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Grammar Schools
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Blackburn, Official Report, 13 December, column 560-61, he will give the names of the 106 grammar schools which have ceased to exist since 1979.
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Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The situation is much more complicated than suggested in the question. It is not true that 106 schools have closed. Some schools will have merged to form other schools ; others will have become independent and moved out of the maintained sector ; others will have changed their status and become comprehensives and some comprehensives will have become grammar schools. Without painstaking investigation we cannot know how many schools fall into each category. It is likely that we would need to list considerably more than 106 schools in order to provide a clear picture. This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science on what dates he received applications by certain Ealing schools for grant-maintained status and by the borough of Ealing for its schools reorganisation programme ; when he expects to announce his decisions on those applications ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : Eight Ealing schools applied for grant-maintained status on dates ranging from27 February to 3 July 1991. Ealing local education authority and the governors of the voluntary aided schools published proposals on 3 May 1991 to reorganise all primary and secondary schools in the borough.
Where there are conflicting proposals, my right hon. and learned Friend is obliged to consider one set of proposals against the other and then decide on the grant-maintained proposals first, followed by the proposals from the local education authority and the governors of the voluntary-aided schools. There are more than 100 schools involved and the issues are complex and require detailed examination. He expects to announce his decision in January.
Standard Assessment Tests
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will now publish the aggregate results for the standard assessment tests for key stage one, by local education authority.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has today, published the national results of this summer's tests on seven-year-olds, together with the results of LEAs in England. Copies have been placed in the Library.
County Schools (Funding)
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on capital allocations for county schools for 1992-93.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : Local education authorities have today been informed of their annual capital guidelines--ACGs--and supplementary credit approvals--SCAs--for education for 1992-93. These figures again amount to a substantial increase in local education authorities' borrowing power for education capital expenditure. They build further on the increases in the last two years.
Allocations for education capital--in the form of ACGs and SCAs--will total £590 million compared with £538 million in 1991-92, a rise of over 9.5 per cent.
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A total of £524 million is available for schools--an increase of 11 per cent.--and £66 million for further education.Within the schools sector I have again given priority to : Second and third -year expenditure on work covered by ACGs in earlier years.
Projects to provide new school places in areas of population growth.
New projects to implement approved proposals to remove surplus places.
Making a bigger contribution towards getting rid of deficiencies in existing school buildings and for work needed for the effective delivery of the national curriculum. A total of £148 million is available for such improvements in 1992-93, an increase of 36 per cent. on the equivalent figure for 1991-92.
A total of £15 million of this latter sum, as my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Mr. Eggar) announced on 4 December, is to be allocated in the form of SCAs to LEAs bidding for their schools to become technology schools as part of the technology schools initiative. The remainder has been distributed to LEAs by formula passed on numbers of pupils and substandard places in schools. Because of the proposals in the Further and Higher Education Bill currently before Parliament to transfer all sixth-form colleges to the new further education sector, I am also issuing SCAs to LEAs in respect of their capital expenditure at sixth form colleges. This will enable LEAs' expenditure to be separately identified so that they can be recompensed by the proposed funding council for any outstanding debt.
Within the further education sector, my programme includes allocations of £43 million to meet commitments arising from 54 major buildings projects with a total completion value of £150 million. In addition, I have awarded allocations of £14 million for minor works and equipment. This will help colleges to prepare for the reforms proposed in the Further and Higher Education Bill now in Parliament. A further £9 million will be allocated during 1992-93. All allocations for further education will be by SCAs, hypothecated for particular purposes.
My programme and the SCAs announced today do not represent the full total of funds available to LEAs for capital expenditure. Authorities are also able to spend additional sums from capital receipts and from their revenue budgets if they so choose.
The 9.5 per cent. increase in ACGs is well ahead of the rate of inflation and purchasing power is further boosted at a time of lower building tender prices. The figures for 1992-93 represent a 22 per cent. increase over two years and a 93 per cent. increase since 1987-88. For schools alone the figure has doubled since 1987-88. This underlines the Government's continuing commitment to secure improvements to our school buidings.
Lists of ACGs and SCAs allocated to individual local authorities are as follows :
Capital expenditure 1992-93: Annual capital guidelines and
supplementary credit approvals
|Schools and |Total ACGs and
|sixth form |SCAs 1992-93
|colleges 1992-93|(£ 000's)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barking |844 |844
Barnet |1,059 |1,059
Bexley |1,436 |1,477
Brent |1,336 |1,472
Bromley |2,272 |2,337
Croydon |2,220 |2,351
Ealing |2,246 |2,626
Enfield |1,994 |2,137
Haringey |1,433 |1,506
Harrow |2,953 |3,057
Havering |908 |970
Hillingdon |1,071 |1,071
Hounslow |3,128 |3,167
Kingston-upon-Thames |289 |340
Merton |1,675 |1,675
Newham |5,828 |5,936
Redbridge |1,167 |1,193
Richmond-upon-Thames |452 |529
Sutton |2,056 |2,108
Waltham Forest |3,694 |3,751
City |0 |0
Camden |965 |1,006
Westminster |158 |158
Greenwich |1,011 |1,054
Hackney |1,830 |1,910
Hammersmith and Fulham |2,882 |2,934
Islington |964 |1,078
Kensington and Chelsea |1,259 |1,264
Lambeth |1,290 |1,290
Lewisham |1,959 |2,071
Southwark |1,877 |2,276
Wandsworth |2,161 |2,306
Tower Hamlets |10,135 |10,576
Brimingham |10,931 |11,456
Coventry |2,276 |2,389
Dudley |4,831 |9,324
Sandwell |1,444 |1,558
Solihull |649 |864
Walsall |834 |898
Wolverhampton |2,482 |2,544
Knowsley |2,077 |2,124
Liverpool |5,576 |5,831
St. Helens |1,049 |1,151
Sefton |3,152 |3,179
Wirral |2,213 |2,300
Bolton |1,337 |1,432
Bury |1,051 |1,051
Manchester |8,333 |8,810
Oldham |3,136 |3,194
Rochdale |3,326 |3,326
Salford |2,333 |2,391
Stockport |1,396 |1,503
Tameside |3,051 |3,051
Trafford |1,224 |1,490
Wigan |4,224 |4,372
Barnsley |1,493 |1,594
Doncaster |735 |815
Rotherham |2,748 |2,855
Sheffield |4,754 |4,973
Bradford |8,435 |10,208
Calderdale |1,541 |1,580
Kirklees |4,071 |4,858
Leeds |23,186 |23,445
Wakefield |5,755 |5,841
Gateshead |1,514 |1,567
Newcastle-upon-Tyne |2,430 |2,574
North Tyneside |1,686 |1,726
South Tyneside |1,522 |2,209
Sunderland |3,612 |4,267
Isles of Scilly |116 |116
Avon |4,269 |4,576
Bedfordshrie |3,928 |4,041
Berkshire |5,238 |5,461
Buckinghamshire |5,289 |7,639
Cambridgeshire |7,205 |13,957
Cheshire |8,698 |8,878
Cleveland |3,801 |3,968
Cornwall |5,943 |7,910
Cumbria |10,377 |10,579
Derbyshire |16,065 |16,818
Devon |9,959 |11,023
Dorset |4,735 |4,929
Durham |7,017 |7,364
East Sussex |17,724 |17,919
Essex |18,394 |20,771
Gloucestershire |6,980 |7,294
Hampshire |13,018 |14,462
Hereford and Worcester |3,488 |4,437
Hertfordshire |5,677 |7,016
Humberside |9,253 |9,437
Isle of Wight |1,584 |1,636
Kent |20,229 |24,437
Lancashire |20,465 |25,518
Leicestershire |8,376 |8,930
Lincolnshire |12,263 |12,421
Norfolk |2,811 |3,163
North Yorkshire |6,222 |6,400
Northamptonshire |4,107 |4,319
Northumberland |2,516 |2,568
Nottinghamshire |5,737 |9,156
Oxfordshire |5,681 |5,849
Shropshire |4,110 |4,203
Somerset |5,134 |5,638
Staffordshire |7,805 |9,190
Suffolk |9,169 |11,332
Surrey |6,031 |6,296
Warwickshire |1,988 |2,035
West Sussex |3,693 |3,855
Wiltshire |4,137 |5,402
Sport
Mr. John Carlisle : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the Government's statement on sports policy and its response to the Education Science and Arts Committee's Fourth Report of Session 1990-91, "Sport in Schools" ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when the Government's review of sports policy was initiated ; and if he will make a statement on progress towards its completion.
Mr. Atkins : I am happy to announce today that we are publishing a statement which sets out clearly and comprehensively our policies and priorities for sport and active recreation. It focuses largely on England and Wales, although where appropriate it covers United Kingdom issues. We are also publishing today the Government's response to the Education, Science and Arts Committee's report, "Sport in Schools".
Very substantial sums are now available to sport from the private sector, including funds from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the Football Trust, assisted by recent reductions in the rate of pool betting duty. We now propose to establish a business sponsorship incentive scheme for sport similar to that run for the arts and targeted at the grassroots level. Its initial funding for 1992-93 will be in excess of £3 million and it will cover England, Scotland and Wales.
The statement reaffirms our belief that sport should be free from Government intervention, but that the principle of channelling assistance for sport through independent but accountable bodies remains sound. The present structure, however, is in need of reform and in the statement we announce proposals for replacing the present Great Britain Sports Council with a United Kingdom Sports Commission and a Sports Council for England. These proposals are broadly in line with those which the
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Great Britain Sports Council itself made in the course of the review which would require the surrender of its royal charter. The statement, and our response to the Committee, set out a number of ways for improving opportunities for young people to take part in sport particularly by promoting partnerships between schools and other organisations in the local community. We intend to publish guidance on good practice in promoting such partnerships next year. Guidance is also to be issued to schools on the information they should make regularly available to parents on sports facilities and sporting achievements.These proposals build on existing decisions :--
to make PE a compulsory subject in the national curriculum until the age of 16 ;
to require all school children to be taught to swim by the time they leave primary school ;
to institute a champion coaching pilot scheme for the extra-curricular coaching of school children ;
to support legislation which will allow school governors to enter into dual use agreements for the joint management of school premises out of school hours ;
to provide financial resources to promote the greater integration of disabled sport and able-bodied sport ;
to encourage the establishment of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts providing some £40 million per annum extra finance for sport ; to introduce proposals to create a new criminal offence of providing anabolic steroids to minors, and further research to ascertain the extent of the steroid problem ;
to encourage sporting contact with South Africa on a sport by sport basis for racially integrated sports ; and
to provide up to £2 million for feasibility studies which will assist Government in reaching a decision on whether to offer support for the Manchester Olympic bid.
This statement represents a comprehensive summary of the Government's initiatives and proposals to take sport and active recreation towards the next century.
LINC Project
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he last had discussions with Nottingham university concerning the progress of the language in the national curriculum project.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has had no such discussions, but officials have maintained contact with the project's director.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had with the National Association for the Teaching of English and with the National Association of Advisers in English with reference to the language in the national curriculum project.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has had no such discussions.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from the university of Bath concerning its recent findings on the efficacy of the language in the national curriculum programme for teachers.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. and learned Friend has received no such representations from the university of Bath.
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ILEA Art Collection
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science where the former Inner London education authority art collection is now kept ; and what are the arrangements for the distribution or sale of the collection.
Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for the London residuary body.
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Under-fives
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give the figures for 1991 for the percentage of under- fives in (a) nursery schools, (b) nursery classes, (c) infant classes and (d) in total, by local education authority in England, in rank order.
Mr. Eggar : Provisional information on the percentage of under- fives, in each of the categories requested, within each local education authority in England in January 1991, and the rank order of each local education authority, is given in the table.
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Number of pupils under 5 in Maintained schools shown as a percentage of the estimated
3 and 4 year old population within each LEA in England, as at January 1991<2><3>
|Nursery |Primary |Schools |Total of all |Rank order
|schools |nursery |infant |pupils under 5
|classes |classes |in school
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
City |0.0 |30.8 |16.9 |47.7 |69
Camden |3.7 |22.2 |13.2 |39.1 |80
Greenwich |10.4 |36.4 |15.3 |62.1 |33
Hackney |3.0 |34.6 |12.6 |50.1 |61
Hammersmith |14.7 |22.6 |12.3 |49.7 |62
Islington |6.0 |33.9 |14.3 |54.2 |54
Kensington and Chelsea |8.3 |18.2 |10.3 |36.8 |88
Lambeth |6.3 |26.5 |13.7 |46.5 |72
Lewisham |3.3 |31.1 |13.4 |47.8 |68
Southwark |7.7 |35.0 |15.2 |57.9 |42
Tower Hamlets |12.8 |33.9 |14.9 |61.7 |34
Wandsworth |2.8 |28.0 |11.6 |42.4 |76
Westminster |4.5 |22.2 |11.8 |38.4 |83
Barking |0.0 |33.8 |30.9 |64.7 |26
Barnet |6.3 |23.5 |26.0 |55.8 |51
Bexley |3.2 |14.2 |15.7 |33.1 |93
Brent |3.3 |28.2 |25.7 |57.2 |45
Bromley |0.0 |2.1 |15.5 |17.7 |107
Croydon |5.0 |5.1 |28.8 |38.9 |81
Ealing |6.6 |29.6 |25.0 |61.2 |37
Enfield |0.0 |20.5 |28.9 |49.5 |64
Haringey |4.3 |37.6 |30.0 |71.9 |13
Harrow |0.0 |17.8 |28.6 |46.4 |73
Havering |0.0 |4.6 |34.2 |38.8 |82
Hillingdon |1.9 |48.4 |1.9 |52.3 |55
Hounslow |0.0 |73.7 |0.2 |73.9 |11
Kingston upon Thames |6.6 |27.1 |28.9 |62.6 |32
Merton |0.0 |52.4 |23.2 |75.6 |10
Newham |12.9 |33.5 |10.0 |56.4 |49
Redbridge |0.0 |14.8 |14.0 |28.7 |97
Richmond upon Thames |1.6 |16.8 |27.2 |45.6 |74
Sutton |5.6 |29.0 |1.1 |35.7 |89
Waltham Forest |4.8 |32.9 |12.4 |50.2 |59
Birmingham |7.6 |25.0 |31.3 |63.9 |29
Coventry |4.3 |21.6 |32.3 |58.1 |41
Dudley |3.8 |30.8 |15.5 |50.1 |60
Sandwell |3.0 |49.2 |32.6 |84.8 |7
Solihull |0.0 |34.5 |36.3 |70.8 |17
Walsall |10.6 |47.7 |33.0 |91.3 |3
Wolverhampton |11.9 |44.3 |15.4 |71.7 |14
Knowsley |0.0 |46.0 |32.0 |78.0 |8
Liverpool |4.8 |46.9 |36.4 |88.1 |6
St. Helens |1.5 |31.7 |31.9 |65.0 |24
Sefton |4.3 |28.4 |32.3 |65.0 |25
Wirral |3.4 |20.7 |31.7 |55.8 |50
Bolton |6.5 |32.3 |30.6 |69.4 |20
Bury |3.0 |27.3 |32.4 |62.7 |31
Manchester |4.3 |51.0 |16.2 |71.5 |15
Oldham |0.0 |34.9 |33.5 |68.4 |21
Rochdale |14.5 |17.2 |29.8 |61.5 |36
Salford |15.1 |39.4 |33.7 |88.2 |5
Stockport |11.3 |8.1 |30.1 |49.5 |63
Tameside |5.6 |34.9 |32.8 |73.3 |12
Trafford |0.0 |26.2 |28.3 |54.5 |53
Wigan |2.2 |21.9 |33.2 |57.3 |44
Barnsley |3.1 |47.3 |17.2 |67"5 |23
Doncaster |0.0 |41.7 |34.5 |76.1 |9
Rotherham |5.5 |35.6 |15.5 |56.6 |47
Sheffield |6.3 |38.4 |19.5 |64.1 |28
Bradford |3.3 |34.1 |19.3 |56.7 |46
Calderdale |0.0 |31.1 |30.5 |61.5 |35
Kirklees |4.9 |33.4 |19.0 |57.4 |43
Leeds |1.6 |39.2 |20.1 |60.9 |38
Wakefield |5.4 |42.9 |21.2 |69.5 |19
Gateshead |1.3 |31.2 |32.2 |64.6 |27
Newcastle upon Tyne |9.9 |30.7 |30.8 |71.4 |16
North Tyneside |6.4 |51.9 |33.8 |92.1 |2
South Tyneside |20.2 |38.3 |39.8 |98.4 |1
Sunderland |11.6 |25.0 |31.1 |67.7 |22
Avon |6.5 |11.8 |30.7 |49.0 |65
Bedfordshire |8.4 |22.8 |11.0 |42.1 |78
Berkshire |9.8 |15.8 |1.7 |27.3 |100
Buckinghamshire |2.8 |9.5 |15.5 |27.8 |99
Cambridgeshire |3.7 |7.5 |31.2 |42.4 |75
Cheshire |3.2 |17.7 |31.3 |52.2 |56
Cleveland |0.9 |53.4 |34.1 |88.4 |4
Cornwall<1> |1.0 |12.6 |28.7 |42.3 |77
Cumbria |7.1 |16.6 |30.8 |54.5 |52
Derbyshire |6.2 |30.2 |22.0 |58.4 |40
Devon |1.3 |10.2 |16.6 |28.1 |98
Dorset |0.0 |5.6 |32.2 |37.8 |86
Durham |16.6 |23.3 |30.1 |69.9 |18
East Sussex |1.9 |7.0 |29.3 |38.2 |85
Essex |0.6 |5.4 |15.5 |21.5 |102
Gloucestershire |0.0 |0.1 |30.1 |30.2 |96
Hampshire |0.8 |3.9 |15.1 |19.8 |105
Hereford and Worcester |0.0 |7.7 |13.2 |20.8 |103
Hertfordshire |6.3 |24.3 |16.4 |47.0 |71
Humberside |5.0 |32.5 |22.8 |60.3 |39
Isle of Wight |0.0 |6.9 |35.1 |42.0 |79
Kent |0.2 |4.6 |27.1 |31.9 |94
Lancashire |8.6 |9.0 |30.7 |48.3 |67
Leicestershire |0.2 |22.1 |16.1 |38.4 |84
Lincolnshire |2.1 |6.3 |29.2 |37.6 |87
Norfolk |2.4 |2.8 |28.9 |34.0 |90
North Yorkshire |2.2 |18.3 |26.9 |47.5 |70
Northamptonshire |3.9 |14.7 |33.4 |52.0 |57
Northumberland |1.8 |29.5 |31.8 |63.0 |30
Nottinghamshire |2.1 |46.7 |7.7 |56.5 |48
Oxfordshire |6.8 |9.1 |4.5 |20.5 |104
Shropshire |1.6 |11.8 |20.1 |33.5 |91
Somerset |0.0 |0.8 |32.7 |33.4 |92
Staffordshire |7.1 |15.1 |28.8 |51.1 |58
Suffolk |0.6 |16.1 |14.5 |31.2 |95
Surrey |1.7 |9.5 |13.3 |24.5 |101
Warwickshire |6.2 |10.6 |31.6 |48.4 |66
West Sussex |3.3 |0.8 |12.4 |16.5 |108
Wiltshire |0.0 |3.0 |14.5 |17.9 |106
|------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
England |4.1 |21.1 |22.7 |47.9
<1> Isles of Scilly have been included with Cornwall.
<2> Excludes pupils who became 5 years of age by 1st January 1991.
<3> The percentage of pupils has been derived by comparing the number of pupils in school with the estimated
population aged 3 and 4 years.
School Playing Fields
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action he intends to take to safeguard school playing fields from re- development ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : Local Education Authorities are responsible for taking decisions on whether or not to dispose of school playing fields. It is the Government's policy to encourage authorities to dispose of land and buildings which have become surplus to requirements through the rationalisation of school provision. However, in view of public concern over the continuing loss of school playing
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fields to redevelopment, I have to-day written to the local authority associations seeking their comments on a letter I propose to issue to all local education authorities. The letter will ask LEAs not to dispose of school playing fields unless they have first investigated and established that they will not be needed in the long term for school or community use. It will also say that in future when considering proposals involving school closures my right hon. and learned Friend will take account of authorities' plans for the retention of playing fields that may be needed to remedy any deficiencies in playing field provision at neighbouring schools.Column 217
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Arms Control
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many departmental officials, at what grade, and with what responsibilities, attended the round table briefing meeting on arms control and disarmament hosted by his Department for non-governmental organisations on 26 November ; and what was the cost to his Department of the meeting.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The meeting was chaired by Mr. David Summerhayes, disarmament adviser and those attending included the heads of the arms control and disarmament, security policy and non-proliferation and defence departments of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the head of the disarmament and arms control unit of the Ministry of Defence. The cost of the meeting has not been calculated.
Visas
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what responsibility the European Community will have for visa lists following the Maastricht meeting of Heads of Government ; and what effect this will have on Commonwealth citizens applying for visas to enter the United Kingdom.
Mr. Garel-Jones : Once the revised treaty of Rome has entered into force, the Council of Ministers will be responsible for drawing up the list of countries, which may include Commonwealth ones, whose nationals must have a visa when crossing member states' external frontiers.
Fiji
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to persuade Fiji to adopt a revised constitution.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : None. Fiji's new constitution is essentially an internal matter which is for the peoples of Fiji to decide.
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he plans to send observers to the next Fijian elections.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : No, but the British embassy in Suva will be reporting on the elections in the normal way.
Mr. Muhummad al Fasi
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the Saudi Arabian Government regarding Mr. Muhummad al Fasi.
Euratom
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what competence Euratom will have over United Kingdom military nuclear activities following the agreements made at the Maastricht meeting of the intergovernmental conference on European political and economic union.
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Mr. Garel-Jones : None. The Maastricht European Council made no substantial amendments to the Euratom treaty, although some consequential amendments will be necessary to reflect EC institutional changes.
Geneva Convention
Sir Geoffrey Finsberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will be in a position to ratify the additional protocols to the 1949 Geneva convention.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We hope to be in a position to make a decision on ratification of the additional protocols to the 1949 Geneva conventions very soon.
CSCE
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia respectively signed the charter of the Conference on Security and Co- operation in Europe ; and what discussions he or departmental officials have had with counterparts in the Baltic states over their accession to the treaty on conventional forces in Europe.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed the charter of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe on 6 December.
Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence officials visited Estonia on 13 and 15 October to discuss a range of issues, including the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe, the CFE treaty. We have had discussions at ambassadorial level with the Governments of the other Baltic states in their capitals and in Vienna. We expect to follow up these contacts with further visits in the new year. It is for the Baltic states themselves to decide whether to accede to the CFE treaty.
Maastricht
Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish details of the redefinition or extension of Community competence in relation to (a) education, (b) training, (c) cohesion, (d) research and development, (e) environment, (f) trans-European networks, (g) industry, (h) health, (i) culture, (j) consumer protection and (k) development co-operation, resulting from the Maastricht agreement.
Mr. Garel-Jones : The redefinition or extension of competence in all these areas is clearly set out in the relevant provisions of the treaty on union agreed at Maastricht, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Korea
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's response to the recent agreements between the Governments of North and South Korea on the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula under international verification.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We warmly welcome the outcome of the recent north- south prime ministerial talks in Seoul, including the wish to replace the armistice by a peace agreement and to strengthen bilateral links and exchanges. There remains much to be done but we see these as positive steps forward.
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We also welcome the south's offer of simultaneous inspection of sites to further help resolve the issue of nuclear safeguards. We hope the north will reciprocate.THE ARTS
Northern Arts
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will list the amount of grant given to Northern Arts for each year since 1980.
Mr. Renton : The information requested is as follows
ACGB grant to Northern Arts Years |£ ------------------------------ 1980-81 |1,306,630 1981-82 |1,456,051 1982-83 |1,733,236 1983-84 |1,819,020 1984-85 |1,938,659 1985-86 |2,086,802 1986-87 |3,424,500 1987-88 |3,510,500 1988-89 |3,526,910 1989-90 |3,626,775 1990-91 |3,951,000 1991-92 |4,426,914
Following the excellent 13.9 per cent. increase for the Arts Council which I announced last November, I am delighted that the Arts Council has decided to pass on to every regional arts board at least the same level of increase for next year. For 1992-93 Northern Arts will receive £5,043,000.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Central Statistical Office
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the quality and output of the Central Statistical Office ; and what steps he is taking to improve them ; (2) what recent changes have been made to the structure and functioning of the Central Statistical Office.
Mr. Maples : I refer my hon. Friend to the replies the Chancellor gave to my hon. Friends for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson) and for Dulwich (Mr. Bowden) on 19 November, at columns 139-41.
Taxpayers
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for 1992-93 the number of taxpayers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, giving numbers separately for employees and self-employed.
Mr. Maude : The number of taxpaying individuals, classified by main source of income in 1992-93, is estimated to be as follows with the illustrative assumption of 4 per cent. indexation of allowances from the autumn statement 1991 :
|Million
------------------------------
Employees |19.3
Self-employed |2.8
Other<1> |2.9
<1>Includes pensioners and
those with no earned income.
Separate figures for Great Britain and Northern Ireland are not available.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for (a) 1991-92 and (b) 1992-93 the number of taxpayers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland who have taxable income less than (a) £500, (b) £1,000, (c) £1,500 and (d) £2,000.
Mr. Maude : Information for the United Kingdom is given in the table. Estimates for 1992-93 are approximate and are based on the illustrative 4 per cent. indexation of allowances from the autumn statement 1991.
Estimated numbers of taxpayers (millions)
Gross income |1991-92 |1992-93
£ per year
--------------------------------------------------------------
Less than 10,000 |10.2 |9 1/2
10,000 to 20,000 |10.5 |10 1/2
20,000 to 30,000 |2.9 |3 1/4
30,000 to 40,000 |0.8 |1
Over 40,000 |0.7 |3/4
|------ |------
Total |25.1 |25
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for (a) 1991-92 and (b) 1992-93 the number of taxpayers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland who have gross income (i) less than £10,000, (ii) between £10,000 and £20,000, (iii) between £20,000 and £30,000 and (iv) between £30,000 and £40,000.
Mr. Maude : Information for the United Kingdom is given in the table. The estimates for 1992-93 are approximate and are based on the 4 per cent. illustrative indexation of allowances from the autumn statement 1991.
Estimated numbers of taxpayers (millions)
Gross income |1991-92 |1992-93
£ per year
--------------------------------------------------------------
Less than 10,000 |10.2 |9 1/2
10,000 to 20,000 |10.5 |10 1/2
20,000 to 30,000 |2.9 |3 1/4
30,000 to 40,000 |0.8 |1
Over 40,000 |0.7 |3/4
|------ |------
Total |25.1 |25
I regret that it is not possible to provide separate estimates for Northern Ireland.
66. Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the most recent estimates for 1991-92 of (a) how many taxpayers get additional personal allowance and widows' bereavement allowance, (b) how many of these also get one parent benefit and widowed mothers' allowance and (c) how many of these are also receiving means-tested benefits in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Mr. Maude : The information is as follows :
(a) About 500,000 taxpayers benefit from the additional pesonal allowance, and 100,000 from the widows' bereavement allowance. (
(b) The estimated average numbers in Great Britain receiving one parent benefit and widowed mothers' allowance in 1991-92 are 785,000 and 65,000 respectively. However, the benefits system cannot distinguish between taxpayers and non-taxpayers or identify those who benefit from a specific tax allowance.
Column 221
(c) Estimates are not available of the numbers at (b) who are also receiving income-related benefits.Medical Insurance
59. Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his forecast for the cost to the Exchequer in a full year in (a) 1991-92 and (b) 1992-93 of tax relief for private medical insurance premiums for persons aged over 60 years.
Mr. Maude : The estimated cost of the relief in respect of 1991-92 is expected to be about £60 million. The cost in respect of 1992-93 will depend on the level of premiums paid.
Tax Allowances
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect on Treasury revenues in a full year in (i) 1991-92 and (ii) 1992-93 of introducing an upper limit on all income tax allowances and reliefs of (a) £10,000, (b) £15,000 and (c) £20,000 a year with (i) the current tax allowances and reliefs and (ii) limiting all income tax allowances and reliefs except the single person's allowance to the basic rate, giving the revenue from each relief separately, the total revenue and the numbers of people affected, for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Mr. Maude : It is estimated that at 1991-92 levels of income the introduction of the upper limits specified would yield the following :
£ million
Upper limit for total |Yield in a full |Yield
allowances and |year under |following
reliefs |the current |restriction of
|tax regime |all reliefs and
|specified
|allowances to
|the basic rate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
£ 10,000 |590 |390
£ 15,000 |240 |150
£ 20,000 |140 |90
The estimated yield from restricting all allowances, except the basic personal allowance, to the basic rate is about £300 million. The estimated yield from restricting all reliefs to the basic rate is £600 million. Of this figure, about £250 million results from restricting relief on employee contributions to occupational pensions and about £150 million results from restricting relief on personal pension contributions.
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