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Helms-Burton Act
Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the United States ambassador in respect of the Helms-Burton Act; and if he will make a statement. [481]
Mr. David Davis: My right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary has discussed the Helms-Burton Act with the United States ambassador and the US Secretary of State, Warren Christopher.
We consider that this legislation sets a dangerous and unwelcome precedent. It is against the spirit, if not the letter, of international trade law. While we agree with the US objective to promote democracy in Cuba, we disagree fundamentally on the means to achieve this. US sanctions against British companies are not the way forward. We have put firmly on record with the US Administration and Congress bilaterally, and also collectively with our EU partners, our views and our objections to the legislation. The EU has requested World Trade Organisation disputes panel to rule on the issue. Countermeasures are under consideration in Brussels. The Government are determined to do everything possible to protect our legitimate business interests and the law-based international trading system.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Drug Abuse Resistance Education
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) on what occasions she has visited the Nottinghamshire DARE programme; and if she will make a statement. [400]
- (2) what estimates she has made of the cost of ensuring all nine-year-olds undertook a 17-week DARE course on social skills. [401]
Mrs. Gillan: My right hon. Friend has not visited the Nottinghamshire drug abuse resistance education--DARE--programme, but officials of the Department maintain regular contact with DARE representatives and monitor its progress closely.
No estimates of requiring the DARE programme to be implemented nationwide have been made. While we encourage inter-agency drug education initiatives, it is for individual schools to decide which approach best suits their needs and circumstances. DARE is one of a number of possible programmes.
Down's Syndrome Children
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children with Down's syndrome are being educated (a) in mainstream schools and (b) in special schools in each local education authority; and if she will make a statement. [784]
Mrs. Gillan:
This information is not collected centrally. Local education authorities are under a duty to educate children with special education needs in mainstream schools, provided this accords with parents' wishes and is compatible with the child receiving
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appropriate special educational provision, the provision of efficient education for other children and the efficient use of resources.
Mr. Wareing:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many physical education teachers are employed in local education authority schools; and what has been the percentage change since 1979. [502]
Mr. Forth:
In 1992, there were 24,400 full-time teachers in maintained, including grant-maintained, secondary schools in England who were teaching at least one lesson of physical education--PE--a week. Comparable figures are not available for later years. This represents a decrease of 36 per cent. since 1984, the earliest year for which comparable figures are available.
Most teachers in maintained primary schools teach some PE.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the educational effects of (a) children in registered work and (b) children working illegally; and if she will make a statement. [174]
Mrs. Gillan:
Employers must register any children they employ with the local education authority--LEA. If the LEA considers that such employment is affecting a child's fitness to obtain full benefit from his or her education, it is for the authority to prohibit or restrict the child's employment with that employer.
The Government deplore any illegal employment of schoolchildren. The provisions of the legislation, which among other things forbid a child to work during school hours, or for more than one hour beforehand, are designed to avoid any adverse effect upon his or her education. They should be enforced rigorously.
Mr. Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of Sate for Education and Employment what (a) grants and (b) other assistance have been given by her Department to R. R. Donnelley (UK) Ltd. in the past five years. [175]
Mr. Paice:
R. R. Donnelley (UK) Ltd. has used recruitment services provided by the Employment Service and a variety of training and enterprise council services which will have been funded either wholly or in part by the DFEE. There is no record of any direct grant by the Department to R. R. Donnelley (UK) Ltd. in the last five years.
Mr Byers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people have been awarded each vocational qualification. [781]
Mr. Paice:
The number of national vocational qualifications, NVQs, Scottish vocational qualifications, SVQs, general national vocational qualifications, GNVQs,
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general Scottish vocational qualifications, GSVQs, and other vocational qualifications awarded for the last three years are set out in the following table:
| Year | NVQs/SVQs | GNVQs/GSVQs | Other VQs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 194,000 | -- | 781,000 | 975,000 |
| 1993-94 | 240,000 | 19,000 | 773,000 | 1,032,000 |
| 1994-95 | 277,000 | 48,000 | 613,000 | 938,000 |
Infant School Class Sizes
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her estimate of the cost of reducing to a maximum of 30 all maintained infant school classes for pupils of five, six and seven years of age. [170]
Mr. Robin Squire: The Department's statisticians estimate that it would have cost between £120 million and £250 million to reduce to a maximum of 30 pupils all single-teacher classes in years 1, 2, and 3 in January 1996. The exact cost will depend on the extent to which children in larger classes could be accommodated in existing smaller classes or grouped together in new classes. The estimated costs are for extra teachers only.
HEALTH
Cervical Cancer Screening
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance he has issued as to the acceptance by NHS pathologists as adequate of cervical cancer screening test record cards that do not confirm that visual inspection has taken place; [457]
- (2) if he will place in the Library copies of the guidance he has issued about the adequacy and competence of cervical cancer screening tests; [393]
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(3) what representations he has received as to the adequacy of cervical cancer screening tests where no visual inspection of the cervix has taken place. [494]
Mr. Horam: In October 1995, a working party of the Royal College of Pathologists, the British Society for Clinical Cytology and the national health service cervical screening programme produced guidelines entitled "Achievable Standards, Benchmarks for Reporting and Criteria for Evaluating Cervical Cytopathology". These guidelines were launched by the chief medical officer in March this year, together with two further sets of guidelines relating to cervical screening: "Quality Assurance Guidelines for the Cervical Screening Programme" and "Standards and Quality in Colposcopy", and issued to the NHS. No specific representations have been received as to the adequacy of cervical screening where no visual inspection has taken place. However, the importance of visual inspection is emphasised in the British Society for Clinical Cytology's training video and booklet for smear takers "Taking Cervical Smears", which was promulgated to the NHS under cover of EL(94)33. Copies of all guidance documents relating to cervical screening are available in the Library.
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cervical cancer screening tests were carried out in each health authority area since 1990, indicating in each case the percentage of cases requiring follow-up. [501]
Mr. Horam:
Information on cervical screening tests is collected from pathology laboratories and is not held at district health authority level. The number of adequate smears examined by pathology laboratories in England in the years 1990-91 to 1994-95 is shown by region in the table. Questions relating to cervical screening in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
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| 1990-91 | 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total adequate smears(4) (thousands) | Percent of results requiring follow up(5) | Total adequate smears(4) (thousands) | Percent of results requiring follow up(5) | Total adequate smears(4) (thousands) | Percent of results requiring follow up(5) | Total adequate smears(4) (thousands) | Percent of results requiring follow up(5) | Total adequate smears(4) (thousands) | Percent of results requiring follow up(5) | |
| England | 3949.2 | 7.0 | 4252.0 | 7.1 | 4055.0 | 7.1 | 4131.0 | 7.9 | 4150.2 | 8.5 |
| Regional health authority | ||||||||||
| Northern | 296.2 | 6.3 | 302.0 | 5.7 | 306.7 | 6.2 | 274.2 | 6.5 | 287.1 | 8.2 |
| Yorkshire | 227.0 | 6.2 | 271.9 | 5.4 | 265.3 | 4.8 | 302.1 | 6.4 | 326.3 | 7.3 |
| Trent | 419.2 | 5.5 | 418.2 | 5.7 | 398.6 | 5.8 | 300.9 | 7.2 | 416.0 | 8.0 |
| East Anglia | 134.3 | 5.5 | 163.2 | 5.6 | 167.6 | 5.7 | 174.7 | 6.3 | 177.9 | 8.1 |
| North West Thames | 236.0 | 4.7 | 321.7 | 7.3 | 292.7 | 6.5 | 434.7 | 7.0 | 302.7 | 7.9 |
| North East Thames | 340.0 | 9.4 | 350.0 | 8.9 | 329.6 | 6.4 | 348.0 | 7.2 | 324.8 | 7.9 |
| South East Thames | 261.4 | 7.1 | 299.8 | 7.4 | 299.7 | 7.5 | 286.0 | 7.2 | 300.5 | 7.2 |
| South West Thames | 236.2 | 6.3 | 250.5 | 6.1 | 243.3 | 6.1 | 267.5 | 7.7 | 291.5 | 8.3 |
| Wessex | 193.0 | 5.4 | 243.7 | 6.4 | 239.4 | 6.3 | 265.8 | 8.8 | 244.6 | 9.2 |
| Oxford | 244.6 | 11.9 | 237.9 | 8.3 | 223.3 | 7.4 | 228.9 | 7.0 | 228.2 | 8.2 |
| South Western | 254.2 | 8.3 | 306.6 | 7.5 | 222.4 | 7.7 | 233.1 | 10.2 | 239.8 | 9.5 |
| West Midlands | 483.8 | 6.8 | 494.2 | 7.9 | 491.0 | 8.4 | 436.9 | 8.5 | 422.3 | 8.6 |
| Mersey | 223.1 | 8.0 | 208.8 | 8.0 | 201.4 | 8.0 | 170.2 | 8.1 | 219.3 | 8.4 |
| North Midlands | 400.2 | 5.1 | 383.4 | 11.2 | 373.9 | 12.2 | 407.9 | 11.6 | 369.5 | 11.6 |
(4) Excludes smears found to be inadequate
(5) Includes all smears tested found to be positive or abnormal.
The information is obtained from the central return KC61 which collects information about cervical smears examined by pathology laboratories. The date inlcude all cervical smears examined for whatever reason ie symptomatic as well as screening programme smears.
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