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Defence Industries
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what communication his Department has had with local authorities concerning the application of the European Community's Stride programme on the possibilities for conversion or technological reorientation of regional defence industries.
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Mr. Leigh [holding answer 13 June 1991] : At the moment, the details of the allocation of Stride money in the United Kingdom are still being agreed with the European Commission. Once this is finalised, the possible use of Stride for regional projects such as the reorientation of defence industries, will be discussed in the programme committee on which local authorities will be represented.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the implementation of projects sponsored by the European Community's Sprint programme in the United Kingdom ; how many companies and organisations are presently receiving support ; and what assessment he has made of the benefit to the United Kingdom economy of the Sprint initiative.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 13 June 1991] : Sprint aims to stimulate technology transfer within the European Community. The programme has been in operation for six years. Over 100 United Kingdom companies and organisations are actively involved in Sprint, more than any other EC country. It is too early to judge the full benefits to the United Kingdom economy, but already over 260 agreements to transfer technology have been signed. United Kingdom companies are involved in a significant number of those agreements.
Output Prices
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the increase in the prices of output since October 1990 in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Germany.
Mr. Maples [holding answer 25 June 1991] : I have been asked to reply.
Between 1990 quarter 3 and 1991 quarter 1 the implied deflator of United Kingdom GDP rose by 2 per cent. and the implied deflator of GNP in Germany rose by 1 per cent. Both these figures are measured at market prices. The implied deflator of GDP measures the prices of the net output of total goods and services in the economy. Figures based on GNP have been used for Germany because they are the most comparable available.
WALES
Blind Students
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what arrangements are being made by his Department to ensure that examination papers for the GCSE are available in Braille ; (2) what is his Department's policy on ensuring that blind and partially sighted students have adequate access to the examination process.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The responsibility for administering the examination process rests with individual examining boards. The joint council for the GCSE have issued guidance common to all examing groups to deal with pupils with disabilities such as a visual impairment. The Welsh Joint Education Committee issues GCSE and A-level papers in Braille when requested.
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Employment Training
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to ensure that adults with learning difficulties in Wales are given adequate opportunities for employment training.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The responsibility for ensuring appropriate provision under employment training now rests with training and enterprise councils (TECs). All TECs are required to address the need of adults with learning difficulties in their corporate and business plans. The additional resources for employment training announced on 19 June 1991 will be targeted on people with special training needs, in particular those with literacy and numeracy difficulties. In addition negotiations are taking place with two TECs in Wales to pilot centres to encourage trainees to improve basic literacy and numeracy and promote the use of City and Guilds Certificates in word power and number power.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Wrongful Imprisonment
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out the criteria by which he determines what level of compensation to pay to people who have been wrongfully imprisoned ; and whether he has any plans to alter these criteria.
Mr. John Patten : When my right hon. Friend has determined that payment of compensation following a wrongful conviction is justified, the amount to be paid is assessed by an independent assessor. The assessor applies principles analogous to those governing the assessment of damages for civil wrongs.
The assessment takes account of both pecuniary and non-pecuniary loss arising from the conviction and/or loss of liberty, including matters such as damage to character or reputation, hardship (including mental suffering) and inconvenience, loss of earnings and future earning capacity, legal costs, and other additional expenses arising in consequence of detention including expenses incurred by the immediate family
We have no plans at present to amend these arrangements.
Taxi Drivers
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will outline the procedures used by the Metropolitan police to vet taxi drivers, describe the offences for which licenses are refused and outline the appeals procedure open to the driver ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Applicants for cab drivers' licences are required to declare any previous convictions to the Public Carriage Office of the Metropolitan police. Appliations are checked against the national collection of criminal records. In considering whether or not to grant a licence regard is paid to the seriousness of any offences and to how long ago they were committed. A right of appeal against the refusal of a licence is contained in section 17 of the Transport Act 1985.
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Police Records
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what legislation is required to implement the police national computer network, the new criminal record system or the integration of police criminal information systems in general ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The need for legislation is one of the matters which is considered in preparing the case for new national information services for the police. It is presently being considered in relation to both a police national network and a new national criminal records system and would need to be examined in any proposal for the integration of police criminal information systems.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each category found in the wanted and missing persons index of the police national computer ; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each category in the index over the year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is as follows :
Category |Current
-----------------------------------------------
Wanted |33,192
Fails to Appear |36,544
Suspect |21
Impending Prosecution |77
Deserter |1,367
Locate |51,582
Missing |2,460
Found |15
Absconder-from care |484
-from hospital |81
-from detention |4
-from youth custody |112
-from prison |1,140
-from remand |11
-from school |36
Recall -from detention |0
-from youth custody |2
-from prison |319
Figures on the minimum and maximum size of each category over the past year are not available.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many subject access requests were made under the Data Protection Act 1984 to the Metropolitan police for each year since 1987 ; and what proportion were made to criminal records.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand that the number of subject access requests made to the Metropolitan police in each year since 1987 was as follows :
Year |Number ---------------------- 1987 |23 1988 |423 1989 |1,131 1990 |1,647 <1>1991 |399 <1> March.
Statistics are not kept on the proportion of requests which relate to criminal records, but it is estimated that the vast majority of requests were for this purpose.
The vast majority sought access to criminal names.
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Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each index of the police national computer ; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each index over the last year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is as follows :
Index |Current size ------------------------------------------------- Vehicle owners |39,017,200 Stolen vehicles |547,332 Chassis-engine numbers |914,274 Wanted/missing persons |131,948 Cross reference |706,363 Disqualified drivers |382,298 Convictions |3,827,885 Criminal names |5,783,622 Fingerprints |4,270,292 Crime pattern analysis |110,059 Extremists crime index |1,152 Major investigations |330,939
Information on the minimum and maximum size of each index over the last year has not been collected because of other essential work on preparing the database for its transfer to the new police national computer.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has as to the number of accesses made to the police national computer by each constabulary in Great Britain over the last year ; and whether he can give the proportion of access requests made to the vehicle indexes of the police national computer.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is as follows :
Force |Numbers of |Proportion of
|transactions |transactions
|for the year up|made to
|to May 1991 |vehicle indices
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon and Somerset |994,287 |64.8
Bedfordshire |398,709 |70.1
British Transport Police |161,730 |43.1
Cambridgeshire |388,925 |64.0
Central |159,990 |52.9
Cheshire |440,291 |60.2
City of London |99,339 |64.6
Cleveland |357,058 |60.7
Cumbria |386,831 |62.8
Derbyshire |463,873 |68.4
Devon and Cornwall |783,853 |61.1
Dorset |515,411 |59.2
Dumfries and Galloway |106,396 |54.6
Durham |362,429 |55.4
Dyfed-Powys |223,378 |52.1
Essex |859,664 |60.1
Fife |140,848 |48.7
Gloucestershire |343,580 |68.1
Grampian |290,132 |54.0
Greater Manchester |2,436,529 |60.6
Guernsey |16,491 |6.5
Gwent |232,584 |51.5
Hampshire |908,148 |60.0
Hertfordshire |451,152 |64.7
Humberside |548,998 |60.2
Isle of Man |10,234 |28.4
Jersey |35,232 |5.4
Kent |1,139,038 |64.1
Lancashire |1,172,783 |57.2
Leicestershire |432,221 |64.3
Lincolnshire |288,829 |62.8
Lothian and Borders |680,544 |62.3
Merseyside |935,499 |55.8
Metropolitan |7,773,109 |49.1
Norfolk |392,824 |67.1
North Wales |346,732 |45.1
North Yorkshire |489,871 |69.4
Northamptonshire |345,864 |69.2
Northern |200,871 |51.2
Northumbria |1,124,897 |70.5
Nottinghamshire |670,482 |75.4
South Wales |895,957 |62.6
South Yorkshire |706,531 |73.9
Staffordshire |448,699 |59.8
Strathclyde |1,341,243 |39.2
Suffolk |323,544 |61.2
Surrey |370,469 |62.2
Sussex |784,633 |53.3
Tayside |216,105 |47.6
Thames Valley |892,968 |60.8
Warwickshire |255,512 |73.8
West Mercia |333,871 |56.4
West Midlands |1,608,881 |65.4
West Yorkshire |1,180,234 |59.3
Wiltshire |299,116 |67.6
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statistics he has as to the number of subject access requests made to criminal records held by the Metropolitan police or the police national computer that have been made for vetting purposes ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No statistics are available on this matter as applicants seeking subject access do not have to give reasons for their requests.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accesses were made to each index of the police national computer over the last year ; and whether he will include in these statistics an indication of the number of access requests that could search more than one index.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The total number of accesses to each of the indices of the police national computer in the year to 31 May 1991 was as follows :
|Index |Number of accesses
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. |Stolen and Suspect Vehicles |22,771,400
2. |Vehicle Owners
3. |Chassis/Engine Numbers |453,842
4. |Fingerprints |194,074
5. |Fingerprints (Scenes of Crime) |13,021
6. |Criminal Names<1> |2,017,903
7. |Wanted/Missing Persons |2,144,103
8. |Disqualified Drivers |725,448
9. |Convictions |956,352
10. |Major Investigations |1,302
11. |Crime Pattern Analysis |296,535
There have also been the following joint accesses :
Number
To indices 6 and 9 2,017,903
To indices 6, 7 and 9 1,534,343
To indices 6, 7, 8 and 9 8,460,357
To indices 4, 6 and 9 606,569
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|Number
---------------------------------------------
To indices 6 and 9<2> |2,017,903
To indices 6, 7 and 9 |1,534,343
To indices 6, 7, 8 and 9 |8,460,357
To indices 4, 6 and 9 |606,569
<1> The figure for the year to June 1990 was
1,996,349 and not 1,094,072 as incorrectly
given on 19 July 1990 at column 664.
<2> All access to the criminal names index
will in addition automatically generate
information from the convictions
application.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each category found in the stolen and suspect vehicle index of the police national computer ; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each category in the index over the year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information requested is as follows :
Category |Current ---------------------------------------------------------- Confirmed lost or obtained by deception |437,847 Lost or stolen |447,634 Obtained by deception |18 Found |31,712 Removed |16,764 Street to street |152 Repossessed by finance company |0 Suspect |42 Police vehicle |3,037 Blocked |6,980 Information |20,486 Seen |8,021
Information on the minimum and maximum of each category over the last year has not been collected because of other essential work on preparing the database for transfer to the new police national computer.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many subject access requests were made under the Data Protection Act 1984 to the police national computer for each year since 1987 ; and what proportion were made to the criminal names index.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is as follows :
|Number
----------------------
1987 |82
1988 |2,628
1989 |8,758
1990 |13,848
<1>1991 |8,413
<1>31 May.
Nearly all were made of the criminal names index, save in 1987 when the proportion was under 50 per cent.
Passport Offices
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when the decision was taken to send passport applications from Peterborough to Belfast ;
(2) how many unopened letters are there on a daily basis at each of the passport offices ;
(3) how many unopened passport applications there are at the Peterborough office.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : These questions have been passed to the chief executive of the United Kingdom Passport Agency who will reply shortly. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
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Police Station, Rutland
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on his Department's funding for the building of the new police station in Oakham, Rutland ; and when it is scheduled to be completed.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand that work on the new police station at Oakham began in April and is expected to be completed in October 1992 at a cost of £1,125,000. This expenditure will be eligible for Home Office grant of 51 per cent.
Race Relations Act
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward legislation to extend the provisions of the Race Relations Act to all areas of governmental and regulatory activity, including the immigration, police and prison services ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : Section 75 of the Race Relations Act 1976 states that the provisions of the Act as a whole apply to actions done by Ministers and Government Departments, and to actions done on their behalf, in the same way as they apply to the actions of a private person. It is for the courts to decide how the provisions should be interpreted.
If an on-duty police officer treats a person improperly on the grounds of that person's colour, race, nationality, or ethnic or national origin, he is committing an offence of racially discriminatory behaviour and can be disciplined under paragraph 9 of the police discipline code, which is set out in schedule 1 to the Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985.
The Commission for Racial Equality has recently launched a review of the 1976 Act ; we will, of course, consider any recommendations which come out of the review, but at present we have no plans for legislation.
Sunday Trading
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests he has received this year from local authorities for guidance on the enforcement of Sunday trading legislation.
Mrs. Rumbold : Between 1 January and 27 June this year inclusive we received, either directly or via hon. Members, 31 letters from local authorities about Sunday trading. Two of these specifically requested guidance on the enforcement of the Sunday trading provisions of the Shops Act 1950.
Boundary Commission
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the terms of reference for the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England, fourth general review ; what is its timetable ; and what is its progress to date.
Mrs. Rumbold : The Boundary Commission for England is carrying out its fourth general review of constituencies under the provisions of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986. Under the Act, it is required to
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submit reports on all the constituencies in England to the Secretary of State not less than 10 nor more than 15 years after the submission of the previous such reports. The Commission is therefore required to report between February 1993 and February 1998. Since the start of the review, in February, the Commission has obtained ward electorates from the 1991 electoral register. These have been updated to take account of ward changes up to 1 April. A list giving the electorate for each ward has been placed in the Library.Later this month, the Commission will be considering its provisional recommendations for Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset ; these will be published later this year.
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list biographical details of each member of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England.
Mrs. Rumbold : The information requested is as follows : The chairman of the Commission is the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The deputy chairman is Sir John Knox. He was called to the Bar in 1953, became a QC in 1979, and was appointed a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court in 1985. He is also a member of the Lord Chancellor's Law Reform Committee.
Miss Sheila Cameron QC was called to the Bar in 1957 and became a QC in 1983. She is a deputy High Court judge, recorder, and vicar-general of the province of Canterbury and a member of the parliamentary, planning and local government Bar.
Mr. David Macklin CBE is a former chief executive of Devon county council and has also held local government posts in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
EMPLOYMENT
Disability and Employment
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what response has been made to the recommendations of the Employment Select Committee's first report of Session 1990-91 on disability and employment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the Chairman of the Select Committee on 15 January to express his pleasure at the participation of the Committee in the consultative process, to say that the Committee's comments will be given full consideration along with all others received and to commit himself to keeping the Committee informed on progress on all the issues they raised.
My right hon. and learned Friend wrote again on 17 April, to inform the Committee of the decision about the future development of the specialist services for people with disabilities which are provided by the Employment Services and to say that he believed that the changes which he announced would help to meet the concerns about disablement resettlement officers (DROs) expressed in the Committee's report.
The Committee will continue to be informed of appropriate decisions in line with the Secretary of State's commitment.
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Earnings, Scotland
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 10 June, Official Report, column 435-38 ; if he will provide the same information given in percentage form in terms of the absolute number of employees affected in each category.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is not available.
Youth Training
Mr. Miscampbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many YOP, YTS and youth training places were available in Lancashire for each year since 1978 to 1990.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is given in the following table. Information prior to 1985-86 is not readily available.
Youth training Number of agreed places in Lancashire At 31 March |Number ------------------------------------ 1986 |7,100 1987 |11,400 1988 |15,800 1989 |15,000 1990 |13,900 Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Source: SPECTRUM.
Learning Difficulties
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that adults with learning difficulties are given adequate opportunities for employment training.
Mr. Jackson : Training and enterprise councils are required to set out in their business plans how they intend to offer suitable training to people with special needs, including learning difficulties. These plans form the basis of their contract with the Department. Those people joining employment training from the Government's guarantee and aim groups for long -term unemployed people will include substantial numbers of people with special training needs.
On 19 June the Secretary of State announced a package of measures including an additional £35 million for employment training, in particular to support training for people with special needs.
Disability Advisory Council
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will announce the membership of the new National Advisory Council on the Employment of People with Disabilities.
Mr. Jackson : My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State has appointed 12 new members and reappointed four existing members to the National Advisory Council on Employment of People with Disabilities for a period of three years from 1 July 1991. The chairman of the council is Mr. Alan Smith MBE, FIPM, FBIM, FinstD. His appointment runs until 31 December 1992, and has not been affected by the new appointments.
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The members of the council are :Members appointed after consultation with organisations representing employers
Mr. P. T. G. Hobbs MA (Oxon), FIPM, FInstD.
Mr. R. C. Spoor OBE, RD, DCL, (Hon), DL, FCA
Mr. A. Wild BA (Hons), MIPM
Members appointed after consultation with organisations representing workers
Mr. W. Anderson BSc (Econ), FLA
Mr. R. D. Exell
Mr. P. E. Gallant BSc, ARCS, C Chem, FRSC
Other Members
Ms. C. M. Ashton BSc (Hons)
Mr. I. Bruce BSocSc, FBIM
Mr. J. Denholm
Dr. A. Fingret MBBS, MFOM
Mr. P. Large MBE, CBE
Mr. P. MacDonald
Mr. W. H. Massie OBE
Dr. C. N. Morton CEng, MICE, MIPM
Mr. T. V. F. Pape BSc
Ms. S. Scott-Parker BA
The council has always provided valuable advice and assistance on issues concerning the employment and training of people with disabilities and I am sure that with the new membership it will continue to do so.
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