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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 3 February 1999
NORTHERN IRELAND
Departmental Papers
(Access for Visually Impaired)
Mr. Michael J. Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans she has for departmental (a) White and (b) Green Papers to be made available on floppy disk format in a form which facilitates access for the visually impaired. [67849]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 27 January 1999, Official Report, column 296.
Pigs
Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will publish a table in the Official Report to show for each month in 1998 the (a) profit and (b) loss in respect of (i) each weaner pig produced and (ii) each finished bacon pig from the Government Agricultural College Pig Unit or as much of such information as is readily available. [67779]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Government College Pig Unit operates a birth to bacon system and the financial records are accurate only for finished bacon pigs. Financial records are not maintained for weaner pig production.
Monthly figures are very variable in a 100-sow unit because numbers sold in a month can vary markedly and meal deliveries can also distort the picture.
| £ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Gross margin(1)/pig | Profit/loss/pig |
| January-March 1998 | 8.57 | -8.43 |
| April-June 1998 | 16.34 | -0.66 |
| July-September 1998 | -11.96 | -28.96 |
| October-December 1998 | -13.19 | -30.19 |
(1) Gross margin is net output less variable costs e.g. feed, vet bill, replacement costs.
Assumed fixed costs of £17 per pig are used to calculate profit/loss per pig. This is typical of pig units. Fixed costs for the college herd are difficult to isolate from teaching costs. Fixed costs include labour, buildings, water, electricity etc.
For 1998 overall, the College Pig Unit recorded a gross margin of -£1.01 and a loss of £18.01 per pig.
Dr. Harris:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the research and development by
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(a) her Department and (b) the NHS, indicating separately that on health technology assessment each year since 1992. [68209]
Mr. McFall:
The research expenditure of the Department of Health and Social Services (Northern Ireland) in the period 1992-93 to 1997-98 was as shown in the table. Expenditure on health technology assessment could be identified only at disproportionate cost. In 1996-97, total Health and Personal Social Services expenditure on research was estimated to be approximately £12 million. Totals for other years, and separate identification of expenditure on health technology assessment for 1996-97, cannot be produced except at disproportionate expense.
| Year | £ million |
|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 1.62 |
| 1993-94 | 1.83 |
| 1994-95 | 1.50 |
| 1995-96 | 2.25 |
| 1996-97 | 1.30 |
| 1997-98 | 2.10 |
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what responsibilities which her Department had prior to the Comprehensive Spending Review are to be (a) discontinued by her Department, (b) transferred to another department, (c) transferred to an executive agency and (d) added to her Department over the period 1998-99 to 2001-02. [68409]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Comprehensive Spending Review did not lead directly to any of the Secretary of State's responsibilities being discontinued, transferred or added over the period 1998-99 to 2001-02. Under devolution, many of the functions currently the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will transfer to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Departmental Legislation
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what additional legislation, not currently before Parliament, was assumed in the production of her Department's spending allocation for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 in the Comprehensive Spending Review. [68425]
Mr. Paul Murphy: There is a long-standing convention that legislative proposals for each year are not announced before the Queen's Speech at the start of the relevant Session.
Criminal Records Office Forms
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the rules governing the use of the CRO form by the RUC; what protection exists for
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vulnerable witnesses against its misuse; and how many CRO forms were completed by how many individuals in the last year for which figures are available. [67435]
Mr. Ingram
[holding answer 2 February 1999]: The RUC use a number of different forms associated with the Criminal Records Office (CRO). Unfortunately it is not clear to which of these my hon. Friend refers and it is not therefore possible to answer his question. If he would care to write giving further details I will ensure he receives a full response, a copy of which will be placed in the library.
Class Sizes
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the percentage of (a) five-year-olds, (b) six-year-olds and (c) seven-year-olds educated in class sizes of 30 or less (i) currently and (ii) in May 1997. [68612]
Mr. Hain: The January 1998 annual Schools' Census showed the following percentages of pupils in Wales were being educated in classes of 30 or less.
| Year | Usual age of pupils | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 5 | 74.3 |
| Year 1 | 6 | 66.4 |
| Year 2 | 7 | 62.5 |
| Other key stage 1 classes of mixed year groups | -- | 74.9 |
Comparable information is not available for earlier years.
At January 1998, there were 30,734 pupils in key stage 1 classes of over 30 pupils. On the basis of grant approvals for local authorities to employ additional teachers from September 1998, it is estimated that 23,525 fewer pupils are being educated in classes of this size than would have been the case without grant. The 1999 Schools' Census will give the actual position.
In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.
Mr. Livsey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate (a) how many schools in Wales have requested additional funding in order to reduce infant class sizes to under 30 pupils in the last 12 months and (b) the number of such requests that were successful. [68730]
Mr. Hain:
Local education authorities bid for 413 schools to receive funding for infant class size reduction in 1998-99. Bids for 302 schools were successful. LEAs have bid for 570 schools to receive Infant Class Size Reduction Grant in 1999-2000. Bids are currently being assessed and LEAs will be advised of the successful schools in March.
In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.
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Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many education action zones have been set up in Wales. [68611]
In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.
Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to introduce education action zones in Wales. [68610]
Mr. Hain:
We have made it clear that any decision on the introduction of Education Action Zones in Wales will be taken only after full and extensive consultation.
In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects the report of the North Wales Child Abuse Inquiry to be published. [68841]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will arrange for publication of the Tribunal's report when it has been completed: this is not yet the case.
Ms Lawrence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on local government revenue spending and grant support in 1999-2000. [69460]
Mr. Michael:
I met the Welsh Local Government Association on 15 December and Welsh police authorities on 4 January to discuss the proposed settlement that I announced in December. I have given very careful consideration to their comments on it and to the many comments that I have received from hon. Members and others.
I have decided that, net of specific grants, total standard spending (TSS) for 1999-2000 will be £2,986.6 million and net aggregate external finance will be £2,570.2 million. These final figures represent increases on 1998-99 of 5.1 per cent. and 4.8 per cent. respectively.
Both figures are £0.2 million higher than the provisional amounts I announced on 9 December, because of a small increase in funding to match grants for education, support and training. The extra amount within net TSS for education is also increased, to £70.2 million.
In response to concerns expressed to me during the consultation period, I have decided to alter the formula for calculating the capital charges element of standard spending assessments (SSAs). The effect of the change is to increase SSAs for police authorities by £1.8 million. Details of final SSAs for councils and police authorities are shown in the table.
It also takes account of other minor changes between provisional and final SSAs caused by data changes.
The House will have the opportunity to debate my decisions when it considers the Local Government Finance Report (Wales) 1999-2000 on 11 February.
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| £ million | |
|---|---|
| SSAs for county and county borough councils | 2,804.7 |
| SSAs for police authorities | 180.1 |
| Payments to bodies specified under section 76 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 | 1.8 |
| Total standard spending net of specific grants | 2,986.6 |
Net aggregate external finance for 1999-2000 will consist of revenue support grant (RSG) of £1,892.0 million, council tax reduction scheme grant (damping grant) of £22.2 million and redistributed non-domestic rates of £656.0 million.
The details of the council tax damping scheme remain as I announced in December. The total amount of damping grant and the damping grant entitlement for each council have changed because of changes between provisional and final SSAs. The entitlement for each council is shown in the table at the end of the answer.
The settlement represents a significant real-terms increase for local government, and delivers the Government's priorities for education, social services and other key local services. Within the increase in net TSS, there is £70.2 million extra for education which will cover the cost of the review body's recent recommendations on teachers' pay.
I am not announcing capping criteria in advance for 1999-2000. I expect councils and police authorities to budget prudently. Capping powers remain available to me if any authority makes an excessive increase in its council tax.
Finally, the arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy limitation remain as set out in my answer of 14 December 1995, Official Report, column 390. Guideline figures
The guideline figure for each council is shown in the table.
"are consistent with an average increase of 7.2 per cent. in council tax which, in broad terms, equates to a budget increase of 5.9 per cent. over this year for each council, subject to allowing each council to spend the increase in its SSA in full;
on council tax above the guideline figure, subsidy would be withdrawn at the rate of 50 per cent."
(2) Damping grant is paid to councils only
(3) Guideline figures have been set for councils only for 1999-2000. The National Assembly will be able to extend the arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy limitation to police authorities for 2000-01.
In future this will be the responsibility of the National Assembly.
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