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Mr. Eggar : Lancashire's return of expenditure for 1988-89 to the Department of the Environment shows that the authority spent about 2 per cent. of its gross education budget for the year on central education administration.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether it is his policy to introduce a new system of special educational needs management allowances from April 1991.
Mr. Eggar : The school teachers' pay and conditions document gives LEAs and governing bodies a considerable amount of flexibility to reward teachers, including teachers in special schools, who undertake management responsibilities. This flexibility will be increased still further on 1 January 1991 when the recommendations of the interim advisory committee on school teachers' pay and conditions are fully implemented.
Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will amend the Education (Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1983 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. Friend has today laid before the House the Education (Special Educational
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Needs) (Amendment) Regulations 1990. These regulations amend the Education (Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1983 to take account of the relevant provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988, the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1989 and the Children Act 1989. These regulations will come into force on 1 September 1990.Design Dimension
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what financial support his Department has given to the Design Dimension in 1989-90.
Mr. Eggar : In the financial year 1989-90 the Department provided a total of £30,000 in financial support for the Design Dimension Educational Trust.
Teacher Shortages
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will state the criteria used in his statement at the CLEA conference at Bradford on 18 July, concerning percentages of teacher shortage in local education authorities ; if he will now publish similar tables showing the upper and lower-ranking 10 local education authorities respectively using the criteria (a) percentage of children being sent home over a given period, (b) percentage of classes of children who were not being given lessons by appropriate teachers over a given period and (c) any other criteria agreed with local education authorities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Fallon : The measure of shortage to which my right hon. Friend referred in his speech to the conference of the Council for Local Education Authorities was the level of vacancies reported by local education authorities in response to the Department's regular January survey. The results of the survey for 1990 were published by my right hon. Friend on 17 July in DES News 247/90, a copy of which is in the Library. The percentages quoted were vacancies expressed as a proportion of teachers in post in the authority. The Department does not collect systematically from LEAs any other data relating to teacher shortages.
The Government have acknowledged that there are shortages of teachers in some subjects and in some parts of the country. In both DES News 247/90 and in his speech to the CLEA, my right hon. Friend drew attention to the range of measures that the Government have implemented to combat teacher shortages.
Students
Mr. Kilfedder : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of Northern Ireland domiciled student entrants to polytechnics in England and Wales and regional colleges in Scotland in each year since 1968.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The readily available information covers all Northern Ireland domiciled enrolments in higher education in Great Britain and is as follows :
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Year |Thousands ------------------------------ 1981-82 |4.6 1984-85 |5.2 1987-88 |7.5 Source: Education Statistics for the United Kingdom (HMSO).
It is estimated that some 60 per cent. of the 7,500 enrolments in higher education in 1987-88 were enrolled in polytechnics and their equivalents in Scotland.
History
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to make proposals for history in the national curriculum.
Mr. MacGregor : I am publishing my proposals for attainment targets and programmes of study for history today. They are substantially based on, but differ in some respects from, the recommendations of the history working group. I have taken account of the many comments I have received on the final report of the history working group, and also of the advice of the School Examinations and Assessment Council on the feasibility of the working group's proposals for the purposes of assessment. I am publishing that advice with my proposals. I am also republishing the working group's report so that it will be clear what changes I am making. I am also writing today to the chairman of the National Curriculum Council to ask that council to undertake the formal statutory consultation on my proposals and to report to me by 17 December.
Section 42 Notices
Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the section 42 results, under the Education Reform Act 1988, for Nottinghamshire and all other education authorities in England.
Mr. Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Epping Forest on 10 July, Official Report, column 185, he will list the dates on which section 42 notices were published by local education authorities in England, and indicate for each London education authority the controlling political party.
Mr. Jopling : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list, for each English education authority in ascending order, the percentage of their general schools budget taken up by their aggregated schools budget.
Mr. Fallon [holding answer 23 July 1990] : Local education authorities with approved schemes for local management of schools were required to publish 1990-91 budget statements under section 42 of the Education Reform Act by 30 April 1990.
The following information has been extracted from the copies of those statements sent to the Department by local education authorities between 11 April and 21 July 1990.
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LEA |Limited |Unlimited |Mandatory |ASB
|discretionary |discretionary |exceptions |percentage of
|exceptions |exceptions |percentage of |GSB
|percentage of GSB|GSB
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humberside |10.00 |12.16 |9.60 |68.23
Sandwell |10.00 |9.09 |13.04 |67.87
Derbyshire |10.00 |14.36 |9.41 |66.23
Bexley (C) |9.99 |9.56 |14.57 |65.88
Dorset |9.92 |9.95 |12.39 |67.74
Oldham |9.90 |12.82 |11.66 |65.62
North Tyneside |9.82 |12.35 |8.17 |69.65
Wakefield |9.81 |12.97 |10.30 |66.92
Havering (NOC) |9.79 |6.17 |13.45 |70.59
Kingston (NOC) |9.76 |11.44 |15.52 |63.27
Lancashire |9.74 |10.28 |13.29 |66.69
Norfolk |9.72 |9.98 |7.22 |73.08
Ealing (C) |9.70 |11.00 |6.02 |73.27
Knowsley |9.69 |10.69 |8.15 |71.47
Gateshead |9.67 |10.63 |13.26 |66.44
Isle of Wight |9.63 |12.09 |11.32 |66.96
Bromley (C) |9.61 |11.31 |12.35 |66.72
Newcastle |9.58 |15.72 |10.48 |64.21
Harrow (C) |9.52 |9.65 |11.53 |69.30
Wolverhampton |9.48 |12.98 |12.21 |65.33
Essex |9.45 |8.46 |9.66 |72.43
Barking (L) |9.36 |16.18 |9.32 |65.13
Shropshire |9.36 |10.22 |10.20 |70.22
Devon |9.31 |11.85 |16.44 |62.41
Northamptonshire |9.24 |7.48 |11.06 |72.22
Hounslow (L) |9.21 |12.54 |17.16 |61.09
Cambridgeshire |9.20 |12.22 |18.98 |59.61
Kirklees |9.17 |13.77 |11.65 |65.42
Doncaster |9.06 |13.35 |5.12 |72.46
Tameside |9.00 |11.01 |10.57 |69.42
Solihull |8.98 |9.36 |11.72 |69.94
Dudley |8.93 |9.47 |13.31 |68.28
Westminster (C) |8.88 |13.07 |15.88 |62.17
Bury |8.88 |13.03 |8.98 |69.11
Lincolnshire |8.86 |7.33 |13.14 |70.67
Birmingham |8.85 |11.98 |12.29 |66.88
Sutton (L/D) |8.59 |8.59 |20.13 |62.69
Cleveland |8.54 |12.13 |8.12 |71.22
Haringey (L) |8.40 |18.88 |14.97 |57.76
Redbridge (C) |8.34 |9.17 |15.04 |67.44
Coventry |8.31 |13.01 |20.93 |57.74
Staffordshire |8.14 |12.90 |10.35 |68.61
Walsall |7.99 |8.95 |13.54 |69.51
Suffolk |7.93 |7.62 |15.10 |69.35
West Sussex |7.91 |8.45 |12.35 |71.29
Enfield (C) |7.89 |8.61 |28.37 |55.13
Merton (L) |7.86 |11.03 |23.14 |57.97
Cumbria |7.84 |17.46 |12.15 |62.55
Cheshire |7.81 |12.62 |8.95 |70.62
Buckinghamshire |7.74 |10.04 |14.12 |68.10
Brent (NOC) |7.57 |10.36 |15.76 |66.32
Barnet (C) |7.55 |11.87 |12.69 |67.89
Warwickshire |7.46 |12.55 |11.19 |68.80
Sunderland |7.21 |11.39 |9.87 |71.53
South Tyneside |7.14 |14.52 |17.40 |60.93
Berkshire |7.10 |8.07 |13.23 |71.59
Trafford |6.94 |9.57 |27.49 |56.01
Leeds |6.73 |9.92 |13.48 |69.87
Bolton |6.39 |11.65 |10.42 |71.53
Surrey |5.92 |13.42 |11.68 |68.98
Sefton |5.85 |9.59 |9.18 |75.38
Gloucestershire |5.80 |13.67 |10.28 |70.25
(Key: ASB=Aggregated Schools Budget
GSB=General Schools Budget)
The following local education authorities with approved schemes have not yet sent copies of their budget statements to the Department ;
Avon, Barnsley, Befordshire, Bradford, Calderdale, Cornwall, Durham, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Liverpool, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Richmond (L/D), Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sheffield, Somerset, St. Helens, Waltham Forest (L), Wigan and Wiltshire.
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As requested by my hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest, the controlling political party for each London education authority is indicated (C=Conservative, L=Labour, L/D=Liberal Democrate, NOC=No overall control).Column 461
City Technology Colleges
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the total amount of private donations to city technology colleges, including planned and proposed colleges, (a) pledged, (b) confirmed (c) committed, and (d) actually paid over, showing in each case the nature of donations in kind rather than cash.
Mr. MacGregor [holding answer 25 July 1990] : I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.
HOME DEPARTMENT
War Crimes
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what record his Department has of representations since 1960 regretting the absence of legal powers requiring the United Kingdom authorities to prosecute persons resident in
British-controlled territories for offences now to be covered by the War Crimes Bill ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The Home Office received occasional correspondence on this subject prior to 1986. But the report of the war crimes inquiry makes clear that until 1986, when the Simon Wiesenthal Centre submitted a list of alleged war criminals said to be living in Britain, the prevalent view was that no war criminals were resident here. Since then, the Home Office has received a large volume of correspondence on this issue, arguing both for and against the proposition that courts in the United Kingdom should be given jurisdiction over war crimes.
Police Phone Calls (Tape Recording)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list each police force in the United Kingdom, where tape recordings of telephone calls are carried out in their premises for (a) administrative, (b) operational or (c) investigative purposes.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for the procurement and use of police equipment rests with individual police authorities and their chief officers. The information requested is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Rape
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what personal details of victims in rape cases are given to defendants as part of prosecution evidence ; and whether they are able to retain this information.
Mr. John Patten : Under section 102 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 a party proposing to tender a written statement in evidence in committal proceedings must give a copy to each of the other parties in the proceedings. Such statements may be edited by the Crown prosecutor to remove inadmissible, prejudicial or irrelevant material ; and under guidelines issued by the Attorney-General, "sensitive" unedited material need not be disclosed if it is
"of private delicacy to the maker".
The decision to withhold details included in a statement is for counsel to consider, striking a balance between the
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degree of sensitivity and the extent to which the information might assist the defence. Following the amendment earlier this year of the Magistrates Courts (Rules and Forms) Rules 1981, a witness address need not as a matter of course appear on statements circulated to other parties.Prisons (Minimum Care Standards)
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from (a) the chief inspector of prisons and (b) the Prison Officers Association concerning the introduction of minimum care standards in prisons ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : I have received no representations from Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons about the introduction of a code of minimum standards in prisons. The Prison Officers Association has made such representations from time to time, most recently at a meeting on 11 April 1990.
Terence Rivett
Mr. Onslow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action has been taken to establish the whereabouts of Terence Rivett, a prisoner who absconded from Ford prison in 1989, since his answer to the right hon. Member for Woking of 26 October 1989, Official Report, column 618 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : I will write to my right hon. Friend.
Public Order
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations he has received concerning the adequacy of existing public order laws relating to the publication of material and the incitement of hatred or violence ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will invite the Law Commission to examine and make recommendations relating to public order laws prohibiting the publication of material likely to incite hatred or violence against any religion, race or person ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The existing provisions in the Public Order Act 1986 are, in our view, sufficient to deal with situations that threaten public order. Representations are received from time to time about the scope and effectiveness of these provisions and should a strong case be made for amendment, it would be given most careful consideration. In the meantime, we have no plans to ask the Law Commission to review the legislation.
Quashed Convictions (Compensation)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines exist for compensating prisoners whose convictions have been quashed after long periods in gaol.
Mr. John Patten : Statutory provision for compensation for miscarriages of justice is contained in section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and in addition a residual ex-gratia scheme exists on the basis of the statement made to the House by my right hon. Friend the then Home
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Secretary, on 29 November 1985 at columns 689-90 . Where the payment of compensation is considered to be justified, a note explaining the procedure for an independent assessor to determine the amount is supplied to the applicant. The applicant or his legal representative will be asked to provide any information they wish the assessor to take into account.Race Relations
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the amount of grant aid paid under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966, in respect of the total budget for 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Mr. Waddington : A total of £89 million in 1988-89 ; £115 million in 1989-90. These figures are for the Home Office grant which accounts for 75 per cent. of total expenditure, the remainder being borne by the recipient local authorities ; the latter figure also includes some back payments in respect of belated claims for grant.
Mr. John Harker
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why John Harker, prisoner S11R69121, in Her Majesty's prison Kirkham, was not interviewed as part of his Department's inquiry into his allegations of unjust imprisonment.
Mr. John Patten : The detailed material set out in John Harker's representations was carefully considered and an interview was not considered necessary.
Blasphemy
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite the Law Commission to examine and make recommendations relating to the blasphemy laws ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : The Law Commission considered the laws relating to blasphemy and blasphemous libel as recently as 1985, in its report on "Offences Against Religion and Public Worship" (Law Commission No. 145, HC442). It would not be appropriate to ask the Law Commission to consider this subject again after such a comparatively short interval.
Football Matches (Policing)
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department will be issuing the circular to police authorities with regard to the assessment of charging for the policing of football matches ; and what criteria will be used in determining the full cost of providing police officers inside football grounds.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We shall issue the circular as soon as we have considered the comments of the organisations that we are consulting on the draft. Charging criteria are a matter for police authorities.
Broadcasting
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the effect the ultra high frequency wavelengths allotted to Channel 5 will have on reception by domestic television sets ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Waddington : Channel 5 transmission at UHF wavelengths will have no direct adverse effect on reception by domestic television sets. There is, however, the possibility of interference between the Channel 5 transmission and the output of a video cassette recorder or similar device which is used in association with a TV set. We estimate that something over 750,000 video cassette recorders will need to be returned or modified in order to prevent this interference. The Broadcasting Bill provides that the cost of the work should be met by the Channel 5 licensee.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to change the regulations governing television licence fees in sheltered accommodation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : No. Our views on this subject are already well known.
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he intends to take to determine the total amounts paid by each independent television company for the acquisition of musical copyrights in each of the past three years.
Mr. Waddington : I have no plans to intervene in these commercial arrangements. But as the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the Director General of Fair Trading is currently inquiring into the relationship between the ITV companies and music publishers to see whether this would justify investigation under competition legislation.
Police (Videos)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to why uniformed police officers were photographing and video -taping the general public attending a festival in Finsbury Park on Sunday 3 June.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that photographs and film were taken at the festival as background material to help learn from policing on this occasion and brief officers for future events. The police have a responsibility at such events for public safety and the prevention of crime, and the filming at the festival will help ensure that future large-scale public events also pass off successfully. The filming took place for no more than 15 minutes of an event which lasted some 12 hours.
Immigration
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has about the number of visitors coming through immigration control from countries in the Caribbean over the last five years for which information is available ; and how many visitors from Caribbean countries have been denied entry by immigration for each year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The available information is published in table 1 of the annual Home Office Command Papers "Control of Immigration Statistics, United Kingdom" (Cmnd. 9863, 166, 415, 726 and 1124 for each year from 1985 to 1989 respectively), copies of which are in the Library.
Column 465
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his best estimate as to how many applications for (a) adult registration with entitlement, (b) naturalisation and (c) registration of minors his Department (i) will receive and (ii) expects to grant in 1990-91.Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 16 July 1990] : Information is not available in the exact form requested. We currently estimate that in the financial year 1990-91 we will receive the following applications :
|Numbers
---------------------------------------
Registration of adults |4,000
Registration of minors |8,500
Naturalisation |23,000
As explained in my reply on 20 June to a question from the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Lloyd) at column 574 , earlier forecasts of performance are having to be revised in the light of new information about intake, the disruption caused by the process to transfer of work to Liverpool and lower levels of output on the more difficult naturalisation casework than on registration. Until a stable pattern of output emerges following the completion of the process of work transfer, no reliable estimates of grants may be attempted.
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Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for entry clearance from (a) wives, (b) husbands, (c) fiance s, (d) fiance es made at British posts in (1) New Delhi, (2) Bombay, (3) Calcutta, (4) Madras, (5) Dhaka, (6) Islamabad, (7) Karachi and (8) Colombo, for each quarter since January 1989, were (a) received, (b) granted and (c) refused ; how many refusals at each post were (i) wholly and (ii) partly because the visa officer was not satisfied that the primary purpose of the marriage was not immigration ; how many refusals at each post were (x) wholly and (y) partly because the visa officer was not satisfied that the couple could support and accommodate themselves without recourse to public funds ; what was the refusal rate at each post ; and what percentage of those refusals were (a) wholly and (b) partly on primary purpose grounds.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 16 July 1990] : The information requested on the Indian sub-continent is given in the tables. Where the numbers are small, the figures for individual posts have been combined. Information on refusals which takes account of successful appeals is not compiled for periods shorter than 12 months. Corresponding information for Colombo is not available centrally.
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Table 2
Spouses and fiance(e) in the Indian sub-continent refused<1> entry clearance
for settlement in the United Kingdom in 1989
Number of persons or percentage
Number refused because couple Number refused because primary Primary purpose refusals as a
could not accommodate and/or purpose of the marriage was to percentage of all refusals:
maintain themselves without obtain admission to the United
recourse to public funds: Kingdom:
|Solely for these|Partly for these|Solely for this |Partly for this |Solely on |Partly on
|reasons | reasons | reason | reason |primary purpose |primary purpose
|grounds |grounds
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Delhi (including Calcutta)
Husbands |- |10 |50 |10 |72 |14
Fiances |<4> |10 |50 |10 |59 |14
Wives |<4> |<4> |40 |<4> |58 |3
Fiancees |<4> |<4> |20 |10 |42 |17
Bombay (including Madras)
Husbands |<4> |<4> |80 |<4> |91 |3
Fiances |- |<4> |110 |10 |95 |5
Wives |10 |<4> |20 |<4> |53 |6
Fiancees |<4> |<4> |20 |<4> |42 |6
Dhaka
Husbands |10 |50 |180 |50 |71 |20
Fiances |- |10 |<4> |10 |<2>20 |<2>60
Wives |60 |20 |<4> |10 |<4> |5
Fiancees |- |- |<4> |- |<3> |<3>
Islamabad (including Karachi)
Husbands |10 |710 |610 |710 |46 |53
Fiances |<4> |330 |350 |340 |50 |48
Wives |<4>30 |30 |10 |10 |23 |21
Fiancees |<4> |<4> |- |<4> |- |<2>18
Total Indian sub-continent
Husbands |20 |780 |920 |770 |53 |44
Fiances |<4> |350 |510 |360 |56 |40
Wives |110 |50 |80 |30 |20 |8
Fiancees |10 |10 |40 |10 |38 |12
Table file CW900726.056 not available
Table file CW900726.057 not available
Table file CW900726.058 not available
New Delhi (including Calcutta)
Applications received 170 200 140 170 680 180
Applications granted 120 130 180 180 600 160
Applications refused initially 10 10 20 20 70 10
Refusal rate (percentage) -- -- -- -- 10 --
Bombay (including Madras)
Applications received 370 290 230 270 1,160 460
Applications granted 190 190 360 270 1,010 270
Applications refused initially 10 10 20 20 50 20
Refusal rate (percentage) -- -- -- -- 4 --
Dhaka
Applications received 250 310 330 330 1,230 310
Applications granted 560 450 500 340 1,840 350
Applications refused initially 70 80 60 70 280 90
Refusal rate (percentage) -- -- -- -- 10 --
Islamabad (including Karachi)
Applications received 920 780 730 630 3,060 920
Applications granted 750 910 720 470 2,840 660
Applications refused initially 40 30 40 30 140 120
Refusal rate (percentage) -- -- -- -- 2 --
Table file CW900726.059 not available
Table file CW900726.060 not available
Table file CW900726.061 not available
Applications refused initially, minus applications granted on appeal.
Percentage based on fewer than 15 applications refused. Percentage not calculated for 5 or fewer applications refused. 5 or fewer, or per cent. or less.
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he authorised visas to enable Mr. Hassan Ahmed and Mr. Mustofa Mohammed Osman to join their relations in the United Kingdom as set out in his Department's letter dated 9 February to the hon. Member for Woolwich ; what steps he has taken to ensure that the British embassy at Mogadishu implements this decision ; and why these visas have not yet been issued.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have been unable to trace this particular case. If the hon. Member would care to let me have more details and the Home Office reference number, I will look into the matter and write to him.
Prisoners
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the governors of Brixton, Wormwood Scrubs, Holloway and Pentonville prisons as to how many of their inmates are on remand and are (a) untried or (b) unsentenced following the 31 March events in Trafalgar square.
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