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Kuwait (British Citizens)
Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken by the United Kingdom representative at the United Nations to ensure that compensation is paid to British civilians who were in Kuwait at the time of the Iraqi invasion ; and when he expects the first payments to be made.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Kingdom representative at the United Nations is working actively with other members of the United Nations Security Council on arrangements for establishing a United Nations compensation commission and fund as envisaged in UNSCR 687 and UNSCR 692. The governing council of the commission is to be based in Geneva. It is not yet possible to indicate when the first payments will be made.
Kurdistan
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours), Official Report, 24 June, column 349, on allied forces in Iraq, if he will seek to obtain the information requested.
Parliamentary Answers
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to supply a reason to Members on each occasion his Department is unable to provide a substantive answer to future questions.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : It is already our policy to do so.
Lebanon
Mr. Adley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to promote the implementation of United Nations resolution 425 concerning the withdrawal from southern Lebanon of the occupying Israeli army, following the recent activity of the Lebanese army in re-establishing government control in and around Sidon ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We strongly support the efforts of the Lebanese army to impose their control. Their success further strengthens international calls, which we have consistently supported, for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in accordance with UNSCR 425. It is most important that neither the Israeli defence forces, nor their surrogates, do anything to impede the Lebanese army.
Information Services
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 24 June, Official Report, column 350, how he determines whether the market information inquiry service and the overseas status report service are being run at a profit or loss.
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Mr. Garel-Jones : Provisional estimates of the cost of supplying the range of charged information services to exporters suggest that these services are heavily subsidised at present. Work is currently in hand to identify the costs involved in the Department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom and in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office overseas in providing individual services. Our aim, in the longer term, is for our pricing structure to evolve to a position where charges and costs are aligned as far as possible, consistent with continuing to provide a high quality service to serious United Kingdom exporters that they regard as good value for money.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Accountancy Bodies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 23 May, Official Report, column 627, if he has any plans to propose legislation under which the bodies acting as recognised supervisory bodies will be required to publish the number of complaints which they receive against their members.
Mr. Redwood : I have no plans for such legislation. Under the Companies Act 1989, a recognised supervisory body must have effective arrangements for the investigation of companies against persons who are eligible under the body's rules to be appointed company auditor.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will propose legislation under which auditing firms could be required to explain audit failures to representatives of shareholders and creditors.
Mr. Redwood : No. Shareholders can already seek explanations of audit work at AGMs, and if they are unhappy can change the auditor. A company already has means of legal redress against negligent auditors.
EC-EFTA Negotiations
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the expected timetable for the completion of the EC negotiations with the European Free Trade Association.
Mr. Sainsbury : The European Council on 29 June endorsed the Community's commitment to work with EFTA to try and complete the negotiations on the European economic area this month, with the objective of enabling the agreement to enter into force on 1 January 1993.
ICI
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will seek to pay an official visit to the ICI factories at Pontypool, Penrhyndeudraeth and Barry.
Mr. Lilley : I have no present plans to visit these factories.
Egypt
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received from the hon. Member for Uxbridge concerning unfair
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competition in trade with Egypt resulting from subsidies provided by the United States of America via its bilateral aid programme ; what response he has made ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Sainsbury : My Department has received representations about alleged unfair competition from the United States of America in connection with a business contract in Egypt. We are looking into these allegations as a matter of urgency and I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Insolvency Service has now achieved a full realisation of the cash and estate accounting records up to 31 March.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 4 July 1991] : No. The Insolvency Service now estimates that work on the cash and estate accounting records to 31 March 1991 will be completed by end of July 1991. However, flowing from the problems outlined by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in his report on the insolvency services account for 1989-90 relating to the old accounting systems and the transfer of estate records to the new system, a full reconciliation may not be achievable. I have asked the inspector general and chief executive of the Insolvency Service, who is the agency accounting officer for the account, to let the hon. Member have a further report at end-July. In the meantime, the inspector general is advising the Comptroller and Auditor-General of the position. The new system is succeeding in eliminating many of the problems apparent in the old.
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what is the average penalty imposed in the cases taken by the Insolvency Service ; and if he will make a statement ;
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 5 July 1991] : The Department of Trade and Industry prosecutes a variety of offences following investigations by the Insolvency Service. Such prosecutions comprise offences for which, on conviction, both custodial and non-custodial sentences are imposed. It is therefore not possible to calculate an average penalty.
Every decision to prosecute is taken with legal advice and the lawyer will have regard to the code for Crown prosecutors issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions under section 10 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. That code, in addition to providing criteria as to the sufficiency of evidence, contains criteria concerning whether the public interest requires a prosecution. One of the criteria is the likely penalty, and it is stated that the prosecutor should carefully consider how best the public interest would be served where a nominal penalty is likely.
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Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he last reviewed the code for Crown prosecutors regarding the Insolvency Service.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 5 July 1991] : Any revision of the code for Crown prosecutors is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions under section 10 of The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.
The Insolvency Service has guidelines which, when read with the code for Crown prosecutors, gives more detailed guidance regarding the investigation of possible offences in insolvencies. These guidelines were reviewed by Ministers in June 1991.
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the annual cost of the Insolvency Service in Yorkshire ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Official receivers' offices located in Yorkshire are at Leeds and Sheffield. The running cost budgets for this financial year 1991-92 for those offices are £884,000 and £468,000 respectively.
The official receiver, Hull, and the official receiver, Stockton, also have responsibility in parts of Yorkshire. The running cost budgets for 1991-92 for those offices are £454,000 and £312,000 respectively.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Building Societies
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when it was decided to propose legislation to obtain additional tax from building societies for the financial year 1985-86 ; and when and how an estimate was published of the financial effect on total tax receipts and on the tax to be paid by societies ;
(2) what was the best estimate of the revenue effect at the time it was decided to propose legislation to obtain additional tax from building societies for the financial year 1985-86.
Mr. Maples : I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given to him on 15 April, at columns 9-10, and 22 April, at columns 300-1. The 1986 legislation changing the way building societies account for tax on interest and dividends paid did not involve additional tax.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table of Inland Revenue statistics for each year since 1985, showing the schedule for composite rate tax on building society interest for each year since 1980-81.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 5 July 1991] : The information requested is shown in the table :
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Composite rate tax on building society interest
All amounts in £ million
Receipts in
|1980-81 |1981-82 |1982-83 |1983-84 |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89 |1989-90
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRS edition in:
1985 |Not shown separately
1986 |Not shown separately
1987 |1,217 |1,425 |1,583 |1,550 |1,844 |2,608 |2,545 |- |- |-
1988 |1,217 |1,425 |1,583 |1,550 |1,844 |2,608 |2,539 |2,694 |- |-
1989 |1,217 |1,425 |1,583 |1,550 |1,844 |2,608 |2,539 |2,694 |2,686 |-
1990 |1,217 |1,425 |1,583 |1,550 |1,844 |2,608 |2,539 |2,694 |2,678 |3,713
Note: Receipts of tax subsequently repaid as the result of decisions by the courts are included.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish indices of Welsh, Scottish and United Kingdom planned total spending, excluding privatisation receipts and the reserve, since 1978-79, with 1978-79=100.
Mr. Mellor : Indices for identifiable planning total
expenditure--excluding privatisation proceeds--in Wales, Scotland and the United Kingdom for the years 1985-86 to 1989-90 are set out in the table. The figures for the United Kingdom are based on the part of the planning total--about three quarters--which could be allocated to individual territories. The data on which the indices are based reflect the planning total outturn at the time when the data were collected for the 1990 territorial analysis of expenditure. Corresponding data for 1984-85 on a consistent basis could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data for other years are not available.
|Wales |Scotland|United
|Kingdom
---------------------------------------------
1985-86 |100.0 |100.0 |100.0
1986-87 |109.7 |106.4 |107.4
1987-88 |117.6 |112.7 |113.7
1988-89 |126.0 |118.3 |118.9
1989-90 |133.4 |127.5 |127.6
Horse Racing
Mr. Hind : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any plans to prevent British companies making large investments in horse racing and bloodstock from writing down this investment to zero in one year for tax purposes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maude : It is not clear what sort of investment my hon. Friend has in mind. However, if he can provide further details I shall be glad to consider his question again.
Customs and Excise
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the new forms of alternative working patterns introduced into Her Majesty's Customs and Excise since its reorganisation on next steps lines ; and give a breakdown by grade of the number of staff taking up each new working pattern.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Customs and Excise have for some time used a variety of alternative working patterns, in particular part-time working, job sharing and fixed-term appointments, and will continue to do so following its reorganisation into executive units. I regret that detailed information on numbers and grades can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Civil Servants
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil service grade 6 officers there were in each year since 1979.
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Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Figures for the number of civil servants by grade from 1984 to 1990 can be found in table 4 of "Civil Service Statistics". Copies of this publication are held in the Library. Figures for 1991 are not yet available.
Unified grade 6 was created on 1 January 1984 as part of an expanded open structure by the assimilation of the senior principle grade and some equivalent grades. Published figures for the period prior to that date refer only to senior principal and since since 1984 further grades have been assimilated to UG6. Figures for UG6 on a consistent basis could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Telephones
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bar telephones in his Department from connection to premium rate services.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Telephones in my Department are already barred from connection to premium rate services.
Bank of Credit and Commerce International
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the liquidation of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
Mr. Maples : I refer my hon. Friend to the oral statement I made earlier today.
Tax Assessments
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much assessed tax on income in 1989-90 had been assessed by 31 July 1990.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 5 July 1991] : The amount of tax assessed on income in 1989-90 by 31 July 1990 cannot be ascertained, as the Inland Revenue keeps records by reference to the collector's accounting year ending in October.
P11D Forms
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many P11D forms were outstanding on the most recent date for which this information is available.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 5 July 1991] : There were 1.15 million P11D forms on hand on 13 June 1991. The bulk of these forms are received in the first part of the tax year and dealt with in a targeted programme finishing in December.
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OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Horn of Africa
41. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent progress has been made in ensuring aid arrives at the destination where needed in the Horn of Africa with the minimum of delay.
Mrs. Chalker : The established relief routes in northern Ethiopia continue to deliver food to those in need. In northern Sudan the relief routes are operational. Problems persist over the provision of food to southern Sudan and to those parts of Ethiopia still affected by conflict. However, new mechanisms, including air drops, are being introduced to deal with pockets of acute need.
European Community Aid Policy
42. Mr. Watson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average percentage of gross domestic product spent on overseas aid in other EC member states ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Chalker : Figures are available only for those member countries of the European Community which are also members of the development assistance committee of the OECD. The overall average percentage of gross national product given in overseas aid by these seven countries, excluding the United Kingdom, was 0.56 per cent. in 1989.
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what facilities exist to discuss overseas aid with EC counterparts ; and what proposals are envisaged for the development of a single EC policy on aid.
Mrs. Chalker : I have regular meetings with my EC colleagues on all aspects of aid policy. I have just returned from an informal Development Council which met in the Netherlands over the weekend. A wide range of issues was discussed.
Animal Conservation Schemes
44. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what animal conservation schemes are currently under consideration for financing by his Department.
Mrs. Chalker : Several possible projects are under consideration, in which animal conservation will be an important element. They include the following :
Bangladesh : study of impact of flood control on aquatic ecology.
Bhutan : management Plan for Jigme Dorji wildlife sanctuary. Brazil : conservation of flooded forest areas.
India : wetlands conservation in Manipur valley.
Indonesia : conservation adviser.
Nigeria : development of Gashaka Gumpti game reserve.
Zimbabwe
45. Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what subjects were discussed during the Minister for Overseas Development's visit to Zimbabwe.
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Mrs. Chalker : I had separate meetings with His Excellency the President and a number of his senior Ministers. The subjects we covered included arrangements for the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe's economic reform programme, our bilateral aid and other matters of mutual concern and interest to our two Governments.
Farewell to the Third World"
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response his Department has made to the report by the export group for the construction industries "Farewell to the Third World", a copy of which has been sent to the Minister for Overseas Development.
Mrs. Chalker : Our response to the Export Group for the Construction Industries referred to the clear statement of ODA's strategy in the 1991 departmental report to Parliament (Cm. 1502), the importance of supporting economic reform in many developing countries, the good record of British contractors in gaining business from bilateral and multilateral aid, and the continued real-terms growth in the aid programme.
Nicaragua
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what bilateral aid Her Majesty's Government have given to Nicaragua since President Violetta Chamorro took office.
Mr. Chalker : We started a bilateral technical co-operation programme in March 1990 ; this is now running at about £200,000 a year. We subsequently pledged £600,000 of grant aid as part of the international effort to help restore the Nicaraguan economy. Since Mrs. Chamorro took office we have made commitments totalling £260,033 for six new NGO projects in Nicaragua. Our largest financial contribution continues to be through the British share of European Community assistance to Nicaragua ; there are no figures yet available on this for 1990.
The Gulf (Medical Aid)
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what United Kingdom medical aid is being given to Kuwait and Southern Iraq.
Mrs. Chalker : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave on 17 June at column 32. We are keeping the situation under close review.
Bangladesh
Mr. Shore : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the grants made by Her Majesty's Government to Bangladesh through the Bangladesh aid consortium since 1972 was devoted to programmes designed (a) to protect coastal areas from cyclone damage and (b) to prevent flooding within Bangladesh.
Mrs. Chalker [holding answer 5 July 1991] : The Bangladesh aid group is a forum for discussion of
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Bangladesh's development policies and financing requirements, at which donors indicate their aid intentions. It is not a mechanism for channelling aid, which is provided on a bilateral basis.British aid statistics do not separately identify the amounts spent over past years on cyclone or flood protection. Since the 1989 Bangladesh flood conference we have committed £4.5 million towards the cost of studies identified as part of the flood action plan. Under that plan work on cyclone protection is also being undertaken with finance from the European Community.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Serious Fraud Office
31. Mr. Hind : To ask the Attorney-General if he has any plans to meet the director of the Serious Fraud Office to discuss company crime ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : I shall next meet the director very soon, when we shall of course discuss commercial fraud among any other matters of departmental interest.
WALES
Health Provision
13. Mr. Livsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he last met the chairman of the health authorities in Wales to discuss health provision in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : I met health authority chairmen on 31 January and hope to do so again in the autumn.
14. Mr. Denzil Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will next be meeting the chairmen of the health authorities to discuss the future of the health service in west Wales.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : My right hon. Friend hopes to do so in the autumn.
Employment Statistics
15. Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about the change in the level of unemployment during the year to May 1991 in (a) Neath and (b) Wales as a whole.
Mr. David Hunt : The number of unemployed claimants in the Neath constituency and Wales increased by 731 and 29,043 respectively in the year to May 1991.
16. Mr. Ray Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will state the number of unemployed males and females in May 1989 and 1990 in Ogmore, Mid Glamorgan and the present recorded number.
Mr. David Hunt : The information requested is as follows :
|Ogmore |Mid |<1>South Wales
|constituency |Glamorgan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 1989
Male |2,045 |15,406 |47,679
Female |656 |4,992 |16,150
May 1990
Male |1,801 |13,952 |41,929
Female |497 |3,784 |11,964
May 1991
Male |2,533 |19,620 |59,019
Female |621 |4,788 |14,630
<1>South Wales is defined here as Mid, South and West Glamorgan and Gwent.
18. Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many men and how many women, showing full and part-time separately, were in employment in January 1979 and the latest date for which figures are available, in Wales and Mid Glamorgan.
Mr. David Hunt : Employees in employment data below national level is available only in census of employment years. The following table therefore shows data for June 1978--the nearest to January 1979--and the latest available--September 1989--containing both Mid Glamorgan and Wales :
Thousands
|Mid Glamorgan|Wales
-------------------------------------------------------------
June 1978
Male full-time |106.6 |587.9
Male part-time |3.3 |25.3
Female full-time |48.8 |249.6
Female part-time |27.5 |152.5
September 1989
Male full-time |79.8 |484.5
Male part-time |4.1 |37.2
Female full-time |44.7 |255.2
Female part-time |36.4 |209.8
Inward Investment
17. Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the proportion of inward investment projects attracted to the United Kingdom which have resulted in jobs created in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : Wales continues to attract very significant levels of inward investment from overseas. The recent announcement that Sony was to create 1,400 jobs at a new manufacturing facility at Bridgend and Northern Telecom etc. is further evidence that Wales is now one of the most attractive locations in Europe for internationally mobile investment.
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