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Column 162

Wembley Park 081 904 1407

Islington 071 359 3716

City

Eastern 071 377 0844

London, Fruit Exchange 071 247 1077

London North East

Limehouse 071 538 2363

Lancashire

Blackburn 0254 263571

Preston 0772 58276

East Midlands

Leicester, Granby Street 0533 550033

Rose Hill, Derby 0332 43279

Nottingham, Senior Manager's Office 0602 422220

North

Glasgow 041 221 6981

Yorkshire

Leeds, City Office 0532 443151

Bradford, Market Street 0274 390801

Sheffield, City Office 0742 756677

Newcastle upon Tyne 091 261 2221

(e) Midland : 071 260 6921

Midland Branch contacts

Manchester 061 832 9011

Shipley 0274 531 666

Bradford 0274 308 308

Coventry 0203 256 444

Hove 0273 724 500

Leicester 0533 551 515

Slough 0753 868 161

London, Hounslow 081 570 2255

London, Bethnal Green 071 739 6084

London, Great Portland Street 071 486 7191

London, Streatham Hill 081 680 9988

Newcastle 091 232 5792

Birmingham 021 631 4400

Bristol 0272 298 111

Derby 0332 295 200

Leeds 0632 442 500

Isle of Man 0624 623 051

London, Fenchurch Street 071 623 3088

London, Ealing 081 567 6705

London, Regent Street 071 287 2000

London, Southall 081 571 0041

(f) Barclays Bank

Barclays has decided not to designate specific branches but rather to invite BCCI customers to contact any of their branches. The branches have received instructions on how best to help these customers and an internal helpline is in operation to deal with any difficulties.

(g) Royal Bank of Scotland : 071 615 2348-9

Branch contacts

Glasgow 041 248 2777

Leeds 0532 451 815

Manchester 061 236 8585

Isle of Man 0624 629 111

Birmingham 021 212 1166

London, Cavendish Square 071 499 3601

London, City 071 623 4356

2. Touche Ross

Touche Ross, the provisional liquidator, has set up a helpline. The number is 071 480 7766.

3. Government Services

(a) The Loan Guarantee Scheme helps small firms which are unable to offer security, or lack the track record normally required by banks or other financial institutions involved in the Scheme. The Government offers a guarantee of 70 per cent. (85 per cent. in the Inner City Task Force Areas) on loans up to £100,000. Details can be obtained from most branches or from :


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Department of Employment

Small Firms Policy Branch

Loan Guarantee Unit

St. Mary's House

c/o Moorfoot

Sheffield

S1 4PQ

Telephone 0742 597382

(b) The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) can help with arranging consultancy services for small businesses. Details of this may be obtained from DTI local contact points :

DTI North East 091 235 7292

DTI North West (Manchester) 061 838 5000

DTI North West (Liverpool) 051 224 6300

DTI Yorkshire and Humberside 0532 338300

DTI East Midlands 0602 596460

DTI West Midlands 021 212 5000

DTI East 0223 461939

DTI South East (London) 071 627 7800

DTI South East (Reading) 0734 395600

DTI South East (Reigate) 0737 226900

DTI South West 0272 308400

Scotland 031 313 6200

Wales 0443 841200

TRANSPORT

Unadopted Roads

Mr. Rathbone : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the cost of adopting currently unadopted roads in residential areas in England.

Mr. Chope : About £3,000 million.

Unroadworthy Vehicles

Mr. O'Hara : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will consider further action to tackle unroadworthy vehicles.

Mr. Chope : The Road Traffic Act 1991 extended the power of the police to prohibit dangerously defective vehicles and it provided for all classes of motor vehicle to be prohibited. The Act also strengthened the law about the sale of unroadworthy vehicles. If a dealer is offering an unroadworthy vehicle for sale, he will have to make that clear to prospective purchasers.

Trade Routes to Tokyo

Mr. Ashton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Airways regarding trade routes to Tokyo.

Mr. McLoughlin : The Secretary of State meets senior members of British Airways management from time to time to discuss matters of mutual interest and officials meet more frequently to consider matters of detail.

Transport Council

Mr. Bevan : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the outcome of the meeting of the European Community Transport Council on 7 October.

Mr. Rifkind : The meeting of the European Council of Transport Ministers was held in Luxembourg on 7 October. I represented the United Kingdom.

I am pleased to report that the Council reached agreement in principle on important proposals on aviation technical harmonisation and the mutual recognition of


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cockpit crew licences. A draft directive on the limitation of noisier--chapter 2--aircraft was remitted for further study with the object of reaching a final agreement at the December meeting of Transport Ministers.

The Council agreed that work should begin on the third aviation package, with a view to completion by the end of June 1992. This work should include discussion on the definition of a Community air cargo carrier.

On the aviation arrangements with Norway and Sweden, a draft agreement has been approved in principle. As the Council considered that the proper legal base for the agreement was article 84, this has now been passed to the European Parliament for their opinion. I reminded the Commission of the need for its report on state aid to the airline industry, which should be available for the next Council.

On land transport matters, a directive to harmonise the law on seat belt wearing was agreed, which allows member states flexibility on how to apply the new requirements. The Council also discussed, but reached no agreement on, proposals to liberalise bus and coach operations. I expressed my concern over the bureaucratic restriction of operators' freedom to provide services that was inherent in the current approach. On transit, the Presidency provided details of the latest talks with Austria and Switzerland. The discussions are continuing.

On inland waterways matters, an agreement in principle was reached on cabotage. Agreement was also reached on a directive on reciprocal recognition of inland waterway boatmasters certificates.

Rail Use

Mr. Fry : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he has taken to encourage greater use of the railway system.

Mr. Rifkind : To encourage more use of the rail network, I have written to the chairman of the railways board asking British Rail to give positive and sympathetic consideration to reasonable proposals from the private sector to introduce new freight or passenger services ; to charge fairly for the use of BR track and facilities ; to allow private operators to use their own locomotives if they wish ; to allow private operators to use their own train crews, if they wish, as long as they are properly qualified.

A copy of my letter to the chairman has been placed in the Library.

HEALTH

Dentists

Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of dentists in each family health services authority offer NHS service only to (a) children on a capitation arrangement, (b) adults exempt from NHS charges and (c) a combination of (a) and (b) .

Mr. Dorrell : The figures in the form requested are not collected centrally. However, we are currently analysing the results of a recent sample survey of dentists providing NHS treatment.


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