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Plutonium
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the United States Department of Energy informed his Department in advance of its intention to release information on 27 June that it had used reactor -grade plutonium imported from the United Kingdom in a test nuclear explosion conducted in 1962 at the Nevada test site.
Mr. Aitken : My Department was consulted about the announcement by the United States Energy Secretary on 27 June that the United States had conducted in 1962 a
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nuclear test explosion using reactor-grade plutonium of British origin. We agreed to this information being released.Our general policy is not to release information on the use of nuclear material for weapons purposes nor to comment on the details of any tests that may have been carried out. The 1962 test confirmed the technical feasibility of constructing a nuclear explosive device using reactor-grade plutonium. This fact was declassified by the United States in 1977. There are, though, significant technical difficulties which would complicate the manufacture and storage of any weapon based on reactor-grade plutonium.
It remains our policy that all grades of plutonium should be rigorously protected, and in accordance with our international non-proliferation obligations, stringent controls are applied to all forms of plutonium.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has received from the United States Government regarding the use to which plutonium exported to the United States under the United States United Kingdom mutual defence agreement on
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atomic energy matters dated 1958, as amended in 1959, has been put since 1964 according to information provided by the United States Government.Mr. Aitken : The assurance given in 1964 by the United States Government to the United Kingdom Government, that plutonium produced in United Kingdom civil reactors and supplied to the United States under the 1958 agreement would not be used for weapons purposes, remains valid. No such restrictions apply to plutonium originating from the United Kingdom military reactors at Calder Hall and Chapelcross. The use to which this plutonium has been put is a matter for the United States Government.
Departmental Accommodation
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many vacant dwellings are owned by his Department in each parliamentary constituency in Devon and Cornwall.
Mr. Hanley : As at 31 March 1994, my Department owned the following vacant dwellings in each parliamentary constituency in Devon and Cornwall :
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|Service married|MOD civilian |Former married |Total
|quarters |houses |quarters in the
|process of sale
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Devon |27 |0 |0 |27
Exeter |7 |0 |0 |7
Honiton |14 |0 |3 |17
Plymouth Devonport |182 |5 |17 |204
Plymouth Drake |52 |0 |0 |52
Plymouth Sutton |54 |0 |0 |54
Torridge and
West Devon |11 |0 |0 |11
Falmouth and Camborne |0 |0 |0 |0
North Cornwall |173 |0 |0 |173
St. Ives |83 |0 |0 |83
South East Cornwall |6 |0 |0 |6
A large number of the vacant married quarters were either undergoing or awaiting major maintenance work or modernisation or were already allotted to service families due to move in shortly.
Royal Marines
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to move the Royal Marines from Seaton barracks in Plymouth to Chivenor in north Devon ; and when he expects to make an announcement.
Mr. Hanley : My Department is currently considering alternative defence uses of the Chivenor estate, including possible use by units of the Royal Marines. We hope to make an announcement soon.
Boarding School Allowance Scheme
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to reduce funding for the boarding school allowance scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : There are no current plans to change the rules concerning eligibility for my Department's boarding school allowance scheme. The rates at which the allowance is paid are reviewed annually. The hon. Member will be
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aware that service career and manpower structures and terms and conditions of service are the subject of an independent review which I announced on 30 March, Official Report, column 752.Devonport Dockyard
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral answer of 21 June, Official Report, columns 111-12, how many of the 850 job losses announced recently by the management of Devonport dockyard his Department estimates were due to efficiency measures.
Mr. Aitken : Employment levels at Devonport dockyard are primarily a matter for Devonport Management Ltd.
Recycled Paper
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of his Department's (a) press releases and (b) written answers are printed on recycled paper.
Mr. Hanley : It is departmental policy for recycled paper to be used wherever it can be obtained at reasonable cost and is adequate to the task. Press releases and written answers are almost invariably printed on recycled paper.
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Procurement Contracts
Mr. Hutton : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what was the annual value of defence procurement contracts placed into small and medium-sized enterprises since 1979 expressed in constant 1994 prices ;
(2) what percentage of defence procurement contracts were placed by his Department with small and medium sized enterprises in each year since 1979.
Mr. Aitken : I regret that the information could be made available only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hutton : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department intends to take to increase the number of defence procurement contracts placed into small and medium-sized enterprises ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : Our aim in placing contracts is to secure best value for money for the defence budget. My Department's defence suppliers service has a specific remit to advise smaller firms on how to sell their products and services to the MOD.
Haymes Garth
Sir Jim Spicer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further information he has on the total cost of rebuilding and refurbishing Haymes Garth near Cheltenham, the official residence of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Personnel and Training Command, Innsworth.
Mr. Hanley : A detailed internal investigation of the recent refurbishment of Haymes Garth has been carried out. This has shown that the total cost of the restructuring and refurbishment programme is likely to be some £387,000 during the two financial years 1992-93 and 1993-94, not £260,000 as indicated in my previous answer of 29 March, Official Report , column 732 . The exact figure will be dependent on the final settlement of some minor bills still outstanding. In addition, in 1993-94, some £9,000 was spent on routine maintenance. I very much regret that the figure given to the House in my earlier answer was incorrect ; the full figures had not been reported to me at the time.
The circumstances in which the expenditure was authorised, incurred and notified have yet to be fully clarified. A high-level independent external investigation has been commissioned to look urgently into the apparent failure of the financial control system and to recommend appropriate action to ensure that there is no repeat.
We have also set in hand a separate audit of expeniditure on official service residences to ensure that in other instances financial control mechanisms have functioned as they should. I intend to make a full report to the House on the conclusions of all this work, and any action found necessary, as soon as possible after the House returns in the autumn. At the same time, I will reort to the House on the wider question of official service residences.
Danger Areas (Air Space)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the (a) statutory requirements and (b) requirements set out in service orders, for the operating authorities of military firing ranges and training areas to report infringements of danger area air space.
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Mr. Hanley : I will write to the hon. Member.
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the advisory council for the Royal Navy engineering college, Manadon.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The members of the advisory council for the Royal Navy Engineering College are as follows :
Professor Sir Hermann Bondi KCB FRS (Chairman)
R. J. Bull BSc FCCA
Dr. J. Daniel
Professor M. G. Farley CEng FRAeS FIMechE FIProdE DBIM
Dr. A. F. Frodsham CBE
Professor W. Gosling DSc FIEE FInstD
Sir Richard Morris CBE
Sir Alistair Pilkington FRS
Professor G. S. Sims OBE MSc PhD DSc LID FIEE FCGI FEng
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 3 February 1994] : The current members of the Review Body are as follows :
Gordon Hourston (Chairman)
Michael Bolton
John Cox CBE
John Crosby
Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde
Dorothy Venables
Air Chief Marshal Sir Roger Palin KCB OBE
WALES
Unemployment (Alyn and Deeside)
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures he has taken to find work for the long-term unemployed of Alyn and Deeside.
Mr. Redwood : The North-East Wales training and enterprise council and the Employment Service provide a range of services to help the long- term unemployed of Alyn and Deeside back into work. These include the training for work programme, which offers the widest-ever range of measures available and focuses specifically on providing help to the long-term unemployed.
My Department and the Welsh Development Agency also provide a diverse range of measures aimed at combating unemployment through stimulation of the local economy.
Local Government Reform
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action he proposes to take to deal with those councils which are using council reserves to undertake a general regrading of local authority staff in advance of consideration of staff transfer orders for the new unitary authorities elected under the local Government (Wales) Bill [Lords] .
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Shadow Staff Commission for Wales is consulting local authorities about a draft circular on regrading in the period before local government reorganisation. If the commission decides to issue advice on this matter after Royal Assent to the Local Government (Wales) Bill [ Lords ], it would be open to my right hon. Friend to direct authorities to comply with the advice.
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I informed the Association of District Councils at its conference on 29 June that my right hon. Friend and I are concerned about the marked increase in use of reserves by Welsh local authorities. Use of reserves is a matter for councillors. We do not propose to give special help to any new authority which finds that it has inherited only limited reserves from its predecessors.Parents Charter
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will meet representatives of the teaching unions in Wales before drawing up a parents charter for Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Wyn Roberts : My right hon. Friend and I are always ready to consider requests from teaching unions for
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discussions about matters of common interest, but it is not always necessary to meet for views to be made known to us and we always welcome written comments from teaching unions and others.Agriculture
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 11 January, Official Report, column 92, if he will now give (i) the number of hectares taken up and (ii) the number of holdings in each county in Wales in 1993 for (a) cereals, (b) potatoes, (c) linseed, (d) sugar beet, (e) horticultural produce and (f) oilseeds.
Mr. Redwood : The requested information, derived from the final results of the June 1993 agricultural census, is shown in the following tables.
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Table 1: Crop areas at June 1993
Hectares taken up
by:
|Cereals |Potatoes |Linseed |Sugar |Horticultural|Oilseeds
|beet |produce
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |8,019 |251 |194 |66 |371 |220
Dyfed |17,156 |2,097 |679 |<1>- |366 |325
Gwent |5,544 |488 |202 |<1>- |265 |268
Gwynedd |4,371 |270 |0 |<1>- |98 |<1>-
Mid Glamorgan |1,555 |65 |64 |0 |69 |125
Powys |8,837 |333 |86 |<1>- |73 |248
South Glamorgan |3,344 |64 |97 |0 |62 |110
West Glamorgan |1,019 |281 |0 |0 |210 |<1>-
|---
Wales |49,845 |3,849 |1,322 |104 |1,512 |1,358
Source: June Agricultural and Horticultural Census.
Note.-Figures exclude minor holdings. County figures may not sum to Wales total due to rounding.
<1> Data withheld to avoid disclosure of information relating to any particular land or business.
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Table 2: Holdings at June 1993
Number of
holdings growing:
|Cereals |Potatoes |Linseed |Sugar |Horticultural|Oilseeds
|beet |produce
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |583 |124 |13 |8 |89 |12
Dyfed |1,535 |526 |54 |<1>- |203 |26
Gwent |294 |141 |14 |<1>- |71 |15
Gwynedd |461 |218 |0 |<1>- |57 |<1>-
Mid Glamorgan |50 |25 |3 |0 |18 |4
Powys |629 |131 |8 |<1>- |46 |13
South Glamorgan |117 |28 |9 |0 |25 |9
West Glamorgan |115 |112 |0 |0 |69 |<1>-
|---
Wales |3,784 |1,305 |101 |15 |578 |85
Source: June Agricultural and Horticultural Census.
Note.-Figures exclude minor holdings.
<1> Data withheld to avoid disclosure of information relating to any particular land or business.
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the payment rates made per hectare under the arable area payments scheme for (a) cereals, (b) oilseeds, (c) proteins, (d) linseed, (e) set- aside and (f) the simplified scheme paid in (i) the first year and (ii) the second year of the scheme in Wales.
Mr. Redwood : Payment rates under the arable area payments scheme in 1992-93 and 1993-94 are as follows :
1992-93 1993-94
|(£) |LFA (£) |Non-LFA (£)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cereals |110.28 |108.35 |168.73
Oilseeds |453.12 |445.39 |445.39
Protein |286.73 |201.22 |313.35
Set-Aside |198.50 |176.46 |274.78
Simplified Scheme |110.28 |108.35 |168.73
Linseed was not included in the 1992-93 scheme and the rate for 1993-94 is not yet available. The rates payable in 1994 may be reduced if base areas are exceeded and the rate for oilseeds may be adjusted to reflect changes in the reference price.
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the take-up of the arable area
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payments scheme in hectares for (a) the simplifed scheme, (b) cereals, (c) oilseeds, (d) proteins, (e) linseed and (f) set-aside in Wales for 1994.Mr. Redwood : The estimated take up of arable area payments in hectares for 1994 arable area payments scheme in Wales is as follows :
|Hectares
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) |Simplified Scheme|22,289
(b) |Cereals |15,231
(c) |Oilseeds |1,365
(d) |Protein |843
(e) |Linseed |2,250
(f) |Set-Aside |3,474
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is (a) the amount of land in hectares in each county, (b) the number of farmers and (c) the cost of the five-year set-aside scheme in Wales in (i) 1993-94 and (ii) 1994-95 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Payments made to farmers in Wales under the five-year set-aside schemes for the financial year
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1993-94 amounted to £349,937. Those payments relate primarily to land set aside during the scheme year October 1993 to September 1994 under 61 agreements covering some 1,936 hectares. Estimated expenditure for 1994-95 is about £286,000 based on 52 agreements for the 1993-94 scheme year covering about 1,608 hectares. The reduction is the result of some farmers completing their five-year agreements and others taking advantage of the option to terminate early in order to join the arable area payments scheme. It is not possible to give a breakdown to county level without disclosing information relating to any particular land or business.Subsidies and Grants
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what amount of money was paid out by each of his divisional offices for each (a) agricultural subsidy scheme and (b) grant scheme to farmers in 1992-93.
Mr. Redwood : The information requested is set out in the following table.
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Scheme |Caernarfon |Carmarthen |Llandrindod Wells
|£ |£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) subsidy schemes
Sheep Annual Premium |32,054,660 |19,837,965 |42,422,627
HLCA |10,680,187 |7,034,460 |16,430,743
Suckler Cow Premium |3,016,226 |2,343,353 |5,832,802
Farm Woodland Scheme |12,239 |10,081 |17,162
Milk Community Outgoers |23,262 |41,298 |2,220
(b) grants
Farm Conservation |32,597 |80,297 |78,416
Grants scheme (1991) EC (1989): National |1,129,559 |2,297,080 |1,144,240
(1989): EC |161,591 |238,493 |374,595
Agricultural Improvement Scheme: EC |268,812 |779,219 |332,479
National |7,366 |9,315 |22,290
Agricultural and Horticultural Development Scheme |319,237 |249,167 |377,633
Farm Diversification:
Capital |47,443 |154,953 |72,190
Marketing and feasibility |4,500 |3,980 |9,978
ESA |395,663 |576,282 |533,548
5 Year Set Aside |36,914 |196,177 |167,062
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) farmers and (b) holdings there were in each county in Wales in 1993.
Mr. Redwood : The information is shown in the following table.
Farmers and farm holdings in Wales, June 1993
|Farmers, partners|Holdings
|and directors<1>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clwyd |4,376 |3,780
Dyfed |12,099 |11,064
Gwent |2,439 |2,185
Gwynedd |5,169 |4,885
Mid Glamorgan |1,046 |943
Powys |6,758 |5,685
South Glamorgan |618 |498
West Glamorgan |974 |876
|--- |---
Wales |33,479 |29,916
<1> Farmers, partners and directors working whole-time or part-time on
farm holdings on 1 June 1993. Excludes wives/husbands of farmers, of
partners and of directors, even if the wives/husbands themselves may be
partners or directors.
Note: Excludes minor holdings.
Source: June Agricultural and Horticultural Census.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 14 June, Official Report, column 554, what was the purpose of each of his visits to the Bridgend constituency.
Mr. Redwood : I have made three official and three political visits to the Bridgend constituency since I became Welsh Secretary.
Development Board for Rural Wales
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidelines he has given to the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency and to the board of the Development Board for Rural Wales concerning the co-ordination of policy and resources management in the present financial year and during 1995-96.
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Mr. Redwood : I discuss a wide range of issues with the chairmen and the boards of the Welsh Development Agency and the Development Board for Rural Wales. I have considered with each of them their objectives and priorities and set targets for 1994-95. I will be making a statement about this matter shortly.
Cardiff Bay Barrage
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with (a) the chairman of the Cardiff Bay development corporation and (b) the Balfour Beatty/Costain consortium in relation to the commencement of construction of the Cardiff bay barrage indemnities sought and given thereto in respect of European environmental infraction proceedings under article 169 of the treaty of Rome ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : I myself have had no such discussions with either the chairman of the Development Corporation or the Balfour Beatty/Costain consortium.
Recycled Paper
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of his Department's (a) press releases and (b) written answers are printed on recycled paper.
Mr. Redwood : The answers are (a) 100 per cent. ; (b) nil. Recycled paper suitable for general use, which includes the preparation of written answers, could not be found at reasonable cost. The position is kept under review.
Bed Provision
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the hospitals in Wales which have had to refer patients elsewhere because beds were not available during the last year, giving the number of days on which this has occurred and the places to which patients were referred in each case.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The information requested is not held centrally but could be provided by the hospitals concerned.
NHS Trusts
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 28 June, Official Report, column 516, if he has received information from NHS trusts about changes in the number of people whom they employ.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : As there is no requirement on trusts to provide such information, the position across Wales is not known.
Standard Spending Assessments
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the standard spending assessment for each police force in Wales for 1994-95 and for each financial year since 1990, together with the police components of grant-related expenditure assessments for the years 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : There are no standard spending assessments for police authorities in Wales. The
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assessments for county councils include provision for police services. Assessments are unhypothecated as were grant -related expenditure assessments. Expenditure on police and other services is determined by county councils in the light of their statutory responsibilities, local needs and available resources.EMPLOYMENT
National Union of Teachers
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 27 June, column 450, what are the appropriate qualifications to be an auditor of a return of trade union numbers to the certification officer ; and if he will list the names of the auditors used by the National Union of Teachers in its returns in each year since 1985.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Eligibility for an appointment as an auditor of a trade union is set out in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Section 34(1) provides that a person is not qualified to be the auditor, or one of the auditors, of a trade union unless he is eligible for appointment as a company auditor under section 25 of the Companies Act 1989.
Before the commencement of the provisions in the 1992 Act in October 1992, the eligibility qualifications were set out in part I, schedule 2 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974. This provided that a person would not be qualified to be the auditor, or one of the auditors of a trade union unless he is either : a. a member of one or more specified bodies (ie the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales ; the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland ; the Association of Certified Accountants ; the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland ; and any other body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time being recognised for the purposes of the Companies Act 1985 by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State) ; or b. a person who is for the time being authorised by the Secretary of State under the 1985 Act as being a person with similar qualifications obtained outside the United Kingdom.
I understand from the certification officer, an independent statutory officer, that since 1985 the auditors of the accounts contained in the annual returns submitted by the National Union of Teachers have been Knox Cropper of 16 New Bridge street, London EC4V 6AZ, chartered accountants and registered auditor.
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