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WALES
Empty Properties
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many houses owned by the Mid Wales Development Agency, the Welsh Development Agency and local authorities are presently standing empty ; what is the amount of rent thereby lost ; and what plans he has to reduce the number of empty properties.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : No dwellings owned by the Welsh Development Agency are currently vacant. The number of
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vacant dwellings owned by local authorities and the Mid Wales Development Agency are given in the following table :
|Vacant dwellings
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Local authorities<1> |2,034
Development board for rural Wales<2> |50
<1>At 1 April 1992.
<2>At 28 February 1993.
The rent lost by local authorities through void dwellings in the week ending 4 April 1992 was £60,000. Plans to reduce the number of local authorities' vacant dwellings are outlined in the "Agenda for Action for Housing in Wales". The document specifies a target that, for each local authority, the number of vacant dwellings should represent no more than 2 per cent. of its stock by 1993-94, and by 1996-97 it should be no higher than the figure achieved by the upper quartile of authorities in 1992-93.
Food Poisoning
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish figures showing the number of reported cases of (a) campylobacter, (b) salmonella, (c) salmonella enteritidis PT4, (d) listeria and (e) general food poisonings in Wales in both 1990 and 1991.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The number of notifications of food poisoning in Wales in 1990 and 1991 are shown in the table. Cases of campylobacter, salmonella, salmonella enteritidis PT4 and listeria are not separately notifiable.
|Formally notified |Ascertained by other
|means
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 |2,528 |495
<1>1991 |2,715 |670
<1>1991 data are provisional.
Source: Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
ReChem International Ltd.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received in regard to the plans by ReChem to import dioxin-contaminated wastes from Hamburg for incineration at Pontypool, Gwent ; and what communications he has had with his German counterpart on the subject.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Welsh Office has received four letters relating to imports of waste from Germany. The German Government have been made aware of the United Kingdom's policy of self-sufficiency in final disposal for developed countries.
Heads of the Valleys Authority
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will list the wards in the proposed Heads of the Valleys unitary authority which have been defined by his Department as deprived.
Mr. David Hunt : The list of wards recognised as deprived for urban programme purposes which was
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published in Welsh Office circular No. 25/91 includes all the wards in the proposed Heads of the Valleys unitary authority.Mental Hospitals
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many mental hospital beds have been available in Wales in each year since 1985 ; and how many of these beds were located in old-style mental hospitals in each year.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The requested information is given in the table.
Number of beds<1>
|All hospitals |<2>Nine largest
|mental illness
|hospitals
----------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86 |4,804.7 |4,030.9
1986-87 |4,693.4 |3,900.1
1987-88 |4,493.0 |3,641.5
1988-89 |4,358.4 |3,503.3
1989-90 |4,144.0 |3,227.7
1990-91 |3,973.4 |2,959.0
1991-92 |3,726.8 |2,700.5
<1>Average daily available in the specialties of mental illness,
child and adolescent psychiatry, old age psychiatry and
forensic psychiatry.
<2>The hospitals included are North Wales, St. David's (
Carmarthen), Pen Y Fal, St. Cadocs, Glanrhyd, Parc, Mid Wales,
Whitchurch and Cefn Coed.
Capital City Status Study (South Glamorgan)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a financial contribution towards the cost of the enhanced capital city status study carried out for the South Glamorgan county council by the town and regional planning department, University of Wales, college of Cardiff.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit ; and if he will list them.
Mr. David Hunt : This information is not held centrally and could not be identified.
Regional Assistance
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set out by travel-to-work area the total amount of money received since 1984 in (a) regional assistance and (b) from the European rural development fund.
Mr. David Hunt : Information about European regional development fund allocations are not available on a travel-to-work area basis ; regional assistance payments since 1984 are as follows :
Regional assistance 1984 to 1992
Travel to Work Area |Expenditure
|(£000)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Aberdare |12,227
Aberystwyth<1> |25
Bangor and Caernarfon |1,365
Blaenau Gwent Abergavenny |30,602
Brecon<1> |42
Bridgend |36,805
Cardiff |28,874
Cardigan |2,746
Carmarthen<1> |645
Conwy and Colwyn<1> |550
Denbigh<1> |27
Dolgellau and Barmouth<1> |30
Fishguard |65
Haverfordwest |1,003
Holyhead |3,074
Lampeter and Aberaeron |2,307
Llandeilo<1> |43
Llandrindod Wells<1> |71
Llanelli |6,354
Merthyr and Rhymney |41,201
Monmouth<1> |125
Neath and Port Talbot |27,947
Newport |32,042
Newtown<1> |147
Pontypool and Cwmbran |19,352
Pontypridd and Rhondda |67,820
Porthmadog and Ffestiniog |586
Pwllheli |40
Shotton, Flint & Rhyl |71,422
South Pembrokeshire |2,473
Swansea |16,139
Welshpool<1> |52
Wrexham |60,371
<1> Areas which lost Assisted Area status as a result of changes
to the Assisted Areas map in 1979, 1982 and 1984.
Table includes expenditure relating to regional selective assistance, regional development grant II, and regional enterprise grants.
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning development area status in Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : The representations received about the review of assisted areas are currently being considered. The Government hope to be able to make an announcement on the outcome of the review as soon as possible.
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what has been the amount of money made available to each travel-to-work area in Clwyd under objective 2 status ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : The resources which have been made available to provide European regional development fund--ERDF--and European social fund- -ESF--grant assistance relate to the whole of this objective 2 area and are not allocated to any specific travel-to-work area. The funding allocations agreed with the European Community for the Clwyd objective 2 programmes are shown in the table :
£ million Programme |ERDF funding<1>|ESF funding<1> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (a) 1989-91 Integrated Development Operational Programme |20.9 |2.58 (b) 1992-93 Operational Programme |19.5 |2.26 <1> Assumes an exchange rate of £1=1.435 ecu.
Column 262
TRANSPORT
Tankers
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration has been given to compulsory pilotage for laden oil tankers in the Minches and other sensitive waters.
Mr. Norris : Compulsory pilotage has been considered for waters such as the Minch but has not been introduced for various legal and practical reasons. It would represent an infringement of the right of innocent passage. Further, pilotage can be required only where there is a competent harbour authority and, even then, masters using a route regularly are entitled to a pilotage exemption certificate. The voluntary code recently agreed with the industry therefore concentrates on other measures to reduce risks to sensitive areas. I understand that Lord Donaldson is covering this question in the work of his inquiry.
Railway Investment
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all the railway investment projects which have received grant aid from the European regional development fund for each of the last 10 years ; and the amount of grant received in each case.
Mr. Freeman : I have written to the hon. Gentleman and placed a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what criteria railway investment projects are considered for eligibility for grant aid from the European regional development fund.
Mr. Freeman : The eligibility of programmes for grant aid from the European regional development fund is determined by regulation 4254/88--EC Official Journal 374/1988. Individual investment programmes are considered against these criteria by the relevant programme committees for the areas concerned.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all the current and pending railway investment projects for which applications for grant aid from the European regional development fund have been made ; and the amount of grant aid being sought in each case.
Mr. Freeman : Following is a list of British Rail projects for which full or outline applications have been made for aid from the fund.
|Grant sought
|£
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swansea industrial access road |97,500
Pontypool road environmental improvements |18,750
Cardiff central station new public access |240,000
Machynlleth station environment improvements |128,000
Tywyn station platform extension |53,200
Cambrian lines infrastructure improvements phase II |278,200
Cambrian lines station lighting schemes |32,000
Cambrian lines level crossing modernisation |136,000
Follingsby access & drainage for industry |1,299,000
Durham & Cleveland stations environmental works |500,000
Chester station environmental improvements |521,000
Wrexham general station environmental imps |45,000
Plymouth 1 Aira depot new facilities for CT trains |1,400,000
Trafford park channel tunnel freight terminal |4,200,000
|-------
Total |8,948,650
Note: This is not an exhaustive list as some applications are still being
developed.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit ; and if he will list them.
Mr. Steven Norris : A total of 12 of the appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for the Department of Transport were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit. These are as follows :
Body and Member
British Railways Board
Miss K. Kantor
London Transport
Mr. O. Roith
Landscape Advisory Committee
Professor M. MacKeith
Professor M. Benwell
Mr. H. Geddes
Mrs. P. Lunn
Sir H. Aubrey-Fletcher
Street Works Advisory Committee
Mr. S. W. Mustow (Chairman)
Mrs. M. J. Bloom
Mrs. S. May
Miss P. A. Steel
Mrs. J. Venables
My right hon. Friend also appoints lay members of the transport tribunal, although responsibility for the tribunal rests with the Lord Chancellor's Department and is listed accordingly in "Public Bodies". Such appointments made from names supplied by the unit are Mr. J. Whitworth and Mr. G. Simms.
The Department may also check with the unit whether it has additional information on names from other sources, such as professional bodies, representative organisations, chairmen, or responses to advertisements.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non- departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.
Mr. Steven Norris : Details of expenditure on non-departmental public bodies by individual departments from 1981-82 may be found in the annual publication "Public Bodies". Expenditure by the Department of Transport on NDPBs as a percentage of the Department's cash planning total since 1981-82 was as follows :
Year |Percentage --------------------------------- 1981-82 |0.2 1982-83 |0.2 1983-84 |0.6 1984-85 |0.6 1985-86 |0.7 1986-87 |0.7 1987-88 |0.7 1988-89 |0.6 1989-90 |0.3 1990-91 |0.2 1991-92 |0.2
Plutonium
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library the safety studies relating to the movement of plutonium nitrate solution from Dounreay to Sellafield via sea.
Mr. Norris : A copy is already in the Library.
Shipping (Sewage)
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 9 March, Official Report, column 474, when he expects to be able to introduce appropriate merchant shipping legislation to give full effect to the provision for requirements for sewage systems ; and when he expects these requirements to become operational.
Mr. Norris : Standards for the design and construction of ships' sewage systems are being developed in the International Maritime Organisation's ship design and equipment sub-committee with a target date for completion of 1995. Merchant shipping legislation will be introduced to give effect to international requirements as soon as they are made.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current estimated cost of (a) the King's Cross terminal development and (b) the crossrail link line.
Mr. Freeman : The estimates that we have indicate that the cost of the King's Cross terminal would be of the order of £1.4 billion and the crossrail project of the order of £1.7 billion.
Sir Keith Speed : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of funding for the channel tunnel rail link construction he is planning should come from the private sector.
Mr. Freeman : It is too early to say. The Government are committed to taking the project forward as a joint venture, and we shall now discuss the proposals with the private sector.
Swanage Railway
Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what decision his Department has made on the application for a light railway order on the Swanage railway.
Mr. Freeman : Following a local public inquiry and consideration of the inspector's report, I have today determined that this order should be made. I shall be sending my hon. Friend a copy of the decision letter and the inspector's report for information.
Column 265
Heathrow Airport
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what additions or improvements to the motorway system will be needed to cater for traffic using the proposed fifth terminal at Heathrow.
Mr. MacGregor : A number of schemes to improve the M25 and M4 in the vicinity of Heathrow are already in the national road programme and these will be needed whether or not a fifth terminal is to be built at Heathrow. In addition road access to the proposed fifth terminal would require a dedicated spur from the M25, and widening and junction improvements on the M4 between its junction 3 and the M25. I am adding schemes for these improvements to the programme so that the details of the road and traffic implications of a new terminal at Heathrow can be developed and considered alongside the planning application. I must stress that most of these further improvements will be needed only if the proposal for terminal 5 receives consent. We have reached agreement with the British Airports Authority on appropriate funding arrangements.
Motorways
Mr. James Hill : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he now expects the M3 extension between Bar End and Compton to be completed.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The M3 motorway between Bar End and Compton is expected to be completed in autumn 1994.
Mr. James Hill : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration his Department is giving to the upgrading of the M27 at Chilworth into a four-lane motorway ; and on what time scale.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : There is a scheme in the road programme for widening the motorway between junctions 4 and 12. The next stage would be to conduct a fee competition for the engineering consultancy. No date has yet been fixed for this.
Hazchem Warning System
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on incorporationg the hazchem warning system into proposed European legislation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : My Department is working closely with the Home Office to promote the benefits of Hazchem's emergency action codes in Europe with a view to incorporating them in the United Nations road transport agreement, ADR, which is likely to form the basis of future European Commission proposals concerning the transport of dangerous goods. An ADR working group will meet at the United Kingdom fire service college in mid-April to consider our proposals.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if it remains his policy that the rail link between 16 northern regions and the channel tunnel should be via King's Cross ; and if he will make a statement ;
Column 266
(2) if he will publish the latest information available to his Department on plans for the British Rail high- speed rail link through London.Mr. Freeman : I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement to the House on 16 March, column 194. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will make a full statement very soon.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support Agency
Mr. Hall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effect of the work of the Child Support Agency on the work of the courts in Warrington South.
Mr. Burt : Implementation of the Child Support Act will mean that assessment, collection and enforcement of child maintenance in the majority of cases will be for the Child Support Agency and not for the courts. However, the courts will retain responsibility in certain areas, such as the arrangement of spousal maintenance, in handling property settlements, and in matters deciding contact with children. The Child Support Agency will not be fully operational until 1997. Offsetting the transfer of functions from the courts during the period to 1997 will be additional work involving the variation of existing court orders.
An assessment of the impact on the work of the courts in Warrington, South is not separately available.
Unemployed Claimants
Mr. Knox : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update the figures in table 5.10 of "Social Trends 1992," showing the percentages of unemployed claimants in 1991 receiving (a) unemployment benefit only, (b) unemployment benefit plus supplementary benefit and/or income support and (c) neither.
Mr. Burt : The information in the form requested for both 1991 and 1992 is in the table.
Unemployed male |November 1991 (per |November 1992 (per
claimants receiving |cent.) |cent.)
each benefit
(percentage)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unemployment Benefit only |20.0 |17.8
Unemployment Benefit and
Income Support |6.1 |5.2
Income Support only |62.5 |64.8
Neither Unemployment Benefit or
Income Support |11.4 |12.2
Total unemployed claimants
(=100 per cent.) (thousands) |1,773 |2,073
Unemployed female claimants receiving each benefit (percentage)
Unemployment Benefit only |28.4 |26.7
Unemployment Benefit and
Income Support |2.1 |2.1
Income Support only |51.3 |52.3
Neither Unemployment Benefit or
Income Support |18.2 |18.9
Total unemployed claimants
(=100 per cent.) (thousands) |540 |614
Note:
Figures are for Great Britain.
Source: Quarterly Analysis of Unemployed Claimants.
Column 267
Local Offices
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to increase the number of those employed in the Benefits Agency offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Benefits Agency is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive. He will reply to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Dr. Norman Godman, dated 15 March 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking what plans he has to increase the number of those employed in the Benefits Agency offices in Greenock and Port Glasgow.
Resource allocations for the next financial year for Greenock and Port Glasgow, which form the district of Clyde Coast and Cowal, have not been decided and so it is not yet possible to indicate whether staffing levels are likely to increase in these offices. It may prove helpful if I outline the timetable for allocating resources and give a broad indication of when the information you have asked for will be available.
Indicative allocations were issued to District Managers and Area Directors in February and final allocations will be made before the end of March. Part of all districts' allocations are made to Area Directors who are responsible for agreeing with District Managers how these resources should be distributed. Decisions will be made during April/May on the Area Director's allocation to districts. It will then be for District Managers to decide on staffing levels for the different offices within their district.
The level of resources allocated to districts is subject to continuous review throughout the year as workloads or other factors change. This can result in adjustments being made to staffing levels after initial allocations have been agreed.
I have asked the manager of Clyde Coast and Cowal district to write to you with planned staffing levels, for the next financial year, as soon as decisions have been reached.
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also appear in the Library.
Family Size
Mr. Knox : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the latest figures available showing families with four or more children (a) as a percentage of all families with children and (b) as a percentage of unemployed families with children.
Mr. McLoughlin : I have been asked to reply.
Information for Great Britain from the summer (June to August) 1992 "Labour Force Survey" shows that ;
(a) 5 per cent. of all one plus child families included four or more children ;
(b) 10 per cent. of heads of one plus child families who were unemployed on the ILO definition had four or more children in their family.
Note : Children are only included if aged under 17 or aged 17 or 18 in full -time education.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Lay Adjudicator Scheme
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the present status of the lay adjudicator scheme outlined in the citizens charter White Paper.
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