| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Prisoners (Repatriation)
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Irish Government responded to requests made by him in relation to the seven prisoners who have applied for repatriation from the United Kingdom; to prisons in the Irish Republic; and if he will make a statement. [12950]
Miss Widdecombe: Seven, out of 65 requests made by prisoners to be repatriated to the Irish Republic have been referred to the Irish Ministry of Justice for its consideration. Its response is awaited.
Cash and Running Cost Limits
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for changes to the 1995-96 cash and running costs limits within his responsibilities. [13624]
Mr. Howard: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class VIII, vote 1--Home Office administration, police, probation and other services, England and Wales--will be increased by £11,809,000 from £4,440,076,000 to £4,451,885.000. This increase is the net effect of the partial take-up of running cost end year flexibility of £9,100,000--as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 13 July 1995, Official Report, column 776-82, transfer from Department of the Environment in respect of safer cities projects in Wales, transfer from Central Office of Information in respect of the media adviser service, transfer of running costs from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of the United Kingdom central authority, transfer from Department of Social Security in respect of housing benefit, temporary absence from home, transfer from Property Holdings in respect to the refurbishment of Lunar house, transfer from the Ministry of Defence in respect of medical evacuation costs from the former Yugoslavia and a transfer of £1 million from non voted police credit approvals. This transfer from non-voted provision reduced the non-voted cash limit--HO/LACAP--by £1,000,000 from £115,265,000 to £114,265,000.
The cash limit on class VIII, vote 2--prisons, England and Wales--will be increased by £18,905,000 from £1,660,160,000 to £1,679,065,000. This increase has been reduced from the amount originally sought by £1,565,000, equivalent to the excess of expenditure over provision in 1994-95. The increase will be charged to the reserve and partly offset by the surrender of £6,470,000 end year flexibility. Additional provision is required to meet the further costs arising from the implementation of recommendations of the report of Sir John Woodcock into escapes from Whitemoor prison of 9 September 1994. As a result of reallocation of provision between subheads the running cost provision for vote 2 will be reduced by £5,821,000.
The Home Office running costs limit, which covers votes 1 and 2, will be increased by £3,718,000 from £1,740,615,000 to £1,744,333,000.
1 Feb 1996 : Column: 874
Mr. Harry Greenway:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will extend the jurisdiction of the courts to enable them to deal with offences committed outside the territory of the United Kingdom by United Kingdom nationals. [13625]
Mr. Howard:
With some exceptions, the jurisdiction of courts throughout the United Kingdom is territorially based. There are long-standing arguments of principle and of practicality which support this approach.
It is right, however, that we should, from time to time, examine whether those arguments remain valid in the light of changing circumstances. With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I have established an inter-departmental review to look at the implications for both policy and procedure of any change to the current position on jurisdiction over offences committed by United Kingdom nationals overseas throughout the United Kingdom.
The review is under way and is expected to take four or five months to complete.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the total transition cost for the new Welsh fire services; and what are the expected figures for the total cost of new services in each of the next five years expressed (a) in real terms and (b) as a percentage of the cost of the services they replaced. [11065]
Mr. Sackville
[holding answer 22 January 1996]: The position will depend on key decisions yet to be made by the authorities concerned. The three new combined fire authorities were established in shadow form on 11 December. They are engaged in the planning and preparation for taking over their full function from 1 April. The scale of the transitional costs will depend largely on the approach which the new authorities, once fully constituted, take on the pace and degree of the changes required to amalgamate the existing brigades into the new structure. Supplementary credit approvals of up to £2.7 million have been provisionally set aside for this purpose in 1996-97.
Mr. Austin Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to enforce European Commission regulation EC 1798 banning the use of Emtryl in treating game birds; what penalties he plans to apply to offences against the regulation when it comes into force; and what warnings have been issued to (a) land owners, (b) breeders, (c) owners of shooting rights and (d) others involved against using Emtryl. [11626]
Mr. Kynoch:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Food at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 30 January 1996, Official Report, column 694.
1 Feb 1996 : Column: 875
Mr. Allen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the cost of the alternative route one mile west of the proposed dual carriageway through Dalkeith park. [12465]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
Appraisals, including the costs of several routes were undertaken in 1989. One of these routes was the Dalkeith park line which is approximately 1 km west of the route now proposed for the dual carriageway. As this Dalkeith park line was the most expensive alignment option and as it would have caused significant damage to the area of great landscape value within Dalkeith park, it was not pursued. Only routes further to the east were subsequently investigated.
Mr. Allen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the environmental impact on Dalkeith park of the proposed (a) roads and (b) bypass in the area. [12179]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
Prior to examination of proposals at a public local inquiry in May 1992, an environmental appraisal of the proposed bypass and ancillary roads was undertaken in accordance with the procedures recommended in the Scottish traffic and environmental appraisal manual. In particular, this considered the purpose of the route, and the impact on the landscape, heritage and ecology of Dalkeith park. The reporter appointed to hear evidence at the public local inquiry recommended the proposed alignment should be adopted and this was supported by the Secretary of State in his decision.
The preferred scheme was reviewed in 1995 and is now proposed to be constructed as a dual carriageway. It was subject to a further environmental assessment as required by environmental legislation.
Mr. McAllion:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to reconcile the difference between the data for starts and completions of housing association and co-operative dwellings published in Scottish Homes regular development programme announcements and those published in the quarterly Scottish Office housing statistical bulletins. [11928]
Mr. Raymond S. Robertson:
Scottish Home's development programme announcement bulletins contain information on planned starts for the following year. They do not give information on completions. For a variety of reasons. The number of planned starts may differ from the number which finally take place in any year.
Actual starts and completions are reported in Scottish Home's statistical report. Figures published by Scottish Homes for actual starts closely match those published in the Scottish Office statistical bulletin series. There is, however, a known problem with the quarterly figures for completions which Scottish Homes provides for the statistical bulletin series. This is acknowledged in the publication. To remedy the problem, Scottish Homes carried out a major exercise in 1995 which produced validated completions data for several thousand dwellings. I understand that it plans to complete the exercise by the end of March 1996.
1 Feb 1996 : Column: 876
Mr. McAllion:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assumptions he has made on the level of spending by local authorities in 1996-97 under the former non-housing revenue account block; and what measures he proposes to put in place to monitor and to publish details of expenditure or repair and improvement grants and other forms of assistance by local authorities to the private sector housing stock. [11929]
Mr. Robertson:
It will be for local authorities to decide the level of investment in private sector housing within the single allocation which they will receive in 1996-97 for capital investment outwith their own housing stock. Local authorities will be expected to take account of the need for such investment in preparing their housing plans and capital programmes.
Information on improvement and repairs grants approved by local authorities will continue to be published quarterly in the Scottish Office statistical bulletin "Housing Trends in Scotland".
Mr. McMaster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discretion local authorities have to operate (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory contents insurance schemes for tenants of their housing stock; what guidelines his Department issues to local authorities on such schemes; and if he will make a statement. [12222]
Mr. Robertson:
Local authorities are free to introduce arrangements whereby their tenants can insure their possessions under a block insurance policy arranged by the local authority. A number of authorities operate block insurance schemes. It is open to individual tenants to participate in such schemes if they wish to do so. The Department is currently considering whether guidance to local authorities on this matter is necessary.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |