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SCOTLAND
Special Advisers
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Darlington of 1 December, Official Report, columns 840 41 if he will make a statement regarding his Department's expenditure on special advisers in each of the last three financial years and for the financial year 1979 80.
Mr. Lang: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary on 19 December, Official Report, column 937.
Appointments
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his definition of extreme political views as used in his answer to the hon. Member for Truro(Mr. Taylor) on 30 March 1994, Official Report, column 829.
Mr. Lang: I used the term in its generally understood sense, but it would include membership of, or support for, a political organisation which was generally regarded as being of an extremist nature.
Isle of Lewis
Dr. Goodson-Wickes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what funds from European Resources have been received for road projects on the Isle of Lewis in 1993 94 and 1994 95.
Mr. Stewart: No funds have been awarded for road projects on the Isle of Lewis in 1993 94 from the European regional development fund, the principal source of European funding for infrastructure projects. It is too early to say what projects might come forward through the Highlands and Islands objective 1 programme during 1995.
Telephone Dialling Codes
Mr. Donohoe: To aks the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment has been made as to the additional costs which will be incurred by his Department as a result of the changes in national telephone dialling codes next year; and how much this change will cost his Department in additional expenditure.
Mr. Lang: Most of the changes to my Department's
telecommunications' networks have been carried out free of charge by the companies responsible for maintaining our telephone systems. At one site a charge of £1,000 was incurred.
It is not possible to give an estimate of the cost of alternations to items of stationery, but because the changes were publicised widely well in advance it has been possible in many cases to incorporate the new codes when placing routine orders for new stationery. Some staff time has been or will be devoted to reprogramming fax machines etc.
Vandalism
Mr. Galbraith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of vandalism were reported to the procurator fiscal but not proceeded with in the last 10 years for which figures are available.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Programme Making (Scotland)
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library a copy of his correspondence with the Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation about programme making in Scotland.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 2 December 1994]: It is not my right hon. Friend's normal practice to make available private correspondence between himself and outside organisations. However, given the public interest in the future of BBC production in Scotland and the nature of the correspondence, he has agreed to make an exception in this case. Accordingly, a copy of my right hon. Friend's letter of 28 October 1994 to Mr. Birt and, with Mr. Birt's agreement, a copy of his reply dated 2 November have today been placed in the Library.
Housing List Applications
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many applicants were waiting on the housing lists of each of the development corporations in each financial year since 1979.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 20 December 1994]: The information is not held centrally.
Departmental Telephone Calls
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent on telephone charges and how many telephone calls have been made by his Department for each of the last five years.
Mr. Lang: The information on telephone charges for calls made via both the public service telephone network and the government telephone network by all Scottish Office Departments is set out in the table.
K
|Public service|Government
|telephone |telephone
|network |network |Total
|£ |£ |£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |645,000 |339,000 |984,000
1990-91 |615,000 |343,000 |958,000
1991-92 |675,000 |352,000 |1,027,000
1992-93 |755,000 |366,000 |1,121,000
1993-94 |695,000 |343,000 |1,038,000
As call charges are levied by the volume of units used and not by the number of calls made, records on total numbers of calls are not maintained.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Special Advisers
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Darlington, (Mr. Milburn) of 1 December, Official Report , columns 895 96 , if he will make a statement regarding his Department's expenditure on special advisers for each of the last three financial years.
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Mr. Dorrell: I refer to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Thanet, South (Mr. Aitken) on 19 December, Official Report , column 937 .
Management Systems
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what consideration he has given to introducing a
MINIS-type--managerial information systems--management system to his Department; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell: I will be considering what changes I might make to my Department's planning and management information systems in the light of the fundamental expenditure review of the Department and the recommendations of the multidepartmental efficiency scrutiny of management information and planning systems. Both reviews are expected to report in the spring of 1995.
National Lottery
Mr. John Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will ensure that all the interest earned on money already collected by the National Lottery Charity Board for distribution to charities and voluntary organisations will be made available to those organisations.
Mr. Dorrell: Yes. The National Lottery etc. Act 1993 provides that interest earned on the proceeds of the national lottery is added to the national lottery distribution fund and attributed to each distributing body on a proportionate basis.
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if interest earned on money already collected by the national lottery for distribution to charities and voluntary organisations will accrue to Camelot.
Mr. Dorrell: Interest earned on the proceeds of the national lottery will not accrue to Camelot. It is added to the national lottery distribution fund and attributed to each distributing body on an equitable basis.
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will consider the abandonment of national lottery rollover prizes above £1 million or, when prizes have not been won, distributing the money to charities through a further draw from a list of registered charities.
Mr. Dorrell: The rollover of unwon jackpot prizes is a significant factor in maintaining public interest and participation in lotteries around the world. The Government believe that limiting rollover in the UK to a maximum of three consecutive times will balance the aim of maintaining interest in the lottery with the need to put an upper ceiling on jackpot prizes. Returns to good causes would suffer if interest in playing the national lottery generated by jackpot prizes were to decline.
Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps he is taking to ensure the national lottery prize winners can remain anonymous if that is their wish.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 15 December 1994]: Under section 11 of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993, the director-general of the national lottery has been directed to include in the licence to run the national lottery a condition that the identity of any person who has won a prize in any constituent game will not be disclosed by the licensee without the written consent of that person.
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Recent disclosures are being considered both by thedirector-general and the Press Complaints Commission.
School Sports
Mr. Pendry: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when the Government's interdepartmental review on school sport and physical education was initiated; how many officials have been involved and from which Departments those officials were drawn; when an announcement is due to be made; and if he expects to make that announcement himself.
Mr. Sproat: This Department and the Department for Education are considering ways of strengthening competitive school sport as part of their ongoing involvement in this policy area. The bulk of the work falls to six officials who also undertake a range of other duties. Other staff in DNH and DFE and other interested Departments are being consulted as appropriate. The timing and form of any announcement has yet to be decided.
Channel 4
Mrs. Maddock: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what alternatives to the current formula for funding Channel 4 television are being considered by him; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell: I am considering the proposals which have been put to me by Channel 4 and the views of others with an interest.
Sir George Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to reconsider the funding of Channel 4 television; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell: I am considering the proposals which have been put to me by Channel 4 and the views of others with an interest.
Broadcasting
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proportion of programme time transmitted by BSkyB consists of material originated outside the EC; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell: Information in the form requested is not available. Article 4 of the EC broadcasting directive--89/552/ EC--requires member states to ensure, where practicable, that broadcasters reserve for European works a majority of their transmission time, subject to the exclusion of certain types of programming such as news, sport and game shows. Member states are further required to report to the Commission every two years on the application of the article. The table shows the performance achieved by the BSkyB channels which were in operation during the period 3 October 1991 to 31 December 1992, as notified to the Commission in the UK's first monitoring report published on 4 November 1993.
My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for City of London and Westminster, South (Mr. Brooke), commented on the report in a written answer on the same day to a parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Thanet, North (Mr. Gale), Official Report , 4 November 1993, column 310 . The action which my predecessor announced that the Department would be
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taking continues, and I shall make a further statement in due course.
European works broadcast by individual BSkyB channels
operating from 3 October 1991 to 31 December 1992
|Percentage of total
|qualifying
Channel |transmission time
------------------------------------------------------------
The Movie Channel |16.4
Sky Movies |13.7
Sky Movies Gold |19.1
Sky News |64.3
Sky One |8.5
Sky Sports |65.2
Charities Fund
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will give assurances that the interest earned on money already collected for distribution to charities and voluntary organisations will be made available to the charities fund.
Mr. Dorrell: Interest earned on the proceeds of the national lottery is added to the national lottery distribution fund and attributed to each distributing body on an equitable basis. All interest is therefore available for distribution to good causes. Twenty per cent. of the national lottery distribution fund will be available to the National Lottery Charities Board. Other charities and voluntary organisations connected with sports, arts, and heritage will also benefit from lottery proceeds.
Assets in lieu of Tax
Mr. Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list the assets received by his Department in lieu of tax for the current financial year and for the years 1992-93 and 1993 94.
Mr. Dorrell: The assets my Department has accepted in lieu of tax in the current financial year are as follows:
Picasso painting--`Tete de Femme 1924'
Picasso drawing--`Tete de Femme 1937'
Picasso vase--`Artist at his Easel'
Klee drawing--`Contraholz Solo'
George I silver kettle and stand
Ferneley painting--`Council of Horses'
Riding tack from Calke Abbey
Scott painting--`Black Painting 1958'
Amigoni painting--`Dido and Aeneas'
Collection of architectural drawings related to Nostell Priory Benthall Hall chattels
The Fairfax Archive
Two busts by Flaxman and Chantrey
The Fitzherbert papers
The building No.2 Willow Road, Hampstead
The studio of F E McWilliam
The Acland Archive
Castle Fraser chattels
For the previous years, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers given to the hon. Member for Warley, East (Mr. Faulds) on 31 March 1994, Official Report, columns 978 79 ) and 23 April 1993, column 226.
Telephone Dialling Codes
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what assessment has been made as to the additional costs which will be incurred by his
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Department as a result of the changes in national telephone dialling codes next year; and how much this change will cost his Department in additional expenditure.Mr. Dorrell: The Department of National Heritage will not incur any significant additional costs as a result of the changes to the national telephone dialling codes.
Internet
Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make a statement about the plans of his Department to make information available on Internet and the documents which he intends to be made available on Internet over the next year which will be accessible via the world wide web server "open.gov.UK" or any specific departmental server.
Mr. Dorrell: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 22 November 1994, Official Report , column 111 .
Admission Fees
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list the admission fees charged by British museums and historic royal palaces in each of the years since 1979 and which charged concessionary admission fees.
Mr. Dorrell: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
York Stone and Cobbles
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to introduce measures to combat the theft of York stone and cobbles.
Mr. Dorrell: I have no such plans. A range of measures to prevent the theft of vulnerable paved surfaces is already available to local authorities and other owners. These include increased security lighting, closed-circuit television and neighbourhood watch schemes. It is important that crime prevention measures in historic town centres and conservation areas respect the character of the area.
Adrian Spencer
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to meet Mr. Adrian Spencer to discuss amateurism in rugby union; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sproat: I have no plans to meet Mr. Spencer.
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to meet the Rugby Football Union to discuss the case of Adrian Spencer.
Mr. Sproat: I have no plans to meet the Rugby Football Union to discuss the case of Adrian Spencer.
Rugby
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has for legislation to give players the right to play both rugby union and rugby league.
Mr. Sproat: The Government have no plans for introducing legislation. The rules and regulations of independent and properly constituted governing bodies of
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sport are a matter for them. My views on this issue are well known.Market Testing
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list those services that have been market tested by his Department and won by the private sector, indicating the organisation that won the tender and its value.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 12 December 1994]: To date, no services have been market tested by this Department, although a number of activities have been contracted out to the private sector as a matter of policy. Information on new tests is published in the market testing bulletin each month. A copy of this is placed in the Library.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department (i) hold open meetings, (ii) conduct public consultation exercises, (iii) conduct consultation exercises with outside commercial interests, (iv) publish a register of members' interests, (v) publish agendas for meetings and (vi) publish the minutes of meetings; and whether this is in each case (a) under a statutory requirement or (b) voluntary.
Mr. Dorrell [holding answer 16 December 1994]: On point (i), I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Under- Secretary of State on 27 July 1993, Official Report, column 763-64. On points (ii) and (iii), the advisory committee on the public lending right has undertaken consultation on reference books. My Department has undertaken consultation with the art trade on behalf of the reviewing committee on the export of works of art. The Theatres Trust also consults with outside interests. The regional councils for sport and recreation also conduct consultation exercises. On points (iv), (v) and (vi), the answer is none. As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State made clear on 2 November 1993-- Official Report, column 97-8-- all appointments are made in accordance with guidance provided by Cabinet Office and the Treasury, which requires Ministers to satisfy themselves that no conflict of interest arises.
EDUCATION
School Meals
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils aged (a) under seven, (b) between seven and 11 and (c) over 11 years of age, in each local authority area in England received (i) school meals and (ii) pre-school meals.
Mr. Robin Squire: Information on the number of school meals taken by pupils in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in each local education authority in England in January 1994 is shown in the table. Information is not collected centrally on the take-up of school meals according to pupils' ages or in respect of the level of provision of school meals prior to the start of the school day.
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Numbers of day-pupils taking free and paid school meals in
maintained schools in England-January 1994
|Nursery and
Local education |primary |Secondary
authority
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporation of London |158 |-
Camden |6,974 |4,736
Greenwich |10,946 |5,200
Hackney |11,782 |4,118
Hammersmith and Fulham |6,747 |4,199
Islington |10,571 |3,118
Kensington and Chelsea |4,249 |2,081
Lambeth |13,079 |4,075
Lewisham |12,874 |5,049
Southwark |14,664 |5,792
Tower Hamlets |15,262 |6,455
Wandsworth |10,744 |5,320
Westminster |6,696 |4,018
Barking and Dagenham |7,296 |3,062
Barnet |11,578 |10,629
Bexley |7,464 |4,270
Brent |10,984 |4,563
Bromley |8,967 |8,287
Croydon |13,197 |7,255
Ealing |10,450 |6,919
Enfield |9,711 |6,628
Haringey |11,250 |4,912
Harrow |1,538 |3,103
Havering |7,951 |4,922
Hillingdon |3,153 |5,359
Hounslow |8,725 |7,629
Kingston upon Thames |1,494 |2,575
Merton |5,260 |2,737
Newham |12,426 |4,127
Redbridge |9,797 |6,436
Richmond upon Thames |3,990 |2,941
Sutton |5,501 |5,514
Waltham Forest |10,914 |5,482
Birmingham |57,414 |38,742
Coventry |12,129 |6,151
Dudley |11,222 |7,338
Sandwell |12,994 |5,355
Solihull |9,646 |6,097
Walsall |11,010 |9,534
Wolverhampton |10,920 |6,064
Knowsley |9,856 |4,458
Liverpool |28,663 |15,538
St. Helens |7,452 |6,681
Sefton |10,469 |8,443
Wirral |15,996 |9,952
Bolton |14,934 |9,781
Bury |8,986 |4,845
Manchester |31,966 |11,742
Oldham |15,048 |8,522
Rochdale |12,432 |6,444
Salford |15,298 |4,785
Stockport |11,955 |8,873
Tameside |12,030 |6,497
Trafford |7,207 |6,915
Wigan |13,059 |8,537
Barnsley |10,865 |5,495
Doncaster |20,008 |10,463
Rotherham |12,392 |4,412
Sheffield |19,845 |11,030
Bradford |21,378 |24,339
Calderdale |10,710 |5,282
Kirklees |21,461 |9,675
Leeds |32,138 |19,354
Wakefield |12,675 |5,887
Gateshead |10,742 |2,583
Newcastle upon Tyne |13,874 |7,729
North Tyneside |8,942 |6,550
South Tyneside |10,454 |4,493
Sunderland |16,611 |5,626
Isles of Scilly |62 |49
Avon |34,730 |18,630
Bedfordshire |24,683 |20,713
Berkshire |23,039 |19,421
Buckinghamshire |6,494 |8,747
Cambridgeshire |24,007 |13,364
Cheshire |37,448 |30,965
Cleveland |37,517 |14,582
Cornwall |17,108 |15,240
Cumbria |21,183 |16,741
Derbyshire |45,941 |36,572
Devon |31,987 |30,391
Dorset |4,254 |14,105
Durham |37,023 |15,187
East Sussex |22,514 |12,316
Essex |47,946 |35,338
Gloucestershire |12,452 |10,215
Hampshire |48,253 |28,470
Hereford and Worcester |8,400 |15,251
Hertfordshire |40,492 |28,858
Humberside |48,464 |29,348
Isle of Wight |3,354 |4,471
Kent |52,317 |40,914
Lancashire |58,919 |44,315
Leicestershire |32,602 |24,727
Lincolnshire |4,367 |14,978
Norfolk |25,741 |13,836
North Yorkshire |26,083 |22,807
Northamptonshire |7,626 |14,117
Northumberland |12,125 |14,835
Nottinghamshire |42,364 |24,073
Oxfordshire |14,431 |10,433
Shropshire |18,248 |13,604
Somerset |6,238 |9,635
Staffordshire |48,268 |24,216
Suffolk |18,188 |17,816
Surrey |36,255 |20,432
Warwickshire |18,472 |10,011
West Sussex |21,725 |11,809
Wiltshire |15,971 |13,703
England |1,886,464 |1,250,958
GCSE Papers
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have had GCSE papers re-marked by examination boards in the last year; what has been the outcome; and what investigations his Department has undertaken.
Mr. Robin Squire: This information is not held by the Department. Grading and re-grading are matters for the individual GCSE examining groups.
School Inspections
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) for how many years past reports from Her Majesty's inspectorate are kept on file and available for inspection;
(2) what are her plans for making available past reports of Her Majesty's inspectorate.
Mr. Forth: These are matters for Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools, who heads the independent Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Mr. Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member.
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Faversham College, Bradford
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when she intends to announce her decision on the application for voluntary-aided status made by Faversham college, Bradford; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend will announce her decision on Faversham college's proposals as soon as possible.
Internet
Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement about the plans of her Department to make information available on the Internet and the documents which she intends to be made available on the Internet over the next year which will be accessible via the world wide web server "Open.Gov.UK" or any specific departmental server.
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