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(h) Nil ;
(i) Nil.
My Department was not the primary source of funding for these organisations in 1992-93. The training and enterprise councils (TECs) and local authorities provided core funding for the business advice centres and during this period my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Employment made provision for the TECs in her Estimates.
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the total budget allocated by his Department during 1992-93 to (a) the business advice centres in Cleveland, Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear and (b) the eight enterprise agencies in County Durham.
Mr. Sainsbury : The figures are as follows :
(a) £105,778
(b) £21,350
My Department was not the primary source of funding for these organisations in 1992-93. The training and enterprise councils (TECS) and local authorities provided core funding for the regional business advice centres and the enterprise agencies operating in County Durham. During this period my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Employment made provision for the TECs in her Estimates.
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Development Agencies
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the budget allocated by his Department during 1992-93 to (a) the Derwentside Industrial development agency, (b) the Shildon and Sedgefield development agency, (c) the East Durham Development Company, (d) the County Durham development agency, (e) the Northern Development Company Ltd., (f) the Teesside development corporation, (g) the Tyne and Wear development corporation, (h) the Tyne and Wear Development Company Ltd. and (i) the West Cumbria development agency.
Mr. Sainsbury : The figures are as follows :
(a) nil
(b) nil
(c) £59,855
(d) nil
(e) £1,723,500
(f) nil
(g) nil
(h) nil
(i) nil
My Department is not the primary source of funding for these organisations. The regional and sub-regional development agencies listed are funded through a combination of local authority and, in some cases, private sector contributions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment makes provision for the urban development corporations in his Estimates.
Information Security
Mr. Cohen : To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has incorporated the code of practice for information security management, published by the British Standards Institution, into relevant contracts with information technology suppliers.
Mr. McLoughlin : Invitations to tender issued by the Department for information technology goods and services include details of any relevant IT security requirements with which the supplier must comply. Those requirements are developed in accordance with cental Government IT security standards and best practice. One factor for consideration can be security within the supplier's own environment. The Department has welcomed the code of practice for information security management as a practical guide to effective information security management and, where a supplier has adopted and implemented the code, this will be evidence that security is taken seriously.
Konver Programme
Mr. Pike : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many local authorities have submitted bids under the Konver programme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the allocations under the Konver programme to the United Kingdom and France ; if he will make representations to ensure that the United Kingdom obtains a fairer proportion of EC defence diversification moneys ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : The Government expressed concern to the European Commission in May and June 1993 about the
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latter's method of allocation of 1993 Konver grant. The Commission acknowledged that the method and data used were imperfect. In any future Konver initiative the Commission would take account of data provided by the Government.Scottish Calibration Centre
Mr. McKelvey : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the total revenue raised from auction sale of equipment of the Scottish calibration centre.
Mr. McLoughlin : The recent auction of equipment at NEL was not confined solely to the sales equipment from the Scottish Calibration Centre which was closed in September, it involved the disposal of equipment which had become surplus to a wide range of National Engineering Laboratory activities. The total net proceeds from the sale at auction was £180,725 of which £91,850 represented the sale of equipment which had formerly been used in the Scottish calibration centre.
Car Boot Sales
Mr. French : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the annual turnover of car boot sales in the United Kingdom.
Mr. McLoughlin : No information is available on the turnover of car boot sales in the United Kingdom.
Consultants
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what contracts for technical and technological advice and research have been placed with external consultants since 1 April 1992 ; what was the total cost ; and which such research was commissioned from agencies outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. McLoughlin : My Department does not classify consultancy contracts in terms of their activity or the contractors country of origin, and the information requested cannot be provided other than at disproportionate cost.
National Engineering Laboratory
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade which sections, teams or project groups have been named for closure at the National Engineering Laboratory since 1 April.
Mr. McLoughlin : The only section team or project group which has been named for closure or closed at NEL since 1 April 1993 was the Scottish calibration centre which was closed on 30 September. The Scottish calibration centre was not a core activity of NEL and employed five staff, two of whom were in scientific grades.
Exports
Mr. Purchase : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what further proposals he has to assist small and medium-sized firms in their export efforts.
Mr. Needham : My Department, jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, provides a wide range of high quality advice and support to United Kingdom
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exporters, 75 per cent. of our export services are taken by small to medium-sized companies and I plan to increase their awareness and access to these through the establishment of 200 business links throughout England. With DTI support, business links bring together local business support providers--TECs, chambers of commerce, local authorities and local enterprise agencies--in partnerships to meet the needs, including exporting needs, of small and medium sized companies in their area. Additional export help is targetted at small to medium sized companies that are passive or less experienced exporters through 17 export development advisers supported by DTI, based in chambers of commerce throughout the country.Gas and Electricity
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the relationship between the powers of the Director General of Gas Supply and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission with regard to the setting of the capping price for gas.
Mr. Eggar : Section 24 of the Gas Act 1986 enables the Director General of Gas Supply to refer to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission the question whether any matter relating to the supply of gas by a public gas supplier to tariff customers, including the tariff formula, may operate or be expected to operate against the public interest. If the Monopolies and Mergers Commission finds that the matter operates or may be expected to operate against the public interest, the Director General is required under section 26 of the Gas Act to modify such conditions of the public gas supplier's authorisation as appears to her to be requisite to remedy or prevent the adverse effects found by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the mechanism which he uses to ensure that the disconnection regulators of gas and electricity use their discretion in ways consonant with national energy policy.
Mr. Eggar : Under the Gas Act 1986 and the Electricity Act 1989 the Director General of Gas Supply and the Director General of Electricity Supply each has a duty to protect the interests of consumers. Domestic electricity and gas disconnections are now the lowest on record.
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
Mr. Dafis To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the proposed timetable for decommissioning THORP.
Mr. Eggar : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 2 December 1993 at column 736.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on possible private sector involvement in the Insolvency Service.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : A recent review by Stoy Hayward Consulting examined the work of the Insolvency Service and its official receivers and looked at the scope for involving the private sector to a larger extent in their mechanical, processing tasks. I am currently considering what further work needs to be done and shall announce to the House in due course what the next steps will be.
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Plugs and Sockets
Mr. David Porter : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the harmonisation of plug and socket installations to a common European standard ; if the European unfused electrical plug is under consideration ; what steps will be taken to avoid confusion by the public over differing safety standards ; and who is to bear the costs of changing plugs and sockets in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Sainsbury : No decision has been taken to change the standard for plugs and sockets in the United Kingdom. Although the plug standards which are currently under discussion in CENELEC, the body responsible for electrical standards in Europe, do not incorporate a fuse, there are other means of providing an equivalent level of protection. My Department has commissioned an independent analysis of the costs and benefits for the United Kingdom, and the results of this study will be published in the new year. In assessing whether any change to our present standards might be desirable at some future date full account will be taken both of consumer safety issues and of the cost implications for consumers and industry.
Wearmouth Pit
Mr. Etherington : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many British Coal employees at the Wearmouth pit on 26 November (a) work on surface and (b) work below ground ; and what is the average annual wage, including shift allowance, of employees in each category.
Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for British Coal.
Mr. Etherington : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the names of all contractors' companies operating at Wearmouth pit, the number of employees of each individual contractor at the pit and that number as a percentage of the total British Coal work force at Wearmouth pit ; and what is the average length of employment contract issued by individual contracting companies at Wearmouth pit.
Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for British Coal.
Quality Assurance Standards
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he has taken to ensure that when putting contracts out to tender his Department includes on the tender list companies which have acquired the BS5750 quality assurance standard.
Mr. Eggar : Our buyers are encouraged to include on tender lists companies certificated to BS5750 or its equivalent wherever possible.
Government-funded Research
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table updating the information and showing the changes from table 3.19.1 of the "Annual Review of Government Funded Research" in the light of the recent public expenditure statement.
Mr. Eggar : Revised figures for the Department of Trade and Industry's expenditure on Research and
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Development will be prepared in light of this year's Public Expenditure Survey and published in the 1994 Forward Look of Science and Technology (which replaces the Annual Review of Government Funded Research and Development).Waste Paper
Mr. Cryer : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the effect of the level of paper waste prices in Germany on United Kingdom waste paper resources.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 3 December 1993] : The Government are keenly aware of the problems being experienced by the United Kingdom waste paper industry as a result of the German packaging ordinance and the DSD collection scheme. We have raised our concerns bilaterally with the German Government, and at EC level. My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, has also written to EC Commissioners, encouraging them to come to an early conclusion on their consideration of the German system's compatibility with EC law.
My hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment and Countryside, recently attended a meeting of EC Environment Ministers, called by the German Minister, to discuss the effects of trade flows of secondary raw materials, including paper. The German Government referred there to the expectation that some 800,000 tonnes of waste paper recycling capacity would come on stream in Germany by the end of 1994 ; they have suggested that the quantity of waste paper exported for recycling will diminish substantially as a consequence. In our view, however, this does not address the fundamental cause of the problem, which is the statutory requirement in Germany to recover and recycle far more waste material than there is demand for. The announcement on producer responsibility which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment and I made in July was intended partly as a response to the difficulties caused by over-collection of some materials under the German DSD scheme. It is intended to provide that United Kingdom collectors and reprocessors are put on a similar basis to their competitors in Germany, and in other EC countries.
For the longer term, we believe that distortions of the kind currently being experienced are best dealt with by setting an overall framework through Community-wide legislation, such as the proposed EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.
Patenting of Human Genes
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his Department's policy towards the European Commission's proposal to ban the patenting of human genes.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 2 December 1993] : My Department supports the proposal contained in the European Commission's draft Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions that the human body and parts of the body should not be patentable. Whilst this would exclude genes in the body from patentability, we do accept that it may be appropriate for sequences of nucleotides of specific industrial application, which may derive from human genes, to be patentable provided the normal criteria of novelty and inventive step are met.
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Plutonium
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether any plutonium has been exported to the United States of America since 1990 under the 1959 amendment to the 1958 United Kingdom-United States mutual atomic energy exchange agreement.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 3 December 1993] : No exports of civil plutonium have been made to the United States since 1990 under the 1958 defence agreement between that country and the United Kingdom. Exports of other plutonium are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.
Levitt Group
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what proposals he now has to appoint inspectors to investigate the activities of Roger Levitt and the collapse of the Levitt group of companies.
Mr. Neil Hamilton [holding answer 3 December 1993] : The Serious Fraud Office has conducted extensive inquiries into the activities of Mr. Levitt and the Levitt Group. No useful purpose would be served by my Department duplicating these inquiries into the activities of the undischarged bankrupt Roger Levitt and the companies formerly under his control.
Jetstream
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what meetings or correspondence his Department has had with the European Commission or other officials of multinational organisations about the effect of unfair competition on Jetstream ;
(2) what representations he has received alleging unfair support to aircraft manufacturers overseas which are in direct competition with Jetstream ; what action he has taken ; and if he will make a statement ;
(3) what visits Ministers or officers of his Department have made or plan to make to the British Aerospace Jetstream plant at Prestwick.
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Mr. Sainsbury [holding answers 6 December 1993] : My Department has had no contact with the European Commission or other multinational organisations about the effect of unfair competition on Jetstream.
There have been a number of representations from Jetstream alleging unfair support to aircraft manufacturers overseas. We have asked the company for specific details of the evidence they have on these allegations, and have offered to meet them to discuss what remedies are available under international mechanisms.
Four officials from my Department's aerospace division visited the British Aerospace Jetstream plant at Prestwick in the last year. The recently appointed head of the division is to visit Prestwick in early December.
EDUCATION
Schools (Inspectors Reports)
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the inspector's report naming Dick Sheppard school and Lilian Baylis school as schools as giving cause for concern and serious concern.
Mr. Robin Squire : Both schools will be inspected in the current academic year under the new inspection arrangements introduced following the Education (Schools) Act 1992. Lilian Baylis school will be inspected in the spring term and Dick Sheppard school in the summer term.
Civil Servants
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each civil service grade in his Department (a) the total number of people employed, (b) the total number of black people and (c) the total number of Asians.
Mr. Boswell : We do not hold information on the ethnic origin of all our staff but of those who have responded to the ethnic monitoring survey (98 per cent.) carried out last year, the figures at 1 December 1993 are as follows :
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|Number of staff in |Black |Asian |Other Ethnic Origin
|post
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade 1 |1 |0 |0 |0
Grade 2 |3 |0 |0 |0
Grade 3 |11 |0 |0 |0
Grade 4 |3 |0 |0 |0
Grade 5 |47 |0 |0 |0
Grade 6 |17 |0 |0 |0
Grade 7 |154 |1 |1 |2
SEO and equivalent |111 |0 |0 |1
HEO and equivalent |357 |6 |2 |1
EO and equivalent |478 |23 |12 |3
AO and equivalent |600 |52 |23 |5
AA and equivalent |360 |14 |6 |0
|--- |-- |-- |--
Total |2,142 |96 |44 |12
These figures reflect the number of staff in post and include 360 staff in the Teachers Pensions Agency.
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Universities
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what new steps he is considering to enable universities to play a more active role in the development of Britain's manufacturing capacity.
Mr. Boswell : Universities are already contributing significantly to the development of our manufacturing
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capacity, both through the supply of highly qualified people and through collaborative research and other services. My right hon. Friend has encouraged scientific and technological education in universities through a differential tuition fee structure. He has also recently announced a bursary scheme to encourage particularly able students to enter engineering courses.Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to enable university personnel greater freedom to undertake outside consultancy work.
Mr. Boswell : It is for universities as employers to determine the conditions of employment of their staff, including arrangements for consultancy work. The Government have no locus in this matter.
Students
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the trends in students entering higher education from (a) different social classes and (b) differential parental income brackets since the introduction of student loans.
Mr. Boswell : Details of the socio-economic background of accepted applicants to higher education have been collected and published by both the higher education admissions agencies since 1991. Details of the number of mandatory award holders in relation to the residual income of their parents are collected and published by the Department in the Statistics of Education Students Awards Volume. The 1993 student income and expenditure survey, the results of which are due to be published shortly, also sought information about the socio-economic background of those interviewed.
Although it is too early to identify any significant trends, the evidence so far indicates that the introduction of loans has had no adverse effect on participation by students from less well-off families.
School Performance
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what arrangements his Department has for taking into account when judging school performance the range of intake to a particular school and other relevant factors.
Mr. Robin Squire : Ofsted is responsible for advising my right hon. Friend on the quality of education and standards achieved in schools. I have asked Professor Sutherland, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, to send the hon. Member a copy of his published Framework of Inspection which sets out the criteria for judging school performance. Work on operational approaches to value added in the context of school performance tables is being taken forward by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
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Local Government Review
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consultation has taken place with teacher trade unions, about their employment conditions in the light of the local government review.
Mr. Robin Squire : The teacher trade unions have sought no such consultations with my right hon. Friend. None has taken place.
Swimming Instruction
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what surveys he has recently conducted via local education authorities of the percentage of pupils receiving swimming instruction ; what assessment he has made of any change there has been in that percentage over the last 10 years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department carried out two surveys at the end of 1991 to inform decisions on the feasibility of making swimming a statutory requirement of national curriculum physical education. One was to determine the number of schools with swimming pools ; the other to find out how many of a representative sample of over 1,200 schools, with or without their own pools, made provision of some kind for swimming lessons. Copies of the findings of these surveys were placed in the Library. Neither, however, yielded information on the number or proportion of schools pupils receiving swimming instruction.
Free School Meals
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list, by education authority area, the number of pupils in receipt of (a) free school meals and (b) clothing grants for each year since 1987 ; and if he will indicate, in each case, what percentage this represents of the total number of pupils in each area.
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