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Mr. Needham : The average increases were :
|£
---------------
1979 |0.83
1980 |1.60
1981 |2.72
1982 |1.88
1983 |0.72
1984 |0.64
1985 |0.55
1986 |0.71
1987 |0.55
1988 |1.60
1989 |1.75
1990 |1.94
1991 |1.73
Waste Recycling
Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he is considering introducing financial measures to encourage the introduction of new processes and plants to recycle waste products.
Mr. Needham : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry provides grant support to industry in Great Britain under the environmental technology innovation scheme for research into a range of environmental issues including recycling of industrial and
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household waste. Grant is not available for new plant using existing technology. Consideration is being given to ways of providing similar support in Northern Ireland.Hospital Wards and Beds
Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make funds available to enable wards and beds, closed permanently or temporarily, to be reopened.
Mr. Hanley : Resources of £830 million will be available to health and social services boards in Northern Ireland in 1991-92, an increase of almost £84 million on the current year. It is a matter for boards to determine the distribution of their resources across the various programmes of care.
Bed closures in the last five years have been in line with the targets set in the Department's regional strategy and have been achieved through improvements in performance resulting in a more efficient use of beds and other resources. Over the same period the total number of patients treated increased by more than 12 per cent. to 315,962 and the total number of operations by 15 per cent. to 274, 172.
Fraud
Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many fraud cases were taken by the DHSS in Northern Ireland over the last five years.
Mr. Hanley : A total of 5,693.
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Housing Executive
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how far copies of electoral registers are available to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive district offices ; and if he will take steps to improve the accuracy of the executive's records of occupancy, through use of the electoral register.
Mr. Needham : This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I am advised by its chief executive that staff in district offices consult the electoral register as and when required. The electoral register cannot, however, be used as the sole means of checking occupancy as it is compiled once a year and is not therefore always up to date.
Cardiac Surgery
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients in Northern Ireland are on current waiting lists for cardiac surgery at the Royal Victoria hospital, Belfast.
Mr. Hanley : At 30 September 1990 there were 833.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients have been removed from lists of those awaiting cardiac surgery as a result of death during the waiting period in the last three years.
Larne-Belfast Road (Accidents)
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) road accidents, (b) fatalities and (c) serious injuries have occurred in each of the last 10 years on the Larne-Belfast road between Corr's corner and Larne harbour.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is as follows :
|Number of|Persons |Persons
|Accidents|Killed |Seriously
|Injured
--------------------------------------------------
1980 |19 |- |6
1981 |27 |- |14
1982 |20 |2 |11
1983 |18 |- |7
1984 |22 |- |7
1985 |22 |3 |5
1986 |33 |1 |17
1987 |33 |4 |11
1988 |40 |5 |23
1989 |52 |1 |20
1990 |42 |4 |14
Larne Borough Council
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will outline the reasons underlying the receipt by Larne borough council of relatively low amounts of general grant paid to district councils in each of the last 10 years ; and what consideration he has given to revising the formula for general grant to achieve more equitable distribution.
Mr. Needham : General Exchequer grant (GEG) payable by the Department of the Environment (NI) to
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district councils is calculated in accordance with a statutory formula set out in article 3 of, and schedule 1 to, the Local Government etc (Northern Ireland) Order 1972. The calculation is dependent on the population, rateable valuations and the penny rate product of a district in a particular year.The GEG is divided into two parts :
i. the derating element which recompenses councils for loss of income due to the statutory derating of certain hereditaments ; and ii. the resources element which provides additional finance to those councils whose valuation resources per head of population is below a standard determined by the Department.
The amount of GEG paid to Larne borough council was calculated strictly in accordance with the statutory formula. There is no evidence to suggest that the formula results in an inequitable distribution of GEG and there are no plans at present to revise it.
Policy Co-ordination Committee
Mr. Clifford Forsythe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times the policy co-ordination committee met between June 1987 and June 1990 ; and what subjects were discussed.
Dr. Mawhinney : The policy co-ordinating committee is an interdepartmental committee of officials which meets regularly to consider issues of common concern to Departments. By convention discussions between officials are internal to Government.
Mortgage Repossessions
Mr. Clifford Forsythe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Housing Executive dwellings sold to sitting tenants were returned to Housing Executive control because occupiers were unable to keep up mortgage payments ; and how many such dwellings were returned to housing stock for letting.
Mr. Needham : This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I have been advised by its chief executive that no houses previously sold to sitting tenants who have been unable to keep up mortgage payments have been returned to Housing Executive control.
Ministerial Meetings
Mr. Clifford Forsythe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times all the Northern Ireland Office Ministers met together between June 1987 and June 1990.
Mr. Brooke : I meet the members of my ministerial team, both individually and together, frequently. It would not be practical to count the number of these occasions since 1987.
Alzheimer's Disease
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of Alzheimer's disease have been identified within Northern Ireland ; how many sufferers are (a) hospitalised, (b) in residential/nursing homes and (c) being cared for by relatives ; and whether he proposes to increase financial support for sufferers cared for by relatives in their own homes.
Mr. Hanley : It is estimated that about one in 10 of all people over age 65 in Northern Ireland suffers from
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dementia. Of these, about 80 per cent. are affected by Alzheimer's disease with or without another condition. Thus approximately 15,500 people are likely to be affected by the disease. Information about the location of patients in hospital, residential or nursing homes or in the community is not available.Attendance allowance and mobility allowance help people including Alzheimer's sufferers with the extra costs of being disabled provided they satisfy the relevant conditions. The introduction of disability living allowance in 1992 will extend help to people less severely disabled who at present do not qualify for attendance allowance or mobility allowance. In addition the carer premium payable to carers on income support or housing benefit will be increased from £10 to £10.80 a week from 8 April 1991, the date from which there will be a general benefits uprating.
The Government's policy on community care set out in "People First" aims to promote the development of a range of flexible and sensitive services in a variety of settings to meet the needs of vulnerable people. It recognises the valuable contribution that family, relatives and friends make to community care and aims to ensure that practical support for carers is accorded a high priority.
Local Government Superannuation
Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons have applied for added years under paragraph (i), (ii) and (iii) of article 16 of the Local Government (Superannuation) (Amendment) Regulations (NI) 1985 ; and how many such applications have been refused.
Mr. Needham : Determination of superannuation rights is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland local government officers superannuation committee, a statutory body charged with the administration of the superannuation fund. No records are held by the Department and it is not therefore possible to provide the information requested.
Student Loans
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list those organisations and the specific number of individuals who have expressed support to the Department of Education for the introduction of student loans in Northern Ireland.
Dr. Mawhinney : Since the publication of the White Paper "Top-Up loans for Students" (Cm520) in November 1988, some 480
representations expressing a variety of views have been received from various sources. Of these 452 were postcards sent in pursuance of a campaign mounted by student unions.
Social Security
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which social security offices in Northern Ireland are taking telephone inquiries or representations in restricted hours ; what restrictions are involved ; on what date they came into operation, and what is their projected duration.
Mr. Hanley : There are three social security offices in Northern Ireland where the telephone service to the
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income support section is restricted. These are Corporation street (Belfast), Londonderry and Newtownabbey. Telephone inquiries are not accepted between the hours of 12.30 pm and 5 pmThe restriction came into effect in September 1990 and is expected to be lifted soon.
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the problems which have led to time restrictions being placed on social security offices' acceptance of telephone calls and on the problems caused for claimants and welfare advice centres by these restrictions.
Mr. Hanley : The recent introduction of a computer system for income support necessitated a massive training and conversion programme. Despite the extra measures provided to compensate for the inevitable disruption, a few social security offices found it difficult to maintain their full services and telephone inquiries were subsequently restricted.
Although this may have caused some inconvenience, a full caller and correspondence service continued to operate for both claimants and welfare advice agencies.
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the action which is being considered to help reduce backlogs of work in local social security offices and to end restrictions on acceptance of telephone inquiries.
Mr. Hanley : Extra overtime and additional staff have been allocated to the three social security offices where, because of pressure of work, telephone restrictions are in operation. Officials in the Department of Health and Social Security are keeping the position under close review and it is hoped that the restrictions will end shortly.
Electricity Supply
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications to obtain supply of electricity from the Irish Republic have been made by (1) householders and (2) commercial undertakings in each of the last 10 years ; how many have been granted and refused in each of those years ; to how many premises in the Irish Republic the Northern Ireland Electricity Service has made a supply available in each of those years ; and what is the total number of properties in Northern Ireland which receive their supply from the Republic and vice versa.
Mr. Needham : The following numbers of householders and commercial undertakings in Northern Ireland applied to obtain a supply of electricity from the Irish Republic during the period 1 February 1981 to 31 January 1991 :
Year commencing |Households |Commercial 1 February |undertakings ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1981 |1 |- 1982 |- |- 1983 |1 |- 1984 |1 |- 1985 |- |- 1986 |- |1 1987 |3 |- 1988 |1 |2 1989 |- |- 1990 |1 |-
Two applications (both by commercial undertakings) were refused, one each in 1986 and 1988. I know of no premises in the Republic of Ireland which receive a supply of electricity from NIE. Information on the total number of properities in Northern Ireland which receive their supply from the Republic is not available.
Clenbuteral
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has any plans to make the drug Clenbuteral a prohibited substance.
Mr. Hanley : The use of the drug Clenbuteral is already prohibited under the Medicines Act 1968 except where prescribed by a veterinary surgeon for therapeutic purposes in horses and bovines.
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many seizures, of what quantities, of the drug Clenbuteral have been made in Northern Ireland during the past year ; and in what areas the seizures were made.
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Mr. Hanley : There have been two seizures as follows :
Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone :--32 500 ml plastic containers of the drug in liquid form.
Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone :--13 1 kilo plastic bags of the drug in powder form.
Mr. William, Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether any deaths in Northern Ireland during the past two years have been attributed to the use of the drug Clenbuteral by livestock owners which was inhaled during the feeding of the drug to cattle.
Mr. Hanley : None of which we are aware.
Action for Community Employment
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons were employed on ACE schemes in each council district in Northern Ireland at 1 January and 1 July in each of the past two years.
Mr. Needham : The information requested is as follows :
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Filled places on ACE
District council |1 January 1989 |1 July 1989 |1 January 1990 |1 July 1990
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belfast |2,814 |3,285 |3,452 |3,311
North Down |119 |149 |185 |186
Lisburn |345 |382 |479 |412
Newtownards |148 |184 |210 |181
Down |195 |190 |211 |193
Castlereagh |115 |145 |153 |132
Carrickfergus |184 |197 |207 |191
Larne |107 |124 |121 |110
Ballymena |162 |198 |209 |232
Antrim |186 |204 |202 |203
Moyle |81 |114 |132 |127
Coleraine |128 |214 |224 |220
Magherafelt |171 |222 |247 |232
Ballymoney |67 |128 |171 |167
Newtownabbey |236 |324 |353 |342
Cookstown |145 |171 |171 |168
Dungannon |357 |382 |391 |388
Armagh |138 |234 |281 |245
Banbridge |95 |110 |127 |116
Craigavon |328 |356 |371 |373
Newry and Mourne |561 |639 |648 |611
Derry |747 |985 |1,050 |883
Limavady |95 |118 |185 |196
Strabane |226 |314 |307 |298
Fermanagh |243 |278 |316 |296
Omagh |224 |223 |255 |233
|---- |---- |---- |----
Totals |8,217 |9,870 |10,658 |10,046
Education
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the level of funding for universities, teacher education colleges and further education colleges in Northern Ireland for the past five years (a) in real terms and (b) in terms of resources per student together with the numbers of students both full time and part time.
Dr. Mawhinney [holding answer 25 February 1991] : The information is as follows :
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Recurrent grant
Financial years (1 April to 31 March)
Real terms
|Universities|Colleges |Further |Total
|of |education
|education |colleges
Year |£'000s |£'000s |£'000s |£'000s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |76,956 |6,279 |59,769 |143,004
1986-87 |75,541 |5,884 |63,386 |144,811
1987-88 |79,683 |6,346 |66,008 |152,037
1988-89 |79,717 |6,476 |68,817 |155,010
1989-90 |82,194 |6,788 |<1>65,021 |154,003
<1>Figures for 1989-90 exclude academic salary increases paid in 1990-91.
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Student numbers
Academic years (1 August to 31 July)
Universities Colleges of educationFurther education colleges
Year |F/T |P/T |FTE |F/T |P/T |FTE |F/T |P/T |FTE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |14,622|5,224 |17,495|1,130 |n/a |n/a |15,139|39,931|25
1986-87 |14,973|5,123 |17,791|1,189 |n/a |n/a |15,699|37,595|26
1987-88 |15,505|5,339 |18,441|1,271 |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |28
1988-89 |15,976|5,527 |19,016|1,355 |n/a |n/a |15,619|41,089|30
1989-90 |16,503|5,881 |19,738|1,410 |n/a |n/a |17,062|41,622|31
Notes: F/T, P/T and FTE denote respectively full-time, part-time and
full-time equivalent students.
Part-time student numbers for the colleges of education are not available.
Student numbers
Academic years (1 August to 31 July)
Universities Colleges of education Further education colleges
Year F/T P/T FTE F/T P/T FTE F/T P/T FTE
1985-86 14,622 5,224 17,495 1,130 n/a n/a 15,139 39,931 25 1986-87 14,973 5,123 17,791 1,189 n/a n/a 15,699 37,595 26 1987-88 15,505 5,339 18,441 1,271 n/a n/a n/a n/a 28
1988-89 15,976 5,527 19,016 1,355 n/a n/a 15,619 41,089 30 1989-90 16,503 5,881 19,738 1,410 n/a n/a 17,062 41,622 31 Notes : F/T, P/T and FTE denote respectively full-time, part-time and full-time-equivalent students.
Part-time student numbers for the colleges of education are not available.
Recurrent grant per student, real terms
Universities Colleges of education Further education colleges
Year |Grant |FTE |Grant |Grant |F/T |Grant |Grant |FTE |Grant
|per FTE |per F/T |per FTE
|student
|£000 |£ |£000 |£ |£000 |£
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |76,956 |17,495 |4,399 |6,279 |1,130 |5,557 |59,769 |25,909 |2,307
1986-87 |75,541 |17,791 |4,246 |5,884 |1,189 |4,949 |63,386 |26,335 |2,407
1987-88 |79,683 |18,441 |4,321 |6,346 |1,271 |4,993 |66,008 |28,143 |2,346
1988-89 |79,717 |19,016 |4,192 |6,476 |1,355 |4,779 |68,817 |30,140 |2,283
1989-90 |82,194 |19,738 |4,164 |6,788 |1,410 |4,814 |65,021 |31,009 |2,097
The absence of part-time student numbers for the colleges of education means that their
grant per student figures are not comparable with those for universities and further
education colleges.
HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION
Appointments
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether he will arrange for the post of Director of Finance and Administration for the House of Commons to be re-advertised substituting s/he' for the word he' in the original advertisement.
Mr. Beith : No. The original advertisements for the post of Director of Finance and Administration made it clear that the House of Commons is an equal opportunities employer. There are several female candidates among the very large number of applicants who have responded to these advertisements, and applications for the post are now being considered. If it were to prove necessary to re-advertise the post because none of the applicants was suitable for appointment, the availability of the post to candidates of either sex would be emphasised.
Visual Display Units
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, what health advice is available to the staff of the House and, in particular, to those who work with visual display units.
Mr. Beith [holding answer 22 February 1991] : A nursing sister was appointed to the House in 1977 and has been available for consultation by Members and staff since then. The House also has arrangements for access to the civil service occupational health service. In addition, arrangements have been made in the past for workplace cervical screening.
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On 16 July 1990 the House of Commons Commission approved the establishment of an occupational health service for staff of the House of Commons. The House of Lords will participate in the scheme on a cost-sharing basis.The service will be staffed by a qualified medical adviser and the equivalent of two full-time nursing advisers. They will have the professional support of the occupational health department of St. Thomas's hospital on a contractual basis. The service is expected to begin on 1 March.
The new unit will provide a range of medical and occupational health services for staff of both Houses, such as pre-employment screening, referrals in respect of long-term sickness, the maintenance of health standards, and the routine screening of certain occupations.
In advance of using visual display units, staff are encouraged to take an eye test administered by the nursing sister. If any defect in eyesight is revealed the member of staff is referred to an optician. If spectacles are prescribed for use with VDUs, financial provision is available to cover their cost and the cost of the eye test. Staff working with VDUs are issued with a guidance booklet published by the Health and Safety Executive on the ergonomic aspects of their work. A more comprehensive publication produced jointly by CCTA and the Council of Civil Service Unions is issued to the departmental managers of staff operating VDUs.
In addition, inspections of the ergonomic aspects of working with VDUs are carried out from time to time in departments of the House to establish good working practices. Once the occupational health service is established, these inspections will be arranged on a regular basis.
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Libya
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the development of underground storage depots for chemical and nuclear arms in Libya.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We are aware of press reports of an underground facility near Sebha, several hundred miles south of Tripoli, which may be connected with Libya's chemical weapons development programme. We are not aware of any underground storage depots for nuclear weapons in Libya. It is not our practice to comment publicly on information which may be available to us on such matters.
Baltic States
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has any plans to allow the accredited diplomatic representatives of the Baltic states to nominate their successors ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Baltic states have no diplomatic representatives accredited to the Court of St. James's, though one individual continues to enjoy certain privileges as a matter of courtesy. The question therefore does not arise.
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's current policy regarding the granting of diplomatic accreditation to representatives of the Baltic states.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Baltic states do not fulfil the conditions for recognition as independent sovereign states. The question of diplomatic accreditation for their representatives therefore does not arise. We continue, however, to extend certain diplomatic courtesies on a personal basis to the sole surviving member of the pre-war Baltic legations.
Yemen
Miss Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why British subjects have been asked to leave the Republic of Yemen.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We considered that there was a high risk to the safety of British nationals in the Republic of Yemen from public demonstrations and violence against those nations allied against Iraq. On 14 January we therefore advised all British nationals whose continued presence was not essential to leave until the situation became clearer.
Miss Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the United Kingdom Government's policy towards the new administration in the Republic of Yemen.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We welcomed the unification of the YAR and the PDRY, which was announced on 22 May 1990, and have enjoyed good relations with the new administration. However, in recent months we have differed over their response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
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Mr. Brian Angel
Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the Zimbabwe police report given to the High Commissioner on the murder in Harare of Mr. Brian Angel, a United Kingdom citizen.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The police report is not in the public domain, but the Zimbabwean authorities have been asked whether a copy may be placed in the House of Commons Library, as requested.
There is to be a public inquiry into Mr. Angel's death in Harare on 1 March 1991.
Lebanon
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further action he intends to enforce the UNIFIL mandate in south Lebanon.
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