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Mrs. Maureen Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he has decided to obtain independent advice on the confidentiality arrangements for samples of anonymised records from the 1991 census.
Mr. Dorrell : The president of the Royal Statistical Society, having been consulted about the best procedure, has nominated Professor D. Holt, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Southampton, as technical assessor. I am pleased to be able to announce that Professor Holt has agreed to act in this capacity. He will consider the confidentiality arrangements for the samples of anonymised records (SARs) requested from the 1991 census of Great Britain by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and will assess whether or not the arrangements ensure that any risk of inadvertent disclosure of census information about identifiable individuals is minimised. He will advise the registrars general both on the confidentiality measures included in draft specifications of the SARs and on the proposals for their subsequent use. Once the draft specifications have been revised (if appropriate) as a result of his advice, he will prepare a report for Ministers on the proposed confidentiality arrangements. That report will be considered before any final approval is given for the production and supply of the SARs.
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Cash Limits
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any changes will be made to the cash limits and running cost limits of his Department in 1990-91.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made :
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 1 (Hospital and community health services, family health services (part) and other services, England) will be reduced by £1,250,000 from £14,194,789,000 to £14, 193,539,000. This reduction represents a transfer to class XIII, vote 3.
The cash limits for class XIII, vote 3 (Department of Health administration, miscellaneous health services and personal social services, England) will be increased by £43,255,000 from £691,253,000 to £734,508,000. This provides an additional £42,000,000 for grants to haemophiliacs infected with HIV ; £1,250,000 transferred from class XIII, vote 1 following a reapportionment of family health service funds and £5,000 from class XIV, vote 7 for revised manpower costs. The Department's running cost limit is reduced by £4,356,000 from £202,049,000 to £197,693,000.
The increase is within the forecast outturn for the planning total published in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.
Wakefield Health Authority
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) on how many occasions over the last five years the finances of Wakefield health authority have been examined by his Department's director of audit ;
(2) if he will direct the Audit Commission to conduct an inquiry into the financial management of Wakefield health authority ; (3) on how many occasions over the past five years his Department's director of audit has drawn matters of concern regarding the financial management of Wakefield health authority to the attention of (a) the Yorkshire regional health authority, (b) the Wakefield health authority and (c) other bodies ; and what were the matters in question in each instance.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 31 January 1991] : In common with the arrangements for all health authorities, staff of the Department's director of audit will have made the necessary visits to Wakefield health authority in order to carry out the statutory audit of its annual accounts entailing related examination of its financial systems and procedures.
Matters arising from audits are routinely raised with local management although auditors at their discretion may include subjects in their audit reports which are directed to the Secretary of State for Health but on which resolution is delegated to regional health authorities, who are expected to ensure that remedial action is taken in liaison with the Department.
During the last five years the audit reports on the Wakefield health authority included one such item recommending the complete vacation and disposal of a hospital site which had already been closed for patient care. The Yorkshire regional health authority was involved in resolving this matter.
Responsibility for the statutory audit of the national health service now lies with the Audit Commission. It is for the Audit Commission itself to decide what inquiries are appropriate.
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Health Authority Functions
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the functions which have been passed from health authorities to local authorities since 1979.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 24 January 1991] : The development and growth of community care over the last 12 years has reshaped the boundary between health and social care, not least by the reduction in the number of children and adults permanently resident in hospital. There has, however, been no transfer of statutory functions in this period.
SCOTLAND
Local Enterprise Companies
Mr. Graham : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will give the date of incorporation and the operational commencement date for the local enterprise company for Argyll, Arran and the Cumbraes ;
(2) if he will list (a) the dates of incorporation and (b) the operational commencement dates of each local enterprise company operating in the area formerly covered by the Scottish Development Agency in 1991-92.
Mr. Allan Stewart : The local enterprise company for Argyll, Bute, Arran and the Cumbraes was incorporated on 6 August 1990 ; the remainder of the information requested about incorporation dates is set out in the table.
Local enterprise company |incorporation ------------------------------------------------------ Borders |30 July 1990 Central |25 May 1990 Grampian |16 May 1989 Lanarkshire |27 April 1990 Lothian |30 April 1990 Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey<1> |1 March 1990 Tayside |22 August 1990 <1> Straddles the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise boundaries.
Operational commencement is not readily linked to a single date. Local enterprise companies' operations have commenced in all cases, with the business planning process, and they are increasingly involved in operational decisions both about individual projects and about matters such as the agreement of new contracts with training providers. The next stage will be for detailed operational contracts to be awarded to companies by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In general, these contracts will be awarded over the next few weeks and will result in local enterprise companies becoming fully operational on 1 April, the same date as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise take over full operational responsibility from their predecessor bodies.
Cash Limits
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to make any changes to the cash limits for 1990-91 within his responsibility.
Mr. Lang : Yes, I intend to make changes to eight of the cash limits within my responsibility as follows.
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Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 3, regional and general industrial support, will be increased by £10,460,000 from £140,716, 000 to £151,176,000. The increase is to provide for a special payment of grant in aid to the Scottish Development Agency to extinguish the residual public dividend capital and national loans fund debt prior to the establishment of Scottish Enterprise ; this has no net effect on public expenditure.Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 8, housing, Scotland will be increased by £8,957,000 from £316,364,000 to £325,321,000. The increase to Scottish Homes grant in aid will provide for the acquisition of stock from local authorities and new towns and for publicising the extension of the rents to mortgages scheme. The increases are partially offset by a reduced requirement for housing support grant due to lower interest rates.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 11, administration of justice, Scotland will be increased by £659,000 from £42,790,000 to £43,449,000. This increase reflects a partial take up of capital end year flexibility entitlement announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 25 July 1990 to meet expenditure on Aberdeen sheriff court delayed from last year.
The cash limit for class XV, vote 15, education, arts, libraries and social work, Scotland will be reduced by £900,000 from £233,975, 000 to £233,075,000. This reduction will partially offset the requirement for increased expenditure of £1,517,149 on the St. Helena ship being provided by the Overseas Development Administration. The remainder will be offset by further cash limits reductions of £617, 149 to be announced in due course.
The cash limit for class XV, vote 19, general register office for Scotland will be reduced by £200,000 from £7,621,000 to £7,421,000 and the running costs limit reduced by £200,000 from £8,391,000 to £8,191,000.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 20, Department of the Registers of Scotland will be increased by £1,560,000 from £1,000 to £1,561,000 to cover
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a shortfall in receipts. In addition, funds available for surrender to the consolidated fund as extra receipts will be reduced from £372, 000 to zero. These changes will be partially offset by further cash limit reductions totalling £414,851 to be announced in due course. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 21, Scottish Office administration will be increased by £217,000 from £130,152,000 to £130,369,000. Increased provision is required to reduce the backlog of regional medical service reference work and to meet extraordinary legal expenses. The additional expenditure will, however, be partially offset by a reduction in the cash limits for class XIV, vote 7. Increased provision is also required for expenditure on outward seconded staff but this will be offset by a corresponding increase in receipts. As a result of changes relating to the regional medical service and the running costs provision within class XV, vote 14 the running costs limit for the Scottish Office will be increased by £442,000 from £222,597,000 to £223,039,000.The non-voted cash limit SOLA2 will be reduced by £10,510,000 from £347,987,000 to £337,468,000. This is required to provide for the acquisition of stock by Scottish Homes from local authorities and new town development corporations.
These changes are within the forecast outturn for the planning total published today in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.
Abortions
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the number of abortions performed in (a) Scotland and (b) each of the health board areas in each of the past 10 years ; what percentage they represent of all categories ; and how many of the abortions were carried out after (i) 20 weeks, (ii) 24 weeks and (iii) 28 weeks.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Information about abortions in Scotland by health board of treatment and area of residence, and the statutory grounds under which they were carried out, is published annually in "Scottish Health Statistics", a copy of which is in the Library. The following table shows the numbers of abortions by gestational age for the period 1980-89.
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Estimated period of gestation (weeks) |Year of Termination
|1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20-23 |92 |84 |69 |65 |51 |41 |51 |53 |44 |26
24-27 |10 |6 |5 |6 |7 |5 |5 |6 |5 |3
28+ |- |1 |1 |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Roodlands Hospital, Haddington
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if the announcement by his predecessor, the right hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh, Pentlands (Mr. Rifkind), of 6 September 1990, concerning the provision of a 24-hour treatment service at the casualty unit at Roodlands hospital, Haddington, remains Government policy ;
(2) whether a 24-hour treatment service is provided at the casualty unit at Roodlands hospital, Haddington ; when he intends to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for East Lothian dated 21 December 1990 on that subject ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : I replied on 28 January to the letter of 21 December. My letter explained the full circumstances of the 24-hour casualty service which Lothian health board is providing in Haddington.
Scottish Food
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people are employed in the manufacture of Scottish food ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Allan Stewart : There were an estimated 43,200 people employed in firms employing more than 10 workers in Scotland in 1989 in the manufacture of food. The food
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manufacturing industry remains an important industry in Scotland employing more than one in 10 of all manufacturing employees.Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what plans he has to promote Scottish food abroad ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what were the reasons for the withdrawal of funds from Scottish Food Promotion ; who will carry out its functions in future ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Scottish Food Promotion Ltd. was established in 1987 with support from the Scottish milk marketing board, Scottish salmon board, Scotch Quality Beef and Lamb Association, and the Scottish Development Agency and Highlands and Islands development board. Support from the two development agencies was made on a reducing basis over a three -year period, with the expectation that funding from the private sector would eventually replace public support.
I understand that the SFP board decided to wind up the company when it was unable to attract funding for its new business plan. The promotion of sales by Scottish food and drink companies is primarily a matter for the companies themselves. The Government do provide support through Food From Britain and the Department of Trade and Industry. I understand that the SDA is considering what further public support is needed for Scottish companies and that it will maintain a Scottish presence at major food and drink trade shows.
Registers (Financial Control)
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the financial control arrangements for the registers of Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The registers of Scotland (ROS) was approved for exemption from gross running costs control from 1989-90 on the basis of meeting certain management, performance and financial targets, in particular that it should recover the full costs of its services each year. ROS has been unable to meet the cost recovery target this year and will require supplementary substantive provision for 1990-91.
Exemption has therefore been suspended for the remainder of 1990-91 with the result that changes in ROS gross expenditure and its funding have been subject to full Treasury scrutiny.
Net control (the successor to exemption) will resume from April 1991, subject to ROS making good the shortfall in income for 1990-91 in 1991-92.
Crown Office (Cash Limits)
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Lord Advocate proposes any changes to the Crown Office's cash and running costs limits for 1990-91.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class X, vote 13, will be increased by £1,365,000 from £28,369,000 to £29,734, 000. The Department's running costs limit will be increased by £1,378,000 from £21,701,000 to £23,079,000. This increase will enable the Crown Office to meet additional costs relating to an increase in staff numbers, higher than
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expected salary increases and the costs of a high level review of the Department recommended by the Public Accounts Committee. The increase is within the forecast outturn for the planning total published today in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.Grant-aided Colleges
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has determined the allocations of grant-in-aid for recurrent expenditure to grant-aided colleges in Scotland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The allocations are as follows :
|Offer
|1991-92
|£m
------------------------------------------------------
Craigie College of Education |1.198
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art |3.419
Dundee Institute of Technology |6.540
Edinburgh College of Art |3.126
Glasgow Polytechnic |14.525
Glasgow School of Art |2.993
Jordanhill College of Education |8.301
Moray House College of Education |6.259
Napier Polytechnic of Edinburgh |17.799
Northern College of Education |4.618
Paisley College of Technology |9.757
Queen's College, Glasgow |3.918
Queen Margaret College |4.413
Robert Gordon Institute of Technology |11.154
RSAMD |2.314
St. Andrew's College of Education |2.914
Scottish College of Textiles |2.107
The offers, which are conditional on parliamentary approval of the supply estimates, take account of the substantial increases in the tuition fees which colleges will receive for undergraduate students under the student awards system.
The system of determining grant-in-aid allocations distributes the funds available by reference to a funded number of students for each college, weighted by subject group. Some modifications in the funding system have been made for 1991-92 following consultation with the colleges, notably to transfer from grant-in-aid into aggregate external finance for local authorities most of the resources for in-service training of teachers at colleges of education ; and also to reflect more closely colleges' past performance in attracting and retaining students. In addition there are substantial inward transfers from other providers of courses in professions allied to medicine and the built environment. Not counting these transfers, the number of students for whom grant-in-aid provision has been made has been increased by about 7 per cent. in 1991-92 in recognition of the success of the sector in attracting additional students.
The grant allocations take account of the further substantial increases in the level of the publicly-funded undergraduate tuition fees to be paid to colleges as from September 1991 and, after adjusting for transfers, the allocations represent an increase in Government funding of about £20 million ; or 14 per cent. compared with the current year if colleges achieve their funded student enrolments. The table shows how grant-in-aid plus estimated tuition fees for funded students will change for individual colleges.
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Year-on-year comparison of grant-in-aid and tuition fees
Grant-in-aid plus
estimated tuition fees
for funded students
(£ million)
|1990-91 |1991-92 |Change
|Per cent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craigie College of Education |1.634 |1.850 |+13.2
Duncan of Jordanstone |4.994 |5.797 |+16.1
Dundee Institute of Technology |9.472 |10.469 |+10.5
Edinburgh College of Art |5.045 |5.494 |+8.9
Glasgow Polytechnic |16.659 |20.105 |+20.7
Glasgow School of Art |4.532 |5.005 |+10.4
Jordanhill College of Education |10.765 |11.892 |+10.5
Moray House College of
Education |8.059 |9.119 |+13.2
Napier Polytechnic of
Edinburgh |23.783 |27.251 |+14.6
Northern College of Education |6.070 |6.833 |+12.6
Paisley College of Technology |13.751 |15.611 |+13.5
Queen's College, Glasgow |4.113 |4.782 |+16.3
Queen Margaret College |6.061 |7.109 |+17.3
Robert Gordon Institute of
Technology |15.360 |17.814 |+16.0
RSAMD |2.924 |3.100 |+6.0
St. Andrew's College of
Education |3.759 |4.460 |+18.6
Scottish College of Textiles |3.117 |3.363 |+7.9
|--- |--- |---
All colleges |140.098 |160.054 |+14.2
Note: The inward transfers of resources for building courses and
courses for professions allied to medicine from other sectors, and
outward transfers of resources for in-service training of teachers are
excluded from the figures.
The allocations reflect the high priority which the Government are continuing to give to higher education. The funding levels will adequately cover cost increases and will also enable the colleges to continue to contribute to the rising participation in higher education of recent years. Colleges are free to recruit students above the levels on which grant-in- aid is based and can thus benefit from the increased tuition fee levels to be paid from public funds for those students who are entitled to students' awards.
EMPLOYMENT
Labour Statistics
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table indicating current unemployment levels in each urban development corporation area.
Mr. Jackson : Urban development corporation (UDC) boundaries do not correspond to areas for which unemployment figures are available. Unemployment figures for the travel-to-work areas which include the UDCs, for December 1990, are contained in the following table.
Urban development |TTWA |Total |<1>Rate
corporation |unemployed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
London Docklands |London |230,694 |5.8
Black Country |Walsall |12,307 |7.3
|Wolverhampton |12,994 |8.7
|Dudley and
|Sandwell |21,115 |7.3
Merseyside |Liverpool |63,743 |12.6
Tyne and Wear |South Tyneside |9,020 |15.5
|Sunderland |20,253 |11.0
Teeside |Stockton on Tees |8,357 |10.7
|Hartlepool |5,207 |13.3
|Middlesbrough |16,147 |11.5
Cardiff Bay |Cardiff |16,497 |7.1
Leeds |Leeds |23,325 |6.4
Central Manchester |Manchester |62,138 |7.3
Trafford Park
Sheffield |Sheffield |25,609 |8.9
Bristol |Bristol |20,548 |5.5
<1> Per cent. of workforce.
Sheltered Placement Scheme
Mr. Soley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement regarding his decision to stop the expansion of the sheltered placement scheme in 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson [holding answer 31 January 1991] : The sheltered placement scheme (SPS) is part of my Department's sheltered employment programme. Since 1985 the scheme has been extremely successful in offering people with severe disabilities a wide choice of employment opportunities.
In 1990-91 my Department is making available to local authorities and voluntary organisations £4.2 million more than the previous year to support jobs for people with severe disabilities. Our first priority in using this additional money has been to help maintain the jobs of existing SPS workers by increasing the grants paid to sponsors to assist in meeting their rising wage bills and administrative costs. In 1990-91 the scheme will support an average of 6,700 sheltered placement jobs throughout the country at an estimated cost of £15.7 million. Whilst there has been no increase in the number of SPS places in 1990-91, previous patterns of turnover indicate that some 1,000 existing places nationally are likely to become vacant to allow new entrants to join the scheme.
Cash Limits
Mr. Waller : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether any change will be made to his Department's cash limits or running costs limits for 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson [pursuant to his reply, 8 November 1990,c. 10] : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following further changes will be made :
The cash limit for class VI, vote 1 (training and enterprise programmes) will be reduced by £152,233,000 from £2,452,338,000 to £2,300,105,000. Of this reduction, £145,000,000 will be transferred to class VI, vote 2 to offset a £132,400,000 increase in European social fund payments to third parties and a number of other minor changes. In addition £4,217,000 is transferred to class VI, vote 5 for the sale of the STA. Further transfers result in a net decrease of £3,016,000.
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The cash limit for class VI, vote 2 (other programmes and central services), will be increased by £10,830,000 from £214,197,000 to £225,027,000. This increase is offset by a reduction on the class VI, vote 1 cash limit.The cash limit for class VI, vote 3 (employment service), will be increased by £24,000 from £415,304,000 to £415,328,000. This increase is offset by reductions on class VI, vote 1. The changes include the transfer of £658,000 from class VI, vote 1 in connection with the transfer of the employment rehabilitation service and increased provision of £93,000 for additional statistical work on the RPI. These increases are partly offset by receipts from the CSO and increased receipts as a result of the employment service revenue generation scheme.
The cash limit for class VI, vote 4 (Health and Safety Commission and Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), will increase by £1,242,000 from £137,211,000 to £138,453,000. This increase is offset by a reduction of the cash limit on class VI, vote 1. The main changes relate to a transfer of £1,500,000 from class VI, vote 1 to pay for higher staff relocation costs and the effects of the transfer of the railway inspectorate. These increases are partly offset by higher receipts.
The cash limit for class VI, vote 5 (Sale of Skills Training Agency), will increase by £4,217,000 from a token £1,000 to £4,218, 000. This increase is offset by reductions in the cash limit on class VI, vote 1. The increase is to fund the main sale expenditure of the Skills Training Agency, and to reflect a reduction in receipts due to delays in the sale of properties and leases.
As a result of these changes, the DE group cash limits will fall by £135,920,000. However, public expenditure will reduce by only £3,520, 000 because the £132,400,000 increase in ESF payments to third parties shown on class VI, vote 2 is due to its receipts which do not score in DE's cash limits but are included in public expenditure totals.
The running costs limit for the Department of Employment (Votes 1,2,3 and 5) will be increased by £25,726,000 from £916,267,000 to £941, 993,000.
The running costs limit for the Health and Safety Commission will increase by £1,680,000 from £100,621,000 to £102,301,000. These increases are within the forecast outturn for the planning total published today in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.
DEFENCE
Gulf War (Pay)
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the comparative rates of pay of reservist troops and regular troops, by rank, serving in the Gulf.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : All regulars and reservists serving in the Gulf receive the same basic rates of pay. However, reservists are entitled to a taxable supplement of up to 20 per cent. of service pay (and more in special cases) to help make up any loss of civilian earnings up to a maximum total ceiling, including service pay, of £55,000.
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Territorial Army Reservists
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply of 16 November to the hon. Member for Don Valley, Official Report, column 228, if he will make it his practice to keep central records of individual casualties among Territorial Army reservists.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces will write to the hon. Member.
Gulf War (Costs)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current estimated daily cost of the British presence in the Gulf arising from the invasion of Kuwait.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The current full daily operating cost of the British presence in the Gulf arising from the invasion of Kuwait is estimated to be over £4 million per day.
Gulf Oil Spills
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what protection is available to the United Nations Environment Programme global environment monitoring system studying oil spills in the Gulf.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The United Kingdom has received no request for any form of protection for UNEP global environment monitoring system personnel in the Gulf.
Prisoners of War
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the areas of Iraq that are sufficiently far from military action to constitute safe areas for prisoners of war under article 14 of the Geneva convention.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The targets being attacked by the coalition are sites which could pose a threat to allied forces or facilities supporting Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. Article 23 of the third Geneva convention states that no prisoner of war may at any time be sent to, or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone, nor may his presence be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations. Iraq has not yet provided any information to the International Committee of the Red Cross on the personnel being held or their location, nor permitted the ICRC to satisfy itself that they are being held in accordance with Iraq's obligations.
Cash Limits
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if there are any changes to the defence cash limits and running costs limits for 1990- 91.
Mr. Tom King : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary spring supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made :
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A (1) Defence Cash Limits £'000s Class and |Current Cash|Change |Revised Cash Vote |Limit |Limit ----------------------------------------------------------------- I, 1 |9,108,295 |+100,000 |9,208,295 I, 2 |8,944,597 |+196,728 |9,141,325 I, 3 |1,407,570 |+10,975 |1,418,545 I, 4 |1,930,960 |-87,901 |1,843,059 I, 5 |494,027 |+40,000 |534,027
These changes, which increase the block Defence cash limit by £259,802,000 from £21,885,449,000 to £22,145,251,000, are principally to cover costs arising from the deployments of British forces to the Gulf area. The changes also take account of a number of minor transfers between the Ministry of Defence and other Government Departments. They are consistent with the forecast outturn for the planning total published today in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.
(2) Running Costs Limit Within the block Defence cash limit the running costs limit for the Department will be increased by £66,011, 000 from £5,362,678,000 to £5,428,689,000. This is mainly for additional running costs being incurred on the Defence budget as a result of the crisis in the Gulf area.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Environmental Protection
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he made to Commissioner Ray MacSharry to seek to ensure that environmental protection measures are linked closely with production and budgetary reforms to the common agricultural policy being discussed by European Commissioners.
Mr. Curry : As my right hon. Friend the Minister made clear in his reply to the hon. Member for Bosworth on 23 January at column 247, we did not have the opportunity at the last meeting of the Agricultural Council to give our views on the EC Commission's ideas for reforming the common agricultural policy, but at next week's Council we intend to argue for the closer integration of agricultural and environmental policies.
Tourism
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations took place with representatives of the tourism industry before the abolition of capital grants for the provision of tourist accommodation under the farm diversification scheme.
Mr. Curry : In reaching a decision the Ministry took into account a range of views and considerations including those of the tourism industry.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has made to the European Commission to raise the levels of reimbursement for payments made in
environmentally sensitive areas in objective 1 and 5b areas of the United Kingdom.
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Mr. Curry : None, since any increase would be bound to apply to other member states. A general rise would increase the overall cost of existing schemes to the United Kingdom Exchequer without any direct benefit to United Kingdom farmers.
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to publish a consultation paper on reforms to bring about more explicit environmental benefits from the hill livestock compensatory allowances system.
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