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Social Services Inspectorate
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his oral statement of 17 June, Official Report, columns 521-24, what proposals he has to strengthen the social services inspectorate. [33825]
Mr. Hague: I shall announce my proposals shortly.
Copyright
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's compliance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988; and if he will make a statement. [33768]
Mr. Hague: As far as I am aware, the Department's compliance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is adequate.
Child Abuse (North Wales)
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his oral statement of 17 June, Official Report, columns 521-24, if he will include in the terms of reference of the Waterhouse judicial inquiry, the need for (a) a children's ombudsman and (b) a children's commissioner. [33824]
Mr. Hague: I have no plans to do so.
Publications (Subscriptions)
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all (a) periodicals, (b) magazines and (c) academic journals subscribed to by his Department in the last three months. [33755]
Mr. Hague: A list of all newspapers, periodicals and journals subscribed to by my Department was placed in the Library of the House in January 1996. Since then, the following new titles have been subscribed to:
Care Standard
Dynamic Graphics
Eurostat--Theme 1--Regions
Gupta Pro
20 Jun 1996 : Column: 584
- Home and School
New Economy
Nursing Times Research
Office Secretary
Programme on Education Building Exchange
Property Letter
Rent Officer Statistics
Sheep Farmer
Soundtrack
Talking Points on Britain's Economy
Training Education Employment
UK Meat Market Review
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number of confirmed BSE cases in each of the last 36 months. [33305]
Mr. Jonathan Evans [holding answer 18 June 1996]: The number of confirmed BSE cases in Wales by year and month reported in the last 36 months, as at 18 June 1996, is as follows:
| 1993 | Number |
|---|---|
| May | 280 |
| June | 302 |
| July | 271 |
| August | 260 |
| September | 281 |
| October | 267 |
| November | 374 |
| December | 287 |
| 1994 | |
| January | 264 |
| February | 299 |
| March | 327 |
| April | 316 |
| May | 229 |
| June | 195 |
| July | 126 |
| August | 151 |
| September | 179 |
| October | 173 |
| November | 166 |
| December | 78 |
| 1995 | |
| January | 188 |
| February | 199 |
| March | 124 |
| April | 126 |
| May | 116 |
| June | 100 |
| July | 128 |
| August | 128 |
| September | 83 |
| October | 85 |
| November | 98 |
| December | 99 |
| 1996 | |
| January | 92 |
| February | 122 |
| March | 72 |
| April | 41 |
| May | 67 as at 18 June 1996 |
20 Jun 1996 : Column: 585
Supply Estimates
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the dates of publication of the Supply estimates in (a) 1991, (b) 1992 and (c) 1993. [30410]
Mr. Hague: The information requested is given in the table.
| Financial year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | |
| Publication date | |||
| Main Supply estimates | 12 March 1991 | 10 March 1992 | 9 March 1993 |
| Summer supplementary estimates | 13 June 1991 | 16 June 1992 | 17 June 1993 |
| Winter supplementary estimates | 14 November 1991 | 12 November 1992 | 18 November 1993 |
| Spring supplementary estimates | 18 February 1992 | 16 February 1993 | 15 February 1994 |
DEFENCE
Next Steps Agencies
Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total number of people employed by each of the next steps agencies under his Department's control; how many of those employees are women; and at what civil service or equivalent grades they are employed.[32732]
Mr. Arbuthnot: The information will be placed in the Library.
Defence Codification Authority
Mr. Matthew Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about defence agency status for the Defence Codification Authority. [34210]
Mr. Soames: I am pleased to report that the Defence Codification Authority became a defence agency of the Ministry of Defence on 17 June 1996. The aim of the DCA is to maximise the benefits of the NATO codification system by uniquely describing every item in the NATO inventory, thereby increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics systems and operations, promoting interoperability and interchangeability, while reducing duplication and waste. The DCA currently has a staff of 161 civilians mainly based at Anderston, Glasgow with a small complement of staff at Didcot, Oxfordshire. The owner of the DCA will be Air Officer Communications and Information Systems at Headquarters Logistics Command, Brampton and its chief executive will be Mr. Ken Bradshaw.
The chief executive has been set the following key targets for the first year of operation:
20 Jun 1996 : Column: 586
1. To complete an annual policy evaluation by September 1996 and establish future policy direction to reflect strategic initiatives in NATO and the MOD.
2. To increase the rate at which the number of duplicate NATO stock numbers (NSNs) are eliminated by 0.15 per cent. of the total number of NSNs.
I am arranging for copies of the agency's framework document to be placed in the Library of the House.
3. To extend the DCA's NSN database file purification service to the Army and RAF by March 1997.
4. To let a development contract for the item of supply information system ISIS2, by July 1996.
5. To install a financial management information system to meet HM Treasury accounts direction by March 1997.
6. To reduce the DCA's unit cost of NSN codification, assuming forecast levels of demand, to less than £61.
7. To reduce agency running costs by 5 per cent.
8. To reduce the number of post-codification queries to less than 14,000.
9. To define an acceptable quality level for inclusion in contracts with external suppliers by September 1996.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those constituencies he has visited in the last three months on official business and those constituencies he intends to visit in the next three months; and if he will make a statement. [32330]
Mr. Portillo: During the last three months, I visited the following constituencies on official business:
| Date | Constituency |
|---|---|
| 6 March | Yeovil |
| 8 March | Solihull |
| 13 March | Ruislip-Northwood |
| 19 March | Grantham |
| 28 March | Manchester, Central |
| 6-7 May | Birmingham, Ladywood |
| 21 May | Mid-Norfolk |
It is not my practice to give details of my future programme, but my office would normally write to hon. Members before visits to their constituencies on official business.
Publications (Subscriptions)
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list all (a) periodicals, (b) magazines and (c) journals received on subscription by his Department over the last three months. [33758]
Mr. Arbuthnot: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Copyright
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department plans to conclude its discussions with the Copyright Licensing Agency to ensure compliance with copyright law. [33769]
Mr. Arbuthnot: The MOD library in conjunction with the Directorate of Intellectual Property Rights are currently considering a licence with the Copyright Licensing Agency. The MOD is awaiting a reply to correspondence sent to the agency.
20 Jun 1996 : Column: 587
SCOTLAND
Compulsory Competitive Tendering
Mr. Galbraith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many representations he has received regarding the removal of the compulsory competitive tendering moratorium for Local Government (Planning and Land) Act 1980 work; what discussions he has held with local authorities and their representatives concerning this decision; and if he will make a statement; [32576]
- (2) what factors underlay his decision to remove the moratorium on compulsory competitive tendering for Local Government (Planning and Land Act) 1980 work; and if he will make a statement. [32574]
Mr. Kynoch: My right hon. Friend and I have received representations from hon. Members, private contractors and six local authorities. Contractors welcomed the decision to bring forward the reintroduction of compulsory competitive tendering to 1 January 1997, and drew my attention to the fact that, in the absence of compulsory competitive tendering, there had been a decline in the amount of work subject to competition. Some local authorities have, however, expressed concern about the practicality of the timetable and, in addition, one council has lodged a petition for judicial review of that decision.
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