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Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answers 5 June and 12 June 1990] : The estimated gross and net costs with the accompanying estimated savings in income-related benefits for each of the additions is shown in the table.Column 77
Addition |Estimated gross cost |Estimated net cost |Estimated savings in
| income related benefits
|£ billion |£ billion |£ billion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
£3 per week to all pensioners over 75 |0.61 |0.42 |0.20
£5 per week to single pensioners |1.15 |0.73 |0.43
£8 per week to married couple pensioners |1.37 |1.10 |0.26
£10 per week to any pensioner aged 75 or over |2.03 |1.50 |0.53
Note: Costs shown use 1990-91 benefit rates.
Local Councillors
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what guidance he has issued to his Department's offices with regard to (a) the new arrangements relating to allowances payable to local authority councillors in general and (b) how the new lump sum payments will be treated in calculating councillors' entitlements to means-tested benefits in particular ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 21 May 1990] : The office of the chief adjudication officer is responsible for issuing guidance to the Department's offices and will be doing so shortly on the treatment of the revised allowances payable to local authority councillors.
These allowances, including any lump sum payments, will continue to be treated as earnings for benefit purposes in the normal way and apportioned on a weekly basis.
Cohabitees
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his best estimate of the savings made by (a) treating cohabitees as a couple for the purpose of claiming benefit and (b) refusing spouse additions to cohabitees' benefits on the basis that they can be paid only to legally married couples ; and what proportion of the savings accrue from national insurance and non-contributory benefits.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 25 June 1990] : Current statistical information does not permit us to make such an estimate other than in relation to widow's benefit. In the 12-month period ending 31 March 1990 widows benefit was disqualified on grounds of co-habitation in 2,313 cases. Resulting benefit savings for the same period are estimated to be approximately £1.9 million. All the estimated savings accrue from contributory benefits.
The best estimate of the savings arising from non-payment of spouse additions of benefits where a couple are not legally married is £4.3 million per annum ; 0.6 per cent. of the estimated savings accrue from non- contributory, non-income related benefits and the rest relate to national insurance benefits.
Maintenance Orders
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many maintenance orders for the support of children of lone mothers have (a) not been served and (b) have fallen into abeyance because the fathers cannot be traced, for each of the years 1979 to 1989.
Mr. John Patten : I have been asked to reply.
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In 1988, 11,280 maintenance orders were made in magistrates courts. The further information sought is not available.Grants and Loans
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the number of local offices in Scotland which received additional allocations of moneys for (i) maternity payments, (ii) funeral payments, (iii) cold weather payments, (iv) community care grants, (v) budgeting and (vi) crisis loans, for the financial years 1988-89 and 1989- 90 ; and what was the additional amount paid for each category and the total additional amount paid.
Mr. Scott : Local offices do not receive specific allocations for maternity payments, funeral payments and cold weather payments. Expenditure is demand led within the provisions contained in class XIV, vote 4.
There were no revised allocations to local offices for the year 1988-89. Information on revised allocations for 1989-90 has been placed in the Library.
SCOTLAND
Motorway Repairs
72. Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the proposed motorway lane rental repair scheme.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In June 1989 I announced that lane rental would be adopted as the norm for maintenance schemes on major strategic motorways and trunk roads. Since then over 10 schemes have been identified as suitable for this form of contract, and it will continue to be adopted on all future schemes amenable to this treatment. Although lane rental costs slightly more, the evidence shows that the additional costs are handsomely recouped from the greatly reduced delay costs to traffic at roadworks on our key routes.
Steel Industry
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if his instruction to the Scottish Development Agency to carry out an analysis of the prospects for the steel industry in Scotland allows it to examine the prospects for an independent steel industry ; (2) if he will give a specific instruction to the Scottish Development Agency to engage in a study of the feasibility of an independent Scottish steel industry based upon British Steel plant and assets in Scotland.
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Mr. Lang : The Scottish Development Agency has been asked to examine the prospects for the steel industry in Scotland and to seek to identify any opportunities. It is intended that the analysis will be wide ranging and will seek to identify any present and future opportunities in the sector. It would not be appropriate to restrict the scope of this exercise by imposing any prior assumptions about the ownership or control of existing or potential operations in Scotland.Agency Nurses
Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many agency-based nursing and auxiliary staff are currently employed in acute wards of hospitals managed by the Greater Glasgow health board ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The board's policy is that agency nurses will be employed to cover for absent staff only when there is no alternative to doing so. The number therefore varies from day to day and I understand that on 5 July, 31.95 whole-time equivalents were employed in acute wards.
Adult Basic Education
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent each year on a constant price basis on adult basic education in the community since 1979.
Mr. Lang : This information is not held centrally.
European Environment Agency
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the Scottish-based organisations which he has recommended for consideration as part of the European Environment Agency network.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The EC regulation establishing the agency was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 7 May 1990 and will take effect once its location has been decided by the Council. Once the agency begins its work, which will not be before that date, we shall be considering the merits of organisations for inclusion in a list of candidates for the agency's information network.
Hillington Skill Centre
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has received representations from M. I. Technologue Ltd. about the sale of Hillington skill centre ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lang : No such representations have been received.
Education Costs
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the cost in each education authority of providing a place for each child between five and 11 years ; and what additional cost is deemed necessary for each child with special needs in (a) a special school and (b) an integrated unit of a school for children under 11 years ;
(2) what is the cost in each education authority of providing a place for each student between 11 and 18 years ; and what additional cost is deemed necessary for each child with special needs in (a) a special school and (b) an integrated unit in a secondary school.
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Mr. Lang : The available information is given in the table which has been compiled from local authority financial returns. Information on the cost of special education is not recorded separately for primary and secondary age pupils. Expenditure on special units in primary and secondary schools is recorded under special schools, but is not separately identified.
Net current expenditure per pupil in primary, secondary
and special schools-1988-89
|Primary |Secondary|Special
|£ |£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------------
Region
Borders |1,333 |2,188 |8,119
Central |1,224 |2,114 |11,289
Dumfries and Galloway |1,204 |2,273 |17,922
Fife |1,302 |2,251 |3,909
Grampian |1,192 |2,281 |8,239
Highland |1,284 |2,095 |7,704
Lothian |1,175 |2,282 |9,953
Strathclyde |1,262 |2,252 |8,910
Tayside |1,215 |2,331 |9,385
Orkney |1,380 |2,991 |19,750
Shetland |1,655 |3,544 |63,778
Western Isles |1,580 |2,814 |8,786
International Literacy Year
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what special initiatives his Department has taken to support International Literacy Year.
Mr. Lang : None. The Department does, however, provide resources to the Scottish Community Education Council to co-ordinate and develop provisions in adult literacy in Scotland and, in 1989, for the first time, funds were made available to voluntary organisations towards new development projects concerned with adult basic education.
Employment Training
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what action he has taken to safeguard basic literacy and numeracy training from budgetary restrictions in the employment training programme.
Mr. Lang : I am satisfied that the Training Agency has sufficient resources to meet the demand for training places for unemployed people with special needs in relation to literacy and/or numeracy.
Care in the Community
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what contribution the Scottish Education Department is making to plans for care in the community.
Mr. Lang : The social work services group, which is part of the Scottish Education Department, is responsible for co-ordinating, within the Scottish Office, work on the implementation of the Government's community care policy. This includes the preparation of guidance for local authorities. Four consultation papers have so far been issued, including one on community care planning, and formal guidance will be issued in the light of the comments received.
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Health Board Members (Payments)
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what payment is made to Mrs Iris Isbister as chairperson of Tayside health board ; and whether this is a part-time post.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on Friday 6 July to my hon. Friend the Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker), Hansard, volume 175, column 733 . All health board chairmen are appointed on a part-time basis.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the payments made to each health board member in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Health board members currently receive allowances to cover travel, subsistence and loss of remunerative time expenses resulting from board duties.
Mental Welfare Commission
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether civil servants can be appointed to the Mental Welfare Commission.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Section 2(6) of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 debars serving civil servants from appointment to the Mental Welfare Commission.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the organisations involved in mental illness and mental handicap that he consulted prior to recommending appointments to the Mental Welfare Commission ; and if he will give the dates when they were consulted.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Before my right hon. and learned Friend makes recommendations to the Mental Welfare Commission he must, in accordance with section 2(5) of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984, consult such bodies as appear to him to be concerned. Most recently, the following bodies were consulted, on 19 June 1989 :
Scottish Association for Mental Health
Scottish Society for the Mentally Handicapped
Royal College of Psychiatrists (Scottish Division)
Psychiatric Nurses Association of Scotland
National Schizophrenia Fellowship
British Medical Association
Royal College of General Practitioners
Standing Conference of Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland The Faculty of Advocates
The Law Society of Scotland
British Association of Social Workers
Association of Directors of Social Work
Royal College of Nursing
Edinburgh Association for Mental Health
British Psychological Society
The Church of Scotland Board of Social Responsibility
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what payment is made to Mrs. Iris Isbister as a member of the Mental Welfare Commission.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : As a part-time member of the Mental Welfare Commission, Mrs. Isbister is paid an annual fee, currently amounting to £1,420, together with travelling and subsistence expenses.
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TRANSPORT
Road Safety
3. Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he is taking to improve road safety.
Mr. McLoughlin : A wide range of measures to improve road safety have been taken under the umbrella of our "Safety on the Move" campaign. Britain has a good record on road safety. An area of great concern is that of child safety--especially child pedestrians, where there is particular scope for improvement. A sustained programme of measures on child safety was launched in May including proposals to enable local authorities to make residential streets safer. We will be launching a further phase of this campaign concentrating on child pedestrian safety shortly.
Rail Ramblers
5. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received regarding rail ramblers.
Mr. Freeman : I have received no representations about rail ramblers apart from those from the hon. Member and the Lancashire Rail Ramblers Committee.
London-North West Rail Service
14. Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on British Rail's proposals to improve the London to the north-west of England main line.
Mr. Freeman : I welcome British Rail's recent announcement of its strategic plans for further improvements on the west coast main line, and I look forward to seeing British Rail's detailed investment case when this comes forward in due course.
London Underground
15. Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much is being invested in London Underground over the next three years.
Mr. Freeman : London Underground Ltd. alone is planning to invest approximately £1.7 billion over the next three years. This is more than double in real terms the amount invested over the three years to 1989- 90.
66. Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress of his consideration of foreign investment in underground railways in central London.
Mr. Freeman : I am not aware of any significant foreign interest in underground railways in central London beyond the funding contributions to the Jubilee line extension and the Bank extension of the docklands light railway which have been agreed by Olympia and York.
63. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make more resources available to London Underground for improved passenger security.
Mr. Freeman : The Government have given London Underground Ltd. £15 million to introduce a programme
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of passenger security measures as recommended in this Department's 1986 report on crime on the London underground. Implementation of this programme is currently under way. London Underground Ltd. will additionally be spending about £80 million over the next 10 years on extending the most successful of these measures throughout the Underground network. London Underground Ltd. funds the Underground division of the British Transport Police, the complement of which has been increased to 400 officers.45. Mr. Summerson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the level of investment in London Underground this year ; and what the level was in 1984-85.
Mr. Freeman : Investment by London Underground Ltd. will be approaching £400 million in 1990-91. In the financial year 1984-85, when funding was determined by the GLC, the corresponding figure was about £117 million. This represents an increase of 148 per cent. in real terms.
Privately Financed Roads
16. Dr. Michael Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans there are for privately financed roads in Essex ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Parkinson : The Dartford-Thurrock crossing will be the first major privately financed road this century. In addition, I recently invited views on the suitability of six further possible privately financed schemes. Three of these would serve Essex if the schemes were taken forward : a lower Thames crossing, a new link between Chelmsford and the M25 and a new route parallel to the A127 from the M25 to Rayleigh.
Compulsory House Purchases (Compensation)
17. Dr. Twinn : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has any plans to improve present arrangements for compensating house owners where properties are acquired for transport improvement.
Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment is presently considering the responses to a consultation paper, containing proposals for improvements to land compensation, issued last year. He intends to bring forward legislation when the parliamentary timetable permits.
Tankers, West Coast
18. Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to complete his detailed consideration of the findings of the review of tanker traffic in the deep water route west of the Hebrides and in the Minches.
Mr. McLoughlin : I hope to report my conclusions to the House before the summer recess.
Submarines
19. Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current state of studies sponsored by his Department into systems to help submarines avoid fishing nets.
Mr. McLoughlin : A prototype system, based on specifications prepared by the Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE), to help submarines to avoid fishing nets will be tested this summer.
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Network SouthEast
20. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give the figures for investment in Network SouthEast for 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.
Mr. Freeman : The figures are as follows :
Network SouthEast investment
1988-89-1991-92
|Cash prices
|£ million
------------------------------------
1988-89 |300
1989-90 |325
1990-91 |<1>325
1991-92 |<1>415
<1> Planned.
Bus Services
21. Mr. Harris : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will consider the introduction of regional and national awards for best bus services.
Mr. Freeman : The quality of bus services is a matter for the operators. The Bus and Coach Council already promotes a competition entitled "Britain's Brightest Bus Service".
Channel Tunnel Rail Link
22. Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to ensure that the cancellation of high-speed train links with the channel tunnel does not damage access of passengers and exports from Scotland to the continent.
Mr. Freeman : The recent announcement related to a particular proposal for a joint venture by British Rail and Eurorail. BR is continuing to develop proposals for a new passenger rail link between the tunnel and London to cater for traffic growth in the longer term. It was never intended that the new line or the high-speed link to the tunnel in France should carry freight. British Rail intends to provide both passenger and freight services to cater for the Scottish market from the outset.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to give his approval to British Rail for investment plans in relation to King's Cross being the international terminal linking the North with the channel tunnel.
Mr. Freeman : British Rail has not yet submitted its investment plans, which I would not normally expect to see before they get parliamentary approval.
61. Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received concerning the need for a fast rail link between Scotland and the channel tunnel.
Mr. Freeman : I have recently received several representations from various parts of the country, including Scotland, about the desirability of fast and efficient rail links to the channel tunnel.
Transport, London
23. Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chair of London Transport to discuss future transport strategy in London.
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Mr. Parkinson : My hon. Friend the Minister of State and I regularly meet the chairman of London Transport to discuss all aspects of London Transport's operations including its plans for the future.Public Transport, Manchester
24. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about public transport in Greater Manchester.
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