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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. Friend has already responded to Caledonian MacBrayne's corporate plan for 1992 to 1996 in approving the company's capital expenditure proposals for 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96, increasing the company's external financing limit over the three years by a total of £10.5 million and fixing the level of deficit subsidy for 1993-94 at £7.165 million.
Executive Agencies
Mrs. Roe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland at what stage (a) drafts and (b) copies of letters from chief executives of agencies within his responsibility, in response to parliamentary questions, are submitted to Ministers.
Mr. Lang : The chief executives of my four agencies reply direct to parliamentary questions on matters delegated to them. It is not normal practice for chief executives' letters to be submitted to my office prior to reply. I do, of course, see chief executives' replies when they are published in the Official Report.
Appointments
Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will update the information given in his answer to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 5 November 1992, Official Report, column 351 ; and if he will state the political affiliation of the appointees where known.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 4 February 1993] : The central data on appointments is updated once a year, at 1 September, and the information given in the answer to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 6 November 1992 is the latest available. Information not
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held centrally could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. On the question of political affiliation I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Paisley, South (Mr. McMaster) on 26 November 1992, Official Report, column 711.Mr. Muir Russell
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps have been taken to ensure that the appointment of Mr. Muir Russell as a non -executive director of Stage Coach plc is compatible with his position as a civil servant ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 8 February 1993] : Mr. Russell's appointment is one of many made nationally to build bridges between the civil service and the business community. There is now within the Scottish Office a substantial bank of experience of such appointments, which must comply with the normal principles of conduct for civil servants. In addition new guidance has been published by the Office of Public Service and Science to supplement departmental rules and procedures on such appointments. Mr. Russell's appointment is entirely compatible with the guidance.
Departmental Budget
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the percentage change in (a) real terms and (b) cash terms in his Department's budget from 1992-93 to 1993-94.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 3 February 1993] : The planned 1993- 94 expenditure budget for the Departments within my responsibility but excluding the Forestry Commission is 5.0 per cent. in real terms and 7.9 per cent. in cash terms more than planned 1992-93 expenditure as amended by classification changes. After allowing for additional responsibilities of my Departments in care in the community and higher education, the increases are 2.7 per cent. in real terms and 5.6 per cent. in cash terms.
Departmental Press Releases
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has to distribute his Department's press releases by electronic mail.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 5 February 1993] : I intend to continue my practice of distributing news releases from my Department by electronic mail to principal media outlets which have the facilities to receive them. Development of the service is kept under review.
MV Braer (Oil Spillage)
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what financial provision has been made, and by whom, for the long-term monitoring of the impact on both land and the marine environment of the oil spillage from the tanker Braer.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 8 February 1993] : Various Government Departments and public bodies are already engaged in monitoring the impact of the oil spill. Their programmes and priorities will be reviewed by the ecological steering group which was announced by my right hon. Friend on 26 January 1993. Since the long-term
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monitoring requirements have still to be assessed, it is too early to take a view on the financial arrangements for them.Severely Disadvantaged Areas
Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland according to the most recent figures for each year since 1978, how many farmers within the less-favoured areas designated severely disadvantaged, receive a level of farm income at or below the level at which a family of two adults and two children of school ages 13 and 17 could expect to be entitled to family credit at the current rate.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 8 February 1993] : The information requested is not available.
Scottish Bus Group Companies
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the purchasers of former Scottish Bus Group companies under the terms of the Transport (Scotland) Act 1989.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 8 February 1993] : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir Hector Monro) on 2 December 1991, Official Report, columns 45-46.
EMPLOYMENT
Job Applicants (Drug Tests)
Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what estimates her Department has made of the number of companies requiring drug testing for job applicants ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : The Department does not produce estimates of the number of companies requiring drug testing for job applicants and has no plans to do so.
Ship Building
Mr. Hutton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies have been declared in the United Kingdom shipbuilding industry each year since 1979 ; and what has been the average redundancy payment in constant prices.
Mr. McLoughlin : The specific information requested is not available and no information is held on payments made by employers to redundant employees.
Black Workers
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what estimate she has made of the average pay of black workers as a percentage of the average pay of white workers.
Mr. McLoughlin : These estimates are not made.
Check-off Deductions
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will estimate the cost per thousand to employers of meeting requirements for renewed check-off deductions.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : The cost to those employers who choose to operate check-off arrangements of the new requirements in the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Bill will depend on their particular circumstances. Employers may agree, as part of the arrangements, to recoup some or all of the cost from the trade unions on whose behalf they operate the check-off.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment who proposed to Government the requirement that employers would be required to seek renewed consent to check-off deductions from their employees every three years.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : This proposal is based on a recommendation in the response of the Institute of Personnel Management to the Green Paper, "Industrial Relations in the 1990s".
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if employers are presently prohibited from checking at any time and at any interval whether any employee maintains consent previously given for deductions of union subscriptions.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : No. Existing law on the operation of the check -off offers little protection to employees who pay their union subscriptions through the check-off.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which bodies have supported the proposed requirement for renewed consent to check-off deductions.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responses to legislative proposals are automatically treated as confidential. Bodies that have publicly supported the principle of periodic renewal of consent include the Confederation of British Industry and the Institute of Directors.
Employment Training
Mr. Ronnie Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of people graduating from employment training courses in Blyth Valley have gone on to full-time work in each year since 1987.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested is not available. Information on employment training is not held centrally below training and enterprise council level.
Job Shops (Vetting)
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what vetting is carried out when potential employers place advertisements for vacancies in job shops.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. Fogden to Mr. Bill Michie, dated 9 February 1993 :
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As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about the vetting carried out when potential employers place advertisements in job shops. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.The vast majority of vacancies notified to Jobcentres are from employers who are well known to my local people and give no cause for concern. Where an employer is not known we take extra care to ensure the vacancy is from a genuine employer. If we have any doubts we will normally make local enquiries or arrange to visit the employer. Any complaints from jobseekers are always followed up and my managers have discretion to refuse to handle recruitment business if they have concerns about the potential vacancy.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Opencast Mining
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will make an assessment of the health and safety of those who work in opencast coal mining.
Mr. McLoughlin : Prime responsibility for health and safety at work including assessment rests with employers and self employed persons, where appropriate. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) encourages and promotes health, safety and welfare at work at those places for which it is the enforcing authority, which includes opencast coal sites. HSE inspectors seek to ensure that employers and others comply with health and safety legislation and if necessary take appropriate action to ensure legal requirements are met.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many constituencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have higher registered unemployment at the present time than in June 1987.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library.
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest estimates of unemployment rates (a) by ethnic origin, broken down into (i) white, (ii) West Indian, (iii) Indian, (iv) Pakistani and (v) Bangladeshi, (b) separately by sex and ethnic origin and (c) by 16 to 24 year age group, sex and ethnic origin.
Mr. McLoughlin : The latest available estimates for Great Britain of unemployment rates on the internationally standard ILO definition are given in the following table :
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ILO unemployment rates by ethnic origin, Sex and age: Great Britain, summer (June-August) 1992 (not seasonally adjusted)
Percentage
all persons Males Females
|all 16 and over|aged 16-24 |all 16 and over|aged 16-24 |all 16 and over|aged 16-24
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All persons<2> |10 |18 |12 |21 |8 |14
White |9 |17 |11 |20 |7 |13
Ethnic minority groups<3> |20 |35 |23 |40 |17 |28
Black-Caribbean |24 |39 |32 |49 |15 |<1>-
Indian |15 |28 |15 |32 |15 |25
Pakistani |28 |44 |29 |48 |<1>- |<1>-
Bangladeshi |38 |<1>- |37 |<1>- |<1>- |<1>-
<1> The source of the estimates in the table (Labour Force Survey) is a sample survey and all estimates from it are subject to sampling
variability, particularly in the case of smaller groups. Following established practice, estimates where the numerator is less than 10,
000 are now shown in the table, but the estimates for other small groups, for example some of those within the 16-24 age-bands, should be
treated with caution.
<2> Includes people who did not state their ethnic origin.
<3> Includes those of black-African, other black non-mixed (including black-British) and those of mixed and other origins.
Source: Labour Force Survey.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Connarty : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information is available regarding the lengths of periods of unemployment benefit disqualification imposed by adjudication officers in the area which includes Falkirk East constituency.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. Fogden to Mr. Michael Connarty, dated 9 February 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about the length of periods of unemployment benefit disqualifications in the Falkirk East area. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
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All decisions on claims for unemployment benefit are made by the independent adjudicating authorities.Information about the length of disqualification periods imposed is not collated or published as each is decided in the light of the circumstances surrounding the individual case. Without knowledge of these circumstances no meaningful interpretation of the information could be made.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Construction Sites (Accidents)
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the number of (a) deaths and (b) serious accidents at construction sites in Wales in each of the last five years.
Mr. McLoughlin : The numbers of deaths and major injuries occurring in the construction industry in Wales over the past five years are provided in the table :
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Occupational injuries occurring in the construction industry<1> in Wales as reported to HSE's Factory and Agricultural Inspectorates and Local
Authorities, 1987-88 to 1991-92<6>
Fatal Injuries Major Injuries<3>
Year<2> |Employees |Self employed |Members of public<4>|Employees |Self employed |Members of public<4>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |9 |3 |- |158 |11 |15
1988-89 |8 |1 |- |154 |23 |10
1989-90 |5 |4 |- |200 |34 |5
1990-91<5> |6 |1 |2 |189 |39 |1
1991-92<5> |8 |2 |1 |96 |22 |8
<1> As defined by Standard Industrial Classification 1980 Division 5.
<2> Year commencing 1 April.
<3> Major injuries as defined under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985.
<4> Injured as a result of someone else's work activity.
<5> Includes reports made to HSE's Quarries Inspectorate.
<6> Provisional
Training
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of those referred by the employment service to employment training actually started in the valleys initiative area between April 1991 and March 1992.
Column 590
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. Fogden to Mr. Ron Davies, dated 9 February 1993 : As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about the
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percentage of those referred by the Employment Service to Employment Training, in the Valleys Initiative area, who actually started between April 1991 and March 1992. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.Although we do not collect information in the format you asked for we have found a way to provide a close alternative, which is based on returns from our local offices located in the Valleys Initiative area. This gives a figure of 39 which is almost exactly equivalent to 1 person starting for every 2.5 who are referred.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the current numbers of employment trainees by ethnic origin.
Mr. McLoughlin : The following table gives the latest percentage breakdown of entrants to employment training in Great Britain by ethnic origin.
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Employment training
April 1992 to September 1992-Great Britain
Starts by ethnic origin
|per cent.
--------------------------------------------
White |89
Black/African/Caribbean |4
Asian |4
Other |2
Not stated (including prefer not to say) 1
Source: ET starts database.
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest statistics for 1992 on numbers of (a) employment trainees, (b) youth trainees and (c) job club leavers, by ethnic origin and sex for(i) England and Wales, (ii) Yorkshire and Humberside and (iii) Sheffield.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested is not available in the exact format asked for. Information is only available about the percentage of entrants or leavers by characteristics. The following tables give the latest data.
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Table 1
Employment training: characteristics of entrants
April 1992 to September 1992<1>
Per cent.
Region Ethnic origins<2> Sex
|1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |Male |Female
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheffield TEC |86 |6 |2 |4 |1 |70 |30
Yorkshire and Humberside |91 |2 |4 |1 |1 |68 |32
England and Wales |88 |5 |4 |2 |1 |67 |33
Source: Employment Training Starts Database.
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Table 2
Youth training: characteristics of leavers
April 1992 to October 1992<1>
Per cent.
Region Ethnic origins<2> Sex
|1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |Male |Female
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheffield TEC |93 |3 |3 |1 |1 |61 |39
Yorkshire and Humberside |94 |1 |4 |1 |<4>- |60 |40
England and Wales |94 |2 |3 |1 |1 |57 |43
Source: Youth Training Leavers Database.
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Table 3 Job club: characteristics of leavers April 1991 to March 1992<1> Per cent. Region Ethnic origins<2> Sex [NL] |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |Male --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sheffield area<3> |94 |1 |2 |2 |1 |85 |15 Yorkshire and Humberside |91 |1 |7 |1 |<4>- |82 |18 England and Wales |86 |6 |7 |1 |1 |80 |20 Source: Employment Service Management Information System. Notes to tables: <1> The latest period for which information is available. <2> 1=White; 2=Black/African/Caribbean; 3=Indian/Pakistan/Bangladeshi/Sri Lankan; 4=None of these; 5=Prefer not to say. <3> Sheffield area does not cover exactly the same area as Sheffield TEC. <4> Less than 0.5 per cent. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to independent rounding.
Regulations
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will place in the Library a list of all the regulations for which her Department is currently responsible with a descriptive title for each individual regulation.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : As part of the Government's deregulation initiative, the Department has compiled a provisional list of regulations for which it is responsible, which impact on business. It is currently being fully checked for accuracy and will be placed in the Library by early March.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many black adults in England and Wales are on training schemes operated by training and enterprise councils in the current year ; what was the figure for 1992 ; and what percentage this is of the total number of trainees on schemes operated by the training and enterprise councils.
Mr. McLoughlin : During April to September 1992, the latest period for which information is available, 5 per cent. of adults on employment training in England and Wales were of
Black/African/Caribbean descent, the same as in the full financial year 1991-92.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the members of each training and enterprise council in the Northern region, together with their remunerations, for 1991-92 and 1992- 93.
Mr. McLoughlin : The current board members of TECs in Northern region are listed in the table. Directors of TEC boards do not receive any remunerations other than incurred expenses unless they hold the office of TEC chief executive.
Chief executives who are seconded civil servants are paid the appropriate civil service salary ; those who are direct employees of the TEC are paid a salary which is determined by the TEC.
Co. Durham TEC
Mr. B. Robinson
Mr. J. Hamilton
Mr. R. McKechnie
Mr. T. Edge
Mr. D. King
Mr. D. Clifford
Mrs. M. Todd
Mr. D. Gatfield
Mr. L. Aviss
Mr. A. MacConachie
Mr. J. Creaby
Mr. G. McLearie
Mr. K. Mitchell
Mr. F. Crow
Teesside TEC
Mr. L. Bell
Mr. P. C. Kerr
Mr. M. D. Ward
Mr. A. B. Anderson
Mr. P. G. Yuill
Mr. D. Hall
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