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Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will designate the northern Minch as a marine nature reserve.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton It is for the Nature Conservancy Council, as the Government's statutory adviser, to propose any area for designation as a marine nature reserve (MNR). Two potential MNRs have been identified in Scotland by the Nature Conservancy Council using guidelines laid down in the joint NCC/NERC report entitled "Nature Conservation in the Marine Environment". The northern Minch is not one of those potential sites.
Recognised Bodies
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) when he intends to publish draft regulations on exempt recognised bodies and small recognised bodies ;
(2) what consultations he intends to have concerning regulations on exempt recognised bodies and small recognised bodies.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Provided that the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Bill receives Royal Assent, I intend to consult widely in the first half of 1991 on the regulations to be made about charities.
Government Buildings (Security)
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the performance and cost of security services provided at various government buildings in Edinburgh by Burns Security ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Rifkind : I am satisfied with the security guarding services currently provided by Burns International Security Services (UK) to the Scottish Office. The contract provided substantial savings for the Scottish Office compared with the previous in-house service.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish his report on the operation of Burns (International Security Services (UK)) Ltd. in public buildings.
Mr. Rifkind : There is no report on this subject ; in any event I do not regard material dealing with these matters as suitable for publication.
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Disabled People
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he expects employers to contribute to the costs of providing training for people who have disabilities.
Mr. Lang : I see no reason why employers should not make contributions which appropriately reflect the direct benefit which they gain from trainees on placement with them, whether the trainees have disabilities or not, though the level of appropriate contribution will of course vary according to circumstances.
ROF Bishopton
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the Ministry of Defence action in relation to Graeme Stewart and Allan Milligan in Renfrewshire on Friday 1 June.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : On 1 June at the royal ordnance factory, Bishopton, Graeme Stewart and John Allan Milligan were charged by officers of Strathclyde police with contravening section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. A report was subsequently submitted to the procurator fiscal at Paisley. The matter was referred to crown office and crown counsel have instructed that there be no proceedings.
Training (Orkney and Shetland)
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the expenditure in each of the last two financial years on (a) YTS and (b) employment training in(i) Orkney and (ii) Shetland.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 8 June 1990] : The information requested is as follows :
|Financial |Youth |Employment
|year |training |training
|£ |£
-------------------------------------------------------
Orkney |1988-89 |336,185 |60,252
|1989-90 |411,223 |59,974
Shetland |1988-89 |312,703 |48,403
|1989-90 |331,355 |110,590
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the proposed Training Agency expenditure in 1990-91 in (a) youth training and (b) employment training in (i) Orkney and (ii) Shetland.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 8 June 1990] : The information requested is as follows :
|Youth |Employment
|training |training
|£ |£
--------------------------------------------
Orkney |347,277 |143,969
Shetland |255,890 |137,939
Leukaemia
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what studies have been made of the incidence of leukaemia among children of people working at nuclear power stations in Scotland.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 7 June 1990] : A case control study of all instances of childhood leukaemia diagnosed in Caithness between 1968 and 1986 is in the process of being completed. The findings of this study are expected to become available later this year.The committee on medical aspects of radiation in the environment (COMARE) is currently planning co-ordinated retrospective studies of all cases of childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the vicinity of all nuclear sites in Scotland.
Bankruptcy
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will show for each year since inception of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 the number of cases where bankruptcy arose principally through (a) personal debt, (b) business debt, (c) cautionary obligation and (d) other.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information requested is not separately recorded.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Local Government Finance
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much, in cash and as a percentage of domestic rates, was met from housing benefit or income support in 1989-90.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Estimated 1989-90 expenditure for housing benefit rate rebates in England and Wales is £1.2 billion, which represents 11 per cent. of domestic rate income. The maximum housing benefit rate rebate payable was 80 per cent. of a claimant's domestic rates liability. Help towards the remaining 20 per cent. contribution for claimants in receipt of income support was included in the income support rates. Detailed expenditure information about this specific aspect of income support is not available. Domestic rates in Scotland were replaced by the community charge from 1 April 1989.
Residential Care Homes
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the financial implications of the transfer of local authority residential care homes to housing associations, voluntary and private organisations necessitating increased income support payments to some of the residents concerned.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Information about expected numbers of income support claimants and expenditure for future years including the cost of such transfers is published in the Public Expenditure White Paper (Cm 1014). It has never been the practice to publish separate forecasts about expenditure specifically on people in residential care and nursing homes.
Porthmadog Local Office
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what payments were made by his Department to beneficiaries in the Porthmadog Department of Social Security office area, during 1989-90 or the most recent available year, to help maintain people in (a) private nursing homes and (b) private residential homes.
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Mrs. Gillian Shephard : I regret that information in the form requested is not available.
Telephone Relay Service
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, pursuant to his reply of 18 April, Official Report , columns 890-91, relating to the Californian relay system, he envisages a similar national unlimited access telephone relay service for deaf people in Great Britain.
Mr. Scott : I am delighted that British Telecom announced on 7 June that it is to provide £4 million over three years to launch the funding of a nationwide telephone relay system in Great Britain. The money will be given to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) to meet the costs of building, equipping and running a telephone exchange which will eventually operate on a nationwide basis and provide a 24-hour service.
The new exchange will replace the experimental scheme which the RNID have been operating in London for some time. Although necessarily limited in scope, the RNID service has demonstrated the benefits of enabling a deaf person to use the telephone to call friends, to contact local services and to make business arrangements. The Government and OFTEL as well as the RNID have been keen to see the service expanded so that deaf people wherever they live and at any time of the day, can have the freedom of the telephone system. The national exchange will be sited outside London, but customers will be charged only on the basis of the final destination of the call.
Social Fund
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases since April 1988 social fund loans have been refused for reasons which included an assumption that the applicant lacked the resources which would allow repayment to be secured.
Mr. Scott : Since April 1988, 39,000 applications, representing 1.3 per cent. of loan decisions, have been refused because of an applicant's inability to repay.
Benefits
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current level of social security benefits received by (a) a single householder aged under 25 years, (b) a single householder with disabilities aged under 25 years, (c) a pensioner couple, (d) a pensioner couple with disabilities and (e) an unemployed man with a dependent wife and two children ; and in each case what they would have received at the present time if the pre-April 1988 system of benefits were still operating.
Mr. Gillian Shephard : The question is not sufficiently specific concerning the circumstances of each beneficiary to enable an assessment to be made of what benefit they might have been entitled to under the old scheme, or would be entitled to under the present scheme.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people he estimates are currently eligible for family credit and/or income support (a) in Wales, (b) in each county in Wales and (c) in each district council area in Wales ; and what is the percentage take-up in each case.
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Mrs. Gillian Shephard : This information is not available. Information about the total number of families eligible for family credit or income support can be obtained only for Great Britain, and only retrospectively, from family expenditure survey data.Housing Benefit
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether claimants for housing benefit can be disqualified from receipt of that benefit if their name does not appear on the community charge register for the appropriate local authority area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Entitlement to housing benefit is not conditional on registration for the community charge. However, one of the conditions of entitlement to housing benefit is that the claimant must normally occupy the dwelling in respect of which benefit is claimed as home. It is for local authorities themselves to decide what evidence is reasonably required to determine whether this condition is met.
Debt Recovery
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he intends to privatise any part of his Department's debt recovery function ;
(2) what work has been done within his Department concerning the possibility of privatising parts of his Department's debt recovery function.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : We have no such plans. Following a recent efficiency scrutiny on the recovery of money owed to the Department, officials undertaking preparatory work for the ensuing action plan gave some consideration to this possibility. Ministers however have no intention of using private debt collectors to collect money from social security beneficiaries.
National Insurance
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the yearly cost of providing (a) spouse additions and (b) survivors benefits to the dependants of national insurance contributors when the benefit paid is dependent on (a) male contribution records and (b) female contribution records.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 24 May 1990] : The estimated cost in 1988-89 on male contribution records of providing (a) spouse additions is £800 million ; and (b) survivors benefits is £5.1 billion. On female contribution records the respective figures are £4 million and £5 million.
Note : The figures for survivors benefits do not include graduated pension inherited from a late spouse or basic retirement pension paid to certain widows. These could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Source : Government Actuary's Department.
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EMPLOYMENT
Beaches
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to counter the effects of the recent publicity about dirty beaches on the tourist trade from home and abroad.
Mr. Nicholls : Department of the Environment Ministers have only recently emphasised the fact that over three quarters of designated bathing waters in England and Wales now meet EC standards ; and have highlighted the very substantial programme of remedial works which is currently in hand to bring the remaining bathing waters up to standard.
Job Interview Guarantee Scheme
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest figures on the job interview guarantee scheme giving the number of participants and employers involved for each of the pilot areas ; and whether he has any plans to make participation compulsory for the long- term unemployed.
Mr. Eggar : The employment service, which is responsible for the job interview guarantee, became an executive agency on 2 April 1990. Mr. Mike Fogden, the employment service agency's chief executive, will be replying in writing to the hon. Lady on the first part of her question.
There are no plans to make the job interview guarantee compulsory for the long-term unemployed.
Mentally Ill People
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make more funds available to the Training Agency for people with mental health problems.
Mr. Nicholls : The overall budgets for training incorporate funds for trainees with special training needs, including people with mental health problems.
Tourism, South Devon
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the consequences for tourism in south Devon of the holing of the supertanker Rosebay and subsequent oil pollution ; and if he will make a statement as to the current condition of the tourist beaches.
Mr. Nicholls : Due to prompt action by local authorities, the Department of Transport and the local tourism industry, the tourist areas affected by oil pollution were completely cleared within a week. I understand, however, that there has been a slight decline in new holiday bookings in the area. Some of this decline may be attributable to inaccurate media comment about the extent of pollution. Nevertheless, I am confident that the area's excellent reputation for clean beaches will soon be restored.
Women with Children
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest estimated figures for the number of women with children aged under five years who do no paid work in Britain.
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Mr. Nicholls : Preliminary estimates from the labour force survey for spring 1989 show that there were in Great Britain 1,792,000 women of working age, 16 to 59 years old, whose youngest dependent child was aged under five and who did no paid work in the survey week.Tourism Projects
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 14 May, Official Report, column 333, if he will list those United Kingdom projects relating to tourism which have been accepted for co-funding by the European Commission.
Mr. Nicholls : The 39 projects accepted for co-funding are : Calderdale Educational Youth Tourism Campaign.
Bournemouth Music Festival.
Yorkshire and Humberside Tourist Board Youth Travel Consortium. Fermanagh District Council Road Show and Patnerschaftfest. Youth Hostels Association Gateway Project.
ICOMOS UK European Conference.
Priory High School Tourism Video.
Best Western Hotels Staff Exchange.
Cornwall County Council Green Tourism.
"KM 150" International Cycling Festival, Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board.
Mystery on the English Riviera, Torbay Tourist Board.
Carlisle and Hadrian's Wall, Carlisle TDAP.
Fiddlers Green Folk Festival, Newry and Mourne District Council. International Scout and Guide Group, Northumberland.
European Soccer Tournament, East Anglia Tourist Board.
Ironbridge Gorge Museum and The Wrekin District Council. Adventure Centre for Disabled People. The Calvert Trust. Childrens Drawing Competition, High Wycombe Town Twinning Association.
Euro Job Swap Staff Exchange, South East England Tourist Board. Southport Flower Show.
Salcombe Tourist Information Centre.
Warmest Welcome Awards, South East England Tourist Board. Festival 90, Thanet Male Voice Choir.
Work and Culture Exchange, Youth Training Services YMCA. Wine Tasting Competition, Bristol Wine Fair and Festival. International Festival of Music and Dance, Inverness.
European Tourism Week, Brighton District Council.
St. Bernard Cistercian Trail, Catholic Heritage Tours.
Welcoming West London, Boroughs Promotion.
Paisley International Organ Festival, Renfrew.
Bolton European Awareness Campaign.
The Grand Tour, Great Britain Cities Marketing Group.
St. Albans Festival, St. Albans District Council.
The Jacqueline du Pre International Cello Competition Launch Concert, Torquay.
Durham County Council Town Twinning Project.
Quarry Bank Mill.
The Boat Museum Exchange Project.
Lancashire County Council, European Green Exchange.
Manchester Olympic Festival.
Labour and Social Affairs Council
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was discussed, and what decisions were reached, at the most recent meeting of the European Community's Labour and Social Affairs Council.
Mr. Howard : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr. Stevens) on 6 June 1990, Official Report, column 668.
Column 56
Home Workers
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of home workers covered by wages councils whose pay was checked by a visit in 1989, and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholls : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) on 1 February, Official Report, column 255.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give estimates of the number of home workers covered by wages councils and the statistics on compliance with wages council rates in 1989 for home workers in a similar format to the answer of 11 May 1989, to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist), Official Report, columns 515 -16.
Mr. Nicholls : The available information on home workers in wages council trades is given in the table. No count is made of the numbers of home workers covered by the councils, but estimates suggest that the total lies between 20,000 and 30,000.
|c|Results of wages inspectorate checks of homeworkers pay by trade-|c|
|c|1989|c|
Wages council |Homeworkers |Homeworkers |Percentage of
|whose pay |found under- |homeworkers
|was checked |paid |checked found
|underpaid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clothing manufacture |328 |8 |2.4
Button manufacture |15 |- |-
Hat, cap and millinery |15 |- |-
Linen and cotton handkerchief |30 |- |-
Made-up textiles |- |- |-
Ostrich and fancy feather |16 |- |-
Retail bespoke tailoring |8 |- |-
Retail non-food |- |- |-
Rope, twine and net |403 |- |-
Toy manufacture |59 |- |-
|-- |-- |--
Total |874 |8 |0.9
|c|Results of wages inspectorate checks of homeworkers pay by division|c|
|c|-1989|c|
Division |Homeworkers |Homeworkers |Perecntage of
|whose pay |found under- |homeworkers
|was checked |paid |checked found
|underpaid
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
London |36 |8 |22.2
South East |60 |- |-
Eastern |47 |- |-
South West |443 |- |-
Midlands |80 |- |-
North West |61 |- |-
Yorkshire and Humberside |20 |- |-
Northern |24 |- |-
Scotland |103 |- |-
|-- |-- |--
Total |874 |8 |0.9
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Action for Jobs
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much of the total expenditure on the action for jobs campaign in 1986-87 was spent on (a) press advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) outdoor advertising, (d) exhibition material, (e) research and (f) presentations.
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