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26. Mr. Allen : To ask the Attorney-General if he will list those cases taken over by the Director of Public Prosecutions since 1987.
The Attorney-General : Statistics concerning private prosecutions are not collected. The CPS has identified 28 private prosecutions conducted by private individuals or bodies which have been taken over by the Crown prosecution service since 1987. I will write to the hon. Gentleman listing the cases.
Mr. Latham : To ask the Attorney-General whether he is now in a position to give a date when the High Court will hear his application for a fresh inquest into the death of the late Petty Officer John Black, RN, in Sabinillas, Spain, in December 1983.
The Attorney-General : No. The case is in the Crown list, but no hearing date has yet been fixed by the court.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Attorney-General what is the estimated cost of implementing the Courts and Legal Services Bill [Lords].
The Attorney-General : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 7 December 1989 at column 316, and to the explanatory and financial memorandum prefacing the Bill.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will direct British Rail to consider ways in which cyclists can more easily use rail services.
Mr. Portillo : British Rail has regular contact with the cycling organisations and is aware of their needs. I understand that BR's policy is to welcome cyclists and to convey bicycles whenever possible, for an appropriate charge, provided that this will not unduly inconvenience other passengers, or displace other revenue-earning traffic such as parcels.
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which motoring organisations he or his predecessor met over the last year ; and on which dates.
Mr. Atkins : During 1989 Transport Ministers met representatives of motoring organisations as follows :
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The Automobile Association :24 January
14 June
20 June
19 July
31 October
29 November
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs :
6 September
The Institute of Advanced Motorists :
14 December
The Royal Automobile Club :
26 June
6 September
7 November
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many flights have been diverted to Prestwick since 1 November.
Mr. McLoughlin : The Civil Aviation Authority has not yet published figures for this period. Preliminary information from Prestwick Airport Limited indicates that, from 1 November to 31 December 1989, the airport handled 144 air transport movements diverted from other airports.
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which building surveyors, land agents or chartered surveyors were used by his Department or by the British Airports Authority, or by his or their advisers, to value land at Prestwick airport, including land not required for airport operations, when assessing the assets of the British Airports Authority for privatisation.
Mr. McLoughlin : Page 58 of the prospectus offering shares in BAA for sale records that Debenham Tewson and Chinnocks Limited, international property advisers, valued the land at the BAA airports.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement following the Anglo-French intergovernmental commission announcement that passengers will not leave their cars and coaches when travelling through the Channel tunnel with particular regard to safety aspects in the tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : No. The intergovernmental commission was established by the Channel fixed link treaty to supervise, in the name and on behalf of the two Governments, all matters concerning the construction and operation of the fixed link. On safety matters, it is advised by the independent binational safety authority, also established by the treaty. Parliament has accepted that the safety authority is the right body to oversee tunnel safety standards. I believe that the safety authority will shortly be publishing a report which sets out the information on which its unanimous recommendation to the commission is based.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the make-up and terms of reference for his Department's working group on the assessment of the impact of railway noise with regard to the Channel tunnel link.
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Mr. Portillo : The aim will be to establish for new railway lines a noise standard at a level which equitably relates to the standard set by regulation for new highways. I hope to make an announcement shortly about the establishment of a departmental committee to carry out this task.Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he is yet in a position to announce safety and quality of service objectives for London Regional Transport.
Mr. Parkinson [pursuant to his reply, 20 December 1989, c. 280] : Following is a fuller text of my letter to the chairman of London Regional Transport.
"My predecessor wrote to you on your appointment about the challenges facing London Regional Transport. He asked you to prepare a strategy for the coming years, which could be used as a basis for setting formal objectives for you and your Board.
Your response takes the form of the "Chairman's Planning Statement, " which you are about to publish. In the light of that statement, I am writing to you about the safety and quality of service objectives I wish you to pursue. Before 1 April 1990 I shall settle with you the financial objectives for LRT covering the next three financial years.
Safety
LRT and its subsidiaries are responsible for the safe operation of the services they provide. The Fennell Report on the King's Cross fire underlined the need to give the highest priority to safety and to address safety matters explicitly in all LRT's activities. You have undertaken with vigour the task of implementing the Fennell Report's recommendations. You have already fully implemented 73 of the 127 recommendations addressed to LRT or London Underground, and have in hand action on the remaining 54.
You have also now established a clear framework for collecting statistics on safety performance, setting safety objectives and monitoring and auditing safety performance at every level of the organisation. This should ensure the progressive improvement in the safety of all the services you provide or secure. I welcome the steps you have taken. I hereby endorse the safety objectives set out in Annex A to this letter.
Quality of Service on the Underground
Demand for Underground services has grown by more than 70 per cent. since 1982. This has put the Underground under strain and we are all agreed that the quality of service for passengers is not as good as it should be.
Much of passengers' dissatisfaction stems from overcrowding. The only way to deal adequately with the growth in demand is to invest in increasing the capacity of the system. This is why approval has been given for a massive investment programme, including the £900 million Major Upgrading Programme and the extension of the Jubilee Line to service East London and Docklands. Urgent work is in progress on the options for another major new line to relieve congestion. In the shorter term, we must ensure that the most is made of the existing system. I am therefore setting objectives for improvement in such areas as peak capacity, reliability and the availability of lifts and escalators. I shall look to London Underground to meet these as soon as possible and, in any case, no later than 31 March 1992. These objectives are set out in full at Annex B to the Letter.
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway has been in operation for just over two years. It is now being extended to the City and to Beckton. Measures are in hand to increase its capacity still further. It is vital that the DLR provides a reliable and high-quality service, as the system is upgraded and capacity increased. I am therefore setting targets for the DLR covering aspects of service similar to those in the objectives set for the
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Underground. These are set out in Annex C. Again, the targets should be met as soon as possible, and no later than 31 March 1992. LRT Bus ServicesDespite increasing difficulties with traffic congestion, there has been a noticeable improvement in the percentage of scheduled bus mileage actually operated, and average waiting time has been stabilised over the past couple of years. You have increased the number of routes let by competitive tender. You have also restructured London Buses Ltd. into smaller, more accountable, subsidiaries. These measures have played a valuable part in securing better quality and value for money. I now think that the time has come to build on that success by setting LRT quality of service targets for all its bus services, including those operated by London Buses and other operators on contract. The objectives are set out in Annex D.
LRT Travel Enquiry Service
It is important that passengers should have ready access to up-to-date information on all LRT's passenger services. I am therefore setting LRT's Travel Enquiry Service the objective of ensuring that 75 per cent. of telephone callers receiving the ringing tone should be answered within 30 seconds and no more than 10 per cent. of callers should receive the engaged tone.
You will report to my Department and to the London Regional Passengers' Committee at quarterly intervals, the performance achieved against the quality of service objectives.
As you know, it is also my intention to set LRT, in good time before 1 April, financial objectives for the next three financial years. These will be designed to ensure that these safety and quality of service objectives are met as efficiently and economically as possible, so that customers and taxpayers, receive proper value for money. Our officials are already in touch about this."
Copies of the annexes to this letter have been placed in the House Libraries.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received in favour of electing an executive separately from Parliament.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on the subject of a written constitution.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Government receive representations from time to time advocating a written constitution. These could be enumerated only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received seeking the establishment of a democratically elected second chamber.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Government receive representations from time to time advocating abolition or reform of the House of Lords. They could be enumerated only at disproportionate cost.
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Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were awaiting transfer to Thorp Arch from Durham at the end of the months August through to November.
Mr. Mellor : At the end of the four months for which information has been requested, the numbers of prisoners held at Her Majesty's prison Durham awaiting transfer to Her Majesty's prison Thorp Arch were as follows :
|Number ----------------------------- August 1989 |38 September 1989 |43 October 1989 |48 November 1989 |54
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when Shamim Ayaz, Ref. H 162359 ; Imm/15031, is to be issued with a passport to join his father in the United Kingdom ; when the post in Islamabad was instructed by him to issue a visa to Shamim Ayaz ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Mr. Shamim Ayaz's application for entry clearance to settle in the United Kingdom as the dependent son of Mr. Muzaffar Hussain has been referred by the entry clearance officer in Islamabad to the immigration department of the Home Office for consideration under paragraph 56 of the immigration rules and the concession announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) on 14 June 1989 at column 463. The papers arrived on 1 December and a decision will be taken as soon as possible.
Sir David Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will specify the criteria under which political refugees are now admitted to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Applications for asylum on arrival at United Kingdom ports are considered under the criteria of the 1951 United Nations convention and 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees. Article 1 of the convention defines a refugee as inter alia someone who
"owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country".
If the person has arrived from a safe third country he or she may be returned to that country to pursue an application there. A refugee who has already found protection in another country may be admitted to the United Kingdom if this is a more appropriate country of refuge.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the under or over-capacity of Thorp Arch and Durham prisons at the end of the months August to November.
Mr. Mellor : The details requested are set out in the table.
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|Durham|Thorp ---------------------------------------------------- Certified Normal Accommodation |<1>729|<2>156 Population<3> on: 25 August |1,002 |144 29 September |1,006 |150 27 October |976 |149 24 November |1,019 |146 <1> There was no change to the certified normal accommodation at Durham Prison during the period in question. <2> Available accommodation at Thorp Arch has effectively been reduced to 150 since August to allow for a rolling programme of refurbishment, involving the installation of integral sanitation. <3> The population details provided refer to the last Friday in each of the four months.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the application by Staffordshire county council for section 11 money in respect of Brownhills and Heywood high schools ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : Additional information submitted by the authority on 8 December is being considered. We hope to be in a position to take a decision on the application shortly.
Mr. Michael Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals to change the law to promote and encourage non and low-alcohol consumption by young people.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We very much welcome the introduction, by my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton (Sir Peter Emery) of the Licensing (Low Alcohol Drinks) Bill, which seeks to amend the definition of intoxicating liquor in the Licensing Act 1964 and of alcoholic liquor in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976.
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will supply statistics of robberies, and attempted robberies involving the confrontation of counter staff in the betting office, banking and building society industries over the past three years.
Mr. John Patten : Information is not available in the form requested. The total numbers of notifiable offences of robbery are published annually, and most recently in table 2.10 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1988" (Cm. 847). Information on the location of notifiable offences of robbery in which firearms were reported to have been used is given in table 3.8 of the same publication. A copy of this publication is available in the Library. Offences of attempted robbery are included in the robbery category and are not separately identified in the figures collected centrally.
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visitors there have been to the United Kingdom from Hong Kong, arriving in each of the last 36 months for which he has figures.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : The latest available information is given in the table for British dependent territories citizens from Hong Kong. Reliable figures of admissions of stateless persons from Hong Kong are not available.Hong Kong British Dependent Territory Citizens admitted to the United Kingdom as ordinary or business visitors, November 1986 to October 1989 Number of persons Month |1986 |1987 |1988 |<1>1989 ------------------------------------------------------- January |- |1,890 |1,280 |1,510 February |- |2,230 |3,360 |3,870 March |- |1,570 |1,650 |2,280 April |- |2,010 |2,060 |1,950 May |- |2,640 |2,280 |2,600 June |- |3,560 |3,380 |4,490 July |- |5,370 |4,990 |5,440 August |- |5,280 |4,540 |5,760 September |- |3,210 |3,520 |3,960 October |- |2,850 |2,890 |3,100 November |1,260 |1,760 |1,610 |n.y.a. December |1,750 |1,980 |1,840 |n.y.a. |-------|-------|-------|------- Annual total |27,100 |34,400 |33,400 |n.y.a. <1> Provisional. n.y.a.=Not yet available.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the expected savings to the Metropolitan police following the erection of railings in Downing street.
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the number of police man hours employed in ambulance duties per police authority, to date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The readily available information is that up to 31 December police forces had provided approximately the number of man hours shown in the table in assisting the ambulance service in their areas.
CApproximate number of man hours C |Hours ------------------------------ Bedfordshire |17,700 Derbyshire |6,900 Dorset |9,500 Hampshire |5,100 Hertfordshire |31,600 Lincolnshire |2,600 South Yorkshire |27,300 Staffordshire |1,750 Surrey |850 Warwickshire |460 West Mercia |6,100 West Midlands |35,500 West Yorkshire |20,700
I understand that in the Metropolitan police district about 460 officers are usually employed in each 24-hour period assisting the ambulance service.
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the cost per police man hour of deploying the police on ambulance duties (a) outside London and (b) in London.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : The charge that is made by the Metropolitan police to the regional health authority for police officers who assist the London ambulance service is £16.20 per hour of normal duty time worked. Information about the charges made outside London is not available centrally ; the level of charge is determined by the relevant police authority.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are waiting for interview in queues 1,2,3 and 4 at each British post on the Indian sub-continent, and if he will give comparable figures for 1988, 1987 and 1986.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 18 December 1989] : The information requested is given in the table.
Estimated numbers of applicants in the Indian sub-continent awaiting their first interview for entry to the United Kingdom Number of persons Post<2> Category<3> |Queue 1|Queue 2|Queue 3|Queue 4 ----------------------------------------------------- Dhaka End September 1986 |640 |1,900 |130 |2,700 1987 |400 |1,800 |140 |2,600 1988 |230 |1,600 |150 |2,100 1989 |120 |650 |120 |1,400 New Delhi<4> End September 1986 |70 |210 |460 |180 1987 |40 |320 |600 |90 1988 |- |300 |400 |110 1989 |- |260 |330 |90 Bombay End September 1986 |120 |450 |480 |130 1987 |560 |460 |40 |140 1988 |30 |350 |480 |50 1989 |- |420 |530 |90 Madras<5> End September 1987 |<1>- |10 |<1>- |<6>- 1988 |- |- |- |- 1989 |- |20 |10 |<6>- Islamabad End September 1986 |880 |610 |2,100 |740 1987 |790 |970 |2,300 |850 1988 |1,200 |1,600 |2,400 |1,000 1989 |250 |2,300 |1,700 |940 Karachi End September 1986 |20 |60 |100 |<1>- 1987 |10 |80 |190 |10 1988 |10 |180 |210 |<4>- 1989 |<1>- |30 |20 |<1>- Total Indian sub-continent End September 1986 |1,700 |3,200 |3,300 |3,800 1987 |1,800 |3,600 |3,300 |3,600 1988 |1,500 |4,100 |3,600 |3,300 1989 |370 |3,600 |2,700 |2,500 <1> 5 or fewer <2> There were no applicants awaiting for interview in Calcutta. <3> Queue 1: Persons with a claim to the right of abode, dependent relatives over 70 years old, and special compassionate cases (first-time applicants for settlement). Queue 2: Spouses, and children under 18 years old ( first-time applicants for settlement). Queue 3: Fiance(e)s. and other applicants ( first-time applicants for settlement). Queue 4: Re-applicants for settlement. <4> Data exclude persons seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom. <5> Madras did not re-open for entry clearance work until October 1986. <6> Separate data are not available; re-applicants are included in the data for first-time applicants.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have applied over the past year for visas to visit the United Kingdom from British posts on the Indian sub-continent ; how many were (a) granted and (b) refused ; and what was the average waiting time for (i) interview and (ii) secured interview.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 18 December 1989] : In the 12 months ending 30 September 1989, 176,500 persons in the Indian sub- continent applied for a visa to visit the United Kingdom ; during the same period 151,800 such applications were granted, including those granted on appeal, and 19,400 were refused initially. Visit applications were considered within 24 hours.
Those applicants who then required a detailed interview were usually seen within the 24-hour period except in Madras and Islamabad where the waiting time for applicants interviewed at the end of October 1989 was two to three and eight days respectively. The average waiting time over the latest 12 months is not available centrally because of incomplete information.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total amount of civil defence grant aid for (a) staff costs, (b) building work and (c) other costs in the financial years from 1983-84 to 1988-89 and projected for 1989-90, received by each London borough.
Mr. John Patten [holding answer 14 December 1989] : The information requested in respect of financial years 1985-86 onwards is shown in the table. Comparable figures for 1983-84 and 1984-85 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Civil Defence Grant Aid received by London Boroughs1989-90 (Estimated) Borough |Staff |Building|Other |£ |£ |£ ----------------------------------------------------------- Barking and Dagenham |2,280 |- |3,240 Barnet |- |- |3,070 Bexley |- |- |- Brent |- |- |- Bromley |4,350 |- |4,710 Camden |- |- |3,000 City of London |- |9,500 |5,800 Croydon |- |- |2,240 Ealing |- |- |- Enfield |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |1,660 Hackney |- |- |2,240 Hammersmith and Fulham |- |- |4,669 Haringey |- |- |3,318 Harrow |- |- |8,560 Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |- |- |5,265 Hounslow |1,730 |- |2,200 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |- |4,900 |- Kingston |- |- |12,500 Lambeth |- |- |6,734 Lewisham |- |- |- Merton |- |- |- Newham |- |- |2,810 Redbridge |920 |- |300 Richmond |- |- |1,670 Southwark |- |- |4,650 Sutton |- |- |3,500 Tower Hamlets |- |- |- Waltham Forest |- |- |- Wandsworth |- |- |6,074 Westminster |- |- |-
Civil Defence Grant Aid received by London Boroughs1989-90 (Estimated) Borough |Staff |Building|Other |£ |£ |£ ----------------------------------------------------------- Barking and Dagenham |2,280 |- |3,240 Barnet |- |- |3,070 Bexley |- |- |- Brent |- |- |- Bromley |4,350 |- |4,710 Camden |- |- |3,000 City of London |- |9,500 |5,800 Croydon |- |- |2,240 Ealing |- |- |- Enfield |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |1,660 Hackney |- |- |2,240 Hammersmith and Fulham |- |- |4,669 Haringey |- |- |3,318 Harrow |- |- |8,560 Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |- |- |5,265 Hounslow |1,730 |- |2,200 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |- |4,900 |- Kingston |- |- |12,500 Lambeth |- |- |6,734 Lewisham |- |- |- Merton |- |- |- Newham |- |- |2,810 Redbridge |920 |- |300 Richmond |- |- |1,670 Southwark |- |- |4,650 Sutton |- |- |3,500 Tower Hamlets |- |- |- Waltham Forest |- |- |- Wandsworth |- |- |6,074 Westminster |- |- |-
Civil Defence Grant Aid received by London Boroughs1989-90 (Estimated) Borough |Staff |Building|Other |£ |£ |£ ----------------------------------------------------------- Barking and Dagenham |2,280 |- |3,240 Barnet |- |- |3,070 Bexley |- |- |- Brent |- |- |- Bromley |4,350 |- |4,710 Camden |- |- |3,000 City of London |- |9,500 |5,800 Croydon |- |- |2,240 Ealing |- |- |- Enfield |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |1,660 Hackney |- |- |2,240 Hammersmith and Fulham |- |- |4,669 Haringey |- |- |3,318 Harrow |- |- |8,560 Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |- |- |5,265 Hounslow |1,730 |- |2,200 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |- |4,900 |- Kingston |- |- |12,500 Lambeth |- |- |6,734 Lewisham |- |- |- Merton |- |- |- Newham |- |- |2,810 Redbridge |920 |- |300 Richmond |- |- |1,670 Southwark |- |- |4,650 Sutton |- |- |3,500 Tower Hamlets |- |- |- Waltham Forest |- |- |- Wandsworth |- |- |6,074 Westminster |- |- |-
Civil Defence Grant Aid received by London Boroughs1989-90 (Estimated) Borough |Staff |Building|Other |£ |£ |£ ----------------------------------------------------------- Barking and Dagenham |2,280 |- |3,240 Barnet |- |- |3,070 Bexley |- |- |- Brent |- |- |- Bromley |4,350 |- |4,710 Camden |- |- |3,000 City of London |- |9,500 |5,800 Croydon |- |- |2,240 Ealing |- |- |- Enfield |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |1,660 Hackney |- |- |2,240 Hammersmith and Fulham |- |- |4,669 Haringey |- |- |3,318 Harrow |- |- |8,560 Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |- |- |5,265 Hounslow |1,730 |- |2,200 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |- |4,900 |- Kingston |- |- |12,500 Lambeth |- |- |6,734 Lewisham |- |- |- Merton |- |- |- Newham |- |- |2,810 Redbridge |920 |- |300 Richmond |- |- |1,670 Southwark |- |- |4,650 Sutton |- |- |3,500 Tower Hamlets |- |- |- Waltham Forest |- |- |- Wandsworth |- |- |6,074 Westminster |- |- |-
Civil Defence Grant Aid received by London Boroughs1989-90 (Estimated) Borough |Staff |Building|Other |£ |£ |£ ----------------------------------------------------------- Barking and Dagenham |2,280 |- |3,240 Barnet |- |- |3,070 Bexley |- |- |- Brent |- |- |- Bromley |4,350 |- |4,710 Camden |- |- |3,000 City of London |- |9,500 |5,800 Croydon |- |- |2,240 Ealing |- |- |- Enfield |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |1,660 Hackney |- |- |2,240 Hammersmith and Fulham |- |- |4,669 Haringey |- |- |3,318 Harrow |- |- |8,560 Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |- |- |5,265 Hounslow |1,730 |- |2,200 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |- |4,900 |- Kingston |- |- |12,500 Lambeth |- |- |6,734 Lewisham |- |- |- Merton |- |- |- Newham |- |- |2,810 Redbridge |920 |- |300 Richmond |- |- |1,670 Southwark |- |- |4,650 Sutton |- |- |3,500 Tower Hamlets |- |- |- Waltham Forest |- |- |- Wandsworth |- |- |6,074 Westminster |- |- |-
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many outside accountancy firms are employed by his Department ; whether such employment is subject to any guidelines ; and whether he takes steps before employing an accountancy firm to discover whether that firm has been censured by Department of Trade and Industry inspectors in their inquiries under the Companies Act.
Mr. Waddington [holding answer 14 December 1989] : The Home Office is currently employing four accountancy firms. Contracts are awarded which provide value for money from competent firms, after consultations as necessary and where appropriate, in the light of advice given by Her Majesty's Treasury.
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what expenditure was made by his Department on (a) the arts and (b) design in the last financial year.
Mr. Waddington [holding answer 21 December 1989] : A number of items of my Department's expenditure--for example, the provision and maintenance of prisons and programmes for prisoners, and the production of various publications--contain elements that could be classified as expenditure on arts and--or design, but in general it is not practicable to separate and cost those elements.
All prison education departments provide courses in art and craft work, but, because these courses are part of the total education provision, it is not possible to identify separately expenditure on them. Expenditure on the annual Koestler Trust exhibition of prisoners' art and craft is estimated to have been £20,000 in 1988-89.
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy at what point plutonium created in civil reactors under safeguards becomes no longer subject to safeguards when distributed in
plutonium-contaminated wastes at Sellafield.
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