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Local Authority Housing
Mr. Wolfson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what freedom he will give local authorities that dispose of all or most of their housing to new landlords to spend the resulting receipts ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Spicer : The Government want to encourage innovative approaches to the ownership and management of subsidised rented housing and some local authorities are achieving this through large scale voluntary transfers of their housing to private bodies--usually housing associations. I am now in a position to announce decisions on the treatment of capital receipts in these cases.
Local authorities who transfer all or most of their housing will be required to set aside 75 per cent. of the receipt or an amount equivalent to the debt on the housing being transferred, whichever is the greater. The remainder of the receipt will be a usable receipt as defined in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. One way in which authorities will be able to use this part of the receipts is to secure the provision of additional low-cost housing
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through housing associations and the private sector. I hope they will make full use of the opportunity thus provided.In view of the potential scale of these receipts, we believe that authorities should show restraint in the rate at which they are spent. We will discuss authorities' plans for spending their receipts with them before giving consent to transfers.
I know that a number of authorities have been waiting to find out what use they could make of voluntary transfer receipts. I hope that removing the uncertainty today will help those who are considering whether to pursue a transfer. Since the trend towards voluntary transfers is still at a relatively early stage, we will keep these arrangements under review to establish whether they are working satisfactorily for the Government and the local authorities concerned.
I have placed in the Library a note giving our guidelines on the use of such receipts. A copy of the note is being sent to the local authority associations and other interested bodies.
Non-domestic Rates
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps the Government propose to take to ensure that holiday caravans remain within the non-domestic rating system in England and Wales.
Mr. Chope : During the consideration of the Local Government Finance Bill in 1988, the Government, in response to representations made by the caravan industry, introduced an amendment intended to provide that holiday caravans should remain within rating, while the owners of caravans not occupied as sole or main residences but used as second homes should be subject to the standard community charge. The distinction was drawn according to whether or not the caravan was on a protected site, within the meaning of the Caravan Sites Act 1968. No holiday caravans were understood to be on such sites. It has now become apparent, however, that many sites primarily occupied by holiday caravans are protected sites. A high proportion of holiday caravans may therefore attract the standard community charge. This was not the Government's intention and, even though we have prescribed a maximum standard community charge multiplier of one for caravans and drawn to local authorities' attention their discretion to set a lower multiplier still, it is likely that many holiday caravan owners in England and Wales would face a burden considerably greater than if their caravans had been rated. After discussion with the caravan industry, therefore, the Government have decided to introduce shortly legislation to amend the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to provide for all caravans other than those occupied as a sole or main residence to be treated as non- domestic and subject to rating rather than attracting the standard community charge, whether or not they are stationed on a protected site. The legislation will provide for this amendment to the 1988 Act to take effect from 1 April this year. It will further provide that any standard community charge which may have been paid on a caravan before the legislation comes into force will be repayable. Once the legislation is in force, valuation officers will alter local
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non-domestic rating lists in respect of the affected sites to reflect the contribution that the caravans make to the assessment of the site as a whole.My Department and the Welsh Office are today writing to all charging authorities in England and Wales to inform them of the Government's intentions. The legislative position is different in Scotland, where holiday caravans are not liable for the standard community charge unless they are able to be used for all year round residence. However, the change we are proposing may lead to caravans in England being subject to non- domestic rating which, in comparable circumstances in Scotland, would be liable to the standard charge. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland has concluded that legislative change is therefore required in Scotland and the necessary provisions will be included in the Bill which we will bring forward.
Shops Act 1950
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to monitor how much money has been spent by local authorities in the monitoring of shops' compliance with the Shops Act 1950 and on prosecutions for breaches of the Act.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory [holding answer 19 March 1990] : My Department has no plans to collect such information.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Accountancy Bodies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make it his policy as a condition of recognition to require the accountancy bodies seeking supervisory recognition under the Companies Act 1989 to ensure that persons from the accountancy firms criticised by his Department and the joint disciplinary scheme are not nominated to any policy-making committees.
Mr. Redwood : No. To impose such a condition as a general rule would be unreasonable.
Complaints
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish in the Official Report for each of the last 10 years (a) the number of complaints made against his Department to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, (b) the number of complaints upheld and (c) the action he took on (b) .
Mr. Forth : The number of complaints (a) made and (b) upheld for the last 10 years is as follows :
Year |(a) |(b)
|complaints|complaints
|made |upheld
--------------------------------------------
1989 |<1>- |<1>-
1988 |26 |-
1987 |21 |1
1986 |10 |2
1985 |13 |1
1984 |13 |1
1983 |15 |-
1982 |14 |4
1981 |15 |-
1980 |19 |1
<1>Figures not yet available.
When the PCA upholds a complaint, it is departmental practice to provide an appropriate remedy, agreed with the PCA.
Trading Standards Officers
Mr. Stern : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has any plans to extend the powers of county trading standards officers.
Mr. Forth : I consider that county trading standards officers have adequate powers to enforce consumer protection legislation and I have no plans to extend those powers.
Auditing
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions the auditors of any company have been replaced as a consequence of issuing a qualified opinion ; and if he will publish the latest available statistics.
Mr. Redwood : This information is not collected.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will withdraw his representatives from any auditing policy- making organisation which allows any individual from the auditing firms criticised by his Department to influence the formulation of policy.
Mr. Redwood : My Department will continue to seek to make a constructive contribution to the development of guidance for the accountancy profession. An arbitrary policy of withdrawal in the circumstances suggested by the hon. Member's question would therefore be self-defeating.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will introduce legislation giving him powers specifically to investigate the affairs of auditing firms which according to his inspectors have performed poor audits.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 29 March 1990] : No, but under the Companies Act 1989, which will provide a new supervisory system for company auditors, it must appear to the Secretary of State that recognised supervisory bodies have effective arrangements for the investigation of complaints against company auditors.
Currency Swaps
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will issue accounting recommendations to companies for the accounting treatment of currency swaps.
Mr. Redwood : No. This issue is being considered by the accounting profession and my Department is watching developments closely.
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Plastics (Recycling)
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress is being made in recycling plastics in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Forth : The United Kingdom plastics industry already recycles more than 95 per cent. of its in-house process scrap, and good progress is now being made in recycling used plastics such as agricultural and supermarket film, more than 150,000 tonnes being reprocessed last year. This figure is expected to increase in 1990 as newly installed plant comes fully on stream. A range of recent industry initiatives to recover and recycle post-consumer plastics waste, such as bottles, are also now beginning to have an impact. Methods of stimulating plastics recycling are being considered in the light of international practice by a working party set up by the recycling advisory group. Its recommendations will help inform the Government's consideration of policy options in the context of the forthcoming White Paper on the environment.
Computer-Aided Design Exhibition
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what contribution his Department made to the computer-aided design exhibition and conference in Birmingham between 27 and 29 March.
Mr. Forth : The Department made no financial contribution to the computer-aided design exhibition and conference. The Department was however represented by DTI west midlands offering advice on the enterprise initiative and by industrial material markets division providing information on the materials matter programme.
Atlas Steel Foundry
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the Director General of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission about the purchase of the Atlas steel foundry in Armadale by William Cook plc.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 29 March 1990] : This purchase is at present being considered by the Director General of Fair Trading under the merger control provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973. He will advise the Secretary of State as soon as possible on the question of reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in the normal way. It would not be appropriate for me to take a view on the merits of the purchase or otherwise comment on it in advance of the director general's advice.
Hearing Aids
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many registered hearing aid dispensers there are in each district health authority area ; and what criteria govern their approval.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 29 March 1990] : There are 617 hearing aid dispensers registered by the Hearing Aid Council. These are not recorded by the district health authority in which they practise. Only registered persons may practise as hearing aid dispensers. In order to be registered, it is necessary to
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satisfy the standard of competence published by the council and pay the appropriate fee under the terms of the Hearing Aid Council Act 1968, as amended.National Engineering Laboratory
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if a decision has been taken on the appointment for the new director of the National Engineering Laboratory ; and if he will make a statement on the appointment.
Mr. Ridley [pursuant to his reply, 12 March 1990, c. 44 ] : A new chief executive has been appointed. He is William Edgar. Mr. Edgar will take up the appointment on 1 June 1990.
WALES
Homelessness
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many homeless households there are in bed-and-breakfast accommodation and in other temporary accommodation in Wales in each of the boroughs and districts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : The figures are as follows :
|c|Numbers of households in temporary
accommodationon|c|
|c|31 December 1989|c|
At end of quarter
|Total |Bed and
|breakfast
----------------------------------------------------
Aberconwy |0 |0
Alyn and Deeside |28 |1
Arfon |3 |0
Blaenau Gwent |12 |0
Brecknock |7 |0
Cardiff |179 |110
Carmarthen |16 |0
Ceredigion |3 |2
Colwyn |5 |0
Cynon Valley |8 |0
Delyn |18 |4
Dinefwr |4 |4
Dwyfor |2 |1
Glyndwr |1 |0
Islwyn |14 |1
Llanelli |25 |17
Lliw Valley |30 |0
Meirionnydd |7 |0
Merthyr Tydfil |2 |0
Monmouth |36 |2
Montgomery |8 |0
Neath |20 |7
Newport |141 |1
Ogwy |8 |0
Port Talbot |27 |2
Preseli Pembrokeshire |12 |4
Radnor |1 |0
Rhondda |0 |0
Rhuddlan |3 |0
Rhymney Valley |17 |13
South Pembrokeshire |10 |0
Swansea |24 |2
Taff Ely |5 |1
Torfaen |18 |0
Vale of Glamorgan |133 |0
Wrexham Maelor |5 |1
Ynys Mon |0 |0
|------- |-------
Wales |832 |173
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Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people are homeless in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : In the period October to December 1989, 1,618 households were accepted as homeless by local authorities in Wales. I announced a package of measures to tackle homelessness in Wales on 11 December.
Offshore Dumping
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list where, in offshore areas of Wales, the dumping takes place of (a) sewage sludge, (b) fly ash and (c) industrial wastes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : Sewage sludge is dumped in Liverpool bay and in two sites in the Bristol channel (one of which is used in bad weather only). No fly ash or industrial wastes are currently dumped in offshore areas of Wales.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced on 5 March that the Government intended that all dumping at sea of sewage sludge would end by 1998.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will pay transitional relief for the poll tax for five years in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker : No. The introduction of the community charge will promote the accountability of local government. An over-extended transitional period would preclude the early realisation of that accountability. The three-year transitional period for which I have provided strikes the right balance between protecting the interests of the charge payers affected by the structural changes to local government finance, and ensuring that full accountability will be obtained relatively quickly.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which Welsh councils have not supplied him with all the details required of their spending plans and community charge for 1990-91 by the appropriate deadline ; and if he will describe any action he will now take.
Mr. Grist : The information required by the Department relating to district council transfers from, and county council precepts upon, collection funds has been received from all Welsh local authorities. The information requested by the Department relating to the community charges set by Welsh local authorities is not due until 2 April, although most councils have already provided this.
Mentally Ill People
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in the Official Report, for the latest available date, the numbers of mental illness beds in secure accommodation in each district health authority and those district health authorities where no secure accommodation is available ; what action he has taken to promote the development of comprehensive secure provision, including that for those chronically mentally ill and behaviourally disturbed people not appropriate for regional secure units, in pursuance of the recommendation of the inter- departmental Home Office and Department of Health and Social Security working group ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Grist : I understand from returns submitted by health authorities that, as of 31 December 1988, the latest date for which information is available centrally, the number of mental illness beds in permanently locked accommodation in each district health authority in Wales was :
|Numbers
--------------------------------
Clwyd |20
East Dyfed |10
Gwent |Nil
Gwynedd |Nil
Mid Glamorgan |Nil
Pembrokeshire |Nil
Powys |Nil
South Glamorgan |48
West Glamorgan |5
On 21 February this year I announced proposals for the establishment of a departmental advisory group to determine a comprehensive policy for forensic psychiatric services in Wales in the context of the document "Mental Illness Services--A Strategy for Wales" published in May 1989, which sets out comprehensive proposals for the development of mental illness services. At the same time I announced that Clwyd and Mid Glamorgan health authorities have been asked to prepare proposals for interim secure facilities to be available until substantive medium secure units have been established.
Mental Hospitals
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in the Official Report the hospitals for the mentally ill and handicapped which will become empty over the next five years, the number of patients in each at the latest available date, the district health authority in which each is situated ; and whether it is in or near an urban area.
Mr. Grist : Proposals for any substantial variation in the service provided in a district, such as the closure of a hospital, are a matter in the first instance for the health authority. No proposals have been approved by my right hon. Friend which would lead to the closure in the next five years of a mental illness or mental handicap hospital in Wales.
Wrexham Art College
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if his Department has considered an application for an exhibition relating to Wrexham art college to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Mr. Roberts : I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Services Committee, arrangements have been made with the authorities of the House for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 7 May to 11 May 1990.
Manufacturing Investment
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will state in the Official Report the value of manufacturing investment, including leased assests, in Wales for each year since 1978, in cash and constant prices.
Mr. Peter Walker : The following table shows, at current (cash) prices, the value of net capital expenditure
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in Wales from 1978 to 1987. Data for later years are not yet available. The data exclude the value of assets leased from the financial industries as this information is not available for Wales. Constant price data are available only for the United Kingdom as a whole.
|c|Net Capital Expenditure|c|
(£ million)
|SIC (1968) |SIC (1980)
|Orders III |Divisions 2 to 4
|to XIX
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1978 |331.2 |-
1980 |- |380.3
1982 |- |337.9
1983 |- |353.2
1984 |- |471.0
1985 |- |563.0
1986 |- |523.6
1987 |- |632.9
Source: Annual Census of Production, Central Statistical Office.
Home Improvement Grants
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library a copy of the new means-testing scheme relating to home improvement grants to be introduced in April 1990.
Mr. Grist : My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment announced on 22 February that implementation of the major provisions of part VIII of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 relating to home improvement grants in England and Wales is being deferred to 1 July 1990. The relevant circulars will be published and placed in the Library before that date.
Complaints
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report for each of the last 10 years (a) the number of complaints made against his Department to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, (b) the number of complaints upheld and (c) the action he took on (b) .
Mr. Peter Walker : The number of complaints (a) made and (b) upheld for the last 10 years is as follows :
|(a) |(b)
|complaints|complaints
|made |upheld
--------------------------------------------
1989-90 |<1> |<1>
1988-89 |9 |-
1987-88 |6 |-
1986-87 |7 |-
1985-86 |6 |-
1984-85 |6 |-
1983-84 |6 |-
1982-83 |4 |-
1981-82 |9 |-
1980-81 |6 |2
<1> Figures not yet available.
When the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration upholds a complaint it is departmental practice to provide an appropriate remedy.
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Hospital Treatment
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report a list of those medical conditions which cannot be treated by hospitals within Wales but can be treated by hospitals within England.
Mr. Grist : Information on every medical condition which cannot be treated by hospitals within Wales but can be treated by hospitals within England is not held centrally. However, there are a number of health services which, to be clinically effective and economically viable, need to be provided to a population greater than that of Wales or any single English region. Those services, known as supra-regional services, which are provided to the population of Wales and England by hospitals in England, are as follows : Chorioncarcinoma Services
Craniofacial Services
Endoprosthetic Service for Primary Bone Tumours
Heart Tranplantation
Liver Transplantation
Non-Transplant Liver Services
Neo-natal and Infant Cardiac Surgery
Psychiatric Services for Deaf People
Retinoblastoma Services
Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Public Expenditure
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on which date he will publish the 1990 Welsh Office public expenditure commentary.
Mr. Peter Walker : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Jones) on 9 March.
Colwyn Bay Disaster Fund
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his office has contributed to the disaster fund recently set up by the lord mayor of Colwyn Bay.
Mr. Peter Walker : My Department has conributed £135,000 to the fund established by the mayor of Colwyn. In addition, £12,000 has been donated to the appeal fund at Rhuddlan, and £3,000 to the fund at Delyn.
Teachers (Courses)
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish for each local authority area the number of teachers in each of the last three years who have undertaken INSET and other courses of professional development (a) during school hours and (b) after school, at weekends and during school holidays.
Mr. Roberts : This information is not held centrally.
Radioactivity
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his response to the conclusions in the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority report on "Artificial Radioactivity on the Coasts of Wales", about the influence of Sellafield on radioactivity levels found on beaches and in the sea.
Mr. Grist : The conclusions of the report, which are reassuring, have been noted, in particular the view that
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environmental concentrations were generally low and that the total dose by all pathways reflected in the results was found to be a small fraction of the recognised limit.Flood Prevention
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has proposals to appoint or create a single body to take charge of sea defences and flood prevention in the light of the recent flood disaster in north Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : I have no plans to change the present arrangements.
Education System
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to provide non-teaching time in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools to enable them to implement (i) the teaching, testing and assessment provisions of the national curriculum and (ii) the proposals of the Elton report on school discipline.
Mr. Roberts : The organisation of the school day and the duties to be undertaken by individual teachers in their 1,265 hours of directed time are matters for head teachers. The Interim Advisory Committee on School Teachers' Pay and Conditions has recently drawn attention to the scope that exists for LEAs and governing bodies to develop policies to increase teachers' non-contact time. Through the education support grant, the Government are supporting in-service training for teachers in the management of pupil behaviour. We are providing extensive support through ESG and the LEA training grants scheme for training in the introduction and assessment of the national curriculum.
EMPLOYMENT
Silicon Chips Industry
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list all the dangerous substances or chemicals with which workers involved in the silicon chips industry come into contact.
Mr. Nicholls : The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not hold detailed information on all the substances and chemicals used in the silicon chip industry.
However, in 1985-86 HSE carried out a survey among factories manufacturing semi-conductor devices, including silicon chips, and found that the following substances were widely used :
arsine and other inorganic arsenic compounds, diborane, borontrifluoride, phosphorous oxychloride, organometallic compounds, hydrofluoric acid, glycol ethers, phosphine, phosphorus, silane, germane, gallium, and indium.
Wages Councils
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons are employed in each of the sectors covered by the 26 wages councils.
Mr. Nicholls : I would refer the hon. Lady to the first part of table 3 of the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist) on 14 March, at columns 252-56.
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Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which wages councils he plans to abolish (a) in the current year and (b) at a later stage.
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