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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : No.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Defence Industries
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the benefits to the United Kingdom of the European Community Perifra programme on defence industry diversification.
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Mr. Leigh [holding answer 13 June 1991] : The Government have applied to the Commission for grant of £4 million from the Perifra initiative. The initiative includes, but is not confined to, the purpose indicated by the hon. Member.ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Birmingham Pub Bombings
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General when he expects the Director of Public Prosecutions to reach a decision regarding possible action against police officers involved in the Birmingham pub bombings case.
The Attorney-General : The Devon and Cornwall police are carrying out further inquiries at the request of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will not be in a position to make a decision on what action, if any, should be taken until after he has considered the report on these inquiries.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General what was the total cost to public funds of fees paid (a) to Crown counsel and (b) to counsel for the appellants for their services in relation to the appeal of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings.
The Attorney-General : Records of the amounts paid to counsel in respect of the 1976 application for leave to appeal are no longer available. For the 1987 appeal a total of £222,484 was paid to the three Crown counsel and a total of £546,084 was paid to counsel for the appellants. No figures are yet available for the 1991 appeal.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General what has been the total cost to public funds of (a) the trial of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings (b) each of their appeals in 1976, 1987 and 1991 and (c) their civil action against the West Midlands and Lancashire police forces.
The Attorney-General : The cost of the original trial at the Crown court at Lancaster in 1975 amounted to £237,683, in respect of fees paid to both prosecution and defence lawyers and witness expenses. The cost of the 1976 application for leave to appeal was approximately £7,361 excluding Crown costs, records of which are no longer available. The costs of the 1987 appeal total £1,084,557. Complete figures are not at present available for the 1991 appeal. Figures for the civil actions are no longer available.
Civil Legal Aid
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General what was the number of successful applicants for civil legal aid and total spending on civil legal aid for each year since 1979.
The Attorney-General : The number of individuals obtaining civil legal aid and total spending are detailed in tables published in legal aid annual reports (to 1988-89) and the Legal Aid Board annual report for 1989- 90, copies of which are held in the library. The number of successful applicants for civil (non-matrimonial) legal aid for the year 1990-91 was 159,729. Total spending on civil (non-matrimonial) legal aid for this period was £191,157,000.
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Small Claims Courts
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Attorney-General in how many cases coming before the small claims courts in the last year were (a) both parties represented by solicitors, (b) one party represented by solicitors and (c) neither party represented by solicitors.
The Attorney-General : The information requested is not collected.
Lloyd's Syndicates
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Attorney-General if he has received any progress report from the Serious Fraud Office on the investigation into Lloyd's syndicates announced by the hon. Member for Warwicksire, North (Mr. Maude) on 25 March.
The Attorney-General : The Serious Fraud Office has today issued a press notice in the following terms :
"As indicated by the Minister for Corporate Affairs in the House of Commons on the 25th March 1991, the Serious Fraud Office has been examining a matter at Lloyd's to see whether there is a case that it should take on.
The SFO has decided, in the light of its initial enquiries, that no further investigation is warranted."
ENVIRONMENT
East Quayside Development
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will obtain transcripts of the Tyne Tees TV and BBC North interviews with the chief executive of the Tyne and Wear urban development corporation on 18 February relating to contracts for the East Quayside development.
Mr. Key : I have no plans to do so.
Environmental Protection Act
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to monitor the implementation of relevant sections of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by local authorities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Implementation of part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will be monitored primarily through the Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution/local authority liaison committee (IPLA), which was established in December 1989 and which will in future meet three times a year, and by means of the regular statistical returns that local authorities have been asked to make. Section 68 of the Act will require my right hon. Friend to keep under review the discharge by waste regulation authorities of their functions under part II. That review will be undertaken by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution which will carry out regular audits of waste regulation authorities' performance. Section 67 of the Act will also require waste regulation authorities to publish annual reports on the discharge of their functions.
To monitor the implementation of part IV, my Department is planning an annual survey, in selected parts of the country, to assess levels of street cleanliness. We also intend to set up a database of information on the implementation of part IV by local authorities, based on regular data collected by the Tidy Britain Group.
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Section 143 of the Act concerns registers of land which may be contaminated. The Government intend to require local authorities to open section 143 registers to the public in April 1993. We will ask authorities at that time to provide a summary of the information held on the registers.The Government will be discussing with the local authority associations both the need for and the practicality of monitoring the implementation of sections 149-151 relating to control of stray dogs and enforcement of collar and tag identification.
The operation of regulations under section 152 of the Act to ban the burning of all crop residues ; to permit exemptions to the ban and to control permitted burning will be monitored by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Housing Associations
Ms. Abbott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many housing associations registered with the Housing Corporation serve the area covered by the Hackney, North and Stoke Newington constituency ; what are their names ; how many tenants they have ; how many units they manage ; and what level of overall financial support they receive from the Housing Corporation ;
(2) how many housing associations registered with the Housing Corporation which serve the area covered by the Hackney, North and Stoke Newington constituency are black and ethnic minority associations ; what are their names ; how many tenants they have ; how many units they manage ; and what level of overall financial support they receive from the Housing Corporation.
Mr. Yeo : The Housing Corporation has responsibility for keeping a statutory register of housing associations and allocating public funds to them. In this capacity, the corporation holds most of the information sought by the hon. Member. However, the information is classed according to local authority areas, rather than parliamentary constituencies. I have therefore asked the corporation to write to the hon. Member with information relating to the London borough of Hackney. A copy of the reply will be placed in the Library.
Mobile Homes
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has completed his mobile homes research ; when he expects to publish its conclusions ; and how.
Sir George Young : The report on the first stage of the research, a postal survey of local authorities entitled "Mobile Homes in England and Wales", was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in March. The researchers at Birmingham university are now concluding their work on the main physical and social survey of mobile home sites. We expect to publish a final report later this year.
Gas Control Projects
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount available to local authorities via supplementary credit approvals for gas control projects ; and if he will list the applications received from local authorities for those credit approvals.
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Mr. Baldry : A total of £28 million supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) have been set aside for remedial gas control projects at closed landfill sites in the financial year 1991-92. The following applications from local authorities for SCAs have been received so far :
Authority |Bid
|£
------------------------------------------------
South Bedfordshire DC |12,465
Buckinghamshire CC |20,000
South Buckinghamshire DC |6,180
Cambridgeshire CC |272,000
Cheshire CC |1,300,000
Chester City |1,575
Cornwall CC |814,000
Cumbria CC |123,000
Derbyshire CC |307,435
Devon CC |106,000
East Devon DC |30,000
Torbay BC |39,700
Dorset CC |715,000
Durham CC |407,000
Basildon DC |200,000
Hampshire CC |167,000
Eastleigh BC |3,000
New Forest DC |1,555
Hereford and Worcester CC |4,500
Hertfordshire CC |356,000
Three Rivers DC |112,400
Humberside CC |26,500
East Yorkshire BC |12,000
Scunthorpe BC |80,000
Tonbridge and Malling BC |4,550
Lancashire CC |435,000
Leicestershire CC |409,000
Blaby DC |235,000
Hinckley and Bosworth BC |118,000
Leicester City |230,000
Northamptonshire CC |1,382,287
Northampton BC |322,500
North Yorkshire CC |399,050
Nottingham City |78,000
Rushcliffe BC |31,500
Oxfordshire CC |493,000
Vale of White Horse DC |95,000
Shropshire CC |359,300
South Shropshire DC |205,000
Somerset CC |460,000
Suffolk CC |618,282
Guildford BC |55,000
Nuneaton and Bedford BC |35,000
West Sussex CC |491,000
Mid Sussex DC |20,000
West Wiltshire DC |18,000
Hillingdon LB |1,000,000
Hounslow LB |69,202
Bexley LB |2,272,103
Greater Manchester WDA |142,000
Bury MBC |318,000
Oldham MBC |183,000
Rochdale MBC |60,000
Stockport MBC |133,420
Wigan MBC |165,000
Merseyside WDA |665,000
Barnsley MBC |173,300
Doncaster MBC |82,300
Rotherham MBC |249,000
Sheffield City |97,500
Gateshead MBC |116,000
Birmingham City |81,000
Coventry City |700,000
Dudley MBC |974,731
Sandwell MBC |1,606,400
Solihull MBC |470,000
Walsall MBC |1,805,660
Wolverhampton MBC |671,000
|-------
Total |23,646,395
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Petroleum Coke
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what restrictions have been placed on the use of petroleum coke in areas covered by the Smoke Control Act ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Only fuel authorised by regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 34(1) of the Clean Air Act 1956 may be used or supplied in smoke control areas unless it is burnt on an appliance exempted for that purpose by regulations under section 11(4). Existing regulations do not provide for the use of petroleum coke or exempt an appliance for its use. Regulations, due to come into force on 1 July this year, will permit the use of one product which is a blend of petroleum coke and coal. Enforcement of the provisions of the Act to prevent the use or supply of unauthorised fuel rests with local authorities.
Orimulsion
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions have been held with Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution about the use of orimulsion in Richborough and Ince power stations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Proposals by PowerGen to burn the fuel orimulsion at Richborough and Ince power stations were discussed in considerable detail with Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to ensure that releases of pollutants to the atmosphere were kept within limits approved by the inspectorate. In both cases the requirements laid down by the inspectorate have been set out in registration certificates which have been placed on public registers. These registers are available for inspection by any member of the general public at the relevant HMIP and local authority offices.
Consultancy Contracts
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what housing consultancy contracts his Department has with Aldbourne Associates Ltd. ; in what year they were awarded ; what is their value ; and whether they were awarded by open competition.
Mr. Tim Yeo : The Department has no housing consultancy contracts with Aldbourne Associates Ltd.
Renaval
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money has been spent by way of the European Community's Renaval programme in (a) the Plymouth area and (b) north-east England ; what kind of projects received sums of money in each of the two localities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : No ERDF grant has yet been paid to participants in the Renaval programmes in Plymouth nor the north-east of England due to their recent approval. However, within the programmes so far one project to the value of £1.6 million has been approved under the Plymouth programme for the development of industrial land. In north-east England eight projects have been approved to the value of £2.4 million. These are related to the development of land and industrial premises, and improving the environment and image of the area.
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Shopping Centre, Trafford
Mr. Churchill : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which of the Department of Transport and the Department of the Environment has the ultimate responsibility for deciding the planning application for a regional shopping centre in Trafford, announced by him in July 1989 and confirmed in May 1991 as the preferred choice ; with which Government Department interested parties should negotiate ; and when a final decision is expected to be given.
Mr. Yeo : A decision on the planning application for the Trafford centre will be taken by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment who is currently considering representations about the centre's implications for the M63. He will inform parties of the results of his consideration as soon as possible. I cannot forecast when a final decision may be given.
Arrangements for any works which may need to be made to the motorway are a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.
Sewage Works
Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has concerning the progress of water company improvements for sewage treatment works ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The latest figures available from the National Rivers Authority demonstrate further improvements in the operational performance of sewage treatment works. In 1990 the proportion of works complying with their current consents, including the time-limited consents granted in 1989 -90 in connection with the water industry's current £1.2 billion improvement programme, was 92 per cent. Time-limited consent conditions are superseded by long-term performance measures as the improvements work through. The authority believes that the proportion of works which already meet these long-term measures has risen from 77 per cent. in 1986, and 83 per cent. in 1988, to some 88 per cent. in 1990. The water industry's enhanced investment programme is therefore making good progress. The Director General of Water Services is continuing to monitor the programme.
Drinking Water
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by water company area (a) the date by which he expects the drinking water standards set in the EC drinking water quality directive to be met and (b) the number of people currently supplied from non-complying sources.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 13 June 1991] : The current programme of improvements is incorporated in undertakings under section 20 of the Water Act 1989 and in conditions attached to authorisations under regulation 4 of the Water Quality Regulations, all of which are in the Library. Most breaches of the standards will have been remedied by the end of 1995. Statistics of the number of people currently supplied from non- complying sources are not readily available. All public water supplies already comply with the great majority of the standards in the EC drinking water directive.
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Housing Renovation Grants
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring in legislation to remove the means test from housing renovation grants for the disabled.
Mr. Yeo [holding answer 13 June 1991] : By applying a test of resources it is possible to ensure that public expenditure is directed towards those people who are in greatest need. There are no plans for legislative changes at present. The new arrangements for house renovation and disabled facilities grants introduced last year will be reviewed later this year. We will consider the need for changes in the light of this review.
Housing Benefits Regulations
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what level of subsidy payments made under schedule 1(F) of the Housing Benefits General Regulations 1987, (SI, 1987, No. 1971) are to be paid to the local authority ; how many payments have been made to the landlord ; and what is the average payment over the last four years.
Miss Widdecombe : I have been asked to reply.
Authorities are not required to identify separately to this Department payments of housing benefit which are eligible for subsidy under the provisions of paragraph 1(f) of part 1 of schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987.
Water Fluoridation
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out the statutory provisions for establishing the authority responsible for deciding if the water supply should be fluoridated artifically as a dental health measure ; and if he will publish in tabular form a list of water companies, showing which of them do and do not add fluoride.
Mr. Dorrell : I have been asked to reply.
The Water (Fluoridation) Act 1985 provides that at the request of a health authority a water undertaker may increase the fluoride content of the water supplied by it to a specified area.
Table 1 lists the water companies in England. Table 2 lists companies with which it is known that arrangements have been made to increase the fluoride content of the water supplied by them. TABLE 1 Water Companies-- Water Service Companies
Anglian Water Services Limited
North West Water Limited
Northumbrian Water Limited
Severn Trent Water Limited
South West Water Services Limited
Southern Water Services Limited
Thames Water Utilities Limited
Wessex Water Services Limited
Yorkshire Water Services Limited
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Statutory Water CompaniesBournemouth and District Water Company
Bristol Waterworks Company
Cambridge Water Company
Chester Waterworks Company
Cholderton and District Water Company
Colne Valley Water Company
East Anglian Water Company
Eastbourne Water Company
East Surrey Water Company
East Worcestershire Waterworks Company
Essex Water Company
Folkestone and District Water Company
Hartlepools Water Company
Lee Valley Water Company
Mid Kent Water Company
Mid Southern Water Company
Mid Sussex Water Company
Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company
North Surrey Water Company
Portsmouth Water Company
Rickmansworth Water Company
South Staffordshire Water Company
Sunderland and South Shields Water Company
Sutton and District Water Company
Tendring Hundred Water Company
West Hampshire Water Company
West Kent Water Company
York Waterworks Company
TABLE 2 Water companies with whom arrangements have been made to increase the fluoride levels of water supplied by them-- Water Service Companies
Anglian Water Services Limited
North West Water Limited
Northumbrian Water Limited
Severn Trent Water Limited
Thames Water Utilities Limited
Statutory Water Companies
Colne Valley Water Company
East Worcestershire Water Company
Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company
South Staffordshire Water Company
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