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Column 249
Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 20 December 1990
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Westminster County Court
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General why it is proposed that Westminster county court should be closed in the context of proposed transfer of jurisdiction from the High Court to the county court ; and what representations he has received against closure.
The Attorney-General : It has been proposed that Westminster county court be closed on the expiry of the lease on the present premises as no suitable alternative accommodation can be found.
It is intended that the court will be merged with the existing Bloomsbury county court and located at new premises to be known as Bloomsbury and Westminster county court.
The premises presently occupied by Bloomsbury county court will be converted into a trial centre for the London county courts in order to hear the additional heavier cases which will be dealt with by the county courts following the new arrangements for the allocation of business.
Some concern was expressed at the initial proposals by various parties, however, following consultation with the judiciary and members of the local court user committee, no written representations against closure have been received.
County Court Trials
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General if he will give details of the county court trial centres which are to be established following the passage of the Courts and Legal Services Act.
The Attorney-General : A total of 74 county court trial centres have already been established in England and Wales, which between them provide continuous trial facilities for over 250 county courts. A further six trial centres are planned. A full list of existing trial centres and those planned will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General if county court trial facilities will now be made available at the Royal Courts of Justice.
The Attorney-General : There are no existing plans to use the Royal Courts of Justice for county court trials. Additional facilities for county court trials were established in the court complex at Wood Green in May this year.
Court Rules
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General what steps are being taken to approximate the rules of the county court and the High Court.
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The Attorney-General : A policy of convergence towards common remedies and procedures has been adopted. This is being given effect through the programme of rule changes which implement the recommendations of the civil justice review.
Jurisdiction
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General if he will publish a timetable for the transfer of jurisdiction from the High Court to the county court.
The Attorney-General : New arrangements for the allocation of business between the High Court and county courts are to be set out in an order made under section 1 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. Consultation on the content of the order has only recently closed. A formal announcement on the date for implementation will be made once consideration has been given to the various responses.
Courts (Construction)
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Attorney-General what is the current cost of the new High Court building in Bradford ; what was the brief given to the architect ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The cost at current prices of the new Crown and county court building at Bradford is approximately £20 million. The architect's brief was to provide eight Crown courtrooms and two county courtrooms with supporting facilities. It is expected that the building will be ready for use in the summer of 1992.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Attorney-General what is the total amount spent on constructing new courts for each of the last 10 years ; and if he will give the number of courts and their location for each year.
The Attorney-General : The Lord Chancellor's Department is responsible for Crown, county, combined and High Court centres in England and Wales. Magistrates' courts are the responsibility of the Home Office. Details of new Crown, county, combined and High Court centres completed over the past 10 years and their total costs are given in the table. The schemes listed have produced some 250 courtrooms at an average cost of £1.1 million per courtroom.
Court |Type |£ million<1>
--------------------------------------------------------------
1981
Snaresbrook |Crown
Burnley |Crown
Kings Lynn |Crown
|Total cost |5.395
1982
Bolton |Combined
Porsmouth |Combined
Chelmsford |Crown
Leeds |Combined
|Total cost |26.282
1983
Southwark |Crown
Maidstone |Combined
|Total cost |22.880
1984
Liverpool |Combined
|Total cost |45.176
1985
Oxford |Combined
Swindon |Combined
Brighton |County
|Total cost |9.103
1986
Isleworth |Crown
Milton Keynes |County
Guildford |Crown
Manchester Wood Street
-Phase 1 |Crown
Peterborough |Combined
|Total cost |24.284
1987
Southampton |Combined
Birmingham |Crown
Nottingham
-Phases 2 and 3 |Crown
|Total cost |22.229
1988
Norwich |Combined
Swansea |Crown
Coventry |Combined
Telford |County
Snaresbrook-additional |Crown
Middlesex Guildhall |Crown
Truro |Combined
Grimsby |Combined
|Total cost |38.862
1989
Derby |Combined
Croydon |Combined
Doncaster |Crown
|Total cost |21.660
1990
RCJ-additional |High
Wood Green-Phase 2 |Crown
Manchester Wood Street
-Phases 2 and 3 |Combined
Taunton |Crown
Wolverhampton |Combined
Newcastle Quayside |Combined
|Total cost |56.805
|-------
|Grand Total |272.676
<1> Current prices.
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Mr. Bill Galbraith
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Attorney-General, pursuant to his answer of 7 December, Official Report, column 211, concerning the investigation by the Gloucestershire constabulary into comments made by Mr. Bill Galbraith, if he will make a further statement on the results of that investigation and any report that has been submitted to him.
The Attorney-General : The Gloucestershire constabulary has not yet supplied the Crown Prosecution Service with a report concerning its investigation, and so I am not in a position to make a further statement.
Sunday Trading
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Attorney-General if he will seek injuctions in the High Court to restrain unlawful Sunday trading during the Christmas and new year period.
The Attorney-General : Parliament has made it the duty of local authorities to enforce the legislation relating to Sunday trading, and I do not at present intend to apply for injunctions.
DEFENCE
Airmisses
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the dates, locations, aircraft involved, altitudes and circumstances of each of the category A airmisses between civil and military aircraft over the United Kingdom in 1988.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : There are the following category A airmisses between civil and military aircraft over the United Kingdom in 1988 :
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Date |Location |Aircraft
|involved |Circumstances<1> |height
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 January 1988 |2 NM<2> S of |Jet Ranger/
|Whittlesey |Jet Provost |Late sighting by both pilots |300 ft
27 January 1988 |1 NM E of |Cessna/ |Unauthorised penetration of Netherthorpe air traffic
|Netherthorpe |Tornado |zone by Tornado pilot, compounded by late sighting
|of Cessna |800 ft
23 February 1988 |11 NM W of |Jet Ranger/
|Beverley |Tornado |Late sighting by Tornado pilot |300 ft
12 April 1988 |5 NM N of |Hughes 500/Failure of Buccaneer crews to see and avoid helicopter
|Dalwhinnie |2 Buccaneers |in a notified CAN<3> area |250 ft
13 April 1988 |4 NM SW of |Hughes 500 |Failure of F16 pilot to see and give way to helicopter in
|Newtonmore |F16 |a notified CANP area |250 ft
15 April 1988 |5 NM S of |Jet Ranger/ |Failure of Hunter pilot to see and avoid Jet Ranger in a
|Newtonmore |Hunter |notified CANP area. |600 ft
17 May 1988 |7 NM SW of |Apache/ |Failure of RAF Waddington radar to disclose Jet
|Binbrook |Jet Provost |Provost |1,800 ft
20 May 1988 |6 NM N of Cosford |Zlin 250L/ |Late sighting by Hawk pilot leading to late avoiding
|Hawk |action |2,000 ft
13 June 1988 |10 NM W of York |Jet Provost/
|Cessna |Late sighting by both pilots |1,800 ft
30 July 1988 |13 NM SW of |Cherokee/ |Failure by two RAF Lyneham air traffic controllers to
|Lyneham |Hercules |separate two aircraft they were respectively
|controlling |1,500 ft
1 August 1988 |0.5 NM E of Sutton |Microlight/
|Meadows |Tornado |Failure of Tornado pilot to see microlight |450 ft
2 September 1988 |1 NM NE of |Glider/ |Unauthorised penetration of Portmoak glider site by
|Portmoak |Buccaneer |Buccaneer pilot who failed to see and avoid glider |1,700 ft
13 October 1988 |7 NM W of Upper |F-111/ |Failure of Cherokee pilot to contact air traffic control at
| Heyford |Cherokee |RAF Upper Heyford before flying south of Enstone
|airfield runway centreline, as required by Letter of
|Agreement between Enstone and Upper Heyford |2,000 ft.
<1>Based on assessment by joint airmiss working group of cause of airmiss.
<2>NM-Nautical miles.
<3>CANP-Civil aircraft notification procedure.
Air Defence Ground Environment
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there are any plans to use data from the AN/FPS-117 radars at Bolafjall and Gunnolfsvikurfjall in Iceland as real-time input data to the United Kingdom air defence ground environment.
Menwith Hill
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Leyton on 30 November, Official Report, column 536, what information he has received from the United States authorities about why the proposed construction for water storage at Menwith Hill was excluded from the information provided to him for his answer to the hon. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) on 6 February, Official Report, column 603 .
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : My hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces will write to the hon. Member.
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the implications of a comprehensive test ban treaty for his Department.
Mr. Alan Clark : I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 127 of the statement on the Defence Estimates 1990.
The Gulf
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who is being sent out to the Gulf to entertain the troops.
Mr. Alan Clark : Sir Harry Secombe has recently visited the Gulf and Paul Daniels will visit before Christmas. In addition, Combined Services Entertainment arranged a very successful light entertainment show early this month, and further similar shows are planned.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to deploy Gurkhas in the Gulf.
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Mr. Alan Clark : A few individual Gurkhas are currently serving in the Gulf. In addition, a Gurkha transport squadron will deploy to the Gulf as part of the reinforcements announced by my right hon. Friend on 22 November.
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to place no money restrictions upon the movement or operation of military forces in the Gulf which might in any way jeopardise the safety of personnel.
Mr. Alan Clark : The Government are committed to ending Iraq's aggression, and will make whatever contribution is appropriate to secure freedom and justice for Kuwait. We shall ensure that the armed forces deployed to the Gulf are provided with the means necessary to do the job that we ask of them.
Combined Heat and Power
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure that departmental properties and establishments reap the maximum financial and environmental benefits from combined heat and power schemes.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The Ministry of Defence is investigating the viability of operating combined heat and power schemes on a number of specific sites.
Recycled Materials and Renewable Energy
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's policy on promoting the use of recycled materials and renewable energies where relevant to his Department's activities.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The Government's policy on the use of recycled materials and renewable energy is set out in the White Paper, "This Common Inheritance" (Cm 1200). The MOD is about to bring into use a further range of recycled stationery. We aim to send for recycling non- hazardous waste which can be beneficially recycled without disproportionate cost.
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We have a long-standing record on the pursuit of energy efficiency and we monitor developments in the field of renewable energy technology. We are studying sites in the United Kingdom which may have potential for wind powered electricity generation.Iraq
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has recently received from The Sunday Times concerning the status of the Iraqi nuclear programme ; when the information was passed to his Department ; and what steps he has taken to evaluate the information received.
Mr. Alan Clark : We were aware of information contained in The Sunday Times article before it was published.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he possesses concerning the capacity of the Al-Qaim uranium processing factory in Iraq.
Mr. Alan Clark : Al-Qaim is a plant to manufacture fertilisers from phosphates mined in the vicinity. It is possible to extract minute quantities of uranium ore which is present in the phosphates as impurities, but we have no knowledge of quantities obtained.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he possesses concerning the activities of scientists from the Qaqaa explosives factory in Iraq in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other member states of the NATO alliance.
Mr. Alan Clark : We have no specific information on the activities of Iraqi scientists from the Qaqaa explosives factory in the United Kingdom or other NATO countries. Scientists from all over the world are free to attend courses and conferences in this and other countries, and many do so.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he possesses concerning the role of factory 10 near Samarra in Iraq in nuclear materials processing.
Mr. Alan Clark : We have no significant information on the role of Factory 10 near Samarra.
Permeameters
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there is any military use in terms of equipment monitoring and testing for permeameters.
Mr. Alan Clark : Permeameters have numerous uses, both civil and military.
Radio Masts, Sennybridge
Mr. Livsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has changed his plans to site naval radar/radio masts on His Majesty's land on the Sennybridge range in Brecon and Radnor.
Mr. Alan Clark : A requirement for new defence communication facilities is under consideration, but no decisions on locations have yet been taken. We expect to make a decision in the coming year.
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Mr. Livsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects a decision to be announced on the siting of naval radar/radio masts for submarine communications on the Sennybridge ranges in Brecon and Radnor.
Mr. Alan Clark : A requirement for new defence communication facilities is under consideration, but no decisions on locations have yet been taken. We expect to make a decision in the coming year.
WALES
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the estimated budget for each of the training enterprise and councils in Wales for (a) 1990-91 and (b) 1991-92 ; how many people in each training and enterprise council are likely to be trained under (i) youth training and (ii) employment training in 1990-91 ; what are the comparable figures for the last full year ; and what assumptions are made about the number of places to be provided in 1991-92.
Mr. David Hunt : I shall write to the hon. Gentleman and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Welsh Economy
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was (i) the gross domestic product in Wales and (ii) the income per head in Wales, as percentages of the United Kingdom average in the latest available year.
Mr. David Hunt : In 1988, the total gross domestic product per head for Wales was estimated to be 84.0 per cent. of the United Kingdom average (excluding the continental shelf region). These 1988 figures are provisional and revised set, together with provisional figures for 1989, will be published in the November 1990 issue of Economic Trends (No. 445) on 28 December 1990, a copy of which will be placed in the Library.
Wales' total personal income per head in 1988 was provisionally estimated to be 83.9 per cent. of the United Kingdom average while household income per head in that year was provisionally estimated to be 84.6 per cent. of the national figure.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has now achieved his waiting list objectives specified in pages 160 and 161 of the Welsh Office Public Expenditure Commentary for orthopaedics at the Prince of Wales hospital, Rhydlafar, ophthalmics at Ysbyty Gwynedd and Bangor, and hernias and varicose veins at Bridgend general hospital.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Figures for waiting lists for hernia and varicose vein treatment at Bridgend general hospital are not separately available. At the other hospitals for which information is requested only the waiting times target relating to the out-patient list for trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the Prince of Wales hospital, Rhydlafar has thus far been achieved.
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Roads
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of the major road schemes specified to start in 1990-91 in table 35 of the Welsh Office commentary on public expenditure in Wales 1990-91 to 1992- 93 have now commenced.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Work on A55 Rhuallt Hill scheme started in May. The contract for A4060 Pentrebach-Dowlais (Phase 2) was let on the 19 December and work will start in January.
Inward Investment
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list inward investment projects during 1990, specifying the capital investment involved and the number of new jobs created directly.
Mr. David Hunt : Between 1 January 1990 and 30 November 1990, Wales secured 129 inward investment projects involving £484 million of capital investment, promising 7,800 new jobs and safeguarding 7,300 existing jobs. A list of the companies concerned has been placed in the Library of the House though for reasons of commercial confidentiality individual details of investment and jobs are not disclosed.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report the additional funding his Department has made to each of the regionally funded renal units in Wales during the current financial year, for the prescribing costs for the drug Erythropoietin ; and if he will separately distinguish the number of patients currently receiving such treatment at each unit together with the number of patients refused such treatment because of budgetary constraints on the prescribing consultant.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Information on the number of patients receiving Erythropoietin is not held centrally. During the current financial year additional funds of £75,000 were made available to each of West Glamorgan and Clwyd health authorities to assist with the prescribing of Erythropoietin at the main renal units within those authorities.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received about the estimated number of patients who would benefit from erythropoietin.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The use of EPO for individual patients is a matter of clinical judgment at the time. No specific representations have been received about the aggregate number of patients who might benefit from its use. Managing health authorities of main renal dialysis units receive central revenue support which includes the cost of drugs at estimated levels of need.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has received, and intends to acquire, information from district health authorities on the extent to which the funding provided for the 1991-92 financial year will meet the needs of all patients who fulfil the criteria for benefiting from erythropoietin.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Following the dedesignation of regional services from 1991-92 it will be for district health
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authorities to determine the resources which should be made available for the prescription of drugs, including erythropoietin.New Housing
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if his forecast of spend on local authority new build for 1989-90 was achieved.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : In 1989-90 local authorities spent £24.031 million on new build schemes. In addition, they chose to transfer capital resources of over £17 million to housing associations, for projects which will provide additional housing units.
Treatment Centres Initiative
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the benefits to patients that could be achieved if the money budgeted for the treatment centres initiative in Wales were to be redirected to increase the rate of treatment of patients in the same specialties at appropriate hospitals throughout Wales, using existing facilities.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Within the United Kingdom, treatment centres are unique to Wales. The purpose of this initiative is to offer to those throughout Wales who have been waiting four months or more the choice of earlier treatment for key disabling conditions. The centre at Rhydlafar has been operating for year. It is too early to establish firm referral patterns.
Once all the centres have completed their first year's operations, it is intended to undertake a wider evaluation of the treatment centre initiative. Initial indications are that the centres are proving to be an effective alternative method of delivering speedier health care for Welsh patients.
Alcohol Misuse
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what programmes have been developed by the Health Promotion Authority for Wales as that authority's contribution to tackling the problem of alcohol misuse in Wales.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The Health Promotion Authority for Wales's national "substance misuse" programme includes action targeted at alcohol misuse in the Principality, in partnership with voluntary and local agencies, eg. health education publications, components of the authority's mobile life education centre units, and support for Drinkwise Day.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his replies of 4 December, Official Report, column 74, in regard to alcohol misuse, if he will make it his policy to concentrate the available finances on the provision of local services.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has met the chairman of chief executive of the Health Promotion Authority for Wales to discuss the work undertaken in the past, and to be undertaken in the future, by that authority in respect of developing positive approaches to alcohol and discouraging people from misuse of alcohol ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Although my right hon. Friend has met both the chairman and chief executive of the authority, he did not discuss programme planning on that occasion. However, his predecessor had several meetings with the authority leading up to the launch of their "Health for All" in Wales strategy document in January 1990. That strategy includes the goal of reducing substantially the misuse of alcohol in the Principality and a series of detailed targets for specific improvements for various age ranges of the population. Action to achieve the strategy's goals and targets will be taken by the authority and a range of other organisations in partnership. The authority will publish a firm three-year action programme in the spring.Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of the funds available to the Health Promotion Authority for Wales have been allocated (a) directly or (b) indirectly to work relating to alcohol misuse in each year since the establishment of that authority ; and what proportion he intends should be devoted to such purposes in 1991- 92.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The following proportions of the Health Promotion Authority for Wales' exchequer budget have been directly allocated to alcohol misuse work :
1987-88 -- not available.
1988-89 -- 4 per cent.
1989-90 -- 6.5 per cent.
1990-91 -- 1.3 per cent.
Figures are not available for work indirectly relating to alcohol misuse-- for example, elements of the heartbeat Wales and cancer programmes. My right hon. Friend had not yet decided the detail of the authority's budget for 1991-92.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales wht level of service, according to what criteria he intends shall be achieved in each county of Wales as a result of the finances his Department is to make available in respect of alcohol abuse.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : It is for local and health authorities to determine the level of service necessary to combat alcohol misuse in their areas. Central funding will be used to support such local strategies.
Sunday Trading
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what resources he has made available to local authorities in Wales to enable them to tackle breaches of the law by large commercial organisations ;
(2) whether he will make it his policy to offer additional resources to local authorities in Wales to enable them to tackle breaches of the legislation regarding Sunday trading by major retail organisations ;
(3) what guidance he or his Department has offered to local authorities in Wales on their responsibilities in regard to the enforcement of the legislation which regulates Sunday trading ; (4) what assessment he has made of the impact in Wales of large stores and multiple-outlet retail firms opening on Sunday in contravention of the law during December.
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