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Mr. Curry : Departmental purchasing information systems do not differentiate between acquiring and commissioning goods and services. However, information on departmental purchasing expenditure from 1986-87 is set out in the annual reports of the Central Unit on Purchasing, copies of which are available in the Library.
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Tobacco
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those countries to which high-tar EC tobacco is exported ; and what quantities are involved.
Mr. Curry : EC published export statistics for tobacco are not broken down by tar content. Exports of EC tobacco in 1989 were 185, 067 tonnes, some 13 per cent. of world exports of unmanufactured tobacco. Eurostat statistics giving countries of destination and quantities are available in the Library of the House.
Ewe Premium
Mr. Hague : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the payments of the second instalment of the ewe premium have been made ; and by what date these payments should be completed.
Mr. Curry : About 95 per cent. of all first and second instalments due to producers in England under the 1990 sheep annual premium scheme have now been paid. The outstanding claims will be passed for payment as soon as the necessary checks have been completed.
Suckler Cow Premium
Mr. Hague : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of this year's suckler cow premium payments have been made ; and by what date these payments should be completed.
Mr. Curry : As at 10 December 10,135 payable orders had been issued to producers in England in respect of claims made under the 1990-91 suckler cow premium scheme. The scheme remains open to applications until 31 January 1991. It is not, therefore, possible to say what proportion of the eventual total this figure represents.
EMPLOYMENT
Labour Statistics
4. Mr. Flannery : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of unemployed in December 1979 and 1989.
Mr. Howard : The number of people unemployed in the United Kingdom on the seasonally adjusted, consistent, basis was 1,055,000 in December 1979 and 1,636,100 in December 1989.
Tourism (Northumberland)
16. Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will meet the Northumbria tourist board to discuss the development of tourism in Northumberland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : My noble Friend Viscount Ullswater, who has responsibility for tourism matters within the Department of Employment, met officers and members of the Northumbria tourist board yesterday. At that meeting he discussed with the board its strategy for the development of tourism in the region, and its plans for its future role.
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Disabled People
19. Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many responses he has received to his White Paper on employment and disability.
Mr. Jackson : By 30 November my Department had received 80 replies to the consultative document, "Employment and Training for People with Disabilities".
28. Mr. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his Department's policy towards the maintenance of the quota system for the employment of people with disabilities.
Mr. Jackson : This Department operates the quota system in line with its legal responsibilities. It seeks to underpin the legal requirements on employers by assisting them through the disablement advisory service to improve the effectiveness of employers' recruitment, retention and development policies for people with disabilities. In the consultative document "Employment and Training for People with Disabilities" we have asked for comments on the merits and demerits of the quota system.
Labour Statistics, Lambeth
20. Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of insured workers in Lambeth SW2 and SW9 postal districts is unemployed.
Mr. Jackson : There are no official unemployment percentages calculated for postal districts. However, in October 1990 the numbers of unemployed claimants, not seasonally adjusted, in Lambeth SW2 and SW9 were 2,877 and 2,942 respectively.
Offshore Installations (Safety)
21. Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what discussions he has had with the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association and relevant trade unions on the transfer of the safety responsibility of the Department of Energy to the Health and Safety Executive following the publication of the Cullen report into the Piper Alpha disaster.
Mr. Howard : Responsibility for offshore safety remains with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy until arrangements for an efficient transfer are completed. He has indicated that he is willing to have discussions with all those with something to contribute to improving North sea safety. I will adopt a similar approach. In addition, the structure and well-established procedures of the Health and Safety Commission will ensure that all relevant interests are consulted.
Tourism
22. Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much overseas visitors to the United Kingdom spend per year.
Mr. Forth : During 1989, the last full year for which information is available, overseas visitors to the United Kingdom spent £6,945 million.
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COSHH Regulations
23. Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals he has to improve the working of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations.
Mr. Forth : The regulations have been in force for only just over 12 months are there are no reasons for considering any changes to the substance of the regulations. The Health and Safety Executive is monitoring their implementation and is continuing its substantial efforts to explain and enforce the regulations.
Stallite Batteries, Barnsley
24. Mr. Allen McKay : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what action the Health and Safety Executive intends to take over the recent ombudsman's report on Stallite Batteries, Barnsley.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) field organisation has been recently substantially changed as the result of internal efficiency reviews. This change, coupled with improvements to the administration of medical surveillance procedures introduced by HSE following its own internal investigation, have been acknowledged by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, in his report published on 31 October, as a satisfactory outcome to the complaint raised.
Training and Enterprise Councils
25. Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what advice he gives to training and enterprise councils that are having difficulty meeting national standards of training ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : I have had no representations from training and enterprise councils (TECs) that they are having difficulty meeting national standards of training. My Department is ready to offer advice to TECs on the national standards set out by industry.
EC Labour Statistics
26. Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the countries in the European Community with a lower rate of unemployment than the United Kingdom.
Mr. Howard : Using the latest available internationally comparable figures, Portugal and Luxembourg have lower rates of unemployment than the United Kingdom. No figures are available for the unified Germany.
Wages (Underpayment)
27. Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the number of prosecutions for the illegal underpayment of wages in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Forth : In 1989, there were nine prosecutions under the Wages Act 1986 for the illegal underpayment of wages.
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Special Needs
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will obtain for his departmental library a copy of the report, "Disability Employment and Training, Meeting a Demographic Challenge of the Nineties", produced jointly by SKILL and ILEA.
Mr. Jackson : My Department's library already has a copy of the report.
European Information Centres
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what financial support his Department currently provides for the European information centres in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Forth : The European information centre network is a European Commission initiative to which the United Kingdom contributes 18.7 per cent. of the budget. In addition, my Department has a small budget for co- ordinating bi-annual meetings of the United Kingdom centres and will also be contributing to the costs of a feasibility study for a national European information centre advertising campaign. My Department also financially supports one of the four pilot centres which is based with the small firms service in London.
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Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what financial or other support his Department is planning in the future for United Kingdom European information centres.
Mr. Forth : My Department will continue to support the European information centres in the United Kingdom as outlined in my previous answer.
Action Credit
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state the rate of unemployment and long-term unemployment defined as (a) continuously unemployed for a period of six months or more and (b) continuously unemployed for 12 months or more in the three areas chosen for the Training Agency's action credit pilot as pertaining in August 1989.
Mr. Jackson : The following information is available in the Library. Unemployment rates are not available for areas smaller than travel-to-work areas. Figures are given for the county of Avon and for the travel-to-work areas most closely approximating to the two other action credit pilot areas as at August 1989. The table shows the total numbers of unemployed claimants and the rate of unemployment and the number who have been unemployed for six months or more and 12 months or more for each area in October 1990, the latest available date. All figures are on the unadjusted basis.
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|Total |Rate |6 months or |12 months or
|Unemployment |more |more
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon County |23,421 |4.7 |10,255 |6,182
Sunderland TTWA |19,130 |10.4 |9,700 |6,282
Medway and Maidstone TTWA |10,915 |4.4 |4,032 |2,078
Health and Safety
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what factors he lays down as essential for the attainment of improved health and safety at work.
Mr. Forth : Improving standards of health and safety at work requires the commitment of everyone concerned--employers, employees, the self-employed and so on--to comply with their duties under health and safety law. This demands a high degree of safety awareness at all levels, but especially among top management, and an effective management structure to ensure that health and safety risks are identified and appropriate measures taken to deal with those risks. There is no better introduction to the principles of health and safety than the executive's booklet "Essentials of Health and Safety at Work", revised earlier this year, and of which up to October 1990, 85,000 copies had been sold.
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which Ministers have been responsible for health and safety at work since May 1979 ; and for how long each exercised the responsibility.
Mr. Jackson : The following Secretaries of State have had overall responsibility for health and safety at work within the Department :
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Dates
Secretary of State |From |To
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rt. Hon. James Prior |9 May 1979 |14 September 1981
The Rt. Hon. Norman Tebbit |14 September 1981 |17 October 1983
The Rt. Hon. Tom King |17 October 1983 |2 September 1985
The Rt. Hon. Lord Young of
Graffam |2 September 1985 |12 June 1987
The Rt. Hon. Norman Fowler |15 June 1987 |3 January 1990
The Rt. Hon. Michael Howard |4 January 1990 |Present
In addition, Ministers who have had specific responsibility are listed in the table :
Dates
Minister From To
Patrick Mayhew 9 May 1979 5 January 1981
David Waddington 6 January 1981 7 January 1983
John Gummer 10 January 1983 10 September 1984
Peter Bottomley 11 September 1984 23 January 1986
David Trippier 24 January 1986 12 June 1987
Patrick Nicholls 15 June 1987 23 July 1989
Eric Forth 24 July 1989 Present
Industrial Tribunals
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of applications in industrial tribunals were first heard within 12, 16, 20 and 26 weeks, respectively, of the receipt of the application during the month of October.
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Mr. Forth : The percentage of cases heard during October within 12, 16, 20 and 26 weeks respectively of the receipt of application were as follows :------------ 12 |35|49 16 |59|70 20 |75|83 26 |89|88
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many members of the Health and Safety Executive staff are directly contributing to CEN technical committees and the related working groups ;
(2) what representations he has received concerning the adequacy of the travel expenses being made available to allow the inspectors involved with CEN technical committees and related working groups to attend all meetings where standards are developed and set (a) in the current year and (b) in 1991-92 ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) what sums have been made available by the Health and Safety Executive, in providing expenses for inspectors to travel in Europe to attend CEN standard-setting meetings ;
(4) on what occasions, and in respect of which CEN committees or working groups, an inspector has been prohibited from attending a CEN meeting because expenses money is not available ;
(5) which Health and Safety Executive national interest groups are involved with CEN technical committees and related working groups ; (6) what steps are taken to ensure that sufficient resources are made available so that Health and Safety Executive staff may attend all relevant CEN technical committees and relevant working groups ; (7) if he will list all the CEN technical committees and working groups which have been assessed as needing the involvement of the Health and Safety Executive ;
(8) if he will make a statement on the priority given to the work of CEN in respect of ensuring good standards of machinery guarding, to protect workers from injury.
Mr. Forth : In the last few years the Health and Safety Executive has made a large contribution to the work of CEN and the other European bodies making standards important to health and safety at work. This it does by participation in British Standards Institute committees shadowing work in CEN and as part of the United Kingdom delegation to CEN from BSI. A few examples of areas covered include simple pressure vessels, personal protective equipment and in particular machinery safety, where HSE is very conscious of the need to maintain high levels of protection.
The importance HSE attaches to standards work is reflected in the growth in resources it has devoted to it, which has risen from around 27 staff years in 1988-89 to an estimated 50 staff years in 1990-91. Most of this increase is accounted for by the rapid growth in standards making in Europe, particularly by CEN.
Although standards are a significant element in the safety system they are not the only part nor necessarily the most important. When it became apparent that the current rate of growth in standards making in Europe in
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connection with the single market would lead to spending of 68 staff years in 1991-92, the HSE concluded that such a level could not be sustained without unacceptable damage to its other priorities for safety and health. The Health and Safety Commission subsequently decided that the resources committed to standards work should be held at around the present level of 58 staff years for 1991-92, and its reasons were published in its most recent plan of work, for 1990-91, and beyond.The executive does not allocate a specific sum to CEN work nor identify costs in this way but exercises firm control over all time, travel and subsistence costs. The task of making standards, especially those needed for the single market is, of course, primarily one for industry and the Government have long been encouraging United Kingdom industry to increase its involvement. Controlling this growth in standards work means that individual members of the HSE will not be able to attend certain CEN meetings. I have received representations on this point, but it is absolutely right that the executive should set its own priorities for staff work. The HSE staff engaged in this work are people with scarce specialist skills which are in great demand to support the executive's general role. Conflicting demands on such resources always mean that priorities must be allocated : sometimes very worth while relevant activities have to take their place behind other more important tasks. Further, it is often the case that an acceptable alternative to attendance at CEN committees is for the executive to play an active role in the relevant BSI technical committees. At present 50 individual staff are members of CEN/CENELEC technical committees and related working groups : there are many other staff taking an active part in BSI shadow committees, examining papers and providing support work. A list of the national interest groups involved with this CEN work is at table 1 and the CEN committees with which HSE is involved are at table 2.
Table 1
Table 1 Health and Safety Executive National Interest Groups involved in CEN technical committees and related working groups Agriculture-Livestock and Stationary Machinery Agriculture-Crop Production Agriculture-Forestry Ceramics Concrete Cotton Drinks and Packaging Engineering "A" Engineering "B" Food Glass Molten Metals Paper and Board Plastics, Leather and Footwear Printing Quarries Rubber Woodworking Wool
P Table 2 CEN Committees with an HSE input CEN BT 2 CEN BT 3 CEN PC 3 CEN TC 10 CEN TC 20 CEN TC 23 CEN TC 23 SC 1 CEN TC 23 SC 2
CEN TC 23 SC 3
CEN TC 33
CEN TC 45 WGE
CEN TC 48
CEN TC 49
CEN TC 53
CEN TC 54
CEN TC 58
CEN TC 61
CEN TC 62
CEN TC 68
CEN TC 69 WG 10
CEN TC 69 WG 10--2
CEN TC 69 WG 10--6
CEN TC 79
CEN TC 79 WG 7
CEN TC 85
CEN TC 85 WG 1
CEN TC 85 WG 3
CEN TC 85 WG 4
CEN TC 93
CEN TC 98
CEN TC 102
CEN TC 106
CEN TC 108
CEN TC 109
CEN TC 114
CEN TC 114 WG 1
CEN TC 114 WG 2
CEN TC 114 WG 3
CEN TC 114 WG 5
CEN TC 114 WG 6
CEN TC 114 WG 7
CEN TC 114 WG 8
CEN TC 114 WG 10
CEN TC 114 WG 11
CEN TC 114 WG 12
CEN TC 114 WG 15
CEN TC 119
CEN TC 121 WG 1
CEN TC 121 WG 2
CEN TC 121 WG 5A
CEN TC 121 WG 5B
CEN TC 121 WG 5B SWG 1
CEN TC 121 WG 5B SWG 2
CEN TC 121 WG 5B SWG 6
CEN TC 121 WG 7
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