| Previous Section | Home Page |
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number of YT and ET places available now and 12 months ago in the area of each TEC in London, and the total for Greater London, and also the comparable figures for the number of places occupied.
Mr. Jackson : The information is not available in the form requested.
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish estimates for each TEC area in London, and for Greater London as a whole, for the numbers of people eligible now and 12 months ago for YT and ET places.
Mr. Jackson : The information is not available in the format requested.
All young people in the 16 and 17 age group are eligible for YT if they do not stay on at school, do not go on to further education, or do not have a full time job.
The following table shows numbers in the 16 and 17 age group by training and enterprise council (TEC) area in London. Many of these young people will have other options available to them.
The Government have guaranteed that all young people who are under 18 and not in full-time education or a job and are seeking training are offered and if necessary re-offered, a suitable youth training place. The Government remain committed to ensuring that the YT guarantee is met and have ensured that adequate funding is available to do so.
The information requested relating to ET is not available. However, the Government require that an ET place is provided for people in the Government's guarantee and aim groups who wish to enter ET. The guarantee group is those aged 18 to 24 who have been unemployed for six months or more but less than 12 months, and the aim group is those aged 18 to 49 who have been unemployed for two years or more and those people with disabilities, regardless of the length of time of the latters unemployment.
Column 699
Estimates of 16-17 year old population
TEC |1990 |1991
------------------------------------------
Aztec |12,400 |11,900
Centec |11700 |11,450
Cilntec |7,600 |7,200
Letec |29,400 |28,400
North London |17,500 |16,800
North West London |10,550 |10,200
Solotec |24,700 |23,500
South Thames |20,200 |19,400
West London |21,500 |20,900
|-------|-------
London |155,550|149,750
Source: London Research Centre.
Tributyltin Oxide
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter from J. D. McGuinness and the Health and Safety Executive on tributyltin oxide.
Column 700
Mr. Jackson : Yes. The letter from Dr. J. McGuinness to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was sent on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive in May 1990. It is a covering letter, sent with a copy of the publicly available Tributyltin Oxide review for information purposes. A copy of the review and accompanying letter, will be made in the Library.
Earnings Statistics
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report the number and percentage of people, working full-time and part-time earning less than (a) £3.40 an hour, (b) £4.00 an hour, (c) £4.60 an hour and (d) £5.20 an hour respectively ; and if he will give the information separately for men and women and, in each case, those aged (i) under 17 years, (ii) under 18 years, (iii) 18 years to 20 years and (iv) 21 years to 24 years, respectively.
Mr. Jackson : The information available from the 1991 "New Earnings Survey" closest to that requested is given in the following tables.
Column 699
Employees whose pay was not affected by absence and whose gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) were less than
specified amounts
April 1991
Less than £ 3.40 Less than £ 4.00 Less than £ 4.50 Less than £ 4.80 Less than £ 5.40
|Numbers |Per cent.|Numbers |Per cent.|Numbers |Per cent.|Numbers |Per cent.|Numbers |Per cent.
|in sample|of total |in sample|of total |in sample|of total |in sample|of total |in sample|of total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aged 16
Males
Full time |213 |89.1 |223 |93.3 |231 |96.7 |232 |97.1 |235 |98.3
Part time |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Females
Full time |144 |84.7 |158 |92.9 |163 |95.9 |164 |96.5 |170 |100.0
Part time |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Aged under 18
Males
Full time |626 |81.0 |691 |89.4 |727 |94.0 |742 |96.0 |759 |98.2
Part time |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Females
Full time |487 |73.7 |581 |87.9 |614 |92.9 |631 |95.5 |648 |98.0
Part time |314 |77.9 |361 |89.6 |376 |93.3 |379 |94.0 |387 |96.0
Aged 18-20
Males
Full time |1,394 |39.6 |2,107 |59.8 |2,569 |72.9 |2,784 |79.0 |3,062 |86.9
Part time |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Females
Full time |1,330 |38.8 |2,150 |62.7 |2,648 |77.3 |2,855 |83.3 |3,122 |91.1
Part time |307 |59.7 |407 |79.2 |456 |88.7 |472 |91.8 |484 |94.2
Aged 21-24
Males
Full time |812 |11.5 |1,745 |24.7 |2,666 |37.7 |3,144 |44.5 |4,098 |57.9
Part time |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Females
Full time |1,080 |16.0 |2,085 |31.0 |3,007 |44.6 |3,592 |53.3 |4,491 |66.7
Part time |345 |46.4 |487 |65.5 |581 |78.1 |619 |83.2 |667 |89.7
Source: New Earnings Survey.
Note:"-" denotes information not available.
Invoice Payments
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his Department's survey of the Government's performance in paying invoices, particularly to small and medium-sized companies.
Mr. Jackson : The Government believe that it is important that all organisations recognise their responsibilities to their suppliers by settling accounts on time. I
Column 700
recognise that Government should itself set an example to both the private and public sectors. All Government Departments are committed to ensuring that they pay within agreed terms or, if there is no contractual provision or other understanding governing the timing of payment, within 30 days of receipt of goods or a valid invoice, whichever is the later. Furthermore, my hon. Friend, the Minister for Small Firms, has offered to follow up individual cases of delayed payments to small firms by Government Departments.Column 701
During the financial year 1991-92, major spending Departments are undertaking surveys of their payment performance and making a return to the Department. The surveys will encompass payments to businesses of all sizes. The results will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year.Employment Action
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number of employment action places in London which were (a) established and (b) occupied, for each training and enterprise council area in London and for Greater London as a whole.
Mr. Jackson : Contracts for employment action are for the number of participant weeks to be delivered rather than the number of places. The exact terms of such contracts must be commercial in confidence. For London as a whole we aim to have sufficient provision in place by March 1992 to help about 4,400 people. I am confident that we will meet that target.
We have instituted a system for collecting management information, including numbers of participants in place. The first returns from that system will be available shortly.
Travel to Interview Scheme
Mr. Moate : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the working of the travel to interview scheme for people seeking employment ; how many people have received help with travel costs in each of the past four years ; what is the average amount paid ; and what help residents in the Faversham constituency may receive for travel to London for job interviews.
Mr. Jackson : 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.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Industrial Tribunals
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the numbers of industrial tribunal members ; and how many are (a) black, (b) Asian and (c) women.
Mr. Jackson : I have been asked to reply.
There are 1,599 members of the industrial tribunals, of whom 382 are women. Information on the racial origin of members has been systematically collected only since 1986 and is not available in the form requested. However, of the 1,599 lay members we estimate that there are 50 from the ethnic minorities : 18 Afro-Caribbean, 15 Asian and 17 whose particular racial origin is not currently recorded.
DEFENCE
Wrens
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the number of Wrens at sea on Royal Naval ships on 1 November.
Column 702
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The total number of members of the Womens Royal Naval Service serving in seagoing ships of the Royal Navy on 1 November 1991 was 330, comprising 31 WRNS officers, 15 officer cadets and 284 WRNS ratings.
Hangar, Cardington
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department expects to raise from the sale of the five acre hangar at Cardington, Bedfordshire ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The former No. 1 and No. 2 airship hangars at Cardington, Bedfordshire, were disposed of in 1986 and 1989 respectively. The sum realised from their disposal is a matter of commercial confidentiality.
Boards of Inquiry
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to ensure that when Ministry of Defence board of inquiry reports are released by order of a judge, they are not restricted to professional advisers.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It is common practice in legal proceedings to confine disclosure of documents to the parties and their professional advisers. It is, of course, for the courts to decide the precise terms of any order for the discovery of documents.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions in the last year his Department has been ordered by a judge to release documents relating to a board of inquiry report following the death of a service man ; what has been the response of the Ministry ; and whether all the requested papers have been handed over unabridged.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Department has been subject to an order for discovery to include a board of inquiry report on only one occasion in the last year in the case of Russell Edward Ferrante (Administrator of the Estate of Simeon Mervyn Ferrante deceased) v. Secretary of State for Defence. In that particular case the Department has made every effort to supply documents covered by the order to the plaintiff. Correspondence between respective solicitors on the terms of the order continue.
Anglo-French Nuclear Missile
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will publish details of the arrangements being made to supply tritium and plutonium for the recently announced Anglo-French air launch nuclear missile ;
(2) what is the source of the tritium and plutonium to be used in the warhead to be fitted to the recently announced Anglo-French air launch nuclear missile ; and who is to be the primary contractor to supply the tritium and plutonium.
Mr. Alan Clark : There has been no recent announcement of an Anglo- French air-launched nuclear missile. We are continuing to study options for the replacement, in due course, of our WE177 free-fall bombs. No final decision has been taken.
Column 703
Army (Operating Costs)
Mr. Churchill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated annual operating cost of (a) an armoured regiment, (b) a regular infantry battalion and (c) a Territorial Army infantry battalion.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Operating costs vary according to a unit's composition and its precise task at the time. Estimated annual operating costs for 1991-92 are as follows :
|United Kingdom|BAOR
|£ million |£ million
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Armoured regiment |15.0 |15.0
Infantry battalion |12.5 to 15.0 |17.0
TA Infantry battalion |2.0 |-
These figures do not include either civilian support costs or the procurement costs of major weapon platforms operated by these units.
Army (Manpower Reductions)
Mrs. Heal : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence between what dates colonels and colonels commandant of the Army's regiments and corps were consulted about the proposed reductions in manpower.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : All regimental colonels and colonels commandant were involved between 4 June and 2 July 1991 in the formal consultative process which took place before decisions were taken upon how the reductions in the combat arms should be achieved. The representative colonels commandant of the logistic corps were similarly consulted on the logistic support review as it developed.
Trident
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the cost of cancelling (a) the entire Trident submarine programme, (b) the fourth Trident and (c) the building projects at Coulport and Faslane, under the liquidated damages clauses in the contracts.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The costs of cancellation of the Trident programme as a whole, or of any element within it, would depend on the timing of the cancellation and would reflect the contractors' properly incurred liabilities at the time of termination. These costs should be less than the total amount committed, which currently stands at about £6 billion.
Former Ministry Property, Gosport
Mr. Viggers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what action his Department is taking to assist in the resolution of the problems arising from the collapse of balconies at blocks of flats and maisonettes at Rowner, Gosport, which were originally owned by the Ministry of Defence and are now in private or local authority ownership.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Ministry of Defence officials met Gosport borough council officers on 10 October 1991 to discuss the problem and agreed to attend a further meeting once the final report from the Building Research Establishment had been received. I understand that the
Column 704
council now has the report ; my officials will meet council officers in the near future. My Department will of course consider sympathetically any proposals for the future of the properties put forward by the council.Gulf War (Friendly Fire)
Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in the light of information handed to Her Majesty's ambassador in Washington by the United States Administration on the Warrior/A-10 incident in the Gulf war regarding British service men killed by friendly fire, if he will now launch a further inquiry into this matter to clarify the apparent contradictions in evidence ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No. As I made clear in the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim) on 24 July at column 706, the board of inquiry was unable to resolve a conflict of evidence on the passing of a target grid reference to the A-10 pilots or establish why the Warrior vehicles were misidentified. The letter from the United States Administration to Her Majesty's ambassador in Washington confirms that all relevant information was passed to the board of inquiry and that no new evidence is available. A copy of that letter was placed in the Library of the House on 12 November.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Public Limited Companies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has any plans to introduce legislation to require all public limited company auditors signing the audit report to state whether the firm within the preceding five years has been criticised by his Department's inspectors.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry following the provisions of the Companies Act 1989, from what date auditing firms will be able to set up limited liability companies.
Mr. Redwood : Since 1 October there has been no statutory bar on the appointment of a limited liability company as a company auditor provided it is eligible for appointment under the rules of its recognised supervisory body.
Supervisory Bodies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has any plans to appoint an independent ombudsman to hear complaints against the recognised supervisory bodies.
Mr. Redwood : No. When recognising the supervisory bodies my right hon. Friend was satisfied that they met the statutory requirement to have effective arrangements for the investigation of complaints against them.
Textile Industry
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will see a delegation of hon. Members to discuss the textile industry.
Column 705
Mr. Leigh : The Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Industry and Technology has arranged to meet a delegation early in December.Post Office
Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to reduce the £1 threshold of the letter monopoly.
Mr. Lilley : As stated in the citizens charter, we propose to reduce the Post Office's letter monopoly from its present level of £1 to a level much closer to that of the first-class letter stamp. This will require legislation.
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the negative external finance limit targets achieved by the Post Office for each year since 1979, together with the cumulative amount expressed (a) as a total and (b) at April 1991 prices.
Mr. Lilley : Negative external finance limit achievements by the Post Office since 1979 appear in the table (a) at outturn and (b) at April 1991 values. With effect from 1989-90, pay bill creditors have been excluded from working capital for the purposes of the external finance limit calculation. The effect of this adjustment is expected to be neutral in the long term. Figures adjusted to take account of this change are also given from 1985-86, the earliest date for which this information is available.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Machine Tools Industry
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to bring about increased investment in the machine tools industry and to prevent further redundancies.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 11 November 1991] : The Government can best help the machine tool industry by providing a stable economic framework based on low inflation. In the past year inflation has fallen from 11 per cent. to about 4 per cent., allowing interest rates to fall by 4.5 percentage points. Output is set to rise in the second half of this year and to rise still faster in 1992, with manufacturing growing faster than the economy as a whole.
Column 706
NATIONAL FINANCE
Civil Service Pensions
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to extend the arrangements made by the civil service pension scheme for the payment of pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages to include those widows of such marriages whose husbands retired before 6 April 1978.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The Government's position in respect of the payment of pensions, under the civil service pension scheme, to the widows of post-retirement marriages has not changed since I replied to a similar question from my hon. Friend on 14 December last year. There are no plans to extend the present arrangements so that account is taken of pensionable service before 6 April 1978.
Banks (Interest Rates)
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to introduce legislation to require the banks in their annual reports to reveal the highest interest rate charged by them during the year.
Mr. Maples : No. The rate of interest charged by banks depends on the particular circumstances in which funds are being lent and I do not think it would be appropriate to require banks to publish such figures.
Inflation
Mr. Lawson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average underlying rate of inflation, defined in terms of the retail prices index excluding mortgage interest payments, between June 1985 and October 1991.
Mr. Norman Lamont : Between June 1985 and October 1991 the retail prices index excluding mortgage interest payments increased at an average annual rate of 5.3 per cent.
Cardiff Wales Airport (Customs)
Mr. John P. Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will instruct Her Majesty's Customs and Excise to restore permanent customs cover at Cardiff Wales airport.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The permanent customs cover at Cardiff Wales airport has not been withdrawn. The staff have been re-located for reasons of efficiency to other premises outside the airport but will continue to fulfil the same functions as prior to their re-location.
Iraqi Assets
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to release the assets of the Iraqi Government in the National Westminster bank in London ; and if he will negotiate with the Iraqi Government to ensure that this money is not removed from Britain but is used to fund Iraqi students studying in the United Kingdom and allow them to repay loans received from local authorities since the freezing of Iraqi assets.
Mr. Maples : The United Nations Sanctions Committee has informed national Governments where Iraqi assets are
Column 707
held that they have discretion to unfreeze them to pay for approved humanitarian purposes. There could be no question of unfreezing assets for purposes incompatible with United Nations decisions. The Bank of England will, however, continue to consider applications to debit Iraqi accounts for living, medical, educational and similar expenses in the United Kingdom of residents of Iraq. So far, no such applications have been received to meet the fees of students sponsored by the Iraqi Government.Drug Smuggling
Mr. John P. Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to improve the control of illegal drugs coming into the United Kingdom at Cardiff Wales airport.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The recent national review of anti-smuggling controls which has taken place within the Customs and Excise department has directed resources far more towards areas of risk and has increased the flexibility of staff to address those risks. Flexible anti-smuggling teams are being used at Cardiff Wales airport and these have improved the controls to combat the importation of illegal drugs both there and in other parts of the executive unit.
Companies
Mr. Hayward : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to amend the tax laws relating to groups of companies.
Mr. Maude : There are various tax provisions which treat a group of companies as if it were a single company. Two weaknesses in the legislation have come to light where tax benefits could be enjoyed by companies in a way that does not properly reflect commercial reality. We intend to introduce provisions in the next Finance Bill to correct these defects.
The first point concerns circumstances in which there are "arrangements" in existence in respect of shares and whether they are taken into account in determining whether a group of consortium relationship exists between two companies. This issue was considered in the case of J. Sainsbury plc v. O'Connor in which judgment was given by the Court of Appeal earlier this year. The effect of that judgment was that, for the purposes of the provisions of schedule 18 to the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 about one company's entitlement to profits and assets of another, share "arrangements" mean arrangements to vary rights attaching to particular shares but not, as the Inland Revenue had previously thought, arrangements involving changes in the ownership of shares. The legislation we propose introducing will extend the definition of arrangements to cover cases where arrangements exist for the whole or part of a company's holding of shares or securities to be disposed of to, or otherwise effectively reduced in favour of, another party. This is the way the Inland Revenue used to interpret the law. The new legislation will, if passed by Parliament, take effect for arrangements which come into existence on or after today. The second point concerns the transfer of assets between companies in the same group. When this happens, any capital gain is generally deferred. When a company leaves a group still holding an asset on which gains have been deferred, a charge can be raised to recover the tax on the deferred gains. But when a company leaves a group in
Column 708
the course of the winding up of another group member, the company may be able to benefit from a defect in the law and avoid paying tax on those deferred gains. The legislation correcting this defect will, if passed by Parliament, also take effect where a company leaves a group on or after today.The Inland Revenue will consult interested parties about the details of both aspects of this new legislation. We intend to publish draft clauses to help those consultations. Further details are in a press release issued today by the Inland Revenue.
Citizens Charter
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give details of all the additional charters in the various service areas which arise directly from the citizens charter ; and when each of the new charters will be published.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 14 November 1991] : I have been asked to reply. To date, 12 charters have been published :
Education
The Parent's Charter (England)
The Parent's Charter in Scotland
A Charter for Parents in Wales
Health
The Patient's Charter (England)
The Patient's Charter in Scotland
A Charter for Patients in Wales
Revenue
The Taxpayer's Charter (Inland Revenue)
The Taxpayer's Charter (HM Customs & Excise)
National Insurance
A Contributors' Charter
An Employers' Charter
Employment
Redundancy Payments Service Charter
Justice
The Justice Charter for Scotland
Further charters to be published include tenant's charters. Benefits Agency customer's charter, and charters for passengers, jobseekers and customs and excise businesses.
Charters are an important way of informing citizens about their entitlements, the standards of service they can expect ; and what to do when things go wrong.
| Next Section
| Home Page |