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Robert McKeeBrian Lang
Gillian Cross
John Sumsion OBE
Rosemary Gray
Museums and Galleries (Attendances)
Mr. Faulds : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will publish the attendance figures for 1993 reported by the national museums and galleries in England for which he is responsible, broken down into the individual institutions, but including their outstations, with figures in each case of the percentage increase or decrease on the attendance figures for 1992.
Mr. Sproat [holding answer 18 January 1994] : Except for the British museum these attendance figures are now provided for financial years not for calendar years.
I list forecasts for the number of visitors to the 11 national museums and galleries in England for which I am responsible for the current financial year and the actual figures for the financial year 1992-93. More accurate figures for 1993-94 will be available later in July.
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|Attendance in |Forecasts of |Provisional
|1992-93 |attendance in |percentage
|1993-94 |increase/decrease
|(million) |(million) |over the previous
|year
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imperial War Museum |1.148 |1.150 |+0.2
National Gallery |4.200 |3.700 |-12.0
National Maritime Museum |0.541 |0.510 |-5.8
National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside |1.207 |1.200 |-0.6
National Portrait Gallery |0.563 |0.600 |+6.6
Natural History Museum |1.729 |1.750 |+1.2
Science Museum |2.579 |2.635 |+2.2
Tate Gallery |2.185 |2.550 |+16.7
Victoria and Albert Museum |1.454 |1.435 |-1.0
Wallace Collection |0.198 |0.165 |-16.7
|------- |------- |-------
Total<2> |15.804 |15.695 |-0.7
British Museum<1> |6.725 |6.209 |-7.7
<1>British Museum figures are for calendar years 1992 and 1993.
<2>Excluding British Museum attendances.
It is not possible to identify the number of visitors to the Royal Armouries which at present forms part of the Tower of London.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who are the members currently appointed to the court of the Bank of England.
Mr. Nelson : The current members of the Bank of England court are as follows :
Edward George, Esq (Governor)
Rupert Pennant-Rea, Esq (Deputy Governor)
Sir George Cadbury
Anthony Coleby, Esq
Sir Colin Corness
Mrs. Frances Heaton
Sir Christopher Hogg
Sir Martin Jacomb
Pendarell Kent, Esq
Mervyn King, Esq
Gavin Laird, Esq, CBE
Sir David Lees
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Sir Christopher Morse, KCMGSir David Scholey, CBE
Professor Sir Roland Smith
Sir Colin Southgate
Brian Quinn, Esq
Ministers (Travel)
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the (a) budgeted and (b) actual expenditure by Her Majesty's Treasury on (1) internal and (2) overseas travel by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1992-93 after 11 April 1992 and in 1992-93.
Mr. Nelson : There was no specific budgetary provision for travel by the Chief Secretary in 1992-93. Expenditure on foreign travel was £660, all of which was incurred after 11 April 1992 attending ministerial meetings at the request of the Chancellor. There was no expenditure on internal travel.
International Monetary Fund
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if it is the policy of the IMF to publishes only general economic data and not specific policy advice.
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Mr. Nelson : Discussions between IMF staff and country authorities are confidential. The IMF publish its assessment of the world economy in the "World Economic Outlook" which is published twice a year.
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department ever asked British Nuclear Fuels plc for a copy of the Touche Ross report on the economic prospects for THORP ; and whether his Department has seen a copy of the report.
Mr. Portillo : My Department has neither seen nor asked for a copy of the Touche Ross report. We have received all the information we required on the economics of THORP from the Department of Trade and Industry.
Minimum Lending Rate
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table giving the minimum lending rate of the Bank of England on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October in each year from 1 January 1990 ; what is the average mortgage interest rate for the leading building societies at each of these dates ; and what is the differential between them.
Mr. Nelson : The minimum lending rate was not in use on any of the dates specified. The table gives the clearing banks' base rates on those dates, and the average mortgage interest rate of all building societies.
|Base |Mortgage |Differential
|rate |rate
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1990
January |15.0 |14.44 |-0.56
April |15.0 |15.24 |0.24
July |15.0 |15.25 |0.25
October |15.0 |15.25 |0.25
1991
January |14.0 |14.34 |0.34
April |12.5 |14.24 |1.74
July |11.5 |12.75 |1.25
October |10.5 |11.82 |1.32
1992
January |10.5 |11.39 |0.89
April |10.5 |10.96 |0.46
July |10.0 |10.82 |0.82
October |9.0 |10.60 |1.60
1993
January |7.0 |8.98 |1.98
April |6.0 |8.04 |2.04
July |6.0 |8.01 |2.01
October |6.0 |8.00 |2.00
1994
January |5.5 |8.00 |2.50
PRIME MINISTER
Consultancies
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Prime Minister how much the Government spent on employing private sector consultants for each year from 1979.
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The Prime Minister : This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with any of his EU counterparts on the environmental and proliferation implications of THORP.
The Prime Minister : I meet my European Union counterparts from time to time, when we discuss a range of issues.
Sir Peter Levene
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish the report of Sir Peter Levene into the Government's use of external consultants.
The Prime Minister : At this early stage of the scrutiny no specific decision to publish has been taken but it is the normal practice for efficiency unit reports to be published.
Northern Region
Mr. Bates : To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will list the results of the Government's policies in the northern region since 1983 ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) whether he will list, by Government Departments, the principal aid given to the northern region in each year since 1983.
The Prime Minister : Since 1983, Government policy and programmes have helped with the transition of the economy of the north-east region to its present more diversified base.
This process has been substantially helped by overseas investment of over £2 billion. The Department of Trade and Industry has also committed over £1 billion in assisting industrial and commercial projects, helping to create or safeguard around an estimated 50,000 jobs. Unemployment in the north-east has fallen from a peak of 19.6 per cent. in 1986 to 12.7 per cent. now.
Visits, Scotland
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 28 January, Official Report, column 406, what were the dates and locations of each of his 13 visits to Scotland.
The Prime Minister : In 1991, I made five visits to Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow--twice--Perth and Deeside.
In 1992, I also made five visits to Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, Strathclyde and Deeside.
In 1993, I made three visits to Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Deeside.
Railway Manufacturing
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the representations made to him by the Design Council about the future of the British railway manufacturing industry and a copy of his response to the Design Council.
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The Prime Minister : As far as I am aware, I have received no such letter.
Car Industries
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will urge the German, French and Italian Prime Ministers to encourage the sale of their indigenous car industries.
The Prime Minister : The commercially-driven trend towards more cross-border, joint ventures and strategic alliances is expected to continue in the European car industry. I am sure that my German, French and Italian opposite numbers will not stand in the way of this process, which will strengthen Europe's global competitiveness. I am delighted that the French Government are following the United Kingdom's example and going ahead with their plan to privatise Renault.
Cyprus
Mr. Cox : To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the President of Cyprus on the talks now taking place under the role of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The Prime Minister : I discussed United Nations efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem with President Clerides during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting last October. I have not had any discussions with him about the talks due to begin on 17 February. However my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, has been in close touch with the parties. He met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Michaelides, on 2 February.
Biodiversity Convention
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister what action he is taking to co-ordinate the policy of the FCO and the Department of the Environment in relation to the ratifaction of the biodiversity convention to include the land and marine environments of Ascension Island, British Indian Ocean territory, the Cayman Islands, Chagos Archipelago, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Island, St. Helena, South Georgia and the south Sandwich Islands, Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos Islands and Virgin Islands.
The Prime Minister : The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has overall responsibility for the administration, and direct responsiblity for certain external relations, of the United Kingdom's 14 dependent territories and two dependencies.
Policy towards the territories is co-ordinated through an inter- departmental group, including the Department of the Environment, chaired by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. That group has endorsed a strategy for consultation with the dependencies on whether they wish to be included in the United Kingdom's ratification of the biodiversity convention and, if not, whether they envisage the convention being extended to them at a later date.
As part of that process dependent territory Governments need to consider taking on the new commitments arising from Rio. The FCO is helping the dependent territories to assess the costs and benefits to them of any new legislation required.
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Government Car Service
Mr. Soley : To ask the Prime Minister what is the procedure for recording the use of ministerial cars ; and what arrangements are made to allow inspection of it by hon. Members.
Mr. Baldry : I have been asked to reply.
The procedure is that car log sheets are maintained for recording the use of all ministerial cars. The log sheets are retained as internal documents.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who are the members currently appointed to the Spongiform Encephalopathy advisory committee.
Mr. Soames : The members currently appointed to the Spongiform Encephalopathy advisory conmmittee are :
Dr. D. A. J. Tyrrell, FRS, Chairman
Professor I. V. Allen
Professor F. Brown, FRS
Dr. R. H. Kimberlin
Mt. D. B. Pepper
Dr. W. A. Watson
Dr. R. G. Will
Dr. W. D. Hueston
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who are the members currently appointed to the Veterinary Products committee.
Mr. Soames : The current membership of the Veterinary Products committee is as follows :
Chairman
Professor J. Armour, CBE
PhD, Dr. hc (Utrecht), MRCVS, FRSE
Members
Dr. D. N. Bateman
BSc, MB BS, Fian CV MRCS, MD, FRCP
Professor P. M. Biggs, CBE
DSc, Dr. hc (Liege), DVM (hc) Munich, FRC Path, CBiol, FIBiol, FRCVS, FRS
Professor J. W. Bridges
DSc, PhD, MRC Path, CChem, FRSC, CBiol, FIBiol, M Inst Env Sci, FIOSH
Professor J. R. Brown
BSc, MSc, PhD, FRPharmS, CChem, FRSC, CBiol, FIBiol
Mr. D. S. Collins
MVB, CBiol, MIBiol, DVPH(MH), MRCVS
Dr. A. Cooke
BSc, PhD, CBiol, MIBiol
Dr. R. Gaskell
BVSc, PhD, MRCVS
Professor G. Gettinby
BSc, PhD
Miss K. Gibson
BVMS, MRCVS
Dr. R. J. Heitzman
BSc, PhD
Dr. M. H. Jepson
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