House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 Dec 1991

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Column 231

Czechoslovakia

Egypt

Estonia

Hungary

India

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Latvia

Libya

Lithuania

Mongolia

North Korea

Pakistan

Poland

Romania

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

Soviet Union

Syria

Taiwan

Vietnam

Export licence applications will continue to be considered on a case by case basis in accordance with stringent criteria. The inclusion of a destination on the list does not in itself preclude the granting of an export licence. Normal licensing procedures continue to apply in respect of exports to other destinations.

Executive Directors

Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to amend company law so that a non-executive director who has been chairman of the remunerations sub-committee of the board of directors of a public company cannot himself or herself be subsequently appointed to executive director posts whose remunerations were determined by that sub-committee.

Mr. Redwood [holding answer 17 December 1991] : Detailed internal arrangements of companies and their boards are a matter for companies, operating in the case of listed companies under stock exchange rules.

The Secretary of State has no plans to amend company law, which provides for proper disclosure of remuneration of directors and chairmen and gives shareholders an adequate measure of control over the appointment and remuneration of directors.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

Vietnam

Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on progress made in allocating the £1 million set aside in May 1990 for a special joint funding scheme in Vietnam.

Mrs. Chalker : The £1 million set aside under this scheme has been fully committed to 18 projects in those areas of north Vietnam from which boat people have predominantly come. The British

non-governmental organisations--NGOs--with whom we are co-operating are Action Aid, Safe the Children Fund, Care and Marie Stopes International. Projects cover a wide range of community development activities, including water supply and irrigation, income generation schemes in afforestation, aquaculture and smallholder farming, mother and child health and family planning.

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In addition, under ODA's regular joint funding scheme, we have made further substantial commitments to NGO projects in other areas of Vietnam. These now total just over £850,000.

Renewable Natural Resources

Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what activities have been funded by the ODA under the strategy for research on renewable natural resources.

Mrs. Chalker : I have today placed in the Library a copy of the annual report 1990-91 on the strategy for research on renewable natural resources. The report gives an overview of the objectives and achievements of work undertaken in 1990-91 and outlines the direction of future work.

Iraq

Mr. Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he plans to provide further humanitarian assistance to civilians in Iraq.

Mrs. Chalker : Yes. Since April we have spent over £44 million in aid for the people of Iraq. This figure continues to rise. We are supporting the work of British and British-based Iraqi relief organisations, and United Nations agencies, and are in constant touch with them about how we can help further.

PRIME MINISTER

Ministers

Mr. Allen : To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will bring forward legislation to provide that Secretaries of State must be members of the Cabinet ;

(2) if he will bring forward legislation to amend the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 to allow the Lord Chancellor to be a Member of the House of Commons ;

(3) if he will bring forward legislation to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chancellor's Department, and to establish in their place a Secretary of State for Law and a Department of Law ;

(4) if he will bring forward legislation to replace the title of Secretary of State by the title of Cabinet Minister ;

(5) if he will bring forward legislation to provide that the Attorney- General must be a member of either the Commons or the Lords.

The Prime Minister : No.

Soviet Republics

Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to make available to the Governments of the Republics of the former Soviet Union, United Kingdom expertise in (a) civil and military nuclear technology, (b) environmental pollution abatement and (c) food distribution.

The Prime Minister : United Kingdom expertise in civil uses of nuclear power and food distribution can be made available to the republics of the former Soviet Union under the auspices of our know-how fund. A separate fund

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for tackling environmental problems will come into operation next year. We are studying how we might help the republics reduce the risks of the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Maastricht

Mr. Spearing : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list in the Official Report those topics on which the institutions of the European Community will not possess a basis of views for any opinion, recommendations, legislation, expenditure or adjudication, consequent to the adoption of the draft treaties agreed at Maastricht.

The Prime Minister : The provisions of the treaty on European union agreed at Maastricht, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, make clear the conditions under which the institutions of the European Community may act.

Lord Chancellor

Mr. Allen : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the legal qualifications necessary for appointment as (a) Lord Chancellor and (b) Attorney-General.

The Prime Minister : The Lord Chancellor must be a person able to discharge duties as the president of the supreme court of judicature--that is, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Crown court--and also as the presiding chairman of the House of Lords in its judicial capacity. In order that he or she may represent the Crown in each of the Queen's courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Attorney-General is a member of the Bar of England and Wales.

Engagements

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 19 December.

The Prime Minister : This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

TRANSPORT

Transport Supplementary Grant

Mr. Aitken : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will announce the allocation of the transport supplementary grant and credit approvals for capital expenditure on local roads in England for 1992-93.

Mr. Rifkind : A total of £370 million transport supplementary grant--TSG--plus £510 million in annual capital guideline--ACG--and supplementary credit approval--SCA--are to be allocated to local highway authorities in England for capital expenditure on their roads in 1992-93. With the help of capital reserves and developer contributions, I therefore expect authorities to be able to spend well over £1,000 million in total.

Table 1 sets out the national totals for different types of expenditure. Table 2 shows the total amounts of TSG, credit approval and gross approved expenditure for each of the 108 local highway authorities. They are being notified today of their allocations by the Department's regional offices.

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Leaving aside the grant newly allocated for structural maintenance in 1991-92 and 1992-93, there is to be about the same amount of TSG as for 1991-92, but it is 18 per cent. more than for 1990-91. Authorities will be able to make a start on the 37 new major schemes listed in table 3, which are to be newly accepted for TSG. Authorities will also be able to make progress with certain other major schemes using only credit approvals.

These new major schemes will, like the 274 others which continue to receive TSG support, relieve communities of the noise and danger of heavy through traffic, aid inner city regeneration and help to open up new opportunities for development and growth.

There is to be a 17 per cent. increase in minor works expenditure and, within that, a 38 per cent. increase in expenditure ear-marked for local safety schemes.

I am pleased with the start that local authorities have made in using the money we allocated for local safety schemes for 1991-92. Even if they spend no more than the grant and credit approvals that we have given them, over 1991-92 and 1992-93 they will have had the potential to carry out around 7,700 local safety schemes which could save 170 lives and prevent 2,200 serious injuries and 9,000 other casualties in any 12-month period.

The £110 million accepted expenditure for bridge maintenance, which is 22 per cent. more than for 1991-92, will enable authorities to maintain the momentum of this important programme of work and the £95 million allocated for maintenance of the roads which form part of the primary route network will help ensure that these important transport links are properly maintained.


Table 1                                             

                            |£ million            

----------------------------------------------------

Existing commitments        |493.791                

New starts                  |60.028                 

Minor works                 |88.656                 

Bridges                     |110.965                

PRN maintenance             |95.280                 

Grant adjustments           |-54.360                

Non grant aided expenditure |88.199                 

                            |-------                

Total                       |882.559

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Table 2                                                                         

Local authority capital expenditure on roads 1992-93                            

(£ million)                                                                   

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                                                

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table 3                                         

Authority   |Scheme name

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Marchioness

Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans any further inquiry following the report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch on the Bowbelle and Marchioness disaster.

Mr. Rifkind : The marine accident investigation branch carried out a thorough inspector's inquiry into this accident ; the report included 27 safety recommendations. Action on 20 of them is complete and the remainder are being implemented. In addition, the MAIB report included criticism of some aspects of my Department's and the maritime industry's approach to river safety in earlier years. Although the MAIB considered that there have been recent improvements in this respect, I have concluded that it would be desirable to set up an independent investigation into these matters.

I am pleased to be able to announce that Mr. John Hayes, Secretary General of the Law Society has agreed to carry out an investigation with the following terms of reference :

"In the light of the BOWBELLE/MARCHIONESS disaster, to examine the handling since 1980 by the Department of Transport of its responsibility for the safety of vessels on rivers and inland waters and to report on the effectiveness of the present approach. The investigation should take account of developments in the field of marine safety at the international level."

Mr. Hayes will be assisted by an expert adviser. He will start work as soon as possible in the new year. Mr. Hayes will be inviting all those who may wish to do so to put their views to him. His report will be published.

Plymouth City Airport

Mr. Prescott : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what attempts were made by his Department to consult about levels of public safety with the Civil Aviation Authority and Plymouth city council before the approval in 1987 of the extension and reorientation of Plymouth city airport main runway ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin : Aerodrome licensing and aircraft safety are the statutory responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority. The extension and realignment of Plymouth airport's main runway required planning permission and had to meet the authority's licensing criteria. I understand that there were extensive consultations between the authority and Plymouth city council prior to the extension and realignment of the runway.

Airline Baggage

Mr. Prescott : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether international passenger airline operators using United Kingdom airports are required to prevent unaccompanied baggage being carried unless indentified and subject to security control before it is carried ; what are the International Civil Aviation Organisation requirements on this matter ; whether they are enforced in the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) what interpretation has been given to the British Government by the Joint International Air Transport Association--Air Transport Association baggage security group on ICAO standard 5.1.4. ; and if he will make a statement ;

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(3) what directives or regulations were in force to ensure that no unaccompanied baggage was carried on international flights at the time of the Lockerbie bombing ; and what new requirements have been enforced since in regard to unaccompanied baggage ;

(4) what steps have been taken since the Lockerbie bombing to ensure that there is a positive reconciliation of passenger with baggage ; and how he ensures that the airlines carry out his policy.

Mr. McLoughlin : The ICAO standard, both as it stood at the time of the Lockerbie disaster and as revised subsequently, requires that baggage belonging to passengers who are booked to joint a flight but fail to do so should be identified, and the baggage should not be carried unless it is first subject to security controls. The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to make this a mandatory requirement. It did so in 1985, by means of a direction to aircraft operators under the Aviation Security Act 1982.

Both the ICAO standard and the United Kingdom requirement apply only to bags belonging to "no show" passengers. At present it is not possible to identify other unaccompanied bags, such as ones which have been misrouted, mishandled or misconnected and which are being returned to their owners, except by what are essentially manual methods. These are slow and cumbersome, and all leading aviation countries accept that it is not practicable to require their use at major airports because it would seriously reduce the capacity of the international air transport system.

It is recognised internationally that this problem can be overcome only by the development of sophisticated systems capable of identifying unaccompanied bags automatically. With this in mind, and building on proposal put forward by the joint IATA/ATA baggage security group, the European civil aviation conference has drawn up and published guidelines setting out the criteria that such systems will need to meet.

Several manufacturers are currently developing systems designed to meet these criteria. The results of initial trials are encouraging, although at present there are still a number of problems which need to be overcome. We in the United Kingdom have brought the manufacturers of the systems and the airlines together in an attempt to ensure that the problems are resolved as quickly as possible ; and we have made it clear that, once they are resolved, we shall announce a date by which airlines will be required to identify all unaccompanied baggage loaded or transferred at our airports. No other country has yet made such a firm declaration of intent.

Tees and Hartlepool Trust Port

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake a full investigation of the circumstances of the sale of the Tees and Hartlepool trust port ; if he will make public his discussions with those representing the Tees and Hartlepool trust port management buy-out at the meeting planned for 17 December 1991 ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin : My. right hon. and learned Friend is satisfied that the board of the Tees and Hartlepool port authority has conducted the sale of its undertaking with all due propriety, and in accordance with the provisions of the Ports Act 1991. There is no need for any investigation.

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I met the Earl of Stockton and representatives of the senior management of the Tees and Hartlepool port authority on 18 December at their request. I regard our discussions as having been conducted in confidence.

Sealink Stenna

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give details of any discussions he or his Department have had with Sealink Stenna concerning the future of its ferry operations ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin : We are keeping ourselves informed about developments within the Sealink Stenna cross-channel ferry operation. Decisions relating to the future of the services concerned are however a commercial matter for the company's management alone.

British Rail (Compensation)

Sir David Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the financial compensation for commuters who suffer from BR services which do not reach the Government's performance standards announced in respect of Kent coastal services will be extended to users of the Greatly, Andover, Whitchurch and Overton services of British Rail.

Sir John Stanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his setting of new performance standards for the Kent coastal services from 1 January 1992 will apply to (a) London to Dover services via Tonbridge, (b) London to Hastings services via Tonbridge and (c) London to East Kent services via Maidstone East.

Mr. Freeman : The BR passengers charter will set individual objectives for all fifteen of the Network SouthEast route groups. BR will compensate season ticket holders if the service delivered falls significantly short of the published standards.

Trust Ports

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each trust port those parties which have expressed an interest in purchasing the respective trust port.

Mr. McLoughlin : No. That is a matter of commercial confidence between the trust port authority, as vendor of the port undertaking, and the parties concerned.

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give an update of those trust ports which have lodged a scheme with his Department as required by the Ports Act 1991.

Mr. McLoughlin : The situation remains as stated in the answer which I gave the hon. Member on 12 November 1991, at column 431.

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give full details of those bids which the trust port authority is recommending the Secretary of State to accept.

Mr. McLoughlin : The only trust port authority which has as yet recommended a bid for my right hon. Friend's

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consent is the Tees and Hartlepool port authority, in respect of a bid from Teeside Holdings Limited. Details of that bid were set out by my right hon. and learned Friend in his answer of 18 December to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin).

Citizens Charter (Airlines)

Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to include British airlines within the provisions of the citizens charter ; and if he will make a statement on passenger compensation for delayed or cancelled flights.

Mr. McLoughlin : The citizens charter is a programme to improve public services. I have no plans to extend its scope to cover British airlines, which all operate in the private sector.

Passenger compensation for delayed or cancelled flights is a matter for the commercial judgment of the airlines concerned.

Bus Companies

Mr. Fry : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what encouragement he is giving to bus companies to purchase environmentally friendly new vehicles to help ease current congestion and pollution.

Mr. Freeman : We are taking a number of steps to ease congestion and pollution by encouraging both greater use of the bus and more environmentally friendly buses. I announced a package of measures on 16 December, including the provision of at least £10 million over the next two years to fund demonstration projects to promote bus use ; publication of the Department's "Keeping Buses Moving"--a guide for local authorities on the provision of bus priority measures ; much tighter controls of the amount of pollutants which can be emitted from new heavy diesel vehicles from 1993 onwards ; and the introduction in 1992 of an instrumented smoke emissions test for in-service vehicles, together with tough roadside enforcement.

Ashford Station

Mr. Speed : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department first gave consideration to an alternative cheaper international station at Ashford.

Mr. Freeman : I visited Ashford station in the company of British Rail officials on 30 May to see for myself what potential there might be for an alternative cheaper option for the international passenger station, and asked British Rail to examine the feasibility of my own ideas. This study proved abortive, but a proposal subsequently advanced by Eurotunnel has been a catalyst for plans for a cheaper station to be examined further.

Inland Waterways

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the successful bids for section 8 freight facilities grant schemes in respect of inland waterways.

Mr. Freeman : There have been seven successful applications for Inland Waterway freight facilities grant under section 36 of the Transport Act 1981. The awards have been as follows :

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                                                      |£            

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Millgate Investments Ltd., Gainsborough, Lincolnshire |369,340        

Varma Services Ltd., Deptford, London SE              |859,200        

Sheffield Haulage and Storage Ltd., Rotherham         |61,375         

West Country Fuels Ltd., Gloucester                   |26,950         

Colwick Petroleum Ltd., Nottingham                    |63,494         

Sand and Gravel (Leeds) Ltd.                          |20,640         

Wimpey Hobbs Ltd., Greenwich, London, SE              |402,832

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