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Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 14 May 1990] : The available information is in the tables :


|c|Output per person in manufacturing|c|                 

|c|Changes in real terms|c|                              

Per cent.                                                

                         |1960-69|1970-79|1980-89        

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

United Kingdom           |17.4   |13.3   |50.5           

France<2>                |19.9   |23.7   |28.9           

Italy<1><2>              |25.1   |15.4   |23.9           

Federal Republic of                                      

  Germany                |22.0   |24.6   |20.6           

Sweden<2>                |24.7   |12.8   |23.3           

United States of America |17.5   |20.2   |33.8           

Japan                    |29.5   |28.4   |28.3           

Netherlands              |19.1   |31.2   |17.0           

<1> 1980 to 1988 change.                                 

<2> 1961 to 1969 change.                                 

Source: OECD Main Economic Indicators.                   


|c|Manufacturing output|c|                               

|c|Changes in real terms|c|                              

Per cent.                                                

                         |1960-69|1970-79|1980-89        

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

United Kingdom           |25.2   |4.2    |23.3           

France                   |29.0   |26.7   |9.0            

Italy<1>                 |32.5   |24.5   |8.2            

Federal Republic of                                      

  Germany                |29.5   |15.5   |15.1           

Sweden                   |32.0   |9.0    |18.0           

United States of America |25.9   |27.3   |31.6           

Japan                    |33.8   |24.2   |36.1           

Netherlands              |28.0   |21.0   |22.0           

<1> 1980 to 1988 change.                                 

Source: OECD Main Economic Indicators.                   


|c|Average annual inflation rates<1>|c|                          

                         |1960 to  |1970 to  |1980 to            

                         |1969     |1979     |1988<2>            

                         |per cent.|per cent.|per cent.          

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

United Kingdom           |3.8      |12.7     |7.4                

France                   |3.9      |8.9      |7.8                

Italy                    |3.8      |12.3     |11.7               

Germany                  |2.6      |4.9      |2.9                

Netherlands              |4.1      |7.0      |3.1                

Sweden<3>                |3.6      |7.9      |7.4                

United States of America |2.4      |7.1      |5.6                

Japan                    |5.6      |9.1      |2.5                

<1> These rates were calculated using the consumer price         

indices.                                                         

<2> Latest year figures available.                               

<3> IFS.                                                         

Sources: OECD Main Economic Indicators.                          

Iraq

Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to the reply of the Minister for Defence Procurement of 2 May, Official Report, column 603, what were the trade deals of protocols 1 and 2 with Iraq that required the credit facilities of £275 million and £300 million, respectively.

Mr. Redwood [holding answer 17 May 1990] : The credit facilities established under protocols 1 and 2 financed in excess of 500 contracts ranging from United Kingdom participation in major Iraqi projects to relatively small contracts for the supply of goods, equipment and pharmaceutical products.

Insurance Companies

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action his Department is taking under section 44 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 in respect of Debt Indemnity Service (UK) Division ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Redwood [holding answer 17 May 1990] : It is not the practice to comment on the affairs of individual persons and I am unable to add to my Department's press notice of 30 April 1990 which made it clear that Debt Indemnity Service (UK) Division is not authorised to carry on any class of insurance business in the United Kingdom and that any business or person who has taken out a "policy" with this organisation should urgently take legal advice.

SCOTLAND

Local Government Finance

Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the latest estimate for the cost of the collection of the community charge in each region of Scotland for 1989-90 ; what is the estimate for collection of business rates for 1989-90 for each region ; and what is the equivalent cost of collection of all rates for each region in 1988-89.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 17 May 1990] : It is not possible to produce satisfactory figures on this basis for these years because the local authority estimates leave out costs attributable to central administration and include income in respect of statutory additions for late payments. The table, which includes negative and low amounts for certain authorities, shows the results of processing the available figures in the manner requested :


                       1989-90                           1988-89                          

Regional council      |Cost of         |Cost of         |Cost of                          

                      |collection      |collection      |collection                       

                      |of the          |of non-         |of all rates                     

                      |community       |domestic                                          

                      |charge          |rates                                             

                      |£000            |£000            |£000                             

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

Borders               |564             |187             |368                              

Central               |861             |-26             |920                              

Dumfries and Galloway |355             |2               |225                              

Fife                  |2,191           |31              |681                              

Grampian              |1,692           |99              |1,555                            

Highland              |787             |304             |744                              

Lothian               |3,227           |1,169           |2,656                            

Strathclyde           |7,105           |-531            |5,346                            

Tayside               |2,123           |201             |1,081                            

EMPLOYMENT

Technical and Vocational Education

Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the planned level of funding for the technical and vocational education initiative for 1991-92 and 1992-93.

Mr. Eggar : As laid out in the public expenditure White Paper the planned level of funding for the technical and vocational education initiative for 1991-92 and 1992-93 is £133 million and £141 million respectively.

Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what funds he is making available for the extension of the technical and vocational education initiative in Scotland ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Eggar : [holding answer 15 May 1990] : As laid out in the public expenditure White Paper, the Department plans to make available £134 million in 1990-91, £133 million in 1991-92 and £141 million in 1992-93 for the extension of the technical and vocational education initiative in England, Scotland and Wales.

Female Employment

Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will initiate a series of local research projects into the barriers faced by older women wishing to return to work.

Mr. Nicholls : My Department has recently funded a number of studies which cast light on the problems of older people and women who wish to return to work but we have no plans for new research into the specific subject of the barriers faced by older women.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that TECs have sufficient flexibility to meet the training needs of disabled people.

Mr. Eggar : The national framework we have established within which training and enterprise councils (TECs) will operate ensures that TECs have the flexibility to adapt national programmes to meet individual needs, including the needs of people with disabilities. TECs will also have access to specialist residential training providers offering places for people with disabilities who need particular facilities and support, where appropriate local provision is not available.


Column 587

Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) whether he will issue guidance to training and enterprise councils on meeting the training of people with disabilities ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) what plans he has to ensure that examples of good practice of training and enterprise council's provision for disabled people are disseminated to all training and enterprise councils ;

(3) how he plans to ensure that training and enterprise councils are fully aware of the training and employment needs and abilities of people with disabilities.

Mr. Eggar : TECs must set out in their business plan how they intend to meet the training needs of people with disabilities. These plans will be subject to my approval.

Existing guidance issued by my Department on assessment, training and employment of people with disabilities is available to TECs, in the following publications :

"Building on Ability"--a guide for training people with disabilities (Training Agency publication December 1989).

Code of good practice on the employment of disabled people (employment service revised October 1988).

The Training Agency has begun to issue a series of good practice guidance written specifically for TECs which among other issues will cover special training needs, including people with disabilities. The agency will continue to review the need for further guidance in this area.

Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that all training and enterprise councils' boards have a member with explicit responsibility for the needs of people with disabilities ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Eggar : It is for each training and enterprise council (TEC) to determine the membership of its board within the broad parameters set by my Department. The position on membership of TEC boards is set out in the TEC prospectus.

Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to develop alternative performance indicators in training and enterprise councils for disabled people and those with learning difficulties.

Mr. Eggar : There will be a system of performance-related funding for TECs which achieve specified levels of performance against particular output measures. One of these measures will relate to people with disabilities. All the performance measures used will be regularly evaluated to look for ways in which their effectiveness and reliability can be improved.

Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that training and enterprise councils do not suffer budget penalties for meeting the higher unit costs of training disabled people ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Eggar : Training and enterprise councils (TECs) will operate under a performance-related contract with my Department. This is designed to give an incentive for good performance by TECs in achieving objectives. This will include meeting the training needs of people with disabilities.


Column 588

Disabled People

Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals he has to provide people with disabilities who need personal assistance in employment with equivalent help to that they have been receiving during their course of higher education ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Eggar : My Department provides a range of special schemes designed to overcome barriers to employment encountered by people with disabilities. Included is a personal reader service for the visually handicapped.

These special schemes are currently being evaluated and proposals for their future development will be published soon.

Deaf People (Employment)

Sir Alan Glyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of whether a person is suffering from severe deafness should be permitted to work near dangerous machinery or water.

Mr. Nicholls : The fitness for work of people with disabilities such as severe deafness can be assessed only on an individual basis, taking into account all the circumstances of the proposed employment. This assessment is the responsibility of the employer, seeking appropriate advice as necessary. It is possible to devise systems of work that would enable deaf people to work safely near machinery or water.

Mr. Kenneth Harris

Sir Alan Glyn : To ask the Secreta Mr. Eggar : A draft report on the reactions of long-term unemployed people to the action credit concept is due in June 1990.

I have no plan to alter the current pilot scheme.

Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether refusal of a place on action credit could constitute a failure to avail oneself of an employment opportunity.

Mr. Eggar : Participation in employment with action credit, which is for less than 24 hours a week, is entirely voluntary. Refusal of a place, therefore, could not be regarded as neglecting to avail oneself of a reasonable opportunity of employment.


Column 589

Employment Training

Mr. McAvoy : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to encourage voluntary organisations to participate in employment training.

Mr. Nicholls : Voluntary organisations already play a significant and welcome part in ET. The new flexibilities available to ET provide further encouragement to voluntary organisations and other providers to participate in training.

Restart

Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what provision is being made to include suitable courses of study under the 21- hour rule on the restart menu ; and what guidance has been given to restart counsellors to interpret the meaning of "suitable" when judging a course to be a positive outcome from a restart interview.

Mr. Eggar [holding answer 17 May 1990] : The employment service, which is responsible for the restart programme, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. The employment service chief executive, Mr. Mike Fogden, will be replying in writing to the hon. Lady.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Rural Funds

Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he proposes to make the application of rural funds under EC objective 5(b) available over wider areas of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : I have been asked to reply.

Areas eligible for grants under objective 5(b) of the European Community's structural funds are determined


Column 590

by the European Commission under the terms of article 4 of Council regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88. I understand that the Commission has no present intention of designating further areas. The money available for objective 5(b) grants up to the end of 1993 has already largely been allocated to the areas already designated.

Agricultural and Food Research Council

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment has been made of the effects of (a) the amounts of time spent by scientists writing grant proposals and (b) training the staff for short-term contracts, on the overall scientific effectiveness of core staff at Agricultural and Food Research Council institutes.

Mr. Jackson [holding answer 16 May 1990] : I have been asked to reply.

I understand that no such assessments have been made. The writing of grant proposals is part of the work of research scientists whether in Agricultural and Food Research Council or elsewhere. Permanent scientific staff at Agricultural and Food Research Council institutes have an on-the- job training role for new staff whether on permanent or period appointment.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Stamp Office for Deeds

Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what consultation there was within Northern Ireland other than with relevant staff and the legal profession before the decision to close the Belfast stamp office for the registration of title deeds.

Mr. Major : I have been asked to reply.

None. Any prior consultation would have been incompatible with Budget confidentiality for my decision to abolish stamp duty on shares.


 

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