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Column 633
Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 11 March 1993
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Plutonium
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many individual movements of plutonium were involved in post-irradiation examination experiments at Berkeley nuclear laboratories and Winfrith nuclear research establishment to which reference is made in note (2) to section A of his departmental press release P/93/51 of 4 February on annual plutonium production and stockpile figures.
Mr. Eggar : Dispatches for post-irradiation examination involve movements of spent fuel, details of which are an operational matter for the owner of the fuel in question.
Technology Imports
Mr. Dafis : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will bring forward proposals to place a duty on those importing technology into the United Kingdom to provide environmental impact information as part of the import licensing procedure.
Tractors and Earth-moving Equipment
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what were the import, export, balance of payments and import penetration figures for tractors and earth-moving equipment since 1987.
Mr. Needham : Information on trade in, and sales of, earth-moving equipment is regularly published in the Central Statistical Office's business monitor PAS3254, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. However, because product sales information is collected only from large firms, it is not comparable with the trade data and reliable import penetration figures cannot therefore be derived.
Anthracite
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the annual production of anthracite in each year since 1985 ; and what has been the cost of its production in 1992 prices.
Mr. Eggar : The annual production of anthracite in the United Kingdom since 1985 was :
|Thousand tonnes
------------------------------------------------
1985 |2,142
1986 |1,985
1987 |2,091
1988 |1,798
1989 |2,060
1990 |1,945
1991 |1,864
1992 |2,029
Information on the cost of anthracite
production is not held centrally.
Coal Industry
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the average cost of British Coal's production in each year since 1985 in 1992 prices.
Mr. Eggar : Information on British Coal's production costs are published in British Coal Corporation's report and accounts. Figures in 1992 prices are as follows :
Financial yeCost per tonne<2>
|Deep-mined|Opencast
--------------------------------------------
<1>1985-86 |66.95 |40.85
1986-87 |57.52 |37.48
1987-88 |56.07 |35.70
1988-89 |48.91 |33.75
1989-90 |50.59 |33.99
1990-91 |45.45 |35.09
<3>1991-92 |42.13 |33.99
<1> Figures for 1985-86 exclude release of
1984-85 provisions for strike recovery
costs.
<2> Cash figures adjusted to 1992 price
levels by excluding the effect of general
inflation as measured by the GDP deflator.
<3> The GDP deflator for 1992 has been
estimated.
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the estimated percentage market share of British Coal in (a) the industrial steam coal market, (b) the domestic coal market, and (c) the market for electricity generation in Britain during 1992.
Mr. Eggar : British Coal's percentage shares of the respective coal markets during 1992 are estimated at 85 per cent. for electricity generation, 45 per cent. for industrial steam coal and 75 per cent. for domestic coal.
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much coal has been produced by the private sector of (a) opencast and (b) deep mined, annually since 1987 ; and what proportion of private sector production was sold to (i) the power generators, (ii) industrial users, (iii) the domestic home market and (iv) abroad.
Mr. Eggar : The amount of opencast and deep-mined coal produced by private sector licensed mines since 1987 was :
,
Thousand tonnes
|Opencast |Deep mined
--------------------------------------------
1987 |1,155 |855
1988 |1,130 |875
1989 |1,093 |1,013
1990 |1,109 |1,006
1991 |1,987 |1,102
<1>1992 |2,592 |1,099
<1> Provisional.
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About a tenth of this coal is sold back to British Coal, while most of the remainder is sold for power generation. Small amounts are also sold to domestic and industrial users or exported.Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the total tonnage of coal used for electricity generation in Britain in each year since 1987 ; and how much of this was obtained from (a) opencast coal mining, (b) Britain's deep mines and (c) imports of foreign coal.
Mr. Eggar : The amounts of coal used for electricity generation from 1987 were :
Million tonnes Major generating Other generOverall total companies companies<1> Open-cast |Deep mined|Imports |Total ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1987 |12.2 |67.8 |1.4 |81.4 |6.6 |88.0 1988 |10.2 |65.2 |2.0 |77.4 |6.9 |84.2 1989 |10.0 |65.3 |2.0 |77.3 |5.3 |82.6 1990 |11.3 |62.4 |4.7 |78.4 |6.1 |84.5 1991 |11.9 |61.9 |7.3 |81.1 |2.9 |84.0 1992<2> |10.3 |57.1 |7.6 |75.0 |4.0 |79.0 <1> Information on the source of coal used by other generating companies is not collected centrally. <2> Provisional.
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the annual change in labour productivity, output per man shift, in British Coal's deep mine pits since 1985.
Mr. Eggar : The annual change in labour productivity, as measured by average output per man shift worked, in British Coal's deep mines since 1985 are as follows :
|Percentage change |Output per manshift,
|over previous year |tonnes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |11 |2.49
1986 |27 |3.15
1987 |14 |3.59
1988 |11 |3.97
1989 |9 |4.33
1990 |5 |4.53
1991 |13 |5.11
<1>1992 |18 |6.01
<1> Provisional.
Source: Table 7 in Energy Trends.
Coal Exports
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what were the estimated annual tonnages of British Coal exports to (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Ireland, (d) Spain, (e) the European Community total and (f) total world wide during 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mr. Eggar : The figures requested are given in the table :
Thousand tonnes
|1990 |1991 |1992<1>
--------------------------------------------------------
France |276 |327 |155
Germany |282 |274 |63
Ireland |198 |154 |107
Spain |131 |207 |52
European Communities<2> |1,739 |1,390 |614
All countries |2,533 |1,672 |668
<1> Provisional
<2> Including France, Germany, Spain and Ireland
Source: British Coal
Nuclear Safety
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will request Her Majesty's chief inspector of nuclear installations to investigate the problems discovered in the status nuclear safety computer system developed for Nuclear Electric's Magnox plants.
Mr. Eggar : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 10 March 1993, Official Report, column 582.
AEA Technology
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a list of the contracts by AEA Technology (a) completed and (b) currently under negotiation with foreign companies or other nuclear organisations for the reprocessing or storage of materials, test reactor and research reactor nuclear fuels at Dounreay ; and what is the total value of this business to AEA Technology to date.
Mr. Eggar : These are commercial matters for the AEA.
Renewable Energy
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when his Department commenced formal discussions with the European Commission on the question of support for renewable energy beyond 1998.
Mr. Eggar : My Department first raised this matter with the Commission in autumn 1991.
Bio-diesel Fuel
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much subsidy was given to companies producing bio-diesel fuel in the United Kingdom in the last year ; what information he has as to subsidies given by other EC Governments to companies producing bio-diesel fuel ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : The United Kingdom Presidency of the European Community secured agreement to directive 92/81/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on mineral oils on 19 October 1992. This directive provides that member states may apply total or partial exemptions or reductions in the rate of duty to mineral oils used under fiscal control, inter alia, in the field of pilot projects for the technological development of more environmentally friendly products and in particular in relation to fuels from renewable resources. No such exemptions have so far been granted in the United Kingdom and data concerning other member states are not recorded in the United Kingdom.
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Electricity Imports
Mr. Tipping : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what payments have been made since 1990 on imports of electricity from France as an equivalent to the fossil fuel levy.
Mr. Eggar : This is a commercial matter for those regional electricity companies that have contracts requiring them to make such payments to Electricite de France.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Mr. Denham : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what specific contributions the United Kingdom has made to discussions in the OECD joint sessions of trade and environment experts ; what further contributions are planned ; and what plans exist for the issue of guidelines on the use of trade and environment policies.
Mr. Needham [holding answer 9 March 1993] : The United Kingdom participates actively in the work of the OECD trade and environment group, in close collaboration with the European Commission and other EC member states. The Government attach high priority to the development of criteria, including possible OECD guidelines, to govern the proper use of trade measures for environmental purposes. The Government are therefore committed to bringing this work to a positive conclusion as soon as possible. It is not yet possible, however, to say when guidelines might be issued.
As this work has developed, the United Kingdom has tabled a number of informal analytical papers dealing with detailed technical questions.
Textiles
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will carry out an examination of the effect on the United Kingdom textile industry of the double pricing by overseas countries of raw materials such as cotton and cashmere ; if he will consider the compatibility of such measures with GATT ; what remedies exist to protect the United Kingdom industry from their effect ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Needham [holding answer 8 March 1993] : Although double pricing of raw materials is incompatible with GATT rules, developing countries which are GATT members are allowed derogations from the rules. Since many of the countries which practice double pricing fall into this category, it is not possible to take action against them. However, the draft GATT Uruguay round textiles agreement contains provisions which, if implemented, will make it easier to act against any member country on this issue. Remedies under GATT are available only if the country practising double pricing is a GATT member. If not, a remedy may be sought bilaterally through the appropriate mechanisms of any bilateral agreement that exists between the country concerned and the European Community.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Care Funding
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of total funding for health and social care during the 1993-94 financial year is to be spent on community care ; which Department is responsible for deciding the provision for community care ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : Community care expenditure is not separately identified within the 1993-94 provision of £1,318 million for the health and personal social services in Northern Ireland. However, this total includes £29.452 million from which the management executive of the Department of Health and Social Services will make available the necessary funds to health and social services boards for their new community care responsibilities from 1 April 1993.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funds have been allocated to Northern Ireland for health and social care for the financial years 1993-94 and 1995-96 ; and if he will break the figures down by (a) health board, (b) county and (c) the proportion to be spent on (i) health and social care and (ii) community care.
Mr. Hanley : Expenditure on the health and personal social services in Northern Ireland is estimated at £1,318 million for 1993-94 with planned expenditure rising to £1,504 million in 1995-96.
Expenditure on the health and personal social services cannot be attributed by county and community care expenditure is not separately identified within the HPSS programme resources. However, the totals above include £29.452 milllion in 1993-94 and £105.152 million in 1995-96 for the new community care responsibilities from 1 April 1993.
The breakdown of 1995-96 planned expenditure has not yet been determined but in terms of the initial 1993-94 revenue budgets for the health and social services boards the provision for hospital, community health and personal social services expenditure and the amount subsumed therein for their new community care responsibilities is shown in the following table :
L
£ millions
Health and social |Revenue budget |New community care
services board |responsiblities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |195.872 |6.957
Southern |155.688 |5.414
Eastern |374.781 |12.089
Western |141.267 |4.932
|---- |----
Total |867.608 |29.392
Community Care Trusts
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what options his Department has considered for reforming existing Northern Ireland legislation on (a) mental health and (b) care of children, in connection with the creation of community care trusts ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Hanley : The Government intend to publish a proposal for legislation later this year which will enable boards to delegate certain statutory functions to health and social services trusts. In bringing forward new legislation, the Government's objectives are to enable as many units as possible to take advantage of the significant benefits that trust status offers, whilst also preserving the integrated structure of the health and social services in Northern Ireland.
Social Security
Sir James Kilfedder : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the application of the Social Security Revaluation of Earnings Factors (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 as it applies to additional pension paid with invalidity benefit.
Mr. Hanley : The policy intention has been that the Revaluation Order should apply to additional pensions paid with invalidity benefit. Legal advice is that provisions enacted in the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1990, and carried forward into the Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, have not given full effect to this. This means an estimated £228,000 paid between April 1992 and April 1993 will have been paid on a basis which is incorrect on the strict interpretation of the law. We intend to continue payments on an extra- statutory basis to ensure that claimants receive a level of benefits in line with the policy intention. Appropriate primary authority will be obtained in due course. The total amount paid on this basis, initially estimated at a cost of £20,000 (rounded) per month, will be reported in a note to the Department of Health and Social Services appropriation account.
Market Testing
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 to the market testing of public services in Northern Ireland.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has today placed in the Library guidance on the implications for market testing of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. I hope that all those engaged in market testing, including contractors, will consider the guidance helpful.
Emergency Provisions Act 1991
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what arrangements he has made to review the operation of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : Viscount Colville of Culross, QC has accepted my invitation to prepare a report on the operation in 1992 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991. As with previous reviews, the intention is that the report should enable both Houses of Parliament to discharge effectively their responsibility to scrutinise the operation of the Act on the occasion of the annual debates on the continuance orders, and to determine whether any of the Act's temporary provisions could be allowed to lapse.
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As the temporary provisions of the Act will lapse on 15 June 1993 unless continued in force by order, I have asked Viscount Colville to submit his report in sufficient time to facilitate the House's consideration of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act.Health and Social Services Boards
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 4 March, Official Report, column 247, whether employees of the health and social security boards can define themselves as British or United Kingdom citizens.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 9 March 1993] : There is no provision for employees of the health and social services boards to indicate whether they are British or United Kingdom citizens.
Police Interview Notes
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many requests have been made to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in each of the past three years for the disclosure of original interview notes in cases where criminal charges have been brought ; in how many instances these requests have been denied ; and for what reasons.
Mr. Mates [holding answer 5 March 1993] : This is a matter for the chief constable. However, I understand that statistical records on the number of requests for access to original interview notes are not maintained by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Prevention of Terrorism Acts
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have had their period of detention under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Acts extended pending the results of forensic tests.
Sir Patrick Mayhew [holding answer 3 March 1993] : I consider each application to extend the 48-hour period for which a person may be detained under section 14 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 very carefully, and I take into account all the relevant circumstances of each case, which frequently include the need for further forensic work. It would only be possible to provide details of these cases at disproportionate cost. It is worthy of note that, in his most recent report on the operation of the Act in 1992, Lord Colville who looked at all the extension order files was able to conclude that
"the proper criteria are being carefully observed in considering whether extensions should be granted".
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many legal aid certificates have been issued for (a) criminal cases and (b) civil cases in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The number of criminal legal aid orders and civil legal aid certificates issued for each of the last 10 years is given in the table.
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Legal aid certificates issued 1982-83 to 1991-92
Year |(a) Legal aid orders|Year |(b) Legal aid
|grantedin criminal |certificates issued
|cases |in civil cases
|(thousands)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982 |428,494 |1982-83 |189.6
1983 |446,654 |1983-84 |205.9
1984 |471,186 |1984-85 |222.2
1985 |525,248 |1985-86 |232.4
1986 |518,202 |1986-87 |245.7
1987 |575,649 |1987-88 |245.4
1988 |594,297 |1988-89 |226.0
1989 |608,962 |1989-90 |259.2
1990 |623,554 |1990-91 |297.6
1991 |638,305 |1991-92 |337.3
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary Lord Chancellor's Department how many legal aid certificates have been issued for (a) criminal cases and (b) civil cases in each of the last 24 months.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Table (a) gives numbers of legal aid certificates issued in civil cases in each month from January 1991 to February 1993. Statistics for the issue of legal aid orders in criminal cases are collected quarterly, and the numbers of such orders issued during each quarter in 1991 and 1992 are shown in table (b) .
Table (a)
Month |Number of civil
|legal aid
|certificates issued
------------------------------------------------------------
1991
January |28,937
February |26,165
March |25,365
April |25,191
May |31,257
June |28,959
July |22,151
August |31,264
September |26,967
October |31,658
November |31,648
December |24,820
1992
January |33,287
February |30,632
March |35,679
April |32,249
May |26,896
June |34,166
July |39,099
August |31,852
September |35,594
October |36,868
November |39,439
December |31,210
1993
January |33,906
February |36,704
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Table (b)
Quarter |Number of legal aid
|orders issued in
|criminal cases
-----------------------------------------------------------------
January to March 1991 |149,148
April to June 1991 |150,004
July to September 1991 |163,920
October to December 1991 |162,073
January to March 1992 |167,432
April to June 1992 |155,916
July to September 1992 |151,925
October to December 1992 |143,319
The Department's statistical returns from magistrates courts are, however, incomplete and the above figures for criminal legal aid orders have been estimated based on the information available.
Family Perspective and Life Circle
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on how his Department takes account of the family perspective and the life cycle in the targets, activities and statistics of his Department.
Mr. John M. Taylor : One of the Departments' aims is to establish a single body of family law applied within a unified jurisdictional structure by specialist courts and supported by appropriate services. As an employer, the Department seeks to support those with dependant carer responsibilities by offering a range of flexible working conditions, including job-sharing, working at home and term-time working.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in which publication, speech or statement his Department has described how it takes account of the family perspective and the life cycle in the targets, activities and statistics of his Department.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Department's strategic plan, which is to be published on 22 April, includes a description of the developments and initiatives in the fields of family law and departmental personnel policy. The plan will set out objectives and targets relating to both of these areas. "Judicial Statistics" and the "Court Service Annual Report" are the principal publications giving statistical information about the Department. Both publications are produced in July each year and placed in the Libraries.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Television Programmes
Mr. Stephen : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will take action to ensure that the Parliament and courts of the United Kingdom have sole right to decide whether violent or pornographic television programmes may be received on television sets in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Brooke : Responsibility for television programmes originating in the United Kingdom falls to the independent regulatory authorities--the BBC governors,
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the Independent Television Commission and the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (S4C). It is for these bodies to ensure that nothing is included in programmes which is likely to encourage or incite to crime or lead to disorder or be offensive to public feeling. Broadcasts originating elsewhere in the EC must meet the standards set out in the EC Television Without Frontiers Directive (89/552/EEC), and any action which the Government take in relation to such broadcasts must be in accordance with our international obligations.Television Licences
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) what estimate has been made of the number of unlicensed television sets in use in (a) Belfast, (b) Londonderry and (c) the remainder of Northern Ireland in each of the past five years ; and how many households have been prosecuted for use of an unlicensed television ;
(2) what estimate has been made of the number of unlicensed television sets in use in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales in each of the past five years ; and how many households have been prosecuted for use of an unlicensed television.
Mr. Brooke : Under section 180 and schedule 18 of the Broadcasting Act 1990, responsibility for administration of the television licensing system, including enforcement of the licensing requirement, passed to the BBC with effect from 1 April 1991. I understand from the BBC that statistics for estimated television licence evasion and prosecution rates in Northern Ireland are not broken down by area. Estimated evasion and actual prosecution rates for the financial years 1988-89 to 1992-93 for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are given in the table. The number of evaders is based on a percentage evasion rate applied to the total number of licences in force.
|Estimated number of|Prosecutions
|evaders
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 April 1988 to 31 March 1989
England |1,291,642 |153,219
Scotland |146,216 |9,062
Wales |84,024 |10,568
Northern Ireland |158,147 |967
1 April 1989 to 31 March 1990
England |1,190,241 |149,724
Scotland |143,056 |9,686
Wales |82,205 |11,094
Northern Ireland |144,447 |1,868
1 April 1990 to 31 March 1991
England |1,318,517 |159,131
Scotland |155,351 |11,275
Wales |94,894 |10,283
Northern Ireland |150,265 |2,032
1 April 1991 to 31 March 1992
England |1,337,908 |182,869
Scotland |146,173 |12,791
Wales |97,088 |10,898
Northern Ireland |129,829 |2,508
1 April 1992 to 31 March 1993
England |1,381,430 |166,206
Scotland |147,392 |11,082
Wales |96,274 |11,605
Northern Ireland |137,743 |1,634
Official Entertainment
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how much was spent on official entertainment in his Department in 1991-92 and 1992-93 to date.
Mr. Key [holding answer 10 March 1993] : My Department was formed in April 1992 and has incurred expenditure of £23,260 to date on official entertainment. A comparable figure for 1991-92 is not available.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Market Testing
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list all those services or functions that have been contracted out from his Department since November 1991 without market testing an in-house bid against external competition, with, in each instance the successful contractor and the reasons for the decision to exclude an in-house bid.
Mr. Waldegrave : The Civil Service college has contracted out the distribution of the college prospectus to JBS Mailing Services, without in- house comparison. The service represented a small part of the activities of several in-house units and it was considered unproductive to continue with this arrangement.
Mr. Heald : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will issue guidance on the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 to the Government's market testing initiative.
Mr. Waldegrave : The 1991 White Paper "Competing for Quality" set out the Government's plans for achieving more effective competition, and thereby better value for money, through an expanded market testing programme in central Government. Department's current market testing targets for the period up to September 1993 cover work costing about £1.5 billion and employing 44,000 staff. This work will be offered to outside contractors, for the most part in competition with the in-house teams currently providing the service.
I am today placing in the Library guidance on the implications for market testing of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981. In some cases where work is awarded to an outside contractor following market testing that may constitute the transfer of an undertaking in the terms of the regulations. If so, the regulations provide that the new employer takes over responsibility for the employment contracts of the employees, who would transfer on their previous terms and conditions of service. The guidance sets out circumstances in which the regulations are, and are not, likely to apply, and explains their effect where they do. It is intended for information only, to help those engaged in market testing, including potential contractors, to understand the issues involved. It is not designed as a complete statement of the law, and does not obviate the need for legal advice to be taken. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for the Environment, for Scotland,
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for Wales, for Northern Ireland and for Health are making separate statements on the application of the regulations to their areas of responsibility.The guidance makes clear that, as has been the case for over 10 years, contracting out is not affected by the regulations unless it involves enough of the elements of the original operation ; such as premises, staff, good will or customer base, to constitute the transfer of a going concern. Whether this applies in any particular case will depend on the nature of the work awarded and the contractors' own proposals for carrying it out.
The Government intend that market testing should proceed without delay. The Government look to bidders, both external and in-house, to put forward innovative proposals for carrying out the work. Bidders will be given access to information about the numbers of posts in the in-house operation, and the terms and conditions of service which attach to the posts, where they need it in order to submit a bid based on a proposal to which the Regulations might apply. The Government will specify requirements for services being market tested in terms of the outputs to be delivered rather than the structure or methods used to deliver them, and without prejudging whether or not the regulations will apply. Where the regulations would not otherwise apply, it would be inconsistent with our policy to seek to require contractors to adopt particular employment terms and conditions or use particular employees to do the work. It would also be inconsistent with our policy to reorganise in-house operations prior to market testing with the purpose of bringing any subsequent transfer within the scope of the regulations or to dictate the contractor's organisational structure except for reasons strictly related to the performance of the service in question. Bids will be evaluated against the specification on the basis of quality and value for money.
Departments will take account of the costs of redundancies, if any, involved in the respective tender proposals. Some contractors have expressed concern about the possible additional costs involved in a tender proposal falling within the scope of the Regulations compared with a proposal which does not do so. Whilst the basic cost of the former may be higher, the latter is more likely to involve redundancy or redeployment costs which would be taken into account in comparing the respective tender bids. Genuinely innovative proposals should still enable contractors to offer good value for money to Departments, whether or not the regulations apply.
Research Vessels Services
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish the cruise programme of Research Vessels Services (Barry) for 1993-94 ; and how the programme will be funded.
Mr. Waldegrave : As in previous years, the cruise programme of Research Vessels Services for 1993-94 will be funded from the science Vote, supplemented by commissioned research and charter income. I have placed copies of the cruise programme for 1993-94 in the Library.
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ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Police (Assaults)
Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Attorney-General how many charges for assaults on police officers in 1992 were reduced by the Crown prosecution service from the original to a lesser charge.
The Attorney-General : The information sought by the hon. Member is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
European Court of Justice
Dr. Godman : To ask the Attorney-General on how many occasions in the past five years (a) a magistrates court, (b) a crown court, (c) a high court, (d) a court of appeal and (e) the House of Lords requested the European Court of Justice to provide a ruling as provided in article 177 of the treaty of Rome.
The Attorney-General : A magistrates court has requested the European Court of Justice to provide a ruling under article 177 of the treaty on nine occasions in the past five years. A Crown Court has sought a ruling on four occasions, the High Court on 22 occasions, the Court of Appeal on 10 occasions and the House of Lords on five occasions during that period.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
International Development Association
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 24 February, Official Report, column 601, on the United Kingdom's contribution to the International Development Association, if he will set out the United Kingdom's contribution in constant 1992 prices.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The information requested is set out in the table.
United Kingdom contributions to IDA replenishments
|£ million Cash|£ million 1992
|prices
------------------------------------------------------------------
Replenishments
IDA 1 |47 |532
Supplementary |34 |334
IDA 2 |56 |510
Supplementary |43 |330
IDA 3 |128 |896
IDA 4 |206 |1,045
IDA 5 |475 |1,485
IDA 6 |555 |1,132
Special contribution |105 |174
IDA 7 |402 |634
IDA 8 |524 |721
IDA 9 |619 |645
IDA 10<1> |620 |603
<1>Proposed contribution.
Note
Commitments to IDA 1-3 were in US$. The current price figures
have been converted to £ at the exchange rate prevailing at the
start of the relevant commitment period. The constant price
series was formed by deflating the total amount committed by the
UK GDP deflator, based on the start of the relevant commitment
period. For IDA 10 this will be 1 July 1993.
Cambodia
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which United Kingdom representatives attended the donors conference convened by the United Nations held in Phnom Penh on 25 February ; what issues were raised ; what further funding Her Majesty's Government have committed to Cambodia ; and if he will make a statement.
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