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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 15 December 1992
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Defence Equipment, Iran
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in what way the guidelines relating to all deliveries of defence equipment to Iran set by his predecessor on 29 October 1985 cover the export of civilian equipment which could be militarily useful.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Dual use goods and technologies which require a licence to be exported to Iran under the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1991, as amended, fall to be considered under the guidelines.
Laws of War
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which of the additional protocols to the Geneva convention on the laws of war have been signed and ratified by Her Majesty's Government ; which have been signed but not ratified ; which have not been signed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Goodlad : The United Kingdom signed both additional protocols on 8 June 1977. It has not yet ratified them.
United Nations Charter
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which parts of the charter of the United Nations have not yet been ratified by Her Majesty's Government.
Mr. Goodlad : The United Kingdom ratified the United Nations charter on 20 October 1945 without any reservations.
Bosnia
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will propose a review of the role of the United Nations protection force to ensure, within its mandate, its maximum effectiveness in support of the relief effort in Bosnia.
Mr. Goodlad : The United Nations keeps the role and effectiveness of UNPROFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina under constant review. The Secretary-General reports his findings and recommendations to the Security Council on a monthly basis.
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests he has received from the Bosnian Government for assistance in establishing a diplomatic residency or office in Britain ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Goodlad : We have received no request from the Bosnian authorities about the establishment of a diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom.
Sudan
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Sudan in relation to the persecution of (a) Roman Catholics and (b) other Christians in that country.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have made clear to the Sudanese Government both bilaterally and in international forums our abhorrence of the systematic abuses of human rights throughout Sudan, and the importance we attach to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, freedom of religion among them. We co-sponsored the United Nations General Assembly resolution on the human rights situation in Sudan, adopted in the third committee on 4 December.
Technology Transfers
Mr. David Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list current proscribed destinations under the COCOM rules ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing) on 7 December, at column 463.
There are currently 24 destinations proscribed under the Co-ordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls--COCOM--rules. These are :
The Republics of the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), the People's Republic of China, the Czech and Slovak Republic, the Mongolian People's Republic, the People's Democratic Republic of North Korea, the Republic of Poland, Romania and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Hungary was removed from the list of proscribed destinations in May this year. COCOM will consider removing other countries from the list as they make progress in establishing effective control procedures for the export or re-export of sensitive goods and technology.
China
Ms. Abbott : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the Chinese Government over the abuse of human rights of prisoners in China's gaols ; and if he will raise the matter at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Mr. Goodlad : We have taken every opportunity this year as in past years to raise human rights issues with the Chinese authorities. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister did so most recently with Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji in November. My noble Friend Lord Howe and his delegation did so in great detail during their visit to China earlier this month. The delegation's discussions included the treatment of prisoners, and the programme included visits to places of detention. We and our EC partners co -sponsored a resolution on the situation in China,
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including Tibet, at this year's full session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. A "no action" motion prevented the resolution from coming to a vote.Overseas Staff
Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to alter the number of grade of staff employed in posts overseas in support of the United Kingdom trade and commercial interests ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Garel-Jones : There are at present no plans to alter the number of grades of staff employed in our commercial effort overseas.
Nuclear Weapons
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards efforts being made at the United Nations to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of use and threat of use of nuclear weapons ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Garel-Jones : The Government see no need for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal status of nuclear weapons. There is no treaty which outlaws nuclear weapons. On the contrary, the non-proliferation treaty explicitly recognises the possession of nuclear weapons by "nuclear-weapon States". The use of nuclear weapons would have to be judged as lawful or not in the light of the particular circumstances in which they were used. Since the use of nuclear weapons might according to the circumstances be lawful, the deterrent threat of their use must also be considered lawful.
Parking Fines, Diplomats
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish up-to-date figures recording the number of unpaid parking fines incurred by each diplomatic mission in London in the first six months of the current year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The information requested by my hon. Friend is given in the table. The table also includes those international organisations which incurred unpaid fines. The figures may be reduced by late payments.
The total of 2,388 for the first six months of 1992 represents a 20 per cent. reduction from the figure of 3,000 for the same period in 1991. It compares with nearly 67,000 in the first six months of 1984 before publication of the 1985 White Paper. We welcome this further reduction in unpaid parking fines that has been achieved during 1992 and appreciate the co-operation of diplomatic missions since the introduction of the parking policy. We shall continue to monitor carefully the level of unpaid fines and bring pressure to bear on diplomatic missions to reduce this still further.
Unpaid parking fines
Diplomatic mission |January-June 1992 |January-June 1991
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turkey |141 |73
Saudi Arabia |126 |89
Russia |124 |167
France |114 |69
Greece |82 |80
Nigeria |79 |47
China |79 |74
Zambia |64 |38
Cote D'Ivoire |60 |41
Cameroon |59 |110
Korea |59 |71
Oman |48 |42
Sudan |45 |51
Cyprus |45 |30
Thailand |45 |77
India |40 |24
Tunisia |40 |18
Israel |38 |92
Egypt |38 |44
Libyan Interests Sec., Saudi Arabia |36 |105
Poland |36 |115
Spain |34 |22
Gambia |31 |23
Morocco |30 |78
Germany |30 |41
Uruguay |30 |17
Hungary |29 |22
Qatar |27 |0
Ghana |27 |59
Senegal |25 |0
Pakistan |25 |78
Romania |23 |20
Bangladesh |22 |18
Algeria |22 |15
Bulgaria |21 |61
Mauritius |19 |5
Portugal |17 |33
United States |15 |6
Jordan |15 |62
Barbados |14 |27
Liberia |14 |10
Brazil |14 |32
Mexico |12 |2
Tanzania |12 |25
Japan |11 |7
Finland |11 |13
Italy |11 |20
Zaire |11 |10
Ethiopia |10 |14
Syria |10 |3
Venezuela |10 |10
Yugoslavia |10 |27
Iraqi Interests Sec., Jordan |10 |32
Lebanon |10 |4
Angola |9 |0
Brunei |9 |25
Malaysia |9 |11
Jamaica |9 |15
United Arab Emirates |9 |140
Ireland |8 |1
Bahrain |8 |21
Canada |7 |35
Lesotho |7 |5
Guyana |7 |26
Gabon |6 |22
Iran |6 |9
Zimbabwe |6 |19
Burma |5 |5
Malawi |5 |10
Nepal |5 |1
Philippines |5 |2
Kenya |5 |0
Honduras |5 |12
Afghanistan |5 |0
Cuba |5 |8
Yemen |5 |14
South Africa |4 |4
Guatemala |4 |22
Peru |3 |7
Paraguay |3 |4
Czechoslovakia |3 |7
Belgium |3 |4
Malta |3 |1
Sweden |3 |4
Botswana |3 |0
Uganda |3 |5
Chile |2 |12
Sri Lanka |2 |1
Indonesia |2 |3
Austria |2 |6
Eastern Caribbean States |2 |5
Trinidad and Tobago |2 |7
Luxembourg |2 |3
Panama |2 |8
Australia |2 |3
Norway |1 |3
Iceland |1 |2
New Zealand |1 |0
Vietnam |1 |9
Fiji |1 |3
Sierra Leone |1 |18
Mozambique |1 |2
Bahamas |1 |2
Mongolia |1 |5
Colombia |1 |0
Tonga |1 |0
Seychelles |1 |4
Kuwait |0 |165
Namibia |0 |0
Grenada |0 |0
Togo |0 |8
Benin |0 |0
Belize |0 |0
Singapore |0 |3
Papua New Guinea |0 |2
Ecuador |0 |1
El Salvador |0 |0
Dominica |0 |0
Argentina |0 |2
Antigua |0 |0
Denmark |0 |0
Swaziland |0 |1
Nicaragua |0 |0
Switzerland |0 |0
Netherlands |0 |2
Costa Rica |0 |1
Bolivia |0 |7
International Organisations
Commonwealth Secretariat |21 |13
INMARSAT |5 |1
EBRD |2 |0
WEU |1 |1
Coffee |1 |0
EC |1 |1
IMO |0 |1
Cocoa |0 |3
UN |0 |0
African Development Bank |0 |0
Sugar |0 |0
|----- |-----
|2,388 |3,000
Somalia
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what diplomatic initiatives he proposes, as EC president, to complement and follow on from the military action in Somalia.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The European Council on 12 December issued a declaration supporting the Security
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Council resolution 794 and expressing the hope that its implementation will encourage national reconciliation. The EC has supported the United Nations proposals to seek reconciliation through local and regional consultations designed to build a framework for national reconciliation.Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the United Nations about its performance in Somalia.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : My noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development visited New York last month to discuss with the Secretary- General and senior United Nations officials the progress of the relief effort in Somalia and plans for stepping up activities including the greater involvement of United Nations agencies. We have stressed the need for the United Nations to provide strong and effective co-ordination of relief operations in Somalia. We have participated in co-ordination conferences organised by the United Nations in Geneva in October and in Addis Ababa this month.
ENVIRONMENT
Homelessness
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make an assessment of the extent of homelessness in Stoke-on-Trent ; and how many (a) families and (b) single people will benefit from the additional funding announced in the autumn statement.
Mr. Baldry : An assessment is made on the basis of the local authority's own estimates contained in its housing strategy statement and statistical returns, together with the homeless indicator in the housing general needs index.
This information is used to inform our decisions on the allocation of housing investment programme allocations to local authorities which will be announced later this month.
The autumn statement made considerable additional resources available for the support of capital programmes which will directly benefit families and single people in housing need :
An increase in Housing Corporation spending to £2.3 billion this year, enabling the immediate purchase of about 16,000 new, empty or repossessed homes for those in housing need. And provide sufficient funds to exceed the target of 153,000 new housing association homes in the three years 1992-93 to 1994-95 ;
The release of additional local authority capital receipts, which are expected to add about £1 billion to housing spending between now and 1995-96 ;
And, the creation of a new housing partnership fund where £30 million will be available in the form of supplementary credit approvals to be bid for worthwhile housing investment projects.
Churches National Housing Coalition
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from Stoke-on-Trent representatives of the Churches National Housing Coalition ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Ministerial colleagues and I received a number of written and oral representations when the Churches National Housing Coalition lobbied Parliament on 1 December.
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Home Improvement Grants
Mr. Pope : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much expenditure has been incurred on mandatory home improvement grants in the Hyndburn constituency in each of the financial years since the inception of the current scheme ; and what is his estimate, based on recent trends, of the demand for expenditure during the financial year 1992-93.
Sir George Young : The total expenditure on mandatory home improvement grants under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 reported by Hyndburn local authority--whose area is identical to the constituency-- since the inception of the current renovation grants scheme is :
|£
------------------------------
1990-91 |83,300
1991-92 |1,333,500
The Department does not prepare forecasts of expenditure on home improvement grants by local authority area, but reported expenditure on mandatory home improvement grants in Hyndburn for the first six months of financial year 1992-93 is £911,300.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Mr. Cran : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the viability and cost of technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations.
Mr. Maclean : Improvements in the thermal efficiency of coal fired power stations will reduce the use of fuel per unit of energy produced. This also reduces carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy. Most coal- fired power stations already incorporate many efficiency improvement measures.
The gasification of coal and the burning of the gas in a combined cycle gas turbine plant can improve the thermal efficiency to about 45 per cent. from about 35 per cent. for a conventional power station. This technology is available and may be used in the longer term.
Building and Construction
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what progress he has made towards commencing his proposed inquiry into the construction industry ; and which bodies he has invited to take part ;
(2) how much of the estimated sum required to be paid by participants taking part in the project to reduce conflict within the building industry has so far been raised ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) if he will give a breakdown of the cost involved in setting up the group to look at ways to reduce conflict within the building industry ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Negotiations between the Department and the industry and client organisations are continuing. We hope to conclude these discussions shortly. The following organisations have been invited to take part in the proposed joint review : the Construction Industry Council, the Construction Industry Employers Council, the
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Confederation of Associations of Specialist Engineering Contractors, the Specialist Engineering Contractor's Group, the National Specialist Contractors Council and the British Property Federation. The estimated maximum budget for the review is £250,000, with half the cost to be met by the Government and half by the other sponsors.Conference on European Business and the Environment
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what contribution was made by Ministers and officials of his Department to the conference on European business and the environment held in Brussels at the end of November.
Mr. Howard : The Minister for the Environment and Countryside and I chaired the conference, and the Minister for Trade and I addressed it. This very successful United Kingdom presidency event highlighted the important role of business in improving Europe's environment. It was arranged in partnership with the European Commission, and a number of officials from my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry were involved in organising and participating in the event.
Environmental Damage
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to receive the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment's report on financial and civil liability ; when he expects to respond to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities' 1990 report on liability and environmental damage ; what reports and proposals he expects to receive from the EC and the Council of Europe on liability for environmental damage ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : We expect to receive the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment's report on civil liability shortly. I understand that the European Commission proposes to issue a consultation document on civil liability for environmental damage in the new year. It is not clear at this stage what effect this will have on the draft directive on civil liability for damage caused by waste, which was presented by the Commission in 1991. The Council of Europe has prepared a convention on civil liability on which the negotiations have recently been completed. I am not aware of any outstanding responses to the House of Lords Select Committee on European Affairs regarding liability for environmental damage.
Foyer Hostel Schemes
Mr. Hendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assistance his Department is giving to the development of Foyer hostel schemes in England.
Mr. Baldry : My Department's assistance for the development of foyer hostel schemes is channelled through the Housing Corporation, in the same way as for other housing association schemes. The corporation is providing revenue support to five pilot projects based around existing YMCA hostels in Nottingham, Norwich, St. Helens, Romford and Wimbledon. It will also be providing capital funding for two new-build foyer schemes in Birmingham and London ; and 20 bed spaces at the London scheme will attract revenue support through
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special needs management allowance. Agreement in principle has been given to capital funding for a third project in Salford.In addition, my Department has seconded an official to the Foyer Federation for Youth--FFY--a limited company established to promote the growth of foyers in this country ; and the head of the Department's homelessness policy division attends meetings of the FFY board as an observer.
Public Analyst Service
Dr. Michael Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what guidance he has issued to the Local Government Commission in relation to the public analyst service ;
(2) what representations he has received about the future of local authority scientific services or about the public analyst service in regard to the work of the Local Government Commission and future reorganisation of local government ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) what guidance he has issued to the Local Government Commission in relation to the provision of local authority scientific services.
Mr. Donald Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what guidance he has issued to the Local Government Commission in relation to the public analyst service ;
(2) what guidance he has issued to the Local Government Commission in relation to the provision of local authority scientific services.
Mr. Robin Squire : In response to the 1991 consultation paper on local government structure, representations were received from the Association of Public Analysts as well as from other organisations such as the Institute of Environmental Health Officers and the Society of County Trading Standards Officers.
The policy guidance issued to the Local Government Commission emphasises the importance of regulatory and enforcement functions of local authorities. We have also issued to the commission a new comprehensive descriptive list of all local government functions, which is publicly available. This contains chapters on environmental protection, environmental health and consumer protection. The commission must ensure that all functions, particularly those which involve protecting all aspects of the local environment, will be satisfactorily performed by any new authority it recommends.
Environmental Information
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the implication for the appeal mechanisms in force under the public registers provisions within integrated pollution control of the incorporation into United Kingdom law of EC directive 90/3B/EEC on the freedom of access to environmental information in 1993.
Mr. Maclean : None. At present information may be withheld from the integrated pollution control--IPC--public register only on grounds of commercial confidentiality or national security. The EC directive on freedom of access to information on the environment contains similar exemptions. As the existing provisions under IPC and the
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requirements of the directive are compatible, the appeals mechanism for the exclusion of information from public registers will not be affected by incorporation of the directive into United Kingdom law.Planning Policy Guidance Notes
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his Department now proposes to publish the proposed planning policy guidance notes made arising from the revision of his Department circular 8/87.
Mr. Baldry : A draft for consultation will be published in the new year.
Sellafield
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent information he has received from Her Majesty's chief inspector of pollution in respect of the application by British Nuclear Fuels for authorisation to operate the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield.
Mr. Maclean : The chief inspector of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution informed me when he and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food proposed to go out to public consultation on their proposed new draft authorisations for British Nuclear Fuels' Sellafield site.
Organic Waste Collection
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will fund a pilot project to enable Stoke-on-Trent city council to introduce organic waste collection ; if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : We have made £15 million in supplementary credit approvals--SCAs--available for local authority recycling investment in England in 1993-94, as part of our environmental partnership scheme. The Department invited applications from Stoke-on-Trent city council and other English local authorities for these SCAs on 17 November 1992. A copy of the letter making the invitation has been placed in the Library. We will consider any application from the city council, along with applications from other authorities, against the criteria set out in that letter.
Derelict Land Grant
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much derelict land grant was paid in each of the last five years with respect to reclamation schemes in the borough of Thamesdown ; and which were the schemes.
Mr. Robin Squire : Derelict land grant expenditure in the borough of Thamesdown in the last five years is shown in the table. All the expenditure relates to a scheme to reclaim former quarry land at Queens park, Swindon for public open space.
|Expenditure (£)
------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |512,015
1988-89 |401,545
1989-90 |96,927
1990-91 |444,553
1991-92 |6,659
<1>1992-93 |20,000
|-----
Total |1,481,699
<1> Forecast.
Customs House, Dundee
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the sums spent from Government funds in each of the past five years on the refurbishment of the Customs House building in Dundee, formerly occupied by Customs and Excise.
Mr. Baldry : I refer the hon. Member to the answer about the cost of restoration work given to him by my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General on 14 December Official Report, column 62 . All Customs and Excise expenditure was in the financial year 1990-91.
Shrewsbury Castle (Bombing)
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice and assistance from his Department's funds he has been able to extend to Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council, owners of Shrewsbury castle, following bomb damage in August.
Mr. Robin Squire : Neither my Department nor the Department of National Heritage has received any request for advice or assistance from Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council in respect of the bomb damage to Shrewsbury castle in August.
Fish (Pollutants Report)
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the report "Chlorinated Organic Pollutants in Fish from the North-East Irish Sea", which his Department has partly funded.
Mr. Maclean : The report "Chlorinated Organic Pollutants in Fish from the North East Irish Sea" was prepared under a sub-contract by the department of the environment and evolutionary biology of the university of Liverpool, as part of a DOE research contract with WRc plc for a study of the sources and fates of synthetic organics. The main contract final report is on sale through the Foundation for Water Research, and is available in the DOE library. The sub-contract report is also available to the public in the DOE library. Copies of both reports have been deposited in the House of Commons Library.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the procedure for local authorities in appealing against their standard spending assessments ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. and learned Friend announced his proposals for standard spending assessments for 1993-94 on 26 November 1992. There is now a period of consultation until 31 December 1992 during
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which local authorities and Members of Parliament may make written representations about any aspects of SSAs. We will also try to satisfy as many requests for meetings as is practical during this period. All representations will be carefully considered before decisions are announced in January 1993.Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the local authority associations on changes to the criteria for standard spending assessments for 1993-94.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 9 December 1992] : The proposals which were announced on 26 November as part of the provisional revenue support grant settlement followed extensive discussion with the local authority associations about the methodology for standard spending assessments. We are now in the middle of a period of formal consultation on these proposals which continues until 31 December. So far we have received a letter from the chairman of the London Boroughs Association setting out a number of areas of concern to London boroughs and requesting a meeting. We have also received a letter from the Association of County Councils expressing concern at the provision for spending on the fire service within SSAs for 1993-94. All representations from the associations and individual local authorities will be carefully considered before final decisions are reached in the new year.
Mr. David Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the proposed increases in standard spending assessment and revenue support grant for 1993-94 over 1992-93 for Brighton, Blackpool and Southend-on-Sea ; and Dorset, Sussex, Lancashire and Essex ;
(2) what is his proposed increase in standard spending assessment and revenue support grant for Bournemouth for 1993-94 over 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 10 December 1992] : The proposed increase in SSA between 1992-93 and 1993-94 for the authorities requested is shown in the table. The 1992-93 figures used in making the comparisons have been adjusted for major changes in function, mainly the transfer of further education, so that they are comparable with the 1993-94 figures.
Under the community charge system revenue support grant--RSG--is paid into collection funds. In shire areas there is no separate grant towards county and district level services. The distribution of RSG depends, among other factors, on the amount which could be raised from relevant adults in the area and the income from non-domestic rates--NDR--which is distributed in line with relevant adults. Under the council tax, RSG will be paid to all tiers of authorities and will depend, among other factors, on the income which could be raised from the taxbase of equivalent dwellings. The income from the NDR will depend on resident population. It is thus not possible to provide the grant figures requested on a comparable basis.
Increase in provisional 1993-94 SSA over adjusted 1992-93 SSA Local authority |£ million ------------------------------------------------ Bournemouth |0.080 Brighton |1.880 Blackpool |1.447 Southend-on-Sea |-0.728 Dorset |12.376 East Sussex |27.575 West Sussex |14.503 Lancashire |17.808 Essex |34.806
Housing, Rotherham
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many new homes will be provided by Rotherham borough council in 1993-94 ; what is the total provision from central funds which will be received by the authority in support of capital expenditure on housing ; and what capital expenditure he expects the authority to incur next year.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 14 December 1992] : The level of housing capital expenditure in Rotherham in 1993-94 is a matter for the borough council to decide in the light of the available resources. The authority's proposed programme for housing capital expenditure in 1993-94, included in its housing investment programme--HIP--submission, contains no expenditure on new housebuilding by the council. Details of local authority HIP allocations for 1993-94 will be announced later this week.
Council Tax (Students)
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether he will make it his policy to enable local authorities to charge business rates on those properties rented exclusively to students and whose occupants are exempt from council tax ; (2) what estimate he has made of the loss in revenue arising from the exemption of students from council tax liability in respect of (a) students residing in accommodation provided by institutions of higher education and (b) students residing in privately rented accommodation.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 14 December 1992] : Halls of residence and student-only dwellings have been exempted from the council tax because most students are not eligible to claim council tax benefit. The imposition of business rates on such properties would result in higher rents for students. The Government do not intend to take such a step.
Local authorities will be compensated for the revenue forgone as a result of this exemption through the revenue support grant system. No local authority will therefore be financially penalised for the presence in its area of students.
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