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State Earnings-related Pensions
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the total cost to the national insurance fund in a full year in (a) 1991-92 and (b) 1992-93 of the 2 per cent. banded earnings offered as an incentive to opt out of SERPs, for Great Britain.
Miss Widdecombe : The information is contained in appendix 7 of the report by the Government Actuary on the drafts of the Social Security Benefits Uprating Order and the Social Security (Contributions) Rerating Order which was laid before the House on 4 December.
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recent consultations he has had concerning the operation of the advance warning system available to
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inform potential recipients of special cold weather payments that the temperature trigger points had been reached ; and if he will make a statement.Miss Widdecombe : Regular consultations on the cold weather payments scheme take place between the Meteorological Office and the Department. The new elements of the scheme are being monitored particularly closely.
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many people will receive cold weather payments from the social fund following the recent spell of cold weather ;
(2) how many people who would have been eligible for payment will not receive the £6 payment because the area of the country they lived in did not fully meet the temperature criteria of the scheme during the recent spell of cold weather.
Miss Widdecombe : Following the recent spell of cold weather 1,432, 044 cold weather payments have been authorised out of an estimated total of 2,600,000 people, who would have been entitled to a payment if every area of the country had met the temperature criteria.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list by United Kingdom standard region, and by Benefits Agency administrative division, the numbers of recipients of cold weather payments in the week commencing 9 December.
Miss Widdecombe : The following table sets out, by individual weather station, the number of cold weather payments authorised during the recent cold spell. The information is not held by Benefits Agency administrative division, and could be obtained in this form only at disproportionate cost.
Cold Weather Payments
Station |Period |Payments
------------------------------------------------------------
Bedford RAE |5-11 December|46,879
Birmingham AP |5-11 December|192,901
Boscombe Down |6-12 December|6,165
Brize Norton |6-12 December|36,036
Coningsby |6-12 December|8,234
Dumfries/Drungans |5-11 December|3,456
Easthampstead |6-12 December|21,696
Eskdalemuir |3-9 December |3,530
Finningley |5-11 December|68,911
Gatwick AP |6-12 December|21,474
Honington |6-12 December|8,078
Leeming |5-11 December|86,012
Lyneham |6-12 December|13,394
Marham |6-12 December|10,165
Shawbury |5-11 December|68,611
Stansted |6-12 December|70,865
Watnall |6-12 December|113,978
Wyton |6-12 December|18,807
Clifynydd |8-14 December|18,336
Coltishall |7-13 December|25,222
Cwmbargoed |7-13 December|20,838
Heathrow AP |8-14 December|382,487
Leeds WC |7-13 December|93,812
Waddington |7-13 December|55,445
Wattisham |8-14 December|22,161
Yeovilton |8-14 December|14,551
|------
| Total |1,432,044
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to waive the seven-day qualifying period for cold weather payments to ensure that all those eligible under the scheme receive a £6 payment.
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Miss Widdecombe : Seven days of cold weather is a fair representation of a sustained period which is likely to lead to extra heating costs. We have no plans to reduce the qualifying period.
Over-80s
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to uprate the basic state pensions for people over the age of 80 years.
Miss Widdecombe : Basic state pensions for those over 80 will be uprated next April in line with prices. In addition, expenditure on income- related benefits for pensioners over 80 and for disabled low-income pensioners will be increased by £60 million in a full year over and above the normal uprating.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what earnings rule currently applies to unemployment benefit ; and whether he plans any changes.
Mr. Scott : Unemployment benefit is not payable for any day on which earnings exceed £2, or for any week in which earnings exceed the lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions (currently £52 a week).
The daily earnings rule does not apply to payments made to individuals for certain special purposes notably allowances paid to members of the Territorial Army, coastguards, lifeboatmen and part-time firemen. We intend shortly to consult the Social Security Advisory Committee on extending exemption to local authority councillors in respect of their basic and special responsibility allowances.
Pension Schemes (Fraud)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he intends to take to deal with the potential for fraud in pension schemes ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 6 December 1991] : Safeguards already exist in trust law to protect the interests of members of occupational pension schemes. Trustees have a duty to act at all time in the interests of all the beneficiaries of the scheme in accordance with the trust deed.
In addition, the Government will bring forward, early next year, regulations to restrict to 5 per cent. the level of self-investment. Action is in hand to produce a booklet for pension fund trustees, setting out their role and legal responsibilities. Regulations extending the existing disclosure requirements to include information as to whether each trustee has received a copy of the booklet, will be introduced.
Benefits
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be (a) the first year and (b) the full year cost of raising one-parent benefit and widowed mother's allowance by 32p, (i) for 1991-92 and (ii) 1992-93, (1) including increases in means-tested benefits and (2) without increases in means-tested benefits, in Great Britain.
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Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be (a) the first year and (b) the full-year cost of raising one-parent benefit and widowed mother's allowance by (i) £0.34 and (ii) £0.36 for (1) 1991-92 and (2) 1992-93, (x) including increases in means-tested benefits, and (y) without increases in means-tested benefits, in Great Britain.Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 16 December 1991] : The cost of increasing these benefits by these amounts for each week in 1991-92 and 1992-93 is given in the table :
£ million
|1991-92|1992-93
------------------------------------------------------------------
32 pence per week
(1) Including increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |23 |24
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
(2) Excluding increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |7 |8
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
34 pence per week
(1) Including increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |24 |25
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
(2) Excluding increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |8 |8
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
36 pence per week
(1) Including increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |25 |27
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
(2) Excluding increases in income related
benefits
One parent benefit |8 |9
Widowed mother's allowance |1 |1
Note:
The first year benefit cost is the same in this case as the
full-year cost
for 1991-92.
ENERGY
River Wyre Barrage
Mr. Mans : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make it his policy to consult the farming community and environmental groups over the proposed barrage across the River Wyre in Lancashire when he considers the feasibility study of this project.
Mr. Moynihan : Yes. All interested parties will be consulted on the results of the preliminary feasibility study of a proposed barrage across the River Wyre.
Mr. Mans : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to publish the results of the feasibility study into the proposed barrage across the River Wyre in Lancashire ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : A report on a preliminary feasibility study of a proposed barrage across the River Wyre has been received by my Department. This report is now being considered and will be published in due course.
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Oil Drilling
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what information he has on recent technological developments on long-reach horizontal drilling for oil ; how many horizontal wells are currently operational off the coast of the United Kingdom ; what information he has on future plans for horizontal wells ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : Most fields in the United Kingdom sector of the North sea have been developed with a proportion of the wells deviated to angles between 30 and 75 degrees from the vertical. Over the last three years improved understanding of the technical factors relevant to high angle drilling has enabled an increasing number of wells to be drilled into the productive areas of reservoirs at angles of up to 90 degrees. It is estimated that to date about 40 such wells, have been drilled or are currently drilling in the UKCS. Since, depending on circumstances, economic recovery from horizontal wells can be significantly higher than from conventional wells, I would expect the incidence of such drilling to increase in the future as knowledge and experience of the techniques involved improve further.
Dounreay
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he has yet received the report from Dr. Wyn Llewelyn into the disappearance of a quantity of enriched uranium at Dounreay ; if the findings of his report will be published ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : A report on the investigation into the accountancy discrepancy at Dounreay has not been received by my Department. I will consider what information might be provided when I have received the report and have studied its findings.
Coal Mining Subsidence
Mr. Barron : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to table the statutory instruments necessary to implement aspects of the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The Secretary of State has made the following statutory instruments under powers granted by the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 :
The Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 (Commencement) Order 1991 (SI 1991/2508)
The Coal Mining Subsidence (Notices and Claims) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/2509)
The Coal Mining Subsidence (Preventive Measures and Rates of Interest) Order 1991 (SI 1991/2510)
The commencement order brought the Act into force on 30 November 1991. The other two instruments also came into force on that date. The Government have no plans to make any further instruments at present, but will keep the need for further instruments under review.
Electricity Supply
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what discussions he has had with the director general of OFFER regarding his report on the distribution and transmission system performance in the electricity supply
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industries of England, Wales and Scotland 1990-91, the league table of relative interruptions per 100 customers included in it and the powers available to the director general to improve the performance of the poorest performing distribution companies ;(2) what consultations he has had with the director general of the Office of Electricity Regulation concerning the level of supply interruptions to electricity consumers in the South Wales Electricity company area ; and what remedial actions have been proposed by the director general.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend and I meet the Director General of Electricity Supply from time to time and we discuss a range of issues.
We welcome the publication of information of the kind included in the director general's report on the reliability of the electricity supply industry's transmission and distribution systems. This is a good illustration of the openness of the new regulatory regime. The director general has already stated that he will consider this information carefully as part of the transmission and distribution price control reviews that he will be undertaking.
Caminus Energy Consultants
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what consultations he has had with the director general of OFFER regarding the recent study commissioned by OFFER from Caminus Energy Consultants of Cambridge ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend and I meet the Director General of Electricity Supply from time to time and discuss issues of mutual interest. The investigation into pool prices is a matter for the director general.
Coal Mining Consortium
Mr. Andy Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what discussions he has had with the Coal Mining Consortium about its proposals to apply for all or part of a privatised coal industry and to enable employees in the industry to become shareholders.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I met representatives of the Mineworkers Consortium specifically to listen to their proposals concerning British Coal's Monktonhall colliery. We will be considering a number of options for the privatisation of the coal industry ; however, no decisions will be taken on the form or timing of the sale until after the next general election.
Electricity Generation
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what consultations he has had with the director general of the Office of Electricity Regulation concerning the impact on the promotion of competition in electricity generation in England and Wales of National Power's purchase of the Deeside power station project at Shotton, Clwyd from ASEA Brown Boveri ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend and I meet the Director General of Electricity Supply from time to time and discuss issues of mutual interest. The
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implications of mergers in the electricity generating industry are a matter for the Office of Fair Trading in consultation with OFFER.HOUSE OF COMMONS
Fax Paper
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will make a statement on the supply of House of Commons fax paper to hon. Members.
Mr. MacGregor : The Accommodation and Administration Sub-Committee has previously concluded that the present range of stationery items held in the Serjeant at Arms Stores should not be extended beyond the primary function of supplying writing paper and envelopes identified by the crowned portcullis. Facsimile paper is not held in the stores.
Written Questions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will publish a table showing in descending order the 30 Members who tabled the most written questions in Session 1990-91, indicating how many were tabled.
Mr. MacGregor : The precise information requested, on questions tabled, is not available. The Members receiving the most answers to written questions, as recorded on the House of Commons Library's POLIS database, were as follows :
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. |The hon. Member for Newport, West
| (Mr. Flynn) |928
2. |The hon. Member for Don Valley
| (Mr. Redmond) |646
3. |The hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras
| (Mr. Dobson) |593
4. |The hon. Member for Cardiff, West
| (Mr. Morgan) |560
5. |The hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) |527
6. |The hon. Member for Nottingham, North
| (Mr. Allen) |465
7. |The hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell)|429
8. |The hon. Member for Wakefield
| (Mr. Hinchliffe) |393
9. |The hon. Member for Southwark and
| Bermondsey (Mr. S. Hughes) |384
10. |The hon. Member for South Shields
| (Dr. D. Clark) |359
11. |The hon. Member for Great Grimsby
| (Mr. Austin Mitchell) |353
12. |The hon. Member for Clackmannan
| (Mr. O'Neill) |345
13. |The hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) |339
14. |The hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside
| (Mr. B. Jones) |329
15. |The hon. Member for Caerphilly
| (Mr. R. Davies) |314
16. |The hon. Member for Cardiff, South and
| Penarth (Mr. Michael) |301
17. |The hon. Member for Paisley, South
| (Mr. McMaster) |275
18. |The hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Wardell) |242
19. |The hon. Member for Roxburgh and
| Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) |237
20. |The hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside
| (Mr. Blunkett) |230
21. |The hon. Member for Newham, North West
| (Mr. T. Banks) |218
22. |The hon. Member for Cynon Valley
| (Mrs. Clwyd) |216
23. |The hon. Member for Newcastle Upon Tyne,
| Central (Mr. Cousins) |216
24. |The hon. Member for Greenock and Port
| Glasgow (Dr. Godman) |212
25. |The hon. Member for Strangford
| (Mr. John D. Taylor) |210
26. |The hon. Member for Dundee, East
| (Mr. McAllion) |209
27. |The hon. Member for Coventry, South East
| (Mr. Nellist) |205
28. |The hon. Member for Bradford, West
| (Mr. Madden) |203
29. |The hon. Member for Southport (Mr. Fearn) |197
30. |The hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle)|191
Disabled People (Access)
Ms. Gordon : To ask the Lord President of the Council when he expects work to begin on the installation of a chairlift on the staircase leading to the Grand Committee Room and the Jubilee Room to facilitate access for elderly and disabled people.
Mr. MacGregor : Work has already begun on the detailed planning required to install a stairlift on the staircase leading to the Grand Committee Room. I would expect the design work consultations and tendering to be complete by March 1992 allowing the contractor to begin by April.
Sunday Trading
Mr. Alton : To ask the Lord President of the Council when his office last scheduled a meeting with Viscount Brentford concerning Sunday trading ; when he last met Viscount Brentford ; when he next expects to meet Viscount Brentford ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. MacGregor : I have had requests for meetings both from Lord Brentford in his capacity as chairman of the Keep Sunday Special Campaign and from the director of the Shopping Hours Reform Council. I have already made it clear that the Government see no prospect for legislation on Sunday trading in this Session of Parliament, and it would be inappropriate for me to enter into any discussions with either organisation as the issues are for my right hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Home Office. I therefore declined both requests at this stage.
Mrs. Eleanor Laing
Mr. Alton : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will publish a list of the previous employers of his special adviser, Mrs. Eleanor Laing.
Mr. MacGregor : The information requested is as follows : Lindsays W. S., solicitors
Herbert Smith and Co., solicitors
Lane and Partners, solicitors
George Wimpey PLC
Shopping Hours Reform Council
Palace of Westminster (Occupation)
Mr. Andrew Hargreaves : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many rooms at the House of Commons and its outbuildings and how many square feet have been occupied by (a) media staff and (b) hon. Members over the last three years.
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Mr. MacGregor [holding answer 17 December 1991] : Information in the form requested is not readily available.
However, work commissioned last year by the New Building Sub-Committee as part of its work to prepare the brief for phase II of the New Parliamentary Building indicates that Members occupy some 10,000 sq metres, the media about 1,500 sq metres. Further information is available in the Services Committee's Second Report 1990-91 "New Parliamentary Building (Phase II) : The Initial Brief" (HC 551) memorandum 3.
Mr. Andrew Hargreaves : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many security passes have been issued in each of the last three years for (a) members of staff at the House of Commons, (b) the media and (c) allied departments.
Mr. MacGregor [holding answer 17 December 1991] : I regret that this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Office Costs Allowance
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council when he expects to receive the Top Salaries Review Body report on the office costs allowance.
Mr. MacGregor [holding answer 19 December 1991] : The conduct of the review is a matter for the Top Salaries Review Body, but I understand that it is proceeding according to the agreed timetable.
DEFENCE
Submarines
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (a) what will be the cost, (b) when work will commence and (c) how long it will take, to correct a major design fault on the submarines HMS Upholder, HMS Unseen, HMS Ursula and HMS Unicorn ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Houghton and Washington (Mr. Boyes) on 13 December at column 590.
Simulated Attacks on Shipping
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the pre-flight briefing of the crew of the Tornado aircraft which crashed in the North sea on 16 August 1990 included plans for simulated attacks on shipping.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the specified minimum horizontal and vertical separation distances between an attacking aircraft and a target vessel doing simulated low-level attacks on civilian shipping targets of opportunity.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The specified minimum separation distance from civilian shipping for aircraft in low level flight over the sea is 250 ft both horizontally and vertically.
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Weapons Exchange
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list, by year for the last four years, and for 1991 to date, the countries with which his Department has carried out weapons exchanges for testing purposes, showing in his answer (a) those that his Department have received from other countries and (b) those that his Department have sent to other countries.
Mr. Alan Clark : Such information is not held centrally and could not be assembled without disproportionate cost.
Buster Crabb
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the files and information on the Buster Crabb affair will be released for public scrutiny.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Any files and information held by the Ministry of Defence on the Buster Crabb affair will be considered for release at the appropriate time, under the criteria of the Public Records Acts of 1958 and 1967.
Nuclear Test Veterans
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he proposes to investigate the claims for compensation made by the service men exposed to radiation during the Christmas Island tests.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Ministry of Defence will pay appropriate compensation whenever the Crown's legal liability is established. There is, however, no firm evidence to show that any ill-health suffered by those who attended the test was caused by their participation. This is supported by the last report on the subject by the National Radiological Protection Board--which continues to accumulate data and will produce a further report.
Nuclear Weapons
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many special studies on (a) the safety in storage, (b) the safety in transport, (c) the safety in deployment and (d) the mechanics of dismantlement of nuclear weapons have been conducted by his Department since 1979 ; and what has been the respective cost of such studies.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The safety of our nuclear weapons is under continuous review to ensure that stringent safety standards are maintained in all such areas. It is not possible to identify separately the costs of studies from the general costs of work on safety.
Nuclear Submarines
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether United Kingdom citizens are permitted access (a) to board Polaris submarines, (b) to visit the Faslane royal naval base and (c) to the Trident nuclear submarine base under construction at Coulport ; whether any foreign nationals of countries (i) which are NATO member states and (ii) which are outside NATO have been permitted to visit British nuclear submarines and bases during the past month ; and what criteria are adopted to permit visits to such submarines and bases.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Visits by both United Kingdom and foreign non- entitled personnel to service units and
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establishments, including vists to nuclear submarines and their shore support facilities, are considered on a case by case basis. The only visit by non-NATO nationals to the Clyde submarine base, including a visit to an alongside Polaris submarine, in the last month was by General Lobov. The criterion by which requests for all visits is judged is whether such a visit will assist in meeting defence or foreign policy objectives.M25 (Military Vehicle Breakdown)
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the number of accidents caused by motorists rerouted from the M25 on 1 December as a result of the closure of the motorway because of the breakdown of a military transport vehicle.
Defence Equipment
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide an approximate in-service date for (a) the GWS MOD 1 Sea Wolf vertical launch ship system/missile, (b) Sonar 2093, (c) the type 23 frigate command system, (d) the AS90 self-propelled howitzer, (e) the high- velocity missile, (f) the Rapier field standard C system, (g) the Trigat medium-range system, (h) the counter battery radar, (i) the European fighter aircraft, (j) the Blue Vixen radar and (k) the Harrier T10.
Mr. Alan Clark : Approximate in-service dates are as follows :
|Approximate
|in-service date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) GWS MOD 1 Sea Wolf vertical launch ship
system/missile |In-service
(b) Sonar 2093 |Early 1990s
(c) Type 23 frigate command system |Mid 1990s
(d) AS90 self-propelled howitzer |Early 1990s
(e) High-velocity missile |Early 1990s
(f) Rapier field standard C system |Mid-1990s
(g) TRIGAT medium-range system |Mid-1990s
(h) Counter battery radar |Late 1990s
(i) European fighter aircraft |Mid-1990s
(j) Blue Vixen radar |Early 1990s
(k) Harrier T10 |Mid-1990s
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the present estimated total cost of the procurement programme for (a) the GWS MOD 1 Sea Wolf vertical launch missile/ship system, (b) the Sonar 2093, (c) the Challenger improvement programme, (d) TOW thermal imaging, (e) the Rapier field standard C system, (f) the Trigat medium range system, (g) the Tornado GR1 mid-life update, (h) the RN EH 101 helicopter and (i) the Blue Vixen radar.
Mr. Alan Clark : I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him on 28 November at column 648. The other figures requested are classified and commercially confidential apart from that for the Tornado GR1 mid-life update programme, where the estimated total procurement cost--at 1990-91 average outturn prices, not including in-service support costs--is £550 million.
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Hydrographic Office
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the annual income generated by the Hydrographic Office through chart sales in each year since 1980 ; and what proportion are exports ; (2) what resources will be dedicated to the metrification of maritime charts within the Hydrographic Office ;
(3) whether the metrification of maritime charts will be completed by 1999.
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