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Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy in the context of (a) the Council of Europe (b) the Conference on Security and Co- operation in Europe and (c) the United Nations on the human rights implications for Latvia's Russian population of the recent laws on citizenship.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : President Ulmanis has returned to Parliament for reconsideration the draft citizenship law passed by the Latvian Parliament in June. We are urging the Latvians to incorporate into the law recommendations made by the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe.
Per Capita Income
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the latest available data on per capita income in each country ; and what data are available on per capita wealth by country.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Per capita income and per capita wealth are not measured separately. Both are represented by the data collected on each country's per capita gross national product. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the "World
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Bank Atlas 1994", a copy of which is held in the House of Commons Library. The atlas gives the latest GNP per capita information on 207 of the world's economies.Tibet
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) assistance and (b) guidance on human rights issues he gives to British companies considering investing in Tibet.
Mr. Goodlad : Neither I nor the embassy in Peking have been approached by any British companies considering investing in Tibet.
European Council
Dr. Liam Fox : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a statement on the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The following meetings are planned : A : ECOFIN
B : FAC
C : Agriculture
D : Budget
E : ECOFIN
F : Justice
The following subjects are likely to be discussed :
A--11 July : ECOFIN
Follow-up to Corfu European Council
Broad economic guidelines (adoption of)
Commission annual report on fraud and work programme
Special report on European Court of Auditors
Relations with CEE
B--18-19 July : Foreign Affairs Council
Presentation of German Presidency programme
Implementation of White Paper
Follow up to Corfu European Council
Ex Yugoslavia
Relations with the European Parliament
EU relations with Canada and USA
G7 Summit
Relations with central and eastern Europe
Relations with the Mediterranean basin
State of contractual relations with certain former Soviet Union countries
Public access to information
Relations with Asia
Relations with India
EC/Sri Lanka agreement
International coffee agreement (possible A' point)
New import regime for China
Textiles
C--18-19 July : Agriculture
Yellowfats
Tariff quota for mountain and alpine cattle
Agricultural Structures
Amending Directive 64/432 on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in animals
Wine reform
Implementation of simplificatiion of common agricultural policy reform
List of third country establishments
D--25 July : Budget
First reading of draft EC budget 1995
Supplementary budget 1994
E--27 July : ECOFIN
Agenda not yet available
F--28 July : Justice
Agenda not yet available
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Child Care
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provision his Department makes for child care facilities for staff ; what is the extent of subsidy to nursery places and holiday playschemes ; if his Department (a) subscribes to "Childcare Solutions" and (b) makes child care vouchers available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Goodlad : The FCO has 10 places for the under-fives at nurseries in London, subsidised by 50 per cent., and 22 places in a workplace nursery for staff working at Hanslope Park. Staff in London may bid for holiday places for five to 12-year-olds through the Westminster holiday play scheme, also subsidised by 50 per cent. The ODA offers no nursery provision for staff, but provides holiday play schemes for staff working at each of its three sites. In London this is through the Westminster holiday play scheme--the other two play schemes are ODA-administered. These schemes cater for children aged between five and 14 depending on the scheme and are subsidised by up to 50 per cent.
The provision of child care is on a value for money basis and is contained within existing running costs. The FCO does not subscribe to "Childcare Solutions" or provide child care vouchers.
International War Crimes Tribunal
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on progress being made by the international war crimes tribunal set up in 1993 ; and if he will list the judges, giving their countries of origin and background.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The acting deputy prosecutor, Mr. Graham Blewitt, is currently setting up the prosecutor's office. A number of investigatory and prosecutorial staff have now arrived in The Hague. Mr. Blewitt is hoping to start the first trials later this year. The judges of the tribunal and their nationalities are as follows :
President of the Tribunal, H.E. Judge Antonio Cassese, Italy Vice-President of the Tribunal, H.E. Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, Costa Rica
H.E. Judge Georges M. Abi-Saab, Egypt
H.E. Judge Jules Deschenes, Canada
H.E. Judge Claude Jorda, France
H.E. Judge Aldophus G. Karibi-Whyte, Nigeria
H.E. Judge Haopei Li, China
H.E. Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, USA
H.E. Judge Rustam S. Sidhwa, Pakistan
H.E. Judge Sir Ninian Stephen, Australia
H.E. Judge Lal Chand Vohrah, Malaysia
Copies of the judges' curricula vitae have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
Chemical Weapons
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans Her Majesty's Government have to introduce enabling legislation necessary for the United Kingdom's ratification of the chemical weapons convention before 18 July.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We have no plans to introduce implementing legislation for ratification of the chemical
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weapons convention before 18 July. The legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time becomes available.Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it is Her Majesty's Government's policy that the United Kingdom will ratify the chemical weapons convention by January 1995.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We shall ratify the chemical weapons convention as soon as the necessary implementing legislation is in place. No parliamentary time has yet been allocated for this.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support Agency
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the current operation of the Child Support Agency.
Mr. Burt : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Mr. Thomason) on 4 July at columns 49-50.
Compensation
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the amounts of compensation received by (a) asbestosis sufferers who have won court awards which were appealed against by firms and (b) those who received the same award which was accepted by the firm.
Mr. Scott : The information is not available.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the annual running costs of the compensation recovery unit.
Mr. Scott : The costs for the financial year 1993-94 were approximately £2.4 million.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will show the amounts successfully reclaimed by the compensation recovery unit in each year for the past 10 years.
Mr. Scott : Recoveries made under the compensation recovery scheme apply to compensation payments made on or after 3 September 1990 for an accident, injury or
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disease which occurred on or after 1 January 1989, therefore, the information requested is only available for each financial year since 1990.I gave the hon. Member this information on 5 July at Cols. 226-27.
Child Support Act
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to extend phasing in of the provisions of the Child Support Act 1991 to all those with second families.
Mr. Burt : The phasing arrangements apply to all absent parents with a previous court order or written maintenance agreement, who had a second family at the date the new maintenance assessment was made and whose new assessment is more than £20 a week higher than their old liability. We have no plans to extend these arrangements.
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the organisations which have made representations to him about the effect of the Child Support Act 1991 on second families.
Mr. Burt : Representations have been received from a number of large organisations : the Child Poverty Action Group, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Families Need Fathers, Stepfamily, the National Council for One Parent Families, and the Campaign for Fair Maintenance.
Representations have also been received from a range of smaller and local organisations.
Benefit-dependent Families
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children were living in families dependent on benefit in each year since 1979.
Mr. Burt : Families with children may be assisted by a number of social security benefits, and may receive more than one benefit at a time. Child benefit is available for all children regardless of income and is currently payable for 12.5 million children in nearly 7 million families. The number of children in families receiving the main income-related benefits for each year since 1979 are in the table. The number of children in families receiving widowed mothers allowance are also shown. For the purposes of the information in the table, children are defined as aged under 16 years or aged 16 to 19 years and in full-time education.
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Number of children in families receiving the following benefits
Year |Widowed mother's|Supplementary |Family income |Housing benefit |Community charge
|allowance |benefit/ |supplement/ |benefit
|Income support |Family credit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |132 |955 |184 |n/a |n/a
1980 |n/a |1,125 |n/a |n/a |n/a
1981 |119 |1,550 |226 |n/a |n/a
1982 |112 |1,793 |306 |n/a |n/a
1983 |106 |1,868 |396 |n/a |n/a
1984 |111 |2,033 |428 |n/a |n/a
1985 |93 |n/a |415 |n/a |n/a
1986 |86 |2,227 |412 |n/a |n/a
1987 |81 |2,236 |457 |n/a |n/a
1988 |85 |2,195 |438 |370 |n/a
1989 |81 |2,138 |656 |335 |n/a
1990 |80 |2,151 |669 |1,807 |2,563
1991 |78 |2,497 |736 |1,971 |2,634
1992 |80 |2,874 |829 |2,477 |3,187
1993 |80 |3,207 |993 |n/a |n/a
Notes:
1. Figures are in thousands and are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
2. Families can be receiving more than one benefit at the same time.
3. No information is available for widowed mother's allowance and family income supplement in 1980 due to changes in
the way statistics were published.
4. No information is available for supplementary benefit in 1985 because no annual statistical inquiry was carried out
due to industrial action.
5. The 1988 and 1989 information for housing benefit and community charge benefit relates to cases without income
support.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Iain Mills : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has received on the relationship of housing benefit and the level of pitch rent levied by mobile home site owners.
Mr. Hague : None. Housing benefit is available to help pay reasonable pitch rents in the same way as for the rents of other types of accommodation.
Family Credit
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will instruct the Benefits Agency to give a decision in respect of the claim for family credit submitted by Mrs. G. Foster.
Mr. Burt : The administration of family credit is a matter for Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Robert Maclennan, dated 6 July 1994 :
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary question, asking about the claim to Family Credit (FC) from Mrs. G. Foster.
You will be aware that Mrs. Foster submitted her claim to FC on 21 January 1994. I can assure you that every effort is being made to resolve this matter and Mrs. Foster will be advised of the outcome in due course. However, due to the complex nature of Mrs. Foster's case, the matter is still under consideration by the Adjudication Officer (AO). AOs are the first tier of the independent adjudicating authorities who decide all claims to Family Credit. The responsibility for interpreting the law and its application in individual cases rests solely with them. No Government Minister or Departmental Official may comment on, or intervene in, matters which are the responsibility of these independent authorities.
The AO will make a decision on the claim as soon as the required information becomes available. However, due to the personal and confidential nature of the case, I have written to you separately and in greater detail to explain this matter.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
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