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Mr. David Hunt : Yes. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the cash limit for class XVI, vote 8 will be increased by £5,447,000, from £1,265,078,000 to £1,270,525, 000.
This increase allows for an additional £4,941,000 to help provide, from 1 April 1992, for the pay awards recommended by the Reports of the review bodies for nursing staff, midwives, health visitors and professions allied to medicine, and on doctors' and dentists' remuneration, as announced on 10 February 1992. The increase also covers a transfer of £506,000 from class XIII, vote 1 for the cost of Welsh patients treated in spinal injury units.
The £4,941,000 for the pay awards recommendations will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Career Development Loans
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales the total amount of money which has been allocated in career development loans in Wales in the latest year for which figures are available ; and how much has been allocated to (a) males and (b) females.
Mr. McLoughlin : I have been asked to reply. The total value of the loans issued in Wales during the year ending 31 March 1992 was £1,048,280--£655,156 for males and £393,124 for females.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Promotional Material
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what colours were used on theIndustrial Development Board's promotional material in the May edition of the German magazine, "Automobil Produktion" ; what is his policy on using the colours of the Republic of Ireland's flag in such material ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : Due to a mistake admitted by the German publisher, the colours orange, white and green were used in the IDB's promotional supplement in the German automotive magazine. Fewer than 40 copies of the magazine were distributed, and the publisher has undertaken to remove the colours and reprint the supplement at his own expense before general circulation to the German automotive industry. It is not the policy of the IDB to use the national colours of the Republic of Ireland in any of its promotional literature.
Anglo-Irish Secretariat
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the Anglo-Irish secretariat at Maryfield is operational during the present inter-party talks at Stormont ; what is its function ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : The British and Irish Governments announced at an Intergovernmental
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Conference on 27 April that no further meetings ofthe conference would be held before the week beginning27 July. As envisaged in the statement of 26 March 1991, the secretariat at Maryfield is accordingly not required for that period to discharge its normal role of servicing conference meetings provided for in article 3 of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and is not doing so.Compensation Agency
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when a business plan for the Compensation Agency will be published.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : The Compensation Agency's business plan for 1992-93 will be published today. The plan explains the agency's business and organisation and sets out assumptions about work loads and resources which underpin the plans and targets identified for the agency this year. I have made arrangements for copies to be placed in the library.
Emergency Provisions Act
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects Lord Colville's report on the operation of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991 to be available.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses today.
Consultants Fees
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total sum paid out in fees by his Department to management consultants in 1979-80 and in each following year up to and including 1991- 92 ; and what is his estimate for 1992-93.
Mr. Mates : The information for 1979-80 to 1983-84 is only available at disproportionate cost. Information for the years 1984-85 onwards is as follows :
|£
---------------------------------------
1984-85 |2,352,311
1985-86 |2,427,200
1986-87 |2,742,192
1987-88 |3,363,213
1988-89 |4,260,116
1989-90 |4,835,757
1990-91 |4,239,223
1991-92 |4,246,115
1992-93 |<1>5,368,383
<1> Estimate.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims have been made for disability living allowances and attendance allowance for each month since February.
Mr. Scott : The latest available figures for claims registered for disability living allowance were :
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|Number
-------------------------
February |59,871
March |71,084
April |51,816
|---
Total |182,771
The latest available figures for claims received for attendance allowance were :
|Number
-------------------------
February |59,871
March |71,084
April |51,816
|---
Total |182,771
Benefit Claims
Ms. Hoey : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications for social fund loans in the London borough of Lambeth were refused on the grounds of inability to pay ; and if he will show this figure as a percentage of all applications for loans in Lambeth.
Mr. Scott : The administration of the social fund is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
Respite Care
Mr. Butcher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will undertake a survey to discover the number of people who are in receipt of respite care.
Mr. Burt : I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 15 May at columns 223-24. As no distinction is made in the level of income support paid between temporary and permanent residence in a residential care or nursing home, there would be no advantage for social security purposes in collecting such data and it would not justify the cost involved.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Loyden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide further assistance to citizens advice bureaux to enable the staff to deal with applications for disability living allowance and attendance allowance.
Mr. Scott : We have worked closely with the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and other organisations of and for disabled people on the introduction of disability living allowance and disability working allowance and the new claims process for attendance allowance. As part of our continuing commitment to help staff in citizens advice bureaux provide advice and information, we have offered suggestions on the training material and guidance NACAB issued to all its CABs and provided them with free copies of the disability handbook, as well as arranging for every individual citizens advice bureaux to hold stocks of the claim packs. We have also helped to fund the purchase of the Sweet and Maxwell guide on the new disability benefits.
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Mr. Loyden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will take such action as necessary to simplify forms DLA 1(A) and DLA 2(A) relating to disability living allowance.Mr. Scott : The introduction of the new claims process for disability living allowance has been widely welcomed by disabled people and their organisations. Indeed, they were both closely involved in developing and testing the claim pack DLA 1(A). Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the effectiveness of the claim pack and are currently undertaking a review of the current draft and are making improvements where necessary to ensure that it continues to be as user-friendly as possible.
Correspondence
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Birkenhead on behalf of his constituent Mr. M. Ritchie of 11 Highfield crescent, Birkenhead, on his claim for mobility allowance.
Mr. Scott : There is no record of any correspondence from the hon. Member to Ministers concerning his constituent's claim. However, I understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the hon. Member recently wrote direct to the mobility allowance unit concerning this matter, and a reply was sent to him on 1 June 1992.
European Senior's Pass
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress has been made towards securing agreement across EC member states on the adoption of the European senior's pass.
Miss Widdecombe : It has not yet been possible to secure Communitywide agreement to the adoption of the EC over, 60s card. No member state has yet implemented the card and officials are continuing their discussions with their counterparts in the Commission and other member states in an effort to resolve outstanding problems.
Pensioners Living Overseas
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what recent discussions have been held between officials from his Department and representatives of the Australian Government concerning the uprating of pensions paid to British pensioners residing in Australia ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the recent meetings held in Canberra between representatives of the Australian Government, and officials from his Department on arrangements for the payment of pensions to British pensioners residing in Australia.
Miss Widdecombe : Officials of the Department met their counterparts from the Australian Department of Social Security in October 1991 and in March 1992 to discuss issues relating to pensions paid to United Kingdom pensioners living in Australia. In view of the substantial costs involved, the Government are unable to make any commitment, at this stage, to change their policy of not uprating pensions paid to British pensioners living in Australia.
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his Department's policy on the payment
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of pensions to British pensioners living overseas in countries with which there is no reciprocal social security agreement.Miss Widdecombe : British pensioners living abroad in countries, outside the European Community, with which the United Kingdom does not have a reciprocal social security agreement providing for annual upratings of benefit receive their state retirement pensions at the rate current when they left this country or when they became entitled if they were living abroad at the time.
Attendance Allowance
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many claims for attendance allowance on grounds of terminal illness were received in the first three months of 1992 ; how many of these claims are still outstanding ; what was the average length of time taken to process successful claims ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) how many claims for attendance allowance were received in the first three months of 1992 ; how many of these claims are still outstanding ; what was the average length of time taken to process successful claims ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : Pursuant to my reply of 12 May, at column 100, I regret that the following information was incorrect :
A total of 164,412 claims for attendance allowance were received in the first three months of this year. The number of these claims made on the grounds of terminal illness is not available.
The correct information is as follows :
A total of 185,596 claims for attendance allowance were received in the first three months of this year. The number of these claims made on the grounds of terminal illness is 21,184.
EDUCATION
Voluntary-aided Schools
Mr. Godsiff : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many applications for voluntary-aided status have been received from (a) Anglican schools, (b) Catholic schools, (c) Jewish schools and (d) Muslim schools since 1979 ; and how many applications in each category have been granted.
Mr. Forth : The complete information requested is not readily available. The following table gives the information requested in respect of applications decided since November 1988 and includes one lapsed application in respect of a Muslim school. This excludes schools formed by the amalgamation of existing voluntary schools.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
School Governors
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what efforts are being undertaken by his Department to ensure that women are granted adequate training and have equality of access to be selected as school governors.
Mr. Forth : Women have equal opportunity to become school governors and the majority of school governors--53 per cent.--are women. The same training opportunities are open to all governors.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to establish mechanisms to ensure that equal opportunities issues are taken into account as part of the school inspection strategy.
Mr. Forth : The detailed arrangements for school inspections under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 will be a matter for Her Majesty's chief inspectors for schools.
Further and Higher Education
Mr. Peter Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent academic staff are employed at (a) each institution funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council and (b) each institution funded by the Universities Funding Council ; and how many students are enrolled at each.
Mr. Forman : Numbers of full-time equivalent academic staff and students in each institution funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council are given in table G6 of the "Annual Monitoring Survey of Further and Higher Education Student :Staff Ratios--Academic Year 1989-90-- Interim Report" published by the Department of Education and Science and lodged in the Library.
Numbers of full-time and part-time academic staff and students in each institution funded by the Universities Funding Council are given in tables 14, 15 and 31 of "University Statistics 1989-90--Volume One : Students and Staff" published by the Universities' Statistical Record and lodged in the Library.
Polytechnic Staff
Mr. Peter Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the percentage change in real terms of the salaries of academic staff in polytechnics between 1979 and 1991.
Mr. Forman : The percentage change in real terms of the salaries of academic staff in polytechnics between 1979 and 1990 was 24.2 per cent. Information for 1991 is not yet available.
Mr. Peter Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time staff there were in institutions funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council, or its earlier equivalent, in 1979 and at the last count.
Mr. Forman : The Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council annual record of staff and students shows that 58,283 full-time equivalent staff were in institutions funded by the council in academic year 1990-91, the latest year for which data are available.
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The PCFC was established in 1989. Comparable data for 1979 are not available for the institutions currently funded by the PCFC.Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he has any changes to announce to cash limits on Votes within his responsibility for 1992-93.
Mr. Patten : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XI, vote 1, Schools, research and miscellaneous services, will be increased by £50,000 from £766,485,000 to £766,535,000.
The increase represents the transfer from the Home Office of £50, 000 from the Government seized assets fund for educational projects in connection with drug abuse. The increase will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
European Council
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the outcome of the meeting of the EC Education Ministers in Luxembourg on Monday 1 June.
Mr. Patten : I attended the meeting on Monday 1 June of the Council and the Ministers for Education meeting within the Council, together with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Higher Education. The Council and the Ministers adopted conclusions on the development of environmental education and open and distance learning ; and the Council adopted conclusions on the evaluation of future Community programmes concerning education and training. The Council and the Ministers discussed issues arising from the implementation of the LINGUA programme and the proposed amendment of the convention defining the statute of the European schools.
HEALTH
Home Helps
Mr. Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the provisions obliging local authority social services departments to provide home help services to all elderly people in their area who are in need of such services.
Mr. Yeo : The statutory basis for the provision of home help service to elderly people is contained in the following legislation :
Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 ;
Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 ; Section 45 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 ; Section 21 and Schedule 8 of the National Health Service Act 1977.
Dentists
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Sir T. Arnold) on 12 May, Official Report, column 85, whether the Health Department and the general dental services committee have now reconsidered the appropriate fee scale for 1992-93 ; and if she will make a statement.
Column 619
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Sir T. Arnold), on2 June at columns 466-67.Departmental Expenditure
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any changes will be made to the cash limits and running cost limit of her Department in 1992-93.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made :
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 1 (hospital, community health, family health services (part) and related services, England) will be increased by £20,190,000 (from £18,544,309,000 to £18,564,499,000). This increase allows for an additional £76,258,000 to help provide, from 1 April 1992, for the pay awards recommended by the reports of the review bodies for nursing staff, midwives, health visitors and professions allied to medicine, and on doctors' and dentists' remuneration, as announced on 10 February 1992. This is partly offset by transfers of £49,562,000 to class XIII, vote 4, (family health services (part) and NHS trusts' external financing etc., England), reflecting an increase in the NHS trusts' aggregate external financing limit ; £6,000,000 to class XIII, vote 3 (see below) for payments to and on behalf of recipients of blood and tissue infected with HIV and £506,000 to class XVI, vote 8 (hospital, community health, family health services (part) and related services, Wales) for Welsh patients treated in spinal injury units. The remainder will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 3 (Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health services and personal social services, England) will be increased by £21,428,000 (from £801,053, 000 to £822,481,000). These increases provide for £14,936,000 for the Department's London accommodation strategy ; £742,000 to meet, from 1 April 1992, the review body recommendations mentioned above and £6, 000,000 from class XIII, vote 1 for payments to and on behalf of recipients of blood and tissue infected with HIV. These are partly offset by a transfer of £250,000 to the Department of Social Security national insurance fund for the Stillbirth (Definition) Bill, while the remainder will be charged to the reserve.
The Department's gross running cost limit control is increased by £1,851,000 from £267,385,000 to £269,236,000.
Mr. Thomason : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she has any changes to announce to the running cost limit for the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys for 1992-93.
Mr. Sackville : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the running cost limit for class XIII, vote 6 (Office of Population Censuses and Surveys) will be increased by £261,000 from £45,741,000 to £46,002,000. This reflects an increase in running costs provision of £96,000 in the national health central register area for additional services to the family health service central unit, and £165,000 for the childhood cancer birth linkage study. The increases will be matched by an increase
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in appropriations in aid and will be met from within the existing resources of the Department of Health (class XIII, vote 3).HOME DEPARTMENT
Offences (Statistics)
Mr. Butcher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences were recorded in the latest year for which figures are available, by people who were on bail at the time those offences were committed.
Mr. Jack : The information as requested is not available. The Home Office is discussing with the police, through the ACPO crime committee, how best to ensure the regular collection of data from police forces on offences committed by people on bail. Home Office research and planning unit paper 65 "Offending while on bail : a survey of recent studies", which is in the Library, gives estimates of the rate of offending by people on bail and of the number of offences committed.
Immigration
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress which Her Majesty's Government hope to make, and the goals which they hope to achieve, during their presidency of the European Communities, as regards the work programme on migration policy set out in the report from the Ministers responsible for immigration to the European Council meeting in Maastricht on immigration and asylum policy dated 3 December 1991.
Mr. Charles Wardle : We are fully committed to carrying forward the work programme during the United Kingdom presidency, and are currently considering to what aspects of it we should give priority. We will reach final decisions in the light of the ministerial discussions at the conclusion of the Portuguese presidency.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made so far under the Portuguese presidency of the European Communities as regards the work programme on migration policy set out in the report from Ministers responsible for immigration to the European Council meeting on immigration and asylum policy on 3 December 1991.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Discussions have been held under the Portuguese presidency on a number of matters which are included in the work programme adopted by EC Ministers concerned with immigration in December 1991 and subsequently approved by the European Council.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Her Majesty's Government intend to sign the convention applying the Schengen agreement of 14 June 1985 between the governments of the states of the Benelux economic union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders.
Column 621
Departmental Expenditure
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for changes to his Department's running costs limits.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : To reflect a number of machinery of government changes affecting my Department, the Home Office running costs limit will be reduced by £588,000, from £1,450,608,000 to £1,450,020,000.
Young Offenders
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what was the number of (a) juveniles and (b) young adult offenders in Feltham young offenders institution who, at the end of the week ending 1 May 1992, had been on remand for (a) more than three months, (b) more than six months and (c) more than one year ;
(2) how many (a) juveniles and (b) young adult offenders in Feltham young offenders institution on the latest date for which figures are available had been on remand for (i) between one and two weeks, (ii) between two weeks and one month, (iii) between one and three months, (iv) between three and six months, (v) between six and nine months, (vi) between nine months and one year and (vii) over one year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 13 May 1992] : The information requested is not recorded centrally. The latest readily available information is for 31 March 1992 and is given in the table.
Untried and convicted unsentenced prisoners aged under 21
held in Feltham on 31 March 1992: by age group and length
of time since first reception into a Prison Service establishment<1>
Number of prisoners<2>
Initial remand into
Prison Service establishment
Feltham Other<3>
Length of time since first |Aged |Aged 17 |Aged |Aged 17
remand into a Prison |under |and |under |and
Service establishment |17 |under 21 |17 |under 21
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up to 1 week |5 |35 |- |-
Over 1 up to 2 weeks |- |34 |- |-
Over 2 weeks up to 1 month |1 |57 |- |2
Over 1 up to 3 months |1 |92 |3 |5
Over 3 up to 6 months |4 |58 |- |4
Over 6 up to 9 months |- |6 |- |-
Over 9 months up to 1 year |- |3 |- |1
Over 1 year |- |3 |- |1
All lengths |11 |288 |3 |13
<1> This includes any intervening time spent on bail, but excludes any time spent in police cells beforehand.
<2> Provisional figures.
<3> Those initially remanded to another establishment.
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) juveniles and (b) young adult offenders had been held on remand in custody in England and Wales on the latest date for which figures are available for (i) over three months, (ii) over six months and (iii) over one year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 13 May 1992] : The information requested is not recorded centrally. The latest readily available information is given in the table.
Column 622
Untried and convicted unsentenced prisoners aged under 21 held in
Prison Service establishments in England and Wales on 31 March
1992: by age group and length of time since first reception into a
Prison Service establishment<1>
Number of prisoners<2>
Length of time since first remand into a |Aged |Aged
Prison Service establishment |under 17 |17 and
|under 21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up to 3 months |67 |1,977
Over 3 up to 6 months |18 |513
Over 6 months up to 1 year |2 |113
Over 1 year |- |31
|--- |---
All lengths |87 |2,634
<1> This includes any intervening time spent on bail, but excludes any time spent in police cells beforehand.
<2> Provisional figures.
Prostitution
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prosecutions for soliciting for immoral purposes were issued in the Portswood division of the Hampshire Constabulary in 1990 and 1991 ; how many were successful ; and what was the average fine ;
(2) how many cautions for kerb crawling were successfully undertaken by the Portswood division of the Hampshire Constabulary in 1990 and in 1991 ; and how many were issued to people living (a) in the city of Southampton, (b) the rest of Hampshire and (c) other places ;
(3) how many prosecutions for kerb crawling were successfully undertaken by the Portswood division of the Hampshire Constabulary in 1990 and 1991 ; and how many of those prosecuted lived in (a) the city of Southampton, (b) the rest of Hampshire and (c) other places.
Mr. Jack [holding answer 22 May 1992] : Information available centrally, relates only to the court proceedings for Southampton and other petty sessional divisions in Hampshire and to cautions for the whole of Hampshire police force area. Information for 1991 is not yet available.
No males were prosecuted for soliciting in Southampton petty sessional division in either 1989 or 1990. There was only one prosecution for kerb- crawling in 1989 and none in 1990. The person was acquitted.
Information on kerb crawling for Hampshire police force area and England and Wales is given in the attached table below.
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