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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 8 December 1993
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Government Car Service
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers ; and how many vehicles are involved.
Mr. Brooke : In the financial year 1992-93, the cost to the Department of the Government car service for Ministers was £167,000. Two vehicles were involved.
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what was the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers in 1990-91 ; and how many vehicles were involved.
Mr. Brooke : The Department of National Heritage was not formed until April 1992, therefore data in the form requested are not available.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the budget for criminal legal aid for the current financial year ; and what amount it is estimated will be spent.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The net provision for criminal legal aid for the current financial year is £564 million, inclusive of the duty solicitor schemes and criminal green form. Latest forecasts suggest an outturn of around £535 million.
Courts
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many court sitting days recorders were engaged in 1989- 90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The total number of court days sat by recorders in the years 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 was 16, 251, 17,898, 17,046 and 18,056 respectively.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many court sitting days deputy registrars, latterly deputy district judges, were engaged in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992- 93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The total number of court days sat by deputy registrars, latterly deputy district judges, during the years 1989-90, 1990 -91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 was 10,750, 13,642, 18,407 and 20,012 respectively.
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Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many court sitting days deputy recorders were engaged in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The total number of court days sat by assistant recorders in the years 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 was 8,804, 9,296, 9,209 and 9,618 respectively.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary Lord Chancellor's Department on how many court sitting days deputy circuit judges were engaged in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The total number of court days sat by deputy circuit judges in the years 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 was 1,455, 1,817, 1,546 and 1,119 respectively.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much was paid by the public in plaint fees and issue fees in the High Court registries and county courts in the years 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 and during 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The information requested is not all readily available. Data on district registry fee income are not disagregated, so no separate data are held for issue fees in High Court registries. Plaint and issue fee income in the county courts for the years requested was as follows :
------------------------------------------ 1988-89 |59,317,960.34 1989-90 |71,177,637.85 1990-91 |85,882,609.11 1991-92 |99,954,524.94 1992-93 |98,647,663.98
EDUCATION
Religious Education
Mr. Ashdown : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many responses he has received from the standing advisory councils for religious education to the draft DFE circular 10/93.
Mr. Robin Squire : None. DFE circular 10/93 deals with the grants for education support and training programme for 1994-95, and seeks responses only from local education authorities.
The Department has received 42 responses from the standing advisory councils for religious education to the draft circular "Religious Education and Collective Worship", which issued on 11 October.
Legal Courses
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many discretionary grants have been awarded by local education authorities to enable students to pursue (a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals ;
(2) what is the standard level of discretionary grant given by local authorities for (a) legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course.
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Mr. Boswell : The information requested is not collected centrally. The provision of discretionary awards is a matter for local education authorities, as is the value of such awards.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many students are currently taking (a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course ;
(2) how many self-financing students are currently taking (a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course.
Mr. Boswell : Information from the Law Society shows that 6,566 students were enrolled on the legal practice course for 1993-94. For the bar finals course, the Council of Legal Education's statistics show that 1,022 students took the course in 1992-93. Figures for numbers of self- financing students are available only for the bar finals course. These show that during 1992-93 618 out of 1,022 students received no local authority grant.
Office for Standards in Education
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the relationship between Ofsted and the Department for Education.
Mr. Robin Squire : Ofsted is a non-ministerial Government Department established by the Education (Schools) Act 1992. It is headed by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector for Schools, Professor Stewart Sutherland, who is required to advise my right hon. Friend on the quality of education and standards achieved in schools and to oversee the new system of independent four-yearly inspections of schools.
My right hon. Friend wrote to all hon. Members on 11 November 1992 explaining the work of Ofsted and its relationship with the Department.
Sex Education
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether local education authorities will be required to monitor the numbers of parents exercising their right to withdraw their children from sex education lessons.
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has to introduce mandatory sex education and at what ages ;
(2) what he is doing to introduce compulsory AIDS tuition into schools.
Mr. Forth : Under the Education Act 1993, all maintained secondary schools will from autumn 1994 be required to provide sex education for all their registered pupils, including education about HIV and AIDS. All maintained special schools will be required to provide such education for all their pupils of secondary age.
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many parents exercised the right to exclude their children from sex education lessons in the years 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mr. Forth : There was no statutory right for parents to withdraw their children from sex education lessons in the
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years in question. Under section 241 of the Education Act 1993 we are introducing, from September 1994, the right for the parent of a pupil in attendance at any maintained school to withdraw that pupil from all or part of the school's sex education provision other than those elements which are a requirement of the national curriculum.Union Flag
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost of purchasing and installing the Union flag in the foyer of the Department for Education.
Mr. Forth : The cost of purchasing the flag, the flagstaff and base was £150, excluding VAT.
PRIME MINISTER
Bomb-proofing
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Prime Minister what has been the cost of bomb-proofing (a) No. 10 and (b) No. 11 Downing street.
The Prime Minister : On security grounds, I do not propose to give this information.
Government Car Service
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Prime Minister what is the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers ; and how many vehicles are involved.
The Prime Minister : The charge to my office for ministerial use of the Government car service during 1992-93 was £107,395. Two vehicles are involved.
EU Summit
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what matters in regard to environmental protection he intends to raise at the European Union Heads of Government summit in Brussels on 10 to 11 December.
The Prime Minister : The Council will focus on the European economy and the Commission White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment. It will also consider the Commission's report on subsidiarity. I shall continue to emphasise the importance of properly sustainable development, in accordance with the treaty provisions.
TRANSPORT
Trans-European Road Network
Mr. Lidington : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the route and construction of United Kingdom roads included in the trans- European road network are subject to the planning process ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : All schemes in the Department's roads programme, including any on routes in the trans-European road network, are subject to the same procedures.
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Motorway Cones
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals his Department has to improve the safe and secure laying of cones and the removal of unnecessary cones on motorways ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : The laying out of traffic cones has to follow procedures laid down in chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual. This sets out British standards requirements for the cones themselves, how they should be positioned at roadworks--in the interests of road workers' safety as well as road users--and how they should be removed as soon as they are no longer required. It is a condition of highway contracts on motorways and other trunk roads that contractors, and their traffic management sub-contractors, adopt the requirement of chapter 8. Together with Health and Safety at Work etc. Act legislation, this already imposes considerable safety obligations on all those concerned with the placement, management and removal of traffic cones. Nevertheless, the Department is constantly reviewing its safety procedures and guidance.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents have occurred on motorways as a result of stray motorway cones in each of the last five years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Key : My Department does not keep records or statistics which show whether any motorway accidents have been caused by stray traffic cones.
East and West Coast Main Lines
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the estimated repayments which will need to be made on capital raised for improvements to the west coast main line ; how these costs will be recouped ; what estimate he has as to the average extra cost per journey for passengers and carriers of freight imposed by the need to make these repayments ; and what are the equivalent projected costs on the east coast line.
Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend announced on 1 December that Railtrack will be working with the private sector to devise new performance standards for the west coast main line and that a private sector consortium will be selected by competition to build and maintain the line.
The precise cost of the project, and therefore the level of repayments, will not be known in advance of that competition. Cost comparisons with the east coast main line are inappropriate. The east coast main line project, from commencement of planning to the start of the new service in 1991, took some 10 years to complete. The lines also have different patterns of use.
Roads, Southport
Mr. Matthew Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) when he next expects to visit Southport to inspect the site of proposed improvements to the trunk road network to Preston ; (2) when he expects to visit Southport to inspect the site of the A565 proposed road improvements ;
(3) when he expects to visit Southport to inspect the site of the A570 Ormskirk to Southport bypass.
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Mr. Key : It would be a pleasure to visit my hon. Friend's constituency, but I have no plans to visit the sites of these proposed schemes. I shall, though, consider carefully the response to public consultation on the proposed improvements to the A570 and A59 trunk roads.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Advertising
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department spends annually on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising and (c) press advertising ; and what were the corresponding figures for 1985 and 1979.
Mr. Scott : Such information as is available is in the table.
Table file CW931208.001 not available
Child Support Agency
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the average length of time taken by the Child Support Agency to reply in full to a letter from an hon. Member.
Mr. Burt : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) by the chief executive of the Child Support Agency on 29 November at column 429.
Benefit Fraud
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what information he has on dealers at car boot sales fraudulently claiming benefits ;
(2) if he will list the occupations most frequently claimed by those fraudulently claiming benefit.
Mr. Hague : The administration of benefit fraud is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend with such information as is available. Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Douglas French, dated 7 December 1993 :
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about the occupations of people fraudulently claiming benefit ; including in particular dealers at car boot sales.
I regret that I am unable to provide the information you request as statistics are not kept on the occupations of those who are found to be fraudulently claiming benefit.
I can tell you, however, that from October this year I have established a new Security Branch with a responsibility to ensure a co-ordinated and strategic approach to fraud and security matters ; and to protect future expenditure against fraud and abuse.
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Part of this co-ordinated response is to maintain statistics that allow analysis of the fraud effort in terms of prevention, deterrence and detection. At the same time we must ensure that statistics are not kept for their own sake and to this end the new Branch is currently examining what statistics are necessary to achieve the three aims I have outlined.I am sorry that on this occasion I cannot be more helpful.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Industrial Development Boards
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the total budget allocated by his Department to industrial development boards in 1992-93 in (a) the Northern region and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole.
Mr. Sainsbury : The industrial development boards advise my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on applications for selective financial assistance and on industrial opportunities within their areas. The boards do not have budgetary responsibility for schemes providing selective financial assistance which have centrally held budgets.
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Consultants
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what are the names of the consultants employed to review the future of (a) the Patent Office, (b) Warren Springs Laboratory and (c) AEA Technology and the costs of employing such consultants in the year 1992-93, with the sum estimated for 1993-94.
Mr. Heseltine : The consultants employed in each case were (a) Price Waterhouse, (b) PA Consulting and (c) BZW. The fees paid to these firms are confidential for commercial reasons.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Mullin : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the Ministers in his Department who since June 1987 have visited (a) Saudi Arabia, (b) Malysia, (c) Singapore and (d) South Africa on official business ; and which such visits included party political activities in addition to official duties.
Mr. Heseltine : A central record of official ministerial visits overseas during the period in question has not been kept for all markets. The list that follows may therefore not be comprehensive.
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Country |Year of visit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saudi Arabia:
Secretary of State (then Mr. Ridley) |November 1989
President |January 1993
Minister for Energy |May 1993
Malaysia:
Minister for Energy |September 1993
Minister for Trade |September and November 1993
Singapore:
Minister for Trade (then Lord Trefgarne) |July 1990
Minister for Industry (then Lord Reay) |February 1992
Baroness Denton |May and September 1993
Minister for Trade |June and December 1993
South Africa:
Minister for Trade (then Mr. Sainsbury) |November 1991
There is no record of whether these visits included party political activities.
Tobacco
Sir Russell Johnston : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of (a) imports of tobacco and tobacco paper and (b) exports of finished tobacco products in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Needham : Information on the topic is regularly published by the Central Statistical Office in Business Monitor MA20, Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. Unmanufactured and manufactured tobacco are classified to headings 121 and 122 respectively of the Standard International Trade Classification, while cigarette paper is classified under headings 641.55 and 642.41.
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Textiles
Sir David Knox : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of the lowest and highest rates of EC customs import duties for both textile and clothing products.
Mr. Needham : The common customs tariff charged on imports into the Community ranges from 0 per cent. to 17 per cent. for textiles and from 6.3 per cent. to 14 per cent. for clothing.
Hosiery Industry
Mr. Garnier : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from the hosiery industry about the level of sock imports from Indonesia and from whom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Needham : On 25 October the Knitting Industries Federation wrote to my Department to request action to restrict sock imports from Indonesia. The case is being evaluated and my officials will contact the federation shortly.
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Mr. Garnier : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total of all imports of socks into the United Kingdom (category 12 of the multi-fibre arrangement) (a) in total and (b) from Indonesia, in terms of quantity, value and average price for each of the years from 1990 for which figures are available.
Mr. Needham : The information that my hon. Friend has requested for multi-fibre arrangement category 12 is given in the table.
MFA category 12 imports
From Indonesia United Kingdom
total
Year |quantity million |value £ million |price pence per pair|quantity million |value £ million |price pence per pair
|pairs |pairs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 |12.2 |3.1 |25 |89.7 |52.4 |58
1991 |16.7 |5.0 |30 |117.4 |67.9 |58
1992 |38.9 |11.4 |29 |187.9 |93.6 |50
Bonding
Sir Cranley Onslow : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what studies his Department has made of the extent to which bonding requirements act as a barrier to exports by small and medium-sized United Kingdom companies ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Needham : I am not aware of any studies made by my Department into bonding requirements on exporters. Funding bonds is a matter for the private commercial sector, but I would be interested to see details of any particular cases the hon. Member may have.
Agency Agreements
Sir Cranley Onslow : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what action his Department is taking to advise United Kingdom companies of the effect of EC directives on the formalisation of agency agreements ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : Regulations which implement Council directive 86/653/EEC relating to self-employed commercial agents have been made and were laid before both Houses today ; they come into force on 1 January 1994.
A commercial agent is a
"self-employed intermediary who has continuing authority to negotiate the sale or purchase of goods on behalf of another person (the principal') or to negotiate and conclude the sale or purchase of goods on behalf of and in the name of that principal".
The regulations are designed to lay down minimum requirements governing the contracts between commercial agents and their principals. In particular, they provide the agent with additional benefits which may not currently be available under United Kingdom common law, for example the right to a written contract if he requests one. The regulations have been the subject of consultations with industry in 1987, 1990 and in June this year. A number of revisions to the regulations have been made. The major amendments are :--
(i) Applicable Law : The regulations lay down the basic rule that it is where the agent is, rather than the principal, that determines whether the regulations apply but also enable the parties to opt for the law of another member State to govern the contract.
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