House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 May 1993

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions took place at the last meeting of EC Foreign Ministers of the official visit to the Republic of Croatia on 14 May by the German Foreign Minister, Herr Klaus Kinkel.

Mr. Garel-Jones : Mr. Kinkel made it clear at the meeting of EC Foreign Ministers on 10 May that he would use his visit to Zagreb to press President Tudjman to use his influence to end the fighting between Croats and Muslims in Mostar and to reinforce the message to be sent by the EC presidency on this.

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's

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Government's representative to the United Nations Security Council will propose the establishment of safe havens in areas populated by the indigenous Serb community in the Republic of Croatia, following Croat Army attacks against these areas in January.

Mr. Garel-Jones : There have been four United Nations protected areas (UNPAs) in Croatia since February 1992. There are no plans to designate safe areas in Croatia like those established in Bosnia by United Nations Security Council resolution 824. The co-chairmen of the international conference on the former Yugoslavia have brokered negotiations to establish a ceasefire following the Croatian army attacks in January, but the Krajina Serbs have so far failed to ratify the resulting agreement.

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Croatian President following reports by the EC special envoy Jose Maria Mendiluce on the forecast of future numbers of Muslims who would be forced to move as a result of Croatian aggression ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Garel-Jones : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by the Minister of State, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Grantham, on 17 May, Official Report, column 43. We have made no specific representations on the comments by UNHCR special representative Mr. Mendiluce.

Mr. Faber : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate has been made of the numbers of regular Croatian troops currently within the state of

Bosnia-Herzegovina ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Garel-Jones : Although there have been numerous reports of regular Croatian troops in Bosnia, we have no specific information on their numbers.

Mr. Faber : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the Government of Croatia to dismantle the self-appointed Croat state of Herceg-Bosnia in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Mr. Garel-Jones : The London conference made it clear in its statement of principles that we upheld the fundamental obligation to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states in the region. The Vance-Owen peace plan--which the Croats have accepted--insists that Croat areas in Bosnia should remain part of the sovereign Bosnian state. We reflect this in all our contacts with the Croatian Government.

Mr. Faber : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the illegal supply of arms to the Bosnian Croats from the Republic of Croatia ; and if he will put forward proposals to seal the border between Croatia and ort for the Bosnian Croats and to exert their influence to bring the fighting to an end.

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what pressure Her Majesty's

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Government have put on the Croat Government to withdraw their forces from Bosnia-Herzegovina ; what efforts Her Majesty's Government have made to persuade the Croat Government to stop supplying the republic they have declared there ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Garel-Jones : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by the Minister of State, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Grantham, on 17 May, Official Report, column 43.

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to recall Her Majesty's ambassador to Zagreb in the light of Croat aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Mr. Garel-Jones : We have no such plans.

Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list visa requirements for Croat citizens entering the United Kingdom ; and what plans he has to review them in the event of changes in United Kingdom-Croat relations.

Mr. Charles Wardle : I have been asked to reply.

Nationals of Croatia are not subject to a United Kingdom visa requirement, and there are no present plans to impose such a requirement.

CSCE

Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide a comprehensive list of all the names and nationalities of the top officials of all the bodies, committees, ad hoc groups and structures of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Mr. Goodlad : The CSCE internal address list which I have placed in the Library of the House lists on pages 57 to 80 the names of the officials who staff the CSCE institutions. Meetings of participating states, whether of the Council of Ministers, Committee of Senior Officials or ad hoc groups formed to deal with a specific task, are chaired by the Chairman-in-Office, currently Sweden.

The Council of Ministers has appointed a Secretary-General, Mr. Wilhelm Hoynck. He will take office in Vienna in June.

Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the dates of establishment, and of winding up if applicable, of all the bodies, committees, ad hoc groups and structures of the institutions of the Conference on Security and Co- operation in Europe.

Mr. Goodlad : Details have been placed in the Library of the House giving the dates of establishment of CSCE institutions, secretariats, steering and ad hoc groups.

Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide a complete list of addresses of all the offices of the various structures of the Conference on Security and Co- operation in Europe.

Mr. Goodlad : I have placed in the Library of the House a copy of the CSCE internal address list. Pages 57 to 80 include a full list of addresses of CSCE institutions and offices.

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Human Rights

Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will assign a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights department to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office consular section to monitor the abuse of human rights outside the United Kingdom in consular and legal matters.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The consular department consults the human rights policy department as a matter of course for advice on cases where the human rights of British individuals are in question.

Raymond Bickley

Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the French authorities concerning the absence of access to legal representation for Raymond Bickley since his imprisonment in December.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : After learning that Mr. Bickley's court-appointed lawyer did not attend with him the examining magistrate's hearing on 30 March, Her Majesty's consul-general in Paris wrote to the batonnier, equivalent to the president of the local bar, expressing concern. The batonnier asked the lawyer to visit Mr. Bickley immediately, and undertook to act on any complaint from Mr. Bickley that his defence had suffered as a result of the lawyer's non-attendance at the hearing. The batonnier will report again to the consul-general.

Foreign Affairs Council

Mr. Waller : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council held on 10 to 11 May.

Mr. Hurd : I attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 10 May with the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Mr. Garel-Jones). The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg), represented the United Kingdom on 11 May.

The Council approved the EC/United States agreement on Government procurement reached on 19 April. The Council also agreed a resolution on trade and the environment proposed by the Danish presidency in advance of the OECD ministerial meeting on 2 June.

Lord Owen briefed Ministers on recent developments in the former Yugoslavia. They agreed on the importance of continued support for the Vance-Owen peace plan. The Twelve should maintain pressure for the closure of the Serb/Bosnia border and be ready to contribute to international monitoring of it. Other options should not be excluded. Ministers also agreed on the crucial importance of rigorous implementation of the sanctions regime.

The Council agreed that the presidency should discuss with the European Parliament arrangements for an inter-institutional meeting on 7 June, with the aim of concluding an inter-institutional agreement on subsidiarity and of agreeing arrangements for the European parliamentary ombudsman. The Council also agreed that a paper presented by the Commission on access to

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information held by the Community institutions was a good basis for further work. It asked the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) to take this forward.

Over lunch, Ministers discussed progress in the enlargement negotiations with Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The Commission reported on the latest round of negotiations, held in St. Petersburg on 6 and 7 May, for a partnership and co-operation agreement with Russia.

The Council discussed the Commission's paper for the Copenhagen European Council on strengthening relations with the central European associate countries. There will be further discussion at the Foreign Affairs Council on 8 June.

An EC/GCC ministerial meeting was held in the margins of the Council on 11 May.

No formal votes were taken at the Council.

EDUCATION

Testing

Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his statement of 11 May, Official Report, column 651, what investigations were carried out into the abortive costs involved in the changes to the system of testing announced in his statement ; what is the total cost ; and what are the projected costs of external marking by external examiners of the tests of 11 and 14-year-olds.

Mr. Forth : The cost of developing and distributing the non- mandatory tests for seven-year-olds in technology, history and geography is estimated at £1.7 million. The cost to date of development of history and geography tests for 14-year-olds is estimated at some £300,000. This expenditure has not been wasted. There will be a continuing obligation on schools to teach technology, history and geography at key stage 1 and to teach history and geography at key stage 3. It will continue to be good practice for teachers to assess pupils' progress against the national targets in these subjects.

The non-mandatory tests in technology, history and geography which have already been delivered to primary schools are explicitly designed to support and inform teachers' own assessments. The work to date on history and geography tests for 14-year-olds will inform guidance to teachers on making their own assessments of pupils' progress and may contribute to the work of devising new tests in future. Lessons learnt from experience gained will be taken into account in Sir Ron Dearing's review of the curriculum and assessment framework.

My right hon. Friend has asked Sir Ron Dearing to advise on the merits of external marking of tests for 11 and 14-year-olds, including the costs.

Radio Hearing Aids

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education who is responsible for the provision and maintenance of radio hearing aids for (a) pre-school children, (b) children at school and (c) students in further and higher education.

Mr. Forth : Where a radio hearing aid is specified as special educational provision in the statement of special educational need of a pre -school child or a child attending

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a school, it is the duty of the responsible local education authority to arrange for the provision and maintenance of such aids. The Further Education Funding Council and local education authorities are under duties to secure further education provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. These duties require them to take account of students' additional learning support needs.

Within higher education, it is for individual higher education institutions to consider the arrangements necessary to meet the additional learning support needs of such students. Eligible students in higher education may be entitled to three disabled students allowances as part of their mandatory award, including up to £3,325 for specialist equipment.

National Vocational Qualifications

Ms Estelle Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what progress he is making in developing national vocational qualifications for those working within the field of education ; (2) if he will publish the report of the task group of Department for Education officials and representatives of employer and employee interests within education, which met last year to recommend an education lead body for teacher training ; and if he will publish his response ;

(3) what lead bodies he has set up to look at the adoption of NVQs within education.

Mr. Boswell : My right hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment are considering developing NVQs in the education sector and relevant lead body arrangements. They will shortly be consulting and taking into account recent developments in further education and training.

Schools Inspection

Dr. Spink : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if he will list the criteria used to assess and select candidates to become school inspectors under the new schools inspection regime ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) how many people from non-educational backgrounds have been selected to go forward as lay inspectors ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth : The selection of candidates for training as school inspectors under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 is a matter for the Office for Standards in Education.

I have asked Professor Sutherland to write to my hon. Friend.

Testing : The Facts"

Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost per pack of the information pack "Testing : The Facts" ; how many have been circulated and to whom ; and what was the total cost of production and distribution.

Mr. Forth : The cost of each pack was £1. About 3,600 have been distributed to date to the following :

all Members of Parliament for England ;

the 1,000 top companies ;

Church leaders ;

training and enterprise councils ;

regional chairmen of the CBI and Institute of Directors ; chambers of commerce ;

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regional directors of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Employment Department ;

trade unions ;

the national press ;

Vice Chancellors ; and

heads of information of Government Departments.

The total cost of production and distribution is estimated at £9, 100.

WALES

Public Appointments

Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what qualifications the hon. Robin Gibson Watt has which are relevant to his recent appointment to the board of the Development Board for Rural Wales.

Mr. David Hunt : I give full consideration to all relevant factors in determining appointments for which I have responsibility. I have every confidence that the hon. Robin Gibson Watt will make a valuable contribution to the work of the board during his term of office.

Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many names he has on the list of potential nominees for places on non- departmental public bodies in Wales ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) if he will publish the list of potential nominees for appointment to non-departmental public bodies in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. David Hunt : There are currently 2,851 names on the Department's register of candidates for public appointment, which is confidential.

Drugs

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the total number of registered drug addicts in each local authority area in Wales in each year from 1987 onwards.

Mr. Gwilym Jones : The numbers of drug addicts notified by medical practitioners to the chief medical officer at the Home Office are given in "Statistics of Drug Addicts Notified to the Home Office, UK, 1991" which is held in the Library of the House. Figures for each district health authority in Wales from 1987 to 1991 are found in table A8 of the "Area Tables" supplement.

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has concerning the use of designer drugs within schools in each local education authority area in Wales.

Sir Wyn Roberts : This information is not collected centrally.

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what efforts are currently made by his Department to collect information on the numbers of unregistered drug addicts in Wales.

Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Welsh drug misuse database was set up in 1991 to provide regular national and local profiles on those drug users in contact with various services. Some of those drug users will be registered on the addicts index while others will be unregistered.

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Medical Negligence

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how much has been spent by the national health service in Wales in meeting claims for medical negligence in each year from 1987 ; (2) how much has been spent by each district health authority in Wales on litigation cases in each year from 1987 ; and how much was paid by each district health authority in litigation during claims for compensation on the grounds of medical negligence affecting children born with disabilities.

Mr. Gwilym Jones : This information is not held centrally.

A494

Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the current position on plans for the improvement of the A494 Bala to Corwen road, between Merlyn Gwyn and Glanrafon ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Wyn Roberts : A topographical survey has been completed and route improvement options identified ; the environmental impact of each option will be investigated. Construction work could start before April 1996 subject to the satisfactory completion of engineering design, statutory procedures and the availability of resources.

Radio Hearing Aids

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales who is responsible for the provision and maintenance of radio hearing aids for (a) pre-school children, (b) children at school and (c) students in further and higher education in Wales.

Sir Wyn Roberts : Local education authorities have a duty to arrange for the provision and maintenance of radio hearing aids for children in school or pre-school who have statements of special educational needs which specify such an aid as educational provision.

The Further Education Funding Council and local education authorities are under duties to secure further education provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. These duties require them to take account of students' additional learning support needs.

It is for individual higher education institutions to consider the arrangements necessary to meet the additional learning support needs of students in higher education. Eligible students in higher education may be entitled to three disabled students allowances as part of their mandatory award, including up to £3,325 for specialist equipment.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Heart of England Wood Carvers

Mr. Meale : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to the Heart of England Wood Carvers to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.

Mr. Michael J. Martin : I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from 14 to 18 June.

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Fire Regulations

Ms Walley : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee what (a) building, (b) fire and (c) health and safety regulations apply to the Palace of Westminster ; which regulations in each category would apply to the Palace of Westminster if not for Crown immunity ; and which officials are responsible for enforcement of each category of regulation.

Mr. Beith : I have been asked to reply.

It is the policy of the Commission, notwithstanding immunities and exemptions provided for in legislation, to apply the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 and all other relevant statutory provisions throughout the parliamentary estate, whether part of the Palace of Westminster or not. With regard to : (

(a) Building Regulations. Administrative procedures are in place in the parliamentary works directorate to ensure that all the technical requirements of the regulations are met.

(b) Fire Regulations. The Home Office fire services' inspectorate is responsible in consultation with the parliamentary works directorate for ensuring the appropriate standards in the Fire Precautions Act 1971 are met.

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