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Asylum Seekers
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Bosnia asylum applicants are waiting to be dealt with.
Mr. Charles Wardle : On 8 March 1994, 1,937 applications for asylum from nationals of Bosnia-Herzegovina were outstanding. This figure relates to principal applicants and does not include dependants.
Voter Registration
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has commissioned into the effectiveness of its publicity campaign for voter registration ; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the latest opinion research available on this matter.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Pre and post-campaign omnibus research was commissioned for the autumn 1993 television advertising campaign. A copy of the research has been sent to the Library.
National Alliance of Women's Organisations
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite the voluntary services unit to review its decision for core funding for the National Alliance of Women's Organisations.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. The demands on the resources of the voluntary services unit are too great to enable it to core fund the National Alliance of Women's Organisations.
Young Offenders
Ms Corston : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 16 and 17-year-olds are currently being held on remand in adult prisons ; and how many were held on average in the years 1979, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Ms Jean Corston, dated 10 March 1994 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many 16 and 17-year-olds are currently held on remand in adult prisons and how many were held on average in the years 1979, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992.
The available information is given in the attached table. No information is available for 1979, 1984 and for 17-year-olds in 1989.
Remand population held in Adult Prison Service
Establishments
|16-year-olds|17-year-olds
--------------------------------------------------------
31 December 1993 |0 |16
30 June 1992 |0 |70
30 June 1991 |6 |166
30 June 1990 |10 |167
30 June 1989 |2 |n/a
Take-away Restaurants (Licences)
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines are issued to local authorities regarding the granting of late-night licences for take-away restaurants following the consultation exercise carried out last year.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The Home Office has issued no guidelines to local authorities on their licensing of late-night refreshment houses under the Late Night Refreshment House Act 1969, and did not undertake consultation on the matter last year.
Bail Hostels
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many proposals to open new bail hostels in the last year have been halted due to objections.
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new bail hostels have been opened in 1993 ; how many new places have been created ; and where these hostels are located.
Mr. Maclean : One new bail hostel opened in 1993 at Normanby road, Scunthorpe. This hostel can accommodate up to 22 men.
Police
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) of 18 January, Official Report, columns 465-66, what considerations underlie his decision not to collect information centrally on the number of incidents requiring police deployment (a) per officer and (b) by 100,000 population by police and by year for each police authority ; if he will consider holding the information in future ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Two of the police perfomance indicators introduced jointly by the Home Office, the Audit
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Commission, Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary and the Association of Chief Police Officers cover police deployment : the number of incidents per 100 police officers and the number of incidents requiring immediate police response. These indicators will be collected annually, starting with the financial year ending March 1994, and will be collated by HMCIC.European Community
Mr. Allen : To ask t the right of free movement, establishment, family reunification and equality of treatment in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information requested is set out in the agreement on the European Economic Area presented to Parliament in October 1992, Cm 2073. Part III of the agreement and the associated annexes deal with free movement of persons, services and capital.
WALES
Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many Welsh Development Agency staff will be involved in rural policy planning after the implementation of the agency's new structure at (a) regional and (b) national levels ;
(2) how the Welsh Development Agency plans to consult on issues affecting rural Wales.
Mr. Redwood : I have arranged for the chief executive of the agency to write to the hon. Member, and for a copy of his response to be placed in the Library of the House.
Rural Areas
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list projects and programmes designed to benefit rural areas which involved co-operation between (a) the Welsh Development Agency and (b) the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales, Department of Employment and the training and enterprise councils in Wales in each of the last five years ; (2) if he will list the publications giving details of partnership programmes between (a) the Welsh Development Agency and (b) the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales, Department of Employment and Welsh training and enterprise councils in which voluntary organisations may participate.
Mr. Redwood : I have arranged for the chief executive of the agency to write to the hon. Member, and for a copy of his response to be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the policy documents, publications and consultation documents which set out the rural policy proposals produced by (a) the Welsh Development Agency and (b) the Development Board for Rural Wales in the last 10 years.
Mr. Redwood : I have arranged for the chief executives of the Welsh Development Agency and the Development
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Board for Rural Wales to write to the hon. Member, and for copies of their responses to be placed in the Library of the House.Fire Authorities
Mr. Hanson : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the standard spending assessments for fire authorities in Wales for the years 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1993-94.
Mr. Redwood : There are no standard spending assessments for fire authorities in Wales. The standard spending assessments for county councils in Wales include provision for fire services.
Deaf-blind Service
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to introduce services for the deaf-blind in north Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : It is for local authorities and health authorities to identify the need for, and the priorities for the provision of, services for deaf-blind people in their area in their local strategies for health and social care plans.
The responsibility for making appropriate educational provision for children who are deaf and blind rests with the local education authority.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the area of each individual environmentally sensitive area in Wales already designated or to be designated, estimated to be eligible for management agreements.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information requested is as follows :
|Eligible
|area
|(ha)
----------------------------------------------------
Cambrian Mountains (Original) ESA |27,600
Cambrian Mountains (Extension)ES |65,000
Lleyn Peninsula ESA |39,700
Ynys Mon ESA |60,000
Radnor ESA |80,000
Preseli ESA |104,000
Clwydian Range ESA |26,000
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many farmers are estimated to be eligible for participation in each individual environmentally sensitive area in Wales already designated or to be designated in 1994.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information requested is as follows :
7
|Number of
|farmers
-------------------------------------------------------
Cambrian Mountains (Original) ESA |300
Cambrian Mountains (Extension) ESA |660
Lleyn Peninsula ESA |960
Ynys Mons ESA |1,576
Radnor ESA |1,035
Preseli ESA |2,300
Clwydian Range ESA |619
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Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the area of each individual environmentally sensitive area in Wales already designated or to be designated in 1994.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information requested is as follows :
|Total area(ha)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cambrian Mountains (Original) ESA |72,800
Cambrian Mountains (Extension) ESA |80,200
Lleyn Peninsula ESA |45,400
Ynys Mons ESA |72,000
Radnor ESA |100,500
Preseli ESA |120,900
Clwydian Range ESA |28,000
Public Bodies
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to consult the leaders of the Opposition parties in Wales prior to making appointments to the chairmanship of non-departmental public bodies within his Department's
responsibility.
Mr. Redwood : I have consulted the leaders of the Opposition parties in Wales on my proposals for the appointments of chairman and members to the Local Government Boundary Commission and await their response. I and my officials take into account the views of all correspondents on other appointments, if Members of Parliament wish to support particular people on the list.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will establish a register of new appointees to executive bodies or advisory bodies to show previous and present political affiliations, together with financial contributors to any political parties.
Mr. Redwood : Political affiliation is not usually relevant and in most cases is unknown.
Euro-link
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all agreements concluded under the Euro-link arrangements with companies and organisations from European regions, together with the region concerned ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : The information is contained in the table.
Regional distribution of
"substantive links"secured for
Welsh
companies/organisations engaged
in "Euro-link" programme
|Number
----------------------------------
Germany
Baden-Wurttemberg |25
Saxony |7
Bavaria |1
Berlin |1
Hamburg |1
Italy
Lombardy |7
Piedmont |2
Veneto |1
Spain
Catalunya |5
Madrid |4
Galicia |1
France
Paris |3
Rhone-Alpes |1
Provence |1
|-------
Total |60
Details of individual "substantive links" are not given in this answer as companies regard such information as "commercial in confidence".
Written agreements are a commercial matter to be dealt with by companies as required.
Ministerial Offices
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many bottles of (a) whisky and gin and (b) sherry and port were consumed by his private offices in 1993-94.
Mr. Redwood : Disaggregated information of this sort could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Orimulsion
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will now make it his policy to forbid the burning of orimulsion bitumen in any power station ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : There are currently no applications before Government for the burning of orimulsion at power stations in Wales. Any application to do so would be subject to the pollution control provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and would need to be determined in line with the statutory procedures.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will revise the formula for the allocation of Welsh revenue support grant so that local authority areas with high unemployment, housing needs and deprivation, receive an increase which is at least equal to the rate of inflation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The formulae for distributing revenue support grant in 1994-95 are set out in the Local Government Finance Report--Wales- -1994-95 which received the approval of Parliament on 15 February. The formulae are agreed with the local authority associations and represent a fair and objective way of distributing revenue support grant to all local authorities in Wales.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the reasons underlying the cash allocations of Dwyfor, Cynon Valley, Ogwr and Port Talbot in the Welsh revenue support grant and their relation to the Welsh average ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : For 1994-95 the standard spending assessments per head of population for Dwyfor, Cynon Valley, Ogwr and Port Talbot are £220, £204, £153 and
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£174 respectively. These compare with a district average of £159. SSAs are calculated with reference to a wide range of factors which reflect the relative need of Welsh local authorities to spend on services.NHS (Consultant Appointments)
Mr. Hanson : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what additional steps he intends to take to reduce the waiting time for consultant appointments in Wales.
Mr. Redwood : Measures to reduce the time that people have to wait for a first out-patient appointment will be announced shortly.
Air Pollution
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the measures he proposes to monitor air pollution in Wales in the light of the report published on 24 February by the Institute of Public Health.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I understand the hon. Member may be referring to a recent report on air quality in London. In Wales, the Government operate a comprehensive monitoring network for the main air pollutants--including nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulates and ozone. Monitoring to date has shown that air quality in Wales is good and generally within the World Health Organisation and European Community guideline limits.
Forensic Unit, Gwynedd
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to discourage Gwynedd health authority from building a medium secure forensic unit for mentally unstable criminal offenders in the grounds of Bryn-y-Neuadd hospital at Llanfairfechan ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : On 29 April 1993, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales announced a £9.25 million package for new hospital facilities in Wales for mentally ill offenders. The package includes capital funding of up to £3 million for a new 25-bed medium secure unit for north Wales which will be the first purpose-built medium secure facility within the Principality. In England, over 650 places have been developed within 20 sites. The development of such a unit in north Wales was recommended by the all-Wales advisory group on forensic psychiatry. Ten potential sites were considered and the preferred proposal for Bryn-y-Neuadd hospital, Llanfairfechan was confirmed at the meeting of Gwynedd health authority on 22 November 1993 in the light of a thorough appraisal and advice from experts in the field. The decision was and remains entirely a matter for the health authority.
Grapes
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning the potential effect upon vineyards in Wales of European Union proposals concerning the sugar content of grapes.
Mr. Redwood : The European Union has not made any proposals concerning the sugar content of English and
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Welsh grapes. Reform proposals for the wine regime are expected soon and are likely to propose an increase in the minimum natural alcoholic strength of grapes.My right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is fully aware of the concerns of the Welsh industry and will seek to ensure that these are properly reflected in the forthcoming negotiations.
Blood Supplies
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether there are any regions of Wales where there is a surplus of donated blood ; and whether there are any regions where blood plasma is in short supply.
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Mr. Gwilym Jones : For the area covered by the national blood transfusion service--Wales--there is a surplus of donated blood and there is no shortage of blood plasma.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was (a) the number of blood donors, (b) the quantity of blood supplied and (c) the amount of blood required for each region in Wales for each month since April 1993.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Details for the area covered by the national blood transfusion service--Wales--are set out in the table.
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National blood transfusion service (Wales) (1993-94)
Major blood
components
required (units)
|Donors |Quantity of|Redcell<1> |Platelet
|attending |usable
|donations
|(units)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
April |10,602 |9,038 |7,521 |2,935
May |9,367 |7,806 |7,237 |2,947
June |10,295 |8,640 |7,345 |3,376
July |10,583 |8,866 |7,607 |3,607
August |9,181 |7,724 |6,896 |3,014
September |10,242 |8,647 |7,527 |2,501
October |10,567 |8,844 |7,316 |2,878
November |9,932 |7,936 |7,257 |2,901
December |10,379 |8,868 |7,464 |3,277
January |10,414 |8,783 |7,291 |3,663
<1> These figures include whole blood units which equate to
approximately 5 per cent. of the total.
Historic Buildings Council for Wales
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he intends to present the next report of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The 37th report of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales has been presented today. The report covers the financial year 1992-93 and copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
Public Appointments
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the answer of the Secretary of State for Scotland of 2 February, Official Report, column 774, if he will list those hon. Members defeated in the general election of June 1987 who, at any subsequent date, have been appointed to public bodies by him or his predecessor ; and if he will list those appointments.
Mr. Redwood : The following hon. Members were defeated in Wales in the general election of June 1987 :
Harvey R. L.--Clwyd, South-West
Hubbard-Miles P. C.--Bridgend
Robinson M. N. F.--Newport, West
Terlezki S.--Cardiff, West
None of the above have held, or currently hold, an appointment on bodies for which my Department has responsibility.
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ENVIRONMENT
Overseas Visits
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the (a) budgeted and (b) actual expenditure by his Department on (i) internal and (ii) overseas travel by the Secretary of State since 27 May 1993.
Mr. Gummer : My budget for travel and subsistence for this financial year is £55,000. Since 27 May 1993 I have spent £5,588 on travel throughout the United Kingdom, attending projects in which my Department has been involved, explaining Government policies and listening to the views of local people. During the same period I have spent £15,274 on overseas travel. This has included attending EC Council of Ministers meetings, a United Nations conference on sustainable development in New York, a visit to eastern Europe to discuss environmental issues, and supporting Britain's Olympic bid in Monte Carlo.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by region those sites of special scientific interest that have been damaged or destroyed during each of the last three years ; and if he will indicate the nature of the damage in each case.
Mr. Atkins : Information on loss of and damage to SSSIs generally and on the principal causes of such loss or damage is contained in the annual reports of English Nature and of the former Nature Conservancy Council, copies of which are in the Library. Information on individual sites is not available to my right hon. Friend.
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Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the maximum fines under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for a landowner (a) carrying out a potentially damaging operation to a site of special scientific interest and (b) contravening a nature conservation order under section 29.
Mr. Atkins : The maximum fines for offences under section 28 and 29 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 are set at levels 4 and 5 on the standard scale. They are currently £2,500 and £5,000 respectively.
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many man hours have been spent by English Nature and its predecessor the Nature Conservancy Council in dealing with the protection of the site of special scientific interest at Westhay moor in Somerset since 1987 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : There are some 65 owners and occupiers of this SSSI. Detailed records are not maintained of work on individual sites, but English Nature estimate that at least three and a half man years have been spent since 1987 in protecting Westhay moor.
Women's Refuges
Ms Short : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give an estimate of (a) the number of places in women's refuges in England and Wales and (b) the number of women passing through women's refuges, in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Sir George Young : My Department does not hold information on the number of places in women's refuges nor the number of women passing through them. The Housing Corporation in 1992-93 provided funding for 1,730 bedrooms in 132 refuge schemes managed by housing associations. This provision is part of the Housing Corporation's revenue funding. The corporation also provides capital funding to women's refuges managed by housing associations.
Coastal Conservation Areas
Mr. Elletson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new measures he will introduce to help conserve and manage those areas of coastline and sea which are to be designated as special areas for conservation under the European Union directive on the conservation of flora, fauna and habitats.
Mr. Atkins : The Government set out their policies and proposals for legislative changes in a public consultation paper issued on 4 October 1993. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation. The wider objectives for the conservation of our natural heritage were further addressed in the biodiversity action plan, published on 25 January 1994. Copies of both documents were placed in the House of Commons Library.
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