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Waste Oil Reception Facilities
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list the locations of United Kingdom waste reception facilities for waste oil from ships; [19631]
- (2) if he will list the locations of United Kingdom waste reception facilities for waste oil from ships introduced since the Donaldson report; and if he will make a statement. [19629]
Mr. Norris: I have asked the chief executive of the Marine Safety Agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from R. M. Bradley to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 13 March 1996:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your questions about the locations of UK waste reception facilities for waste oil from ships, and those introduced since the Donaldson Report.
A list of the port waste reception facilities in the United Kingdom was placed in the House library in June 1995, based on a regular questionnaire survey of UK ports conducted by the Marine Safety Agency.
Information is not held in sufficient detail to enable port waste reception facilities which were introduced since the publication of Lord Donaldson's report "Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas" to be readily identified. However a questionnaire survey is to be carried out this year, the data collected will provide information on changes since 1995.
Railtrack (Asset Maintenance)
Ms Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 21 February, Official Report, column 145, what was the total sum estimated by W. S. Atkins as required for maintenance of Railtrack's assets in steady state over 10 years; and what maintenance works are included in this estimate. [18548]
Mr. Watts: Railtrack's asset maintenance plan in respect of track and route structures, developed with the assistance of W. S. Atkins, is based on a central estimate for the 10 years from 1 April 1994 of £3,250 million. The forecast covers maintenance and renewals work on
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track embankments, cuttings, retaining walls, culverts and sea defences. It excludes day-to-day maintenance carried out under contract by the infrastructure maintenance companies.
Single-hulled Tankers
Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what proposals he has to amend regulations governing admission of single-hulled oil tankers to harbours in the United Kingdom; [17894]
- (2) what action he is taking to ensure that single-hull tankers are banned from using United Kingdom coastal waters; and if he will make a statement. [17913]
Mr. Norris: The Government participated fully in international agreements that single-hulled oil tankers would be phased out by 2024, as approximately 93 per cent. of the world's oil tanker fleet are single-hulled, a faster phasing out could restrict if not halt the essential movement of oil cargoes to and from our ports.
Sea Empress
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many hours the pilot on the Sea Empress had worked before the grounding. [18585]
Mr. Norris: The special bulletin issued by the marine accident investigation branch indicates that the pilot was adequately rested before starting duty.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Computers
Mr. Miller: To ask the Attorney-General if he will list all cases since 1987 where his Department has bought computer capacity from (a) other Departments and (b) the private sector, giving the value of each contract and the name of the private sector contractors. [19455]
The Attorney-General: The Crown Prosecution Service has one contract with a private sector company, Comshare Ltd., for the purchase of computer capacity. The value of the contract is commercially confidential.
The Law Officers' departments do not have any such contract with any other Department.
TREASURY
Financial Services Act
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the Treasury's policy in respect of the statutory compliance duties of industry practitioners and regulators (a) to ensure that all breaches of section 47 of the Financial Services Act 1986 are identified, (b) to ensure that all identified breaches of section 47 are investigated and (c) to ensure that, following investigation, breaches of section 47 are prosecuted in the criminal courts. [19965]
Mrs. Angela Knight: The Treasury is responsible for the general policy expressed in the legislation, but not for prosecution of matters under section 47. The Financial
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Services Act places no duties on industry practitioners and regulators of the kinds listed. In England and Wales, only the Secretary of State and the Director of Public Prosecutions have the power to prosecute or to consent to others prosecuting. In Northern Ireland, those powers are exercised by the Secretary of State and the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. In Scotland, prosecutions would be brought by procurators fiscal.
Taxation
Mr. Hall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all rates of income tax in each year since 1976-77. [19812]
Mr. Jack: Table 1.10 of the 1995-96 "Tax Benefit Reference Manual" gives income tax rates for years 1976-77 to 1995-96, a copy of which can be found in the Library.
Proposed rates for 1996-97 are set as follows:
| Taxable income | Tax rate for band |
|---|---|
| £pa | (Percentage) |
| Up to 3,900 | 20 |
| 3,900-25,500 | 24 |
| Over 25,500 | 40 |
Armaments Employees
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of people employed in the United Kingdom (a) armaments and (b) armaments-related industries for each of the last 10 years. [19773]
Mrs. Angela Knight: Information available from the census of employment for 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993 is provided in the following table. Some industrial activities previously classified to standard industrial classification 1980--SIC80--group "Aerospace equipment manufacture and repair" were re-classified to standard industrial classification 1992--SIC92--"Manufacture of weapons and ammunition". The dual figures for 1991 reflect this discontinuity.
| Manufacture of ordnance, small arms; ammunition (SIC80 group 329) | Manufacture of weapons; ammunition (SIC 92 group 29.6) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 19.4 | -- | -- |
| 1987 | 16.9 | -- | -- |
| 1989 | 16.7 | 1991 | 19.9 |
| 1991 | 13.5 | 1993 | 14.7 |
Source: CSO.
(2) Unadjusted.
Investment Incomes
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made, in the latest years for which information is available, of the number of taxpayers with taxable investment incomes of a (a) zero,
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(b) less than £100, (c) £101 to £499 and (d) over £500; and in each case what is the number of such taxpayers over the age of 65 years. [19495]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 7 March 1996]: Estimated numbers for 1996-97 based on projections from a mixture of statistical sources are given in the table. The estimates of the numbers with small amounts of investment income are very uncertain.
| Range of taxable investment income in 1996-97 | Number of taxpayers | of which taxpayers aged 65 or over |
|---|---|---|
| £ | Millions | Millions |
| 0 | 3.1 | 0.2 |
| 1-100 | 12.3 | 0.6 |
| 101-499 | 4.0 | 0.5 |
| Over 500 | 6.4 | 1.7 |
| Total | 25.8 | 3.0 |
Pensioners' Income Bonds
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors led to the non-availability of application forms for pensioners' guaranteed income bonds (series 3) in post offices in Dewsbury during February. [20234]
Mrs. Angela Knight [holding answer 11 March 1996]: National savings sales booklets, which include application forms, for pensioners guaranteed income bonds are not related to any particular series, so could be used to purchase series 3 bonds as soon as they went on sale. I understand that Dewsbury post office had run out of stock and were awaiting new supplies. Stocks were available at the Post Office supplies depot and should have been delivered to Dewsbury post office within three weeks of being ordered.
I have written to the hon. lady in reply to her letter of 22 February with full details.
Privatisation
Mr. Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state, in current prices, the amount of debt written off by Her Majesty's Government in respect of each privatisation since 1979. [19603]
Mr. Jack: It is common practice for capital reconstruction to be undertaken where necessary before privatisation. For some privatisations debt is written off, for others debt is injected. Debts written off in respect of privatisations total some £22.5 billion, in current 1995-96 prices. Details are set out in the table. New debt totalling £13.94 billion at current prices was injected into privatised companies at the time of sale.
| Year | Company | Amount (cash) | Amount (1995-96 prices) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-81 | British Steel | 509.3 | 1,105.2 |
| 1980-81 | British Aerospace | 60.0 | 130.2 |
| 1980-81 | National Freight Corporation | 100.0 | 217.0 |
| 1980-81 | British Airways | 160.0 | 347.2 |
| 1982-83 | British Transport Docks Board | 81.3 | 150.2 |
| 1984-85 | BT | 2,789.9 | 4,689.9 |
| 1986-87 | BAA | 43.5 | 67.3 |
| 1988-89 | British Steel | 3,980.0 | 5,478.5 |
| 1989-90 | Harland & Wolff | 422.5 | 543.6 |
| 1989-90 | Short Brothers | 390.0 | 501.8 |
| 1989-90 | Water companies | 5,028.3 | 6,469.6 |
| 1991-92 | Scottish Electricity | ||
| Companies | 1,043.6 | 1,170.0 | |
| 1994-95 | British Coal | 1,633.4 | 1,678.3 |
| Total | 16,241.8 | 22,548.8 |
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