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Delegated Pay
Mr. McAllion: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department which will (a) follow the pay arrangements of the sponsoring Department and (b) pursue an independent and separate route under the delegated pay option (i) from April 1995 and (ii) from April 1996.
Miss Widdecombe: The following decisions have been taken so far: a) NDPBs that intend to follow the pay arrangements of the Employment Department:
--Equal Opportunities Commission;
--Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
b) NDPBs that are pursuing independent arrangements under the delegated pay option:
--Health and Safety Executive (from April 1995).
Employers' Liability
Mr. Boateng: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what recent representations he has received from the Health and Safety Commission and others concerning the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969;
(2) what plans he has to establish a review of the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969; if the Trades Union Congress will be represented on the review committee; and if he will list the proposed membership of the committee;
(3) if he will list the numbers and the names of those individuals and organisations who have made representations to him concerning the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 who have (a) supported and (b) opposed (i) the suggestion that the £2 million minimum cover provided by the Act should be changed and (ii) the decision by the Association of British Insurers no longer to recommend providing unlimited cover to its members.
Mr. Oppenheim: Following the decision of the United Kingdom insurance industry to cease providing unlimited cover for employers' liability insurance, I received a number of representations that some large industrial and commercial concerns would be unable to comply with the law as it stood from the beginning of this year. After consulting the Health and Safety Commission, I laid before the House amending regulations to ensure that all employers could comply with the law from 1 January 1995. I also announced on 22 December 1994 my intention to carry out a review of the legislation.
I propose to issue a consultative document shortly seeking views on possible changes to this legislation. It is
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my intention to circulate this widely, so that all interested parties have the opportunity to put their views forward. The Trades Union Congress and HSC will be among those consulted. I will send a copy of the consultative document to the hon. Member.Correspondence
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many letters were received in the Department from hon. Members last month;
(2) how many letters were sent to hon. Members last month by each Minister in the Department.
Miss Widdecombe: During January, the Department received 512 letters from hon. Members. In the same period, 448 ministerial replies were sent. Of these, 19 were answered by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, 107 by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Member for Cambridgeshire, South East (Mr. Paice) and 152 by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Member for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim). I have answered 170 letters.
South London TEC
Ms Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when Solotec will agree new contracts with the former providers of training services to South Thames training and enterprise council.
Mr. Paice: Solotec is currently drawing up its proposals to undertake training and enterprise council responsibilities in the boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham. It is for Solotec to determine with which providers it wishes to contract to provide services in the two boroughs. The timing for the agreement of new contracts will depend upon the progress of negotiations between the parties.
Wakefield TEC
Mr. Sykes: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what progress Wakefield training and enterprise council is making in meeting the criteria for the award of a three-year licence.
Mr. Paice: I am pleased to announce that Wakefield training and enterprise council has now completed the process of meeting the rigorous standard we set for the award of the new three-year licences. Its licence will be effective from April 1995.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Western Sahara
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the statement made to the United States Congress House Appropriations Committee on 25 January by Frank Ruddy concerning the United Nations operation in Western Sahara; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg [pursuant to the reply 8 February, Official Report, column 281]: My Department has now seen a copy of the statement submitted by Mr. Frank Ruddy to the sub-committee of the Committee on Appropriations of the US House of Representatives. We
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understand that the UN has now sent a team to the Western Sahara to investigate the allegations made by Mr. Ruddy.Western European Union
Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy towards the recommendation of the Assembly of Western European Union that the Council of the Western European Union should study the conditions in which the Council might meet as a European security and defence council, either as necessary or on the occasion of meetings of the European Council; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: This recommendation is under consideration by the Permanent Council of the Western European Union, which will evaluate the desirability of holding a WEU meeting at summit level.
Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action has been taken in response to recommendation 538 of the Assembly of Western European Union on security in the Mediterranean; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: The WEU Council has set out its views on this issue in its response to recommendation 565 of the Assembly. The Council has also considered and endorsed relevant elements of work done in the CFSP framework on the implications for European security of the situation in neighbouring regions including the Mediterranean.
Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans there are for the participation of the Wastern European Union in missions of the Organisation for Security and Co- operation in Europe; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: Military units of WEU member states, acting under the authority of the WEU, can be employed for humanitarian and rescue tasks, as the WEU Council of Ministers decided in its Petersburg declaration of June 1992. The Council of Ministers also declared the WEU's willingness to consider any requests for assistance from the OSCE, then CSCE on a case-by-case basis. The OSCE has, as yet, made no formal requests.
Sir Russell Johnston: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support the establishment of a multinational European humanitarian intervention force under the auspices of the Western European Union; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: It is one of the roles of the WEU to provide for a European instrument of reaction in cases where, due to the dimension or urgency of a humanitarian crisis or the need for military protection, military rather than civilian means must be employed.
United Kingdom forces would be provided on a case-by-case basis, rather than committing ourselves to a standing intervention force which might not be tailored to the requirements of a specific humanitarian crisis.
Sir Russell Johnston: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made by the Permanent Council of the Western European Union in taking forward the commitment gradually to develop the Western European Union Institute for Security Studies into a European Security and Defence Academy; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Douglas Hogg: At its meeting on 11 November 1994 in Noordwijk the WEU Council of Ministers reiterated its commitment gradually to develop the Institute for Security Studies into a European Security and Defence Academy and requested the Permanent Council to take this matter forward as a priority.
Details of the proposal were presented to the Permanent Council of the WEU by the director of the institute at its meetings of 24 January and 7 February 1995.
Indonesia
Mr. Bill Michie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will press the European Community to play a more positive role in pressing the Indonesian authorities to ensure human rights.
Mr. Goodlad: We are in regular contact with our European Union partners about the human rights situation in Indonesia and East Timor and, where appropriate, make known our concerns directly to the Indonesian Government and in such bodies as the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Mr. Bill Michie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will urge President Suharto to repeal the anti- subversion law.
Mr. Goodlad: The repeal of the anti-subversion law is one of the recommendations of the UN special rapporteur on torture. The UN Commission on Human Rights, of which the United Kingdom is a member, has called repeatedly on the Indonesian Government to take the necessary steps to implement these recommendations.
Morocco
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what position the United Kingdom Government are taking up over the proper extent of Moroccan territorial water to be included in the EU-Morocco fishing agreement; and if he will make it his policy that no disputed territorial waters will be so included.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: As with all EC fisheries agreements, the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of Morocco will not be defined. The United Kingdom Government do not consider the renegotiation of the EC- Morocco fisheries agreement the appropriate place to address the issue of the sovereignty of the former Spanish Sahara.
Nuclear Non-proliferation
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to ensure a successful conclusion to the conference of state parties to the nuclear non -proliferation treaty opening in April; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry: Our aim at the nuclear non-proliferation treaty review and extension conference is to secure the treaty's indefinite and unconditional extension by a substantial majority. We are lobbying at ministerial and official levels, both bilaterally and as part of an EU joint action, to achieve this aim.
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Fast Stream Entry
Mrs. Maddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of those accepted for fast stream entry for which his Department is responsible (a) in 1991, (b) 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994 were women.
Mr. Goodlad: The percentage of women accepted for fast stream entry to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Overseas Development Administration in each of the last four years was: 1991: 29.2 per cent.
1992: 26.1 per cent.
1993: 19.2 per cent.
1994: 30.8 per cent.
Non-departmental Public Bodies (Pay)
Mr. McAllion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department which will (a) follow the pay arrangements of the sponsoring Department and (b) pursue an independent and separate route under the delegated pay option (i) from April 1995 and (ii) from April 1996.
Mr. Goodlad: The British Council is developing proposals for separate pay arrangements from April 1996.
We expect the following NDPBs to follow the FCO's pay arrangements in April 1996:
The Britain-Russia Centre
The Great Britain-China Centre
The British Association for Central and Eastern Europe
The Foreign Compensation Commission
The Marshall Commission and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission are supported by a secretariat provided by the Association of Commonwealth Universities to which the FCO pays a management fee. The staff of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy are retained on short-term contracts. We see no reason to change these arrangements.
It would be premature to comment on pay arrangements for the Commonwealth Institute before its business plan is submitted in July 1995.
Iraq
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what United Nations reports the Government have received about the supply of products to the Iraqi plant at Ad Dwar and Salman Pak by United Kingdom-based companies or their subsidiaries over the last five years; if he will name those companies and what they supplied; what prior knowledge or approval was given by Her Majesty's Government; and what measures he proposes to take in this matter.
Mr. Baldry: It is not our practice to comment in detail on information given to us by the UN Special Commission on companies which have traded with Iraq. Any information about potential offences will be investigated and, if substantiated, will be a matter for the courts.
Correspondence
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many letters
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were received in the Department from hon. Members last month.Mr. Baldry: During January 1995 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office received 1,502 letters from hon. Members.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many letters were sent to hon. Members last month by each Minister in the Department.
Mr. Baldry: Ministers in the Department sent the following numbers of letters to hon. Members last month:
Minister |Number ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs |65 Minister of State for Overseas Development |196 Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Hogg) |254 Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Davis) |93 Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Goodlad) |134 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Baldry) |202
The correspondence unit of the migration and visa department answered 503 letters from hon. Members. Forty-three letters from hon. Members were sent to other Government Ministers for reply, and 50 are still receiving attention.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Correspondence
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Attorney-General (1) how many letters were received in the Department from hon. Members last month;
(2) how many letters were sent to hon. Members last month by each Minister in the Department.
The Attorney-General: Sixty-one letters were received from and 50 letters were sent to hon. Members in January. Of the 50 letters sent to hon. Members 17 were written by the Attorney-General and one by the Solicitor-General. The remaining 32 letters were sent by the private office informing hon. Members that their letters were being transferred.
Serious Fraud Office
Mr. Boateng: To ask the Attorney-General what has been the cost of running the Serious Fraud Office for each year since its establishment, and what is the projected cost for the next financial year.
The Attorney-General: The SFO became operational in April 1988. Running costs are most readily ascertainable by reference to financial years ending 31 March. The cost of running the Serious Fraud Office is given in the table. The provision for 1995 96 will be published in the departmental report for the Lord Chancellor's and Law Officers' Departments, which is expected to be presented to Parliament on or about 7 March 1995.
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Serious Fraud Office
|Running Cost
|Expenditure
Year |(£000)
---------------------------------------
1987-88<1> |509
1988-89 |4,641
1989-90 |5,687
1990-91 |6,771
1991-92 |8,931
1992-93 |10,508
1993-94 |10,548
1994-95<2> |11,317
<1> This figure is for part year only;
the SFO being established in June
1987.
<2> This figure is the 1994-95 running
costs provision.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Housing Adaptations
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications for assessments by occupational therapists in respect of housing adaptations were made during the years from 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1994 in the Eastern and Southern health boards; of these how many were (a) processed (b) approved for adaptation and (c) rejected.
Mr. Moss: Information on the total number of applications for assessment by occupational therapists for housing adaptations is not collected centrally.
Since 1 April 1993 information has been collected centrally only in respect of referrals to occupational therapists from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Some 2,263 such referrals were made to the Eastern and Southern health boards in the year ended 31 March 1994 and 1,512 assessments were completed.
Information on the outcome of these assessments is not collected centrally.
Zoos
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list those zoos which are owned by local authorities.
Mr. Ancram: There are five zoos in Northern Ireland which are owned by district councils. These are:-
Belfast zoo--Belfast city council
Ward park, Bangor--Bangor borough council
Craigavon leisure centre--Craigavon borough council
Exploris sealife centre, Portaferry--Newtownards borough council Pinebank community centre, Craigavon--Craigavon borough council
Fast Stream Entry
Mrs. Maddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of those accepted for fast-stream entry for which his Department is responsible (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994 were women.
Sir John Wheeler: The proportion of fast stream entrants to the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office who were women is as follows:
1991: 33 per cent.
1992: 20 per cent.
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1993: 14 per cent.1994: 50 per cent.
Residential and Nursing Homes
Mr. Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many clients have been admitted by each residential and nursing home in (a) the Armagh and Dungannon and (b) the Newry and Mourne units of management since 30 September 1993.
Mr. Moss [holding answer 20 February 1995]: The information requested is set out in the following tables. The figures do not include those people who have made their own arrangements to enter homes and pay for their care or admissions by trusts/units of management in other board areas.
Persons admitted to residential/nursing home care from
30 September 1993 to 17 February 1995
Armagh and Dungannon Unit of Management
|Number of
Private nursing |admissions<1>
homes
--------------------------------------------------------
Armagh PNH (Sandown) |15
Castledillon |34
Castlemanor |5
Chestnut Lodge |15
Collegelands |6
Copperfields |7
Corkhill Lodge |13
Dungannon PNH (Sandown) |3
Fairlawns |29
Glenview |18
Greenpark |35
The Haven |6
Hockley Lodge |15
Manor Court |50
Nightingale |31
Rathowen |2
The Retreat |14
Sanville |4
The Valley |19
Total |321
Residential Homes
Benvinda |1
Glenview |18
Hebron House |1
Monique |2
Roughan House |2
Sunnymead |7
Total |31
Newry and Mourne HSS Trust
|Number of
Private nursing |admissions<1>
homes
----------------------------------------------------
Ardmaine |16
Arnosvale |12
Avila |12
Cairnhill |1
Coolbawn |16
Glencarron |11
Kilbroney House |19
Lisnaaran |32
Our Mother of Mercy |2
Rathfriland Manor |8
Rockfield |19
St. John of God |40
St. Joseph's |4
Total |192
Residential Homes
Glencarron |1
Kilbroney House |3
Moneydarragh Lodge |3
Mountain House |1
Our Mother of Mercy |12
Peacehaven |3
St. Joseph's |16
Sennen House |5
Total |44
<1> Figures include both permanent and temporary
admissions.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Second World War (Anniversary)
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report , column 161 , what considerations underlay his Department's decision to disclose the fee paid to the firm Lowe Bell Communications in respect of its organisation of the programme of events to mark the 50th anniversary of D- Day in its release of 24 January 1994.
Mr. Dorrell: Messrs Lowe Bell Communications were appointed to advise the Government on the D-Day commemorative programme and to assist in the implementation of the programme. Messrs Lowe Bell agreed that publication of the fee paid to them would not raise issues of commercial confidentiality.
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report , column 161 , what is the Department's total budget for the organisation of the programme of events to commemorate the end in Europe of the second world war.
Mr. Dorrell: A sum of £4.75 million has been voted in 1995 96 to this Department for work on organising commemorative events. In addition, funds will be required in the current financial year, and parliamentary approval is being sought for the necessary expenditure. The pattern of expenditure between this year and next year is not yet clear.
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer of 7 February, Official Report , column 161 , how many other firms were involved in tendering for the contract to organise events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end in Europe of the second world war.
Mr. Dorrell: Fourteen firms in all were invited to submit outline proposals for the Hyde park contract and nine firms did so. Of these, five firms in addition to Messrs Unusual Industries tendered for the contract.
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his answer of 7 February,
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Official Report , column 161 , if the firm Unusual Industries submitted the lowest bid for the contract to organise a programme of events to commemorate the end in Europe of the second world war.Delegated pay
Mr. McAllion: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department which will (a) follow the pay arrangements of the sponsoring Department and (b) pursue an independent and separate route under the delegated pay option (i) from April 1995 and (ii) from April 1996.
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