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Rent assessment committee decisions in appeal cases in Wandsworth
|1989-90 |1990-91 |1991-92 |1992-93
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Number ofcases |304 |631 |559 |339
|13 |39 |25 |31
Number of cases where rent was decreased |(4 per cent.) |(6 per cent.) |(4 per cent.) |(9 per cent.)
|53 |124 |76 |24
Number of cases where rent remained the same |(17 per cent.)|(20 per cent.)|(14 per cent.)|(7 per cent.)
|238 |468 |458 |284
Number of cases where rent was increased |(78 per cent.)|(74 per cent.)|(82 per cent.)|(84 per cent.)
Mean rent officer's current rent(£pa) |1,442 |1,911 |1,8,771 |2,234
Mean rent assessment committee's determined rent(£pa) |1,573 |2,059 |1,941 |2,442
Mean change to rent officer's rent |10 percent. |7 per cent. |10 per cent. |10 percent.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes) of 7 March, Official Report, column 45, if he will set out the research and monitoring programmes on nuclear waste in Cumbria conducted by Government Departments, to which he makes reference.
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Mr. Atkins : Details of the main Government-sponsored programmes are given in the following documents :
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution Annual Report (Department of the Environment, 1987-88 onwards)
Monitoring of Radioactivity in the UK Environment : an Annotated Bibliography of Current Programmes (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Directorate of Fisheries Research, Fisheries Research Data Report No. 27, 1992)
Terrestrial Radioactivity Monitoring Programme (TRAMP) Report for 1992 : Radioactivity in Food and Agricultural Products in England and Wales (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, publication PB1468, 1993)
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Radioactivity in Surface and Coastal Waters of the British Isles (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Aquatic Environment Monitoring Report No. 38, 1992)Radiological Protection Research Annual Reports (AEA Technology, editions up to and including 1993)
Copies of these documents are available in the Library of the House. The National Radiological Protection Board which advises Government on radiological matters, has also undertaken a number of radiological studies of the Cumbria area.
Water Disconnections
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what monitoring he is conducting of the number of people who have had water supplies disconnected in London ; how many households in Lewisham had their water disconnected in 1991-92 and 1992-93 ; and to what socio-economic categories those people belonged.
Mr. Atkins : None. Responsibility for the protection of customers' interests rests with the Director General of Water Services who publishes data on the total number of domestic disconnections twice a year, by water company area. Information on disconnections according to socio-economic categories is not available.
Local Government Review
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the value of MORI opinion polling in informing of the work and recommendations of the Local Government Commission.
Mr. Baldry : It is for the Local Government Commission itself to determine the value of the opinion polling which it has commissioned.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by county and non-metropolitan district in England such information as he has concerning the amount of money spent publicising the local authority's case on the current review of local government.
Mr. Baldry : That is a matter for authorities themselves ; we do not collect information on these costs.
Children at Risk
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information is used to decide the relative weight given to the different factors used in the estimate of children at risk in respect of the standard spending assessment.
Mr. Baldry : The estimate of children at risk used in the personal social services standard spending assessment for children is based on the children in need index. This index is based on four indicators, with the following weightings :
(i) the proportion of dependent children aged under 18 in lone parent families (weight of 3) ;
(ii) the proportion of household residents under 16 years of age living in rented accommodation (weight of 1) ;
(iii) the proportion of children who were dependent children of claimants receiving income support (weight of 1) ;
(iv) the number of homeless households with dependent children or a pregnant woman accepted as in priority need for permanent accommodation, relative to the number of residents under 18 years of age (weight of 1).
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The selection of indicators and the weights applied were based on detailed statistical analysis and previous research findings. In particular, the personal social services research unit at the university of Kent has carried out detailed research on the factors involved.Homelessness
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 9 March, Official Report, columns 294-95, which London authorities raised the issue of homelessness as a indicator in the 1993 consultation ; and when they raised it.
Mr. Baldry : The following London authorities made representations to my Department, on the dates shown, on the use of data on homelessness as an indicator in the calculation of standard spending assessments.
|Date
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London borough of Barnet |27 May 1993
London borough of Brent |21 May 1993
|23 September 1993
London borough of Ealing |5 May 1993
London borough of Enfield |9 July 1993
|10 January 1994
London borough of Greenwich |8 June 1993
London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham |14 April 1993
London borough of Haringey |23 December 1993
London borough of Harrow |7 May 1993
London borough of Hillingdon |24 June 1993
London borough of Lambeth |21 June 1993
London borough of Lewisham |22 December 1993
London borough of Newham |16 April 1993
|14 October 1993
|5 January 1994
London borough of Tower Hamlets |9 July 1993
Westminster city council |8 April 1993
|23 December 1993
Material Exposure Programme
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what work is being carried out in the national material exposure programme on building decay.
Mr. Baldry : The national materials exposure programme was initiated in 1987 as a joint exercise involving the Building Research Establishment of the Department of the Environment, the Central Electricity Generating Board--now Power Gen-National Power-- the Warren Spring Laboratory of the Department of Trade and Industry, and British Coal. The aim of the programme is to assess the effects of air pollution on a range of building materials, including metals and stone.
Results so far indicate that dry deposition of sulphur dioxide on metals and stone is the main cause of attack by pollution. The wet deposition of pollutants on to materials
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is of lesser consequence. The dissolution of calcareous stone by rainwater can be a significant factor, however, even in areas of low pollution.Some of the sites used on the national materials exposure programme are also part of an international programme by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Sustainable Development
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide information on the dates on which the member states of the European Union submitted their reports to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
Mr. Atkins : We understand that three member states have submitted their reports. The Netherlands submitted its report in January, and Belgium submitted its in February. The Secretary of State wrote to the chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on 6 March enclosing the United Kingdom's report. Copies of the United Kingdom's report have been placed in the Library.
Public Bodies
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the present role and remit of (a) the Countryside Commission and (b) English Nature.
Mr. Atkins : The role and remit of both the Countryside Commission and English Nature are fully detailed in the public consultation document recently issued as part of the current study into the possible bringing together of the two bodies. The document is available in the Library of the House. I have also arranged for the hon. Member to receive a copy.
Air Pollution
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what co-ordination of air pollution information is planned following the closure of Warren Spring Laboratory.
Mr. Atkins [holding answer 10 March 1994] : My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade announced last year the closure of Warren Spring Laboratory and the merging of its business with the environmental business of the Atomic Energy Authority Technology to form the new National Environmental Technology Centre.
The co-ordination and provision of information to the public on air quality are undertaken by a number of organisations, including Warren Spring Laboratory. We expect the closure to have no significant effect on this activity.
Wind Turbines
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people have been either injured or killed as a result of the operation of wind turbines in the United Kingdom since 1979 ; and what information he has as to deaths resulting from the operation of wind farms or aerogenerators abroad.
Mr. Eggar : I have been asked to reply.
In the United Kingdom no deaths or serious injuries have occurred as a result of the operation of wind turbines.
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In the Netherlands one death occurred in 1990 when a machine went out of control during a storm.In Denmark two deaths occurred in 1991 in a single incident involving the servicing of a rotor.
In the United States of America three deaths and a number of injuries have been reported over the past 15 years of operation of the wind turbines.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Back to Basics"
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many members of his Department's staff are currently engaged on the Government's "back to basics" policy.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 March at column 464.
Occupied Territories
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Israeli Government on disarming the settler community in the occupied territories.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I wrote to the Israeli ambassador on 11 March drawing his attention to the European Foreign Ministers' statement of 7 March noting that Israel is responsible for the safety of all inhabitants in the occupied territories. I welcome moves by the Israeli Government to disarm extremist settlers and outlaw two extremist settler organisations. I recognise that some settlers face risks themselves.
European Union
Mr. Cash : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government expect to be on the agenda of the 1996 intergovernmental conference ; and for what changes to the treaty on European union the Government will be pressing.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Maastricht treaty calls for the 1996 intergovernmental conference to look at possible treaty chapters on energy, civil protection and tourism, under article 3 (t) ; the powers of the European Parliament under article 189 b .8 ; defence, under article J.4.6 ; the common foreign and security policy, under article J.10 ; the hierarchy of Community acts, under a declaration on the hierarchy of Community acts made at Maastricht ; and the pillared structure of the treaty on European Union under article B. It is too early to say what changes to the treaty on European Union we will press for.
Subsidiarity
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's latest position on the principle of subsidiarity within the European Community.
Mr. Goodlad : The principle of subsidiarity remains central to the Government's European policy. We are committed to ensuring that it is fully applied in all areas of Community business. We welcomed the Commission's
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report to the Brussels European Council in December, which must now be translated into appropriate action. Under the inter-institutional agreement of 25 October 1993, the Commission has undertaken to ensure that it will not table new proposals unless they can be justified on subsidiarity grounds.Lome Convention
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the implications of the latest general agreement on tariffs and trade for the future of the Lome convention.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave him on 11 January at column 40 .
Seeds
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made on behalf of the Government, within European Union discussions about the general agreement on tariffs and trade, concerning the potential impact on farmers in India and other Commonwealth countries, of proposals made within the GATT agreement for the enforcement of the intellectual property rights over varieties of seeds.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : No such representations have been made. Traditional or well-known seeds cannot be patented because they are not new. The Uruguay round agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights will not alter this, and farmers in India and elsewhere can go on using such seeds without any restrictions.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Sudan
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about the impact of recent military activity on the delivery patterns for humanitarian aid of Operation Lifeline Sudan.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Our information is that the hostilities by the Government of Sudan, factions of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army and non- aligned groups have continued to impede the delivery and distribution of relief supplies in parts of the south. Eastern and Western Equatoria and Upper Nile are most affected. The Government of Sudan have withheld flight permission to six relief centres in March : Boma, Kajokeji, Maridi, Mundri, Pariang, and Thiet. World Food Programme relief barges along the Nile network have been suspended and clearance for the relief train serving Wau has been withheld by the SPLA.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about crop failure and food shortage in Sudan.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Food and Agricultural Organisation-World Food Programme crop assessment report of December 1993 estimated emergency food aid requirements for 1993-94 at 464,000 tonnes. A copy of the report has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Thailand
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give details of the water supply project in Thailand which is under consideration for support under the aid and trade provision.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The main purpose of this project would be the improvement of the quality of drinking water supplies in 25 towns in Thailand.
Aid and Trade Provision
Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in full the report of the review of the aid and trade provision implemented in June 1993.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : No. We made the ATP review available as part of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's memorandum to the Foreign Affairs Committee to assist its inquiry into the Pergau hydro-electric project and the aid and trade provision.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Prisoners (Benefit Claims)
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Prison Service notifies the Benefits Agency if a claimant is received into custody.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Governors of establishments are asked to complete a form about national insurance in respect of any prisoner admitted to custody for a period of 21 days or more. The form, which includes questions about the receipt of benefits immediately before arrest, is sent to the Contributions Agency. This procedure is being supplemented by sending the Benefits Agency, on request, lists of prisoners.
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what incentives exist for remand prisoners to disclose the details of the benefits received.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : A form about national insurance, which includes questions about the receipt of benefits, is designed for completion in respect of all prisoners--whether convicted or remand--admitted to custody for a period of 21 days or more. Prisoners--including those on remand and hoping to be granted bail--are encouraged to contact the DSS quickly to sort out their benefit affairs, not least so that families do not lose any benefits to which they may be entitled.
Mr. Bryan Ruppert
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he was requested to meet an all-party group of hon. Members to discuss the application of Bryan Ruppert for leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of his long-term relationship with David Green ; what was his response ; and what were the reasons for his response.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I declined to meet an all-party group of hon. Members for the reasons set out in my letter of 17 February in reply to the hon. Member's letter of 1 February.
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Colne Police
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average time for the police in Colne, Lancashire to respond to an emergency call in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992 and at the current date.
Mr. Charles Wardle : No information on emergency response times in Lancashire is available prior to 1993-94. In the current financial year, up to February, on average 86 per cent. of 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds, although no specific figures are available for Colne. During the same period, the average time taken to arrive at the scene of an emergency incident in Colne was four minutes from receiving the call.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the work of the interdepartmental working group on domestic violence ;
(2) which Departments are represented on the interdepartmental working group on domestic violence.
Mr. Maclean : The official interdepartmental group on domestic violence considers initiatives designed to ensure that the perpetrators of domestic violence are brought to justice ; that victims and their children receive the necessary practical and emotional support ; and that preventive strategies to help reduce violence are identified and promoted. Proposals currently being considered by the group include ways of improving inter- agency co-operation at a national and local level and or raising public awareness of domestic violence. These and other related issues will be considered soon by the ministerial group on domestic violence. Both groups are serviced by the Home Office with representation from the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Law Officer's Department, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Departments of Employment, Environment, Health and Social Security, the Department for Education, the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Offices and the Treasury.
Immigration
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests he received from hon. Members in (a) 1993, (b) 1992, (c) 1991 and (d) 1990 to exercise ministerial discretion in deportation cases and in refusals to extend the length of visas and in port clearances ; in how many in each year the decision of immigration officers was overturned ; to how many in each year he replied personally ; and to how many the immigration and nationality department replied.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information is not collected in the form requested. The total numbers of letters and telephone inquiries about immigration matters received from right hon. and hon. Members in the years in question were as follows :
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|1990 |1991 |1992 |1993
Correspondence
Ministerial replies |8,587 |9,000 |9,163 |8,356
Official replies |677 |1,383 |1,899 |1,928
Telephone enquiries<1> |901 |900 |943 |829
<1> Not including calls to Ministers and their private offices.
How many of these approaches contained requests to exercise discretion in individual cases is not recorded separately. Nor is the number of cases in which decisions were changed following representations from hon. and right hon. Members.
EC Citizens (Voting Rights)
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he intends to take to publicise EC voting rights and registration requirements for European citizens of voting age resident in the United Kingdom ; and what are the costs of these measures, and the timetable for them in the period before the European parliamentary elections.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan) on 25 February, columns 508-9. All the measures noted in that reply have now been completed. In addition, we have also issued a press release to over 1,300 broadcast and written media, and offered a draft news article to over 100 regional newspapers. The costs of these measures have been met from within existing resources and are not separately identifiable.
Car Crime Prevention
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 2 March, Official Report, column 735, what was the cost of (a) the February 1993 phase and (b) the September 1993 phase of the car crime prevention campaign.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The campaign did not run during February 1993. There was a burst of national television advertising during January 1993, which cost £500,000.
A further burst of national advertising and promotions ran from May to the middle of September 1993 on television, posters, bus-sides, local press and radio at a cost of £3,419,185.
Prisoners
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are detained in each prison in Yorkshire ; for Humberside, what is the number of prisoners detained ; of these how many are (a) serving prison sentences, (b) on remand and (c) awaiting deportation on the latest date for which he has figures available ; and what were the figures 12 months ago.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The total population in each prison in Humberside and Yorkshire is given in the tables for 31 January 1993 and 1994 and is sub-divided by type of custody.
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Population in Prison Service establishments on 31 January 1994 in Humberside and Yorkshire by type of custody
County/Establishment |Remand |Sentenced |Fine defaulter |Immigration act |Other |All
|detainee<1> |non-criminal
Humberside
The Wolds |321 |1 |- |- |- |322
Hull |168 |205 |18 |15 |10 |416
Everthorpe |- |223 |- |- |1 |224
Full Sutton |- |542 |- |- |- |542
Yorkshire
Askam Grange |- |94 |- |- |1 |95
Northallerton |114 |38 |5 |- |- |157
New Hall |55 |99 |3 |- |2 |159
Wakefield |- |635 |- |- |- |635
Leeds |551 |549 |20 |6 |3 |1,129
Rudgate |- |247 |4 |- |1 |252
Thorpe Arch |- |165 |- |- |- |165
Wetherby |- |134 |- |- |- |134
Lindholme |- |528 |1 |- |- |528
Moorland |440 |169 |8 |1 |- |618
Hatfield |- |174 |2 |- |- |176
<1> Detained pending further consideration or removal or deportation under schedule 2 or 3 to the Immigration Act 1991.
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Population in Prison Service establishments on 31 January 1993 in Humberside and Yorkshire by type of custody
County/Establishment |Remand |Sentenced |Fine defaulter |Immigration act |Other |All
|detainee<1> |non-criminal
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Humberside
The Wolds |304 |- |- |- |- |304
Hull |41 |200 |30 |3 |- |274
Everthorpe |- |222 |- |- |- |222
Full Sutton |- |427 |- |- |- |427
Yorkshire
Askam Grange |- |71 |- |- |- |71
Northallerton |- |181 |- |- |- |181
New Hall |35 |79 |- |- |- |114
Wakefield |- |654 |- |- |- |654
Leeds |397 |332 |22 |1 |3 |755
Rudgate |- |218 |- |- |- |218
Thorpe Arch |- |164 |- |- |- |164
Wetherby |- |119 |- |- |- |119
Lindholme |- |554 |- |- |- |554
Moorland |320 |257 |- |- |- |577
Hatfield |- |111 |- |- |- |111
<1> Detained pending further consideration or removal or deportation under schedule 2 or 3 to the Immigration Act 1991.
Missing Persons
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve the procedures for tracing missing persons.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The Government are providing an extra £90,000 a year for three years to improve the procedures for tracing missing persons and are investing in the technology that will allow the system to be computerised.
As the first step in this process, on 18 March 1994 a police national missing persons bureau will open at New Scotland Yard, under the control of the national identification bureau. The bureau will be a central clearing house for information on vulnerable missing persons for the use of all police forces in the United Kingdom and overseas agencies.
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been reported missing in each of the past five years ; and of those reported missing how many are traced within a period of not less than (a) six months, (b) two years and (c) five years.
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Mr. Charles Wardle : Statistics on missing persons are not currently available centrally. With the establishment of the police national missing persons bureau on 18 March statistics will begin to be collected centrally for the first time.
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce a statutory requirement for people to inform the police if they have not heard from next of kin for over a year so that they can then be registered as missing.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom in the last year for which figures are available, and in each of the two preceding years, were (a) granted temporary admission or (b) detained while their cases were examined ; and how many of each group subsequently (i) were granted asylum, (ii) were deported, (iii) left the United Kingdom of their own volition and (iv) absconded.
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Mr. Charles Wardle : The specific information requested is not available.
Information on total asylum applications, decisions, asylum seekers detained for more than one month and removals and voluntary departures of asylum applicants, is, however, contained in tables 2,1, 3.1 to 3.3, 8.1 and 9.1 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin issue 19/93, "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 1992", a copy of which is in the Library.
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