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Economic Development
11. Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will next meet Scottish Enterprise to discuss measures to encourage economic development. [2339]
Mr. Wilson: My right hon. Friend and I intend to have regular contact with Scottish Enterprise. We met members of the Scottish Enterprise board on 6 June at the local enterprise company board members conference in Dundee. Yesterday, I had a very useful session with the chief executive and senior management team of Scottish Enterprise in Glasgow.
Mr. Salmond: At such meetings, will the Minister discuss the impact on economic development around the coastline of Scotland if the capacity reductions in the fishing industry fall on the Scottish fishing fleet as opposed to the flags of convenience fleet? Does the Minister accept that the proposed deal emerging from the intergovernmental conference falls far short of what is required to deal with the flags of convenience problem and of the Prime Minister's commitments to the Scottish Fishermen's Federation before the election? What was the Scottish Office input into the IGC relating to flags of convenience? What is the Scottish Office position on the matter?
Mr. Wilson: I imagine that when we discuss fishery matters with Scottish Enterprise, the acting chairman in particular will be well informed on them. As far as present negotiations are concerned, we should wait and see whether anything comes out of the IGC. I assure the hon. Gentleman that my colleague the Minister with responsibility for fisheries has been deeply involved in the discussions.
Mr. Eric Clarke: May I ask my hon. Friend about future investment in Monktonhall colliery in my constituency? The men invested £10,000 of their money to keep the colliery open. The Coal Authority has now put it into care and maintenance. I thank my hon. Friend and his Department, as well as the Minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, for their efforts, but the colliery is reaching its 11th hour. Has anyone come along and agreed to keep it open? Three hundred and twenty jobs are at stake in my constituency and the constituencies of other hon. Members in the area and it would be a great loss if Monktonhall colliery were to close.
Mr. Wilson: I share the sentiments that my hon. Friend expressed. As he was good enough to recognise, we have put a lot of work into the matter during the past few weeks. As he knows, I have had a couple of meetings with him and representatives of the National Union of Mineworkers. We managed to extend the deadline for the switching off of the pumps. The situation is very regrettable. A great deal of investment went into Monktonhall and the flooding has clearly come as a devastating blow to the people who work there. My hon. Friend said that we are at the 11th hour--we are well into it. The problem is that in spite of the efforts that we initiated as a result of our meeting with him--to scan the world looking for
anyone who was interested in taking over or investing in Monktonhall--we have had no response. There remains only one interested party. I met that party last Friday. There are real problems with the financing arrangements that he is able to produce, as my hon. Friend knows. In all seriousness, we must make progress soon if this saga is to have anything less than a sad conclusion. It is costing £100,000 a week to keep the pumps going. A case can be made for that if there is a serious expression of interest, but if one looks around the world and finds no one who is interested, obviously a conclusion has to be reached at some point.Roads Programme
12. Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to review the present proposals to upgrade the A75 and A76 roads. [2340]
Mr. Chisholm: I shall announce in the near future our plans for fulfilling our manifesto commitment to a strategic review of the Scottish trunk roads programme as a whole. The A75 and A76 roads will be considered within that context.
Mr. Morgan: Does the Minister realise how disappointed my constituents will be with that reply, both on the ground of road safety--there have already been several serious accidents on both roads this year--and on economic grounds because of the poor transport infrastructure in Galloway? Does he also realise that the Government's commitment to dual the A55 in Anglesey, which the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) reaffirmed last week, will drag transport away from the Stranraer-Larne route and will cause further redundancies in Stranraer and Northern Ireland unless roads are also built in Galloway?
Mr. Chisholm: As I have said, safety will be a key criterion in the roads review that we will announce later this week. There is a route action plan for the A76 and one to examine the entire length of the A75 is planned. Finally and perhaps most important, a £10 million scheme for the area known as the Glen, which lies immediately to the west of Dumfries, will start in spring 1998.
Public Expenditure
13. Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Barnett formula will continue to operate for the allocation of public expenditure in Scotland. [2341]
Mr. Dewar: The Barnett formula is well established, giving stability and certainty to Scottish Office expenditure plans. The White Paper on devolution will set out the position clearly and, as my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury made clear in the House on 11 June, the Government believe that the formula plays a very important part in the allocation of public expenditure.
Mr. Fallon: Will the Secretary of State confirm that if the new Scottish Parliament voted to lower taxes, it would, perversely, increase the proportion of expenditure
in Scotland paid for by non-Scottish taxpayers? Does he really suggest that the Barnett formula can continue unamended?
Mr. Dewar: I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's argument. There will clearly be an extensive debate on the matter after publication of the White Paper. I welcome that, because I believe that the case is very strong. A good system will be in the White Paper and I hope that it will command support both north and south of the border.
Constituency Sizes
14. Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the average number of voters in a Scottish constituency. [2342]
Mr. McLeish: The average size of the parliamentary electorate in Scottish constituencies, based on the 1997 electoral register, is 55,339.
Mr. Winterton: I am grateful to the Minister for his answer. I represent an English constituency with about 72,000 electors. Does he believe that such inequality between the sizes of constituencies in Scotland and England can remain? As a matter of urgency, will he ask the boundary commission to start its work in Scotland to bring the size of Scottish constituencies into line with that of those in other parts of the United Kingdom?
Mr. McLeish: I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's comments. Scotland's entitlement to not less than 71 seats has been in place since 1948 and successive Governments of all persuasions have endorsed the provision currently contained in schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986. There has never been an equivalent provision for England.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Summer Adjournments
29. Mr. Winnick: To ask the President of the Council if she will make a statement on her plans for the summer Adjournments. [2314]
32. Mr. Gapes: To ask the President of the Council what plans she has to reduce the length of the summer Adjournment and to ensure that periodic Adjournments introduced coincide with school holidays. [2317]
The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Ann Taylor): I am in favour of our periodic Adjournments, including the summer Adjournment, coinciding with school holidays whenever possible. I regret that I am not yet in a position to give an indication of the Government's intention with respect to this year's summer Adjournment, but I am mindful of hon. Members' views and of the representations that have been made. In general terms, the arrangement for the summer and other Adjournments is one aspect of our working practices that the new Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons may wish to consider.
Mr. Winnick: I appreciate my right hon. Friend's answer. Is it appropriate for the House not to sit for three
continuous months? While, for Labour Members at least, it is not one long holiday, it seems a long period for Parliament to be in abeyance. Does she accept that many people find it strange that while we continue to sit until late at night, despite what happened in the last Parliament, we shut up shop for three months? Is it really necessary?
Mrs. Taylor: I can give my hon. Friend no assurance that the summer recess will be the three months that he suggests. The House will agree that recesses are not holidays for Members of Parliament. I think that further progress could be made on the structure of the parliamentary year, but the modernisation Committee may wish to consider that.
Mr. Gapes: I welcome my right hon. Friend's remarks about trying as far as possible to ensure that recess dates correspond with school holidays. School holidays are different in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales. To be fair to all hon. Members, it would be better to reduce the length of the summer recess to provide hon. Members who have children with the opportunity to see our families. This should be a family-friendly Parliament.
Mrs. Taylor: I am sympathetic to my hon. Friend's point and fully aware of the difficulties of getting recess dates that coincide with holidays in all the different parts of the country. It is impossible to guarantee that hon. Members will always be in recess during school holidays, but I think that more could be done to ensure that the two coincide.
Mr. Tyler: Does the President accept that the summer recess will provide the first and best opportunity for us to rationalise the seating in the Chamber? At present there are absurd anomalies, not just relating to the large number on the Government Benches. Is this not the first and best opportunity for us to bring in the carpenters and electricians?
Should not anomalies such as we witnessed this afternoon, when Conservative spokesmen found it necessary to put Prayers cards on their Front Bench to try to establish some right to speak on behalf of Scotland, also be addressed as a matter of urgency?
Mrs. Taylor:
I will not comment on who put down Prayers cards first in any particular row in the Chamber. As for the work that could be done in the summer recess, I do not think that it would be possible for the House to arrive at any conclusions about alterations, even if alterations were thought possible. We are a long way from any consensus that the shape of the Chamber should be changed.
Mr. MacKay:
Will the right hon. Lady confirm that, owing to the Government's delay in introducing the Budget and the consequent Finance Bill--apparently because of fears of litigation over the windfall tax--the current parliamentary term will extend further into the school holidays than would have been necessary if the Government had only been competent?
Mrs. Taylor:
Labour Members will take no lectures from Opposition Members about competence or, indeed, business management.
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