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Employment Statistics
Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many civil servants are responsible in his Department (a) part time and (b) full time for (i) film, (ii) publishing, (iii) video, (iv) the record industry and (v) the press.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 10 March 1992] : There are nine civil servants in my Department with full-time responsibility for issues relating to film and video.
For the other sectors there are no staff with specific responsibility, but the Department's market intelligence unit handles issues relating to most individual industries and market sectors.
CFCs
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the quantity of chlorofluorocarbons exported from the United Kingdom in 1991.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 10 March 1992] : This information is not published, for reasons of commercial confidentiality.
British Technology Group
Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what are the Government's plans for the sale of the British Technology Group.
Mr. Lilley [pursuant to the reply, 4 March 1992, columns 183-84] : I am pleased to announce that an agreement for the sale of British Technology Group was entered into today, 11 March, following negotiations between Government and a management-led consortium. The initial proceeds will be £27.75 million.
The consortium represents a balance between financial institutions, individuals, and organisations. The lead investor is CIN Venture Managers Limited (CIN Ven) the second largest European venture capital house. (CIN Ven
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manage the unquoted securities portfolios of the pension funds of British Coal, British Rail and Barclays Bank). The consortium members include 10 other financial institutions, BTG management and staff, and up to 13 United Kingdom universities, under the aegis of the CVCP (the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals). A holding company has been formed to purchase the shares. Management and staff will participate in the company both directly, through individually subscribing for shares, and indirectly, through an employee share trust which will acquire up to 26 per cent. of the share capital. Apart from the trust, no individual member of the consortium will own more than 15 per cent. of the voting rights in the holding company. The consortium was selected as the preferred purchaser following a two-stage competitive bidding process against a number of criteria, which arose from the objectives for the sale of maximising proceeds consistent with a good prospect for the continuation of BTG's technology transfer activities. The Government are convinced that the consortium offers the best prospect that BTG's present activities will be continued as an independent organisation.The proceeds of the sale will be made up from two elements. The initial proceeds will be :
|£ million
----------------------------------------------------------------
Initial consideration |14.25
Special dividend to be paid on completion |12.00
Dividend paid in February in respect of NEB |1.50
|-------
Total |27.75
The initial consideration is dependent on certain working capital requirements being met at completion, which is due to take place on 31 March 1992 provided that certain conditions of the type commonly found in share purchase agreements are fulfilled by that date. Future proceeds will arise if over the next five years the business performs at a level in excess of the net revenues forecast by BTG management in its business plan. The Government will be entitled to 60 per cent. (less tax) of the sum by which aggregate net revenues exceed the target which has been agreed with the purchaser. Net revenues principally comprise the revenues from licences which accrue to the company less the payments which are made to inventors from those licence income streams. Further proceeds may also arise from clawback on the proceeds of sale of real property.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Vagrancy Act Prosecutions
Mr. Caborn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted (i) of begging and (ii) sleeping out in north Yorkshire in 1979 and each year since then.
Mr. John Patten : The information for North Yorkshire police force area for the years 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 (which is provisional) is given in the table. To produce further information for the other years requested would involve disproportionate cost.
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Number of persons prosecuted and convicted of begging and sleeping out
offences under the Vagrancy Act 1824 in the North Yorkshire police
force area 1979 to 1990<1>
Begging Sleeping out
Year |Prosecutions|Convictions |Prosecutions|Convictions
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |1 |- |1 |1
1981 |1 |1 |- |-
1983 |- |- |- |-
1985 |2 |2 |2 |2
1987 |5 |5 |1 |1
1988 |3 |3 |1 |1
1989 |1 |1 |- |-
1990<1> |2 |2 |- |-
<1> Provisional.
Ethnic Minority Grants
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state, for England and Wales, the total expenditure under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966, for each year since 1982, identifying separately expenditure by training and enterprise councils in ethnic minority grants ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The total amount of section 11 grant paid to local authorities in each financial year between 1982-83 and 1990-91 was as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------
1982-83 |60.8
1983-84 |76.2
1984-85 |76.3
1985-86 |63.4
1986-87 |102.2
1987-88 |93
1988-89 |88.8
1989-90 |114.8
1990-91 |135.5
The figure for 1991-92 is not yet available. The new, separate, ethnic minority grant, under which funds will be paid by this Department to TECs to support projects undertaken by voluntary organisations, comes into effect from 1 April 1992.
PC Seymour
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the result of an appeal by former police constable Seymour which took place on 12 and 13 December in relation to events which took place in 1988 in Brixton.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. Friend has allowed Mr. Seymour's appeal against finding. The parties to the appeal were notified by letter on 28 February.
Community Charge
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) to what extent the community charge court workload has led to (a) delay in processing general criminal court business, (b) the postponement of magistrates court hearings and (c) the arrangement of extra court sittings in each petty session division in England and Wales ;
(2) what assessment has been made of the additional costs to the magistrates court system caused by the processing of community charge summonses in England and Wales.
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Mr. John Patten : It is not possible to make an overall assessment of the possible impact of community charge enforcement proceedings on delays in criminal proceedings, which are the product of the interplay of many factors, especially since in some areas additional sittings have been arranged to accommodate liability order applications. Neither the number of such additional sittings nor the number of postponed sittings is, however, collected. It follows that it is not possible to calculate the extent to which the total estimated costs of community charge enforcement proceedings between 1 April 1990 and 31 December 1991 of £6.2 million represent additional costs.
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community charge summonses have been withdrawn in England and Wales for the latest date for which figures are available ; and how many are currently outstanding.
Mr. John Patten : This information is not collected centrally.
Prison Catering
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give his latest estimate for the annual wage and food costs in the catering service at (a) Her Majesty's prison, Durham and (b) Her Majesty's prison, Belmarsh and state whether the catering service expenditure at either prison is likely to exceed the projected annual budget for the current financial year.
Mrs. Rumbold [holding answer 10 March 1992] : The estimated expenditure on wage and food costs in the catering service at Her Majesty's prison Durham for the financial year 1991-92 is :
|£
-------------------------------------
Prison service staff |161,000
Inmates |12,000
Victualling |363,000
|-------
Total |536,000
The catering service for Her Majesty's prison Belmarsh is supplied by contract, the details of which are confidential for commercial reasons. The estimated victualling costs in addition to the contract costs are £279,000 for the financial year 1991-92.
The total cost of the catering service is not separately identified in each establishment's budget. Moreover, victualling costs are on a per capita basis and thus vary depending on the size of the inmate population.
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Prison Service Review
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has yet received the report of Sir Raymond Lygo's review of the management of the Prison Service.
Mr. Kenneth Baker [pursuant to his reply, 16 December 1991, col. 13] : Sir Raymond Lygo submitted to me a report, published on 16 December 1991, which provided a cogent analysis of the problems of the management of the Prison Service in England and Wales, and offered a wide- ranging and coherent set of recommendations for tackling them. I am indebted to Sir Raymond, and to Lord Rayner who assisted in producing the report, for the speed and thoroughness with which the review was carried out. I am grateful for the wide range of comments on the report which have been received from both within and outside the Service--including from Lord Justice Woolf and His Honour Judge Tumim, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons. I was impressed by the general level of support for the great majority of Sir Raymond's recommendations.
The central recommendation in Sir Raymond's report is for the Prison Service to move to executive agency status under the "next steps" initiative. I have concluded that this is indeed the way forward for the Prison Service and I intend that the service should become an agency as from 1 April 1993. Consultations with the trade unions and other interested parties will begin shortly.
In line with Sir Raymond's recommendations, I intend to create a supervisory board, which would have responsibility for advising the Home Secretary on strategic, policy and resource questions affecting the service. I believe that the supervisory board should be chaired by the Home Office Minister responsible for prison matters. I do not share Sir Raymond's view that there is a role for a part-time non-executive chairman to head the management board. The chief executive, who will be appointed by open competition, and who will chair the management board, will be directly accountable to the Home Secretary.
Sir Raymond's other recommendations cover a wide range of personnel and management issues ; they will be followed up appropriately in the coming months. I strongly endorse his recommendation that the Prison Service should be prepared to recruit from outside to management posts at headquarters and establishments, and expect to see that objective progressed vigorously.
One recommendation to which I am not attracted is the extension of the wearing of uniform to all governors in establishments. I share the concerns expressed by a number of commentators about the impact that would have on the future direction of the service. I await with interest the recommendations of the current internal review on modes of dress in the service.
Sir Raymond's important report merits a vigorous and decisive response. I believe that the move of the Prison Service to executive agency status, with the other measures which I have announced, will provide the right framework for placing the management of the service on a more professional footing, providing the most positive environment for staff to work in and, above all, ensuring the delivery of an improved service both to the public and to those held in custody.
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Solicitors' Fees
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will refer the question of fixed fees for solicitors at magistrates courts to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice.
The Attorney-General : I have been asked to reply.
No. Fee structures are a matter for consultation with the legal professions. The Royal Commission is considering the question of standard fees in so far as it affects subjects within its remit, and has agreed to accept a submission from the Law Society. The Royal Commission's recommendations and any consequent changes to fee structures will be considered in due course.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
INFO 92
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Chairman of the Information Committee if he will make INFO 92 available to hon. Members and their staff.
Sir Fergus Montgomery : INFO 92 is a factual and bibliographical database on progress achieved towards the single market in line with the European Commission's White Paper on the implementation of measures for completing the internal market. The Library expects to have online access to this database shortly. It may also be available on CD-ROM disk. If hon. Members wished to use it in their offices they would have to take out their own contract with one of the online hosts for which there would be a charge.
EMPLOYMENT
Jobcentre, Burnley
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the cost of the proposed removal of Burnley jobcentre ; and what will happen to the existing furniture and equipment ;
(2) what representations and consultations he has received regarding the proposed removal of Burnley jobcentre ; and if he will make a statement.
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.
Industrial Tribunals
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give his initial estimate of the number of applications to industrial tribunals for the years 1990-91 and for the year 1991-92, the number of tribunals actually registered for 1990-91 and the most up to date figures for the year 1991-92, the original allocation for running costs in both these years and the final total.
Mr. Forth : The figures are as follows :
|1990-91 |1991-92
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Applications registered |43,243 |<1>61,762
Cases heard |11,864 |<2>13,344
Original allocation |£11,402,160|£12,320,232
Total running cost expenditure |£12,222,824
<1> (to end of February).
<2> (to end of January).
The total running cost expenditure for the industrial tribunals in 1991-92 will not be known until the end of the current financial year.
Youth Training
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state for Great Britain as a whole, and separately for each region, the number of trainees
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entering youth training, both in total, and disaggregated by employee and trainee status, for each quarter between April 1991 and the latest available date ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Jackson : Information about the number of entrants is given in the following table. A breakdown by employed and trainee status is not available.
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Youth Training Starts with Training Providers 1991-92: Provisional Estimates<1>
Region |QTR 1 |QTR 2 |QTR 3
|(1 April-23 June) |(24 June-15 September) |(16 September-5 January)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South East |5,200 |11,200 |10,500
London |3,500 |5,800 |5,200
South West |2,400 |6,900 |6,700
West Midlands |6,400 |12,700 |6,600
East Midlands |6,100 |13,100 |8,200
Yorkshire and Humberside |8,100 |12,900 |7,300
North West |10,100 |19,400 |14,200
Northern |5,400 |9,200 |6,000
Wales |4,000 |6,200 |5,600
|--- |--- |---
England and Wales |51,400 |97,300 |70,300
Source: Osmosis.
<1> Figure subject to adjustment.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state for Great Britain as a whole, and separately for each region, the number of trainees entering youth training, who, under the terms of the training and enterprise councils operating agreement, are in the guarantee and extended guarantee groups for each quarter between April 1986 and the latest available date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is not available.
TECs
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide a list of the qualifications against which training and enterprise councils may claim an output-related funding bonus in youth training and employment training, and the numbers of output bonuses claimed against each qualification ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : There are over 700 vocational qualifications which are accepted by the Employment Department in payments to TECs for output- related funding (ORF) in youth training and employment training. I have arranged for a copy of the January 1992 edition of the Department's listings of acceptable vocational qualifications to be placed in the Library. In addition to these vocational qualifications, TECs may in some cases claim for the achievement of GCSEs, A/S levels and A levels.
Figures for ORF payments against individual vocational qualifications are not collected, and it would not be cost effective to do so. Available figures are for payments by national vocational qualification (NVQ) (or equivalent) level. Payments for the numbers of trainees achieving NVQs on ET and YT in England and Wales during the 1991-92 financial year to 5 January 1992 are given in the following table.
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Numbers of payments to TECs for trainees in England and Wales
achieving national vocational qualifications
(1 April 1991 to 5 January 1992)
|Number
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Youth training (including credits)
NVQ level 1 |3,015
NVQ level 2 |34,221
NVQ level 3 or above |10,262
Employment training
NVQ level 1 or 2 |19,060
NVQ level 3 or 4 |1,293
NVQ level 2 (for skills shortage trainees and labour
market returners who also gain employment) |555
NVQ level 3 or 4 (for skills shortage trainees and
labour market returners who also gain employment) |111
Source: TEC invoice.
Employment Training
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state for Great Britain as a whole, and separately for each region, the number of people entering employment training, both in total and disaggregated by employee and training status for each quarter between 1988 and the latest available date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : The information is not available as requested. Information about the number of employment training entrants since 1988 is given in the following table. Information about the employment status of people entering employment training is not collected centrally. The number of trainees with employment status has risen since the programme began and it is estimated that currently about 3 per cent. of all those in training have employed status. Those trainees without employed status have trainee status.
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Employment Training
Number of Entrants 1988-89-1989-90
1988-89 1989-90
|SEPT |Quarter 3|Quarter 4|Quarter 1|Quarter 2|Quarter 3|Quarter 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South East |1,500 |5,700 |6,800 |6,400 |9,700 |6,400 |8,700
London |2,500 |8,500 |11,000 |8,800 |10,500 |9,500 |12,500
South West |1,100 |5,500 |6,900 |5,600 |5,000 |4,900 |6,500
West Midlands |2,500 |10,800 |14,300 |11,200 |11,200 |10,400 |13,400
East Midlands |1,800 |7,800 |9,700 |8,300 |8,900 |7,600 |9,400
Yorkshire and Humberside |3,000 |14,400 |16,900 |13,500 |12,800 |13,100 |15,500
North West |3,000 |14,700 |19,000 |16,900 |16,100 |14,600 |18,400
Northern |2,400 |9,600 |13,100 |11,500 |11,300 |9,600 |12,300
Wales |1,400 |6,700 |9,800 |7,900 |8,600 |7,200 |9,100
Scotland |2,300 |11,400 |14,800 |13,100 |13,500 |13,300 |15,500
Great Britain |21,500 |95,000 |122,200 |103,200 |107,600 |98,000 |121,800
Source: ET Telephone Census.
Employment Training
Number of Entrants 1990-91-1991-92
1990-91 1991-92 (Provisional estimates)
|Quarter 1 |Quarter 2 |Quarter 3
|(1 April- |(24 June- |(16 September-
|23 June) |15 September) |5 January)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South East |24,500 |3,800 |5,200 |6,400
London |32,300 |4,300 |5,900 |10,400
South West |18,600 |2,300 |3,200 |4,400
West Midlands |32,100 |4,100 |6,700 |10,500
East Midlands |22,400 |3,400 |4,700 |7,400
Yorkshire and Humberside |39,800 |7,500 |8,900 |13,300
North West |46,100 |8,500 |10,500 |15,400
Northern |34,600 |5,300 |6,200 |8,500
Wales |22,900 |3,900 |5,100 |7,100
Scotland |47,700 |- |- |-
TNPU<1> |68,300 |- |- |-
Great Britain<2>
England and Wales |389,200 |43,100 |56,400 |83,500
<1>TECs and National Providers. Figures included in appropriate region in 1991-92.
<2>Information not available for Scotland for 1991-92.
Source: OSMOSIS.
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state for Great Britain as a whole, and for each region the number of trainees entering employment training who, under the terms of the training and enterprise councils operating agreement, are in the aim and guarantee groups for each quarter between 1988 and the latest available date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : As the information requested is contained in a number of tables I will write to the hon. Member.
Tourism
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement about Government policy on tourism in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Howard : I have published today, along with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, "Tourism in the UK--Realising the Potential". I have placed a copy in the Library.
The document sets out the extent of the Government's support for the tourism industry, both financially and in creating an environment in which the industry can prosper. It describes activities and initiatives that directly or indirectly benefit tourism. It is an impressive record, which features the work of most Government Departments.
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The document also announces a package of further measures to help the industry. They include :A major new foreign language initiative to improve the quality of service that the tourism industry can offer foreign visitors. The setting of standards for the times that visitors from abroad should expect to wait before being seen by a United Kingdom immigration officer.
Consultation on possible changes to the liquor licensing laws in England and Wales which would provide for a system of children's certificates ; for a new category of liquor licence specifically for cafe type premises ; and possibly for other reforms, in order to make it easier for families to eat and drink together.
Research into how the system of central Government grants to local authorities can best take account of the costs of serving day visitors.
Measures to improve coach parking in London.
The designation of 1993 as Industrial Heritage Year.
A proposal by the United Kingdom Government to the European Commission for an initiative to ensure that all member states co-operate to give people with disabilities information on the tourist facilities available to them and to exchange best practice on this subject.
Employment Service
Mr. Stern : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what the targets for the Employment Service will be in 1992-93.
Mr. Jackson : Targets for the Employment Service in 1992-93 will be announced later in the year.
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HEALTH
Plasma
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will permit the Bio Products Laboratory to offer for sale to national health service hospitals 8SM high purity factor VIII produced from plasma that has neither been tested nor screened for (a) hepatitis C or (b) ALT-- alanine aminotransferase.
Mr. Dorrell : The Bio Products Laboratory markets products in accordance with the requirements of the United Kingdom licensing authority and of the European Community. These requirements include screening for HCV antibody, which demonstrates the presence of Hepatitis C.
ALT testing in this country has been considered by experts who advised us that it is unnecessary. There is currently no European Community requirement for ALT testing.
Hospital Closures
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the provision of small hospital units in areas where former hospitals have been closed, since 1979.
Mr. Dorrell : The reforms of the NHS have centred upon the importance of establishing the role of district and family health authorities as the purchasers of hospital, community health and primary care services and prevention. They have important functions in translating patients' needs and concerns into improved services. One of the main aims of the reforms is to bring all those involved in securing and delivering health care services closer together so that they are more aware of the needs and wishes of patients, including those concerning the location of facilities, and can therefore be more responsive to them.
Consultants
Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will hold discussions with the Trent regional health authority about the ratio of male to female consultants employed by the region.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department, through the Opportunty 2000 scheme launched by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, has set the NHS the goal of improving the ratio of male to female consultants to four to one by 1994. Regional health authorities will be required to monitor appointments procedures and to ensure that all appointments committees receive equal opportunities training. The Department will shortly be scrutinising Trent's action plan for meeting all the goals set by Opportunity 2000 and will contine to hold discussions with the authority about the action to be taken to improve opportunities for women in medicine.
GP Prescriptions
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on the difference between numbers of general practitioner prescriptions issued and those filled.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not collected centrally.
Unplanned Pregnancies and Sex Education
Mrs. Heal : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what provisions exist for advising on unplanned pregnancies for the under-25s ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the provisions for the teaching of sex education for young people.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Long-standing guidance to the NHS draws attention to the need for separate, informal family planning services for young people, with staff experienced in dealing with the particular needs of this group and their problems. New guidelines on family planning service provision, issued by the NHS management executive in January, remind health authorities of the special needs of young people and draw on the findings of a study funded by the Department into the family planning and counselling needs of young people. NHS provision in this area is complemented by the work of a number of voluntary organisations, which receive financial support from public funds, such as the Family Planning Association and Brook Advisory Centres. These organisations produce a range of information material for young people. The provision of sex education in schools is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science.
Dentists
Mrs. Heal : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the figures from 1979 to 1992 inclusive for the amount collected by dentists for writing out prescriptions in England.
Mr. Dorrell : Dentists have been able to claim such a fee, in specified circumstances, since the introduction of the dental contract on 1 October 1990. The amount received by dentists in England and Wales for issuing prescriptions was as follows : 1990--£39,639 (1 October 1990 to 31 December 1990)
1991--£325,607 (1 January 1991 to 31 December 1991)
Figures for England only are not available.
Mrs. Heal : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the details of circumstancess under which dentists may charge for writing out a prescription.
Mr. Dorrell : A dentist may claim a fee for issuing a prescription where no other treatment is being given and no other fees are being claimed in a particular course of treatment. A dentist may, however, also claim a fee for a prescription issued when a patient has been visited at home and a claim is made for the associated fee for a domiciliary visit, or when the dentist has returned to and re-opened the surgery and a claim is made for the associated recalled attendance fee.
Southern Derbyshire Health Authority
Mrs. Currie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give, for the Southern Derbyshire health authority, for the years 1986-87 and 1991-92 (estimate) (a) the number of nurses employed, (b) the number of doctors employed, (c) the number of professions ancillary to medicine and (d) the total staffing.
Mr. Dorrell : The information is in the table :
Column 571
Mrs. Currie : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the level of spending in Southern Derbyshire health authority for the years 1986-87 and 1991-92 (estimated), showing the rate of growth in cash and real terms.
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