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Table: Registered Disabled People in the
Civil Service<1>
Percentage
|1986|1987|1988|1989
----------------------------------------------
MAFF |1.2 |1.3 |1.3 |1.4
Cabinet Office |1.1 |1.0 |0.8 |1.0
Customs and Excise |1.4 |1.3 |1.2 |1.6
MOD |1.0 |1.0 |0.9 |1.0
DES |2.2 |2.0 |2.1 |2.6
Employment Group |2.1 |2.1 |2.2 |2.7
Energy |0.6 |1.2 |1.1 |1.2
Environment<2> |- |- |- |1.0
ECGD |1.5 |1.4 |1.3 |1.3
FCO |0.8 |0.7 |0.4 |0.5
Health<2> |- |- |- |0.7
Home Office |0.5 |0.4 |0.4 |0.3
DTI |1.5 |1.2 |1.2 |1.2
Inland Revenue |1.5 |1.5 |1.5 |1.5
Land Registry |2.4 |2.4 |2.8 |2.7
LCD |1.4 |1.4 |1.1 |1.3
DNS |3.1 |2.9 |2.7 |3.0
OPCS |2.1 |2.2 |2.3 |2.3
Ordnance Survey |1.1 |1.0 |0.9 |0.9
ODA |1.1 |1.2 |1.3 |1.2
PSA<2> |- |- |- |1.2
Public Record Office |3.8 |3.3 |2.7 |1.9
Royal Mint |3.1 |3.7 |3.5 |2.9
Scottish Office |1.7 |1.7 |1.4 |1.4
Social Security<2> |- |- |- |1.5
Transport<2> |- |- |- |1.2
HMSO |1.3 |1.7 |1.8 |1.9
HM Treasury |1.3 |1.3 |1.4 |1.1
Welsh Office |1.6 |1.4 |1.3 |1.2
Total<3> |1.3 |1.3 |1.3 |1.3
<1> Part-time staff counted as half units.
<2> The Department of Health and Social
Security and Environment Group has recently
been divided into separate departments.
Information for the new departments is only
available for 1989.
<3> Total includes a number of smaller
departments and agencies not listed in the
table.
Self-employment
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the total of people self-employed in each of the past 10 years.
Mr. Forth : The information is given in the table.
Self-employed persons in the United Kingdom June |Number ------------------------------ 1980 |2,013,000 1981 |2,119,000 1982 |2,170,000 1983 |2,221,000 1984 |2,496,000 1985 |2,610,000 1986 |2,627,000 1987 |2,860,000 1988 |2,986,000 1989 |3,240,000 1990 |3,380,000
SOCIAL SECURITY
Income Support
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the cost would be if the proposals on the maintenance of children were implemented but parents solely dependent on benefit were allowed to keep (a) £5, (b) £10 or (c) £15 before income support was deducted.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The estimated costs of a maintenance disregard in income support are in the table.
------------ 5 |70 10 |130 15 |180
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he intends to introduce to improve the levels of income support payable to 16 and 17-year-olds.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Benefit rates will be uprated from next April in the normal way. We are continuing to monitor the effects of the social security reforms and to make improvements where appropriate ; for example, since July 1989 16 and 17-year-olds who have no option but to live independently have been entitled to the higher level of benefit normally paid to 18 to 24-year-olds. Research into the operation of the income support rules for 16 and 17-year-olds has been commissioned. The results are expected around Easter 1991.
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Pensions
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he is taking to change the calculation for payment of the basic state pension from relating it to prices to that of earnings ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : We have no plans to do so.
Redundancies
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many redundancies are expected to be created by computerisation and the consolidation of local offices into local management units.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : No compulsory redundancies will be needed as a result of the Department's computerisation programme (the operational strategy) provided staff co-operate in implementing the necessary personnel measures to achieve staff savings. Much of the reduction in staffing will be gained by natural wastage and, where this is not the case, the needs of staff will be taken into account as far as possible.
The management of the local office network is being restructured because changes in procedures as a result of the operational strategy and the setting up of the Contributions Agency meant that the existing offices no longer formed viable management units. There are no plans to reduce the number of outlets. This restructuring will result in a modest saving at managerial level. A voluntary redundancy scheme is in place for the staff.
Child Benefit
Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated cost of sending out questionnaires to recipients of child benefit as a result of the benefit changes recently announced ; and to what categories of recipients the questionnaires were sent.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : To enable the increased amount of child benefit to be taken into account correctly in their assessment from uprating, letters will be sent, between 26 November and 1 March 1991, to all income support recipients, who are paid by the income support computer system, who receive child benefit. The cost of sending these out is about £150,000.
National Insurance
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total number of people who have been paying the self-employed national insurance contribution during each of the past 10 years.
Mr. Scott : The United Kingdom figures of the number of individuals who paid class 2 (self-employed) national insurance contributions between April 1978 and April 1988 are set out in the table.
|Number<1> |Number<2>
|(thousands)|(thousands)
------------------------------------------------
1978-79 |1,314 |214
1979-80 |1,376 |232
1980-81 |1,450 |211
1981-82 |1,479 |218
1982-83 |1,526 |240
1983-84 |1,594 |251
1984-85 |1,663 |251
1985-86 |1,732 |261
1986-87 |1,850 |295
1987-88 |1,959 |336
<1> Who paid only Class 2 contributions during
this year.
<2> Who paid a mixture of Class 2 and Class 1
contributions during the year.
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the effects of the planned changes in the future employment of the disabled that will result from the passage of the Statutory Sick Pay Bill.
Mr. Scott : The provisions of the Statutory Sick Pay Bill relating to employers' reimbursement arrangements for SSP will have no direct effect on employees. We do not believe that they will lead to any change in the pattern of employment of people with disabilities. Other factors are of far greater importance in determining job opportunity for disabled people, which a wide variety of policies are designed to promote.
Disabled Staff
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the percentage of disabled staff employed in his Department in each of the past 10 years.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The figures for the Department of Social Security at June 1989 and June 1990 are as follows :
Year |Percentage of
|registered
|disabled staff
|per cent.
---------------------------------------------
1989 |1.53
1990 |1.70
Separate figures are not held for this Department prior to June 1989. This does not include staff with disabilities who are not registered as disabled.
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he intends making any changes to the social fund cold weather payments scheme for the forthcoming winter.
Mr. Scott : I am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that yesterday, Wednesday 21 November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State laid before the House the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Amendment Regulations.
The effect of these changes will be to better ensure that conditions in different local areas are properly reflected in the scheme. Copies of the regulations are available in the Vote Office.
Column 215
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Farmed Salmon
Mr. Amos : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the presence of dichlorvos in farmed salmon.
Mr. Maclean : Following a recent newspaper report that a sample of farmed salmon had been found to contain dichlorvos, the Department's food safety directorate has carried out a further survey of salmon steaks. Forty -three samples were purchased between 12 and 15 November from a variety of retail outlets in East Anglia and London. No dichlorvos was detected in any of the samples.
An earlier survey of 92 salmon samples for dichlorvos was carried out between 1987 and 1989. Again, no residues were detected.
Civil Defence
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many civil servants are currently employed (a) full time and (b) part time by his Ministry on civil defence ; what the total costs of employing staff on civil defence duties were in 1989-90 ; what the total costs of employing staff on civil defence duties are expected to be in 1990 -91 ; and whether he has any plans for these staff to be transferred to work on other duties.
Mr. Curry : The number of man years allocated to civil defence work in the Department, including maintenance of the strategic food stockpile, was 55 in 1989-90 and cost £1.5 million. In 1990-91 the number of man years is expected to be 47 and the cost £1.3 million. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department announced on 16 October that he had initiated a review of the options for the future of civil defence arrangements and future levels of expenditure will depend on the outcome of that review.
Farm Incomes
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give such figures as he has available for farm income by (a) farm type and (b) farm size for each of the last five years.
Mr. Curry : The most recent information on farm incomes for 1988-89 by type and size of farm is published
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in section 8 of "Agriculture in the United Kingdom : 1989" and in more detail in "Farm Incomes in the United Kingdom 1990 Edition". Similar information for previous years is contained in previous editions of these publications and in the annual review of agriculture White Papers. These publications are available in the Library of the House.Drift Net Fishing
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those countries which have banned drift net fishing in the Atlantic.
Mr. Curry : We are not aware of any country that has banned drift netting outright in the Atlantic. However, from information readily available several countries are known to have taken measures which restrict or prohibit drift netting in this area to some degree. These include Norway, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, the USA and the UK. The international community is now addressing the issue of large-scale, oceanic drift netting in the light of a resolution adopted by the United Nations last year.
Salmon
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the review of the Salmon Act 1986, due in January, has not yet taken place.
Mr. Curry : While there is no requirement to review the Salmon Act 1986 as such, section 39 of that Act calls on Ministers to undertake a review of the salmon net fisheries off the north-east coast of England and eastern Scotland and to present a report to Parliament as soon as practicable after 6 November 1989. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I hope to be ready to do this soon.
Salmonella
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is now his policy on the payment of compensation to owners of laying flocks slaughtered under the salmonella control regulations.
Mr. Gummer : This matter is currently under review and an announcement will be made as soon as possible.
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