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Inward Investment
20. Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the current level of inward investment in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Tim Smith : So far this year the Industrial Development Board has secured seven new inward investment projects involving a total investment of approximately £213 million and promising 1,476 new jobs. I am confident that there will be further announcements before the end of the financial year.
Further and Higher Education
21. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of school leavers are now entering further and higher education in Northern Ireland ; and what the figures were in 1979.
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Mr. Ancram : A total of 58.2 per cent. of school leavers in Northern Ireland entered further and higher education in 1991-92. The figure for 1979-80 was 33.2 per cent.
Building Workers
23. Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures he proposes to reduce unemployment among building workers in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Tim Smith : Government policy is to create the conditions which produce economic growth leading to demand for construction workers and other employees. In Northern Ireland violence continues to be one of the greatest impediments to such growth. Nevertheless programmes are available from the Training and Employment Agency to help unemployed building workers re-train or find employment.
Interrogation Procedures
24. Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has for extending to Northern Ireland the tape recording of interrogations and access to legal advice for suspects.
Sir John Wheeler : Both these issues have been raised by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper in his first report as Independent Commissioner for the Holding Centres. His report will receive careful consideration. Interviews with suspects detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence (NI) Order 1989 are currently tape-recorded. The Government remain firmly of the view that recording of interviews with terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland would not be in the overall interests of justice.
Integrated Education
25. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the growth of integrated education in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Ancram : Parental demand for integrated education continues at a high level. Twelve new integrated schools have been established since 1989, when legislation to encourage and facilitate its development was enact -- Legislative Procedures
28. Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the reform of current legislative procedures for Northern Ireland.
Mr. Ancram : The basic procedures for legislating for Northern Ireland are well understood but my right hon. and learned Friend is always prepared to consider reasonable proposals for improvement. The Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs will be able to provide additional scrutiny.
Police Authority
Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress he has made in new appointments to the Northern Ireland Police Authority.
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Sir John Wheeler : The term of office for the current Police Authority for Northern Ireland expires on 28 June. Nominations for potential members have been invited from a wide range of interested organisations. Thirty-two bodies, including 23 district councils, have so far put forward nominations.
Housing
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under what terms and conditions two blocks of flats at Camross park, Rathcoole, Co. Antrim were leased to Newtownabbey community project by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Mr. Tim Smith : This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I am advised by its chief executive that two blocks of flats at Camross park, Rathcoole, have been let to Newtownabbey community project, subject to the following terms and conditions : 1. The tenant shall vacate the premises when required to do so by the Landlord.
2. The tenant shall be responsible for maintenance and repair of the dwelling.
3. The tenant is responsible for payment of rates.
4. The tenant shall be responsible for ensuring that the persons using the premises act in a reasonable manner, both in respect of the treatment of the building and adjoining property and that they avoid conduct likely to cause a nuisance to others, and for ensuring that the dwelling is in a reasonable condition at the termination of tenancy.
5. Written permission from the Housing Executive is required for the following matters :
(a) To carry out structural alterations and to erect any structure on the grounds of the dwelling.
(b) To assign or sublet the dwelling.
6. The Newtownabbey Community Project hereby agrees :
(a) Not to use or permit the premises to be used for any purpose which is in breach of or contravenes any law, order, or regulation for the time being in force.
(b) Not to use or permit the premises to be used for any purpose which will cause damage to the premises or injury to any person using the premises.
(c) Not to sell or permit the sale or consumption of intoxicating liquor on the premises.
(d) To use the premises only for the lawful business of the community project.
7. The Executive reserves the right on notice being given (save in the case of emergency) for the Executive's duly authorised representatives to inspect the premises at any reasonable hour.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if approval was obtained from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to sub- let flats at Camross park, Rathcoole, Co. Antrim to a pigeon club by Newtownabbey community project.
Mr. Tim Smith : This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I am advised by its chief executive that no approval was obtained from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to sub-let flats at Camross park, Rathcoole to a pigeon club, by Newtownabbey community project.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the future security of tenure of a pigeon club in Northern Ireland Housing Executive property at Camross park, Rathcoole, Co. Antrim, sub-let by Newtownabbey community project group.
Mr. Tim Smith : This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and I am advised by its chief
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executive that Newtownabbey community project, in permitting the use of all or part of the premises to the East Way Housing Pigeon Society, is in breach of the tenancy agreement. The Housing Executive was notified of the breach of tenancy on 9 March 1994 and a formal letter instructing the project to take immediate action to terminate the sub-let to the Pigeon Society was issued on 11 March 1994.Compensation
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to extend the proposed tariff re gime for compensation in England to the victims of crime to Northern Ireland ; and if he has plans to consult interested organisations in the Province.
Sir John Wheeler : I am currently considering what lessons might be learnt for Northern Ireland from the forthcoming changes to the criminal injuries compensation scheme in Great Britain, details of which were published recently by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary.
If, as a consequence, I consider that changes should be made to the current compensation scheme in Northern Ireland, I am committed to public consultation with interested parties in the Province.
Hume-Adams Agreement
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will seek a copy of the agreement between the hon. Member for Foyle (Mr. Hume) and Mr. Gerry Adams.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : No. I believe, and the hon. Member for Foyle has stated, that the Downing Street declaration sufficiently sets out the principles that must govern the future. They establish that in Northern Ireland there can be no place, and no justification, for politically motivated violence, whether of the kind still being perpetrated by the Provisional IRA with Mr. Adams' justification or at all.
School Sports Facilities
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many schools have (a) some playing fields and (b) artificial games areas, excluding playground areas ; what were the figures (i) five, (ii) 10 and (iii) 15 years ago ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ancram : Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, information compiled in 1989 indicates that some 325 schools had grass pitches and 314 had hard surface games areas ; some schools had both types of provision.
Blood
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was (a) the number of blood donors, (b) the quantity of blood donated and (c) the amount of blood required for each health board for each month since April 1993.
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 10 March 1994] : The Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service is a regional service and figures are not collected by board but on a province-wide basis.
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The number of blood donors on the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service panel is 82,138, while the quantity of blood donated over 1992-93 totalled 63,848 units.Information on the amount of blood issued for each month since April 1993 is currently not available.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Legislation (Amendments)
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will give examples of small and less controversial amendments to primary legislation, which would be unlikely to be made due to time constraint, which could not be made in the same manner as those contained in chapter II of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Bill, as indicated in his evidence before the Procedure Committee on 16 February.
Mr. Newton : Chapter 3 of the booklet "Deregulation--Cutting Red Tape" identifies 55 measures which the Government believe would be suitable for the order-making power in clauses 1 to 4 of the Bill. One example which I quoted in my evidence to the Procedure Committee was an amendment to the Patents Act 1977 and the Registered Designs Act 1949 to enable the Patent Office to accept documents in forms other than paper, such as electronic filing. The deregulation initiative is a rolling programme and more measures are expected to come forward in the future.
Exhibitions (Upper Waiting Hall)
Mr. Pike : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to Lancashire Aerospace to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Mr. Michael J. Martin : I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from Monday 9 May to Friday 13 May.
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to the sesquicentenary of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Mr. Michael J. Martin : I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from Monday 25 April to Friday 29 April.
EDUCATION
Adult and Further Education
Mr. Dowd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the number of enrolments of students aged under 19 years for adult education courses and further education colleges with the Inner London education authority in 1989 and for its successor bodies for each year since.
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Mr. Boswell : The number of enrolments by students aged under 19 years on further education courses in adult education centres and further and higher education colleges funded by ILEA in 1989 or by its successor bodies in subsequent years are shown in the following table :
The number of enrolments as of 1
November of the appropriate year by
students aged under 19 on further
education courses in adult
education
centres and in further and higher
education colleges in Inner London
Academic |Number of
Year |Enrolments
|(thousands)
------------------------------------
1989-90 |31
1990-91 |29
1991-92 |27
1992-93 |29
Staffordshire Schools
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education on how many occasions he has visited schools in Staffordshire ; if he will give details ; and when he next expects to visit schools in Staffordshire.
Mr. Patten : I have not visited any schools in Staffordshire, and at present I have no plans to do so.
Science Education
Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give the percentages of young people aged 18 to 21 years in full -time education studying a science subject in each of the member countries of the OECD.
Mr. Robin Squire : The readily available information is given in the table.
Students<1> enrolled on higher education
science<2> courses as a proportion
of the population aged 18-25 in 1991<3>
|Per cent.
---------------------------------------------
Belgium<3> |3.6
Canada |8.4
Denmark |8.3
France |7.8
Germany, FRG |10.4
Greece<3> |7.0
Ireland |7.1
Italy |7.4
Japan<3> |4.8
Netherlands<4> |6.5
Portugal |3.9
Spain<3> |6.9
United Kingdom<3> <4> |7.7
United States of America |11.9
<1> Full and part-time students.
<2> Science includes Natural Science,
Mathematics and Computer Science, Medical
and Health related, Engineering,
Architecture and Town Planning and Trade
Craft and Industrial programmes.
<3> 1990 data for Belgium, Greece, Spain and
Japan and 1992 for the United Kingdom.
<4> Excluding Open University enrolments in
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
<5> The sources used are:
UNESCO Statistical Yearbook, 1992 and 1993;
United States Digest of Education Statistics,
1993;
Data supplied by OECD for Education at a
Glance, 1993;Education Statistics for the
United Kingdom 1992 and 1993.
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Nursing
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether mandatory awards will be offered to lecturers in nursing who are being required to upgrade their qualifications to degree level.
Mr. Boswell : Lecturers in nursing who enrol on designated courses and who seek a mandatory award are subject to the same conditions in respect of personal eligibility and previous study as apply to other students.
Primary Schools (Surplus Places)
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will initiate a survey by local education authorities of some, or all, of their primary schools which under his criteria possess surplus places of between 20 per cent. and 40 per cent. of those notional place numbers, to assess the impact on their activities prohibiting any use of that proportion of their space currently in use.
Mr. Forth : We have no plans to require local authorities to undertake such a survey. It is for local authorities in the first instance to make plans for the removal of surplus capacity, including the scale and method of rationalisation.
School Premises
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if his formula for a school place in secondary schools permits each pupil within its specified pupil total to possess inside an all-purpose class, or similar room, a personal desk or locker of minimum cubic capacity.
Mr. Forth : The formula for measuring the capacity of schools used in the implementation of the more open enrolment provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 does not cover this level of detail. It is up to schools how they use and furnish their teaching accommodation.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if, in his assessment of school occupancy, he includes classrooms, workshops or other buildings of a temporary character ; and when his policy was last changed and reviewed ;
(2) what adjustments have been made in the minimum standards in relation to a school place in secondary schools in the last 15 years ; for what reasons ; and what assessment he has made of any change in pupil space requirements consequent on the introduction of the national curriculum ;
(3) if he will state the latest official criteria of what constitutes a school place in (a) maintained primary and (b) maintained secondary schools ; and what comparative studies have been made between the minimum standards laid down in (b) and any group of schools whose heads are members of the (i) headmasters or (ii) headmistresses conferences.
Mr. Forth : The more open enrolment provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 mean that schools must, in most cases, admit pupils until they are full. Each school has a standard number, or an approved admission number in the case of a grant-maintained school, which reflects previous levels of intake or the school's physical capacity as measured against a prescribed formula. All suitable permanent and temporary accommodation is taken into account in the assessment of standard numbers or approved admissions numbers.
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The provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 and the advice contained in departmental circulars 11/88, Admissions to County and Voluntary Schools, and 6/91, Implementation of More Open Enrolment in Primary Schools, represent the latest steps in a process of continual refinement in the calculation of school capacity.I am not aware of any comparative studies covering independent schools.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice, or requirement, he makes in approving capital consent for new secondary buildings in respect of (a) the need for split, or smaller, teaching groups for certain classes held in rooms deemed capable of accommodating 30 or more pupils and (b) the need for a significant proportion of space to remain empty in order to construct an educationally efficient timetable.
Mr. Forth : Capital support for new or extended secondary schools is made available through annual capital guidelines to LEAs, and by grant aid for voluntary aided and self-governing GM schools, according to the assessed need for new places in an area. The level of support is based on cost multipliers which reflect the average cost of providing new places. The cost multipliers are based on costs actually achieved in LEA building projects.
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what cost limits applied to newly built primary and secondary schools, respectively, in respect of costs per place of the building, net of site costs, and the name, date and authorisation of any official publication advising on how minimum space requirements could be obtained within the limits without prejudice to other costs, including future maintenance.
Mr. Forth : There are no cost limits in respect of expenditure per place on individual LEA schools, although limits may, in the case of voluntary aided schools, be placed on the levels of our grant aid. Under the capital finance system LEAs are free to spend what they like on individual projects. In determining the basic need--that is, the requirement for new school places in areas of population growth--element of the 1994-95 annual capital guidelines, the Department used per place cost multipliers, valued as follows :
|£
----------------------------
Primary |3,747
Secondary |5,116
Secondary (16+) |6,128
These are based on actual LEA projects providing places in new schools and extensions. They include the cost of the buildings, external works, furniture and equipment and professional fees. They do not include the cost of site purchases or VAT. The cost in each case represents a level of achievement being met by about a third of LEAs. The teaching standards adopted in the project are about 15 per cent. above the regulation minimum for a 210-place primary school, and about 8 per cent. above the minimum for a typical secondary school.
The Department's most recent guidance in respect of new primary schools, published in 1989 and called "St. John's School Sefton : the design of a new primary school," illustrated lower teaching area standards than those indicated above. No recent comparable publication has been produced related to secondary schools.
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Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what study he has made, or is planning, of the amount of space available per secondary pupil in any group of independent schools, which are charitable foundations, which are making economical use of their premises.
School Leavers
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of female school leavers left school with five or more GCSEs at grades A to C in Merseyside in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Robin Squire : The percentage of female school leavers estimated to be leaving maintained schools with five or more GCSEs at grades A to C in Merseyside in 1992 was 33.6 per cent. The latest year for which the information is available is 1991-92, when the school examinations survey was undertaken with a reduced sample of 3 per cent.
Civil Servants
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each civil service grade in his Department (a) the total number of persons employed and (b) the percentage of this figure that are women.
Mr. Boswell : The figures are as follows :
|Total in |Women as a
|grade |percentage
|of total
----------------------------------------------------
Grade 1 |1 |0
Grade 2 |3 |0
Grade 3 |12 |0
Grade 4 |4 |25.0
Grade 5 |46 |26.1
Grade 6 |15 |13.3
Grade 7 |153 |28.1
SEO and Equivalent |112 |34.8
HEO and Equivalent |369 |49.6
EO and Equivalent |501 |60.5
AO and Equivalent |628 |74.7
AA and Equivalent |382 |66.2
|--- |--
Total |2,229 |58.5
These figures include 367 staff in post in the Teachers Pensions Agency of which 71.7 per cent. are women.
Cash Limits
Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to announce changes to cash limits on votes within his responsibility for 1993-94.
Mr. Patten : The cash limit for class X, vote 1, schools, research and miscellaneous services, will be reduced by £1,500,000 from £708, 982,000 to £707,482,000. The reduction will be used to offset an increase in the non-voted cash limit DFE local authority capital to meet increased expenditure on supplementary credit approvals in respect of urgently needed school building projects. The local authority capital cash limit will therefore be increased by £1,500, 000 from £48,922,000 to £50,422,000.
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DEFENCE
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will provide substantive answers to the questions from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton of 21 January, and 27 January, concerning the membership of non-departmental public bodies.
Mr. Hanley : The delay in answering has been caused by the need to establish whether members would be content for their names to be published, particularly where NDPBs deal with sensitive issues. I am now in a position to answer a number of the questions referred to and will answer the remainder once all individuals concerned have replied to my Department.
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the Review Board for Government Contracts.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The information requested is as follows :
Sir Peter Webster (Chairman)
Sir Laurence Airey KCB
Sir Alan Bailey KCB
Derek Kingsbury CBE
Dr. Alan Watkins
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the board of the Royal Air Force museum.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The information requested is as follows :
Sir Michael Beetham GCB CBE DFC AFC FRAeS (Chairman)
Sir Thomas N. Risk
Mr. Barry Pinson QC
Group Captain Sir Gordon Pirie CVO CBE JP DL (Retd)
Dr. Basil Greenhill CB CMG FRHists FSA
Sir John Cuckney
Sir Ralph Robins FENG FRAeS
Sir Colin Marshall
Sir Hector Monro AE JP DL MP
Sir Colin Chandler
Sir John Blelloch KCB
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