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Regulations
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which of the 1,000 regulations identified for repeal or amendment by the Prime Minister are the responsibility of his Department; of those which (a) have been repealed or amended and (b) are planned to have been repealed or
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amended by the end of the 1995-96 parliamentary Session; and if he will list those whose repeal has saved business more than £1 million per annum. [23651]
Mr. Arbuthnot: The MOD is not a regulator of business and has not therefore identified any such regulations. My Department continues to play a full role in the deregulation initiative by focusing efforts on relieving unnecessary administrative burdens on suppliers, streamlining contracts procedures, and improving communications with industry.
Quantock School
Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 18 December, Official Report, column 982, if he will make a statement about the review of pastoral care arrangements at Quantock school carried out by the Service Children's Education Authority; if he will place a copy of its findings in the Library; and what arrangements have been made to convey the findings of the SCEA to parents of service children at the school. [24206]
Mr. Soames: Two Office for Standards in Education-qualified SCEA staff visited Quantock school on 21 February 1996. Based upon their observations, it is SCEA's view that pastoral and guidance arrangements at Quantock school are entirely adequate with no obvious areas of concern. SCEA will continue to advise service parents in the normal way that Quantock school is suitable for attendance by service children.
SCEA staff visit independent schools by invitation to assess pastoral care arrangements for service children; they have no statutory right of access. Visit reports are therefore written on the understanding that they remain for internal use only.
Dental Charges
Mr. Mans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the introduction of dental charges for civilian staff, their dependants and the dependants of service men overseas. [24544]
Mr. Soames: We intend to bring practice in regard to dental charges overseas into line with that in the United Kingdom. Hence we have decided to introduce, with effect from 1 June, charges for dental treatment provided by overseas service dental establishments and by civilian practices in overseas locations without service facilities, to UK-based civilian staff, their dependants, and the dependants of service personnel. Charges will be in line with those fees currently charged to NHS patients in the United Kingdom. Normal exemption rules will apply. Additionally, dependants of gurkhas serving in Hong Kong will be exempt from these charges, as will service dependants who are serving and residing in Hong Kong, and UK-based civilians and their dependants who are also serving and residing in Hong Kong.
Service Personnel (Pay)
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the current levels of pay for both the highest and lowest paid service personnel; what were the rates in real terms in May 1979; and if he will make a statement. [22608]
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Mr. Soames: The rates of pay for the highest and lowest paid personnel for May 1979 and April 1996 are as follows:
| May 1979 | 1 April 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Five-star (Field Marshal etc.) | 24,936.00 | 124,640.20 |
| Junior entrant (under 17) | 1,766.60 | 5,438.50 |
In the period since May 1979, the retail prices index, which is the recognised comparator for real-terms pay increases, has increased by 177.9 per cent. Meanwhile, pay for the most senior officer has risen by 399.8 per cent. whereas pay for junior service personnel has increased by 207.9 per cent. These figures indicate that all service personnel, including junior entrants who have yet to attain adult status, are now better off when compared with the RPI, than they were in 1979.
TREASURY
Goods and Services
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the rate of return on (a) manufacturing in the United Kingdom and (b) other industrial and commercial enterprises producing goods and services in the United Kingdom for each year since 1970. [22961]
Mrs. Angela Knight: Information on United Kingdom rates of return for (a) manufacturing industrial and commercial companies and (b) all industrial and commercial companies is available from the Office of National Statistics' central shared database and is published in the ONS's first release (95)136, "Profitability of UK companies". This is available from the Library of the House.
VAT (Political Parties)
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs and Excise investigations there have been during each of the last five years, and this year to date into the VAT returns made by (a) the Conservative research department and (b) the Labour research department. [23130]
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: Under Customs care and management of the tax and their duty of confidentiality, it is not the policy of the Department to divulge information of this kind relating to individual registered entities.
Deregulation
Mr. Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many appeals mechanisms, as laid out in section 6 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, he expects to establish by the end of 1996; how many staff each appeals system will employ; and what their estimated annual running costs will be; [23611]
- (2) which of the 1,000 regulations identified for appeal or amendment by the Prime Minister are the responsibility of his Department; of those which (a) have been repealed or amended and (b) are planned to have been repealed or
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- amended by the end of the 1995-96 parliamentary Session; and if he will list those whose repeal has saved business more than £1 million per annum. [23644]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 1 April 1996]: I refer to the answer that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave to my hon. Friend on 1 April 1996, Official Report, column 18.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral answer of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to the hon. Member for Colchester, North (Mr. Jenkin) on 26 February, Official Report, column 576, if he will list those statutory instruments and Acts of Parliament which have been gold plated in the past five years; and what steps he is taking to amend or repeal each piece of gold plating on existing legislation. [23629]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 1 April 1996]: The Government's policy is not to add unnecessary burdens when implementing EC directives. Departments take every opportunity to review existing legislation in the light of this. Officials are currently working on revised guidance to enable Ministers to see where implementing legislation goes beyond the underlying directive.
Unemployment
Mr. Dunn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the percentage and number of unemployed in each EU country at the latest date for which figures are available. [24029]
Mrs. Angela Knight: Information on both the level and rate of unemployment in each EU country can be found in labour force survey results, published by the statistical office of the European Community--SOEC. Unpublished data relating to 1994 are given in the table below. More up-to-date estimates of the rate of International Labour Organisation unemployment, not the level, in each country can be found in the SOEC's monthly "Unemployment Bulletin" which is available in the House of Commons Library; the estimates for December 1995 are shown in the table.
| December 1995(1) | Spring 1994(2) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate(Per cent.) | Number(000) | Rate(Per cent.) | |
| Spain(1) | 22.2 | 3,760 | 24.3 |
| Finland | 17.0 | -- | -- |
| Ireland | 14.6 | 206 | 14.6 |
| Italy | 12.6 | 2,560 | 11.3 |
| France | 11.6 | 3,149 | 12.7 |
| Belgium | 10.3 | 400 | 9.6 |
| Sweden | 9.7 | -- | -- |
| Greece | 9.4 | 368 | 8.9 |
| Germany | 8.6 | 3,427 | 8.7 |
| United Kingdom | 8.6 | 2,741 | 9.7 |
| Portugal | 7.3 | 319 | 6.7 |
| Netherlands | 6.7 | 517 | 7.2 |
| Denmark | 6.1 | 222 | 8.0 |
| Luxembourg | 4.0 | 6 | 3.5 |
| EU total | 10.9 | 17,676 | 11.4 |
Sources:
(1) SOEC monthly unemployment bulletin. All figures refer to December 1995 except the Netherlands (Nov 1995) and Greece (July 1994). Figures for Austria are not available.
(2) SOEC labour force survey results. Figures refer to the results of the spring labour force survey in the listed countries.
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