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Renewable Energy
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on progress on the renewable non-fossil fuel obligation 1991 bidding round.
Mr. Moynihan : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy has informed the House of our intention to make a further Renewables Order in the autumn of this year. The procedure that has been adopted by the regional electricity companies (RECs) to select the projects to be contracted under the order has been widely publicised, and was the subject of a seminar for renewables operators, jointly hosted by the Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency Ltd. and the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER), last month. That procedure is now in hand. It involves an initial scrutiny of the tenders, against the requirements of the legislation, by OFFER ; a review period for unsuccessful tenderers ; and a competitive bidding procedure for successful tenderers. My right hon. Friend will then determine the level of the obligation and the technology bands to be included within it, in the light of the advice of the Director General of Electricity Supply as to the available field and in consultation with the regional electricity companies. The RECs will then conclude contracts, to the required level of capacity, with the most economic projects in each band.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what financial contribution he will make to the Price Waterhouse critical path with analysis for the 1991 round of tendering for the non-fossil fuel renewables tranche ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : None. Price Waterhouse are advisers on the non-fossil fuel obligation to the regional electricity companies, and this is therefore a matter for the RECs and their agent the Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what assessment he has made of the potential for wind,
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wave and other intermittent renewable energy services taking part successfully in the 1991 round of bidding for the non- fossil fuel obligation renewables tranche.Mr. Moynihan : In answer to a parliamentary question on 19 December, at columns 162-63, my right hon. Friend gave an initial indication of the likely sizes of bands which might be included in the 1991 Renewables Order. However, it is for the regional electricity companies (RECs) to submit the projects that apply for inclusion in the 1991 renewables non-fossil fuel obligation (NFFO) to the Director-General of Electricity Supply (DGES), and for the DGES to assess the projects against the requirements of the legislation. We will then consult the DGES and the RECs before eventually setting the level of the obligation for the 1991 order.
Office of Electricity Regulation
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what discussions he had with the Director-General of the Office of Electricity Regulation between 18 and 20 February.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I, my Ministerial colleagues and officials are in regular contact with the Director-General of Electricity Supply and OFFER on regulatory matters concerning electricity.
DEFENCE
The Gulf
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent the 1st Armoured Division has been dependent on assistance from United Kingdom helicopters during the Gulf conflict.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : A force of Lynx anti-tank and Gazelle observation/general purpose helicopters operate as an integral part of the 1st Armoured Division. The division is supported by Royal Air Force Chinook and Puma helicopters, together with Royal Navy Sea Kings, which provide rapid airlift for both personnel and materiel.
Dockyards
Mr. Robert Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were employed by his Department in the chief executive dockyard section (a) prior to the closure of Portsmouth and Chatham royal dockyards and (b) prior to the introduction of commercial management at Devonport and Rosyth ; and how many people are now employed in the directorate general for ships repair.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Chief Executive Dockyards (CED) HQ staff (excluding Dockyard staff) were 344 in April 1982 prior to the closure of Chatham Dockyard and the conversion of Portsmouth Dockyard to the Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation which were completed in 1984. In April 1985, when commercial management of the Dockyards was proposed, there were 255 CED HQ staff ; building up to 439 Directorate General Ship Refitting and transitional CED HQ staff in April 1987 when commercial management was introduced. There are currently 346 HQ staff in DGSR excluding the
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Superintendent Ships organisation in the dockyards. It should be noted, however, that DGSR now includes staff performing contracting, accounting, estimating and pricing functions which were not part of CED's responsibility.AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Veal Crates
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he proposes to take to ensure that British standards relating to the use of veal crates are adopted by the European Community.
Mr. Maclean : Community proposals on the welfare of calves are already under discussion in the Council. We are pressing for our standards to be adopted throughout the Community from the earliest possible date.
Animal Feed
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any proposals to improve the monitoring of Chinese cotton seed imported for use as animal feed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Department is currently working with the feed industry on a survey on the contamination of raw materials of vegetable origin, including cotton seed. The results of the survey will be carefully studied to see whether any further action will be necessary on any of these materials.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any proposals to introduce labelling requirements for clean animal feeds.
Mr. Maclean : It is already an offence to sell animal feeds containing ingredients which are deleterious to animals. Manufacturers are required to label detailed information on nutritional quality and from next January they will also have to declare the ingredients of their feeds.
Property Marking
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether it is the policy of his Department to mark property with an indelible mark or similar means of identification.
Mr. Curry : It is not the policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to mark property with an indelible mark or similar means of identification. Most high-value items have registered numbers and these are recorded in stock registers. An annual stocktake is carried out. To mark items would be highly labour-intensive and not cost-effective.
Salmonella
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to abandon his policy of compulsory slaughter of egg-laying flocks infected with salmonella enteritidis.
Mr. Maclean : We have no plans to do so.
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
School Enrolments
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the most recent enrolment figures for primary and secondary schools in the Crewe and Nantwich area.
Mr. Fallon : Information for areas within local education authorities is not available centrally.
The number of new admissions to maintained primary and secondary schools in Cheshire as at January 1990 is :
Schools |Number of
|new admissions
---------------------------------------------
Primary<1> |12,171
Secondary<2> |11,575
<1> Children aged 4 and 5 admitted in
September 1989 and January 1990. Excludes
admissions to nursery classes.
<2> Number of pupils admitted in September
1989. Includes admissions to sixth form
colleges.
New Directions"
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has received a copy of "New Directions" published by the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
Mr. Fallon : My hon. Friend Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Howarth) was formally presented with a copy of "New Directions" on 31 October 1990. He welcomed the report and acknowledged it as a major contribution by the RNIB to advance the interests of visually impaired children and adults in this country.
Multi-disabled Children
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to review the work of agencies involved in the care of multi-disabled, visually impaired children.
Mr. Fallon : This Department does not at present have any plans to review the work of these agencies.
Higher Education
Dr. Woodcock : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of the United Kingdom population achieved higher education qualifications in the latest period for which figures are available ; and what comparable information he has for France and Germany.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The requested information is given in the table.
Country |Year of Data |Higher education<1>
|qualifications
|awarded per 100 of
|relevant age group<2>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|1988 |33
United Kingdom<3> |1987 |33
France<4> |1987 |37
Germany |1987 |22
Sources:
"Demographic Statistics 1990" Eurostat
"Education in OECD Countries 1987-88" OECD
1. International standard classifications of education (ISCED) level 3 incorporating
sub-degree, first degree and post-graduate study.
2. The relevant age group is taken as the average single-year population in the group
including 70 per cent. of new entrants at the start of the course. This is the standard
OECD definition.
3. Includes estimated professional qualifications and nursing and paramedical
qualifications gained at DH establishments. Excludes private sector.
4. Includes some sub-degree diplomas awarded on completion of the first two years of a
first degree course.
Geography
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he took in amending the National Curriculum Council's consultation report, to produce the draft order for geography.
Mr. Fallon : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Broadgreen (Mr. Fields) on 13 February at column 464.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has gathered when considering the geography national curriculum about the ways in which geography teachers have studied the Gulf and explored the issues involved.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what strategies the draft order for geography offers to teachers to enable their students to handle the amount of available information relating to geographical and environmental issues ; (2) what role is envisaged for geography, as outlined in the draft national curriculum order, in the teaching of the cross-curricular themes of economic awareness and citizenship.
Mr. Fallon : The National Curriculum Council intends to publish detailed advice on the implementation of the statutory requirements for geography in the national curriculum. This guidance will cover issues such as the organisation of teaching within the classroom and links with cross- curricular themes.
Specific guidance on the cross-curricular themes of economic and industrial understanding and citizenship, which was published by NCC in 1990, explains in broad terms the contribution which geography and other national curriculum subjects can make towards the teaching of these themes.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what responses he has received to the draft order for geography ; and how he proposes to respond.
Mr. Fallon : During the statutory consultation on the draft order for geography in the national curriculum, my right hon. and learned Friend received a total of 289 responses. He will consider the comments made in drawing up the final order which will set out in statute the attainment targets and programmes of study for national curriculum geography.
Lancashire Education Department
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many persons were employed in the education department of the Lancashire county council in 1981 and each year to the present day.
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Mr Fallon : The total employees of Lancashire local education authority in March 1990 were as follows :
|Number
-----------------------------------------------
Full-time teachers and lecturers |13,400
Part-time teachers and lecturers |4,700
Full-time other employees |4,200
Part-time other employees |13,700
These figures include the nursery, primary and secondary schools sector, special and further education and central administration. Comparable figures for other years are not available.
History
Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received this month on the history curriculum.
Mr. Fallon : During the statutory consultation on the draft order for history in the national curriculum, my right hon. and learned Friend received a variety of representations from 225 organisations or individuals. These included representations from LEAs, teacher associations, religious bodies and subject associations such as the Historical Association, the Royal Historical Society, the Primary History Association and the History Curriculum Association.
University Grants Committee
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will set out calculations showing how (i) basic grant, (ii) current grant and (iii) total resources are distributed to universities by the University Grants Committee for academic year 1991-92 (a) compared with the allocations for 1990-91 and (b) reconciled to the Department's expenditure plans as set out in Cm. 1511.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The aggregate sums distributed by the Universities Funding Council in each academic year are :
£ million
|Basic grant|Grant plus |Final
|fees |resources
------------------------------------------------------------
1990-91 |1,341 |1,816 |1,894
1991-92 |1,350 |2,049 |2,098
Basic grant excludes provision for certain items of funding distributed by the Council outside its allocation formula. These are set out for 1990-91 and 1991-92 in Circular Letters 12/90 and 6/91 respectively, copies of which are in the Library. Those letters also describe the details of the allocation process. Final resources for each year take account of tuition fees for funded places and adjustments for changes in specific funding. Figures for basic grant are not directly comparable with those in Cm. 1511, which relate to financial years and include the sums distributed by the Council outside its allocation formula.
Council for National Academic Awards
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he will announce a decision on the Bird report on the future of the Council for National Academic Awards and related issues.
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Mr. Alan Howarth : The right for institutions to award their own degrees cannot be taken as an issue on its own. The report also raises important questions about which institutions should have this right, and about the nature of future quality assurance arrangements. We need to consider these further.
Durants School, Rickmansworth
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to make a decision on the proposal by Hertfordshire county council to close Durants school, Rickmansworth ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Fallon : My right hon. and learned Friend expects to make a decision on Hertfordshire's proposal in respect of this school very shortly. His decision will be notified to Hertfordshire county council as soon as possible.
Student Loans
Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the basis for calculating the unit cost per borrower's account of administering the student loans scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The unit cost per account for the academic year 1990-91 will be the operational costs of the Student Loans Company, excluding VAT, during that year, divided by the number of accounts open during the year. The unit cost per account has already fallen substantially during the first months of the scheme. It will continue to fall over the next few years.
The calculation excludes the start-up costs of £9.3 million, excluding VAT, incurred up to 31 August 1990. This one-off expenditure has enabled the company to administer the loans scheme efficiently. It therefore represents an investment in the future of both the company and the loans scheme.
The student loans scheme has made additional resources available to students in higher education. The number of applications passed the 100,000 mark last month. Thousands more students are applying every week. The scheme will generate substantial savings for the taxpayer in the medium term--and facilitate the expansion of higher education that we all want to see--even when the costs of administering the scheme are included. I congratulate the Student Loans Company on its achievement so far.
HEALTH
General Practitioners
15. Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the change in the number of general practitioners between 1979 and the latest year for which figures are available.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Between 1 October 1979 and 1 October 1990 the number of general practitioners in England (1990 figures are provisional) increased by 4,267--an increase of 20 per cent.
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NHS Trusts
16. Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the progress with setting up health service trusts.
Mr. Waldegrave : I am delighted to report that there has been great interest in national health service trust status.
Fifty seven national health service trusts will be operational from 1 April this year. The other nine candidates are continuing to work towards trust status. To date, a further 129 hospitals and units have expressed an interest in gaining trust status by April 1992.
Drugs
17. Dame Jill Knight : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he intends taking further steps to combat waste of money due to overprescribing of drugs.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Government are committed to a programme of measures to help eliminate wasteful and unnecessary prescribing. These include educational initiatives, the introduction of medical advisers on prescribing at each family health services authority and the introduction of indicative amounts for practices from 1 April 1991 to provide a financial benchmark against which performance can be measured.
20. Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the cost of the drugs budget to the NHS in the current year.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The latest forecast of spending on drugs in family health services in 1990-91 is £2,116 million. This represents an increase in real terms of 1 per cent. over the outturn for last year, although the rate of growth has slowed compared with previous years as a result of our initiative to encourage cost-effective prescribing. Information on expenditure on drugs in the hospital and community health services is not available for the current year but in 1989 -90 amounted to £414 million.
Liver Transplants
18. Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his department is taking to promote liver transplants.
Mr. Dorrell : The Government are continuing to promote the success of the United Kingdom liver transplant programme in a number of ways. Central funding in excess of £14.7 million will be provided in 1991- 92, a fifth supra regional liver transplant centre will be designated from April 1991, and resources aimed at improving the supply of donor organs are regularly increased.
Hearing Aids
19. Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is proposing to take to reduce the waiting times for those requiring hearing aids.
Mr. Dorrell : We have set up and are funding twelve pilot projects in hospitals throughout England. The projects are aimed at testing a variety of ways of reducing waiting times for hearing aid services.
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Pay Awards
21. Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reaction he has received to the recent pay awards to NHS employees.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 31 January that the Government had decided to accept in full the review body recommendations, including those for doctors, dentists, nurses and the professions allied to medicine in the national health service. We have received one letter registering disappointment at the staging of the award.
Residential Care
22. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the future of local authority residential care for the elderly and disabled.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Our community care policies, to be implemented between now and 1993, will improve standards in residential care for old or disabled people either in local authority or independent care, and help to ensure that it is not used except where home-based alternatives are or have become unsuitable.
Regional Pay Bargaining
23. Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has had about Government plans to decentralise pay bargaining in the health service ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn, Hatfield (Mr. Evans).
NHS Spending
24. Dr. Michael Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the spending per head of population on the NHS, now and in 1979 ; and what are the figures in real terms.
Mr. Dorrell : In 1990-91 planned expenditure per head of population in the United Kingdom is £511. The equivalent figure in 1978-79 was £144 or £365 at today's prices. This is a real terms increase of 40 per cent.
Community Care
25. Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from local authorities with regard to the implementation of Government proposals for community care.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department meets regularly with the local authority associations and welcomes their continued support for our community care policy.
Primary Health Care
26. Mr. Jack Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve the performance of family health service authorities in meeting primary care targets.
Mr. Dorrell : All family health services authorities (FHSAs) have been funded to appoint independent
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medical advisers to advise general practitioners on clinical and organisational issues. FHSAs can also target funds for GP premises and staff (for example, practice nurses) to support GPs in areas of greatest need. In addition many have appointed facilitators to work with GPs in establishing and improving their health promotion services.Children
27. Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many scheduled surgical operations to infants under the age of three years have been cancelled for the remaining weeks of the present financial year.
Mr. Dorrell : Information collected centrally refers to cancelled operating sessions, not operations, and does not distinguish the age of the patient. Information for 1989-90, the latest available, is published in "NHS operating theatres availability and use in England--financial year 1989-90", a copy of which is available in the Library.
29. Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action the Government are taking to prepare for the implementation of the Children Act 1989.
Mr. Dorrell : A number of documents have already been issued to local authorities including "An Introduction to the Children Act", a training curriculum produced by the London Boroughs Training Committee, and "The Care of Children--Principles and Practice in Regulations and Guidance", copies of which are available in the Library.
The first phase of a wide-ranging consultation exercise on the guidance and regulations required under the Act ended last year. Some 21 draft papers were sent out for comment to a great variety of statutory and voluntary organisations ; the response which we received from the field to these drafts was both helpful and encouraging, and the comments were fed into the final drafting of the guidance. The consultation exercise has culminated in the issue of guidance on court orders, one in an initial series of five volumes of guidance and regulations. Some 20,000 copies of this guidance will be distributed free of charge this week. Other volumes will follow shortly.
We have commissioned several projects to provide training in the fields of child care and child protection in advance of implementation on 14 October 1991. Some projects are complete, and the material has been disseminated to the target audiences ; others are nearing completion. The projects commissioned will provide professionals and others with a broad understanding and initial awareness of the Act or specialised training in specific aspects of the Act. We are confident that most projects will be completed before October 1991, and staff responsible for working with the Act will receive training in advance of implementation.
We recently announced the provision of an additional £250,000 to assist voluntary organisations in the provision of training for the Act. This money will be administered by the National Council for Voluntary Child Care organisations. In addition, further training projects will be commissioned from April this year, to address areas not covered in the first phase of training. This will include material for guardians ad litem, and on the provisions of the Act relating to children leaving care.
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East Cumbria Health Authority
28. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the chairman of the Northern regional health authority to discuss the funding of East Cumbria health authority.
Mr. Dorrell : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not discussed the funding of East Cumbria health authority with the chairman of the Northern regional health authority.
Cervical Cancer
Mr. Douglas : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current waiting time for women who require laser treatment for pre- cancerous cervical cells.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The statistics are not held centrally. These figures would not be recorded separately from other gynaecology statistics.
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