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Column 128
Invergordon and DingwallLanarkshire
Londonderry
Benefit
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployment benefit (a) payments and (b) applications were made in each month since April 1990 in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales and(iii) England.
Mr. McLoughlin : Information on the numbers of people in receipt of each type of benefit are available only on a quarterly basis and relate to the stock of claimants at a point in time and not the number of new claimants each month. This shows that about one in four of all unemployed claimants in each of England, Scotland and Wales is in receipt of unemployment benefit.
Information on the flows into claimant unemployment in each month by area is available from the NOMIS database in the Library. This information relates to the total numbers of people claiming unemployment-related benefits and national insurance credits at the employment service. Figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Youth Training
Mr. Haselhurst : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people are currently on YT schemes ; and how many are awaiting places on YT schemes for each training and enterprise council area in England.
Mr. McLoughlin : The number of young people who are currently on youth training (YT), and the number who are guaranteed a place and have been waiting for eight weeks or longer, for each training and enterprise council area in England, are provided in the following table.
In April there were 5,300 young people who had been waiting for a YT place for more than eight weeks compared with 32,500 last September. This is a commendable achievement which I hope will continue.
Young people on YT or waiting for a place on YT: 1993
TEC |Number in training|Waiting for more
|January 1993<1> |than 8 weeks April
|1993<2>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon |4,525 |117
AZTEC |1,314 |95
Barnsley and Doncaster |3,988 |35
Bedfordshire |2,301 |<5>164
Birmingham |<3>5,188 |131
Bolton and Bury |2,624 |19
Bradford |3,199 |18
Calderdale and Kirklees |3,306 |15
CAMBSTEC |1,158 |54
Central England |1,495 |19
Central London |1,628 |<5>152
CEWTEC |3,419 |12
CILNTEC |2,322 |109
County Durham |4,188 |71
Coventry and Warwicks |4,283 |<5>86
Cumbria |3,755 |6
Devon and Cornwall |6,945 |<5>71
Dorset |2,658 |15
Dudley |1,863 |1
ELTEC |4,214 |29
Essex |6,572 |329
Gloucester |3,023 |11
Greater Nottingham |3,670 |35
Greater Peterborough |1,611 |17
Hampshire |6,085 |<5>304
HAWTEC |2,076 |<5>30
Heart of England |2,139 |24
Hertfordshire |3,479 |164
Humberside |6,245 |36
Isle of Wight |576 |28
Kent |5,695 |183
LAWTEC |5,643 |28
Leeds |2,799 |26
Leicestershire |5,020 |<5>31
LETEC |4,534 |380
Lincolnshire |3,789 |39
Manchester |6,504 |<5>93
Merseyside |7,848 |47
METROTEC |2,184 |6
North Bucks |1,515 |<5>42
Norfolk/Waveney |3,963 |31
NORMIDTEC |<3>3,289 |9
North Derbyshire |1,825 |39
North London |1,657 |<5>79
North Nottinghamshire |3,043 |55
North West London |879 |107
North Yorkshire |2,843 |<5>59
Northamptonshire |2,478 |<5>39
Northumberland |2,094 |58
Oldham |1,840 |48
QUALITEC |1,621 |16
Rochdale |1,729 |15
Rotherham |1,811 |9
Sandwell |1,951 |20
South and East Cheshire |2,640 |0
Sheffield |3,494 |147
Shropshire |2,491 |24
SOLOTEC |2,656 |194
Somerset |2,374 |<5>114
South Derbyshire |3,172 |<5>29
South Thames |2,744 |451
Staffordshire |7,934 |6
Stockport and High Peak |2,534 |19
Suffolk |2,837 |13
Surrey |1,934 |<5>99
Sussex |4,425 |86
Teesside |5,716 |56
Thames Valley Enterprise |3,327 |<5>198
Tyneside |<4>3,289 |<5>59
Wakefield |1,872 |18
Walsall |1,350 |12
Wearside |2,689 |0
West London |2,415 |48
Wiltshire |2,385 |<5>68
Wolverhampton |1,858 |6
Sources:
<1> Information from TEC Management Information return 31 January 1993 (
Provisional).
<2> Information from Careers Service Management return (Supplement) 17 April
1993.
<3> Information from TEC Management Information return 3 January 1993.
<4> Information from TEC Management Information return 6 December 1992.
<5> These figures are subject to final confirmation.
Health and Safety Regulations
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is her estimate of the cost to British industry of health and safety regulations.
Mr. McLoughlin : No estimate of the cost to British industry of health and safety regulations as a whole exists at present.
Column 130
Health and Safety Executive (Prosecutions)
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions were brought by the Health and Safety Executive in each of the last five years ; and what percentage of (a) cases and (b) contested cases resulted in prosecutions.
Mr. McLoughlin : The following table gives the information requested for the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) factory, agricultural and quarry inspectorates. Figures for 1992-93 will be available later this year. Information for the other HSE inspectorates is not readily available. Prosecutions have been interpreted as informations laid.
Number of informations laid by HSE's Factory, Agricultural and Quarry Inspectors and the
percentage of informations that resulted in conviction 1987-92<2><3>
Year |Number of |Percentage of |Percentage of
|informations laid|informations |not-guilty pleas
|resulting in |resulting in
|conviction |conviction
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |2,321 |88 |41
1988-89 |2,298 |90 |61
1989-90 |2,547 |88 |49
1990-91 |2,278 |86 |47
<1>1991-92 |2,388 |88 |47
Notes:
<1>=provisional.
<2> Years are from 1 April to 31 March.
<3> Quarries Inspectorates are only included from 1990-91.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment in respect of how many parliamentary questions a substantive answer was not provided by her Department wholly or partly on the grounds of disproportionate cost in each of the last 18 months (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of questions answered.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : The figures for parliamentary questions not answered wholly on the grounds of disproportionate cost, in each of the last 18 months, are given in the following table :
Month |Number
------------------------
1991
November |0
December |1
1992
January |0
February |0
March |1
April |0
May |1
June |0
July |3
August |0
September |0
October |0
November |8
December |8
1993
January |0
February |1
March |3
April |1
|--
Total |27
This represents less than 1 per cent. of all parliamentary questions asked in the same period.
The figure for parliamentary questions where a substantive answer was not provided partly on the grounds of disproportionate cost is not recorded.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the monthly United Kingdom unemployment figures for 1990-91 and 1991-92 for (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the United Kingdom.
Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the level of unemployment in the construction industry in (a) the Riverside constituency, (b) the Liverpool travel-to-work area and (c) Merseyside at the latest available date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : Available estimates from the autumn 1992 labour force survey show that in Merseyside there were 11,000 people unemployed on the ILO definition whose last previous employment had been in the construction industry. Information for the other areas is not available from the labour force survey.
Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans Her Majesty's Government have to reduce unemployment on Merseyside ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : The overall policy of the Department, on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, is to promote a free and flexible labour market that is designed to help encourage employment in Merseyside as in all areas. In addition the Department provides a range of employment and training programmes and local initiatives, through the employment service and training and enterprise councils, to help people increase their skills, and equip themselves for work. From April 1993 this range of measures was enhanced by an extra half million opportunities.
Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the level of unemployment in the Liverpool, Riverside constituency at the latest available date.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : In March 1993, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 7,427 claimant unemployed people in the Liverpool Riverside constituency. This figure is on the unadjusted basis.
Unemployed Graduates
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many work training schemes specifically for unemployed graduates are currently in operation ; how many graduates are currently participating in such schemes ; and if she will make a statement.
Column 132
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : None of the Department's training schemes for unemployed people is aimed specifically at graduates. Training and enterprise councils may support individual programmes designed to cater for unemployed graduates but information on such programmes is not held centrally.
Co-operatives
Ms Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment her Department has made of the employment potential of co- operatives.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : The Department has made no such assessment.
Youth Training
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the numbers of young people currently on youth training schemes and the numbers awaiting places on youth training schemes in each TEC area in England and Wales and LEC area in Scotland.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 19 April 1993] : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I am giving to my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden today.
The information for Scotland and Wales is the responsibility of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales.
Youth Unemployment
Ms Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the youth unemployment rates in actual numbers and percentages for each United Kingdom standard planning region and for each of the past five years.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 17 May 1993] : Information on the level of claimant unemployment by age in each region is available from the NOMIS database in the Library.
Information on claimant unemployment by age, expressed as a percentage of the work force in a particular age band, are available on a quarterly basis but only at national level, and only for standard age bands. These data are published in the Employment Gazette --table 2.15.
Labour force survey data on regional unemployment rates by age and sex, using the ILO measure of unemployment, are published regularly in table 7.15 of "Regional Trends".
Ms Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will supply figures for the youth unemployment rates, by actual numbers and by percentages, in each EC country for the five most recent years for which figures are available.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 17 May 1993] : The extent of the readily available, comparable information is given in the following tables :
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|1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991
---------------------------------------------------------
Unemployment levels amongst 14-24 year olds in EC countri
Belgium |130 |99 |79 |71 |68
Denmark |52 |51 |66 |64 |63
Germany |411 |365 |280 |232 |173
Greece |125 |135 |135 |128 |134
Spain |1,411 |1,334 |1,047 |956 |895
France |888 |784 |670 |672 |615
Ireland |85 |80 |66 |59 |70
Italy |1,388 |1,419 |1,305 |1,151 |1,180
Luxembourg |2 |<1>1 |<1>1 |<1>1 |<1>1
Netherlands |248 |196 |181 |156 |154
Portugal |180 |146 |116 |103 |82
United Kingdom |1,026 |828 |642 |618 |712
Unemployment rates amongst 14-24 year olds in EC countrie
Belgium |25.4 |11.1 |11.5 |11.5 |11.0
Denmark |8.9 |8.5 |11.5 |11.5 |11.5
Germany |7.5 |6.8 |5.5 |4.6 |3.7
Greece |24.8 |25.8 |24.8 |23.2 |24.6
Spain |43.5 |41.1 |32.3 |31.8 |30.5
France |23.4 |22.1 |19.6 |19.6 |19.6
Ireland |26.0 |25.3 |21.9 |19.5 |23.2
Italy |33.9 |33.4 |31.9 |29.0 |28.2
Luxembourg |5.4 |<1>4.7|<1>3.3|<1>3.6|<1>2.6
Netherlands |17.1 |14.4 |13.4 |11.4 |11.3
Portugal |17.4 |14.4 |11.7 |10.4 |8.7
United Kingdom |16.2 |13.2 |10.3 |10.4 |13.9
<1> Estimate.
Source: EUROSTAT Labour Force Survey 1983-1991.
Note: These statistics are compiled from each country's
Labour Force Survey and relate to "14-24 year olds" at
the time of the survey. The ILO definition of
unemployment used in the Labour Force Survey relates to
people who are; (a) without a paid job; (b) available to
start work in the next fortnight; and (c) have looked
for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start
a job already obtained.
SCOTLAND
Local Government Consultation
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the consultation process he will apply during the six- week period following receipt of recommendations from the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : On submission of its report the commission notifies interested parties, by way of public notice and by letter to all those who participated in the review, that there is a further six-week period during which written representations may be made to my right hon. Friend.
Children (Speech Disorders)
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library a copy of the report by Mr. Michael Gibson of Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools on educational provision for children with speech and language disorders in Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 17 May 1993] : The inspection of the educational provision for children with speech and language disorders in Scotland by HM inspectorate of schools is still in progress. Once it is complete and a report published I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library.
Column 134
WALES
Small Businesses
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate has been made of the percentage contribution small businesses in Wales have made to the Welsh gross domestic product in each year since 1983.
Mr. David Hunt : No such estimate has been made. But figures published in the "Business Monitor--Size analysis of United Kingdom Businesses" (PA 1003) since 1989 show that businesses with a turnover below £250,000 have consistently accounted for over 80 per cent. of the number of businesses in Wales.
Dental Services
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has received on dental service provision in Gwynedd ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Welsh Office has received 68 representations since 1 April 1992 about dental services in Gwynedd. The Government are committed to a full NHS dental service and the Secretary of State has given approval for the Gwynedd family health services authority to employ four salaried dentists to help meet NHS service needs within its area.
Health Service (Industrial Relations)
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was his response to the request from staff side officers of the joint staff consultative council for the Welsh health service for a meeting to discuss industrial relations ; and what were the reasons for giving that response.
Column 135
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave on the 11 May at column 440 to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Smith).
Local Government Reform
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a Green Paper on strategic planning in Wales as part of the reform of local government.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : My right hon. Friend has no plans to do so.
Local Government White Paper
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has received on the resolution passed at the European Assembly of the Regions bureau meeting in Hungary on 30 April regarding his White Paper, "Local Government in Wales", Cm 2155.
Mr. David Hunt : I have just seen a copy of the press release issued by the Assembly of Welsh Counties following the meeting in Budapest.
Agri-environmental Agency
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to establish an agri-environmental agency in Wales to oversee the work undertaken by each agri-environmental scheme operational in Wales.
Tourism
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what matters in regard to protection and enhancement of the environment in Wales have been taken into account in the preparation of his Tourism 2000 strategy report.
Sir Wyn Roberts : In preparing the "Tourism 2000 Strategy" the Wales tourist board issued a series of consultative papers and held several seminars on key themes and principles to be covered by the strategy. Tourism and the environment was one such theme. As the hon. Gentleman may be aware my right hon. Friend is to launch the WTB's consultative strategy on the 26 May, which will give all those within the industry a further opportunity to comment on all aspects of the strategy. The final strategy will issue in the autumn.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy were confirmed in (a) Pembrokeshire and (b) Wales in each quarter since 1989.
Mr. David Hunt : Figures for BSE are recorded on a county basis, and thus separate figures for Pembrokeshire are not produced. The numbers of confirmed cases of BSE reported in Dyfed and Wales by quarter year periods since 1989 are as follows :
Year |Quarter|Dyfed |Wales
----------------------------------------
1990 |1 |154 |264
1990 |2 |130 |233
1990 |3 |128 |236
1990 |4 |171 |350
1991 |1 |240 |436
1991 |2 |261 |462
1991 |3 |345 |576
1991 |4 |411 |761
1992 |1 |554 |1,000
1992 |2 |443 |768
1992 |3 |345 |892
1992 |4 |518 |1,013
1993 |1 |487 |906
The figures for the first quarter of 1993 are necessarily incomplete as the basis of the statistics is confirmed cases by report in the appropriate period.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Income Support
Mr. Peter Shore : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants receive income support in the London borough of Tower Hamlets ; and what is the total number of people dependent upon income support within the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
Mr. Burt : The administration of income support is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief ececutive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Peter Shore, dated 17 May 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Benfits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security, asking how many claimants receive Income Support in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and what is the total number of people dependent upon Income Support within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The complete range of information requested could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. This is because statistics relating to Income Support are not routinely collected to reflect either the number of recipients or their dependents by Borough area. Nor are statistics routinely collected reflecting the number of dependents of Income Support recipients.
However, I have appended information showing the number of recipients in the Benefits Agency districts which cover the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. I should emphasise that the boundaries of the offices concerned do not correspond with those of the Borough of Tower Hamlets.
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.
District office |Income Support Live
|Load
--------------------------------------------------------------
City East |32,469
Hackney and Islington |59,782
|------
Total |92,251
Column 137
Benefits (Bank Accounts)
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to require pensioners to have their pensions paid via bank accounts ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in the House on 12 November 1992, our policy is to encourage pensioners and others who have a bank, building society or girobank account to receive their social security benefits directly into their accounts.
Recipients of the following benefits already have the choice of receiving their benefit by automated credit transfer (ACT) : Disability Living Allowance
Disability Working Allowance
Attendance Allowance
Pensions/Widows Benefit
Child Benefit
One Parent Benefit
Family Credit
War Pensions
In addition, the facility to pay benefit by ACT is being extended to invalidity benefit, sickness benefit and severe disablement allowance on a rolling implementation between May 1993 and January 1994 ; to unemployment benefit between May 1993 and October 1994 ; and to income support in October 1993.
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to continue to allow pensions and benefits to be paid otherwise than directly into a bank or building society account ; what representations he has received from those wishing to retain the payment of pensions and benefits through local post offices ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : We have no intention of ceasing to use the network of post offices for payment of benefit and pensions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received a variety of representations about the steps taken to increase awareness of the advantages of automated credit transfer, including a number of letters from members of the public.
Self-employed People
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will review the position of the self-employed within the social security system ;
(2) if he will bring forward legislation to extend entitlement to (a) the state earnings-related pension scheme and (b) industrial injuries scheme benefits to the self-employed.
Miss Widdecombe : We have no plans to review the position of the self-employed within the social security system, or to amend the existing provisions of the state earnings-related pension scheme in relation to self -employed people. We shall be responding shortly to a report which the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council submitted to us in November last year on bringing the self-employed in construction and agriculture into the industrial injuries scheme.
Column 138
Children in Hospital
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what financial assistance is available from his Department to parents who fall (a) within and (b) without income support entitlement to allow them to visit sick children in hospitals distant from their place of residence ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : The social fund can help people with reasonable travel expenses to visit someone who is ill. Payments are discretionary, but grants and budgeting loans for this purpose are often given high priority. As with previous schemes, help is focused on those least able to meet these costs.
Independent Living Fund
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people he estimates would be brought into the independent living (1993) fund if the £500 upper cash limit were removed ; and how much this would cost in real cash terms.
Mr. Scott : It wouk the Secretary of State for Social Security to what investigations his Department has been subject by the Data Protection Registrar in relation to a suspected breach of a data protection principle ; if he will summarise the nature of each complaint and state when the complaint was made ; and what remedial action was taken by his Department to ensure future compliance with the principle subject to the investigation.
Miss Widdecombe : Between 11 November 1987 and 31 March 1993 the Department has responded to 15,094 requests from data subjects for access to its computer files. In this same period, 44 complaints concerning suspected breaches of data protection principles have been received from data subjects via the Office of Data Protection Registrar. The principles involved and the dates on which the complaints were made are in the table.
Complaint type |Number received |Dates received
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Principle 1 |4 |21 June 1990
|30 September 1991
|8 June 1992
|21 July 1992
Principle 3 |4 |7 March 1988
|11 July 1988
|13 February 1989
|19 March 1991
Principle 4 |1 |12 April 1992
Principle 5 |13 |11 November 1988
|31 July 1989
|1 March 1990
|5 March 1990
|24 July 1990
|18 March 1991
|14 May 1991
|20 July 1991
|22 July 1991
|29 July 1992
|30 September 1992
|27 October 1992
|3 March 1993
Principle 7 |17 |3 February 1988
|7 March 1988
|3 June 1988
|15 June 1988
|22 August 1988
|26 October 1988
|26 April 1990
|24 October 1990
|20 December 1990
|18 December 1991
|13 May 1992
|9 June 1992
|6 July 1992
|8 December 1992
|25 January 1993
|9 March 1993
|19 March 1993
Principle 8 |5 |26 September 1990
|26 November 1991
|3 December 1991
|7 July 1992
|14 January 1993
In all cases the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of the
Data Protection Registrar and no changes to any of our computer systems
have been made necessary in order to comply with the Data Protection
Act.
Residential Homes
Mr. Pickthall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has had from the independent nursing and residential homes about the effects of rules which reduce pensions for pensioners who are hospitalised for longer than 42 days.
Pension Schemes
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the pension schemes approved by his Department which provide for the open enrolment of employees throughout a particular industry or service, irrespective of employer.
Miss Widdecombe : The following pension schemes, approved by the Occupational Pensions Board for the purposes of contracting out, are regarded as industry-wide schemes.
The Joint Industry Board Pension Scheme
Footwear Industry Pension Scheme
Engineering Industry Pension Scheme
Batjic Contracted-Out Money Purchase Scheme
Scotselect Pension Plan
Printing Industry Pension Scheme Option 88
Printing Industry Pension Scheme Option Two
Design Business Association Pension Scheme
IPA Portable Pension Plan
The Naid Members Retirement Benefit Scheme
National Association of Master Bakers Scheme
H & V Pensions
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