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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 21 March 1990
EMPLOYMENT
Accountants and Engineers
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has on the number of (a) qualified accountants and (b) qualified engineers in Britain.
Mr. Nicholls : It is estimated from the preliminary results of the 1989 labour force survey that in Spring 1989 there were 139,000 accountants with professional qualifications and 382,000 engineers who performed work normally requiring training of university degree standard in Great Britain, who were either in employment, or were not in employment but had been employed in these occupations in their last job, and had left that job less than three years prior to the survey.
Disabled Workers
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of employers with over 20 employees have fulfilled their 3 per cent. quota of disabled workers in each of the last five years.
Mr. Eggar : The percentage of employers with 20 or more employees employing their 3 per cent. quota of registered disabled workers in each of the last five years is as follows :
1985 |28.1
1986 |26.8
1987 |25.3
1988 |23.9
1989 |22.8
Employment Training
Mr. Ray Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many filled employment training places there are in the constituency of Ogmore ; and what percentage this represents of the original departmental projections ;
(2) what was the total number of unemployed receiving enterprise training within employment training between September 1988 and December 1989 for the Ogmore constituency.
Mr. Nicholls : The information requested is not available for the Ogmore constituency and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Ray Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total expenditure on the £10 employment training trainee allowance in December 1989 for the Ogmore constituency.
Mr. Nicholls : The information is not available.
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
East European Countries
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any information regarding reform of the internal security forces in (i) Poland, (ii) Czechoslovakia, (iii) Hungary, (iv) Bulgaria, (v) the Soviet Union, (vi) Romania and (vii) the Baltic states.
Mr. Waldegrave : The information will take a little time to assemble. I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
UNESCO
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what were the reasons the United Kingdom left UNESCO ; and whether any of them have been resolved.
Mr. Sainsbury : When the United Kingdom left UNESCO we set out in detail the reasons for our withdrawal. Both at the time and since we have made clear that UNESCO should concentrate on the objectives set out in its constitution ; it should cut back its proliferation of programmes, alter or abolish those which are inimical to democratic values (such as press freedom and individual human rights), make its delivery of technical assistance more efficient and overhaul its administration.
We are curently conducting a review to consider to what extent these problems have been resolved.
Lithuania
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on any proposals to privatise industry in Lithuania.
Mr. Waldegrave : We are not aware of specific proposals for the privatisation of industry in Lithuania. A law on property was adopted by the Lithuanian supreme soviet on 12 February 1990 which provides for private, collective and state property, but does not describe how state property may be transferred to private ownership.
Colombia
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any information as to whether British mercenaries are operating in Colombia.
Mr. Sainsbury : There have been unconfirmed reports that at least one British citizen has renewed an association with drug traffickers in Colombia. We have discussed the matter with the Colombian authorities and reaffirmed our willingness to co-operate with them in their investigations.
Libya
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Soviet and German Democratic Republic Governments urging them to withdraw all technical support from the Libyan military immediately.
Mr. Waldegrave : Our position on Libya is already abundantly clear to these and other Governments.
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CIVIL SERVICE
Agencies
Mr. Gerald Bowden : To ask the Minister for the Civil Service whether any agency chief executives have been selected from the private sector.
Mr. Luce : Yes. Ten agency chief executives or chief
executives-designate were appointed following open competitions and came from outside the Civil Service. This figure includes some who were already in post before the agency was established.
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Minister for the Civil Service how many next steps agency chief executives are women.
Mr. Luce : I have recently appointed the first woman chief executive, Miss Marianne Neville-Rolfe, who is principal and chief executive of the civil service college.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Valuation Offices
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost of running the Inland Revenue's valuation offices in England and Wales ; and what is the expected reduction in (a) cost and (b) staff in the valuation offices as a result of introducing the community charge.
Mr. Lilley : The cost of running the valuation offices in England and Wales for the current financial year 1989-90 is £125 million. (a) When all outstanding domestic rating work has been cleared, the reduction in annual cost, in real terms, as a result of introducing the community charge is expected to be of the order of £17 million ;
(b) £17 million represents a saving of about 1,300 clerical staff.
German Economy
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the principal economic data of (a) the Federal Republic of Germany and (b) a merged Germany.
Mr. Ryder : A wide range of economic data for West Germany are published each month in the IMF's international financial statistics and the OECD's main economic indicators. Data for a merged Germany are not available.
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the current expenditure of the Federal Republic of Germany on research and development with separate assessments for the public and private sectors.
Mr. Ryder : Data on research and development expenditure in West Germany are available biannually in the OECD's main science and technology indicators.
European Monetary System
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received regarding the impact on the European monetary system of currency union between East and West Germany.
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Mr. Ryder : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has received no representation on the impact on the European monetary system of the proposed monetary union between the two Germanies.
European Community
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the level of United Kingdom net contributions to the European Economic Community in 1989, following the appraisal by the Community ; and if he will express the sum in sterling per household in the United Kingdom per week ;
(2) what were the consequences for the United Kingdom of the appraisal by the European Economic Community of United Kingdom contributions ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 20 March 1990] : The latest published estimate of the United Kingdom's net contribution to the Community budget in 1989, which appeared in the "Statement on the 1989 Community Budget" (Cm. 680), is £1,966 million. This figure is the equivalent of £1.73 per household per week, on the basis of the estimate of 21.816 million private households in the United Kingdom in 1986 which is contained in "Eurostat : Basic Statistics of the Community" (26th edition). A revised estimate of the United Kingdom's net contribution in 1989 will be published shortly in the "Statement on the 1990 Community Budget", and will be based on a full analysis of all items of revenue and expenditure including the European Commission's reappraisal of the United Kingdom's contributions to the Community budget.
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the United Kingdom's net contribution to the EEC in 1989 ; and what were the totals for each of the previous five years ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the nature of the deficit with EEC institutions of £2,301 millions on the balance of payments transfers sheet in the paper issued by the Central Statistical Office ; and in what respect this figure differs from the previous figures published in the United Kingdom's net contribution for 1989.
Mr. Ryder [holding answers 19 and 20 March 1990] : The latest published estimate of the United Kingdom's net contribution to the Community budget in 1989 which appeared in the "Statement on the 1989 Community Budget" (Cm 680), is £1,966 million. The coverage of that figure differs from the coverage of the figure for the United Kingdom's net contribution to EC institutions published by the CSO. The two numbers are not therefore directly comparable.
A revised estimate for 1989, comparable with the figure of £1,966 million and based on a full analysis of all items of revenue and expenditure will be published shortly in the statement on the 1990 Community budget.
The net contribution to the Community budget for each of the previous five years were as follows :
1984 |656
1985 |1,808
1986 |572
1987 |1,721
1988 |1,362
Tax Debts
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many petitions have been presented by HM Customs and Excise in each of the last three years ; and what percentage of these were to secure the repayment of value added tax debt.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 20 March 1990] : The total number of petitions presented by the Customs department, as Commissioners of Customs and Excise, in each of the years specified in the table is as follows :
Number of petitions presented in the Scottish jurisdiction Calendar year Number
1987 120
1988 109
1989 153
It is not possible to state precisely what percentage of these petitions relate to value added tax, because separate records are not maintained.
Relocation
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each year since 1979 the number of civil service jobs which have been transferred from the south-east to areas of high unemployment, and the departments responsible for these transfers ; and what plans the Government has over the next five years for a further transfer of work, and which Departments are concerned.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 20 March 1990] : The information requested is not held centrally in the form requested, but I would refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley) on 17 January, 1990, Official Report, columns 289-90.
Inland Revenue Staff
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is (a) the total cost of the administration and collection of income tax in 1989-90, (b) the number of people employed in the collection and administration of income tax and (c) the estimated receipts from income tax in 1989-90.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 20 March 1990] : The total cost of the administration and collection of income tax in 1989-90 is estimated at £1,070 million. The manyear usage of staff directly employed in the administration and collection of income tax in 1989-90 is about 48,000. For part (c) of the question I refer the hon. Member to table 1.2 of the 1990- 91 Financial Statement and Budget Report published yesterday.
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Civil Servants, Northern Ireland
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the number of United Kingdom civil servants employed at present and in 1985 in each council area in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 20 March 1990] : At 1 April 1989 there were 5,185 civil servants in Northern Ireland. This compares with 5, 168 at 1 April 1985. These numbers exclude staff in the Northern Ireland civil service. The table shows the distribution of non-industrial civil servants in the following areas. No information is available about the location of industrial civil servants.
Non-industrial civil servants staff numbers<1> <1> Full-time equivalents-part-timers working for more than 10 hours count as half units.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Namibia
Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he plans to provide assistance to independent Namibia ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Chalker : I am delighted to inform the House that following successful implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 435, Namibia has today achieved independence, and has become the 50th member of the Commonwealth. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is representing Britain at the independence celebrations in Windhoek and will today announce a bilateral aid package of £10 million for commitment over three years.
Our aid will focus on technical co-operation and rehabilitation. Precise details will be agreed with the new Government, but I expect the sectors in which we will provide assistance to include public service reform, education, police training and fisheries management. Following discussions with the Namibian authorities we have already financed initial advisory visits by British experts to see how we might best help, and our assistance with police training and with education is already underway. Namibia will be a high priority for projects jointly funded with British voluntary agencies and Voluntary Service Overseas will also be discussing priorities with the new Government. In addition to our bilateral aid we will be providing substantial assistance through multilateral channels including the European Community and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co- operation.
I have authorised the Commonwealth Development Corporation to begin operations there, and it will send an exploratory mission in April.
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Accounting and Auditing
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, since June 1979, any of his Department's Ministers or senior civil servants have had any business connections with accountancy firms or the accountancy bodies.
Mr. Redwood : One senior official in my Department is the chairman of the disciplinary committee of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. The official holds this position in a private capacity and with the approval of the Department, as there is no conflict of interest. I am aware of no other business connections between the accountancy profession and Ministers and senior officials of my Department. I do not know the interests of all DTI Ministers prior to their appointments.
Insider Dealing
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, further to the reply that he gave to the right hon. Member for Great Grimsby on 31 January, Official Report, column 225, he will give details of the number of convictions obtained by his Department where the defendants pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Redwood : Two convictions for insider dealing offences have been obtained by my Department after the defendants had pleaded not guilty. In one of those cases the defendant was subsequently acquitted on appeal.
Advertising Expenditure
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total publicity and advertising expenditure, including for privatisation, of his Department and public bodies for which his Department has responsibility in (a) 1979 and (b) 1989.
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Mr. Forth : The Department does not maintain central records of expenditure of this kind by public bodies. The Department's expenditure on paid advertising and promotional materials in 1979-80 was given in an answer to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 13 March 1990, Official Report, columns 173-74. I expect expenditure under the Department's central publicity budget in 1989-90 to be of the order of £21 million. There was no significant expenditure on privatisation publicity by the Department in either year. Figures covering calendar years are not available.
Firework Injuries
Mr. Harris : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish the figures of injuries caused by fireworks in 1989.
Mr. Forth : According to reports from hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland, 800 people required treatment for injuries caused by fireworks during the three weeks leading up to 5 November 1989 and the few days after. This represents a very welcome decrease of nearly 9 per cent. over 1988. Particularly encouraging were the sharp falls in serious injuries and casual incidents in the street, where our emphasis on rigorously enforcing the existing law on selling fireworks to the under-16s or misusing them in public seems to be bearing fruit. Also welcome is the fall in sparkler injuries as these tend to affect very young children and was an area where we put a lot of effort during last year's successful firework safety campaign. However, there is no room for complacency and we will be looking for a further reduction in injuries this year. The detailed breakdown for 1989 and the preceding four years is as follows :
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Firework Injuries in Great Britain
(4 week period in October-November)
Total |800 |877 |960 |846 |968
Place of Accident
1. Family or private party |280 |300 |260 |286 |255
2. Semi-public display (eg scouts, cricket club) |71 |69 |88 |72 |76
3. Large public display |135 |123 |155 |119 |117
4. Casual incident in street etc |247 |298 |364 |299 |435
5. Other place |46 |65 |73 |52 |64
6. Indoors |21 |22 |20 |18 |21
Type of Firework
1. Banger |136 |162 |163 |161 |241
2. Rocket |131 |164 |174 |159 |197
3. Roman candle, coloured fire etc. |89 |83 |96 |88 |90
4. Home-made or extracted powder |18 |17 |24 |14 |27
5. Other proprietary fireworks |125 |86 |109 |118 |73
6. Sparklers |83 |102 |95 |80 |67
7. Unspecified type |218 |263 |299 |226 |273
Severity of Injury
1. Fatal injury |- |- |- |- |-
2. Detained more than one night |46 |69 |60 |48 |53
3. Sufficient to cause absence from work or equivalent |142 |167 |158 |160 |231
4. Minor injury |551 |587 |661 |582 |632
5. Unspecified injury |61 |54 |81 |56 |52
Eye Injuries (included in 2-5) |275 |269 |312 |291 |341
Age Group of Injured Persons
1. Over 20 |251 |280 |252 |235 |214
Refrigerator Doors
Mr. Tredinnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has any plans to adopt international standards for fridge doors.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 16 March 1990] : I take the reference to international standards for fridge doors to mean those which define suitable door locking mechanisms to prevent the entrapment of people. I understand that these features have been included in British standards since the 1970s for this type of electrical and gas equipment and will shortly be incorporated in a new European harmonised standard. All United Kingdom manufactured goods are now fitted with the appropriate safeguards. I would encourage all other manufacturers to adopt these standards, in so far as they reflect these safety features, so as to reduce the likelihood of another tragic accident.
Indonesia
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the value of British trade with Indonesia for each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 19 March 1990] : The value of United Kingdom trade with Indonesia during the last 10 years was as follows :
Eastern Europe
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, during his recent visit to the Soviet Union, he raised the possibility of providing pollution abatement technology and technical advice on how to clean up polluted land and water.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 20 March 1990] : No. The subject was not raised specifically by either side. The supply of western technology in all spheres is hampered by the increasing scarcity of hard currency. During my right hon. Friend's visit he concentrated his discussions on the problems for the Soviet economy as a whole to which this contributes.
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PRIME MINISTER
Central Unit on Purchasing
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the purchasing progress report 1989 prepared by the central unit on purchasing.
The Prime Minister : The central unit on purchasing's 1989 progress report recorded value for money improvements in central Government Departments' purchasing of over £350 million in 1988-89, excluding the Ministry of Defence. This saving was equivalent to 5.3 per cent. of total reported purchasing expenditure.
The purchasing initiative has now resulted in value for money improvements equivalent to some £850 million since 1985-86. Although this represents good progress, greater emphasis now needs to be given to increasing professionalism amongst staff engaged in purchasing and supply, and to supporting them with compatible purchasing information and control systems. The central unit on purchasing is actively working with departments on these issues. A copy of the progress report is in the Library of the House.
WALES
Laura Ashley Company
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what amounts of Government cash and grants have been given to Laura Ashley Company in each year by his Department, the Welsh Development Agency and the Mid Wales Development Board.
Mr. Peter Walker : In addition to assistance offered by other departments, published details of Welsh Office aid to the Laura Ashley company is as follows :
The Laura Ashley company has also received rent concessions from the Welsh Development Agency in the years 1985 and 1986 and a grant from the Development Board for Rural Wales in 1989. It is not those institutions' policy to publish amounts involved in individual cases.
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Ysgol Belmont School
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit Ysgol Belmont special school.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Neither my right hon. Friend nor I have any plans to do so.
Competitive Tendering
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has on which services in each district, borough and city council were put under competitive tendering during 1989-90 ; how many were employed in supplying these services before the commencement of the
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competitive tendering process ; and how many were employed in supplying these services following the completion of the competitive tendering exercise.Mr. Peter Walker : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the following competition implementation timetable. In addition, local authorities, where relevant, were required to submit 20 per cent. of their ground maintenance service to competition by 1 January 1990.
Competition-free allowances available to local authority direct labour organisations in respect of new construction and works of maintenance under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 were abolished from 1 October 1989. Information in respect of the numbers of employees in each service is not held centrally.
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Local Authority Phasing in of Competition by Date and Activity
Group 1. Aberconwy: Alyn and Deeside: Montgomeryshire: Preseli Pembrokeshire: Llanelli: Ogwr: Cardiff: Blaenau Gwent: Rhondda Group 2. Clwyd: West Glamorgan: Colwyn: Arfon: Brecknock: South Pembrokeshire: Swansea: Taff Ely: Torfaen Group 3. Gwent: Gwynedd: Delyn: Dwyfor: Radnor: Carmarthen: Lliw Valley: Merthyr Tydfil: Monmouth Group 4. Mid Glamorgan: Powys: Glyndwr: Dinefwr: Port Talbot: Rhymney Valley: Vale of Glamorgan: Ynys Mon-Isle of Anglesey: Newport Group 5. South Glamorgan: Dyfed: Ceredigion: Cynon Valley: Islwyn: Meirionnydd: Neath: Rhuddlan: Wrexham Maelor Note: Numbers refer to groups of authorities.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the total amount of money which each district borough and city council is likely to get from the poll tax.
Mr. Peter Walker : District councils in Wales are in the process of submitting information to the Welsh Office relating to their community charges and budgets. I shall write to the hon. Gentleman with the information he requested when all the returns have been received and checked.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many community councils there are within each district borough and city council area in Wales ; what will be the average poll tax charged for community council purposes for each community council ; and how many community councils will be entitled to transitional support during the first year of the poll tax and up to what level in each instance.
Mr. Peter Walker : The number of community councils within each district, borough or city council area is shown in the table :
Alyn and Deeside |13
Colwyn |16
Delyn |21
Glyndwr |35
Rhuddlan |8
Wrexham Maelor |29
Carmarthen |41
Ceredigion |51
Dinefwr |23
Llanelli |9
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