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Mr. Forth : Consultation on the Statutory Sick Pay Bill is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security. However, I have welcomed the opportunity to discuss this issue with small firms representative organisations and I have received a number of representations from them on the proposals. I have conveyed their views to the Secretary of State for Social Security and will continue to keep in touch with him on this important issue.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals he has received from the Council of Europe to establish a decency threshold for low paid work ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : No such proposals have been received. Pay is a matter for negotiators to determine in the light of their particular circumstances.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary State for Employment how many people are currently registered as unemployed in the SW2 and SW9 postal districts of Lambeth.
Mr. Jackson : In December 1990 the numbers of unemployed claimants, not seasonally adjusted, in Lambeth SW2 and SW9 were 3,183 and 3,189 respectively.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary State for Employment what is Her Majesty's Government's policy for dealing with low pay for women in part-time employment.
Mr. Forth : Pay for women in part-time employment, as for other workers, is a matter for negotiators themselves to determine in the light of their particular circumstances.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary State for Employment how he intends to improve health protection and working conditions in the workplace.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Commission's plan of work for 1990 -91 and beyond sets out the priorities of the commission and executive for this and the next two years. These priorities will be rolled forward into the commission's plan for work for 1991-92 and beyond.
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Mr. Watson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the total amount of industrial tribunal applications received in England and Wales during (a) 1989 and (b) 1990 ; what was the number which actually proceeded to hearing ; and what was the average lapse of time between receipt of application and hearing taking place.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 28 January 1991] : The information requested is recorded in financial years only and is as follows : Registered Applications
Year ended 31 March 1990 31,356
Period 1 April 1990 to
31 December 1990 27,698
Cases heard
Year ended 31 March 1990 9,093
Period 1 April 1990 to
31 December 1990 7,018
The information recorded by industrial tribunals does not make it possible to calculate the average time between the receipt of applications and hearing.
However, the following table shows how long registered applications take to come to hearing.
Percentage of cases coming to |Year ended |1 April 1990 hearing in less than: |31 March |to |1990 |31 December |per cent. |per cent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 weeks |5 |3 8 weeks |20 |12 10 weeks |38 |27 12 weeks |52 |44 16 weeks |73 |65 20 weeks |82 |80 26 weeks |92 |90
Some two thirds of all registered applications do not come to hearing. They are withdrawn or settled prior to hearing.
Mr. Watson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the total number of industrial tribunal applications received in Scotland during (a) 1989 and (b) 1990 ; what was the number which actually proceeded to hearing ; and what was the average lapse of time between receipt of application and hearing taking place.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 28 January 1991] : The information requested is recorded in financial years only and is as follows :
Registered Applications ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year ended 31 March 1990 |: - 3,341 Period 1 April 1990 to 31 December 1990 |: - 3,095
Cases heard ---------------------------------------------------------------- Year ended 31 March 1990 |: - 1,288 Period 1 April 1990 to 31 December 1990 |: - 1,218
The information recorded by industrial tribunals does not make it possible to calculate the average time between the receipt of applications and hearing.
However, the following table shows how long registered applications take to come to hearing.
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Percentage of cases coming to |Year ended |1 April 1990 hearing in less than: |31 March |to |1990 |31 December |per cent. |per cent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 weeks |1 |0 8 weeks |4 |13 10 weeks |20 |31 12 weeks |43 |48 16 weeks |72 |69 20 weeks |85 |83 26 weeks |91 |88
Some two-thirds of all registered applications do not come to hearing. They are withdrawn or settled prior to hearing.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Mr. Bevan) of 20 December 1990, Official Report , column 315 , what concerns the British Government had about proposals from the European Community for directives under articles 100 and 100A of the treaty designed to regulate the rights and benefits available to part-time and temporary workers.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 28 January 1991] : The directives would unnecessarily increase directly the cost of employing part-time and temporary workers and they would add to the burden of regulations on employers. The Government believe that the response of employers to such increased costs and regulation would be to reduce the number of people employed and that the directives would therefore have the perverse effect of reducing total employment and increasing unemployment.
In addition, one of these directives has been proposed by the European Commission under the wrong article of the treaty of Rome. Article 100a of the treaty explicitly excludes matters relating to the
"rights and interests of employed persons".
Sir Peter Hordern : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people are employed in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force ; and how many are non-combatant.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : There were 303,003 service personnel employed in the armed forces as at 30 September 1990, including 12,677 non- combatants. The numbers employed in each service, together with the numbers of non-combatants are shown in the table.
|Total personnel |Non-combatants<1> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Royal Navy |54,859 |2,462 Royal Marines |7,474 Army |151,764 |7,218 Royal Air Force |88,906 |2,997 <1> Medical and dental personnel, as well as chaplains, are regarded as non-combatants. Musicians have also been included in the figures for non-combatants, given that they generally have medical roles.
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Mr. Bellotti : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on which weapons being used by Iraq against allied forces were supplied by (a) the USSR, (b) Great Britain, (c) the United States of America, (d) France and (e) Germany ; and whether he will consider an embargo on all arms sales from the United Kingdom and recommend the United Nations to call for an international cessation of arms sales.
Mr. Alan Clark : It has been the policy of this and previous Administrations not to comment on such matters relating to other sovereign states or on specific United Kingdom exports to other countries. As to the rest of the hon. Member's question regarding possible United Kingdom and international cessation of arms sales under UN auspices, I can confirm that there are no such plans.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will enumerate by nationality the merchant seamen now serving on ships chartered by Her Majesty's Government for use in the Gulf.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : This information is not held centrally in the form requested, but I understand that British, German, Belgian, Danish, Filipino, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and Greek seamen are employed on merchant ships chartered by Her Majesty's Government for use in the Gulf.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list, by numbers of vessels, the countries in which merchant ships chartered by Her Majesty's Government for use in the Gulf are registered.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The information requested is as follows :
Country of registration |Number of |vessels ------------------------------------------------------------------------ United Kingdom |7 Norway |11 Antigua |7 Spain |2 Italy |1 Belgium |1 Denmark |26 Cyprus |16 Bahamas |6 Greece |2 St. Vincent |1 Honduras |1 Holland |22 Germany |7 Panama |5 Finland |2 Iceland |1 Sweden |6
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many merchant vessels have been chartered by Her Majesty's Government for use in the Gulf ; and how many are registered in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The total number of merchant vessels chartered by Her Majesty's Government for use in the Gulf, as at 25 January 1991, is 123, of which seven were registered in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of whether any escape of nuclear material has occurred following the reported destruction of Iraq's nuclear facilities.
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Mr. Archie Hamilton : It has been reported that damage has been caused to the buildings housing Iraq's two operational nuclear reactors as a result of allied air activity. The design and construction of both reactors is well known ; they are small reactors and their cores are surrounded by water below ground level. We assess that any significant radioactive contamination resulting from damage would be confined to the Tuwaitha nuclear research centre.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take immediate action to ensure that the public are made fully aware of the arrangements made to allow parcels to be sent to the service men in the Gulf ; and if he will ensure that accurate information is given to the relevant charitable organisations and the media.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Detailed information on forces concessionary rates for sending parcels to service personnel in the Gulf has been published through official, welfare and media channels.
Within BAOR, from where the majority of personnel deployed, the information has been publicised 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, TV statements and press releases by both the royal mail and the Ministry of Defence. A further MOD press release is in hand. In addition a royal mail parcelforce hotline has been established specifically to deal with inquiries from members of the public.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men and women in the year 1990 were (i) administratively discharged and (ii) dismissed from the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force as a result of their homosexuality or homosexual behaviour ; of those discharged or dismissed, how many faced (x) no formal charges, (y) summary discipline and (z) courts martial ; how many of those who faced summary discipline or courts martial were (1) fined, and (2) sentenced to custodial imprisonment ; and what were the fines and lengths of imprisonment imposed in each individual case.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any plans to replace the standard issue Browning automatic pistol used by British forces.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : There are no plans to replace the standard Browning automatic pistol on general issue to British forces.
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to dispose of HMS Sandpiper and HMS Petrel.
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Mr. Archie Hamilton : HMS Sandpiper and HMS Petrel were paid off on 31 December 1990. No decision has yet been made concerning their final disposal.Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current replacement cost for the total number of Tornado planes lost in the Gulf both during hostilities and during training ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Clark : The question of replacing Tornados lost so far will be considered in the light of total losses sustained in the Gulf.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when British soldiers were first deployed to the Gulf ; when appropriate desert boots were supplied to British soldiers ; when all soldiers in the Gulf requiring desert boots will be supplied with them ; where the desert boots now being supplied to British forces were made ; and at what total cost of manufacture and supply ;
(2) what complaints he has received from British forces in the Gulf about their boots issued at the time of deployment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The first significant deployment of ground troops to the Gulf followed my right hon. Friend's announcement on 14 September 1990. A report from 7 Armoured Brigade at the end of October 1990 indicated that some individuals were experiencing discomfort with their combat boots because of the heat and steps were at once taken to procure desert boots. Following trials, the first orders were placed in November
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1990. Issues of desert boots have already been made and it is intended that all troops requiring desert combat boots will have at least one pair by mid-March. All desert boots for our forces have been ordered from United Kingdom manufacturers. The cost of these boots is a matter of commercial confidentiality.Mr. Sayeed : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether it is proposed to transfer the functions of the Royal Navy detention quarters at Portsmouth to the combined Army and Royal Air Force facilities in Colchester.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The future of the Royal Navy detention quarters at Portsmouth is under consideration, but no decisions have yet been made.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are taken to ensure that his officials and scientific advisers are using the most up-to-date medical and scientific knowledge to study the relationship between radiation exposure and subsequent illness for nuclear test veterans.
Mr. Archie Hamilton [holding answer 22 January 1991] : The National Radiological Protection Board and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund are accepted authorities in the fields of radiological protection and epidemiology. The methodology they used in the first test veterans study, which will also be used for the follow-up study, was subject to review by other experts in the field of epidemiology and no criticism was made by them.
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