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|Number
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4 April
Issued |134
Refused |29
11 April
Issued |139
Refused |52
NORTHERN IRELAND
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to review the cold weather payments system in order to ensure that it is paid as part of benefit on an ongoing basis during the winter months.
Mr. Hanley : Following the cold spell last February, the Government have reviewed the operation of the cold weather payments scheme and major improvements are proposed for next winter. First, the capital rule affecting eligibility is to be abolished. Secondly, payments will be made automatically to eligible people without the need for a separate claim. Thirdly, payments will be made for a seven-day period whenever the Met Office forecasts temperatures averaging 0 C or below. If there is no such forecast but subsequently 0 C or below is recorded for a seven-day period, payments will still be made.
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Public Appointments
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the full-time and part-time public appointments for which his Department was responsible for each of the past five years, together with the salary and the date when each appointment is due for renewal.
Dr. Mawhinney : The readily available information about the full and part-time appointments for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is responsible is given in "Public Bodies" and "Public Appointments : A Handbook for Women's Organisations". Copies are available in the Library.
Hospitality Fund
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the expenditure covered by his Department's hospitality fund for the financial year (a) 1989-90, (b) 1990-91 and (c) 1991-92 to date.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information is as follows :
|£
--------------------------------------
(a) 1989-90 |355,085
(b) 1990-91 |426,380
(c) 1991-92 (to date) |81,716
Mink Farms
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many licensed mink factory farms there are in Northern Ireland ; and if he will publish the names of the parliamentary constituencies in which they are located.
Mr. Hanley : There is one licensed mink farm in Northern Ireland, in the South Down parliamentary constituency.
Livestock Density
Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the Northern Ireland stocking levels for cattle, sheep and pigs ; and what stocking density per hectare this represents for cattle and sheep.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 18 June 1991] : At June 1990 the numbers of cattle, sheep and pigs on Northern Ireland farms were :
|Number
--------------------------------------
Cattle and calves |1,506,000
Sheep and lambs |2,505,000
Pigs |590,000
Using appropriate factors to calculate grazing livestock units, the overall stocking density of grazing livestock in Northern Ireland is 1.3 cow equivalents per hectare of grass, forage crops and rough grazing.
Animal Carcases
Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the numbers of fallen animals which have been disposed of by rendering for each month since that facility was reinstated by Lisburn By- Products.
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Mr. Hanley [holding answer 18 June 1991] : The table shows the monthly intake of fallen animals by Lisburn By-Products.
Month ending
|30 April 1991|31 May 1991 |1 June to
|7 June 1991
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Bovines |15 |18 |3
Bullocks |1 |1 |-
Calves |19 |6 |3
Pigs |20 |4 |3
Sows |7 |11 |1
Sheep |9 |2 |3
Lambs |3 |2 |-
Foals |1 |- |2
Horses |1 |- |1
Ponies |- |1 |1
|------- |------- |-------
Total |76 |45 |17
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Uruguay Round
17. Mr. McAvoy : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about progress being made on the reform of the common agricultural policy to meet the requirements of the Uruguay round of GATT negotiations.
Mr. Gummer : The Commission is known to be working on new proposals for CAP reform. Although the determination of Agriculture Ministers to reform the CAP is a welcome spur to a GATT agreement, such reform is wholly separate from the GATT and will be unlikely to be completed until after the GATT round.
Sheep Worrying
18. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the number of agricultural livestock killed or injured by sheep worrying in the last 12 months for which figures or estimates are available ; and what have been the financial implications for support to farmers.
Mr. Curry : Figures on livestock worrying are not held centrally, but it is estimated that up to 10,000 animals are killed or injured by dogs in England and Wales each year. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food provides support through a continuing publicity campaign aimed at educating dog owners about the horrors of livestock worrying.
Rabies
19. Mrs. Currie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress is being made to ensure the retention of British border controls against rabies.
Mr. Maclean : The Community measures adopted so far allow for the retention of post-import quarantine for dogs, cats and other rabies- susceptible animals.
The Government's objective is to ensure that there is no increased risk of rabies being introduced into this country after 1992.
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Whaling
20. Sir Patrick Duffy : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the failure of the International Whaling Commission to bring to an end commercial whaling.
Mr. Gummer : I have received many letters expressing concern about the possible resumption of commercial whaling. I am pleased that at its meeting this year the International Whaling Commission has maintained the moratorium on commercial whaling.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
21. Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met representatives of the British Veterinary Association to discuss the control of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Maclean : I have not met representatives of the British Veterinary Association recently to discuss this issue but my officials are in close and regular contact.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will ask the Tyrrell Committee to look at the safety of burying carcases of BSE affected cattle in landfill tips ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The Tyrrell committee has considered the survival of the scrapie agent in the soil, and has made no recommendation that landfill sites should not be used. The committee will continue to have this issue in mind in the future consideration of the scientific evidence on spongiform encephalopathies.
Common Agricultural Policy Reform
22. Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next intends to meet the Agriculture Ministers to discuss the reform of the common agricultural policy.
Mr. Gummer : Agriculture Ministers are next due to meet on 26 June, but no substantive discussion of common agricultural policy reform is likely until the Commission puts forward new proposals.
24. Mr. Burns : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next plans to meet the National Farmers Union to discuss reforms to the common agricultural policy.
Mr. Gummer : I meet representatives from the National Farmers Union at frequent intervals to discuss agricultural isues, including reform of the common agricultural policy.
Farmers
23. Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the progress of the Government's policy to help farmers to diversify their sources of income.
Mr. Curry : The Government encourage diversification through advice and financial assistance. More than £5 million has been paid in grants. Surveys have shown 42 per cent. of farms in England have diversified.
Column 268
Common Agricultural Policy (Costs)
25. Mr. Grocott : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the European Community on the costs of the common agricultural policy.
Mr. Curry : The cost of the common agricultural policy was a major consideration at the recent Agriculture Council which agreed the 1991 price fixing package.
Pesticides
26. Mr. Clelland : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to reduce the level of use of pesticides in agriculture.
Mr. Maclean : The Government's policy is that the use of pesticides should be limited to the minimum necessary for the effective control of pests compatible with the protection of human health and the environment.
This Department spends over £20 million per year on research into pests and pesticides, particularly aimed at reduced usage. The tonnage of pesticides used in England and Wales has dropped by 18 per cent. since 1979.
Animal Transportation
27. Mr. Canavan : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many representations he has received this year to date about the transportation abroad of animals, particularly horses and ponies ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Government continue to receive a large number of representations on this subject.
In the Community negotiations we are pressing for the continuation of controls which prevent the export of horses for slaughter.
State Veterinary Service
28. Mr. Wray : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the levels of staffing in the state veterinary service.
Mr. Maclean : The number of staff in the state veterinary service is constantly monitored and is maintained at a level commensurate with its responsibilities.
Arctic Foxes
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in which parliamentary constituencies in England Arctic fox factory farms are located.
Mr. Maclean : Information on premises where Arctic foxes are kept is not collected.
Fishing Vessels
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate, port by port, of the number of fishing vessels (a) over 400 hp and (b) below 400 hp.
Mr. Curry : The information requested is somewhat unwieldy. In view of this I am writing to the hon. Member.
Column 269
Sugar
Mr. Illsey : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has made to the European Commission regarding the overproduction of sugar within the Community.
Mr. Curry : We have consistently pressed for measures to discourage overproduction of sugar within the Community, and will continue to do so.
Mink Farms
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many licensed mink factory farms there are in England ; and if he will publish the names of the parliamentary constituencies in which they are located.
Mr. Maclean : As of April 1991 there were 26 licenced mink farms in England. Information on their locations is not published.
Nitrogen
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends to review his policies on controlling the use of nitrogen ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Rules concerning the quantity and timing of nitrogen fertiliser applications will in due course be introduced in nitrate vulnerable zones, in line with the provisions of the nitrate directive agreed at the Environment Council on 14 June.
Food Safety
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met representatives from Parents for Safe Food to discuss food safety and quality ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Food safety and quality are discussed three times a year at meetings I hold with the leaders of 15 consumer groups, and at meetings of the Consumer panel chaired by my hon. Friend, the Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Maclean), Parliamentary Secretary in my Department as well as at several ad hoc meetings with consumer representatives. Dr. Tim Lang of Parents for Safe Food was present at a meeting with me on 25 April. We have also corresponded with this organisation and last July I offered it a meeting with officials to discuss its pesticides charter which it has not yet taken up.
Lincoln Veterinary Investigation Centre
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the United Kingdom pig production population was within the catchment area of the Lincoln veterinary investigation centre ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Based on the June 1990 agricultural census (which excludes minor holdings) the pig population within the catchment area of the Lincoln veterinary investigation centre represents some 13 per cent. of the United Kingdom total.
Column 270
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of cases of salmonella that have been considered by the Lincoln veterinary investigation centre for each year since 1986 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The number of incidents of salmonella reported to the Lincoln veterinary investigation centre under the Zoonoses Order 1975 and, since 1 March 1989, under the Zoonoses Order 1989 in each year since 1986 were as follows :
Salmonella incidents reported Year |Number --------------------- 1986 |57 1987 |50 1988 |88 1989 |445 1990 |461 1991 |192 Note: Figures for 1991 are for the period 1 January to 18 June 1991.
Ewe Premium Supplement
Mr. Hague : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the value to sheep farmers within less favoured areas of the increase in ewe premium supplement agreed at the recent CAP price fixing settlement.
Mr. Curry : The increase in the settlement to the annual ewe premium of around £1.19 per eligible breeding ewe is estimated to provide an additional £15 million in support payments to sheep farmers in the less favoured areas in 1992.
Nitrate-sensitive Areas
Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the final uptake for the pilot nitrate-sensitive areas scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : I am pleased to announce that, by the closing date of 31 May 1991, applications to join the pilot nitrate-sensitive areas scheme had been received for 87 per cent. of the agricultural land in the NSAs. Eighty per cent. of farmers in the NSAs have applied to join. Details for each NSA are given in the table.
This excellent level of uptake for the pilot nitrate-sensitive areas scheme shows that farmers acknowledge the problem of nitrate leaching into our water sources and, by joining the scheme, that they want to do something about it. Once more Britain leads Europe in environmental policies.
We now have the means to reduce nitrate leaching in the areas concerned. We will also increase our understanding of the nitrate problem through our intensive monitoring of the effectiveness of different measures. This will be important prior to the introduction of wider measures in due course as a result of the implementation of the EC nitrate directive agreed on 13-14 June in Luxembourg.
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NSA applications: 1 June 1990 to 31 May 1991
Area Estimated In basic scheme In premium scheme Farmers
total
agricultural
land (Ha)
|Ha |As |Ha |As |In NSA |Applied |As
|percentage |percentage |for basic |percentage
|of land |of land |of number
|in NSA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ogbourne St. George |984 |712 |72.4 |107 |10.8 |10 |8 |80.0
Kilham |756 |286 |37.9 |0 |0.0 |15 |10 |66.6
Egford |427 |220 |51.5 |42 |9.8 |13 |6 |46.2
Old Chalford |621 |578 |93.1 |165 |26.6 |12 |10 |83.3
Wellings |523 |323 |61.8 |9 |1.7 |24 |14 |58.3
Tom Hill |570 |469 |82.3 |19 |3.3 |25 |17 |68.0
Wildmoor |723 |685 |94.7 |14 |1.9 |38 |33 |86.8
Boughton |1,652 |1,627 |98.5 |16 |1.0 |21 |20 |95.2
Sleaford |2,876 |2,876 |100.0 |944 |32.8 |23 |23 |100.0
Branston Booths |1,592 |1,586 |99.6 |209 |13.1 |22 |21 |95.5
|--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |---
Total all NSAs |10,724 |9,362 |87.3 |1,525 |14.2 |203 |162 |79.8
EMPLOYMENT
Enterprise in Action"
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the cost of producing his Department's booklet "Enterprise in Action".
Mr. Forth : The cost of producing the booklet "Small Firms in Britain 1991--Enterprise in Action" was £17,500. Supplies of the booklet are available from HMSO bookshops at £4 each.
Youth Training, Greenwich
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are waiting for youth training places in Greenwich for catering and construction skills.
Mr. Jackson : South London training and enterprise council (TEC) is responsible for the operation of youth training in the Greenwich area. The TEC advise that there are three people waiting to enter catering training places and 44 waiting to enter training places in a range of construction based occupations.
Enterprise Allowance Scheme
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out the amounts available each week for the enterprise allowance scheme for the last eight years up to and including the current year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : The amount available to participants in the enterprise allowance scheme has remained the same for the last eight years at £40 weekly for up to 52 weeks. However in the financial year 1991-92, training and enterprise councils (TECs), and local enterprise companies (LECs) in Scotland, have the flexibility to pay regular amounts of between £20 and £90 weekly for between 26 and 66 weeks. This flexibility will help TECs and LECs to further improve the quality and survival rate of businesses supported by the scheme.
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Earnings
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing for adult male manual workers on full- time rates in (i) manufacturing and (ii) non-manufacturing (a) the total number of employees together with their median hourly earnings, and the number earning less than (b) 50 per cent. and (c) two-thirds the median hourly earnings of all full-time adult male workers on full-time rates.
Mr. Jackson : The available information closest to that requested is published in the "New Earnings Survey 1990" part A (table 1) and part C (tables 70 and 74). A copy of these reports is in the Library.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number of full-time adult (i) male and (ii) female employees in the (iii) clothing and (iv) textiles industries together with the estimated number in each case earning less than (a) half and (b) two thirds median hourly earnings of all full-time adult male and female workers, respectively.
Mr. Jackson : The available information closest to that requested is published in the "New Earnings Survey 1990" part A (table 1) and part C (tables 70 and 72). A copy of these reports is in the Library.
EC Initiatives
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will give details of the United Kingdom co-ordinator for the "Now" initiative ;
(2) if he will give details of the United Kingdom co-ordinator for the "Horizon" programme ;
(3) if he will give details of the United Kingdom co-ordinator for the Euroform programme.
Mr. Jackson : Officials at this Department are currently holding talks with a range of organisations about the possibility of taking on the co-ordinating role.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many of the individuals disqualified from unemployment benefit in each county or district in Wales under section 20 of the Social Security Act 1975 in
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each of the last five years were disqualified (a) for six weeks or less, (b) for more than six weeks but under 13 weeks, (c) for 13 to 20 weeks and (d) for over 20 weeks.Mr. Jackson : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service Executive Agency are the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
International Labour Conference
Mr. Robert Hayward : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has for publishing the White Paper on the instruments adopted at the 77th session of the international labour conference 1990.
Mr. Howard : I have today published the White Paper entitled "International Labour Conference".
Minimum Wage
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Esher (Mr. Taylor) of 7 June, Official Report, column 356, if he will publish the calculations produced and the methodology used by his officials which resulted in the estimates given concerning employment effects of the introduction of a national minimum wage.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 17 June 1991] : I refer the hon. Gentleman to a note that was placed in the House of Commons Library on 2 February 1990. The note is called "Estimating the Effect of a National Minimum Wage", and it provides a detailed explanation of the method used, and the steps in the calculations.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Family Credit
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to ensure that clearance times for family credit are not affected by the introduction of the measures in the Child Support Bill.
Mr. Jack : Full account of the need to process family credit claims as quickly as possible will be taken when the provisions of the Child Support Bill have been approved by Parliament and the detailed procedures arising from it are then formulated.
Social Fund
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each quarter since April 1990 the number of social fund applicants in the Doncaster area who have been refused loans because of local social fund budget restraints.
Mr. Scott : The administration of the social fund is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
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Local Offices, Doncaster
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how much of the work at his Department's offices in the Doncaster area has been transferred to other offices in the past 12 months ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what proposals he has to alter the disposition of social security benefit claims in the Doncaster area.
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