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Railway Maintenance
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what responsibilities are laid by him on Her Majesty's inspectors of railways to lay down or monitor their, or other bodies, standards of general maintenance of track, rolling stock or other operational equipment other than those recommended consequential on specific activities related to accidents.
Mr. Freeman : Her Majesty's railway inspectorate sets non-statutory standards for fixed works and rolling stock, but does not lay down standards for maintenance work, which are matters for railway operators in accordance with their responsibilities for safe operation. The inspectorate has powers under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to require operators to conduct their undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, that the safety of passengers and staff is not compromised.
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Rail Subsidy
Mr. Denzil Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what was the total amount of subsidy paid in the last financial year to Network SouthEast ;
(2) what was the total amount of subsidy paid in the last financial year to British Rail in respect of its operations in Wales.
Mr. Freeman : Subsidy is paid by the Government to the British Railways Board in the form of the public service obligation grant under EC regulation 1191/69 and section 3 of the Railways Act 1974, which compensates BR for maintaining loss-making passenger services, and level crossing grant under EC regulation 1192/69. The BR board received £498.6 million of PSO grant and £19.7 million of level crossings grant in the last financial year, 1989-90. Both grants are paid as totals to the board and the Government do not specifically allocate them between sectors or geographical areas, but some £95 million of the PSO grant related to Network SouthEast and the rest to the provincial sector.
London Transport
Mr. Denzil Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the total amount of subsidy given in the last financial year to London Transport distinguishing between bus operations and underground services.
Mr. Freeman : The Government do not pay grant separately in respect of bus and underground services. London Transport receives a block grant covering the totality of its external financial requirement. In 1989-90, grant to London Transport totalled £287 million.
InterCity Services
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will discuss with the chairman of British Rail representations he has received about the improvement of Liverpool-London InterCity services by the use of a South Liverpool station as a stopping place for InterCity trains and the financial implications arising therefrom.
Mr. Freeman : We have received no representations on this matter.
BR Stations (Improvements)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with the chairman of British Rail about financial assistance to improve the condition of the cuttings and make environmental improvements between Liverpool Lime Street and Edge Hill stations.
Mr. Freeman : No. These are operational matters for British Rail. However, I understand that preliminary discussions have taken place between BR and Merseyside development corporation and the Merseyside task force to create a partnership to carry out an environmental improvement scheme at Edge Hill station.
Coopers and Lybrand Report
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the Coopers and Lybrand report on non-channel tunnel traffic on railways.
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Mr. Freeman : Coopers, Lybrand Deloitte are not undertaking any such work for my Department. It is for British Rail to decide whether to publish any reports that the firm produces for it.Channel Tunnel Link
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the report on the alternative routes for the rail link to the channel tunnel.
Mr. Freeman : I understand that British Rail expects to have in the spring the results of the further studies into possible routes for the rail link to the channel tunnel.
No decisions have yet been taken by BR or the Department on the timing or form of publication of the results.
Concessionary Travel
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether he will establish a nationwide scheme of assistance for retirement pensioners to free travel on road and rail transport at off-peak hours ;
(2) whether he will establish a nationwide scheme of assistance for retirement pensioners to travel at concessionary rates of 75 per cent. or 66 per cent. on road and rail transport in off-peak hours.
Mr. McLoughlin : We have no plans to change the present arrangements. Local authorities already have powers to provide free or cheap travel for pensioners on local public transport, and do so in some 90 per cent. of areas. Both British Rail and the long-distance coach operators also have their own travel concessions arrangements for the elderly.
Road Accidents
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in how many cases signals from taxi radios or mobile telephones have been implicated in road accidents through interference with car computers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : The Department has no evidence of any road accidents that have resulted from electromagnetic interference--from whatever source- -to electrical or electronic equipment fitted to vehicles. There are already strict rules controlling the use of radio transmission and reception equipment on vehicles. There is a general European Community directive due to enter into force on 1 January 1992 that covers electromagnetic compatibility of all electrical and electronic equipment, both mobile and static.
We nevertheless need to ensure that, with the development of sophisticated electronic systems for vehicles, the satisfactory and safe operation of those systems will be maintained.
Draft proposals are now being formulated by the European vehicle industry for a Community directive intended specifically to cover electromagnetic compatibility of vehicles. This will set standards to control the emission of interference from vehicles and ensure their immunity to emissions from external sources. We support these proposals.
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M40
Mr. Snape : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give the total outturn cost of the M40 Waterstock to Umberslade, including the A43 Wendlebury-North Oxford and the widening of the M40 in the Chilterns (a) for preparation, design and supervision, (b) construction and contract costs and (c) land and compensation costs.
Mr. Chope : Outturn figures are not yet available. Total expenditure to date on the M40 Waterstock to Umberslade section, the Peartree Hill to Wendlebury section of A43 (now A34) and the widening of the M40 under each of the headings requested are :
(a) £41.11 million.
(b) £434.70 million.
(c) £11.38 million.
Interchange, Shrewsbury
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what would be the additional cost of improving the proposed interchange between the A49 and A5/M54 extension bypass currently under construction in Shrewsbury.
Mr. Chope : No estimate is available.
Second Severn Bridge
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the desirability of constructing the approach road to the second Severn bridge on the English side to three-lane capacity.
Mr. Chope : Northavon district council, the Automobile Association and Thornbury town council are among those who consider that the link from the second Severn crossing to the M4 in England should be built as a dual three-lane motorway, rather than as the proposed dual two-lane motorway.
The two proposed approach roads in England will together provide four lanes in each direction while the new bridge itself will have three lanes in each direction. All the proposed capacity is additional to that provided by the existing bridge and M4 motorway.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Food Safety Act
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what additional funds will be made available to local authorities for the financing of the enforcement of the Food Safety Act 1990.
Mr. Maclean : The Government are making available an additional £30 million per year from 1991-92 onwards to cover the additional cost for local authorities enforcing the Food Safety Act and the EC directive on the official control of foodstuffs.
Cattle Subsidies
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has any plans (a) to change and (b) to abolish the £30 headage subsidy on the first 90 male cattle on any holding numbers.
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Mr. Curry : No.Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the duties and powers of the Eastern sea fisheries committee and its financial structure ; and what changes he is planning.
Mr. Curry : The powers and duties of local fisheries committees are laid down in the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966, as amended. These principally concern the management and regulation of sea fisheries and shellfish fisheries and undertaking the necessary related enforcement.
The Eastern sea fisheries committee is one of 12 such committees in England and Wales and its district extends from Donna Nook in Lincolnshire to Dovercourt in Essex and seawards between these two points for three miles. Forty per cent. of its funding comes from Norfolk county council and 30 per cent. each from Lincolnshire and Suffolk county councils.
We have no plans to change these arrangements. However, we are considering the results of consultation on a proposal from the Association of Sea Fisheries Committees for a general extension of the seaward limit of sea fisheries committee jurisdiction from three to six miles.
Sole
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to press his counterparts in Europe to agree that the Dutch overfishing of 13,000 tonnes of sole in 1990 should be deducted from the 1991 quota allocated to the Netherlands ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Most member states, including the United Kingdom, fully or overfished their quotas before the Commission closed the North sea sole fishery on 21 December 1990. Latest provisional landings data indicate that the Netherlands has exceeded its quota by fewer than 200 tonnes, not 13,000 tonnes. The Commission has already set in train compensation proceedings because under the common fisheries policy a mechanism already exists whereby member states which overfish at the expense of others are required to provide appropriate compensation to those prejudiced.
Fishing Industry
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to ensure that the United Kingdom fishing industry will be competing on equal terms with all other EC member states after 1993 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Ever since we negotiated the common fisheries policy in 1983, when we secured 37.3 per cent. of the quotas for the seven main edible species and very restricted access for other member states vessels to our coastal waters, a package which was acknowledged as a good one by our industry, we have consistently defended the position of our industry. As recently as the last December Fisheries Council we again secured a good package of fishing opportunities including additional
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quantities through the Hague preference and also a greater flexibility to catch western mackerel east of the 4 W line. We will continue to work to secure good arrangements.Smoked Meat and Fish
Mr. Steen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many businesses are involved in smoking and curing meat and fish products.
Mr. Maclean : The smoking and curing of meat and fish is mainly undertaken by businesses in two industries : activity heading 4122--bacon curing and meat products ; and activity heading 4150--fish products. There are 822 local units recorded in the former of these industries and 354 in the latter, but only a small proportion of these units are known to undertake smoking or curing.
Mr. Steen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people are employed in the smoked meat and fish industry ; and what estimates have been made of the effect on employment of the implementation of the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations.
Mr. Maclean : The smoking and curing of meat and fish is mainly undertaken by businesses in two industries : activity heading 4122--bacon curing and meat products ; and activity heading 4150--fish products. It is estimated that there are about 53,000 persons employed in the former of these industries and 17,000 in the latter. Only a very small proportion of these are known to be involved in smoking or curing. Temperature controls are necessary to ensure the safety of certain foods as they reach the consumer. Where the processing of the food or the method of packaging can be shown to prevent the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms at ambient temperatures chill controls are not required. Industry will itself want to consider how its products can meet these food safety demands.
Mr. Steen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimate of how much smoked meat and fish is delivered by post each year.
Mr. Maclean : The information is not available.
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the hill livestock compensatory allowance payments for 1991 ; when these amounts were initially paid out to farmers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Devon, North (Mr. Speller) on 18 January, Official Report, column 616.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
ODA Staffing Levels
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has regarding ODA staffing levels over the next five years.
Mrs. Chalker : I have no plans to make any significant changes to ODA staffing levels. The annual figures in the current public expenditure survey period will be given in the Departmental report to be published next month.
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Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many ODA staff are women at or above grade 7 ; and what is the percentage of women as a total of such staff.Mrs. Chalker : Thirty-five ODA staff at G7 or above are women. The number includes eight women who are on secondment to other aid organisations. This represents 10.94 per cent. of all ODA staff at those levels, including seconded staff.
Africa (Famine)
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the number of people in Africa currently threatened by famine.
Mrs. Chalker : The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that at least 20 million people are currently under threat.
Bangladesh
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the United Kingdom currently doing to help Bangladesh to prevent or to mitigate the effects of flooding.
Mrs. Chalker : Following the serious flooding in Bangladesh in 1988 we hosted an international conference in London on 11 and 12 December 1989 which reviewed and endorsed a rolling five-year flood action plan prepared for the Bangladesh Government by the World bank. Britain agreed to undertake four of the 26 activities proposed in the plan, which are aimed at establishing ways to control and alleviate the effects of flooding. These are a major regional study on how to address the flooding problem in north-west Bangladesh ; supporting studies to evaluate the effectiveness of previous flood control schemes and to assess ways of improving their operation and maintenance ; and a study on fisheries, designed to ensure that the relationship between flood alleviation measures and fishery resources is properly understood. Consultants undertook feasibility work in Bangladesh in 1990 on the regional and fisheries studies and the main study teams for all four activities have now begun to arrive in Bangladesh.
Overseas Aid
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will commission an independent survey on the effectiveness of the United Kingdom aid programme.
Mrs. Chalker : We regularly commission independent outside evaluators to work alongside our own evaluation department on studying the effectiveness of particular aspects of the aid programme. The results of around 50 studies completed over the last three years are available.
The development assistance committee--DAC--of the OECD also reviews the aid programmes of its members on a regular basis. A review of the United Kingdom aid programme is currently under way and the conclusions of the DAC will be announced in April.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was United
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Kingdom per capita aid in each of the last five years to (a) Sudan, (b) Ethiopia, (c) Angola, (d) Mozambique and (e) Liberia.Mrs. Chalker : The information is as follows :
United Kingdom gross bilateral aid (including emergency
relief aid)
per capita (£ actual) 1985-89
to Angola, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique and Sudan
|1985<1>|1986 |1987 |1988 |1989<2>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Angola |0.02 |0.03 |0.03 |0.05 |0.14
Ethiopia |0.67 |0.22 |0.21 |0.40 |0.25
Liberia |0.50 |0.40 |0.39 |0.36 |0.26
Mozambique |0.62 |0.52 |1.63 |2.01 |1.50
Sudan |1.98 |1.15 |0.88 |1.09 |1.32
<1> Based on 1984 population figures.
<2> Based on 1988 population figures.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the total of aid from the United Kingdom since 1987 to (a) each Latin American nation and (b) each (i) north, (ii) west, (iii) southern, (iv) central and (v) eastern African nation.
Mrs. Chalker : Following are the available figures :
Total Gross Bilateral United Kingdom
Aid 1987-1989
Country |£,000s
--------------------------------------
Africa: North
Algeria |1,160
Egypt |37,471
Morocco |1,313
Tunisia |2,062
Africa: Sub-Saharan
Angola |2,077
Benin |808
Botswana |27,924
Burkina Faso |752
Burundi |358
Cameroon |17,205
Cape Verde Islands |152
C.A.R. |85
Chad |658
Comoros |8
Congo |701
Djibouti |383
Equatorial Guinea |306
Ethiopia |39,523
Gabon |64
Gambia |18,491
Ghana |103,335
Guinea |1,564
Guinea-Bissau |122
Ivory Coast |20,496
Kenya |132,291
Lesotho |14,854
Liberia |2,383
Madagascar |1,310
Malawi |114,603
Mali |3,437
Mauritania |515
Mauritius |26,723
Mozambique |76,410
Namibia |4,545
Niger |675
Nigeria |77,768
Rwanda |799
Sao Tome and Principe |16
Senegal |5,637
Seychelles |4,580
Sierra Leone |9,115
Somalia |19,201
South Africa |10,637
Sudan |77,889
Swaziland |14,692
Tanzania |101,156
Togo |679
Uganda |69,556
Zaire |4,437
Zambia |52,100
Zimbabwe |57,880
Costa Rica |10,151
Cuba |5
Dominican Republic |173
El Salvador |709
Guatemala |61
Haiti |10
Honduras |2,678
Mexico |3,055
Nicaragua |241
Panama |1,777
Bolivia |8,848
Brazil |4,559
Chile |799
Colombia |4,554
Ecuador |5,209
Paraguay |1,105
Peru |3,461
Surinam |17
Uruguay |57
Venezuela |56
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a table showing the level of United Kingdom bilateral aid since 1987 to the 20 poorest nations as measured by GDP : and what information he has as to the percentage this aid represents of the total aid received by that nation in each case.
Mrs. Chalker : The information for 1987 and 1988 is as follows :
|United |Percentage of
|Kingdom |total ODA
|bilateral |receipts (in-
|ODA £'000 |cluding mul-
|tilateral aid)
------------------------------------------------------------
Cambodia |100 |0.6
Afghanistan |1,932 |2.8
Vietnam |0 |0.0
Mozambique |51,478 |5.7
Ethiopia |27,413 |3.0
Bhutan |682 |1.4
Guinea-Bissau |81 |0.1
Tanzania |59,194 |5.3
Chad |431 |0.2
Malawi |49,541 |13.1
Bangladesh |75,656 |4.0
Zaire |3,709 |0.5
Nepal |20,817 |4.7
Somalia |13,906 |2.4
Madagascar |994 |0.3
Laos |162 |0.2
Burma |6,909 |1.4
Gambia |12,559 |5.8
Mali |2,281 |0.5
Burundi |206 |0.1
|---- |--
Total |328,051 |3.4
Notes:
(1) These figures are for net official development
assistance (oda).
(2) The figures in the left-hand column are for United
Kingdom bilateral aid only, and thus do not include the
United Kingdom share of multilateral aid to these countries,
which is included in the total oda receipts figure which
forms the basis of the right-hand column.
(3) The figures include official development assistance
recorded in 1987 and 1988: figures for other donors for
1989 are not yet available in this form.
Sources: British Aid Statistics: United Kingdom aid.
OECD: Total oda receipts.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the total level of aid, broken down by continent, formally requested of the United Kingdom over the past 12 months ; and how much of this total was agreed to.
Mrs. Chalker : Formal requests for specified amounts of British aid are rarely received. We are in regular consultation with the main recipients of bilateral aid about the amounts of British aid that might be made available and the purposes for which it might be used.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which countries in Asia and the middle east were beneficiaries of funds from the aid and trade provision in the last year.
Mrs. Chalker : In 1990, spending under the aid and trade provision took place in respect of projects in the following countries : Asia
Burma
China
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Pakistan
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Middle East
Jordan
Yemen Arab Republic
Sri Lanka
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current level of bilateral aid to Sri Lanka.
Mrs. Chalker : Total United Kingdom bilateral aid to Sri Lanka was £23.552 million in 1989, the latest year for which figures are available, and comprised :
|£ million
---------------------------------------------------------
Capital aid |6.391
Technical co-operation |8.222
Aid and trade provision |4.158
Commonwealth development corporation |3.114
Debt relief |1.589
Disaster relief |0.078
Expenditure is expected to have been substantially less in 1990, due in part to the security situation
Poland
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he intended to make further significant aid available to Poland during 1991.
Mrs. Chalker : We shall continue to help Poland from the know-how fund for eastern Europe. I expect that the level of expenditure in 1991-92 will be similar to that in 1990-91--about £10 million.
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Physically and Mentally Handicapped People
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funds are made available by the ODA specifically to assist the physically and mentally handicapped.
Mrs. Chalker : Funds specifically to assist physically and mentally handicapped people are made available from our geographical programmes, through our joint funding scheme--JFS--with British charities and through international aid agencies. Examples of our geographical activities are :
--In India we have supported Indian Spastic Societies in Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta since 1979. We currently have under consideration a programme of further support to these societies, plus another in Madras at a cost of around £1.6 million.
--In Fiji we are spending £40,000 on a project with the Disabled Peoples' Association.
--In Malawi we are sponsoring 15 ophthalmic technicians from the region to be trained and equipped to return to their countries to work as peripatetic operators. The cost of this project is £73,000. In the financial year 1989-90 over £651,000 was provided under the JFS for projects specifically intended to benefit disabled people. International agencies supported by the ODA which undertake projects to promote the welfare of disabled people include the WHO, UNCHR and UNIDO.
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