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Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports were received in 1990 at British passport offices.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The number of passport applications received in 1990 was 3.37 million.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average length of waiting time for a British passport application completion for each month in 1990.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The average time, in working days, for the processing of a properly completed non-urgent British passport application for each month in 1990 is shown in the table.
|Working days
---------------------------------------
January |7.94
February |10.40
March |11.68
April |9.67
May |11.83
June |11.54
July |7.71
August |3.00
September |2.75
October |2.83
November |3.50
December |4.33
The average for the whole of 1990 was 7.27 working days. Urgent applications were processed more quickly, in accordance with travellers' needs.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the use of British passports after 1992.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : British nationals, as defined in accordance with EC law, will continue to be able to
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exercise their rights of free movement between European Community countries after 1992 on production of their passports.Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff work at each of the major passport offices in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The complement of permanent staff employed at each regional passport office as at 31 December 1990 is shown in the table :
|Number
---------------------------
London |202.5
Liverpool |269.5
Peterborough |212.5
Newport |212.0
Glasgow |202.0
Belfast |78.0
In addition, up to 320 temporary staff may be employed at these offices at periods of peak demand.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British visitor's passports were issued in each month of 1990.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The table shows the number of British visitor's passports issued between January and November 1990. The figures for December 1990 are not yet available.
|Number
--------------------------
January |81,560
February |97,721
March |123,232
April |192,963
May |202,764
June |243,450
July |387,657
August |270,894
September |200,620
October |139,284
November |66,780
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much new funding will be given to British passport offices in 1991-92 to improve services.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Proposed gross provision for the passport department, within the overall provision for Home Office vote 3, is £51.9 million for 1991-92 as compared to £41 million under the supply estimates for 1990-91, an increase of £10.9 million. The increased provision is to enable the department to deal with anticipated increases in demand from the public for passport services and to introduce improved working practices, including modifications to offices. There is also provision for improvements related to agency status, including new accounting systems, enhanced training, devolved personnel management and improved communications.
Police Cells
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the longest period a person has been held in a police cell in 1990 and 1989 ;
(2) how many people were held in police cells across Britain, by police authority, for the latest date when figures are available.
Column 31
Mrs. Rumbold : On Friday 1 February a total of 604 prisoners were held in police cells in the following police areas :
|Number
---------------------------------
Metropolitan |6
Cheshire |23
Derbyshire |10
Greater Manchester |252
Humberside |57
Kent |11
Lancashire |85
Merseyside |52
Northumbria |12
South Yorkshire |29
West Midlands |24
West Yorkshire |43
Information about the length of time which individual prisoners have spent in police cells is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Child Seat Belts
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have arisen from child safety restraints not being used in cars since the Act came into force.
Mr. John Patten : The information collected centrally does not separately distinguish between the various seat belt offences. Between 1983 and the end of 1989 there were 81,475 proceedings at magistrates courts in England and Wales for seat belt offences under the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) Regulations 1982 and the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts by Children) Regulations 1982 and later legislation. Since 1 October 1986, the police have also been able to issue fixed penalty notices for seat belts offences, and by the end of 1989 about 280,000 notices for seat belts offences had been issued.
Television Licences
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is proposed to phase-out black and white television licences ; and what consideration has been given to arrangements to cushion the impact for those on low incomes.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are not for the present planning to take a decision on the recent suggestion by the consultants Price Waterhouse that the differential between the colour and black and white television licence fees should be phased out. When we come to do so we will consider the effects on those who currently buy black and white licences.
War Crimes
Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to bring forward legislation on war crimes.
Mr. John Patten : The Government have made clear their commitment to the reintroduction of the War Crimes Bill this Session.
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Prison Officers
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers (a) joined and (b) left the prison service in each of the years 1983 to 1990 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The numbers who have joined and left the prison officer grades--main grade, senior officer and principal officer--are as follows :
|(a) Joined |(b) Left<1>
------------------------------------------------
1983 |1,189 |599
1984-85 |1,235 |652
1985-86 |997 |771
1986-87 |934 |614
1987-88 |1,664 |644
1988-89 |2,372 |794
1989-90 |1,555 |936
<1> Mainly retirements but the figures include
those leaving the service for other reasons as
well as those who left the officer grades on
promotion to the governor grades.
The prison service has been recruiting an unprecedented number of new prison officers since the introduction of fresh start in 1987. There are now over 20 per cent. more prison officers in post than in April 1987. The service has no difficulty in attracting sufficient numbers of suitable recruits and remains on course to meet all the targets set when fresh start was introduced.
Immigration
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the case of Mr. AA (Ref. : A413117/2(S) ) was referred to Greater Manchester police for inquiry ; and what was the cause of delays in processing this case up to this point.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The reasons for the delay were explained to the hon. Member in a letter of 16 October 1989 from my right hon. Friend the then Minister of State and in my letter of 3 January 1991. The case was not referred to the police by Home Office officials.
Slot Machines
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he is giving to the extension of licensing arrangements to cover amusement-only slot machines installed in shops and eating places ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : None. Such machines do not come under the Gaming Act 1968 since they do not constitute gambling. The results of the Home Office research study "Amusement Machines Dependency and Delinquency", published in July 1988, provided no grounds to justify extending legislative controls to amusement-only slot machines and we have received no reliable new evidence since to contradict this finding.
Capital Offences
Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of persons who have been found guilty of offences which were deemed capital offences prior to the abolition of the death penalty in 1965, for each year since 1975 ; and if he will show against such figures the percentage change year on year.
Column 33
Mr. John Patten : No such figures are available in the absence of a specific court decision. Under the Homicide Act 1957 only the court, with full details of the case, could determine whether any particular offence was capital and since 1965 no such determination has been made.Criminal Justice Bill
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to the views expressed by the chief constables of Thames Valley and Manchester in relation to possible consequences arising out of implementation of clause 25 of the Criminal Justice Bill.
Mr. John Patten : I am informed that the chief constables of Thames Valley and Greater Manchester have not made comments to the Home Office on clause 25 of the Criminal Justice Bill.
Detainees
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are currently detained on grounds of national security within the terms of the Immigration Act 1971 ; where they are held ; and what right of appeal they have exercised.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Fifty-two are currently detained under the Immigration Act 1971 following service of notice of intention to make a deportation order for reasons of national security. They are detained in HM prisons and 31 are in Pentonville, 12 are in Wormwood Scrubs, eight in Full Sutton and one in Holloway. All 52 have forwarded representations, which are under consideration, and 51 have currently applied to appear before the advisory panel provided for in paragraph 157 of the "Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules"--HC 251.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the estimated cost, in total, of moving Iraqi and Palestinian detainees from Yorkshire to Pentonville prison on 31 January for appeal hearings, and their subsequent return.
Mrs. Rumbold : Police and prison services escorting costs from Full Sutton to Pentonville prisons on 31 January, including vehicle hire, are estimated at approximately £7,300. Return journey costs cannot yet be estimated.
Mr. Abdul Al-Ghazzi
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there are any restrictions on Mr. Abdul Al-Ghazzi's travel rights within the United Kingdom.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are unable to trace any record of a Mr. Abdul Al-Ghazzi without further identifying particulars.
Cash Limits
Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to make any changes to the Charity Commission cash limit and running cost limit for 1990-91.
Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to make any changes to the 1990-91 cash limits within his responsibilities and to his Department's running costs limit.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : I would refer my hon. Friends to the reply I gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Mr. Hayes) on 1 February at columns 659-60.
Nigerian Offenders
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many male and female prisoners in England and Wales who emanated from Nigeria are currently serving a sentence or are being held on remand ; and what percentage of each group was involved in drug offences.
Mrs. Rumbold [holding answer 25 January 1991] : On 30 June 1990, the latest date for which information is readily available, an estimated 430 male and 100 female sentenced prisoners were known to be citizens of Nigeria ; however, the recording of nationality is not always reliable. About 80 per cent. of the males and 60 per cent. of the females were known to have been sentenced for drugs offences. Information about offence and nationality is not recorded centrally for the remand population.
Prison Population
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the ethnic composition of (a) the remand and (b) the sentenced prison population, for males and females in England and Wales for the latest date available.
Mrs. Rumbold [holding answer 25 January 1991] : The readily available information is given in the table. The information is published annually in "Prison statistics, England and Wales", Table 1.11 of the 1989 issue, Cm. 1221, copies of which are available in the Library.
Column 33
Population<1> of Prison Service establishments in England and Wales on 30 September 1990: by type of prisoner, sex and ethnic origin
Type of prisoner and sex |White |West Indian, |Indian, |Chinese, Arab, |Other, not |Total number of
|Guyanese, |Pakistani, |Mixed origin |recorded |persons in
|African |Bangladeshi |(including |establishments
|refusals)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Males
Untried |5,632 |923 |192 |176 |251 |7,174
Convicted unsentenced |1,532 |158 |36 |33 |49 |1,808
Sentenced |27,915 |3,485 |973 |616 |702 |33,691
Non-criminal |92 |66 |19 |13 |15 |205
-------
All prisoners |35,171 |4,632 |1,220 |838 |1,017 |42,878
Females
Untried |208 |53 |7 |21 |17 |306
Convicted unsentenced |73 |8 |2 |4 |2 |89
Sentenced |777 |303 |26 |40 |51 |1,197
Non-criminal |5 |3 |- |1 |- |9
-------
All prisoners |1,063 |367 |35 |66 |70 |1,601
<1>Provisional. The figures are those recorded centrally and are approximate.
Solvent Abuse
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons under the age of (a) 25 years, (b) 21 years and (c) 18 years have died as a result of lighter fuel sniffing, on an annual basis, nationally and regionally.
Mr. Dorrell : I have been asked to reply.
The most complete data on this topic are those collected by the national study of deaths associated with abuse of volatile substances carried out by the St. George's hospital medical school and the data shown are from that study. 1989 data are provisional.
Deaths associated with the abuse of volatile substances
Lighter fuel deaths by age and standard region
Standard region |Under 25 |Of which |Of which
|under 21 |under 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983-89
North |24 |24 |20
North-West |26 |23 |16
Yorkshire and Humberside |25 |23 |21
East Midlands |15 |14 |14
West Midlands |20 |17 |14
East Anglia |3 |3 |1
South East |54 |49 |38
South West |7 |7 |5
England |174 |160 |129
Wales |9 |7 |5
Scotland |37 |32 |25
Northern Ireland |2 |2 |2
Total |222 |201 |161
1983
North |0 |0 |0
North West |3 |2 |2
Yorkshire and Humberside |2 |1 |1
East Midlands |1 |1 |1
West Midlands |0 |0 |0
East Anglia |0 |0 |0
South East |3 |3 |3
South West |1 |1 |0
England |10 |8 |7
Wales |0 |0 |0
Scotland |7 |6 |4
Northern Ireland |0 |0 |0
Total |17 |14 |11
1984
North |6 |6 |6
North West |2 |2 |2
Yorkshire and Humberside |2 |2 |1
East Midlands |0 |0 |0
West Midlands |1 |0 |0
East Anglia |0 |0 |0
South East |7 |7 |4
South West |0 |0 |0
England |18 |17 |13
Wales |4 |4 |4
Scotland |3 |3 |1
Northern Ireland |1 |1 |1
Total |26 |25 |19
1985
North |1 |1 |0
North West |4 |4 |3
Yorkshire and Humberside |5 |5 |5
East Midlands |2 |1 |1
West Midlands |2 |2 |2
East Anglia |0 |0 |0
South East |5 |4 |3
South West |1 |1 |1
England |20 |18 |15
Wales |0 |0 |0
Scotland |7 |7 |7
Northern Ireland |0 |0 |0
|-- |-- |--
Total |27 |25 |22
1986
North |3 |3 |2
North West |4 |4 |1
Yorkshire and Humberside |2 |2 |1
East Midlands |1 |1 |1
West Midlands |5 |5 |5
East Anglia |0 |0 |0
South East |8 |8 |7
South West |0 |0 |0
England |23 |23 |17
Wales |1 |1 |0
Scotland |5 |4 |4
Northern Ireland |0 |0 |0
|-- |-- |--
Total |29 |28 |21
1987
North |2 |2 |2
North West |4 |4 |2
Yorkshire and Humberside |4 |4 |4
East Midlands |0 |0 |0
West Midlands |2 |2 |0
East Anglia |1 |1 |0
South East |11 |10 |7
South West |0 |0 |0
England |24 |23 |15
Wales |2 |0 |0
Scotland |7 |6 |5
Northern Ireland |0 |0 |0
|-- |-- |--
Total |33 |29 |20
1988
North |6 |6 |6
North West |5 |4 |4
Yorkshire and Humberside |6 |5 |5
East Midlands |4 |4 |4
West Midlands |5 |4 |4
East Anglia |0 |0 |0
South East |14 |12 |9
South West |1 |1 |1
England |41 |36 |33
Wales |2 |2 |1
Scotland |8 |6 |4
Northern Ireland |1 |1 |1
|-- |-- |--
Total |52 |45 |39
1989
North |6 |6 |4
North West |4 |3 |2
Yorkshire and Humberside |4 |4 |4
East Midlands |7 |7 |7
West Midlands |5 |4 |3
East Anglia |2 |2 |1
South East |6 |5 |5
South West |4 |4 |3
England |38 |35 |29
Wales |0 |0 |0
Scotland |0 |0 |0
Northern Ireland |0 |0 |0
|-- |-- |--
Total |38 |35 |29
ENVIRONMENT
Planning Policy
Sir Barney Hayhoe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he intends to publish new planning policy guidance notes to replace the existing PPG3 "Land for Housing."
Sir George Young : Yes. A draft revised planning policy guidance note on housing, PPG 3, was issued for consultation by my Department in the autumn of 1989. This attracted several hundred responses which raised a number of important and complex issues requiring careful consideration. My right hon. Friend hopes to be in a position to publish the revised guidance in final form shortly.
Housing, Newham
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the amounts allocated to the London borough of Newham's housing investment programme in each year from 1979 to 1991 inclusive, indicating the change as a percentage each year in real terms.
Mr. Yeo : The information requested is as follows. Since 1981-82 authorities have been able to augment the borrowing power of their HIP allocations by using the prescribed proportion of their capital receipts. For 1990-91 and 1991-92, under the new capital finance system, the HIP allocation does not convey borrowing approval directly.
Housing investment programme allocations for
London borough of Newham (£ thousands)
|Cash |Real terms<1>|Percentage
|change<2>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1978-79 |18,875 |50,558 |-
1979-80 |25,887 |59,428 |+18
1980-81 |25,756 |49,967 |-16
1981-82 |15,482 |27,391 |-45
1982-83 |22,162 |36,608 |+34
1983-84 |20,361 |32,147 |-12
1984-85 |23,310 |35,024 |+ 9
1985-86 |21,574 |30,741 |-12
1986-87 |23,179 |31,937 |+ 4
1987-88 |20,719 |27,073 |-15
1988-89 |23,745 |28,916 |+ 7
1989-90 |20,915 |23,943 |-17
1990-91 |26,094 |27,660 |<3>+16
1991-92 |23,333 |23,333 |<4>-16
<1> Expressed in 1991-92 prices.
<2> Percentage change over previous year in real terms.
<3> Provisional.
<4> Initial allocation only.
Reservoirs
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to implement the provisions of the Reservoirs Act 1975 ; and if he proposes to introduce any additional measures.
Mr. Baldry : The provisions of the Reservoirs Act 1975 have been implemented in England, Wales and Scotland in stages with effect from 8 November 1983 to 1 April 1986. No additional measures are currently proposed.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the capacity of each dam in England which falls within the scope of the Reservoirs Act 1975 ; and if he will give, in each case, the name of the undertaker.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many dams in each county in England fall within the scope of the Reservoirs Act 1975.
Mr. Baldry : The number of dams by local government authority falling within the scope of the Reservoirs Act 1975 is shown in the table. The information was obtained from reports as at 1 April 1989 made to the Secretary of State by local authorities, as enforcement authorities under the Act.
Shire Councils |Number
------------------------------------------------
Avon |18
Bedfordshire |12
Berkshire |15
Buckinghamshire |19
Cambridgeshire |19
Cheshire |33
Cleveland |23
Cornwall |13
Cumbria |46
Derbyshire |71
Devon |33
Dorset |6
Durham |20
East Sussex |26
Essex |37
Gloucestershire |22
Hampshire |35
Hereford and
Worcestershire |46
Hertfordshire |21
Humberside |13
Isle of Wight |0
Kent |18
Lancashire |113
Leicestershire |19
Lincolnshire |19
Norfolk |17
Northamptonshire |25
Northumberland |35
Oxfordshire |13
Shropshire |32
Somerset |17
Staffordshire |49
Suffolk |15
Surrey |54
Warwickshire |28
West Sussex |23
Wiltshire |11
Isles of Scilly |0
|---
Total |1,104
Metropolitan district
councils
-----------------------
Barnsley |16
Birmingham |19
Bolton |13
Bradford |26
Bury |13
Calderdale |29
Coventry |1
Doncaster |2
Dudley |6
Gateshead |0
Kirklees |27
Knowsley |2
Leeds |10
Liverpool |3
Manchester |5
Newcastle |1
North Tyneside |0
Oldham |18
Rochdale |25
Rotherham |11
St. Helens |10
Salford |2
Sandwell |3
Sefton |0
Sheffield |22
Solihull |4
South Tyneside |0
Stockport |3
Sunderland |0
Tameside |18
Trafford |1
Wakefield |9
Walsall |3
Wigan |3
Wirral |1
Wolverhampton |0
TOTAL |307
In addition, there were 59 dams within the Greater London area.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what remedial works have been carried out to dams in England under the terms of the Reservoirs Act 1975 ; and what was the expenditure involved in each case.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions have been made under the provisions of the Reservoirs Act 1975 ; what were the alleged offences ; and in how many cases such prosecutions were successful.
Column 40
Mr. Baldry : One prosecution under the provisions of the Reservoirs Act 1975, in 1989, has been reported by the enforcement authorities. The alleged offences were non-compliance with notices requiring works to a reservoir following an inspection and failure to appoint a supervising engineer. The prosecution was successful. The reports due on 1 April this year will disclose any further prosecutions that have taken place since 1989.
Nursery Places, Lambeth
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assumptions he makes about the need for the provision of nursery places in Lambeth in the proposed revenue support grant settlement.
Mr. Key : Allowance is made for nursery provision within the standard spending assessment for social services for children. The assessment for Lambeth is calculated in the same way as for other authorities, on the basis of the formula set out in paragraph 3.19 of the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) as amended by the Revenue Support Grant Distribution (Amendment) Report (England) debated and approved by the House on 29 January.
Underused Land
Dr. Hampson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the 10 largest local authority owners of underused land in England.
Mr. Yeo : Complete up-to-date information is not available.
Gasworks (Benzene)
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of former gaswork and gasometer sites that are known to be contaminated with benzene.
Mr. Trippier : The Department keeps no such records centrally. In 1988 the Department published a report entitled "Problems arising from the Redevelopment of Gasworks and Similar Sites" in which it was estimated that the total number of sites in the United Kingdom formerly used for coal-gas production could be about 3,000. Benzene is a possible by-product of the processes sometimes associated with former gasworks sites.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 local authorities will be placed under a duty to keep registers of potentially contaminated sites including former gasworks sites.
Unleaded Petrol
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps the Government are undertaking to encourage the sale of unleaded petrol.
Mr. Baldry : The Government increased the duty differential in favour of unleaded petrol in last year's Budget--the third successive budget increase. Regulations came into force last October which require all new cars to be capable of running on unleaded petrol. From the end of 1992, all new cars will be required to have catalytic convertors, which necessitate the use of unleaded petrol.
Column 41
Thamesmead
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he now plans to open the public inquiry into the proposed development of Thamesmead town centre.
Mr. Yeo : The inquiry will open on 30 April.
Public Inquiries, East London
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to receive the report of the inspector on the public inquiries into the east London river crossing and the London city airport.
Mr. Yeo : As soon as both inspectors have completed their reports.
Defective Housing
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment following the submission of new evidence to his Department, if he will review the case for designating the Truscon RD27 houses in Storrington avenue, Liverpool under the housing defects legislation.
Mr. Yeo : No. The additional material received by my Department does not contain any new evidence which would alter the original decision.
Cliffe Marshes, Kent
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will call in the proposals by the Port of London Authority to dump dredgings on Cliffe marshes, Kent.
Mr. Yeo : My right hon. Friend has today called in for his own determination the proposals by the Port of London Authority for the formation of silt lagoons and associated works on land at Cliffe marshes, Rochester, Kent.
Gloucester Grove Estate
Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) when he will decide on the Estate Action programme bid from the London borough of Southwark in respect of the Gloucester Grove estate ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what discussions he has had with the London borough of Southwark concerning the Estate Action programme on the Gloucester Grove estate ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : The Department is currently considering bids submitted by local authorities for Estate Action support during 1991-92. This involves a detailed assessment of the relative merits of a large number of proposed schemes. Officials have discussed with council officers the London borough of Southwark's bid for a scheme at Gloucester Grove and these discussions will be taken into account in arriving at a decision on the council's application. An announcement about those schemes to be worked up as firm Estate Action proposals will be made shortly.
EC Directives
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will update the answer given to the hon. Member for Houghton and Washington (Mr. Boyes)
Column 42
in the Official Report of 29 January 1987, columns 388-402, on EC directives and sub-directives relating to environmental improvement.Mr. Trippier : The list of measures concerned with environmental protection which have been adopted by the European Community since August 1967, has today been placed in the Library of the House.
Local Government Contracts
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in issuing section 13 notices under the Local Government Act 1988, he takes into consideration whether councillors have ignored council officers' advice in the awarding of a contract ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : When my right hon. Friend considers whether to issue a notice under section 13 of the Local Government Act 1988 on the ground that it appears to him that an authority has acted in contravention of section 7(7) of that Act, he takes into consideration all matters which are relevant to the question of whether the authority has acted in a manner having the effect, or likely or intended to have the effect, of restricting, distorting or preventing competition. He considers the actual, intended or likely effect of the authority's decision to carry out work through its direct services organisation.
Councillors may choose, as they think fit, whether to follow their officers' advice and, provided their decision does not appear to my right hon. Friend to contravene the requirements of the Act, he sees no relevance in the fact that they have chosen not to follow officers' advice.
Gulf Oil Slick
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what response he has had from the OECD in relation to the Gulf oil slick.
Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 1 February 1991] : The communique issued by the Environment Ministers of the OECD countries on 31 January included the following :
"In their statement on the environmental situation in the Gulf, Ministers condemned Iraq's recourse to the destruction of the environment as a weapon and pledged to strengthen the capacity of the international community to prevent and confront environmental disasters, taking particular account of the situation of developing countries. This would encompass, in co- operation with UNEP, the IMO and other relevant international organisations, the strengthening of international principles and agreements, and the reinforcing of technological and institutional response capacities as well as the possible establishment of liability verification and claims settlement procedures. In particular, Ministers stressed the urgency of an early and full implementation of the IMO Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness Response and Co-operation with relevant United Nations and other bodies, to develop a regularly updated register of information on technological and institutional response capacities." I warmly welcome this statement. The pledge to strengthen the future response capacity of the inter-national community is in line with the initiative I put forward in the House on 28 January at column 656.
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