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Mr. Atkins : Domestic electricity tariffs in 1992-93 are broadly comparable to those in the rest of the United Kingdom.
It is estimated that the extension of VAT to domestic fuel and power will add about £1.20 in 1994-95 and £2.70 in 1995-96 to households' average weekly fuel bills in Northern Ireland, at 1991 prices. This estimate takes no account of the effects of any energy-saving measures by householders.
International Fund for Ireland
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish details of financial assistance provided by the International Fund for Ireland in each of the last four years to date for (a) construction of new hotels and (b) refurbishment of existing hotels, together with details of the purpose for which each qualifying hotel project was assisted.
Mr. Mates : The International Fund for Ireland is administered by an independent board appointed by the United Kingdom and Irish Governments. All questions pertaining to the disbursement of funds are a matter for the board and accordingly I have arranged to pass the hon. Gentleman's question to the chairman for reply.
Employees (Religious Affiliation)
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the annual cost of monitoring the religious affiliation of the employees of each department of the Northern Ireland civil service ;
(2) what is the annual cost of monitoring the religious affiliation of the employees of the Industrial Development Board.
Mr. Atkins : Monitoring of religious affiliation of the employees of the Northern Ireland Departments and the Industrial Development Board is undertaken centrally by the Northern Ireland civil service equal opportunities unit located in the Department of Finance and Personnel. I would therefore refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 19 March 1993, Official Report, Volume 221, column 150.
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the annual cost of monitoring the religious affiliation of the employees of each district council in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Atkins : This information is not held centrally. It is a matter for each district council in Northern Ireland to monitor the religious composition of its work force in accordance with section 27 of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989.
The Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland also monitors the fair employment practices of
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district councils under section 35 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1992, but does not identify separately expenditure on specific activities on this type, which would be negligible.Health Boards (Staff Bonuses)
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the nature and purpose of performance bonuses paid to staff of each health board within the past 12 months.
Mr. Hanley : Incentive bonus payments are made to certain ancillary and general staff employed by health and social services boards in return for increased productivity. In each instance the bonus is the result of the application of a measured day work scheme. Such a scheme is where a given number of staff agree, on a group basis, to work to a predetermined incentive performance level in carrying out their duties at specific standards. In return they are paid a fixed percentage bonus which is calculated on the staff group basis. All schemes must be self-financing.
A performance-related pay scheme is in operation for general managers, unit general managers, senior managers and senior nurse managers. This is a scheme for relating rewards to quantifiable achievement rather than to subjective judgments of personal qualities. This scheme enables management to reward staff who have attained a high level of achievement against individual performance review targets set on an annual basis.
ENVIRONMENT
Waste Management
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how he expects expenditure on waste management and contaminated land to vary in real terms over the next three years.
Mr. Maclean : My Department does not hold general information on past trends or future plans for expenditure of this sort.
Landfill Gas
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much less will be spent in real terms in the present estimates compared with the 1992 estimates on the problem of landfill gas.
Mr. Maclean : Information is not held in the form requested. However, local authorities are currently expected to spend some £12.8 million in the financial year 1992-93 on schemes wholly or partly to deal with gas from former landfills and which the Government are supporting with supplementary credit approvals. A total of £12million has been set aside for 1993-94 for supplementary credit approvals covering landfill gas and other types of contaminated land.
Waste Recycling
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much his Department will spend on waste recycling in th
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for 1993-94 and 1994-95 within the expenditure plans described in the Department's 1993 annual report (Cm 2207), including supplementary credit approvals to support local authorities' capital expenditure on waste recycling projects, are as follows :
|1992-93 £000 |1993-94<5> £000|1994-95<5> £000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UK 2000<1> |168 |- |-
Environmental Grant Fund/Environmental Action Fund |289 |<2>376 |<2>216
Consultancies/Research |470 |<3>320 |<3>84
Publicity |<4>312 |<3>18 |<6>-
Special Grants Programme |80 |- |-
Staff resources |106 |111 |<6>-
|------- |------- |-------
Total |1,425 |825 |300
Supplementary Credit Approvals |15,000 |14,598 |15,358
Notes:
<1> A substantial part of this grant to Friends of the Earth was used for work to encourage waste minimisation and
the recycling and composting of waste.
<2> Grants offered.
<3> Current plans, not yet confirmed.
<4> Forecast expenditure.
<5> Deflated to 1992-93 prices.
<6> Not yet known.
The Department of Trade and Industry also has expenditure on this subject.
Toxic Waste (Broadcast)
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library a copy of a transcript of his interview on the import of toxic waste broadcast on Radio Four's "World At One" on 23 March.
Mr. Howard : I have arranged for a copy of the transcript of this interview to be placed in the Library.
Nuclear Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what report he has received from the chairman of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee following the recent meeting to discuss its 20-year review of nuclear waste policy.
Mr. Maclean : None. The meeting referred to was a first step in the review by the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee which is to look at radioactive waste disposal issues likely to arise over the next 20 years.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his Department last conducted surveys of (a) ethnic 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. Howard : The Department first undertook a voluntary survey of the ethnic origins of staff in 1987. This has been supplemented by further surveys and a continuous survey of job applicants. The most recent re- survey of the remaining staff for whom there is no ethnic record was completed earlier this month.
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The Department analyses data on the number of women in the Department on a quarterly basis.Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment 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. Howard : The numbers and percentages of women at grades 1 to 7 and overall in the Department are :
, Grade |Female |Percentage -------------------------------------------- 1 |- |- 2 |3 |43 3 |5 |15 4 |- |- 5 |18 |13 6 |24 |18 7 |130 |16 Overall |2,741 |41
There are no staff from ethnic minorities in grades 1 to 4. The number and percentage of ethnic minority staff at grade 5 is 2 (1.4 per cent. of grade), at grade 6 there is 1 (0.3 per cent.) and at grade 7 there are 9 (1.1 per cent.) Overall, 504 (7.5 per cent.) of the Department's staff are from ethnic minorities.
There are no disabled staff in grades 1 to 6. The Department employs three grade 7s who are known to be disabled but who are not registered, representing 0.4 per cent. of the grade. Overall, the Department employs 98 (1.5 per cent.) disabled staff (registered and non-registered).
Housing Grants
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those organisations which have received grants under section 429A of the Housing Act 1985, as amended, in 1992-93 showing in such cases the value of the grant and the purpose for which it was made.
Mr. Baldry : In the financial year 1992-93, my Department approved 117 grants totalling £7,411,393 under section 429A of the Housing Act 1985 (as amended by section 16 of the Housing and Planning Act 1986). These grants were issued for a variety of purposes.
Promotion and feasibility grants
Grants were made to consultancies, housing associations and secondary co- operatives to enable them to promote to local authority tenants the full range of housing management and tenure options available to them. Further grant is made available, on an estate-specific basis, to enable these organisations to undertake a feasibility study leading to a report outlining future options for the management of the estate.
Agency name |Grant offered
|£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birmingham CHS |67,627
Banks of the Wear |161,197
Catch |269,260
CDS (Liverpool) |198,613
Chapman Hendy |19,176
Chisel |90,671
CHS (NW) |98,160
English Churches HA |112,203
Community Projects Trust |53,931
Devon CDA |4,980
Federation of Hackney Tenants' and Residents' Associations |51,678
Hexagon HA |85,901
Leicester Housing Association |166,071
Liverpool Housing Trust |138,125
Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation |48,869
Paddington Churches HA |50,209
Priority Estates Project |614,135
Pic Services |75,559
Pieda |78,164
Research Ltd. |126,055
Raynsford Dallison Associates |29,254
Safe Neighbourhoods Unit |89,228
Solon CHS |134,734
South London Families' HA |78,613
Tenant Action |50,805
Tide |112,431
Tenant Paricipation Advisory Service |1,051,288
Tricare |11,745
Yorkshire CHS |44,874
| -------
Total |4,113,596
Development Grants Development grants were made to tenant steering groups or tenants' and residents' associations which were able to evidence sufficient interest in forming a tenant management organisation, either an estate management board [EMB], or a tenant management co-operative [TMC], following an estate-wide ballot or poll on completion of a feasibility study.
Tenant group |EMB |TMC |Offered
|£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angell Town |1 |- |31,739
Arica Co-op |- |1 |8,713
Atholl & Braemar |- |1 |10,585
Blackbrook |1 |- |12,838
Botcherby |1 |- |21,976
Browning |1 |- |16,508
Burrows St/Green Lane |- |1 |18,290
Clapton Park |1 |- |32,140
Claybrow |- |1 |8,326
Chalkhill |1 |- |29,536
Chelsea Manor Ct |- |1 |9,776
Chuckery |- |1 |10,726
Church Court |- |1 |17,006
Colwell |- |1 |16,296
Cottington Close |- |1 |9,598
Crusader |- |1 |9,791
De Beauvoir |1 |- |26,317
Five Ways |- |1 |5,809
Gascoyne |1 |- |19,594
Haslingden |1 |- |3,567
Higgingshaw Village |1 |- |20,295
Holland Rise/Whitebeam Close |1 |- |18,788
Holland Town |- |1 |5,645
Kilburn Square |- |1 |7,898
Lancaster West |1 |- |23,771
Magdalen |- |1 |1,000
Old/New Loughborough |1 |- |35,500
Mowmacre Hill |1 |- |22,821
New Park Village |- |1 |10,762
North Peckham |1 |- |37,485
Parkwood |- |1 |20,693
Pembroke |1 |- |14,046
Pleck |1 |- |11,246
Ridings Way |- |1 |24,711
Scotland Gate |- |1 |9,011
Springfield Horseshoe |- |1 |16,931
Suffolk Estate |- |1 |3,094
Sutton Park A' |- |1 |13,238
St. Mark's |- |1 |23,372
St. Pancras Court |- |1 |1,666
St. Paul's |- |1 |11,195
Tabard Gardens |- |1 |45,697
Trowbridge |- |1 |17,658
Tustin |- |1 |25,119
Warwick Crescent |- |1 |8,019
West Houghton |1 |- |23,044
West View |1 |- |23,850
Whitworth Valley |1 |- |1,752
Wyke Estate |- |1 |3,333
Wyncote |- |1 |7,795
|-------
Total |808,569
"Recommendation 9" Grants The Government's report "Tenants in the Lead" (DoE, 1989) recommended, inter alia, a series pilot demonstration projects which linked decentralisation of housing management services to increased tenant involvement. 1992-93 was the second and final year of this two-year programme.
Local authority |Grant offered
|£
-----------------------------------------------------------
Basildon |35,200
Birmingham City |50,000
Bolton Metro |36,740
Cambridge City |50,000
Camden |49,985
Derby City |50,000
Gateshead |22,687
Globe Town (Tower Hamlets) |50,000
Greenwich |50,000
Harlow |43,086
Lambeth |49,900
Rochdale |33,146
Rossendale |31,430
Salford |32,638
Sandwell |50,000
Southampton |21,250
West Lancashire |26,470
Westminster |50,000
Wolverhampton |50,237
|----
Total |782,769
National Tenants' Resource Centre Grant of £70,363 was offered to this project, which seeks to establish a dedicated residential training facility for tenants at Trafford hall, near Chester, to support its fund-raising and planning programme.
|Grant offered
|£
--------------------------------------------------------------
National Tenants' Resource Centre |70,363
Housing Management Grants Grants were made to various organisations on an individual basis for projects which contribute towards innovation in housing management.
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Organisation |Grant Offered
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Association of Community Technical Aid Centres (13 Training events and 1 conference for tenants and professionals) |24,398
Toby Graves (Salary for housing post graduate trainee) |2,600
Aldbourne Associates (Review to establish a general picture of current practice in education and training in social housing) |37,876
Specialist Information Training Resource Agency (Specialist needs housing training for NVQs) |39,857
Federation of Black Housing Organisations (Raise awareness of and provide information on NVQs via written materials, presentations, advice and guidance) |26,442
Safe Neighbourhoods Unit (Development of crime prevention modules and production of video) |27,000
Tower Blocks Directory (Helps management of tower blocks through best practice information) |11,142
West Midlands Special Needs Consortium (Set up and run management development programme and development NVQs) |20,483
Northern Consortium of Housing Authorities (Development of low cost training and conference programme, leading to the production of a training package) |24,536
|---- |Total |214,334
Research Grants Small research grants are occasionally made available to provide feedback and data on aspects of grant policy which would be difficult or impossible to determine by other methods. In 1992-93, two grants were made available, to investigate the role of training in the development of TMOs (Glasgow university) and to ascertain the impact of the two-year recommendation 9 programme (LSE).
Organisation |Offered
|£
---------------------------------------------
Glasgow University |28,030
LSE Housing |23,797
|----
Total |51,827
Studentships and Bursaries
Grants are made annually, via the Economic and Social Research Council, to provide resources to support students following university courses leading to the Institute of Housing's professional qualifications. From 1 January 1993 bursaries have been available to assist tenants following the Institute of Housing's new national certificate in tenant participation (NCTP). These discretionary bursaries are paid via the tenant participation advisory service (TPAS).
|£
---------------------------------------------------------
Economic and Social Research Council |1,053,000
TPAS |30,000
|----
Total |1,083,000
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Contract PaymentsPriority Estates Project Ltd. received contract payments to undertake training and action research into tenant participation. 1992-93 is the last year of the contract.
|£
-----------------------------------------
Priority Estates Project |286,935
|----
Total |286,935
Tenants' Choice Legislation
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answers of 15 March, Official Report, columns 76 to 78, if the answer covers transfers to tenants' management boards with the estates remaining in the ownership of the local council ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Grants offered in 1992-93 under section 429A of the Housing Act 1985, as amended, include grants paid to tenants' organisations for the purpose of developing tenant management organisations (TMOs) : either estate management boards (EMBs) or tenant management co-operatives (TMCs).
Both kinds of TMO are able to take on the management of their housing through a management agreement negotiated with the local authority under the provisions of section 27 of the Housing Act 1985, as amended, though ownership of the houses remains with the local authority. Since April 1990, when grants were first made available directly to tenants' organisations, 66TMOs have been established, with a further 50 in their development phase.
The Government now propose, through powers which will be taken in the Housing and Urban Development Bill, to introduce a new right to manage for local authority tenants. Providing they are able to meet certain criteria, tenants' organisations will be able to serve on the local authority a notice of their intention to exercise the right to manage. Regulations will provide a framework for the procedures which must be followed by tenants' organisations and local authorities in circumstances where the right to manage is exercised. If these are successfully carried through, the local authority will be required to enter into a management agreement--the form of which will be specified by the Secretary of State--with the TMO. The Government's recent consultation paper "Tenant Involvement and the Right to Manage" (DOE/Welsh Office 1992) sets out in more detail the policy background and procedural arrangements for this important new right.
Market Testing
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which professional services within his Department have been subjected to market testing within the last 12 months and with what result ; and which will be subjected to market testing within the next 12 months.
Mr. Howard : Within the last 12 months market testing within the Department, apart from the Property Services Agency, has been commenced in the following specialist services which are currently provided in-house for the Department's own benefit :
Training Services
Accommodation Facilities Management
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Design, Drawing and Print ServicesRegistry Services
Statistical Services
Research and Research Services (Phase 1)
Office Cleaning for Government Car Service and Inter-departmental Despatch Service
Accounts Support for Government Car Service and Inter-departmental Despatch Service
Engineering Workshops at Building Research Establishment (BRE). Stores at BRE.
The forward programme, from October 1993 onwards, has yet to be determined.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many local authorities pay the client contribution element of the home energy efficiency scheme ; and what proportion of the total this represents ;
(2) how many network installers operate hardship funds ; and what proportion of the total this represents.
Mr. Maclean : These figures are not available centrally.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the relationship between financial allocations to network installers and the estimated number of households eligible for grants under the home energy efficiency scheme within that network installer's area ;
(2) what plans he has to ensure that financial allocations under the home energy efficiency scheme from 1993-94 relate to local need rather than the previous performance of a network installer.
Mr. Maclean : Eligibility for grant under the home energy efficiency scheme depends upon receipt of one of five passportable benefits : housing benefit, income support, family credit, community charge benefit--council tax benefit from 1 April 1993--or disability working allowance. In addition the property must meet certain criteria concerning both existing insulation and whether or not grant has been paid for similar work under previous schemes. It is not possible to estimate the numbers that might be eligible in a particular area at a particular time.
The present allocation system takes into account the proven ability of an installer to carry out work, thus avoiding sterilisation of funds. For listed contractors, allocations are intended to ensure that similar levels of funding are available in each area.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 11 December 1992, Official Report , column 836 , how he accounts for the lower take-up of home energy efficiency grants in the London area ; and what measures he proposes to resolve the situation.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) on 4 March 1993 at column 263.
Market Charters
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many complaints his Department has received regarding market charters.
Mr. Robin Squire : My Department has received 15 such complaints since 1 January 1991.
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance his Department gives to local
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authority charter holders as to the terms they can require for the granting of their consent for a new market within their charter area.Mr. Robin Squire : None. Any such terms are a matter for negotiation between the franchise holder and the operator of such a new market. We are, however, concerned that the existence of market franchise rights may impose undue restriction on the development of local enterprise and are reviewing these rights as part of the Department's deregulation programme.
London Forum
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what level of public funding is being made available to the London Forum.
Sir George Young : The forum will seek funds mainly from the private sector. The Department has met the costs of launching the forum. But we have no plans to fund the forum's activities in promoting London.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give a breakdown of the cost of the London Forum's breakfast launch on 29 March.
Sir George Young : The total cost of organising and staging the launch of the London Forum on 29 March was approximately £15,000. This includes some £4,900 for hire of the venue and catering, £4,600 for the design and production of printed material and £4,900 for administration.
Elderly People's Homes
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken by his Department within the last two years to improve the advice and information available on the thermal efficiency of elderly people's homes.
Mr. Maclean : The introduction of the home energy efficiency scheme on 1 January 1991 made grants available for the first time for the provision of basic energy efficiency advice for those on low incomes. Compulsory qualifications for those giving advice under the scheme were introduced in April 1992 to ensure a high standard of advice provision. Information and advice on energy efficiency in the home is also available through my Department's "Helping the Earth Begins at Home" campaign.
Elderly People's Homes
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to instigate a survey to ascertain the number of elderly people suffering as a result of cold homes and low body temperatures during the winter months.
Mr. Yeo : I have been asked to reply. We are awaiting the results of research by the Medical Research Council on the relationship between cold weather and excess winter sickness.
Market Charters
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many proposed new market developments have failed to take place because of (a)
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injunctions taken out by charter holders or (b) financial demands by charter holders for the granting of their consent ;(2) how many, and which, market charter holders have over the last five years sought a court injunction to restrain a proposed market within their charter area.
Mr. Robin Squire : We do not have this information.
Public Bodies
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many business people he has appointed to public bodies since 1987.
Mr. Howard : Such information is not available centrally, but appointments to my Department's public bodies are made from people from all backgrounds and all walks of life.
Toxic Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will indicate the specific length of time for which Her Majesty's Government have been opposed to the import of the toxic waste from developed countries to which he made general reference in his interview on "The World at One" on 23 March.
Mr. Maclean : The Government's policy that developed countries should become self-sufficient in disposing of their own waste was set out in the Environment White Paper "This Common Inheritance" in September 1990.
Recycling
Mrs. Peacock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which local authorities will receive supplementary credit approvals for recycling ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment is today announcing the allocation of £15 million in supplementary credit approvals for recycling investment by English local authorities. Local authorities are now more involved in recycling than ever before. Today's announcement continues our programme of support for recycling which is very important in helping authorities to implement their recycling strategies.
Now that the vast majority of waste collection authorities have prepared their recycling plans, many are keen to start implementing them. Many waste disposal authorities are also eager to do more. So it is no surprise that the demand for supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) for recycling has been higher than ever this year. Under our environmental partnership scheme, the aim is to maximise investment in recycling by combining SCAs with authorities' own capital receipts and private sector contributions. Schemes which do this have done best in this year's allocations.
But many other schemes have also received support. We have given particular priority to schemes to collect waste oil and CFCs for recycling. Altogether supplementary credit approvals have been distributed to 161 authorities for 307 schemes, ranging from home composing projects to mini recycling centres.
We received bids totalling £35 million so we have had to take some tough decisions in making allocations. Each
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authority is today being notified of the outcome of its bid. Authorities whose bids were not successful, due to the heavy demand on the funds available, will naturally be disappointed.Some authorities are keen to develop large capital-intensive projects such as central compositing plants and materials reclamation facilities. Others want to introduce extensive kerbside collection schemes. If we had given approvals to many such schemes, we would have had very few resources left for other authorities. We have generally not been able to give approvals to schemes of this sort except where they are being partly funded from authorities' own capital contributions or by the private sector or where they continue a programme which we have funded in previous years.
The following authorities have been issued supplementary credit approvals for recycling for 1993-94 :
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