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Juvenile Offenders
Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juvenile offenders were placed by local authorities last year in private residential homes or schools such as Bryn Melyn in Wales.
Mr. Bowis : I have been asked to reply.
Information available centrally about the number of children and young people accommodated compulsorily by local authorities relates to the legislation under which they are held and not to offences committed or alleged.
The most recently held information relates to the period 14 October 1991 to 31 March 1992 and is based on valid information received from 90 local authorities. It is estimated that, in England, between 40 and 50 children or young people who were subject to a care order in criminal proceedings and between 30 and 40 who were on remand were accommodated compulsorily by local authorities in private residential homes or schools in this period.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Post Boxes
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee what consultations took place about the design of post boxes in the Palace of Westminster.
Mr. Ray Powell : Following consultation between officials of the House and the Post Office, which had agreed to commission and bear the cost of new post boxes, advice was sought on their practicability and design from the relevant Committees of both Houses and professional advisers. The introduction of the new boxes followed a limited trial period and an exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Column 165
Dining Rooms (Bookings)
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee if he will ensure that all bookings of private dining rooms in the Palace of Westminster are published each month.
Mr. Colin Shepherd [holding answer 26 January 1994] : No.
Smoking
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the right hon. Member for
Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will report progress regarding a policy on smoking in the Palace of Westminster.
Mr. Beith [holding answer 7 February 1994] : Following the reply that I gave to the hon. Member on this subject on 14 June last, the Commission has discussed policy on smoking in the House, and has concluded that this is a matter primarily for individual Departments of the House, for the relevant Domestic Select Committees, and for mutual agreement between the occupants of offices. The Library, Finance and Administration, and Refreshment Departments have taken action to formalise voluntary no smoking arrangements for their staff.
There has been no change in the arrangements which prohibit or curtail smoking in certain parts of the House used by Members. In addition, Rooms A, C and D of the Members' Library have been designated no smoking areas and the Catering Committee has agreed to the establishment of no smoking areas or arrangements in all Refreshment Department outlets.
In addition, the Refreshment Department has established, in consultation with relevant staff representatives, a mandatory no smoking policy to meet statutory requirements for its storage, production and service areas.
The Administration Committee has smoking policy on its agenda for consideration in the near future.
Departmental Select Committees
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many departmental select committee reports there have been since 1979 ; and how many have been debated in the House on a substantive motion.
Mr. Newton : I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to him by my predecessor on 13 June 1989 at column 358 and 11 November 1991 at column 365, which give the information up to the end of Session 1990-91. During Sessions 1991-92 and 1992-93, departmental Select Committees published 109 reports and 58 special reports. One was debated on a substantive motion ; many others have been debated in other ways, including debates on Estimates days and other occasions when reports were cited on the Order Paper as relevant to proceedings in the House. Information on all such debates is published in the Select Committees section of the sessional returns.
Sitting Days
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many working days the House sat ; and how many it was in recess in each of the last 20 calendar years.
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Mr. Newton : The table sets out the number of sitting and non- sitting days in the 20 years from 1974 to 1993. The number of non-sitting days does not include weekends or bank holidays.
Calendar |Sitting days|Non-sitting years |days<1> ---------------------------------------------------- 1974 |151 |<2>102 1975 |178 |75 1976 |190 |64 1977 |159 |94 1978 |170 |83 1979 |146 |<2>107 1980 |173 |81 1981 |177 |76 1982 |175 |78 1983 |154 |<2>99 1984 |171 |83 1985 |171 |82 1986 |166 |87 1987 |150 |<2>103 1988 |173 |81 1989 |176 |77 1990 |176 |77 1991 |165 |88 1992 |148 |<2>106 1993 |165 |88 Average |167 |87 <1>Weekends and bank holidays are assumed to account for 112 days each year. <2>General election year.
Members' Salaries
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Lord President of the Council how many hon. Members are drawing the new salary which came into force on 1 January.
Mr. Newton : Five hundred and fifty one right hon. and hon. Members are currently drawing the new full parliamentary salary and 92 right hon. and hon. Members are drawing the new reduced parliamentary salary payable to Ministers and office holders, both of which came into force on 1 January 1994.
EDUCATION
Student Debt
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the value of the average debt incurred by students concluding their courses.
Mr. Boswell : The information is as follows :
Course completed at |Average
end of academic
year 1992-93
|(mean) debt
|outstanding
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercial borrowing:
<1>Younger students (aged 26 or less at start of course) |430
Student loans:
<2>All students |440
<1>Source: Student Income and Expenditure Survey 1992-93
<2>Source: Student Loans Company
Information on average commercial borrowing by older students is not currently available : hence the two figures should not be added.
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Student Loans Company
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the annual running cost of the Student Loans Company.
Mr. Boswell : United Kingdom grant-in-aid for 1993-94 for the running costs of the Student Loans Company is £16.105 millions. This includes contributions from the Scottish Office Education Department and the Department for Education, Northern Ireland.
Assisted Places
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the average cost of assisted places in each local education authority in 1991-92.
Mr. Forth : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase) on 17 January at column 410.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the cost of dismantling the HMI office network ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : This is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Professor Sutherland to write to the hon. Member.
Departmental Regional Offices
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will provide an estimate of the costs of establishing regional offices of his Department ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Boswell : The Department has no plans to establish regional offices.
Sixth Forms
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the local education authorities which maintain sixth forms in schools and colleges of lesser size than the minimum recommended in the 1985 White Paper, "Better Schools", Cmnd 9469.
Mr. Boswell : The local education authorities in England which in January 1993 were maintaining some secondary schools with sixth forms with fewer than 150 pupils are as follows :
Avon
Barking and Dagenham
Barnet
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Bexley
Birmingham
Bolton
Bradford
Brent
Bromley
Buckinghamshire
Calderdale
Cambridgeshire
Camden
Cheshire
Cleveland
Cornwall
Coventry
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CumbriaDerbyshire
Devon
Doncaster
Dorset
Dudley
Durham
Ealing
East Sussex
Enfield
Essex
Gateshead
Gloucestershire
Greenwich
Hackney
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hampshire
Haringey
Havering
Hereford and Worcester
Hertforshire
Hillingdon
Hounslow
Humberside
Isle of Wight
Islington
Kent
Kingston upon Thames
Kirklees
Knowsley
Lancashire
Lambeth
Leeds
Leicestershire
Lewisham
Lincolnshire
Liverpool
Manchester
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newham
Norfolk
North Tyneside
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oldham
Oxfordshire
Redbridge
Rochdale
Rotherham
St. Helens
Sandwell
Sefton
Sheffield
Shropshire
Solihull
Somerset
Southwark
Staffordshire
Stockport
Suffolk
Surrey
Sutton
Tameside
Tower Hamlets
Trafford
Waltham Forest
Wakefield
Walsall
Wandsworth
Warwickshire
Westminster
West Sussex
Wiltshire
Wirral
Wolverhampton
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