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Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report, columns 71-72, which United Kingdom company carried out the study of possible contamination of groundwater in the Amman Zarka basin, what was the value of the contract ; and whether this study was funded under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The study was undertaken by British Geological Survey at a cost of £15,374. It was not funded from the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report, columns 71-72, which United Kingdom company carried out the study of the aquifer at Qa Disi ; what was the value of the contract ; and whether this study was funded under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Qa Disi study is being carried out by Haiste International. The value of the contract is £1,325,190. The study is not being funded from the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report, columns 71-72, which United Kingdom company carried out the feasibility study into centralising the water authority of Jordan's maintenance facilities on a single site ; what was the value of the contract ; and whether this study was funded under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The feasibility study was carried out by the Crown Agents at a cost of £124,256. It was not funded from the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report, column 71, which United Kingdom company carried out the study into pollution at the King Talal dam ; what was the value of the contract ; and whether this study was funded under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox Boyd : The study was carried out by Thames Water International with the Natural Resources Institute at a cost of £16, 259. It was not funded from the aid and trade provision.
Nigeria
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report, column 67, regarding general balance of payments support provided by the Overseas Development Administration to Nigeria, when the commitments and the disbursements were made over the last five years ; and what was the amount involved in each case.
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Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The information is set out in the table :
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Size of commitment |Date of commitment |Date(s) of
|disbursement
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
£43.6 million |8 May 1989 |During financial year 1989-90
£10 million |8 May 1989 |During financial years 1989-90 and 1990-91
£6 million |6 September 1989 |During financial years 1989-90 and 1990-91
£20 million |1 October 1990 |During financial years 1990-91 and 1991-92
£6.5 million |1 October 1990 |During financial years 1990-91 and 1991-92
British Virgin Islands
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the purpose of each Overseas Development Administration-funded project or post in the British Virgin Islands in each of the past five years ; and what was the cost to the Overseas Development Administration of each project or post.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : A list of project funded by the ODA in British Virgin Islands, BVI, over the period 1988-89 to 1992-93 has been placed in the Library of the House.
The project cost figures include the cost of posts where these are also funded. The present average annual cost of an ODA-funded post in BVI, salary and allowances' is £70,000.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list (a) the professional discipline, (b) the duties and responsibilities and (c) the cost to the Overseas Development Administration, including the cost of offices and support staff, of each of the technical co-operation officers funded by his Department to work in the British Virgin Islands ; and if he will place a copy of the job description and a letter of appointment of each of those officers in the Library.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : There are nine technical co-operation officers serving in the British Virgin Islands--BVI. Their disciplines cover financial services and taxation--three posts--engineering--two posts-- police--two posts--Customs and Excise--one post--and computer development-- one post.
The cost of offices and support staff are met by the BVI Government. The cost to the Overseas Development Administrtion of each officer depends on individual personal circumstances, but the average cost including accommodation and air fares is approximately £70,000 per annum.
We are unable to make publicly available the individual letters of appointment for each officer, but a note containing the terms of reference for each post has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Caribbean Islands
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much financial assistance is available to the territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique from the European Community under Lome IV ; and how much financial assistance is available to Belize, Dominica and Jamaica.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : No financial assistance is available to Guadeloupe and Martinique under Lome IV ; financial assistance is available to Belize, Dominica and Jamaica as follows :
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National indicative programme (
1990-95)
|Million ecu
------------------------------------
Belize |9
Dominica |6.5
Jamaica |46
Belize, Dominica and Jamaica are also eligible for structural adjustment support, export earnings stabilisation--STABEX--support for the mining sector--SYSMIN--emergency and refugee assistance and loans from the European investment bank.
Thailand
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which water projects the Overseas Development Administration has funded in Thailand over the last five years ; which companies have won those contracts ; what was the value of those contracts ; and which of those projects were funded under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The following water projects have been supported with bilateral aid for Thailand over the last five years : Dam Panel for the Royal Irrigation Department. Company : Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. Value : £0.2 million.
Sukhothai Groundwater Project (Phase 2). Company : Howard Humphreys and Partners. Value : £3.2 million--all but some £50,000 was spent prior to 1989.
Provincial Waterworks Training Project. Companies : Thames Water PLC, North West Water PLC and Applied Research and Project Management Services. Value : £400,000.
Production of a training video programme. Company : Hydraulics Research Station, Wallingford. Value : £45,000.
Two projects were jointly funded with non-governmental organisations at a total cost of £325,000. In addition, two other small water projects were funded at a total cost of £7,300. No companies were involved with these four projects as they were small, mainly village-based, schemes undertaken by local communities. None of the projects mentioned was funded under the aid and trade provision.
Banana Producers
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to offer support to Belize to implement a scheme of diversification for banana producers.
Mr. Lennox Boyd : The ODA's aid programme to Belize is already focused on agricultural development, but there are no plans for specific aid to banana producers. Funds for development of the banana industry in African,
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Caribbean and Pacific countries have already been approved in the EC budget for 1994, to which the United Kingdom contributes. We are working with the European Commission to define how these can best be spent.Balkans Customs Corridor
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the United Kingdom's contribution to the European Commission's initiative, under the PHARE programme, for a Balkan customs corridor ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : There are no current plans under the PHARE programme for a Balkan customs corridor. PHARE is currently helping a number of countries neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro to improve their transport infrastructure and customs administration, with special emphasis on relieving bottlenecks at border crossings. Any proposals for a customs corridor would need to be consistent with the UN Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro.
Some £43 million was committed to PHARE regional transport and customs programmes during 1992 and 1993. Around £25 million of this has been allocated specifically to assist border crossings. The United Kingdom's contribution to the PHARE programme is around 16 per cent.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who are the members currently appointed to the Link steering group.
Mr. Waldegrave : The current membership of the Link steering group is as follows :
Dr. J. Parnaby-- Chairman
Professor W. D. P. Steward FRS FRSE
Dr. R. C. Whelan
Dr. G. Robinson
Professor T. L. Blundell FRS
Dr. Peter Bunyan
Dr. G. Pope FEng
Professor J. S. Mason
Sir John Cadogan CBE FRS
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, for each of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by his Department, whether the public has a statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings and to inspect (a) minutes of meetings, (b) the annual reports and (c) the annual accounts.
Mr. Waldegrave : The non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Cabinet Office, the Office of Public Service and Science and the other Departments for which I am responsible are :
Executive Bodies
Agriculture and Food Research Council
Economic and Social Research Council
Medical Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
Science and Engineering Research Council
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Advisory BodiesAdvisory Committee on Advertising
Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
Advisory Committee on Human Genome Research
Council for Science and Technology
Citizen's Charter Panel of Advisers
Civil Service Appeal Board
Link Steering Group
Political Honours Scrutiny Committee
Security Commission
The public does not have a statutory right to attend meetings of any of these bodies, or to see minutes of meetings where they are produced.
There is a statutory requirement for research council annual reports and annual accounts to be laid before Parliament, under the provisions of schedule 1 of the Science and Technology Act 1965. They are published documents, and are freely available to the public. The advisory bodies do not in general produce annual reports or accounts.
Exceptions are :
Council for Science and Technology
Information generated by the council will normally be made openly available, as stated in the White Paper "Realising our Potential". Citizens Charter Panel of Advisers
The accounts of the panel of advisers are included in the accounts of the citizens charter unit, which are published in the OPSS annual report.
Civil Service Appeal Board
The CSAB publishes an annual report and transcripts of hearings are available to appellants, their representatives and departments. Link Steering Group
The LSG produces reports but not on an annual basis. Its first report was published in February 1992.
Security Commission
Reports of the commission are, so far as it is consistent with the requirements of national security, made public.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish a table showing, in 1992-93 prices, the gross public spending for each year since 1990-91 and the projected expenditure for each year to 1995-96 for each executive non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department, as listed in "Public Bodies 1993".
Mr. Waldegrave : The executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department are the Agricultural and Food Research Council, AFRC, the Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC, the Medical Research Council, MRC, the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC and the Science and Engineering Research Council, SERC. With effect from 1 April the AFRC and the SERC will cease to exist and three new bodies will come into being, namely the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBSRC, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, PPARC. The activities of the AFRC and SERC will be transferred to new and existing research councils.
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Details of gross expenditure financed by grants in aid are as follows :Column 687
£ million at 1992-93 prices
|<1>1990-91|<1>1991-92|<1>1992-93|<2>1993-94|<3>1994-95
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFRC |98.5 |100.6 |105.4 |107.5 |-
BBSRC |- |- |- |- |160.7
EPSRC |- |- |- |0.4 |339.0
ESRC |40.4 |40.0 |45.9 |51.5 |56.0
MRC |205.0 |210.7 |227.7 |257.0 |250.7
NERC |149.3 |127.3 |129.7 |135.6 |144.7
PPARC |- |- |- |0.2 |172.2
SERC |489.4 |473.9 |523.0 |564.6 |-
<1> Source: Appropriation accounts, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.
<2> Source: Supply Estimates 1993-94, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.
<3> Source: Allocations of the Science Budget 1993-94 as announced to the
House on 2 February 1994, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.
Allocations for 1995-96 to the research councils have not yet been announced.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list those responsible for making appointments of (a) chairs and (b) members of the boards to each of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department.
Mr. Waldegrave : As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, I am responsible for the appointment of the chairmen and all members of the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Science and Engineering Research Council. I am also responsible for the appointment of the chairman and 14 of 20 members of the Agricultural and Food Research Council--AFRC. Of the remaining six members of the AFRC, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food appoints four and the Secretary of State for Scotland appoints two.
Ministers (Travel)
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the (a) budgeted and (b) actual expenditure by his Department on (1) internal and (2) overseas travel by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1992-93 after 11 April 1992 and so far in 1993-94.
Mr. David Davis : Budgeted and actual expenditure by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on internal and overseas travel and subsistence for official purposes in 1992-93 after the 11 April 1992, and in 1993-94, was as set out in the table :
Budgeted Actual
provision expenditure
|Internal |Overseas<1>|Internal |Overseas<1>
|(£) |(£) |(£) |(£)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 |1,600 |1,000 |5,700 |16,600
1993-94<2> |5,600 |27,300 |4,600 |25,100
<1> Includes, where appropriate, the costs of officials from the
Chancellor's private office travelling with the Chancellor.
<2> Budgeted expenditure covers the full financial year 1993-94; actual
expenditure covers the period April to December 1993.
Consultation Exercises
Mr. Richard Shepherd : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list those departments of state that currently publish details of responses received to consultation exercises.
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Mr. Waldegrave : The code of practice on Government information commits Government Departments to publishing relevant facts and analysis underlying major policy proposals and decisions and this will include the details of consultation responses. It is already usual practice for comments to be sought in consultation exercises on the understanding that they can be made publicly available unless respondents have requested that their remarks be treated as confidential.
The code does not require provision of the responses themselves, although this will often be the most straightforward way of providing the information. Indeed, I will soon be placing responses to the "Open Government" White Paper in the Libraries of both Houses.
Market Testing
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what advice has been provided by the Government Actuary on the viability and comparability of the pension schemes of private contractors seeking to secure contracts in market testing exercises ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what has been the impact on the volume of market testing exercises of the decision to require contractors to offer a pension scheme comparable to Crown employees ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waldegrave : A number of Departments have sought advice from the Government Actuary's Department on pensions arrangements offered by private sector bidders in market testing exercises. The details of this advice vary from case to case and have not been recorded centrally.
The purpose in seeking such advice is to assess the value of the pensions package, having taken into account any compensating changes in the value of other terms and conditions. This is necessary, because, as my right hon. and learned Friend, the then
Solicitor-General, explained in 1990 to the Standing Committee on the Property Services Agency and Crown Suppliers Bill, rights and obligations relating to civil servants' pension benefits, while not protected by the acquired rights directive and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, are protected by United Kingdom employment law. In the case of a person transferred under TUPE the transferor and the transferee must so arrange things that the pension rights enjoyed by staff after the transfer are broadly comparable with those enjoyed by staff before. Contractors are therefore asked to provide pensions arrangements of comparable value as otherwise employees
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must be compensated for any detrimental change, either directly, or through offsetting changes in the value of other terms and conditions, such as pay.I have no evidence that the advice on pensions arrangements has had any impact on the volume of market testing exercises.
Citizens Charter
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when the Government will publish the second annual report on the citizens charter ; and what were the reasons for the delay.
Mr. Waldegrave : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Cannock and Burntwood (Dr. Wright) on 10 February 1994, Official Report, columns 486-87.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Benefits
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in the United Kingdom are currently unemployed but are receiving (a) income support, (b) invalidity allowance, (c) attendance allowance or (d) other social security benefits.
Mr. Burt : The number of people in Great Britain who are registered as unemployed and also receiving income support is 2,003,000. Available information about other social security benefits received by this group can be found in "Income Support Statistics, Quarterly Enquiry, February 1993", a copy of which is in the Library. Information on other benefits received by individuals registered as unemployed but who are not receiving income support is available only for those receiving unemployment benefit. Such information as is available is in the table. Invalidity benefit is not payable to people who are registered as unemployed.
Unemployment Benefit claimants receiving other benefits Date |Benefit |Unemployed claimants -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 1992 |Housing Benefit |156,000 May 1992 |Community Charge Benefit |322,000 June 1993 |Family Credit |16,000 August 1993 |Disability Working Allowance|24 August 1993 |Unemployment Benefit |532,000 Notes: 1. All figures are for Great Britain and are rounded to the nearest thousand except Disability Working Allowance which is an exact figure. 2. Benefit recipients may be in receipt of more than one benefit. 3. Disability Working Allowance and Family Credit figures relate to residual entitlement from claims made prior to unemployment. 4. Housing Benefit figure includes 49,000 cases receiving Income Support. Community Charge Benefit figure includes 116,000 cases receiving Income Support.
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of working age adults claiming income support or unemployment, sickness or invalidity benefits as their main source of income for each year since 1989.
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