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The Prime Minister : No appeal has been received.
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Nuclear Non-proliferation
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister what steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government to halt the geographical proliferation of nuclear weapons by nuclear-armed states to their military allies.
The Prime Minister : As a depositary power for the treaty on the non -proliferation of nuclear weapons--NPT--the United Kingdom has consistently worked to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to encourage other states to accede to and abide by the treaty.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the actions taken by Her Majesty's Government to support and strengthen each article, respectively, of the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
The Prime Minister : The information is not centrally recorded and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. In our role as a depositary power for the treaty, the United Kingdom has strongly supported the NPT since its inception, and has been consistently active to this end.
South Africa
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister what is his policy in regard to South Africa on (a) the need for transitional arrangements for the Government during the negotiating process, (b) the continued detention of political prisoners, (c) the implementation of the national peace accord, (d) the introduction of regulations banning the carrying of weapons at political rallies and (e) the proposal to give the white electorate a veto through a referendum on any agreement reached at the convention for a democratic South Africa.
The Prime Minister : I welcome the negotiations which are taking place within the Convention for a Democratic South Africa-CODESA. I have discussed them with President de Klerk and Mr. Mandela in meetings this month. It is for the South African people to decide on constitutional issues and any transitional arrangements.
We have urged the release of all political prisoners throughout South Africa : more than 1,000 political prisoners were released last year.
I welcomed the national peace accord when it was signed last year. Since then I have urged all parties to work for its implementation. I welcome all measures designed to reduce the risk of violence. The South African Government have proposed a referendum to obtain the views of all South Africans. The procedure for this is a matter for discussion in CODESA.
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister what consideration he has given to the National party proposals published on 5 September 1991 on constitutional change in South Africa ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : I welcome the National party's intention to negotiate a democratic constitution which is non-racial and based on universal suffrage. These issues are being discussed in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa.
President de Klerk
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his meeting with President de Klerk on 1 February.
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The Prime Minister : I met President de Klerk on 2 February. We discussed the constitutional talks in South Africa. The President expressed his determination to see them through to a new constitution. On township violence, President de Klerk said that national peace accord measures were in place and beginning to prove effective. The Goldstone commission was examining allegations against the South African defence force. The President explained the progress made in integration in sport, and said that unification of control of rugby should be concluded by late March. We agreed to keep up our dialogue.
Dietary Supplements
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Prime Minister who will represent Britain at the meeting to be held between the European Commission and the member Community states on a draft Council directive on dietary supplements.
The Prime Minister : The meeting to which the hon. Member refers will be attended by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health. I should add that no Council directive on dietary supplements has yet been drafted : the meeting is to examine a Commission discussion paper.
Pay Review Bodies
Sir Anthony Meyer : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the latest reports of the pay review bodies.
The Prime Minister : In 1992 reports of the review bodies on the pay of the doctors and dentists, the professions allied to medicine, nursing staff, midwives and health visitors, the armed forces and school teachers have been published today. Copies are available in the Vote Office. The Government are grateful to the members of the review bodies for the time and care which they have put into the preparation of the reports.
The following table shows the increases recommended by the review bodies for each group, and their cost.
Review body |Pay bill |Range of |Public
|increase |increases |expenditure
|1992-93<1> |cost
|per cent. |per cent. |£ million
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctors and dentists
(DDRB)<2> |6.0 |5.5-8.5 |<3>314
Nurses and allied
professions (NAPRB)
<2>
-nurses and midwives |5.8 |5.6-6.0 |<3>435
-professions allied to
medicine (PAMs) |6.3 |6.2-6.5 |<3>48
Armed forces (AFRB)<4> |5.9 |5.9-7.9 |274
Schoolteachers (STRB)<5> |7.8 |7.5 |765
<1> Percentages by which the awards would increase the estimated 1992-93
pay bill.
<2> Great Britain. Northern Ireland health service pay normally follows
Great Britain but is described separately.
<3> Includes cost of staff in NHS Trusts.
<4> United Kingdom.
<5> England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate pay
regimes for school teachers.
The Government accept these recommendations and propose to pay them in full from 1 April 1992. The cost of implementing them will be met from within the public expenditure planning totals published in the autumn statement.
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The Government recognise that the cost of the health service awards could not be met in full from present health service provision without adversely affecting services to patients. The Government will therefore provide an extra £149 million from the reserve for next year. The Government also accept that local education authorities would have difficulty in absorbing the full cost of the teachers' pay award, and have therefore decided to finance from the reserve an additional £60 million of grant to local authorities. The cost for the armed forces will be absorbed within the defence budget.OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Wood (Fuel Use)
44. Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what strategic plans there are to assist moves towards the diminution of the amount of wood used as a fuel in the third world and rain forest countries, and to address the consequences of such wood use on the top soil.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Many developing countries have national plans for the energy sector, which are drawn up and implemented with external assistance. These plans typically involve a range of fuels, including wood, which, when it comes from sustainably managed sources, can play a valuable role in meeting energy needs.
Pakistan
45. Mr. Ted Garrett : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current amount of aid given to Pakistan.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : In 1990, the last year for which full figures are available, Britain's gross bilateral aid amounted to £47.6 million. The ODA provided £34.6 million.
India
46. Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received over the effectiveness of United Kingdom financial aid to India's economic reform programme.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Indian Prime Minister and Finance Minister thanked my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State during his recent visit to India for British support of their economic reforms, and for the £30 million of additional aid provided this year.
Non-governmental Development Organisations
47. Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has met representatives of
non-governmental development organisations during the last month to discuss their role in aid matters.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : In the last four weeks my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development has met voluntary agencies on five occasions. I have had two such meetings.
Overseas Aid
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in rank order the donor nations of the United Nations showing the
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proportion of gross national product donated to overseas aid for the most recent year available, and the cash figures in sterling.Mrs. Chalker : The latest information is as follows :
Official development assistance by United Nations member countries
in 1990 in oda/GNP percentage order
Country |Amount |Per cent. of
|£ million |GNP 1990
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saudi Arabia |2,079 |3.89
Norway |678 |1.17
Netherlands |1,459 |0.94
Denmark |659 |0.93
Sweden |1,133 |0.90
France |5,281 |0.79
Finland |476 |0.64
Libya |<2>72 |<2>0.52
Belgium |501 |0.45
Canada |1,391 |0.44
Germany |3,558 |0.42
Australia |538 |0.34
Italy |1,911 |0.32
Japan |5,106 |0.31
Luxembourg |14 |0.28
United Kingdom |1,485 |0.27
Austria |222 |0.25
Portugal |79 |0.25
New Zealand |52 |0.22
United States |6,399 |0.21
Ireland |32 |0.16
Spain |450 |<1>0.16
Venezuela |23 |0.09
Qatar |<2>2 |<2>0.08
Greece |<1>21 |<2>0.07
Nigeria |<2>8 |<2>0.05
China |<1>101 |<1>0.05
Algeria |<1><2>7 |<2>0.02
Iceland |<2>1 |<2>0.02
Kuwait |938 |n/a
UAE |500 |n/a
India |<1>62 |n/a
USSR |1,126 |n/a
Israel |<2>10 |n/a
Yugoslavia |<2>3 |n/a
Other Central and Eastern Europe |<1>84 |n/a
<1> Estimate by OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Secretariat
whole or in part.
<2> 1988 figures given, being the latest year for which data is
available.
n/a-GNP figures not available.
Other non United Nations donors |£ million |oda/GNP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Switzerland |422 |0.31 Korea (Rep.) |43 |0.03 Taiwan |34 |0.04 Source: DAC Chairman's Report 1990 and 1991 (OECD, Paris).
Developing Countries
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the total ODA budget, bilateral and multilateral, for 1991-92 has been committed for direct support for good government in developing countries ; what is the level of funding ; and in which countries Her Majesty's Government are supporting such projects.
Mrs. Chalker : We plan to spend around £30 million of bilateral aid this year in direct support of "good government" activities. This is 3 per cent. of total bilateral aid. Countries in which we are funding such projects include :
Egypt
Ethiopia
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GambiaGhana
Guinea
Kenya
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Bangladesh
India
Malaysia
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts
St. Lucia
St. Vincent
Turks and Caicos
Eastern Caribbean
Mexico
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
St. Helena
Anguilla
Antigua
Barbados
Belize
British Virgin Islands
Fiji
Kiribati
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
We also plan to provide in excess of £140 million--14 per cent. of total bilateral aid--this year for balance of payments support to countries implementing IMF-approved economic reform programmes, which also fall within "good government".
The data required to assess our multilateral aid expenditure on good government projects this year are not available.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Audit Committees
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received since 1988, and from whom, opposing the need for a statutory requirement for companies to have audit committees.
Mr. Redwood : None. Those opposed to a statutory requirement for companies to have audit committees had no call to make
representations since the Government have not made proposals to introduce such a requirement.
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Company Directors
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he proposes to bring forward legislation to increase the powers and resources of independent company directors.
Mr. Redwood : No. I would encourage companies to have high-calibre non-executive directors and to give all their directors adequate powers and resources. How this is done is best left to individual companies. All directors, in fulfilling their responsibilities, should exercise their judgment independently.
Company Voting Procedures
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will review the proxy system of voting exercised at company annual general meetings.
Departmental Computers
Miss Emma Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how long each computerised system in his Department would take to return to full operation in the event of a disaster.
Mr. Leigh : The Department's IT security policy requires that, for each IT system, appropriate measures are adopted to maintain availability. Measures are determined by means of risk analysis and include disaster recovery plans. Such plans will take into account the time-critical nature of the system, the various types of disaster--say, from loss of stored data to loss of a building--and the costs and impact of loss of service. Such planning provides a mechanism for dealing with different types of loss of service in a cost-effective manner. System recovery times following a disaster will vary in accordance with the size of the system, the recovery requirements established and the type and magnitude of any disaster that might occur.
Executive Agencies
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will arrange to place in the Library the business plans of the executive agencies which come within his Department's
responsibilities.
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