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Social Affairs Council

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Social Affairs Council of 3 June. [31734]

Mr. Forth: I attended the Social Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 3 June.

In the light of the Prime Minister's statement on BSE to the House on 21 May, I was unable to agree to four items on the agenda: a Council recommendation on balanced participation of men and women in decision making; a resolution on the transparency of training certificates; a resolution on a European year against racism; and Council conclusions on a Commission report no the demographic situation. It is likely that, in other circumstances the United Kingdom would have been able to agree to the adoption of these proposals.

An interim report on employment was forwarded to the Florence European Council with no discussion.

There was a short orientation debate on a Commission communication on information and consultation, on which the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry leads. I made clear that the UK does not believe that there is any need for legislation in this area, either at national or at European level.

Running Costs and Cash Limits

Mr. Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to announce changes to cash limits and running costs on votes within her responsibility for 1996-97. [31739]

Mrs. Gillian Shephard: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the cash limits for class IX, vote 1, Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services; class IX. vote 3, Employment Service; class IX, vote 4, office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England will be amended as follows:

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ClassVoteExisting cash limitChangeNew cash limit
IX18,751,429,000-6,484,0008,744,945,000
IX31,287,560,0001,417,0001,288,977,000
IX4117,600,0005,067,000122,667,000

The cash limit for class IX, vote 1 will be reduced by £6,484,000 from £8,751,429,000 to £8,744,945,000. This is as a result of transfers to Ofsted of £5,055,000 for work in connection with inspection of providers of under-fives education, and £12,000 for the inspection of careers education. An additional £1,500,000 has been transferred to the Employment Service to increase the provision for the access to work programme. This transfer has been partially offset by a transfer of £83,000 from the Employment Service in respect of salary costs of staff transferred from the Employment Service to the Department of Education and Employment.

The cash limit for class IX, vote 3 will be increased by £1,417,000 from £1,287,560,000 to £1,288,977,000. This is the result of a transfer of £1,500,000 from the Department for Education and Employment in respect of additional provision for the access to work programme, which is partially offset by a transfer of £83,000 to the Department for Education and Employment in respect of salary costs of staff transferred from the Employment Service to the Department for Education and Employment.

The running costs provision for class IX, vote 1 will be increased by £83,000 from £366,622,000 to £366,705,000 and the running costs provision for class IX, vote 3 will be decreased by £83,000 from £910,234,000 to £910,151,000. There is no change to the overall DfEE gross running costs limit.

The cash limit for class IX, vote 4 will be increased by £5,067,000 from £117,600,000 to £122,667,000. The running costs limit will be increased by £2,185,000 from £27,429,000 to £29,614,000. These increases are to enable Ofsted to undertake work in connection with the inspection of providers of under-fives education and the inspection of careers education. The increase in the cash limit will be offset by the reduction to the cash limit for class IX, vote 1 mentioned above.

The increases will be offset by savings elsewhere or charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the total of planned public expenditure.

TRANSPORT

Railway Stations

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many railway stations have been (a) opened and (b) re-opened since 1993 on the initiative of (i) local government, (ii) British Rail Railtrack and (iii) central Government. [31130]

Mr. Watts: It is for train operators, and local authorities or passenger transport executives, to decide which stations they wish to open or re-open for the benefit of the local travelling public. Since 1993 14 new stations have been opened and 28 stations have been re-opened as a result of close co-operation between those organisations and British

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Rail and/or Railtrack. In addition, Waterloo and Ashford International stations were opened by European Passenger Services for international passenger traffic.

Airworthiness

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the countries receiving advice from the Civil Aviation Authority on (a) airworthiness and (b) other issues. [30493]

Mr. Norris: The following have current agreements for the provision of airworthiness advice by the UK CAA.


In addition, 109 nations have now attended the UK CAA airworthiness course and many others seek advice on an ad hoc basis.

Advice on other aspects of civil aviation regulation, operation and development has been provided to more than 150 countries in the past 25 years.

MV Derbyshire

Mr. Loyden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will initiate an up to date report into the arrangements to undertake the second survey of the MV Derbyshire wreckage field; [31270]

Mr. Norris: The return expedition to the wreck of the Derbyshire will take place in two phases. The first phase will be a limited sonar and photographic survey of the wreckage field, to be carried out in late June or early July by Oceaneering Technologies, who undertook the initial

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expedition in 1994. It is expected that the main expedition will take place early next year. The Department of Transport and the European Commission are sharing the costs of both phases.

The first phase will involve a detailed survey of the wreckage field with the aim of identifying individual parts of the ship and, in particular, to establish the location and accessibility of the ship's stern. The material collected is intended to assist in the detailed planning of the main expedition.

The purpose of the return to the Derbyshire is to see what lessons can be learnt from the loss of this particular ship which could help avoid future bulker losses and the continuing loss of life such losses involve. Planning and control of both phases rests with the three independent technical assessors. Ministry of Defence officials will act as project managers overseeing the activities of the appointed contractor or contractors.

On completion of the second phases, they will prepare a report on their findings and conclusions which will be submitted to Ministers and the European commission. Their report will be published and, following its completion, the data recovered will be made available to interested parties.

It is possible that this report may lead to the reopening of the formal Investigation into the loss of the Derbyshire and the taking forward of specific safety initiatives through the International Maritime Organisation.

We have given sympathetic consideration to the request from the Derbyshire Families Association that they should be represented on, or have a degree of control over, the return to the ship. We have concluded that this would not be appropriate. The association is one of a number of parties with an interest in the outcome of the return expedition. For one of these parties, but not the others, to be represented on the return expedition could lead to suggestions that the findings lacked balance or objectivity., For all the parties to be represented on the return would be impractical given the nature of the operations to be undertaken. To allow the independent assessors to complete their task, without any risk that they could be considered to have been influenced in any way, it has also been decided that the Department of Transport, Marine Safety Agency and Marine Accident Investigation Branch will not be represented on either phase of the return.

We continue to welcome the advice and involvement of all parties in the planning of the return. The independent technical assessors stand ready to discuss matters with any interested party.

Mr. Loyden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the names of each technical expert who has been engaged to take part in the second survey of the MV Derbyshire wreckage field. [31272]

Mr. Norris: The following are expected to be on board the survey vessel carrying out phase 1 of the return expedition.


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