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Column 397
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 13 July 1992
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
European Year of the Elderly
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Attorney-General what plans he has for his Department to celebrate in 1993 the European Year of the Elderly ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : I have no such plans.
Relocation
Mr. Betts : To ask the Attorney-General what assessment he has made of the number of civil servants in his Department who could be relocated to provincial centres as part of the policy of devolving and decentralising Government Departments.
The Attorney-General : I have no plans to relocate any civil servants in the legal secretariat to the Law Officers or the Serious Fraud Office. The property division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department-- nearly one quarter of the total staff--was relocated to Taunton in August 1991 but no further parts of the office are suitable for relocation. Some 90 per cent. of the staff of the Crown prosecution service are located near to the courts throughout England and Wales which deal with the criminal cases prosecuted by the service. The scope for devolving headquarters posts to locations outside London is kept continuously under review.
British National Party
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the evidence submitted to the Crown prosecution service following the search of the British National party premises in Welling in January.
The Attorney-General : A police report was submitted to the Crown prosecution service following the execution of a search warrant on 9 January 1992 at premises at 154 Upper Wickham lane, Welling in Kent. Having given careful consideration to this report and taken the advice of Treasury Counsel, the Crown prosecution service decided not to initiate proceedings, on the basis that the available evidence was not such as to give rise to a realistic prospect of conviction for offences contrary to part III of the Public Order Act 1986. I have also considered this matter and have concluded that the decision by the Crown prosecution service is entirely justified.
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ENVIRONMENT
Caravan Sites Act 1968
Sir Anthony Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he proposes to publish a consultation document on the Caravan Sites Act 1968 ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir George Young : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my right hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 19 June, Official Report, column 693 .
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to review the outstanding permission for mineral extraction which affect sites of special scientific interest.
Mr. Baldry : The Town and Country Planning (Minerals) Act 1981 placed a duty on mineral planning authorities to review mineral sites in their area, including environmentally sensitive sites such as SSSIs, and to make such orders revoking or modifying permissions as they considered necessary. The Government announced in the environment White Paper "This Common Inheritance" their intention to review the legislative framework governing the updating of minerals permissions. We have already taken action in the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 to deal with the problems caused by Interim Development Order permissions granted in the 1940s and we are consulting on options for updating mineral permissions granted in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Protected Birds
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will strengthen statutory provision for protection for vulnerable habitats and protected species in the United Kingdom along the lines proposed to him by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Mr. Maclean : The RSPB has made a number of representations to my right hon. and learned Friend, to me and to my officials about the protection of habitats and species. I am always pleased to receive its proposals and take them fully into account in my considerations of policy for nature conservation.
Vacant Public Land
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to develop vacant and derelict public land for recreation purposes.
Mr. Baldry : We have recently announced our intention to establish an Urban Regeneration Agency with powers to reclaim vacant, derelict and underused land in urban areas. As indicated in planning policy guidance note 17 "Sport and Recreation", published in September 1991, the Government encourage the development of sport and recreation in the widest sense and advises local planning authorities on the policies they should incorporate in their development plans for the provision of space and facilities for sport and recreation. The Urban Regeneration Agency will promote the use of land it reclaims for these purposes where appropriate.
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Agenda 21"
Mr. McKelvey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new United Kingdom contributions to international scientific programmes he proposes to establish as a result of the "Agenda 21" chapter on science for sustainable development agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Maclean : This chapter has four programme areas--strengthening the scientific basis for sustainable development, enhancing scientific understanding, improving long-term scientific assessment, and building up scientific capacity and capability. The United Kingdom is already extremely active in these areas working with developing countries both directly and through governmental and non-governmental international bodies. We are, for example, playing leading roles in a range of international programmes on climate change and its consequences. Some of the additional funds committed by the United Kingdom by replenishing the global environmental facility will no doubt be deployed on projects covered by chapter 35. More specifically, the United Kingdom initiatives on satelite monitoring, on technology, transfer, and on biodiversity--the Darwin initiative--will add significantly to our inputs to promoting science for sustainable development. I understand that new Natural Environment Research Council initiatives in training and research in taxonomy and in biodiversity, are designed to strengthen the United Kingdom science base thus underpinning existing and new applied work with developing countries.
Relocation
Mr. Betts : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the number of civil servants in his Department who could be relocated to provincial centres as part of the policy of devolving and decentralising Government Departments.
Mr. Howard : The need for civil servants in my Department to be located in central London is kept under review, in accordance with Government policy. We continue therefore to look for further opportunities to move posts to other parts of the country, in addition to looking at the suitability of posts to be moved to docklands.
Gipsy Sites
Mr. Onslow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, pending the publication of his consultation paper on the law relating to gipsy sites, he will suspend further approval of local authority applications for the funding of pitches on council sites and any decisions on applications for designation of areas under sections 10 and 12 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
Mr. Baldry : I do not think that it would be appropriate to do so.
Abstraction Licences
Mr. Onslow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent discussions he has had with the chairman of the National Rivers Authority about the provision of funds for the revocation of abstraction licences.
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Mr. Maclean : The funding implications of the authority's proposals for this and other water resources capital expenditure were among the issues I discussed with my right hon. and noble Friend at our recent meeting on the authority's corporate plan.
Household Waste
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of household waste has been recycled by Chelmsford borough council in each of the last three available years.
Mr. Maclean : Information on the recycling activities of individual local authorities is not held centrally at present. Recycling plans are now being prepared by every waste collection authority in the country as a result of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The plans are due to be submitted in draft to the Secretary of State by 1 August. they will contain information on the quantities of waste which the council expects to deal with by separating, baling or otherwise packaging it for the purpose of recycling it. The plan for Chelmsford has not yet been received.
Council House Exchanges
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council tenants sought advice from their council about how to exchange their home with a tenant in a different local authority area in the six months from October 1991 to March 1992 ; and how many mutual exchanges took place in this period.
Mr. Baldry : Information is not collected centrally about the number of council tenants who seek advice from their local authority about exchanging their home.
Information about the number of mutual exchanges is reported by local authorities on their annual housing investment programme returns--HIP1. The latest available information records that 46,100 dwellings were let through mutual exchanges in the period 1 April 1990 to 31 March 1991.
Private Sector Leases
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to assist local authorities in tackling homelessness by reducing the cost of private sector leases.
Mr. Baldry : No. It is for local authorities to negotiate the cost of leases with landlords on an individual basis. My Department is, however, providing assistance of £20 million this year to the local authorities most affected by the recent change to finance short-term leases from outside the housing revenue account.
Council House Waiting Lists
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many names are on the waiting lists for tenancies of council houses in England.
Mr. Baldry : Local authorities report the number of households on their council housing waiting lists in their annual housing investment programme--HIP1--returns.
The figures as at 1 April 1991 are in colum B5 of the "1991 HIP1 All Items Print", a copy of which is in the Library.
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Vacant Public Sector Land
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many years it would take to get rid of the surplus vacant public sector land ; and how much it would cost to run the register for that period if no extra land was added to the register ;
(2) what is the regional breakdown of land on the surplus vacant public sector land register with no potential, low potential and moderate/high potential, on a percentage basis ;
(3) how many acres of unused and underused land are at present in the ownership of British Rail, the urban development corporations, local authorities, government departments, the residuary bodies and British Coal ;
(4) how many acres of unused and underused land have been entered onto and also removed from the surplus vacant public sector land register in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mr. Baldry : The Secretary of State's register of unused and underused land has for most purposes been superseded by registers maintained by each public sector owner and since 1989 has been maintained only in connection with requests to order the disposal of sites. The central register is therefore too out of date to be used as a basis for meaningful analysis.
The Department does not hold detailed information about the amount of land on the registers maintained by owners or the quality and development potential of individual sites. Nor can we make estimates of the costs incurred by owners in maintaining the registers.
Town and Country Planning
Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what benefits he expects to accrue to the United Kingdom from the inclusion of town and country planning in the Maastricht treaty as a new EC competence.
Mr. Baldry : The benefit to the United Kingdom is that the inclusion clarifies the competence of the Community on this aspect of environmental policy as well as the decision-making procedures to be followed on proposals from the Commission.
Urban Development Corporations
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many permanent jobs have been created in each urban development area (a) since 1981-82 and (b) since 1987-88, net of losses.
Mr. Robin Squire : Estimates of employment in urban development areas are derived from surveys commissioned periodically by urban development corporations, and refer to the period since the designation of the areas. The figures below give the latest net estimate of permanent jobs created since inception in all UDAs except Merseyside. The figures for Merseyside UDA relate to the period since the area was extended in 1988.
UDA |Date |Estimated num-
|Established |ber of per-
|manent jobs
|created (net of
|losses)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
London Docklands |1981 |26,000
Merseyside |extended 1988 |2,000
Trafford Park |1987 |8,231
Black Country |1987 |3,000
Teesside |1987 |6,025
Tyne & Wear |1987 |9,237
Central Manchester |1988 |750
Leeds |1988 |3,875
Sheffield |1988 |5,902
Bristol |1989 |4,483
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what levels of borrowing have been undertaken by each urban development corporation in each year since 1985-86.
Mr. Robin Squire : This information is as follows :
|Amount
------------------------------------------------------------------
Bristol |nil
Black Country |nil
Central Manchester |£350,000 in 1991-92
Leeds |nil
London Docklands |£3,100,000 in 1985-86
Merseyside |£605,000 in 1985-86
|£55,000 in 1986-87
|£10,000 in 1987-88
Sheffield |nil
Teeside |£227,000 in 1988-89
Trafford Park |nil
Tyne and Wear |nil
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much grant in aid has been made available to each urban development corporation since 1981 as a cash sum (a) at current prices and (b) 1981 prices.
Mr. Robin Squire : Only two urban development corporations have been in existence since 1981, London Docklands and Merseyside. Their total grant in aid since 1981 is :
|£ million
{DATA]
(a) at current prices;
London Docklands |1,317.51
Merseyside |268.22
(b) at 1981 prices;
London Docklands |1,994.65
Merseyside |361.68
For the total grant in aid made available to the other urban development corporations from their inception, I refer to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member on 24 June 1992, Official Report, columns 195-96.
Area Cost Adjustment Scheme
Mr. Pickthall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will redistribute the money made available under the area cost adjustment scheme to south-east authorities outside London in a manner which would treat all local authorities equally ; and what sums would be made available to other authorities by such redistribution.
Mr. Robin Squire : The area cost adjustment within standard spending assessments reflects the additional
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employment costs faced by authorities in London and the south-east in providing the services for which they are responsible at a standard level. There are no plans to remove this adjustment for authorities in the south-east but we are always willing to consider any evidence brought forward.If the money made available under the area cost adjustment to south-east authorities outside London were to be redistributed to all authorities outside London the sum available would be £15 per adult.
Planning and Compensation Act 1991
Mr. Robathan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to bring into force the remaining enforcement provisions of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991.
Sir George Young [holding answer 10 July 1992] : On 27 July we shall bring into force--
(1) the new breach of condition notice (section 2 of the Act), enabling the local planning authority to enforce compliance with planning conditions more economically and efficiently ;
(2) the revised enforcement "immunity" rules (section 4 of the Act), establishing new time-limits for the planning authority to initiate enforcement action ; and
(3) the new "lawful development certificate" provisions (section 10 of the Act), enabling the planning authority to decide, on an application to them, whether present or proposed development of land is lawful for planning control purposes.
A joint Department of the Environment and Welsh Office circular is being issued today, explaining how these provisions are intended to operate.
These provisions complete the implementation of the Government's thorough overhaul of planning authorities' powers for enforcing planning control over all types of unauthorised development of land. Provided that planning authorities use these new and strengthened powers vigorously and quickly, whenever their use is justified, they should now be able to remedy unlawful development whenever it is unacceptable on planning grounds. We intend to review the effectiveness of the strengthened enforcement regime once it has been in operation for a reasonable period.
Recycling
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements will be made for evaluating the environmental impact of recyclable materials in products before a Europewide standard for recycling comes into force.
Mr. Leigh : I have been asked to reply.
I have no reason to believe that a Europewide standard for recycling is coming into force, or being contemplated. However, my Department has commissioned Warren Spring laboratory to carry out research into the environmental impact of recycling. In addition, the recyclability of materials used in products may feature as one of the criteria for the award of ecolabels under the recently agreed EC ecolabelling regulation.
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements have been made for exchange of manufacturing information relating to recyclable materials across Europe.
Mr. Leigh : I have been asked to reply.
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No arrangements of a formal nature have been put in place, but my Department and the Department of the Environment participate in international and EC conferences, seminars and workshops at which recycling issues generally are debated, and views exchanged.TRANSPORT
Shipping
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what estimate he has made of (a) foreign earnings by British shipping, (b) earnings of British shipping from the United Kingdom cabotage trade and (c) the City of London's maritime earnings, for each of the last 20 years ;
(2) what estimate he has made for the earnings of United Kingdom-owned vessels from cross-trades for each of the last 20 years, respectively ;
(3) what latest figure he has for the percentage of United Kingdom shipping earnings that come from cross-trade.
Mr. Norris : The table sets out the available figures. It does not include estimates of earnings on United Kingdom cabotage, information on which is not readily available.
|(1) Total |(2) Revenue |(3) Cross |(4) City of
|International|from |Trades as |London
|Revenue |Cross Trades |percentage |Maritime
|of total |earnings
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1970 |1,648 |848 |51 |-
1971 |1,921 |1,023 |53 |-
1972 |1,863 |928 |50 |-
1973 |2,357 |1,215 |52 |-
1974 |2,993 |1,413 |47 |-
1975 |2,875 |1,205 |42 |-
1976 |3,447 |1,527 |44 |-
1977 |3,558 |1,594 |45 |-
1978 |3,174 |1,427 |45 |-
1979 |3,840 |1,812 |47 |218
1980 |3,747 |1,776 |47 |204
1981 |3,577 |1,754 |49 |319
1982 |3,184 |1,303 |41 |283
1983 |2,993 |1,205 |40 |279
1984 |3,191 |1,308 |41 |297
1985 |3,175 |1,125 |35 |254
1986 |3,260 |1,309 |40 |245
1987 |3,444 |1,390 |40 |249
1988 |3,683 |1,406 |38 |352
1989 |4,076 |1,678 |41 |450
1990 |3,957 |1,465 |37 |694
Notes:-Column 1 includes earnings from United Kingdom passengers and freight on
United Kingdom imports.
Column 3 covers ONLY earnings from overseas residents by Baltic Exchange and Lloyds
Register of Shipping. Estimates of earnings from maritime insurance are not readily
available.
Estimates for 1991 will be available in the latest edition of the CSO Pink Book (UK
Balance of Payments{cdq}), to be published within the next two months.
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many seafarers are currently employed on vessels which are beneficially British- owned on, respectively, the United Kingdom register, the Crown dependencies register, British dependent territories register, and any other register, on the latest date for which he has figures, and on each year for the last 20 years.
Mr. Norris : Employment figures which distinguish between United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom flagged ships are not available for years prior to 1986. Separate statistics for the Crown dependencies and
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dependent territories registers are not produced. The annual statistics available to the Department do not include seafarers employed by companies which do not belong to the Chamber of Shipping.With these provisos, the table shows the information requested :
Total |31 December
|1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1991<1>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom
flag |14,969 |12,500 |11,671 |9,996 |10,053
Non-United
Kingdom flag |6,742 |7,799 |8,485 |9,296 |10,343
Back-up United
Kingdom flag |8,308 |8,473 |8,460 |7,136 |8,056
Back-up non-United
Kingdom flag |<2>- |<2>- |<2>- |<2>- |3,595
Total |30,019 |28,772 |28,616 |26,428 |32,047
<1> 1 June 1991.
<2> Not available.
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has on the number of vessels registered on the (a) French, (b) German, (c) Greek, (d) Norwegian and (e) Danish registers in each of the last 20 years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Norris : The information requested, as at 1 July, is given in the table.
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|Registry:
|France |Germany, FR|Greece |Norway<2> |Denmark<3>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1972 |1,390 |2,546 |2,241 |2,826 |1,331
1973 |1,376 |2,234 |2,536 |2,758 |1,362
1974 |1,341 |2,088 |2,651 |2,689 |1,349
1975 |1,393 |1,964 |2,743 |2,706 |1,371
1976 |1,388 |1,957 |2,921 |2,759 |1,413
1977 |1,327 |1,975 |3,344 |2,738 |1,407
1978 |1,317 |1,999 |3,666 |2,646 |1,397
1979 |1,247 |1,926 |3,827 |2,531 |1,315
1980 |1,241 |1,906 |3,922 |2,501 |1,253
1981 |1,199 |1,820 |3,710 |2,409 |1,169
1982 |1,171 |1,782 |3,501 |2,409 |1,152
1983 |1,173 |1,769 |3,169 |2,340 |1,112
1984 |1,174 |1,813 |2,904 |2,271 |1,101
1985 |1,136 |1,816 |2,599 |2,219 |1,070
1986 |984 |1,752 |2,255 |2,107 |1,063
1987 |954 |1,414 |1,948 |1,979 |1,256
1988 |930 |1,233 |1,874 |2,078 |1,240
1989 |921 |1,185 |1,839 |2,304 |1,256
1990 |900 |1,179 |1,814 |2,557 |1,260
1991 |910 |1,522 |1,863 |2,577 |1,290
<1> Includes the former German Democratic Republic.
<2> Includes the Norwegian International Register, NIS.
<3> Includes the Danish International Register, DIS.
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what figure he has for the number of beneficially British-owned vessels registered, for each of the last 20 years respectively in (a) the Crown dependencies, (b) British dependent territories, (c) the United Kingdom and (d) none of the above ;
(2) if he will list the number of vessels, not beneficially British owned, which have been registered on the United Kingdom register, the registers for Crown dependencies and the registers of British dependent territories, in each of the last 20 years respectively.
Mr. Norris : Information is only available from 1988 onwards, as follows--vessels over 100 gross registered tons :
Number of United Kingdom parent owned vessels, by registry
and year<1>
Registry |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |<2>1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom |1,720 |1,668 |1,584 |1,557 |1,542
Crown Dependency |83 |68 |87 |91 |91
Dependent
Territories |149 |141 |117 |120 |119
Foreign |528 |536 |674 |698 |709
Total |2,480 |2,413 |2,462 |2,466 |2,461
<1> As at 31 December.
<2> As at 31 March 1992.
#9406
#TCW92071309A
C
Average age of the United Kingdom owned trading<2> fleet:
by registry: 31 March 1992
|Average age
Registry |Years |Months
-------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom |16 |1
Crown Dependencies |14 |2
Dependent territories |12 |7
Foreign registries |15 |5
All United Kingdom owned ships |14 |8
<1> Average age of total deadweight.
<2> Trading vessels are those which carry cargo or passengers for
commercial purposes. Certain vessel types, for example, dredgers
and fishing vessels, are therefore deemed non trading.
#TCW92071309B
8
Average age<1> of trading<2> fleets owned in other
countries:
31 March 1992
Average age
|Years |Months
--------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom |14 |18
Denmark |8 |9
France |13 |6
Germany |9 |6
Italy |12 |9
Netherlands |9 |6
Spain |13 |4
All European Community owned ships |12 |5
Liberia |13 |3
Panama |12 |1
United States of America
Cyprus |15 |11
Norway |13 |0
Japan |8 |10
All ships |13 |4
<1> Average age of total deadweight.
<2> Trading vessels are those which carry cargo or
passengers for commercial purposes. Certain vessel
types,for example, dredgers and finishing vessels, are
therefore defined as "non-trading".
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what calculation he has made of the average age of the United Kingdom-owned fleet registered in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) the Crown dependencies and (c) the dependent territories at the latest date for which figures are available ; and what estimate he has of the average age of vessels of the United Kingdom's main merchant navy competitors.
Mr. Norris : Figures for British-registered fleets and for the fleets of other major shipping registers, are shown in the tables :
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#TCW92071309A
#TCW92071309B
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the percentage of, respectively, officers and ratings who are British nationals on United Kingdom vessels on (a) the United Kingdom register, (b) Crown dependency registers, (c) British dependent territory registers and (d) foreign registers.
Mr. Norris : The most recent figures relating to seafarers employed by companies which belong to the Chamber of Shipping show that, at 1 June 1991, 97 per cent. of officers and 90 per cent of ratings of United Kingdom -flagged, British-owned, vessels were United Kingdom nationals. The equivalent figures for British-owned, foreign-flagged, vessels, were 85 and 63 per cent. respectively.
Merchant Navy
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list the regulatory requirements currently laid upon the British Merchant Navy which he is currently examining with a view to their possible removal or easing ;
(2) if he will list the regulatory requirements laid upon the British Merchant Navy which have been removed or eased in each year, respectively, for the last 20 years.
Mr. Norris : We are committed to reducing the regulatory burden on the shipping industry as far as is compatible with continued high safety standards. This is a continuous process. Recent achievements include the
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introduction of new type approval arrangements to facilitate the entry of vessels into the United Kingdom register. We are also currently reviewing the rules which govern the nationality of senior officers on British merchant vessels.Vehicle Testing
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of the regional information held by all district offices of his Department's vehicle inspectorate about public vehicle testing, including the percentage failure rates at initial annual tests and re-tests and the most common failure items.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The information will be placed in the House Library at the earliest opportunity.
M6
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will arrange for the renovation of the sign on the northbound cross carriageway of the M6 at exit 20.
Cycling
Dr. Spink : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the statutory provisions regarding cycling on the pavement ; what are the exemptions for young riders on very dangerous roads ; and when the law was enacted.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Cycling on the footway is an offence under section 72 of the Highways Act 1835, as amended by section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1888. It currently carries a maximum penalty of £100. There are no exemptions for young riders.
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