House of Commons Hansard Debates for 22 Feb 1993

Column 409

Written Answers to Questions

Monday 22 February 1993

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

European Communities (Amendment) Bill

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he requested legal advice on amendment No. 27 to the European Communities (Amendment) Bill from the Government's Law Officers.

Mr. Garel-Jones : The Law Officers were formally consulted on 9 February.

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the advice his Department has received on amendment No. 27 to the European Communities (Amendment) Bill.

Mr. Garel-Jones : I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 15 February, at column 27.

El Salvador (Human Rights)

Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has concerning the fulfilment of the guarantee given by Alfredo Cristiani of El Salvador to the United Nations Secretary-General in November 1992 concerning the transfer or retirement of officers from his army who had been named as human rights violators.

Mr. Garel-Jones : In a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council on 7 January, the UN Secretary-General accepted as satisfactory the measures adopted and implemented by the Government of El Salvador with respect to 87 of the 102 army officers covered by the recommendations of the ad hoc commission set up under the El Salvador peace accords. However, the Secretary General said that the measures adopted in respect of the other 15 officers did not comply with those recommendations. The Security Council on 9 February expressed concern at this situation.

Bosnia

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representations he has received about the situation in Bosnia since 8 February ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : The Secretary of State has received no visitors specifically to discuss Bosnia since 8 February. It is a frequent topic in his discussions with overseas visitors and others. He has received numerous letters from members of the public and hon. Members on behalf of their constituents.

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Palestine Liberation Organisation

Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instruct Her Majesty's ambassador in Tunis to convey to the Palestine Liberation Organisation the concern of Her Majesty's Government at the continuing contacts between Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : The PLO is well aware of our views on Saddam Hussein.

Publicity

Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 June 1992 to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) Official Report, column 358, what is his Department's (a) current outturn estimate for publicity expenditure for 1992-93 and (b) budgeted publicity expenditure for 1993-94.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The current estimated expenditure by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for publicity in 1992-93 and the budgeted expenditure for publicity in 1993-94 are :


                |FCO            |FCO                            

                |Diplomatic wing|ODA wing                       

                |£              |£                              

----------------------------------------------------------------

1992-93         |951,500        |680,000                        

1993-94         |566,001        |680,000

Communications Courses

Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what equipment those attending communications courses in Northamptonshire in the last six months have been trained ; when the models of equipment concerned are to be withdrawn ; and what is the per capita cost for those attending such courses, including travelling, subsistence and accommodation.

Mr. Goodlad : No FCO personnel have attended communications courses in Northamptonshire in the last six months. FCO staff have been trained at Hanslope Park in Buckinghamshire on numerous types of equipment over the last six months. Certain radio and teleprinter equipment is now being withdrawn as more cost-effective PC-based communication systems are installed worldwide. The average cost, including all overheads, per student per day is about £90.

Air Travel

Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what class of air ticket staff travel when travelling to and from posts abroad ; and what assessment he has made of the relative costs to his Department of their travelling on (a) economy or excursion fares and (b) business class fares.

Mr. Goodlad : The types of ticket to which diplomatic service officers and their families are entitled accord with guidance set by HM Treasury. Almost all officers on duty, transfer and mid-tour leave travel economy class on journeys of up to two and a half hours, and business class

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for longer journeys. Very senior officers may travel in a higher class in certain circumstances, by virtue of their grade or for operational reasons : such cases amount to about 1.5 per cent. of total journeys. All other leave journeys and children's holiday visit passages, including journeys over two and a half hours, are by the cheapest means : economy or Apex fares.

We have not made an assessement of the relative cost of downgrading the class of travel, for example from business to economy class. Air fare pricing is constantly changing : our travel services contractor logs 1.6 million changes a day. We judge that the entitlements set by HM Treasury represent a reasonable balance of economy, operational needs, and comfort for the traveller.

The FCO constantly strives for greater value for money. We have agreements with a number of airlines which provide for substantial discounts, negotiated in partnership with our travel services contractors, with whom we also have a special arrangement to reduce cost.

Mr. Mahal Khalil

Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 12 February, Official Report, column 840, concerning Mr. Mahal Khalil--Ref : IMM/B4131--if he will make it his policy that any appeal made by Mr. Khalil against refusal to grant entry clearance will be accepted ; if he will arrange for an appeal to be given priority in view of the delay caused by administrative error ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Should Mr. Khalil submit an appeal against the decision to refuse entry clearance, the entry clearance officer--ECO--at the high commission in Islamabad will accept the appeal. The ECO will give priority to the preparation of his explanatory statement. Mr. Khalil may wish to ask in his appeal that it be given priority, and the independent appellate authority would no doubt give full consideration to such a request.

ENVIRONMENT

Local Authorities (Legislation)

Mr. Dowd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to review the consultation procedures with local authorities on the implications for them of intended legislation.

Mr. Robin Squire : Under recent legislation, where consultation is necessary, the Secretary of State is required to consult

"such representatives of local government as appear to him to be appropriate".

For these purposes we consult the local authority associations. Consultation documents cover the resource implications of proposals for local authorities. Even where there is no statutory requirement, it is the Government's policy and practice to consult the associations so that local government's views can be taken into account as early in the formulation of policy and legislation as possible. In addition, there are regular informal meetings between Ministers and the chairmen of the associations at which the direction of policy and the possibility of future legislation are discussed. These consultation arrangements are kept under review and are regularly discussed with the associations.

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Urban Programme

Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which organisations are currently being funded under the urban programme in Lambeth.

Mr. Robin Squire : The organisations currently being funded under Lambeth's urban programme are listed as follows

1. London Borough of Lambeth

2. Camberwell District Health Authority

3. West Lambeth District Health Authority

Voluntary Organisations

1. Melting Pot Foundation-Green Badge Taxi School

2. LMHS-Roots and Shoots

3. Angell Town Estate Enterprise Centre

4. Front Line Women's Organisation

5. Lambeth Turkish Speaking Community

6. Lambeth Youth Aid-Textile Printers

7. Worklink

8. Plant Exchange

9. Allen Edwards Nature Gardens

10. Loughborough Estate Tenants Association

11. Brixton Sheltered Street Scheme

12. Lambeth Chinese Community Association

13. St. Martins Estate Community Project

14. CLUFO/Vietnam Refugees

15. Angell Town Community Nursery

16. Frontline Development-Brixton Cares

17. HAPA

18. Allen Edwards Oasis Environmental Project

19. Stockwell Good Neighbours

20. Vietnamese Elderly Project

21. Apostolic All Nations Community Centre

22. Oval Options

23. 198 Gallery

24. Fanon Project-Brixton Circle

25. Ashmole Tenant's Hall

26. Norbury CHAS

27. North Lambeth Day Centre Resettlement

28. Organisation for Sickle Cell Research

29. South Island Workshop Training Programme

30. Myatts Field Community Centre

31. Asian Community Action Group

32. St. Vincents Community Centre

33. Heath Road Community Project

34. Black Contractors Association

35. Lambeth Accord-Worklink

36. Lambeth Business Association

37. Lambeth Drugline

38. Help 71

39. Lilford Afterschool Group

40. Springfield Community Flat

41. Cathedral Employment

42. QTAB

43. LMHS-All Sewn Up

44. The Baytree Centre

45. Brixwork

46. CALA Training Centre

47. Blackfriars Settlement-Work Centre

48. Eritrean Community

49. Ethelred Estate

50. Lambeth Summer Project

51. Bondway Night Shelter

52. West Indian Ex-Serviceman's Association

53. Holy Trinity Church, Tulse Hill

54. Lambeth Somali Community Association

55. Turkish Speaking Community Project

56. Dorset Road Community Hall

Housing Starts

Ms. Harman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the number of private sector housing starts in each year from 1988 ; and if he will make a statement.

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Mr. Baldry : Estimates of housebuilding starts in England by sector each year from 1988 to 1991 are shown in table 6.1(a) of "Housing and Constuction Statistics 1981-1991". A copy of this publication is in the Library.

Figures for 1992 have been released in an information bulletin. On provisional estimates, there were 99,500 private enterprise and 27, 400 housing association starts in England during 1992.

Super-quarries

Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the impact of establishing super-quarries in Scotland on the requirement for production of aggregates in England and Wales.

Mr. Baldry : In considering the potential contribution which coastal super-quarries in north-west Europe might make to aggregates supplies, the consultants employed by my Department made a broad assessment of the planning and environmental issues involved. The Government have made it clear that individual applications will need very careful assessment and full regard will be had to their possible environmental impact.

Rent Deposit Scheme

Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the outcome of the pilot rent deposit scheme in west London funded by his Department ; and if he will publish a report on the scheme.

Mr. Baldry : The pilot project for a rent deposit fund operated by the Notting Hill Housing Trust--NHHT--and funded by my Department as part of the rough sleepers initiative in central London is due to end on 30 June 1993. My officials are at present discussing with NHHT how best to evaluate the scheme.

Housing Associations (Grants)

Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, if he will publish the affordability assumption used to determine grant rates to housing associations.

Sir George Young : Outturn rents are determined by housing associations. The Government do not publish the factors and assumptions implicit in the grant rate model or any general definition of affordability, since they do not wish to imply a view as to what constitutes an affordable rent in any particular case.

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