| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
River Maine (Pollution)
Rev. Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what attempts have been made by the fishery division to investigate the damage inflicted on the River Maine system by pollution. [13203]
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 5 February 1996]: The statutory responsibility for investigating damage inflicted on water courses by pollution incidents lies with the Department of the Environment. The Fisheries Conservancy Board for Northern Ireland, acting as agents for the DOE, investigated a total of 29 reported incidents of pollution in the River Maine and its tributaries in 1995. As a result five prosecutions are pending and 12 warning letters were issued.
Regional Selective Assistance
Mr. Prescott: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the expenditure on regional selective assistance offers accepted by companies in (a) 1991-92, (b) 1992-93, (c) 1993-94 and (d) 1994-95, the proportion of regional selective assistance expenditure on foreign-owned firms and regional selective assistance expenditure per employee in manufacturing. [12701]
Mr. Ancram
[holding answer 30 January 1996]: In Northern Ireland selective financial assistance is administered by the Industrial Development Board and the local enterprise development unit. The information set out in the following tables shows the value of SFA offers
12 Feb 1996 : Column: 437
accepted, total expenditure to date under such offers, the proportion paid to foreign-owned firms, and expenditure per employee in manufacturing industry.
| Industrial Development Board | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value of SFA offers accepted in each year (£ million) | Payments to date under those offers (£ million) | Percentage of payments by value made to foreign owned firms | ||
| 1991-92 | 64.34 | 30.29 | 37 | |
| 1992-93 | 95.12 | 46.74 | 63 | |
| 1993-94 | 127.08 | 64.23 | 49 | |
| 1994-95 | 102.14 | 26.26 | 36 | |
| Value of SFA offers accepted in each year (£ million) | Payments to date under those offers (£ million) | Percentage of payments by value made to foreign owned firms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | not available | not available | nil |
| 1992-93 | not available | not available | nil |
| 1993-94 | 19.54 | 10.58 | nil |
| 1994-95 | 21.93 | 10.62 | nil |
Foreign-owned firms are those whose country of ownership is outside the United Kingdom.
The average selective financial assistance expenditure to date per employee in manufacturing was £732 in respect of the 1993-94 offers and £355 in respect of the 1994-95 offers.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Student Funding (North Yorkshire)
Mr. Robert Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students received funding from the North Yorkshire county council for courses outside the county in 1994 and 1995. [14238]
Mr. Forth: Information is not available in the form requested.
In the academic year 1993-94, the latest year for which data are available, North Yorkshire local education authority made 12,380 mandatory awards and 230 discretionary awards to higher education students and 5,880 discretionary awards to students on courses of further education. Information on the place of study is not collected by the Department for these award holders.
Information Technology
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 24 January, Official Report, column 285, if the current survey into IT provision will list information relating to (a) the number of schools and pupils with access to the Internet, (b) the number of schools with a local area network, (c) the number of CD-ROM machines in each school and (d) the number and type of computers available to pupils in their home. [14197]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The survey will collect information on access to the Internet, the number of computers linked by internal networks and the number of computers with
12 Feb 1996 : Column: 438
CD-ROM drives. No information is being collected on computers used by pupils at home. Information on the number of households with home computers is collected by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys on the general household survey and published in "Social Trends".
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will carry out an audit of safety for staff working in Government benefit agencies throughout the country. [14050]
Mr. Forth:
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mike Fogden to Ms Joan Walley, dated 12 February 1996:
Mr. Pawsey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment pursuant to her answer of 2 February, Official Report, columns 982-83, (1) what proportion of the figure of £52,239,000 is apportioned to schools in Warwickshire; [14265]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The figure of £52,239,000 quoted in my answer of 2 February, Official Report, columns 982-83, is taken from the authority's 1995-96 local management of schools budget statement and, as such, relates wholly to schools covered by the authority's LMS scheme. Within that total the budget head "management and administration" accounts for £2,924,000.
Figures for expenditure on administration outside the general schools budget for 1995-96 are not yet available.
Mr. MacShane:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make it her policy that jobcentres should identify to hon. Members companies using the jobcentre services. [14090]
Mr. Forth:
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mike Fogden to Mr. Denis McShane, dated 12 February 1996:
12 Feb 1996 : Column: 439
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the estimated cost (a) to each local education authority in England and (b) nationally of a 3.8 per cent. increase in teachers' pay in 1996-97. [14480]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The total estimated cost in England of a teachers' pay increase in 1996-97 of 3.8 per cent. is around £395 million. The following table illustrates the cost of such an award by updating the 1993-94 expenditure recorded by local education authorities in England for teaching staff salaries in nursery, primary, secondary and special schools by the teachers' pay awards of 2.9 per cent. in 1994-95 and 2.7 per cent. in 1995-96 and an increase of 3.8 per cent. in 1996-97. The 1993-94 expenditure figures are the latest available for local education authority maintained schools in England. The figures in the table take no account of changes in teacher numbers or other factors that affect the teachers' pay bill.
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about safety for staff working in government benefit agencies.
I can confirm that all of our offices carry out regular risk assessments that take account of all known risks that arise out of our work. These include customer aggression, general office hazards and use of display screen equipment.
All assessments are reviewed regularly through our normal safety inspection procedures.
I hope that this is helpful.
(2) how much is spent by Warwickshire local education authority in administration; and if this is additional to the figure of £52,239,000. [14266]
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking if she will make it her policy that Jobcentres should disclose to honourable Members the companies using the Jobcentre services.
The Employment Service treats information provided by companies using our services as confidential and will only use such information for the purpose it was provided. In the case of vacancies, the information is used in discussion with interested applicants. The Employment Service will not disclose information from companies for other purposes without informing them of the nature of any request and obtaining their permission.
I hope this is helpful.
12 Feb 1996 : Column: 441
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |