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Mr. Forth : In discussions on the draft directive it has been proposed that member states should be able to make derogations from the main requirements of the draft directive in a number of circumstances. These include activities where the workplace is at a distance from the worker's place of residence ; activities where continuity of production or service is necessary ; unforeseen exceptional circumstances which are limited in time and predictable peaks of work such as in agriculture. In all such cases employees must be afforded equivalent periods of compensatory rest, or, where this is not possible, other forms of equivalent protection. The Government consider the draft directive unnecessary and unjustified, but will continue to seek to limit the damaging effects of the directive, if adopted, on all employers and employees in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's current position regarding EC proposals for limiting working hours of employees.
Mr. Forth : A draft directive on the organisation of working time was proposed by the European Commission
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under its social action programme in July 1990. It is under discussion in the Council. Various amendments have been proposed by other member states in discussions, including a limit of 48 hours on the working week and a requirement for the weekly rest period in principle to include Sunday.The Government question the need for this proposed directive, which would have a damaging effect on the flexibility of firms in the United Kingdom and throughout the EC, increasing their costs and prejudicing their competitiveness. Hours of work are best decided between employers and employees. The Government did not consider the Commission's original proposals justified as minimum requirements for the protection of the health and safety of workers. The Government strongly question the justification for further restrictions on weekly hours and Sunday work.
Earnings
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the average weekly earnings of (a) a male manual worker, (b) a female manual worker, (c) a male non-manual worker and (d) a female non-manual worker.
Mr. Forth : The available information for April 1991 is published in part A of the 1991 New Earnings Survey report, a copy of which is in the Library.
Unemployment Benefits
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was (a) the number of benefit staff units dealing with unemployment benefit claims in each of the Employment Service administrative regions, (b) the number of unemployed people claiming benefit in each of the administrative regions and (c) the benefit staff unit to claimant ratio in each of the administrative regions as at1 March 1990, September 1990 and September 1991.
Mr. Forth : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service executive agency are the responsibi-lity of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
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Public Opinion Surveys
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the public opinion surveys carried out by his Department since 11 July.
Mr. Forth : The Department's various research branches do not commission public opinion surveys as such. However, they carry out research projects on a variety of employment-related issues which involve surveys of individuals. Listed are those research studies, commissioned or partly funded by the Employment Department Group--ED, Employment Service, Health and Safety Executive and the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service- -which have involved surveys of individuals commissioned since 11 July 1991.
Abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme
Top Managers Views of the ED Group
A Survey of Industrial Tribunal Applications
Customer Satisfaction Survey
New Clients Survey
Job Link
Restart Courses Follow-Up
Small Businesses
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals he has to increase the supply of qualified tradesmen, including mechanics and engineers, to small businesses located in rural areas ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : The primary responsibility for training lies with employers, who must recognise that investment in training is essential to ensure the success of their business. This is just as relevant for all businesses, large or small, wherever they are based.
The Government are supporting and encouraging the efforts of employers in a number of ways. In particular, the employer-led training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies have been charged with helping to ensure that local people develop the skills that businesses need. They also have particular responsibility for promoting the growth of small firms.
Employer-led industry training organisations also have a key role at industry level to develop strategies to meet the needs of particular industries and to work with TECS and LECS to encourage effective training.
Central European Time
Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the benefits to the tourism industry of moving the United Kingdom into central European time.
Mr. Forth : The Department contributed towards the costs of the work leading to the Policy Studies Institute report "Making The Most Of Daylight Hours", published
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in 1988. This report concluded that the adoption of single/double summer time would bring a number of likely benefits to the tourism industry.Press and Publicity Staff
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether any member of his Department's press and publicity staff accompanied him in Blackpool during the Conservative party conference.
Commission-only Work
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number and percentage of commission-only jobs available at jobcentres on the most recent date for which information is available ; if he will outline the procedures for clients viewing commission-only jobs ; and if he will list the occupations likely to be offered on a commission- only basis.
Mr. Forth : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service executive agency are the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
Youth Training
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish tables to show for each region and for Great Britain as a whole, the latest results of the YTS leavers survey, to show for male and female trainees and for each separate ethnic group and for those with a disability (a) those in full-time work with the same employer, (b) those in full-time work with a different employer, (c) those in part-time work, (d) those on a full-time course at a college or training centre, (e) those on another YTS, (f) those doing something else, (g) those who were unemployed, (h) those who had obtained a vocational qualification, (i) the number of questionnaires issued, (j) the usable percentage response rate and (k) the percentage of respondents who were early leavers ; what were the numbers of accidents on YTS, fatal, major and minor, for the latest available three- month period ; and how many YTS placements were closed or not accepted in that period and in the three preceding months.
Mr. Forth : The complete information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Table 1 provides information about the situation of young people three months after leaving youth training in the period April 1990 to September 1990. Table 2 provides separate figures on the numbers of accidents for the period April 1991 to June 1991. Separate figures for closures and rejections of YT placements are no longer available.
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Youth training accident statistics April 1991-June 1991
|Fatal |Major |Minor
----------------------------------------------------------
West Midlands |0 |10 |49
East Midlands and Eastern |0 |6 |24
London |0 |3 |12
South East |0 |8 |22
South West |0 |5 |14
Yorkshire and Humberside |0 |11 |47
Northern |0 |8 |67
Wales |0 |8 |34
North West |0 |18 |52
Scotland |0 |11 |32
|-------|-------|-------
National |0 |87 |353
(a) Employment Department figures have been compiled on a
similar
basis to those prepared by the Health and Safety
Executive on
employed persons. However, the Employment Department's
figures include a number of accidents to trainees in
educational
establishments and road traffic accidents which would not
have
been reportable to the Health and Safety Executive had
the
individuals been employed.
(b) Major injuries are classified according to the
severity criteria laid
down in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations 1985. These regualtions which
came
into force on 1 April 1986 reclassified fractured wrists
and ankles
as major injuries which were not considered to be major
under the
previous regulations, the Notification of Accidents and
Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1980 (NADOR).
Public Expenditure
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish updated versions of tables 6.5 and 6.6 of chapter 6 of the 1990-91 to 1992-93 public expenditure White Paper (Cm 1006) extending the series published there up to date.
Column 76
Mr. Forth : Tables 6.5 and 6.6 of chapter 6 of the 1990-91 to 1992- 93 Public Expenditure White Paper were published in an amended form as tables 6.6 and 6.8 of the 1991 departmental report. It was necessary to change the format as TECs have taken over delivery of the youth training and employment training programmes. Entrant numbers and target outcomes for all these programmes will be negotiated with all 82 TECs in January, and TEC business plans will be agreed at the beginning of the financial year, after publication of the departmental report at the beginning of the year. The national aggregate of individual TEC targets will be announced to Parliament following completion of the negotiations with all the TECs.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Common Agricultural Policy
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the total cost to United Kingdom consumer/taxpayers of direct and indirect support to farmers and horticulturalists.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated cost per adult in the United Kingdom of the common agricultural policy for each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Curry : The CAP system of agricultural support, in common with the support policies of other industrial countries, gives rise to substantial costs to taxpayers and consumers compared with a situation in which foodstuffs were imported at world market prices with no support to domestic producers. Estimates of these costs, and the savings that could be secured if current policies were
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ended, are possible only by making many assumptions. Important judgments are necessary about the current levels of world prices--no simple matter given the wide variations in quotations and substantial fluctuations from year to year--and the changes in these prices if present policies were abandoned. The latter depend on how producers and consumers throughout the world might respond to the new circumstances and on the impact on factors such as exchange rates. Estimates made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, using a particular set of assumptions, imply that the transfers from consumers and taxpayers in 1990 resulting from agricultural policies in the European Community as a whole--separate figures for the United Kingdom are not available--were equivalent to £4.4 per head of total population per week. It is not meaningful to express this per adult. This figure is derived from the OECD estimate of the aggregate cost of 105.1 billion ecu for 1990, assuming the EC12 population is 327.1 million and that 1 ecu=£0.7139. Corresponding estimates can be derived from OECD studies for 1986 to 1989 as follows, expressed per head per week : 1986, £4.0 ; 1987, £4.4 ; 1988, £4.0 ; 1989, £3.7. Consistently based estimates for earlier years have not been published.The figure for 1990 is one estimate of the extent to which the CAP raised the cost of food and agricultural products, and incurs budgetary costs, compared to existing "world" prices. As I have emphasised on a number of occasions, and as the OECD has made clear, the estimate takes no account of the effect that removal of farm support would have on world prices, and other variables, and thus gives no indication of the extent to which taxpayers and consumers might be better off if current policies were removed.
Consumers/taxpayers would benefit by considerably less than £4.4 per head per week if all agricultural support were removed.
Our Farming Future"
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he intends to consult outside organisations prior to publishing his policy document "Our Farming Future" ; and whether it will be a consultation document.
Mr. Gummer : "Our Farming Future" will be a policy statement by the Government, not a consultation document. Consequently we have not consulted outside organisations specifically in its preparation although our regular meetings with consumers, farmers, environmental organisations, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have enforced our policies.
Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning)
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it the policy of Her Majesty's Government to introduce a decommissioning scheme for fishing vessels.
Mr. Curry : The Government are ready to consider industry proposals for decommissioning provided that these form part of a wider conservation package aimed at reducing fishing effort.
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Press and Publicity Staff
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether any member of his Department's press and publicity staff accompanied him in Blackpool during the Conservative party conference.
Agricultural Marketing
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the organisations that his Ministry funded that promoted the marketing of agricultural produce giving the amount funded in each case in (a) 1980 and (b) 1990 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : My Department contributes to a number of bodies concerned with marketing.
These contributions and the purposes concerned are shown for 1990-91 in respect of the main bodies. Information for 1980 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Food From Britain
£4.5 million to cover establishment costs and some marketing activities.
Meat and Livestock Commission
£240,000 to cover salaries and related costs.
Home-Grown Cereals Authority
£115,000 towards administrative expenses.
Potato Marketing Board
£300,000 for the provision of statistical information.
Healthy Eating
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his catering working group expects to publish a report and make recommendations on healthy eating in different catering establishments ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The group is conducting a review and will report to the MAFF/DH/HEA nutrition liaison group as and when it is appropriate to do so.
Public Opinion Surveys
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the public opinion surveys carried out by his Department since 11 July 1991.
Mr. Curry : Public opinion surveys carried out by my Department since 11 July are as follows :
Food Sense Publications Campaign : pre-campaign market research. MAFF Touring Exhibition : post-project evaluation research.
Publicity
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give separate figures for the spending by his Department on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what are his latest estimates for 1991-92 and budgets for 1992-93.
Mr. Curry : Expenditure by the Department in the financial year 1982 -83 and each subsequent year was as follows :
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|Television |Radio |Press |Other
|advertising|publicity
|material
|£ |£ |£ |£
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982-83 |Nil |Nil |3,000 |n/a
1983-84 |Nil |Nil |27,000 |n/a
1984-85 |Nil |Nil |26,000 |575,000
1985-86 |Nil |Nil |29,000 |656,000
1986-87 |Nil |Nil |54,000 |825,000
1987-88 |Nil |Nil |12,000 |693,000
1988-89 |Nil |Nil |380,000 |1,004,000
1989-90 |Nil |Nil |116,000 |2,373,000
1990-91 |Nil |Nil |53,000 |2,379,000
<1>1991-92 |157,000 |Nil |108,000 |4,135,000
<1> Forecast.
Figures for publicity advertising prior to 1982-83 are not available as the information for those years includes recruitment and other types of advertising. Information is not readily available to distinguish between expenditure on advertising in newspapers and that in the press generally.
Separate figures for expenditure on other publicity material prior to 1984- 85 are available only at disproportionate cost. A figure for the overall publicity budget for 1992-93 is not yet available.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide an up-to-date list of each television advertising campaign carried out, or to be carried out, by his Department during 1991- 92, and of each other publicity campaign costing more than £100, 000, giving for each (a) the topic, (b) the commencement date, (c) the duration and (d) the advertising, promotional and public relations companies involved.
Mr. Curry : Publicising the new "Food Sense" series of publications, launched in August this year, will include limited regional TV advertising in 1991-92. The production has been undertaken by Coleman RSCG, who were commissioned by the Central Office of Information. A touring exhibition carried consumer information, on a wide range of food safety and environmental issues, to major shopping centres and agricultural shows between May and October this year. The exhibition was produced by Interactive Learning Productions of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total expenditure by his Department on press and public relations in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what is his estimate for 1991-92 and budget for 1992-93.
Mr. Curry : The information required for the financial years 1979-80 to 1983-84 could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The figures for the subsequent years are as follows :--
Column 80
$
|£ million
------------------------------------
1984-85 |3.2
1985-86 |3.5
1986-87 |3.0
1987-88 |0.6
1988-89 |0.8
1989-90 |1.1
1990-91 |0.5
1991-92 |0.5
Figures for the years 1984-85 to 1986-87 refer to the total cost of press services and paid publicity which could be separated to show expenditure on press services only at disproportionate cost. Figures for 1987-88 to 1991- 92 relate to press services alone. The budget for press services for 1992- 93 is not yet available.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his Department has sent unsolicited direct mail as part of the distribution of publicity material.
Catering Working Group
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the different types of catering establishments that are being considered by his catering working group ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The group is considering ways of increasing the provision of healthier food in all types of catering outlets.
SCOTLAND
Sports Clubs (Rate Relief)
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many non -profit making sports clubs in Scotland applied for rate relief for each of the financial years 1979-80 to 1991-92 and as a total over the same period ; and how many of these clubs were granted rate relief of (a) 25 per cent. or under, (b) 25 to 50 per cent., (c) 50 to 65 per cent., (d) 65 to 90 per cent. and (e) 90 to 100 per cent.
Mr. Allan Stewart : This information is not held centrally.
Publicity
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give separate figures for spending by the Scottish Development Agency on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what are his latest estimates for 1991-92 and budgets for 1992-93.
Mr. Allan Stewart : The information is set out in the table.
Column 79
Year |Television |Radio |Newspaper |Other
|advertising|advertising|advertising|promotional
|material
|£ '000 |£ '000 |£ '000 |£ '000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982-83 |- |- |1,620 |1,629
1983-84 |96 |13 |2,182 |1,698
1984-85 |147 |154 |3,153 |2,133
1985-86 |253 |16 |2,553 |1,738
1986-87 |152 |5 |1,860 |1,339
1987-88 |201 |9 |1,708 |822
1988-89 |- |- |1,430 |1,877
1989-90 |- |- |1,513 |1,550
1990-91 |- |- |1,592 |1,433
The information for 1979-80 to 1981-82 cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost. The Scottish Development Agency, along with the activity of the Training Agency in Scotland, was replaced by Scottish Enterprise on 1 April 1991.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give separate figures for the spending by the Forestry Commission on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what are his latest estimates for 1991-92 and budgets for 1992-93.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 May 1991, at column 537. The estimate for the current year is £260,000. No figure is available at this stage for 1992-93.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total expenditure by the Forestry Commission on press and public relations in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what is his estimate for 1991- 92 and budget for 1992-93.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 May 1991, columns 346-47. The estimate for the current year is £2 million. No figure is available at this stage for 1992-93.
Mar Lodge
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it the policy of Her Majesty's Government to bring Mar Lodge estate into public ownership.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : No. Our objective is to enable Scottish Natural Heritage to negotiate a management agreement with the new owner of Mar Lodge estate, whoever that may be, which will safeguard the conservation and other qualities of the estate.
Foresterhill Hospital
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy not to allow Foresterhill hospital, Aberdeen, to opt out of local health board control.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The application for NHS trust status submitted on behalf of the Foresterhill group of hospitals will be considered against the published criteria.
Press and Publicity Staff
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether any member of his Department's press and publicity staff accompanied him in Blackpool during the Conservative party conference.
Column 82
Electoral Registers
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many first-time voters appeared on the electoral register (a) in each Scottish constituency and (b) in the whole of Scotland in each year since 1987.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Information on the number of those attaining the age of 18 and appearing on the electoral register in Scotland for the first time, by parliamentary constituency and in total, is contained in the annual series "Electoral Statistics" compiled by OPCS. Copies are available in the House Library.
Dunoon General Hospital
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement concerning the future of Dunoon general hospital.
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