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United Kingdom crude balances<1> (£ million)
|1979 |1992
----------------------------------------------------------------
Cars (a) |-1,764|-2,360
Information technology and electronics (b) |-435 |-2,697
Of which:
Office machinery and computers |-238 |-1,564
Telegraph and telephone equipment |50 |-187
Radio and electronic capital goods |119 |241
Domestic electrical appliances (b) |-125 |-482
Note:
<1> Crude balance equals exports (fob) minus imports (cif).
Sources:
(a) Business Monitor MA20-Overseas Trade Statistics of the
United Kingdom.
(b) Business Monitor MQ10-Overseas Trade analysed in terms of
industries.
TRANSPORT
Jubilee Line Extension
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he first announced the Government's commitment to the Jubilee line extension into docklands ; and when he now expects the final agreement to be signed.
Mr. Norris : 16 November 1989 ; negotiations on the private sector contribution continue, and it would not be sensible for me to speculate about when they might finish.
British Rail (Appointments)
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many potential candidates were considered for designation to become each of (a) the rail regulator, (b) the director of passenger rail franchising and (c) chairman of Railtrack.
Mr. Freeman : A number of candidates were considered for each of the posts.
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the exchanges of correspondence which took place between himself and those he has designated to become (a) the rail regulator, (b) the director of passenger rail franchising and (c) the chairman of Railtrack, referring to the roles to which they are nominated.
Mr. Freeman : No. The Government have already made clear publicly the roles which the regulator, the franchising director, and Railtrack will have after the Railways Bill is enacted.
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what costs were incurred in the advertisement and selection of those designated to become (a) the rail regulator, (b) the director of passenger rail franchising and (c) the chairman of Railtrack.
Mr. Freeman : The Department of Transport paid to Norman Broadbent International, who assisted in the recruitment, o132,098, including value added tax. This payment covered fees, advertisements, and general expenses. Work done by officials in the course of their duties in relation to the appointments cannot accurately be costed.
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether present or former employees of the British Railways Board were specifically excluded from consideration for designation to become each of (a) the rail regulator, (b) the director of passenger rail franchising and (c) the chairman of Railtrack.
Column 163
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of Railtrack's senior appointments come from (a) BR, (b) his Department, and (c) elsewhere ; and how pay levels for people in (a) and (b) have altered.
Mr. Freeman : On 24 March, BR announced the appointments of 11 senior members-designate of Railtrack. Of these, ten came from within BR and the other was on secondment from the Department of Transport. Selection and appointment of staff of the "shadow" Railtrack are generally matters for the BR board. There are two exceptions : first, Mr. Robert Horton, whose appointment as Railtrack's
chairman-designate was made by the Secretary of State, and who will continue to be a member of the BR board until Railtrack is established as a separate Government-owned company next year. Secondly, Mr. David Moss, Railtrack's commercial director-designate, who is a grade 3 official seconded to the BR board from the Department of Transport. In neither case did the salary alter with the appointment to shadow Railtrack.
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria and procedures were used in identifying and selecting those designated to become (a) the rail regulator, (b) the director of passenger rail franchising and (c) chairman of Railtrack.
Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend appointed the candidates who in his judgment were the best fitted to carry out these roles. The Department engaged Norman Broadbent International to assist in the identification of suitable candidates.
British Rail (Objectives)
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whhether he will set new objectives for British Rail to apply from 1 April.
Mr. MacGregor : Following is the text of a letter which I have today sent to the Chairman of British Rail, setting new objectives to apply from 1 April 1993 :
"The Government sets objectives for BR which supplement the statutory and financial duties of the Board. The current objectives, which applied for a 3-year period, expire on 31 March 1993. We are now moving into a period of major change for BR, in preparation for privatisation. I am therefore writing to set out one year interim objectives for the operation of the present railway business, appropriate to this period of transition. These objectives will apply from 1 April 1993. The aim is to maintain a safe, efficient railway supplying high standards of service to its customers.
I shall also be setting the Board some specific privatisation objectives updating those set in July 1992. These will be set out in a separate letter.
Safety
The Board has a statutory duty to have regard to safety of operation. I welcome the considerable progress on safety improvements which has been made over the last 3 years. Maintaining and further improving standards of safety on the railways will continue to be an objective of major importance for the Board. This should be accompanied by continuing development of increasingly effective means of appraisal of safety investment. The BR Safety Plans produced in 1991 and 1992 have proved valuable ; a further annual Safety plan should be submitted during 1993.
Quality of Service
Quality of Service remains a very high priority for BR, as reflected in your Passenger's Charter. I do not propose, for
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this transitional period, to make significant changes to the previously agreed quality of service objectives, as developed by the Passenger's Charter. For the future, the Franchising Director will wish to review with BR the current means of measuring quality of service, and consider whether any alternative measures should be developed which better reflect customer requirements and priorities. BR's objectives for 1993-94 are therefore :(i) Reliability and punctuality
Seek to achieve the agreed Passenger's Charter targets for 1993 ; these apply performance indicators for both reliability and punctuality on each of the service groups within Network SouthEast, InterCity and Regional Railways.
(ii) Train enquiry bureaux/ticket offices/carriage cleaning Maintain the current agreed objectives as follows :
Train Enquiry Bureaux
95 per cent. of calls to be answered within 30 seconds.
Ticket Offices
Maximum queuing time of 3 minutes off-peak and 5 minutes peak.
Carriage Cleaning |InterCity |NSE |Regional
|Per cent. |Per cent. |Per cent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interior daily clean |100 |100 |100
Exterior wash |<1>95 |<1>100 |<2>100
<1> Daily.
<2> Every two days.
|£ million
--------------------------------------
Network SouthEast |(128)
InterCity |12
Regional |(411)
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Freight BusinessesI will be setting specific restructuring objectives for freight in the light of our joint consideration of the results of the study carried out by Mercer.
In addition, during this transitional period I expect both businesses to make every effort to improve their operating result. This means that management should persist in taking necessary action in respect of loss making services and continue to reduce costs. It will also enable the Board to continue to retain traffic which can at least cover its avoidable costs.
In focussing on operating result, it will be important for the businesses not to lose sight of the need to earn a commercial return on new investment. The basis for decisions on new investment will therefore continue to be an 8 per cent. rate of return.
Red Star and Rail Express Systems
Red Star should be privatised during 1993, in accordance with agreed objectives.
Rail Express Services should be prepared for privatisation as soon as possible.
Channel Tunnel Services
Preparation of all the necessary infrastructure should be completed in time for the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Freight services should start operating from the opening of the Tunnel and scheduled commercial intercapitals services as soon as practicable in 1994. BR should make maximum use of the commercial opportunities, for freight and passenger services, resulting from the opening of the Channel Tunnel, and start to prepare Channel Tunnel services for privatisation.
Transmark
Transmark should be privatised during 1993, in line with agreed objectives.
Public Accountability
Progress in achieving these objectives should be published in BR's Annual Report and Accounts for 1993-94."
EC Cohesion Fund
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has made to and received from the Government of the Republic of Ireland on co-ordination of that country's future applications for assistance from the European Community cohesion fund on transport infrastructure projects affecting ports on the east coast of Ireland with potential United Kingdom transport infrastructure provision at appropriate landfalls on the west coast of Great Britain and onward from such ports to major European markets.
Paddington-Heathrow Rail Line
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Budget statement on public-private infrastructure investment, when he expects the design team will be set up for the
electrification of the Paddington-Heathrow railway line.
Mr. Freeman : Preliminary design studies have already been carried out sufficient for cost estimates to be completed. I understand that it is intended to form a design team by September 1993 to finalise details.
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Road Safety Departments
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many local authority road safety departments have been closed in the last five years ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Anthony Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list local authorities that have a road safety department and those that have closed such departments in the last year.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : As far as the Department is aware, all local authorities employ staff engaged in road safety, but no central record is kept of whether these are located in a separate road safety department.
Cycle Helmets
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many local authorities have run reduced price schemes for cycle helmets in each year since 1980.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Neither the Department nor local authorities keep a central record of these. We do, however, have information that, by the end of 1990, there were 76 local authorities and other organisations running low-cost cycle helmet schemes.
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what initiative his Department is undertaking to promote the wearing of cycle helmets.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I am pleased to announce that on March 25 I launched a new television campaign to promote the wearing of cycle helmets, particularly by children.
Car Phones
Sir Anthony Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring in regulations to make it an offence to use a hand-held car phone while driving a moving vehicle ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : It is an offence for a driver to fail to control a vehicle or drive in a dangerous or careless manner. These powers are sufficient.
In addition, the highway code says :
"you must exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times. Do not use a hand held telephone or microphone while you are driving. Find a safe place to stop first".
Roads Expenditure
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the number of cars on the roads ; and how much was spent on roads, per car, by (a) national and (b) local Government in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : In December 1991, there were 17.7 million vehicles of body type cars which were licensed and for which the address of the registered keeper was in England.
In 1991-92, the Department of Transport spent o1,926 million on national roads and local authorities spent o2,578 million on local roads.
It would not be appropriate to present expenditure figures on a per car basis as spending also reflects the provision made for heavy and light goods vehicles, buses and coaches, other classes of vehicles, and pedestrians.
Column 167
Roads, Croydon
Mr. Ottaway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent on road improvements in the London borough of Croydon in the last five years.
Mr. Norris : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport is highway authority for the A23 trunk road in Croydon : other roads in the areaa are the responsibility of the London Borough. Expenditure on improvement works, excluding fees, on the A23 in the borough in each financial year was as follows :
|£
---------------------------------
1988-89 |814,055
1989-90 |2,119,069
1990-91 |2,199,430
1991-92 |203,094
1992-93 |<1>156,240
<1> provisional
Expenditure in the first three years, in particular, is not typical because it includes the cost of a major national trunk road improvement.
Newbury Bypass
Mr. David Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to be in a position to announce the go-ahead for the Newbury bypass ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The decision following the 1992 public inquiry into supplementary proposals for the A34 Newbury bypass and the compulsory purchase of the land needed for the scheme was issued on 25 March. In accordance with the inspector's recommendations my right hon. Frends the Secretaries of State for Transport and for the Environment are minded to make the remaining statutory orders for the scheme, subject to consultations on a number of modifications to the published proposals. Subject to the satisfactory conclusion of these consultations and availability of funds, I hope that work will start on this much-needed bypass early next year.
Overbridge (Clints Brow)
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will state the full cost of the overbridge to accommodate cattle at Clints brow, Egremont, Cumbria.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 26 March 1993] : The full cost of the Longhorn farm overbridge at Clints brow is currently estimated at o236,000.
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the date of the first approach to his Department to request an overbridge at Clints brow, Egremont, Cumbria.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 26 March 1993] : The Department was first made aware of the road safety implications of dairy cattle crossing the trunk road at Clints brow in November 1991.
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Bypass (Egremont)
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date he expects the full opening of the A595 bypass at Egremont, Cumbria.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 26 March 1993] : Completion of the bypass works is expected to be 7 May 1993. Sections of the bypass are already open to traffic.
West Cumbria
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next intends to visit west Cumbria.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 26 March 1993] : The Secretary of State has no current plans to visit West Cumbria.
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his Department's plans for road improvements in west Cumbria.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 26 March 1993] : The Department's plans for road improvements in West Cumbria are contained in the White Paper "Roads for Prosperity" and set out in the programme "Trunk Roads England, into the 1990s".
SOCIAL SECURITY
National Insurance Contributions
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish estimates for 1993-94 showing the number of self-employed men and women who pay (a) class four national insurance contributions, (b) class two contributions, (c) class three contributions, (d) no national insurance contributions, (e) the number who have profits above the upper profits limit for class four contributions and (f) the total number of self -employed.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested is in the table :
million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish estimates for 1992-93 and 1993-94 of the numbers of male and female employees who are on earnings below the national insurance lower earnings limit.
Miss Widdecombe : It is estimated that in both 1992-93 and 1993-94 there will be some 0.75 million male employees and 2.25 million females employees who earn less than the lower earnings limit.
Column 169
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the effect on Treasury revenues in 1993-94 of (a) raising the lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions to the level of the personal tax allowance and (b) raising the upper earnings limit to o27,145.
Miss Widdecombe : The effect on the amount of contributions raised in respect of 1993-94 would be :
(a) o0.4 billion
(b) o0.6 billion
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total amount raised from (a) employers' and (b) employees' national insurance contributions in 1978-79 ; what is his estimate of the figure for 1993-94 ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested is in the table.
National insurance contributions raised ( £ billion) Year<3> |Employees|Employers ----------------------------------------- 1978-79 |3.7 |<1>5.9 <2>1993-94 |14.6 |23.6 <1> Total excludes the national insurance surcharge. <2> Source: Government Actuary's Report on the Social Security Bill 1992 (Cm. 2097). <3> Figures include the National Health Service allocation.
Refugees
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many refugees have applied for a community care grant after arriving in the United Kingdom ; and how many have been refused in each of the last two years.
Mr. Scott : The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Market Testing
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which professional services within his Department have been subjectwithin the next 12 months.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested has already been placed in the Library. No decisions have yet been made about which services will be market tested in future years.
Pensions
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to publish gender-disaggregated statistics on private and occupational pension provision.
Miss Widdecombe : Where available, information relating to occupational and personal pensions is provided on a
gender-disaggregated basis on request. We have no plans to alter that arrangement.
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