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Mr. Freeman : This is a matter for Eurotunnel. Its projected completion of the tunnel system is 15 June 1993.
70. Miss Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the Minister last met the chairman of British Rail to discuss the channel tunnel terminal at Waterloo.
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Mr. Freeman : The Government's approval for BR's investment at Waterloo was announced on 18 May.
Road Maintenance
71. Mr. Andy Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the increase in capital spending on national road maintenance between 1974 to 1979 and 1979 to 1990.
Mr. Atkins : Capital spending on motorway and trunk road maintenance in the years 1975 to 1990 is set out in the table below. Before 1975 capital and current expenditure were not separately recorded. Capital spending on road maintenance includes roads renewal, bridges renewal, and the purchase of vehicles and equipment.
£ million (cash)
1975-76 |26.9
1976-77 |29.5
1977-78 |33.5
1978-79 |46.0
1979-80 |64.2
1980-81 |68.4
1981-82 |111.0
1982-83 |148.1
1983-84 |130.0
1984-85 |154.1
1985-86 |165.9
1986-87 |220.4
1987-88 |264.5
1988-89 |190.6
1989-90 |<1>330.4
<1> Provisional.
Aircraft (Vapour Levels)
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 14 June, Official Report, column 302, what advice he has received from Professor Hoskins on vapour levels and aircraft.
Mr. McLoughlin : None as yet. The necessary basic data are currently being assembled.
Fishing Boats
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to station one inspector-surveyor to check small fishing boats at either Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : The location of all fishing vessel surveyor posts, including that vacant at the Great Yarmouth office, is presently under review. A decision on the future location of such posts will be made shortly.
Level Crossings
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each of the last 10 years the number of accidents occurring in the immediate vicinity of automatically opening locally monitored level crossings, specifying for each year the number of such incidents which involved (a) loss of life, (b) personal injury and (c) damage to property ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : The following table shows for each year in the period 1979-88, the number of automatic open
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crossings locally monitored (AOCLs) on British Railways only, the number of accidents, and the number of casualties on both BR and other railways. The latter are shown in brackets. Where the information is available, I have shown damage to property. We do not have details of road traffic accidents near a level crossing, which do not affect the operation of the level crossing or the safety of a train.The reports on 72 of these accidents show that the road vehicle driver failed to obey the "stop" road traffic signals.
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Of the other four, one accident was caused when a lorry skidded on ice, one was caused when a car drove in front of a Tyne and Wear Metro train proceeding slowly over a crossing as a result of a signal failure, two were caused by train drivers not following the set procedures for crossing a road when there is a signal failure. British Rail is undertaking a programme of improvements to AOCLs in accordance with the recommendations made by Professor P. F. Stott to make the signs and signals even more conspicuous.Column 95
Mr. Snape : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number and locations of uncontrolled pedestrian and vehicular level crossings on the British Rail system ; whether he plans any discussions with the chairman of British Rail about additional safety devices at such crossings ; if he will make additional funds available for the installation of such devices ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : At the end of 1988, the most recent year for which detailed figures are currently available, there were 2,213 uncontrolled footpath crossings and 5,721 uncontrolled vehicular crossings, the majority of which are on private roads.
My Department's published requirements for level crossings lay down safety criteria for open crossings on public roads which are lightly but regularly used. Other vehicular crossings used by very low levels of local traffic are provided with user-worked gates or barriers in accordance with the requirements. The requirements do not cover private accommodation or occupation crossings which may be accessible to the public, but the railways
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inspectorate and British Rail have agreed safety criteria for such crossings and a programme of implementation is in progress. The inspectorate will be reviewing the use of footpath crossings with British Rail to define criteria for practical and cost-effective measures to improve safety. The chairman and I meet regularly ; safety is his top priority.Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list incidents involving unmanned level crossings, involving risk to the public, in the past two years.
Mr. Freeman : The table shows the number of accidents and "systems failures" at the various types of unmanned crossings during 1987 and 1988, the most recent years for which full figures are currently available, together with total crossing numbers. "Systems failures" are occasions when a controlled crossing fails to operate currently but no accident occurs. Safety procedures for failures, laid down in the authorising statutory orders, are designed to minimise risks to the public. There are, of course, no records of occasions on which crossing users put themselves at risk--for example, by ignoring the flashing red traffic signals which warn of an approaching train--but where no accident occurs.
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<1>Includes accidents on minor railways.
Figures for 1988 are based on a survey which updated previous records of crossings and for both years are for British Rail only.
EMPLOYMENT
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 26 March, Official Report , column 63, whether any further consultation with chambers of commerce about TECs has taken place ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : My Department liaises closely with the Association of British Chambers of Commerce about the development of training and enterprise councils (TECs). TECs themselves work closely with local chambers of commerce, and a number of business leaders who are also senior office holders from chambers have accepted invitations from TECs to serve on their boards.
Employment Training
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what will be the date of publication of the study on employment training.
Mr. Nicholls : The report of the efficiency scrutiny of take-up of Employment Department programmes, including employment training, will be made publicly available before the summer recess.
Women Workers
Mrs. Roe : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment has been made of the reasons why mothers undertake paid employment ; and what proportion indicate that without such work their family income would fall below poverty levels.
Mr. Nicholls : The 1984 British social attitudes survey asked women in paid work (of at least 10 hours per week) with a child aged under 16 to give their main reason for working. The results were as follows :
Need money for basic essentials |50
To earn money to buy extras |22
Enjoy working |17
To follow my career |4
To earn money of my own |3
For the company of other people |2
For a change from my children or housework |2
Working is the normal thing to do |1
Percentages total more than 100 per cent. due to rounding
There is no generally accepted definition of what constitutes a poverty level. No evidence is available on the
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proportion of mothers who indicate that their family income would fall below poverty levels without paid employment.Minimum Wage
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 2 February, Official Report, column 375, on minimum wage effects, what other assumptions on the restoration of pay differentials besides that given in the note deposited in the Library have been considered ; on what evidence they are based ; and what would have been the impact of a minimum wage set at half average earnings on each of these assumptions.
Mr. Nicholls : The estimates produced by my Department of the job losses arising from the introduction of a national minimum wage assumed, on a central estimate, that differentials for those employees earning more than the minimum would be half-restored. To establish a lower limit for the impact of a national minimum wage on jobs, a second estimate was produced on the basis of there being no restoration of differentials at all. My Department estimates that, in this case, about 100,000 jobs would be lost.
Also a third estimate, to establish an upper limit, was produced on the basis of there being a full restoration of differentials. My Department estimates that, in this case, about 1.4 million jobs would be lost.
Both the assumptions of no restoration and full restoration are implausible.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list (a) each of the research studies and (b) all other sources of evidence which his Department used in determining the assumptions contained in the note placed in the Library entitled "Estimating the Effect of a National Minimum Wage" ; and if he will identify separately the evidence and research used to formulate the assumption that differentials are half- restored in percentage terms following the introduction of a national minimum wage.
Mr. Nicholls : The assumptions made by officials in my Department in constructing the estimate of the effect of a national minimum wage, were derived mainly from the published Treasury paper "The Relationship between Employment and Wages : Empirical Evidence for the United Kingdom" (January 1985) and data from the New Earnings Survey (1989).
The Treasury paper estimates the relationship between employment and real wages in the United Kingdom, and the relationship expected between increases in money
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wages and real wages given an unchanged nominal framework. The new earnings survey each year indicates the earnings distribution prevailing in the country at a stated time.Apart from those reviewed in the Treasury paper, other papers studied included :
From The Dole Queue to the Sweatshop : Minimum Wages and Government Policy- -Henry Neuburger (Low Pay Unit, 1984) ;
Minimum Wage Fixing--Gerald Starr (ILO 1981) ;
On the Employment Effects of Introducing a National Minimum Wage In the UK- -Stephen Bazen (University of Kent Working Paper 88/5, 1988) ; Wages Floors in the Clothing Industry 1950-81--Phillip Morgan, Don Paterson, and Robert Barrie (Department of Employment Research Paper No. 52, 1985) ;
Low Pay or No Pay?--David Forrest and S.R. Dennison (Institute of Economic Affairs Hobart Paper 101, 1984) ;
The assumption that differentials are half-restored in percentage terms is a justified central estimate. Similar assumptions are made in some of the work listed above.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assumptions about the effects of increased productivity and competitiveness as firms switch to higher wage and higher skill strategies were taken into account in the estimates contained in the note placed in the Library entitled "Estimating the Effect of a National Minimum Wage".
Mr. Nicholls : The estimates, produced by my Department, of the job losses arising from the introduction of a national minimum wage were not based on any explicit assumptions about the effects of higher real wages on productivity, competitiveness, and employers' skill strategies.
However, the estimates utilise results from the Treasury model (published in the Treasury paper "The Relationship between Employment and Wages : Empirical Evidence for the United Kingdom", January 1985), which are based on the past performance of the economy and take into account substitution between labour and capital as their relative prices alter and the consequent effects on productivity and competitiveness.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 2 February, to the hon. Member for Stretford, Official Report, column 375, what assumptions about increased demand for consumer goods by those receiving higher pay, as a result of the introduction of a statutory minimum wage, have been taken into account in reaching the conclusions on the effects of the introduction of a minimum wage.
Mr. Nicholls : The estimates, produced by my Department, of the job losses arising from the introduction of a national minimum wage used results from simulations reviewed in the published Treasury paper "The Relationship between Employment and Wages : Empirical Evidence for the United Kingdom" (HM Treasury, January 1985).
These Treasury estimates of the impact of changes in real wages on employment do take account of the effects on consumer demand of changes in real wages, as well as the offsetting effects on company sector demand which arise from corresponding changes in their costs.
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Training
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what assessment he has made of the financial contribution of employers in 1990- 91 to the training of young people with special needs ;
(2) what assessment he has made of employer contributions to youth training since the renegotiation of training contracts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholls : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 2 July at column 472.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans for an autumn advertising campaign on training.
Mr. Eggar : Discussions are continuing within the Department on publicity matters, but no decisions have been taken on an autumn training campaign.
Youth Training (Payment)
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his Department's policy towards the payment in arrears of voluntary sector training providers of youth training.
Mr. Nicholls : Voluntary sector providers make an important contribution to youth training. The level and timing of funding is a matter for negotiation between training providers and Training Agency area offices or training and enterprise councils.
Community Industry Scheme
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the numbers joining the community industry scheme for the years 1987- 88 to 1989-90 ; and what are the plans for the years 1990-91 to 1992-93.
Mr. Nicholls : The information is as follows :
places
1987-88 |9,844 |7,000
1988-89 |10,793 |7,000
1989-90 |13,094 |7,000
An average of 6,200 places nationally have been agreed with the training provider, Community Industry Ltd., for 1990-91. No plans have been made for 1991-92 to 1992-93.
Publicity
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total estimated expenditure on Employment Department Group publicity in 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Mr. Eggar : The total estimated expenditure on Employment Department Group publicity in 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 is set out in table 6.31 in the Public Expenditure White Paper, Cm. 1006.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make it his policy that the Employment Department Group publicity will continue to be based on the principles set out in the public expenditure White Paper, Cm. 1006, page 27, paragraph 95.
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Mr. Tim Eggar : It is and will remain my policy that Employment Department Group publicity will continue to be based on paragraph 95 of the Public Expenditure White Paper.Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will (a) list the companies involved in the Employment Department Group's publicity in 1990-91 and (b) estimate the total expenditure to be paid to each of them.
Mr. Eggar : Companies involved in the Employment Department Group's publicity in 1990-91 are Saatchi & Saatchi ; Gold Greenless Trott ; Industrial Publicity Services ; Ogilvy & Mather ; Delaney Fletcher Slaymaker Delaney and Bozell ; FCO ; BMP DDB ; WBH Advertising ; Yellowhammer.
It is not yet possible to estimate how much will be spent with each agency.
Private Office (Expenditure)
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total expenditure of his private office in 1988-89, 1989-90 and the estimated expenditure in 1990-91.
Mr. Eggar : Information on the expenditure of individual Ministers' private offices is not available. Total expenditure on Ministers, senior management and their offices is set out below.
|(000s)
<1>1990-91 |£1,592
1989-90 |£1,775
1988-89 |£1,535
<1> Estimated
Note: Figures include salary costs of
Ministers, the permanent secretary and two
deputy secretaries but exclude
accommodation costs.
Youth Training
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the proportion of trainees under the youth training scheme or youth training who fail to complete their full entitlement of training.
Mr. Nicholls : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) on Monday 30 April at column 541-42.
Skill Centre Sale, Cardiff
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what instructions he has given to King and Company, chartered surveyors, to sell his interest in the land and buildings occupied by the skill centre at Western avenue, Cardiff ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : King and Company has been instructed to market the Government's remaining skill centre property interests--which includes the freehold site at Western avenue, Cardiff--and to recommend to the Secretary of State which offer or offers to accept. As an aid to marketing the properties, King and Company has also been instructed to advise as appropriate on planning consents, dilapidations and other property matters.
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Small Businesses
Mr. Ward : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received from small businesses urging prompt payment by Government Departments ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : I have received a number of representations in the past year on the general subject of prompt payment, some of which referred to Government Departments' payment practices. However, I have received only six representations from small businesses which refer to specific cases of late payment by Government Departments. In only one of these cases has it been shown that a Department was directly responsible for the late payment of a debt. The delay was due to an administrative error.
The Government as a major purchaser of supplies and services, worth about £15 billion each year, have a good record on prompt payment which demonstrates our commitment to the policy that all payments should be made on time. Furthermore, I am always prepared to take up any specific examples of late payment by Government Departments to small firms that are brought to my attention.
Employment Service Agency
Mr. Terry Fields : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish the replies to hon. Members' questions from Mr. Mike Fogden, the Employment Service Agency's chief executive ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : Hon. Members are offered the option of having placed in the Library of the House replies from the chief executive of the Employment Service Agency.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Artioposthia Triangulata
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the distribution in Britain of artioposthia triangulata ; what assessment he has made about its impact on the nature ecosystem ; and if he has any proposals for control measures.
Mr. Curry : The New Zealand flat worm needs damp conditions and is unlikely to survive in well drained agricultural land. It is sporadically sighted in Scotland but has not been found in England since 1965.
North Sea (Nitrogen)
Mr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the percentage of the nitrogen load in the North sea off the British coast which has been caused by (a) agriculture and (b) forestry ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Of the total nitrogen inputs to the North sea from all sources, some 80 per cent. is attributable to the inflow of water from the north Atlantic and English channel. The remainder is attributable to inputs from all countries via the atmosphere and rivers together with a small contribution--1 per cent.--from direct dumping and
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discharges. Of the total inputs of nitrogen, the contribution from United Kingdom agriculture and forestry, both via the atmosphere and rivers is estimated to be around 2 per cent. The greater part of this input derives from agriculture rather than forestry.Coastal Protection
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make a statement on his Department's role in protecting Southwold, Reydon, Walberswick and surrounding villages from the sea (a) currently, (b) in the next financial year and (c) till the year 2000 ;
(2) if he will make it his policy urgently to assess the criteria for saving domestic dwellings from the sea to take account equally of environmental factors, cost benefits and housing.
Mr. Curry : A scheme under the Coast Protection Act 1949 to protect Southwold harbour is with the Department for approval. Many additional schemes are being undertaken in this financial year following the winter storms and they also have priority, so some schemes approved this year may be delayed into the next financial year.
I am not aware of any plans to protect Reydon, Walberswick and the surrounding villages. However, if a scheme satisfying our normal technical, economic and environmental criteria is submitted to the Department it will be given full consideration.
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will bring forward an urgent scheme to compensate people who lost their homes to the sea in cases where environmental considerations outweigh coast protection schemes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Works carried out to protect land under the terms of the Coast Protection Act 1949 require my prior consent. In deciding whether to give such consent our policy is to require a proposal to be technically sound, cost effective and environmentally sympathetic, and we have no plans to change that policy.
We are not aware of any case in which a coast protection authority has decided not to seek our approval
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for works because environmental considerations were judged to override protection of homes. No proposal submitted to us has been denied our consent solely by reason of environmental considerations. The Coast Protection Act does not provide for compensation to be paid for losses arising from coastal erosion and we have no plans to change our policy in this respect.Pollution Control
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money is allocated under the capital grant scheme for pollution control measures for 1990-91 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : In England, provision for the farm and conservation grant scheme as a whole in 1990-91 is £23.23 million. There is no separate allocation for pollution control measures which are among several other types of investment eligible under the scheme.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money has been paid out under the farm capital grants scheme for pollution control measures for (a) February 1989 until March 1990 and (b) April 1990 until the present day ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Grant paid in England for pollution control measures under the farm and conservation grant scheme for the periods requested is as follows :
(a) February 1989 to March 1990--£5,252,524.
(b) April to May 1990 --£2,760,577.
Figures for June not yet available.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many farms, by county basis, have taken up grants under the capital grant scheme for farm pollution control measures since the scheme was introduced ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The information is not available in the form requested. The table shows the number of items claimed in the category of waste facilities under the farm and conservation grant scheme in each division of the Ministry.
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