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Mr. Dorrell : My ministerial colleagues have met their EC counterparts and European Commissioners on a number of occasions since 18 April. The importance of minimising the burdens on business of Community legislation is well understood by this Government. During the United Kingdom presidency, the Government will continue to press the case for minimising burdens on business.
Economic and Monetary Union
Mr. Cash : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what studies have been undertaken as to the effect of economic and monetary union.
Mr. Nelson : Studies include the European Commission report "One market, one money : An evaluation of the potential benefits and costs of forming an economic and monetary union", which is available in the Library. An account of the agreement at Maastricht was published in the Treasury bulletin for winter 1991-92, which is also available in the Library.
Benefits
Mr. Quentin Davies : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the gain to public funds if (a) all social security benefits and welfare payments and (b) all social security benefits and welfare payments other than child benefit were made inclusive in the taxable income of recipients.
Mr. Dorrell : The estimated direct revenue yield in 1992-93 from making all social security benefits and welfare payments liable to tax is about £2 billion. Excluding child benefit and one-parent benefit would reduce the yield to about £1 billion.
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Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the main recommendations and conclusions of the Treasury's staff review of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir John Cope : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler) on 13 July 1992, Official Report, column 418.
VAT
Sir John Stanley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, under the Maastricht treaty, decisions to establish uniform rates of value added tax and uniform VAT exemptions would be taken by unanimous decision or by qualified majority voting.
Mr. Lamont : European Community decisions relating to the rates and structure of VAT are covered by the provisions of article 99 of the treaty of Rome, and as such are subject to a unanimous decision by member states.
This position is not affected by the draft Maastricht treaty.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all grants and subsidies received by farmers upon which VAT is chargeable ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir John Cope [holding answer 10 July 1992] : Some grants to farmers can be regarded as consideration for a supply of services and hence taxable because the recipient undertakes to refrain from doing something such as producing milk. Farmers receive grants and subsidies from a number of Government Departments, but no central list is maintained by any one Department and such information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Capital Expenditure
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has anything to add to the statement made by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 7 May, Official Report, column 168, in respect of capital expenditure by local borough and district councils which has not been authorised in some manner by Her Majesty's Government.
Civil Servants
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants in grades 7 and principal and above were employed at 1 October 1981 and 1 October 1991.
Mr. Nelson : The information readily available relates to 1 January 1981 and 1 April 1991 and is published in "Civil Service Statistics", copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library. With the introduction of unified grading between 1984 and 1986 principal grade and equivalents were replaced by grade 7, senior principal by grade 6. Data comparable to unified grades are not available for years before 1986.
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Iraqi Funds
Mr. Cyril D. Townsend : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the total value of Iraqi funds blocked in the United Kingdom ;
(2) what steps he is taking so that the claims of creditors who carried out legitimate trade with Iraq prior to the invasion of Kuwait can be met from Iraqi funds frozen in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Nelson : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Antrim, East (Mr. Beggs) on 13 July, Official Report, column 422.
EC Budget Control
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total cost of fraudulent practices involving EC finances in the Community as a whole and in the United Kingdom ; and what action he is taking to ensure that the budgetary control committee's efforts in the European Parliament are made worth while.
Sir John Cope : Because of the nature of fraud, it is impossible to estimate the total cost of fraud against the European Community budget. However, in its annual report on the fight against fraud in 1991, the Commission has provided the following figures of irregularities notified to the Commission for the European Commission as a whole and for the United Kingdom :
Structural funds notifications: 1 November 1990- to 31
December
1991
|Mecu |£ million<1>
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total |1.5 |1.0
of which United Kingdom |0.2 |0.15
<1> Converted at the central rate in the ERM of £1=1.435 ecu.
Structural funds notifications: 1 November 1990- to 31
December
1991
|Mecu |£ million<1>
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total |1.5 |1.0
of which United Kingdom |0.2 |0.15
<1> Converted at the central rate in the ERM of £1=1.435 ecu.
Structural funds notifications: 1 November 1990- to 31
December
1991
|Mecu |£ million<1>
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total |1.5 |1.0
of which United Kingdom |0.2 |0.15
<1> Converted at the central rate in the ERM of £1=1.435 ecu.
In part, these figures reflect the success of detection and efficiency of notification.
I shall meet the European Parliament's budgetary control committee in the autumn. This will be an opportunity to discuss fully the Parliament's concern to make sure that the Community makes every effort to combat irregularity including fraud. The Government are determined to ensure that further progress is made to reduce the scope for irregularity including fraud and will carefully consider any suggestions which the European Parliament may have.
Computer Organisation (Transfer)
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the transfer of Chessington computer centre and the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency to the Minister for the Civil Service will take place.
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Mr. Lamont : The transfer of responsibility for the Chessington computer centre will take place today. A transfer of functions order in respect of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency is being laid today and the transfer will take place on 6 August. A supplementary estimate to reflect these changes will be presented in due course.Death Benefits
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if provision has been made for the payment of improved death gratuities and dependants' benefits to beneficiaries under the European Parliament (United Kingdom representatives) pension scheme.
Mr. Portillo : The European Parliament (United Kingdom representatives) pension scheme--EP (UKR) PS--follows the parliamentary contributory pension fund--PCPF--in its provisions. The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 1991 made changes to the death gratuities and dependants' benefits payable with effect from 2 April 1991 under the PCPF in respect of members who died on or after 6 April 1988. An order amending the provisions of the EP (UKR) PS will be made as soon as possible. Payment will, however, be made in the meantime to those who will be eligible to benefit from the new provisions.
Parliamentary approval will be sought later this year in an order under the European Parliament (Pay and Pensions) Act 1979. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £50,000 will be met from repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund. Once the order has been approved, the Contingencies Fund will be repaid upon approval of the Contingencies Fund repayment vote in 1993-94.
Government Holdings
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he proposes to examine options for the sale or redemption in 1992-93 of part of the Government's holding of privatised companies' debt or loan stock.
Mr. Dorrell : The Government are considering options for the redemption or sale of part of their holding in privatised companies' debt and loan stock. No decisions have been taken about the timing of the debt or loan stock which will be realised, although it is likely that about £1 billion will be involved. We have begun to appoint advisers to examine the options.
Expenses incurred in connection with the redemption or sale of part of the Government's holding will be met from receipts. Parliamentary approval for this new service will be sought in a winter supplementary estimate for Her Majesty's Treasury's sale of shares in British Telecommunications plc vote- -class XVIII, vote 19. Pending that approval, expenses will be met from advances from the Contingencies Fund.
Once the realisation exercise is complete, and the final costs are known, a supplementary estimate will be presented to provide substantive provision for expenses and compensating provision for appropriations-in-aid. The balance of the receipts will be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
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Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if any amendments are proposed to the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992.
Mr. Dorrell : The Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 contains a provision under which, if certain conditions are satisfied, assets transferred from one company to another as part of a company reconstruction or amalgamation are deemed to have been disposed of for an amount that gives rise to neither a gain nor a loss. This provision enables the rationalisation and reorganisation of businesses to take place without the immediate tax charge that would ordinarily arise when assets are transferred from one company to another.
When the original legislation was consolidated in the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, there was an error in a cross-reference involving the measures relating to transfers of life assurance business. If not corrected, this would exclude a transfer of insurance business to or from the United Kingdom branch of an overseas life assurance company from the relief conferred by the original legislation.
No transfers of insurance business have been affected by the legislation in the consolidated act so far, and the Chancellor proposes to introduce legislation in next year's Finance Bill to correct the error in the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. The legislation will apply to transfers of insurance business which take place after today.
Civil Servants' Shareholdings
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance, other than the civil service pay and conditions of service code and the establishment officers' guide, his Department provides relating to civil servants' shareholdings ; if he will list the number of occasions within the last five years on which civil servants have reported shareholdings to establishment officers in his Department ; what regulations apply to the staff of the next steps agencies within his Department ; what mechanisms are in place to prevent potential conflicts of interest ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nelson : I regret that it has not been possible to provide an answer before the summer recess. I shall therefore write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library.
Building Societies
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Income Tax (Building Societies) Regulations 1986 on composite tax rate for building societies raised additional taxation on (a) cash flow or (b) accruals.
Mr. Dorrell : The regulations changed the way in which building societies accounted for composite rate tax. They included provision to ensure that accrued interest taken into account under the old system did not come into account again, when paid, under the new system. The Inland Revenue estimates that tax due in 1986-87, the first year of payment under the new rules, plus instalments of transitional tax due later, was about £100 million less than would have been due in that year had the old system
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continued. This difference is a little greater than the figure of £76 million given to my hon. Friend in response to an earlier question-- Official Report, 15 July 1992, column 40 : the Inland Revenue has corrected some errors in entering the data underlying that earlier reply. The full information for societies grouped by reference to their accounting date is shown in revised form in the table :Column 893
Accounting periods ending |Number of socie- |Amount of tax |Amount of tax due |Increase or de-
|ties | that would have |in 1986-87 under |crease in tax pay-
|been due in 1986- |new system plus |able under new
|87 if old system |instalments of |system
|had continued |transitional tax
|not due till later
|£ million |£ million |£ million |as percentage of
|old
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 6 to 30 August (end of first
complete quarter) |6 |8 |14 |+6 |+75
September to November |7 |340 |409 |+69 |+20
December to 5 April |131 |2,596 |2,421 |-175 |-7
Total |144 |2,944 |2,844 |-100 |-3
of which instalments due after 1986-87 |35
Mortgage Lenders
Mr. Boateng : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will outline the present system for regulating the activities of centralised mortgage lenders ; and whether he will specify the total amount of mortgage lending undertaken by such bodies in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Nelson : Because they do not carry on a deposit-taking business, centralised mortgage lenders are not subject to regulation under the Banking Act 1987 or the Building Societies Act 1986. However, the Consumer Credit Act 1974--for which responsibility lies with my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade--and the subordinate legislation made under it provide a system of licensing and other control of traders concerned with the provision of credit. It is likely that centralised mortgage lenders will require consumer credit licences and be subject to the controls on licensing administered by the Director General of Fair Trading.
Table L9.4 in the June 1992 edition of "Financial Statistics" gives details of loans for house purchase by "miscellaneous financial institutions", the bulk of which is believed to be accounted for by centralised mortgage lenders. At end-1991, the stock of loans for house purchase by miscellaneous financial institutions totalled £25.9 billion.
Crown Estate Commissioners
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many fishing ports are owned or managed by the Crown Estate Commissioners.
Mr. Lamont : None. Where the commissioners own land required for a port, it may be leased to the operators of the individual ports.
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many miles of the coastline of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland are owned or managed by the Crown Estate Commissioners.
Mr. Lamont : I regret that it has not been possible to provide an answer before the summer recess. I shall therefore write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library.
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Ministerial Staff
Mr. Betts : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff were employed in all ministers' private offices in May 1979 ; and how many are employed today.
Mr. Nelson : I regret that it has not been possible to provide an answer before the summer recess. I shall therefore write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Tilbury Ferry
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Attorney-General if he will institute proceedings against the Crown Estate Commissioners for failure to provide a ferry service between Tilbury and Gravesend.
Social Security Tribunals
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Attorney-General what representations he has received from the Independent Tribunal Service regarding the payment of fees to members of social security appeal tribunals ; and how he has responded to those representations.
The Attorney-General : I have received no such representations.
South African Security Personnel
Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Attorney-General what consideration has been given to launching prosecutions arising out of the activities of Captain Pamela du Randt and Mr. Leon Flores under the Prevention of Terrorism Acts.
The Attorney-General : This matter has not been the subject of consideration by the Crown prosecution service. The investigation of alleged criminal offences is a matter for the police who are responsible for the initial decision whether to charge. In appropriate cases the police may consult the CPS.
Column 895
HEALTH
London Health Services Inquiry
Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress Professor Sir Bernard Tomlinson is making in his inquiry into London's health services.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Tomlinson inquiry is making good progress and is on course to report in the early autumn. To ensure that our decisions on its recommendations are acted upon decisively and rapidly, I will, in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education, establish a special unit to implement our decisions and to help manage the process of change. The special unit will be part of the National Health Service Management Executive. I will give further details when the Tomlinson inquiry reports.
Maternity Services
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have elected for (a) hospital birth and (b) home birth for each year since 1990 ; and if she will provide an estimate of the number of birth complications at each location.
Mr. Sackville : The figures relating to place of confinement for births in 1990 and 1991 are shown in the table.
Information is collected centrally on the method of delivery, including caesarian sections and instrumental deliveries, but this is not available in terms of the location of the delivery.
Maternities 1990-91 England-Place of
confinement
|1990 |1991
-------------------------------------
Hospital |654,594|647,710
Home |6,953 |7,439
Elsewhere<1> |503 |554
Total |662,050|655,703
<1> Elsewhere includes:
All psychiatric institutions.
Homes for unmarried mothers.
Remand Homes.
Reception Centres.
Private Houses (other than the
mother's usual residence).
Source: OPCS Birth Statistics Table
produced by SD2B June 1992.
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Paediatric Pathologists
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the health regions of England which currently have paediatric pathologists in post ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not held centrally. Information on doctors' specialties is held with varying degrees of disaggregation in the Department of Health's medical manpower census. Doctors with responsibilities in paediatric pathology are often recorded either as paediatricians or pathologists and the regional count of paediatric pathologists is therefore incomplete. A recent ad hoc inquiry relating to perinatal pathology found that every region had at least one perinatal or paediatric pathologist in post.
Abortion
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the numbers of national health service abortions under 13 weeks since the last menstrual period, and the numbers of these operations involving admission and discharge on the same date, performed on women resident in each regional health authority and in each district health authority area in England and Wales in the latest available year.
Mr. Sackville : The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Overseas-qualified Doctors
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish an estimate of the number of overseas-qualified doctors currently working in the United Kingdom according to each standard United Kingdom region.
Dr. Mawhinney : The table gives the number and whole-time equivalent figures for hospital and community health service medical staff who qualified overseas, by region, in England and Wales, as at 30 September 1990, the latest date for which figures are available. Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
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Hospital medical CHS Total
|Number |Whole-time|Number |Whole-time|Number |Whole-time
|equivalent |equivalent |equivalent
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |708 |632.0 |95 |45.1 |803 |677.1
Yorkshire |892 |684.1 |80 |46.9 |972 |731.0
Trent |800 |670.8 |107 |59.5 |907 |730.3
East Anglia |314 |278.9 |26 |20.5 |340 |299.4
North West Thames |869 |729.7 |178 |82.3 |1,047 |812.0
North East Thames |1,011 |814.0 |187 |90.4 |1,198 |904.4
South East Thames |897 |741.3 |145 |77.1 |1,042 |818.4
South West Thames |528 |436.4 |87 |54.0 |615 |490.4
Wessex |372 |325.7 |37 |24.3 |409 |350.0
Oxford |456 |378.4 |30 |17.7 |486 |396.1
South Western |396 |351.6 |15 |10.5 |411 |362.1
West Midlands |1,150 |962.9 |173 |87.8 |1,323 |1,050.7
Mersey |522 |430.7 |85 |43.6 |607 |474.3
North Western |1,228 |1007.1 |241 |116.0 |1,469 |1,123.1
London Post-Grad
Teaching Hospitals |295 |209.2 |0 |0.0 |295 |209.2
Wales |728 |603.8 |44 |33.6 |772 |637.4
Special Hospitals |21 |21.0 |0 |0.0 |21 |21.0
Total |11,187 |9,277.8 |1,530 |809.1 |12,717 |10,086.9
Small Businesses
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the achievements of her Department and her policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months relative to the previous 12 months ; and if she will publish the performance indicators by which her Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
Mr. Sackville : The Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses, through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and through specific programmes of support and assistance.
Chronic Illness
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list all chronic illnesses which are readily indentifiable and require life -long medication.
Dr. Mawhinney : The definition of which illnesses are chronic and which require lifelong medication are matters of clinical judgment, depending in part on the individual patient's condition.
There are a small number of conditions for which lifelong medication is recognised as essential and for which there is exemption from prescription charges. The limited list of these specific medical conditions was drawn up in 1968 with representatives of the profession and updated in 1983.
The conditions are as follows :
a permanent fistula which requires continuous surgical dressing or an appliance ;
Diabetes mellitus ;
Myxoedema ;
Hypoparathyroidism ;
Diabetes insipidus or other form of hypopituitarism ;
Addison's disease or other form of hypoadrenalism ;
Myasthenia gravis
Epilepsy for which one requires continuous anti-convulsive therapy ;
a continuing physical disability which prevents one from leaving home without the help of another person.
Continence Services
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on the progress being made by the task force established to oversee implementation of the agenda for action on continence services ;
(2) what action her Department is taking to collect models of good practice for the delivery of continence services and supplies ; and how these are being disseminated to the relevant authorities ; (3) if she will make a statement on whether her Department will be carrying out a public awareness initiative of incontinence ; (4) what progress her Department has made on the improvement in training and education of all people providing continence services as recommended in the agenda for action on continence services ;
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(5) how provision for incontinence services is being addressed by local authorities and health authorities under the new community care and health arrangements ; and what advice her Department is giving to those authorities on the need for joint planning in this field.Mr. Yeo : The task force is taking forward the recommendations on cost effectiveness, GP, nurse and other professional training, and publicity. Research is being commissioned on the effectiveness of different service models, with a view to helping health authorities adopt best practices. The Department is making a one year grant of £35,000 towards setting up a resource centre to be known as the Continence Foundation. In the spring of next year, the Royal College of Physicians plans to hold a conference on continence services with the Department's support. The results will be published and practical service needs emphasised. A public awareness campaign is planned for 1993-94 to encourage people to come forward for advice and assessment. Discussions on professional training continue with the professional bodies responsible for curricula and training delivery including the English National Board, on nursing. Material is being considered for distribution to GPs and GP trainers later in the year. The National Health Service Management Executive continues to keep local NHS services under review.
Health Authority Appointments, Doncaster
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of chairmen and non-executive directors of health authorities and trusts in Doncaster neither live nor work within the Doncaster metropolitan borough council ; and if she will make it her policy to take account of residential qualifications in making future appointments.
Dr. Mawhinney : This information is not held centrally. Chairmen and non-executives are normally expected to live or work in the area served by the health authority or trust.
Legionnaire's Disease
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what inquiries and written reports from relevant agencies are required following an outbreak of legionnaire's disease in a hospital.
Dr. Mawhinney : A case of legionnaire's disease in a hospital would be investigated by the hospital's control of infection doctor, and his colleagues, who may seek advice from external sources, including the local consultant in communicable disease control, if he considers this necessary. In the event of an outbreak an infection control action group would be established, the local consultant in communicable disease control would be involved, and the group would prepare a report for the health authority and/or local authority. In addition the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1988 impose a duty on the local authority proper officer, who in many cases is the
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consultant in communicable disease control, to immediately inform the Chief Medical Officer of any serious outbreak of any disease. A voluntary system of reporting of cases or outbreaks of communicable disease to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre also exists in England and Wales.Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the numbers of hospital-acquired cases of infection from legionnaire's disease nationally in 1990 and 1991 ; and in which hospitals they occurred.
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