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Council For Catholic Maintained Schools
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment his Department makes of the level of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools expenditure per pupil relative to that in the maintained sector. [17669]
Mr. Ancram: None. The level of expenditure incurred by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools is based on an assessment of the resources required to meet its statutory responsibilities.
Traffic Reduction Powers
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to provide the powers granted to local authorities in the Road Traffic Reduction Bill to district councils in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [17700]
Mr. Moss: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Roads Service and its chief executive, Mr. W. J. McCoubrey. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from G. P. Fraser to Mr. Robert McCartney, dated 28 February 1997:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked the Chief Executive to reply to your recently tabled PQ about the Road Traffic Reduction Bill. In his absence I will reply on his behalf.
The Road Traffic Reduction Bill, as presently drafted, applies only to local authorities which are highway authorities. The Department of the Environment is the sole road authority in Northern Ireland and, if the Bill is enacted, similar requirements can be placed on the Department, including that of consultation or liaison with district councils, by means of a policy direction.
I hope you find this information helpful.
Sectarian Harassment
Mr. Mallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if a Northern Ireland Office Minister was involved in directing the transfer of a member of the Minister of Agriculture's private office who was
3 Mar 1997 : Column: 512
subsequently found by the Fair Employment Commission to have been the victim of sectarian harassment within that private office. [17800]
Mr. Ancram:
The matter is of some complexity and my noble Friend has written to the hon. Gentleman. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Policies (Bournemouth)
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the effect of his Department's policies on the residents of Bournemouth since 1992, with special reference to the effects of changes in the resources provided in real terms. [14947]
Mr. Boswell: The residents of Bournemouth alongside those living elsewhere have benefited from MAFF policies which have led to rising farm incomes, greater protection for the interests of farmers and consumers and new measures to safeguard food and public health, while local grant-aided expenditure on flood and coastal defence amounts to more than £1.5 million over the past five years.
Executive Agencies
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much his Department estimates it cost to establish each executive agency set up by his Department since the start of April 1992. [16964]
Mr. Boswell: Since April 1992, the following executive agencies have been launched by MAFF:
| Date | |
|---|---|
| (a) ADAS(8) | 1 April 1992 |
| (b) Central Science Laboratory (CSL) | 1 April 1992 |
| (c) Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) | 1 April 1993 |
| (d) Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) | 1 April 1995 |
| (e) Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) | 1 October 1995 |
(8) Preferred bidder for privatisation announced on 19 February 1997.
An analysis of the costs of establishing these agencies is not available without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to (a) EDS, (b) Andersens, (c) BMI, (d) Capita and (e) Sema since 1992 and the broad function to be carried out by the contractor and the value of the contract in each case. [17604]
Mr. Boswell: Since 1992 the Department has held no contracts with EDS, Andersens or BMI. Prior to September 1993 there were no contracts with Capita. There were orders placed with Sema before that date; details of these orders are not available, but were fairly insignificant compared with later years.
In September 1993 framework agreements were signed with both Capita and Sema. These agreements have no fixed value. There has been one order placed with Capita;
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this concerned assistance with the information technology directorate's market testing programme. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, I am unable to reveal the cost of this work. Under the Sema agreement there have been numerous orders having total value of £4,989,000. All concerned project management, systems analysis and programme resources in relation to the development of IT applications software.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment his Department has made of the possible health risk to (a) consumers and (b) animals of the use of bovine somatotropin in (i) milk and (ii) other products; and if he will make a statement. [17845]
Mrs. Browning:
No veterinary medicine is authorised for use unless it meets stringent statutory criteria of safety, quality and efficacy. Safety includes the safety of the consumer of any food produced from the treated animal, and the health and welfare of the treated animal. As part of this process the applicant company is required to submit data to the veterinary medicines directorate, where they are carefully assessed by specialists qualified in various scientific disciplines including biology, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, toxicology and ecotoxicology.
Applications for the authorisation of bovine somatotropin have been very carefully assessed by various independent expert committees in Britain and Europe. They have concluded that BST poses no hazard to public safety or to animal health or welfare.
Nevertheless there is a moratorium on marketing and use of the product in the European Union until 31 December 1999 to allow limited field tests in order to obtain any other scientific data that might be taken into account by the Council of Ministers when taking a final decision to the authorisation of BST. No application for such tests has been made in the UK.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what regulations his Department has issued on the use of bovine somatotropin for (i) milk and (ii) other products; and if he will make a statement. [17846]
Mrs. Browning:
None. There is an EU moratorium on the use of BST until the end of 1999. If the Council of Ministers authorises the use of BST when the moratorium expires, no veterinary medicinal product containing BST will be permitted for use in the UK except in accordance with a marketing authorisation issued under the Marketing Authorisations for Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulations 1994. Its use would also be restricted to veterinary prescription.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the recent actions of the Governments of Luxembourg and France in determining his policy in respect of the importation of genetically modified maize. [17847]
Mrs. Browning:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 24 February 1997, Official Report, column 79.
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Mr. Key:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang) of 18 February, Official Report, column 513, if the revised protocol relating to rabies antibody tests will provide for mutual acceptance of test results from approved laboratories in participating countries. [18131]
Mrs. Browning:
This would be the intention of the revised protocol.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who have had eye tests in each year since 1987. [17683]
Mr. Malone:
No information is held on the number of individual patients who receive sight tests. The estimated number of national health service and private sight tests is shown in the table. Because the information on private sight tests is from a sample survey of activity across Great Britain, the figures are for Great Britain only.
| Year | NHS sight tests | Private sight tests | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986-87 | 12.2 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1987-88 | 13.5 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1988-89 | 14.4 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1989-90 | 6.4 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1990-91 | 4.8 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1991-92 | 5.7 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1992-93 | 6.4 | (9)-- | -- |
| 1993-94 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 13.2 |
| 1994-95 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 13.9 |
| 1995-96 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 14.6 |
(9) Information on the number of private sight tests carried out before 1992-93 is not available.
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