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Mr. Rifkind : There were no partial closures in 1989 but two hospitals in Lothian health board and two hospitals in Highland health board were wholly closed.
During the same period six major hospital developments were completed, including phase 1 of St. John's hospital, Livingston.
ICI (Explosives Dumping)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce), of 17 May, Official Report , column 517 , what steps he is taking to ensure no omission will occur in future publications of reports on disposal of waste at sea.
Mr. Lang : The figures previously given for 1986 and 1987 are being checked against the detailed Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland records of all dumping operations licensed under part II of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985. Figures for 1988 and 1989 are being checked on the same basis. The corrected figures will be published as soon as possible.
Appropriate instructions have now been issued to ensure that any figures given in future are derived directly from the records of licences issued. This should avoid unintended omissions.
Sodium Leak, Dounreay
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what dangers were posed to the work force and local public in Caithness by the sodium leak at Dounreay nuclear power development establishment on 26 April.
Mr. Lang : There was no danger to either the work force or the general public from the incident at Dounreay on 24 April.
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what considerations lay behind the decision not to make public the leak of sodium at Dounreay nuclear power development establishment on 26 April.
Mr. Lang : I understand that the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority included information about the incident which had occurred at Dounreay on the previous day in the site newsletter which was issued on 25 April, copies of which were deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
Dumping, Firth of Clyde
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what findings have emerged from the survey of the dump site for explosives at Birch Point in the Firth of Clyde ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Lang : A report on the survey, by a DAF research vessel from 14-17 May, and other investigations on the explosives dumped at the Birch Point site is in preparation and will be published as soon as possible. The visual evidence and observations of trawlers in the area confirm that there has been recent and continuing trawling of fishing gear across the dump site. A warning to steer clear of the area, with guidance on what to do if explosives are encountered in fishing nets, was given by notice to fishermen on 8 May and on 18 May. My right hon. and learned Friend will consider what further action may be necessary in the light of the final report.Local Enterprise Companies
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what decisions he has reached about the bids submitted to him from local enterprise companies wishing to run training credits pilot schemes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Rifkind : I am delighted to announce that, of the three bids submitted to me, two have been approved for further development. The two successful bids are from Fife Enterprise and Grampian Enterprise, each of which will receive £10,000 to work up detailed bids by 27 July. Both successful bids offered imaginative approaches to mounting training credits pilot schemes in their area, and were able to demonstrate wide-ranging support from both the private and public sectors locally.
I regret that the third bid--from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise--was not successful. However it too had interesting elements, and I have therefore asked that the Training Agency Highland area office explore with the consortium the extent to which its ideas can be developed within the existing training framework. That two out of the three bids submitted from Scottish local enterprise companies succeeded on merits (as compared with 15 out of 29 bids submitted from England and Wales) clearly demonstrates the quality of these Scottish bids.
I congratulate the two successful local enterprise companies on their efforts to date, and look forward to receiving their detailed bids in due course.
Redundancies, Glasgow
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many notified redundancies there have been in the former GEAR area/east end of Glasgow in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 to date.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 24 May 1990] : Information is not available for the whole area specified but the numbers of redundancies, involving 10 or more workers, notified to the Department of Employment in the Parkhead jobcentre area are as follows :
|Numbers
------------------------
1987 |489
1988 |1,074
1989 |417
<1>1990 |146
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Spongiform Encephalopathy (Cats)
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the number of cats awaiting diagnostic tests for spongiform encephalopathy at Bristol university.
Mr. Gummer : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 5 June 1990.
Bees
Mr. Mills : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations he has held concerning European and national control of diseases affecting bees.
Mr. Curry : The EC Commission has recently issued proposals for EC controls on bee health to replace national measures after 1992. The Department is in close touch with United Kingdom beekeeping associations and other interested organisations on these proposals. Our aim in the forthcoming negotiations will be to obtain the best safeguards possible to protect United Kingdom bee health.
Rabies
Mr. Mills : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations he has received concerning the control of rabies after the completion of the channel tunnel.
Mr. Maclean : This year the Department has received 31 letters concerning rabies controls for the channel tunnel. The inquiries have been assured that planned control measures will ensure that the channel tunnel presents no greater rabies risk than other forms of cross-channel transport.
Topsoil
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many tons of topsoil are being lost per acre due to overcultivation, improper irrigation, ploughed grassland, and deforestation in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Curry : This information is not available.
I am, however, concerned that good agricultural practices are followed to contain soil losses through erosion on susceptible land. There has been considerable research, much of it funded by this Department, and Agricultural Development and Advisory Service staff and their counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland are well equipped to provide advice on the means of minimising soil losses.
Pet Food
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to ensure those pet food manufacturers not represented by the Pet Food Manufacturers Association do not include those offals specified in the Bovine Offals Order in their pet food products ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : This is a commercial matter. There is no scientific justification for not using the specified bovine offals in pet food.
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Mink Farms
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the disposal of carcases from mink farms ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : I understand that most are disposed of on licensed toxic waste tips.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will send to Manchester city council and Trafford council the same information given by Her Majesty's Government to Westminister city council in relation to BSE.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 17 May.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the likely total number of cattle which have consumed scrapie-infected feed and which are still alive.
Mr. Maclean : This information is not available.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will update the reply given to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 1 May, Official Report , column 465, concerning the youngest confirmed case found of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a calf.
Mr. Maclean : The youngest confirmed case remains the 22-month-old cow.
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of cattle slaughtered because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy by their specific breeds.
Mr. Maclean : The total number of confirmed cases in each breed up to 23 May is as follows :
Breed |Number
---------------------------------------------
Aberdeen Angus |1
Aberdeen Angus X |17
Aberdeen Angus X Friesian |25
Ayr X Charolais |1
Ayrshire |182
Ayrshire X |12
Ayrshire X Shorthorn |1
Blonde d'Aquitaine |1
Blue Grey |0
British White X Aberdeen Angus |1
Brown Swiss |4
Charolais |17
Charolais X |7
Devon |1
Devon X Friesian |3
Friesian |10,747
Friesian X Ayrshire |3
Friesian X Galloway |1
Friesian X Guernsey |1
Friesian X Holstein |455
Friesian X Red Poll |1
Friesian X South Devon |0
Galloway X |3
Gelbvieh |1
Guernsey |146
Guernsey X |5
Guernsey X Murray Gray |1
Hereford |39
Hereford X |110
Hereford X Ayrshire |0
Hereford X Friesian |173
Hereford X Simmental |2
Holstein |262
Jersey |115
Jersey X Charolais |1
Jersey X Friesian |7
Limousin |13
Limousin X |3
Limousin X Friesian |20
Longhorn |1
Marchigiana |1
Merse Rhine Issel |1
Merse Rhine Issel X |1
North Devon |0
North Devon X Friesian |2
Red Friesian |12
Red Poll |3
Shorthorn |24
Shorthorn X |7
Shorthorn X Friesian |1
Shorthorn X Highland |0
Shorthorn X Lincoln Red |0
Shorthorn X Red Friesian |1
Shorthorn X Welsh Black |0
Simmental |18
Simmental X Angus |1
Simmental X Friesian |15
South Devon |7
South Devon X Limousin |0
Sussex |2
Sussex X |1
Sussex X Friesian |2
Unknown |1,361
Welsh Black |5
Welsh Black X Hereford |1
|---
Total |13,849
Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report the names of the members of his Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes ; and whether he has required any of them to give an undertaking about secrecy in respect of the Committee's work.
Mr. Maclean : A listing of the current membership of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes is set out in the table. Members are requested to observe the confidential nature of the commercial information put before them. However, they are not asked to give a specific undertaking on secrecy.
Membership of the advisory committee on novel foods and processes Chairman
Professor Derek C. Burke, BSc, PhD, HonLLD. Vice-Chancellor, University of East Anglia.
Members
Professor G. E. Adams, BSc, PhD, DSc. Director of Medical Research Council Radiobiology Unit, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire.
Professor T. Atkinson, BSc, PhD. Deputy Director of the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Microbial Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Dr. A. C. Baird-Parker, OBE, BSc, PhD. Head of the Microbiology Division, Unilever Research.
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Professor W. P. T. James, MA, MD, DSc, FRCP, FRCP (Edin), FRSE. Director of the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen.Professor B. E. Moseley, BSc, PhD. Head of Reading Laboratory, Agricultural and Food Research Council, Institute of Food Research, Reading, Berkshire.
Professor D. J. Naismith, BSc, PhD. Head of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, King's College, University of London. Professor P. Richmond, BSc, PhD, DSc, CPhys FInstP. Head of Norwich Laboratory, Agricultural and Food Research Council, Institute of Food Research, Norwich.
Dr. P. J. Rodgers, MA, DPhil. Research and Regulatory Affairs Manager at ICI Biological Products.
Professor J. E. Smith, DSc, FIBiol, FRSE. Head of the Applied Microbiology Division, Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, University of Strathclyde.
Dr. J. W. G. Smith, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, FFCM, FIBiol, DipBact. Director of the Public Health Laboratory Service, London. Professor D. A. T. Southgate, BSc, PhD. Head of the Nutrition Division of Norwich Laboratory, Agricultural and Food Research Council, Institute of Food Research, Norwich.
Dr. A. J. Swallow, PhD, DSc, ScD, CChem, FRSC. Head of the Biophysical Chemistry Department, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, Manchester. Professor P. Turner, MD, BSc, FRCP. Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, University of London.
Professor R. Walker, BSc, PhD. Professor of Food Science, University of Surrey.
Bass
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he proposes to proceed with plans to designate nursery areas for the protection of juvenile bass stocks ; and if he will make a statment.
Mr. Curry [pursuant to his reply, of 19 April 1990, c. 980] : Regulations establishing 34 nursery areas in the coastal waters of England and Wales and prohibiting fishing for bass from vessels for all parts of the year were laid before Parliament today. The Bass (Specified Sea Areas) (Prohibition of Fishing) Order 1990, SI 1990 No. 1156, will take effect from 27 June this year.
The nursery areas are those announced on 19 April with one modification so as to exclude a portion of the eastern areas of Poole harbour. The regulations complete the
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package of measures that the Fisheries Departments are adopting for the long-term conservation and management of the bass fishery. The other parts of the package, an increase in the minimum landing size from 32 to 36 cm and the introduction of mesh size controls for gill and similar nets, came into operation in January.An advisory leaflet, "Bass : Nursery Areas and Other Conservation Measures", will be issued by the Department and the Welsh Office within the next fortnight. Copies will be sent to fishermen's organisations, sea anglers' associations, sea fisheries committees and the National Rivers Authority and will also be available on request from this Department and the Welsh Office.
EMPLOYMENT
Low Pay
49. Mr. Allen Adams : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any proposals to improve the financial circumstances of low-paid workers.
Mr. Nicholls : The best way to help the lower paid is through continuing economic and employment growth and greater prosperity for all.
Mines
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many (a) fatal accidents and (b) major accidents there were in (i) British Coal deep mines, (ii) licensed private deep coal mines, (iii) British Coal opencast mines and (iv) licensed private opencast coal mines in (1) England, (2) Scotland and (3) Wales in each of the last five years ;
(2) what was the number of (a) fatal injuries and (b) major injuries in (i) British Coal deep mines, (ii) licensed private deep coal mines, (iii) British Coal opencast mines and (iv) licensed private opencast mines in (1) England, (2) Scotland and (3) Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Nicholls : It is not possible to determine the number of accidents that resulted in (a) fatal injuries or (b) major injuries without incurring disproportionate cost.
The numbers of fatal injuries at the premises listed are :
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----------------------------------------- <1>1984-85 |17|- |- |1 |- |1 |2 |2 |- 1985-86 |22|- |2 |3 |- |- |3 |1 |- 1986-87 |11|1 |- |1 |2 |- |3 |- |1 1987-88 |8 |2 |- |1 |- |1 |- |1 |1 1988-89 |14|1 |- |- |1 |1 |4 |- |- <1>Covering a 15 month period January 1984 to March 1985.
It is not possible to separate major injuries for England, Scotland and Wales without incurring disproportionate cost. National figures are as follows :
|British Coal |Licensed coal|Opencast coal
|deep mines |mines |quarries
----------------------------------------------------------------------
<1>1984-85 |365 |13 |19
1985-86 |715 |17 |29
<2>1986-87 |952 |30 |49
1987-88 |729 |27 |48
1988-89 |685 |25 |45
<1>Covering a 15 month period January 1984 to March 1985.
<2>The introduction of the RIDDOR Regulations on 1 April 1986 widened
the coverage of the "serious" injury category. Major injury figures
from 1986-87 are therefore not directly comparable with those from
earlier years.
Adjudication Officers
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the number of unemployed claimants in Great Britain, each region, London and each
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London employment service area who have been referred to an adjudication officer on grounds of voluntary unemployment, for each month since 9 October 1989, categorised according to each reason for disqualification ; and how many in each case have (i) been disqualified ; (ii) not been disqualified and (iii) are awaiting adjudication.Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for the administration of unemployment benefit, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will update the information on decisions by adjudication officers he gave in the Official Report, 25 October 1989, columns 501-2, for each month since 9 October 1989, and including information on the number of referrals to adjudication officers ;
(2) what information he has on the average time between the submission of cases to adjudication officers on (i) actively seeking work, (ii) refusal of employment and (iii) availability, and on adjudication decision, in London and its employment service areas, and throughout Great Britain ; and if he will make a statement on adjudication officer staffing levels.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for providing statistical information on claims for unemployment benefit, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list his Department's area adjudication sections in London and the number and physical location of adjudication officers ; and if he will make a statement on their relocation, indicating where they will be located in the future and the methods that will be used to ensure that adjudication officers have the necessary local labour market knowledge required to adjudicate on questions of availability and actively seeking work.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for the location of adjudication officers, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has on the percentage of (i) refusal of employment, (ii) actively seeking work, (iii) availability and (iv) restricted availability questions decided within four weeks of referral to an adjudication officer for each employment service area, for the last four quarters.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for collating statistics on claims for unemployment benefit, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the information collected on the 5 per cent. sample of adjudication officers' cases referred to in his answer of 8 January, Official Report , column 490 ,
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with regard to the average time between receipt of a referral and an adjudication decision on (a) refusal of employment and (b) actively seeking work.Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for collecting statistics on claims for unemployment benefit, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Employment Service Office Managers
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the names, addresses and telephone numbers of each employment service area office manager.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for the network of local and area offices, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Restart
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many restart interviews were conducted, and how many people were (a) referred to each menu option at the restart interview, (b) what numbers actually took up their referral, (c) what numbers were referred to the unemployment benefit service for (i) failure to attend the restart interview, (ii) refusal of employment, (iii) actively seeking work, (iv) non-availability and (v) restricted availability, for the quarters ended September 1989, December 1989, and March 1990 ; and in each case what number had their benefit suspended or withdrawn ; and if he is able to give a regional breakdown of the figures.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for the restart programme, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Member.
Mines and Quarries Inspectors
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many inspectors from Her Majesty's mines and quarries inspectorate were based in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales in each of the last five years.
Mr. Nicholls : The information requested is shown in the table. Figures relate to the locations of district or area offices ; some mines inspectorate district offices cover areas which extend over territorial boundaries and mines and quarries inspectors may work in more than one district or area.
|c|Number of inspectors in HSE's Mines and Quarries
Inspectorates<1>|c|
|c|based in:|c|
|England<2>|Scotland |Wales |Total
------------------------------------------------------------------
(1 April)
1985 |70 |9 |13 |92
1986 |65 |7 |10 |82
1987 |66 |7 |11 |84
1988 |56 |5 |11 |72
1989 |51 |6 |10 |67
1990 |47 |<3>2 |9 |58
<1> On 1 October 1989, the quarries inspectorate transferred to
HSE's factory and agricultural inspectorate division.
<2> The totals for England include inspectors based in the
inspectorates' headquarters.
<3> The mines inspectorate's Scottish and north eastern district
office moved from Edinburgh to Gosforth in September 1989.
Toxic Chemicals
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the work of the working group on the assessment of toxic chemicals, in so far as it affects the health and safety of industrial work forces.
Mr. Nicholls : The working group on the assessment of toxic chemicals undetakes scientific assessments of the toxicological, epidemiological, and other data relating to hazardous substances to which persons may be exposed in workplaces. It makes recommendations to the Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances, which advises the Health and Safety Commission, on the assignment of occupa-tional exposure limits for such substances. These limits are for use in determining the adequacy of the control of exposure under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988.
Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to expand his Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances by inviting professional environmentalists to become members.
Mr. Nicholls : No. This is an advisory committee of the Health and Safety Commission and its terms of reference and membership are matters for the commission to consider.
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Labour and Social Affairs Council
Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Labour and Social Affairs Council meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday 29 May.
Mr. Howard : The meeting was very constructive. The main business was the adoption of a resolution put forward by the Irish Presidency on action to assist the long-term unemployed.
The council also adopted a resolution on the fight against racism and xenophobia ; and a proposal for an action programme on continuing training. I expressed my support for the objectives of this decision ; but made clear our objections to the inclusion of the social charter in the recital.
There was a discussion of how we should amend existing regulations governing the freedom of movement for workers within the Community ; and of a proposal for a new regulation on eligibility of migrant workers and their families to non-contributory benefits. It was agreed both issues needed further consideration.
The council also adopted a resolution on the protection of the dignity of women and men at work, which is concerned with protection against sexual harassment ; the third joint programme to encourage the exchange of young workers within the Community ; and two directives on minimum health and safety requirements for workers in these areas : handling heavy loads where there is a risk of back injury for workers ; and for work with display screen equipment. A common position was reached on a third directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to biological agents at work.
In informal discussion, we considered how we might support the efforts of Poland and Hungary to move to a free market economy. Their Ministers for Employment had addressed Community Employment Ministers at an informal meeting on 28 May.
Finally, Commisssioner Papandreou gave a first informal report on member states' implementation of measures already agreed in the social area. This was in response to my request for regular reports on implementation ; and I have asked her to let member states have her report in writing.
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