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Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what evidence he has of hospitals using drugs which are past their use-by date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I have no such evidence.
Flood Damage
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what financial assistance is available for farmers whose land has been adversely affected by the recent flooding.
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Mr. Redwood : My Department is assessing the extent of flood damage to agricultural land. Farmers can, if eligible, receive assistance under existing grant schemes for some of the work that may be necessary following the flooding.
Sports Council for Wales
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library full details of the funds spent by the Sports Council for Wales in the period 1990 to 1992 on drug tests for athletes, disaggregating the amount spent on individual sports and indicating the number of tests which proved positive for banned substances.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I have placed the information requested in the Library of the House.
Mental Handicap
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many mentally handicapped adults are currently living in long-stay hospitals outside the county in which they were residents.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : A total of 368.
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Integrated Administration and Control Systems
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many fully completed IACS forms have now been received by the Welsh Office ; what percentage of Welsh farmers this represents ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : We have received 18,537 forms. The proportion of fully completed forms will not be known until detailed checks have been completed.
Ministerial Visit, Tywyn
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to visit the Tywyn area of the constituency of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : I have no immediate plans to visit the Tywyn area, although I have a very extensive programme of visits to every county in Wales.
Forestry Commission
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list by county, hectarage and location, the Forestry Commission land in Wales sold since October 1991 where (a) access agreements have been concluded and (b) access agreements have not been concluded.
Sir Wyn Roberts [holding answer 22 June 1993] : Arrangements aimed at securing continued public access to woodlands sold by the Forestry Commission were introduced in october 1991. Excluding those sales which were too far advanced at that time to be included for consideration under the new arrangements, the commission has sold the following 28 areas of forest land in Wales since then. No access agreements have been concluded in respect of any of these areas.
|Area (ha)
---------------------------------------------------
Clwyd
Coed Cochion |87.0
Newbridge and Chirk By-pass |1.0
Dyfed
Allt Fawr |4.0
Allt Tir Isaf |5.0
Erryd Wood |5.0
Garreg Llywd Ffyrdd |6.0
Llwyn Neuadd |6.0
Llys Y Fran-Velindre |2.6
Penywaun |11.9
Pen Yr Allt |4.7
Pryce Moor Wood |5.0
Rosebush (Land at) |27.0
Sunny Hill Wood |9.0
The Coombes |6.0
Trawscoed Woods |88.0
Wenallt Fawr |12.0
Wern Talhardd |8.0
Gwent
Goytre Hall Wood |4.0
Ifton Quarry |14.0
Newport-Worcester Trunk Road |1.7
Gwynedd
Bodfeddau |9.6
Gwenfro Uchaf |7.3
Mid Glamorgan
Blaengarw (Old Industrial Tip) |67.8
South Glamorgan
Coed Hills |27.5
Coed Y Colwn |15.0
West Glamorgan
Dyffryn Woods |116.0
Penyrallt (Land at) |0.5
Valley Woods |75.0
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Benefit
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing income distribution of child benefit recipients broken down into equivalised income bands.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the tables.
Distribution of child benefit recipients by equivalised<1> income bands,
1990-91<2>
Equivalised income |Number of benefit |Percentage of all
of benefit unit<3> |units in receipt of|benefit units in
|child benefit |receipt of child
|benefit
|thousands |Per cent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before housing costs
less than £50 |170 |2.5
£50-£100 |883 |12.8
£100-£200 |2,967 |42.9
£200-£300 |1,732 |25.1
£300-£400 |661 |9.6
£400-£500 |235 |3.4
£500 or more |265 |3.8
After housing costs
less than £50 |379 |5.5
£50-£100 |1,610 |23.3
£100-£200 |2,913 |42.1
£200-£300 |1,324 |19.2
£300-£400 |374 |5.4
£400-£500 |146 |2.1
£500 or more |169 |2.4
Source:
Family Expenditure Survey
Notes:
<1> Income has been equivalised within benefit units using the McClements
scales.
<2> This represents the latest information available and combines the data for
the years 1990 and 1991
<3> Income is in £s per week expressed in January 1991 prices.
Loans and Compensation (Floods)
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will use his discretion under the crisis fund to convert all loans made necessary because of the recent flooding disaster into direct grants ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : Help from the social fund may be available to people affected by the recent flooding principally in the form of discretionary crisis loans. Social fund community care grants are primarily intended to help promote care in the community and are not designed to be used for general disaster relief, although each application is considered on its merits.
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Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to secure that invalidity benefit recipients affected by the recent flooding will be eligible for social fund loans.
Mr. Scott : Discretionary crisis loans are already available to invalidity benefit recipients where there is a serious risk to the health and safety of the applicant or their family and where such a loan is the only means of dealing with the crisis.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will bring forward proposals to pay
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compensation for damage in the flooding incident at Aberconwy and Meirionnydd to individuals who do not qualify for benefits or social funding.Mr. Scott : No. Local authorities have primary responsibility for disaster relief.
Invalidity Benefit
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each month since January 1990 the number of people in receipt of invalidity and sickness benefit (a) in England and (b) in Scotland.
Mr. Scott : The available information is in the table.
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Sickness benefit Invalidity
recipients benefit recipients
|England |Scotland|England |Scotland
---------------------------------------------------------------
31 January 1990 |91,000 |14,000 |887,000 |167,000
28 February 1990 |88,000 |13,000 |889,000 |168,000
31 March 1990 |80,000 |13,000 |895,000 |169,000
30 April 1990 |86,000 |15,000 |909,000 |170,000
31 May 1990 |84,000 |15,000 |916,000 |172,000
30 June 1990 |86,000 |15,000 |922,000 |173,000
31 July 1990 |87,000 |16,000 |925,000 |173,000
31 August 1990 |83,000 |15,000 |935,000 |175,000
29 September 1990 |85,000 |14,000 |940,000 |177,000
31 October 1990 |89,000 |13,000 |943,000 |178,000
30 November 1990 |88,000 |13,000 |948,000 |180,000
31 December 1990 |91,000 |14,000 |959,000 |181,000
31 January 1991 |90,000 |13,000 |959,000 |180,000
28 February 1991 |90,000 |13,000 |963,000 |181,000
30 March 1991 |83,000 |15,000 |971,000 |181,000
1991-92 120,000 1,365,000
1992-93 135,000 1,490,000
Notes:
1. Figures based on a 1 per cent. sample of claimants are at a
point in time, not for the month as a whole, rounded to the
nearest thousand.
2. Information in the form requested is not available for
later than 30 March 1991. Figures for 1991-92 and 1992-93 come
from the Departmental Report 1993.
Income Support
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the annual income support payable to an unemployed person aged 20 years in each year since 1990.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the table. The amount shown assume only income support personal allowance is payable. Any income from another source would also be taken into account.
T
Income support payable to a single unemployed 20 year old
Date of benefit |Weekly personal rate|Annual total (£)
uprating |(£)
|(Financial year)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 1990 |28.80 |1,497.60 (1990-91)
April 1991 |31.15 |1,626.30 (1991-92)
October 1991 |31.40
April 1992 |33.60 |1,747.20 (1992-93)
April 1993 |34.80 |1,809.60 (1993-94)
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the levels of income support for each year since 1987.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the Library.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people living within the catchment
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area of the York Benefits Agency office were in receipt of invalidity benefit on the most recent date for which figures are available.Mr. Scott : The administration of invalidity benefit is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard the chief executive 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. Hugh Bayley, dated 30 June 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits 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 people living within the catchment area of the York Benefits Agency Office were in receipt of Invalidity Benefit on the most recent date for which figures are available.
The information is not available in the format requested. This is because statistics are not maintained by District/Benefit Offices for recipients of Invalidity Benefit.
However, it is possible to state the number of claimants to Invalidity Benefit at York District Office. These include a small number of people who have claimed but are not receiving Invalidity Benefit, eg. because there is underlying entitlement which has been extinguished by the payment of a higher overlapping benefit or where termination action has not been completed.
There were in fact 5,094 people claiming Invalidity Benefit at York District Office at the last working day of May 1993. These figures were obtained from a 100 per cent. clerical count of cases in the Office.
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I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report and a copy will be placed in the Library.Council Tax
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what considerations underlie the different treatment of an employer's payment of an employee's council tax liability, paid under a contract of employment, for national insurance contributions and income tax ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt : Generally the position is that such an employee would normally be liable to both national insurance contributions and income tax. However, certain employees who are living in accommodation provided by the employer are not charged income tax on the benefit of that accommodation under the provisions of section 145(4) of the Taxes Act 1988. Broadly, this is where the accommodation is necessary for their job. The payment of the council tax on such accommodation by the employers will not give rise to an income tax charge on these employees.
There are no parallel provisions in social security legislation and consequently national insurance contributions may be due. However, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State is currently considering whether this difference is suitable for alignment under the current deregulation initiative.
Maternity Payments
Mrs. Wise : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many women aged (a) 16 or 17 years, (b) 18 to 24 years and (c) 25 years and over received maternity payment from the social fund in each year from 1988 ; and how many of the maternity payments were made to single women.
Mr. Scott : The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Road Traffic Accidents
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the figures for the estimated cost to the Department of Social Security for those injured in road traffic accidents for each year since 1979 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : The information is not available.
Flood Victims
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps are being taken to provide an immediate response to applications for help from the social fund by victims of the recent flooding in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : The administration of the social fund is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Elfyn Llwyd, dated 30 June 1993.
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As Chief Executive of the Benefits 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 what steps are being taken to provide an immediate response to applications for help from the Social Fund by victims of the recent flooding in Wales. I would first of all like to explain that the primary responsibility for disaster relief lies with the Local Authority and I understand that the Government has already made available extra money for the emergency work.However, help may be available from the Social Fund. In the main, this will be in the form of Crisis Loans (CLs) which are available to anyone who needs financial help to meet expenses in an emergency or a disaster, whether or not they are receiving any benefit. They must however, be facing serious risk or serious damage to their health or safety, and the CL must be the only means of dealing with the crisis.
In order to ensure that applications from flood victims are processed more promptly, the Colwyn Bay office has set up a dedicated section. All applications for assistance are being considered sensitively, in light of the individual circumstances of the applicant.
Expenditure from District Social Fund budgets is monitored closely. Arrangements are in place to record expenditure incurred as a result of flooding or other natural disasters.
If the situation arises, the Department will review the local budgets of Districts which have incurred additional Social Fund expenditure as a result of flooding.
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.
DEFENCE
Fleet Maintenance and Repair
Mr. David Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what year testing of the Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation in Her Majesty's naval base, Portsmouth is likely to start.
Mr. Aitken : Preparatory work has already started.
Low Flying
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the ability of the ALFENS low-flying safety system to prevent crashes and near misses ; and if he will speed up the introduction of the system.
Mr. Hanley : The automated low flying enquiry and notification system--ALFENS--will enhance safety by improving the availability and exchange of accurate information to military aircrew at all times. The system will also provide more flexible deconfliction arrangements at night but is not designed to provide deconfliction for daytime flying. ALFENS will be introduced into service as quickly as possible.
HMS Repulse
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the Clyde public safety scheme was activated as a consequence of the release of coolant from HMS Repulse on 20 June.
Mr. Hanley : The activation of the alarm was immediately discovered to have been an over-reaction to what was a minor incident that posed no risk to the public. Because of this, the public emergency authorities were not alerted and the public safety scheme was not activated.
Column 627
Chemical Weapons
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the United Kingdom's contribution to the costs of the preparatory commission for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established under the chemical weapons convention, expressing the figures (a) for each relevant Government financial year and (b) for each financial year of the commission ; and from which subheads of which votes of which classes United Kingdom contributions funds are taken.
Mr. Hanley : The United Kingdom made an initial contribution to the 1993 preparatory commission budget of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of £130,000 in the Government's financial year 1992-93 ; this was paid from class 1 vote 1 subhead J2. A further contribution of £136,667 was made to the 1993 preparatory commission's budget in the Government's financial year 1993-94 from class 1 vote 1 subhead M3. The commission's financial year coincides with the calendar year.
Nuclear Weapons (Transport)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the fire-resistant qualities of the truck cargo heavy duty II vehicles used by his Department for the transportation of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Hanley : I have nothing to add to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Defence Procurement gave the hon. Member on 9 June, Official Report, column 288.
Aircraft Carriers (Refitting)
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money will have to be spent at Rosyth dockyard to enable the refitting of aircraft carriers ; and how much would need to be spent at Devonport dockyard to enable it to perform the same operation.
Mr. Aitken : A continuing programme of capital expenditure on various items is envisaged at both Rosyth and Devonport which is not specifically related to refitting aircraft carriers. The existing facilities at Rosyth are suitable for refitting aircraft carriers, as are those at Devonport, without significant additional expenditure, but further discussions about precise requirements will take place with the dockyard operator well in advance of the first refit.
Anti-armour Ammunition
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the programme of research and development into anti- armour ammunition with depleted uranium penetrators.
Mr. Aitken : My Department has undertaken two development programmes for anti-armour tank ammunition with depleted uranium penetrators. The CHARM 1 programme to develop a 120 mm tank round with a depleted uranium penetrator is now almost complete. A programme to develop an enhanced performance 120 mm tank round with a depleted uranium penetrator--CHARM 3-- began in 1991.
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My Department has also undertaken a research programme to examine the feasibility of developing a 140mm tank round with a depleted uranium penetrator. This programme, too, is now almost complete.Radiation Monitoring
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 14 June, Official Report, column 474, to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger), if he will place in the Library copies of reports on radiation monitoring carried out since 1980 by (a) the Atomic Energy Authority at and around the Eskmeals test firing range, (b) BNFL at and around the Kirkcudbright test firing range and (c) Atomic Weapons Establishment at the west Freugh test firing range.
Mr. Aitken : Subject to deletion of some classified details, I will arrange for copies of the reports to be placed in the House of Commons Library in due course.
Depleted Uranium Shells
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what detailed records are kept of the dates and locations of each of the tests involving depleted uranium shells ; and to whom this information is made available.
Mr. Aitken : Full records of all DU firings are kept as part of standard trials documentation. These records are available on request to regulatory authorities, such as Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution or Her Majesty's industrial pollution inspectorate.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what future steps he proposes to take to assess and keep under review the possible effects on the local population and environment arising from the testing of depleted uranium shells at (a) Kirkcudbright test firing range, (b) West Freugh test firing range and (c) Eskmeals test firing range ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will list the appropriate health and safety measures deemed necessary as part of the United Kingdom development firing programme using depleted uranium ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : The measures currently taken are set out in my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces' reply to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 14 June, Official Report, columns 473-74. We propose to continue these. In addition, in the spirit of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 we propose to undertake a full environmental impact assessment at Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many periodic inspections have been carried out by (a) the Health and Safety Executive and (b) the Department of the Environment's radiochemical inspectorate in each year since 1980 into the United Kingdom development firing programme using depleted uranium ; and if he will provide a breakdown by firing range.
Mr. Aitken : The Health and Safety Executive visited Kirkcudbright in 1986 to inspect the handling and firing of DU rounds. Her Majesty's industrial pollution inspectorate was fully consulted in 1980-81 while preparations for DU firing at Kirkcudbright were being made. It visited the range in April this year at our invitation. Her Majesty's
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inspectorate of pollution visited Eskmeals once in 1989 and twice in 1993. A number of visits to Eskmeals took place between 1981 and 1989, but a record of the exact dates is not available.Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will establish a public inquiry into depleted uranium testing ; what representations he has received calling on him to set up such an inquiry ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : I have no plans to establish such an inquiry. I have received no other such representations.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has passed to (a) Dumfries and Galloway regional council, (b) Wigton district council and (c) Stewartry district council on the safety, health and environmental precautions to be taken in order to ensure the protection of the local population from the effects arising from the testing of depleted uranium shells at Kirkcudbright test firing range ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : The results of the monitoring summarised by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces in his replies to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 14 Jun1i Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research his Department has carried out or commissioned on the use of tungsten-tipped shells as an alternative to the use of depleted uranium.
Mr. Aitken : My Department is not carrying out any research into the development of a tungsten-tipped tank round for service with the British Army beyond those already in service ; nor has it commissioned any.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the dates and locations of each of the tests involving depleted uranium shells at Kircudbright firing range.
Mr. Aitken : The information is not readily available in the form requested by the hon. Member. Since firing started in March 1982, firing has taken placed on 535 days, with annual totals as follows :
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|Days
------------------
1982 |3
1983 |20
1984 |55
1985 |24
1986 |26
1987 |26
1988 |32
1989 |59
1990 |88
1991 |59
1992 |87
1993 |<1>56
<1> To date.
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many existing or past military or civilian personnel from his Department have contacted his Department regarding possible uranium contamination as a result of being involved in depleted uranium testing ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : No military or civilian personnel have contacted my Department regarding possible uranium contamination as a result of being involved in the proof-firing of depleted uranium ammunition in the United Kingdom. Three personnel who expressed concern that they may have inhaled depleted uranium dust during training for Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait were subject to monitoring which showed no detectable depleted uranium contamination.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the current stocks and future arisings of radioactive waste at the west Freugh and Kirkcudbright test firing ranges.
Mr. Aitken : There are no such stocks ; nor are any future arisings expected.
Defence Estimates
Mr. Waterson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to publish the "Statement on the Defence Estimates" ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Rifkind : The "Statement on the Defence Estimates 1993" will be published on Monday 5 July.
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