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Brackletter Waste Disposal Site
Sir Russell Johnston : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will announce a decision on the compulsory purchase order for the Brackletter waste disposal site, Spean Bridge, Invernesshire.
Sir Hector Monro : I expect the decision on the compulsory purchase order for the Brackletter waste disposal site to be issued shortly.
MV Havkong
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the investigations he is carrying out into all aspects of the incident on 23 January in Braefoot bay, involving MV Havkong.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 25March 1993] : Marine safety is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. The incident is the subject of investigations being carried out by the Department of Transport's marine accident investigation branch and the Health and Safety Executive. The Scottish Office is not carrying out any separate investigation but close contact is being maintained with the Department of Transport.
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Housing
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much of its 1992-93 budget Scottish Homes has spent to date ; if he will break this figure down by Scottish region and by category of expenditure ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 25March 1993] : To date, Scottish Homes has spent o315million of its total budget in 1992- 93, representing 89per cent. of the total budget. The breakdown by Scottish Homes district and by programme category is as follows :
Programme category |Expenditure £
|million
------------------------------------------------------------
Partnership Areas |22.7
Inner City |66.4
Outer City |36.9
Smaller Urban Renewal |7.4
Urban Areas |74.6
Rural Areas |42.6
New Towns |3.2
Own Stock |61.2
| -------
Total |315
Programme category |Expenditure £
|million
------------------------------------------------------------
Partnership Areas |22.7
Inner City |66.4
Outer City |36.9
Smaller Urban Renewal |7.4
Urban Areas |74.6
Rural Areas |42.6
New Towns |3.2
Own Stock |61.2
| -------
Total |315
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information he has on the most recent figures for empty local authority housing in Scotland for (a) up to six months, (b) up to 12 months and (c) over one year ; and if he will list the local authorities concerned.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 8 March 1993] : The latest information on empty local authority housing in Scotland is published in table 17 of the statistical bulletin HSG/1992/8, "Housing Trends in Scotland--Quarter ended 30 June 1992". The bulletin is available in the House Library.
Stracathro Hospital
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the estimated costs of transferring accident and emergency services from Stracathro hospital to Dundee hospitals.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 26 March 1993] : Most major trauma cases are already referred directly to the specialist Accident and Emergency centre in Dundee. Any transfer of the remaining cases together with the out-of-hours service could be absorbed within the existing Dundee hospitals at no extra cost.
The Scottish ambulance service is currently examining the effects of the planned changes to determine whether it will incur additional costs.
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Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the estimated annual savings in transferring accident and emergency services from Stracathro hospital to Dundee hospitals.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 26 March 1993] : The Board's proposal to transfer of accident and emergency service from Stracathro to Dundee is based on grounds of improving quality rather than in terms of cost-effectiveness. In practice much major trauma is already diverted to Dundee. I understand, however, that Tayside health board estimates that it could save around o98,000 from proposed service changes.
Timeshare properties
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received regarding the proposed classification of non-commercial timeshare properties as non-domestic for the purposes of calculating council tax.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 29 March 1993] : Before making the Council Tax (Dwellings) (Scotland) Regulations 1993, which define timeshare units as non-domestic property, we received representations from the Timeshare Council, the Scandinavian Village Association, the Melfort Club and three others. In the period since the regulations were made, on 8 March, up to 26 March, we received representations concerning the regulations from 98 Members of Parliament and four other individuals.
Women Prisoners
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland of those women in prison in (a) 1990, (b) 1991 and (c) 1992 respectively, how many were imprisoned for (i) violence against the person, (ii) sexual offences, (iii) burglary, (iv) robbery, (v) theft, resettling, embezzlement, fraud and forgery, (vi) drug offences and (vii) other offences.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 March 1993] : The information is not available in the form requested. The table sets out the number of female receptions to penal establishments using the best available approximations in The Scottish Office classification of crimes and offences to the categories listed. Information is not available for 1992.
The number of female receptions to Scottish penal establishments by
Type of offence, 1990-91
|1990 |1991
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violence against the person |52 |45
Sexual offences |1 |1
Burglary |11 |16
Robbery |4 |4
Theft, resetting, embezzlement, fraud and forgery |340 |390
Drugs |16 |14
Other crimes and offences |95 |108
|-------|-------
Total receptions |519 |578
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland of those women in prison in (a) 1990, (b) 1991 and (c) 1992, how many were serving sentences of (i) up to 18
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months, (ii) between 18 months and three years, (iii) between three years and five years and (iv) five years or more.Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 March 1993] : The available information is set out in the table :
Average daily female prison population in Scottish penal
establishments by length of sentence, 1990-1992
Length of sentence |1990 |1991 |<1>1992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Less than 18 months |71 |84 |90
18 months or more but less than three years |4 |4 |9
Three years or more but less than five years |10 |6 |5
Five years or more |16 |17 |16
Others<2> |37 |32 |37
|-- |-- |--
Total<3> |137 |143 |158
<1> Provisional.
<2> Includes females held on remand, recalled, etc.
<3> Components may not add up to the total due to rounding.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many women were in prison in (a) 1990, (b) 1991 and (c) 1992 ; and of that total how many were (i) juveniles, (ii) young adults under 25 years and (iii) adults.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 March 1993] : The available information is set out in the table :
(a) (b)<1> (c)<1>
Women Ethnic Minorities Registered Disabled
Grade level |Number |Percentage staff |Number respondents|Percentage staff |Number |Perentage staff
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade 1 |- |- |- |- |- |-
Grade 2 |- |- |- |- |- |-
Grade 3 |6 |11.0 |- |- |- |-
Grade 4 |2 |12.5 |- |- |- |-
Grade 5 |39 |14.0 |2 |0.7 |- |-
Grade 6 |26 |11.0 |7 |3.0 |- |-
Grade 7 |176 |13.0 |26 |1.9 |3 |0.2
All staff excluding industrials and casuals |5,715 |44.0 |1,228 |9.5 |121 |0.9
<1> (b)Ethnic minority figures are based on 90 per cent. positive response rate to ethnic origins survey.
(c)The department also employs a number of disabled staff who are not registered.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes he intends to make to the cash limits for 1992-93 within his responsibility.
Mr. Lang [pursuant to his reply, 4 February 1993, column 307] : The revised cash limit for the non-voted cash limit SO/LA1, which covers non-housing capital expenditure by local authorities is o652, 087,000 and not o653,587,000.
Natural Heritage
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met non-governmental environmental organisations to discuss matters relating to Scotland's natural heritage.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 26 March 1993] : Scottish Office Ministers meet representatives of non-government environmental organisations including Rural Forum and the Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link at
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formal meetings, visits and other occasions. Most recently I met representatives concerned with conservation in agriculture on Friday 19 March ; and with the Scottish Conservation Projects Trust on Monday 22 March. In addition my officials also have regular contact with these and other non-government environmental organisations.Edinburgh Dental School and Hospital
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list all decisions taken by his Department since 1979 concerning the future of the Edinburgh dental school and hospital.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 26 March 1993] : In 1989 a working party established under the chairmanship of Sir Donald McCallum recommended the closure of the Edinburgh dental school and the establishment of a new dental hospital and postgraduate dental institute for Edinburgh. My right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State endorsed this proposal and gave a commitment to provide such capital investment as is necessary to establish both the new dental hospital and the postgraduate institute. That commitment stands.
EDUCATION
Teachers' Pay
4. Mr. Bates : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the increase in average teacher salaries since 1979 after allowing for inflation.
Mr. Patten : Since this Government came into office in 1979, the average teacher's pay has increased by some 46 per cent. over and above the rate of inflation.
Religious Education
18. Mr. Booth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his Department is doing to ensure that schools are complying with the guidelines for religious education.
Mr. Patten : To ensure that all local agreed syllabuses are brought into line with the Education Reform Act 1988, the current Education Bill proposes that all local authorities review their syllabus within one year of Royal Assent, unless they have done so since 1988, and every five years subsequently.
New inspection arrangements will highlight publicly instances where schools are failing to provide religious education and governing bodies will be required to prepare action plans to address difficulties raised by inspection reports.
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what assessment he has made of the National Curriculum Council's report, "Analysis of Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education" ; and what immediate steps he will take to ensure that agreed syallabuses comply with the provision of the Education Reform Act 1988 requiring religious education to be in the main Christian ;
(2) if he will issue further guidelines as to the operation of the provision of the Education Reform Act 1988 requiring religious education to be in the main Christian.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend strongly supports the National Curriculum Council's work in assisting local
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conferences to decide how best to bring their agreed syllabuses into line with the requirements of the 1988 Education Reform Act. We are proposing, in the current Education Bill, to require local authorities to review all local agreed syllabuses not reviewed since the passage of that Act, and to review them every five years subsequently.My right hon. Friend plans to issue a revised circular of guidance after the passage of the Bill through Parliament.
Corporal Punishment
19. Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what action he is taking to end corporal punishment in schools.
Mr. Forth : Corporal punishment is already prohibited in maintained schools and for those pupils in independent schools whose fees are met from public funds. We will of course reflect carefully on the recent judgment by the European Court of Human Rights.
Grant-maintained Schools
20. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in Essex have now opted out of local authority control ; and if he will make a statement on Government policies to encourage further schools to seek grant-maintained status.
Mr. Forth : Thirty-three schools in Essex are today operating as self-governing grant-maintained schools. From Thursday that number will be 53, with three more approved for a later start. These figures, and the 34 further Essex schools with applications in the pipeline, demonstrate the appeal of self-government to parents. Provisions in the Education Bill will ease the path to GM status.
28. Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have acquired grant-maintained status to date.
Mr. Forth : Four hundred and ninety one schools in England will be operating as self-governing grant-maintained schools on 1 April and a further 15 are approved for a later start.
Politics and Government
21. Mr. Waterson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the current proportion of pupils taking GCSEs in politics, government and related subjects.
Mr. Boswell : In the summer of 1992, some 5 per cent. of pupils who reached the age of 16 during the academic year attempted GCSEs in politics and related subjects in the social sciences. The flexibility within the national curriculum at key stage 4 will enable schools to continue to offer courses in such subjects.
School Buildings
22. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what expenditure on the maintenance of school buildings was incurred in each of the last three years for which records are available.
Mr. Forth : For the three years to 1990-91 revenue expenditure by English local education authorities on
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school repairs, building and grounds maintenance was o553 million, o621 million and o657 million respectively. In addition authorities spent o565 million, o688 million and o648 million on school capital work, some of which will have contributed to the maintenance of buildings involved.Class Sizes
23. Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent guidance he has given to education authorities about class sizes in rural schools.
Mr. Forth : Our policy is to provide greater autonomy for schools so that they can make their own decisions on the deployment of resources. It would run counter to that policy to seek to impose a view on what class sizes would be most appropriate for rural schools.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will issue advice to schools on best practice in relation to class size in primary and secondary schools.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will issue guidance on the size of classes in schools.
Mr. Forth : I refer the hon. Members to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 9 March ( Official Report, column 522 ).
Youth Service
24. Ms Coffey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his policy on the appropriate level of youth service provision.
Mr. Boswell : The youth service is committed to the principle that the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the curriculum should be determined locally, and not nationally. The appropriate level of provision to deliver local youth service objectives is primarily a matter for individual local education authorities in accordance with their duty under sections 41 and 53 of the Education Act 1944.
Japanese
25. Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he will make a statement on the teaching of Japanese in schools.
Mr. Boswell : The national curriculum requires all secondary school pupils to study at least one of 19 eligible foreign languages up to the age of 16. Japanese is one of these. It is for schools to decide whether to offer Japanese in the light of demand and of the resources available to them.
School Activities (Charges)
26. Mr. Cummings : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement about charges made to pupils in secondary schools for educational activities.
Mr. Forth : The Education Reform Act 1988 provides that, with the exception of fees for individual music tuition, no charges may be made for activities taking place during the school day. In no circumstances may schools charge for activities which are required for a prescribed public examination or are part of the national curriculum.
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School Governors
27. Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Education now many school governors have been sacked by education authorities in the last six years ; and if he will list the authorities concerned.
Mr. Forth : This information is not collected centrally by the Department.
Universities (Industrial and Commercial Development)
29. Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he will next meet the Director General of the Confederation of British Industry to discuss the contribution universities can make to successful industrial and commercial development.
Mr. Boswell : My right hon. Friend currently has no plans to meet the Director General of the CBI. However, Ministers are encouraged to note from their day to day contacts with representatives of industry and the universities that they are very conscious of the need to promote links for their mutual benefit.
Nursery Education
30. Mr. Dickens : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what studies he has commissioned as to the value of nursery education ; and what initiatives he proposes.
Mr. Forth : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Wallsend (Mr. Byers) on 2 March, Official Report, col. 123.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assistance he can give to schools who have children with special needs.
Mr. Forth : Local education authorities maintained schools are resourced for the vast majority of such children through the general funding allocated to them by the local education authority. In the case of grant-maintained schools, such provision is made through annual maintenance grant. For the smaller number of pupils who have statements of special educational needs (SEN), responsibility for arranging any necessary additional provision lies with the LEA. The Education Bill now before Parliament ensures that LEAs will continue to be able to offer SEN support services to all LEA and grant-maintained schools for all of their pupils with special needs. The Department provides for capital work for special needs pupils in county, controlled and maintained special schools through annual capital guidelines (ACGs). Some o5.5 million of ACGs were distributed for 1993-94, with a further o3.6 million of resources earmarked for issue as supplementary credit approvals, pending decisions on related statutory proposals. A further sum will be available to non-maintained special schools in 1993-94 through a separate capital grant programme.
Mr. Jim Cunningham To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children have special educational needs.
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Mr. Forth : In January 1992 there were nearly 165,000 children for whom statements of special educational needs were being maintained by local education authorities in England.
Single-sex Schools
Sir Michael Neubert : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many boys and how many girls respectively, receive single-sex education in state schools in England.
Mr. Forth : In January 1992, 148,000 boys attended maintained primary and secondary boys' schools and 180,000 girls attended maintained primary or secondary girls' schools in England. Some single-sex schools accept a few pupils of the opposite sex. In January 1992 there were about 1,000 such pupils.
Standard Assessment Tests
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to monitor standard assessment tests in relation to teacher contracts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend has made it clear that he looks to teachers to carry out their contractual commitments to assess, record and report on the development, progress and attainment of pupils. He will be keeping the position under review.
Racial Incidents
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department gives to local authorities and to grant-maintained schools regarding adopting guidelines in respect of racial incidents in and around schools.
Mr. Forth : Reports of the Inter-departmental Racial Attacks Group in 1989 and 1991 recommended that local education authorities and schools which had not already adopted policy statements on race relations and developed guidelines for responding to racial incidents should reconsider their positions. They also recommended that guidelines should reflect local consultation and policy statements should be widely distributed. Copies of both the group's reports--"The response to racial attacks and harassment : guidance for the statutory agencies" and "The response to racial attacks : sustaining the momentum"--are in the Library.
Primary Education
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give an estimate figure for the proportion of primary schools in (a) Cornwall and (b) England under the separate classification of local education authority and grant-maintained schools, which cannot deliver the requirements of the national curriculum because of a lack of appropriate buildings, equipment or facilities for physical education.
Mr. Forth : No such figures are available.
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what monitoring has been carried out on progress on improving primary education since the publication of the National Curriculum Council's and Office for Standards in Education's report in January.
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Mr. Forth : The National Curriculum Council and Ofsted continue to monitor the progress of the national curriculum with particular regard to primary education in the light of their recent reports. Ofsted will provide my right hon. Friend with a further report in the new year.
European Regional Development Fund
Mr. Wilkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provision he will make in respect of grants from the European regional development fund in 1993-94.
Mr. Patten : The Minister for Industry's written answer of 30 June 1992 ( Official Report, columns 525-26 ) announced details of the new arrangements for providing public expenditure cover for forecast ERDF receipts. I will make provision available during the year to offset wholly payments in respect of grants from the European regional development fund to be made in 1993-94 towards approved capital expenditure projects based at grant-aided educational institutions, and recurrent expenditure projects of an educational nature. This provision is currently estimated to be a maximum of o13 million.
School Attendance
Sir Rhodes Boyson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will seek advice on the legal status of a swipe card as a means of recording school attendance with regard to its possible use as an alibi by a juvenile criminal and the legitimacy of shifting the onus of registration from teachers to pupils.
Mr. Forth : We look to individual schools to ensure that, where electronic aids to pupil registration are employed, adequate safeguards are instituted to maintain the integrity of the systems. Such safeguards might include teacher supervision at swiping points and random checks of cards held by pupils. The Department will be working with the National Council for Educational Technology to evaluate the potential of information technology as a means of monitoring pupil attendance. The scope for abuse will, of course, be one of the issues that we shall be examining.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he has taken to recruit women, members of ethnic minorities and disabled people, respectively, in top grades of employment at his Department.
Mr. Eggar : Recruits to the senior grades in the Department (as to any grade in the civil service) are selected on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, unless one of the exceptions permitted under the Civil Service Order in Council 1991 applies. Various steps have been taken by the civil service commissioners to aid recruitment from all sectors of the community, including the extension of links with institutions of higher education, equal opportunities training for those involved in selection and the use of validated selection procedures.
Mr. Janner : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when his Department last conducted surveys of (a) ethnic
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origins and (b) the number of women among its employees ; when it next plans to do so ; and whether he will make a statement.Mr. Eggar : Voluntary surveys of ethnic origin were last conducted in 1988 (DTI) and 1990 (Department of Energy). The resulting database has been continuously updated with information on new staff and leavers and special exercises have been conducted to improve the positive response rate ; 90 per cent. of staff currently employed by the Department have declared their ethnic origin.
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Gender information is automatically held on the Department's personnel database and specific surveys to establish the number of women employed are not necessary.Mr. Janner : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many and what percentage of officers in each grade from 1 to 7 and overall in his Department are (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled people.
Mr. Eggar : The figures for the Department, including its Executive Agencies, as at 1 January 1993 are :
£ million
(a) Trade in har(b) Trade in soft
wood<1> wood<2>
|Exports|Imports|Exports|Imports
------------------------------------------------
1988 |11.7 |292.3 |13.3 |1,054.3
1989 |14.5 |321.1 |12.1 |1,092.6
1990 |16.3 |298.5 |8.8 |1,096.5
1991 |16.1 |237.5 |9.3 |794.0
1992 |17.8 |237.0 |10.0 |774.9
<1> Hard wood is defined as headings 246.15,
247.5, 248.1, 248.4 and 248.5 of the Standard
International Trade Classification (revision
3).
<2> Soft wood is defined as headings 246.11,
247.3, 247.4, 248.2 and 248.3 of the Standard
International Trade Classification (revision
3).
Source: Business Monitor MA20.
Overseas Trade Statistics of the United
Kingdom.
Trade Balance
Mr. Milburn : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the balance of trade in (a) cars, (b) electronic goods, (c) IT equipment, (d) telecommunications and (e) white goods in 1979 and 1992.
Mr. Needham [holding answer 29 March 1993] : The available information is given in the table.
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