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International Development Association
Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the negotiations on the ninth replenishment of the International Development Association ; and what will be the United Kingdom contribution.
Mrs. Chalker : Negotiations on the ninth replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA 9) were successfully concluded in Washington on 14 December. Donor countries agreed on a replenishment of 11.68 billion special drawing rights (about $15 billion). This maintains in real terms the value of IDA 8. With repayments from earlier loans, there will be a real increase in the total available for commitment to the poorest countries over the three years starting on 1 July 1990, which will be about $17 billion. The United Kingdom has agreed, subject to Parliamentary approval, to contribute 6.7 per cent. of IDA 9, or nearly £619 million at the agreed exchange rate.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Stable Staff
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what are the powers of the Horserace Betting Levy Board with regard to the National Joint Council for Stable Staff ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will conduct a scrutiny of the role played by the Trainers Federation during current pay negotiations at the National Joint Council for Stable Lads ; and if he will make a statement ; (3) what is his policy towards making Horserace Betting Levy Board money payable to trainers through travelling expenses ; and if he will make a statement ;
(4) what steps have been taken to ascertain the requirements of trainers of further financial assistance from the Horserace Betting Levy Board ; and if he will make a statement ;
(5) what steps he has taken to ensure a full investigation by the Horserace Betting Levy Board of the circumstances whereby trainers have been unable to fund pay awards over the last decade ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 19 December 1989] : The levy board has no powers in relation to the National Joint Council for Stable Staff. It is not for my right hon. and learned Friend to scrutinise the Trainers Federation. The levy board does not provide financial assistance direct to trainers of race horses. It is for the board to consider whether to re-introduce travelling expenses for trainers. It is also for the board to decide what, if any, information about the training industry may be relevant to its duties.
Mrs. Eulalia Potter
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will take steps to expedite the granting of a visa to Mrs. Eulalia Potter of the Philippines to enable her to reside with her husband in the United Kingdom ;
(2) on what grounds the Philippines-born Mrs. Eulalia Potter, wife of Mr. M. J. Potter of South Hams, was refused a visa for entry to the United Kingdom on each occasion on which application was made.
Mr. Sainsbury : I have been asked to reply.
In accordance with the recent guidelines on the handling of representations by Members of Parliament in immigration cases, issued to Members on 14 December 1988, I have referred the question to the correspondence unit of the migration and visa department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The hon. Member will receive a reply from the unit as soon as possible.
Horse Racing
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he has any plans to investigate current Horserace Betting Levy Board practices in relation to generation of moneys by bookmakers' tax impositions ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) if he will undertake an investigation into the means by which the Horserace Betting Levy Board provides finances for the benefit of racing ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. and learned Friend is considering whether to establish an inquiry into the financing of racing. We are not considering any other investigation into the operation of the horserace betting levy system, a statutory purpose of which is the improvement of horse racing and under which bookmakers, not the levy board, customarily provide the horserace betting levy on off-course bets on horseraces by a "tax" on such bets, or by a deduction from winnings from them.
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he has any plans to investigate the issue of interest- free loans made by the Horserace Betting Levy Board to racecourses ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what information he has with regard to moves by the Horserace Betting Levy Board to recover £2 million of moneys made in interest-free loans to Goodwood racecourse ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 19 December 1989] : We have no plan to investigate the long-established practice of the levy board of making interest-free loans to racecourses, in pursuance of its statutory duty to apply its moneys for purposes conducive to the improvement of horse racing. We understand from the board that loans to Goodwood racecourse are being repaid on terms agreed either when the loans were made or as a result of subsequent re-negotiation.
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to investigate the omission to disclose the £3.8 million bookmakers' surplus during his Department's inquiry in 1988 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : In 1988 my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) invited the bookmakers' committee and the Horserace Betting Levy Board to make submissions to him about the possible terms of the 28 horserace betting levy scheme, which he determined this March. Information about the levy board's financial reserves was provided in these submissions, and we are not aware that any material information about bookmaking was omitted from them.
Sports Grounds
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken following the recommendations of the report by Lord Justice Popplewell on crowd safety and control at sports grounds ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The proposals to give effect to the safety recommendations of the final report of the Popplewell inquiry were set out in a Home Office-Scottish Office consultative document published in June 1986.
In addition to revision of the guide to safety at sports grounds, designation under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 was extended in 1986 to sports grounds used for association football, rugby, or cricket and identified as having accommodation for over 10,000 spectators.
Parts II and III of the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987 amended the 1975 Act and introduced a system of safety certification for stands at undesignated sports grounds able to accommodate at least 500 spectators
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under cover with effect from 1 January 1988 and 1 January 1989 respectively. As from 1 June 1988, part IV of the 1987 Act extended entertainment licensing to indoor sports entertainments to which the public are invited as spectators.The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which came into force on 1 January 1986, had already extended the police powers of search and arrest in ways that help them to deal with troublemakers at football grounds. The Public Order Act 1986 created a new offence of disorderly conduct to cover hooliganism in football grounds elsewhere.
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the report by Lord Justice Taylor on crowd control and safety at sports stadia to be complete.
Mr. John Patten : The timing of the final report by the inquiry is a matter for Lord Justice Taylor. I understand that he hopes to complete his report in January 1990.
Drugs
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female foreign nationals are currently serving a prison sentence or are on remand for drug-related offences ; and how many come from (i) Nigeria, (ii) Pakistan and (iii) Colombia.
Mr. Mellor : The latest readily available information is given in the table. The recording of nationality for citizens of Commonwealth countries and the Irish Republic is not always reliable. The nationality of remand prisoners and the offences with which they are charged are not recorded centrally until the completion of court proceedings.
Population sentenced for all drugs offences in prison service
establishments in England and Wales on 30 June 1989: by
nationality and sex.
Number<1>
Nationality (name of country) |Males |Females
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia |48 |14
Nigeria |267 |77
Pakistan |158 |2
Other nationalities |606 |81
United Kingdom |1,823 |151
Not recorded |5 |1
|----- |-----
All nationalities |2,907 |326
<1>Provisional. The figures are those recorded centrally which are approximate: detailed checking would involve
disproportionate cost.
Police Recruitment
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants passed the police inititial recruitment examination in the Metropolitan police division in 1986, 1987 and 1988, broken down separately for white and black candidates.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis that the information is as follows :
Applicants who passed the PIR test
|White |Black<1>
------------------------------------
1986 |1,440 |65
1987 |1,306 |74
1988 |1,559 |42
<1>Includes all members of the
ethnic minorities.
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Prison Boards of Visitors
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total membership of boards of visitors throughout the United Kingdom ; and what number and percentages of them are members of ethnic minorities.
Mr. Mellor : The complement of all boards of visitors in England and Wales is 1,767 and on 14 December there were 1,630 members in post. The information that is held centrally indicates that of these, 127 (8 per cent.) were members of ethnic minorities. Visiting committees in Scotland are the responsibility of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, and boards of visitors and visiting committees in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to increase ethnic minority representation on the board of visitors of Her Majesty's prison, Brixton.
Mr. Mellor : In making appointments to a board of visitors, consideration is given to the abilities of the individual candidate to discharge the duties effectively and the desirability of maintaining, so far as possible, a representative balance on the board in terms, for example, of age, sex and social and ethnic background. No fewer than two members of the board are required to be justices of the peace. The membership of individual boards is reviewed every three years.
The board of visitors for Her Majesty's prison, Brixton, currently has 12 members and one vacancy. Two members of the board are from the ethnic minorities.
Fresh Start
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received concerning the fresh start initiative ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : Discussions and correspondence with staff associations and other interested groups and individuals have been under way since the beginning of the fresh start initiative. All prison establishments have been working fresh start arrangements since August 1988. The initiative has therefore been completed and operational for some time. The benefits for officers of improved pay and the ending of overtime were felt immediately. Other benefits in terms of more professional management, increased productivity and regime enhancement are being progressively realised. This process will continue through the transitional period of the framework agreement, while the working week of officers is gradually shortened, until by 1 April 1992 all officers will be working a 39-hour week.
Debtors (Imprisonment)
Mr. Aspinwall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are imprisoned each year for non-payment of debts in (a) England and (b) Avon ; and what is the average length of the prison sentence.
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Mr. Mellor : The readily available information from records held centrally is given in the table. Figures for England and Wales are published annually in Prison Statistics England and Wales (table 6.3 of the issue for 1988, Cm. 825) ; but to compile figures for Avon for several years would involve disproportionate cost.Column 269
Persons received into Prison Service establishments in
England and Wales after committal for non-payment of debts
in 1988 from all courts in Avon and England and Wales; by
type of non-payment
Avon<1> All courts in England a
Type of non-payment NumberAveragNumber of Average per
receptimposeNumber of reimposed (da
-------------------------------------------------------------
Wife maintenance<2> |} |5 |39 |{ |3,182
Child maintenance |} |{ |17
Arrears under an |} |{
affiliation order |} |5 |43 |{
Rates |} |{ |2523
Other debts |} |{ |59
-------------------
All types of non-payment |10 |41 |747 |36
<1>Estimated.
<2> including wife and child maintenance.
Immigration
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the statutory provisions applying to the admission of non- British spouses of British citizens to the United Kingdom after marriage abroad ; what ministerial discretion has been involved in such cases ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The provisions for admission to the United Kingdom as the spouse of a person who is present and settled here are set out in paragraph 50 of the Immigration Rules (HC 388). Ministers consider any representations that are made to them about individual cases but will not normally intervene before the initial decision is taken by the entry clearance officer, or while there is an outstanding appeal against a refusal to the independent appellate authorities. Ministers will also not
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normally reverse a decision where the appeal process has been exhausted and no new or compelling evidence has become available.Brixton Prison
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths have occurred in each of the last five years in (a) Brixton prison and (b) Brixton prison hospital wing.
Mr. Mellor : The table gives the figures for all deaths of Brixton inmates for each year since 1984. It includes deaths which occurred outside the prison, for example following transfer to hospital for medical treatment, as well as those within Brixton itself. Deaths of all kinds are included.
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Location |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |<2>1989
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hospital |3 |1 |- |1 |- |-
F Wing<1> |2 |- |4 |3 |2 |6
Ordinary location within
Brixton |1 |2 |- |2 |2 |3
NHS hospital |3 |2 |3 |1 |- |1
Police custody |- |- |2 |- |- |-
At court |- |- |- |- |- |1
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |9 |5 |9 |7 |4 |11
<1> F Wing is adjacent to the hospital and is staffed mainly by hospital prison
officers. It holds most of the inmates within the prison who require regular medical
observation.
<2> To 19 December.
Germain Alexander
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will establish an independent inquiry into the death of Germain Alexander who died in King's College hospital on Wednesday 6 December ;
(2) if he will instruct the governor of Brixton prison and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis to set up an inquiry to establish how Mr. Germain Alexander incurred serious injuries on 5 and 6 December while in police and prison custody.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. A coroner's inquest is to be held which will inquire into all the circumstances surrounding Mr. Alexander's death. Until the outcome of the inquest is known any further inquiries would be inappropriate.
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Morledge Case
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will initiate an immediate inquiry into the conduct of the officers involved in obtaining confessions from Mr. Morledge ; (2) if he will make a statement on the incidents involving Kevin Morledge, Godfrey Hibbert and the Nottinghamshire police force.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. Any allegation of malpractice against officers of the Nottinghamshire constabulary is a matter for the chief constable of that force. I understand that the chief constable has arranged for the allegations in this case to be investigated.
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Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers the police have to offer immunity against prosecution ; and if he will review these powers in the light of the Morledge case.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The police have no such powers.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what rules apply to the taking of confessions by police officers ; and if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable for Nottinghamshire on the extent to which these were followed in the Morledge case.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The code of practice for the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers governs the way in which suspects are interviewed. A copy is available in the Library. The way in which the codes are applied in a particular case is a matter for the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire and the courts.
Police Disciplinary Codes
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those sections of police disciplinary codes that relate to the use of racially offensive expressions by police officers.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Section 9 of the police discipline code, which is set out at schedule 1 of the Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985, is the only section which specifically relates to the offence of racially discriminatory behaviour.
Such behaviour may, however, fall within other sections of the code, such as abuse of authority (section 8), disobedience to orders (section 3) and discreditable conduct (section 1).
West Indian Communities
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps (a) he has taken and (b) he will take to improve the relationship between the police and the West Indian community in the inner cities.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Government will continue to support the police in their efforts to be responsive to the needs and concerns of Afro- Caribbean and other communities within the inner cities and elsewhere. We are encouraging effective consultation by the police with all sections of the public, and in particular with members of the ethnic minority communities. We are emphasising to chief officers and police authorities the priority that we believe should be placed on recruitment and retention of ethnic minority officers and civilians, and the importance of implementing effective equal opportunities policies. We have also recently established a specialist support unit for police community and race relations training to help ensure that a professional approach to community and race relations is integrated into all aspects of police training.
Ambulance Stations
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of the Metropolitan police on releasing the telephone numbers of London ambulance stations to members of the public.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis that he would advise the public to use the existing 999 emergency system.
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Chinese Nationals
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the arrangements announced on 16 June, Official Report, column 566, allowing Chinese nationals to remain in the United Kindom for six months ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. and learned Friend has decided that the concession allowing Chinese nationals to remain here on an exceptional basis should be extended for a further period of 12 months.
Race Relations
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made towards the reduction of the time taken to deal with applications for section 11 funding ; and what is the number of applications presently awaiting resolution.
Mr. John Patten : Over the period July 1988 to September 1989 the backlog of section 11 applications has been reduced from 1,400 posts to some 150.
At present the average time taken to process applications of all sizes has fallen to between three to four months.
Prison Medical Service
Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to conduct a review of the operation of the prison medical service.
Mr. Mellor : Yes. My right hon. and learned Friend has decided to carry out an efficiency scrutiny of the prison medical service with the following terms of reference.
(1) To examine the effectiveness and value for money of the prison service's arrangements for providing medical and dental services for inmates of penal establishments.
(2) To consider in particular, having regard to the Government's response to the July 1986 report on the prison medical service by the House of Commons Social Services Select Committee and taking as given the need to retain a separate medical service, the following aspects of the service :
(a) the policy and practice in management of the prison medical service and in the employment and deployment of both full and part-time medical and other staff, including the use made of locum tenens and visiting NHS specialists and consultants ;
(b) the scale of provision of hospital facilities in penal establishments necessary to support the medical service provided ; (c) the policy and practice of purchasing, stockholding and control of pharmaceutical supplies ; and
(d) arrangements for training prison medical service personnel, ie doctors, nurses and hospital officers.
(3) Having regard to the arrangements and management practices in comparable organisations, to make recommendations on changes to increase value for money and effectiveness ; and on performance indicators to enable the director of prison medical services to monitor efficiency and cost- effectiveness.
The scrutiny will be conducted by a team of officials led by Mr. Robert Wootton. Dr. Pamela Mason of the Department of Health will act as medical assessor. I will exercise ministerial supervision. The scrutiny will begin in early January and I expect to receive the report during May.
The scrutiny team will be consulting widely about the operation of the service and interested parties may wish to
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send their observations in writing by 12 February to the prison medical service scrutiny team, room 1106, Home Office, 50 Queen Anne's gate, London SW1H 9AT.Fixed Penalties
Mr. Robert B. Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he proposes to make any changes to the operation of the extended fixed penalty system.
Mr. Waddington : On 27 June 1989, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Douglas Hurd) announced that we would be consulting representative organisations about fixed penalty levels and other matters connected with the fixed penalty system. I have now considered possible changes in the light of this consultation. I propose to increase fixed penalty levels to £16 for non-endorsable offences and £32 for endorsable offences, with effect from 1 April 1990. The levels will be reviewed every two years thereafter. I propose to amend the legislation to enable the level of enhancement which occurs when an unpaid penalty is registered as a fine to be varied by order.
As announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 14 December, we shall be consulting further about a possible increased fixed penalty in London and on the proposed system of priority routes.
I propose to amend the range of offences covered by the fixed penalty system to include the offences of failing to comply with a red signal at a pelican crossing, failing to accord precedence to pedestrians at a pelican crossing or zebra crossing, and failing to observe a temporary speed restriction ; and to exclude offences of overloading by heavy goods vehicles.
I propose to provide for traffic wardens, in addition to police officers, to issue fixed penalty notices for the endorsable offences of parking on pedestrian crossings.
I propose to correct the anomaly whereby owner liability for parking offences applies only if the fixed penalty notice is affixed to the vehicle, and not if it is handed to the driver.
Orders to increase penalty levels and to amend the range of offences will be made in the near future. The other changes will require primary legislation, which will be brought forward when parliamentary time permits.
Immigration
Sir Geoffrey Finsberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the outcome of the meetings of TREVI and European Community Immigration Ministers in Paris on 15 December.
Mr. Waddington : The meeting of TREVI Ministers endorsed a number of measures to reinforce co-operation among member states in the fields of law enforcement and security. In particular, we agreed to do more to co- ordinate our efforts to combat drug trafficking and organised crime, and to co-operate in measures to prevent disorder at international football matches. We approved priorities for further work to develop co-operation in general, including the development of a network of liaison officers ; speedier sharing of information ; joint studies of scientific and technical aspects ; and strengthening security at the external borders of the European Community.
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The meeting of Ministers concerned with immigration, attended also by a vice-president of the Commission, was the seventh such meeting following the establishment during the United Kingdom presidency in 1986 of the ad hoc working group on immigration.Ministers had before them a report from senior officials which set out the work undertaken during the French Presidency and which was approved. In particular, we restated our desire for the conclusion of a convention determining which state should be responsible for examining an asylum applications and we welcomed the opening of discussions on a draft convention on the crossing of external borders of the member states of the Community. Building on earlier discussions, the latter provides for controls to be operated to a common standard at member states' external frontiers and for the harmonisation of a visa policies. It also includes proposals for the recognition of visas issued by other member states and in the longer term for a common visa. Although the United Kingdom is not at present in a position to agree to all these proposals, I undertook that we would play a full and active part in discussing them.
I was pleased to make contact with my Community colleagues at these meetings, at which we also agreed upon two public declarations outlining the measures under development respectively in TREVI and in immigration with a view to completion of the single market. I shall be arranging for copies of these declarations to be placed in the Library.
TRANSPORT
Railways
Mr. Snape : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if any experimentally re-opened lines or stations have subsequently closed.
Mr. Snape : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list in separate categories for England, Scotland and Wales the lines and stations now opened or re-opened under the 1981 amendment to the Transport Act as agreed between his Department and British Rail (a) sections of line re-opened, (b) stations on re-opened lines and (c) stations on lines previously open and subsequently experimentally re-opened ; and if he will give the total mileage of railway re-opened since 1981 under these provisions.
Mr. Portillo : The following lines have been re-opened by British Rail under the Transport Act 1962 (Amendment) Act 1981 :
England
Penistone to Barnsley
Kettering to Corby
Dore Curve (Derbyshire)
Morecambe to Heysham Harbour
Oxford to Bicester
Coventry to Nuneaton
Lichfield City to Lichfield Trent Valley
Bishop Auckland to Stanhope
Walsall to Hednesford
Altrincham to Stockport
Scotland
Newbridge Junction to Bathgate
Coatbridge Central to Motherwell
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