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French Fishermen
Mr. Wilshire : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food what will be the cost to United Kingdom public funds and the effect on prices of the proposed additional European Community's support for French fishermen.
Mr. Jack : The European Commission's response to the difficulties on the French white fish market has been to introduce minimum import prices for certain species. As these aim to do no more than put a floor in the market at the level of the Community withdrawal price, they should work to reduce Community expenditure on market support.
Agricultural Expenditure
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate she has made of the legal limit on agricultural spending by the EC in 1994.
Mr. Jack : The limit on agricultural spending is laid down in Council decision 88/377 concerning budgetary discipline. The agricultural guideline for 1994 is 36,465 mecu. The monetary reserve is 1,000 mecu.
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were the legal restrictions on agricultural spending by the EC in 1993 ; and what was the actual sum expended by the EC in this year.
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Mr. Jack : The legal restrictions on agricultural spending by the EC in 1993 were contained in Council decision 88/377 concerning budgetary discipline. The level of the agricultural guideline was 36, 657 mecu. The monetary reserve was 1,000 mecu. The provisional out-turn of expenditure is 35,095 mecu.
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent the agricultural policies of the EC are designed to ensure that legal limits of spending are maintained ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : Expenditure on the CAP is constrained by the requirements of Council Decision 88/377 concerning budgetary discipline. Article 5 of this decision requires the Commission's price proposals to be consistent with the limits laid down by the agricultural guideline.
Slaughterhouses
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many units of livestock have gone through British slaughterhouses in each year since 1985.
Mr. Soames : The number of cattle, including calves, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom over the period 1985 to 1993 are given in the table. The equivalent number of livestock units slaughtered in each year is also given. This is based on one livestock unit equalling one adult bovine or calf, seven sheep or three pigs.
Cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom
|Total cattle
|(including |Total
|calves) |Total sheep |Total pigs |livestock
|000 head |000 head |000 head |000 units<1>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |4,286 |15,893 |15,305 |11,658
1986 |3,943 |15,473 |15,609 |11,357
<2>1987 |4,114 |15,762 |15,807 |11,634
1988 |3,380 |17,128 |15,784 |11,088
1989 |3,442 |19,618 |14,514 |11,083
1990 |3,524 |20,012 |14,203 |11,117
1991 |3,617 |20,918 |14,457 |11,424
<2>1992 |3,384 |19,377 |14,508 |10,988
<3>1993 |2,953 |18,018 |14,739 |10,440
<1>One livestock unit=1 adult bovine or calf, or 7 sheep, or 3 pigs.
<2>1987 and 1992 were 53 week statistical years, the rest were based on 52
weeks.
<3>Provisional.
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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many cases of BSE were (a) confirmed, (b) reported and (c) slaughtered in the United Kingdom for each month of 1992 and 1993 ;
(2) how many cases of BSE were confirmed in the United Kingdom for each month of 1992 and 1993 in cattle that were (a) under two years of age, (b) aged two to three years, (c) aged three to four years, (d) aged four to five years, (e) aged five to six years, (f) aged six to seven years and (g) aged seven or more years ; (3) how many cases of BSE were confirmed in the United Kingdom for each year from 1985 in cattle that were (a) under two years of age, (b) aged two to three years, (c) aged three to four years, (d) aged four to five years, (e) aged five to six years, (f) aged six to seven years and (g) aged seven or more years.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [pursuant to her answer, 17 January 1994, col. 428] : The information is given in the tables
Numbers of cases of BSE (a) confirmed, (b) reported and (c)
slaughtered
in the United Kingdom for each month of 1992 and 1993 as at 14
January 1994
Month |Confirmed |Reported |Slaughtered
---------------------------------------------------------------
January 1992 |2,710 |4,143 |3,925
February 1992 |2,594 |3,629 |3,521
March 1992 |2,493 |4,074 |3,906
April 1992 |2,732 |3,868 |3,699
May 1992 |3,295 |3,124 |2,977
June 1992 |4,098 |3,264 |3,086
July 1992 |3,082 |3,303 |3,176
August 1992 |2,456 |3,552 |3,384
September 1992 |3,046 |4,069 |3,894
October 1992 |2,824 |4,254 |4,085
November 1992 |3,009 |3,971 |3,870
December 1992 |2,706 |4,019 |3,937
January 1993 |3,955 |4,237 |4,066
February 1993 |3,559 |3,997 |3,829
March 1993 |3,597 |4,429 |4,220
April 1993 |2,964 |3,689 |3,518
May 1993 |2,882 |3,256 |3,078
June 1993 |3,341 |3,147 |2,993
July 1993 |2,302 |3,420 |3,246
August 1993 |2,787 |3,352 |3,191
September 1993 |2,636 |3,658 |3,483
October 1993 |2,758 |3,408 |3,266
November 1993 |3,413 |3,654 |3,408
December 1993 |2,561 |3,304 |1,980
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Numbers of BSE cases confirmed in the United Kingdom by age and month for each month of 1992
and 1993 as at 14 January 1994
Year Age Total
|<2 |2-3 |3-4 |4-5 |5-6 |6-7 |7 and |Unknown
|over
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 1992 |0 |3 |252 |1,117 |756 |339 |168 |75 |2,710
February 1992 |0 |4 |212 |1,102 |741 |312 |162 |61 |2,594
March 1992 |0 |1 |166 |1,135 |720 |263 |146 |62 |2,493
April 1992 |0 |2 |144 |1,289 |748 |277 |136 |136 |2,732
May 1992 |0 |1 |144 |1,572 |966 |368 |154 |90 |3,295
June 1992 |0 |9 |197 |2,030 |1,191 |408 |175 |88 |4,098
July 1992 |0 |3 |84 |1,582 |930 |255 |165 |63 |3,082
August 1992 |0 |3 |139 |1,234 |682 |237 |119 |42 |2,456
September 1992 |0 |4 |147 |1,471 |832 |323 |177 |92 |3,046
October 1992 |0 |3 |75 |1,220 |937 |358 |151 |80 |2,824
November 1992 |0 |2 |231 |1,043 |1,090 |415 |178 |50 |3,009
December 1992 |1 |4 |173 |836 |1,037 |414 |189 |52 |2,706
January 1993 |0 |4 |171 |1,151 |1,628 |636 |262 |103 |3,955
February 1993 |0 |1 |68 |835 |1,590 |691 |270 |104 |3,559
March 1993 |0 |1 |61 |732 |1,757 |684 |265 |97 |3,597
April 1993 |0 |2 |42 |573 |1,453 |594 |220 |80 |2,964
May 1993 |1 |1 |85 |642 |1,411 |488 |188 |66 |2,882
June 1993 |0 |2 |68 |507 |1,798 |647 |212 |107 |3,341
July 1993 |0 |1 |70 |304 |1,270 |420 |162 |75 |2,302
August 1993 |0 |2 |164 |706 |1,208 |451 |175 |81 |2,787
September 1993 |0 |1 |108 |366 |1,323 |544 |202 |92 |2,636
October 1993 |0 |5 |97 |434 |1,159 |671 |293 |99 |2,758
November 1993 |0 |1 |158 |614 |1,277 |870 |353 |140 |3,413
December 1993 |0 |1 |61 |291 |959 |811 |17 |107 |2,247
This shows the age of cattle by date of confirmation of BSE for the months concerned. It
should be noted that the four-year-old group will still include cattle with potential dates of
birth before 18 July 1988 when the ruminant feed ban was introduced. Although the table shows
a declining number of confirmed cases in the groups less than four years old, and to a degree
the four to five-year-old group, it is not a table of age-specific incidence which sorts age
groups by age at onset of the disease. Furthermore the 1993 data set is incomplete.
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Numbers of BSE cases confirmed in the United Kingdom by age and year for each year since 1985 as at 14 January 1994
Year Age Total
|<2 |2-3 |3-4 |4-5 |5-6 |6-7 |7 and over|Unknown
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985-June 1988<1> |0 |4 |112 |293 |143 |29 |29 |137 |747
June to December 1988 |0 |6 |237 |502 |337 |92 |52 |92 |1,318
1989 |1 |47 |747 |2,444 |2,175 |840 |284 |301 |6,839
1990 |0 |70 |1,664 |4,198 |3,880 |1,831 |697 |589 |12,929
1991 |0 |81 |4,038 |8,448 |5,482 |2,446 |1,260 |1,027 |22,782
1992 |1 |39 |1,964 |15,631 |10,630 |3,969 |1,920 |891 |35,045
1993 |1 |22 |1,153 |7,155 |16,833 |7,507 |2,933 |1,151 |36,755
<1> The disease was not notifiable until June 1988 so these figures cannot be further broken down as specific dates of confirmation
are not available. It should be noted that the four year old group will still include cattle with potential dates of birth before
18 July 1988 when the ruminant feed ban was introduced. Although the table shows a declining number of confirmed cases in the
groups less than four years old, and to a degree the four to five year old group, it is not a table of age specific incidence which
sorts cases by age at onset of the disease. Furthermore the 1993 data set is incomplete.
WALES
Sustainable Development
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he intends to hold discussions with the Wales Confederation of British Industry and other representatives of Welsh industry to promote the need for the concept of sustainability to characterise future industrial developments.
Mr. Redwood : The need to involve industry in action to promote sustainable development is fully recognised in the recently published United Kingdom strategy and related reports. It is expected that Wales CBI will be among those to be consulted on the membership and mode of operation of the national round table. Meanwhile copies of the sustainable development strategy have been sent to them and other business interests in Wales.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidance he has given to his non-departmental executive bodies to ensure that they take full account of the United Kingdom strategy for sustainable development, the United Kingdom programme on climate change, the United Kingdom action plan for biodiversity and the United Kingdom programme for sustainable forestry.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The preparation of the sustainable development strategy, the programme for climate change and the biodiversity action plan involved extensive consultation, which includes the main non-departmental public bodies in Wales. They have been sent copies of the
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reports of most relevance to their operations and will be appropriately involved in the follow-up action planned by the Government.Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for an advisory panel on sustainable development in Wales.
Mr. Redwood : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by me on 7 February 1994, column 94.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to ensure that public and private bodies in Wales play their full part in delivering more sustainable forms of development.
Mr. Redwood : The Government's plans for involving the public and private sectors in progress towards sustainable development are described in the recently published United Kingdom strategy. This has already been circulated to key Welsh interests ; and the Welsh Office will be seeking to ensure that organisations and individuals in Wales play an appropriate part in the follow-up action planned on the strategy, for example, via the round table and citizen's environment initiatives.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what further guidance will be given on schools' environmental management practices as indicated in the sustainable development strategy.
Sir Wyn Roberts : As indicated in the United Kingdom strategy on sustainable development, work is in hand to develop a simple environmental audit scheme which schools can carry out themselves to evaluate and improve the environmental impact of their school buildings and grounds.
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The scheme is to cover issues such as energy usage, water economies and landscaping. It is based very much on work done by the Building Research Establishment.It is planned to publish this scheme later this year and I hope that as many schools as possible in Wales will participate.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to promote the active participation of people in Wales in sustainable development strategies to reduce the burden placed on the environment by human activities.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Government's plans for promoting the concept of sustainable development among the public are described in the recently published United Kingdom strategy for sustainable development. As part of this, the citizen's environment initiative will extend to Wales.
Environmental Education
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will publish guidance to advise schools of good practice in teaching about the care of the environment ;
(2) if he will encourage all schools to appoint a co-ordinator for environmental education ;
(3) what plans he has for schools to have a policy for environmental education guaranteeing provision and continuity between different subject areas of the curriculum ;
(4) what plans he has for providing guidance to schools on delivering environmental education on biodiversity and sustainable development.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Every maintained school is responsible for providing a curriculum which must satisfy the statutory requirements of the national curriculum. Guidance on environmental education as part of the national curriculum has been provided to schools in Wales by the Curriculum Council for Wales. The council has also published an advisory paper and in- service training materials to support schools' delivery of environmental education.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to increase the provision of initial and in-service education for teachers in environmental education.
Sir Win Roberts : We have no plans to increase such provision. Schools are free to include reference to the importance of developing pupils' awareness of the environment in the statement of the school's ethos and values included in their prospectuses, if they so wish. Environmental education is addressed through the statutory subjects of the national curriculum : schools themselves are responsible for how environmental education is delivered.
The Government already provide specific grant to support expenditure on the national curriculum which is
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devolved mainly to schools to spend on books and equipment or training. It is for schools and LEAs to decide what priority to give to particular subject areas and to make detailed plans in the light of their own staff development needs.We seek to ensure, through our criteria for the approval of initial teacher training, that courses give a thorough preparation for teaching the national curriculum. The detailed content of courses is a matter for ITT providers and not Government.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to implement the recommendations for environmental education in further and higher education of the report of the Toyne committee.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The Toyne report contained a specific recommendation that each further and higher education institution should adopt a policy for the development of environmental education. A copy of the report was sent to all FHE institutions in Wales in February 1993. It is for individual institutions to judge how to take this recommendation forward.
Agenda 21 Programmes
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to hold discussions with local authorities on the drawing up of local agenda 21 programmes.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Progress on the local agenda 21 initiative has been, and is being, discussed within the central and local government environment forum, which brings together Environment Ministers and the leaders of the local authority associations. The Welsh Office is also planning to sponsor a seminar on "green" purchasing as part of the local agenda 21 programme.
Nuclear Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many sites exist in Wales licensed for the disposal of low-level nuclear waste ; and if he will place in the Library a list of the location of each.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Apart from some very low-level nuclear waste which is incinerated at the Wylfa and Trawsfynydd sites no nuclear waste is disposed of in Wales.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing, in 1992-93 prices, the gross public spending for each year from 1990-91 and the projected expenditure for each of the national health service bodies (Wales) as listed in "Public Bodies 1993".
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information requested is as follows :
Column 759
Health authority Gross expenditure Projected
(at 1992-93 prices)
|expenditure
|1990-91 |1991-92 |1992-93 |1993-94
|£ million |£ million |£ million |£ million
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Health authorities |1,156 |1,271 |1,308 |1,341
Family health service authorities Wales |418 |454 |454 |471
Health promotion authority for Wales |3 |3 |4 |4
National health service trusts |- |- |38 |661
Welsh health common services authority |33 |35 |50 |54
Source:
Health authorities and Pembrokeshire NHS Trust Annual Accounts.
Notes:
(i) Gross expenditure relates to actual outturn figures, whereas the figures that appear in Public
Bodies 1993 are provisional due to the timing of the publication.
(ii) Figures in respect of Family Health Service Authorities exclude GP fundholders.
(iii) Pembrokeshire NHS Trust established 1 April 1992.
A further 13 NHS Trusts were formally established on 1 April 1993.
GDP
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the current gross domestic product per head by county in Wales.
Mr. Redwood : The latest available figures, for 1991, are published in the December 1993 edition of "Economic Trends (CSO)", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Mink Farm, Llanybdder
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 8 February, Official Report, columns 190-1, for how long the mink farm at Llanybdder, Dyfed, was allowed to operate pending a decision on the licence application after the mink farm had withdrawn its licence application ; and for how long the mink farm had been allowed to operate pending a decision on the licence application.
Mr. Redwood : The mink farm ceased to operate at about the same time as the licence application was withdrawn. The farm had been operating for about 11 months pending a decision on the licence application.
Assisted Places
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what level of fee is charged by each institution in Wales covered by the assisted places scheme in the current academic year.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The information is as follows :
School |APS fee<1>
|£
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Christ College, Brecon |5,484
Howell's, Denbigh |5,556
Howell's, Cardiff |3,309
Rydal School, Colwyn Bay |5,531 (preparatory)
|6,396 (senior)
Penrhos College, Colwyn Bay |5,280 (mid)
|5,655 (upper)
Monmouth Boys |4,419
Monmouth Girls |3,594
|3,900 (VI)
Llandovery College |4,696 (junior)
|5,129 (mid)
|5,259 (VI)
<1> As at September 1993.
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of state for Wales what safeguards are used by the Welsh Office to ensure that schools covered by the assisted places scheme meet recognised educational standards.
Sir Wyn Roberts : All schools participating in the assisted places scheme have had to satisfy stringent criteria before being accepted. Ongoing monitoring of standards is carried out by members of the office of Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools in Wales. The Department also collects the examination results of pupils at the individual schools.
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment the Welsh Office has made of the assisted places scheme.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Some 700 pupils are currently receiving education at one of the participating schools in Wales whose parents would not otherwise have been able to afford it. Almost all available places for 1993 -94 have been taken up and the examination results of APS pupils are consistently good.
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the schools in Wales which have pupils under the assisted places scheme in the current academic year ; how many pupils are supported at each institution ; and how much it has cost the Welsh Office to provide this support.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The information is as follows :
School |Number of APS |Expenditure
|pupils in scheme|Financial year
|September 1993 |1992-93
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christ College, Brecon |87 |359,755
Howell's, Denbigh |72 |310,222
Howell's, Cardiff |165 |399,642
Rydal School, Colwyn Bay |46 |228,082
Penrhos College, Colwyn Bay |61 |273,711
Monmouth Boys |137 |434,415
Monmouth Girls |71 |200,728
Llandovery |52 |250,671
|-- |----
Total |691 |2,457,226
Estimated expenditure for the financial year 1993-94 is £2,616,000.
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Mostyn Dock
Mr. Hanson : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to make an announcement with regard to his decision on the future progress of the planning application at Mostyn dock, Mostyn, Clwyd.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The procedure to be adopted for the determination of the planning application at Mostyn dock, Clwyd, will be reached as quickly as possible. I will write to the hon. Member when a decision has been made.
Quangos
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the guidelines that apply to quangos in respect of the participation of board members in the decisions on the
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authorisation of foreign travel and participation in overseas conferences by senior management ; what representations he has received on this issue ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Redwood : The standard guidance to board members of non- departmental public bodies is that they have an overall responsibility for supervising the direction and management of the body and need to ensure that judgments are exercised in the public interest ; and that they are guardians of the public interest in the body's activities and in the discharge of its statutory duties. The chief executive is usually the accounting officer responsible for ensuring compliance with policies and rules.
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