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Local Government Finance Act 1987Reverter of Sites Act 1987
Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987
Local Government Act 1987
Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988
Local Government Act 1988
Coroners Act 1988
Environment and Safety Information Act 1988
Education Reform Act 1988
Local Government Finance Act 1988
Housing Act 1988
Rate Support Grants Act 1988
Police Officers (Central Service) Act 1989
Water Act 1989
Parking Act 1989
Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989
Control of Smoke Pollution Act 1989
Common Land (Rectification of Registers) Act 1989
Representation of the People Act 1989
Children Act 1989
Local Government and Housing Act 1989
Concerns (at least in part) local government finance.
Consolidation Act.
Not all the foregoing Acts were based on Bills introduced by the Government.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Civil Service (Language Skills)
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many positions in the civil service are open only to those with a workable knowledge of one or more European Community languages other than English.
Mr. Ryder : The knowledge and experience required for particular posts in the civil service is a matter for the Minister responsible for each Department and the information requested is not held centrally.
Higher Rate Taxpayers
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last period for which figures are available how many wives whose husbands paid higher rate tax had no declarable income.
Mr. Lilley : Provisionally estimates are that in 1990-91 about 700, 000 wives whose husbands are liable to the higher rate of income tax have insufficient income to be liable to tax. A small proportion of these have no earned or investment income. Estimates are based on a projection of the distribution of income between husbands and wives reported in the 1987-88 survey of personal incomes.
Taxation
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what would be the estimated income from a 1p in the pound extra levy on income tax on graduates earning in excess of £16,000 ; (2) what would be the estimated income from a 1p in the pound extra levy on income tax on graduates.
Mr. Lilley : I regret that the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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ENERGY
Euratom Safeguards
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he received a copy of the report on the operation of Euratom safeguards, SEC(90) 452 final, dated 26 March ; and what evaluation he has made of its accuracy in regard to its reference to nuclear activities and plants in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Baldry : My officials received the report on the operations of Euratom safeguards on 10 April and copies have since been placed in the Library of the House. The report does not refer specifically to Euratom's inspection activities in any one member state ; however, paragraph 58
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of the report notes that in pursuing its inspection activities during 1988 Euratom did not obtain evidence of diversion of nuclear material.DEFENCE
Service Museums
Mr. Viggers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding has been made available to museums operated by (a) the Royal Navy, (b) the Army and (c) the Royal Air Force during each of the last three years ; and what funding is to be made available during the next year.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Spending from Ministry of Defence votes for the years in question is as follows :
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----------------------------------------------------- Royal Navy Museums<1> |0.954|1.226|1.312|1.244 National Army Museum |1.582|1.722|2.607|2.974 Royal Air Force Museum |4.600|2.075|1.753|2.011 Notes: <1>Includes: Royal Naval Museum. Royal Naval Submarine Museum. Royal Marines Museum. Fleet Air Arm Museum. <2>Estimated. <3>Funding allocation.
All these museums are non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and funded by means of grants in aid. The figures do not include any moneys which might have been made available to the museums from other sources.
In addition, there are around 100 Army regimental and corps museums which are funded either directly from MOD votes or by local authorities or private institutions. The costs to MOD are not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Women at Sea
Mr. Sayeed : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the WRNS have volunteered for sea service ; what is his estimate of the number of Royal Navy personnel who are taking premature voluntary retirement or refusing to re-enlist because of the decision to employ women at sea in warships ; and whether he has reviewed his policy on the posting of members of the WRNS to aircraft carriers and assault ships.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : To date 278 WRNS ratings and 90 officers have volunteered to go to sea this year. Of these, 147 ratings and 16 officers will be trained to serve on the first group of five ships currently being prepared to provide suitable accommodation. Further volunteers will be called for in due course and, from the autumn, all new entrants will have liability for sea service.
There is no evidence that RN personnel are refusing to re-enlist or taking premature voluntary retirement because of the decision to employ women at sea, and we do not intend to review that decision.
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Turkey
Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will meet the Secretary-General of NATO to discuss the level of Turkish defence forces in the light of defence reductions by Bulgaria ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : My right hon. Friend will be meeting Dr. Woerner at NATO meetings later this month. A range of current defence issues will be discussed, including progress on conventional arms negotiations which would lead to reductions in NATO and Warsaw pact levels in certain categories.
SGL Defence Ltd. and Link Miles Ltd.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the contractual relationship between his Department, SGL Defence Ltd. and Singer-Link-Miles.
Mr. Alan Clark : The Ministry of Defence has contracts with Link Miles Ltd. for a range of equipments, primarily aircraft simulators. It has no contracts with SGL Defence Ltd. Bilateral relations between Link Miles Ltd. and SGL Defence Ltd. are a matter for the companies themselves.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Breath Tests
Sir Ian Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many annual reports of county constabularies the classification under the heading breath tests includes a category no requirement or impairment ; what is the total number of such tests administered ; and how this is classified in the annual tables published by his Department.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand that four county constabularies specify a category of "no requirement" or a category of "impairment" in the details of evidential breath tests recorded in their annual reports under breath tests. These categories cover circumstances where a person who is required to provide a specimen for analysis at a police station has been arrested either because of obvious signs of impairment or for other reasons and has not been required before arrest to take a roadside screening breath test. In the Home Office statistics of breath tests, England and Wales 1988, a copy of which was placed in the Library on 7 August 1989, it is shown in figure 1 (page 12) that, out of 126,500 drivers required to provide an evidential sample for analysis, 9,500 were arrested for impairment or for other reasons. Statistics for 1989 are not yet available.Remand Prisoners
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were in (a) long-term (b) short-term and (c) remand prisons, respectively, in May 1979 ; how many prisoners are held in each prison at present ; and what changes in capacity for each category of prison have taken place since May 1979.
Mr. Mellor : The information is not available in the form requested. Prison service establishments are generally categorised according to whether they hold young offenders or adults, sentenced or unsentenced, or a mixture of these. Long and short-sentenced prisoners are, in many cases, held in the same establishment. Comparative information of population and certified normal accommodation (CNA) broken down by types of establishment is as follows :
-------------------------------------------------------------
Local prisons<3> and
remand centres
(male) |19,290 |13,578 |19,898 |14,421
Training prisons<4>
(male) |14,462 |15,360 |19,874 |20,933
Young offender
institutions<5>
(male) |7,160 |7,696 |5,889 |6,976
Female establishments<6> 1,4571,256 1,643 1,823
|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |42,369 |37,890 |47,304 |44,153
<1> Population figures for Friday 30 March 1990.
<2> CNA figures for Sunday 11 March 1990.
<3> Holds sentenced and unsentenced adults and young
offenders.
<4> Holds sentenced adults.
<5> Holds sentenced young offenders.
<6> All types of establishment.
Magistrates Courts
Mr. Lawrence : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether consultants have now been appointed to provide detailed and accurate estimates of cost for the different options for changing the management structure and organisation of the magistrates courts service.
Mr. John Patten : Following the consideration of tenders from a number of consultancy firms, Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte have been appointed to undertake the task. The consultants are expected to report by the end of August 1990.
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Wakefield Prison
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the number of uniformed prison officers at Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield, to reach the agreed staffing levels.
Mr. Mellor [holding answer 27 April 1990] : On 14 April there were 440 officers (including principal and senior officers and specialists) in post at HMP Wakefield. This was four officers below Wakefield's staffing requirement for 1990-91, although two of the posts are temporary and may no longer be needed. Regional management keep the staffing of HMP Wakefield under close review.
Court Houses
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish new guidelines on the construction of court houses.
Mr. John Patten : We hope to publish new guidelines in the summer.
WALES
Nursery Education
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of children in the three to four-year-old group are currently receiving pre-compulsory education in maintained schools in Wales.
Mr. Roberts : At January 1989, 82 per cent. of pupils aged three or four at 31 August 1988 were receiving education in maintained nursery and primary schools in Wales.
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many publicly maintained nursery schools there are currently in Wales.
Mr. Roberts : At January 1989, there were 56 maintained nursery schools in Wales.
Loft Insulation
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total expenditure by his Department on grants towards the cost of loft insulation under the homes insulation scheme for (a) 1988-89 and (b) 1989- 90.
Mr. Grist : Expenditure by the Department towards the cost of loft insulation under the homes insulation scheme amounted to £1.545 million in 1988-89 and £1.451 million in 1989-90. These amounts include administration fees to local authorities.
Badger Sett, Balgan
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to make the badger sett at Balgan a wildlife reserve ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Roberts : The powers under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to designate sites as national or local nature reserves lie with the Nature Conservancy Council and the local authorities respectively.
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Chernobyl
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make further provision to assist Welsh farmers still subject to restrictions on the sale and movement of their sheep as a result of radioactive contamination following the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : Adequate provision already exists.
Visual Arts
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to establish a resource centre for visual arts in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Roberts : We have no plans for doing so.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Social Security Upratings
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the annualised notional provision made for poll tax in the April 1989 social security upratings.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The amounts included in income support levels in April 1989 provided help during 1989-90 towards the community charge in Scotland and domestic rates in England and Wales. They were equivalent to 20 per cent. of an annual payment of £229 for single people aged 18 to 24 and for each member of a couple, and £338 for single people aged 25 or over. Following the general uprating of benefits in April 1990, the equivalent figures for 1990-91 are £315 and £356 respectively. This gives a weighted average for all income support beneficiaries of £340, which may be compared with an average community charge liability for claimants in Great Britain of £340, after transitional relief.
Income Support
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many recipients of income support declare earnings (a) within the earnings disregard limit and (b) resulting in some reduction of benefit.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 20 April 1990] : The information is in the table :
|Claimant|Partner
----------------------------------------------------------------
Number of people with earnings up to
the level of the disregard |32,000 |5,000
Number of people with earnings above
the level of the disregard |85,000 |28,000
Note: These figures apply to individuals, not to claims.
Source: Annual Statistical Enquiry, May 1988.
PRIME MINISTER
Accountancy Firms
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister whether she has sought to curb the award of Government contracts to accountancy firms criticised by the Department of Trade and Industry inspectors.
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The Prime Minister : Not as a general act of policy and it would be wrong to do so. However, Government Departments are aware of the need before awarding such contracts to take into account all relevant considerations and to make such inquiries as are necessary to establish the professional competence of the firm concerned.
EC Economic and Political Union
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Prime Minister what steps her Ministers are taking to advise the general public on the implications of economic union and political union within the European Economic Community ; and if she will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : I and my ministerial colleagues speak regularly both in public and in the House of Commons on the implications of both political union and economic and monetary union.
Interception of Communications
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Prime Minister when the commissioner appointed under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 will present his annual report ; and if she will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : A copy of Lord Justice Lloyd's fourth annual report, for 1989 has been laid before the House today in accordance with section 8(7) of the Interception of Communications Act 1985. The confidential appendix to the report has been excluded from that copy in accordance with section 8(8) of the 1985 Act. I am grateful to the commissioner for his work in keeping under review the issue of warrants and note that he remains satisfied that the Secretaries of State involved continue to exercise the greatest care in issuing warrants. Careful consideration is being given to the whole of the commissioner's report.
HEALTH
Eye Checks
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people had eye checks in March 1988, 1989 and 1990.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Data on NHS sight tests are collected on a six-monthly, not a monthly, basis. During the six-month period ending 31 March 1988, 6.1 million sight tests were paid for in England ; the comparable figure for the six months ending 31 March 1989 was 6.7 million. Figures on the number of NHS sight tests only for the six-month period ending 31 March 1990 are not yet available. These figures will not include details on the number of private sight tests carried out during that period and will not therefore be directly comparable.
Transplant Operation (Killingbeck Hospital)
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations have been made by his Department to either the Yorkshire regional health authority or the Leeds eastern authority regarding the recent heart and lung transplant operation performed on a three-year-old boy at Killingbeck hospital, Leeds ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We have drawn the attention of the regional health authority to the Department's policy on the provision of heart transplant services. Our policy, which is based on the advice of the supra-regional services advisory group and the Royal College of Surgeons, is that heart and heart-lung transplantation should be provided within the designated supra-regional units.Residential Homes (Television Cameras)
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if, in the light of the recent decision by a registered homes tribunal in the case of Haughton v. Kirklees metropolitan council, he will make it his Department's policy actively to discourage the installation of closed-circuit televison cameras in residential or nursing homes.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The installation of closed-circuit television is a matter for social services authorities to decide with respect to homes under their own management and for registration authorities where it affects private and voluntary homes. Authorities need to be sure that their use is fully justified in any particular home.
The installation of closed-circuit television cameras in residential or nursing homes may have a role to play in resident security and safety but it may constitute an invasion of privacy and lead to a reduction in personal contact between staff and residents.
Hospitals (Food Safety)
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance is given by his Department to health authorities regarding monitoring the safety of food bought privately by patients, relatives or friends from outside premises for consumption within hospitals by patients.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : It is for health authorities to make any necessary arrangements for monitoring the safety of food in hospitals including any food brought in privately. In doing so they will draw on the hygiene guidance issued by the Department.
Regional Health Authorities
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, 19 February, Official Report, column 544 , if he will rank the regional health authorities according to the growth money (a) they received per head of population in 1989-90 and (b) will receive on current assumptions in 1990- 91.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The table gives the ranking for each regional health authority according to the amount of cash increase over the previous baseline for the region, allocated per head of population for 1989 -90 and 1990-91.
-------------------- Northern |9 |8 Yorkshire |7 |9 Trent |3 |7 E Anglian |8 |12 NW Thames |5 |4 NE Thames |14|6 SE Thames |11|14 SW Thames |12|10 Wessex |1 |11 Oxford |2 |1 S. Western |4 |13 W Midlands |6 |3 Mersey |10|2 N Western |13|5 Notes: 1. 1989-90 is based on allocations for services provided within the region using the resource allocation working party formula. ( RAWP). 2. 1990-91 is based on allocations for resident population calculated using the new allocation formula, adjusted for the effect of cross boundary flows, so that they are on comparable basis to 1989-90. 3. Both 1989-90 and 1990-91 are before the additions for SIFT, supra-regional services and other special items specific to individual regions. 4. Calculated using actual populations within regional administrative boundaries.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Dementia
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis) of 2 February, Official Report, column 421 , if he will estimate the numbers of deaths from Creutzfeldt-Jakob dementia in each of the last five years by (a) county and (b) health authority ; and what information is kept on the identity and medical history of CJD sufferers.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Accurate information on numbers of cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and collated records of individuals' medical history are not at present available for the last five years. The study to be conducted by Dr. R. G. Will, with support from the Department of Health, will attempt to gather together this information from the recent past, as well as to collect it prospectively.
Whooping Cough Vaccine
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there have been in the nature of the whooping cough vaccine since it was first recommended for general use by his Department.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 30 March 1990] : For reasons of commercial confidentiality it is not the practice of the Department to disclose information about commercial products. Requests for such information about licensed products should be made directly to the company holding the licence.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated percentage efficacy of the whooping cough vaccine currently used in the United Kingdom ; and from which research studies the figure was obtained.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 30 March 1990] : The estimated efficacy of the current British whooping cough vaccine in preventing clinically typical disease is 80 per cent. The figure derives from a national study carried out in England and Wales during 1978-80.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what comparative studies there have been of the efficacy and toxicity of the whole-cell whooping cough vaccine used in Britain as against the acellular one used in other countries ;
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