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London Elections
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he plans to announce the outcome of his consultation on the proposed spending limits for London Mayoral and Greater London Assembly candidates and his decision on whether candidates will have free mailshots; and if he will make a statement. [105282]
Mr. Hill: We are considering the comments we received on our proposed limits to the spending of Mayoral and Assembly candidates in GLA elections. We will announce our conclusions in a written answer shortly. The limits will be set in an order subject to affirmative resolution.
Road Maintenance
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was his Department's budget for road maintenance in each of the last 10 years. [105704]
Mr. Hill [holding answer 18 January 2000]: Motorway and trunk road maintenance is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. The Highways Agency (an executive agency of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions) carries out this function on the Secretary of State's behalf.
The responsibility for maintenance of local roads rests with local highway authorities. Central Government funding for routine maintenance of local authority roads is provided through the highways maintenance element of the Revenue Support Grant (RSG). This is distributed by the Highways Maintenance Standard Spending Assessment (HMSSA).
Funding for structural maintenance of local authority principal roads and bridges has been provided through
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Transport Supplementary Grant (TSG) until 1999-2000. In the future it will be provided by the Local Transport Plan capital settlement.
(4) Provisional figure
(5) Outturn figures
Note:
No separate TSG allocation was made for road maintenance before 1992-93
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Deregulation
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what orders his Department has made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 in each year since 1994; and what plans it has to introduce such orders. [106087]
Ms Beverley Hughes: The five orders my Department has made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 are listed in table A. We continue to look for opportunities to use such orders to remove legislation where we can. Three areas where we expect to take action are listed in table B.
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1996 | The Deregulation (Parking Equipment) Order 1996 |
| The Deregulation (Motor Vehicles Tests) Order 1996 | |
| The Deregulation (Building) (Initial Notices and Final Certificates) Order 1996 | |
| 1998 | The Deregulation (Exchangeable Driving Licences) Order 1998 |
| The Deregulation (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles) Order 1998 |
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| Topic | Timing |
|---|---|
| The disposal of houses by local authorities in England | Expected to be made in late April/early May |
| Amending Section 7 of the Building Act 1984 | Expected to be laid before Parliament before the summer recess |
| Eligibility to drive a private hire vehicle outside London | Under consideration in the light of responses to consultation |
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Correspondence
Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire will receive a reply to his letter of 1 December on behalf of his constituent, Mr. Hall. [105922]
Mr. Raynsford: This letter was sent to the Highways Agency for advice. They transferred the papers to the Government Office for the East of England for reply. Because of a clerical error this transfer was not completed. However the papers are now receiving urgent attention and my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Transport will reply shortly.
Tyneside Metro
Mr. Swinney:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has for public investment in the Tyneside Metro. [104829]
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Mr. Hill:
The Deputy Prime Minister announced the go-ahead for the extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro to Sunderland and South Hylton on 13 December last year. In addition to ERDF funding we expect to support at least £35 million of expenditure on the scheme.
Mr. Gerrard:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects to publish the revised guidance to support Part B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations; and if he will make a statement. [106529]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
I have today published the 2000 edition of the Approved Document to Part B of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 1991. The Building Regulations (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1999, which amended Part B, were laid before Parliament on 21 December 1999. The 2000 edition of the Approved Document offers ways of meeting these revised
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requirements of the Building Regulations. The amendment Regulations and the 2000 edition of the Approved Document will both come into force on 1 July 2000.
There are a number of changes in this guidance, which was last published in 1992. Many of them have been to address areas where the guidance has become outdated, or where the guidance has needed clarification. In addition the guidance now contains information specifically relating to schools and gives guidance on sandwich panel construction.
Some new issues have also been introduced in the 2000 edition of the Approved Document. The revised Approved Document includes guidance on fire alarm and fire detection systems within all relevant buildings and not just dwellings, as was the case in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document. The revised Approved Document now suggests that within a dwelling all habitable rooms within storeys not more than 4.5 metres above ground level should be provided with an emergency egress window. Guidance has also been added to deal with means of escape from storeys within buildings other than dwellings which are also used for the consumption of food and/or drink by customers. This follows two fatal fires in department stores where it has been shown that people in a cafe are not so quick to respond to a fire alarm compared to the other general shoppers.
As announced on 14 December 1999 by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning, the revised Approved Document now includes a provision for compartmentation or sprinkler protection in single storey retail buildings with a floor area exceeding 2000m 2 .
In some areas where it has become evident in the light of experience that the guidance in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document was too onerous, the guidance has been relaxed. An example of this is the provision for firefighting shafts (a protected stair core incorporating a stair, lobby, dry riser and in the case of taller buildings a lift for use by the fire brigade). The guidance on these, which was introduced in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document, was found to be unreasonably onerous in certain low rise (between 7.5 metres and 18 metres higher) buildings which have a floor area of 600m 2 or more. The 2000 edition of the Approved Document relaxes the provision for certain buildings of this type and gives advice that recommends their use only in the shop and commercial, industrial and storage purpose groups.
Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the recommendations in the report of the external audit of the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme have been implemented. [106501]
Mr. Spellar:
The Ministry of Defence response to the recommendations in the report of the audit of the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP) has now been completed. A very small number of issues remain outstanding but the response explains why this is so and what action is being taken.
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The staff of the GVMAP have welcomed this opportunity to review their working practices and take action where necessary. The implementation of the audit recommendations will provide an improved service for Gulf veterans.
I am placing a copy of the response to the audit report in the Library of the House and it is also being published on the Ministry of Defence Gulf Veterans' Illnesses website.
Mrs. Gilroy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement regarding the implementation of the immunisation programme against biological warfare agents for United Kingdom forces during the Gulf conflict 1990-91. [106493]
Mr. Spellar:
The Government's "New Beginning" policy statement set out the way forward for addressing the health concerns of Gulf veterans and included a commitment to establish a Fact Finding Team to look into the implementation of the anti-biological warfare immunisation programme during the Gulf conflict. Their work has now been completed and I am today publishing a paper entitled "Implementation of the immunisation programme against biological warfare agents for UK forces during the Gulf conflict 1990-91". Copies of the report have been placed in the Library of the House.
The publication of this paper reaffirms the Government's commitment to ensuring that Gulf veterans should have access to whatever information the Ministry of Defence possesses which might be relevant to their illnesses.
The deficiencies in the implementation of the 1990-91 anti-biological warfare immunisation programme have been, and continue to be, addressed in improvements to our current arrangements. When we again deployed to the Gulf in 1998 our immunisation programme was unclassified, all troops were fully briefed using standard material, the nature of the threat and the vaccine were described in detail and all records were updated, showing that the lessons of 1990-91 have been learned.
The report found that the voluntary nature of the immunisation programme operated as intended in the majority of units and locations. It confirms that no unusual or previously undisclosed immunisations were given during the Gulf conflict and also explains the codewords which were sometimes used for the vaccines.
Uptake of the anti-biological warfare immunisations in the early stages of the programme was high. Over 75 per cent. of all personnel deployed to the Gulf region are likely to have had anthrax and pertussis immunisations, and in many units this approached 100 per cent. Uptake of the second anthrax and pertussis immunisations and the first plague was less and varied between and within formations. Uptake of the third anthrax and the second plague immunisation was rare.
Mr. John Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the suggested exposure of United Kingdom troops to chemical warfare agents in Al Jubayl on 19 January 1991. [106495]
Mr. Spellar:
The 1997 "A New Beginning" policy statement set out a number of commitments to help address the health concerns of Gulf Veterans. One of these commitments was to review specific incidents of
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suggested biological or chemical warfare exposures. As part of this commitment I am today publishing a paper entitled "A Review of the Suggested Exposure of UK Forces to Chemical Warfare Agents in Al Jubayl on 19 January 1991". A copy will be placed in the Library.
As a result of our review of the available information we assess that UK troops were not subject to attack or exposed to chemical warfare agents at Al Jubayl on 19 January 1991. Although it is not possible to give a single comprehensive explanation for all the events that took place on the morning of 19 January we conclude from the available information that the indications of the presence of Chemical Warfare agents were false alarms.
Mr. John Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the relationship between organophosphate pesticides and the illnesses suffered by some veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf conflict following recent reports from the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment and the Institute of Occupational Medicine. [106496]
Mr. Spellar:
The COT report, published in November, concluded that neuropsychological abnormalities can occur as a long term complication following acute organophosphate (OP) poisoning, particularly if the poisoning is severe. Persistent peripheral neuropathy (disorders of the peripheral nerves) may occur, but not generally at a level which would give rise to symptoms. The body of evidence gives little support to the hypothesis that low-level exposure to OPs can cause chronic disease of the nervous system. However, the report notes that there remains a question over whether a small proportion of subjects may be at increased risk of clinically significant disease following low level exposure and recommends further research in this area.
The Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) report on the relationship between OP sheep dips and illness in exposed sheep farmers and dippers found the critical exposure factor to be contact with concentrate dip: much higher rates of symptoms, predominantly of a sensory nature, were reported among those who had been principal concentrate handlers. There is a very limited evidence that long term low-level exposure to organophosphates leads to long term neurotoxic effects.
The conclusions from these reports are in line with the findings of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council's (DSAC) Working Party report, the publication of which I announced on 20 October 1999 and which reviewed existing literature on the long term neurotoxicity of anticholinesterases. It concluded that high doses of organophosphates may have long term effects on the peripheral nervous system, but that there is limited evidence about long term toxic effects following low doses.
During the Gulf conflict very few UK service personnel would have handled concentrated OPs. Those that did would have been Environmental Health Officers or technicians, or individual regimental hygiene duties personnel who were appropriately trained in procedures and the use of equipment. There was no evidence of acute organophosphate poisoning or of subsequent unusual ill health arising in this small group.
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