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Column 442
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend has received an approach from Parents Opposed to Opting-Out, and will be responding shortly.
Grant-maintained Schools Centre
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff are employed at the grant-maintained schools centre ; and what plans he has to extend the size or role of the centre.
Mr. Robin Squire : There are currently 29 staff employed by the grant-maintained schools centre. The centre is a company limited by guarantee, which receives grant from the Department for certain specified purposes. The overall size of the centre is a matter for its directors. My right hon. Friend announced on 16 March at column 143 that additional grant would be made available to the centre to support the dissemination of factual information about
grant-maintained status. For this purpose, regional advice centres are planned for Bolton, Kirklees, Birmingham and London, which will be grant- aided by the Department.
Column 443
EDUCATION
Social Science and Arts
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students embarked on a higher education social science or arts course in 1992 ; and how many have done so in the current year.
Mr. Boswell : In the academic year 1992-93 there were 56,000 students commencing post-graduate arts courses and 13,000 social science courses in England. A further 244,000 embarked on undergraduate courses, of these 197,000 were studying an arts subject and 47,000 social science. Comparable figures for 1993-94 are not yet available.
Special Needs
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the sum of money that each local authority spent on special educational needs in 1991-92 in the further education sector.
Column 444
Mr. Boswell : The information requested is not collected centrally.
Spending Statistics
Sir David Knox : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was spent per (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupil in each of the local authorities in England and, on average, in England as a whole in the most recent year for which figures are available ; and what were the comparable figures in 1978-79 at constant prices.
Mr. Forth : Figures for expenditure on nursery and primary pupils are not collected separately. Spending per pupil by each English LEA and on average in nursery and primary schools combined and in secondary schools in 1978-79 and 1991-92 at 1992-93 prices is as shown in the table.
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Unit cost per pupil 1992-93 prices
1978-79 1991-92
|Nursery and Primary|Secondary |Nursery and Primary|Secondary
|£ |£ |£ |£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ILEA |1,678 |2,280 |- |-
Corporation of London |- |- |2,609 |0
Camden |- |- |1,943 |2,432
Greenwich |- |- |1,830 |2,296
Hackney |- |- |2,176 |2,799
Hammersmith |- |- |2,047 |2,739
Islington |- |- |2,328 |2,938
Kensington |- |- |2,287 |3,200
Lambeth |- |- |2,083 |2,978
Lewisham |- |- |1,717 |2,376
Southwark |- |- |1,828 |2,460
Tower Hamlets |- |- |2,253 |2,946
Wandsworth |- |- |2,212 |3,275
Westminster |- |- |n/a |n/a
Barking |1,175 |1,754 |1,550 |2,254
Barnet |1,180 |1,748 |1,674 |2,326
Bexley |1,018 |1,552 |1,371 |2,058
Brent |1,424 |1,919 |1,670 |2,490
Bromley |1,085 |1,659 |1,443 |2,442
Croydon |1,122 |1,639 |1,593 |2,373
Ealing |1,371 |1,818 |1,754 |2,836
Enfield |985 |1,385 |1,636 |2,321
Haringey |1,390 |1,793 |1,927 |2,650
Harrow |1,387 |1,863 |1,661 |2,373
Havering |1,116 |1,636 |1,396 |2,255
Hillingdon |1,127 |1,692 |1,661 |2,625
Hounslow |1,166 |1,653 |1,567 |2,161
Kingston-upon-Thames |1,136 |1,575 |1,543 |2,473
Merton |1,239 |1,564 |1,723 |2,622
Newham |1,393 |1,759 |1,671 |2,470
Redbridge |1,049 |1,656 |1,489 |2,308
Richmond upon Thames |1,169 |1,591 |1,738 |2,114
Sutton |1,040 |1,510 |1,437 |2,161
Waltham Forest |1,192 |1,894 |1,625 |2,622
Birmingham |1,007 |1,524 |1,370 |2,151
Coventry |1,068 |1,496 |1,300 |2,116
Dudley |881 |1,351 |1,411 |2,126
Sandwell |1,024 |1,533 |1,540 |2,277
Solihull |957 |1,435 |1,352 |2,126
Walsall |1,021 |1,485 |1,400 |2,108
Wolverhampton |1,099 |1,564 |1,554 |2,354
Knowsley |1,018 |1,600 |1,432 |2,296
Liverpool |1,164 |1,673 |1,386 |2,356
St. Helens |934 |1,499 |1,341 |2,104
Sefton |965 |1,421 |1,313 |2,017
Wirral |951 |1,440 |1,325 |2,113
Bolton |929 |1,415 |1,380 |2,132
Bury |973 |1,396 |1,302 |1,900
Manchester |1,250 |1,846 |1,421 |2,285
Oldham |948 |1,393 |1,582 |2,261
Rochdale |1,057 |1,591 |1,310 |2,134
Salford |982 |1,505 |1,299 |2,192
Stockport |926 |1,398 |1,319 |2,135
Tameside |1,001 |1,466 |1,419 |2,100
Trafford |1,038 |1,396 |1,281 |2,107
Wigan |954 |1,485 |1,257 |2,288
Barnsley |1,082 |1,519 |1,374 |2,043
Doncaster |1,275 |1,382 |1,323 |1,997
Rotherham |1,001 |1,468 |1,465 |2,151
Sheffield |1,136 |1,589 |1,476 |2,181
Bradford |1,175 |1,387 |1,652 |1,796
Calderdale |1,043 |1,502 |1,570 |2,010
Leeds |1,166 |1,225 |1,642 |1,979
Wakefield |1,052 |1,371 |1,494 |2,113
Gateshead |1,102 |1,496 |1,562 |2,117
Newcastle upon Tyne |1,326 |1,762 |1,646 |2,066
North Tyneside |1,130 |1,519 |1,402 |2,075
South Tyneside |1,253 |1,569 |1,435 |2,041
Sunderland |1,063 |1,522 |1,427 |2,047
Isles of Scilly |1,499 |3,133 |1,849 |4,161
Avon |1,068 |1,513 |1,435 |2,048
Bedfordshire |1,217 |1,541 |1,511 |2,036
Berkshire |1,021 |1,488 |1,506 |2,156
Buckinghamshire |1,018 |1,608 |1,358 |2,095
Cambridgeshire |1,001 |1,508 |1,417 |2,023
Cheshire |1,013 |1,527 |1,364 |2,106
Cleveland |1,060 |1,471 |1,271 |2,111
Cornwall |940 |1,496 |1,403 |1,957
Cumbria |1,049 |1,547 |1,460 |2,175
Derbyshire |976 |1,457 |1,452 |2,199
Devon |951 |1,452 |1,394 |2,004
Dorset |1,035 |1,471 |1,410 |1,922
Durham |1,113 |1,485 |1,386 |2,020
East Sussex |1,010 |1,550 |1,421 |2,018
Essex |948 |1,485 |1,261 |2,274
Gloucestershire |990 |1,449 |1,425 |1,757
Hampshire |943 |1,494 |1,457 |2,132
Hereford and Worcester |962 |1,421 |1,473 |1,961
Hertfordshire |1,105 |1,670 |1,482 |2,237
Humberside |1,057 |1,457 |1,422 |2,065
Isle of Wight |1,043 |1,393 |1,488 |1,937
Kent |957 |1,491 |1,263 |2,075
Lancashire |923 |1,452 |1,535 |2,225
Leicestershire |979 |1,496 |1,498 |2,253
Lincolnshire |979 |1,550 |1,348 |2,081
Norfolk |1,032 |1,513 |1,465 |2,116
North Yorkshire |1,063 |1,508 |1,442 |2,152
Northamptonshire |934 |1,432 |1,355 |1,970
Northumberland |1,088 |1,494 |1,477 |1,964
Nottinghamshire |985 |1,480 |1,625 |2,492
Oxfordshire |1,060 |1,485 |1,635 |2,108
Shropshire |934 |1,505 |1,497 |2,349
Somerset |926 |1,387 |1,349 |1,951
Staffordshire |1,068 |1,544 |1,397 |2,045
Suffolk |1,054 |1,373 |1,250 |1,698
Surrey |1,029 |1,659 |1,460 |2,202
Warwickshire |948 |1,466 |1,338 |2,090
West Sussex |934 |1,435 |1,338 |2,085
Wiltshire |965 |1,463 |1,408 |1,947
|------- |------- |------- |-------
England average |988 |1,429 |1,469 |2,145
Note:
1. N/a-Figures currently being reviewed by City of Westminster local education authority.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the average per-capita grant to grant-maintained schools in each year since 1989.
Column 446
Mr. Robin Squire : The average per-capita recurrent grant to grant- maintained schools in each year since 1989 is as follows :
Column 447
Financial year |Primary |Secondary
|£ |£
------------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |Nil |1,970
1990-91 |Nil |2,250
1991-92 |1,800 |2,400
1992-93 |1,900 |2,450
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what has been the level of funding from his Department to the grant-maintained schools centre for each financial year from 1988-89 to 1993-94 ; and for what purpose this funding is intended to be used.
Mr. Robin Squire : Since the establishment of the grant-maintained schools centre in 1988 the following grant has been provided by the Department :
|Grant (£000's)
---------------------------------------------
1988-89 |25
1989-90 |250
1990-91 |425
1991-92 |600
1992-93 |577
1993-94 |<1>198
<1>Grant paid to date in 1993-94.
Grant is provided : to enable the GMSC to offer factual information and advice to schools about GM status (since March 1993) ; to support information and advice services for existing GM schools ; and to underpin the work of the standing advisory committee for GM schools.
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the aggregate budget for grant-maintained schools in 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Mr. Robin Squire : The total amount of grants paid for grant maintained schools in 1991-92 and 1992-93 is as follows :
1991-92 |1992-93 --------------------------------------- £181,900,000 |£482,500,000
The bulk of this expenditure is annual maintenance grant which is recouped from the former maintaining authority.
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has to compensate grant-maintained schools for the extension of value added tax on fuel ;
(2) what is his Department's estimate of the proportion of the total budget for grant-maintained schools which will be spent on value-added tax after April 1994.
Mr. Robin Squire : It is the Government's policy that special purpose grant should compensate self-governing (grant maintained) schools for the VAT costs they incur. These are currently estimated at 2.5 per cent. of total annual maintenance grant. We will review the estimates in the light of any additional VAT costs placed on self-governing schools. If necessary we will adjust the rate of grant to ensure that self-governing schools are not disadvantaged in comparison with local education authority schools.
Column 448
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total amount spent on fuel by grant-maintained schools in 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Mr. Robin Squire : This information is available only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proposals he has to fund regional offices of the grant-maintained schools centre ; where these offices will be based ; what criteria are to be used in deciding the location of regional offices ; and how much is it proposed to spend on establishing them.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend is making grant available to the grant-maintained schools centre to establish and operate regional advice centres to disseminate factual information about grant-maintained status, in accordance with his reply of 16 March to the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) at column 143. The first advice centres are planned for Bolton, Kirklees, Birmingham and London. These locations were identified by the grant-maintained schools centre as the most suitable for the purposes of ensuring access to an advice centre for a majority of schools. The cost of establishing and operating the advice centres in 1993- 94 is exptected to be approximately £140,000.
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total amount of value added tax paid to the Treasury by grant- maintained schools in the financial years 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Mr. Robin Squire : This information is not collected centrally.
Funding Cuts
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the effect which the Government's decision to cut section 11 funding will have on the education of children for whom English is a second language.
Mr. Robin Squire : The assessment of local pupil needs is primarily a matter for schools and local education authorities although the Department continues to monitor, using the services of OFSTED, the education of children for whom English is a second language. Section 11 funding in 1993-94 should be sufficient to support existing projects in the 1993-94 financial year at the current grant rate of 75 per cent. of salary costs. For the subsequent two years, it will be a matter for local authorities and other grant recipients to decide to what extent the shortfall can be offset from within their budgets and where any reductions need to be made.
National Curriculum Testing
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what information his Department has gathered on what loss of pay or other consequences have been enforced by local education authorities against those head teachers, teachers, officials and school governors who supported the boycott last term of national curriculum testing.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department has not gathered any such information.
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Civil Servants
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many civil servants are working at his Department's offices at Sanctuary buildings, Great Smith street, London.
Mr. Boswell : At present, there are 1,123 civil servants located at Sanctuary buildings.
Outdoor Activity Centres
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he intends to make a statement about safety in outdoor activity centres following the Lyme bay canoeing accident.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend expects to make an announcement shortly.
Column 450
Pupil Numbers
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is (a) the total number of pupils, (b) the number in grant-maintained schools and (c) the percentage in grant-maintained schools within (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each local education authority area.
Mr Robin Squire [holding answer 21 October 1993] : The number of pupils in maintained primary and secondary schools and the number and percentage of pupils in schools currently operating as self-governing (GM) in each local education authority in England is shown in the table. However, pupil numbers shown relate to January 1992, the latest date for which final information is available. Pupils in sixth form colleges have been excluded from the secondary totals.
Column 449
Pupils<1> in maintained primary and secondary schools in each Local Education Authority in England
LEA Pupils in Primary Pupils in
Schools Secondary
Schools<2>
All schoolsSelf-Governing All schoolsSelf-Governing
Schools<3> Schools<3>
|Number |Percentage |Number |Percentage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporation of London |221 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Camden |10,515 |0 |0 |10,241 |2,314 |23
Greenwich |20,748 |0 |0 |13,955 |0 |0
Hackney |16,324 |0 |0 |7,788 |0 |0
Hammersmith |8,851 |0 |0 |6,001 |1,197 |20
Islington |14,533 |0 |0 |7,732 |0 |0
Kensington and Chelsea |6,186 |0 |0 |3,150 |622 |20
Lambeth |18,727 |233 |1 |6,233 |3,325 |53
Lewisham |20,085 |198 |1 |10,525 |0 |0
Southwark |20,429 |413 |2 |9,065 |2,106 |23
Tower Hamlets |19,864 |0 |0 |10,941 |879 |8
Wandsworth |16,906 |530 |3 |8,803 |6,196 |70
Westminster |9,023 |0 |0 |7,240 |0 |0
Barking |15,370 |0 |0 |9,164 |0 |0
Barnet |23,442 |774 |3 |17,898 |6,594 |37
Bexley |18,091 |448 |2 |14,350 |2,850 |20
Brent |21,773 |583 |3 |11,675 |7,637 |65
Bromley |19,836 |878 |4 |16,021 |10,187 |64
Croydon |25,390 |0 |0 |14,228 |3,656 |26
Ealing |27,462 |512 |2 |11,102 |4,789 |43
Enfield |22,551 |0 |0 |16,739 |4,388 |26
Haringey |18,616 |0 |0 |8,779 |0 |0
Harrow |18,927 |0 |0 |7,640 |486 |6
Havering |19335 |0 |0 |15,114 |3,848 |25
Hillingdon |19,673 |2,502 |13 |13,394 |10,055 |75
Hounslow |19,225 |0 |0 |13,380 |2,090 |16
Kingston upon Thames |10,288 |0 |0 |7,324 |2,780 |38
Merton |14,802 |0 |0 |6,896 |0 |0
Newham |24,065 |0 |0 |13,621 |574 |4
Redbridge |18,300 |0 |0 |14,277 |1,090 |8
Richmond upon Thames |10,358 |0 |0 |7,171 |0 |0
Sutton |12,625 |2203 |2 |10,627 |6,293 |59
Waltham Forest |19,204 |0 |0 |10,740 |1,839 |17
Birmingham |107,102 |511 |0 |60,864 |11,253 |18
Coventry |29,353 |0 |0 |18,191 |0 |0
Dudley |27,538 |399 |1 |17,227 |4,291 |25
Sandwell |31,479 |0 |0 |17,839 |652 |4
Solihull |19,065 |495 |3 |12,870 |0 |0
Walsall |27,811 |0 |0 |18,696 |5,505 |29
Wolverhampton |24,139 |0 |0 |15,600 |1,777 |11
Knowsley |18,360 |0 |0 |8,906 |720 |8
Liverpool |50,325 |0 |0 |28,977 |1,452 |5
St. Helens |17,551 |0 |0 |11,549 |0 |0
Sefton |26,908 |0 |0 |18,159 |0 |0
Wirral |30,966 |0 |0 |20,313 |1,907 |9
Bolton |26,906 |441 |2 |16,335 |2,726 |17
Bury |16,500 |0 |0 |9,711 |0 |0
Manchester |46,141 |0 |0 |21,080 |0 |0
Oldham |24,113 |0 |0 |15,834 |0 |0
Rochdale |20,999 |903 |4 |12,539 |1,010 |8
Salford |22,666 |0 |0 |11,246 |0 |0
Stockport |24,507 |0 |0 |14,515 |0 |0
Tameside |22,414 |0 |0 |12,655 |2,309 |18
Trafford |19,634 |0 |0 |11,028 |2,822 |26
Wigan |29,619 |0 |0 |18,823 |0 |0
Barnsley |21,261 |0 |0 |12,091 |0 |0
Doncaster |29,364 |0 |0 |20,670 |0 |0
Rotherham |24,360 |0 |0 |17,256 |0 |0
Sheffield |45,763 |255 |1 |23,871 |1,802 |8
Bradford |39,598 |293 |1 |44,877 |4,876 |11
Calderdale |19,311 |76 |0 |12,806 |3,095 |24
Kirklees |35,563 |0 |0 |24,804 |1,192 |5
Leeds |56,027 |44 |0 |51,082 |1,138 |2
Wakefield |28,719 |0 |0 |20,238 |0 |0
Gateshead |18,090 |0 |0 |11,558 |0 |0
Newcastle upon Tyne |22,291 |0 |0 |16,498 |0 |0
North Tyneside |16,160 |0 |0 |14,187 |0 |0
South Tyneside |15,433 |0 |0 |9,052 |0 |0
Sunderland |29,598 |0 |0 |18,568 |0 |0
Isles of Scilly |173 |0 |0 |112 |0 |0
Avon |77,726 |0 |0 |52,833 |1,455 |3
Befordshire |40,969 |666 |2 |43,043 |8,178 |19
Berkshire |59,999 |2,093 |3 |45,144 |7,280 |16
Buckinghamshire |60,985 |2,259 |4 |34,556 |8,468 |25
Cambridgeshire |57,696 |1,868 |3 |39,357 |14,781 |38
Cheshire |87,769 |73 |0 |61,760 |2,314 |4
Cleveland |64,699 |0 |0 |35,226 |0 |0
Cornwall |39,336 |0 |0 |28,397 |0 |0
Clumbria |42,304 |1,087 |3 |30,194 |7,860 |26
Derbyshire |82,860 |1,564 |2 |56,326 |13,893 |25
Devon |77,342 |0 |0 |56,161 |3,687 |7
Dorset |43,963 |391 |1 |39,103 |8,364 |21
Durham |55,446 |0 |0 |36,227 |0 |0
East Sussex |49,084 |0 |0 |31,851 |0 |0
Essex |120,648 |7,518 |6 |93,421 |50,443 |54
Gloucestershire |42,010 |1,330 |3 |31,849 |18,032 |57
Hampshire |127,473 |2,974 |2 |74,056 |12,398 |17
Hereford and Worcester |47,442 |0 |0 |46,168 |3,448 |7
Hertfordshire |81,379 |860 |1 |65,907 |15,807 |24
Humberside |82,367 |76 |0 |54,603 |0 |0
Isle of Wight |7,066 |0 |0 |10,194 |0 |0
Kent |123,557 |3,467 |3 |98,781 |42,991 |44
Lancashire |126,477 |270 |0 |81,133 |5,825 |7
Leicestershire |78,840 |0 |0 |57,712 |3,088 |5
Lincolnshire |47,909 |3,731 |8 |36,014 |15,242 |42
Norfolk |61,337 |2,268 |4 |39,257 |8,338 |21
North Yorkshire |56,951 |0 |0 |41,931 |0 |0
Northamptonshire |49,369 |2,758 |6 |43,906 |9,001 |21
Northumberland |21,019 |0 |0 |28,656 |597 |2
Nottinghamshire |89,724 |0 |0 |61,423 |1,814 |3
Oxfordshire |39,423 |75 |0 |33,274 |0 |0
Shropshire |34,552 |284 |1 |24,482 |3,430 |14
Somerset |34,620 |221 |1 |27,114 |391 |1
Staffordshire |91,015 |26 |0 |66,767 |4,191 |6
Suffolk |42,666 |0 |0 |46,845 |0 |0
Surrey |75,157 |1,524 |2 |38,035 |8,669 |23
Warwickshire |45,156 |0 |0 |24,049 |4,526 |19
West Sussex |50,685 |0 |0 |37,866 |0 |0
Wiltshire |44,964 |987 |2 |32,931 |6,150 |19
England |4,089,536 |49,061 |1 |2,818,993 |424,985 |15
<1>Pupil numbers in schools in January 1992. Pupils in schools which are now self-governing appear
in the self-governing columns of the table.
<2>Including pupils in schools operating as self-governing in October 1993.
<3>Excluding Sixth Form Colleges.
WALES
Water Disconnections
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will consider collecting and holding centrally information on the number of industrial water disconnections made by water companies ; and if he will make a statement.
Column 452
Mr. Gwilym Jones : No. The collection of statistics on water disconnections is a matter for the Director General of Water Services.
Hill Farming
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many hill farmers in Wales have not yet received their hill livestock compensatory allowances in respect of 1993.
Column 453
Mr. Redwood : Eight hundred and forty-six of the 14,662 claims remain to be paid. Most are held up while queries are resolved, or field inspections are carried out.
Welsh Office for the financial year 1992-93.
Mr. Redwood : Net central Government supply expenditure by the Welsh Office in 1992-93 was £5,973 million.
Arable Area Payments Scheme
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number of applications in each county in Wales under the (a) main arable area payments scheme and (b) the simplified scheme in 1993 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Three hundred applications were made under the main arable area scheme and 2,177 applications under the simplified scheme in Wales. The following table indicates the counties in which the applicants had their main agricultural holdings, although it is possible that the land for which they claimed aid is spread between more than one county.
County |Main scheme |Simplified scheme|Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |36 |258 |294
Dyfed |85 |1,050 |1,135
Mid Glamorgan |16 |31 |47
South Glamorgan |28 |65 |93
West Glamorgan |2 |75 |77
Gwent |63 |197 |260
Gwynedd |18 |178 |196
Powys |52 |323 |375
|--- |--- |---
Total |300 |2,177 |2,477
HOME DEPARTMENT
Offences (Analysis)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he plans to publish his Department's research document "Analysing Offending" ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) when the document "Analysing Offending" was completed ; and for what reason publication has been delayed.
Mr. Maclean : "Analysing Offending" was published in July of this year by HMSO and has been publicly available from HMSO bookshops and accredited agents since then.
Mr. George Long
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date he received a submission from solicitors acting on behalf of George Long--B25147 ; and when he expects to reach a decision.
Mr. Maclean : Representations about Mr. Long's convictions for murder in 1979 were received from his
Column 454
solicitors on 24 June 1993. Further inquiries have been made, and my right hon. and learned Friend expects that he will soon be in a position to decide whether there is any action he should take in Mr. Long's case.Probation Committees
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about how probation committees are constituted ; and who are the present members of those covering Kent and Suffolk.
Mr. Maclean : I have been asked to reply.
The regulations governing the constitution of probation committees are set out in schedule 3 to the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973, as amended.
At present the Home Office does not maintain lists of probation committee members ; and my hon. Friend may therefore wish to write to the secretaries of the Kent and Suffolk committees. With effect from this financial year, probation committees will be required to include in their annual reports the names of committee members and the official address at which they may be contacted.
Rape
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to abolish the crime of rape.
Mr. Marlow : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to provide anonymity for men charged with rape unless and until they are convicted.
Mr. Maclean : We are currently reviewing the law relating to anonymity in cases involving sexual offences and will announce our conclusions in due course.
Parole Board
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to make public his full-time appointments to the Parole Board ; and if he will make a statement on why full-time appointments are necessary.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : After full consideration, the Parole Board was informed on 3 August this year that six full-time members were to be appointed to the board. A press statement about the appointments was issued on 27 August, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Full-time members will bring valuable managerial and training experience to the work of the board and they will have the time to assist the chairman in long-term planning and the development of policy and procedures.
Departmental Offices
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil servants are working in the Home Department offices at Queen Anne's gate, London.
Mr. Howard : On 21 October there were 1,455 civil servants working in the Home Office's Queen Anne's gate building.
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Blakenhurst Prison
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long the disturbance at Blakenhurst prison on 17 October lasted ; what was the cause ; how many prisoners were involved ; what damage to prison installations resulted from the protest ; and what injuries to inmates or officers resulted from the protest.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Mr. Doug Hoyle from Derek Lewis, dated 25 October 1993.
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the disturbance at Blakenhurst prison.
Two prisoners on Houseblock 3 damaged the structure and fittings of their cell during the evening of 17 September 1993. There were no injuries to staff or prisoners. The incident lasted approximately thirty minutes. Houseblock 3 had restricted association that evening which may have been the cause of this incident.
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total number of prison officers at Blakenhurst ; and how many resignations of prison officers there have been since (a) the prison opened and (b) 17 October.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Mr. Doug Hoyle from Derek Lewis, dated 25 October 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of prison officers at Blakenhurst ; and how many resignations of prison officers there have been since (a) the prison opened and (b) 17th November.
There are now 271 certificated prisoner custody officers at Blakenhurst. Eleven officers have resigned since the prison opened on 26 May. I will write to you again once the figures for 17 November are available.
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports have been made of the use of the drug LSD at Blakenhurst prison.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Mr. Doug Hoyle from Derek Lewis, dated 25 October 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the use of the drug LSD at Blakenhurst prison.
One small square of paper was found during a cell search on 17 September, which was believed to be LSD. It has been sent for police forensic examination, but the results of that examination are not yet available.
On 3 September inmates reported that the drink of a staff member had been adulterated with LSD. The staff member concerned felt no ill-effects, but, as a precaution she was medically examined. It is doubted whether the report was true. I understand that a rumour about the alleged adulteration is circulating outside the establishment.
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the role of the American employees of the prison operators at Blakenhurst.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Mr. Doug Hoyle from Derek Lewis, dated 25 October 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the role of the American employees of the prison operators at Blakenhurst.
One American board member of United Kingdom Detention Services (UKDS) is based at Blakenhurst. He is the Operations Director for UKDS.
One consultant on secondment from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is working at Blakenhurst.
In the past a small number of trainers from CCA have been used by UKDS at Blakenhurst.
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers at Blakenhurst are fully trained in control and restraint procedures.
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