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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 4 June 1992
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Cash Limits
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage whether any changes will be made to his Department's cash limit and running costs limit for 1992-93.
Mr. Mellor : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made. The running cost limit for class XII, vote 4 of £2,410,000 will be increased by £3,164,000 to £5,574,000. The running cost limit for class VIII, vote 6, will be £8,356,000 as before on the transfer of responsibility for that vote from the Department of the Environment to the Department of National Heritage. The total running cost limit therefore becomes £13,930,000.
The increase gives effect to the creation of the new Department of National Heritage. It takes provisions in respect of the functions transferred from the Office of Arts and Libraries, the Department of the Environment, the Home Office, the Department of Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education to form the new Department. The increase will be met by payments from these Departments and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Football Grounds
Mr. Moss : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if there is to be a reconsideration of the policy towards the all-seating requirement at football matches.
Mr. Mellor : The Government keep under continual scrutiny the safety of sports grounds. We continue to support the principles of improved spectator safety and comfort which were set out by Lord Justice Taylor in his final report on the Hillsborough stadium disaster. In recent months we have been examining the all-seating requirement for Football League grounds in the context of the representations that have been made and our concern to ensure the highest standards of safety given all the factors involved, including the size of particular grounds, league status and the financial health of the clubs concerned. However, the safety of our sports grounds must remain paramount.
We have decided that it would be wrong to review either the principle or the timetable for all seating at first division grounds in the Football League, the new premier league. It is essential that our top clubs meet the standards necessary to compete in Europe and make full use of the resources available to them to provide grounds of which we can all be proud. We also remain firmly committed to the principle of all-seating for the great majority of second division clubs.
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However, there may be equally compelling reasons not to proceed with an all-seating requirement at all third and fourth division clubs in the Football League. We also need to consider the position of those second division clubs with very low average attendances. Further representations are being invited from a number of interested organisations to assist me in finalising our re-examination of these and related issues. I have set a four-week period for the receipt of these further views and I shall announce my conclusions speedily thereafter.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Scotland, will make a separate statement about the position in Scotland.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Postgraduate Student Awards
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will increase the amount of money available to research councils and similar bodies for funding postgraduate student awards.
Mr. Waldegrave : The five research councils, the Royal Society and the Fellowship of Engineering receive substantial funding through the science budget to develop and maintain a world competitive United Kingdom science base. Within the resources available to them, the research councils are free to determine the numbers of postgraduate awards they make and the level of tax-free maintenance grant paid to students.
Disabled Employees
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what percentage of the total work force of the civil service are registered as disabled ; what steps he is taking to encourage the employment of disabled people within the civil service ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waldegrave : A total of 1.4 per cent. of civil servants are registered as disabled. This is above the proportion--1.2 per cent.--of people registered disabled in the work force as a whole. In addition, the civil service employs many people with disabilities who have chosen not to register. Progress on the employment of people with disabilities in the civil service is reported on annually in the OMCS publication "Independent", copies of which are placed in the Library of the House.
My Department issues a revised code of practice on the employment of people with disabilities in the civil service in 1990 and will continue to develop and spread best practice and to monitor progress. A recent initiative is the development by the Civil Service college of positive action training for staff with disabilities.
Cash Limits
Mr. Knapman : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if there are any proposals to change the 1992-93 cash limit for the Office of the Minister for the Civil Service.
Mr. Waldegrave : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate the cash limit for the Office of the Minister for the Civil Service--class XIX, vote 1--will be increased by £436,000 from £38,023,000 to £38,459,000. The Department's running costs limit will be increased by £3,759,000 from £45,339,000 to £49,098,000.
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The increase is required to reflect the machinery of government changes announced after the general election and to cover the increased costs of physical security. The latter will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.Executive Agencies
Mr. French : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what targets have been set for his Department's executive agencies in 1992-93.
Mr. Waldegrave : The Cabinet Office (Office of the Minister for the Civil Service) has three executive agencies ; the Civil Service college, the Civil Service Occupational Health Service and Recruitment and Assessment Services. The primary target for each agency is to cover its costs in trading terms from income. In addition, the following key targets have been set for each agency in 1992-93.
Civil Service College
(i) To earn £157,000 from consultancy.
(ii) To attract amongst the students from the Civil Service--6,050 at Grade 7 or above, and 2,400 below Grade 7 who are in development schemes.
(iii) To attract 2,100 students for externally validated qualifications.
(iv) To attract 550 students from the private sector.
(v) To earn 79 per cent. of course evaluations in the two highest categories.
There is also a value-for-money target whereby the rating of college services as revealed by a detailed survey of the views of students must increase over the five-year period to 1995 by 10 per cent. more than the real cost of the college's output.
Civil Service Occupational Health Service
(i) To achieve a cost per productive professional day (including administrative and overhead costs) of £267 or less.
(ii) To achieve an average cost per case referral of £24 or less. (iii) To earn 78 per cent. of customer post-service evaluations in the two highest categories.
(iv) To turn round within 40 days 65 per cent. of case referrals where additional information is sougth and within 15 days 87 per cent. of referrals where no additional information is sought. Recruitment and Assessment Services
(i) To achieve volumes of business of 470 comprehensive recruitment schemes, 180 partial recruitment schemes and 1,000 consultancy days. (ii) To achieve income of £565,000 from the sale and marketing of biodata and tests, £160,000 from publicity services and £60,000 from Helpline' and related ad hoc services.
(iii) To increase productivity by 15 per cent. over forecast 1991-92 levels.
(iv) To improve the quality of service to recruitment customers and achieve the following ratings in customer sign off
reports--Overall satisfaction 86 per cent.--Administration 81 per cent.
ENVIRONMENT
Competitive Training
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which responsibilities have been transferred from the Department of the Environment to the Department of National Heritage in relation to compulsory competitive tendering ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Howard : Responsibility for sport, including policy on compulsory competitive tendering for the management of sports and leisure facilities, was transferred from my Department to the Department of Education and Science in November 1990, and thence to the Department of National Heritage when it was established, in April 1992. My Department retains responsibility for compulsory competitive tendering generally and for implementation of the relevant legislation.
Press and Public Relations
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give the total expenditure by his Department on press and public relations in 1979-80 and in each following year up to and including 1991-92 ; and if he will give an estimate for 1992-93 ; (2) if he will give separate figures for the spending by his Department on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year up to and including 1991-92 ; and what is his latest estimate for 1992-93.
Mr. Howard : The information in respect of paid publicity and associated staff costs for my Department (including agencies) is :
|£ million
------------------------------
1985-86 |3.5
1986-87 |4.2
1987-88 |4.8
1988-89 |6.9
1989-90 |31.5
1990-91 |7.5
1991-92 |8.1
1992-93 |<1>17.7
<1> Estimate.
Expenditure is not broken down between different publicity media. Information relating to financial years 1979-80 to 1984-85 inclusive is not readily available and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the English local authorities in receipt of part of the £15 million allocation of supplementary credit approvals for recycling investment during 1992-93 and the total amount allocated to each authority.
Mr. Maclean : The information requested is set out in the table :
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New Housing
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to enable local authorities to play a more active role in the facilitation of the building of new homes by housing associations.
Mr. Baldry : My Department has recently issued a consultation paper which includes proposals aimed at co-ordinating decisions on the initial allocations of Housing Corporation funding with local authorities' housing strategies. The paper builds on authorities' role as enablers, which involves facilitating the development of social housing by housing associations or other providers, for example by the use of planning powers, or by providing land for housing. It proposes a framework for discussions on housing needs, and the allocation of resources to meet these needs. These discussions will involve housing authorities ; the regional offices of the Housing Corporation, who are the main providers of public funding for new social housing ; and the regional offices of my Department.
Copies of the consultation paper, which is entitled "The Development of the Local Authority Housing Investment Programme Process", are in the Library ; responses are invited by 26 June.
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Coastal and Marine Planning
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans have been made to establish a governmental body responsible for the strategic and co-ordinated approach to the planning and regulation of activities in the coastal and marine environment.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Ceredigion and Pembroke North on 14 May [ Official Report, column 197].
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will re-establish grants for energy conservation in the domestic sector.
Mr. Maclean : The Department provides grants to householders on low incomes for energy efficiency measures through the home energy efficiency scheme. Finance to encourage energy efficiency measures in housing is also made available through house renovation grants and minor works assistance, local authorities' council housing repair and improvement programmes, the green house demonstration programme and estate action.
The Energy Savings Trust announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 13 May Official Report, column 136, is also expected to make grants available to improve energy efficiency. Separate arrangements for grants to householders on low incomes for energy efficiency measures apply in Northern Ireland and are administered by the Department of Economic Development.
Opencast Mining, Baddesley Ensor
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the report of the public inquiry into the application for an opencast coal mine at Baddesley Ensor in north Warwickshire to be published.
Mr. Baldry : The inspector's report is being considered, and will be published as soon as a decision has been issued. I shall ensure that the hon. Member is sent a copy at the same time.
Ozone-destroying Chemicals
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take to ensure that the production of all ozone-destroying chemicals such as CFCs, HFCs, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and halons will be stopped ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Montreal Protocol, which phases out the production and supply of CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform, will be reviewed in November. The United Kingdom is co-chairing the official level negotiations towards that review. The United Kingdom Government and the EC are committed to phasing out these substances by the end of 1995 at the latest and are urging other parties to the protocol to do the same. Both United Kingdom CFC producers will cease production no later than that date. HFCs do not deplete ozone and cannot, therefore be controlled by the protocol.
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Council Tax
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to start publication of council tax property valuations so that appeals can begin ; and what pattern publication will follow.
Mr. Robin Squire : Valuation lists for all billing authorities will be compiled at 1 April 1993 and will be deposited at the billing authority's principal office for public inspection, as well as being available at the local valuation office. Taxpayers who wish to appeal will be able to do so after 1 April 1993.
The first council tax bills will include a notification of the band of the property. Occupiers of those properties which are exempt from the tax and who therefore would not receive a bill will be sent a separate notification of the band of the property.
Draft lists will be provided to billing authorities between 15 November and 1 December 1992 and will also be available for public inspection.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of homes have been valued by estate agents for the new council tax ; when the operation will be completed ; what is his estimate of the total cost ; and how much of this cost will be borne by central Government.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Valuation Office Agency have contracted private sector valuers to assist them with the valuation of 57 per cent. of homes in England. The contracts required the work to be completed by 31 May 1992. The cost of the contracts in England is under £18 million, entirely borne by central Government.
Cash Limits
Mrs. Roe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any changes to announce to his Department's cash limits and running costs limits for 1992-93.
Mr. Howard : Yes. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates, I propose to make the following changes ;
(i) the cash limit for Class VIII, Vote 5 (central environmental services etc.) will be reduced by £659,000 from £315,931,000 to £315, 272,000, to enable £660,000 of additional resources to be transferred to Class VIII, Vote 8 for research by her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.
(ii) the running cost limit for Class VIII, Vote 7 (Property Holdings and Central Support Services) will be reduced by £8,643,000 from £56,844,000 to £48,201,000. This is as a result of the transfer of administration costs to Class VIII, Vote 8 in respect of a part of the Directorate of Central Support Services which has been absorbed into the Department's Construction Directorate and the transfer of administration costs of Parliamentary Works staff to the House of Commons and House of Lords' Votes.
(iii) the cash limit for Class VIII, Vote 9 (Revenue Support Grant, payments of non-domestic rates, Valuation Offices services, etc. England) will be increased by £56,500,000 from £29,473,833,000 to £29,530,333,000. The increase will provide for payments of additional grant for local education authorities in respect of the extra costs associated with the teachers' pay award, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 10 February.
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As the result of these and other changes the Department's running cost limit has been increased by £500,000 from £201,116,000 to £201, 616,000.All the above changes are either claims on the Reserve or are offset elsewhere and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Council Tax
Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to lay the special grant report covering the payment of grant for the costs of preparing for the council tax.
Mr. Howard : I have today laid before the House the special grant report which provides details of the grant I propose to pay to billing authorities for their revenue costs in preparing for the council tax. The amount of grant is £85.975 million. This grant will help authorities in the smooth implementation of the council tax.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he proposes to make any change to the running cost limit on PSA Services Vote in 1992-93.
Mr. Robin Squire : Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the running cost limit for Class VIII, Vote 12 will be reduced by £33,748,000 from £50,195,000 to £16, 447,000 mainly due to the re-ordering of appropriation in aid provision between certain subheads to reflect a better classification of receipts.
Waveney district council
Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he has decided to take against Waveney district council following the issue of a notice under part I of the Local Government Act 1988 on 24 July 1991 in respect of building cleaning work.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend has given careful consideration the response which Waveney district council has made to the notice served on the authority on 24 July 1991, and has today given a direction under section 14 of the Local Government Act 1988 in respect of their building cleaning work. The effect of this direction is to preclude the authority from carrying out building cleaning work after 31 March 1993.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list (a) those authorities whose expenditure servicing capital exceeds the relevant forecast standard spending assessment for the year 1991-92, stating for each that figure, the amount actually spent and the deficit as a percentage of that sum and (b) a second, or integrated, list of those authorities likely to be in that category for the year 1992-93 together with the relevant standard spending assessment estimated expenditure and percentage deficit.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 14 May 1992] : The information requested for 1991-92 has been placed in the Library. It is not yet possible to produce comparable figures for 1992-93.
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Mortgage Rescue Schemes
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 15 May, Official Report, column 238-39, if he will make a statement following his meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders on 2 June ; and what is his latest estimate of the number of households (a) assisted to date and (b) likely to be assisted in the whole of 1992 by mortgage rescue schemes initiated by members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders as part of the package agreed in December 1991.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 3 June 1992] : Ministers met mortgage lenders yesterday to review progress on tackling repossessions. They were encouraged to hear the lenders' assessment that repossessions in 1992 will be significantly lower than they would have been without the package of measures announced by the Chancellor last December. The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that measures taken since December will save some 55,000 repossessions this year : 40,000 as a result of new procedures for dealing with arrears cases ; and 15,000 as a result of the direct payment to lenders of the mortgage interest element of income support.
The Government welcome the lenders' recognition that further efforts are necessary to tackle the arrears and repossessions problem. It agrees that lenders should continue to look at the whole range of options available for addressing this problem, including formal mortgage to rent schemes, shared equity arrangements and more generous repayment terms.
The Government continue to regard the level of repossessions as an important issue and will follow closely the progress lenders are making in tackling it.
WALES
Revenue Support Grant
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he proposes to make a statement concerning the provisional revenue support grant for the year 1993-94.
Mr. David Hunt : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave on 22 May to the hon. Member for Clwyd, North-West (Mr. Richards) at column 277.
Block Release
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) males and (b) females were on day or block release in Wales in the latest year for which figures are available.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Figures for higher education corporations, voluntary colleges, and further education institutions maintained by local education authorities are given in the following table for the year 1990- 91. Comparable information is not available for the University of Wales as students on part-time courses are not enrolled as day release or block release.
Students enrolled on
part-time day/block
release courses
|Number
----------------------
Males |19,121
Females |8,054
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Child Care
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of (a) up to two year-olds and (b) over three year-olds are currently in publicly-funded child care places in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information held centrally relates to children under 5. The numbers of publicly funded child care places in Wales at 31 March 1991 are shown in the following table :
|Full day |Sessional
|care |care
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Provided by the local authority |275 |275
Children in private or voluntary
facilities paid for by the local
authority |211 |731
|--- |---
|486 |1,006
Rate per 1,000 population aged 0-4 |2.5 |5.3
Queensferry School
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has under the heading of capital allocations to enable the replacement of Queensferry county primary school, Deeside, Clwyd, to be built by the 1993-94 financial year.
Mr. David Hunt : The statutory responsibility for the provision, repair and maintenance of school buildings rests with the local education authority. It is for Clwyd county council to determine its own priorities for capital spending between the various services from within the resources at its disposal as well as on the projects within those services in the light of its own assessment of needs.
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will visit Queensferry county primary school ;
(2) if he will meet the staff and governors of Queensferry county primary school ;
(3) if he will meet the parent teacher association of Queensferry county primary school.
Mr. David Hunt : I have no present plans to do so.
Council Tax
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to announce his proposals for the payment of grant in respect of council tax preparation costs incurred by billing authorities in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : I have today laid before the House the special grant report for 1992-93 which sets out my proposals for the payment of grant towards the revenue cost of implementing the council tax. The report sets out grant allocations to individual billing authorities and the conditions that I intend to impose on the payment of grant. A copy of the report is being sent to all local authorities in Wales today.
I have also made credit approvals available to billing authorities to cover the estimated capital cost of preparation work.
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Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether any changes will be made to the cash limits of his Department in 1992-93.
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