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Rent Forms
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what statutory forms used by rent officers will be available in the Welsh language.
Sir Wyn Roberts : When the Rent Act 1977 (Forms, etc). (Welsh Forms and Particulars) (Amendment) Regulations 1994, laid before the house on 16 March, comes into force on 6 April 1994.
School Inspectors
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many reports were produced by Her Majesty's inspectors in Wales in (a) 1991-92 and (b) 1992-93 ;
(2) what percentage of Her Majesty's inspectors appointed after 1992 have (a) no teaching experience and (b) over five years' experience of teaching in primary or secondary schools.
Sir Wyn Roberts : These are matters for the office of Her Majesty's chief inspector for schools in Wales. I have therefore asked the chief inspector, Mr. R. L. James, to write to the hon. Member.
A476
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when work will commence on the A476 Blaenau Ffestiniog to Betws-y-Coed road ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Full details of my right hon. Friend's forward programme will be set out in a revised edition of "Roads in Wales" to be published in the spring.
Arable Area Payments
Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total paid to farmers in (a) arable aid scheme set-aside payments and (b) total arable area scheme
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payments in Wales following the 1993-94 harvest ; and how many farmers in Wales have received arable area payments of £1 million or more.Mr. Redwood : Total payments to date in Wales under the arable area payments scheme amount to £5,257,009, including set-aside payments of £617,480. These figures do not include final oilseed payments, which are being made now.
No farmers in Wales received payments of £1 million or more.
House Prices
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what changes have taken place in the average prices of (a) council houses and (b) housing association houses in Wales during each of the past 14 years.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Information on the changes in average market prices of council dwellings in Wales for each year since 1981 is shown in the following table. Information on average prices for housing association dwellings is not available centrally.
Average market prices of council dwellings in Wales<1>
Year |Average price|Percentage
|£ |change on
|previous year
--------------------------------------------------------
1981 |13,844 |-
1982 |13,602 |-1.7
1983 |14,258 |4.8
1984 |15,272 |7.1
1985 |16,346 |7.0
1986 |17,404 |6.5
1987 |18,844 |8.3
1988 |20,219 |7.3
1989 |25,233 |24.8
1990 |29,476 |16.8
1991 |29,161 |-1.1
1992 |32,078 |10.0
1993 |31,319 |-2.4
<1> The data provided are based on the market prices of
council dwellings sold in each year rather than the
value of council stock. Information is only available
for market prices of all council dwellings sold, no
distinction being made between houses and flats.
Consistent information is not available for 1980.
Nursery Education
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many three and four-year-old children are in receipt of nursery education in each education authority area ; and what percentage this represents of the total number of children of that age group in each area.
Mr. Redwood : The number and percentage of three and four-year-old children receiving nursery education in each local education authority in Wales as at January 1993 are as follows :
|Number<1> |Per cent.<1>
-------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |8,809 |83
Dyfed |5,529 |64
Gwent |8,943 |70
Gwynedd |2,775 |46
Mid Glamorgan |11,112 |71
Powys |1,582 |55
South Glamorgan |7,163 |61
West Glamorgan |7,925 |84
<1> Ages as at 31 December 1992 (estimated)
Others receive some other form of pre-school education or nursery.
GP Fundholders
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has about the prescribing patterns of (a) fundholding and (b) non- fundholding general practitioners.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : There is evidence that many GPs in Wales are taking positive steps to rationalise their prescribing, and to improve cost -effectiveness while ensuring that their patients receive all the medicines they need. Prescribing costs of GP fundholders are, on average, rising at present by about 7.6 per cent. a year, while those of other GPs are rising by an average of about 11.1 per cent. a year.
Jobs (Location)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of jobs that have (a) located in Wales from areas outside of Wales and (b) located from Wales to areas outside Wales in each of the last 15 years.
Mr. Redwood : Comprehensive information is not available. However, the 1,120 inward investment projects from overseas and the rest of the United Kingdom recorded by Welsh Development International since April 1983 forecast almost 110,000 new and safeguarded jobs. The figures are based on information provided by companies at the time of their decision to invest and take no account of subsequent developments.
Brynglas Tunnels and Malpas Road Scheme
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his latest estimate of the final cost and completion date of the Brynglas tunnels and Malpas road scheme.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The recent departmental report by the Welsh Office shows the estimated gross cost of the scheme as £76 million. The current contract completion date is December 1994.
Public Bodies
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 15 March, Official Report, column 634, if he will list the dates of setting up of each of the executive
non-departmental bodies under his sponsorship and if he will list the years in which each of them has their financial management and policy review or reviews.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 18 March 1994] : The requirement that non-departmental public bodies should be subject to a financial management and policy review every five years was introduced in 1988. The dates of the establishment of each body and of the reviews carried out since 1988 are shown in the table :
Body |Established |FMPR(S) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardiff Bay Development Corporation |1987 |1993-94 Countryside Council for Wales |1991 |1994-95 Curriculum Council for Wales |1988 |<1>- Development Board for Rural Wales |1977 |1986-87 and 1991-92 Further Education Funding Council for Wales |<2>1993 |scheduled for 1998-99 Higher Education Funding Council for Wales |<2>1993 |scheduled for 1998-99 Housing for Wales |1989 |1993-94 Land Authority for Wales |1975 |1991-92 National Library of Wales |1907 |1987-88 and 1993-94 National Museum of Wales |1907 |1987-88 and 1993-94 Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments |1908 |1988-89 and 1993-94 Sports Council for Wales |1972 |1991-92 Wales Tourist Board |1969 |1992-93 Wales Youth Agency |1992 |scheduled for 1997-98 Welsh Development Agency |1976 |1991-92 Welsh Language Board |1993 |scheduled for 1999-2000 Welsh National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting |1983 |1989-90 <1>The Curriculum Council for Wales is to be replaced by the new Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales from 1 April 1994. <2>Began operations from April 1993.
Child Care
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the awarding of a contract for administering a child care creche and holiday play scheme for civil servants' children on behalf of the consortium of Cardiff Government Departments led by his Department.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 18 March 1994] : The contract to manage the civil service nursery, which was awarded to Acorns Nurseries in September 1993, and the contract to provide holiday playcare, which has been awarded to South Glamorgan county council to run from 1 April 1994 were both awarded following fair and open competition.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Fruit and Vegetables
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state (a) the latest European Commission estimate for the amount, in tonnes, of (i) apples, (ii) tomatoes, (iii) cauliflowers and (iv) peaches and nectarines withdrawn from the market per year as part of the European Community's market intervention and (b) the cost of this policy per taxpayer in the United Kingdom, breaking this figure down into (1) the running costs of the policy and (2) the amount which the policy adds on to food prices.
Mr. Jack : The following are the latest estimates from the European Commission of the amounts of produce withdrawn within the Community for the 1993-94 marketing year.
|Tonnes
-----------------------------
Apples |616,758
Tomatoes |47,630
Cauliflowers |27,809
Peaches |686,903
Nectarines |153,040
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The Exchequer cost of CAP support of fresh fruit and vegetables in the United Kingdom is estimated at £2.8 million for the 1993-94 financial year. This represents 1 per cent. of total United Kingdom Exchequer cost of CAP support. The United Kingdom also contributes to the EC budget as a whole, which funds the cost of withdrawals of fresh fruit and vegetables in other member states.It is not possible to make precise estimates of the consumer costs of the fresh fruit and vegetables support without making a large number of assumptions.
Fish Testing
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations she has made to the French Government about biological testing of third-party fish ; what effect such testing has had on fish markets particularly as respects the United Kingdom ; and what proposals she has to get such testing stopped.
Mr. Jack : The embassy in Paris has made representations to the French authorities about the unacceptable delays caused to fish imports of third country origin by the strict controls presently being imposed by the French authorities. Clearly these controls are likely to be adding to market disruption elsewhere by diverting goods from the French market. We have also written to the European Commission explaining that we consider the controls go further than is permitted by EU requirements and requesting the Commission urgently to consider their legality.
European Fishermen (Financial Support)
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what financial aid and support, regional and national, is paid to (a) the French, (b) the Spanish and (c) the Danish fishing industry which is not available to British fishermen.
Mr. Jack : Member states are free to operate aids which benefit fishermen provided they comply with the conditions of article 92 of the treaty of Rome and the guidelines on the examination of state aids in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. The European Commission has responsibility, under article 93 of the treaty, for keeping under constant review all systems of aid operating in each member state to ensure that they do not result in unfair competition. We are not ourselves in a position to construct a complete picture of the aids operated in other member states, or to analyse all the financial regimes of other member states to establish their relevance to fishermen. Indeed, it would be disproportionately costly to attempt this. We do, however, press the Commission to fulfil its responsibility when we suspect another member state is operating an unfair aid, and we have recently written to the Commission in relation to certain French and Spanish aids.
Animal Welfare
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 10 March, Official Report, column 384, if she will set out the grounds for her assessment that the advice offered on animal welfare issues will contribute to a better understanding of animals' needs in circumstances where unnecessary suffering might otherwise occur.
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Mr. Jack : The guidance is intended to help farmers and others in understanding legal requirements and in taking practical steps to ensure that animals do not suffer unnecessarily. In preparing this advice, a wide range of experts are consulted.
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the policy of slaughtering broiler and laying poultry flocks was rescinded.
Mr. Soames : The compulsory slaughter of commercial egg laying poultry flocks found on investigation to be infected with salmonella enteritidis ceased on 25 February 1993. At no time has there been a compulsory slaughter
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policy in operation in respect of commercial broiler poultry flocks. Controls on layer breeder and broiler breeder flocks operate in accordance with directive 92/117/EEC on zoonoses.Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many poultry birds were slaughtered in England in each year since 1988.
Mr. Soames : The numbers of poultry birds compulsorily slaughtered because of salmonella infection in England since the introduction of the policy in March 1989 are set out in the table.
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Birds slaughtered
|1989 |1990 |1991 |1992 |1993 |1994 |Total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layers |867,460 |576,202 |248,936 |297,721 |20,691 |0 |2,011,010
Layer breeders |6,043 |17,573 |43,320 |13,614 |22,535 |3,036 |106,121
Broiler breeders |0 |164,390 |290,800 |148,542 |149,685 |58,050 |811,467
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |873,503 |758,165 |583,056 |459,877 |192,911 |61,086 |2,928,598
Disabled Employees
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many registered disabled people are employed in her Department ; and what percentage this is of the total employed.
Mr. Jack : The information requested is available in the Cabinet Office publication of the "Independent", copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House.
Small Producers of Food
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 10 March, Official Report, column 384, how many people have commented on the "Small producers of Food" booklet ; and of those how many gave positive responses.
Mr. Jack : Sixty-four people took the opportunity to comment, 90 per cent. of whom said they found it a useful reference guide for their business.
Advertising
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 18 February, Official Report, columns 1056-58, what was the qualitative assessment of inquiries and the number of leaflets distributed following the plant health campaigns ; how many environmentally sensitive area grants had been taken up by farmers before and after the advertising campaign ; and how many inquiries have been received concerning the national agricultural exhibitions.
Mr. Jack : The plant health and seeds inspectorate is satisfied that publicity has significantly assisted in acquainting growers with the requirements of the new European single market in plant health, and has assisted in raising awareness among producers of plants particularly at risk from disease. Approximately 121,000 leaflets, posters and newsletters dealing with plant health have been distributed ; the environmentally sensitive areas scheme has been publicised since it was first launched, the provisional number of current management agreements
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stands at 4,761 ; there are no central records of enquiries received as a result of the national exhibition programme. Any inquiries are directed to the appropriate policy areas or to regional service centres. To attempt to gather any statistics would involve disproportionate cost.Blackdown Hills
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make a statement on the launch of the Blackdown Hills environmentally sensitive area, indicating the consultation that has taken place, and the arrangements to ensure that farmers and other relevant organisations are aware of the opportunities arising from this environmentally sensitive area.
Mr. Jack : The Blackdown Hills environmentally sensitive area--ESA-- was launched on 16 March. We carried out full public consultation on this ESA last spring with interested bodies both locally and nationally. All farmers within the area have been notified of the launch of the ESA and have been invited to attend one of a series of evening information meetings.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the BSE maternal transmission experiment commenced ; and when it is expected to be completed.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The Ministry's study into the occurrence of maternal transmission started in July 1989 and will continue until the cattle develop clinical BSE or reach seven years of age--the youngest animal in the study will not reach this age until late 1996.
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make an interim statement on the results of the Ministry BSE maternal transmission experiment.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : This experiment is incomplete so no conclusions can be drawn. All animals in the study will be killed and their brains examined, either when they
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develop clinical signs of BSE, or when they are seven years old. The youngest animal in the study will not be seven years old until late 1996, and at the present time the experiment cannot be completed before that date.Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many cases of BSE have been confirmed among the experimental animals involved in the BSE maternal transmission experiment ; (2) how many cattle involved in the experiment set up to investigate the possibility of maternal transmission of BSE have been confirmed as being infected by BSE to date ; how many were among the offspring of cows confirmed to have BSE and how many were among the controls ; and how many infected animals had access to contaminated feed.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Of the 630 cattle involved in the study, 19 have been confirmed as BSE cases to date. For scientific reasons, the study is being conducted blind, and it is therefore not known whether these cases are offspring of confirmed BSE cases or control animals. All these animals were purchased and their feeding history before purchase is unknown, and irrelevant to the study.
Arable Aid Scheme
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total paid to farmers in (a) arable aid scheme set-aside payments and (b) total arable area scheme payments in England following the 1993-94 harvest ; and how many farmers in England have received arable area payments of £1 million or more.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Total payments to date in England under the arable area payments scheme amount to £625 million, including set- aside payments of just under £125 million. These figures do not include final oilseeds payments, which are being made now. Since some applicants receive payments made up of a number of separate elements, the precise number who have received total payments of £1 million or more can currently only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Sheep Scab
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many incidents of sheep scab there have been in each county of England in each year since 1988 ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Soames : The numbers of outbreaks of sheep scab in each county of England from 1988 to 1992 are listed in the table. Figures are not available after June 1992, when the obligation to notify ended.
County |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |<1>1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Avon |- |1 |1 |1 |1
Bedfordshire |- |- |2 |- |-
Buckinghamshire |- |- |1 |3 |1
Cambridgeshire |- |1 |1 |- |-
Cheshire |4 |1 |2 |2 |2
Cornwall |2 |15 |11 |13 |6
Cumbria |- |- |- |- |1
Derbyshire |2 |1 |6 |4 |1
Devon |3 |15 |6 |16 |13
Dorset |3 |4 |1 |2 |1
East Sussex |- |- |- |2 |-
Essex |- |1 |- |2 |-
Gloucestershire |1 |- |4 |11 |-
Hereford and Worcester 1 3 2 1 1
Hertfordshire |- |- |1 |- |-
Humberside |- |- |5 |- |-
Lancashire |- |- |9 |15 |7
Leicestershire |- |- |1 |5 |4
Lincolnshire |2 |- |1 |1 |3
Merseyside |- |1 |- |-
Norfolk |- |- |7 |2 |-
North Yorkshire |- |- |- |- |5
Northamptonshire |- |- |7 |1 |-
Northumberland |- |- |- |- |1
Nottinghamshire |- |- |1 |- |1
Oxfordshire |- |- |1 |1 |-
Shropshire |3 |2 |2 |1 |3
Somerset |4 |10 |7 |3 |5
Staffordshire |- |3 |1 |2 |3
Suffolk |- |- |1 |2 |-
Warwickshire |1 |- |- |- |2
West Yorkshire |- |- |- |6 |-
Wiltshire |- |3 |- |- |2
|-- |-- |-- |-- |--
Totals |26 |60 |82 |96 |63
<1>January-June only.
Animal Transportation
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if she will make a statement on the European Community decision of 3 February giving certain derogations to Greece from directive 91/628/EEC on the protection of animals during transport ; (2) what are the implications of the European Commission decision of 3 February giving derogations to Greece from directive 91/628/EEC for the export of United Kingdom animals to Greece ; and what views were given by her representatives on the Standing Veterinary Committee when that committee considered the granting of derogations to Greece.
Mr. Soames : Article 16 of directive 91/628/EEC provides for measures to be adopted to take account of the natural constraints specific to certain territories. The Commission decision of 3 February applies to the transport of animals in certain areas of Greece which are remote from the Greek mainland. The decision provides that certain detailed requirements of the directive need not apply to such transport, provided that other specified conditions are met in order to safeguard animal welfare. When the Standing Veterinary Committee was asked to give its opinion, the United Kingdom delegation stressed the importance of proper safeguards and considered that the decision fell within the scope of the measures envisaged in article 16. It does not affect the conditions for the transport of animals to Greece from elsewhere in the Community.
Forestry Grants
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make a statement on the take-up of forestry grants since EC regulation 2080/92 forestry measures in agriculture was introduced.
Sir Hector Monro : I have been asked to reply. Since European Council regulation No. 2080/92 came into force on 30 July 1992, the Forestry Commission has approved 10,162 applications under the woodland grant scheme, including those associated with the farm woodland
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premium scheme. The grants paid by the Government under these schemes will be part-financed by the European Community. The approved applications are for establishing 41,000 hectares of new woodlands, restocking 25,000 hectares of felled woodlands, and managing 149,000 hectares of existing woodlands.DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Open Government
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what will be the implications for the operation of his Department of the code of practice on open government.
Mr. Waldegrave : The code of practice applies to all Departments, agencies and public bodies within the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. This includes the part of the Cabinet Office for which, with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Civil Service--the Prime Minister--I am
responsible--the Office of Public Service and Science ; Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the Central Office of Information. The code will reinforce and build on their existing arrangements for the provision of information. Operational details will be available nearer to the time of the launch.
Duchy Council Meetings
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will hold future meetings of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster in Lancashire.
Mr. Waldegrave : I have no plans to hold meetings of the Duchy Council in Lancashire. Council members pay visits to Duchy surveys including the Lancashire survey, each year.
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how long each of the last five meetings of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster took.
Mr. Waldegrave : The average length of the last five Duchy Council meetings was approximately two hours.
Science, Engineering and Technology Week
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what contribution his Department will make to the science, engineering and technology week, beginning 18 March, in terms of speeches by Ministers, publications and financial support.
Mr. Waldegrave : I refer the hon. Member in part to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Swansea, East (Mr. Anderson) on 14 March 1994, Official Report, column 487. I and my ministerial colleagues will be attending as many events as possible during the week. In terms of financial support, the Office of Science and Technology--OST--has made around £150,000 available to the British Association for the Advancement of Science for the organisation of the week. The OST will also be publishing
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a booklet during the week entitled "Science Connections--a guide to leading organisations promoting science, engineering and technology." I will ensure that a copy is placed in the Library of the House.Citizens Charter
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make it his policy to present an annual report on the citizens charter to Parliament.
Mr. Waldegrave : Citizens charter policy is to ensure that the individual public services publish performance against commitments and standards at regular intervals. Reports to Parliament on the initiative as a whole will be made when appropriate.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what factors led him not to make a statement when the second report on the citizens charter was published.
Mr. Waldegrave : "The Citizens Charter Second Report : 1994" was announced by means of a written parliamentary question. A statement was not thought appropriate since the publication of reports has now become established practice.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many months intervened between the publication of the first and second annual report of the citizens charter ; and what factors underlay the length of the interval.
Mr. Waldegrave : Just under 16 months elapsed between the publication of the first report on 25 November 1992 and the publication of the second report on 16 March 1994. There is no commitment to publish an annual report.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when the third report of the citizens charter will be published.
Mr. Waldegrave : No date has yet been set for publishing a further report on the citizens charter. The results of individual public services performance against the charter principles will continue to be published.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster why he made a statement to the House when the first report on the citizens charter was published.
Mr. Waldegrave : It was considered appropriate to issue a statement to mark the first full-scale report on the Government's new policy initiative.
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much compensation has been paid as a result of successful complaints under each of the citizens charters over the last 12 months.
Mr. Waldegrave : There are six charters for England, Scotland and Wales that contain provision for financial compensation. Information on the amount of compensation paid covering the most recent 12 month period currently available is as follows :
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|Compensation
|paid (nearest
Department |£000) |From |To
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Rail Passenger's Charter |1,932 |April 1992 |March 1993
|2,495 |April 1993 |<1>November 1993
London Underground's Customer Charter |241 |March 1993 |February 1994
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise Traveller's Charter |10 |January 1993 |December 1993
Contributions Agency Contributors' Charter and Employers' Charter<2> |64 |April 1992 |March 1993
Benefits Agency Customer Charter |4,071 |April 1992 |March 1993
<1>Most recent figures available.
<2>Separate figures for the Contributions Agency contributors' charter and the Contribution Agency employers' charter are unavailable.
In addition to this, in the financial year 1992-93 the Employment Service paid £88,000 in special payments ; in the same period the Inland Revenue paid £389,000 in compensation for "serious error" as defined in the code of practice "Mistakes by the Inland Revenue".
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will estimate the number of occasions since 1992 on which he has felt it necessary to restrict information provided in answer to parliamentary questions, other than on grounds of disproportionate cost.
Mr. Waldegrave : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on 15 March, Official Report , column 645 .
Market Testing
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many meetings have been held of the private sector forum he has established ; to what extent it is informing his Department over the market testing and contracting out of civil service work ; and if he will publish the names of the members of the forum.
Mr. Waldegrave : The precise arrangements for the forum which I am setting up are still under consideration, and the names of those who might be invited have not been settled. I am eager to take account of the private sector's views on market testing and contracting out of civil service work and hold meetings from time to time with their representatives. Most recently, on 31 January my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary and I met representatives from a number of private sector companies to seek their views on these issues.
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Government Information
Mr. Alan Howarth : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he expects to publish the final version of the code of practice on Government information upon which he has been consulting and which is due to come into operation on 4 April.
Mr. Waldegrave : I hope to make an announcement shortly.
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