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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 5 July 1991
HOME DEPARTMENT
Women Prisoners
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken in response to the Women's National Commission report on women in prison ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : We have already announced changes in certain areas covered by the report. For example, the number of statutory visits to which sentenced inmates are entitled was increased to two each month on 17 June, and we have also announced our intention to make cardphones available in prisons holding unconvicted prisoners. We shall be responding shortly to the Women's National Commission on other issues covered by the report, and will arrange for a copy of our reply to be placed in the Library.
Prisoners (Transfers)
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the offence a person has been convicted of is taken into account when a decision is taken to transfer or not to transfer a prisoner between England and Northern Ireland.
Mrs. Rumbold : Yes. The criteria governing such transfers, announced by the then Home Secretary my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) on 23 June 1989 at column 263, include a proviso that a request may be refused if it is considered that the prisoner's crimes were so serious as to render him or her undeserving of any degree of public sympathy or to make it inappropriate that the prisoner should benefit from a substantial reduction in time left to serve, if that would be a consequence of transfer.
Economic Migration
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contingency measures have been discussed or taken by him and his European colleagues with regard to possible substantial economic migration from the Soviet Union, the Balkans and Maghreb into the European Community.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. Friend regularly discusses immigration matters with his European Community colleagues and reports regularly to the House. Trends in migration are closely monitored and there are arrangements for rapid consultation should the need arise.
Derek Bentley
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to complete a review of the circumstances regarding the conviction and execution of Derek Bentley ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. John Patten : The case is still under consideration. The review will be completed as soon as possible.
United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish the names of the managing body of the UKIAS.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : UKIAS is a registered charity, controlled by a general council of representatives nominated by its member organisations. These member organisations consist of representative ethnic minority groups and other voluntary and statutory bodies. Responsibility for running the service is delegated to an executive committee elected by the general council. Full lists of member organisations and of the names of members of the general council and the executive committee are published each year in the organisation's annual report, the latest of which relates to 1989-90 and is available from the UKIAS head office, 190 Great Dover street, London SE1 4YB.
EMPLOYMENT
Learning Difficulties
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many places planned specifically for adults with learning difficulties were available in each of the last five years ; and how many are available in the present year.
Mr. Jackson : This information is not available.
Small Companies
Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will detail the main measures for assisting small companies which have been announced in the last 12 months.
Mr. Forth : The main measures have included a number of VAT easements such as increasing the registration threshold to £35,000 ; increasing the corporation tax threshold by 25 per cent. to £250,000 ; sponsoring a one-day enterprise workshop for all training and enterprise councils ; giving training and enterprise councils a wide measure of flexibility on how they administer the enterprise allowance scheme ; extending the enterprise initiative for a further three years and introducing three specific programmes to help small firms innovate, solve technical problems and introduce modern manufacturing systems.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Cox : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many reported cases of BSE there have been in each of the past six months ; how many cattle have been killed ; and from what number of farms in England and Wales.
Mr. Maclean : The information for England and Wales is as follows :
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Month |Number of |Number |Number of suspect cases |slaughtered |farms from of BSE |which cattle reported |slaughtered ---------------------------------------------------------------------- December 1990 |1,475 |1,407 |1,106 January 1991 |2,242 |2,144 |1,660 February 1991 |1,803 |1,703 |1,356 March 1991 |2,210 |2,071 |1,649 April 1991 |2,457 |2,237 |1,773 May 1991 |1,936 |981 |824
Birds
Mr. Gale : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the number of imported wild-caught birds which were dead on arrival and which were subsequently submitted to the veterinary investigations centre for analysis to ascertain the cause of death from fowl pest, salmonella or psittacosis for each year since 1987.
Mr. Maclean : Data on the number of carcases of imported captive birds submitted to veterinary investigation centres for examination are set out in my reply of 26 June to the hon. Member for Glandford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley), Official Report, column 497. Such data do not, however, distinguish between wild-caught and captive-bred birds, nor do they differentiate between birds dying in transit or in quarantine.
Mr. Gale : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the number of different species of imported wild-caught birds which were confirmed as having died from fowl pest, salmonella or psittacosis in 1989.
Mr. Maclean : Information about the numbers of species of imported captive birds dying of specific causes is not collected in the precise form requested. Available data indicate that in 1989 at least 47 different species of imported birds were associated with salmonella infection, 11 species with Chlamydia psittaci infection, and at least 18 species died or were slaughtered as a result of fowl pest. It is not possible to differentiate between wild-caught and captive-bred birds.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Nursing Home Residents
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will estimate the number of new claimants of income support in residential and nursing homes each year since 1985 ;
(2) if he will estimate the number of residents in residential and nursing homes who have ceased to claim income support each year since 1985.
Miss Widdecombe : Information is held on the total number of income support recipients in residential care and nursing homes. It is not possible to distinguish between new and existing claimants, but the following table shows how total numbers have increased in each year since 1985.
|Number
------------------------------
December 1985 |70,000
February 1986 |90,000
May 1987 |117,000
May 1988 |147,000
May 1989 |176,000
May 1990 |189,000
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will estimate the number of residents in residential and nursing homes who will be in receipt of income support on 1 April 1993 ;
(2) on what basis he is estimating the cost of payments of income support to residents in residential and nursing homes from 1 April 1993.
Miss Widdecombe : Information about expected numbers of income support claimants as well as expenditure is published in the Public Expenditure White Paper (Cm 1014). It has never been the practice to make separate forecasts about any individual group within the planning totals.
PRIME MINISTER
National Identity Cards
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a further statement on the Government's policy towards issuing national identity cards to (a) immigrants and (b) all citizens.
The Prime Minister : As my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary informed the House on 10 February 1989, the Government are not persuaded that a compulsory national identity card scheme should be introduced.
In the Government's view the disadvantages of a policy of issuing national identity cards, notably the high financial cost, the risk of harming the relationship between police and public, and civil liberty objections, would outweigh its benefits.
Child Benefit
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Prime Minister if he will arrange for the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys to use the post code information held by the Benefits Agency to analyse child benefit to obtain and publish up-to-date information on the numbers of children in lone and two-parent households by area.
The Prime Minister : This information cannot be obtained using child benefit records, as post codes necessary to allocate claims to local authority areas are not available for some 2 million, out of 6.7 million, payees. The objective could be achieved by other means only at disproportionate cost.
Yugoslavia
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Prime Minister whether the initiative taken by the three EC Foreign Ministers who visited Yugoslavia on peace-keeping missions was undertaken at the request of the Heads of Government meeting ; whether the decision to send them was unanimous ; what were their terms of reference ; to whom they were to report back ; and whether the agreed policy precluded individual Heads of Government from expressing separate national views.
The Prime Minister : I and my EC colleagues decided at the European Council in Luxembourg on 28 June to send
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the troika of EC Foreign Ministers to Belgrade and Zagreb to try to negotiate an agreement on the terms of a ceasefire which would allow negotiations between all the parties involved in the crisis in Yugoslavia. They reported back to us on the results of their mission on 29 June. The decision to send the troika was taken by consensus, as are all decisions in the field of foreign policy co-operation among the member states of the Community. The speed and unity of the Twelve's response reflected a convergence of national views on this subject. We shall, of course, continue to express our views bilaterally to the various Yugoslav parties.Hot Pursuit
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Prime Minister what is his policy on allowing police officers from other EC countries to enter the United Kingdom in hot pursuit of suspects.
The Prime Minister : There is currently no provision for police officers from other EC countries to enter the United Kingdom in pursuit of suspects.
UK-US Relations
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on current United Kingdom relations with the United States of America in regard to (a) the future role of NATO, (b) the development of free trade and the GATT negotiations, (c) the strategic defence initiative, (d) the halting of nuclear weapons testing and (e) the future of Antarctica and the Antarctic treaty.
The Prime Minister : The United Kingdom and the United States are in full agreement with each other, and with the rest of the alliance, on NATO's future role as the cornerstone of European security. We are both committed to securing an open world trading system. We and the European Community are working closely with the United States in the GATT negotiations, which we all hope to conclude successfully by the end of the year.
Lone-Parent Families
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make arrangements for the Department of the Environment to arrange with the Benefits Agency the means of obtaining up-to-date information on the numbers of children in lone-parent households by local authority area for the purpose of assessing standard spending.
The Prime Minister : The standard spending assessments include indicators based on the most up-to-date information which is reliable at a local authority level on numbers of children and numbers of persons living in lone parent households. It is not possible to obtain more recent information by using child benefit records because the necessary post codes are not available for some 2 million out of 6.7 million, payees. An analysis of child benefit payments will not, in any case, indentify all lone parent households since some parents in receipt of income support do not claim one parent benefit as there is no financial incentive to do so.
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Immigration and Frontier Controls
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Prime Minister whether he will place in the Library the papers on immigration and frontier controls used during the Luxembourg summit and by his press officer subsequently to brief journalists.
The Prime Minister : I refer the honourable Gentleman to the statement I made in the House on 1 July, and the conclusions of the European Council which have been placed in the Library of the House.
Immigrants (Criminal Activity)
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Prime Minister what research has been undertaken into the incidence among the immigrant population, relative to the non-immigrant population, of criminal activity, in particular (i) drug trafficking and (ii) terrorism, and of contribution to racial tension.
The Prime Minister : I am not aware of any research of these specific matters.
ENVIRONMENT
International Concert Hall, Manchester
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Hazel Grove of 27 June, if he will indicate from which budgets or vote subheads the funds made available for the International concert hall, Manchester, have come ; and what plans he has for further funding.
Mr. Portillo : The funding so far approved for the concert hall, for feasibility studies, is from class VIII, vote 3, subhead D8 (Central Manchester Development Corporation). The Department will consider further funding on receipt of a full project submission from the development corporation.
Sewage Sludge
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to compel the water companies to add fragrances to sewage sludge disposed of on land.
Mr. Baldry : The Government have no plans to do so. A code of practice for agricultural use of sewage sludge was published in 1989 which contains guidance on effective odour control. Generally adequate treatment of the sludge or incorporation into the soil reduces any odour problems.
Local Government Review
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance he gives to the Local Government Boundary Commission in respect of the release of advance copies of its reports on local government structure and boundaries (a) to the press and (b) local Members of Parliament in the areas covered by the review.
Aggregates
Mr. Walden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps his Department is taking to incorporate assumptions about increases in the cost of
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mining activities to reflect the increased value placed on countryside preservation in the preparation of future forecasts of national demand for primary aggregates.Mr. Yeo : Before new guidelines for primary aggregate provision are published the environmental costs will be carefully considered. A number of studies are in progress which will assist this task.
Sheffield Development Corporation
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment further to his answer of 19 June, Official Report, column 183, how many jobs have been created by the Sheffield development corporation since its inception, excluding jobs at the Meadowhall development ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : I refer the hon. Member to my written answer of 4 June, column 166. I also wrote to the hon. Member on 17 June on this subject.
Local Government Boundary Commission
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the numbers of staff and annual costs of the Local Government Boundary Commission ; the number of reports it issues each year ; and the numbers and names of the reviews currently in progress.
Mr. Key : The commission has a staff of 36 and an annual running cost of approximately £770,000. In 1990-91 it issued 24 reports. The commission is currently carrying out statutory reviews of the 36 metropolitan districts, the 32 London boroughs, the City of London and the Inner and Middle Temples. In addition, it is completing the statutory reviews of the non-metropolitan counties with a review of the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire boundary and a second review of part of the North Yorkshire/Cleveland boundary. It also considers reviews of parishes carried out by district councils as and when these are submitted.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the material studies and conclusions from the Local Government Boundary Commission's final recommendation for the county of Humberside will be referred to the new review of the structure of local government.
Mr. Key : Decisions on the steps to be taken following the commission's report will be made after the statutory period for public comment.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the exact time and date when the Local Government Boundary Commission report was released (a) to the media, (b) to hon. Members and (c) to local authorities ; and what advice he has given to the commission on releasing information to hon. Members to enable them to answer media questions.
Mr. Key : The timing of the release of its reports is a matter for the commission. I have given no advice to it on the subject.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the total cost of the Local
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Government Boundary Commission's review of Humberside and the separate costs of each stage of the review.Mr. Key : It is not possible to separate the costs of an individual review from the total costs of the Local Government Boundary Commission.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new instructions he gave to the Local Government Boundary Commission following his statement of 23 April, Official Report, column 901, concerning his preference for unitary authorities in respect of the review of the county of Humberside.
Peat Bogs
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list (a) the sites of undisturbed raised peat bog in England, (b) the total hectarage of such sites, (c) the proportion designated sites of special scientific interest and (d) the proportion of those designated sites in the ownership of peat digging companies.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is to be included in the national peatlands resource inventory currently being researched by the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland. Further detailed research is to take place over the coming months. I will arrange for a copy of the report to be placed in the Library when it is published.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements are being made under part II of the Environmental Protection Act for waste disposal authorities to divest themselves of their waste disposal operations ; whether he foresees an increasing role for the private sector in waste disposal ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heseltine : Waste disposal authorities are currently developing plans under the Environmental Protection Act to divest themselves of their disposal operations.
At the time when public resources are under renewed pressure, it is vital that the private sector plays its full part. I shall now be making WDAs take action by issuing to them, where necessary, notices and directions to set up local authority waste disposal companies. LAWDCs are not the only way WDAs may divest themselves of their operations, but, if they wish to set them up, they must be viable. If not, WDAs will need to arrange for a joint venture or privatise their operations.
Moreover, I intend to seek information from WDAs about the capital investment requirements for the new waste disposal operations in their areas from 1992-93 onwards, and how much of these requirements could be financed outside public expenditure. Higher standards in waste disposal are likely to require higher levels of capital investment over the next few years. But the amounts available for public sector expenditure in this field are inevitably limited. This will mean that LAWDCs will normally have to have private sector involvement if they wish to carry out appropriate capital investment. I shall be consulting the local authority associations about the details. I shall also be looking at further measures in due course.
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
School Facilities
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what provisions govern the consultations which local education authorities are obliged to undertake with governing bodies of schools over (a) use by outside organisations of unused portions of buildings which are otherwise in use as schools and (b) shared use of school facilities by outside organisations.
Mr. Fallon : Section 16 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 provides for the conduct of county, voluntary and maintained special schools to be under the direction of the governing body. Outside school hours, section 42 of the Act provides, in the case of county and maintained special schools, for the use of school premises to be under the control of the governing body, subject to any direction given by the local education authority. A similar provision for voluntary schools is contained in section 22 of the Education Act 1944.
Nuclear Structure Facility
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what alternative provision will be made to replace postgraduate access to the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury for degree purposes.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Postgraduate students will have access to the nuclear structure facility until its closure in 1992-93. The Science and Engineering Research Council is currently reviewing how research and training in nuclear structurer physics should be pursued beyond this period.
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what will be the anticipated cost of redundancy as a result of the closure of the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury ;
(2) what are the total estimated costs of the closure of the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The SERC's current estimate of the cost of decommissioning and dismantling the nuclear structure facility is £2 million. In addition, there will be the costs of some redundancies which will not be known until nearer the anticipated date of closure in 1992-93.
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the cost of the manpower involved in constructing the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The element of manpower in the construction costs is not separately available and could be obtained by the Science and Engineering Research Council only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science between what dates the LINAC facility is planned to be used within the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury.
Mr. Alan Howarth : No dates have been set by the Science and Engineering Research Council for the operation of the LINAC at its nuclear structure facility.
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the total cost at current prices of constructing the nuclear structure facility and its subsequent enhancements.
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Mr. Alan Howarth : I refer my hon. Friend to the replies that I gave him on 25 June 1991, Official Report, columns 39-40.
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are SERC's plans for the linear accelerator at the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury laboratory in the light of the proposed closure of the laboratory.
Mr. Alan Howarth : I understand that no final decision has yet been taken by the SERC on the future of the LINAC accelerator.
LINC Report
Mr. Walden : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will put a copy of the "Language in the National Curriculum" report, the LINC report, in the Library ;
(2) if he will give a breakdown of the cost of producing the LINC report.
Mr. Eggar : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave on 21 June 1991, Official Report, column 320, to the hon. Member for Durham, North-West (Ms. Armstrong). The precise cost of producing the LINC in- service training package is not separable from the Department's grant to be co-ordinator of the LINC programme. That is expected to be about £120,000, but it also covers costs involved in the central co- ordination of the training programme.
East Birmingham Task Force
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what visits or other official engagements were undertaken by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science during his visit to the East Birmingham task force area on 1 May.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The programme included a meeting with the task force team and visits to Just for Starters Ltd., Jona Sova Seba Committee, the Parkview access centre, St. Matthews school and Nechells and Duddeston youth centre.
HEALTH
Tower Hamlets
Ms. Gordon : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of local government electors for Tower Hamlets for each year since 1979.
Mr. Dorrell : The information requested is as follows :
Year |Number ------------------------ 1979 |110,611 1980 |111,447 1981 |111,156 1982 |112,073 1983 |113,859 1984 |112,256 1985 |112,036 1986 |113,203 1987 |115,472 1988 |113,671 1989 |113,743 1990 |112,550 1991 |105,922
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