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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 27 October 1993
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Courts (Administration)
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps he is taking to speed up the process of administration in the courts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Taylor : Several steps are presently being taken to improve the process of administration in the courts.
In the Crown court, the recommendations of two major reports are being implemented or considered. The first is the inter-agency report of the pre- trial issues (PTI) working group issued in 1990 and which was presented to Parliament in February 1991. The second is the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice published in July this year. In the magistrates courts a number of initiatives are being taken to reduce delays and waiting times. They include legislative amendments and the promotion of good practice in concert with all the criminal justice agencies. A standard computer system is being developed, as are changes to the management structure of courts, both of which will bring operational benefits.
In the county courts, centralised computer systems are being developed. These include a project to centralise the handling of payments under county court attachment of earnings orders.
Judges
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will introduce requirements for all judges to undergo comprehensive medical and psychological examinations on reaching the age of 65 years.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor has no such plans.
Legal Aid
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the latest estimated cost of legal aid.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The 1993-94 Supply Estimate provision for legal aid is £1,284 million, net of receipts. Based on figures for expenditure to the end of August, we now forecast that net expenditure for legal aid in the current year is likely to be £1,254 million. At this stage in the year, however, there is inevitably still uncertainty about the eventual outturn. The reduction in the forecast is largely related to criminal legal aid. The changes in eligibility introduced in April, the effect of which was almost entirely in relation to civil legal aid and advice and assistance appear to be having broadly the effect anticipated.
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Overseas Staff and Premises
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the cost for the current financial year of his Department having (a) premises and (b) personnel overseas ; and what were the comparable figures for (a) 12, (b) 24, (c) 36 and (d) 48 months ago.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor's Department incurs only minor expenditure overseas. The table shows the expenditure on premises and personnel for 1993-94 and the previous four years. Expenditure prior to 1993-94 relates solely to the Office of the Judge Advocate General in Germany. Since 1991-92 the bulk of expenditure on the Judge Advocate's premises there has been paid by the Ministry of Defence. For 1993-94 the personnel cost includes the secondment of one officer to the Government of Australia.
Cost of overseas premises and personnel
|(a) Premises |(b) Personnel
Year |£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |81,361 |266,235
1990-91 |76,178 |244,143
1991-92 |5,624 |261,526
1992-93 |2,457 |273,769
1993-94 |- |342,159
NATIONAL HERITAGE
BBC Governor for Wales
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals he has to review the appointment of the BBC national governor for Wales in the light of the report on the Welsh Development Agency presented to Parliament on 19 October.
TRANSPORT
Taxis
Mr. Bendall : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will now publish the Green Paper on taxi and private hire services in England and Wales.
Mr. Norris : The Green Paper was published today. It is a consultation document addressing fundamental issues relating to taxi and private hire services throughout England and Wales, including London, and I hope it will generate a stimulating debate on the way forward. I have asked for responses by 1 March 1994. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what period of consultation he intends to allow for those residents of Islington living to the west of Liverpool road in relation to Union Railways' proposal, announced on 22 September, for a grade-separated junction leading into St. Pancras station for the high-speed channel tunnel link.
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Mr. Freeman : Local authorities and action groups have been briefed by Union Railways on the rail link options, which are to be reported to the Government at the end of October. These bodies have been invited to submit formal comments directly to my Department by 12 November. Union Railways has, moreover, set up visiting public information centres for all parts of the route to explain the options. Comments from members of the public may either be made to Union Railways at the information centres or they can be sent to my Department. All comments received will be taken into account in our decisions.
A1/M1 Link
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the A1/M1 link road works in Yorkshire (a) to commence and (b) to finish.
Mr. Key : The public inquiry into this scheme was held in January and February of this year. After considering the inspector's recommendations, the Secretaries of State for Transport and for the Environment will decide on the way forward. If a decision were taken to proceed with the proposals, construction would start after the completion of detailed design, subject to the availability of funds. Typically, schemes of this size take about three years to build.
A1, Northumberland
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the traffic volume criteria for grade separation at crossings in the design of further dual carriageway projects on the A1 road in Northumberland, to correspond with the standards which are being observed on the neighbouring section of the A1 in Scotland.
Mr. Key : The Department is already working closely with the Scottish Office and, indeed, also with the Welsh Office and DOE Northern Ireland on the development of common design criteria for grade separation of road junctions. The intention is to produce a United Kingdom-wide standard.
Vocational Drivers
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many medical appeals have been made to the DVLA since April 1992 by LGV/LPV vocational drivers ; how many notified appeals were proceeded with ; how many were resolved medically by the DVLA ; how many (a) LGV cases and (b) LPV cases went to magistrates courts for appeal ; how many appeals in each of the two categories were refused on grounds of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, diabetes, epilepsy, cardiac problems, history of strokes, non-epileptic fits and other conditions ; and how many appeals were allowed in each of the categories in respect of diabetes, corrected vision, monocular vision, deafness, history of suicidal tendencies, psychotic illness, hydrocephalus and other conditions.
Mr. Key : In the period April 1992 to September 1993, DVLA received 257 notices of appeal from LGV/PCV drivers. Of these 242 were resolved at DVLA and did not proceed to court. Fifteen summonses were issued against the Department, of which, two were later withdrawn. The results of the remaining 13 appeals, by medical condition, are as follows :--
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Two LGV appeals allowed. These consisted of :Heart 1.
Epilepsy 1.
Eight LGV appeals refused. These consisted of :
Alcohol abuse 2.
Epilepsy 2.
Heart 1.
Blackout 3.
One PCV appeal allowed.
Cancer.
Two PCV appeals refused.
Epilepsy 1.
Head injury 1.
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what considerations he has given to establishing medical appeal tribunals analogous to those operated by the Department of Social Security for appeals against DVLA decisions on the issue of LGV/LPV licences.
Mr. Key : We are currently looking at the use of independent medical referees rather than the more expensive medical tribunal system.
Hold Baggage
Sir Ivan Lawrence : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he will take to ensure that hold baggage in passenger airplanes is accompanied by its owners on flights from London Heathrow and other British international airports.
Mr. Norris : At present, the aircraft operator is required by law to ensure that all originating passengers, operating crew, transit passengers and any transfer passengers whose hold baggage has been loaded into an aircraft, have boarded and will travel on that aircraft. The baggage of passengers who check in but do not board the aircraft is required to be removed and subjected to security controls. Unaccompanied baggage is not carried unless it is screened and if necessary hand-searched.
The United Kingdom has always complied with international requirements on passenger baggage. We are going further and introducing a requirement for airlines to account for and authorise for carriage every item of hold baggage that they carry. Trials are under way at several airports, and we are pressing suppliers of equipment to clear up the remaining technical difficulties.
MFV Pescado
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make public the marine accident investigation branch report and the video evidence of the damage to the MFV Pescado.
Mr. Norris [holding answer 25 October 1993] : Inquiries into the loss of the Pescado are being carried out with a view to prosecution. Consequently, all evidence collected by the marine accident investigation branch in the course of its investigation must be considered sub judice. For the same reason, publication of the detailed marine accident investigation branch report must await the outcome of those inquiries.
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Jubilee Line
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect of the award of Jubilee line tunnelling contracts to foreign companies on the ability of British firms to compete for other large-scale civil projects.
Mr. Norris : The award of contracts for the Jubilee line extension (JLE) is entirely a matter for London Underground Limited. No major contracts for the JLE have yet been awarded ; I understand that although some of the tunnelling contracts are likely to be awarded to foreign companies, the larger part of the tunnelling work will go to the United Kingdom.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the amount of the costs awarded by the Law Lords on 28 July against his predecessor the right hon. Member for Mole Valley (Mr. Baker) in respect of the Home Department being ruled guilty of contempt of court in relation to a court order banning deportation of the Zairean asylum seeker M' ; how much of the costs his Department paid ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Howard : The consequence of the ruling by the Judicial Committee in the House of Lords on 28 July is that the Home Office is liable for the applicant's costs in the proceedings in the Divisional Court, Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. The applicant's solicitors costs for the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal have been taxed and are :
Divisional Court £51,195.92
Court of Appeal £41,110.30
The applicant's solicitors have submitted a bill for their costs in the House of Lords. When this has been taxed, all the applicant's outstanding costs will be paid.
Animal Experimentation
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will consider establishing a list of registered interests for members of the Animal Procedures Committee similar to those registers available for other independent Government advisory committees.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I shall arrange for such a list to be included in future reports of the Animal Procedures Committee.
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of (a) procedures and (b) animals used for research on (i) tobacco, (ii) cosmetics and toiletries, (iii) food additives and (iv) alcohol in 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Categories (i) to (iv) are not separately recorded for medical or applied research purposes but are for procedures for safety evaluation. The number of procedures were as follows :
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Year |Tobacco |Cosmetics and |Food additives|Alcohol
|toiletries
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 |659 |4,365 |10,822 |1,429
1991 |512 |3,082 |10,855 |1,294
1992 |197 |2,164 |6,134 |1,087
The number of animals used in each procedure could be extracted from the recorded information only at disproportionate cost.
Crime Clear-up Rates
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the police authorities that recorded the five highest crime clear-up rates in each of the past seven years.
Mr. Maclean : The police forces with the highest clear-up rates, in order, were as follows :
1986
Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire, Lancashire. 1987
Gwent, Dyfed-Powys, Lancashire, Cumbria, Suffolk.
1988
Gwent, Dyfed-Powys, Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire.
1989
Gwent, Dyfed-Powys, Cheshire, Cumbria, Wiltshire.
1990
Gwent, Dyfed-Powys, Cheshire, West Mercia, South Yorkshire. 1991
Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Dorset.
1992
Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, Merseyside, Suffolk, Lincolnshire.
Violent Crime
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the prison population had been convicted of crimes involving violence for the last date for which figures are available.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 25 October 1993] : 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 from Mr. A. Butler to Mr. David Alton, dated 26 October 1993 :
Conviction for crimes involving violence-- The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking what percentage of the prison population had been convicted of crimes involving violence for the latest date that figures are available.
Excluding those committed in default of payment of a fine some 49 per cent. of the total sentenced male and female prison population, for whom an offence was recorded, were serving sentences for violence against the person, robbery or for a sexual offence on 30 June 1993.
WALES
Local Government Finance
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing the capital allocation to each of the county authorities in Wales for each of the last three financial years ; what percentage of
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each allocation was actually expended ; and what is his calculation of what expenditure should have been incurred in respect of each of the main service areas.Mr. Redwood : The available information is given in the following tables. The Government's new planning totals for the external financing of capital expenditure and the assumed gross expenditure by broad service group are available only for Wales as a whole. Basic credit approvals (BCA) form the capital allocations which are not directed towards specific services or programmes. Other external capital financing is provided through supplementary credit approvals, capital grants and other contributions from central Government and their agencies. These latter sources are generally
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directed towards specific services or programmes. The total amount of external capital finance for local authorities is announced annually as the new planning total but, other than BCA, the amounts involved are not necessarily allocated to local authorities before the beginning of the financial year. In addition to the spending financed externally, local authorities can fund capital expenditure from revenue accounts and reserves and from capital receipts. This self-financed expenditure does not form part of the capital allocations or new planning totals. The amount the Government estimates authorities will have available for capital expenditure on each service, the assumed gross expenditure, is derived by summing the relevant capital allocations and forecasts of self-financed expenditure.Column 643
Table 1: Allocation and use of basic credit approvals (BCA)
BCA issued (£ Use of BCA as a Gross capital
million) percentage of BCexpenditure<2> (£
issued<1> million)
|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93|1990-91|1991-92|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |12.7 |13.0 |12.1 |100 |100 |19.6 |22.2 |18.8
Dyfed |12.5 |13.0 |13.2 |91 |100 |17.3 |20.0 |20.7
Gwent |12.1 |13.8 |14.4 |100 |100 |32.8 |34.2 |46.2
Gwynedd |8.3 |8.6 |8.6 |100 |100 |10.7 |11.9 |11.3
Mid Glamorgan |18.0 |18.8 |19.1 |100 |100 |37.9 |46.2 |44.8
Powys |6.4 |6.6 |6.7 |99 |99 |7.8 |10.2 |11.5
South Glamorgan |11.9 |12.6 |12.6 |100 |78 |31.7 |50.4 |48.4
West Glamorgan |11.5 |11.9 |12.4 |100 |100 |27.1 |28.3 |24.1
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |93.4 |98.3 |99.1 |99 |97 |185.0 |223.4 |225.7
Source: Welsh Office returns.
<1> Net of transfers between authorities. Not available for 1992-93.
<2> Includes expenditure financed by external sources other than BCA. Also includes
self-financed expenditure. Excludes Law and Order. 1990-91 and 1991-92 outturn; 1992-93
provisional outturn.
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Table 2: New planning total and assumed gross expenditure<1> (£ million)
New planning Assumed gross
total expenditure
|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Education |50.1 |56.7 |55.2 |53.7 |66.6 |63.0
Personal social services |9.9 |10.3 |11.2 |10.8 |12.2 |12.8
Transport |81.4 |99.5 |100.9 |86.6 |115.1 |113.4
Other local services |57.7 |61.7 |54.5 |72.2 |93.6 |99.8
Housing |190.3 |194.3 |279.4 |226.7 |226.0 |306.6
Urban programme |24.9 |41.6 |35.1 |24.9 |41.6 |35.1
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |414.3 |464.1 |536.3 |474.9 |555.0 |630.7
<1> Excluding Law and Order.
Rural Housing
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will respond to the third report of the Welsh Affairs Committee Session 1992-93 on rural housing.
Mr. Redwood : I am pleased to announce that the response has been published today.
Working Groups
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library a list of all Welsh Office working groups together with the membership of each and a note of other public bodies to which any member also belongs.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The information required is not held centrally.
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Public Appointments
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library a copy of the register held by the Welsh Office of candidates suitable for public appointment.
Mr. Redwood : No--this information is confidential.
Peat Bogs
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the raised peat bogs within Wales.
Mr. Redwood : The information requested is as follows :
Fenns and Whixall Mosses, Clwyd
Nug and Merddwr complex, Clwyd
Cors Caron, Dyfed
Cors Fochno, Dyfed
Esgyrn Bottom, Dyfed
Gorslas, Dyfed
Cors Goch, Llanllwch, Dyfed
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