| Previous Section | Home Page |
Mr. Forth : This information is not available.
It is only once an application for ESF assistance has been approved, and a claim for a first advance payment made, that my Department is notified of the scheme's actual start date. Moreover, the European social fund provides only up to 50 per cent. of the funding of schemes.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects to announce details of ESF funding arrangements.
Mr. Forth : My Department indicated in May this year the amounts of money likely to be available to the main groups of organisations involved in the European social fund in 1990. The European Commission gave its approval for our operational programmes only in August this year. Since then some 2,500 applications have been submitted,
Column 153
of which 1,500 were received by my Department at the end of September. The vast majority had to be returned for revision because of errors. My Department is doing everything possible to expedite the process. Some payments have already been made and it is hoped to complete the process by the end of January.Job Losses, Durham
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he will take to prevent further job losses following the recent loss of jobs at the Philips factory in Durham.
Mr. Jackson : Staffing levels are a matter for the commercial judgment of the companies concerned.
My Department, through its Employment Service and training, enterprise and education directorate, and through the training and enterprise councils, operates a wide range of employment, enterprise and training measures to help unemployed people find new jobs, retrain or set up businesses of their own.
Administrative Costs
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether the administrative costs of his Department rose by more or less than the retail prices index in the last financial year.
Mr. Jackson : The gross administrative costs of my Department rose by 5.2 per cent. in the last financial year--considerably less than the retail prices index, which rose by 9.4 per cent. over the same period.
Purchasing
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were his Department's (a) best and (b) worst purchases made in the current month as measured against the Government's supply index.
Mr. Forth : The best and worst purchases have been identified by comparing actual cost per unit with the Government's supply index average cost and are based on prices paid by those parts of the Department of Employment group subscribing to the Government's supply index.
|Actual price
|per unit
|£
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best price
386 PC personal computers |985
Worst price
Computer listing paper (per 1,000 sheets) |8.95
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the 10 worst purchases made by his Department in the month of October as measured against the Government's supply index.
Mr. Forth : The worst purchases have been identified by comparing actual cost per unit with the Government's supply index average cost and are based on prices paid by those parts of the Department of Employment group subscribing to the Government's supply index.
Column 154
Ten worst-October
Description |Actual price
|per unit
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Exercise books |0.13
2. 3.5 floppy disks |1.87
3. Box files |2.93
4. Box files |2.71
5. Computer listing paper (1,000 sheets) |8.95
6. Battery |0.33
7. 5.25 floppy disk |0.77
8. 5.25 floppy disk |0.75
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement about the purchasing policy of his Department.
Mr. Forth : My Department is bound by the Government policy that purchasers should base all procurement of goods and services on value for money, including quality (or fitness for purpose) and delivery against price.
In accordance with that policy goods and services are acquired by competition unless there are convincing reasons to the contrary. Under EC rules, and the GATT GPA where appropriate, my Department is obliged to award relevant contracts in accordance with prescribed procedures aimed at avoiding discrimination on grounds of nationality.
Education Business Partnerships
Mr. Arbuthnot : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans the Government have for supporting local education business partnerships.
Mr. Howard : I am pleased to announce, on behalf of myself and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, that my Department has today issued a prospectus inviting training and enterprise councils to apply for funds to launch and extend local education business partnerships in collaboration with local education authorities and others. Partnerships will be able to use the funds provided through TECs to support work experience for students and teachers, business visits to schools, science and technology projects and a wide range of innovatory activities bringing benefits to both education and business.
I am looking to TECs, local education authorities and other community organisations to build partnerships which help to raise the aspirations and achievements of students in education and training, of all ages or abilities and which contribute to our future prosperity.
My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Scotland will make separate announcements about their arrangements for partnerships.
HSE Annual Report
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much the Health and Safety Executive's annual report costs (a) to produce and (b) to print ; how much it is sold for ; how many copies are sold ; and how much profit is made on it.
Mr. Forth : The costs of producing the Health and Safety Commission's annual report vary from year to year. The most recent report (for 1988-89, published in
Column 155
February 1990) cost approximately £34,000 to produce, of which the print costs were £14,834. The report is priced at £10 ; and 1,466 copies had been sold by end- October 1990. No profit has been made to date on sales of the report.Youth Training (Accidents)
Mr. Clelland : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many fatal, major and minor reportable accidents have occurred on YTS for each quarter since 1 October 1989 ; and what these figures were by region and as a percentage of total YTS trainees in each year.
Column 156
Mr. Jackson : The table gives the numbers of fatal, major and minor reportable accidents which occurred in YTS for each quarter since October 1989, by region. The figures are provisional.
Accident rates are expressed as an annual rate per 100,000 trainees. The latest available figure for all accidents is 829 per 100,000 for the year 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1990.
Column 155
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scotland |1 |25 |72 |- |19 |69 |- |28 |87 |- |13 |59
Northern |- |14 |95 |- |7 |93 |- |12 |89 |- |9 |62
North West |- |23 |146|- |19 |93 |- |16 |83 |- |17 |83
Yorkshire and Humber - 20 104 - 14 74 - 22 79 - 11 60
West Midlands |- |19 |80 |- |13 |56 |- |26 |66 |- |9 |49
East Mids and Eastern |- |20 |75 |1 |11 |57 |9 |48 |1 |10 |27
Wales |- |20 |61 |- |9 |53 |- |13 |46 |- |4 |34
South West |- |11 |35 |- |5 |25 |- |16 |25 |- |6 |23
South East |- |13 |40 |- |12 |23 |- |15 |38 |- |5 |28
London |- |5 |13 |- |1 |7 |- |5 |17 |- |3 |12
|-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |--
Total |1 |170|721|1 |110|550|- |162|578|- |87 |437
Notes:
1. Employment Department figures are compiled on a similar basis to those
prepared by the Health and Safety Executive on employed persons. However,
the Employment Department's figures will include a number of accidents to
trainees in educational establishments and road traffic accidents which
may not have been reportable to the Health and Safety Executive had the
individual been employed.
2. Major accidents are classified according to the severity criteria laid
down in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations 1985.
Training
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much has been spent on training in the past year ; what were the figures in 1975 and 1978 in real and money terms ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : Records are kept on the basis of the standard financial year for Government expenditure, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.
The total expenditure on training by the Department of Employment group training, enterprise and education directorate (and its predecessors the Training Agency, Training Commission and the Manpower Services Commission) in 1975-76, 1978-79 and 1989-90 at cash and constant (1990-91) prices is as follows :
£ million
|Cash prices|Constant
|(1990-91)
|prices
------------------------------------------------
1975-76 |171.7 |620.2
1978-79 |377.3 |954.3
1989-90 |2,658.8 |2,871.5
Figures are shown at cash and constant (estimated) 1990-91 prices calculated by use of the GDP deflator index from the Chancellor's autumn statement.
DEFENCE
Building Works
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will publish tables showing (a) the number of new buildings, (b) the amount spent on new buildings, (c) the amount spent on repairs and maintenance and (d) the amount spent on building renovation by his Department in each of the last five years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The information requested is shown in the table :
Column 155
|1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89 |1989-90 |1990-91
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New works expenditure (£ million) |880 |905 |886 |1,018 |1,155
Maintenance expenditure (£ million) |659 |564 |604 |634 |1,011
Major projects completed |9 |11 |12 |6 |Not available
Notes:
1. All figures relate to works and so encompass more than simply buildings.
2. Major projects are those with a works cost of more than £6 million.
3. Expenditure figures exclude PSA costs. 1990-91 figures reflect the transfer of responsibility between PSA and MOD,
and so are not directly comparable with previous years.
4. 1989-90 and 1990-91 expenditure figures are derived from the original supply estimates. Earlier years are outturns.
5. Data on expenditure on building renovation are not separately available.
Column 157
Nuclear Submarines
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will detail the dates when the nuclear reactor systems of each submarine of the Valiant-Churchill and Polaris classes, together with the dates for the first two boats commissioned in the Swiftsure class, were last examined ; and if any defects were found in the reactor system ;
(2) if he will provide an estimated cost of the repairs and/or modifications required to correct the defects in any Polaris class submarines ;
(3) if he will detail the nature of the nuclear reactor system defect in HMS Warspite, together with any findings or recommendations made at that time by or to his Department ;
(4) when the defect of the pressurised water reactor coolant system in HMS Valiant was discovered ;
(5) if he will detail the nuclear submarines in which the same type of reactor system defect exists as is present in HMS Warspite ; (6) when the nuclear safety certificate, or similar document, for HMS Conqueror was last issued ; and what was the date on which this certificate ceased to be effective.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what was the last date on which a letter of authorisation was issued for the operation of the nuclear propulsion plant of (a) HMS Renown, (b) HMS Resolution, (c) HMS Repulse and (d) HMS Revenge ; and if authorisation has since been rescinded ;
(2) whether his Department is to seek financial compensation from Rolls- Royce for the generic nuclear reactor fault on submarines powered by the Rolls-Royce P1 nuclear reactor.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It is not the practice to comment on matters relating to the design of nuclear-powered submarines or on their material state. I can, however, confirm that our nuclear submarines operate in accordance with rigorous safety standards and with the endorsement of our independent safety advisers.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if work on the refitting of HMS Warspite and HMS Churchill extended beyond the date when the defect in the nuclear reactor system of each boat became known ;
(2) if he will provide the overall cost of refitting (a) HMS Warspite and (b) HMS Churchill and list the cost of that section of the refit programme in both (a) and (b) completed after knowledge of the defect in the nuclear reactors came to light.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : It is not our practice to publish details of nuclear submarine refits. However, in a typical nuclear submarine refit the majority of the spend is incurred in the earlier stages, with relatively little incurred in the final stages. At termination in September 1990, Warspite's refit was substantially complete and Churchill was two thirds finished.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make public the findings of the nuclear warship safety committee that reviewed the safety of operation of the nuclear propulsion systems of the Valiant-Churchill and Polaris class submarines.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No. The committee's advice is provided in confidence to the Secretary of State. I can
Column 158
confirm that the Ministry of Defence has acted fully in accordance with nuclear-powered warship safety committee advice regarding the operation and inspection of our nuclear submarines.Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide the estimated and actual radiation dose equivalent uptake resulting from the current inspection programme of the nuclear reactor systems of the Valiant-Churchill and Polaris class submarines.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : It is not the Department's policy to comment on matters relating to the design of our nuclear-powered submarines or on their material state. The hon. Gentleman may be assured, however, that our stringent policy on radiological protection, which was commended by the House of Commons Defence Committee recently, is applied throughout the Department. Rigorous steps are being taken to keep all doses as low as reasonably practicable.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the number of weeks that each of the Valiant-Churchill and Polaris class submarine boats have put to sea under their own nuclear power propulsion during the last three years ;
(2) if he will specify the last date when HMS Valiant put to sea under its own nuclear power propulsion system.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It is not our general practice to disclose such details of the operational movements of Royal Navy submarines.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will detail the stages and time scales involved in the
decommissioning of nuclear-powered submarines ;
(2) if he will provide an estimate of the number of civilian employees engaged at each stage of the decommissioning of each nuclear-powered submarine ;
(3) if he will provide details of the decommissioning programmes for the HMS submarines Warspite, Churchill and Conqueror, stating when and at which royal dockyard each submarine is to be decommissioned ; when, where and to what extent each submarine reactor compartment and its machinery is to be dismantled ; when and where the radioactive components are to be stored or disposed of ; when the remainder of each submarine is to be entirely dismantled and disposed of ; when and where the submarines are to be laid up ; and what is the anticipated cost for each submarine and the total costs of the entire decommissioning programme.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The first stage of the decommissioning programmes for each submarine will be a package of work contracted to Devonport Management Ltd. or Babcock Thorn Ltd. as appropriate in the royal dockyards, to defuel, de-equip and prepare each boat for a period of storage afloat. Detailed specifications for this work are being prepared and it is too early to determine time scale and cost. The manpower input, and hence employment consequences, are primarily a matter for the contractor. The subject of disposal of nuclear submarines is under active consideration but no final decision has yet been made.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department is undertaking discussions with the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive Ltd. with
Column 159
regard to securing a means of storage and/or disposal of radioactive materials and components removed from nuclear- powered submarines during decommissioning.Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : NIREX is aware, through routine contacts, of the MOD's potential requirements arising from the disposal of nuclear- powered submarines.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence under whose military command the Polaris class submarine comes.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Commander-in-Chief Fleet.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many individual Polaris class submarines have failed to undertake a scheduled patrol at any time during each of the last three years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It is not our general practice to disclose such details of Royal Navy submarine deployments. I can confirm, however, that Polaris submarine deterrent patrols have been, and continue to be, carried out in accordance with our policy to keep at least one such boat at sea at all times.
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when it was announced to the ship's company of HMS Valiant that the boat was to be withdrawn from active service.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No such announcement has been made.
HMS Trenchant
Mr. Douglas : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the steps his Department has taken to ensure that the log of the submarine HMS
Column 160
Trenchant for its operations during Thursday 22 November is made available for purposes of inquiries undertaken by statutory bodies.Mr. Archie Hamilton : The relevant sections of the log will be made available to the investigating authorities as necessary.
Christmas Mail (Gulf)
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to his answer of 26 November, Official Report, column 302 , if he will state what action he has taken to ensure that all families of British soldiers serving in the Gulf are informed that the final date for posting air mail parcels in time for Christmas at the forces concessionary rate is 1 December.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Detailed information on postal arrangements for forces mail to service personnel in the Gulf, including the latest posting dates for parcels under the forces concessionary rate, has been published through both official and welfare channels. Within BAOR, from whence the majority of personnel deployed, the information has been published through forces radio, television and newspapers as well as information sheets at forces post offices and through discussions with wives' clubs.
Within the United Kingdom, similar information has been provided through unit families officers and welfare services, post office posters, and press releases by both the Royal Mail and the Ministry of Defence. In addition a Royal Mail parcelforce hotline (0800 224466) has been established specifically to deal with inquiries from members of the public on postal arrangements to the Gulf.
|
| Home Page |