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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 26 April 1993
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Mental Incapacity
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to review legislation concerning the withdrawal of money from a bank account by a relative or carer on behalf of a mentally incapacitated adult ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Law Commission is reviewing the law and procedures relating to decision making on behalf of mentally incapacitated adults. The commission's initial consultation in 1991 produced a large number of responses in the light of which the commission decided to embark on a second round of separate consultations on particular topics before publishing final proposals. The commission has now published the first of three further consultation papers, "Mentally Incapacitated Adults and Decision-Making : A New Jurisdiction" (L.C.C.P. No. 128) which canvasses proposals for reform of the private law aspects, including financial decision making.
Police Stations, Northern Ireland
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 April, Official Report, column 28, if he will place in the Library the results of the survey carried out by the Northern Ireland court service into advice at police stations.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The survey referred to is not in a form which could readily be placed in the Library. However, I will write to the hon. Member enclosing a summary of the results of the survey for his information. The hon. Member will already have received some of this information in the answer provided to his earlier question on 21 April 1993, Official Report, column 93.
Boundary Commission for Wales
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he intends to appoint a deputy chairman for the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales.
Mr. John M. Taylor : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) on 20 April, Official Report, column 45.
Lease Law
Dr. Spink : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what progress has been made on reform of lease law ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 31 March by myself to my hon. Friend the
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Member for High Peak (Mr. Hendry), Official Report, column 197, and to the answer given on the same date by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Mr. Thomason), Official Report, columns 293-94.PRIME MINISTER
Energy Bills (Pensioners)
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish the reply he has sent to the letter of Mr. E. B. Glover QC, on the subject of the effect of VAT on energy bills for pensioners.
The Prime Minister [holding answer 14 April 1993] : A reply has been sent on my behalf by the Department of Social Security. It is not my normal practice to publish correspondence, but it explains that the annual uprating of benefits will in due course reflect the increases in fuel bills ; that we will be making available extra help to people on income support and income-related benefits which we will announce in the autumn and which will be paid from April 1994 before the bills have to be paid ; and that the Government are not taking back the extra help they gave to pensioners on income support to assist them in paying the community charge, even though the community charge has now been abolished.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Scott Inquiry
32. Mr. Winnick : To ask the Attorney-General what evidence the Law Officers have submitted to the Scott inquiry on exports to Iraq.
The Attorney-General : My Department has provided Lord Justice Scott with copies of all documents relevant to the range of issues which he has identified.
Phoenix Companies
35. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions in 1992-93 the Serious Fraud Office has launched in relation to possible offences involving the use of phoenix companies.
The Solicitor-General : None. Such cases are more likely to be handled by other prosecuting authorities.
Crown Prosecution Service (Recruitment)
Mr. Whittingdale : To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement about the recruiting policy of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Solicitor-General : The Crown Prosecution Service continues to recruit on merit in open competition high-quality applicants for a comparatively small number of vacancies for lawyers.
Serious Fraud (Prosecutions)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Attorney-General what was the success rate in prosecutions by the Serious Fraud Office which were concluded within the last six months.
The Attorney-General : Eleven Crown court trials involving 22 defendants have been concluded since 1
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October 1992. Seventeen defendants have been convicted and two acquitted and three were discharged without the jury having to return a verdict. In one further trial in the magistrates court the defendant was acquitted. This decision is the subject of appeal to the divisional court.HOME DEPARTMENT
Escaped Prisoners
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will detail, by category of prisoner, the number of prisoners who escaped while under prison escort for the last five years for which figures are available.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service who has been asked to arrange a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Paddy Tipping, dated 26 April 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking, by category of prisoner, the number of prisoners who escaped whilst under prison escort for the past five years for which figures are available.
The information you requested is as follows :
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|1988|1989|1990|1991|1992
--------------------------------------------------------------
Category A' Adult Male |- |- |- |1 |-
Category B' Adult Male |13 |13 |33 |19 |28
Category C' Adult Male |5 |18 |25 |31 |38
Unsentenced Adult Male |29 |39 |26 |54 |43
Sentenced Young Offender Male |4 |8 |14 |9 |9
Unsentenced Young Offender Male |8 |35 |16 |25 |25
Sentenced Female |2 |1 |1 |5 |4
Unsentenced Female |- |4 |4 |- |-
|-- |-- |-- |-- |--
Total |61 |118 |119 |144 |147
The information relates to those prisoners who escaped whilst
under prison escort between 20 June 1988 and 31 December
1992. Information was not collated centrally prior to June
1988. The information is derived from incidents reported to
the Incident Management Support Unit, a part of the
Directorate of Custody.
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will detail, by category of prisoner, the number of prisoners who escaped while under prison escort during the months of April 1990, April 1991 and April 1992.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general, who has been asked to arrange a reply. Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Paddy Tipping, dated 26 April 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question asking, by category of prisoner, the number of prisoners who escaped whilst under prison escort during the months of April 1990, April 1991 and April 1992.
The information is as follows :--
|April 1990|April 1991|April 1992
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Category "B" adult male |5 |3 |1
Category "C" adult male |1 |4 |2
Unsentenced adult male |2 |4 |1
Sentenced young offender |3 |- |-
Unsentenced young
offender |2 |6 |2
Sentenced female |- |- |2
Unsentenced female |- |1 |1
|--- |--- |---
Total |13 |18 |9
The above information is derived from incidents reported to the
Incident Management Support Unit, a part of the Directorate of
Custody.
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Prisons
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) to what extent prisons provide non-smoking recreation and eating areas ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) whether prisoners who do not smoke are required to share cells with those who do ;
(3) what action his Department has taken to reduce the amount of tobacco smoking by prisoners in Her Majesty's prisons.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Mackinlay dated 22 April 1993 : The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to the three Parliamentary Questions on this subject which you tabled for written answer on Wednesday 21 April.
Prison Standing Orders require governors to arrange as far as is practicable for non-smokers not to be compelled to share living accommodation with smokers, and for non-smoking areas to be available in visiting accommodation and association rooms as long as this does not reduce access to these areas. Smoking is prohibited in areas where food is being prepared or served. Practice in dining areas is a matter for individual governors.
We acknowledge the importance of measures to encourage prisoners who smoke to break the habit and this is reflected in our corporate plan. Medical advice is available in all prisons and structured health education and counselling facilities are increasingly being provided. A new health care standard for clinical and related health promotion services will be introduced later this year which will provide a further stimulus to the promotion of healthier lifestyles. We are also planning a number of pilot projects to develop models for co-ordinated health promotion programmes. I would expect measures to reduce smoking to feature in these.
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Angling
Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies his Department has made or plans to undertake about the policing difficulties arising in connection with the protection of anglers taking part in official and legitimate angling competitions from disruption from anti-angling demonstrations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The policing of any event is an operational matter for chief officers.
Wheel Clamping
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received about wheel clamping from persons in the Rochdale metropolitan borough and in the Greater Manchester area.
Mr. Jack : Since 1 April 1992, the Home Office has received 10 letters from hon. Members representing constituencies in the Greater Manchester area concerning the use of wheel clamps on private land. In the same period, five members of the public living in that area have written direct to this office on the same issue. Since the publication of the Home Office consultation paper on 23 February this year, we have received three requests for that document from individuals living in the Greater Manchester area.
Wheel clamping on the public highway currently takes place only in London, and we are not aware of any representations from people in Greater Manchester on that issue.
Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received from hon. Members regarding wheel clamping on cars ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : In the 12 months up to 31 March this year, I received 117 letters from hon. Members in relation to
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wheel clamping. One hundred and twelve of these concerned clamping on private land, the others related to clamping on public roads. A Home Office consultation paper concerning wheel clamping on private land was published on 23 February this year and sent to all hon. Members. The closing date for comments is 31 May.Cults
Mr. Dickens : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will consider setting up a working party to conduct a study of the recruitment methods used by secret cults in the United Kingdom and to advise if legislation would be appropriate.
Mr. Jack : The Government do not plan to set up such a working party. Nor do the Government consider it appropriate to legislate specifically in this area. The existing criminal law is adequate to deal with any offences committed by members of a new religious movement or sect.
Racial Assaults
Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in how many cases brought to court during the last year of assault involving racial motivation the defendants were juveniles ; (2) what information his Department has as to the numbers of reported or recorded racial attacks for the latest three years (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in London ; and in how many of these cases a conviction was obtained ;
(3) in how many cases brought to court during the last year involving racial motivation the defendants were granted bail ; and how many of these were cases of murder.
Mr. Jack : The only information held centrally relates to the number of reported racial incidents in England and Wales and is given in the table.
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Reported racial incidents
Forces |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon and Somerset |57 |71 |83 |148 |98
Bedfordshire |21 |25 |33 |n/a |57
Cambridge |52 |60 |71 |107 |110
Cheshire |0 |0 |0 |3 |29
City of London |4 |0 |0 |0 |0
Cleveland |29 |55 |57 |68 |73
Cumbria |0 |4 |1 |9 |13
Derbyshire |17 |20 |53 |143 |60
Devon and Cornwall |2 |3 |6 |9 |7
Dorset |6 |12 |3 |9 |10
Durham |43 |23 |41 |70 |40
Dyfed Powys |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Essex |2 |26 |43 |59 |80
Gloucestershire |17 |20 |51 |25 |33
Greater Manchester |28 |40 |123 |204 |401
Gwent |1 |4 |5 |12 |31
Hampshire |45 |n/a |42 |141 |139
Hertfordshire |49 |49 |51 |n/a |106
Humberside |49 |52 |67 |81 |68
Kent |88 |81 |88 |120 |115
Lancashire |75 |93 |201 |119 |231
Leicestershire |84 |190 |287 |369 |338
Lincolnshire |1 |2 |2 |4 |5
Merseyside |136 |123 |144 |162 |134
Norfolk |8 |22 |23 |45 |30
North Wales |3 |1 |0 |3 |4
North Yorkshire |5 |6 |12 |20 |22
Northamptonshire |n/a |72 |66 |60 |120
Northumbria |242 |217 |289 |376 |349
Nottinghamshire |4 |27 |135 |221 |222
South Wales |86 |94 |308 |385 |311
South Yorkshire |n/a |52 |117 |124 |151
Staffordshire |15 |44 |101 |158 |95
Suffolk |46 |62 |74 |75 |55
Surrey |13 |7 |7 |50 |61
Sussex |15 |141 |92 |98 |98
Thames Valley |94 |128 |171 |201 |195
Warwickshire |27 |21 |44 |32 |35
West Mercia |0 |6 |13 |3 |19
West Midlands |382 |169 |268 |445 |379
West Yorkshire |386 |306 |254 |322 |218
Wiltshire |37 |19 |25 |29 |24
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Provincial total |2,169 |2,347 |3,451 |4,509 |4,566
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Metropolitan police |2,214 |2,697 |2,908 |3,373 |3,227
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
England and Wales total |4,383 |5,044 |6,359 |7,882 |7,793
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Soviet Union
37. Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will increase the proportion of the Overseas Development Administration's budget devoted to the problems currently being experienced in the former Soviet Union ; what criteria he uses to allocate priorities between different parts of the world ; and if the will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We provide substantial assistance to the former Soviet Union and recently announced the doubling of our bilateral aid for Russia.
Baltic States
40. Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what new proposals he has to extend the scope of the know-how fund in the Baltic states.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The know-how fund is considering new proposals which will benefit the agriculture, finance and small business and energy sectors and promote good government.
Nagorno-Karabakh
42. Mr. Pickthall : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what role his Department is playing in helping the Azeris of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : It is not possible to identify assistance specifically provided to the Azeris of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, since December 1992 the ODA has provided £750,000 in response to appeals by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Through these organisations we have provided relief assistance to both Azeris and Armenians displaced by the conflict whether they be in Azerbaijan, Armenia or
Norgorno-Karabakh itself.
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Food Aid
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people are estimated now to be receiving British food relief on a regular basis ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Most United Kingdom food aid is for relief purposes and is not targeted to any group of people on a regular basis. In 1992-93 the United Kingdom supplied over 244,000 tonnes of food aid to developing countries, in addition to paying for our share of European Community food aid. This would in theory be enough to provide around 1.4 million people with their basic needs for a year. But in practice no single group is wholly dependent on food aid from the United Kingdom.
Yugoslavia
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans there are to send humanitarian convoys to Goradze and Zepa in Bosnia.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which co-ordinates the international relief effort to the former Yugoslavia, is making every effort to deliver relief supplies to Gorazde and Zepa. But over the last few months it has only been possible to reach these towns sporadically by road convoy because of the continuing hostilities. The United Kingdom has contributed 58 vehicles plus support staff to UNHCR's road convoys.
However, supplies are presently being airdropped to Gorazde, Srebrenica and Zepa. The United Kingdom has provided almost £600,000 of food for the air drops.
EDUCATION
Environmental Studies
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has to introduce environmental studies into the national curriculum ;
(2) what initiatives promoting environmental awareness in schools his Department supports ; and what funding is available for these initiatives.
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Mr. Forth : All pupils receive education about the environment through the national curriculum core and foundation subjects, the terms of which are set out in the statutory orders and associated documents issued by the Department. The Government will support £85 million of local education authority expenditure on the basic curriculum and assessment in 1993-94 which will be mainly devolved to schools to spend either on training or on books and equipment ; and a further £25 million on training to enhance primary teachers' knowledge in specific subjects, including geography which has particular relevance to environmental education.
Tests
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what rights under statute and remedy against failure parents of children at each of the key stages have to see that their children are tested this term ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Section 10 of the Education Reform Act 1988 imposes a duty on head teachers of maintained schools to secure the implementation of the national curriculum, including the assessment arrangements at the end of the key stages. Local education authorities and governing bodies are under a corresponding duty to exercise their functions so as to secure its implementation. Teachers' conditions of employment require them to assess, record and report on the development, progress and attainment of pupils, under the reasonable direction of the head teacher, and having regard to the curriculum for the school.
Parents who believe that LEAs or governing bodies are failing to discharge a statutory duty associated with the national curriculum should in the first instance complain through the local complaints machinery, provided for in section 23 of the Education Reform Act. If their complaint is not satisfactorily dealt with, they may then complain to the Secretary of State who may give directions to the LEA or governing body concerned, under section 99 of the Education Act 1944, if he considers this is appropriate.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Keith Hill : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what action he is taking to ensure that children's special educational needs are being identified and met at the earliest possible stage ;
(2) what action he is taking to improve the information and support available to parents during the full assessment and drawing up of statements on children with special educational needs.
Mr. Forth : The Education Bill, currently before Parliament, provides for the Secretary of State to issue a code of practice which will give practical guidance to which LEAs must have regard when fulfilling their duties towards children with SEN. The Government have tabled amendments in another place, which, if accepted, would ensure that the code applied to all LEA maintained and self-governing (GM) schools and offered those schools guidance on early action to identify, assess and monitor pupils with special educational needs. The Government envisage one of the guiding principles of the code will be that it should promote partnership between LEAs and parents, not least by ensuring that parents are kept fully informed of the authority's thinking and the reasons
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behind an authority's decisions at all stages of the process of making assessments and statements. The guidance will be tightly defined to ensure that all children who need an assessment and subsequently a statement are properly safeguarded and will ensure that full parental involvement is encouraged at all stages.NORTHERN IRELAND
Road Schemes
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been made of the costs and benefits of (a) the Comber bypass, (b) the Balloo road stage 3 Bangor, (c) the A5 Burndenneth, (d) the Ann street/Thomas street, Dungannon, (e) the A5 Magheramason, (f) the A5 Leckpatrick, (g) the Antrim-Ballymena stage 2, (h) the Greenmount link, Coleraine, (i) the Omagh throughpass stage 2, (j) the Belfast urban area plan roads (95/96) and (k) the Belfast urban area plan roads (96/97) road schemes.
Mr. Atkins : Economic and environmental assessments of these road improvement schemes have been undertaken. The assessments showed that each scheme was good value for money.
House Conversion, Donaghadee
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what date Donaghadee urban district council, as planning authority, gave planning permission for the conversion of Warren house, Warren avenue, Donaghadee, into two flats.
Mr. Atkins : The Department does not have records of the planning decisions made by Donaghadee urban district council.
Rates
Mr. Peter Robinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the outstanding demand for rates unpaid in due time ; and what steps are being taken for this collection.
Mr. Atkins : Responsibility for rate collection has been delegated to the Rate Collection Agency under its chief executive, Mr. D. Gallagher. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from D. W. Gallagher to Mr. Peter Robinson dated 26 April 1993 :
You recently asked a Parliamentary Question about overdue outstanding rates and the steps that are taken to collect them. As I am responsible for the Rate Collection Agency the Secretary of State has asked me to reply.
Overdue outstanding rates in Northern Ireland at 31 March 1993 amounted to £6.71 million or 1.84 per cent. of a total collectable rate of £364.97 million. At 31 March 1992 overdue outstanding rates were £7.24 million or 1.99 per cent. of a total collectable rate of £364.8 million.
If rates are not paid on time by one of the prescribed payment methods a ratepayer will be sent a Final Demand following which he/she will be issued with a summons (Process in Debt Proceedings) for the Magistrates Court where the Agency will seek a Decree for the amount outstanding. Ratepayers who remain unwilling or unable to discharge their debts then become liable to enforcement action by the Enforcement of Judgments Office or to further legal action under Insolvency Legislation.
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Copies of the Rate Collection Agency's 1991/92 Annual Report have been placed in the House of Common's Library. This report contains statistical information about rate collection and recovery activity. Should you require further information please let me know.Terrorism
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has sent copies of the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland" to the Northern Ireland Law Society and the Northern Ireland Bar Council.
Mr. Mates : I am not prepared to disclose to whom copies of this confidential consultative paper have been sent.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland" has been discussed by the Anglo-Irish secretariat.
Mr. Mates : I am not prepared to disclose with whom the Government have had discussions about this confidential consultative paper.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list those organisations which received copies of the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland", indicating the date which they were dispatched and the date and from whom responses were received.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now forward to the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights, NIACRA, the constitutional political parties in Northern Ireland and parties represented in this House, copies of the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland".
Mr. Mates : I will consider requests for copies from individuals and organisations as they arise.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland why the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights was not sent a copy of the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland".
Mr. Mates : I am not prepared to disclose whether or not a particular individual or organisation received a copy of the confidential consultative paper.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place copies of the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland" in all the publTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will extend the period for responses to the consultation paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the
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