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Job Finders' Grant

Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to extend the job finders' grant to areas other than the pilot areas.

Mr. Michael Forsyth : The job finders' grant pilots are being evaluated. No decision has been taken to extend them to other areas.


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Trade Union Membership

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what account was taken in preparation of the Government's White Paper on competitiveness (Cm 2563) of the paper by Professor Beenstock et al on the United Kingdom economic recovery in the 1930s published in Bank of England Panel Paper No. 23 ; and if he will publish a table giving figures comparable to their Chart 42 for trade union membership as a percentage of employees in employment of the period since 1964.

Mr. Michael Forsyth : Today's circumstances are very different from those of the 1930s. The trend in trade union membership from 1964 to 1992 is presented in the following table :


Trade union membership as a   

percentage of employees in    

employment in                 

the United Kingdom 1964-1992  

Year      |Per cent.          

------------------------------

1964      |45                 

1965      |45                 

1966      |44                 

1967      |45                 

1968      |45                 

1969      |46                 

1970      |50                 

1971      |50                 

1972      |51                 

1973      |51                 

1974      |52                 

<1>1975   |54                 

                              

<1>1975   |53                 

1976      |55                 

<2>1977   |57                 

                              

<2>1978   |57                 

1979      |57                 

1980      |58                 

1981      |56                 

1982      |55                 

1983      |53                 

1984      |51                 

1985      |50                 

1986      |49                 

1987      |48                 

1988      |46                 

1989      |44                 

1990      |44                 

1991      |43                 

1992      |42                 

Note:                         

Union membership totals are   

the end of year figures.      

<1>Discontinuity:-Thirty-one  

organisations previously      

regarded as trade unions are  

excluded from 1975 onwards    

because they failed to        

satisfy the statutory         

definition of a trade union   

in the Trade Union and Labour 

Relations Act, 1974. To help  

provide a link in the series, 

two sets of figures are given 

for 1975. The first gives the 

figures on the original basis 

for comparison with earlier   

years, while the second gives 

estimates for comparison with 

later years.                  

<2>The employees in           

employment estimates are at   

June of each year between     

1964 and 1977, and at         

December of each year between 

1978 and 1992.                

British Telecom

Dr. Bray : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information has been given to his Department by BT plc about the expected number of redundancies of each grade of employee for the year April 1994 to March 1995.


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Mr. Michael Forsyth : Information given to the Department under the statutory redundancy handling provisions is provided in confidence.

Redundancies

Dr. Bray : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now introduce legislation requiring companies to consult representatives of their employees on redundancies.

Mr. Michael Forsyth : Employers have been required since 1975 to consult recognised trade unions about proposed redundancies. The Government are presently considering what changes need to be made to those arrangements following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice.

Labour Statistics

Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the percentage of the total work force working under 20 hours per week for (a) 1984 and (b) 1994 ; and if he will make a statement.

Miss Widdecombe : Estimates from the labour force survey for Great Britain show that 11.7 per cent. of employees and self-employed people usually worked fewer than 20 hours per week in their main job in spring 1984, compared with 13.6 per cent. in winter 1993-94.

Training

Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment by what process his Department monitors companies which provide training or initiate quotations as training providers ; and if he will make a statement.

Miss Widdecombe : Training and enterprise councils contract directly with training providers. The TEC operating agreement between the Department and TECs sets out the monitoring requirements placed on them in a number of areas to ensure that their providers give value for money and that the use of public funds is managed in a robust and efficient manner.

Cathedral Employment Enterprises

Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what help, financial or other, his Department is prepared to offer Cathedral Employment Enterprises ; and if he will make a statement.

Miss Widdecombe : The Employment Department does not contract directly with providers for training--other than the Employment Service for job clubs. Therefore, it is not in a position to give financial support to Cathedral Employment Enterprises. The ES currently has around £20,000 owing to Cathedral and is waiting to be advised by Cathedral's accountants of new arrangements for paying this figure. Both the ES and South Thames training and enterprise council, with which Cathedral had substantial contracts, gave Cathedral's invoices priority treatment to ease its cash- flow problems. All three TECs that currently have contracts with Cathedral, and the ES, are making alternative arrangements to help those trainees affected.


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HEALTH

Bullying (NHS Staff)

Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department intends to take to eliminate the bullying of national health staff at work.

Dr. Mawhinney : This is a matter for individual national health service employers, who will want to take account of the general Whitley council agreement on harassment at work, copies of which are available in the Library.

South West Thames Region

Mr. Wicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will detail for each financial year since 1990-91 the resource allocation, per head of population, for each health district in the old South West Thames region.

Mr. Sackville : The per capita spend for 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992- 93 is shown in the table. Comparisons of those per capita spend figures need to be treated with caution. First, not all the expenditure covered arises from population related activities. Secondly, crude populations do not reflect differences in age structure or relative health care need. Those differences feature in the formulae used to inform the main allocations made to district health authorities. Thirdly, before 1991-92, DHAs were funded for their catchment populations and not for their resident populations.


District health         |1990-91 (£)    |1991-92 (£)    |1992-93 (£)                    

authority                                                                               

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

North West Surrey       |278            |341            |369                            

West Surrey             |182            |268            |285                            

South West Surrey       |346            |361            |359                            

Mid Surrey              |396            |372            |407                            

East Surrey             |361            |379            |402                            

Chichester              |266            |336            |377                            

Mid Downs               |233            |305            |314                            

Worthing                |229            |332            |355                            

Croydon                 |280            |342            |365                            

Kingston and Esher      |325            |373            |407                            

Richmond and Twickenham |237            |413            |425                            

Wandsworth              |702            |534            |569                            

Merton and Sutton       |279            |386            |410                            

Source: Expenditure - 1992-93 annual accounts of health authorities   (England)         

Population - Mid year population estimates.                                             

Figures for 1993-94 and 1994-95 are not yet available.

Community Care Policy

Mrs. Golding : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of the cost of providing public-funded residential care for people in England who have returned to, or remained within, the community under the community care policy ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Bowis : The policy of replacing long-stay hospitals when appropriate with a range of health and social services in the community has been pursued by successive Governments over many years. It is not therefore possible accurately to estimate either the total or the current cost of residential care solely for people discharged from long-stay hospitals and those who might in other circumstances have entered such hospitals.


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IGF-1

Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent of a link between IGF-1 levels in milk and serious gastro-intestinal disorders in humans ; and what research her Department has undertaken into the link.

Mr. Sackville : IGF-1 is a naturally occurring hormone in humans. Human blood normally contains 10 times the concentration of IGF-1 as that found in cows' milk. Any contribution to this from ingestion of milk would be minimal.

The Department has undertaken no research into the link between IGF-1 levels in milk and serious gastro-intestinal disorders in humans.

Doctors and Dentists (Working Hours)

Mr. Congdon : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctors and dentists in each region in England are contracted for more than (a) 83 hours a week or (b) 72 hours a week in on-call posts.

Dr. Mawhinney : At 31 March 1994, the returns from the 14 English regional task forces on junior doctors' hours were as follows :


                     |(a)                 |(b)                                      

Region               |Contracted for more |Contracted for                           

                                          |between 73                               

                     |than 83 hours a week|and 83 hours a week                      

                                          |in                                       

                                          |hard-pressed on-call                     

                                          |posts                                    

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northern             |0                   |453                                      

Yorkshire            |2                   |978                                      

Trent                |0                   |342                                      

East Anglian         |0                   |254                                      

North West Thames    |1                   |419                                      

North East Thames    |0                   |674                                      

South East Thames    |5                   |392                                      

South West Thames    |4                   |478                                      

Wessex               |0                   |323                                      

Oxford               |0                   |263                                      

South Western        |1                   |128                                      

West Midlands        |0                   |529                                      

Mersey               |0                   |317                                      

North Western        |0                   |974                                      

                     |--                  |---                                      

Total                |13                  |6,524                                    

Research Units

Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 26 November, Official Report, columns 240-2 , if she will list for each of the 13 research units which have been subject to peer review, the date of the site visit, whether the report of the review has now been discussed with the unit, whether a decision has been made about the future of the unit and the nature of the decisions which have been made.

Dr. Mawhinney : The dates of site visits are shown in the table :


Research Unit                          |Site Visit Date                                

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                       |Completed                                      

Childhood Cancer Research Group        |October 1991                                   

Medical Care Research Unit             |October 1992                                   

National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit   |June 1993                                      

Social Medicine and Health Services                                                    

   Research Unit                       |July 1993                                      

Centre for Primary Care Research       |July 1993                                      

Cancer Screening Evaluation Unit       |October 1993                                   

National Institute for Social Work     |October 1993                                   

Clinical Operational Research Unit     |November 1993                                  

Social Policy Research Unit            |January 1994                                   

Thomas Coram Research Unit             |March 1994                                     

Personal Social Services Research Unit |April 1994                                     

Dartington Social Research Unit        |April 1994                                     

Centre for Health Economics            |(planned for July 1994)                        

With the exception of the centre for health economics, where the visit has yet to take place, the conclusions of the site visit teams are now being prepared.

Latest developments regarding some of the units visited early in the programme are as follows :

National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit

Announcements have been made about the appointment of a new Director and the appointment process is currently in train. Centre for Primary Care Research

Won a competitive tender for new Research Centre funding. I announced this on 21 February 1994.

Social Medicine and Health Services Research Unit

A new Director has been appointed and discussions are taking place about a new programme of work.

Discussions are currently taking place with the directors of the cancer screening evaluation unit, the childhood cancer research group, the medical care research unit and the clinical operational research unit.

The remaining units work in personal social services. They were visited and reviewed later in the cycle of visits. In respect of the National Institute for Social Work, the report of the reviewing panel has been sent formally to the institute's director. The review team's report on the social policy research unit has also been completed and will shortly be sent formally to the unit's director. Reports on the remainder are nearing completion. Decisions on those units will be taken as soon as possible.

Grants

Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total amount of grant which could have been claimed by each local authority, and how much was claimed by each authority, for (a) community care special transitional grant, (b) projects working with people with HIV- related illness and (c) for other health and community care projects, in each year for which such grants were claimable.

Mr. Bowis [holding answer 6 May 1994] : The community care special transitional grant was allocated to local authorities on the basis of a formula for both 1993-94 and 1994-95 and not on the basis of claims made. Details of the allocations are set out in special grant reports 6 and 7--HC 404 and HC 405--for 1993-94 and special grant report 10--HC 218--for 1994-95, copies of which are available in the Library.

From its introduction in 1989-90 to 1993-94, local authorities were invited to submit bids for the HIV/AIDS specific grant without reference to indicative allocations but subject to an agreed national total. Details of the bids submitted and grants awarded will be placed in the Library. For 1994-95, local authorities were invited to submit expenditure plans which were assessed against indicative allocations of grant based on information provided to the Department by the Public Health Laboratory Service and


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available for the first time on the distribution of AIDS cases by local authority area. Details of the indicative allocations and grants awarded will be placed in the Library.

Two other specific grants support health and community care projects : they are for services for people with a mental illness and for people who misuse alcohol and drugs. For each year since its introduction in 1991-92, local authorities have been invited to bid for the mental illness specific grant against indicative allocations issued by the Department of Health. Details of the indicative allocations and the grants awarded will be placed in the Library. From its introduction in 1991-92, the alcohol and drugs specific grant has been allocated on the basis of open-ended bids invited by the Department of Health from local authorities supporting voluntary sector projects. Information about the original bids made could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Details of the successful bids made by voluntary organisations for each year since 1991-92, together with details of the local authority supporting each project, will be placed in the Library.

TREASURY

Public Borrowing

12. Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of maintaining the current level of public borrowing.

Mr. Portillo : Had we not taken effective action to put public finances on a sound and sustainable basis, confidence would have been severely damaged and the recovery weakened.

Profit Share Tax Relief Schemes

13. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what analysis he has made of the efficacy of profit share tax relief schemes ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Dorrell : An evaluation of the tax relief for profit-related pay has been commissioned by the Inland Revenue, the Department of Employment and the Treasury, and is currently under way.

Alcohol and Tobacco (Illegal Imports)

14. Mr. Waterson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reduce the volume of illegal imports of alcohol and tobacco.

Sir John Cope : The law prescribes severe penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment and unlimited fines for smuggling. Customs and Excise have deployed specially assigned staff and intelligence directed checks are used to seek out illicit goods. When cases are detected, the contraband is seized and in some cases the vehicle, too. Prosecutions have resulted in fines and custodial sentences.

Growth Forecast

15. Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest forecast for growth during the current financial year.


Column 673

Mr. Kenneth Clarke : We are now facing the prospect of sustained growth and low inflation. I am forecasting that the economy will grow by 2 per cent. in both 1994 and 1995.

Labour Statistics

17. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what economic conclusions he draws from the most recent unemployment figures.

Mr. Portillo : Unemployment has now fallen by over 300,000 since December 1992, much sooner and much faster than most people expected. In part that reflects the improved labour markets flexibility resulting from our supply-side reforms.

VAT (Average Payments)

18. Mr. Flynn : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much an average family paid per week in VAT in (a) 1979 and (b) 1993 ; and what he estimates this figure will be in 1994.

Sir John Cope : A couple with two children on average earnings paid VAT of £12.95 per week in 1979-80, in 1993-94 prices, and an estimated £19.48 per week in 1993-94. Since 1978-79, the real take-home pay of such a family has risen by £83 per week.

Taxation Changes

19. Mr. Winnick : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on changes in taxation.

Mr. Dorrell : I have received a wide range of representations on changes in taxation.

Income Tax

20. Mr. Corbett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many more people will pay income tax this year than last year ; and what proportion of these are pensioners.

Mr. Dorrell : The total number of income tax payers is expected on increase by 300,000 in 1994-95, mainly because of increases in income. About 70,000 of the increase in the respect of taxpayers aged 65 and over.

24. Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on Government income tax policies over the last 15 years.

Mr. Dorrell : Since 1979, Government policy has been to reduce marginal rates of income tax, whenever it has been prudent to do so, to sharpen incentives to work and create wealth.

28. Mr. Miller : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he estimates will be raised by the Treasury in (a) 1994-95, (b) 1995-96 and (c) 1996-97 from the freezing of personal income tax allowances.

Mr. Dorrell : That information was given in table 4.1 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report 1994-95" published on 30 November 1993.


Column 674

Value Added Tax

21. Mr. Barnes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total revenue raised by value added tax in the last financial year ; and what will be the likely value added tax take in the current financial year.

Sir John Cope : Net VAT receipts by Customs and Excise amounted to £39,248 million in 1993-94. The forecast for 1994-95 is £43,400 million.

Training

22. Mr. Madden : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much Government investment in training will be cut next year.

Mr. Portillo : The Government's spending plans for the years 1995-96 to 1997-98 will be announced at the time of the Budget in the normal way.

Film Industry

23. Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received about the need to review the tax regime to encourage film producers to use British facilities.

Mr. Dorrell : My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has received no recent representations.

Public Sector Investment

25. Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much public sector investment will change over the next three years, as measured by public sector asset creation ; and if he will estimate by how much public sector investment has changed in real terms since 1989-90.

Mr. Portillo : The information requested is provided in the following table :


Public Sector Asset Creation,   

1989-90 to 1996-97              

£ billion                       

        |Cash   |Real<1>        

--------------------------------

1989-90 |29.2   |34.8           

1990-91 |28.8   |31.8           

1991-92 |28.5   |29.5           

1992-93 |29.0   |29.0           

1993-94 |29.3   |28.4           

1994-95 |28.8   |26.8           

1995-96 |29.3   |26.3           

1996-97 |29.8   |26.1           

<1> 1992-93 prices              

German GDP

Mr. MacShane : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the revised OECD estimate in respect of the change in the level of German gross domestic product in 1994.

Mr. Nelson : The OECD, along with most forecasters, has revised upwards its estimates of the growth in German gross domestic product for 1994. The OECD now expects growth in Germany to be 1.8 per cent. in 1994. That compares with its projection for United Kingdom growth in 1994 of 2.8 per cent.


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VAT (Standing Charges)

27. Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received over the adding of value added tax on standing charges for gas and electricity ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir John Cope : I have received a large number of representations, both from right hon. and hon. Members and from members of the public. I have made it clear on a number of occasions that the standing charge has always been regarded as part of the consideration for a single supply of fuel and power. If it were not, it would have been liable to VAT at the standard rate since 1 April 1973 and would be liable at that rate now.

Royal Family (Tax Returns)

29. Mr. Gunnell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements he has made for the market testing of the office dealing with the tax returns of the Royal Family.

Mr. Dorrell : The Inland Revenue's current market testing programme consists of typing, secretarial, information technology and ancillary support services. If such services were to be transferred to a private sector organisation, the Inland Revenue would remain responsible for continuing to ensure proper standards of privacy and confidentiality for all citizens. Confidentiality is not a


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bar to market testing, but the Inland Revenue would need to be sure that an outside contractor could replicate existing security procedures and conditions.

Manufacturing Sector

30. Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will next meet the Engineering Employers Federation to discuss ways in which he could stimulate the country's manufacturing sector.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke : I have no plans at present to meet the Engineering Employers Federation. My hon. Friend the Financial Secretary attended a presentation by it on 11 May and spoke to its council on 15 June. My officials have had regular contacts with the EEF over the last year.

Income Statistics

Ms Corston : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average equivalised income at current prices for 1979 and 1992 of (i) single-parent households, (ii) two-parent households with (a) one child, (b) two children and (c) three or more children, and (iii) other households with children, by quintile groups of households ; and if he will make a statement on the unavailability of such information at other than current prices.

Mr. Nelson : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 July 1993, Official Report, column 238, for the figures for 1979. The figures for 1992 are in the table.


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Average equivalised disposable income by household type and by quintile groups                                                                  

£ million                                                                                                                                       

1992                                    Quintile groups                                                                                         

                                        of all households                                                                                       

                                        ranked by                                                                                               

                                        equivalised                                                                                             

                                        disposable income                                                                                       

Household type                         |Bottom        |2nd           |3rd           |4th           |Top           |All households               

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One adult with children                |5,275         |7,816         |11,106        |15,892        |27,471        |8,449                        

Two adults with one child              |4,635         |8,140         |11,416        |15,883        |30,236        |16,117                       

Two adults with two children           |4,875         |8,231         |11,297        |15,837        |28,369        |13,899                       

Two adults with three or more children |4,924         |8,085         |11,190        |15,877        |27,524        |11,052                       

Other households with children         |5,137         |8,092         |11,377        |15,834        |24,362        |11,578                       

The quintile groups are based on all households ranked by equivalised disposable income. The difference between the average equivalised disposable income of household types within each quintile group is affected by the composition of the quintile group and the distribution of the incomes of the different household types within the quintile group.

Those figures are not strictly comparable over time because of changes in classification of both income and taxation and because of changes in the family expenditure survey.

The information is taken from an analysis published in "Economic Trends" which examines the differential impact of taxes and benefits on households at different income levels in the given year. It provides five measures of income and appropriate deflators have not been developed across the range of measures. For the particular measure of disposable income, a possible deflator would be the all-items retail prices index, excluding local taxes.

EEC Membership Costs

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now publish a White Paper setting out the effect on (a) jobs, (b) the balance of payments and (c) food prices in the United Kingdom of joining the EEC.


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Mr. Nelson : No. I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to the hon. Member on 17 March, Official Report , column 822 , and the reply my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave on 18 May, Official Report , column 470 , in answer to very similar questions from the hon. Member.

Price Increases

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a list of production industries as described in tables 7.1, 9 and 10 of the "Monthly Digest of Statistics" for which he has evidence of price increases in excess of that required to provide a return on capital sufficient to enable the industry to maintain its United Kingdom assets at current rates of exchange.

Mr. Nelson : Price indices of the output of manufacturing industry are published in table 18.6 of the "Monthly Digest of Statistics". Information on required rates of return on capital is not available.

Money Supply

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account is taken of the level of employment in the Government's policy on increases in the money supply.


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Mr. Nelson : It is the role of monetary policy to deliver low inflation. Decisions are based on an assessment of a range of indicators including the money supply and estimates of spare capacity in the economy. The minutes of the monthly monetary meetings with the Governor of the Bank of England set out the basis for monetary policy decisions and are now published.


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