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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 30 January 1991
ENERGY
Energy Conservation
Mr. Rost : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of eligible homes in England and Wales currently have (a) cavity wall insulation, (b) 150mm of loft insulation, (c) thermostats on 50 per cent. or more radiator valves, (d) double glazing on 50 per cent. or more external windows, (e) compact fluorescent lighting in 50 per cent. or more light fittings, (f) energy labelling on domestic electrical appliances, (g) gas condensing boilers and (h) floor insulation ; and by when he forecasts that each of these figures will reach 75 per cent. and 90 per cent. of the eligible market.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : It is estimated that some 19 per cent. of eligible homes in England and Wales have cavity wall insulation, 43 per cent. have four inches or more of loft insulation, 30 per cent. have double glazing installed in 40 per cent. or more rooms, less than 1 per cent. have compact fluorescent lighting in 50 per cent. or more light fittings, and less than 5 per cent. have gas condensing boilers. No figures are available for thermostatic radiator valves or floor insulation. Energy consumption information is provided in brochures or leaflets by manufacturers for the most important energy consuming domestic electrical appliances.
The Government have made no forecasts of when such energy efficiency measures will achieve particular levels of domestic market penetration.
Domestic Refuse
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether, in the light of Her Majesty's Government's stated recycling and environmental objectives, his Department makes any differentiation between the use of raw untreated domestic refuse in incineration and refuse-derived fuel.
Mr. Moynihan : My Department is keen to encourage the development of renewable energy sources whenever they are, or have the prospects of becoming, economic and environmentally acceptable. This applies equally to the use of untreated domestic refuse in incinerators and to refuse-derived fuel.
Electricity Prices (Large Industrial Consumers)
Mr. Oakes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what representations he has received, and from which bodies, for the extension of the large industrial consumer scheme of electricity prices beyond April ;
(2) if he will extend the large industrial consumer scheme on electricity prices for a further two years from April.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have received a number of such representations. The price capping arrangements for
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large industrial consumers was established only as a one-year transitional measure : I do not propose seeking to extend it.ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Legal Aid
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General on what dates the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee on legal aid has met within the last 12 months ; on what dates the advisory committee's legal services conference has been convened within the last 12 months ; and when the advisory committee will publish its report for 1989-90.
The Attorney-General : The Lord Chancellor's advisory committee met twice in the last 12 months, on 8 February and 2 October 1990. No legal services conference has been convened within that period. Since both meetings in 1990 were devoted to considering options for the future role of the Committee, no annual report will be published for 1989-90. The next report will be published in 1991-92 and will address the committee's future role.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Workers Educational Association
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how he intends to monitor local authority support for the Workers Educational Association ; and what steps he is taking to ensure adequate grant for the Workers Educational Association's programme ;
(2) what steps he is taking to ensure that changes in the financing of the Workers Educational Association will not adversely affect the organisation's activities.
Mr. Eggar : Under the arrangements for education support grant, local education authorities are expected to report to the Department on each activity for which they receive grant. Authorities have been asked to provide a short progress report on the WEA ESG to the Department by 31 March 1991. The working party of officials, which was established to consider the funding of the WEA during the transitional period, will take account of those reports in making further recommendations.
The Government have not reduced overall support for the WEA ; provision is being transferred to local education authorities. We shall undertake a review during the third year of the transitional period to assess how authorities are carrying out their new responsibility for the WEA.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if the new funding arrangements for the Workers Educational Association will take into account the increased administrative resource impact on district Workers Educational Associations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : In several WEA districts, district secretaries already have formal or informal arrangements for liaising with their local education authorities. The new sytem of funding the WEA provides district secretaries with the opportunity to build on those arrangements. In addition, the Department's grant to the national association will now include specific provision for the costs of the
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employment of district secretaries and basic administrative support. This central support will continue when responsibility for funding the districts is fully transferred to local education authorities.Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his policy on the role of the Workers Educational Association in providing adult education in the 1990s ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : The WEA is the main voluntary sector provider of adult education at local level, and I would not expect that to change. The Government wish to encourage local education authorities to take account of WEA provision within their strategic plans for further education, including adult education. Greater collaboration should enable a more effective response to local needs.
Dyslexia
Mr. Peter Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what training is given to the teaching profession on how to identify cases of dyslexia ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Fallon : All courses of initial teacher training are required to equip prospective teachers to teach the full range of pupils whom they are likely to encounter in an ordinary school and to introduce them to ways of identifying children with special educational needs. This should include cases of dyslexia. Further in-service training is also available for teachers of pupils with dyslexia. Training of teachers in special educational needs in ordinary schools has been a national priority area under
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the local education authority training grants scheme since the scheme came into operation in 1987. The Department has also sponsored the production of an audio-visual pack to help teachers in ordinary schools to identify children with special educational needs. Part of this deals with dyslexia.Mr. Peter Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied with the provisions made by education authorities for the special tuition of children suffering from dyslexia.
Mr. Fallon : Yes. Under the Education Act 1981, LEAs have to make appropriate provision for pupils with dyslexia, or specific learning difficulties, as they have to make provision for all other pupils in their area. Decisions on invidual cases--including whether, or what, specific provision should be made--are matters for the LEA concerned.
University Pay
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the percentage increase in pay for university (a) teachers and (b) support staff in each year from 1985 to 1990.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The figures are given in the table and relate to total average percentage increases during the year 1 April to 31 March. The figures take into account both lump sum payments and discretionary pay awards where applicable. The normal settlement dates are 1 April, except for clerical staff and computer operators where it is 1 July. Phased increases have not been identified.
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|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91
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Academic staff
Non-clinical |5.25 |16.6 |7.4 |<1>- |7.0 |10.0
Clincal |6.3 |8.8 |8.25 |8.1 |8.0 |9.0
Support staff
Technical staff |5.3 |5.5 |5.8 |5.1 |11.0 |9.0
Clerical staff |5.4 |5.9 |6.0 |5.0 |8.3 |10.6
Manual staff |6.3 |8.3 |7.2 |<2>14.0|- |9.6
Computer operators |5.25 |5.7 |5.9 |6.1 |8.3 |9.0
<1> The pay settlement for non-clinical academics agreed in March 1987
provided for an increase of 16.6 per cent. from 1 December 1986 and a
further 7.4 per cent. from 1 March 1988.
<2> The settlement reached in 1988 for manual staff provided for an
increase of £4 per week from 1 April, and assimilation to a new pay
structure from 1 December 1988 with a minimum increase of £7 per week.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received in connection with the pay awards for university teachers, support staff and technicians.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. and learned Friend and I have meetings from time to time with representatives of the staff associations representing university staff, at which various issues, often including salary levels, are discussed. The Government also receive a number of letters from individual university employees.
Art Teaching
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when the interim report of the national curriculum working group for art will be published ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I are publishing today the
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interim report of the national curriculum working group for art, together with our letter to the group's chairman, Professor Colin Renfrew. Copies of this initial advice, including our letter, have been placed in the Library. We welcome the progress which the group has made in developing the attainment targets and programmes of study for art. We have emphasised the need for the group to make recommendations that are much more flexible and less prescriptive than those for other national curriculum subjects, and that the language in which the targets and programmes of study are expressed should be simple, clear and readily understood.Although we have concluded that it would not be right to compel every single pupil in the 14-to-16 age group to study art, we have made it clear to the group that we still wish it to offer advice in its final report on appropriate courses of study for this age group. We look forward to receiving the group's final report by the end of June.
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Sports Council
Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what arrangements he has made for continuing the payment of Government grant-in-aid to the Sports Council.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Parliamentary approval for my Department to make payments of grant-in-aid to the Sports Council will be sought in a spring supplementary estimate for the schools, research and miscellaneous services vote (class XI, vote 1). Pending that approval, urgent expenditure of £14,161,000 will be met by repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund.
PRIME MINISTER
Iraq (Sanctions)
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Prime Minister, further to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East of 24 January, Official Report , column 455, if he will seek to obtain a copy of the report held by the United States State Department detailing the 500 companies in 50 countries who have allegedly broken the United Nations embargo on Iraq ; and if he will place a copy in the Library.
The Prime Minister : No. The United States State Department has assured us that no such publicly available reports have been prepared or published by it.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Naturalisation
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of naturalisation and registration work is being dealt with at (a) Croydon and (b) Liverpool.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On 31 December 1990, 36 per cent. of outstanding applications were being dealt with in Lunar house, Croydon and 64 per cent. in Liverpool.
Probation Service
Mr. Rees : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will outline the appellate procedure available to a probation officer who is dissatisfied with the point of salary grading determined locally.
Mr. John Patten : The joint negotiating committee for the probation service makes recommendations to the Secretary of State who determines the conditions of service of probation officers by virtue of paragraph 18A of schedule 3 to the Powers of the Criminal Courts Act 1973. The existing terms and conditions are set out in the code of conditions of service of probation officers. Each probation committee has a grievance procedure which all probation officers employed by it are made aware of. The code contains a model grievance procedure for the guidance of committees. In addition, where there is a complaint of unreasonable exercise of any discretion granted to probation committees in the code, the national conciliation function of the joint negotiating committee may be invoked.
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Electoral Registers
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date he hopes to publish, by parliamentary constituency, the number of overseas electors included in the 1991-92 electoral registers ; and if he will make it his policy to publish this figure also as a percentage of the electorate.
Mrs. Rumbold : The numbers of overseas electors included in the electoral register for 1991-92, by parliamentary constituency, will be published in the summer. We have no plans to publish these figures as a percentage of the registered electorate. We shall very shortly make known to the House the numbers of overseas electors included in the draft register for 1991-92, which was published on 28 November 1990.
Probation Officers
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to sign the agreement, following arbitration, with the National Association of Probation Officers on last year's pay award ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : We are considering the arbitration recommendation for main grade probation officers' pay. I will write to the hon. Member when we announce our decision, which will be as soon as possible.
Iraqi Nationals
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons were the Iraqi nationals detained in Scotland removed from that jurisdiction and taken to England.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Iraqi nationals detained in the last two weeks pending deportation on conducive grounds for reason of national security came from all parts of the United Kingdom. All were initially transferred to a central location in a London prison to facilitate interviewing, appeals and removal. Most have since been transferred to Her Majesty's prison Full Sutton in Yorkshire in the light of discussions with the International Red Cross.
Barlinnie and Saughton Prisons
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied that appropriate facilities exist for the detention of individuals under the Immigration Act 1971 at Her Majesty's prisons Barlinnie and Saughton.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Yes. Persons detained under the Immigration Act are detained at the most appropriate location to facilitate further inquiries, any appeal and, if agreed, eventual removal.
Criminal Records
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish his scrutiny team's report on the proposal that the maintenance and disclosure of criminal records should pass to a statutory agency independent of the police.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. Friend expects to receive the report of the efficiency scrutiny into the maintenance and use of criminal records in April. We will then consider the report and the question of publication.
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MSM, Warrington
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what involvement his Department has with MSM, unit 9, centre 21, Bridge lane, Woolston, Warrington ; and what advice the Home Office is giving them in relation to security.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I will write to the hon. Member.
Red Routes
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of parking tickets issued have been challenged in (a) London as a whole in 1990 and (b) on the red route since its inception.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Complete figures for 1990 are not yet available, but the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that, in 1989, 2,216,989 fixed penalty notices were issued in the Metropolitan police area for non-endorsable, driver-absent offences. Information is not available on all challenges to those notices, but 4,783 of them were contested by court process. Since the inception of the red route, 1,015 fixed penalty notices relating to offences on it have been recorded by the Central Ticket Office as being issued. It is too early to say how many may be challenged.
Provincial Police Forces
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to change the arrangements for inspection of provincial police forces by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : Yes. I have decided that, from January 1991, the 42 provincial forces, including the City of London police, inspected annually by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary under the Police Act 1964, will normally be subject to primary inspections once every two years and intermediate inspections every other year. Primary inspections will cover the present full range of issues ; intermediate inspections will involve similar procedures but will concentrate on selected issues in greater depth. Reports on all 42 forces will continue to be published each year and will contain details of any thematic inspections (ie of a particular subject area across a number of forces) relevant to the force in question. The aim of the changes is greater flexibility to concentrate Her Majesty's inspectorate's efforts where they are most needed. Chief constables and local police authorities are being told of these changes.
WALES
Sheep (Killings)
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many sheep were killed by dogs in Wales during 1990 ; what were the corresponding figures for the last 10 years and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : The information requested is not held centrally.
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Housing Associations
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to make further changes in the monitoring of the activities of Welsh housing associations ; and on what date they will become effective.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 28 January 1991.
Land Authority for Wales
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has any plans to review the appointments of Geoffrey Inkin as chairman of the Cardiff Bay development corporation and chairman of the Land Authority for Wales, and of John Allen as chairman of Tai Cymru and vice-chairman of the Land Authority for Wales.
M4
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish full details of the timetable for the completion of the missing sections of the M4 between Baglan and Lon-las, including the dates of awarding of contracts.
Sir Wyn Roberts :; Work is under way on the Earlswood-Lon-las section, which is due for completion in spring 1993. Work is planned to start on the Briton Ferry-Earlswood section of the M4 in 1991-92. Construction of the Baglan-Briton Ferry section is planned to start six months later, so that both sections are completed together by 1995. It is too soon to say when contracts will be awarded.
Rechem Plant, Pontypool
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he is now in a position to respond to the Welsh Affairs Committee's second report of Session 1989-90 "Rechem International Limited : Incineration Plant, Pontypool" (House of Commons Paper 80) published on 6 June 1990.
Mr. David Hunt : I am pleased to announce that the response has been published today.
Higher Education
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has reached a decision on future funding and planning arrangements for the local authority higher education sector in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : Last year, my predecessor commissioned a report from consultants, Price Waterhouse, on the polytechnic of Wales. I received the report in May in which the consultants recommended that responsibility for funding the polytechnic should be transferred from the maintaining local authority to my Department. Section 227(4) of the Education Reform Act provides for any or all of the local authority higher education institutions that meet criteria specified in section 122 to be incorporated and to leave the local authority sector if the holder of my office considers that to be necessary. My hon. Friend the Minister of State has had face-to-face consultations about the recommendation with
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the polytechnic and the other institutions, and withrepresentatives of those employed in the institutions. The Wales Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher Education (WAB) has discussed the question fully. All eight local education authorities were invited to provide their views in writing on the recommendation and on the implications for the other higher education institutions of implementing the recommendation for the polytechnic. All those who have responded are agreed that whatever decision is made for the polytechnic should apply to the other institutions in the local authority sector.
In the light of the views expressed by those consulted I have now concluded that it would be in the best interests of those higher education institutions in Wales which are currently maintained by local authorities and which meet the specified criteria to be incorporated as independent institutions with effect from 1 April 1992. This will provide a period of 14 months during which they will be able to prepare themselves for independence. From 1 April 1992 the institutions will receive their funding from my Department. The appropriate transfer of funds between local authority resources and the Welsh Office's programme resources will be made for 1992-93. The Wales Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher Education, which has advised me and my predecessors on the distribution of local authority funds allocated for higher education since 1983, will be dissolved on 1 April 1992. It is my intention, however, to invite the Wales advisory body to advise me on the distribution of funding for the sector for 1992-93, after which that responsibility will pass to my Department. I shall then be establishing a small group of people involved in higher education and business to advise me on the issues involved in funding higher education directly.
The institutions to be incorporated and which will leave the local authority section on 1 April 1992 are as follows :
The polytechnic of Wales
Bangor Normal college of higher education
Cardiff institute of higher education
Gwent college of higher education
West Glamorgan institute of higher education
The Welsh college of music and drama has too few full-time equivalent students to be transferred without the agreement of its maintaining authority and my officials will be discussing with South Glamorgan county council whether it should be added to the institutions named.
I shall be laying the orders necessary to give effect to these proposals shortly.
Hospital and Community Health Services
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has now reached decisions about the allocation of resources for hospital and community health services in Wales for 1991-92 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : I announced on 11 December, subject to parliamentary aproval, my decision on the allocation of resources for health and personal social services in Wales. Within the resources available I propose to provide £1,188.4 million for the hospital and community health service in Wales. Excluding the cost of the artificial limb and appliance service (which is administered on my behalf by the Welsh Health Common Services Authority) £1,078.4 million will be provided for current purposes and £102.3 million for capital spending.
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For current spending, this represents a cash increase of £103.7 million or 10.6 per cent. over estimated outturn for the current financial year. In addition, a further £2.63 million (0.3 per cent.) is available, representing both savings in central funding requirements and non-recurrent funding which is available as a result of health authorities repaying loans borrowed in earlier years. In total, therefore, some £106.3 million is available for recurrent and non- recurrent revenue development purposes in 1991-92. This sum, together with the additional £10.4 million which authorities are expected as a minimum to achieve from new cost improvements and income generation schemes, provides an effective increase in resources over 1990-91 of 11.9 per cent.Authorities will also receive a further £38 million in 1991-92 to meet the net cost of putting cross-border usage of services between Wales and England on a contractual basis. The additional funding available next year is also on top of the extra funding which is being provided to meet the recurrent effect of the supplementary provision made available during 1990- 91 for the 1990 review body pay awards.
£92 million of this sum will be made available to health authorities for their discretionary use which represents a cash increase of 9.76 per cent. over this year's estimated outturn provision. £5.1 million will be allocated to fund the continuing and full year cost of developments which are being funded centrally in 1990-91. £9.2 million will be allocated to new centrally funded developments of both a recurrent and non- recurrent nature. These developments, which are shown in the following table, will considerably assist authorities in meeting future service requirements including those associated with the introduction of the NHS White Paper reforms.
|£ million
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Regional services and centrally funded developments |1.20
Expansion in medical staff numbers and day surgery
facilities aimed at reducing junior doctors hours,
waiting lists and waiting times |2.60
Manpower/Training |1.11
Project 2000 |1.13
IT/Clinical audit, quality assurance |1.00
Training of ambulancemen in defibrillation techniques |0.59
Care of the terminally ill |1.00
Other |0.61
|-------
|9.24
Of the capital provision, £60.9 million will be made available to health authorities for their discretionary use, but with proviso that at least 7.5 per cent. of each authority's share of these resources should be devoted to works associated with the maintenance of the estate. The provision includes a sum of £2.4 million which is available as a result of authorities repaying brokerage loans from earlier years. This amounts to a cash increase of 10 per cent. over last year's capital allocation. The balance is required for the all-Wales capital programme, including schemes associated with remedial work in four major hospitals and with the rationalisation of authorities' estates. Further details will be announced in due course.
The distribution of discretionary resources between authorities will, as in previous years, be based on capital formula shares but I shall be announcing new arrangements for 1992-93 and subsequent years in the next month or so.
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The current and capital allocations to individual authorities are as shown in the following table. These allocations do not take into account the further sums which will be allocated when decisions have been taken on the distribution of the funds reserved for centrally directed developments and on the introduction of charging for various of the services provided by the Welsh Health Common Services Authority.
Allocation (£ Million)
|Current|Capital
|Element|Element
----------------------------------------
Clwyd |146.685|8.582
East Dyfed |89.184 |4.382
Pembrokeshire |40.676 |2.690
Gwent |156.325|8.454
Gwynedd |86.819 |2.337
Mid Glamorgan |201.696|11.010
Powys |52.057 |1.522
South Glamorgan |175.045|10.852
West Glamorgan |131.632|11.034
These current and capital allocations provide for a 3.8 per cent. real terms increase in overall discretionary spending by health authorities after taking into account the forecast of general inflation provided by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement ; and they substantially exceed the resource planning assumptions which were issued to authorities last year.
In addition, authorities will be able to retain all the proceeds of their cost improvement programmes and income generation schemes. They will also retain the income which they raise from charges for private treatment and the receipts which they obtain from the sale of surplus land and buildings. Property sales are expected to generate a further £7 million in 1991- 92. In total, I expect authorities to achieve additional savings and to generate additional income amounting to at least 1.1 per cent. of their recurrent revenue allocations. The allocations therefore provide health authorities with a secure basis, not simply for maintaining services, but for the expansion of services on behalf of their resident populations next year. Thus, although the basis of funding has changed, there should be no effect on patient services as a consequence of that change. The allocations for next year represent the first step in the process of moving towards funding each health authority in line with its weighted capitation share. I shall be announcing the way in which weighted capitation shares will be calculated in due course when the consultation on this with DHAs in Wales is completed at the end of this month.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Household Incomes
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of households in Great Britain have a weekly income of less than £100.
Mr. Maples : It is estimated that in 1989 approximately 20 per cent. of households in Great Britain had a gross income below £100 per week, approximately two thirds of these were one-person households. This is the latest year for which information is available from the family expenditure survey.
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Tax Allowances
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing information available to him on the tax allowances and tax reliefs given to parents in European Community member states.
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