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protection weapons are issued only where the Chief Constable judges that the individual's life is at serious risk, and where other legal criteria have been satisfied.Framework Agreement
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if any unqualified commitment has been given to the Government of the Irish Republic to incorporate (a) some or all of the principles set out in the new framework for agreement. [28365]
Mr. Ancram: The proposals in "A New Framework for Agreement" are "A shared understanding between the British and Irish Governments to assist discussion and negotiation involving the Northern Ireland parties".
The proposals are based firmly on the principle of consent of the people of Northern Ireland to any political settlement negotiated with the parties. There is therefore no predetermined outcome.
Sheep Dip
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action his Department is taking to prevent organophosphate poisoning among those involved in sheep dipping. [28452]
Mr. Ancram: The controls in Northern Ireland on the sale and supply of organophosphorous sheep dip products are similar to those in Great Britain. From 1 April 1995, such products can be sold only to people holding a certificate of competence in the safe use of sheep dips or the representatives of those people. A one-day training course on the use of sheep dips is available at the Department's agricultural colleges free of charge to farmers. The Department of Agriculture has written to sheep farms providing information about the certificate of competence scheme and has issued a leaflet on the Health and Safety aspects of using organophosphorous sheep dip products.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. McMaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many written parliamentary questions were tabled for answer by his Department in each of the past five years; how many of these were not answered because of the information (a) could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, (b) was not held centrally and (c) was not normally disclosed; how many of these could now be answered now due to computerisation, more effective and efficient operational systems or more open government; and if he will list each question along with the name and constituency of the right hon. or hon. Member who originally tabled it. [28507]
Sir John Wheeler: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McMaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of parliamentary questions, which would have been answered directly by him or his Ministers prior to the establishment of executive agencies, are now referred to the chief executive of such an agency. [28488]
Sir John Wheeler: Ministers are accountable to Parliament for all matters concerning their agencies. Written parliamentary questions concerning matters
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which have been delegated to the chief executive of an executive agency in its framework document, normally receive a reply from the Minister to the effect that he or she has asked the chief executive to reply direct to the Member by letter. The chief executive's letter is published in Hansard below the Minister's reply.Health
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he operates upon the World Health Organisation definition of health in carrying out his health responsibilities in Northern Ireland. [28543]
Mr. Moss: The regional strategy for the Northern Ireland health and personal social services 1992 to 1997, with its emphasis on the promotion of health and the prevention of disease, is based on the principles of the World Health Organisation's "Health for All" concept.
National Lottery
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much national lottery money is expected to be distributed by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Sports Council for Northern Ireland in the current financial year. [28542]
Mr. Ancram: Based on current forecast information, the proceeds in the national lottery distribution fund for each council are expected to be in the region of £7 million in 1995 96.
Landfill Project, Magheramorne
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if a decision has been taken within the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment to support landfill at Magheramorne prior to the public inquiry. [29172]
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the US Trade and Development Agency or Louis Berger International Inc. was advised that the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment had announced that a public inquiry would be held into the Blue Circle, Magheramorne quarry landfill application later in 1995 when briefed by the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment town and country planning service prior to the Washington conference; [29176]
(2) if Louis Berger International Inc. was advised of the likelihood of a public inquiry into the suitability of the limestone based quarry at Magheramorne, Country Antrim and of its timing; [29174]
(3) what information the US Trade and Development Agency or Louis Berger International Inc. was given by the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment officials on their assessment of the viability of the Blue Circle landfill proposed project; [29173] (4) what advice was given by the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment to (a) the US Trade and Development Agency or (b) Louis Berger International Inc. regarding the Magheramorne quarry landfill project prior to the White House conference held in Washington on 24 to 26 March. [29171]
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Mr. Moss: The chief scientist, Louis Berger International Inc. (Engineers, Scientists, Economists, Planners) was part of a trade delegation from the United States of America visiting Northern Ireland prior to the Washington conference. He met an official of the town and country planning service of the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment to discuss environmental information, including prospective developments.
Arising from the general discussion the chief scientist expressed interest in the Blue Circle Magheramorne landfill project and was then shown the environmental statement which accompanied the planning application relating to the project. The environmental statement is a document available for public scrutiny. He was told that a local public inquiry would be held later this year. No further advice was given either on the likely outcome of the application nor on the viability of the project.
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the town and country planning service will complete its environmental impact assessment of the magheramorne quarry landfill project. [29175]
Mr. Moss: Assessment of the environmental effects of the proposal will not be completed until after the local public inquiry into the planning application and consideration of the report of the Planning Appeals Commission which is not expected until late spring 1996.
Higher Education
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many students were attending Northern Irish higher education institutions in (a) 1993 94 and (b) 1994 95; and if he will make a statement. [29022]
Mr. Ancram: The information is as follows:
Year |Number of students --------------------------------------------------------------- 1993-94 |32,608 1994-95 |37,247 (provisional)
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the proportion of students obtaining (a) first class and (b) upper second class degrees at Northern Irish higher education institutions in (i) 1991 92 and (ii) 1992 93; and if he will make a statement. [29025]
Mr. Ancram: The information is as follows:
Per cent.
Year |First class honours|Upper second class
|honours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1991-92 |5.5 |44.6
1992-93 |6.4 |42.3
Student Grants and Loans
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the forecast for expenditure on mandatory awards and loans given to students from Northern Ireland during the current year; and if he will make a statement. [29029]
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Mr. Ancram: Expenditure for the 1995 96 financial year is estimated at £118.3 million.
Civil Service Retirement
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 2 May, Official Report , columns 161 62 , if he will provide comparable details on civil service early retirement packages on grounds of inefficiency. [29288]
Sir John Wheeler: Inefficiency is a ground for dismissal. An immediate lump sum payment of up to two years' salary may be made in respect of non-industrial personnel where a Department judges payment of compensation to be appropriate. Where compensation is payable and the person dismissed is over age 55, the compensation payment may be forgone in favour of immediate payment of accrued superannuation benefits which would normally be preserved for payment at retiring age. The latter would usually be more beneficial to the officer. For staff departures from the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office the relevant information is not available for the financial years 1990 91 and 1991 92. The information of subsequent years is as follows:
Year |Number of |Total compensation
|departures |paid
|£
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 |5 |38,395.07
1993-94 |9 |41,233.15
1994-95 |6 |60,494.90
Training and Employment Agency
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what targets have been set for the Training and Employment Agency for Northern Ireland for the period 1995 to 1998; and if he will make a statement about the agency's future. [29852]
Mr. Ancram: The following targets have been set for the agency: 1. Within the company development programme to increase the percentage of companies using national vocational qualification based training to raise the competence of their work forces from 35 per cent. at March 1995 to 75 per cent. by March 1998.
2. To encourage the commitment of Northern Ireland industry and commerce to the Investors in People standard with the aim of increasing the number of recognitions from 20 in March 1995 to 50 in March 1996, 100 in March 1997 and 150 in March 1998. At least 50 per cent. of the companies to be in manufacturing and tradeable services.
3. To provide a range of relevant, high quality management development programmes and to achieve a customer satisfaction rating of at least 80 per cent. as reviewed at the end of each year, that such provision will increase individual and/or business performance. 4. To support the IDB's objective of attracting 20 inward investment projects with 4,500 job promotions by 31 March 1996 and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board's aim of attracting strategically important investment which strengthens the tourism and hospitality infrastructure.
5. In the first year of operation, 1995 96, 25 per cent. of mainstream participants in Jobskills will achieve NVQ level 2
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or above, increasing to at least 35 per cent. in 1996 97 and 45 per cent. in 1997 98.6. To provide an average of 9,400 temporary employment places with training through the ACE programme with the aim of increasing the number of leavers into jobs, training or further education within three months of leaving from 41 per cent. in 1994 95 to 43 per cent. in 1995 96 to 45 per cent. in 1996 97 to 47 per cent. in 1997 98. 7. By 1998 to agree and implement at least 40 modern apprenticeships frameworks with the appropriate sectoral representative bodies--20 in 1995 96, 15 in 1996 97 and five in 1997 98.
8. To carry out a full evaluation of the community work programme pilots by March 1997.
9. Over the next three years the agency will place a total of 114,000 people into jobs--36,000 in 1995 96, 38,000 in 1996 97 and 40,000 in 1997 98.
10. The agency will review its customer service standards, publish a revised customer charter by December 1995, have identified appropriate areas for entry for the nation-wide Chartermark competition for services in the public sector by March 1996 and have reached the standard in these areas by March 1998.
11. To revise by March 1997 the agency management accounting system to provide full cost management accounts and improve the integration of unit costs with performance measures.
12. To achieve Investors in People national standard for employers by September 1995.
13. To achieve annual efficiency savings of at least 4 per cent. over the period 1995 to 1998.
14. To complete by end 1995 the equality and equity benchmarking of the agency's programmes and services, set targets for action to redress imbalances, and by March 1998 to demonstrate progress by meeting the targets established.
15. To ensure that the objectives of the targeting social need and policy appraisal and fair treatment initiatives are reflected in all reviews of the agency's programmes and services carried out over the period of this plan.
Copies of the agency's published corporate plan, 1995 98, will be placed in the Library.
In accordance with next steps principles, the agency has been subject to an evaluation review and the case for its continuaton assessed. The evaluation report confirms that, since its inception in 1990, the agency has been a success, both in terms of bringing together a central operational focus for training and employment services and as a next steps agency. It will continue as a next steps agency with the same operational responsibilities. Work is presently in hand to revise its framework document in the light of the findings of the evaluation report and changes in next steps policy and procedures.
A copy of the evaluation report will be placed in the parliamentary Library.
Ordnance Survey
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what performance targets have been set for Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland in 1995 96. [29851]
Mr. Moss: For 1995 96 the following performance targets have been set for Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland:
1. to survey 32,000 house units in the continuous revision programme;
2. to complete 850 data capture units representing 1,630 basic scale map sheets converted to digital format;
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3. to update the digital topographical database with 91 per cent. of the surveyed change within seven days of receipt of the field data;4. to dispatch, within seven working days, 91 per cent. of orders for folded and basic scale maps;
5. to reduce unit costs so that the weighted mean percentage reduction of selected representative activities is three per cent.; and
6. to recover from the supply of goods and services, 28 per cent of the total cots incurred by OSNI.
Gross Indecency
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons were convicted of gross indecency in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [28222]
Sir John Wheeler: The information in respect of persons found guilty of gross indecency, attempted gross indecency and gross indecency with a child, is as follows:
Year
Offence |1990 |1991 |1992 |1993 |1994
-------------------------------------------------------------
Gross
indecency |35 |7 |2 |9 |3
Attempted
gross
indecency |2 |0 |0 |0 |0
Gross
indecency
with a child |17 |12 |10 |4 |7
Total |54 |19 |12 |13 |10
Crown Immunity
Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list all areas within (a) his Department, (b) agencies under his Department's control and (c) organisations for which he has ministerial responsibility to which Crown immunity applies; what consideration he has given to removing this; and if he will make a statement. [28650]
Sir John Wheeler [holding answer 15 June 1993]: The Crown is not bound by any NI legislation unless the contrary intention is clearly stated, or there is a necessary implication that the Crown is to be bound.
Whether Crown immunity applies to statutory bodies other than Government Departments and agencies depends on whether they are carrying out functions on behalf of the Crown. The legislative provisions establishing many statutory bodies expressly state that they are not emanations of the Crown and shall not act or be treated as servants or agents of the Crown. For such bodies, no question of Crown immunity arises.
The Government's policy on Crown immunity, as set out in the Cm 1599, "The Citizens Charter--Raising the Standard", is that Crown immunity is being progressively reduced as legislative opportunities arise. In the meantime, Crown bodies are expected to behave as though they were bound by regulations.
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Military Exports
Mr. Bennett: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5020 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27487]
(2) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 1 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27460]
(3) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 5 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27464]
(4) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 9 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No.3092; [27468]
(5) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 14 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27472]
(6) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 16 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI. 1992 No. 3092; [27474]
(7) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 23 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27478]
(8) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5021 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27483]
(9) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5028 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27491]
(10) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 26 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27480]
(11) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5002 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27481]
(12) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5001 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27490]
(13) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 3 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27462]
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(14) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 7 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27466](15) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 11 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27470]
(16) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 18 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27476]
(17) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5029 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27485]
(18) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5017 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27488]
(19) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 2 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27461]
(20) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 6 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27465]
(21) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 10 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of SI 1992 No. 3092; [27469]
(22) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 15 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27473]
(23) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 17 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27475]
(24) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 24 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27479]
(25) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5006 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27484] (26) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 20 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27477]
(27) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5018 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 or S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27482]
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(28) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5027 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27489] (29) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 4 in group 4 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27463](30) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 8 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27467]
(31) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as ML 13 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092; [27471]
(32) how many export licence applications, by country, were approved in 1993 for the export of goods defined as PL 5014 in group 1 of part III of schedule 1 of S.I. 1992 No. 3092. [27486]
Mr. Ian Taylor: The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that his questions involve a very large quantity of statistical information. I shall provide the information which he has asked for, to the extent that it is available on my Department's databases. However, the task involved in gathering and collating the data is a considerable one. I shall therefore send the information, in tabular form, to the hon. Gentleman. I shall also arrange to have a copy placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 24 May, Official Report , column 676 , if he will state the number of cases in which end-use certificates, end-use statements or international import certificates were not insisted upon for military list goods; if he will identify the companies concerned; and if he will make a statement. [27701]
Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 9 June 1995]: A full answer to the hon. Member's question could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, some work has been done on this issue in my Department on a sample basis. I refer the hon. Member to my answer given today to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Mr. Cousins) for further details of the sample survey commissioned last month by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade into the supporting documentation supplied with export licence applications for military list goods during the period 1986 90.
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