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Mr. Heseltine : The terms of reference are as follows :
To investigate the formulation, implementation and enforcement of EC law with the aim of securing legislation which is necessary and proportionate and ;
--minimises the burdens on British business and sustains its international competitiveness ; and
--is least intrusive in the lives of British citizens.
Specific areas to be addressed will include :
--whether the burden for business is kept to the minimum necessary to comply with EC requirements ;
--the difficulties in interpreting EC law ;
--the timing and content of implementing legislation ;
--whether the views of business are properly taken into account ; --whether the views of United Kingdom enforcement agencies are taken into account ;
--whether Ministers are kept fully aware of implementation and enforcement issues ; and
--the proportionally of enforcement practice.
These issues will be examined in the context of at least the following case studies :
--Meat hygiene (as implemented by the 1990 Food Safety Act) --Health and Safety (Framework and Subordinate directives) --Personal Protective Equipment directive.
The scrutiny will recommend improvements procedures to be followed in negotiating EC law, in implementing EC legislation in United Kingdom law, and in enforcing the United Kingdom law.
The scrutiny will report to Ministers within the 90 working days which are allowed under efficiency scrutiny guidelines.
I will be the supervising Minister for the scrutiny. The scrutiny team will be advised by a steering group which will include private sector members.
Electricity Generators
Mr. Hardy : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the recent report by OFFER on electricity purchasing with respect to the treatment of (a) the actual costs of generating and (b) the position of coal-fired generators ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : The contents of OFFER's report will be taken into account in the Government's coal review along with other evidence and submissions.
Coal Review
Mr. Clappison : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to publish the consultants' reports commissioned as part of the coal review.
Mr. Heseltine : I announced on 20 November that I had appointed consultants to report as part of the coal review. John T. Boyds was to examine the viability of each of the 21 pits proposed for closure last October, and not subject to the statutory consultation process being undertaken by British Coal ; Ernst & Young was to investigate the competitiveness of British Coal as an organisation ; Caminus Energy Ltd. was to investigate the markets for coal ; and PIMS Associates Ltd. was to examine British
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Coal's costs and productivity in comparison with international benchmarks. Caminus and Boyds have, in addition, jointly produced a summary of their reports.I sent copies of all these reports and the summary to the Chairman of the Trade and Industry Select Committee yesterday, and am arranging for them to be published today. I have placed a copy of my letter together with copies of the reports and the summary in the Library.
Computer Games (Epilepsy)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what consultations he has had with toys and games retailers and manufacturers concerning the dangers of photo-sensitive epilepsy induced by computer games ;
(2) what representations he has received in relation to the dangers of photo-sensitive epilepsy in children induced by use of computer games ;
(3) what proposals he has to introduce a compulsory health warning on the dangers of photo-sensitive epilepsy on the packaging of computer games.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 13 January 1993] : My Department is aware of recent cases of children reported to have suffered epileptic seizures while playing with computer games. We are holding urgent discussions with industry representatives and others to ascertain what information and advice should be made available to consumers and how best this might be achieved.
One-stop Shops
Mr. Morgan : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will make a statement on one-stop shops for business and technology information dissemination ; what proposals he has to grant aid such one- stop shops ; and what arrangements he will make to monitor and evaluate their progress ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the local dissemination of business and technology information ; and when he expects to announce pilot projects to further such local dissemination.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 14 January 1993] : My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade made a statement in the House on 3 December 1992 announcing the publication of a prospectus seeking competitive bids for the establishment of up to 15 pilot one-stop shops in England.
I understand that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, who has responsibility for Welsh matters, is separately considering the business enterprise and support arrangements in Wales.
One-stop shop bids will be submitted to DTI by 29 January 1993 and I will be announcing the pilot areas in mid-March 1993.
DTI will provide grant aid as a contribution towards meeting the additional costs of establishing pilot shops for a period of up to three financial years.
The progress of the pilots will be closely monitored and will be the subject of a detailed evaluation. If the initial pilots are as successful as I expect, a further round of bids will take place in 1993-94 and a national network of one-stop shops will be established as quickly as possible.
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Staff Documents
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what procedures his Department has to alert staff to the existence of documents which affect their work but are not circulated for security reasons.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 14 January 1993] : My Department distributes such documents to the appropriate officials, who are alerted by telephone in urgent cases.
Warren Spring Laboratory
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many persons of all grades, scientific and non-scientific, worked in marine pollution-related activities at Warren Spring laboratory in 1979, 1985, 1990, 1991 and 1992 ; and if he will give conveniently available figures on the public expenditure on such work during those years.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 14 January 1993] : The information requested is as follows :
L
|Number of persons |Total cost of work
|(£ thousands)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|£ Thousand
1979-80 |12 |385
1985-86 |17 |830
1990-91 |13 |1,075
1991-92 |8 |670
<1>1992-93 |8 |770
<1> Forecast
Royal Family
Mr. Hain : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if, following the planned privatisation of Parcelforce, members of the royal family will continue to receive free use of its services.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 18 January 1993] : Following my right hon. Friend's announcement on 15 July of his intention to privatise Parcelforce, the arrangements for parcels services for the royal family is one of the many issues which will be studied carefully.
Mr. Hain : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total annual cost of free postage provided (a) to Her Majesty the Queen and (b) to each other individual member of the royal family so entitled.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 18 January 1993] : The provision of free postage services to members of the royal family is primarily to enable the royal household to deal with mail from the public, congratulatory messages to mark diamond weddings and one hundredth birthdays, and to maintain communications when Her Majesty the Queen is out of London.
The Post Office has no statistics on the annual cost of these services which are provided, to a varying extent, to Her Majesty the Queen and 15 other members of the royal family.
Microwave Frequency Transmissions
Mr. Purchase : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what publicly funded research has been carried out regarding the biological effects of microwave
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frequency transmissions ; if he will fund a study into the type of equipment being installed on or near high-rise residential blocks in Wolverhampton ; and if he will publish the results of any such research ;(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of biological penetration from personal communication network range frequencies on all life-forms which have come into close proximity with such equipment ; and if he will publish his conclusions.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 18 January 1993] : The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) has responsibility for advising United Kingdom Government Departments on standards of protection for exposure to non-ionising radiation. Recent reports from that body indicate that, at the lower frequencies associated with these installations, there is no firm epidemiological evidence of the existence of a carcinogenic hazard. My Department is currently helping to fund a joint research study, managed by the NRPB, into the possible effects of exposure to mobile telephone transmissions.
Parcelforce
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what provision he has made to ensure that free postal and parcel services for literature and tapes for the visually impaired are retained following the sale of Parcelforce.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 19 January 1993] : Both Royal Mail and Parcelforce provide certain free postal and parcel services for the visually impaired. Such provision will continue in the future although the details of how this will be done have yet to be settled.
Coal Industry
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the criteria to be employed by Boyds in assessing the viability of the 10 pits listed for immediate closure ; and if he will list the criteria employed by Boyds in respect of the other 21 pits listed for closure.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 21 January 1993] : Boyds is required to consider for each of the 10 pits whether the criteria for closure announced on 19 October (currently loss-making and no prospect of viability in the foreseeable future) are met. Its conclusions will be based on an inspection of each of the 10 pits and evaluation in respect of each mine of :
(i) financial information for the current financial year ; (
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(ii) available coal reserve base ;(iii) near-term capital requirements ;
(iv) estimated future operating costs ;
(v) estimated future income.
A copy of the full terms of reference of the Boyds' study of the 10 pits is available in the Library of the House.
In respect of the 21 pits, I refer to the reply my right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, gave to my hon. Friend for Waveney (Mr. Porter) on 20 November at column 433.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. Michael : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was (a) the total sum of money paid out in legal aid and (b) the sum paid out in respect of each category of offence for each of the last five years.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Net expediture on all forms of legal aid in the last five years was as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------
1987-88 |434
1988-89 |475
1989-90 |564
1990-91 |682
1991-92 |906
In respect of each category of offence, figures are available only for the proportion of expenditure accounted for by each category in higher court cases (i.e. those in the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal) for the past four years. This has been set out in the tables :
Payments made to |1988-89 per cent.|1989-90 per cent.|1990-91 per cent.|1991-92 per cent. solicitors --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Violence against the person |21.58 |22.09 |20.48 |21.75 Sexual offences |6.46 |6.84 |7.05 |7.16 Burglary |13.64 |12.37 |11.77 |12.39 Robbery |5.46 |5.18 |5.62 |5.40 Theft and handling |22.18 |22.17 |21.45 |20.43 Fraud and forgery |4.57 |4.14 |5.93 |6.81 Criminal damage |2.32 |1.93 |1.79 |2.00 Indictable motoring offences |2.58 |1.68 |1.48 |1.65 Appeals. etc |4.70 |4.40 |4.47 |4.85 Other offences |16.51 |19.20 |19.96 |17.56
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Payments made to |1988-89 per cent.|1989-90 per cent.|1990-91 per cent.|1991-92 per cent. barristers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Violence against the person |21.64 |20.99 |19.40 |20.94 Sexual offences |6.22 |6.32 |6.42 |6.87 Burglary |8.81 |7.64 |7.12 |8.26 Robbery |5.51 |5.62 |5.74 |6.14 Theft and handling |20.41 |20.34 |18.60 |17.78 Fraud and forgery |7.90 |8.56 |11.35 |12.02 Criminal damage |1.82 |1.25 |1.68 |1.34 Indictable motoring offences |1.69 |0.93 |0.88 |1.04 Appeals etc. |1.74 |2.19 |2.11 |2.73 Other offences |24.26 |26.16 |26.70 |22.88
The total net expenditure on legal aid in the higher criminal courts for the past four years was as follows :
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|£ million
------------------------------
1988-89 |118
1989-90 |134
1990-91 |157
1991-92 |186
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