| Previous Section | Home Page |
(ii) Secondary Activities : The regulations now define the core or essential activities of a commercial agent and
Column 224
provide for those who do not satisfy these criteria to be excluded. Such activities would be secondary. There are specific exclusions for mail order agents and consumer credit agents.(iii) Indemnity/Compensation : Following comments received from industry, the regulations now provide for the parties to choose either an indemnity or compensation payment upon termination of an agency contract. This will allow greater flexibility.
A cost compliance assessment on the possible costs to industry of implementing the EC directive is being made available. In addition, guidance notes will be issued in the near future, detailing what we believe is the intention behind the directive. Copies of this guidance note and the cost compliance assessment will be available from the following address :--
Consumer Affairs Division 2a
Room 325
10-18 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NN
Copies of the regulations themselves will be available from HMSO bookshops.
Fur
Mr. Morley : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of fur and fur product exports from the United Kingdom in each year since 1984.
Mr. Needham : The available information is given in the following table.
Value of United Kingdom Exports of fur and fur products Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1984 |268.0 1985 |231.7 1986 |227.9 1987 |267.6 1988 |192.1 1989 |141.8 1990 |63.4 1991 |44.7 1992 |45.9 Fur and fur products are defined by headings 212, 613 and 848.31 of the Standard International Trade Classification. Source: Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom.
Nuclear Safety
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how his Department was represented at the test to simulate a meltdown accident at a pressurised water reactor, held in France on 3 December ; and what are the implications of the results of this test in regard to the future safety of the Sizewell B power plant.
Mr. Eggar : My Department was not represented at the test carried out at Cadarache by the Commissariat a l'Engergie Atomique--the French nuclear safety R and D organisation. However, I understand that the Atomic Energy Authority is involved by means of an exchange agreement with the CEA under the nuclear safety R and D programme which is sponsored by the Health and Safety Executive. Both the HSE's nuclear installations inspectorate and Nuclear Electric will be informed of the results through the CEA-AEA agreement. It is not expected that the test will produce results which would affect the safety case prepared for Sizewell B.
Column 225
Regional Assistance
Mr. Straw : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the target population set by the European Commission for objective 2 status for areas in the United Kingdom ; and by what percentage of the population the list submitted by Her Majesty's Government either exceeds or falls short of their target.
Mr. Sainsbury : There is no target population set by the Commission for United Kingdom objective 2 areas. The procedure is governed by article 9 of Council Regulation 2081/93 which, among other things, sets out various statistical criteria, requires member states to propose areas, and requires the Commission to establish the list taking into account national priorities in consultation with the member state concerned.
One of the recitals to the regulation, which is not legally binding, states that objective 2
"could cover up to 15 per cent. of the Community population". The Government's proposals for the Umissioner responsible. Our consultation will be governed by article 9 of the Council regulation.
Mr. Straw : To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether Her Majesty's Government are differentiating between areas which had first obtained assisted area status before 1993 from those areas which have recently acquired this status, in their representations for objective 2 status.
Mr. Sainsbury : No. The Government's proposals for objective 2 are based on the criteria in article 9 of Council regulation 2081/93.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Private Health Insurance
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are claiming tax relief for private health insurance ; and what proportion of these are higher rate taxpayers in (i) Great Britain and (ii) Northern Ireland.
Mr. Dorrell : It is estimated that about 350,000 people in the United Kingdom receive tax relief on their private medical insurance premiums for those aged 60 or more. About 1 per cent. are higher rate taxpayers. Separate information for Northern Ireland is not available.
Taxation
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the loss in revenue resulting from an increase in the single person's tax allowance of (a) £50, (b) £100, (c) £150, (d) £200, (e) £250 and (f) £300 ; and how many people would be taken out of tax in each case.
Mr. Dorrell : The estimated cost in a full year at 1994-95 income levels from the specified increases in the personal allowance and the number of people taken out of tax are given in the table.
Column 226
L
Personal allowance |Revenue cost (£ |Individuals taken
|million) |out of tax
|(thousands)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increased by £50 |320 |120
Increased by £100 |650 |220
Increased by £150 |970 |330
Increased by £200 |1,290 |470
Increased by £250 |1,610 |580
Increased by £300 |1,920 |680
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the latest estimate of the number of (a) basic rate and (b) higher rate taxpayers ; and how many taxpayers are (i) male and (ii) female ;
(2) what is his latest estimate of the total number of top rate taxpayers ;
(3) what is the latest estimate he has for the number of people who pay income tax at a rate of (a) 20 per cent., (b) 25 per cent. and (c) 40 per cent.
Mr. Dorrell : Latest estimates for 1993-94 based on projections from the 1991-92 Survey of Personal Incomes are given in the table.
Millions
Taxpayers liable at |Male |Female |Total
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower rate only |1.8 |3.0 |4.8
Basic rate but not higher rate |11.4 |7.1 |18.4
Higher rate |1.6 |0.3 |1.9
All taxpayers |14.8 |10.3 |25.1
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the current numbers of (a) corporate taxpayers and (b) income taxpayers in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Dorrell : About 350,000 companies pay corporation tax and 25.1 million individuals pay income tax in the United Kingdom.
Companies
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the percentage of Britain's companies that are working at full capacity.
Mr. Portillo : According to the October CBI quarterly industrial trends survey 39 per cent. of manufacturing firms were working at capacity. Estimates are not available for the whole company sector.
Students
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many students pay income tax ; and what is the total number of students who pay VAT.
Mr. Dorrell : Information on the number of students who pay income tax is not available centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
VAT is chargeable on a wide range of consumer expenditure and it is likely that everybody has to pay some in the course of a year.
Column 227
North Sea Oil
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the total revenues to the Exchequer from North sea oil since May 1979, expressed in 1992 prices.
Mr. Dorrell : Total revenues to the Exchequer from the North sea since 1979-80 at 1992-93 prices have been £114 billion.
ECOFIN
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the most recent meeting of European Economic and Finance Ministers.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The Economic and Finance Council of the European Union met in Brussels on 5 December. I represented the United Kingdom.
ECOFIN discussed the Commission's recommendation for the broad guidelines for the economic policies of member states and of the Community under the new procedures of article 103 of the treaty. ECOFIN agreed a report to the European Council containing the draft guidelines. The treaty requires the European Council to agree conclusions on the basis of this report which will then be translated into a formal Council recommendation at a subsequent meeting of Finance Ministers. The recommendation will not have legally binding force.
There was a short discussion on the likely content of the Commission White Book on growth, competitiveness and employment. I said that it was unfortunate that the Commission had been unable to prepare a full draft of its White Book in time for it to be considered by the ECOFIN before the European Council. The Commission circulated the text on 6 December and copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
There were no formal votes.
Privatisation (Consultants' Fees)
Mr. Hain : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide details of all fees to consultants and brokers associated with privatisation and share sales of (a) BT since 1982, (b) British Gas since 1986, (c) all regional electric companies since 1998-89, (d) all regional water companies since 1988-89 and (e) the total.
Mr. Dorrell : No. Fees paid to consultants, brokers, and so on as part of the privatisation programme are treated as commercially confidential. Total fees paid to advisers are quantified within the relevant National Audit Office reports published by the Comptroller and Auditor General. For the sales requested, the total fees paid to advisers were :
|£ million
------------------------------------------
BT |1984 |6
British Gas |1986 |5
Water |1989 |<1>25.8
BT |1991 |7.4
BT |1993 |<2>5.4
<1> Ex VAT.
<2> To date.
Column 228
Civil Servants
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 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.
Sir John Cope : The information requested is shown in the table. Figures are given in terms of grade levels which include equivalent grades, and reflects the position as at October 1993. The figures cover only non- industrial staff in post, exclude agency staff and are calculated on a head count basis with part-timers counted as one. The figures are based on the Department's ethnic origin questionnaire which drew a 93 per cent. response rate.
|(a) |(b) |(c)
|Total staff |Black respondents|Asian respondents
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade level
1 |5 |- |-
2 |6 |- |-
3 |22 |- |-
4 |2 |- |-
5 |70 |- |-
6 |19 |- |-
7 |191 |- |3
SEO |90 |1 |2
HEO |222 |4 |2
EO |301 |12 |9
AO |407 |32 |37
AA |281 |20 |19
Value Added Tax
Ms Rachel Squire : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy that value added tax will not be levied on community care transfer moneys in Scotland.
Sir John Cope : Community care transfer funds are exempt from VAT when used by recipient bodies to provide welfare services.
European Investment Fund
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, with reference to the Act to amend the statutes of the European investment bank permitting the establishment of a European investment fund--Cm 2359-- approved by Parliament on 29 November, he will state (a) the maximum permitted liability of the fund in guarantees, (b) the initial contributed capital subscribed by the European Community as such, by member states, and by others respectively, (c) who will be inviting others to become members of the fund, and what qualifications they are likely to possess, (d) the limitations placed on the fund in respect of the purposes of the enterprises to which assistance is given, (e) when he expects the statutes of the fund to be decided and how and by whom they will be published and (f) who will appoint its governing body, and by what means, and to whom the person representing the interests of Her Majesty's Government on that body will be responsible.
Mr. Nelson [holding answer 7 December 1993] : The rules of operation of the proposed new European Investment Fund are set out in the fund's statute. At
Column 229
present, this document exists only in draft form, but it will be adopted by the governors of the European investment bank immediately after they establish the fund itself. If the draft statute is adopted in the form in which it now stands, the situation would be as follows :(a) The fund would initially be limited to providing guarantees with a total value of no more than three times the amount of its subscribed capital. Since the fund's subscribed capital is fixed at 2 billion ecu, £1.511 billion, this would mean that it could grant guarantees worth up to 6 billion ecu, £4.534 billion.
(b) It is envisaged that 40 per cent.--800 million ecu or £605 million --of the fund's initial subscribed capital would be held by the European Investment Bank, 30 per cent.--600 mecu or £453 million--by the European Community, with the remaining 30 per cent.--600 mecu or £453 million--contributed by banks and financial institutions, which operate within the Community, and which agree to become members of the fund.
(c) It is for the board of governors of the EIB to invite institutions to become members of the fund. So far as participation by banks is concerned, the EIB has approached institutions which are well established, and well known to it as clients, with invitations to take part.
(d) The fund will operate through the Community in support of small and medium-sized enterprises, and of projects which form part of trans-European networks.
(e) The statute of the fund will be adopted by the governors of the European investment bank immediately after the fund is established. Establishment, in turn, will take place as soon as the treaty amendment which enables this to happen has been ratified by all 12 EC member states. This is expected to occur early in the new year. Once the fund becomes operational it will of course publish its own statute, but in order to avoid delay it may be possible to arrange for the EIB, or the European Commission, to publish the statute in advance of this.
(f) The fund's supreme governing body will be the annual general meeting. The membership of this body will be fixed by the fund's statute, with all three classes of shareholders participating. The European Community's representative at the meeting will be one of the members of the Commission, and the EIB will be represented by its president. Both of these will be responsible for safeguarding and representing the interests of Her Majesty's Government, by virtue of the United Kingdom's position as a member state of the Community, and a shareholder in the EIB, respectively.
All figures converted at 30 November 1993 £-ecu conversion rate (£=1.3232 ecu).
Private Finance Projects
Ms Harman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the 78 private finance projects listed in the appendix to the text of the Chancellor's speech to CBI Scotland's annual dinner issued on 9 September are currently under construction.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 7 December 1993] : Of the projects listed, 12 have been completed--or, in the case of services, contracts signed--and there are 17 which are under construction or for which contracts have been signed.
Column 230
Personal Pensions
Mr. Denham : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what action he is taking to ensure that those individuals who have been wrongly sold personal pension plans are identified and given full redress ; (2) what is his estimate of the total number of individuals who have been wrongly sold personal pension plans (a) in each of the last five years and (b) since the introduction of the Financial Services Act 1986 ;
(3) what is his estimate of the total value of personal pension plans that have been wrongly sold (a) in each of the last five years and (b) since the introduction of the Financial Services Act 1986.
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the marketing of personal pensions.
Mr. Nelson [holding answer 6 December 1993] : The responsibility for regulating the marketing of personal pensions and other investment products rests primarily with the Securities and Investments Board, as lead regulator under the Financial Services Act.
Following the intial findings of a survey commissioned in September into the selling of personal pensions to clients transferring from occupational pension schemes, the chairman of SIB has today set out the action the regulators are taking to establish the extent of any problems that may have resulted from poor compliance with the marketing rules made under the FSA ; to rectify any shortcomings ; and to obtain remedy for any disadvantage to investors that may have resulted.
SIB is leading this regulatory action, working closely with the other regulators concerned and with the life insurance industry to establish the extent of the problem and any financial implications for personal pension policyholders. The evidence relates to non-compliance with the regulatory standards. Further detailed work will be needed to assess whether the non- compliance has resulted in poor advice and disadvantage to investors.
I welcome this initiative, together with the actions already taken by SIB to improve the guidance on the selling of personal pensions. Should the further investigations now under way reveal that any clients have suffered financial loss as a result of bad advice, I have made it clear to SIB that the Government expect effective remedies to be put in place promptly.
Personal pensions have proved their popularity, combining as they do an opportunity for a flexible career with the security of an income in retirement.
But as with other investment products people must be able to rely on high standards of professionalism and competence on the part of salesmen and advisers, and be confident that they will not be sold products unsuitable for their requirements.
I have asked the chairman of SIB to keep me closely informed as this work develops.
WALES
Unitary Authorities
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the current estimate of the cost of establishing unitary authorities in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Column 231
Mr. Redwood : The measures in the Local Government (Wales) Bill will result in transitional costs estimated on the basis of a report prepared by consultants to be between £65 million and £150 million over 15 years. The level of these costs will depend on decisions to be taken by the new councils on such matters as staffing levels and management structures. I intend to encourage tight control of costs and believe the consultants' higher figures would be reached only if councils decide to make a large number of existing employees redundant, leading to substantial subsequent revenue savings.
Advertising
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 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. Redwood : There is no average annual spend on advertising, but the figures for the two specific years 1979 and 1985, and for the lastest available year 1992-93, are as follows :
Welsh office publicity spend
£,000
Year |Radio |TV |Press |Joint<1> press and
|TV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |Nil |- |- |61
1985-86 |Nil |Nil |31 |-
1992-93 |Nil |77 |350 |-
<1>Television and Press advertising for the years 1979-85 cannot be readily separated.
Note:
In 1992-93 it was decided to advertise the Organ Donor Scheme on TV, which accounted for £70,000 out of the £77,
000.
Column 232
Hospital Closures
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many hospitals have closed in each of the counties of Wales since 1980.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information, which relates to hospitals which have closed since 1 January 1980 and are still closed, is given in the following table. During the same period nine hospitals were opened.
Health authority |Number of hospitals
|closed
------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |6
East Dyfed |3
Gwent |2
Gwynedd |9
Mid Glamorgan |9
Pembrokeshire |-
Powys |1
South Glamorgan |4
West Glamorgan |4
|--
Total |38
Since 1980 the numbers of patients being treated by the national health service in Wales has increased from 848,432 to 1,248,356 in 1992-93 or 47 per cent.
School Closures
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many schools have closed in each Welsh local education authority since 1980.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The information is not collected in the form requested. The available information is as follows :
Column 231
Schools in existence as at January 1993
|1979-80|1980-81|1981-82|1982-83|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special
Clwyd |14 |13 |13 |13 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11 |11
Dyfed |6 |6 |6 |6 |6 |6 |5 |5 |5 |5 |5 |5 |5 |5
Gwent |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |6 |6 |6 |6
Gwynedd |8 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |6 |6 |6 |6 |5 |5 |5
Mid Glamorgan |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10 |10
Powys |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 |4
South Glamorgan |19 |19 |19 |17 |17 |16 |16 |16 |16 |15 |15 |15 |15 |15
West Glamorgan |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |6 |6 |6 |5 |5 |5 |5
|-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |--
Wales |75 |73 |73 |71 |69 |68 |67 |65 |65 |64 |62 |61 |61 |61
All LEA/GM Schools
Clwyd |316 |314 |311 |309 |302 |301 |300 |300 |300 |299 |296 |293 |292 |292
Dyfed |400 |398 |392 |387 |382 |379 |372 |365 |365 |359 |354 |354 |354 |352
Gwent |343 |338 |328 |324 |321 |312 |296 |293 |287 |283 |279 |278 |265 |263
Gwynedd |231 |230 |230 |229 |229 |229 |229 |228 |226 |224 |223 |221 |220 |219
Mid Glamorgan |396 |392 |391 |393 |390 |384 |387 |387 |387 |387 |387 |380 |381 |379
Powys |147 |145 |141 |138 |138 |136 |134 |132 |131 |131 |130 |129 |126 |126
South Glamorgan |239 |236 |232 |222 |219 |213 |211 |211 |210 |210 |210 |209 |210 |210
West Glamorgan |238 |236 |226 |215 |210 |208 |208 |204 |203 |202 |198 |198 |198 |198
|--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |---
Wales |2,310 |2,289 |2,251 |2,217 |2,191 |2,162 |2,137 |2,120 |2,109 |2,095 |2,077 |2,062 |2,046 |2,039
Housing Revenue Account
Mr.Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing the total amount of housing revenue account subsidy payable to local housing
Column 232
authorities in Wales in 1992-93, and his estimates for 1993-94 and 1994-95, indicating separately the housing and housing benefit components and showing the difference between the actual subsidy payable and the amount which would have been payable if expenditure on rent rebates had qualified in full for subsidy.Column 233
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The available information is set out as follows. The Welsh Office is consulting authorities on subsidy proposals for 1994-95 upon which decisions have yet to be taken.
£ million
|1992-93<1> |1993-94<2>
|Estimated Outturn |Provisional Outturn
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Housing Element<3> |5.1 |3.9
Rent Rebate Subsidy<4> Entitlement |184.7 |192.3
|------- |-------
Total Housing Revenue Account
Subsidy |189.8 |196.2
Gross Rent Rebate<5> Expenditure by
local authorities |212.9 |228.9
<1>Local authorities Housing Revenue Account Subsidy 1992-93 Advance Final Claims.
<2>Local authorities Housing Revenue Account Subsidy 1993-94 Second Advance Claims.
<3>Positive entitlement to housing subsidy.
<4>Gross rent rebate expenditure by authorities less incentive area deductions, adjustments for
benefit period over-runs and negative housing subsidy entitlements.
<5>Rent Rebate expenditure awarded by housing authorities.
Diabetes
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will arrange for a copy of the British Diabetic Association booklet "Recommendations for Management of Diabetes in Primary Care" to be sent to every general practitioner practice in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The British Diabetic Association has written to all family health services, as managers of primary care services, offering supplies of this booklet for distribution to GP practices. To date, I understand that three authorities in Wales--Clwyd, Powys and West Glamorgan --are arranging for copies to be distributed to practices in their area.
House Condition Survey
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when the house condition survey for Wales will be published.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The results of the Welsh House Condition Survey are expected to be published in spring 1994.
Forestry
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all the Forestry Commission forests and woods in each of the counties of Wales.
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each separate piece of land currently owned or leased by the Forestry Commission in Clwyd (a) its name, (b) its area in hectares ; and if he will place a map in the Library which names and identifies each of these pieces of land.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The Forestry Commission manages the following areas of land in each county in Wales.
Column 234
0 County |Area (hectares) ------------------------------------------------ Clwyd |9,457 Dyfed |31,002 Gwent |8,787 Gwynedd |27,954 Mid Glamorgan |13,038 Powys |31,292 South Glamorgan |486 West Glamorgan |14,399
Details of individual forests and woodlands are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
I have, however, made arrangements for a map showing the location of the individual areas to be placed in the Library of the House as soon as possible.
| Next Section
| Home Page |