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Charges made for
use of facility
Net cost of
provision of facility
Estimate of any
further expenditure
Members of the European Parliament
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many letters he has received since 4 January 1990 from Members of the European Parliament concerning local or national matters ; and if he will make it his practice where the former are concerned to provide the hon. Member for the local constituency with copies of any such correspondence for his or her information.
Mr. Garel-Jones : The information is not readily available in the form requested. Where Members of the European Parliament raise matters in correspondence which are exclusively of local interest, the practice is to reply suggesting that the MEP should refer the matter to the hon. Member for the constituency concerned. A separate arrangement applies in respect of consular cases raised by MEPs. Our normal practice is to copy our response to the appropriate hon. Member in view of the direct personal involvement in such cases of the latter's constituent.
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No Smoking Day
Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to support smokers in his Department to give up smoking on the eighth No Smoking Day on 13 March ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : This Department will be publicising No Smoking Day with posters and leaflets. Giving up smoking also features as part of this Department's programme of occupational health for both the diplomatic and aid wings of the FCO.
Israel
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the help and support being given by Her Majesty's ambassador in Tel Aviv to British firms seeking contracts in Israel for housing Soviet immigrants ; and what progress has been made in discussions with the Government of Israel in that regard.
Mr. Garel-Jones : Discussions are continuing between the Export Credits Guarantee Department and the Israeli authorities concerning the establishment of a line of credit to finance housing projects to be located in Israel. This will have to be on the condition that none of the funds are to be spent on housing in the occupied territories including east Jerusalem.
Jordan
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the difficulties experienced in Jordan in obtaining dried milk for babies, as a result of an embargo imposed at Aqaba by United States forces ; and whether he has taken any steps to relieve this situation.
Mr. Garel-Jones : We have no information to suggest that activity in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq by United States forces in the Red sea has created a shortage of dried milk in Jordan.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Westminster County Court
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General whether any counter-notice was served in respect of a notice to terminate the lease of Westminster county court.
The Attorney-General : Notice to terminate the lease of Westminster county court has not yet been given. No counter-notice has therefore been served.
Court of Appeal
Mr. Hayes : To ask the Attorney-General how many convictions have been quashed by the Court of Appeal criminal division since the coming into force of section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 on 31 July 1989.
The Attorney-General : Between 1 August 1989 and 22 February 1991, a total of 382 convictions were quashed.
Mr. Hayes : To ask the Attorney-General how many retrials have been ordered by the Court of Appeal criminal division since 31 July 1989.
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The Attorney-General : Between 1 August 1989 and 22 February 1991, four retrials were ordered.
Mr. Hayes : To ask the Attorney-General how many persons convicted after a trial on indictment had their sentences remitted by the Court of Appeal in each of the last two years.
The Attorney-General : The Court of Appeal has varied the sentence pronounced in the court in the following number of cases. These figures include cases which were committed for sentence to the Crown court as well as cases tried on indictment. The latter are not held separately.
|Cases
------------------
1989 |1,314
1990 |1,526
Incendiary Weapons
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Attorney-General whether the Government have ratified the 1981 specific conventional weapons convention and the protocol on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of incendiary weapons.
The Attorney-General : The United Kingdom signed the convention on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of certain conventional weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects on 10 April 1981. It has not ratified the convention or accepted the protocol on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of incendiary weapons--protocol III to the convention.
ENVIRONMENT
Woodland (Planning)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to call in any application by a local authority to itself for permission for any development which would destroy ancient woodland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : No. My right hon. Friend's policy is to exercise his power to call in planning applications very selectively, and generally only when planning issues of more than local importance are involved. However, my right hon. Friend will pay close attention to any request by the Nature Conservancy Council that a planning application which affects ancient woodland which has been classed as a site of special scientific interest should be called in for his decision.
My hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Mr. Spicer), then the Minister for Housing and Planning, announced on 25 July 1990, Official Report, column 372, that my right hon. Friend intends to amend the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans) (England) Direction 1981 so as to require local authorities to report to him any development proposal by them or on their land which would conflict with the development plan, to enable him to consider calling in such proposals for his own decision.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the number of community charge payers in Exeter who (a) received
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rebates in 1989-90 under the rates rebate scheme (b) received relief in 1990-91 under the community charge relief scheme and (c) will receive refunds under the community charge scheme.Mr. Key : An average of 8,327 households in Exeter received a rate rebate in 1989-90 ; around 16,800 individuals in Exeter have benefited from transitional relief in 1990-91. No information is yet available on the number of people in Exeter who will be helped by the community charge reduction scheme. However, if Exeter district council sets its charge for 1991-92 at or above its scheme charge of £344, a couple living in an averagely rated property who have not moved since 31 March 1990 could look forward to a joint reduction of £183.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what income was received from the standard community charge in (a) Westminster and (b) Rotherham during 1990-91 ; what is his estimate of this income in 1991-92 ; and whether this income is taken into account in the determination of standard spending grant.
Mr. Key [holding answer 7 March 1991] : Income from standard community charges is not taken into account in the revenue support grant settlement.
Budgeted income from standard community charges (£ million) --------------------------------------- Westminster city council |4.5 Rotherham MBC |<1>1.0 <1> Pre-capping estimate.
The information for 1991-92 is not yet available.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what sum will be provided from central funds in support of the local authorities of (a) Wandsworth, (b) Westminster and (c) Rotherham in 1990-91 ; and what is the estimated (1) expenditure, (2) central support and (3) per capita expenditure of each of those authorities in 1991-92.
Mr. Key [holding answer 7 March 1991] : The information about central Government support is as follows :
|External |External
|support |support
|1990-91 |1991-92
|£ million|£ million
------------------------------------------------
Wandsworth |213.5 |235.9
Westminster |153.5 |188.1
Rotherham |119.5 |124.2
The external support is paid to the receiving authority's collection fund. It finances expenditure by policy and fire and civil defence authorities as well as expenditure by the charging authority.
Information regarding their budgeted expenditure in 1991-92 has not yet been submitted to the Secretary of State for the Environment by these authorities.
Mr. Duffy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what grant per poll tax payer is received by Sheffield.
Mr. Key : Government grants, consisting of revenue support grant, special grants, specific grants in aggregate
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external finance, community charge benefit grant and transitional relief grant, per head of relevant population in 1990-91 are £309 in Sheffield.Tyne and Wear UDC
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East (Mr. Brown) of 27 February, Official Report, column 528, if he will indicate how the figure of 5,500 as the number of jobs created as a result of the existence of the Tyne and Wear UDC was calculated ;
(2) pursuant to his answer of 30 January, Official Report, column 661, how his Department calculated the figure of 1,630 as the number of jobs created or gained, to March 1990, in the Tyne and Wear UDC ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : The jobs figures of 1,630 to March 1990 and 5,500 to date have been derived from three sources by the Tyne and Wear development corporation :
1. Property development projects in receipt of city grant for commercial end use.
2. Business development projects where financial support is given or committed to assist relocation or expansion.
3. Property and business development projects promoted and assisted by the Corporation, in the main on sites they have developed, but not involving direct grant assistance.
In all cases the jobs figures are based on actual employees together with jobs estimated by the company to be created within two years of the completion of the investment to which the company is committed.
Habitats Directive
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what he is doing to speed up progress towards the adoption of the habitats directive ; and what is his estimate of the cost of ensuring effective implementation of the directive.
Mr. Trippier : In recent months my Department has taken an active part in discussions with our European Community partners to agree a text for a directive. I intend to reinforce our support at the Environment Council on 18 March. The cost of implementing the directive in the Community as a whole is expected to be substantial, but definitive figures are not yet available. The United Kingdom system of nature conservation is relatively well developed and the additional costs in the United Kingdom are not expected to be great.
Royal Parks Constabulary
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will detail the total cost of the Royal Parks Constabulary for the last three years and the number of serving officers and establishment.
Sir George Young : The figures are :
-------------------------------------------------- 1987-88 |2,381,000|164 |151 1988-89 |2,876,000|163 |156 1989-90 |3,346,000|163 |152
The cost figures exclude accommodation and supervision which are not separately identifiable. Manpower figures are as at 31 December of each year.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the differences in pay and conditions of service for the Royal Parks Constabulary from equivalent Metropolitan police force ranks.
Sir George Young : Basic pay rates in the Royal Parks Constabulary are set at 85.5 per cent. of the equivalent rates for Home Department police forces. Officers receive the same rate of London weighting, but they do not receive the special London allowance paid to officers in the Metropolitan police. RPC officers are members of the civil service pension scheme which is non-contributory. Metropolitan police officers are members of the standard Home Department forces pension scheme which is contributory. Other conditions of service, including discipline codes, are similar for both forces.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number and types of vehicles used by the Royal Parks Constabulary.
Sir George Young : The Royal Parks Constabulary currently has a fleet of 28 vehicles :
|Number
-------------------------------------------------------
Saloon cars (Ford Escort/Vauxhall Astra) |6
Vans (Ford Transit/Freight Rover Sherpa) |8
Personnel Carriers (Ford Transit) |2
Land Rover |1
Motorcycles (BMW) |11
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the duties of the Royal Parks Constabulary in the hours between locking the park gates and unlocking them.
Sir George Young : Of the 21 parks, gardens and open spaces policed by the Royal Parks Constabulary, 10 are fully closed at night. In the closed parks officers check unoccupied premises--park yards, restaurants, sports clubs, and so on--and prevent unauthorised access to the locked areas. In addition, some of the closed parks have security-sensitive premises located within them and officers carry out security patrols.
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of arrests and successful prosecutions by type of offences for the last three years of the Royal Parks Constabulary.
Sir George Young : All persons arrested by the Royal Parks Constabulary are handed over to the Metropolitan police for processing. My Department does not keep a central record of the outcome of prosecutions. The numbers of reported crimes and arrests are :
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1988 1989 1990
|Crimes |Arrests|Crimes |Arrests|Crimes |Arrests
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crimes of violence |51 |25 |28 |14 |37 |25
Sexual offences |62 |47 |77 |41 |74 |42
Burglary |45 |1 |52 |9 |47 |5
Robbery |33 |3 |28 |5 |16 |5
Theft |420 |95 |448 |58 |470 |76
Criminal damage |70 |27 |80 |24 |59 |20
Other |338 |414 |347 |333 |332 |320
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |1,069 |612 |1,060 |484 |1,035 |493
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Royal Parks Constabulary's duties and responsibilities were last reviewed.
Sir George Young : An inspection of the force was carried out by one of Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary in 1980. The constabulary and its arrangements have since been strengthened to reflect the increased emphasis on security protection which now forms an important part of its duties.
Urban Development Corporations
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he has discussed with local authorities the winding-up of the urban development corporations and the transfer of their functions ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what are the proposed dates for the winding-up of the 10 urban development corporations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : UDCs were given indicative lifetimes at designation. On that basis, their projected wind-up dates would be :
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|Year
-------------------------------
First Generation:
London Docklands |1996
Merseyside |1996
Second Generation:
Black Country |1997
Teesside |1997
Trafford Park |1997
Tyne and Wear |1997
Third Generation:
Bristol |1994
Central Manchester |1993
Leeds |1993
Sheffield |1995
We are keeping their lifetimes under review, and will discuss the implications of wind-up with local authorities and others in due course.
Electricians
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward a mandatory registration scheme for electricians.
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Mr. Yeo : No. I am satisfied that the existing self-regulation of electrical contractors is operating satisfactorily.Value for Money
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what measures of performance are employed by his Department to ensure value for money.
Mr. Heseltine : The Department's annual report--Cm. 1508--sets out a comprehensive range of performance measures associated with my expenditure programmes and in chapter A11 describes a number of other mechanisms used by my Department to secure value for money.
The Gulf
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his oral answer of 18 February, Official Report, column 16, what estimate he has made of the number of civil servants involved, technically or administratively, in requests from neighbouring Arab states in the Gulf for help in cleaning up oil slicks.
Mr. Heseltine : In my Department, which has had the lead in environmental aspects of the Gulf conflict, around 20 civil servants have been involved to some degree in responding to these issues, including requests for assistance from the Gulf states. For about five staff, this has been a major part of their work. In other Departments closely involved the position is similar.
Community Charge
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by district or London authority in rank order the percentage of budgeted community charge so far received by each authority, starting with that authority which thus far has received the largest percentage.
Mr. Key : I am arranging for the information to be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many people within the city of Gloucester will benefit from the community charge reduction scheme ;
(2) what amounts will be made available to residents of Gloucester as a result of the community charge reduction scheme.
Mr. Key : Information on the total number of community charge payers in each charging authority who will benefit from a reduction and the amount of reduction scheme grant payable to each authority will be available once charging authorities have submitted their claims to my Department. However, a couple who have not moved since 31 March 1990 living in a property that had an average rates bill for the Gloucester area could look forward to a joint reduction in their bills for 1991-92 of £197.
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, given declared community charge levels by each district authority, what is the increased payment per couple which will be required before the community charge reduction scheme applies.
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Mr. Key : Many chargepayers will receive reductions even if charging authorities set their personal community charge below or at the same level as last year.
No Smoking Day
Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to support smokers in his Department to give up smoking on the eighth No Smoking Day on 13 March ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heseltine : Posters advertising the day and information leaflets will be displayed in all the Department's main offices throughout the country and an article placed in the in-house journal. Guidance has been given to all staff on damage to health caused by smoking. Welfare officers are on hand to give help and advice to staff who wish to give up smoking and on the availability of cessation classes.
Housing, Waveney
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what are the criteria for housing investment programme allocations for non-urban authorities ; and how they were applied for 1991-92 for Waveney district council ;
(2) how the general needs index applies to Government grant aid for housing purposes for Waveney district council for 1991-92 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : Housing investment programme--HIP--allocations for 1991-92 for non-metropolitan district authorities, including Waveney, as well as for metropolitan districts and London authorities, were made in part by references to an objective measure of need--the generalised needs index-- and in part on the basis of recommendations by my Department's housing regional controllers to reflect their knowledge of local needs and circumstances. Local authorities were able to explain their needs and priorities to the Department in their annual HIP returns and strategy statements and subsequent HIP meetings. The generalised needs index is not used directly in the distribution of Government grant aid, although both housing revenue account subsidy and specified capital grants, mainly for house renovations, are available to authorities in support of housing investment programme expenditure.
Housing Authorities
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to encourage local housing authorities wishing to become enabling authorities instead of direct providers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : My Department has issued guidance to all local authorities on how to develop their enabling role : I am sending my hon. Friend a copy and placing a copy in the Library. I am pleased by the extent to which many authorities are responding to encouragement to adopt a mainly enabling role, assessing the needs of their areas and helping housing associations, private landlords and developers to meet those needs, rather than concentrating exclusively on direct provision of council housing.
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Urban Programme
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to receive the report from Victor Hausner and Associates on their research into the use of the urban programme in creating employment opportunities for black and ethnic minority communities in the inner cities.
Mr. Key : My right hon. Friend hopes to receive the final report of this research project soon.
Saltley Renewal Area
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the purpose of the visit by the Minister for Housing and Planning to the Saltley renewal area on 26 February ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir George Young : I visited Saltley to see the progress being made in regenerating this area of older private housing in Birmingham and to meet some of the residents. I am impressed by the partnership between the city council, the Heartlands urban development agency, the housing associations and the residents and the way in which the programme for improvement is being carried forward, using to good effect the additional resources which we have made available over several years.
Radioactive Material
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his present policy in respect of the dry storage of radioactive material.
Mr. Trippier : Other than on licensed nuclear sites, no person shall keep, use, or cause or permit to be kept or used, radioactive material unless he is registered under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 or exempted from being so. Dry storage of spent nuclear fuel is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy.
Dartmoor National Park
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he hopes to sign the order varying the Dartmoor national park boundary ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The statutory period for representations ended on 28 February. A decision on the boundary variation order will be reached as soon as we have considered all the representations made.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest figures he has in respect of the volume of disposal of low-level radioactive waste (a) at Drigg and (b) at local authority landfill sites.
Mr. Trippier : The latest figures showing volumes of low-level radioactive waste disposals to the disposal facility operated by BNFL at Drigg, Cumbria are set out in the BNFL publication "Radioactive Discharges and Monitoring of the Environment 1989", a copy of which is in the Library.
Small amounts of low-level radioactive waste are authorised under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 for
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disposal at local landfill sites following careful safety assessments in each case. However, the Department does not maintain a central record of the volume of waste involved in these disposals.Colliery Spoil
Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received the Ove Arup report on the monitoring of the use of the evaluative framework for the disposal of colliery spoil ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : Although there has been a decrease in the amount of colliery spoil produced in recent years, its disposal is still a problem. Version 1 of the evaluative framework, published in 1987, was designed to assist decision making on future disposal schemes for deep mine colliery spoil. It has encouraged systematic investigation of both environmental and financial aspects of alternative options. My Department commissioned research to monitor the effectiveness of the framework and it has now been modified to include the lessons learnt. The contractors have now submitted their main research report to my Department and published version 2 of the evaluative framework. I have today placed copies in the House Library. I am sure that the publication of this updated version will improve its usefulness to both the local authorities and the coal industry and will help resolve many of the problems that have been experienced.
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