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SOCIAL SECURITY
Christmas Bonus
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the present cost equivalent of the £10 Christmas bonus to pensioners paid in 1972.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : If the Christmas bonus had been increased in line with the movement in the retail prices index since December 1972 it would be worth over £50 at December 1990. To pay the Christmas bonus to all recipients at this rate would cost more than £600 million.
Invalid Care Allowance
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many disabled women will benefit from the Court of Appeal's decision in the case of Evelyn Thomas of Caldicot, Gwent and others ; and what action he has taken to trace those who are made eligible for invalid care allowance by the decision.
Mr. Scott : We are considering the implications of this decision.
Hostel Dwellers
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will examine whether there are delays in income support payments to hostel dwellers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Arrangements for paying benefit to hostel dwellers were kept under close scrutiny following the October 1989 changes which removed from them the special board and lodging rate of income support, and this continues as part of the Department's general monitoring activity. Where problems have arisen and where central action could help, that action has been taken : for example, the restoration of the facility for certain income support payments to be made directly to hostels.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will take steps to allocate responsibility for paying for care costs in hostels ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Since October 1989 people in hostels, like people in other types of rented accommodation, have been able to claim income support specifically to help with day-to-day living expenses. From the same date help with accommodation costs has been available through housing benefit. These arrangements replaced the old income support special board and lodging rate for hostel dwellers, although financial support from social security for existing claimants and the hostel places they occupied has been maintained at the October 1989 level by means of payments to hostels from a central unit in the Department of Social Security.
The money being paid out by the central unit broadly represents payments from social security under the old arrangements towards the cost of the care provided in hostels. It will be transferred to other funding sources from April 1991, as explained in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Fulham (Mr. Carrington) on 15 October. Within income support, vulnerable people such as those who are disabled can qualify for a premium in addition to their personal allowance which can of course go towards meeting hostel charges.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will carry out research to establish whether people in hostels need extra benefit ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : We have no current plans to undertake such research.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what guidance is given by his Department to local adjudication officers with regard to the payment of income support to temporary residents of unregistered care homes with fewer than four residents who are occupying the bed of a resident away from home on a period of leave.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Eligibility to income support is defined by regulations. Independent adjudication officers are provided with guidance on the interpretation of the regulations by the chief adjudication officer, but no specific guidance has been given on this point.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he plans to increase income support for hostel dwellers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Since October 1989 accommodation costs for people in hostels have been met by housing benefit in the same way as they are for people in other types of rented accommodation. Income support provides help for other normal day-to-day living expenses. These and other income-related benefits are reviewed each year and a statement about next year's uprating will be made shortly.
Benefit Subsidy
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what consultations he held prior to his decision to cut the rate of subsidy for housing and poll tax benefit from 97 per cent. to 95 per cent. ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : My right hon. Friend the Minister of State announced on 19 July at column 698 that we would that day be consulting the local authority associations on a proposal to change the basic rate of
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direct benefit subsidy from 97 per cent. to 95 per cent. from April 1991. The associations were invited to comment on the proposals by the end of August, and a number of them submitted written representations.Following requests from the associations, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State met their representatives to discuss the proposal on 24 September and the final deadline for comments was extended until one week after that date.
Family Credit
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families in (a) Greenock and Port Glasgow, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland as a whole are presently in receipt of family credit ; and what percentages these are of those families estimated to be eligible for such support.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The latest available information is as follows :
|Number
--------------------------------------------------
(a) Greenock and Port Glasgow |<1>934
(b) Strathclyde |<1>15,828
(c) Scotland |<2>39,000
Notes:
<1> Number of awards actually in payment on 21
September 1990, ie excludes awards on claims made
before that date but not decided at that stage.
<2> Provisional caseload at end of July 1990, ie
including backdated awards. Information on this
more comprehensive basis is only available for
Scotland as a whole.
Information about the total number of families eligible for family credit can be obtained only for Great Britain as a whole, and only retrospectively, from Family Expenditure Survey data.
Elderly People
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the total annual amounts paid in supplementary benefit, income support from April 1988, and board and lodging payments to elderly people of limited and no means living in private or voluntary residential care and nursing homes in each year from 1979-80 to 1989-90 (a) at current prices and (b) at 1989-90 prices.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Allen McKay : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if it is his intention to trawl the attendance allowance computer programme to inform recipients and carers of its existence.
Mr. Scott : I am unable to answer the question as its meaning is not clear. If the hon. Member would care to write to me, I will give a full reply.
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals to the social security commissioners were lodged in the last year for which statistics are available concerning attendance allowance ; what proportion of all attendance allowance claims in that year they represented ; and how many such appeals resulted in the case being remitted to the Attendance Allowance Board for reconsideration.
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The Attorney-General : I have been asked to reply. The information is not readily available and I shall reply as soon as possible.
Income Support Deductions
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, further to the answer to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East of 15 October on income support deductions to cover debts arising from the poll tax, what information he has as to the breakdown by office of the 9,000 deductions being made at 31 August ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The latest count showed that 40 offices had income support cases with a deduction to clear community charge arrears. The number of such deductions for each office is shown in the table.
Annex
Local office |Number of deductions
----------------------------------------------------------------
Scotland
Airdrie |24
Ayr |320
Bathgate |65
Bellshill |295
Campbeltown |5
Clydebank |100
Coatbridge |125
Cowdenbeath |91
Cumbernauld |447
Dumbarton |193
Dumfries |3
Dundee East |11
Dunfermline |71
East Kilbride |101
Falkirk |983
Galashiels |308
Glasgow (Anniesland) |343
Glasgow (Bridgeton) |315
Glasgow (City) |172
Glasgow (Craigton) |29
Glasgow (Laurieston) |416
Glasgow (Maryhill) |311
Glasgow (Partick) |251
Glasgow (Provan) |394
Glasgow (Shettleston) |504
Glasgow (Springburn) |992
Greenock |121
Hamilton |86
Irvine |75
Johnstone |18
Kirkcaldy |75
Motherwell |593
Oban |15
Perth |1
Port Glasgow |32
Stirling |1,196
|-------
Subtotal |9,081
England
Goole |24
Halifax |1
Newcastle (Staffs) |5
Rugby |1
|-------
Subtotal |31
Total |9,112
Industrial Diseases
Mr. Eastham : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the number of outstanding cases in the pneumoconiosis byssinosis and miscellaneous diseases
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benefit branch at the Department of Social Security central office, Blackpool ; and what is the average number of weeks taken to finally process these claims.Mr. Scott : Some 85 claims are outstanding. It takes an average of 19 weeks to clear such claims.
Mobility Allowance
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals to the social security commissioners were lodged during the last year for which statistics are available concerning mobility allowance ; what proportion of all claims for mobility allowance in that year they represented ; and how many such appeals resulted either in the case being remitted for reconsideration by the Medical Appeal Tribunal or in the commissioner substituting his or her own decision for that of the Medical Appeal Tribunal.
The Attorney-General : I have been asked to reply.
The information is not readily available and I shall reply as soon as possible.
Income Support
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to amend the present regulations so that 19-year-olds in full- time relevant education will be able to claim income support.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : I am aware of the hon. Member's interest. We are continuing to keep the position under review.
Benefits
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of (a) pensioners, (b) lone parents, (c) unemployed, (d) sick- disabled and (e) two parent families on benefit have no income from national benefits.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 25 June 1990] : I assume that the hon. Member is referring to those on income-related benefits. The information requested is as follows :
|Percentage
------------------------------------------
Pensioners |1
Lone parents |7
Unemployed |85
Sick-disabled |53
Two parent families |69
Child Benefit
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will direct the expression child allowance to be used in place of child benefit in all official usage.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : We have no plans to do so.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a further statement on the reasons for having a child benefit scheme.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The reasons for having a child benefit scheme were clearly set out in the Prime Minister's
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reply to my hon. Friend on 17 March 1981 at column 55 when she said that it has long been the view of all parties that our tax and benefit systems should recognise the needs of families with children, and should differentiate between such families and those without responsibilities for children. Child tax allowances achieved this but gave no help to families below the tax threshold. Family allowances did not recognise the first child. Child benefit, which replaced both allowances, was introduced in 1977 with the support of all parties.AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Common Fisheries Policy
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make a statement on his plans to monitor other EEC member states' enforcement of the regulations of the common fisheries policy ;
(2) what plans he has to secure agreement of all EEC member states to strengthen the numbers and role of the EC fisheries inspectorate and gradually to phase out individual national inspectorates ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Monitoring the enforcement arrangements of other member states is the job of the EC fisheries inspectorate. Each member state has the responsibility to enforce the common fisheries policy in its own territory and fisheries limits. The United Kingdom co-operates with other member states through the exchange of information on the landings and activities of vessels.
I see no need to press for any change in the present role of the EC fisheries inspectorate. Member states' inspection services should continue to perform their present functions and penalties should continue to be applied under national legislation.
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the United Kingdom share of the total cost of the EEC common fisheries policy for the last year for which figures are available (a) as a percentage of the total and (b) the actual amount spent.
Mr. Curry : It is not possible to separate the United Kingdom's share of the costs of individual EC policies from the United Kingdom's contribution to the EC budget as a whole.
Total EC payments to the United Kingdom under the EEC common fisheries policy in 1988 (the most recent year for which figures are available) was 10.7 mecu (£7.3 million). This was 4.1 per cent. of the amount paid to all member states.
Source : European Court of Auditors report, 1988.
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the future role he plans for the common fisheries policy ; and whether he will make it his policy to consider alternative ideas for the management of fish stocks after 1993.
Mr. Curry : The common fisheries policy was agreed in 1983 to last for at least 20 years with a mid-term review. The Government are wholly committed to the present framework. It provides a firm and clear basis for the allocation of fishing opportunities, and allowable catch levels take full account of scientific advice. At the same time it provides flexibility for the introduction of further
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essential conservation and other measures. We intend to continue to develop and improve fisheries arrangements within the existing framework.EC Intervention Stores
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details of the location, foodstuff and quantity of European Economic Community intervention stores in Greater London ; and what was the position 12 months previously.
Mr. Curry : There were no stores in Greater London holding United Kingdom intervention stocks 12 months ago and there is none holding United Kingdom intervention stocks currently.
Free Food
Mr. Madden : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will arrange for eligibility to free European Economic Community butter and meat to include those whose income support is paid quarterly.
Mr. Curry : All citizens who are in receipt of income support, and produce means of identification, are eligible under these arrangements.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the total number of BSE cases that have been confirmed on a county-by-county basis in England, Wales and Scotland since the disease became notifiable, until the end of September 1990 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The information is as follows :
County |Number
----------------------------------------
Avon |332
Bedfordshire |49
Berkshire |107
Borders |19
Buckinghamshire |138
Cambridge |65
Central |20
Cheshire |411
Cleveland |25
Clwyd |177
Cornwall |1,287
Cumbria |302
Derbyshire |247
Devon |1,916
Dorset |1,522
Dumfries |99
Durham |69
Dyfed |662
Essex |83
Fife |39
Glamorgan Mid |41
Glamorgan South |50
Glamorgan West |7
Gloucestershire |563
Grampian |123
Gwent |127
Gwynedd |50
Hampshire |733
Hereford & Worcestershire |334
Hertfordshire |85
Highland |29
Humberside |79
Isle of Wight |125
Kent |401
Lancashire |356
Leicestershire |417
Lincolnshire |141
London |7
Lothian |14
Manchester |11
Merseyside |9
Norfolk |260
Northamptonshire |144
Northumberland |70
Nottinghamshire |106
Orkney |7
Oxfordshire |287
Powys |157
Shropshire |419
Shetland |1
Somerset |1,424
Staffordshire |340
Strathclyde |155
Suffolk |211
Surrey |182
Sussex East |231
Sussex West |456
Tayside |45
Tyne & Wear |1
West Midlands |12
Warwickshire |188
Western Isles |1
Wiltshire |1,080
Yorkshire North |637
Yorkshire South |54
Yorkshire West |78
|------
Total |17,817
Poison Gas, North Sea
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what monitoring is carried out to determine whether (a) fish stocks and (b) sea mammals in the North sea are contaminated by poison gas dumped after the first and second world wars, and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry [holding answer 17 October 1990] : The Ministry and the Scottish Office undertake a national programme of monitoring fish and shellfish round our coasts for contaminants which could present a hazard to public health. The sea mammals research unit of the Natural Environment Research Council, on contract to the Department of the Environment, and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland are undertaking contaminant analysis of small cetaceans stranded around the United Kingdom coastline.
This work, however, is not directed specifically towards identifying contaminants arising from the dumping of poison gas at sea. Scientific advice is that these materials pose no risk of contamination of fish and sea mammal population.
EC Agriculture Spending
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total amount which was spent by the European Economic Community on all its agricultural activities, including the storage and disposal of surpluses, in each of the years from 1973 ; what is the estimate for 1990 and 1991, respectively ; and if he will also publish a table showing the percentage increases in each year.
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Mr. Curry [holding answer 17 October 1990] : The information requested is set out in the table.
Total Capital Increase Over
|Previous Year
|(mecu) |(£ million) |Percentage
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1973 |3,785.5 |1,901.54 |-
1974 |3,225.1 |1,644.17 |-14.80
1975 |4,701.3 |2,632.85 |45.77
1976 |5,811.1 |3,612.05 |23.61
1977 |7,139.7 |4,667.23 |22.86
1978 |9,018.8 |5,986.31 |26.32
1979 |10,884.2 |7,066.41 |20.68
1980 |11,942.8 |7,231.84 |9.73
1981 |11,578.4 |6,447.91 |-3.05
1982 |13,106.3 |7,310.71 |13.20
1983 |16,610.8 |9,743.58 |26.74
1984 |19,097.4 |11,152.29 |14.97
1985 |20,547.8 |12,083.15 |7.59
1986 |23,028.4 |14,918.97 |12.07
1987 |24,003.9 |17,266.49 |4.24
1988 |29,100.4 |19,740.05 |21.23
1989 |30,076.3 |19.692.31 |3.35
1990 |30,216.6 |21,058.07 |0.47
1991 |33,563.4 |23,390.47 |11.08
Source: 1973-1988:Budget (outturn figures)
1989-1990:Budget
1991:Draft Budget
Note: The budgets for the years 1989-1991 include an additional 1,000
mecu (£700 million) monetary reserve which has not been included in
the above totals.
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Agriculture Council
Mr. David Davis : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Luxembourg on 15 and 16 October.
Mr. Gummer [pursuant to his reply, 17 October 1990, c. 830] : I represented the United Kingdom at a meeting of the Agriculture Council on 19 October which was specially convened so that the Council could continue its discussion of the Commission's proposal for a Community offer for reducing agricultural support and protection in the current GATT round.
I continued to make clear that I could endorse the Commission proposal as a basis for taking negotiations forward. There was support for this view from a few other Ministers, but a majority pressed various objections and were unwilling to agree.
The Council again failed to reach agreement and discussion will now pass to the Foreign Affairs Council on 22 October.
I much regret the further delay in the adoption of a Community position and the absence of agreement in the Agriculture Council on such an important issue for the Uruguay round. It is a pity that the United Kingdom's support for the Community position should not have been followed by the other nations which, with Britain, agreed the basis for this negotiation under the French presidency last December.
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DEFENCE
Battle of Britain
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, in the light of post-war examination and research, he will redefine the official time for the end of the battle of Britain.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The term "Battle of Britain" refers to the threatened invasion in 1940. German plans never got beyond the first phase, an air assault intended to pave the way for the invasion by driving the RAF from the sky. By 17 September the heavy Luftwaffe losses forced Hitler to put off his invasion plans.
Photo-reconnaissance on 20 September showed the German invasion fleet dispersing, and an Enigma decrypt on 25 October confirmed that invasion units had been disbanded. On 31 October the Defence Committee under Winston Churchill confirmed that the danger of invasion was over, and this day became the official end-date for the battle of Britain. All subsequent evidence has confirmed this decision and there would be no grounds for a redefinition.
Nuclear Testing
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total cost to date of the United Kingdom nuclear testing activities.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It would not be in the national interest to reveal the cost of the United Kingdom's nuclear testing programme.
Public Accounts Committee (Information)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those categories of information withheld from the Public Accounts Committee by his Department on the grounds of (i) commercial confidentiality or (ii) military sensitivity.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Ministry of Defence does not withhold information from the Public Accounts Committee on the grounds of commercial confidentiality or security classification, except where there is a requirement to protect the confidences of other Governments, or under the established arrangement by which the Department informs the National Audit Office, but not the Public Accounts Committee, of any projects which, but for their high security classification, would have been included in the Department's annual statement on major projects. Parliament was informed of this arrangement on 2 February 1987 ( Official Report, column 517 ) ; and it is further described in a memorandum by the Comptroller and Auditor General which was published with the Committee's 47th report of Session 1987-88 (HC 371).
Military Equipment (Iraq)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the likely benefits to accrue to United Kingdom arms manufacturers and defence material producers as a result of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and subsequent military developments since 2 August.
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Mr. Alan Clark : It has been the policy of this and previous Administrations not to comment on matters of this kind.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will obtain a copy of the transcript or cassette of the feature investigation broadcast on Channel Four news on 28 August on Iraqi acquisition of high technology weapons and other military equipment from the United Kingdom.
Hazardous Substances
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the total cost incurred by his Department for the contracting of external consultants to implement assessments under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988, since they came into force on 1 October 1989 ; and if he will list the consultants taken on in respect of this work to date by his Department.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : No central contracts have been placed for external consultants to implement assessments under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 1988 Regulations. Details of contracts placed locally by units and establishments are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost and effort.
Military Equipment (UAE)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on recent discussions held with the United Arab Emirates for the sale of British defence equipment.
Mr. Alan Clark : It has been the policy of this and previous Administrations not to comment on matters of this kind.
Beryllium
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, in the light of the serious toxic contamination caused by the dispersal of beryllium oxide after the accident at the Ulbinsky metallurgical factory in Ust Kamenogorsk, in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan in September, he will review the present safety of facilities operated by, or contracted to, his Department that use beryllium.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The recent reported incident in Kazakhstan is understood to have involved a production process in which beryllium metal is obtained from ores. Such processes are not carried out at any United Kingdom facilities operated by, or contracted to, the Ministry of Defence.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list all defence facilities where beryllium is stored, fabricated or fashioned for military purposes ; and when the assessment under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988 was conducted at each such establishment.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Beryllium is used at the atomic weapons establishment sites at Aldermaston, Burghfield and Cardiff. Safety assessments, as required by the Control
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of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, have recently been completed for all beryllium facilities within those sites.Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his Soviet counterpart regarding health and safety procedures in beryllium machining plants for weapons applications since the fire and explosion at Ust Kamenogorsk.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : None. I understand that the recent reported incident in Kazakhstan involved a production process in which beryllium metal is obtained from ores. Such processes are not carried out at any United Kingdom facilities operated by, or contracted to, the Ministry of Defence.
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