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Mr. Hanley: The information requested will take some time to obtain. I shall write to the hon. Member shortly.
Late Payments (Small Businesses)
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how often his Department and each agency within it has failed to pay invoices due to small businesses within 30 days in each of the last five years. [40523]
Mr. Hanley: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office--diplomatic wing and Overseas Development Administration--is committed to the CBI prompt payment code. This requires all invoices to be paid within the agreed credit period, or within 30 days of receipt where no credit period has been agreed. The following table shows the percentage of all invoices not paid on time by the diplomatic wing, the Overseas Development Administration, and the executive agencies Wilton Park and the Natural Resources Institute. Separate figures for small businesses' invoices are not available.
!
Per cent.
|DW |ODA |WP |NRI
---------------------------------
1991-92 |14 |n/a |n/a |n/a
1992-93 |9 |n/a |0 |n/a
1993-94 |5 |13 |12 |n/a
1994-95 |8 |13 |5 |4
1995-96 |<1>8|<2>7|<1>0|<2>8
<1> April-September.
<2> April-late October.
British Citizens Overseas
Mr. Straw: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in descending order the estimates he has available of (a) the number of British citizens resident in each overseas country, (b) the number of such citizens registered to vote in United Kingdom elections and (c) the percentage which this is of (a) , with overall totals. [40227]
Mr. Hanley: The estimated number of Britons resident abroad as at end December 1994 in descending order by country is below. In 1994 18,552 overseas electors were registered to vote in United Kingdom elections, representing 0.017 per cent. of the total number of Britons resident abroad.
Estimated number of Britons resident
abroad as at end December 1994
|Number
-------------------------------------------
Australia |3,400,000
Canada |3,000,000
USA |1,448,000
South Africa |1,080,000
New Zealand |400,000
Spain |300,500
Irish Republic |200,000
Germany |152,088
Italy |91,000
France |65,901
Kenya |49,073
Netherlands |44,672
Greece |40,530
Israel |38,500
Saudi Arabia |32,500
India |30,110
Zimbabwe |30,000
Portugal |25,600
Belgium |25,000
Cyprus |20,000
Denmark |18,573
United Arab Emirates |18,500
Japan |17,000
Norway |14,000
Tanzania |12,000
Sweden |10,927
Zambia |10,000
Switzerland |9,079
Brazil |9,050
Malaysia |8,600
Nigeria |8,400
Antigua and Barbuda |7,676
Barbados |7,500
Philippines |7,500
Indonesia |7,000
Singapore |7,000
Austria |6,500
Oman |6,500
Bahrain |6,331
Bahamas |6,000
Botswana |6,000
Brunei |6,000
Chile |6,000
Swaziland |6,000
Argentina |5,800
Thailand |5,600
Malawi |5,500
Jerusalem |5,000
Poland |5,000
Trinidad and Tobago |5,000
Turkey |4,200
Egypt |4,000
Kuwait |4,000
Libya |4,000
Luxembourg |4,000
Malta |4,000
Mexico |4,000
Jamaica |3,600
Qatar |3,500
Lebanon |3,482
China |2,850
Colombia |2,500
Czech Republic |2,500
Romania |2,500
Russian Federation |2,500
Hungary |2,300
Ivory Coast |2,000
Venezuela |2,000
Peru |1,962
Ghana |1,700
Uganda |1,700
Finland |1,600
Pakistan |1,600
Mauritius |1,500
Papua New Guinea |1,500
Sri Lanka |1,500
Sierra Leone |1,350
Cuba |1,275
Jordan |1,200
Namibia |1,200
Uruguay |1,100
Morocco |1,054
Belize |1,000
Costa Rica |1,000
Grenada |1,000
Korea |1,000
Mozambique |1,000
Nepal |850
Yugoslavia |814
Ecuador |800
Guyana |800
Iceland |800
Ukraine |800
Vietnam |700
Zaire |700
Croatia |694
Seychelles |650
Bolivia |600
St. Lucia |600
Syria |600
Fiji |550
Gambia |550
Lesotho |550
Bangladesh |540
Sudan |500
Ethiopia |450
Tunisia |450
Yemen |425
Angola |400
Iran |400
Guatemala |390
Cambodia |338
Panama |334
Honduras |250
Algeria |247
Solomon Islands |230
Senegal |206
Cameroon |200
Madagascar |200
Paraguay |200
Slovakia |200
Slovenia |200
Vanuatu |200
Nicaragua |177
El Salvador |172
Bulgaria |150
Kazakhstan |150
Burma |123
Albania |120
Estonia |75
Lithuania |75
Tonga |74
Mongolia |70
Uzbekistan |56
Azerbaijan |50
Latvia |40
Macedonia |40
Belarus |30
Total |10,829,503
French Nuclear Testing Programme
Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place between French and British officials on the environmental effects of the French nuclear testing programme. [40197]
Mr. David Davis [holding answer 31 October 1995]: British officials have discussed with French counterparts a number of aspects relating to the resumption of French nuclear testing, including the environmental effects.
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Nigerian military Government about the case of Ken Saro-Wiwa; and what representations he has received about the case. [40622]
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 31 October 1995]: We and our European Union partners have raised this case with the Nigerian Government many times. We deplore the death sentences passed on Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-defendants following a flawed judicial process and urge the Nigerian authorities to commute these sentences. We have received a large number of representations on the case, from Members of both Houses and members of the public.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Digital Broadcasting
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will place in the Library a copy of the Oftel submission which she has received and which relates to digital broadcasting. [39925]
Mr. Sproat: Oftel has agreed that the contents of its submission in response to digital terrestrial broadcasting (Cm 2946) may be made public and I have today placed copies in the Libraries of the House.
National Lottery
Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what allocation of national lottery funds has been made to date to organisations and projects in the Cannock Chase district council area. [40203]
Mr. Sproat: Figures for national lottery funds broken down by district council areas are not currently available.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has to allow the Library Association access to national lottery funding. [40252]
Mr. Sproat: All bodies, including the Library Association, can apply for national lottery funding. All applications are judged against the criteria of the distributing bodies and decisions about awards are for them to make.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is the European Union legislation
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that applies to the capping of public expenditure grants to organisations which are in receipt of national lottery money; and if she will make a statement. [39070]Mr. Sproat: I am not aware of any such legislation.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list the projects which have received lottery funds and have consequently been excluded from receiving public funds for which they would normally be eligible. [38345]
Mr. Sproat [holding answer 24 October 1995]: I know of no such projects.
Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what representations she has received from Wales concerning the operation of the national lottery. [39576]
Mr. Sproat: The national lottery is an outstanding success and has become the focus of a great deal of attention. Bearing this in mind, a large number of representations concerning the operation of the national lottery have been received from all of the United Kingdom. The Government have always stated that they will be keeping all aspects of the lottery under review and such representations as I have received are a useful contribution to this process.
Late Payments (Small Businesses)
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how often her Department and each agency within it has failed to pay invoices to small businesses within 30 days in each of the last five years. [40515]
Mr. Sproat: My Department is committed to the payment of invoices within agreed contractual provisions or within 30 days of the presentation of a valid invoice or delivery, if later. While the information requested is not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, the following has been produced on the basis of a sample of invoices received by the Department of National Heritage:
|Invoices |Payment |Percentage
Year |received |delayed |paid on time
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1993-94 |291 |42 |85.6
1994-95 |1,323 |124 |90.6
1995-96 |243 |12 |95.1
Our records cannot be used to determine "small businesses". There are no comparable departmental figures for earlier years as the Department's payment system was not in place until 1993, following the establishment of DNH in April 1992.
The Royal Parks agency and Historic Royal Palaces agency do not currently hold records that could provide the information requested, it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. An examination of invoices for goods and services paid by the Royal Parks agency during October 1994 indicated that 96 per cent. were paid within the 30-day credit period allowed.
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Bankruptcy Petitions
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many petitions for bankruptcy have been begun by her Department for businesses with under 500 employees in each of the last five years. [40516]
Mr. Sproat: Since the establishment of the Department of National Heritage in April 1992 no such petitions have been raised.
Mediaeval Boat Hull, Bedwin Sands
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what assistance her Department has given to the archaeologists' attempts to raise a mediaeval boat hull from the Bedwin Sands in the Severn estuary; and if she will make a statement. [39572]
Mr. Sproat: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Wales on 30 October 1995, Official Report , on 30 October 1995, column 95.
Libraries
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals she has to connect libraries to the Internet; and if she will provide funding to ensure that customers have free access to the service. [40253]
Mr. Sproat: I am considering the use of new technology in public libraries as part of the on-going public library review, and this topic will be covered in a ministerial statement on the outcome of the review, later this year. However, connection to the Internet, and policy on whether to charge for public access, is a matter for individual library authorities.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many libraries in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the west midlands have been closed over the past five years. [40249]
Mr. Sproat: I do not hold this information for England. Questions about public libraries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are for their respective Secretaries of State.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what recent representations she has received in respect of the future of the libraries in the United Kingdom. [40255]
Mr. Sproat: We have received representations on both the Aslib report, which is a key element in the public library review, and the KPMG/capital planning information report on the scope for contracting out in public libraries. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State plans to make a further statement to Parliament on these by the end of the year. We have also received a number of representations relating to the Library Association's current campaign. Questions about public libraries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are for their respective Secretaries of State.
Column 269
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on the impact of the collapse of the net book agreement on the range of books library suppliers are able to offer libraries. [40251]
Mr. Sproat: The net book agreement was a voluntary arrangement in which the Government played no part. It is to early to tell what effect the removal of the agreement will have on the book market and on the range of books offered by library suppliers.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) how many mobile libraries operated in (a) the United Kingdom (b) the west midlands during (i) 1992 93, (ii) 1993 94 and (iii) 1994 95; and what are the projected figures for each of the next two years; [40254]
(2) how many libraries in the United Kingdom now open for more than 60 hours per week; and how many opened for more than 60 hours per week during (a) 1992 93 and (b) 1993 94. [40248]
Mr. Sproat: Such information is contained in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's public library statistics, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. The latest actual information is for 1993 94, but estimates are available for 1994 95.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many libraries in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the west midlands she expects to (i) close or (ii) reduce the service they provide over the next two years. [40250]
Mr. Sproat: In England such matters are for local authorities to decide. Questions about public libraries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are for their respective Secretaries of State.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Illegal Immigration (Employer Sanctions)
Mr. Straw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list employers' organisations and other bodies which have made representations about his proposals for the introduction of employer sanctions to deter the employment of illegal immigrants or of those legally here but with a prohibition against working; and if he will place in the Library copies of the representations. [40228]
Mr. Kirkhope: I have received written representations from the Institute of Directors and from the St. Albans branch of Amnesty International. It would not be appropriate for me to place copies of these letters in the Library.
Mr. Straw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has available as
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to the scale of the problem of employers taking on illegal workers. [40229]Mr. Kirkhope: No such estimates are available, but in 1994 over 10,000 people were detected by the immigration service working while either here illegally or here legally but prohibited from taking work.
Bankruptcy Petitions
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many petitions for bankruptcy have been begun by his Department fo businesses with under 500 employees in each of the last five years. [40520]
Mr. Howard: Information is not recorded in the form requested.
Late Payment (Small Business)
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how often his Department and each agency within it has failed to pay invoices due to small businesses within 30 days in each of the last five years. [40519]
Mr. Howard: The information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Departments and their agencies are required to provide details of their payment performance in their annual reports. In its 1995 annual report the Home Office reported that 92 per cent. of all valid invoices were paid within 30 days. There is no reason to believe that analysis of payments made to small businesses would show a different percentage.
Salaries
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the (a) lowest and (b) highest full-time salary paid to any employee in his (i) Department, (ii) agencies and (iii) non- departmental public bodies in (1) 1994 95 and (2) 1995 96. [40811]
Mr. Howard: It is the Government's normal policy to publish civil servants' salaries in bands. This provides the following information:
|1994-95 |1995-96
|£ |£
----------------------------------------------------------------
Lowest bands
Home Office |5,000-10,000 |5,000-10,000
Agencies |5,000-10,000 |5,000-10,000
NDPBs |5,000-10,000<1>|5,000-10,000<1>
Highest bands
Home Office |95,000-99,999 |100,000-105,000
Agencies |125,000-130,000|130,000-135,000
NDPBs |95,000-99,999 |95,000-99,999
<1> The figure for NDPBs is an estimate.
Travel Document Section
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the main recommendations of the recent efficiency review of the
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travel document section; when those recommendations are to be implemented; and if he will make a statement. [40852]Mr. Kirkhope: The following main recommendations of the efficiency review of the travel document section have been accepted and take effect from today: that cases should be allocated on arrival to dedicated teams within the section which should retain responsibility for processing the application from start to finish. Applications should be acknowledged and an indication given of the time likely to be needed to process them. Mandatory issues should be given priority and completed with the minimum of delay. Management information systems should be improved.
Two other main recommendations will be implemented as soon as the preparatory work, including consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has been completed. These were: to introduce an improved travel document; in connection with the improved travel document, to review and redesign the application form.
The travel document section must retain its responsibility to consider applications for documents carefully and to check for signs of abuse, but I am satisfied that these recommendations will produce a better service for applicants entitled to a Home Office travel document.
Annual Remuneration
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of individuals in his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies whose annual remuneration including benefits in kind exceeded (i) 100,000, (ii) £200,000 and (iii) £300,000 in (1) 1985 86, (2) 1990 91, (3) 1992 93, (4) 1994 95 and (5) 1995 96. [40810]
Mr. Howard: Other than pension contributions, benefits in kind are not normally paid to staff in the Department, agencies or non-departmental public bodies. As members of the principal civil service pensions scheme, staff receive benefits in accordance with the scheme rules which had been deposited in the Library. There are only a few exceptions in my Department. One person was paid at a total rate of more than £100,000 in 1992 93, and two actually received more than £100,000 in 1994 95. Five people will have in effect been paid over £100,000 by the end of the financial year 1995 96, and one further person was paid at a rate of more than £100,000 for part of the year.
No individual has earned or will earn in excess of £200,000 or £300,000 in the period specified.
Police National Computer
Sir Ivan Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for recording cautions on the police national computer. [41372]
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Mr. Maclean: From 1 November, the police service will record all cautions administered for reportable offences on the Phoenix database of the police national computer. This will ensure for the first time that police will have access to records of cautions administered by other forces as well as those issued by their own force.
Police Stations
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new police stations have opened in each year since 1979. [40468]
Mr. Maclean: The information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police stations in each English county (a) are open 24 hours per day and (b) have restricted opening times. [40467]
Mr. Maclean: The information is not collected centrally.
Prison Overcrowding
Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contractual provisions exist for overcrowding in (a) Her Majesty's prison Wolds, (b) Her Majesty's prison Blakenhurst and (c) Her Majesty's prison Doncaster; and if he will list in each case (i) the occasions on which they were overcrowded and (ii) details of any additional payments made to the contractors. [40465]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 2 November 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about overcrowding in the contractually-managed prisons.
There is no contractual provision for overcrowding in Wolds or Blakenhurst prisons. In the contract for Doncaster prison, there is provision for the Prison Service to ask the contractor to accommodate 1,169 prisoners.
Hitherto, it has not been Prison Service policy to overcrowd new prisons. In line with this policy none of these prisons have been overcrowded, although all prisons, whether in the public sector or the private sector, occasionally hold small numbers of prisoners above their normal capacity for operational reasons.
No additional payments to cover overcrowding have been made to any of the contractors.
Police Recruitment
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assumptions he has made about the number of policemen and women who are to be recruited into the service as a result of the Prime Minister's announcement at the Conservative party conference being out on foot patrol at any given point in time. [40475]
Mr. Maclean: None. There will be extra funding available to enable chief constables to recruit an
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additional 5,000 officers over the next three years. The deployment of officers is an operational matter for chief constables.Sheehy Reforms
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the benefits and disbenefits of the Sheehy reforms. [40473]
Mr. Maclean: The Government's decision on police pay and conditions of service, following the inquiry into police responsibilities and rewards, was informed by detailed
recommendations by the police negotiating board, whose careful consideration of each of the proposed reforms took account of their implications for the efficiency management of the police service. Some of the immediate benefits of the Government's reforms were a more streamlined management structure, new pay structures, a rationalisation of an outdated system of allowances, new arrangements for the management of the payment of overtime and a reform of the rules governing pay while on sick leave.
Doncaster Prison
Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalty he has imposed on the contractors of Her Majesty's prison Doncaster for exceeding the number of assaults allowed for in the contract. [40464]
Column 274
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 1 November 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about assaults at Doncaster prison.
No penalty has been imposed on Premier Prison Services Ltd in relation to the number of assaults at Doncaster prison. The total number of assaults on prisoners and staff in the first year of operation did not exceed a level which would be consistent with the population mix and the likely incidence of assaults in a newly opened prison.
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) convicted and (b) remand prisoners there were in Doncaster prison in each of the past 12 months. [39563]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 81 November 1995 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many (a) convicted and (b) remand prisoners there were in Doncaster prison in each of the past 12 months.
The information requested (for the last day of the month) is given in the attached table.
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Population in Doncaster prison on the last day of the month by type of custody, October 1994-September 1995
Type of custody
|Convicted
Last day of month |Untried |unsentenced |Sentenced |Fine defaulters |Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1994
October |366 |158 |197 |14 |735
November |379 |151 |232 |9 |771
December |366 |134 |208 |4 |712
1995
January |404 |150 |203 |5 |762
February |397 |159 |218 |4 |778
March |391 |151 |228 |6 |776
April |346 |132 |265 |7 |750
May |354 |134 |269 |9 |766
June |303 |162 |257 |11 |733
July |338 |133 |281 |12 |764
August |376 |143 |231 |5 |755
September |340 |162 |227 |15 |744
Prison Population Estimates
Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his estimates for the prison population for each of the next five years following his recent announcement; and what are the previous projections. [40460]
Mr. Maclean: The most recent projections of long-term trends in the prison population to 2002 were published in Home Office statistical bulletin 4/95, a copy of which is in the Library. A White Paper will be
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published early in 1996 setting out full details of the Government's proposals and an assessment of their implications.Prison Health Services
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of his department in regard to supporting and encouraging the working of local community health councils with hospital services within the prison department; and if he will make a statement. [39755]
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