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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 29 January 1992
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Industrial Diseases
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Attorney-General what files held at the Public Records Office relating to the operation and enforcement of the 1931 Asbestos Regulations, or other relevant health and safety legislation, or other forms of regulation of the asbestos industry, are still closed, other than under the 30-year rule.
The Attorney-General : The Public Record Office holds Home Office and Ministry of Labour headquarters records concerning the work of the factory inspectorate in operating and enforcing factory and safety legislation, including the Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931. Very few local and individual case records of the inspectorate, for the period up to 1961, have been selected for permanent preservation. None of the records identified above have been closed for longer than 30 years.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Attorney-General what files held at the Public Records Office relating to compensation for asbestos-related disease under the industrial injuries scheme or its predecessors, or to the workings of the pneumoconiosis medical boards and panels, are still closed, other than under the 30-year rule.
The Attorney-General : Records of the Home Office and of the Ministry of National Insurance and its successors relating to workmen's compensation schemes and to the industrial injuries scheme introduced in 1946 are held by the Public Record Office. The records of the Ministry of National Insurance include records of the Pneumoconiosis and Byssinosis Benefits Board. Records among those described above which contain medical details or information relating to the personal circumstances of identifiable individuals are closed for longer than 30 years under the provisions of section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958, the period of closure depending upon the ages of the persons concerned.
Default Cases
Miss Emma Nicholson : To ask the Attorney-General what is the average number of default cases processed per hour using county court default systems, up to and including the making of instalment orders.
The Attorney-General : Throughout the county court system in England and Wales approximately 1,800 summonses were issued per working hour in 1991. Some of these would have resulted in payment at the issue stage, some would have resulted in judgment by default, some would have resulted in orders for judgment by instalments, and others would have been defended on their merits. Statistics as to the outcome of cases are not collected in this form.
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TRANSPORT
Radioactive Materials (Transport)
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East on plutonium transport, 20 January, Official Report, column 63, he will set out the categories of cases where movements of radioactive materials have to be notified by his Department ; (2) in cases of the movement of radioactive materials, which Government Departments have to be notified ; and in what sets of circumstances.
Mr. McLoughlin : Consignments of radioactive material which must be notified to the Department of Transport before each shipment are : Type B(U) packages containing radioactive material with an activity greater than 3 10 a--1 or 3 10 a--2, as appropriate, or 1000 terabecquerels (20 kilocuries), whichever is the lower ; Type B(M) packages ;
transport under Special Arrangement.
The terms used are defined in International Atomic Agency safety series No. 6 : "Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material", a copy of which is held in the Library of the House. An export licence must be obtained from the Department of Trade and Industry for the export of radioactive materials specified in the Export of Goods (Control) Order.
A40(M)
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the road works on Westway and the A40(M) in Paddington to be completed ; what work will have been done and at what cost ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : Phase I of the rewaterproofing of the A40(M) Westway, which started in September 1991, should be completed by the end of February 1992, providing there are no periods of adverse weather. By then, almost three fifths of Westway will have been rewaterproofed and resurfaced. The estimated cost of phase I is £4.25 million. Phase II is planned to start in June 1992 and take about five months. It will complete the resurfacing of Westway and include the rewaterproofing of the A40(M)/M41 roundabout and the Wood lane flyover.
When the works are completed, major resurfacing on Westway will not be necessary for many years, and the waterproofing should last for at least 20 years.
Cornelis Johanna
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, further to his answer of 23 January, Official Report, column 270, when the inclining experiment will be carried out on the Cornelis Johanna.
Mr. McLoughlin : Arrangements are being made to conduct the inclining experiment as soon as possible.
Motorway Accidents
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 17 January, Official Report, column 656, on research undertaken into accidents
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caused by motorists falling asleep, whether any of the research has been funded or commissioned by Her Majesty's Government ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Chope : The Loughborough study was not funded by the Government.
The Welsh Office however has funded a study by Bangor university of driver fatigue, the report of which, "The Long-Distance Driver", was published in 1990.
Driver fatigue was one of the elements of the extensive programme of accident causation studies carried out by the Department's Transport and Road Research Laboratory during the 1970s and early 1980s.
In order to assess future research needs, my Department has commissioned a further review of research from the medical commission on accident prevention at the Royal College of Surgeons.
Roads Programme, North-West
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the expected central Government expenditure on the roads programme in the North -West in 1991-92 and in each of the following five years.
Mr. Chope : The forecast outturn roads programme expenditure in the Department's north-west region in 1991-92 is £174 million. This includes new construction and maintenance. The budget for next year--1992- 93--has not yet been finalised. Expenditure in subsequent years is dependent on future public expenditure settlements.
Speed Limit Enforcement
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many automatic speed limit enforcement equipment experiments are being conducted in Britain ; and if he will make a statement on their effectiveness and the proposals he may have for extending the schemes.
Mr. Chope : Small-scale trials are being carried out to test the equipment and evaluate its operational use in enforcing speed limits. When suitable equipment has been granted type approval by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, it will be deployed more widely and its effectiveness in reducing accidents will be evaluated by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory.
Vehicle Registration
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the 10-day time limit for transferring registration of motor vehicles ; if he will make it his policy to ensure that any vehicle requiring transfer of registration be subject to the signature of the registered owner ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : The 10-day delay period applies where there is a doubt about the propriety of the transfer application, and is intended to assist in the detection of car-related crime. There are about 1.9 million applications for change of registration each year and it would be impracticable to require the signature of the registered keeper before allowing any change.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many applications to transfer registration documents have been made under form V712/1 to DVLC Swansea in respect of stolen vehicles.
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Mr. Chope : About 10,000 V712 letters are issued weekly by DVLA. Since the system was introduced in 1986 more than 1,200 arrests have been made and more than 3,400 stolen vehicles recovered as a direct result of this procedure.
Safety Belts
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people in the rear of motor vehicles and wearing lap seat belts only have been killed and injured, respectively, in the United Kingdom, during the past five years for which records are available.
Mr. Chope : The information requested is not available.
A38
Mr. Robert Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will announce his Department's preferred route for the A38 trunk road improvement between Liskeard and Bodmin.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 20 January 1992] : I have written to my hon. Friend.
ENVIRONMENT
Dockland Forum
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the period over which the London Docklands development corporation has funded the Dockland Forum ; if he has given any instructions or advice concerning its continuation in the financial year 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : The LDDC has approved grant aid to Docklands Forum over the period 1982-1992. The LDDC has advised the forum that this grant aid will come to an end in March 1992.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to phase out the disposal of all types of waste in the sea.
Mr. Baldry : Dumping of solid waste at sea is a matter for my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Dumping of sewage sludge at sea will be phased out by the end of 1998. The United Kingdom is voluntarily refraining from dumping radioactive waste at sea. All waste water discharges in England and Wales are subject to regulation by the appropriate regulatory authorities. They must meet specified international and domestic standards and may be subject to conditions to ensure that those standards are met, so that discharges do not cause unacceptable harm to the environment.
Water Contractors
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to bring forward proposals to require contractors undertaking work on behalf of water companies to maintain the same standards as the water companies are required to maintain in order to prevent environmental damage and pollution.
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Mr. Baldry : Every company holding an appointment as a water or sewerage undertaker has in place a code of practice, approved by the Secretary of State, covering the use of its works powers on private land. These codes apply equally to any employees, agents and contractors carrying out works on behalf of the company, and cover environmental considerations and reinstatement among other matters. An undertaker may be liable to pay compensation for damage caused in the carrying out of its works, either by itself or by contractors acting on its behalf ; and the Director General of Water Services can direct it to do so in a particular case. Other environmental legislation also generally applies in the same way to a water, or water and sewerage, company and to contractors working for it.Rural Development Commission
Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will now set out the basis on which the Rural Development Commission will receive Government funding after the programme of workshop sales has been completed.
Mr. Trippier : We recognise the one-off nature of the portfolio disposal receipts. We will take this into account in deciding the basis of the Rural Development Commission funding in future years.
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Canada Geese
Dame Janet Fookes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance is issued to local authorities regarding the humane control of Canada geese ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Subject to the requirements of the EC birds directive and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is for the local authorities who wish to control Canada geese to decide what methods may be appropriate, but they can seek technical advice from the Agricultural Development Advisory Service--ADAS--or English Nature.
National Parks
Mr. Jopling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the budget for each of the national parks over the last 10 years, giving the percentage increase for each year over the previous year, including an overall figure for the whole period, together with the rate of inflation over the same period.
Mr. Baldry : National parks supplementary grant--NPSG--meets 75 per cent. of national parks' approved expenditure, the balance being funded by each park's constituent county and metropolitan district councils. Information on NPSG allocated to each of the English national parks for the financial years 1983-84 to 1992-93 and the percentage increase each year over the previous year together with the inflation rate for the period is given in the table :
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National Parks supplementary grant
|Dartmoor |Exmoor |Lake |Northumberland|North |Peak |Yorkshire |England |Inflation
|District |Yorkshire |District |Dales |rate
|Moors |(GDP deflator)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983-84 |£000s |597.8 |492.8 |1,048.7 |343.1 |631.1 |1,492.3 |659.2 |5,265.0
1984-85 |£000s |630.1 |505.6 |1,104.9 |353.3 |661.6 |1,566.3 |678.2 |5,500.0
Percentage increase |5.4 |2.6 |5.4 |3.0 |4.8 |5.0 |2.9 |4.5 |-
1985-86 |£000s |663.0 |538.9 |1,179.8 |379.4 |706.3 |1,664.4 |713.2 |5,845.0
Percentage increase |5.2 |6.6 |6.8 |7.4 |6.8 |6.3 |5.2 |6.3 |-
1986-87 |£000s |747.4 |615.4 |1,279.5 |405.4 |776.5 |1,828.6 |777.2 |6,430.0
Percentage increase |12.7 |14.2 |8.5 |6.8 |9.9 |9.9 |9.0 |10.0 |-
1987-88 |£000s |861.7 |721.7 |1,431.0 |446.2 |884.2 |2,051.2 |888.0 |7,284.0
Percentage increase |15.3 |17.3 |11.8 |10.1 |13.9 |12.2 |14.2 |13.3 |-
1988-89 |£000s |991.3 |809.0 |1,567.4 |507.8 |990.0 |2,231.6 |1,031.9 |8,129.0
Percentage increase |15.0 |12.1 |9.5 |13.8 |12.018.8116.2 |11.6 |-
1989-90 |£000s |1,116.8 |916.0 |1,741.7 |560.2 |1,111.9 |2,461.9 |1,155.5 |9,064.0
Percentage increase |12.7 |13.2 |11.1 |10.3 |12.3 |10.3 |12.0 |11.5 |-
1990-91 |£000s |1,237.3 |1,012.3 |1,932.9 |610.5 |1,231.7 |2,685.3 |1,260.0 |9,970.0
Percentage increase |10.8 |10.5 |11.0 |9.0 |10.8 |9.1 |9.0 |10.0 |-
1991-92 |£000s |1,481.9 |1,217.4 |2,311.9 |734.6 |1,486.3 |3,261.2 |1,514.7 |12,008.0
Percentage increase |19.8 |20.3 |19.6 |20.3 |20.7 |21.4 |20.2 |20.4 |-
1992-93 |£000s |1,728.7 |1,451.2 |3,415.5 |881.3 |1,783.5 |3,921.0 |1,818.8 |15,000.0
Percentage increase |16.7 |19.2 |47.7 |20.0 |20.0 |20.2 |20.1 |24.9 |-
Defective Housing
Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council-owned properties within Easington have structural defects which would qualify under the defective housing regulations.
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Mr. Yeo : Easington district council reports ownership of 133 dwellings designated as inherently defective under the housing defects legislation.
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Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many homeowners in Peterlee who live in homes which have structural and design defects have been successful in obtaining grants to repair such defects.Mr. Yeo : This information is not available.
Housing Investment Programme, Easington
Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by year since 1985 the housing investment programme bid by Easington district council to his Department and the housing investment programme allocation for each of those years.
Mr. Yeo : The table provides the information requested.
|HIP bid |HIP |EA allocation
|allocation
|£ thousands
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |17,420 |4,525 |-
1986-87 |20,952 |3,860 |-
1987-88 |n/a |3,632 |-
1988-89 |n/a |3,894 |433,218
1989-90 |24,417 |3,197 |391,988
New capital finance system<1>
1990-91 |33,892 |4,731 |12,000
1991-92 |33,137 |<2>5,585 |393,000
1992-93 |27,556 |<2>6,205 |460,000
<1> Under the new capital finance system, introduced in 1990-91, the
HIP allocation does not convey borrowing approval directly.
<2> These figures are not final. Additional supplementary credit
approvals are expected to be issued in the course of each financial
year.
Since 1981-82 authorities have been able to augment the borrowing power of their HIP allocations by using the prescribed proportion of their capital receipts.
Noise
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what questions he has received about the number of environmental health officers employed by local authorities to combat noise nuisance between neighbours.
Mr. Baldry : I have received no specific questions on this. Local environmental health officers carry out a wide range of functions and I am aware that the number of complaints to local authorities about neighbourhood noise is increasing. However, it remains for each local authority to determine its own priorities in deploying its environmental health officers, having regard to their statutory duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the available resources and needs of their community.
Non-statutory action, such as dispute mediation by third parties and community codes on noise behaviour, may help to relieve the pressure on environmental health officers and also achieve a more effective and longer lasting solution. My Department is therefore part-funding a mediation scheme in Bristol. We are also funding a pilot neighbourhood noise awareness scheme in Forest Hill, London. The scheme incorporates a community code suggesting ways of keeping noise down and being a considerate neighbour.
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Overcrowding
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received requesting changes in planning regulations to restrict or further regulate alleged overcrowding in privately rented accommodation.
Mr. Yeo : Under part X of the Housing Act 1985 a person who permits a dwelling to be overcrowded commits a criminal offence. The enforcement duty lies with local authorities.
Authorities also have discretionary powers to control overcrowding in houses in multiple occupation by serving notice requiring the number of people accommodated to be reduced.
The control of overcrowding in dwellings is not a matter for the planning system, and I am not aware of any recent representations that it should be.
Mortgage Repossessions
Mr. Soley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has concerning the cost to local authorities of homelessness for reasons of mortgage repossessions for each year 1979 to 1991, inclusive.
Sir George Young : The information available to the Department about local authorities' costs associated with homelessness is not broken down according to the cause.
3D Ltd.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the application for city grant by 3D Ltd. for the west end scheme in Bradford has been completely considered ; whether a decision has been made ; and what section of the scheme is under consideration.
Mr. Key : My Department received a revised application for city grant from 3D on 15 October 1991. It relates to a first phase of the west end scheme, comprising offices in Aldermanbury, a European pavilion and a multi-storey car park. Several meetings have been held with the applicants, but additional information is awaited before a decision can be made.
Arthur Ford Ltd.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from Arthur Ford Ltd. of Nottingham regarding its loss on a departmental contract where the original contractor has gone into receivership ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo [holding answer 20 January 1992] : Arthur Ford Ltd. was a sub-contractor on Turriff Ltd. on a project which the Property Services Agency is managing on behalf of the Ministry of Defence at RAF Cosford. It has made representations to PSA concerning moneys owed to it by Turriff which is now in receivership.
Councillors (Allowances)
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the increase in the allowance to members serving on local authorities will be made ; and what will be the total increase.
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Mr. Key [holding answer 28 January 1992] : We are currently reviewing the spending limits on allowances paid by local authorities and will let them know shortly the limits which will apply from 1 April 1992.THE ARTS
Japan Festival
Mr. Grist : To ask the Minister for the Arts which events in the Japan festival 1991 he attended in his official capacity ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Renton : I attended the following events :
28 August 1991 : "Contemporary Art from Japan" Exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh ;
16 September 1991 : The Royal Opening of the Japan Festival at the Victoria and Albert Museum ;
16 September 1991 : The "Visions of Japan" Exhibition, also at the Victoria and Albert Museum ;
17 September 1991 : The Royal Opening of the Kamakura Exhibition at the British Museum ;
22 October 1991 : The exhibition "Japan and Britain : An Aesthetic Dialogue 1850-1930" at the Barbican.
I also attended receptions for sponsors at Lancaster House and in Cardiff and Newcastle. The Japan Festival 1991 has been the largest celebration of another country's culture ever held in the United Kingdom.
The festival has attracted very wide support, and hundreds of highly successful and varied events have taken place nationwide. It will, I am sure, make a valuable and lasting contribution to relations between our two countries and to the understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture in the United Kingdom.
ENERGY
Plutonium
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, further to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 7, if he will now provide details on the amount of plutonium offered to Euratom on the United Kingdom's accession to the treaty of Rome on 1 January 1973 ; and if he will make a statement.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Refuseniks
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the Ukraine authorities about their failure to grant an exit visa to Motvei Goishpan of Kharkov and to Vladimir Kofman of Kiev.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We can certainly raise the cases of refuseniks Motvei Goishpan of Kharkov and Vladimir Kofman of Kiev with the Ukrainian authorities, but in order to make our representations most effective we shall need further details.
Treaty of Rome
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, further to his answer of 21 January, Official Report, column 101, to the hon.
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Member for Stockport (Mr. Favell), what discrepancies have been found so far between the treaty text made available to hon. Members on 16 December and the text as prepared for signature ; whether any further differences will be laid before the House before signature ; and what the process of preparation for signature involves.Mr. Garel-Jones : The text made available to Parliament on 16 December was in two parts, covering political union and economic and monetary union. In preparing this agreed text for signature these sections have been combined to form a single treaty text, the numbering of the articles of the text has been brought into line with those of the treaty of Rome and translations have been prepared. The final text of the treaty will be made available to Parliament immediately following signature.
East Timor
Sir Geoffrey Finsberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he intends to take on the resolutions of the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and of the Western European Union in respect of East Timor ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have noted the resolutions.
Cameroon
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further representations he has made to the Government of Cameroon about human rights.
Mrs. Chalker : We have made representations to the Cameroon Government about human rights on several occasions. The most recent was in October 1991, both in Yaounde and to the Cameroon ambassador in London. We shall continue to monitor the situation carefully.
Somalia
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonweath Affairs if he will make a statement on the action taken by the United Nations Security Council regarding the situation in Somalia.
Mrs. Chalker : On 23 January the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution, No. 733, requesting the secretary general to appoint a co-ordinator to oversee the effective delivery of increased United Nations humanitarian assistance, in liaison with other interna-tional agencies. The Security Council also requested the secretary-general to co-operate with the Organisation of African Unity and the League of Arab States in contacting the parties to the Somali conflict to try to secure a ceasefire, the distribution of humanitarian assistance, and a political settlement to the conflict. The Security Council also agreed to an immediate embargo on all deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Somalia.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Armley Prison
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will order an inquiry into Armley prison following the further suicide ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mrs. Rumbold : I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the death of Mr. Melvyn Hodgson at Leeds prison on 28 December last year. I shall decide what form of inquiry into the circumstances may be appropriate, once the inquest into Mr. Hodgson's death has been concluded.Extradition
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the safeguards and rights of appeal under extradition treaties concluded, to date, by Her Majesty's Government.
Mr. John Patten : The safeguards and rights ofappeal are contained in the Extradition Act 1989, particularly parts II and III, and paragraphs 1, 8, and 10 of schedule 1.
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