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Building Societies
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if the Health and Safety Executive is satisfied that pneumatically operated safety screens now being installed on customer service counters by building societies can be operated with proper regard to the safety of staff and public ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Executive's experience of this type of screen to date is not sufficient to allow them to comment on it. It is for employers and others with duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to ensure that equipment used in their undertakings does not put the health and safety of their staff or the public at risk.
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Manual Handling
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects the Health and Safety Commission to publish the consultative document on manual handling ; what period will be allowed for consultation ; and when he envisages the regulations will be laid before Parliament.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Commission's consultative document on the manual handling of loads was published on 7 November ; a copy has been placed in the Library. The Commission has invited interested parties to comment on the proposals set out in that consultative document by 9 March next--that is, within four months. The European Community directive on manual handling requires member states to implement it by 31 December 1992 ; it is my intention that regulations will be made and brought into effect in time to meet that deadline.
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current budget for overseas travel for the Health and Safety Executive ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Health and Safety Executive's expenditure on overseas travel is not a separate item, but is provided from within a general HSE travel and subsistence budget which takes account of the need for, for example, work in connection with EC matters. Some of HSE's overseas travel is reimbursed by the European Commission ; that carried out by the nuclear installations inspectorate is charged out to the nuclear industry.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state the number of health and safety inspectors employed by the executive in each division ; how many are full time and part-time ; what vacancies exist in each category ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : The information requested is as follows, at 1 November 1991 :
HSE Division |Number of
|Inspectors
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Operations Division |914.5
Nuclear Installations Inspectorate |164.0
Technology and Health Sciences Division |136.5
Inspectorate of Mines |38.5
Offshore Safety Division |57.0
Railway Inspectorate |28.0
Resources and Planning Division |8.0
Safety and General Policy Division |12.5
Special Hazards Division |16.0
Health Policy Division |9.0
Executive Support Branch |13.0
Hazardous Installations Policy Branch |6.0
Research and Laboratory Services Division |1.0
Of these, 1,387 worked full time and 34 part time, part-timers being counted as half units. Targets for each inspector category are set for the end of the planning year. The number of vacancies calculated against the 1 April 1992 targets are given in the table :
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Inspector occupational grouping |Number of
|vacancies
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agricultural |0.0
Factory |17.0
Specialist |0.5
Mines |0.0
Quarries |4.0
Nuclear Installations |10.0
Railway |7.0
Offshore Safety |61.0
Considerable efforts are being made to fill inspector vacancies, particularly those for offshore safety inspectors. Thirty-four successful candidates have joined or are shortly expected to join HSE as offshore safety inspectors from a recruitment competition earlier this year. Two competitions are currently under way and 19 further successful candidates have already been selected from these. There are currently 12 successful candidates for factory inspector posts waiting to join the organisation and applicants for factory and nuclear installations inspector jobs will shortly be interviewed.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will obtain from the Health and Safety Executive information about the activities of the executive in connection with the crane failure at St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, on 13 July 1991 ; and what steps have been taken to prosecute those persons responsible for overloading the crane and causing a crane to be operated without an effective safe load indicator.
Mr. Forth : The Health and Safety Executive was informed about the accident by police a few hours after it happened on Saturday 13 July.
The police told HSE's Plymouth office that the crane which had overturned while offloading a cargo container was in a dangerous condition with its rear wheels in the air and the jib resting on the jetty and the sea bed. HSE's inspector wished to visit the scene of the accident directly, but was prevented from doing so by heavy fog which had led to the suspension of commercial sailings and flights to the island. The inspector was not in the circumstances able to visit the scene until Monday 15 July.
Police advice was that it was imperative that the crane should be made safe as the area surrounding it could not be closed off. HSE's inspector therefore briefed the police by telephone on how to ensure the crane's safe retrieval and the recording of the information needed to establish the cause of the accident.
Making the crane safe involved some dismantling, and during this process part of the jib became detached and sank to the sea bed. This loss of part of the jib and damage to other parts of the crane sustained during the overturning meant that it was not possible for HSE to gather the evidence needed to establish if the crane was overloaded or not, and thus to mount any prosecution in this case. An automatic safeload indicator was, however, seen on the crane.
Textile and Footwear Industry
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the numbers employed in the textile and footwear industries per month, by industry, using the latest figures, for each month of 1991.
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Mr. Jackson : The number of employees in employment in the textile and footwear industries in Great Britain were as follows :
Thousands
Unadjusted for seasonal variations
|Footwear |Textile
|SIC Group 451|SIC Class 43
--------------------------------------------------------
1991
January |44.2 |185.4
February |44.0 |186.4
March |43.4 |182.6
April |42.6 |183.2
May |42.1 |182.2
June |41.7 |181.1
July |41.4 |183.7
August |40.6 |183.2
EC Legislative Competence
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what legislative competence the EC has in respect of deciding, by majority voting, matters relating to (a) maternity leave and (b) the length of the working week, and under what legislative authority.
Mr. Forth : It is for the European Court of Justice in the final analysis to determine such matters.
Existing directives which are concerned with terms and conditions of employment have been based on article 100 of the treaty of Rome-- establishment or functioning of the common market--or article 235--measures necessary to achieve the objectives of the Community but which are not provided for elsewhere in the treaty. These articles require unanimity in the Council.
The European Commission has cited article 118A--health and safety of workers--as the proposed legal base for its draft directives on pregnant workers and working time. Under article 118A, the Council may adopt directives through qualified majority voting.
Building Industry
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has had concerning redundancies in the building industry.
Mr. Forth : This Department has had a number of representations about employment in the building industry. A wide range of training, enterprise and employment measures are available to help unemployed people.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of redundancies in the building industry for the first three quarters of 1991.
Mr. Forth : It is estimated that there were 3,066 confirmed redundancies in the construction industry in Great Britain in the first quarter of 1991, 3,423 in the second quarter and a provisional total of 2,079 in the third quarter of 1991.
Working Time Directive
Mr. Randall : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the Council of Ministers meeting on the draft directive on working time.
Mr. Forth : The Labour and Social Affairs Council met on 6 November 1991. The draft directive on working time was not discussed.
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WALES
Pembrokeshire Health Authority
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has received concerning the application for national health service trust status from Pembrokeshire health authority ; how many have been in support of the application ; and how many against.
Mr. David Hunt : A total of 101 representations have been received during the consultation period of which 50 did not support the establishment of the trust. I intend shortly to announce my decision having taken into account the comments received, alongside the individual merits of the application.
Nebulisers
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the estimated cost of providing nebulisers free of charge to all NHS patients requiring them in the present financial year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The information requested is not available centrally ; this is a matter for individual health authorities. District general managers have been reminded of their duty under section 1 of the National Health Service Act 1977 to provide health service free at the point of delivery to NHS patients except where there is statutory provision for charging.
Long-term Unemployment
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many long-term unemployed people there are in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : On 11 July 1991 there were in Wales 27,784 claimants who had been unemployed for more than 12 months.
Uniform Business Rate
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the amount of unpaid uniform business rate in each of the counties of Wales since its inception.
Mr. David Hunt : National non-domestic rates came into force on 1 April 1990. The information available is given in the following table :
Arrears of non-domestic rates at 31 March 1991<1>
County Area<2> |Arrears |Amount due<3>
|(£ ,000) |(£ ,000)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Clywd |4,597 |51,292
Dyfed |2,202 |36,564
Gwent |4,039 |60,400
Gwynedd |1,378 |23,610
Mid Glamorgan |4,885 |55,589
Powys |393 |9,473
South Glamorgan |1,916 |59,217
West Glamorgan |2,111 |55,307
|------- |-------
Total Wales |21,521 |351,452
<1> As reported by charging authorities.
<2> Charging authorities grouped in county areas.
<3> Gross amount due less discretionary reliefs. Figures
shown are
provisional.
Pembrokeshire Health Authority
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in relation to the Pembrokeshire health authority's application for trust status (a) the date on which he received the application, (b) the date on which he will announce his decision and (c) the criteria he will use to reach his decision.
Mr. David Hunt : The application was received on 16 July and the three months' public consultation commenced on 1 August. I expect shortly to announce my decision whether to establish the trust. This will take into account :
(a) the comments received as a result of public consultation ; and
(b) the individual merits of the application in demonstrating the benefits and improved quality of services to patients ; the involvement of professionals, especially consultants in senior management ; management capability and capacity, and the financial soundness of the potential trust.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the hospitals in Wales that propose to opt out or establish a NHS trust or have expressed an interest in doing so ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To date only Pembrokeshire has submitted an application to become an NHS trust. An announcement listing those units or hospitals invited to prepare an application to seek trust status in April 1993 will be made in a few weeks.
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much of the financial contribution received by Pembrokeshire health authority, towards costs incurred through preparing an application for NHS trust status, has been used for public relations.
Mr. David Hunt : The contribution made available to Pembrokeshire health authority was to help towards costs incurred in preparing the application, associated printing and during the consultation period.
Adult Education
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to develop the provision of non-vocational adult education classes in Wales and increase the access to vocational classes for mature students in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : The development of and access to adult education is currently the responsibility of the local education authorities, the university of Wales and a number of voluntary organisations.
Patients Charter
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new and additional resources he has committed to meeting the objectives of the patients charter in Wales, excluding from his reply the costs of the publication and its preparation and distribution.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The patients charter for Wales builds on existing good practice within the NHS. Some of
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the guarantees and standards in the charter are already being achieved by health authorities in Wales. Where the objectives in the charter are not presently being achieved, health authorities will need to use the resources allocated to them.GP Fundholders
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a list of those GP fund-holding practices in Wales which have set up private companies for aspects of their patients' care.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : There are none.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish for each family health service authority area in Wales (a) the total number of GP practices, (b) the number of fund-holding practices and (c) the percentage of Welsh patients registered with a GP who belong to a fund-holding practice.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The information is as follows :
Family health service |Number of GP |Number of GP authority |practices |fund-holders ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clwyd |74 |1 Mid Glamorgan |106 |4 South Glamorgan |76 |1 West Glamorgan |65 |1 Gwent |95 |- Gwynedd |55 |- Powys |19 |- Dyfed |70 |-
Some 3 per cent. of patients in Wales are covered by the seven fund-holding practices.
Parliamentary Questions
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his practice to answer hon. Members to whom he has replied to a parliamentary question with an undertaking to write, within one week of his reply.
Mr. David Hunt : My practice is to write to hon. Members as soon as possible.
Community Services Managers
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will give a list of community services managers, or their equivalents, within the health service in Wales, together with their grades and pay scales and any appropriate qualifications ;
(2) if he will give a list of unit general managers within the health service in Wales together with their grades and pay scales and any appropriate qualifications.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my letter of 7 November, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Unit General Managers
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his practice to require health authorities to report to him the reasons for any dismissals from the post of unit general manager within hospitals in Wales.
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Mr. Nicholas Bennett : No. As I said in my reply on 17 October 1991 contractual matters pertaining to general managers fall entirely within the operational responsibilities of the employing authority.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Abattoirs
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of small abattoirs currently not up to EC hygiene standards which will qualify for permanent derogation.
Mr. Maclean : All red meat abattoirs in Great Britain currently operate under licences granted by local authorities. With the exception of abattoirs approved for intra-Community trade, records are not routinely mentioned by the Department on the site of individual abattoirs. However, annual statistics derived from State Veterinary Service visits indicate that there are some 222 abattoirs in Great Britain which are eligible to qualify for a permanent structural derogation from the EC single market rules contained in Council directive 91/497/EEC. EC rules on hygiene and inspection apply to all abattoirs whether or not they qualify for a derogation.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of small slaughterhouses and cutting plants currently not up to European Community hygiene standards which will qualify for temporary derogation until the beginning of 1996.
Mr. Maclean : Council directive 91/498/EEC enables member states, subject to approval by the EC standing veterinary committee, to grant temporary structural derogations to red meat slaughterhouses, cutting premises and cold stores of all sizes which are unable to comply with single market rules by 1 January 1993. All premises not currently EC approved may apply for a temporary derogation. However, this is a commercial decision for individual businesses and it is not possible accurately to estimate the likely numbers. The Department has recently made available to businesses a detailed free information pack on the new rules, including an application form for temporary derogations.
Wind Farms
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the level of grant aid which farmers can receive for the construction of wind farms from his Ministry ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Grants are available only where the main purpose of the windmill is to serve the agricultural needs of the farm for electricity. The grant rate is 25 per cent. in the less-favoured areas and 15 per cent. elsewhere. Where the supply also serves a domestic dwelling or provides surplus power to another farm or an electricity company grant is paid on three quarters of the eligible costs.
Pesticides
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the present restrictions on the use of Atrazine and Simazine pesticides.
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Mr. Maclean : United Kingdom use of Atrazine and Simazine are subject to statutory conditions of use such as maximum application rate, minimum harvest interval and operator protection requirements. Use of any pesticide in an unapproved manner is an offence under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986.Fishing Industry
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what funds he has set aside for 1991-92 to fund a decommissioning scheme for the fishing industry.
Mr. Curry : None, but as I indicated in reply to the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) on 5 November, at column 77 the Government are ready to consider industry proposals for decommissioning and the necessary funding provided these form part of a wider conservation package aimed at reducing fishing effort.
Food from Britain
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the level of funding given to Food from Britain in each year since 1985.
Mr. Curry : The information, which relates to the amount of Government grant for each financial year mentioned, is as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------------
1985-86 |6
1986-87 |5
1987-88 |4.1
1988-89 |4.2
1989-90 |4.5
1990-91 |4.5
Sheep Dips
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review his policy concerning the requirement of a single autumn dip for sheep ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Future arrangements will be considered when the results of this year's dip, which ended on 2 November, are available.
Non-fat Milk
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will place a copy of the European Commission reasoned opinion on regulation 164 relating to non-fat milk bulk distribution in the Library.
Mr. Curry : Reasoned opinions are confidential between the Commission and Government, being preparatory to possible court proceedings. It is established practice therefore not to publish their contents.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the new environmentally sensitive areas he intends to designate and how many existing environmentally sensitive areas he intends to expand ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Curry : I plan to increase expenditure on environmentally sensitive areas in England by £75 million over the next three years. I will be making announcements concerning the designation of new areas and the improvements in the existing ESAs shortly.
Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of recorded cases of spongiform encephalopathy in cats, with relevant dates.
Mr. Maclean : The number of recorded cases of spongiform encephalopathy in cats in Great Britain listed by date or clinical onset of the disease is as follows :
|Number
--------------------------------------
November 1989 |1
January 1990 |1
February 1990 |1
March 1990 |2
April 1990 |1
May 1990 |1
June 1990 |2
July 1990 |1
September 1990 |2
October 1990 |4
December 1990 |1
March 1991 |1
May 1991 |1
June 1991 |1
August 1991 |1
Report not yet received |1
|--
Total |22
Cymag and Spannit
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the agricultural uses of (a) sodium cyanide (Cymag) and (b) chlorpirifos (Spannit).
Mr. Maclean : Sodium cyanide (Cymag) is a vertebrate control agent. It is not approved for agricultural use in the United Kingdom. Chlorpirifos (Spannit) is approved for agricultural use on the following crops :
Calabrese or
Calabrese at drilling or transplanting
Kale or
Kale at drilling or transplanting
Drilling Carrott Potato
Swede or
Swede at drilling or transplanting
Turnip or
Turnip at drilling or transplanting
Plum
Apple
Pear
Currants (black, white and red)
Currants (bushes)
after harvest
Gooseberry
Strawberry
Strawberry (plants)
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