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Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the budget of the South Yorkshire fire service (a) in the current financial year and (b) for 1993-94 ; and what estimate he has made of the effect of compliance with the capping requirement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The South Yorkshire fire and civil defence authority's revenue budget for the financial year 1992-93 is £31.614 million. The authority has yet to set a budget for the financial year 1993- 94. In doing so, it must have regard to the intended designation criteria for council tax capping announced on 26 November 1992 by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, to the nationally recommended minimum standards of fire cover, and to its statutory duties under the Fire Services Act 1947.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the establishment level of the South Yorkshire fire service ; and what the forecast actual manning level is for March 1994.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The establishment scheme notified to me on 26 February 1992 by the South Yorkshire fire and civil defence authority provided for a whole-time establishment for the South Yorkshire fire service on 1 January 1992 of 1,084 posts, and for a retained establishment on that date of 192 posts. The authority has not yet notified me of the establishment scheme for 1 January 1993. Any forecasts of actual staffing levels in the future are a matter for the authority.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he expects to make in the procedures related to application for naturalisation to become British citizens consequent to the implementation of the treaty on European union ; and what information he has on the principal differences in the procedures adopted from those of other member states.
Mr. Charles Wardle : My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans to amend the requirements for naturalisation. He is aware of the broad principles governing naturalisation in member states of the European Community.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the rights and obligations of (a) a Danish citizen resident in the United Kingdom and (b) a United Kingdom citizen resident in
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Denmark occasioned by implementation of the intergovernmental decision agreed at Edinburgh and how they differ from those currently obtaining.Mr. Kenneth Clarke : When the treaty on European union enters into force, Danish nationals resident in the United Kingdom--like other European Community nationals--will, in addition to the existing rights of free movement and residence as provided in the treaty of Rome and in measures adopted to give it effect, gain the rights to vote and stand in local and in European parliamentary elections, to petition the European Parliament and to apply to a European ombudsman. United Kingdom and other European Community nationals resident in Denmark already enjoy the right to vote in local elections. The Edinburgh decision does not affect this position but makes clear that union citizenship does not replace national citizenship and the rights and obligations accruing from it, which will continue to be decided by reference to the national law of the member state concerned.
Mr. Sweeney : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civilian staff there were in each police force in England and Wales in 1981 and 1991 ; and what percentage of total employees these figures represented in each year.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information requested is set out in the table :
Civilian strength in England and Wales as at 31 December Force |1981 |1991 ---------------------------------------- Avon and Somerset |711 |909 Bedfordshire |291 |387 Cambridgeshire |309 |451 Cheshire |419 |510 Cleveland |258 |434 Cumbria |259 |403 Derbyshire |701 |487 Devon and Cornwall |808 |1,038 Dorset |309 |557 Durham |480 |532 Dyfed Powys |197 |250 Essex |721 |1,055 Gloucestershire |231 |367 Greater Manchester |1,507 |2,259 Gwent |214 |304 Hampshire |725 |1,039 Hertfordshire |379 |551 Humberside |511 |676 Kent |871 |1,018 Lancashire |881 |1,095 Leicestershire |430 |676 Lincolnshire |334 |457 Merseyside |1,036 |1,569 Norfolk |267 |442 Northamptonshire |258 |420 Northumbria |835 |1,193 North Wales |323 |444 North Yorkshire |335 |439 Nottinghamshire |581 |706 South Wales |847 |1,079 South Yorkshire |637 |892 Staffordshire |623 |749 Suffolk |337 |500 Surrey |359 |565 Sussex |717 |932 Thames Valley |975 |1,410 Warwickshire |187 |323 West Mercia |541 |843 West Midlands |1,489 |2,270 West Yorkshire |1,294 |1,833 Wiltshire |257 |473 City of London |288 |295 Metropolitan |13,824|14,131 |--- |--- Total |37,556|46,963
Civilian staff represented 24 per cent. and 26 per cent. respectively of total strength of the police service in those years.
Mr. Sweeney : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each police force in England and Wales in 1981 and 1991 the number and percentage of entrants who were over the age of (a) 30 years and (b) 40 years.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information requested is not held centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the total cost of training for the judiciary for each year since 1979.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Judicial Studies Board, which is responsible for training the judiciary, was established in 1979. Until 1987 it had no separate budget and expenditure on training for the judiciary in that period cannot be discretely identified. Since 1987-88 the Judicial Studies Board has had its own budget. Annual expenditure has been as follows :
|£ --------------------------------------- 1987-88 |604,330 1988-89 |601,100 1989-90 |977,909 1990-91 |1,535,720 1991-92 |1,765,460 1992-93 |<1>1,800,000 <1> Estimate.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many days training per year were undertaken by the judiciary in (a) the Court of Appeal, (b) the High Court and (c) the circuit bench for each year since 1987.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Training for the judiciary is organised by the Judicial Studies Board. The numbers of judges trained at courses and seminars arranged by the Judicial Studies Board since January 1987 were as follows :
|Days --------------------------------- (a) 1987 Circuit judges |300 (b) 1988 Court of appeal judges |4 High court judges |34 Circuit judges |519 (c) 1989 High court judges |16 Circuit judges |383 (d) 1990 Court of appeal judges |41 High court judges |116 Circuit judges |936 (e) 1991 Court of appeal judges |31 High court judges |19 Circuit judges |840 (f) 1992 High court judges |19 Circuit judges |546 (g) 1993 (to date) Court of appeal judges |30 High court judges |72 Circuit judges |56
In addition, each circuit judge attends an annual circuit conference chaired by the presiding judges. Precise figures for these are not available.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the names of those judges who have not undertaken any training (a) since their appointment to the bench, (b) in the last five years and (c) in the last 12 months.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The information required is not available. Each year conferences are arranged on each Circuit for all circuit judges. Recorders and assistant recorders and also for district judges and deputy district judges. In addition a wide range of training is available through the Judicial Studies Board in the form of courses, seminars and other training events. When they are appointed all assistant recorders and deputy district judges attend induction courses and thereafter attend refresher seminars. If the hon. Member has a more specific question I invite him to write to me.
Mr. Hoon : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the composition of the advisory committee for the appointment of JPs in the Mansfield area.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The membership of the Mansfield advisory sub- committee of the Nottinghamshire advisory committee is : J. Archer Esq JP
Mrs. J. Dennis JP
Mrs. C. M. Gaster JP
Mrs. M. Harper JP
E. Higham Esq JP
T. King Esq JP
P. R. Marsh Esq JP
Mrs. K. Winson
The membership of the Nottinghamshire advisory committee is : Sir Andrew Buchanan JP
C. M. Dennis Esq JP
R. A. Hassett Esq JP
T. King Esq JP
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Mrs. J. E. Latham JPP. R. Marsh Esq JP
Mrs. J. M. Parry JP
Colonel A. R. Ripley TD, DL
Mr. Hoon : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) women, (b) trade union members and (c) members of ethnic minorities have been appointed as JPs in the last five years.
Mr. John M. Taylor : During the five-year period ending 31 December 1992 a total of 9,823 persons were appointed to the magistracy, of whom 4,832 were women. Figures for appointment of members of ethnic minorities have been collected only since January 1989 since when a total of 375 persons has been appointed. No records are kept of trade union membership.
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list, for each local education authority, the latest available figures for the numbers of pupils attending (a) schools which have grant-maintained status, (b) schools which have had proposals to acquire grant-maintained status approved and (c) the total of (a) and (b) .
Mr. Forth : The numbers of pupils in schools currently operating as grant-maintained and in schools which have had proposals to acquire grant- maintained status formally approved and the total for each LEA in England are given in the table. Authorities with no such schools are left blank. Pupil numbers shown relate to January 1992, the latest date for which information is available.
Pupils in schools operating as grant-maintained or in schools with proposals approved in England. LEA |GM schools operating|Schools with |Total |proposals approved --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- City |- |- |- Camden |- |- |- Greenwich |- |- |- Hackney |- |- |- Hammersmith and Fulham |1,197 |- |1,197 Islington |- |- |- Kensington and Chelsea |622 |- |622 Lambeth |838 |877 |1,715 Lewisham |198 |- |198 Southwark |389 |413 |802 Tower Hamlets |879 |- |879 Wandsworth |4,605 |- |4,605 Westminster |- |- |- Barking |- |- |- Barnet |3,117 |- |3,117 Bexley |448 |- |448 Brent |1,891 |- |1,891 Bromley |11,065 |- |11,065 Croydon |958 |1,047 |2,005 Ealing |5,301 |- |5,301 Enfield |- |- |- Haringey |- |- |- Harrow |- |- |- Havering |- |- |- Hillingdon |9,176 |- |9,176 Hounslow |- |- |- Kingston upon Thames |894 |- |894 Merton |- |- |- Newham |574 |- |574 Redbridge |- |- |- Richmond upon Thames |- |- |- Sutton |4,012 |1,660 |5,672 Waltham Forest |1,058 |- |1,058 Birmingham |4,827 |3,352 |8,179 Coventry |- |- |- Dudley |564 |- |564 Sandwell |652 |- |652 Solihull |495 |- |495 Walsall |2,363 |- |2,363 Wolverhampton |1,777 |- |1,777 Knowsley |- |- |- Liverpool |1,043 |- |1,043 St. Helens |- |- |- Sefton |- |- |- Wirral |- |- |- Bolton |1,158 |- |1,158 Bury |- |- |- Manchester |- |- |- Oldham |- |- |- Rochdale |242 |- |242 Salford |- |- |- Stockport |- |- |- Tameside |794 |759 |1,553 Trafford |- |821 |821 Wigan |- |- |- Barnsley |- |- |- Doncaster |- |- |- Rotherham |- |- |- Sheffield |71 |- |71 Bradford |938 |828 |1,766 Calderdale |1,415 |- |1,415 Kirklees |1,192 |- |1,192 Leeds |- |- |- Wakefield |- |- |- Gateshead |- |- |- Newcastle upon Tyne |- |- |- North Tyneside |- |- |- South Tyneside |- |- |- Sunderland |- |- |- Isles of Scilly |- |- |- Avon |1,455 |- |1,455 Bedfordshire |2,851 |272 |3,123 Berkshire |8,203 |- |8,203 Buckinghamshire |4,625 |1,834 |6,459 Cambridgeshire |6,285 |1,830 |8,115 Cheshire |547 |1,786 |2,333 Cleveland |- |- |- Cornwall |- |- |- Cumbria |5,012 |- |5,012 Derbyshire |4,198 |2,619 |6,817 Devon |1,381 |844 |2,225 Dorset |5,836 |- |5,836 Durham |- |- |- East Sussex |- |- |- Essex |27,087 |9,253 |36,340 Gloucestershire |13,529 |- |13,529 Hampshire |6,285 |2,981 |9,266 Hereford and Worcester - - - Hertfordshire |6,266 |- |6,266 Humberside |76 |- |76 Isle of Wight |- |- |- Kent |26,522 |2,043 |28,565 Lancashire |4,121 |- |4,121 Leicestershire |364 |747 |1,111 Lincolnshire |14,333 |- |14,333 Norfolk |7,273 |770 |8,043 North Yorkshire |- |- |- Northamptonshire |9,185 |384 |9,569 Northumberland |- |- |- Nottinghamshire |334 |- |334 Oxfordshire |- |- |- Shropshire |481 |- |481 Somerset |612 |- |612 Staffordshire |917 |- |917 Suffolk |- |- |- Surrey |8,619 |- |8,619 Warwickshire |3,650 |1,086 |4,736 West Sussex |- |- |- Wiltshire |1,795 |- |1,795 |---- |---- |---- England |236,595 |36,206 |272,801
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give the most recent figures for revenue spending by each local education authority in England and Wales per full-time student aged 16 to 19 years at (a) further education colleges, (b) sixth-form colleges and (c) sixth forms in secondary schools.
Mr. Boswell : This information is not collected centrally for local education authorities in England. Expenditure returns from LEAs contain information about their total spending on all secondary education, including sixth-form education, and on further education, but this information cannot be disaggregated between particular age ranges.
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the available facilities for pupils with dyslexia problems in the London boroughs.
Mr. Forth : Comprehensive information about such facilities is not held centrally.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will tabulate the number of reported signal failures on the railways of (a) the British Railways Board and (b) London Underground Ltd., giving the number of reported wrong side failures of signals for each year since 1981 ; and what steps have been taken to reduce their numbers.
Mr. Freeman : The Health and Safety Executive's railway inspectorate began recording reported wrong side failures in 1990, following recommendations in Sir Anthony Hidden's report of the investigation into the Clapham junction accident.
The figures available are :
|Figures ------------------------ 1990 BR |1,298 LUL |0 1991-92 BR |698 LUL |4
Of those, only one in 1990 and five in 1991-92 led to reportable accidents. Also, of the respective years' totals,
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847 and 277 incidents involved failures of position light signals which are usually located in yards and sidings not used by passenger trains, and where speeds are low.The reduction is due largely to BR's total quality campaign whereby a systematic approach to quality is closely aligned with safety management.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the railways inspectorate to publish its requirements for level crossing of railway lines by footpaths and bridleways.
Mr. Freeman : The Health and Safety Executive's railway inspectorate expects this section of its revised requirements to be published shortly. The full title will be "Railway Construction and Operation Requirements, Part F Level Crossings, Protection of Footpath and Bridleway Level Crossings (Section 18)" (ISBN 0-11-882115-6).
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of total car mileage is shown by the national travel survey to be accounted for by company cars ; and what proportion of company car mileage is shown to be for commuting and other personal, as against business, purposes.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : In 1985-86, the national travel survey showed that 20 per cent of total car mileage was by company-owned cars, of which 57 per cent. was for commuting and other personal purposes as against 43 per cent. for business purposes.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research or evidence his Department has commissioned on the casualty reduction consequences of restrictions on driving on the display of "P" or "R" plates by newly qualified drivers in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : We are considering the available evidence on the effectiveness of probationary driving schemes in Northern Ireland and overseas. The Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland) has commissioned a study by Queen's university, Belfast into the working of the "R" plate system in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out details of his calculations for the numbers of staff required in the offices of the rail regulatory and the franchising director respectively under the Railways Bill ; and what estimate he has made of the changes in personnel (a) required in the railway section of the Department of Transport and (b) to occur in the British Railways board and combined new companies relative to those currently employed by the board.
Mr. Freeman : The number of staff estimated for the offices of the rail regulator and the franchising director reflects their expected workloads and is broadly comparable with the numbers working in other regulators'
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offices. Once the new regime for the railways is established, we expect there to be a small saving in the number of departmental staff concerned with the railway industry. It is not possible to predict with any accuracy future employment levels within the railway industry.Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will tabulate the number of people entitled to concessionary travel from British Rail in total and categorised as (a) employees, (b) pensioners, (c) employees' dependants and offspring, (d) former employees of British Transport Docks Board, (e) former employees of British Transport Hotels, (f) former employees of Sealink, (g) former employees of Wightlink, (h) British Transport police and (i) pensioners of British Transport police ; and what estimate he has of the cost in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Freeman : I understand that the number of people entitled to concessionary travel, as at 9 January, totals 561,922, made up as follows :
|Numbers ----------------------------------------------------------------- (a) Employees |137,488 (b) Pensioners |262,825 (c) Employees dependants and offspring |150,669 (d) Former employees of British Transport Docks Board |3,611 (e) Former employees of British Transport hotels |431 (f) Former employees of Sealink |2,340 (g) Former employees of Wightlink |Nil (h) British Transport police |1,677 (i) BTP pensioners |2,881
The extra costs to British Rail of providing concessionary travel arrangements are not quantifiable.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action is currently undertaken by his Department to promote the production and use of biodiesel in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The Government are sponsoring a number of research projects looking at a wide range of alternative fuels, including biodiesel.
Although biodiesel offers the possibility of reduced carbon dioxide emissions through the growth of plant feedstock, available evidence regarding exhaust emissions and other environmental impacts suggests that the case for its use is not obvious. Current technology biodiesel is also some two and a half to three times as expensive as conventional diesel. It would therefore be premature to encourage its widespread use. Further study is needed.
To improve our understanding of this fuel the Department is carrying out emissions tests on one of the vehicles being used in the Reading Buses biodiesel fuel trial. The results will be made available when testing is complete.
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals he has to increase the marking of cycle priority routes in London.
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Mr. Norris : There are no cycle priority routes in London. My hon. Friend may be referring to the proposed 1,000-mile strategic cycle network. Provision of cycle routes falls to the Department on trunk roads and the London borough councils on local roads. The traffic director for London is responsible for approving cycling facilities which may be contained in local plans for priority red routes. There are no current plans to change marking requirements for cycle routes.
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy that his proposals for bus deregulation will give priority to tendering for existing services by the private sector.
Mr. Norris : London Transport will be offering at least a further 5 per cent. of London's bus routes to competitive tender this year. We have also announced plans to begin privatisation of all London Buses Ltd. subsidiaries by the end of the year. All bus routes will therefore be operated by private operators competing on level terms before deregulation of the London bus market.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy, under the Government's policy with regard to the additionality of funding of projects by the EC, that offers of funding from EC sources for the electrification of railway lines will not be netted off from other funds earmarked by the Government for transport projects ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : The policy for the treatment of European regional development fund grants remains that which was announced by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to the House on 17 February 1992, Official Report, columns 22-37.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the policy which was adopted by Her Majesty's Government towards the suggested EC funding for the electrification of the north Wales railway line from Crewe to Holyhead ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : It would be for British Rail, in conjunction with local authorities as appropriate, to apply for European funding of any electrification of the Crewe to Holyhead line. British Rail is upgrading the line to allow 90 mph running and is financing this itself. It has no plans at present for electrifying the line.
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions he has used trains for his official duties since being appointed to his present position.
Mr. MacGregor : I have travelled by train for my official duties on several occasions since becoming Secretary of State for Transport.
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Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will publish the maintenance and upkeep costs of (a) the Tay rail bridge and (b) the Forth rail bridge in each year since 1980 ;
(2) if he publish the number of safety checks carried out, and their cost, on (a) the Tay rail bridge and (b) the Forth rail bridge since 1980 ;
(3) if he will publish the cost of maintaining estuarial rail bridges in the BR network in each year since 1980.
Mr. Freeman : The Department does not hold this information. These are matters for British Rail.
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps have been taken to extradite to Peru known members of the Shining Path terrorist organisation.
Mr. Garel-Jones : I am not aware of any extradition request from Peru. Any such request would have to satisfy the conditions set out in schedule 1 of the Extradition Act 1989 and the terms of the UK/Peru extradition treaty of 1904.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the status of the European convention on human rights in each signatory state.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The European convention on human rights has been incorporated into domestic law in all signatory states except Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to revise the Hong Kong Emergency Regulations Ordinance.
Mr. Goodlad : The Hong Kong Government have no immediate plans to revise the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, but it is examining its provisions to ensure that there is no conflict with the Bill of Rights Ordinance.
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects Radio Television Hong Kong to become an incorporated company.
Mr. Goodlad : The corporation of Radio Television Hong Kong remains under consideration by the Hong Kong Government.
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to repeal the broadcasting authority ordinance in Hong Kong before the handover of the colony in 1997.
Mr. Goodlad : The Hong Kong Government have no immediate plans to repeal the Broadcasting Authority Ordinance. They are, however, reviewing all aspects of the law relevant to freedom of information.
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Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list all the major international events in the United Kingdom and overseas in which Her Majesty's Government will participate in 1993 ; and which Minister will attend in each case.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : On present plans, in 1993, we will participate in the following major international events overseas :
(a) two Western European Union ministerial meetings attended by the Foreign Secretary ;
(b) two North Atlantic Council meetings attended by the Foreign Secretary ;
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