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Column 352
Forestry
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are his policy objectives for private commercial woodlands and forestry.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 24 January 1994] : The Government's forestry policy objectives are described in the booklet "Forestry Policy for Great Britain", a copy of which is in the Library.
Consultants
Dr. Tony Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on which occasions since 1979 his Department has employed the services of external consultants ; and if he will give details of the purposes for which they were employed and the cost of employing them.
Mr. Lang : The information required could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
NATIONAL FINANCE
CCT Agency
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the loss of invoices by the Compulsory Competitive Tendering Agency that was discovered after the transfer of responsibility to the Cabinet Office.
Mr. Nelson : In 1984-85 CCTA introduced charges to cover part of the cost of the work which it carried out on behalf of other Departments. The coverage of these charges was subsequently extended by the agency until full cost recovery for all services provided directly to Departments was introduced on 1 April 1992. It came to light in 1991-92 that invoices to other Departments totalling just over £1 million relating to the period 1984-85 to 1989-90 remained uncleared. Attempts were made to link these to payments received, but this was not possible because of changes to the billing arrangements and accounting procedures.
Since the invoices related to transactions between Departments and no funds have been lost to the Exchequer, the Cabinet Office decided that the outstanding invoices should be written off. The same treatment would have been required had responsibility for CCTA remained with the Treasury.
Consultancies
Ms Abbott : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the (a) accountancy firms and (b) merchant banks to which his Department awarded private consultancy work in 1992 and 1993, together with a list of the consultancies concerned and the amount paid.
Mr. Nelson : The following table lists merchant banks and those companies which have accountancy arms who have carried out work for Her Majesty's Treasury during 1992 and 1993.
Companies |Type of consultancy |Cost
|work
|(including
|VAT)
|(£)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barings |Privatisation |<1>-
BDO Binder Hamlyn |Auditing |5,348
Coopers & Lybrand |Auditing |20,285
Deloitte
Coopers & Lybrand |Privatisation |<1>-
Deloitte
Ernst & Young |Privatisation |<1>-
Ernst & Young |Market Testing |21,018
Kleinwort Benson |Privatisation |<1>-
KPMG Peat Marwick |Training |52,875
KPMG Peat Marwick |Research Project |21,200
KPMG Peat Marwick |Privatisation |<1>-
Osborne Clark |Privatisation |<1>-
Price Waterhouse |Management Consultancy|35,250
Price Waterhouse |Privatisation |<1>-
Price Waterhouse |Advice on Pay and |5,330
| Management Issues
Price Waterhouse |Research Project |28,500
Touche Ross |Market Testing |26,438
Towers Perrin |Job Evaluation |132,599
The Wyatt Company |Risk Management |36,438
<1> On privatisation it is Her Majesty's Treasury policy not to disclose
fees paid to individual advisers as these are regarded as
commercial-in-confidence.
Income and Tax Statistics
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 12 January, Official Report , columns 190-93 , if he will provide the same information on income and tax levels for the United Kingdom for (a) 1980-81, (b) 1989-90, (c) 1991-92, (d) 1992-93 and (e) 1993 -94.
Mr. Dorrell : Estimates based on the survey of personal incomes are in the tables. For 1980-81 and 1989-90, married couples are counted as one taxpayer and their incomes are combined. Following the introduction of independent taxation, for 1990-91 onwards, husbands and wives are counted separately. The estimates of total income relate to income tax and exclude non-taxable income such as certain social security benefits.
£ million
Quantile group of |Total income |Income tax lia-
taxpayers
percent. |bility
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980-81
Top 1<1> |7,400 |2,900
Top 5<1> |21,500 |6,500
Top 10<1> |34,400 |9,300
Bottom 50<1> |39,500 |5,200
All taxpayers<1> |138,400 |26,900
1989-90
Top 1<1> |24,200 |7,800
Top 5<1> |61,700 |16,600
Top 10<1> |93,400 |22,600
Bottom 50<1> |86,600 |8,500
All taxpayers<1> |323,400 |53,400
1991-92
Top 1 |31,200 |10,400
Top 5 |73,900 |20,700
Top 10 |109,600 |27,500
Bottom 50 |98,200 |9,300
All taxpayers |373,800 |63,500
1992-93
Top 1 |31,700 |10,600
Top 5 |75,000 |21,100
Top 10 |111,500 |28,100
Bottom 50 |98,700 |8,500
All taxpayers |380,000 |63,200
1993-94
Top 1 |32,600 |10,900
Top 5 |77,000 |21,900
Top 10 |114,400 |29,100
Bottom 50 |98,200 |8,600
All taxpayers |385,400 |65,000
<1>Tax units for years prior to 1990-91.
Duty Free Goods
Mr. John Townend : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the concession that duty-free goods purchased on both the outward and return journeys on carriers within the single market should be legitimately imported into the country where the travellers' journey started is the subject of an EC agreement ; and if he will make it his policy to ensure that the applicable duty-free regime should be decided by each member state in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Sir John Cope : EC law permits, but does not require, member states to continue with duty-free shopping for a transitional period until 30 June 1999. Like other EC countries the United Kingdom has allowed duty-free shopping to continue, to avoid an adverse effect of the single market on the duty-free industry in the United Kingdom which is the biggest in the EC.
In the single market, there are no routine fiscal checks at frontiers, and the duty-free system now operates by controls on what the vendor sells, rather than what the traveller imports. EC law envisages that the vendor will sell no more than the previous "allowance" to a passenger on an intra- EC journey, so it is legitimate for a passenger to acquire one "allowance" on each leg of a return journey.
Excise Duties (Alcohol)
Mr. John Townend : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what level of trade, in terms of money and jobs, has been lost in the United Kingdom as a result of the differential in excise duties on alcoholic beverages and tobacco as levied by France and by the United Kingdom since the creation of the single market.
Sir John Cope : Customs do not maintain records in these terms. However, duty receipts for alcoholic beverages and tobacco are generally up on previous years, as detailed below. This suggests that much cross-border shopping represents new consumption.
£ million Product |1991 |1992 |1993 ----------------------------------------------------- Tobacco products |5,963 |6,417 |7,394 Spirits |1,681 |1,675 |1,724 Wines |899 |967 |1,043 Beer |2,282 |2,376 |<1>2,228 Cider/Perry |74 |85 |100 <1> The change to end-product duty entailed a one-off cash flow loss in 1993 of about £200 million (indicating an underlying increase of about 2 per cent.).
Mr. John Townend : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions there have been, and
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what was the value of goods involved, where persons have been prosecuted for importing excisable beverages or tobacco products purporting to be for their personal use, over the last 12 months.Sir John Cope : During 1993 Customs and Excise prosecutions have been concluded in 51 cases involving the illegal disposal of excise goods purported to have been imported for personal use. The estimated value of the goods involved was about £500,000. A further 76 cases are in the prosecution system but have not yet been concluded. In the 11 months to 30 November 1993, Customs made 1,016 detections of illicit practices involving £1,624,543 revenue, equating approximately to a retail value of about £2.7 million. In addition to the prosecutions mentioned above, Customs limited their action in 338 cases to seizure only of the goods, of which 161 of those cases involved also the seizure of vehicles. The balance of 551 cases have been settled under Customs' power to compound proceedings on payment of penalties in lieu of prosecution or are awaiting the outcome of considerations as to the course of action to be taken.
Contraband
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each of the last 10 years the quantities and estimated value of contraband seized, categorised by type, and indicate how it has been disposed of.
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Sir John Cope [holding answer 25 January 1994] : Customs and Excise have records for contraband seizures for the period from 1 April 1991. An analysis of these years can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Smuggling, South Coast
Mr. Denham : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many front- line anti-smuggling staff are currently deployed at each port on the south coast ; and how many were deployed at each south coast port in each year since 1983.
Sir John Cope [holding answer 26 January 1994] : This information is not gathered centrally and the cost of supplying staffing figures for all south coast ports is considered to be disproportionate. However, the number of staff years deployed on anti-smuggling duties for the main south coast ports are as follows.
Numbers for earlier years are no longer available as the records have now been destroyed. The figures for 1992-93 and 1993-94 relate purely to anti- smuggling staff but the numbers for earlier years also cover other duties which include collection of duty and other fiscal work. The figures were not sub-divided between anti-smuggling and other tasks for those earlier years.
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Year |Ramsgate |Dover |Southampton|Portsmouth |Newhaven |Poole |Plymouth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1988 |30 |380 |45 |130 |45 |23 |108 1989 |29 |389 |45 |145 |70 |42 |111 1990 |47 |361 |60 |130 |75 |55 |111 1991 |45 |<1>280 |66 |120 |70 |59 |104 1992 |34 |260 |74 |104 |66 |58 |83 1993 (current) |34 |<2>208 |84 |93 |54 |61 |83 <1>The re-organisation to separate anti-smuggling and demand-led staff started earlier in Dover than in the other ports. <2>This does not include anti-smuggling staff who will be working at Channel Tunnel locations.
The deployment of anti-smuggling staff at any given time in a port can vary according to the perceived risk. They can also be augmented, when necessary, by staff from elsewhere in the executive units.
Mortgage Interest Relief
Ms Harman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the additional cost to the average first-time buyer would have been for the latest financial year for which figures are available had mortgage interest relief been restricted in that year to (a) 20 per cent. and (b) 15 per cent.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 26 January 1994] : It is not possible to provide an estimate since accurate information on the mortgage interest rates paid by first-time buyers is not available. The average new loan for first-time buyers in 1993-94 was over £30,000.
Ms Harman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average interest rate payable on mortgages qualifying for mortgage interest relief is expected to be in 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 26 January 1994] : Interest rates will continue to be set to achieve the Government's objectives for low inflation and sustainable growth.
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Ms Harman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what working assumption has been used for interest rates to calculate forecasts of the cost of changes to the rate of mortgage interest relief published in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report 1994-95."
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 26 January 1994] : Using the conventional assumption of mortgage interest rates remaining at their then current level, 8 per cent. was used.
Ms Harman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of mortgage interest relief would be in 1994-95 and 1995-96 if the rate at which it were available were unchanged from 1993-94.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 26 January 1994] : The estimated costs if mortgage interest relief were given at 25 per cent. are £4.3 billion in 1994-95 and £4.7 billion in 1995-96. These estimates are based on the conventional assumption that mortgage interest rates remain at their current levels.
Business Support
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total budget of the European Community's support for small and medium- sized enterprises under (a) Eurotech capital, (b) the venture consort scheme, and (c) seed capital funds in each year
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since their establishment; and what was the total allocation of each to (i) the northern region and (ii) the United Kingdom as a whole.Mr. McLoughlin : I have been asked to reply.
Most of the separate annual figures are not readily available, but the information available from the European Commission of the total budgets for these schemes is as follows :
Eurotech Capital
Eurotech Capital expenditure by the Commission since the inception of the programme mid-1991 is around 8.5 MECUs (approximately £6.3 million).
Separate figures for expenditure in the nothern region or in the United Kingdom are not available.
The Venture Consort Scheme
The European Commnity spent a total of 10.4 MECUs--approximately £8 million--on the scheme, which ran from 1985-1993. Of this, 2.1 MECUs-- approximately £1.6 million--was spent in the United Kingdom. Separate figures for expenditure in the nothern region are not available.
Seed Capital Funds
Between 1989 and 1992 the Community budget was 4.381
MECU--approximately £3.3 million. In 1993 the budget was £1.498 MECU--£1.1 million--and in 1994 it is 2.16 MECU--£1.6 million. Separate figures for expenditure in the United Kingdom or the northern region are not available.
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total budget of the European Community scheme to create a network of business and innovation centres in each year since their establishment; and what was the total budget awarded under this scheme to (a) the northern region and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole.
Mr McLoughlin : I have been asked to reply.
The total European Community budget available for business and innovation centres since the network was established in 1984 is as follows
Year |MECU |£ million ---------------------------------------- 1984 |1.5 |0.9 1985 |0.8 |0.5 1986 |2.8 |1.9 1987 |2.4 |1.7 1988 |3.9 |2.6 1989 |6.0 |4.1 1990 |5.5 |3.9 1991 |7.9 |5.5 1992 |7.0 |5.1 1993 |7.0 |5.3 1994 |8.0 |6.0
Separate figures for expenditure in the northern region or the United Kingdom are not readily available.
Sterling/ECU conversion rates are shown at the average rate prevailing in each calendar year.
EDUCATION
Grant-maintained Schools
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education in which publications, over what period, and at what cost, the current advertisement, or advertisements, for grant-maintained schools are being placed ; and what is the cost of the associated freephone information service.
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Mr. Robin Squire : The advertisements providing factual information on grant-maintained status will run for five weeks from 20 January in a range of publications at a cost of some £200,000. They coincide with the introduction of the relevant provisions of the Education Act 1993. Requests for booklets arising from the advertisements will be fielded through the Department's distribution arrangements for GM information, which include a freephone service ; it is not possible at this time to disaggregate the costs related to telephone calls prompted specifically by the advertising campaign.
Further Education Funding Council
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what representations he has received on the appointment of Phillip Head, the former chief executive of the Welsh Development Agency as property controller of the Further Education Funding Council ; (2) whether the Further Education Funding Council takes up references before formally appointing senior executives ; (3) how many candidates were shortlisted for the post of property controller for the Further Education Funding Council.
Mr. Boswell : My right hon. Friend has received no representations about the appointment by the Further Education Funding Council to the post of head of property services. I understand that the council advertised the post on two separate occasions. Twelve candidates were interviewed before a final appointment was made. It is the council's policy to take up references before formally appointing senior executives. My right hon. Friend is satisfied that this appointment was made on the basis of fair and open competition.
EMPLOYMENT
Access to Work Scheme
Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the estimated costs for the administration of the access to work scheme in its first year of operation.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlilse) on the 24 January 1994, Official Report, column 100.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will produce a table showing unemployment levels as a percentage of the working population for each of European Community countries for the latest years available.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested can be found in the "Unemployment Bulletin" published by the Statistical Office of the European Community. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development also publishes similar information in its publication "Monthly Economic Indicators", although on a slightly different basis and not for all countries. Copies of both these publications can be found in the Library.
Column 359
Unemployment Benefit
Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list for the United Kingdom in total, and by standard region including Greater London, the number of households claiming unemployment benefit for each year since 1978-79.
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 21 January 1994] : Estimates from the labour force survey--LFS--of
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the number of households where either the head, or the cohabiting partner of the head, is claiming unemployment related benefits are given in the following table, for each spring since 1983. Prior to this, the monthly administrative unemployment figures were based upon a registrant count rather than a claimant count. As a result no complete information about those claiming unemployment-related benefits is available from the labour force survey before 1983.Column 359
Households where either the head, or the cohabiting partner of the head, is claiming unemployment related benefits.
Not seasonally adjusted
Thousands
Spring each year
Standard regions |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992 |1993
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South East |451 |465 |475 |517 |468 |363 |225 |202 |297 |452 |508
Greater London |218 |241 |231 |258 |233 |197 |131 |115 |155 |214 |250
Rest of South East |233 |223 |243 |259 |235 |166 |94 |87 |142 |238 |258
East Anglia |58 |48 |57 |60 |55 |36 |20 |23 |33 |36 |51
South West |118 |123 |115 |126 |132 |103 |57 |48 |82 |116 |134
West Midlands |255 |243 |250 |235 |229 |183 |115 |80 |137 |162 |170
East Midlands |121 |135 |153 |147 |156 |127 |81 |62 |88 |96 |94
Yorkshire and Humberside |193 |201 |215 |221 |209 |194 |120 |93 |110 |140 |128
North West |289 |280 |268 |290 |270 |245 |166 |139 |150 |178 |175
North |146 |155 |149 |146 |149 |145 |98 |83 |84 |83 |89
Wales |115 |99 |109 |116 |126 |108 |65 |55 |64 |70 |68
Scotland |193 |221 |231 |246 |248 |204 |137 |109 |124 |128 |125
Northern Ireland |80 |75 |83 |84 |89 |79 |62 |65 |57 |58 |58
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
United Kingdom |2,018 |2,044 |2,105 |2,189 |2,132 |1,788 |1,147 |960 |1,226 |1,519 |1,599
Source: Labour Force Survey.
Note: Figures are based on the eligibility rules for claiming unemployment related benefits at the time of each survey.
Industrial Inquiry
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what amount was recovered, under section 22 of the Social Security Act 1989, from the damages paid to victims of industrial injury for Durham for each year since 1989.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Numbers of injuries for County Durham, as reported to the Health and Safety Executive's field operations division and local authorities--who enforce the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for certain premises--for each year since 1989 are :
Year |Number of
|injuries
------------------------------
1988-89 |2,916
1989-90 |2,890
1990-91 |2,932
1991-92 |2,679
1992-93 |2,344
This does not include numbers of reported injuries in mines and on railways which are not available in the form requested.
The Health and Safety Executive does not hold, and has no access to, information relating to payments as a result of industrial injury.
Misbehaviour Dismissals
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what instructions are provided to unemployment benefit offices on the rules regarding reduction of unemployment benefit for dismissal for misbehaviour and the number of weeks that any reduction should be imposed.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Bob Cryer, dated 27 January 1994.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the reduction of unemployment benefit for dismissal for misbehaviour.
The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 Section 28 (1) (a) contains provisions for disqualification from receiving unemployment benefit if employment is lost through misconduct. Copies of the legislation are held in all Employment Service Offices responsible for paying unemployment benefit, and adjudication offices.
When a client has been dismissed from their employment, payment of benefit is suspended whilst enquiries are made of the employer. The Benefits Agency (BA) is informed and if Income Support is claimed it may be payable at a reduced rate. It is for BA to decide the percentage of any reduction in accordance with Income Support Regulations 1987.10, and Income Support (General) Regulations 1987.22. Copies of these Regulations are held in Benefits Agency Offices.
If the reply from the employer indicates that employment was lost through the employee's misconduct the claim is referred to an adjudication officer, as it is a matter for the independent adjudication authorities to decide the length of any disqualification arising from misconduct. The current maximum period of
disqualification is 26 weeks.
I hope this is helpful.
Job Interviews (Travel Expenses)
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what regulations prevent the payment of travel allowance for job interviews to unemployed persons unless they have been unemployed for at least four weeks ; and if he will make a statement.
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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 Mr. Bob Cryer, dated 27 January 1994.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the four week unemployment regulation which excludes people from assistance to travel to job interviews.
I assume you are asking about one of the Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) eligibility rules. One of the TIS rules, is as you suggest, that people need to be unemployed for four weeks before they can become eligible. This eligibility condition is not a statutory requirement but part of the arrangements of the scheme. The reason for this is that there would be no advantage in spending money on encouraging people to broaden their jobsearch if there were jobs available locally. The qualifying period helps target the assistance on those who have explored their locality for work but who now have a need to look further afield.
The Travel to Interview Scheme was introduced in 1986 to help with the travel costs of unemployed people attending job interviews beyond daily travelling distance of their home area, thus widening the applicant's jobsearch improving their chances of obtaining work and encouraging labour mobility. During 1992-93 the scheme helped over 45,000 applicants at a cost of £1.5 million. A few basic conditions must be met before assistance can be granted, to ensure that the funds available are concentrated on those unemployed people in most need. A leaflet outlining the scope of the scheme is enclose.
I hope this is helpful.
PRIME MINISTER
Public Appointments
Dr. Wright : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the public appointments made by (a) Her Majesty the Queen in Council and (b) the Privy Council ; and if he will give details of the appointments made by these categories since 1979.
The Prime Minister : The information requested at (a) and (b) is as follows :
(a) Appointments made by Her Majesty in Council
Members of the Privy Council
Members of the Cabinet
High Sheriffs for the Counties of England and Wales (excluding Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster)
Governors of the British Broadcasting Corporation
Visitor of Brunel University
Civil Service Commissioners
Visitor of Cranfield University
Visitor of the University of Essex
6 Members of the General Dental Council
13 Members of the General Medical Council
6 Members of the Governing Body of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
(Until April 1992) Inspectors of Schools in England and Wales Chief Inspector of Schools in England
Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales
Inspectors of Schools in Scotland
Visitor of King's College, London
3 Members of the Court of the University of Leeds
5 Members of the Court of the University of London
Holder of the Lord Northcliffe Chair at University College, London Members of the Board of Visitors of The Queen's University Belfast Visitor of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School
Visitor of the University of Ulster
Visitor of the School of Oriental and African Studies
The Clerk of the Privy Council
The Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council
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