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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 2 March 1990
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Tom Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will outline the effect of the financial arrangements for the capital requirements of grant-maintained schools on the capital spending budget for the local education authority.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. Friend pays 100 per cent. grant to a grant-maintained school for approved expenditure on capital projects. There is no recovery of such payments from the local education authority. In addition, the Department sets annual capital guidelines for education for each LEA. These guidelines do not take account of capital grant to GM schools in an authority's area. It is for each LEA to decide capital spending on its schools in the light of local needs and circumstances, and LEAs are free, within the flexibilities of the Local Government Acts, to spend above the level of their annual capital guidelines from capital receipts and other resources.
Books (Romania)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has received any requests from Romania (a) to replace historic and academic books lost in fires during the Romanian revolution and (b) to supply textbooks for schoolchildren learning English as a second language.
Mr. Jackson : Any such requests would normally be directed to the British Council.
The British Council received an appeal for replacement books from the director of the central university library, Bucharest, but the following action was already being taken :
i. Following an appeal by four British academics Richard Crampton, Richard Clogg, Dennis
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Deletant and Stevan Pavlowitch, 250,000 books have been donated by the general public and publishers, and the British Council is paying for the transportation of the books to Romania. The British Council is also supplying books and library equipment direct to the central university library and other university libraries.ii. No specific requests for books for schoolchildren learning English as a second language have been received but among the books going out are English language books. A main area of activity for the British Council in Romania has always been support for English language teaching, in particular to university English language departments. It is hoped that this can be expanded in the future.
GCSE
Mr. Butcher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consult the representatives of headmasters in the state and independent sectors in order to hear their assessment of the effect of GCSE examinations taking place earlier in the academic year.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend has already received a number of representations from head teachers on this matter. The joint council for the GCSE is itself considering a consultation of all centres offering the GCSE. My right hon. Friend will expect to discuss with it the outcomes of that consultation.
Mr. Butcher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consult the GCSE examining groups, the joint council for the GCSE and other relevant bodies with a view to ending the practice whereby GCSE examinations are taking place earlier in the summer term.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend is asking for a meeting with the joint council to discuss this matter.
National Curriculum
Mr. Tom Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will outline the phases to which he referred in his reply of 21 February, Official Report, column 796, covering the implementation of the national curriculum.
Mrs. Rumbold : The phases of implementation of the national curriculum and related assessment arrangements are set out in the table :
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National curriculum timetable
Introduction of attainment targets and programmes of study
Autumn
Pupils aged
|5 years |7-8 years |11-12 years |14-15 years
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989 |Mathematics |- |Mathematics |-
|Science |Science
|English
1990 |Technology |Mathematics |English |-
|Science |Technology
|English
|Technology
1991 |History |History |History
|Geography |Geography |Geography
1992 |Art |Art |Modern foreign |Mathematics
|Music |Music |language |Science
|Physical education|Physical education|Art |English
|Music
|Physical education
1993 |- |- |- |Technology
1994 |- |- |- |History
|Geography
1995 |- |- |- |Modern foreign
|language
|Art
|Music
|Physical education
Timetables for history, geography, modern foreign languages, art, music and physical education are provisional.
None of the attainment targets and programmes of study in maths, science and English will be a requirement for
pupils with statements of special educational needs until autumn 1990. This gives time for their statements to be
revised if necessary.
First national assessments Summer Pupils aged
7 years 11 years 14 years 16 years
1991 Mathematics
Science
English -- -- --
1992 Technology -- Mathematics
Science --
1993 History
Geography -- English
Technology --
1994 Art
Music
Physical education Mathematics
Science
English
Technology History
Geography Mathematics
Science
English
1995 -- History
Geography Modern foreign
language
Art
Music
Physical education Technology
1996 -- Art
Music
Physical education -- History
Geography
1997 -- -- -- Modern foreign
language
Art
Music
Physical education
Individual pupils' results in any statutory assessments or public examinations will have to be reported to their parents from 1991 onwards. Schools will not be required to publish statistics of key stage 1 assessments, though they will be encouraged to do so. They will be required to publish statistics of key stage 2 and 3 assessments, but only from the second year of operation onwards. For key stage 4, they will already be under a requirement to publish GCSE results.
TRANSPORT
Channel Tunnel
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of passenger traffic to the continent he estimates will eventually use the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : Eurotunnel expects 43.9 million passengers to use the tunnel in 2003, 36 per cent. of passenger traffic to and from the continent.
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London Roads Assessment
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many letters he had received by 23 February from residents living in London (a) in support and (b) opposed to the London roads assessment options ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what has been, for the latest available date, the number of letters that his Department has received (a) in favour and (b) in opposition to the London roads assessment options ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Atkins : It will take a little time to collate and analyse the responses received. The outcome will be announced as soon as possible.Quarterly Statistics
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what considerations informed the decision to discontinue bus and coach data from quarterly transport statistics and replace them by information on United Kingdom-registered goods vehicles carried on roll-on roll-off ferries from Great Britain to mainland Europe.
Mr. Portillo : As part of the Government's continuing objective of lessening the burden on industry of responding to surveys, it has been decided that the quarterly monitoring of bus and coach operators' performance is no longer required for Department of Transport purposes. The decision to include in the quarterly transport statistics information on United Kingdom-registered goods vehicles carried on roll-on roll-off ferries to mainland Europe was made by the editor.
The performance of the bus and coach industry will continue to be monitored on an annual basis, and will be included in the Department's annual publication, "Transport Statistics Great Britain". More detailed information will be available in the annual specialised publication, "Bus and Coach Statistics".
Train Accidents
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the total number of train accidents caused by technical defects in 1989 ; and what was the comparable number for (a) 1979, (b) 1983 and (c) 1987.
Mr. Portillo : The number of train accidents caused by technical defects in 1989 is not yet available. For 1979, 1983 and 1987 the numbers were respectively 244, 276 and 268.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Inflation
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the underlying rate of inflation in each member state of the European Community at the latest available date.
Mr. Ryder : The inflation rates given in the table exclude estimates of home owners' costs and are, therefore, more comparable across countries :
12-month growth rate of consumer prices in the
European
Community
|December 1989<1>
----------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom<2> |6.1
Germany |2.6
France |3.6
Italy |6.4
Belgium |3.6
Denmark |4.8
Greece |14.8
Ireland |4.2
Luxembourg |3.9
Netherlands |1.0
Portugal |11.6
Spain |6.6
<1> Except United Kingdom, Germany and Italy (
January 1990), and Ireland (1989, 4th quarter).
<2> United Kingdom figure is for RPI excluding
mortgage interest payments (MIPS). Where other
countries include estimates of home owners' housing
costs, these have been excluded to put figures on a
more comparable basis.
United Kingdom figure is for RPI excluding mortgage interest payments (MIPs). Where other countries include estimates of home owners' housing costs, these have been excluded to put figures on a more comparable basis.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Poland
Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Government have so far committed from the £50 million know-how fund for Poland ; and how much they expect to spend in the current financial year.
Mrs. Chalker : Possible commitments on projects financed under the £50 million know-how fund for Poland now stand at around £18.3 million. We expect to spend approximately £2.3 million in the current financial year.
Oban-Korup National Park
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of the Cameroons on the need to prevent commercial logging companies logging in the Oban-Korup national park.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he is making to the Governments of France and Germany about French and German timber companies logging in and near the Korup rain forest in Cameroon ; and if he will make a statement on the consequences of such action for Her Majesty's Government's aid policy.
Mrs. Chalker : No logging is permitted in Korup national park itself. The recent press reports have been about licences granted for logging in the buffer zone around Korup. Under Cameroonian law these licences should not have been granted without prior consultation with local government leaders and village chiefs in the interests of preserving economically important trees, water supplies and traditional hunting zones in the vicinity of each village. We share the concern of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that recent logging activities may not have been subject to this condition and may be detrimental to the WWF's Korup project, which is being partly funded from the British aid programme.
The British embassy in Yaounde has already expressed its concern to the Cameroonian Ministry of Agriculture and the ambassador is being instructed to raise the matter formally at ministerial level. Meanwhile we are assured by the Cameroon authorities that existing licences for exploitation within the Korup buffer zone were issued before the establishment of the national park and that no new licences will be issued for exploitation within the zone. We are now considering whether it would be desirable to make demarches to the Governments of countries whose logging companies are active in the vicinity of Korup, bearing it in mind that the powers of those Governments in respect of private companies may be strictly limited.
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Children (Vaccination)
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contributions Britain has made in the last year to the vaccination of children in developing countries against the main killer diseases.
Mrs. Chalker : We support immunisation programmes through the United Nations Children's Fund, to which we contributed £8.4 million in 1989- 90. In the same period we provided £200,000 to the Polio Plus Campaign run by Rotary International and £64,000 to the WHO Cold Chain Support Unit. In addition, many of the bilateral primary health care projects we fund and the 315 health projects run by non-governmental organisations, which we support under our joint funding scheme, include an immunisation component.
International Organisations
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those international organisations to which the United Kingdom is affiliated which grant or lend money, giving the United Kingdom's latest annual contributions where applicable in each case.
Mrs. Chalker : The international organisations and the United Kingdom contributions paid for from the overseas aid programme showing the amounts paid in 1988 (the latest year for which full data are available), are asfollows :
United Kingdom contribution in 1988
Organisation |£'000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN Agencies<1>
International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) |2,564
UN Development Programme (UNDP) |24,500
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) General Programme |3,750
UNICEF Special Appeals |8,473
UN Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) |5,250
UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) |3,500
UNHCR (Special Appeals) |15,970
UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) |2,804
UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) |5,250
World Food Programme (WFP) |4,856
World Health Organisation (WHO) Research
Programmes |11,407
Other UN development agencies |2,561
World Bank Group
International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD) |6,561
International Development Association (IDA) |207,000
International Finance Corporation (IFC) |3,558
Regional Development Banks
African Development Bank |329
African Development Fund |6,374
Asian Development Bank |1,172
Asian Development Fund |13,045
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) |200
CDB Special Development Fund |3,517
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) |1,491
IADB Fund for Special Operations |3,002
International Monetary Fund<2>
Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility |8,500
European Community<3>
European Development Fund |119,004
International research organisations
Agricultural and medical research |6,915
Other international organisations<4> |9,772
<1> Excludes UN bodies whose activities benefit both developing and
developed countries and where United Kingdom subscriptions relate only
partly to developmental activities.
<2> Contributions to the IMF's general resources account form part of the
United Kingdom reserves.
<3> Excludes overseas aid paid for from the EC budget and from European
Investment Bank's own resources.
<4> Includes such Commonwealth programmes as the Commonwealth Fund for
Technical Co-operation and Commonwealth Youth Programme; and
contributions to South Pacific Commission.
Source: British Aid Statistics 1984-1988, Table 8 (a copy of which is in
the Library of the House).
THE ARTS
Museums
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Minister for the Arts what provision he has made for the refurbishment of museums in the current year.
Mr. Luce : The grant in aid in 1989-90 for the building and maintenance programme of the national museums and galleries which I sponsor was £48 million. I announced on 16 November 1989 that the provision would rise to £57 million in 1990-91 ; in 1992-93 the provision will be £64 million, a rise of 34 per cent. over the three years.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The Three Graces
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will further defer a decision on the application for a licence to export Antonio Canova's The Three Graces ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ridley : After consultation with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Arts, I have decided to extend the present period of deferral for the application for a licence to export The Three Graces until Wednesday 4 April.
Export control procedures affecting heritage items have been under review, including the policy of deferring a decision on an export licence application to enable a United Kingdom public institution to make an offer to purchase. As a result, I propose henceforth to take account of an offer from any source, whether public or private. I am ready to consider any representations by persons affected by this change of policy, which will apply both to new applications and to outstanding applications such as The Three Graces ; other deferrals, including those for interim review, due to expire before 4 April will also be extended to that date.
Shipbuilding
Mr. Clay : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North of 20 February, Official Report, column 781, and to the hon. Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin) of 20 February, Official Report, column 783, if he will list which organisations or
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individuals within the borough of Sunderland made representations to him opposing the recommencement of shipbuilding at the Southwick shipyard.Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 27 February 1990] : Representations have been made in private discussions questioning whether a return to shipbuilding some years hence, and the uncertainties that must be inherent in such a proposal, represents the best prospect for the long-term development of Sunderland and of the sites in question.
Mr. Clay : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what legal basis the European Commission has to approve or disapprove the sale of land within the United Kingdom to companies within the United Kingdom.
Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 27 February 1990] : Article 222 EEC states that
"This Treaty should in no way prejudice the rules in Member States governing the system of property ownership".
However, the Commission of the European Communities, acting under articles 92-93 EEC and any relevant Community legal instruments, may include conditions on the use of land as part of the terms on which it approves state aid where such use is material to the case concerned. Thus, for example, the payment of closure aid for shipbuilding allows the Commission to impose conditions on the use of the site concerned, and that would need to be reflected in any subsequent disposal of that land.
Biotechnology
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has any plans to control the purchase of biotechnology companies by agrochemical companies.
Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 28 February 1990] : There are no grounds for intervention to distort market mechanisms in the purchase of biotechnology companies. Small, research-based firms in biotechnology cannot take ideas through to commercial production alone ; purchase by an established company can provide the significant extra resource needed.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to ban the patenting of genetically manipulated animals.
Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 28 February 1990] : As I indicated to the hon. Gentleman in my answer of 16 January 1990 (Hansard, column 187, Vol 165, No 31), a European Community proposal for a directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions would, if adopted, confirm that patent applications for inventions concerned with genetically manipulated animals would be granted, provided other patentability criteria were met.
Discussions on this proposal are continuing, however, and the Government will take a view on it at the appropriate time.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to assess the chlorofluorocarbon recycling technology developed by Volvo in Sweden to evaluate its applicability to British industry.
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Mr. Forth [holding answer 1 March 1990] : The DTI commissioned a major study in 1989 to assess the options for CFC recovery, recycling and disposal. This study will provide us with an assessment of commercially proven recycling technologies and their applicability to the United Kingdom industry.
WALES
Health Care
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his reply of 6 February, Official Report, column 551, whose budget any follow-up treatment will be under if a patient who has been referred to a treatment centre outside his/her own health authority to receive initial treatment, is examined at facilities other than the said treatment centre following the agreement of the referring consultant ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : If, with the agreement of the referring consultant, a patient from a treatment centre receives follow-up treatment in his or her home health authority, then the cost will be charged to that authority. This will still leave the referring authority with a net financial benefit in most instances since the cost of operating on the patient will have been borne by the treatment centre.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what plans there are with regard to the non-geriatric care currently provided to patients from Wales by the five community hospitals in Shropshire health authority, following their being sold off and converted to private nursing homes ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what will happen to patients from Wales who are receiving care at the five hospitals in the Shropshire health authority when those hospitals are sold off and converted into private nursing homes ; and if he will make a statement.
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