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NATIONAL FINANCE
Witzemann v. Hauptzollamt Mu"nchen-Mitte
Mr. Stern : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the judgment in the case of Witzemann v. Hauptzollamt Mu"nchen-Mitte by the European Court of Justice on 2 and 25 October and 6 December 1990, case C-343/89 ; what information he has as to the costs falling to the Community of the case ; and if he will outline how a judgment against the accused would be enforced in such a case, in respect of financial penalties.
Sir John Cope : I have noted the outcome. There are no new United Kingdom policy implications. Where an
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action is brought under article 177 of the EC treaty for a preliminary ruling by the ECJ, the costs of the action are reserved to the national court. Any judgment in the national court will be enforced in accordance with the laws of that member state.Auditing
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to bring forward proposals for imposing a duty on auditors of firms in the regulated sector to report to the regulators.
Mr. Nelson : I am pleased to announce that a joint Treasury and Department of Trade and Industry consultation document is being published today. This includes draft regulations imposing a statutory duty on auditors to report to the Bank of England any information which they believe to be relevant to their client bank's fulfilment of the authorisation criteria in the Banking Act, in line with the recommendation made by Sir Thomas Bingham in his report of the inquiry into BCCI.
The consultation document also includes draft instruments extending a similar duty to report to the relevant regulatory authority, for auditors of building societies, friendly societies, persons regulated under the Financial Services Act, and at the initiative of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, companies regulated under the Insurance Companies Act.
The instruments which would implement the statutory duty have been drafted in close consultation with the auditing profession, with bodies representing regulated firms, and with the regulators. Comments are requested on the consultation document by 1 June. When the Government have had time to consider these, we will prepare draft instruments to lay before the House. These should come into force before the end of 1993.
Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the House Libraries.
WALES
Sheep Farmers
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the net farm income in real terms of sheep farmers in severely disadvantaged areas in Wales in each year since 1979.
Mr. David Hunt : The income figures in real terms--that is, deflated by the RPI 1991-92 = 100--are as follows :
Severely disadvantaged sheep farms Year ---------------------- 1979-80 |6,677 1980-81 |11,524 1981-82 |15,453 1982-83 |10,233 1983-84 |13,434 1984-85 |14,537 1985-86 |9,896 1986-87 |13,414 1987-88 |12,342 1988-89 |19,104 1989-90 |10,903 1990-91 |11,373 1991-92 |16,540
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Inmos
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the highest number of employees at the Inmos plant in Newport ; and what is (a) the present total and (b) the planned number in 1994 at Newport Wafer Fab, under the programme of Government assistance.
Mr. David Hunt : This information is commercially confidential.
Sheep Premium
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has made to the European Community to date in the current year concerning prompt payment of the final instalments of the sheep annual premium.
Mr. David Hunt : The European Commission took the decision on the final rate of premium last month. Publication of the rate in the Official Journal is expected shortly. We hope to be able to make the payments in early April.
Preseli Environmentally Sensitive Area
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many farms could be included in the Preseli environmentally sensitive area.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will review annually payments made under the Preseli environmentally sensitive area ; and if he will index link them.
Mr. David Hunt : Payment rates are currently reviewed every two years and there are no plans to change these arrangements.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what criteria his Department used for designating all of the Preseli, Pembrokeshire district an environmentally sensitive area.
Mr. David Hunt : The environmentally sensitive area scheme was introduced to help conserve, through the maintenance or adoption of particular agricultural practices, areas of the countryside where the landscape, wildlife or historic interest is of national importance. Final decisions on the precise boundary of the Preseli ESA will be taken in the light of the forthcoming consultation exercise.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what organisation will set the conditions covering the environmentally sensitive area of Preseli ; how its members will be appointed ; and from what organisations they will be drawn.
Mr. David Hunt : The proposed management prescriptions for the Preseli ESA, which will form part of the consultation document that is to be issued shortly, have been drawn up by my Department in consultation with the Agricultural Development Advisory Service, the Countryside Council for Wales and other farming and environmental bodies.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what will be the overall budget for the Preseli
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environmentally sensitive area for 1993-94 and his estimate for 1994-95 ; and what will be the total acreage covered.Mr. David Hunt : The overall budget for the proposed Preseli ESA will be dependent upon the rates of payment to farmers which will be decided in the light of the forthcoming consultation exercise. It is anticipated that the Preseli ESA will cover approximately 115,000 hectares.
Cereal Growers
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many commercial cereal growers in Wales have completed yield data forms in each of the years from 1986 ; and how many of those grow winter wheat.
Mr. David Hunt : Holdings cannot be classified on the basis of whether they are commercial cereal producers. A close approximation to this group is the farm typology group "Specialist Cereal Holdings". The table gives the number of holdings in this group responding to the cereal production survey, and of those, how many grow wheat.
Number of specialist cereal holdings<1> in Wales responding to the
April cereal production survey<2> each year from 1987 to 1992
Harvest year |April survey year |Number of specialist|Of which grow
|cereal holdings |wheat<3>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986 |1987 |4 |0
1987 |1988 |19 |7
1988 |1989 |19 |7
1989 |1990 |8 |3
1990 |1991 |12 |7
1991 |1992 |13 |6
<1> The classification of holdings into farm types is based upon a system of estimating the dominant
activity on each holding using standard gross margins (SGMs). Conceptually the SGM is the difference
between the value of the output of each activity and the variable costs of the necessary inputs to the
activity. Specialist cereal holdings are therefore characterised by cereals production being the
dominant activity.
<2> There are normally three cereal production surveys in the course of a year. The first is around
August-September towards the end of the harvest period which provides a first estimate of cereal
production. The second survey is conducted during November which produces another provisional estimate
of total production. The third and final survey is in April and the results of this survey are used as
the final cereal production estimates. The table has therefore been produced using only the holdings
responsible to the April survey.
<3> No distinction is made between winter and spring sown varieties of wheat in the cereal production
survey.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his best estimate of the number of commercial cereal growers in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : There were 250 specialist cereal growers in Wales according to the June 1992 agricultural census.
Agricultural Grants and Subsidies
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what sums were paid out by each of his divisional offices for each (a) agricultural subsidy scheme and (b) grant scheme available to farmers in 1992 ; how many agreements were entered into for each grant scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : The information requested is as follows :
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Divisional
Offices
|Caernarfon |Carmarthen |Llandrindod Wells
|£000s |£000s |£000s
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Subsidies
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances |12,162 |7,043 |19,022
Sheep Annual Premium Scheme |32,090 |19,784 |42,364
Suckler Cow Premium Scheme |3,552 |2,540 |6,246
Oilseed Support Scheme 1992 |60 |53 |132
Farm Woodland Scheme |11 |10 |16
(b) Grant Schemes
Farm and Conservation Grant Scheme |1,284 |2,733 |1,892
Agriculture Improvement Scheme |375 |832 |460
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Scheme 371 318 362
Farm Diversification Grant Scheme |69 |192 |116
Farm Diversification Marketing and Feasibility Grant 6 4 7
Environmentally Sensitive Areas |388 |547 |607
Five year Set-Aside |37 |217 |144
One year Set-Aside |0 |3 |8
The number of agreements entered into in 1992 are as follows:
Farm and Conservation Grant Scheme 63 |46 |126
Farm Diversification Grant Scheme |1 |4 |1
Farm Diversification Marketing and Feasibility Grants 1 5 5
Environmentally Sensitive Areas |93 |15 |9
Livestock Identification Scheme
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will include the livestock identification scheme in the Government's review of the scope for deregulation ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. David Hunt : The introduction of animal identification systems is a consequence of EC requirements.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning the livestock identification scheme.
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Farm Support Schemes
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what Government financial aid schemes are currently available to assist farm diversification and farm development and to support farm incomes in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : All the current agricultural support schemes, implemented under the common agricultural policy, contribute to a greater or lesser extent to the incomes of farm businesses. The most important to farmers in Wales in terms of overall expenditure include the sheep annual premium scheme, hill livestock compensatory allowances, suckler cow premium scheme, beef special premium scheme, farm and conservation grant scheme and the environmentally sensitive area scheme. The farm and conservation grant scheme is the only one of these schemes containing specific measures aimed at developing or improving the farm structure. Grants for farm diversification were available under this scheme, but were withdrawn on 18 January 1993.
Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 4 February, Official Report, columns 340-41, what interviews he had with persons with a view to appointing them as chairman of the Welsh Development Agency ; how many persons expressed an interest in the post prior to its being advertised ; how many persons he approached for the post ; and how many meetings with potential appointees took place.
Mr. David Hunt : Applications for and expressions of interest in the post of chairman are confidential. I will be making an announcement on the appointment in due course.
Higher Education, Cardiff
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the Welsh Higher Education Funding Council concerning the future of (a) academic teaching and research accommodation requirements of the Cardiff Business School, (b) the student residential accommodation requirements for the University of Wales College of Cardiff and (c) the proposed third campus proposal at Cardiff Bay.
Special Schools (Psychiatry Services)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has with the south Glamorgan health authority concerning the cessation of provision of child and adolescent psychiatry services to special schools.
Employment Protection Regulations
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library copies of all circulars and other advice issued by his Department concerning the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 and the Acquired Rights directive.
Mr. David Hunt : A copy of my Department's letter of 9 November 1992 to health authorities in Wales has already been placed in the Library of the House ; no other circulars or advice have been issued.
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Community Facilities
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the number of approvals for new schemes involving capital grants to village halls, voluntary youth services and community centres which will be given in 1993-94.
Sir Wyn Roberts : In 1993-94 the resources available for this programme will be fully utilised in meeting commitments arising from previous years. No new schemes have been approved, therefore.
Disadvantaged Areas
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what has been the rate of return on capital on cattle and sheep farms in severely disadvantaged areas in Wales in each year since 1979 ; (2) what has been the rate of return on capital on livestock farms in disadvantaged areas in Wales in each year since 1979 ; (3) what has been the rate of return on capital on specialist sheep farms in severely disadvantaged areas in Wales in each year since 1979 ;
Mr. David Hunt [holding answer 1 March 1993] : The available information is as follows :
Hill and Upland (SDA) Cattle and Sheep Farms
|Return on net worth|Return on tenant's
|capital
|Per cent. |Per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986-87 |-0.06 |2.1
1987-88 |2.00 |4.9
1988-89 |2.83 |9.2
1989-90 |-0.08 |4.4
1990-91 |-0.70 |1.1
1991-92 |0.70 |4.8
Upland (DA) Livestock Farms
|Return on net worth|Return on tenant's
|capital
|Per cent. |Per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986-87 |0.78 |n/a
1987-88 |0.43 |n/a
1988-89 |1.19 |n/a
1989-90 |-1.26 |n/a
1990-91 |-2.43 |n/a
1991-92 |-1.44 |n/a
n/a = not available.
Hill and Upland (SDA) Sheep Farms
|Return on net worth|Return on tenant's
|capital
|Per cent. |Per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986-87 |0.66 |3.7
1987-88 |-0.15 |5.8
1988-89 |2.84 |10.3
1989-90 |0.42 |3.3
1990-91 |0.23 |3.2
1991-92 |1.96 |10.8
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Hill and Upland (LFA) Livestock Farms
|Return on net worth|Return on tenant's
|capital
|Per cent. |Per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986-87 |0.45 |2.1
1987-88 |0.61 |4.7
1988-89 |2.40 |8.8
1989-90 |-0.09 |2.4
1990-91 |-0.65 |-
1991-92 |0.77 |4.9
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Leyland DAF
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what investigations have been made into the transfer pricing policies of Leyland DAF.
Mr. Sainsbury : No investigations have been carried out by the DTI into the transfer pricing policies of Leyland DAF.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when the 1991 accounts of Leyland DAF were laid at Companies house.
Mr. Neil Hamilton [holding answer 5 March 1993] : I understand that the company accounts for Leyland DAF Ltd. for the calendar year 1991 have not been filed at Companies house. They were due by 31 October 1992 and a letter advising the company of this fact was issued six weeks before that date. The annual accounts were not received by then and as is normal in such cases Companies house initiated default procedures. A letter was issued on 16 November 1992 and in the absence of any response a further letter was issued on 8 January 1993. Notice of the appointment of an administrative receiver was received at Companies house on 5 February. As responsibility for the company's affairs now lies with the administrator, further action against the directors would be inappropriate.
Foreign-domiciled Companies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has about the number of foreign-domiciled companies operating in Great Britain.
Mr. Sainsbury : Comprehensive figures are not available on the total number of foreign owned companies which have invested in Great Britain. However, figures on manufacturing business published by the Central Statistical Office show 2,419 foreign-owned businesses in the United Kingdom in 1990.
Inspectors
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list his Department's published inspectors' reports which are critical of auditors for their failure to make a proper going concern evaluation.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : No. Copies of published inspectors' reports are available in the Library for inspection.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what analysis his Department makes of his inspectors' reports ; and to whom it is made available.
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Mr. Neil Hamilton : Reports of inspectors are considered carefully and information is disclosed, through the provisions of sections 451A and 449 of the Companies Act 1985, to prosecuting or regulatory bodies as appropriate. Relevant policy or legislative points are noted and considered within my Department.
Plutonium
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 4 February, Official Report, column 261, if he will publish in the Official Report a summary of the annual plutonium production figures.
Retailers
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to prevent companies withdrawing supplies to retailers who offer their products at bargain prices to consumers.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : Investigation of anti-competitive behaviour such as refusal to supply or withdrawing supplies is the responsibility of the Director General of Fair Trading under the competition legislation. Where a refusal to supply is connected to resale price maintenance the Resale Prices Act 1976 has effect. Any evidence of such behaviour should be drawn to the Director General's attention.
Insurance Companies
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy to introduce legislation to make it compulsory for insurance companies to belong to an arbitration scheme.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : No. I believe the present voluntary schemes offer a desirable degree of flexibility which could be lost if membership were made compulsory.
Correspondence
Mr. Tipping : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when the Minister for Energy intends to reply to the letter dated 8 December 1992 from the hon. Member for Sherwood.
Mr. Eggar : I replied to the hon. Member on 24 February.
Assisted Area Status
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment has been made of the effect on London unemployment of the designation of assisted area status.
Mr. Sainsbury : The main grant schemes available in the assisted areas, regional selective assistance and regional enterprise grants, are both demand-led and depend on businesses bringing forward suitable, eligible applications. Forecasting the possible impact of assisted area status on unemployment levels of individual areas is therefore not possible.
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Coal Industry
Mrs. Golding : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much money has been paid in wages for not working to the work force involved in the 10 pits which are subject to the consultation process since the pits have ceased coaling.
Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for British Coal.
Electricity
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when his views have been sought by the European Commission on the proposed electricity interconnector between Scotland and Northern Ireland ; and what his response has been.
Mr. Eggar : The President's views have not been sought by the European Commission on the proposed electricity interconnector between Scotland and Northern Ireland. Electricity matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Staff (Working Hours)
Mr. David Porter : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will undertake a survey of all offices and agencies for which he has responsibility to ascertain to what extent staff supplying a service to the public are curtailing their work on a Friday afternoon earlier than other days of the week ; and if he will make a statement on his policy on hours of staff working each week.
Mr. Eggar : My Department places a high priority on the service it offers to the public. Staff work a five-day
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week and local managers are required to make suitable arrangements to ensure that the public are properly served. The attendance requirements in each office apply on Fridays as on any other day and no special provision whatsoever is made for it to be treated any differently.Bureaucracy
Mr. Matthew Banks : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress he is making in cutting departmental and other bureaucracy for small and medium-sized businesses ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : All the regulatory Departments have begun a review of the regulations for which they are responsible. In parallel, seven task forces of business men, organised on a sectoral basis, are being set up to advise Ministers on priorities for repeal and simplification with special reference to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. The names of the chairman and members of the task forces will be announced shortly.
Offshore Oil and Gas
Mr. Ainger : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many oil spills have come from platforms operating in the United Kingdom sector in the last five years ; and what proportion this number represents of the total number of spills.
Mr. Eggar : Numbers of oil spills from offshore installations on the United Kingdom continental shelf are published annually in the "Brown Book" . Total reported spills from all sources are also published annually by the Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea in its survey of oil pollution around the coasts of the United Kingdom. The figures for 1987-91 are :
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|1987|1988|1989|1990|1991
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Total reported spills from all sources |500 |559 |764 |791 |705
(b) Spills from offshore installations |254 |259 |291 |345 |234
(c) Line (b) as a percentage of line (a) |50.8|46.3|38.1|43.6|33.2
In 1991 the 234 spills from offshore installations totalled 192 tonnes of oil. Within the 471 spills from other sources reported by ACOPS, the 34 largest totalled 1,864.4 tonnes and there were 275 for which the amount spilt was not known or not recorded.
Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom : A Report to Parliament by the Minister of Energy.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his best estimate of the amount of oil discharged in oil-based drilling mud into the environment from offshore drilling rigs in the United Kingdom sector in each of the last five years.
Mr. Eggar : The discharge of oil-based drilling mud into the environment from offshore drilling rigs in the United Kingdom sector of the North sea is not permitted.
Discharge of oil-contaminated cuttings produced when using oil-based drilling mud may be permitted under an exemption, granted by the Secretary of State, from section 3 of the Prevention of Oil Pollution Act 1971.
The Government publish annually in the "Brown Book", "Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the
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United Kingdom : A Report to Parliament by the Minister for Energy", the quantities of oil discharged with cuttings. For the five years 1987-91 these were :
|Tonnes oil
---------------------------------
1987 |12,400
1988 |18,500
1989 |13,400
1990 |12,310
1991 |11,225
Gas Industry
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to encourage further competition in the gas industry.
Mr. Eggar : My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade has referred the markets on gas supply, gas transportation and storage to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
We shall consider what steps should be taken to encourage further competition in the light of its report.
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