in the Library. The numbers of households on waiting lists was reported by local authorities in their annual housing
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investment programme returns (HIP1) and appears in column B51 of "HIP1 All Items Print (1989)". A copy of this document is in the Library.House Prices
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the ratio of house prices to median, quartile and decile incomes of full-time adult male manual and non-manual workers in April 1979, April 1988 and April 1989 ; what was the effect on prices of the increase in the incomes of highly paid non-manual workers ; and what action he will take to ensure that houses are no less affordable to the median manual worker than in 1979.
Mr. Chope : The available information is as follows :
Ratio of average house prices to annual earnings<1>: Great Britain
April |Lowest |Lower |Median |Upper |Highest
|decile |quartile |quartile|decile
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Manual men
1979 |5.9 |4.9 |4.0 |3.3 |2.7
1988 |7.5 |6.0 |4.7 |3.8 |3.0
1989 |7.9 |6.3 |5.0 |3.9 |3.1
Non-manual men
1979 |5.4 |4.4 |3.4 |2.7 |2.1
1988 |6.2 |4.6 |3.4 |2.6 |1.9
1989 |6.5 |4.8 |3.5 |2.7 |2.0
Sources: New Earnings Survey-Department of Employment. Full-time men
whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. Weekly
averages have been converted to an annual amount (X52).
<1> 5 per cent. sample survey of building society mortgage
completions-Department of the Environment.
House prices are determined between individual buyers and sellers. No Government have sought to dictate the price at which houses must be sold. We have no plan to do so.
Water Distribution, London
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the level of London's water table.
Mr. Howard : I have asked the National Rivers Authority to undertake the monitoring and predictive modelling of the water level (under London) and to publish the results ; to examine the potential for increasing water abstractions from the aquifer below London ; and to examine the feasibility and costs of a permanent dewatering scheme. They are proceeding with this work.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Lofthouse : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to ensure that local authority tenants do not subsidise housing benefit payments as a result of increases due to relaxed entitlement criteria not being met in full by central Government funding.
Mr. Chope : I assume the hon. Member is referring to the arrangements whereby rent officers determine, for housing benefit subsidy purposes, whether rents are at a reasonable market level. Where a rent is above this level, and the claimant is in a vulnerable group, the local
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authority is required to consider whether it is reasonable to expect him to move, before restricting housing benefit. If the local authority decides that benefit cannot be restricted, 50 per cent. subsidy is paid on that part of the rent which is above the rent officer's assessment. These arrangements apply only to deregulated private sector rents, not to council rents. Any costs not met by subsidy must be debited to an account other than the housing revenue account, and in consequence none of these costs will be a charge to the authority's own tenants.Local Government Finance
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will estimate (a) the number of extra staff and (b) the extra expenditure arising from the changes to the community charge announced in October.
Mr. Chope : An estimate of the administrative costs of the community charge transitional relief scheme will be made in the light of a study being undertaken for the Department by Peat Marwick McLintock and discussions with the local authority associations.
Mr. Stern : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many English shire counties are anticipated, in his published calculations, to levy a higher community charge than Avon.
Mr. Chope : Counties will not levy community charges. If all English authorities spend the amount needed to provide a standard level of service, the community charge could be the same throughout England. Any spending above this standard level will increase the community charge.
The provisional figures placed in the Library on 6 November suggest that the community charge for standard spending in 1990-91 will be about £278. The assumed spending by Avon county council would add a further £18 to the community charge in each Avon district. On the same basis, six other counties would add a larger sum to the community charge for standard spending than Avon.
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much he plans to spend promoting community charge benefits and transitional relief ; and if he will reimburse local authorities for any expenditure they incur in dealing with correspondence and contacts arising from Government advertising.
Mr. Chris Patten : The cost of the advertising campaign is commercial in confidence and will remain so until such time as the agency has completed negotiations with the media for advertising space.
The Department has commissioned a study by Peat Marwick McLintock into the administrative costs of the community charge transitional relief scheme. Decisions about the arrangements for meeting these costs will be made in light of the consultants' report and discussions with the local authority associations. I have made clear that authorities' reasonable costs will be reimbursed fully.
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library (a) his Department's briefing to those advertising agencies invited to tender for the work on his proposed advertising campaign to encourage take-up of community charge
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benefits and transititional relief, (b) the creative brief prepared by Ogilvie and Mather and (c) the media strategy and the media plan for the campaign showing in particular the timing and positioning of press and television advertisements and indicating the social and income groups of the target audiences.Mr. Chris Patten : Agencies were invited to tender for a campaign intended to ensure that those eligible are aware of entitlement to community charge benefit and transitional relief. The campaign will be targeted primarily at the relevant socio-economic groups with an element aimed at those who advise or care for people who may be eligible. The campaign will make use of television, radio and the press. Appropriate bookings in the media are being made.
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what correspondence his Department has had with (a) the Independent Broadcasting Authority, (b) the Independent Television Authority and (c) the Advertising Standards Authority about his proposed community charge benefit and transitional relief advertising campaign ; and if he will place copies of the correspondence in the Library.
Mr. Chris Patten : My Department has sought clearance from the Independent Television Authority and the Independent Broadcasting Authority for the proposed television advertisements, as all potential advertisers are required to do. There is no similar requirement in respect of the Advertising Standards Authority.
Palace of Westminster
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will arrange an immediate inspection of floor coverings in the Palace of Westminster and arrange for the replacement of those which would be unsafe within the terms of the health and safety legislation.
Mr. Chope : The parliamentary works office already carries out regular inspections of the floor coverings in the Palace of Westminster. It also undertakes an annual replacement programme, as well as dealing with particular problems as they arise. If there is any particular area which the Member thinks presents a hazard perhaps she would let me know.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ensure that all electric light bulbs in the Palace of Westminster are in working order and replaced when they are not.
Mr. Chope : It is already the practice to ensure that electric light bulbs in the Palace of Westminster are in working order, but if the Member happens to know of any which are not perhaps she would let me know.
Public Appointments
Mrs. Roe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many persons above the age of (a) 60, (b) 65 and (c) 70 years he has appointed to public bodies in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Christopher Patten : This information is not held centrally in my Department, and the information required could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Oakland Developments Ltd (Report)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received a copy of the report "Racial Discrimination in Property Development," on Oakland Developments Ltd., Leicestershire ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : My Department received a copy of the report when it was published. We support the work of the Commission for Racial Equality and have provided powers through legislation under which they can produce a code of practice on housing.
British Rail Subsidy
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has had on the environmental implications of a reduction in the public subsidy to British Rail ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Decisions on the level of subsidy for British Rail are for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport whom I congratulate on his commitment to the highest investment levels in British Rail for a quarter of a century.
Carnwath Report
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received following publication of the Carnwath report.
Mr. Moynihan : Ninety-six, from organisations and individuals who responded to my Department's invitation to submit comments.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Government propose to introduce legislation to implement the proposals in the Carnwath report.
Mr. Moynihan : As soon as parliamentary time permits.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which recommendations of the Carnwath report the Government are prepared to accept.
Mr. Moynihan : The Government generally welcome the report's recommendations as a means of strengthening the present enforcement provisions in the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, subject to further detailed examination of the practical implications of some of the recommendations.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the expenditure by his Department in the last financial year on (a) heritage, (b) archaeology and (c) royal parks.
Mr. Trippier : In 1988-89 expenditure on heritage, including archaeology, the royal palaces, grant-in-aid to non-departmental public bodies such as English Heritage, and other heritage activities, was £122.2 million. This figure also includes the costs of departmental staff concerned with these areas of heritage. Government money for archaeology is channelled through English Heritage which, out of a total grant of £66.1 million in 1988-89, spent £7.1 million on this aspect of its work. Expenditure on royal parks was £14.1 million.
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Groundwork Foundation
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much funding his Department has granted the Groundwork Foundation in each of the last three years ; in which areas the Groundwork Foundation intends to establish environmental trusts next year, funded by his Department or local authorities ; and what contact there has been between his officials, representatives of the Groundwork Foundation and elected members or officials of Bradford council about Bradford council making a grant available for 1990-91.
Mr. Trippier : The Department took over the core funding of the Groundwork Foundation and trusts from the Countryside Commission on 1 April 1988, through the commission continues to pay project grants to individual Trusts. We allocated £1,500,000 to Groundwork for core-funding in 1988 -89 and £1,743,000 in 1989-90.
The foundation plans to establish five trusts in 1990-91, in Bolsover, Blackburn, Nottingham, Bradford and Islwyn. The core costs of these trusts will be funded by the Department, local authorities and the private sector.
I understand that an officer of the Groundwork Foundation has met the leader of Bradford city council, Councillor Eric Pickles, and council officials to discuss the council's request to the foundation to establish a trust in their area.
Local Authority Dwellings
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many local authority dwellings that were vacant on 1 April, for six months or less, were (a) available for letting, (b) to be let after minor repairs, (c) to be let after major works and were undergoing such works, (d) to be let after major works and were awaiting such works, (e) awaiting sale, (f) awaiting demolition and (g) empty for other reasons, and if he will give this information for (i) inner London, (ii) outer London, (iii) metropolitan areas outside London, (iv) the south-east outside London, (v) all non-metropolitan areas, and (vi) England as a whole ; (2) how many local authority dwellings that were vacant on 1 April, over six months and up to a year, were (1) available for letting, (2) to be let after minor repairs, (3) to be let after major works and were undergoing such works, (4) to be let after major works and were awaiting
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such works, (5) awaiting sale, (6) awaiting demolition and (7) empty for other reasons ; and if he will give this information for (a) inner London, (b) outer London, (c) metropolitan areas outside London, (d) the south-east outside London, (e) all non-metropolitan areas, and (f) England as a whole ;(3) how many local authority dwellings that were vacant on 1 April, for over two years, were (1) available for letting, (2) to be let after minor repairs, (3) to be let after major works and were undergoing such works, (4) to be let after major works and were awaiting such works, (5) awaiting sale, (6) awaiting demolition and (7) empty for other reasons ; and if he will give this information for (a) inner London, (b) outer London, (c) metropolitan areas outside London, (d) the south-east outside London, (e) all non-metropolitan areas, and (f) England as a whole ;
(4) how many local authority dwellings that were vacant on 1 April, for over a year and under two years, were (1) available for letting, (2) to be let after minor repairs, (3) to be let after major works and were undergoing such works, (4) to be let after major works and were awaiting such works, (5) awaiting sale, (6) awaiting demolition and (7) empty for other reasons ; and if he will give this information for (a) inner London, (b) outer London, (c) metropolitan areas outside London, (d) the south-east outside London, (e) all non-metropolitan areas, and (f) England as a whole ;
(5) what was the number of local authority dwellings on 1 April, in (a) inner London, (b) outer London, (c) metropolitan areas outside London, (d) the south-east outside London, (e) all non-metropolitan areas, and (f) England as a whole.
Mr. Chope : The following are preliminary estimates derived from local authorities' annual housing investment programme returns (HIP1) for April 1989 :
Local authority dwellings<1> at 1 April 1989
|Number
------------------------------------------------------
Inner London |455,900
Outer London |303,200
Metropolitan areas outside London |1,333,500
South East outside London |401,500
All non-metropolitan areas |2,084,300
England |4,177,000
<1> Including stock outside the local authority's own
area.
Available To be let To be let after major works To be Awaiting Empty for
|for letting |after minor |Undergoing |Awaiting |sold |demolition |other reasons
|repairs |works |works
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local authority dwellings vacant for six months or less at April 1989
Inner London |1,700 |1,900 |500 |500 |400 |0 |700
Outer London |1,200 |2,000 |300 |300 |100 |0 |300
Metropolitan areas outside London |7,300 |11,500 |2,100 |1,600 |400 |1,00 |2.700
South East ouside London |1,500 |1,300 |700 |300 |100 |300 |100
All non-metropolitan areas |8,000 |9,700 |3,500 |1,400 |500 |1,000 |700
England |18,300 |25,000 |6,400 |3,800 |1,400 |2,100 |4,600
Local authority dwellings vacant for over six months and up to one year at 1 April 1989
Inner London |400 |400 |600 |300 |200 |100 |400
Outer London1400 |400 |600 |300 |200 |100 |400
Metropolitan areas outside London |1,000 |900 |1,100 |600 |300 |1,300 |1,500
South East ouside London |100 |0 |300 |100 |100 |200 |0
All non-metropolitan areas |400 |0 |1,500 |600 |500 |700 |0
England |2,000 |1,800 |3,200 |1,400 |1,000 |2,000 |2,400
Local authority dwellings vacant for over one year and under two years at 1 April 1989
Inner London |200 |300 |500 |600 |400 |100 |200
Outer London |100 |100 |100 |100 |0 |0 |100
Metropolitan areas outside London |500 |800 |1,000 |700 |500 |1,800 |1,700
South East outside London |0 |0 |200 |100 |100 |100 |0
All non-metropolitan areas |100 |0 |800 |200 |400 |500 |400
England |800 |1,400 |2,300 |1,700 |1,300 |2,400 |2,400
Local authority dwellings vacant for over two years at 1 April 1989
Inner London |200 |300 |1,000 |1,000 |1,300 |100 |1,100
Outer London |0 |0 |100 |100 |0 |100 |100
Metropolitan areas outside London |300 |700 |600 |800 |600 |2,300 |1,000
South East outside London |0 |0 |100 |0 |0 |0 |0
All non-metropolitan areas |0 |0 |200 |0 |300 |100 |100
England |600 |1,000 |2,000 |2,000 |2,200 |2,600 |2,500
Enterprise Zones
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give the amount of rates that has been forgone in each of the enterprise zones in England and Wales, year by year ; (2) what is the amount of rates that has been forgone by virtue of the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone.
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Mr. Moynihan : The information requested to the latest date available is shown in the table.
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Rate Revenue Foregone
£ thousands (outturn prices)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENGLAND
1st Round Zones
Corby |126 |508 |1,146 |1,688 |2,155 |2,896 |8,519
Dudley |702 |1,201 |1,231 |1,545 |2,014 |3,076 |9,769
Hartlepool |26 |148 |256 |314 |377 |618 |1,739
Isle of Dogs |- |1,254 |1,486 |2,430 |2,324 |2,997 |10,491
Salford/Trafford |473 |1,196 |1,592 |2,097 |3,094 |<1>4,938|13,390
Speke |516 |1,174 |936 |1,484 |1,853 |1,838 |7,801
Tyneside |1,416 |2,582 |2,942 |3,260 |4,036 |6,931 |21,167
Wakefield |250 |393 |481 |532 |845 |1,171 |3,672
2nd Round Zones
Allerdale |- |- |59 |127 |200 |402 |788
Glanford |- |- |- |66 |78 |117 |261
Middlesbrough |- |- |0 |241 |540 |655 |1,436
North East Lancashire |- |- |63 |259 |431 |709 |1,462
North West Kent |- |- |89 |886 |1,384 |1,808 |4,167
Rotherham |- |- |71 |252 |658 |905 |1,886
Scunthorpe |- |- |26 |260 |626 |942 |1,854
Telford |- |- |0 |225 |1,068 |1,278 |2,571
Wellingborough |- |- |14 |74 |240 |1,081 |1,409
WALES
1st Round Zone
Swansea |455 |1,007 |1,038 |1,239 |1,636 |1,763 |7,138
2nd Round Zones
Delyn |- |- |220 |367 |401 |506 |1,494
Milford Haven |- |- |- |259 |409 |489 |1,157
<1> Subject to audit.
<2> Designation to March.
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the total amount of capital allowances claimed in each of the enterprise zones in England and Wales, year by year ; (2) what is the total amount of capital allowances claimed so far in the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone.
Mr. Moynihan : Because of the extent of estimation involved the information requested is not available for individual enterprise zones.
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On the Record"
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to obtain for his departmental library a copy of the video and transcript of the BBC1 television programme "On The Record," broadcast on 26 November.
Mr. Trippier : My Department already has copies of the transcript. It is unnecessary to have a copy of the video.
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Green Dowry
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much of the green dowry announced by the Minister for Water and Planning has been allocated to North West Water.
Mr. Chris Patten : It is expected that North West Water Group plc will receive £329.7 million in cash.
Mersey Basin
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for the financial years 1987-88 and 1988-89 any grant award made from the European regional development fund for sewers and sewerage works in the Mersey basin, showing also their value and application.
Mr. Chris Patten : North West Water Authority received £26.7 million in ERDF grants in 1987-88 and £8.9 million in 1988-89. Much of this was to finance schemes in the Mersey basin.
Customer Services Committees
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the name and organisation represented by each member of each customer services committee.
Mr. Chris Patten : No. Appointments to the customer service committees for the water industry are a matter for the Director General of Water Services. I understand that the director general is currently considering nominations received from a large number of interest groups and individuals and that he hopes to announce the membership of the committees in the near future.
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