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Mr. Kenneth Clarke : This detailed information is not collected centrally.
Food Poisoning
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the number of cases notified to him of the following for each year since 1980 until the latest date for which figures are available : (a) food poisoning in general, (b) salmonella, (c) salmonella enteritidis, (d) salmonella enteritidis P4, (e) salmonella typhimurium, (f) campylobacter and (g) listeriosis, respectively ;
(2) if he will list the number of cases notified to him of the following for January : (a) food poisoning in general, (b) salmonella, (c) salmonella enteritidis, (d) salmonella enteritidis P4, (e) salmonella typhimurium, (f) campylobacter and (g) listeriosis.
Mr. Freeman : The information requested is given in the table :
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Food Poisoning Salmonella S. EnteritidS. EnteritidS. TyphimuriCampylobacteListeriosis<2>
|OPCS |Otherwise
|Formally |Ascertained
|Notified
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980 |10,318 |- |10,806 |816 |n/a |3,509 |8,956 |75
1981 |9,936 |- |10,600 |1,110 |n/a |3,691 |12,168 |86
1982 |9,964 |4,289 |12,051 |959 |n/a |5,337 |12,797 |77
1983 |12,273 |5,462 |14,288 |1,537 |n/a |6,741 |17,278 |115
1984 |13,247 |7,455 |14,094 |1,554 |n/a |6,369 |21,018 |115
1985 |13,143 |6,099 |11,765 |2,520 |n/a |4,780 |23,572 |149
1986 |16,502 |7,446 |14,800 |4,001 |2,271 |5,885 |24,809 |137
1987 |20,363 |8,968 |17,552 |5,784 |3,861 |6,400 |27,310 |259
1988 |27,826 |11,887 |23,821 |13,051 |9,062 |5,566 |28,761 |291
1989 (prov) |39,125 |15,588 |25,188 |13,232 |9,749 |6,182 |32,590 |251
1990 To week 06 (prov) |2,656 |1,216 |2,227 |1,168 |898 |459 |2,969 |8
<1> Data on S. Enteritiosis PT's was collected from 1986 onwards.
<2> From 1983 Laboratory reports to CDSC and DMRQC data were pooled resulting in increased ascertainment.
n/a Not available for this year.
EMPLOYMENT
Private Security Firms
Mr. George : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the names of all the private security firms currently employed by his Department, the number of employees for each firm on the contract, the total value of each contract and the total value of all contracts for each financial year since 1984-85.
Mr. Eggar : At present the following firms provide security for the Department :
Reliance Security Services
Compass Security
Group 4 Security
High Peak Security Services
Chubb Wardens Ltd.
Securicor Ltd.
Securiguard Ltd.
Armaguard
Century Security
Stirling Guards
Securisystem Ltd.
Dagenham Motorsecurity Ltd.
Mint Security
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|£000s
--------------------
1984-85 |300
1985-86 |331
1986-87 |427
1987-88 |502
1988-89 |444
1989-90 |540
|---
Total |2,544
Health and Safety
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many newly established factory premises were registered with each of the Health and Safety Executive's area offices in each of the last five years.
Mr. Nicholls : The information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Hong Kong
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when the annual allocation of work permits for unskilled applicants from Hong Kong will be completed.
Mr. Eggar : An announcement about the arrangements for the 1990 dependent territories quota will be made soon.
Work Permits (Domestic Servants)
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many work permits were granted in 1989 to foreigners described as domestic servants.
Mr. Eggar : A total of 36 work permits were granted for employment in this category under the provision of the dependent territories quota which allows a limited number of overseas nationals from the remaining dependent territories to come for work below the normal occupational skills criteria of the work permit scheme.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what employment regulations govern persons brought into the country as domestic servants by (a) foreigners and (b) agencies based in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Eggar : Such people, once they have established that they ordinarily work in Great Britain, are covered by the employment protection legislation in the same way as British employees.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what regulations govern the establishment of agencies in the United Kingdom which import domestic servants from abroad.
Mr. Eggar : Employment agencies, including those which recruit domestic servants from abroad, must be licensed under the Employment Agencies Act 1973. Regulations made under the Act (SI 1976 No. 715) set standards of conduct to protect the interests of workers and clients.
Further Education
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out, in 1987 prices, the expenditure on work-related further education in (a) 1986-87, (b) 1987-88, (c) 1988-89, (d) 1989-90 and (e) the projected expenditure for 1990-91.
Mr. Nicholls : The total expenditure on work-related further education by the Employment Department Group Training Agency (and its predecessors, the Training Commission and the Manpower Services Commission) is as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------
1986-87 |110.0
1987-88 |106.7
1988-89 |106.3
1989-90 |93.1
1990-91 |89.8
The figures shown are at constant 1986-87 prices and were calculated by use of the GDP deflator index.
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Action for Jobs
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much of the total expenditure on the action for jobs campaign in 1988-89 was attributed to printed material ; how much was attributed to television advertising ; and how much was attributed to other expenditure.
Mr. Eggar : Expenditure on action for jobs printed material in 1988- 89 was £287,000 ; expenditure on action for jobs television advertising in 1988-89 was £123,000 ; and other expenditure relating to the action for jobs campaign in 1988-89 was £190,000.
Training
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number and percentage of (a) people who started training with a training manager from the guarantee group and (b) people who started training with a training manager from the aim group between September 1988 and December 1989 inclusive for Great Britain.
Mr. Nicholls [holding answer 12 February 1990] : A total of 79, 000 people (14 per cent. of all entrants) entered employment training from the guarantee group and 173,000 (32 per cent.) from the aim group between September 1988 and December 1989.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number in employment training of (a) people aged 18 to 25 years who have been unemployed for between six to 12 months and (b) people aged 18 to 50 years who have been unemployed for over two years in each of the months September 1988 to December 1989 inclusive for Great Britain.
Mr. Nicholls [holding answer 12 February 1990] : The information is provided in the table :
Employment training aim and guarantee group
entrants September
1988 to December 1989
Month |Guarantee|Aim group
|group
---------------------------------------------
September 1988 |3,600 |7,900
October |5,100 |11,300
November |5,400 |12,700
December |4,600 |10,600
January 1989 |5,500 |13,000
February |6,700 |15,200
March |6,600 |13,600
April |5,700 |11,400
May |4,800 |9,100
June |5,600 |10,800
July |4,700 |9,800
August |4,100 |8,300
September |5,400 |13,200
October |4,400 |10,400
November |4,400 |10,800
December<1> |3,100 |7,600
<1> Provisional.
ENVIRONMENT
Association of District Councils
Mr. Lofthouse : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met the Association of District Councils ; and what issues were raised.
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Mr. Chris Patten : My hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities addressed the Association of District Councils national symposium on 23 January. He spoke about the revenue support grant settlement.Local Government Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the proposed rate of poll tax for all councils and districts which have declared a rate, together with the average rate per head payable in the current financial year.
Mr. Leadbitter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the number of charging authorities which have community charges higher than the Government estimate and how many are less than that estimate ; and if he will list the authorities.
Mr. Chope : I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mr. Hinchliffe) on 21 February.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how the figure of £2,280.12 in paragraph
Column 888
3.1a of the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) was arrived at ; and what effect the choice of this figure has on standard spending assessments arrived at for Grimsby.Mr. Chope : The figure referred to was arrived at by my right hon. Friend after full consultation with local authority respresentatives. It has no effect on the standard spending assessment for Great Grimsby since, as a non-metropolitan district, Great Grimsby is not responsible for social services for children.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will set out the reasons for the variations in the standard spending assessment on a per capita basis between the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Enfield, Redbridge, Haringey, Hackney and Barnet.
Mr. Chope : The standard spending assessments have been calculated according to the formulae set out in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England). The results of these calculations for each service element are listed in pounds per relevant adult for the London boroughs requested :
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Standard spending assessments
|Education |Personal |Highway |Other services |Capital |Total
|social services|maintenance |financing
|£ per adult |£ per adult |£ per adult |£ per adult |£ per adult |£ per adult
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waltham Forest |510 |170 |36 |193 |93 |1,002
Enfield |452 |110 |38 |134 |82 |816
Redbridge |414 |99 |36 |136 |65 |751
Haringey |561 |230 |35 |251 |104 |1,181
Hackney |701 |344 |40 |359 |124 |1,569
Barnet |389 |103 |35 |128 |52 |707
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what gain or loss has resulted for Brighton borough council as a consequence of the reduction in the standard spending assessment for the borough ; what was the comparable grant in the previous four financial years ; and on what basis the assessment was reduced.
Mr. Chris Patten : Brighton borough council's standard spending assessment (SSA) for 1990-91 reflects a 2.7 per cent. increase over the comparable figure for 1989-90 grant-related expenditure (GRE). It is not possible to determine what grant gain or loss has resulted for an authority as a consequence of a variation between its adjusted 1989-90 GRE and its 1990-91 SSA, because the methodology for calculating grant entitlement under the community charge system is different from that used under the domestic rating system. Brighton borough council's SSA was calculated on the same basis as that used for all other district councils, that is, the basis set out in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England).
Mr. Mills : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the detailed criteria leading to the standard spending assessment for Solihull borough ; and what assessment he has made of the resultant effect of his calculations.
Mr. Chope : The details of the method of calculating the standard spending assessments for all local authorities are set out in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report
Column 888
(England) approved by the House on 18 January. The result of the calculations for Solihull is an assessment of £103.664 million.Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make an estimate of the total number of households in the London borough of Hillingdon that will be eligible for relief under the community charge transitional relief scheme.
Mr. Chope : I estimate that about 6 million individuals will be entitled to transitional relief in England. No estimates have been made of the number of persons eligible at the level of individual local authorities, but I understand that the London borough of Hillingdon has estimated that residents of more than 33,000 properties in the borough are potentially eligible for transitional relief.
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what financial assistance the London borough of Hillingdon will receive under the community charge transitional relief scheme ; and what estimate he has made of the amount of transitional relief available on a notional charge of £359, excluding any overspending by the council to (a) a single occupier whose rateable value does not exceed £94 and (b) two occupiers whose rateable value does not exceed £257.
Mr. Chope : For the proposed arrangements for reimbursing local authorities for the costs of the community charge transitional relief scheme, I refer my
Column 889
hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Central (Mr. Lord) on 15 February, Official Report, column 405. In general, the transitional relief scheme provides assistance where the assumed community charge next year is more than £156 above the assumed rates bill (defined as the rateable value times the assumed rates poundage) this year. In the examples quoted, however, the assumed charge or charges is less than £156 above this year's rates bill and no relief would therefore be payable.Mr. Cormack : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the estimated yield for the community charge in the year beginning 1 April 1990.
Mr. Chope : It is not possible to make an estimate of the actual yield until charging authorities have set their charges. However, if authorities spend in line with the assumptions used for the settlement, charge payers will have to find about £7.55 billion, after rebates and transitional relief, towards spending of £32.8 billion. If authorities increase their spending, the burden on charge payers will be higher.
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the elements which make up the standard spending assessment relevant to local authorities for the purpose of the community charge.
Mr. Chope : The details of the method of assessing standard spending assessments are set out in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) approved by the House on 18 January.
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the rate of inflation assumed for local authorities for the purposes of standard spending assessments.
Mr. Chope : There is no specific assumption about inflation incorporated in standard spending assessments. However, total standard spending for 1990-91, from which standard spending assessments for 1990-91 are derived, is 11 per cent. higher than the equivalent figure for 1989-90.
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about local authorities requiring community charge payers to make their payments by direct debits, standing orders or cash but not by cheques drawn on their bank accounts.
Mr. Chope : It is for local authorities to agree with charge payers which method they will use to make payment. I should expect the local authority to have regard inter alia to convenience for charge payers and the cost-effectiveness for the authority of particular methods of payment. I am not aware of any authority that is refusing to accept cheques in payment of the community charge.
Mr. Holt : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) for calculation purposes to determine rate support grant in (a) Middlesbrough, (b) Stockton and (c) Langbaurgh, how many (i) one-parent families and (ii) black families were assessed as resident in the relevant areas ;
(2) how much Langbaurgh would receive under the new grant scheme for local council support following the introduction of the community charge if (a) 2,000, (b) 5,000 and (c) 10,000 of its residents were black ; and how much it is currently expected to receive ;
Column 890
(3) what weighting is given in calculating the rate support grant to the proportion of immigrants in the population from (a) the West Indies, (b) Pakistan, (c) Bangladesh, (d) Nigeria, (e) India, (f) Hong Kong, (g) Israel, (h) Australia, (i) New Zealand, (j) Canada, (k) Eire, (l) EEC countries, (m) Turkey, (n) Greece and (o) the United States of America ;(4) which are (a) the five local authorities which receive most support in cash terms and (b) the five authorities which receive the least support in cash terms under the current rate support grant scheme by virtue of the number of black heads of households.
Mr. Chope : I have today written to my hon. Friend.
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) in real terms what was the annual local government net current expenditure per head of population in Stockport during each of the last three years for which figures are available ;
(2) in real terms what was the annual local government net current expenditure per head of population in (a) Manchester and (b) Trafford during each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Mr. Chope : The information is as follows :
Net current
expenditure per
head in real
terms
(1989-90
prices)
|£
----------------
Manchester city
1987-88 |804
1988-89 |676
1989-90 |704
Trafford borough
1987-88 |493
1988-89 |503
1989-90 |494
Stockport boroug
1987-88 |475
1988-89 |487
1989-90 |466
Notes:
1. The GDP
deflator has
been used to
convert cash
values to
constant
prices.
2. Population
figures used to
derive per
capita values
are Office of
Population
Censuses and
Surveys mid
year estimates
of total
population.
3. Polytechnics
were
transferred
from the local
authority
sector in April
1989.
Homelessness
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a breakdown of the amounts of the additional £250 million given to local authorities to deal with homelessness according to (a) explicit or earmarked purposes, (b) region and (c) money to tenants to enter owner-occupation.
Mr. Michael Spicer : My Department is currently considering bids for the £112 million to be made available to local authorities for schemes to relieve homelessness in 1990-91. The Housing Corporation is also considering bids for the £36 million to be allocated to housing associations for similar schemes. Announcements on the projects to be supported will be made as soon as possible.
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Water Companies
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people who applied for shares in the privatised water companies have not yet received their shares despite having their cheques cashed.
Mr. Trippier : At the end of last week the receiving banks for the water share offers were dealing with about 970 outstanding requests for replacement interim share certificates.
Archaeology
Mr. Gerald Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will now publish guidance on archaeology and development.
Mr. Trippier : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has issued today, for public consultation, draft guidance aimed at providing local planning authorities in England, developers, archaeologists, amenity societies, property owners and the general public with advice on Government policy on ancient monuments and archaeological sites and on the handling of archaeological remains and discoveries in the planning process. Its key message is that developers and local planning authorities should discuss outline development proposals at an early stage so that the needs of archaeology and development can be reconciled. A copy of the consultation paper has been placed in the Library.
Nature Conservancy Council
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment in which years before 1 April 1989 the number of members of the Nature Conservancy Council has exceeded 18.
Mr. Chris Patten : Before 1 April 1989, the number appointed to serve on the Nature Conservancy Council rose to 19 only during the year April 1981 to April 1982.
Mortgage Interest Rates
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average gross mortgage rate of the building societies from March 1974 to May 1979 ; and what was the corresponding figure for June 1979 to January 1990.
Mr. Chris Patten : The estimated average gross mortgage interest rates of building societies for the periods March 1974 to May 1979 and June 1979 to December 1989 are 10.8 per cent. and 12.5 per cent. respectively.
River Rother
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans for a major review of consent procedures in relation to discharges into rivers.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The NRA is already conducting a review of the way in which discharge consents for all types of discharge are set, and the way in which compliance with the terms of consent is assessed, to ensure that the consent system can effectively protect water quality and enable pollution control standards to be enforced. I await the NRA's conclusions with interest.
Column 892
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will instigate an official inquiry into all discharges into the River Rother ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not consider that it would be appropriate for him to institute such an inquiry. This is a matter for the National Rivers Authority, which is under a statutory duty to review, from time to time, all consented discharges, and is responsible for securing such improvements as it considers will be needed to meet new statutory water quality objectives to be set up by the Secretary of State. I understand that major improvements to sewage and industrial discharges are already planned or under way which are designed to raise the quality of the River Rother.
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the breaches of consent relating to the discharges into the River Rother, and the number of prosecutions, since 1980 to the present time.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Details of all breaches of consent are available on the public register maintained by the National Rivers Authority. For information on prosecutions, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 18n January 1990, at column 360.
National Rivers Authority
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the ability of the National Rivers Authority to test for any substances that it considers may endanger health.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The National Rivers Authority is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of controlled waters. The most up -to-date analytical techniques are used to test for a wide range of substances. The authority has commissioned three additional laboratories which will be in operation during 1991.
Ambulance Dispute
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what costs have fallen to local authorities in England and Wales as a result of provision of services which otherwise would have been provided by the ambulance service during the current ambulance dispute.
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