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Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the advantages of statutory tort of molestation following the Court of Appeal judgment in the Burris v. Azadani case in July 1995. [7795]
Mr. Streeter: The consultation paper, "Stalking--the Solutions", which was published by the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department in July 1996, discussed the question whether there should be a statutory tort of molestation or whether cases of molestation should be dealt with under the common law, in the light of recent cases. Its conclusion, that there should be a statutory tort, was supported on consultation and the Protection from Harassment Bill, which was introduced on 5 December, accordingly contains a statutory tort.
Sir Peter Tapsell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 12 December.[7453]
The Prime Minister: This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.
Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Prime Minister if he will now publish in the Official Report the ministerial correspondence and discussion papers that led to the change in rules for the award of war pensions for deafness and pension increases for further deterioration. [8728]
The Prime Minister: The texts of the address and the background note given to members of the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions about the change in medical opinion regarding the interaction between service-related noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss and subsequent hearing loss have been placed in the Library. Inter-ministerial correspondence and discussion papers leading up to a change are not normally published.
Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list (a) the planned timetable, (b) the planned number participating and (c) the estimated public expenditure for the introduction of modern apprenticeships in each Government Department. [8840]
Mr. Freeman: The use of modern apprenticeships is a decision taken by individual Government Departments.
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Information on take-up in the civil service is not held centrally. Departments are actively encouraged to consider modern apprenticeships as part of their human resource strategies to develop future managers and encourage lifetime learning.
Sir Donald Thompson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what cost compliance assessment has been undertaken of the proposed Workplace (Fire Precautions) Regulations by the deregulation unit. [8345]
Mr. Freeman: The Workplace (Fire Precautions) Regulations are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. Earlier proposals for implementing the directives had significant costs associated with them which had led us to adopt a new approach, recognising the high standards of fire safety that already exist in workplaces. The Home Secretary undertook a further public consultation during the summer on a revised draft of these regulations, which, amongst other issues, specifically sought advice from business on compliance costs. The Home Office is currently preparing a compliance cost assessment which will accompany the proposed regulations.
Sir Donald Thompson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment the deregulation task force has made of the introduction of the proposed Workplace (Fire Precautions) Regulations; and what meetings he has had with business representatives to discuss their possible compliance costs. [8344]
Mr. Freeman: The Workplace (Fire Precautions) Regulations are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. The deregulation task force commented on the Government's proposed approach in its 1995-96 report. The Home Secretary undertook a public consultation during the summer on a draft of these regulations, and members of the task force have since provided views on the draft regulations. My noble Friend Baroness Blatch, Minister of State at the Home Office, and I are also discussing compliance costs for these regulations with the British Retail Consortium with whom yesterday we visited some premises.
Sir Donald Thompson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the efficiency scrutiny report on the implementation and enforcement of EC law in the United Kingdom in respect of its fire safety provisions. [8343]
Mr. Freeman: The recommendations on fire safety issues were largely taken forward in the later fire safety scrutiny, the Government's response to which was announced on 21 May 1996, Official Report, column 100. The Government have also acted upon the two recommendations relating to examination by fire service inspectors of complaints about enforcement action and encourage of fire authority participation in local business partnerships.
12 Dec 1996 : Column: 313
Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 14 November, Official Report, column 342, if she will list individually those national vocational qualifications accredited at 30 June that (a) had not attracted full awards and (b) had attracted fewer than 100 awards. [6971]
Mr. Paice: The information requested is contained in a number of tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library. As I said in my answer of 14 November, individual vocational qualifications are subject to accreditation at regular intervals and, given the time it takes after accreditation for awards to become available to centres, and individuals to train towards them, at any one time a considerable proportion of individual NVQs will have attracted few awards. Only about a quarter of the titles listed had an award accredited before 1994.
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Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will submit a programme under objective 4 of the European social fund for 1997 to 1999.[8552]
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the proportion of gross domestic product spent on education in each Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country in the last 10 years. [8557]
Mr. Paice: The information requested for those OECD countries for which data are available is shown in the table. The figures given are based on information provided by each country to OECD for its latest edition of "Education at a Glance", published on 9 December. Copies of "Education at a Glance" will shortly be available in the Library.
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1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America | ||||||||||||||
Canada | 7.2 | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 6.9 | ||||
Mexico | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.1 | ||||
United States | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.2 | ||||
Pacific Area | ||||||||||||||
Australia | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 5.5 | n/a | 4.6 | 4.7 | 5.5 | 5.6 | ||||
Japan | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | ||||
New Zealand | 4.7 | 5.1 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 6.1 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 6.5 | 6.7 | ||||
European Union | ||||||||||||||
Austria | 5.8 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 5.5 | ||||
Denmark | n/a | 6.2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 6.3 | n/a | n/a | 6.6 | ||||
Finland | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 8.3 | 7.9 | ||||
France | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.7 | ||||
Germany | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.8 | ||||
Greece | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3.5 | ||||
Ireland | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.6 | ||||
Italy | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.2 | n/a | 5.1 | 5.1 | ||||
Netherlands | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.9 | 6.1 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.4 | ||||
Portugal | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 5.5 | n/a | 5.4 | ||||
Spain | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.7 | ||||
Sweden | 7.2 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 7.7 | 7.7 | ||||
United Kingdom | 5.2 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | ||||
Other OECD countries | ||||||||||||||
Czech Republic | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 4.2 | n/a | n/a | 6.0 | ||||
Norway | 5.8 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 7.0 | n/a | 6.8 | n/a | 9.0 | ||||
Switzerland | 5.2 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.0 | n/a | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
Notes:
Vertical bars indicate a break in the series.
n/a= Data not available.
Source:
Data supplied to OECD by individual countries for the publication "Education at a Glance", OECD December 1996.
12 Dec 1996 : Column: 313
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