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Tourist Boards

Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will, in his deliberations on the future of Scottish area tourist boards, respect the wishes of both the Edinburgh and the Borders tourist boards in respect of whether or not to have a combined board ;


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(2) if he will make a statement on the reorganisation of the structure of Scottish area tourist boards.

Mr. Lang : I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for tourism in Scotland on 26 January, Official Report columns 314-15.

Student Grants

Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what was the level of Government expenditure on student grants in Scotland in (a) higher and (b) further education in each academic year since 1990-91 ; what are the expected levels of expenditure for 1993-94 and 1994-95 ; and how much was spent per registered student in each of these years ;

(2) what amount of Scottish university student fees was paid by Her Majesty's Government in each academic year since 1990-91 ; what is the expected level of expenditure for 1993-94 and 1994-95 ; and how much was spent per registered student in each of these years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Awards made under the students' allowances scheme to students in higher education cover maintenance, travel and fees and are available to eligible students attending full-time or sandwich courses provided by institutions, including universities, in the United Kingdom which led to a first degree or comparable qualification, or to a diploma. They are also available for full-time courses of initial teacher training. Similar support for courses in further education is the responsibility of the education authorities.

Departmental records of expenditure and plans relate to financial years. The actual expenditure on maintenance and tuition fees, and the average expenditure per award holder in the financial years 1990-91 to 1992-93 are shown in the table. The table also shows the total announced expenditure for 1993-94 and 1994-95.


             Total expenditure       Average per                        

                         student<1>                                     

            |Fees       |Maintenance|Fees       |Maintenance            

            |£ million  |£ million  |£ million  |£ million              

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1990-91     |39,145     |95,189     |1,145      |1,347                  

1991-92     |74,217     |117,268    |2,071      |1,456                  

1992-93     |86,603     |136,471    |2,251      |1,523                  

<2>1993-94  |<4>218,223 |158,243    |-          |-                      

<3>1994-95  |<4>158,914 |158,360    |-          |-                      

<1>Average per award holder.                                            

<2>Announced expenditure including winter supplementary estimate.       

<3>Planned.                                                             

<4>Covers total fees expenditure. It is not possible to distinguish     

between                                                                 

expenditure on fees to universities and to other institutions.          

Training and Enterprise Councils

Ms Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much funding has been made available to each training and enterprise council in 1992-93 and 1993-94, expressed in cash terms and real terms, and giving a real terms percentage change from the previous year, for (a) youth training and credits, (b) training for work and the programmes it replaced and (c) business start-up allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stewart : There are no training and enterprise councils in Scotland. The funding of local enterprise


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companies is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the chairmen of these bodies to write to the hon. Member.

Sheep Annual Premium

Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what delay there has been in payment of sheep annual premium to Scottish farmers in the last 12 months.

Sir Hector Monro : The processing of claims for payment under the 1993 sheep annual premium scheme has been slower than in previous years because of complexities arising from the introduction of sheep annual premium quotas. Payments began in October 1993 compared to the end of August in the previous year and have continued since then at regular intervals.

Prisons (Drug Abuse)

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons have died in prisons as a direct result of the abuse or misuse of (a) lawful drugs and (b) unlawful drugs in each year since 1978.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In the period from 1January 1978 to 31 December 1993 there has been only one death in Scottish prisons from abuse or misuse of drugs : in 1983 a prisoner died from an overdose of unlawful drugs.

Strathclyde

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to receive the findings of the Parliamentary Boundaries Commission in respect of Strathclyde; and if he will make a statement.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. Friend has no locus at this stage of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission's review of constituencies in Scotland. The commission is required to submit its report with respect to the whole of Scotland, showing the constituencies into which it recommends the country should be divided, by 31December 1994.

Conservation

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the number of economic developments which have been (a) delayed and (b) discontinued by way of objections raised under the terms of the European Community directive on the conservation of natural habitats of fauna and flora.

Sir Hector Monro : None.

Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on wildlife conservation on Forestry Commission land.

Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 31 January 1994] : One of the main aims of the Forestry Commission's forest enterprise is to enhance the wildlife conservation value of its woodlands as a whole and to safeguard special habitats. Wildlife conservation is an integral part of forest enterprise's multi-purpose forest management which integrates wood production, conservation, recreation and amenity.


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In achieving these aims, forest enterprise undertakes a wide range of conversation projects. It manages some 400 sites of special scientific interest and 46 forest nature reserves and undertakes projects for many species of flora and fauna. All of its forest districts have prepared conservation plans which identify sites where conservation should be the principal management objective, and specify what action is to be taken in these sites.

Forest enterprise has set down its commitment to best environmental practice in the form of an environmental code which states that it : (

(i) produces wood only from sustainable sources ;

(ii) identifies and manages special habitats, protects and maintains archaeological features and carries out positive management for threatened species ;

(iii) maintains expertise in environmental science and seeks a sound understanding of the interaction of its activities with the wider environment through available research and consultation with expert authorities ;

(iv) promotes environmental awareness and understanding amongst its staff and the outside world ;

(v) aims to minimise environmental disturbance in its operations and to meet the Forestry Authority's water, landscape and nature conservation guidelines ;

(vi) works to conservation plan for all its forests and actively manages to maintain and enhance conservation value ;

(vii) maintains close liaison with regulatory bodies and environmental organisations in order to keep in touch with their views on environmental policies and practices.

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the costs of implementing the European Community directive 92/43 EEC on the conservation of natural habitats of fauna and flora ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Hector Monro : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland announced to the House on 8December 1993 that Scottish Natural Heritage would be allocated £39.851 million in the financial year 1994 -95. This represents an increase of 10.5 per cent. on Scottish Natural Heritage's grant-in-aid for 1993-94. Scottish Natural Heritage has been instructed to accord the highest priority to work to implement the EC habitats directive. It is not, however, possible to make a firm estimate of costs specific to habitats directive implementation until work to implement the directive is further advanced.

Courts (Vulnerable Witnesses)

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research he has commissioned in respect of the circumstances surrounding the position of vulnerable adults when giving evidence in court proceedings ; if he will place a copy of the results in the Library ; and if he will make a statement.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The treatment of vulnerable witnesses is a matter which is kept under review. Police units for assisting women who are the subject of sexual or other assault operate in all parts of the country. The Crown Office has a committee part of the remit of which is to keep under review commitments in the justice charter to improved arrangements for witnesses. Arrangements exist at local level to assist and support vulnerable witnesses before they attend court to give evidence. Present research relates to the use of closed circuit television to enable children to give evidence in


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criminal cases outwith the court room. The results of that research will be used to advice decisions on new research proposals in this general field.

Prisons (Suicide)

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons have died by their own hand in prisons in each year since 1978; and what were the means by which such deaths were brought about.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information is set out in the table :


Year                                       |Means                                     |Total                                                                                

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1978                                       |Hanging (2), cut throat (1), jumping (1)  |4                                                                                    

1979                                       |Hanging (2), jumping (1)                  |3                                                                                    

1980                                       |Jumping<1>                                |1                                                                                    

1981                                       |Hanging (3) solvent inhalation (1)        |4                                                                                    

1982                                       |Hanging                                   |3                                                                                    

1983                                       |Hanging (4), overdose (1), cell fire and                                                                                        

                                           |asphyxiation (1)<1>                       |6                                                                                    

1984                                       |Hanging (4), inhalation of toxic fumes in                                                                                       

                                           |cell fire (1)                             |5                                                                                    

1985                                       |Hanging                                   |6                                                                                    

1986                                       |Hanging (5), jumping (2)<1>               |7                                                                                    

1987                                       |Hanging (6), inhalation of vomit, asphyxia                                                                                      

                                           |and solvent abuse (1)                     |7                                                                                    

1988                                       |Hanging                                   |7                                                                                    

1989                                       |Hanging (5), self-inflicted wounds to left                                                                                      

                                           |arm (1)                                   |6                                                                                    

1990                                       |Hanging (2), self strangulation (1)       |3                                                                                    

1991                                       |Hanging                                   |4                                                                                    

1992                                       |Hanging                                   |9                                                                                    

1993                                       |Hanging                                   |1                                                                                    

<1>Died in hospital.                                                                                                                                                        

Civil Servants

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) males and (b) females have been employed in each of the four senior grades in the Scottish Office in each of the past five years.

Mr. Lang : At 1 April each year the numbers of staff--expressed as full-time equivalents--employed in each of the four senior grades in the Scottish Office were as follows :


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FTE                                                                                             

As at April                                                                                     

Unified  1989            1990            1991<1>         1992<1>         1993<1>                

Grade   |Male   |Female |Male   |Female |Male   |Female |Male   |Female |Male   |Female         

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1       |1      |-      |1      |-      |1      |-      |1      |-      |1      |-              

2       |7      |-      |8      |-      |7      |-      |7      |-      |7      |-              

3       |22     |1      |21     |1      |23     |1      |21     |2.5    |20     |3              

4       |10     |-      |10     |-      |14     |1      |14     |1      |13     |2              

------- |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------                

Total   |40     |1      |40     |1      |45     |2      |43     |3.5    |41     |5              

<1>Medical staff at these grades are included in the figures with effect from 1 April 1991.     

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number of staff employed in the Scottish Office in each of the past five years in terms of occupational grades.


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Mr. Lang : The full-time equivalent numbers of staff by main occupational group, as defined by Treasury, in each of the past five years are shown in the table.


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Number of Staff (FTE) employed by The Scottish Office, by occupational group<2>         

FTE                                                                                     

Occupational group                 As at 1 April                                        

                                  |1989    |1990    |1991    |1992    |1993             

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a. The Scottish Office, excluding                                                       

   Scottish Prison Service<1>                                                           

Open Structure<2>                 |681.0   |723.5   |621.0   |627.5   |656.5            

Administration Group              |2,857.5 |2,881.0 |2,888.0 |2,833.0 |2,856.5          

Economist group                   |9.5     |9.5     |11.5    |11.5    |13.5             

Information Officer Group         |24.0    |27.5    |28.5    |26.0    |27.5             

Librarian Group                   |13.5    |14.0    |14.0    |13.5    |12.0             

Statistician Group                |8.0     |10.0    |11.0    |9.0     |15.0             

Secretarial Group                 |555.0   |568.5   |568.5   |545.0   |543.0            

Science group                     |215.0   |219.0   |224.0   |225.0   |223.5            

Professional and Technology Group |301.5   |296.5   |291.0   |288.5   |245.5            

Graphics Officer Group            |3.0     |3.0     |2.0     |3.0     |2.0              

Legal Group                       |5.0     |7.0     |9.0     |5.0     |6.0              

Curatorial/Conservation Group     |10.0    |17.0    |22.5    |27.5    |27.0             

Research Officer Group            |14.5    |16.0    |16.0    |15.0    |18.0             

General Service Group             |372.5   |353.0   |448.5   |423.0   |396.0            

Departmental Groups               |625.0   |587.5   |588.0   |555.5   |569.5            

Industrial Grades                 |578.0   |542.0   |538.5   |524.0   |486.5            

                                  |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------          

                                  |6,273.0 |6,275.0 |6,282.0 |6,132.0 |6,098.0          

                                  |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------          

b. Scottish Prison Service<1>                                                           

Non-Industrial Grades             |3,726.5 |3,920.5 |3,929.0 |4,154.5 |4,544.0          

Industrial Grades                 |77.0    |79.0    |75.0    |74.0    |81.0             

                                  |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------          

                                  |3,803.5 |3,999.5 |4,004.0 |4,228.5 |4,625.0          

                                  |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------          

Total                                                                                   

Scottish Office Core and Agencies |10,076.5|10,274.5|10,286.0|10,360.5|10,723.0         

<1> The Scottish Prison Service became an agency with effect from 1 April 1993. Prior   

to this, staff in prisons headquarters were counted in the Scottish                     

Office, excluding SPS, figures.                                                         

<2> There is no formal classification of posts or individuals by occupational group for 

staff at unified grade 7 and above-such staff are counted in the                        

"Open Structure" group.                                                                 

Nurse Grading Appeals

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list, for each health board area, the number of nurse clinical grading appeals which are pending at the different levels of the appeals procedure ; what are the amounts of money involved in these claims ; what proposals he has to improve the processing of appeals ; and when he expects the whole exercise to be completed.

Mr. Stewart : I understand that there were no nurse clinical grading appeals outstanding at health board level on 21 January 1994. On the same date a total of 586 appeals were outstanding at Scottish and national levels, a reduction from 960 in May 1993. The breakdown of these by health board is given in the table.

No estimate of the total sum of money involved in these claims has been made. The nursing and midwifery staffs negotiating council is currently discussing new procedures to speed up and streamline the appeals process and I expect that the bulk of the outstanding cases in Scotland will be cleard by early 1995.


Outstanding Nurse Clinical Grading Appeals in Scotland                                    

Health board          |Scottish appeals|National level  |Total                            

                      |committee       |appeals                                           

                      |outstanding     |oustanding                                        

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Argyll and Clyde      |1               |26              |27                               

Ayrshire and Arran    |13              |4               |17                               

Borders               |1               |11              |12                               

Dumfries and Galloway |-               |16              |16                               

Fife                  |1               |44              |45                               

Forth Valley          |40              |64              |104                              

Grampian              |10              |5               |15                               

Greater Glasgow       |14              |46              |60                               

Highland              |-               |11              |11                               

Lanarkshire           |24              |39              |63                               

Lothian               |1               |56              |57                               

Orkney                |-               |-               |-                                

Shetland              |1               |3               |4                                

Tayside               |85              |62              |147                              

Western Isles         |-               |8               |8                                

CSA                   |-               |-               |-                                

State Hospital        |-               |-               |-                                

                      |--              |--              |--                               

Total                 |191             |395             |586                              

Homelessness

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were classified as homeless at the latest available date in (a) Inverclyde, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland as a whole.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 1 December 1993, Official Report , column 479 .


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Mental Health Officers

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many social workers attained the mental health officer qualification in each of the regional and island council areas in each of the past four years ; what is the total number of such qualified social workers in each of these areas ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stewart : Information on the number of social workers who have attained the mental health officer qualification is not held centrally. Information supplied to the Scottish Office by local authorities on the number of main grade and senior social workers who have undertaken the mental health officer course in the period October 1989 to October 1992 is set out in the table.


Number of main grade/senior social workers undertaking the mental                                         

health officer course, where course commenced by October 1992                                             

                       Year course                                                                        

                       concluded                                                                          

Region                |1990         |1991         |1992         |1993                                     

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Borders               |-            |6            |4            |-                                        

Central               |-            |-            |-            |-                                        

Dumfries and Galloway |-            |2            |-            |2                                        

Fife                  |-            |-            |-            |-                                        

Grampian              |11           |8            |-            |-                                        

Highland              |2            |1            |2            |-                                        

Lothian               |-            |-            |-            |-                                        

Strathclyde           |4            |25           |-            |-                                        

Tayside               |-            |6            |-            |-                                        

Orkney                |-            |-            |-            |-                                        

Shetland              |-            |-            |-                                                      

                      |Western Isles|-            |-            |-            |1                          

NHS Dental Patients

Dr. Godman : To ask sthe Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were registered as national health service dental patients in (a) Inverclyde, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland as a whole in each year since 1978-79.

Mr. Stewart : Formal arrangements for patients to be registered with a specific dentist were introduced under the new contract for general dental practitioners on 1 October 1990. The number of people registered in each of the four health board areas within Strathclyde region and the total number registered in Scotland is contained in the table. Information for individual local government districts and regional areas is not available.


Number of people registered with a dentist in Scotland as at 31 March                      

Health Board Area  |1991             |1992             |1993                               

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Argyll and Clyde   |146,481          |212,879          |211,071                            

Ayrshire and Arran |170,743          |219,701          |199,510                            

Greater Glasgow    |296,476          |456,581          |472,401                            

Lanarkshire        |150,452          |233,418          |242,743                            

                                                                                           

Scotland-Total     |1,710,947        |2,485,531        |2,528,268                          

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions since 1982 in Scotland a potentially damaging operation to a site of special scientific interest has been carried out following the failure to reach a management agreement as set out in section 29 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Hector Monro : Information on damage to sites of special scientific interest is contained in the annual reports of the former Nature Conservancy Council and the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland, copies of which are in the Library.

Scottish National Theatre Company

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Arts Council concerning the creation of a Scottish National Theatre Company ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Hector Monro : There has been no recent discussion between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Scottish Arts Council on the subject of a Scottish national theatre. I understand, however, that a working party was established recently by the Scottish Arts Council to assess the demand and potential remit of a national theatre company. It would be for the Scottish Arts Council to determine whether such a company, if established, should be supported by its funds.

Less-favoured Areas

Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cattle and sheep farms are wholly or mainly in the less-favoured areas.

Sir Hector Monro : In June 1993 there were 13,443 main holdings classified as cattle and sheep farms wholly or mainly in the less-favoured areas.

Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the total subsidy to be paid on cattle and sheep in the less- favoured areas in 1994.

Sir Hector Monro : The total direct subsidy paid under the sheep annual premium, suckler cow premium and hill livestock compensatory allowance schemes in 1994 on cattle and sheep in the Scottish less-favoured areas is estimated to be over £180 million.

NHS Helpline

Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many calls have been received by the NHS helpline in Scotland each month since its inception.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 1 February 1994] : Information on the total number of calls, both interactive and non-interactive, which have been made to the NHS helpline each month since it came into operation is as follows :


                                 | Number        

-------------------------------------------------

29 October-20 November 1992      |759            

21 November-18 December 1992     |710            

19 December 1992-15 January 1993 |674            

16 January-12 February 1993      |1,303          

13 February-12 March 1993        |1,140          

13 March-9 April 1993            |1,214          

10 April-7 May 1993              |834            

8 May-4 June 1993                |975            

5 June-2 July 1993               |1,128          

3 July-30 July 1993              |1,236          

31 July-27 August 1993           |861            

28 August-24 September 1993      |801            

25 September-22 October 1993     |1,059          

23 October-19 November 1993      |765            

20 November-17 December 1993     |644            

18 December 1993-14 January 1994 |561            

                                                 

Total                            |14,664         

Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost of setting up the NHS helpline in Scotland and the cost to date ; what has been the total cost of administering the service to date ; how many staff have been employed ; and what is the salary of the head of the NHS helpline.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 1 February 1994] : The NHS helpline was set up in October 1992 at a cost of £72,401 ; and total expenditure to date on operational and publicity costs is £330,912. The service is operated on behalf of the NHS in Scotland management executive by Network Scotland on a contractual basis with the cost of administering the helpline met from within the contract price. Network Scotland employs a project supervisor and up to four part-time operators to work specifically on the NHS helpline. The salaries of Network Scotland employees are not known.

Holyrood House

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the cost to his Department of Holyrood house in each of the last 10 years ; and how this cost was divided between major categories of expenditure.

Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 1 February 1994] : The information for the most recent five years is :


A

             |Programme   |Staff costs |Total                    

             |expenditure                                        

             |£           |£           |£                        

-----------------------------------------------------------------

1989-90      |771,667     |307,856     |1,079,523                

1990-91      |860,833     |288,636     |1,149,469                

1991-92      |723,000     |334,346     |1,057,346                

1992-93      |696,600     |338,530     |1,035,130                

1993-94      |671,550     |337,852     |<1>1,009,402             

<1> Estimate.                                                    

These costs include all expenditure directly attributable to the palace but not professional and central administration. Information for previous years was not collected on a comparable basis.

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what grace-and-favour accommodation is available at Holyrood house; who occupies it; and how costs are allocated between the occupants and his Department.

Sir Hector Monro : [holding answer 1February 1994] : I understand that there is no grace and favour accommodation at the palace of Holyrood house.


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Shameless Indecency

Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the adequacy of the enforcement of the law of shameless indecency in Scotland.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 1 February 1994] : I am not aware of any particular difficulties in enforcing this aspect of the common law. The statistics show that in 1992 more than double the number of persons were charged with shameless indecency than in 1988 and nearly double the number of persons were convicted of that offence by the courts.

Irvine Development Corporation

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions his Department is planning to have with tenants' groups within Irvine new town on safeguarding the interests of development corporation tenants.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 31 January 1994] : Responsibility for discussion and consultation with the tenants lies with the development corporation. I understand that it has already held meetings and issued newsletters and plans to continue this practice.

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the timetable for the disposal by Irvine development corporation of its housing stock.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 31 January 1994] : Our policy guidance to corporations encourages them to maximise tenure diversification in the period prior to wind-up. This will involve sales to tenants under right to buy and rent to mortgage and sales of all new build and vacant houses to housing associations.

For the remaining tenanted stock, the development corporation is to submit its strategy to the Secretary of State by 31 December 1994 and once approved successor landlords will be invited to submit bids for the stock. Tenants will choose their successor landlord in ballots to be held around six months before wind-up.

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many tenancies are currently managed by Irvine development corporation ; how many Irvine development corporation tenants have opted to purchase their properties for each year since the introduction of the legislation allowing this ; what are the current values of (a) Irvine development corporation's housing stock, (b) Irvine development corporation's commercial assets and (c) Irvine development corporation's headquarters ; and what is Irvine development corporation's current annual turnover and its annual expenditure.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 31 January 1994] : There is no standard definition of turnover which can be applied to the new towns. The annual accounts of each town are prepared to a common style and disclose income arising from rents, grants, subsidies and other sources together with the income and outgoings on property transactions. The latest accounts which are contained in the corporation's annual report for 1992-93 are available in the Library of the House. These accounts also provide the net book value of the corporation's assets at 31 March 1993.


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Valuations for individual properties do not appear since it is commercial inappropriate to provide these for properties which will be sold in the near future.

The tenancies managed by the corporation at 1 January 1994 were :


                                  |Number       

------------------------------------------------

(a) Housing                       |3,668        

(b) Industry                      |92           

(c) Commercial                    |83           

(d) Other, including agricultural |161          

The numbers of corporation housing tenants who have opted to purchase their house under the right-to-buy provisions are as follows :


           |Number       

-------------------------

1980-81    |21           

1981-82    |15           

1982-83    |79           

1983-84    |74           

1984-85    |94           

1985-86    |86           

1986-87    |192          

1987-88    |196          

1988-89    |279          

1989-90    |353          

1990-91    |261          

1991-92    |167          

1992-93    |138          

<1>1993-94 |133          

<1>To 1 December 1993.   

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what precise measures he will take to ensure the rights of Irvine development corporation tenants to transfer to a local authority landlord, following the Government's planned reforms of Scottish local government.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 31 January 1994] : The tenants of Irvine development corporation will be able to choose their successor landlord in ballots to be held before wind-up. My right hon. Friend agreed in February 1992 that the local authority could bid to be the successor landlord and the detailed guidance issued to development corporations and local authorities makes clear what is expected of all bidders. Local government reform does not alter this.

Statutory Sick Pay

Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a figure for the number of staff in his Department covered by statutory sick pay.

Mr. Lang [holding answer 31 January 1994] : As at 27 January 1994, 7,280 staff in the Scottish Office, excluding the Scottish Prison Service, and the associated departments were covered by statutory sick pay.

Regional Selective Assistance

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many companies have been awarded regional selective assistance in Scotland and have subsequently not met the terms of the original award ;

(2) from which companies his Department has managed to recoup regional selective assistance ; how much regional


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selective assistance was recovered for each of the last five years ; and from how many companies these moneys were recovered during each year of this period.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 26 January 1994] : It is envisaged that some investment projects may for good reason be revised, after an offer of regional selective assistance has been made. In some such cases the payment of assistance may still be justified according to the terms of the original offer. In other cases where changes occur which cannot be readily accommodated within the terms of the offer, the Department treats the project either as failed or reduced in scale and will seek repayment of grant paid or reduce the level of offer as appropriate. In the five years to 31 December 1993, 121 projects where some grant had been paid were treated as failed, the principal reason being the liquidation or receivership of the company.

Details of grant recoveries from individual companies are commercially confidential and are not divulged. The recovery figures requested are given in the table.


          |Amount   |Number of          

          |recovered|companies          

          |£ million                    

----------------------------------------

1989      |0.022    |2                  

1990      |1.117    |9                  

1991      |0.239    |7                  

1992      |0.610    |4                  

1993      |1.610    |5                  

Cars (Allocation)

Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many cars have been allocated to the managers, advisers and administrators employed by the NHS trust hospitals in each of the last two financial years.

Mr. Stewart [holding answer 27 January 1994] : This information is not held centrally.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Citizens Charters

Mr. Meacher : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the total cost so far of (a) producing and (b) distributing (i) each of the citizens charters and (ii) the documents associated with each of them.

Mr. Waldegrave : Production and distribution costs of publishing the Citizen's Charter White Paper (Cm 1599) and the Citizen's Charter First Report : 1992 (Cm 2101) are borne by HMSO, which expects to recover the costs through sales revenue. The cost of producing and distributing the leaflet guides to the Citizen's Charter White Paper and First Report are £900,000 and £440,000 respectively. Individual public service organisations are responsible for producing and distributing their own charters for those who use their services. The total costs of these, as far as we are aware of them, are set out in the table.


Column 788


Costs of publication and distribution of charters and associated                                  

documents                                                                                         

Department/Organisation                           |Cost                                           

                                                  |£                                              

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OPSS                                                                                              

Guide to Citizen's Charter White Paper (Cm 1599)  |900,000                                        

Guide to Citizen's Charter First Report (Cm 2101) |440,000                                        

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food       |42,269                                         

British Rail                                      |250,000                                        

HM Customs and Excise                             |306,948                                        

Employment Department                             |630,808                                        

Department for Education                          |5,262,639                                      

Department of the Environment                     |79,418                                         

Foreign and Commonwealth Office                   |41,779                                         

Department of Health                              |4,101,227                                      

Inland Revenue                                    |5,000                                          

London Underground                                |362,000                                        

Lord Chancellor's Department                      |131,000                                        

Department of Social Security                     |257,160                                        

Northern Ireland Civil Service                    |518,700                                        

Scottish Office                                   |419,000                                        

Welsh Office                                      |622,148                                        

                                                  |-------                                        

Total                                             |14,370,096                                     

Public Appointments

Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list for each of the last five years by Department (a) the number of approaches to the public appointments unit for names, (b) how many public appointments unit nominees have been forwarded in response to those approaches in (a) , and (c) how many of these nominees have been appointed to a public body as a result.

Mr. Waldegrave : The number of requests for names of candidates is not kept by individual Department, and the numbers of names put forward in response to such requests is not recorded. Aggregated information is available as follows :


Year           Number of     Number of PAU                            

                             nominees                                 

               approaches    known to have                            

                             been appointed                           

              |to the public                                          

              |appointments                                           

              |unit(PAU)                                              

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1988-89       |215          |117          |<1>(44)                    

1989-90       |242          |133          |(32)                       

1990-91       |188          |140          |(63)                       

1991-92       |258          |121          |(57)                       

1992-93       |308          |128          |(67)                       

<1> Number of female nominees appointed.                              

Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many names have been (a) added to and (b) deleted from the public appointments unit central list since 1990.


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