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Libyan Prisoners
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Libyan citizens are (a) currently serving sentences and (b) awaiting sentencing in United Kingdom 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 a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Andrew F. Bennett, dated 10 May 1993 :
LIBYAN CITIZENS IN PRISON SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of Libyan citizens currently serving sentences and the numbers on remand. The latest available provisional figures are for 28February 1993. They show that eight prisoners serving sentences in prison service establishments in England and Wales had their nationality recorded as Libyan. There were no remand prisoners recorded as having Libyan nationality.
Overseas Domestic Workers
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure that people coming from overseas to do domestic service work in Britain are given the right to change employers and other rights enjoyed by similar workers recruited in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Each case involving a domestic worker who wishes to remain in the United Kingdom after having left his or her employer is carefully considered
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before any enforcement action is taken, and account is taken of any compassionate circumstances. Domestic workers are entitled to the protection of our criminal and employment law.Juvenile Crime
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the relationship between the level and nature of his Department's support for youth work and the change in the level of juvenile crime ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : No such assessment has been made. Except for certain projects which are supported under the safer cities initiative, the Home Office does not directly fund youth work ; but the Home Office research and planning unit is currently involved in an evaluation of a number of local projects which have deliberately targeted young people at risk of offending.
PRIME MINISTER
Non-fossil Fuel Obligation
Mr. Cash : To ask the Prime Minister what arrangements have been made to ensure co-ordination between Government Departments on non-fossil fuel obligation 3.
The Prime Minister : The responsibility for making orders imposing a non-fossil fuel obligation on public electricity suppliers in England and Wales lies with my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade. He consults other Ministers as appropriate.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Bank Loans (Small Businesses)
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals he has to encourage the banks to increase their loans to the small businesses sector for capital investment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nelson : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced proposals to improve the small firms loan guarantee scheme in his Budget on 16 March. The changes will take effect on 1 July.
Council Tax
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list by district council in Nottinghamshire the number of appeals presently notified to valuation officers by property owners against council tax bandings ; and how long he expects it to take for these appeals to be dealt with.
Mr. Nelson [holding answer 10 May 1993] : As at 6May, some 5,398 appeals have been made by taxpayers in Nottinghamshire, against their council tax bandings. Of these 277 are in Ashfield, 453 in Bassetlaw, 327 in Mansfield and 685 in Newark and Sherwood. The remaining 3,656 are in Broxtowe, Gedling, Nottingham and Rushcliffe for which individual statistics are not yet available.
As the total number of appeals which will be made in
Nottinghamshire cannot yet be predicted, it is not possible to determine the length of time it will take to deal with these appeals.
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Company Cars
Mr. Beith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his answer of 27 April, Official Report, column 379, if he will list the circumstances when home-to-work travel in a car made available by an employer is not regarded as private use.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 11 May 1993] : Home-to-work travel in a car made available by an employer is not regarded as private use : where the employee has a travelling appointment ;
where the employee travels from home to a temporary place of work and the distance travelled is less than the distance between the normal place of work and the temporary place of work ;
where, exceptionally, the home qualifies under tax law as a place of work and the employee travels from home to another place of work in the performance of his duties.
There are also circumstances where home-to-work travel in a car provided by an employer is regarded as private use but is ignored for tax purposes. These are :
where a disabled person is provided with a car from home-to-work travel and there is no other private use ;
where a car is provided for home-to-work travel when public transport is disrupted ;
where a car is provided for late night journeys from work-to-home, within the terms of Inland Revenue extra-statutory concession A66 ; where the car is a pooled car and any home-to-work travel is merely incidental to its business use.
WALES
Welsh Language
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) general receptionists and (b) telephone receptionists are employed within each of his Department's offices ; and how many are Welsh speaking.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The numbers of reception staff employed by the Department are :
|Number
--------------------------------------------
Receptionists
Gwydyr House |2
Cathays Park |3
Telephonist and Receptionists
Brunel House (Cadw) |1
Trawsgoed |2
Caernarfon |2
Llandrindod Wells |1
Carmarthen |2
Colwyn Bay |1
Those at Trawsgoed and Caernarfon are Welsh speaking.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to place all public advertisements produced by his Department either (a) bilingually in the Welsh language and English language or (b) in the Welsh language only.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The Department is fully committed to providing for the needs of Welsh speakers and English speakers alike. As a matter of policy, all official notices appear bilingually, and it is the Department's objective that public advertisements should be bilingual.
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Holiday Play Schemes
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what competitive tendering procedures were used for the selection of Acorn Nursery as provider of holiday play schemes for children of Welsh Office staff ; what financial evaluation was made of competing bids ; what consultation with different grades of staff was carried out ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : The Welsh Office holiday play scheme contract was advertised in the local press. Tenders were evaluated on the basis of the cost benefit to the Department and the value for money to parents--who meet the major part of the cost. Two tenderers came within the Department's cost limit and satisfied its quality criterion. They were interviewed.
As the cost benefit to the Welsh Office was the same with either provider, consultations took place with a representative sample of users in a range of grades including junior clerical grades. Staff were unanimous in preferring the Acorn bid and the selection was made on that basis.
Child care forms an important part of my Department's policy to promote equality of opportunity, help staff combine a career and family responsibilities, and maximise the contribution of skilled and experienced staff.
Disabled People
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures he intends to take to encourage people with disabilities to become teachers, nursery nurses or teachers' aides.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The teaching as a career unit, funded by the Welsh Office and the Department for Education (DFE), promotes and publicises teaching. It has not undertaken any special targeting of the disabled.
The DFE is in consultation with disabled teachers' interest groups prior to the revision of its circular 1/88 "Physical and Mental Fitness to Teach of Teachers and of Entrants to Teacher Training". This will continue to stress that disability in itself does not mean that a person is medically unfit to teach, but that the paramount consideration should be the health and welfare of pupils.
EC Funding
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 28 April, Offical Report , column 412, if he will specify what the projects in the Betws and Taff Merthyr areas are ; and what was the commencement date of those projects.
Mr. David Hunt : The information is as follows :
Project |Start Date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Betws Catchment Area
Pontardawe Access Improvements |May 1992
Innter Link Road Ammanford (Phase I) |January 1991
Block B, Capel Hedre Industrial Estate |January 1993
Environmental Improvements, Meadows Road, Cross Hands |March 1991
Cross Hands Business Park Workshop Units |March 1993
Cross Hands Business Park Landscaping |February 1992
Taff Merthyr Catchment Area
Trelewis Community Centre |February 1991
Cwm Cynon (South) Infrastructure |December 1992
Nixons Institute Mountain Ash |April 1993
Cwm Cynon Business Centre |December 1992
Penrhiwceiber Colliery Leisure Facility |June 1992
Deep Duffryn Colliery Leisure Facility |August 1992
Salmon
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures are being taken to protect and enhance the number of spring salmon that are entering Welsh rivers.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The National Rivers Authority is proposing new byelaws designed to improve spring salmon runs on the Dee, Wye and the Usk.
Children Leaving Care
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many children and young people under the age of 17 years have left care in Wales in each of the last five years; and how many of them (a) left school with no qualifications, (b) remain unemployed, (c) are currently estimated to be sleeping rough and (d) are in goal or other corrective institutions.
Mr. David Hunt : The information requested is not held centrally.
Denbighshire
Mr. Hanson : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the representations he has received in regard to the inclusion of the communities of Nercwys, Nannerch, Gwernymynydd, Gwernaffield, Cilcain, Mostyn, Halkyn, Whitford, Brynford, Trelawnydd and Gwaerysgor, Llanasa, Ysaefivy and Cherwys in the proposed Denbighshire authority following the publication of his local government White Paper.
Mr. David Hunt : Since publishing my White Paper on 1 March 1993, I have received 42 written representations regarding the inclusion of these communities within the proposed unitary authority for Denbighshire.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Krypton Gas
Ms Jowell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library copies of the results of research commissioned since 1978 (a) by his Department and (b) by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. on the possible health effects of the discharge of krypton gas into the environment.
Mr. Eggar : Neither the Department of Trade and Industry nor its predecessor, the Department of Energy, has commissioned research into the possible health effects of krypton gas. Questions about any research commissioned by British Nuclear Fuels plc are matters for the company.
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the names of the members of the board of BNFL and state which of them have a management role or a business interest in Touche Ross.
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Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for British Nuclear Fuels plc. Appropriate information on the directors of the company is given in BNFL's report and accounts, copies of which are placed in the Library of the House.
Inward Investment
Mr. Battle : To ask the President of the Board of Trade in which publications in other European countries advertisements have been placed by Government Departments in the current financial year promoting inward investment into the United Kingdom ; what was the cost of the advertisements ; and if he will place copies in the Library.
Mr. Sainsbury : During the 1992-93 financial year the Department of Trade and Industry spent £190,000 on advertisements in Europe promoting inward investment into the United Kingdom. In Germany advertisements were placed in Hadelsblatt, Top Business and Wirtschaftswoche, together with chamber of commerce magazines in Freiburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Reutlingen, while in Switzerland advertisements appeared in Bilanz, Basler Zeitung and Neue Zuercher Zeitung. The 1993-94 campaign has yet to be commissioned.
Copies of the advertisements have been placed in the Library.
Hydrocarbons Programme
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what plans he has to allow overseas counterparts of the British Geological Survey to bid for responsibility for United Kingdom oil and gas archives or to undertake surveys ;
(2) pursuant to his answer of 27 April, Official Report, column 336 , which types of organisations in the United Kingdom he has identified as potentially suited to the work under the hydrocarbons programme mentioned in his answer.
Mr. Eggar : In considering which organisations may be invited to submit competitive bids for work under the hydrocarbons programme, the Department is taking account of the requirements of the relevant legislation and commercial sensitivity.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the work of the Renewable Energy Advisory Research Group.
Mr. Eggar : In December 1992 the report of the renewable energy advisory group to my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade was published. The report's findings will be taken into account in the Government's renewable energy strategy document due to be published later this year.
Manufactured Exports
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what action he has taken to ensure that British exports of manufactured goods to the United States of America do not face tariffs.
Mr. Needham : My Department takes every opportunity to press the United States and other countries to reduce
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existing tariff barriers and to oppose the introduction of new ones, both in general terms in the context of the general agreement of tariffs and trade and in instances of specific concern. For example, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made clear our strong opposition to the US auto industry's request that the US Treasury reclassifies sports utility vehicles as trucks to secure massive added tariff protection to the detriment of our Land Rover exports. We also support the EC in its efforts to seek an all-round tariff reduction in the Uruguay round negotiations.THORP
Mr. Simpson : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the specific products and by-products of thermal oxide reprocessing at Sellafield, with their respective levels and life of radioactivity, and volume produce ; and if he will indicate the proposed purpose or use of each of these products and by-products.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 5 May 1993] : The thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield will recover uranium and plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. These materials can be recycled in civil power stations. British Nuclear Fuels plc expects that over 6,000 tonnes of uranium and some 40 to 50 tonnes of plutonium will be separated during the first 10 years of THORP's operation. Following recovery of the uranium and plutonium, the residue, amounting to around 3 per cent. by weight, consists of waste. The long-term radiological content of the waste is lower than that of the spent fuel because the uranium and plutonium have been removed. For the estimated volumes of wastes involved and details of their contents, I refer the hon. Member to the 1991 United Kingdom radioactive waste inventory, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
EMPLOYMENT
Work Permits
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many work permits for overseas workers have been granted in each year since 1987.
Mr. McLoughlin : The number of work permits issued by the Department since 1987 is as follows :
Year |Number of work
|permits issued
---------------------------------------------
1987 |26,965
1988 |33,021
1989 |37,865
1990 |43,619
1991 |37,989
1992 |37,917
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the top 10 countries whose citizens received work permits to pursue employment in Britain in 1992 ; and if she will give the number of applications accepted from each of these countries.
Mr. McLoughlin : The top 10 countries whose citizens received work permits in 1992 and the number of applications approved are given in the table :
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Country |Work permits
|approved
----------------------------------------------------
USA |11,617
Japan |2,030
India |1,660
Australia |1,067
Canada |916
Sweden |568
South Africa |472
Peoples Republic of China |458
Poland |374
USSR |356
These figures do not include permits issued under the training and work experience scheme.
Employment, Durham
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information her Department has on how many women in the Durham area have initiated legal challenges against their employers since 1990 on the grounds on sexual offences, and on the results of such cases.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information is held on how many people living in the Durham area have been denied unemployment benefit since 1990 because they are not available for work because they have an adult or child to care for during working hours.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Gerry Steinberg, dated 12 May 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question requesting information on how many people living in the Durham area have been denied unemployment benefit since 1990 because they are not available for work because they have an adult or child to care for during working hours. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
Unfortunately, the information is not available in the form you have requested and it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Statistics on the number of people whose claims for unemployment benefit have been disallowed because they are not available for work do not identify, separately, the number of people disallowed because they have caring responsibilities.
Adjudication statistics are compiled quarterly, for each Employment Service Region, and published in the "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions". Information about claims disallowed because people are not available for work for any reason are recorded under the heading of "Availability". The figures for Durham are contained in the statistical return for Northern Region. Copies of this document can be obtained from the House of Commons Library. As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
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Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current number of job vacancies in the Durham area.
Mr. McLoughlin : In March 1993, the latest date for which figures are available, the number, not seasonally adjusted, of unfilled vacancies at the jobcentre which covers the city of Durham was 229. Jobcentre vacancies do not represent the total number of vacancies available.
Electrical Equipment
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what legislation would be necessary and what legislation would need to be amended to privatise (a) the Electrical Equipment Certification Service and (b) any other part of the Health and Safety Executive.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Primary legislation would be needed in either case.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Current Affairs Survey
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the most recent (a) national and (b) international circulation of the Central Office of Information publication "Current Affairs--A Monthly Survey"; what benefits accrued to the United Kingdom from its publication ; and for what reasons its publication is being stopped.
Mr. Waldegrave : The most recent circulation figure for "Current Affairs--A Monthly Survey" was 714 copies. About three-quarters went to United Kingdom addresses. The publication was designed to enable readers of the annual "Britain Handbook" to be kept up to date with developments in British affairs.
Efforts to increase circulation have not been successful and production costs outweigh income from subscriptions.
HIV and AIDS
Mr. Galloway : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much money has been given by Her Majesty's Government to the Medical Research Council since 1988 for AIDS and HIV research.
Mr. Waldegrave : Between the years 1988-89 and 1992-93, Her Majesty's Government have allocated £68million to the Medical Research Council for AIDS and HIV research.
Mr. Galloway : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library details of all Medical Research Council grants for HIV and AIDS research, together with the published and completed papers presented to the Medical Research Council as a consequence of this grant- aided work.
Mr. Waldegrave : A list of research grants supported by the MRC through its strategic and directed programmes have been placed in the Library. A list of published and completed papers could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Medical Research Scientists (Shares)
Mr. Galloway : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will introduce legislation to bar medical research scientists from holding shares in drugs companies whose products they are researching.
Mr. Robert Jackson : No. I can see no need to introduce legislation aimed specifically at medical research scientists. The Company Securities (Insider Dealing) Act 1985 already restricts improper share dealing by a company's employees or by public servants. The Criminal Justice Bill, which is progressing through the House and will replace the existing legislation, contains provisions with a similar effect. Holdings of shares may also be subject to further restrictions under a scientist's terms of employment or contract.
HEALTH
AZT
Mr. Galloway : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the present clinical criteria for having AIDS ; what were the clinical criteria for having AIDS in 1987 ; how those criteria have changed ; and what effect the criteria have on eligibility of patients to be prescribed AZT.
Dr. Mawhinney : In the United Kingdom, the current clinical criteria for AIDS are those set out by the US Centers for Disease Control in 1987. Copies will be placed in the Library. The 1987 AIDS case definition revised the 1985 definition by addition of non-infectious, non-cancerous HIV- associated conditions and by widening the diagnostic critieria for certain AIDS indicator diseases.
Zidovudine, or, AZT, is currently licensed in the United Kingdom for the following indications :
asymptomatic disease in adult patients showing signs of immune suppression, i.e., CD4 counts repeatedly below 200 per cumm or between 500 and 200 and falling rapidly
early symptomatic HIV disease in adults with CD4 counts below 500 per cumm
advanced disease, i.e., AIDS and AIDS Related Complex, in adults and children
HIV related symptons or asymptomatic disease with markers indicating significant HIV-related immune suppression in children over the age of three months.
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