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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 9 May 1990

NORTHERN IRELAND

Fair Employment

Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public grant aid Sean Quinn Quarries Ltd., Derrylin has received for each of the years 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989.

Mr. Needham : Grant aid received by Sean Quinn Ltd. for each of the financial years from April 1985 is as follows :


          |£                  

------------------------------

1985-86   |26,795             

1986-87   |905,480            

1987-88   |2,475,004          

1988-89   |1,065,746          

1989-90   |99,756             

Enterprise Ulster

Mr. Kilfedder : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the accounting procedures of Enterprise Ulster in regard to the supply and use of materials, whether provided by the client or by Enterprise Ulster.

Mr. Needham : All accounting procedures of Enterprise Ulster, including those concerning the supply and use of materials, are subject to the approval of the Department of Economic Development and subsequently to internal and external audit.

I am satisfied that the accounting procedures are adequate and that they are properly audited.

Mr. Kilfedder : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many supervisors and area superintendents are employed by Enterprise Ulster ; how they were trained in materials usage and stock control ; where the training took place ; and how long the courses of training lasted.

Mr. Needham : Enterprise Ulster currently employs nine area superintendents and 101 supervisory grade personnel.

Instruction on materials usage and stock control is given to all new supervisory staff as part of their normal induction programme. These subjects are also included on refresher courses which are attended periodically by supervisory staff and on courses of study undertaken by them.

EC Energy Development Programme

Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what level of European Community funds was used to assist the creation of peat extraction businesses by the local enterprise development unit.

Mr. Needham [holding answer 3 May 1990] : The information is as follows :


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       |Amount       

---------------------

1987   |Nil          

1988   |Nil          

1989   |£1,375       

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Removals Industry

Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received recently about the problems of the removals industry.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : I am not aware of any recent representations to this Department about the problems of the removals industry. However, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise have received representations about VAT on removal charges after the completion of the single market.

Departmental Savings

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what value for money savings have been achieved by his Department in the last year ; and how much of this was as a result of advice from the central unit on purchasing.

Mr. Forth : Figures for last year (FY 1989-90) are not yet available. The saving achieved in FY 1988-89, on a spend of £133.8 million, was £13.92 million, or 10.4 per cent. against the set target of 5 per cent.

In general, it is not possible to attribute particular value for money savings to advice from the central unit on purchasing. The role of the unit is to provide advice and guidance on best purchasing practice ; it provides overall support and guidance and encourages value for money across all Departments.

Iraq Contract

Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his latest assessment of the possible military uses of the parts of equipment already sent to Iraq by Sheffield Forgemasters and Walter Somers.

Mr. Ridley [holding answer 26 April 1990] : In the light of the criminal charges laid against individuals, and in the light of the continuing investigations by Customs and Excise, it would be inappropriate to give any further information on these matters.

NATIONAL FINANCE

European Monetary Union

96. Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on recent European Community discussions on Delors stages 2 and 3.

Mr. Lilley : The possible development of economic and monetary union beyond stage 1 of EMU and the arrangements for the forthcoming inter- governmental conference were last discussed at the informal meeting of the European Community's Economic and Finance Council on 31 March and the special meeting of the European Council on 28 April which were reported to the House on 3 April at column 523 and on 1 May at column 902.


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Lone-parent Families (Income Support)

Mr. Hanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assistance the Inland Revenue gives to the Department of Social Security to help trace absent parents who are not paying maintenance for lone-parent families in receipt of income support.

Mr. Lilley : Section 59 of the Social Security Act 1986 permits the Inland Revenue to provide information to the Department of Social Security and the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland, in connection with the operation of the benefit Acts, without breaching their confidentiality obligations. At present the information provided is confined to the details required to account for class 1 national insurance contributions, which the Inland Revenue collects on behalf of the DSS, and details of those known to be self-employed to assist DSS in collecting class 2 national insurance contributions.

I have now asked the Inland Revenue to extend the disclosures made under its authority to include the addresses of absent parents and, where appropriate, the names and addresses of their employers, in cases where the absent parent is liable under the Social Security Act 1986 to maintain lone -parent families receiving income support.

ESOP Trusts

Mr. Hanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue will establish a clearance procedure under which it will advise whether or not a particular trust is a qualifying ESOP trust.

Mr. Lilley : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed in his Budget statement a new relief from capital gains tax for those selling shares to qualifying employee share ownership trusts, as defined by schedule 5 to the Finance Act 1989. Since owners of shares may want to know if a trust is a qualifying trust before a sale of shares takes place, I have authorised the introduction of an arrangement under which the Inland Revenue will be willing to examine executed employee share ownership trust deeds and inform the trustees whether in their view the trust meets the qualifying conditions of schedule 5. The trustees will then be able to inform any potential vendors concerned as to the status of the trust itself.

Taxation

Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what additional weekly, monthly and yearly income tax payments a married man on average earnings with two children would pay if tax rates were at the levels in place on 3 May 1979.

Mr. Lilley [holding answer 8 May 1990] : The information is as follows :


|c|Increase in tax liability at average earnings<1> in      

1990-91 if tax rates|c|                                     

|c|and thresholds applicable on 3 May 1979 were to be       

indexed for|c|                                              

|c|inflation and re-introduced|c|                           

            |£ per week |£ per month|£ per year             

------------------------------------------------------------

Married man |20.00      |86.50      |1,037.80               

<1>Average earnings are for full time adult males in all    

occupations in 1990-91; £303.80 per week; in line with the  

assumptions in paragraph 3.02 of the 1989 Autumn Statement. 

Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has as to the amount of extra


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tax a married man with two children earning (a) £25,000 a year and (b) £30,000 a year would pay if income tax rates were increased to 50p in the pound and national insurance to 9 per cent.

Mr. Lilley [holding answer 8 May 1990] : If the higher rate of income tax were raised from 40 per cent. to 50 per cent. and the upper earnings limit for class 1 national insurance contributions were abolished so that 9 per cent. was paid on all earnings above the lower earnings limit, the extra payments by a married man in 1990-91 would be :


'

Earnings     |Increase in              

£ per annum  |tax and                  

             |national                 

             |insurance                

             |contribution             

             |liability                

             |£ per annum              

---------------------------------------

25,000       |612.00                   

30,000       |1,519.50                 

The calculations assume the married man has no other forms of income and no reliefs or allowances other than the personal and married couple's allowances.

Staff Qualifications

Mr. John Garrett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish, in the Official Report, the numbers and percentages of his staff in grades 1 to 7 who have (a) arts, (b) science and (c) technical degrees, (d) who are qualified accountants, (e) have post-graduate qualifications in management and (f) who were educated in (i) local authority and (ii) private schools.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 2 May 1990] : The information which is available at non-disproportionate cost, (a), (b) and (d), is as follows :


Grade         |Arts<1>      |Science<1><2>|Qualified                  

              |degrees      |degrees      |accountants                

----------------------------------------------------------------------

0-1A          |4 (100)<3>   |-            |-                          

2             |9 (82)       |1 (9)        |1 (9)                      

3             |23 (82)      |1 (4)        |-                          

4             |2 (50)       |-            |-                          

5             |48 (64)      |13 (17)      |1 (1)                      

6             |8 (21)       |5 (13)       |4 (10)                     

7             |94 (35)      |48 (18)      |18 (7)                     

<1> First degree subjects leading to the award of BA(Arts) or BSc(    

Science).                                                             

<2> Includes some "technical" degrees eg engineering.                 

<3> Staff numbers precede the percentages which are shown in          

brackets.                                                             

Cannabis

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what volume of cannabis has been recovered each year since 1979 by the Customs authorities : what was the estimated value of the cannabis at current prices for each year ; and what were the pattern of locations where these drugs were secured.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 4 May 1990] : Following is the information :


January-     |Total seized|Street value             

December     |in kg       |in £ million             

----------------------------------------------------

1979         |11,670      |34.04                    

1980         |25,610      |71.20                    

1981         |24,188      |67.55                    

1982         |16,424      |44.58                    

1983         |19,335      |54.18                    

1984         |26,186      |73.52                    

1985         |20,905      |58.99                    

1986         |22,381      |65.81                    

1987         |16,292      |47.44                    

1988         |44,018      |127.34                   

<1>1989      |50,715      |166.75                   

<1> Provisional.                                    

Values are expressed in current prices based on geographical averages calculated by the national drugs intelligence unit. Information on the pattern of locations involved is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Arms Exports

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if Her Majesty's Customs and Excise will now reopen investigations into Aero Technologies in respect of illegal arms exports to middle eastern countries.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 4 May 1990] : If any information comes into the possession of Customs and Excise which might warrant an investigation the Commissioners would give that appropriate consideration.

RPI

Mr. Ian Stewart : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will be the increase in the retail price index due to the increase in local government expenditure not funded from the Exchequer or the business rate.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 May 1990] : The average community charge set by local authorities in Great Britain is around £350, a rise of over 30 per cent. on domestic rates in 1989-90. This is expected to add just under 1 per cent. to the level of the RPI from April and, correspondingly, about one percentage point to the annual rate of inflation.

Civil Service Recruitment

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on civil service vacancies and recruitment.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 May 1990] : My right hon. Friend keeps all aspects of the staffing of the civil service under review. Statistical information about the civil service, including recruitment, can be found in successive editions of "Civil Service Statistics" ; and information about that recruitment which is carried out by the Civil Service Commission can be found in its annual reports.

Pools Betting Duty

Mr. Pendry : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on what dates payment of the funds made available to football through the reduction in the football pools betting duty from 42.5 per cent. to 40 per cent. will commence and cease ;

(2) from what date the reduction in the football pools betting duty from 42.5 per cent. to 40 per cent. will apply.


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Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 May 1990] : Negotiations involving the Football Trust, the Pools Promoters Association and football authorities have reached an advanced stage. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor hopes to be able to make an announcement to the House shortly.

Lottery Tickets (Germany)

Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice he has given to the Amex, Visa and Diners credit card groups and to joint stock banks about their facilities being used for the transmission of funds in response to posted invitations from West German state and institutional lottery groups.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 8 May 1990] : None.

PRIME MINISTER

Dalai Lama

Sir David Steel : To ask the Prime Minister what criteria were used in deciding whether she should meet the Dalai Lama.

The Prime Minister : The Dalai Lama is a distinguished spiritual leader, who is welcome to visit the United Kingdom at any time. But he is also regarded by many of his followers as the leader of a government in exile, which is not recognised by any Government, and with which successive British Governments have had no dealings. I believe that a meeting with him would therefore be open to misinterpretation.

TRANSPORT

Noise Pollution

Sir Dudley Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will establish different criteria in the measurement and analysis of noise created as the result of the opening of new motorways.

Mr. Atkins : I am satisfied that the existing criteria for measuring and analysing noise are satisfactory. However, I am aware from many representations that I have received that noise from new or widened motorways can be a problem, and my Department is seeking constantly to ensure that noise from road surfaces is kept to a minimum.

Rail Electrification

Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received about the use of EEC money for the electrification of the north Wales coast rail line.

Mr. Freeman : We have received a number of representations. This matter was discussed in an Adjournment debate on 3 May.

Sporting Events (Charter Trains)

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Rail in respect of the provision of charter trains to national football and sporting events at Wembley in the interest of public safety.


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Mr. Freeman : None. British Rail has a well- established procedure for providing and policing trains to national football and sporting events at Wembley.

Driver-only Trains

Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultations have taken place between officials or members of the British Railways Board and the railway inspectorate respectively concerning the introduction of driver-only passenger trains on Southern Region services.

Mr. Freeman : There has been full consultation between British Rail and the railway inspectorate about the introduction of driver-only operation generally. The inspectorate's views have been taken into account in BR's criteria for driver-only operation.

Departmental Savings

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what value for money savings have been achieved by his Department in the last year ; and how much of this was as a result of advice from the central unit on purchasing.

Mr. Atkins : The value for money savings made on procurement in 1989 -90 are approximately £90 million. The Department takes advice from the central unit on purchasing and it is not possible to apportion savings arising from improved purchasing practices in DTp and those arising from CUP.

Slow Vehicles

Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will encourage, either by legislation or non-legislation means, drivers of vehicles which are either slow by their nature or are slow by virtue of the load they are carrying, periodically to draw to the side of the road to permit other vehicles safely to pass them.

Mr. Atkins : Advice to that effect is contained in paragraph 45 of the highway code.

Pilotage Exemption Certificates

Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the report of the public inquiry into pilotage exemption certificates.

Mr. McLoughlin : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has today published the inspector's report on the public inquiry held into charges for the use of pilotage exemption certificates at Portsmouth and has announced his decision. A copy of the decision letter and of the report has today been sent direct to my hon. Friend.


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HEALTH

Prescription Charges

Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the level of prescription charges paid by asthmatics.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. As the result of the present wide- ranging exemption arrangements over 75 per cent. of all items dispensed in the NHS are provided free. Many patients with asthma benefit from these arrangements. Those who are not exempt but who need a lot of medication can save money by buying prescription pre-payment certificates, or season tickets. These certificates can lead to significant savings for anyone needing more than 14 items in a year or five items in a four-month period.

To extend these arrangements or to reduce the level of the prescription charge for all patients who suffer from asthma or any other medical condition would benefit only those whose resources exceed the qualifying threshold for help on low income grounds and would therefore not make the best use of the resources available to the NHS.

Triazolam

Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received recently about the side-effects of the drug triazolam.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : In the last six months, the Committee on Safety of Medicines has received three reports of adverse reactions which may be associated with triazolam. A report of a suspected adverse reaction does not necessarily mean that there is a causal relationship with the drug. In addition, the Department has received correspondence from a physician on published papers relating to the drug.

Land Sales

Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much land has been sold by each district health authority in England in each year since 1979 ; and if he will give details of (a) the total value in each year and (b) the overall value for England.

Mr. Dorrell : The information requested is not held centrally and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Information is held centrally in respect of regional health authorities and the information is shown in the table.


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|c|Proceeds from disposal of NHS land|c|                                                                  

Receipts in £ millions to nearest £0.1 million                                                            

Region            |1979-80|1980-81|1981-82|1982-83|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89        

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northern          |0.2    |0.1    |0.8    |0.4    |0.9    |1.4    |1.3    |6.2    |3.9    |4.3            

Yorkshire         |0.8    |0.7    |1.0    |1.8    |0.8    |1.1    |2.0    |4.1    |5.5    |13.2           

Trent             |0.5    |1.6    |1.7    |1.6    |2.3    |3.9    |4.9    |6.3    |7.6    |13.8           

East Anglian      |0.3    |0.2    |0.4    |0.7    |0.9    |8.2    |3.5    |3.9    |3.8    |10.4           

North West Thames |1.2    |1.3    |4.4    |2.7    |6.1    |6.7    |6.6    |24.5   |50.3   |43.6           

North East Thames |1.8    |1.4    |1.0    |1.1    |3.8    |2.8    |6.3    |13.2   |28.0   |51.4           

South East Thames |0.3    |0.8    |1.2    |2.2    |1.6    |2.6    |11.1   |19.8   |25.6   |30.3           

South West Thames |0.1    |3.5    |2.0    |0.9    |2.4    |10.5   |9.1    |30.2   |24.5   |24.4           

Wessex            |1.3    |0.8    |0.4    |0.5    |1.2    |2.0    |4.7    |10.2   |5.7    |17.6           

Oxford            |0.9    |1.6    |1.2    |2.3    |1.5    |1.8    |7.6    |2.9    |10.6   |16.9           

South Western     |1.1    |2.0    |1.6    |0.5    |1.0    |2.7    |5.0    |10.9   |10.1   |16.4           

West Midlands     |0.6    |0.5    |1.1    |1.2    |1.9    |2.3    |3.9    |3.5    |5.3    |9.2            

Mersey            |0.3    |0.6    |0.7    |1.6    |1.5    |1.1    |2.4    |4.1    |6.9    |7.2            

North Western     |0.3    |0.3    |1.4    |0.6    |1.0    |2.0    |2.5    |8.4    |4.1    |8.5            

BGs-SHAs          |0.3    |Nil    |0.7    |0.06   |4.6    |0.05   |14.3   |0.9    |12.2   |5.0            

                  |---    |---    |---    |---    |---    |---    |---    |---    |---    |---            

England           |9.9    |15.2   |19.4   |18.0   |31.5   |49.0   |84.9   |149.0  |204.1  |272.2          

Special Hospitals

Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 13 March, Official Report, column 181, whether the hours women spent in seclusion in Rampton, Broadmoor, and Moss Side special hospitals during the 12 months from December 1988 to December 1989 included night hours ; what percentage of women spent no time in seclusion ; and what were the maximum number of hours women spent in seclusion.

Mr. Dorrell : The Special Hospitals Services Authority advises me that the information requested is not readily available without extensive examination of individual patient records. This work has been put in hand, and the chairman of the authority will write to the hon. Member.

Electorates

Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the 25 largest parliamentary constituencies by electorate with their electorates ; and what is the average constituency electorate on the current register ;

(2) if he will list the shire counties, London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs in England in ranking order according to the degree by which their electorates vary from the nationally averaged electorate appropriate to the numbers of parliamentary constituencies within them.

Mr. Dorrell : The 1990 electorate figures have been collected and published by local authority area in OPCS Monitor EL 90/1, copies of which are available in the Library. The data are still being reassembled by parliamentary constituency, and will be published in "Electoral Statistics : 1990" (Series EL No. 17) in July.

General Practitioners (Fund-holding Status)

Sir George Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is intended to reimburse the preparatory cash at those general practitioner practices preparing to submit formal applications for fund- holding status from April 1991.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Yes. A preparatory allowance of up to £16,000 per practice will be available to practices which have reached agreement with their relevant regional health authority to undertake preparatory work for fund holding. The allowance will be used to reimburse the costs of additional work which practices will need to complete in order to be in a position to take on fund holding status from 1 April 1991. Parliamentary approval to this new scheme is being sought in the main estimate for hospital and community health services, family practitioner services (part) and other services, England (class XIII, vote 1). Pending that approval and the enactment of the National Health Service and Community Care Bill when formal applications for GP practice fund holding status


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can be made, urgent expenditure estimated at £1,500,000 will be met by repayable advances from the contingencies fund.

Nursery Schools (Cambridgeshire)

Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of three and four-year-olds attending private and voluntary sector (i) nursery schools and (ii) playgroups in Cambridgeshire together with the percentage of the total number of three and four-year-olds in Cambridgeshire which these represent ; and what is the cost of local authority support for each category (a) in total and (b) per place for the latest year in which figures are available.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information requested is not available centrally in the form requested.

In January 1989, in Cambridgeshire, 117 children attended non-maintained schools registered with the Department of Education and Science. Private and voluntary nursery schools are registered with the local authorities under the Nurseries and Childminders Regulation Act 1948. Information held centrally relates to numbers of places in day nurseries, playgroups and with childminders. Places in nursery schools are not identified as a separate category. This information is published in "Children's Day Care Facilities". The most recent relates to the year ending 31 March 1988, a copy of which is in the Library. Statistics relating to the rate per 1,000 population are calculated on the total number of children aged under five. The number of children under five attending non-maintained schools in Cambridgeshire represents 2.64 per 1,000 children aged under five.

The cost of local authority social services departments support in total was £19,000 for day nurseries and £13,000 for play groups for the year ending 31 March 1988. These figures expressed as an average for each place in voluntary and private provision was some £30 per place for day nurseries and £2 per place in playgroups. Some of the private and voluntary providers may have received no support.

Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list (a) the number and location of (i) local authority day nurseries and (ii) local authority playgroups in Cambridgeshire together with the number of places available in each location and the percentage of the total number of three and four-year-olds in Cambridgeshire which these places represent (b) the total cost of providing and supporting each category (c) the average cost per child place in each category in Cambridgeshire and (d) the national average cost per child place for each category.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Information is not available centrally as to the location of these facilities. The number of premises and the total number of places for each


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authority is published in "Children's Day Care Facilities" ; the most recent relates to the year ending 31 March 1988 and a copy is in the Library.

Children under three may attend local authority day nurseries or playgroups. The number of places is shown as a rate per 1,000 of all children under five.

The net current expenditure by Cambridgeshire in the year ended 31 March 1988 was £467,000 on day nurseries and £129,000 on playgroups. The net current cost expressed as an average cost per child place at 31 March 1988 in each category in Cambridgeshire in the year ended 31 March 1988 was £2.8 thousand per place for day nurseries and £0.2 thousand per place for playgroups.

The equivalent figure for England per child place for each category was for £3,400 per place for day nurseries and £2,400 per place for playgroups.

Pathology Departments (Income-generating Schemes)

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those National Health Service pathology departments which have established income-generating schemes which share the profits between the National Health Service and the staff ; and if he will place in the Library details of all such schemes.

Mr. Dorrell : This information is not available as details of all such schemes are not collected by the Department. Nevertheless, I understand that several NHS pathology departments have established income generation schemes, which they run themselves or as a joint venture with a private company. There should, however, be no question of NHS employees sharing in the profits resulting from income generation activity undertaken as part of the normal duties under their NHS contracts.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Ethylene Thiourea

Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will publish the results of tests which are being carried out on the levels of the fungicide ethylene thiourea in various food products.

Mr. Maclean : On 29 March the food safety directorate of the Department published and placed in the Library of the House the full results of tests on samples of produce previously analysed for ethylene thiourea (ETU) by Parents for Safe Food (PFSF) and Friends of the Earth (FOE). The PFSF/FOE issued their findings in a press release dated 14 February 1989 under the heading "Dangerous Agrochemicals in Supermarket Foods." This gave rise to widespread press coverage with headlines such as "Tomato Ketchup in Cancer Scare."

The Department's tests showed that PFSF/FOE main results grossly overstated the residues of ETU in their samples. We found no detectable ETU residues in bread, compared with PFSF/FOE findings of levels more than 300 times our limit of detection. For tomato ketchup, the PFSF/FOE results overstated actual levels by up to 150 times. For the other products for which duplicate samples were provided, residues were generally either absent or within predicted levels. Low levels of residues were found in dried potato products but presented no risk to health and would be greatly reduced after dilution and reconstitution.


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One sample of tomato ketchup was found to have an elevated level of ETU. PFSF/FOE subsequently admitted that this was a sample "spiked" with additional ETU to test the validity of the Department's results. All the Department's tests were done using at least three different analytical techniques to confirm their validity, in contrast to the PFSF/FOE results which were not checked to confirm their validity before they were published.

Departmental Savings

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what value for money savings have been achieved by his Department in the last year ; and how much of this was as a result of advice from the central unit on purchasing.


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