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Taxes as a percentage of gross earnings for a one earner couple with
two children:
|Income tax
Proportion of |and NICs,
average male |less child
earnings |£ per week |benefit |Indirect taxes
Per cent. |Per cent. |Per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988-89
300 |768.90 |30.3 |-
100 |256.30 |20.7 |12.7
60 |153.78 |11.8 |-
45 |115.34 |4.4 |-
1989-90
300 |839.70 |30.5 |-
100 |279.90 |20.8 |12.2
60 |167.94 |11.9 |-
45 |125.96 |4.6 |-
1990-91
300 |921.30 |31.1 |-
100 |307.10 |20.8 |11.9
60 |184.26 |12.1 |-
45 |138.20 |4.7 |-
1991-92
300 |999.60 |30.8 |-
100 |333.20 |20.8 |12.6
60 |199.92 |12.1 |-
45 |149.94 |4.7 |-
Column 608
ECU Bonds
Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total value of bonds denominated in European currency units which have been issued during 1991 by (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the rest of the European Community ; and what were the figures for the whole of 1990.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 23 July 1991] : No bonds were issued in European currency units by the United Kingdom in 1990. The amount issued to date in 1991 is 2.75 billion ecu. Corresponding figures for sovereign country bonds denominated in ecu and issued via the international Eurobond market for the rest of the European Community are approximately 3.3 billion ecu and 4.15 billion ecu respectively.
Young People (Incomes)
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table ensuring his best estimate of the number of young people aged under 25 years with gross weekly incomes (a) up to £30, (b) £30 to £40, (c) £40 to £50, (d) £50 to £60, (e) £60 to £70, (f) £70 to £80, (g) £80 to £90, (h) £90 to £100, (i) £100 to £120, (j) £120 to £140, (k) £140 to £160, (l) £160 to £180, (m) £180 to £200, (n) £200 to £250, (o) £250 to £300, (p) £300 to £350, (q) £350 to £400, (r) £400 to £450 and (s) over £450 distinguishing between single people and couples.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 22 July 1991] : Available estimates from the survey of personal incomes are shown in the table. It covers those with earned income over £2,600 in 1988-89 and is confined to men and single women. The sample available is too small to permit a distinction to be made by marital status, or subdivision by income range of those with earned income over £15,600. Some of the men and women included in the table would have been earning for only part of the year.
Column 609
Total earned |Numbers of income for |men and 1988-89 |single women (lower limit) |under 25 £ |Thousands ------------------------------------------ 2,600 |270 3,120 |320 3,640 |270 4.160 |300 4,680 |300 5,200 |630 6,240 |440 7,280 |390 8,320 |360 9,360 |250 10,400 |330 13,000 |90 <1>15,600 |70 <1> And over.
The precise age of one in eight of those under 65 and with earned income over £2,600 in 1988-89 is not known. It has been assumed that the proportion under 25 in each earned income band is the same as that where age is known.
Business Expansion Scheme
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount of business expansion scheme expenditure has been allocated or is programmed for each year from 1988-89 to 1992-93.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 23 July 1991] : The latest estimates of the cost of income tax relief for the business expansion scheme are as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------------
1988-89 |150
1989-90 |<1>75
1990-91 |<1>120
<1>Provisional estimates.
Costs in 1991-92 and 1992-93 will depend on amounts raised in those years.
Banks
Mr. Viggers : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy in respect of current discussions within the European Community as to whether branches of banks whose head office is in another country should be subject to control by the host country or the home country.
Mr. Maples [holding answer 23 July 1991] : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Redcar (Ms. Mowlam) on 17 July, Official Report , column 190 .
Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer further to his answer of 15 July, Official Report, column 44, if he will make it his policy to place in the Library a copy of the trust deed setting up the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, schedules of decisions taken at each meeting of the Sport and Arts Foundation, and a copy of the auditor's annual report on the foundation, once each is published.
Column 610
Mr. Mellor : As my answer of 15 July at column 44 made clear, the auditors' annual report on the foundation will be submitted to the Minister for Sport, not to the Treasury. I understand, however, from my hon. Friend, that he does intend to place a copy in the Library. Whether of not the trust deed should be deposited in the Library and the exact form in which the trustees' decisions will be recorded and made public are, of course, matters which can be decided only once the foundation is formally established.
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress towards establishing the Foundation for Sport and the Arts.
Mr. Mellor : Good progress has been achieved in establishing the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. All three members of the Pools Promoters Association--Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters--have announced their participation ; clauses have been adopted in the Finance Bill to give effect to the reduction in pool betting duty proposed in the Chancellor's Budget speech ; the promoters will soon be announcing the names of the chairman and trustees ; and the foundation will begin to receive an income next month, following the start of the 1991-92 football season.
Mr. Ken Hargreaves : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Mossley Hill (Mr. Alton) of 17 June, Official Report, column 9, whether the trustees to the Foundation for Sport and the Arts have been appointed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : I understand that the members of the Pools Promoters Association are close to completing the task of selecting trustees for the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and that they will be making an announcement shortly.
Project Funding
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidelines he has given to the United Kingdom representative to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as to what environmental impact criteria should be applied when considering applications for project funding.
Mrs. Chalker : I have been asked to reply.
The agreement establishing the bank stipulated that it would adopt environmentally sound operational procedures and environmental assessment is intended to be an integral part of the project cycle and decision making progress. We have urged the bank to adopt EC standards wherever possible and the bank will promote adoption of the environmental principles of the European Community delineated in the Treaty of Rome as amended by the Single European Act in 1987. For regional projects, the principles of the UN/ECE convention on environmental impact assessment will apply where they are appropriate. The United Kingdom representative will be guided also by the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) manual on environmental assessment.
Column 611
EMPLOYMENT
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the accountability of TECs to Parliament.
Mr. Jackson : Training and enterprise councils are accountable to the Department through a contract which provides a framework for their activities and provides a clear statement of the management information which they must supply to enable their performance to be monitored against the agreed targets in their corporate and business plans.
TECs are, in addition, obliged to prepare summaries of their corporate and business plans and annual reports and I have arranged for copies of these documents to be deposited in the House of Commons Library as they become available.
I have also written to all Members of Parliament to encourage them to take an interest in and support their local training and enterprise council ; and to take up directly matters which are within the day-to-day responsibility of TECs.
Health and Safety
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the published and unpublished research reports that have been completed on behalf of his Department concerning the subject of health and safety hazards in the non-ferrous metals industry.
Mr. Forth : The Department does not hold a consolidated list of research reports completed on its behalf. However, 45 such reports, issued since 1985, have been identified from various sources as relevant to the health and safety hazards in the non-ferrous metals industry and I am sending the hon. Member the list of titles of those reports.
Earnings
Mr. Edwards : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number and percentage of full-time workers earning less than £120 per week, giving the information for (a) women and (b) men for (i) manual, (ii) non-manual and (iii) all workers, including overtime pay and excluding overtime pay, in (a) Wales, (b) each Welsh county and (c) Great Britain as a whole.
Mr. Jackson : The information available from the 1990 New Earnings Survey is shown in the following tables. The results from the April 1991 survey will be published this November.
April 1990
Full time manual employees on adult rates with
weekly earnings
excluding overtime less than £ 120-pay for the
survey pay period not
affected by absence
Number in thPercentage of tot
|Women|Men |Women|Men
------------------------------------------------
Wales |182 |182 |38.6 |8.7
Clwyd-West |<1>- |8 |<1>- |10.0
Clwyd-East |30 |17 |46.9 |6.6
Clwyd |42 |25 |47.2 |7.4
Dyfed<2> |<1>- |16 |<1>- |13.0
Gwent |38 |32 |45.8 |8.0
Gwynedd |<1>- |22 |<1>- |14.2
Mid Glamorgan |28 |22 |28.6 |6.5
Powys |<1>- |5 |<1>- |6.4
South Glamorgan |17 |26 |27.4 |9.0
West Glamorgan<3> |20 |34 |34.5 |9.0
Great Britain |3,372|2,815|37.1 |6.8
Source: New Earnings Survey.
<1> -denotes sampling error too large or
numbers too small for
reliable estimate.
<2> Excluding Llanelli.
<3> Including Llanelli.
April 1990
Full-time non-manual employees on adult rates
with weekly earnings
excluding overtime less than £ 120-pay for the
survey pay period not
affected by absence
Number in thPercentage of tot
|Women|Men |Women|Men
------------------------------------------------
Wales |230 |50 |16.9 |3.3
Clwyd-West |<1>- |3 |<1>- |5.3
Clwyd-East |16 |2 |15.7 |1.4
Clwyd |31 |5 |17.9 |2.5
Dyfed<2> |29 |3 |23.8 |2.7
Gwent |28 |12 |16.1 |5.7
Gwynedd |18 |7 |18.9 |6.2
Mid Glamorgan |36 |5 |15.5 |2.6
Powys |<1>- |1 |<1>- |2.3
South Glamorgan |41 |8 |13.6 |2.0
West Glamorgan<3> |40 |9 |18.3 |3.8
Great Britain |3,850|1,025|11.1 |2.5
Source: New Earnings Survey.
<1>-denotes sampling error too large or numbers
too small for
reliable estimate.
<2>Excluding Llanelli.
<3>Including Llanelli.
April 1990
Full time employees on adult rates with weekly
earnings excluding
overtime less than £ 120-pay for the survey
pay period not
affected by absence
Number in thPercentage of tot
|Women|Men |Women|Men
------------------------------------------------
Wales |412 |232 |22.5 |6.5
Clwyd-West |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
Clwyd-East |46 |19 |27.7 |4.8
Clwyd |73 |30 |27.9 |5.6
Dyfed<2> |46 |19 |30.7 |8.2
Gwent |66 |44 |25.7 |7.2
Gwynedd |26 |29 |21.1 |10.9
Mid Glamorgan |64 |27 |19.4 |5.1
Powys |19 |6 |26.0 |5.0
South Glamorgan |58 |34 |15.9 |5.0
West Glamorgan<3> |60 |43 |21.7 |7.0
Great Britain |7,222|3,840|16.5 |4.6
Source: New Earnings Survey.
<1> -denotes sampling error too large or
numbers too small for
reliable estimate.
<2> Excluding Llanelli.
<3> Including Llanelli.
April 1990
Full time manual employees on adult rates with
weekly earnings
including overtime less than £ 120-pay for the
survey pay period not
affected by absence
Number in the sample Percentage of tot
|Women|Men |Women|Men
------------------------------------------------
Wales |162 |129 |34.3 |6.2
Clwyd-West |<1>- |6 |<1>- |7.5
Clwyd-East |26 |15 |40.6 |5.9
Clwyd |38 |21 |42.7 |6.2
Dyfed<2> |<1>- |11 |<1>- |8.9
Gwent |34 |22 |41.0 |5.5
Gwynedd |<1>- |19 |<1>- |12.3
Mid Glamorgan |26 |14 |26.5 |4.1
Powys |<1>- |5 |<1>- |6.4
South Glamorgan |17 |17 |27.4 |5.9
West Glamorgan<3> |15 |20 |25.9 |5.3
Great Britain |3,002|1,900|33.0 |4.6
Source: New Earnings Survey.
<1> - denotes sampling error too large or
numbers too small for
reliable estimate.
<2> Excluding Llanelli.
<3> Including Llanelli.
April 1990
Full time non-manual employees on adult rates
with weekly earnings
including overtime less than £ 120-pay for the
survey pay period not
affected by absence
Number in the sample Percentage of tot
|Women|Men |Women|Men
------------------------------------------------
Wales |216 |45 |15.8 |3.0
Clwyd-West |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
Clwyd-East |16 |2 |15.7 |1.4
Clwyd |29 |5 |16.8 |2.5
Dyfed<2> |28 |2 |23.0 |1.8
Gwent |26 |11 |14.9 |5.2
Gwynedd |18 |6 |18.9 |5.4
Mid Glamorgan |34 |5 |14.7 |2.6
Powys |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
South Glamorgan |37 |7 |12.3 |1.8
West Glamorgan<3> |37 |8 |17.0 |3.4
Great Britain |3,548|879 |10.3 |2.1
Source: New Earnings Survey.
<1> -denotes sampling error too large or
numbers too small for
reliable estimate.
<2> Excluding Llanelli.
<3> Including Llanelli.
April 1990
Full time employees on adult rates with weekly earnings including
overtime less than £ 120-pay for the survey pay period not
affected by absence
Number in the sample Percentage of total
|Women |Men |Women |Men
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wales |378 |174 |20.6 |4.8
Clwyd-West |<1>- |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
Clwyd-East |42 |17 |25.3 |4.3
Clwyd |67 |26 |25.6 |4.9
Dyfed<2> |43 |13 |28.7 |5.6
Gwent |60 |33 |23.3 |5.4
Gwynedd |26 |25 |21.1 |9.4
Mid Glamorgan |60 |19 |18.2 |3.6
Powys |16 |6 |21.9 |5.0
South Glamorgan |54 |24 |14.8 |3.5
West Glamorgan<3> |52 |28 |18.8 |4.6
Great Britain |6,550 |2,779 |15.0 |3.4
Offshore Safety Inspectorate
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what the Health and Safety Executive is doing to make up for the loss in other divisions of staff transferred to the Offshore Safety Division ; and what is the consequential loss of staff years of experience among those inspectorates that have had staff seconded.
Mr. Forth : Since 1 April 1991, 10 staff with a total of 128 years experience in the Health and Safety Executive have been seconded to the offshore safety division from other parts of HSE. Staff movements on this limited scale are normal in an organisation with nearly 4,000 staff and any resulting vacancies will be filled using standard HSE recruitment methods.
Mr. Edwards : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many workers in each wages council industry in England, Wales and in each Welsh county have had their individual pay and conditions checked by the wages councils in each of the last three years ; and in how many cases underpayments were discovered.
Mr. Forth : The figures for England and Wales are given in the following tables. Statistics are not kept for counties.
Column 613
Workers checked and found underpaid
1988 to 1990
Wales
1988 1989 1990
|Checked |Underpaid |Checked |Underpaid |Checked |Underpaid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerated waters |0 |0 |11 |0 |0 |0
Clothing manufacture |461 |71 |255 |2 |29 |2
Boot and shoe repairing |0 |0 |2 |1 |0 |0
Button manufacturing |0 |0 |36 |0 |0 |0
Coffin furniture and cerement
making |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Cotton waste reclamation |11 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0
Flax and hemp |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Fur |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
General waste materials
reclamation |10 |1 |5 |0 |29 |1
Hairdressing undertakings |263 |18 |240 |29 |466 |30
Hat, cap and millinery |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Lace finishing |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Laundry |21 |0 |56 |1 |1 |1
Made-up textiles |0 |0 |0 |0 |7 |0
Ostrich and fancy feather |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Perambulator and invalid
carriage |0 |0 |162 |0 |0 |0
Retail bespoke tailoring |1 |1 |1 |0 |5 |0
Rope, twine and net |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Sack and bag |0 |0 |5 |0 |2 |0
Toy manufacturing |144 |0 |0 |0 |76 |0
Retail non-food trades |2,598 |239 |1,130 |123 |2,705 |205
Retail food and allied trades |1,311 |248 |1,749 |260 |2068 |379
Licensed non-residential |1,355 |156 |1,165 |112 |957 |79
Licensed residential and
licensed restaurant |1,813 |63 |1,112 |112 |1,768 |162
Unlicensed place of refreshment |304 |58 |586 |69 |634 |127
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Totals |8,358 |897 |6,515 |709 |8,747 |986
Workers checked and found underpaid
1988 to 1990
England
1988 1989 1990
|Checked |Underpaid|Checked |Underpaid|Checked |Underpaid
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerated waters |2,719 |12 |338 |1 |278 |0
Clothing manufacture |11,615 |381 |7,870 |348 |8,747 |282
Boot and shoe repairing |733 |19 |467 |11 |79 |12
Button manufacturing |163 |0 |97 |1 |33 |1
Coffin furniture and cerement
making |42 |0 |11 |0 |38 |1
Cotton waste reclamation |43 |0 |25 |0 |0 |0
Flax and hemp |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Fur |216 |2 |42 |2 |13 |0
General waste materials
reclamation |1,350 |9 |682 |7 |648 |5
Hairdressing undertakings |6,551 |363 |7,331 |338 |6,902 |322
Hat, cap and millinery |651 |0 |320 |0 |301 |2
Lace finishing |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Laundry |3,876 |37 |2,977 |29 |591 |13
Linen and cotten handkerchief |338 |8 |707 |8 |64 |2
Made-up textiles |448 |1 |249 |17 |418 |19
Ostrich and fancy feather |33 |0 |123 |0 |23 |0
Perambulator and invalid
carriage |139 |0 |101 |0 |0 |0
Retail bespoke tailoring |144 |6 |121 |6 |34 |3
Rope, twine and net |299 |0 |1,190 |0 |148 |0
Sack and bag |150 |0 |43 |0 |107 |1
Toy manufacturing |439 |4 |606 |14 |568 |2
Retail non-food trades |86,977 |1,363 |64,208 |1,524 |49,245 |1,434
Retail food and allied trades |117,567 |3,473 |105,267 |3,797 |47,368 |4,133
Licensed non-residential |25,839 |1,918 |37,235 |1,656 |35,686 |1,227
Licensed residential and
licensed restaurant |24,574 |618 |36,069 |835 |37,049 |650
Unlicensed place of refreshment |7,455 |653 |24,016 |510 |44,730 |572
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Totals |292,361 |8,867 |290,095 |9,104 |233,070 |8,681
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the closure of the Health and Safety Executive office in Cambridge and the relocation of its staff to Luton ; if he will list (a) those areas that the office was responsible for, (b) the industrial sectors that the inspectors there were predominately concerned with, and (c) indicate the impact on inspector travelling time and the rate and ability of inspectors to respond to incidents in these areas from relocation to Luton.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Executive decided to close its local office in Cambridge to streamline its activities and enable the best use to be made of available resources. In making this decision, full account was taken of the need to maintain an efficient and effective service in Cambridgeshire.
Column 616
For some years, inspection work in the area has been shared between staff located in the HSE area office in Luton and those based in the local office in Cambridge. Inspectors based in the Cambridge office had specific inspection responsibility for the print industry and Ministry of Defence premises in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire and for general manufacturing industries, agriculture, forestry and fishing industries and local and national government premises in Cambridgeshire.Inspection work in other industries in Cambridgeshire--including for example construction, ceramics, woodworking, motor vehicle manufacture and chemical manufacture--has been carried out by inspectors based in Luton.
Inspectors already travelling from Luton to make inspection visits in Cambridgeshire have not experienced any operational difficulties. The closure of the Cambridge
Column 617
office will provide a greater degree of flexibility both to respond to incidents and enable the targeting of inspection activity where it is most needed.As there will be no reduction in the numbers of inspectors working in and around Cambridge a drop in inspection levels is not anticipated.
Offshore Safety Inspectors
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff years will be taken up by the training of all new Offshore Safety Division inspectors.
Mr. Forth : The amount of training given will depend on the number of inspectors recruited and their background and experience.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what the Health and Safety Executive has done to recruit Offshore Safety Division specialist staff ; how many vacancies currently exist ; and how many applications have been received.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Executive is currently undertaking a series of recruitment campaigns. The initial competition, which was first advertised on 14 March 1991, had 533 applicants. The second round of the campaign is now under way. Advertisements started on 17 June 1991 and the closing date is 2 August 1991. To date 500 applications have been received. The intention is to increase the specialist staff in the division over the next three years ; the first target set is for 143 specialist staff by 1 April 1992.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many Health and Safety Executive staff have been transferred (a) temporarily or (b) permanently to the Offshore Safety Division ; from which inspectorates these staff were taken ; and how long the temporary staff have been seconded for.
Mr. Forth : Ten Health and Safety Executive staff are currently working in the offshore safety division from their parent division : 3 Mines Inspectors
2 Specialist Inspectors from the Technology Division
1 Nuclear Inspector
1 Agricultural Inspector (as Training Manager)
2 Factory Inspectors
1 Senior Employment Nursing Adviser
Each individual's period of attachment is under review and as yet no decision has been made on duration or whether the move will become permanent.
Health and Safety
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the incidences of (a) squamous cell cancer and (b) emphysema, occurring (i) in the non-ferrous metals industry and (ii) among workers who have been exposed to the fumes produced by degassing tablets used in aluminium gravity die-casting.
Mr. Forth : Cancers of the lung, which may include squamous cell cancer, have been associated to varying degrees of certainty with occupational exposure to several substances present in the non-ferrous foundry industry and it is known that cadmium fume can cause emphysema.
Column 618
There is no evidence of a specific risk to humans of either condition arising from the fumes produced by degassing tablets used in the aluminium gravity die casting industry.Earnings
Mr. Edwards : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number and average gross weekly earnings, excluding overtime, of men and women employed (a) for 35 hours, (b) between 24 and 34 hours, (c) 16 to 23 hours, (d) between 8 and 15 hours and (e) fewer than 8 hours per week for the categories (i) manual and (ii) non- manual in (1) Wales, (2) each Welsh county and (3) Great Britain as a whole.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is not available.
Safety Representatives
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what he is doing to promote (a) the use of, (b) the training of and (c) the effectiveness of safety representatives in the workplace.
Mr. Forth : The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 provide extensive legal rights to safety representatives, including the right to paid time off work to receive training. It is for the safety representatives and the unions to decide whether and how to exercise these rights. The effectiveness of the regulations is kept under review by the Health and Safety Commission. I will consider any proposals that the commission may decide to put to me.
Works Permits
Mr. Ward : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether a decision has yet been made on a special annual quota for 1991 of work permits for workers from the dependent territories.
Mr. Howard : It has been decided that there should be a quota for 1991 of 170 permits for use by dependent territories, with a maximum of 125 for Hong Kong.
We have also taken the opportunity to review the longer-term position of the special dependent territories work permit quota. Our conclusion is that it is now anomalous and inconsistent with our immigration control, in that it grants permits for jobs with skill levels below those required under the general work permit scheme. With increasing pressures on immigration worldwide, it is important that our rules are consistent.
The quota scheme was never intended to continue indefinitely and has now served its purpose. Accordingly, the Government have decided that the quota should end. However, in order that dependent territories should have time to adjust to this, the quota will be phased out gradually as set out in the table.
Citizens from dependent territories will still be covered by the work permit scheme, which allows non-EC nationals to be employed here if they have high-level skills that are in short supply, are participating in an intra-company move or meet other important labour market needs. They will also be eligible for consideration for permits under my Department's training and work experience scheme.
Column 619
Dependent territories special work permit quota: phasing
out over
four years beginning 1991
|Total |Maximum for|Others
|Hong Kong
------------------------------------------------------------
1991 |170 |125 |45
1992 |140 |100 |40
1993 |110 |75 |35
1994 |80 |50 |30
1995 |Nil |Nil |Nil
EC Directives
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the cost of the implementation of European Community draft directive document No. 4466/91 on European works council to (a) the Exchequer (i) directly and (ii) channelled via the European institutions, and (b) industry.
Mr. Forth : It is not possible to make precise estimates, but responses to the Department's consultation document confirm the Government's view that the costs could be considerable and that the European Commission's calculations of the likely costs to industry under- estimate those costs because they do not take account of all the necessary factors.
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the cost of the implementation of European Community draft directive document Nos. 8073/90, 8792/90, 4112/91 and 8075/90 on community social charter measures to (a) the Exchequer (i) directly and (ii) channelled via the European institutions, (b) industry and (c) the British consumer.
Mr. Forth : It is estimated that the cost to employers, in the private and public sectors, of general application of directive 8073 control of working time would be at least £2.5 billion per annum. It is estimated that the cost to employers of implementing the health and safety, maternity pay and right to return provisions of directives 8792/90 and 4112/91--protection of pregnant women at work--would in total be £500 to £650 million initially. Detailed estimates for directive 8075/90--health and safety on construction sites--are being prepared.
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the cost of the implementation of European Community draft directive document No. 9908/90 on equal opportunities for men and women to (a) the Exchequer (i) directly and (ii) channelled via the European institutions, (b) industry and (c) the British consumer.
Mr. Forth : European Document No. 9908/90 is not a draft directive but sets out the European Commission's third medium-term action programme on equal opportunities for women and men, which runs from 1991-1995. The programme was endorsed by a resolution of the Council of Ministers on 22 May.
The extent to which employers will be faced with extra costs will depend on the precise nature and timing of measures to be brought forward under the programme.
It is not possible at this stage to make an overall estimate of direct potential costs to the Exchequer. In practice, the actual United Kingdom contribution to the EC budget for individual programmes will depend not
Column 620
only on the level of expenditure, but also on the level and timing of payments, and the relative national shares of the programmes.EC Social Action Programme
Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is his estimate of the cost of implementation of the European Community social action programme in its present form to (a) the Exchequer and (b) British industry ;
(2) what is his latest estimate of the effect on employment of implementation of the European Community social action programme in its present form ;
(3) what is his latest estimate of the effects on jobs of the implementation of the European Community's social charter in its present proposed form.
Mr. Forth : Only half the European Commission's proposals under the social action programme have been published so far. It is not possible, therefore, to estimate the effect of the programme as a whole on industrial or Exchequer costs.
However, it is already estimated that the implementation of the proposed directives on working time, part-time work and pregnant women would alone add £3.5 billion initially to United Kingdom employers' costs.
The Commission's proposals would damage the international competitiveness of British and Community industry, would have a substantial adverse effect on employment and would reduce the adaptability of the labour market.
The social charter, signed by the other 11 member states, was a political declaration and has no legally binding effect. The charter has, however, had the undesirable effect, predicted at the time by the Government, of encouraging the Commission to produce damaging proposals under its social action programme.
Special Needs
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether TEC-funded projects for young people with learning disabilities are subject to the NVQ level 1 output tests.
Mr. Jackson : Where the careers service endorsement specifies that training aimed at national vocational qualification level 2 is not appropriate for a young person with special needs, and an individual training plan leading to NVQ level 1 is agreed, the TEC may claim appropriate output-related funding for the achievement of that NVQ.
Mr. Edwards : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish figures showing how many employees have gross weekly earnings, including and excluding overtime payments, below £185 per week and between £125 and £184.99 ; and if he will give the information for (a) women and (b) men and for(1) manual and (2) non-manual workers in (i) Wales,(ii) Scotland and (ii) England.
Mr. Jackson : The information available from the April 1990 New Earnings Survey is shown in the following tables. The results from the April 1991 survey will be published in November.
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Full-time employees on adult rates-pay not affected by absence during the survey pay period
April 1990
Earning below £ 180 per week Earning below £ 190 per week Earning between £ 120 and
|£ 180 per week
|Numbers in |per cent. |Numbers in |per cent. |Numbers in |per cent.
|sample |sample |sample
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excluding overtime
Scotland
Manual men |1,978 |50.1 |2,250 |57.0 |1,655 |41.9
Non-manual men |563 |16.3 |656 |19.0 |435 |12.6
Manual women |855 |89.7 |890 |93.4 |427 |44.8
Non-manual women |1,791 |55.1 |1,921 |59.1 |1,281 |39.4
Wales
Manual men |1,017 |48.5 |1,167 |55.7 |835 |39.8
Non-manual men |276 |18.5 |318 |21.3 |226 |15.1
Manual women |416 |88.1 |426 |90.3 |234 |49.6
Non-manual women |767 |56.3 |829 |60.8 |537 |39.4
England
Manual men |15,084 |42.4 |17,553 |49.4 |12,774 |35.9
Non-manual men |4,705 |13.0 |5,520 |15.3 |3,858 |10.7
Manual women |6,473 |84.4 |6,718 |87.6 |3,711 |48.4
Non-manual women |13,423 |44.8 |14,817 |49.5 |10,313 |34.5
Including overtime
Scotland
Manual men |1,302 |33.0 |1,514 |38.3 |1,079 |27.3
Non-manual men |494 |14.3 |579 |16.8 |388 |11.2
Manual women |785 |82.4 |825 |86.6 |411 |43.1
Non-manual women |1,706 |52.4 |1,845 |56.7 |1,228 |37.7
Wales
Manual men |692 |33.0 |802 |38.2 |563 |26.8
Non-manual men |245 |16.4 |282 |18.9 |200 |13.4
Manual women |384 |81.4 |405 |85.8 |222 |47.0
Non-manual women |739 |54.2 |800 |58.7 |523 |38.4
England
Manual men |9,560 |26.9 |11,379 |32.0 |8,012 |22.5
Non-manual men |4,097 |11.4 |4,844 |13.4 |3,369 |9.3
Manual women |6,008 |78.3 |6,293 |82.1 |3,542 |46.2
Non-manual women |12,819 |42.8 |14,207 |47.5 |9,965 |33.3
Source: New Earnings Survey.
Employment Service
Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when the annual report of the Employment Service for 1990-91 will be published.
Mr. Jackson : The chief executive of the Employment Service has submitted his annual report for 1990-91 to my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State and copies have been lodged in the Libraries of the House today.
Picketing
Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he plans to publish a revised statutory code of practice on picketing ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Howard : Having consulted the independent Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, I have prepared a draft revised code of practice on picketing. I have published the draft revised code today, for public consultation over the next three months.
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CIVIL SERVICE
Civil Service Management
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement on delegation of responsibilities for management in the civil service.
Mr. Renton : Much has already been achieved through the next steps initiative and in other ways to delegate responsibility for management in the civil service. The Government are continuing to encourage and develop this process within the existing legal framework regulating the terms and conditions of employment of civil servants.
Past transfers of functions relating to the management of the civil service have, however, had the effect of artificially inhibiting the ability of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service to delegate their current responsibilities as fully and flexibly as they would wish. The Government therefore propose, at a convenient opportunity, to introduce legislation to facilitate such delegation by administrative action under the Order in Council.
Column 623
THE ARTS
Items in Lieu of Tax
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Minister for the Arts if there have been any items accepted in lieu of tax or allocated since an announcement was last made on the subject to the House.
Mr. Renton : Since my announcement on 29 April 1991, at column 7 , I am pleased to inform the House that a portrait by Augustus John of Lady Ottoline Morrell has been accepted in lieu of £105,000 tax. I am also pleased to announce the formal acceptance of the Stathemberg dinner service and a Louis XV bas d'armoire, the acceptance in principle for which I announced to the House on 19 December 1990, at column 175. This offer was made possible by a call on the reserve and satisfied £1,393,610 tax. No decision has yet been taken on the allocation of the Augustus John portrait, the dinner service or the bas d'armoire.
I have also decided to allocate a collection of private and Post Office stamps of Great Britain, accepted in 1990-91, to the British Library. Finally, I would like to inform the House of a further payment of £13,763.72 which has been made to the Inland Revenue. This is in relation to a painting by Rubens, accepted in 1989-90 and announced to the House on 9 May 1989 at column 357 . The total tax satisfied by the acceptance of this painting was therefore £183, 616.20.
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