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Sheriff Court Fees Order

Mr. McFall: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to amend the Sheriff Court Fees Order to provide that no sheriff court dues shall be payable under the order for a party, who would otherwise be liable to pay, who is in receipt of income support under part VII of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. [26966]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: My right hon. Friend has no plans to extend current arrangements for exemption from court dues. The vast majority of people on income support will qualify for legal aid, which would include the payment of court fees.

Scottish Arts Council

Mr. Elletson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the future of the Scottish Arts Council arts collection. [27882]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: As part of the Scottish Arts Council's collecting initiative, one of the aims of which is to increase public access to works in its art collection, the council, with the agreement of the

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Treasury, will now begin to donate works from its collection to museums, galleries and other public bodies in Scotland for display to the public.

Pensions Agency

Mr. Elletson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what key performance targets he has set for the Scottish Office Pensions Agency for 1996-97. [27883]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: I have set the Scottish Office Pensions Agency the following key targets for 1996-97, which cover important areas of service delivery and steps to improve efficiency and effectiveness:-

to ensure that awards and transfer payments are accurate to within 1 per cent. of their value in 99 per cent. of cases;
to pay on time 99 per cent. of all pensions and lump sums where the target date for receipt of claims is met;
to make transfer payments within four weeks of members' final instructions to transfer pension rights;
to analyse the results of a survey to measure customer satisfaction with administration of the teachers' pension scheme and produce an action plan, by December 1996;
to complete the development and implementation of a new pensions administration IT system, by December 1996;
to reduce total identified operating costs per member/beneficiary by 8 per cent.;
to amend all schemes for which SOPA is responsible to take account of the Pensions Act 1995.

Hospital Consultants

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many vacancies for consultants there are in each NHS trust hospital in Scotland; what discussions he has had with the medical profession with respect to these vacancies; and what steps he has taken to overcome the shortage. [27239]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 April 1996]: The information requested is shown at NHS trust level in the table. Data are not collected centrally for individual hospitals. My right hon. Friend met representatives of the medical profession in September 1995 and discussed medical work force issues generally. To increase the number of candidates for consultant posts, we have continued to increase the number of doctors in higher training.

Consultant vacancies in Scotland at 30 September 1995

	Number
Aberdeen Royal Hospitals NHS Trust	17
Angus NHS Trust	1
Argyll and Bute NHS Trust	0
Ayrshire and Arran Community Healthcare NHS Trust	6
Borders Community Health Services NHS Trust	1
Borders General Hospital NHS Trust	1
Caithness and Sutherland NHS Trust	0
Central Scotland Healthcare NHS Trust	6
Dumfries and Galloway Acute and Maternity Hospitals NHS Trust	2
Dumfries and Galloway Community Health NHS Trust	1
Dundee Healthcare NHS Trust	0
Dundee Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust	0
East and Midlothian NHS Trust	5
Edinburgh Healthcare NHS Trust	2
Edinburgh Sick Children's NHS Trust	5
Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary NHS Trust	0
Fife Healthcare NHS Trust	2
Glasgow Dental Hospital and School NHS Trust	1
Glasgow Royal Infirmary University NHS Trust	8
Grampian Healthcare NHS Trust	7
Greater Glasgow Community and Mental Health Services NHS Trust	6
Hairmyres and Stonehouse Hospitals NHS Trust	5
Highland Communities NHS Trust	2
Inverclyde Royal NHS Trust	8
Kirkcaldy Acute Hospitals NHS Trust	4
Lanarkshire Healthcare NHS Trust	6
Law Hospital NHS Trust	14
Lomond Healthcare NHS Trust	6
Monklands and Bellshill Hospitals NHS Trust	5
Moray Health Services NHS Trust	7
North Ayrshire and Arran NHS Trust	9
Perth and Kinross Healthcare NHS Trust	5
Queen Margaret Hospital NHS Trust	7
Raigmore Hospital NHS Trust	3
Renfrewshire Healthcare NHS Trust	2
Royal Alexander Hospital NHS Trust	5
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh NHS Trust	0
South Ayrshire Hospitals NHS Trust	0
Southern General Hospital NHS Trust	8
Stirling Royal Infirmary NHS Trust	7
Stobhill NHS Trust	6
Victoria Infirmary NHS Trust	0
West Glasgow Hospitals University NHS Trust	0
West Lothian NHS Trust	0
Western General Hospitals NHS Trust	4
Yorkhill NHS Trust	6
Total	190

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Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received on the shortage of consultants in NHS trust hospitals in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [27238]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 April 1996]: My right hon. Friend has received various representations on medical work force issues in Scotland. The number of hospital consultants in Scotland rose from 2,216 in 1990 to 2,490 in 1995, an increase of over 12 per cent.

Film Industry (Hydra Associates)

Ms Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when and by whom the decision was made to commission Hydra Associates to report on the film industry in Scotland. [27269]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 April 1996]: Hydra Associates was chosen from a short list of four consultants on 30 October 1995 by a panel consisting of representatives of Scottish Enterprise/Glasgow development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Office.

Ms Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the remit for the report of Hydra Associates into the film industry in Scotland; and how much it cost. [27270]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 29 April 1996]: The Hydra Associates report "Scotland on Screen: the Development of the Film and Television Industry in Scotland", which was published on 18 April, cost £125,000. Its terms of reference are reproduced as appendix O of the report.

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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Parcelforce

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will review the procedures adopted by Parcelforce for dealing with complaints and claims for loss or damage to parcels posted to the United Kingdom from overseas. [23404]

Mr. Oppenheim: No, these procedures are an operational matter for Parcelforce. If the hon. Member has a particular complaint, he should contact the managing director of Parcelforce.

Land Mines

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what plans he has to ban the manufacture, export and supply of land mines by British companies, and when; [24997]

(2) if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy on the manufacture, supply and export of land mines. [24996]

Mr. Oppenheim: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 23 April 1996, Official Report, column 84.

British Energy

Mrs. Beckett: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will limit the extent to which pay for directors of British Energy can be increased after privatisation; [26621]

(2) what discussions have taken place between his Department and British Energy regarding directors' remuneration after privatisation; [26619]

(3) if he will list the share options and other bonuses available to directors of British Energy after privatisation;[26618]

(4) if he will name the top 10 paid employees of British Energy with their (a) pay and (b) other remuneration (i) currently and (ii) a year ago. [26620]

Mr. Lang: Policy on executive remuneration for the future will be given in the pathfinder prospectus for British Energy, to be published in the summer, and will include full details of current executive pay. The current basic annual salaries of the executive directors of British Energy plc are:

Dr. Robert Hawley (Chief Executive): £200,000
Mr. Michael Kirwan (Finance Director): £179,137 (inclusive of 14.1 per cent. contribution for personal pension)

Basic salaries paid to Dr. Hawley and Mr. Kirwan in 1995-96 were £190,485 and £171,496 respectively. The latter figure also includes 14.1 per cent. pension contribution. Full remuneration details in respect of 1995-96 for Dr. Hawley and Mr. Kirwan will be included in the annual report and accounts of Nuclear Electric plc.

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