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Mr. Chope : The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department records traffic forecasts and actual traffic one year after opening for trunk road schemes for which orders have been published since 1981.
Traffic Accidents (Leicestershire)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of traffic accidents (a) in total and (b) resulting in deaths, for each year since 1980 (i) in Leicestershire and (ii) on the distributor road network in Leicester.
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Mr. Chope : The number of injury accidents, and the number of these which resulted in deaths, in Leicestershire and the A563 Leicester ring road, from 1980 to 1990, are given in the table.
Injury accidents in Leicestershire and on the A563 Leicester ring
road: By severity: 1980-1990
Leicestershire A563
Year |Fatal |All injury|Fatal |All injury
|accidents |accidents |accidents |accidents
------------------------------------------------------------------
1980 |102 |3,708 |0 |0
1981 |100 |3,624 |0 |0
1982 |95 |3,634 |0 |0
1983 |98 |3,658 |0 |0
1984 |80 |3,847 |0 |0
1985 |91 |3,748 |0 |5
1986 |93 |3,334 |1 |67
1987 |87 |3,651 |1 |56
1988 |85 |3,706 |1 |64
1989 |90 |3,690 |4 |90
1990 |93 |3,782 |2 |103
The A563 has been opened in several stages since 1983. The upward trend in accidents is related to increases in road length and the amount of traffic using it.
Toll Bridges
Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the figures for (a) annual income and cost and (b) capital debt outstanding, for toll bridges in England ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : The information requested is as follows.
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The 1990-91 figures for the main toll bridges in England, for which accounts have
been published, are as follows:
|Humber |Itchen |Severn |Tamar
|£ million|£ million|£ million|£ million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Income (from toll) |10.7 |2.0 |20.8 |2.7
2. Cost:
Operating expenses |1.7 |0.6 |8.6 |2.3
Debt and other charges |43.4 |1.0 |19.0 |0.0
|------- |------- |------- |-------
Total expenditure |45.1 |1.6 |27.6 |2.3
Outstanding debt at 31 March 1991 |404.7 |3.6 |148.9 |-
Notes:
1. Annual income from toll (excludes income from other sources).
2. Outstanding debt comprises original capital cost and accumulated debt charges.
English Channel
Mr. Aitken : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the action his Department proposes to take as a result of the recent collision in the English channel off Ramsgate between the tanker Darya Kamal and the F3 Lanby buoy.
Mr. McLoughlin : The marine accident investigation
branch--MAIB--obtained a written report from the master pertaining to the incident. The report was received on 30 January. After discussion with Trinity House, the MAIB decided that no further action needed to be taken.
Mr. Aitken : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action his Department proposes to take in the light of recent collisions in the English channel to ensure that proper bridge watch keeping and manning levels exist on all ships using the English channel separation lanes inside or outside British territorial waters ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : The English channel and the Dover strait are an international waterway and rights of innocent passage exist so that the United Kingdom has no powers to board these ships while in transit. Ship movements are continuously monitored to verify compliance with traffic separation schemes. Apparent contraventions of the collision regulations are followed up with a view to prosecution by the United Kingdom or flag state as appropriate. Manning levels are checked during port state control inspections and the inspectors are empowered to detain any vessel where the manning is deficient.
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Government Grants
Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what Government grants were awarded for (a) ferry services and (b) bridge projects in England listed by region for each of the last five years.
Mr. McLoughlin : Grants amounting to £1.325 million have been made to the Merseyside passenger transport authority in respect of the Woodside ferry terminal ; the last payment was in February 1990. Many local authority road schemes which have been assisted by transport supplementary grant include overpasses underpasses, and bridges over railways, rivers, streams, canals, or other roads. Records are not kept as to which schemes include bridges or as to the proportion of scheme costs representing bridges.
No grants have been made by my Department since 1986-87 towards the provision or improvement of tolled road bridges.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Asthma
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice is given to nursery, infant, primary and secondary schools concerning asthma sufferers and the proximity of schools and school playgrounds to major roads.
Mr. Fallon : Medical paediatric advice is available to schools and to LEAs from the district health authorities'
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community child health service. Individual children with asthma may be seen with their parents when advice may be given to the child and family, the teacher and the school with regard to management in a particular case.The child's general medical practitioner who has responsibility for his or her medical care, or the hospital paediatrician in more severe cases, may also give advice not only to the child and family but to the teacher and school.
The proximity of a school and the school playground to major roads would be for local consideration by the school and the school doctor according to the state of health and asthma of an individual child or group of children.
Higher Education (Quality Audits)
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what arrangements he proposes to replace the quality audit and quality assurance work in higher education currently undertaken by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals' academic audit unit and the Council for National Academic Awards.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals, the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics and the Standing Conference of Principals have submitted proposals to establish a new quality and access organisation. This would be responsible for monitoring institutions' quality control and validation arrangements, building on the work of the academic audit unit and the Council for National Academic Awards. It would also have a role in the promotion and dissemination of best practice, and would take on and develop the CNAA's functions in the areas of credit accumulation and transfer schemes and the recognition of access courses. Audit and other reports would be published. The steering council of the organisation would have industrial and professional, as well as academic, members. These proposals are in line with those in Cm 1541 and we have welcomed them in principle. I am expecting later this month a further report describing in greater detail how it is proposed that the new organisation would operate in practice.
Primary Education
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will make available in the Vote Office copies of the report on primary education by Professor Alexander, Mr. Rose and Mr. Woodhead ;
(2) when copies of the report on primary education are to be sent to schools and colleges ; how many copies are to be printed ; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for the interval between the publication date of the report and its likely receipt by schools.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : I published the typescript of the report "Curriculum Organisation and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools" as soon as I received it, and placed copies in the Library on that day, 22 January. It took until 5 February to prepare and produce the initial run of 145,000 printed copies. The extensive mailing of six copies to each primary school and further copies to local authorities, teacher educators and other interested bodies should be completed by 13 February. I have today placed copies of the printed report in the Vote Office.
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Assisted Places
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children attend city technology colleges, grant-maintained schools and grammar schools and use the assisted-places scheme.
Mr. Eggar : The numbers of pupils attending those schools in England in January 1991 are shown in the table. In the same academic year 26,740 pupils in independent schools received support under the assisted places scheme.
|Number of pupils
-----------------------------------------------------------------
City technology colleges |3,429
Grant-maintained schools<1> |36,445
LEA-maintained grammar schools |91,116
<1> Includes grant-maintained grammar schools.
Pupil-Teacher Ratios
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the pupil-teacher ratio in Lancashire in (a) 1979 and (b) to latest date in (i) secondary and (ii) primary schools.
Mr. Fallon : The pupil-teacher ratios requested are shown in the table.
Pupil-teacher ratios in Lancashire local
education authority 1979 to
1991<1>
January |Maintained|Maintained
|primary |secondary
|schools |schools
--------------------------------------------
1979 |24.7 |16.5
1980 |24.2 |16.4
1981 |24.2 |16.4
1982 |24.4 |16.7
1983 |23.8 |16.6
1984 |23.2 |16.4
1985 |23.7 |16.6
1986 |23.7 |16.4
1987 |23.6 |15.9
1988 |23.3 |15.6
1989 |23.5 |15.4
1990 |23.3 |15.6
1991 |23.1 |15.7
<1> The pupil-teacher ratios of qualified
teachers within schools.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many local education authorities submitted results for the pupils with special educational needs with their returns of assessment tests for seven-year-old readers ; and whether these were used in the compilation of the tables published on 19 December 1991.
Mr. Eggar : Returns from special schools were not included in the results published on 19 December. However, many LEAs included the results of pupils with special educational needs on roll in mainstream schools in their returns. It is not, however, possible to identify these pupils and hence the LEAs concerned.
Seven-year-olds
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) pursuant to his answer of 16 January to the hon. Member for Newham, South (Mr.
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Spearing), Official Report, columns 580-82, if he will list the reasons why some of the returns of assessment tests for seven-year-old readers submitted by local education authorities were not usable ;(2) if he will state for each local education authority the percentage of their assessment tests for seven-year-old readers which they submitted to his Department.
Mr. Eggar : Certain returns could not be used because they were incomplete or wrongly completed. Those returns were referred back to the LEA concerned. Any corrected results which were returned in time for publication and were usable, were included in the report published on 19 December. The table gives the percentage of returns of the test results for seven-year-olds received for each local education authority. Both usable and unusable returns are included.
Proportion of returns from maintained
schools with 7 year olds
processed for the purposes of publication of
19 December Report
LEA |Percentage
|returns
|received
---------------------------------------------
Camden |97
Greenwich |98
Hackney |100
Hammersmith |100
Islington |88
Kensington and Chelsea |100
Lewisham |94
Southwark |91
Wandsworth |92
Westminster |100
Barking |100
Barnet |97
Bexley |100
Brent |100
Bromley |100
Croydon |100
Ealing |92
Enfield |100
Haringey |100
Harrow |94
Havering |100
Hillingdon |100
Hounslow |93
Kingston upon Thames |100
Merton |100
Newham |93
Redbridge |100
Richmond upon Thames |91
Sutton |100
Waltham Forest |100
Birmingham |78
Coventry |100
Dudley |100
Sandwell |95
Solihull |98
Walsall |99
Wolverhampton |97
Knowsley |98
Liverpool |93
St. Helens |98
Sefton |97
Wirral |99
Bolton |87
Bury |100
Manchester |97
Oldham |100
Rochdale |95
Salford |95
Stockport |100
Tameside |99
Trafford |98
Wigan |97
Barnsley |97
Doncaster |100
Rotherham |100
Sheffield |89
Bradford |98
Calderdale |100
Kirklees |99
Leeds |96
Wakefield |99
Gateshead |97
Newcastle upon Tyne |99
North Tyneside |75
South Tyneside |100
Sunderland |100
Avon |100
Bedfordshire |96
Berkshire |100
Buckinghamshire |76
Cambridgeshire |100
Cheshire |99
Cleveland |100
Cornwall and Isles of
Scilly |100
Cumbria |93
Derbyshire |94
Devon |100
Dorset |88
Durham |97
East Sussex |66
Essesx |100
Gloucestershire |100
Hampshire |90
Hereford and Worcester |100
Hertfordshire |99
Humberside |99
Isle of Wight |96
Kent |99
Lancashire |95
Leicestershire |81
Lincolnshire |100
Norfolk |75
North Yorkshire |99
Northamptonshire |100
Northumberland |98
Nottinghamshire |93
Oxfordshire |87
Shropshire |98
Somerset |98
Staffordshire |96
Suffolk |100
Surrey |98
Warwickshire |100
West Sussex |99
Wiltshire |98
England |95
Chorlton School
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, further to his answer of 13 January, Official Report, column 449, if he will detail the steps taken by the Secretary of State to expedite the matters regarding Chorlton school between 25 July and 30 September and between 30 September and 5 December ; when he became aware that the pupil in question had already commenced her secondary school career ; and if he will publish the information provided by Manchester local education authority that led him to conclude that he did not need to issue a formal directive to the school.
Mr. Fallon : Officials wrote to the chairman of governors of Chorlton school on 22 July, asking the school to comply with Trafford LEA's request for information
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and saying that if the governing body failed without good reason to meet this request, the Secretary of State would be minded to direct it to do so. Because of the holiday period, the full governing body did not meet to consider the issue until 10 September. Since the governors did not agree at that meeting to provide the necessary information, my right hon. and learned Friend decided to require them to do so by issuing a direction under section 68 of the Education Act 1944.The issue of direction was delayed because the Manchester LEA told officials at a meeting on 4 October that it planned to discuss the case with the governors on 9 October. Immediately after the 9 October meeting, solicitors acting for the governors asked for a full list of the pupils concerned, and confirmed on 21 October that the necessary information would be supplied to Trafford. However, despite repeated requests from the Department, the information was not forthcoming, and my right hon. and learned Friend issued his direction on 5 December. The information requested has now been supplied and Trafford hopes to consider outstanding cases within the next fortnight.
My right hon. and learned Friend was not informed that the hon. Member's constituent was already attending secondary school, although it is common in complex admission cases for pupils to attend school pending the final outcome of their appeal.
Local Management of Schools
Mr. Cran : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many local education authorities have already delegated 84 per cent. of their funds to schools.
Mr. Fallon [pursuant to his reply, 10 December 1991 c. 409-12] : I have today announced a number of developments which will extend local management of
Column 378
schools--LMS--to every school in England, and will ensure that all schools have more freedom to run their own affairs. These are : (1) the approval of the remaining 12 inner London LEAs' schemes ; (2) the approval of 60 LEA proposals for secondary schools to have their own bank accounts ;(3) an exemption for most small schools from the competitive tendering requirements that apply to all LEAs ;
(4) confirmation that LMS schemes will extend to cover special schools.
These developments set the seal on the success of LMS. From 1 April, an LMS scheme will operate in each of the 109 LEAs in England.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Suspended Sittings
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will bring forward proposals to enable motions under Standing Order No. 10 (Sittings of the House (Suspended Sittings) ) to be moved by any hon. Member.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Boarding Schools
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list (a) for each local education authority and (b) by location, the current state-owned boarding schools and the pupil establishment for each school.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information requested is as follows :
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d
School |Education and |Boarders |Overall
|Library Board |Enrolments (Inc
|Area |Boarders)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coleraine High |North-Eastern |47 |711
Thornfield, Special, Newtownabbey |North-Eastern |13 |69
Fleming Fulton, Special, Belfast |Belfast |16 |172
Beechlawn, Special, Hillsborough |South-Eastern |20 |201
Killard House, Special, Newtownards |South-Eastern |20 |210
Fallowfield, Special, Lurgan |Southern |25 |25
Health Service Staff
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what studies have been conducted, or are under way, into the administrative workloads of doctors, nurses and clinical staff in the professions associated with medicine ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : No studies which specifically examine the administrative workloads of these staff groups have been undertaken, or are currently planned. However, manpower planning in units of management will address the duties of medical and nursing staff in reprofiling and skill mix exercises. The duties of junior doctors will also be scrutinised within the current initiative to reduce their hours.
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Mental Handicap
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sales of capital assets have arisen from closures of mental handicap hospitals ; and if he will list the assets disposed of and the money raised by each sale.
Mr. Hanley : To date, two small mental handicap hospitals have been sold, namely :
Hospital |Year of |Money
|disposal|realised
|£
-----------------------------------------
Cultra House |1988 |800,000
Drumarg House |1989 |40,000
Mr. Kennedy : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the number, for each regional health authority, of in-patient residents in health service facilities for patients with a mental handicap for each year
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since 1981 ; and what proportion of the reduction in numbers is due to discharge and what proportion due to death, in each regional health authority.Mr. Hanley : The table shows the number of patients with a mental handicap resident in mental handicap hospitals and units in Northern Ireland at 31 December each year from 1981 to 1990. It is not possible to calculate the proportions of the reduction due to discharge or to deaths as the data on admissions and discharges collected centrally do not relate to individual patients.
Year |Number of
|Patients
------------------------------
1981 |1,737
1982 |1,712
1983 |1,577
1984 |1,599
1985 |1,577
1986 |1,509
1987 |1,434
1988 |1,412
1989 |1,296
1990 |1,185
Terrorism
Mr. A. Cecil Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many claims have been made against the Northern Ireland Office in respect of fatalities and injuries which have occurred from activities by the security forces against terrorists in each of the last five years ; and what sums have been paid in compensation.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, under the provisions of the statutory compensation scheme in Northern Ireland, no compensation can be paid to, or in respect of a criminal injury to, any person who has been engaged in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Harbour Authorities (Members)
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the names of the members of (a) Warrenpoint harbour authority and (b) Belfast harbour commissioners ; and if he will identify with which user firms of these harbours each of those persons are associated.
Mr. Needham : The members of Warrenpoint harbour authority and Belfast harbour commissioners are :
Warrenpoint harbour authority Member |User firm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. J. Armstrong (Chairman) | - B. Campbell | - S. Fearon | - E. Gaynor |Cawoods of Northern Ireland Ltd. Q. Goldie | - E. Haughey | - Councillor J. V. McCart | - Miss H. E. Roulston | - J. Wright | -
Belfast harbour commissioners Member |User firm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Moreland (Chairman) | - R. Barnett (Deputy Chairman) |W. and R. Barnett Ltd. Councillor Mrs. M. Clarke | - T. R. Corry |J. P. Corry Ltd. F. Cushnahan | - G. R. Irwin | - Mrs. C. M. Kennedy | - K. Lagan |Lagan Holdings Ltd. S. McVeigh | - F. D. Tughan | -
Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the annual salary of the part-time chairman of the Northern Ireland tourist board.
Mr. Needham : The salary paid to the chairman of the Northern Ireland tourist board is £22,195 per annum.
Forestry Production
Mr. John. D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals he has to increase forestry production in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hanley : The current timber production by the Forest Service in Northern Ireland is about 200,000 m per annum. This is projected to increase to 250,000 m per annum by the end of the decade.
Electricity Supply
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions during each year since 1986 a loss of electricity supply has been experienced in each district council area in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Needham : Northern Ireland Electricity does not hold information on electricity supply interruptions by district council area.
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals there are to improve electricity supply in (i) south Armagh and (ii) the rest of the Newry and Armagh constituency.
Mr. Needham : Northern Ireland Electricity has completed a detailed study of electricity supply in the south Down/south Armagh area and work has commenced on a £5.5 million programme to strengthen the supply system in the area.
Railway Crossings
Mr. Clifford Forsythe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many open railway level crossings, for which appropriate orders have been laid, have been converted to half-barrier crossings.
Mr. Needham : I am advised by the management of Northern Ireland Railways that, the orders to convert them from open crossings having come into effect, six automatic half-barrier crossings have been commissioned. Details are set out in the table :
6 Crossing |Date commissioned ------------------------------------------------------ Slaght |2 September 1991 Galgorm |30 September 1991 Cromore |20 December 1991 Broughdone |13 January 1992 Glarryford |20 January 1992 Killagan |27 January 1992 Note: In each case the barrier was commissioned on the same day as the order came into effect.
EMPLOYMENT
Offshore Installations (Safety)
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will introduce a licensing fee for offshore oil companies to cover or to contribute towards the cost of the health and safety inspectors in charge of offshore oil safety provisions.
Mr. Forth : I refer the hon. and learned Member to the answer that I gave him on 4 February 1992, Official Report, column 117.
Data Information Systems
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what data information systems his Department has (a) agreed and (b) been consulted about with a view to taking part in ; what are the criteria for inclusion in such systems ; whether they will be linked to (i) the police national computer and (ii) other computer systems ; what data protection provisions apply to them ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : The Employment Department group has a number of computer systems, many of which are small. The EDG's systems are registered under, and fully comply with, the Data Protection Act, which compels the recording of all sources and disclosures of data. None of them has links with the police national computer and few have links outside the EDG.
The criteria for participation in computer systems which require links with those in other organisations are legality, business need and priority. The EDG uses computer systems for financial management and payments. For example, payment reconciliation information is received by tape from HMSO, salaries are paid using links to the bankers automated clearing service and in the Employment Service there are tape links between the benefit-related payments system, and its successor employment service payments, and the Department of Social Security's national insurance recording system and giro reconciliation systems. In the Health and Safety Executive, terminal access to some of its systems is provided to other organisations, and vice versa, where there are joint responsibilities--for example, with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for pesticide information. Statistical information is supplied to meet legislative requirements, and to external bodies. A variety of data on employment-linked issues is made available.
Significant systems on which the EDG is involved in discussions are the inter-department business register, which would hold a register of employers, and an inter-departmental alert scheme for toxic substances. The proposed Employment Service local office system is planned to have links to exchange client data with the national unemployment benefit system, which is operated by the Employment Service as the paying agent on behalf of the Department of Social Security.
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Travel-to-interview Scheme
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the regional distribution of uptake and costs of the travel-to-interview scheme for 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service executive agency are the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
Cash Limits
Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proposals he has for changes to his Department's cash limits or running costs limits for 1991-92.
Mr. Howard : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made : the cash limit for class VI, vote 1--programmes and central services--will be reduced by £8,730,000 from £2,438,307,000 to £2,429,577,000. There are a number of changes to reallocate provision within the vote. They mainly reflect changes in demand for various programmes and are as follows : a £17,500,000 increase for the small firms loan guarantee scheme ; a £13,000,000 increase for the technical and vocational education initiative ; a £13,500,000 increase for youth training ; a £5,500,000 increase for expenditure on the national records of achievement ; an increase of £4,514,000 for working capital loans made to training and enterprise councils for youth training, employment training, the enterprise allowance scheme and employment action and offset by receipts on these loans ; an increase of £4,500,000 on capital expenditure ; decreased receipts of £2,200, 000 from the small-firms loan guarantee scheme ; an increase of £1, 500,000 for the training credits for young people pilot scheme ; and increase of £9,659,000 running costs partially met by transfers from other votes within the group and increased receipts from the national insurance fund ; a £59,773,000 decrease in provision for employment training ; a £16,321,000 decrease in provision for the local initiative fund ; a decrease of £12,644,000 in the contribution from the Welsh Office, class XVI, vote 4, in respect of the cost of services in Wales ; and a £5,000,000 decrease in provision for business and enterprise support. The decrease in the cash limit on this vote more than offsets an increase of £2,000,000 on class VI, vote 3.
The cash limit for class VI, vote 2--Employment Service--will be increased by a token £1,000 from £488,880,000 to £488,881,000. This is the net result of an increase of £24,630,000 in running costs, mainly in connection with the administration of unemployment benefit payments ; an increase of £5,348,000 for capital expenditure, also mainly in connection with administering unemployment benefit payments ; a net decrease of £1,797,000 in programme provision, which includes £200,000 provision for a pilot scheme to assist lone parents to return to work ; increased receipts of £27,532,000 from the Department of Social Security--class XI, vote 4--and other minor changes, mainly in connection with the ES revenue generation scheme. The cash limit for class VI, vote 3--Health and Safety Commission and Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service--will be increased by £339,000 from £178,806,000
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to £179,145,000. This increase is offset by a reduction of the cash limit on class VI, vote 1. The increase is the net result of an increase of £2,000,000 from vote 1 for capital expenditure ; increased receipts of £451,000 from the Department of Transport--class VII, vote 2--for the railways inspectorate work carried out by the Health and Safety Executive ; and transfer of running costs of £1,150,000 from the Health and Safety Executive and £60,000 from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to the Department of Employment--vote 1.The running costs limit for the Department of Employment--votes 1 and 2-- will be increased by £34,289,000 from £1,102,424,000 to £1,136, 713,000. The running costs limit for the Health and Safety Commission and Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service--vote 3--will be decreased by £1,210,000 from £153,023,000 to £151,813,000. Those increases are either offset as described above or charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Loan Guarantee Scheme
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the workings of the loan guarantee scheme ; and what amendments have been made in its operation since it was introduced.
Mr. Forth : The loan guarantee scheme was introduced to assist viable small firms which are unable to raise conventional finance due to lack of security or track record. By providing a 70 per cent. guarantee--85 per cent. in inner-city task force areas--the scheme encourages banks and other financial institutions to lend where they would normally be unable to do so.
In return for the guarantee the Department charges the borrower an annual premium of 2.5 per cent.--2 per cent. in inner-city task force areas--of the guaranteed portion of the outstanding loan.
Since the scheme began in June 1981 the major changes affecting the scheme have been :
1984
Premium charge increased from an initial 3 per cent. to 5 per cent. per year on the guaranteed portion of the loan.
1985
Administrative responsibility for the scheme moved from Department of Trade and Industry to Department of Employment.
1986
Premium charge reduced from 5 per cent. to 2.5 per cent. per year on the guaranteed portion of the loan.
1988
Simplified arrangements introduced for loans of £15,000 or less. 85 per cent. guarantee for businesses in Inner City Task Force areas introduced.
1990
Premium percentage reduced to 2 per cent. for those businesses in Inner City Task Force Areas.
Agriculture and horticulture became business activities eligible for Scheme assistance.
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