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Estate Agents
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has for requiring registration, training qualifications and insurance funds for estate agents.
Mr. Forth : I have no such proposals. The reasons why legislation on these matters would not be appropriate are
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set out in the report published in December 1988 of the Director General of Fair Trading's review of the Estate Agents Act 1979 and in the report published in June 1989 of my review of estate agency.Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has for bringing estate agents within the terms of the Trade Descriptions Act.
Mr. Forth : As I told the hon. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) on 21 June 1989 at column 333, I have asked the Director General of Fair Trading to review the arguments for extending the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 to misdescriptions of property. His report is expected shortly.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what requirements for registration, professional competence tests and licensing exist for estate agents in (a) France, (b) West Germany and (c) Holland ; and what proposals he has for bringing British requirements into line with other European Economic Community countries.
Mr. Forth : Information on the requirements for estate agents in European Community countries has recently been published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. I have placed relevant extracts from its publication "1992 A General Practice Guide To the Single European Market" by Michael Treays FRICS in the House of Commons Library. My right hon. Friend has no proposals for introducing such requirements.
Disabled Staff
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the number of disabled employees in his Department ; and what is the applicable statutory quota.
Mr. Forth : The Department employs 128 registered disabled staff (1.1 per cent.). We also employ 73 other disabled staff (0.6 per cent.) who have chosen not to register.
Tampons
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what information he has on health warnings carried on tampons sold in the United States to alert women to the dangers of contracting toxic shock syndrome ; and if he will consult manufacturers of tampons with a view to introducing a warning on each package of tampons that use of them can cause toxic shock syndrome and that it can be fatal ;
(2) whether he will consider requiring manufacturers to print an ingredients list on the packaging of tampons ;
(3) whether legislation would be necessary to require manufacturers to carry warnings on tampon packets that the use of tampons can cause toxic shock syndrome.
Mr. Forth : In the United States packets of tampons are required to carry a warning about the danger of toxic shock syndrome. In this country the industry labels packets of tampons with information about their use. The industry has been asked to provide in the safety instructions inside the packet, information about toxic shock syndrome and what to look for. The information given by manufacturers about tampons with these
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products is kept under review, but I have no present intention to make regulations under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.Birmingham (Overseas Companies)
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what interest is being shown by overseas companies in becoming established in Birmingham.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Overseas businesses are currently showing great interest in Birmingham and in the west midlands in general. There are now over 100 overseas companies operating in the Birmingham area and I am pleased to be able to announce that the West German company Keiper Recaro, a leading manufacturer of car seats, is to establish a subsidiary company on the Woodgate business park in my hon. Friend's constituency. This project is forecast to create 96 jobs and an offer of regional selective assistance (of £250,000) has been made towards it.
This follows the recent announcement by another West German automotive components company, Kirsten Automotive of its plans to establish a facility on the same business park. That project is forecast to create a further 58 jobs.
We are in discussion with a number of other overseas companies planning to establish their United Kingdom headquarters in Birmingham. Prospects are very encouraging.
Light Sources
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the potential dangers to health known to his Department from the use of consumer products which can produce flicker or stroboscopic light sources with a flicker rate in excess of five flashes per second ; and if he will issue a statement about those potential dangers of such products.
Mr. Forth : It is known that the direct exposure to flicker or stroboscopic light can create a susceptibility in a small proportion of the population--about one in 10,000--to flicker sensitive epilepsy. This can occur within a range of frequencies from five to 65 flashes per second which can be generated by television or amateur cine projection equipment. Additionally, of course, there is a physical danger that rotating equipment under stroboscopic light can be perceived to be stationary when it is in fact moving rapidly. However, I am not aware of evidence where these effects have become a general threat to safety in the use of consumer products.
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list those consumer products on sale in the United Kingdom, of which he has knowledge, which are capable of producing a flicker or stroboscopic light source with a flicker rate in excess of five flashes per second.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 16 February 1990] : The information is not available in the form requested but there are two groups of products which are capable of producing regular pulses of light at a frequency greater than five flashes per second. The largest group includes lighting products such as fluorescent tubes or television
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screens where flicker is unintended but nonetheless produces flicker rates varying between 30 and 100 pulses per second, arising from the electrical mains frequency or screen scanning frequency. The second group covers products where the stroboscopic effect is intended, as with equipment for adjusting motor engine timing dynamically, where the strobe frequency is variable in a range upwards of about 10 pulses per second.Any piece of continuous lighting equipment can, of course, be made to flash for effect, as in the case of discotheque lighting. Camera equipment normallly used for single flash operation can also create a stroboscopic effect with a series of flashes when used with a film motor drive.
Eastern Europe (Imports)
Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which products from (a) Poland, (b) East Germany, (c) Czechoslovakia, (d) Romania, (e) Bulgaria, (f) Hungary and (g) Yugoslavia are subject to any form of import restrictions, including quotas, voluntary restraint agreements and tariffs at either European Community or national level ; and if he will set out details.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 14 February 1990] : Details of the products which are subject to such restrictions are too numerous to set out in an answer. Most of them can be found in published sources which are available in the Library as follows :
Quantitative Restrictions
List of quantitative restrictions applied by one or more member states are covered by Annex III of Regulation 3420/83, which was last updated and published as Official Journal L217 of 6 August 1987. However, there are no quantitative restrictions on imports from Yugoslavia and on 1 January 1990, quantitative restrictions on imports to the EC from Poland and Hungary were liberalised or suspended. New arrangements for 1990 quotas are currently being considered by the EC Commission and are expected to be published shortly.
Steel and Textiles
Bilaterally agreed arrangements in limiting steel and textile imports into the Community from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Yugoslavia are in place. Textile products which are specifically affected by these arrangements are set out in EC Regulations 768/88 (as published in EC Official Journal L84 of 29 March 1988) and 669/88 (covered by EC Official Journal L73 of 18 March 1989). Quotas are operated on ECSC steel products for the GDR under Commission Recommendation 77/328/ECSC. Details of product coverage were last published in British Business magazine of 5 May 1989 and in future will be published in Lloyds List International. Voluntary restraint arrangements which are negotiated annually with the other countries cover most ECSC products and are not published because they are commercially confidential.
Leather Footwear
Although there are no formal United Kingdom quantitative restrictions on leather footwear from Eastern Europe, voluntary restraint arrangements have been negotiated by the EC Commission with Romania and Czechoslovakia on our behalf.
Tariffs
The EC's 1990 general tariff rates for all products are set out in EC Official Journal L282/89 published on 2 October 1989. Most Favoured Nation rates apply to each of the countries listed except where special arrangements apply. Poland, Hungary and Romania are beneficiaries of the EC's Generalised Scheme of Preferences and products from these countries which benefit from GSP provisions are set in EC Official Journal L383/89 published on 30 December 1989.
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The EC has signed a trade agreement with Yugoslavia which provides for preferential access to the EC market for a range of products from that country. Details of these arrangements for 1990 are covered in EC Official Journal L352 of 4 December 1989.Anti-Dumping Duties
Other EC anti-dumping measures involve the imposition of anti-dumping duties on the following products :
Product Chemicals |Country
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Potassium Permanganate |Czechoslovakia
Copper Sulphate |Yugoslavia, Bulgaria
Light Sodium Carbonate |Bulgaria, Romania
Oxalic Acid |Czechoslovakia
Dinoseb |Romania
Welded Tubes of Iron or |Yugoslavia
non-Alloy Steel
Sheets of Iron ornon-Alloy |Yugoslavia
Steel, Cold Rolled
Iron and Steel Sections |Yugoslavia
Iron or Steel Coils |Yugoslavia
Sheets and Plates of Iron |Yugoslavia
or Steel
Synthetic Textiles Fibres |Romania, Yugoslavia
of Polyester
Acrylic Fibres |Romania
Deep Freezers |GDR, Yugoslavia
Electric Motors |Yugoslavia, Bulgaria,
|Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
|Poland, Romania, GDR
In addition the EC operates an anti-dumping voluntary restraint on imports of urea from Hungary, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia.
Other Measures
Other customs restrictions are also applied to products from third countries by the United Kingdom and other Member States on health, safety and public policy grounds.
Gas Consumers Council
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total number of complaints and representations dealt with by the Gas Consumers Council and by its predecessors in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 19 February 1990] : The information is as follows :
|Complaints|Inquiries
--------------------------------------------
1979-80 |35,300 |-
1980-81 |28,000 |-
1981-82 |27,400 |-
1982-83 |28,200 |-
1983-84 |27,700 |-
1984-85 |27,000 |-
1985-86 |29,000 |-
1987 |26,400 |64,400
1988 |27,500 |77,000
1989 |21,400 |66,000
Prior to 1987 and the setting up of the new Gas Consumers Council, statistics on the number of inquiries were not maintained. Moreover the statistics on the number of complaints are not directly comparable due to the different recording basis which took effect when the Gas Consumers Council was established.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total cost of wages and salaries and the total budget in each of the last 10 years for the Gas
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Consumers Council and of its predecessors the National Gas Consumers Council and the regional gas consumers councils.Mr. Forth [holding answer 19 February 1990] : The information is as follows :
|Salaries |Total budget
|£000 |£000
----------------------------------------------------
1980-81 |831 |1,207
1981-82 |913 |1,355
1982-83 |1,075 |1,535
1983-84 |1,088 |1,585
1984-85 |1,212 |1,635
1985-86 |1,294 |1,710
1986-87 |1,130 |2,050
1987-88 |1,034 |1,918
1988-89 |1,078 |2,215
1989-90 |1,129 |2,212
The new Gas Consumers Council was set up in August 1986 and additional expenses of £588,000 and £700,000 were incurred in 1986-87 and 1987-88 respectively on setting up costs.
The total budget figures are not comparable : post 1986 the figures include accommodation costs. Prior to this date such costs were borne on the main departmental account and cannot be identified separately.
Meat Products
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the companies in the United Kingdom which have been given leave, or have applied, to manufacture blood gel plasma meat products ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to his related question.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
South Africa
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Her Majesty's Government's policy towards ending apartheid in South Africa.
Mr. Waldegrave : We constantly assess policy in the light of developments in South Africa. The release of Nelson Mandela and the other steps announced by President de Klerk on 2 February are a vindication of our policy of contact rather than isolation and of a mixture of persuasive pressure and encouragement.
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent communications he has had with the South African Government about the present situation in that country.
Mr. Waldegrave : We maintain regular contact with the South African authorities, both here and via Her Majesty's ambassador.
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her
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Majesty's Government have invited Nelson Mandela to visit the United Kingdom for talks on the present South African situation ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Waldegrave : On 14 February a message was delivered to Mr. Mandela inviting him to visit the United Kingdom.
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to pay an official visit to South Africa over the coming year.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next envisages visiting South Africa.
Mr. Waldegrave : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs hopes to visit South Africa before long, perhaps at the time of Namibian independence.
China
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further steps Her Majesty's Government have taken since the Madrid council to encourage the Chinese authorities to admit independent observers to monitor political trials in China.
Mr. Sainsbury : The Presidency, on behalf of the Twelve, made representations on this subject to the Chinese authorities on 20 July 1989.
Human Rights
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will make a statement on initiatives taken by the Government and their European Community partners in the current session of the United Nations human rights commission.
Mr. Sainsbury : I outlined our priorities at the Commission on Human Rights on 13 February. Mr. Gerard Collins, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, made a statement on behalf of the EC on 2 February. Copies of these statements are being placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government intend to use the opportunity of the current session of the United Nations human rights commission to condemn human rights abuses in China.
Mr. Sainsbury : Together with our European partners, we raised our concerns about human rights in China in the opening week of the commission's current session. We intend to do so again under the item of the agenda which concerns situations in specific countries.
Immigration
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has yet arrived at a decision on entry clearance for the children of Mr. A. Hussein of Southend-on-Sea, reference GV100/6751.
Mr. Sainsbury : In accordance with the guidelines on the handling of representations by Members of Parliament in
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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. My hon. Friend will receive a reply from the unit as soon as possible.East Timor
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which years since the adoption by the United Nations of a resolution on the right to self-determination of the East Timorese in 1975 the United Nations General Assembly has discussed the situation in East Timor ; and how Her Majesty's Government voted on each occasion.
Mr. Sainsbury : The United Nations General Assembly discussed East Timor at every General Assembly session between 1975 and 1982. We abstained on each occasion.
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has concerning the number and fate of people arrested, detained or tortured in East Timor since the visit there of Pope John Paul II in October 1989.
Mr. Sainsbury : We understand that 26 people may still be under investigation in connection with various incidents, including the demonstration after the Pope's mass on 12 October. A number of trials may follow. None was detained following the demonstration on 17 January during the United States ambassador's visit. There have been accusations of torture, but we are not in a position to substantiate them.
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has concerning the number of East Timorese who have disappeared or died through violence since the Indonesian occupation in East Timor in 1975 ; and what sources of information Her Majesty's Government have on this area.
Mr. Sainsbury : We have access to a range of sources which provide conflicting assessments. Estimates vary from 60,000 to 100,000 fatalities.
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiatives Her Majesty's Government have taken to implement the right to self-determination for the people of East Timor (a) in direct contact with the Indonesian Government, (b) through the European Community, (c) in contact with the Association of South East Asia Nations, (d) at the United Nations and (e) in the inter government group on Indonesia.
Mr. Sainsbury : We consider that the conditions required for a definitive exercise of self-determination can be created only through co- operation between the two Governments directly concerned, those of Portugal and Indonesia. We and our EC partners have therefore sought to encourage such a settlement in contacts with the Indonesians and the United Nations. We are sure that the United Nations Secretary-General, Portugal and Indonesia will be concerned to find a settlement which fully protects the interests of the people of East Timor. We have not raised the issue in the intergovernmental group on Indonesia. ASEAN countries do not regard East Timor as a regional issue for discussion with Her Majesty's Government.
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Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the inter government group on Indonesia has considered the request of parliamentarians for East Timor that the group discusses the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : The intergovernmental group on Indonesia has not considered this request.
Turkey (Kurdish People)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Turkey concerning their treatment of the Kurdish people ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : We are in regular touch with the Turkish Government about the human rights of all groups in Turkey, including Kurds. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs most recently raised the issue with the Turkish deputy Prime Minister, Professor Ali Bozer on 22 January.
Polisario Front
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings have been held by officials of his Department of Ministers with the Polisario Front.
Mr. Waldegrave : No Foreign Office Minister has met a Polisario representative. But there have been occasional informal meetings between Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and Polisario representatives.
Nuclear Arms
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if, during his recent visit to Canada, he raised the issues of (a) the 1970 nuclear proliferation treaty and its forthcoming fourth review conference, (b) prospects for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty and (c) the flight testing of missile and aircraft systems.
ENERGY
Electricity Imports
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what percentage of electricity is now imported from French power stations via the Channel cable.
Mr. Baldry : In 1989 net imports of electricity from France accounted for 4 per cent. of total electricity available from the United Kingdom public supply system.
Nuclear Energy
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he has been sent a copy of the dossier "Why We Need Nuclear Electricity", produced by the British Nuclear Forum this year.
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Global Warming
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will obtain for his departmental library a copy of Wordwatch paper 91 "Slowing Global Warming : A Worldwide Strategy" by Christopher Flavin, published in 1989.
Mr. Wakeham : A copy of this paper is already held in the Department of Energy library.
Heat Pumps
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if his Department will (a) be represented at and (b) present any paper to the International Energy Agency conference "Heat Pumps--Solving Energy and Environmental Challenges" to be held in Tokyo on 12 to 15 March.
Mr. Peter Morrison : My Department's views on heat pumps have been expressed at the two previous IEA Conferences in 1984 and 1987 and have not changed since.
Hinkley B Power Station
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) for how long both reactors at Hinkley B were without any means of cooling on Sunday 11 February ;
(2) for how many minutes the nuclear reactor at Hinkley B was operating at full load on Sunday 11 February in the absence of any means of cooling ;
(3) if he will instigate a full public inquiry into the incident at Hinkley B power station on 11 February ;
(4) if he will make a statement on the incident which took place at Hinkley B on Sunday 11 February ;
(5) what is the maximum estimated time an advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactor on full load can function without going into melt down in the absence of any means of cooling ;
(6) when he commissioned a report from the nuclear installations inspectorate into the incident at Hinkley B power station on 11 February ; and if he will make a statement.
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