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Tours Direct
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps were taken by his Department to protect the public after Companies House struck Tours Direct off its register.
Mr. Neil Hamilton [holding answer 24 January 1994] : This matter is for Companies House. I have, therefore, asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from David Durham to Mr. Nigel Griffiths, dated 24 January 1994 :
You tabled the following Parliamentary Question :
"To ask the President of the Board of Trade, what steps were taken by this Department to protect the public after Companies House struck Tours Direct off their register".
As this matter is my responsibility as Chief Executive and Registrar of Companies House, I am writing to you direct. Section 652 of the Companies Act 1985, provides me with authority to dissolve companies which I have reasonable cause to believe are no longer carrying on in business or in operation.
In the case of Tours Direct Limited, correspondence received from accountants acting on behalf of the company, indicated that the company was no longer carrying on in business or in operation. Accordingly, formal inquiry letters were issued to the company at its registered office in accordance with the requirements of section 652(1) and 652(2) of the Companies Act 1985.
A director of the company subsequently confirmed that the company was no longer in operation and a notice was published in the London Gazette on 29 June 1993, of my intention to strike the company off the register at the expiration of 3 months, unless cause was shown to the contrary. A copy of this notice was placed on the public file and sent to the company on the same date.
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In the absence of any objections to this action being received, the company was struck off the register on 10 October 1993 and dissolved by notice in the London Gazette of 19 October 1993. To date, I have not received any complaints concerning the removal of the company name from the register.As to the matter of protection afforded to the public, section 653 of the Companies Act 1985 enables any creditor of a dissolved company to petition the Court to restore the name of the company to the register. Once restored, a company is deemed to have continued in existence as if its name had not been struck off. In addition, the Court may also give such directions and make such provisions as seem just for placing the company and all other persons in the same position, as nearly as may be, as if the company's name had not been struck off.
I trust that I have interpreted the question which you have tabled correctly and that I have covered the points raised. Should you, however, require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact me.
Perjury Act 1911 (Prosecutions)
Mr. Burns : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many prosecutions there have been under section 5 of the Perjury Act 1911 concerning fake declarations to the Registrar of Companies with regard to transactions covered by a company's articles of association ; and who is responsible for initiating prosecutions.
Mr. Neil Hamilton [holding answer 24 January 1994] : Our records are not kept in such a form that this information is readily available. No prosecutions have been brought by this Department in the last two years in the circumstances referred to in the question. Such prosecutions would normally be handled by this Department, but in some circumstances might be brought by other prosecuting authorities.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Burden : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the objective of removing equal opportunities requirements from private contractors for government contracts.
Mr. David Davis : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 20 January 1994, Official Report, column 776.
EMPLOYMENT
Disabled Employees
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the disability organisations with which he has met to discuss the requirement upon employers to pay a contribution towards the purchase of special equipment and services for disabled employees enshrined in the access to work proposals.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met representatives of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, MENCAP, the Spinal Injuries Association, RADAR and Deaf Accord to discuss several aspects of the new scheme access to work which he announced on 22 June 1993, Official Report, column 102.
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Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement outlining how he intends to monitor the effectiveness of his Department's access to work proposals.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : A full evaluation of access to work will be carried out after its first full year of operation. The evaluation will consider the effectiveness of access to work in meeting its stated aims and will consider statistical information provided by placing assessment and counselling teams, as well as information provided through research.
Sheltered Employment
Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many responses were received to the consultative document on the sheltered employment funding system ; how many were (a) totally in favour and (b) totally against ; and how many gave specific reservations ;
(2) how many fully funded places in sheltered workshops have been available in each of the past five years ; and what are the expected figures for the next two years ;
(3) what has been the level of training grants allocated to sheltered workshops in each of the past five years ; and what is the expected level for each of the next two years.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mrs. Margaret Ewing, dated 25 January 1994 :
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the responses received to the consultative document on the Sheltered Employment funding system, and the number of places available in and the level of training grants allocated to sheltered workshops.
A number of changes to the current way in which we fund Sheltered Employment were proposed in a recent consultative document. The consultation on these proposals ended on 13 September 1993 and responses are still being considered. The 115 responses received were generally supportive, but none were totally in favour or totally against our proposals--we would not have expected this to be otherwise as the consultation process was intended to elicit comments. Implementation of changes will not take place, however, until we are satisfied that the interests of severely disabled people will be best served.
The number of places we supported in local authority and voluntary body sheltered workshops over the last five years is :
|Number
---------------------
1989 |5,520
1990 |5,476
1991 |5,209
1992 |5,060
1993 |4,838
Figures are for those supported on 31 March in each year and cover approved workers and trainees. Future plans are based on our supporting 4,900 workshop places in 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Sheltered workshops are only one part of the Sheltered Employment Programme ; this also includes help to people with disabilities through the Sheltered Placement Scheme (SPS) and Remploy. Whilst the number of people supported in sheltered workshops has declined over the period, the overall number of people helped through the Programme has been maintained. The figures below illustrate this :
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|Number
---------------------
1989 |19,276
1990 |20,650
1991 |20,777
1992 |20,722
1993 |20,386
Future plans are to help at least 20,800 people through the Programme in 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Training grants paid to sheltered workshops comprise payment of an employee's basic workshop wage for an agreed period plus a contribution towards the cost of fees for externally purchased training. Employees' wages vary from workshop to workshop and year to year. There is, therefore, no standard grant payable for this item. Payment of training fees is based on reimbursement of actual costs subject to a maximum of £1,400 per person per annum (£27.88 per person per week). This has remained unchanged over the last five years. The abolition of payments for training wages and fees from 1 April 1994 is one of the items being considered in the review of Sheltered Employment funding. A very small number of workshops claimed assistance for wages and fees and it has been proposed that the money set aside for this should be added to the overall money available to local authorities and voluntary bodies for helping all individuals assisted through the Programme.
I hope this is helpful.
Slaughter Industry
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were employed in the slaughter industry in each year since 1985.
Miss Widdecombe : Information on employment in the slaughter industry is available only from the periodic censuses of employment and is as follows :
Number of employees in employment in the slaughter industry<1> in Great Britain, September of each year Year |Number --------------------- 1984 |90,200 1987 |92,500 1989 |91,800 1991 |95,100 <1>Group 412 of the standard industrial classification 1980.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the most recent residence-based unemployment rates for London by (a) borough and (b) constituency giving the figures overall and broken down for male and female ; and what is the change in number of unemployed claimants in London by (i) borough and (ii) constituency for the same month in each of the last six years and the change since 1979.
Miss Widdecombe : At present, official unemployment rates are not available for areas smaller than the self-contained labour markets known as travel-to-work areas.
Unadjusted data on the numbers of unemployment claimants for each local authority district and parliamentary constituency are available on a monthly basis from June 1983 onwards. The data can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library.
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European Social Fund
Mr. Heald : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what level of support will be available to Great Britain from the European social fund under objectives 3 and 4 from 1994 to 1999.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Government welcome last Wednesday's announcement by the European Commission that Great Britain will receive approximately £2,500 million between 1994 and 1999 from the European social fund for expenditure under objectives 3 and 4 of the European Community's structural funds, outside objective 1 regions. Objective 3 is targeted at helping young people who are joining the labour market, long- term unemployed people and other people facing particular disadvantages in finding and keeping work. The Government value the important contribution made over the years by the ESF to helping young and unemployed people in Britain prepare or compete effectively for jobs.
In the course of the negotiations on the reform of the structural funds last year, it was agreed that member states should be free to decide the balance of objective 3 and 4 in their respective countries. Objective 4 is targeted at workers still in employment. The Government's consistent view has been that the ESF should continue to concentrate first and foremost on helping unemployed people.
The Government plan therefore to devote the available ESF resources for objectives 3 and 4 to helping unemployed people under objective 3 for the foreseeable future.
WALES
Ambulance Response Times
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish details for the latest convenient date of all ambulance response times reported to his office.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The ambulance service classifications in Wales and their standards for emergency call response times are :
|50 per cent.|95 per cent.
|within |within
|Minutes |Minutes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Glamorgan
Population, density: more than 3 persons
per acre |7 |14
Clwyd, Gwent, Mid and West Glamorgan
Populaton density: between 0.5 and 3
persons per acre |8 |18
East Dyfed, Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire and
Powys
Population density: less than 0.5 persons
per acre |8 |21
The latest available information, for the three months ending 30 September 1993, is shown in the table :
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|Percentage arriving|Percentage arriving
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |63 |98
East Dyfed |60 |93
Gwent |52 |97
Gwynedd |55 |96
Mid Glamorgan |59 |100
Pembrokeshire |44 |90
Powys |45 |89
South Glamorgan |57 |94
West Glamorgan |58 |94
Ambulance Service
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what approval in principle he has given to schemes of rationalisation of the ambulance service in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 21 January 1994, Official Report, column 875.
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NHS Staff
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what was the total cost of employing managers, advisers, administrators and clerical staff in national health service hospitals in each of the last three years for which figures are available ;
(2) how many cars have been allocated to national health service managers, advisers, administrators and clerical staff in each of the last five years for which figures are available ;
(3) how many cars have been allocated to the managers, advisers and administrators employed by the national health service trust hospitals in each of the last two financial years.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : This information is not held centrally.
Hospital Admissions
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many admissions to national health service hospitals for each of the last three years for which figures are available were elective admission and how many were emergency admissions.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information is given in the table :
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Discharge and deaths, by type of admission
|1989-90<1>|1990-91<1>|1991-92<2>|1992-93
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-psychiatric
Elective |257,698 |252,672 |286,000 |n/a
Emergency |231,153 |240,546 |250,000 |n/a
Other<3> |28,979 |27,264 |85,000 |n/a
|------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |517,830 |520,482 |621,000 |650,000
Psychiatric
Elective |n/a |n/a |4,000 |n/a
Emergency |n/a |n/a |11,000 |n/a
Other |n/a |n/a |2,000 |n/a
|------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |16,000 |17,000 |18,000 |18,000
<1>Based on the hospital activity analysis system which was replaced
in April 1991 by the patient episode database for Wales.
<2>Estimates based on incomplete database data, reconciled with
aggregate hospital returns known to be more complete in coverage
particularly in
respect of day cases. The data are therefore not fully comparable with
earlier years.
<3>Includes patients transferred from other hospitals and babies born
in hospital. From April 1991 also includes maternity patients.
n/a Not available.
River Dee
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the flood defence embankments of the River Dee from Connah's quay to Saltney in respect of high tides ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Wyn Roberts : I am aware that these flood embankments were assessed as part of the recent sea defence survey undertaken by the National Rivers Authority and were considered to be in good order. This is due, for the most part, to the significant improvement works that have been carried out by the authority and its predecessors, in recent years. Much of this work has been undertaken with grant aid from the Department.
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Dobshill Hospital
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit the Dobshill hospital, Clwyd.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I have no present plans to do so.
Special Advisers
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which special advisers in his Department are seconded from other organisations ; and what are the organisations and the lengths and terms of the secondments.
Nurses (Allocation of Cars)
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cars have been allocated to NHS nurses in (a) the hospital service and (b) the community service in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
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Mr. Gwilym Jones : This information is not held centrally.
Meadowsleigh Hospital
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit Meadowsleigh hospital, Penyffordd, Clwyd.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I have no present plans to do so.
Housing Association Properties
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many housing association properties there are in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I refer the hon. Gentleman to table 1.4 of "Welsh Housing Statistics No. 13, 1993", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Minerals Planning Guidance
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on minerals planning guidance in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To date, a total of 11 minerals planning guidance notes have been produced by the Welsh Office jointly with the Department of the Environment. A further guidance, "Treatment of Disused Mine Openings and the Availability of Information on Mined Ground", is to be published shortly. "Opencast Coal Mining" and "Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England and Wales" are the subject of review.
Local Authority Housing
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of local authority houses currently under construction in each of the local authority areas ; how many houses have been constructed in each of the years from 1980 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Information on the construction of local authority dwellings and housing association houses is published in "Welsh Housing Statistics No. 13, 1993", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Broughton Special Hospital
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the future use of Broughton special hospital, Clwyd.
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Mr. Gwilym Jones : This is currently a matter for the Clwyd health authority.
Financial Assistance
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what financial assistance his Department has provided to (a) National Children's Home (Wales) and (b) the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Wales) in each of the last three years.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Under the support for child and family services scheme, the Welsh Office awarded grants totalling £105,459, £135,300 and £121,470 to NCH in Wales in 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94 respectively. No awards were made to the NSPCC.
Warden-controlled Properties
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many warden- controlled properties for elderly persons there are in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Local authorities' housing strategies and operational plans for 1994-95 show that at 1 April 1993 there were 15,350 sheltered dwellings for the elderly which had the services of a warden.
Planning Guidelines
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what differences of substance he has made in the provisions of the Welsh Office planning policy guidance note 6, when adapting for Wales the comparable guidelines drawn up by the Department of the Environment with particular reference to out-of- town supermarkets ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Planning policy guidance note 6 "Town Centres and Retail Developments" was published jointly by the Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office.
NHS Beds (Private Patients)
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give private bed income by health authority, and by hospital, or the smallest available unit, for each financial year since 1988-89.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The amount of private bed income by health authority for each financial year since 1988-89 was as follows :
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£000 Health authority |1988-89 |1989-90 |1990-91 |1991-92 |1992-93 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clwyd |352 |354 |434 |512 |501 East Dyfed |220 |284 |222 |208 |165 Gwent |17 |13 |20 |107 |128 Gwynedd |178 |214 |216 |222 |133 Mid Glamorgan |45 |74 |114 |174 |212 Pembrokeshire |77 |105 |105 |99 |155 Powys |- |- |- |- |- South Glamorgan |40 |23 |52 |67 |66 West Glamorgan |83 |97 |129 |159 |186 Source:Health authorities annual accounts. Pembrokeshire NHS trust annual accounts. Notes: 1.The above data are only available by health authority. 2.Consists of private in-patients-section 65-and accommodation and services provided under section 58 of the NHS Act 1977. 3.Data for Pembrokeshire in 1992-93 relate to income received by the Pembrokeshire NHS trust and are an aggregate figure of private in-patients-section 65 -private non-resident patients-section 66-and accommodation and services provided under section 58 of the NHS Act 1977.
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Hospital Estate
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidelines he has issued for calculation of the percentage maintenance expenditure for the annual upkeep of the hospital estate in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Guidelines on the percentage maintenance expenditure for the upkeep of the national health service estate in Wales were issued in Welsh health circular (85)30. This required health authorities to commit at least 7.5 per cent. of their total allocations-- revenue and capital--to the maintenance of assets, that is buildings, land, vehicles, engineering services, plant and equipment.
Community Care Expenditure
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is planned community care expenditure under his vote for each of 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97 in both cash and real terms.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Government expenditure is planned in cash terms. Resources of £86 million in 1994-95, £124.4 million in 1995-96 and £149.6 million in 1996-97 are being provided through the local government revenue settlement towards local authorities' new responsibilities for community care. These amounts are in addition to local government spending on personal social services generally, and to certain specific grants including resources which may be made available through the mental handicap and mental illness strategies. It is for individual local authorities to determine how much in total they will spend on community care.
NHS Expenditure
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what date he issued the Welsh Office 1993-94 cash allocation letter to the health authorities ; what further adjustments have been notified to Welsh health authorities ; whether any further adjustments are planned before the end of the financial year ; what proposals he has for alterations in the timings of such letters and adjustment notifications to health authorities in 1994- 95 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I refer the hon. Member to my reply on 9 December 1993 to his previous question relating to the notification and subsequent adjustments of 1993-94 allocations to health authorities, Official Report , column 305 . My right hon. Friend will announce the initial revenue and capital allocations for 1994-95 to health authorities shortly. The timing of subsequent adjustments to authorities' allocations will largely depend on when provision held in reserve for centrally funded developments is claimed by authorities.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the NHS planned expenditure in cash and real terms in 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Planned net provision for the NHS in Wales in 1994-95 is £2,076 million ; this is a cash increase of 5.1 per cent. over the comparable figure for this year.
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Provision for 1995-96 and 1996-97 will be detailed in the Welsh Office departmental report, which is due to be published in March.Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency concerning the proposed closure of the regional offices in Bangor, Carmarthen, Wrexham, Newport and Treforest.
Mr. Redwood : The location of its regional offices is a matter for the agency.
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