| Previous Section | Home Page |
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many different instruments of legislation concerning the administration of the community charge were introduced less than four months before the beginning of the present financial year ; and what assessment he has made of the impact on the responsible local authority of the late issue of regulations.
Column 519
Mr. Key : Seventeen statutory instruments were introduced in the three months preceding the beginning of the present financial year. Substantial effort was put into informing local authorities of forthcoming measures including the sending of circular letters and draft regulations where appropriate. The local authority associations were kept informed of progress through regular meetings with my officials.Leeds Development Corporation
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when work on the Leeds development corporation's proposed Centre Gate development at the junction of Meadow lane and Great Wilson street, Leeds will commence.
Mr. Key : The developers of the Centre Gate site, Hyperion Properties plc, are working on scheme details. The timetable for implementing the development is dependent on a range of factors including finalising site assembly, stopping up of existing roads and detailed planning permission. A commencement date for work to begin on site is therefore not yet available.
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the policies adopted by the Leeds development corporation towards further office development in the Leeds city centre area.
Mr. Key : Leeds development corporation is working with Leeds city council and Leeds City Development Company on a range of schemes which will further the role of Leeds as a business and financial centre. There are particular opportunities for new office development between Leeds city station and the junction of the M1/M621 motorways and on other land adjacent to the Leeds waterways.
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the city grants schemes supported by the Leeds development corporation.
Mr. Key : Leeds development corporation is supporting the following schemes with city grant assistance :
Consultant Development Engineering Ltd., Hunslet provision of new factory and offices.
Yorkshire Design Services Ltd., The Malt House, Chadwick Street--conversion to offices.
A Way of Life Ltd., 42 The Calls--conversion to hotel and conference facilities.
Fletcher Properties Ltd., 53 The Calls--conversion to offices. Speciality Shops Development Ltd., The White Cloth Hall, Crown Street--conversion to retail and cafe/restaurant space.
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by value (a) the site and property improvement grants, (b) community sponsorship grants and (c) environmental improvement grants issued by the Leeds development corporation.
Mr. Key : Leeds development corporation has approved for grant payment the following amounts under these programmes :
(a) Site and property improvement grants--£127,000.
(b) Community sponsorship grants--£23,000.
(c) Environmental improvement grants--£158,000.
Column 520
Greening Street Playing Field
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he now expects to approve the disposal of the Greening street, SE2 playing field by the London residuary body to the London borough of Greenwich.
Mr. Yeo [holding answer 8 March 1991] : After the information being sought from the London residuary body has been received.
Lambeth Council
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the current level of bank borrowing by Lambeth council which is for the purpose of financing current expenditure.
Mr. Key [holding answer 11 March 1991] : The Department has no information on bank borrowing by Lambeth for the purpose of financing current expenditure. However, according to the latest return provided by Lambeth to the Department, the authority had no outstanding temporary borrowing from the banking sector as at 31 December 1990. Temporary borrowing is the only form of borrowing by which current expenditure may be financed.
Private Rented Houses
Mr. Ridley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of privately-owned rented houses in 1979 and 1989, respectively.
Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 12 March 1991] : Information about the number of dwellings rented privately, or with a job or business, as at December 1979 and December 1989 is shown in table 9.3 of "Housing and Construction Statistics 1979-1989". A copy of this publication is in the Library.
Right-to-Buy Scheme
Mr. Ridley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the latest figure for the number of houses sold under the right-to-buy scheme.
Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 12 March 1991] : Between October 1980 and December 1990 over 1 million tenants purchased their homes from local authorities in England under the right-to-buy legislation.
Housing Statistics
Mr. Ridley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of households in council housing in 1979 and 1990, respectively ; and what was the number of owner-occupied homes in 1979 and 1990, respectively.
Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 12 March 1991] : The information derived from the general household survey is as follows :
England: households (million)
LA/NT Owner-occupied
|tenants
----------------------------------------
1979 |5.4 |9.1 |(9.9)
1989 |4.2 |12.5 |(13.0)
Note: figures in brackets are number of
owner-occupied dwellings.
Column 521
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria are taken into consideration and what procedures are followed in the designation of new sites of special scientific interest.
Mr. Heseltine [pursuant to the answer, 20 February 1991, Official Report, column 171] : I have today published a consultation paper oplanning controls over sites of special scientific interest with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
The Government are firmly committed to the conservation of the natural heritage. Sites of special scientific interest are a key part of the nature conservation framework, and we wish to ensure that their value is taken fully into account in the operation of the town and country planning system.
The paper proposes the following additional safeguards for sites of special scientific interest in England and Wales :
Withdrawal of permitted development rights for certain temporary recreational uses of land ;
An amplification of my policy on calling in planning application ; Additional advice on environmental assessment ;
A new requirement for local planning authorities to consult the Nature Conservancy Council about planning applications adjacent to sites of special scientific interest.
Comments on the paper, which is available from my Department, are invited by 17 May.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Currie : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what capping criteria he will adopt ; which authorities will be designated by these criteria ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : My right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State announced on 31 October 1990 the provisional capping criteria which he intended to adopt. He made clear that authorities should not assume that there would be a de minimis proviso allowing authorities whose budgets were excessive by only a small amount not to be designated. On the information available to us it appears that the following 17 authorities have set budgets which would be excessive, or represent an excessive increase over the previous year, under those criteria :
Barnsley, Basildon, Berkshire, Bristol, Doncaster, Greenwich, Ipswich, Lambeth, Lanbaurgh-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Reading, Somerset, Stoke-on-Trent, Warwickshire and Wirral. As I said in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Mr. Bottomley) on 5 March at columns 101-02 it is clearly a matter of concern where authorities have decided to budget at levels which under the intended criteria are excessive or represent an excessive increase : it remains open to such authorities to adopt substitute lower budgets if they so wish.
Our present intention is to apply the criteria which my right hon. Friend announced. This is necessarily provisional. We are now looking at local authorities' budgets and when we have completed our consideration of these budgets and all other appropriate matters my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will take his statutory capping decisions. He intends to do so as soon as practicable.
Column 522
THE ARTS
Arts Bodies (Restructuring)
Mr. Steen : To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will ensure that in any restructuring of the Arts Council or the regional arts boards the fullest consultation takes place with all sections of the organisation and in particular the employees and that a minimum of 14 days' consultation period is provided in all cases.
Mr. Renton [holding answer 11 March 1991] : The Arts Council and the regional funding bodies are responsible for their own arrangements for consultation on matters affecting staff interests. I understand that all the funding bodies have well-established general arrangements which comfortably exceed the minimum period suggested by my hon. Friend for consultation on the staffing implications of the restructuring of arts funding.
Arts Funding
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Minister for the Arts what future arrangements for the funding of the arts have been made ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Renton [holding answer 11 March 1991] : I announced my decisions on the future direction of the structural reforms of arts funding to the House on 19 December 1990, Official Report, columns 300-11.
CIVIL SERVICE
Next Steps
Dr. Marek : To ask the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement about the interdepartmental review of residual functions set up by the Prime Minister's efficiency unit to look at what responsibilities will be left for Departments once the "next steps" proposals are fully implemented.
Mr. Renton [holding answer 7 March 1991] : The terms of reference of the efficiency unit's interdepartmental study into the relationships between Departments and their agencies were published in the Governments's response (Cm1263) to the Treasury and Civil Service Committee's most recent report on the "next steps" initiative. The unit is due to complete its work in the course of this month.
WALES
Badgers
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has concerning the number of badgers and the current number of active badger setts in Wales ; how many such setts have been destroyed during the last three years ; and for what reasons.
Mr. David Hunt : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Environment and Countryside on 7 March, column 242-43.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he has taken during the last five years to ensure the protection of the badger population and active badger setts in Wales from damaging forestry operations.
Column 523
Mr. David Hunt : Badger setts are not on the whole vulnerable to damage from forestry operations, since they are characteristically large, subterranean and in well-drained soils. The Forestry Commission nevertheless endeavours to locate all the badger setts on its land so that they can be protected from any possible damage. It has also published forest nature conservation guidelines, for use by its own forest managers and those in the private sector, which emphasise the importance of good management in protecting animal populations.Public Health Laboratory Service
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he is proposing to introduce charges in respect of food samples submitted by local authorities to the public health laboratory service for analysis ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : At present laboratories of the public health laboratory service in Wales analyse a limited number of food samples for local authorities free of charge. There are plans to put this arrangement on to a contractual basis, with contracts specifying charges for any work which may be required above an agreed minimum. Such charges will reflect the costs to the laboratories of undertaking work above the agreed level.
Small and Medium-sized Businesses
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what further steps he intends to take to help small and medium-sized businesses in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : Small and medium-sized businesses will be further assisted in Wales by a range of enterprise support policies and initiatives. Last month, I was pleased to launch three new schemes. These were as follows :
The Manufacturing Planning and Implementation Scheme (MPI) Small and medium -sized companies--up to 500 employees--will be able to obtain grants of up to £50,000 to cover half the costs of hiring external expertise necessary to assist them during the planning and implementation stages of new manufacturing projects so that the firms can introduce modern manufacturing systems.
Small and medium sized enterprises technical advice service (SMETAS)
SMETAS will enable small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain easy access to a broad range of local expertise, such as regional technical centres-- RTCs, higher and further education institutions and industry--in order to help them solve immediate problems concerned with the application and use of technology. The scheme will be operated and managed by RTCs initially with financial help from the DTI. The Polytechnic of Wales at Pontypridd will be running the scheme in Wales.
Support for products under research (SPUR)
SPUR is designed to help companies with less than 500 employees develop new products and processes which involve a significant technological advance.
Projects of at least £50,000 eligible costs and of between six months and three years' duration may attract grants of 30 per cent. up to a maximum of £150,000.
In addition, small and medium-sized businesses will continue to be assisted through general economic policies at a national level, existing national enterprise support policies and through initiatives which are unique to Wales. These include :
Column 524
Enterprise Wales"Enterprise Wales" was set up in January 1988 to promote the range of Government assistance to businesses in Wales. This assistance is aimed at continuing growth, development and diversity within the Welsh economy and is particularly aimed at small and medium-sized companies and new businesses. Since its launch, thousands of Welsh businesses have used the various services available in the package, which includes assistance or advice on exporting, the single European market, grant schemes, training, research and development and the consultancy initiatives. It is the programme in Wales for delivery of the enterprise initiative.
Export initiative
My Department continues to help existing and potential exporters to enter new markets overseas. Since March 1990 454 companies have been counselled at their request. A further 372 companies have attended seminars provided under the export initative. A programme of trade missions continues, representatives of 24 companies based in Wales were taken to France in October and 29 will go to Italy this month. Further trade missions are planned for next year.
Regional Selective Assistance and Regional Enterprise Grants RSA is available to help businesses with their investment projects in any sector of commerce or industry in development or intermediate areas. Since 1988, 416 small businesses have accepted offers of RSA totalling nearly £35 million.
REG are available to new and expanding businesses in development areas. Since 1988 667 small businesses have accepted offers of REG totalling over £5.8 million.
Both schemes are being vigorously promoted and funding is available to help eligible projects in future years.
Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs)
TECs will take over responsibility for the small firms service from 1 April 1991. The TECs will integrate the business advice and counselling services with their other enterprise roles to provide a cohesive local service. Six TECs are now operational and the Powys TEC will start operations on 2 April.
WDA/DBRW
Both the development agencies will continue to offer an extensive range of help and advice to small and medium-sized businesses. Last November I announced the provision of additional public resources to the DBRW of £1 million for each of the next three years. This will enable them to commence their special rural action programme which will expand on the good work of the current Western Initiative and is aimed at spreading the business prosperity and confidence that has developed on the eastern side of the board's territory to the deeper, more remote rural areas throughout the region.
Both the DBRW and the WDA make available a grant for local enterprise agencies in Wales. There are now 24 enterprise agencies the operational areas of which cover virtually the whole of the Principality. Small businesses in both urban and rural areas will continue to be able to receive free confidential advice from the agencies, as well as advice on finances, training courses and workspace.
Child Care
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the number of workplaces for civil servants in his Department ; what proportion of the total number have an on-site nursery facility ; how many and what proportion of workplaces provide a holiday play scheme ; how many and what proportion of workplaces provide after-school child care facilities ; what charges are made for use of any facility ; what the net cost has been for the provision of these facilities ; and what estimate he can make of any future expenditure.
Mr. David Hunt : Civil servants in my Department work in 30 separate locations, with the majority of workplaces in Cardiff.
Column 525
None of the workplaces has an on-site nursery. My Department, with other Government Departments, is working to provide nursery facilities for Cardiff-based staff later this year. Charges have not yet been fixed.Staff in Cardiff have access to a holiday playscheme run by my Department in conjunction with others during the easter and summer school holidays. Staff in the Welsh Office, London can use the Westminster holiday playscheme organised by the Cabinet Office. Daily charges for the Cardiff playscheme are £4.50 for the first child, £4.00 for the second and £3.75 for others. The net cost met by Departments in 1991 is £1,500 : in addition, administrative support is provided by the Welsh Office.
My Department does not arrange after-school care for the children of staff.
Expenditure on child care next financial year is expected to be around £30,000.
Unemployment
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to reduce unemployment in Cardiganshire and Dyfed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : My Department and other Government agencies operate a wide range of measures
Column 526
aimed at combating unemployment. Dyfed has benefited from a number of these and, since 1988, has secured some 2,500 new jobs. The Welsh Office and associated bodies will continue to respond swiftly to any opportunities that arise which have the potential to reduce unemployment.NHS Trusts
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which hospitals in Wales have now expressed an interest in trust status ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : Following the submission of its expression of interest, Pembrokeshire health authority has been invited to prepare an application to become an NHS trust. Over the coming months I expect that other health service units in Wales will similarly express their interest in self-governing status.
Children in Care
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many children in each of the Welsh counties were taken into care in each year since 1979 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The information is shown in the following tables :
Column 525
Number of children in care at 31 March
|1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |581 |594 |523 |510 |464 |414 |381 |400 |397 |400 |372 |384
Dyfed |356 |339 |334 |327 |298 |292 |293 |261 |252 |258 |273 |275
Gwent |739 |717 |701 |715 |694 |649 |612 |583 |579 |581 |615 |644
Gwynedd |313 |302 |272 |278 |295 |301 |280 |269 |258 |248 |245 |230
Mid Glamorgan |1.082 |1,075 |1,030 |1,047 |1,014 |950 |873 |816 |788 |745 |725 |757
Powys |76 |86 |94 |106 |112 |88 |80 |75 |74 |75 |87 |75
South Glamorgan |1,044 |1,036 |975 |937 |879 |787 |736 |699 |679 |686 |566 |548
West Glamorgan |691 |712 |699 |655 |631 |563 |497 |490 |454 |445 |380 |365
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Wales |4,882 |4,861 |4,628 |4,575 |4,387 |4,044 |3,752 |3,593 |3,481 |3,438 |3,263 |3,278
Number of children in care at 31 March
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Clwyd 581 594 523 510 464 414 381 400 397 400 372 384
Dyfed 356 339 334 327 298 292 293 261 252 258 273 275
Gwent 739 717 701 715 694 649 612 583 579 581 615 644
Gwynedd 313 302 272 278 295 301 280 269 258 248 245 230 Mid Glamorgan 1,082 1,075 1,030 1,047 1,014 950 873 816 788 745 725 757
Powys 76 86 94 106 112 88 80 75 74 75 87 75
South Glamorgan 1,044 1,036 975 937 879 787 736 699 679 686 566 548
West Glamorgan 691 712 699 655 631 563 497 490 454 445 380 365 Wales-- 4,882 4,861 4,628 4,575 4,387 4,044 3,752 3,593 3,481 3, 438 3,263 3,278
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list on a county basis in Wales the location of incinerators used for the disposal of BSE cows ; if he will list those counties where there are no such facilities ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will list on a county basis in Wales the number of BSE confirmed cows which were (a) incinerated and (b) buried in 1990 and the most recent figures for 1991 ; and if he will make a statement.
Column 526
Mr. David Hunt : The movement of carcases of suspect BSE cattle for incineration or burial is carried out on an England and Wales basis ; it is not restricted by county boundaries. There are at present two incinerators in Wales used to handle such carcases, in Clwyd and Dyfed. During 1990, 1,268 carcases were incinerated in Wales and five were buried. Figures for the first quarter of 1991 are not yet available.
| Next Section
| Home Page |