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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 23 January 2001
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
Clergy Pay and Conditions
31. Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make a statement on pay and conditions of the clergy. [144810]
Mr. Stuart Bell: Pay and conditions vary slightly from diocese to diocese but the national average stipend for clergy of incumbent status as at July 2000 was £16,480. In addition, clergy receive free accommodation or a housing allowance, membership of a non-contributory pension scheme and should receive full reimbursement of all working expenses.
Church Property
33. Mr. Corbyn: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what restrictions are placed on the sale of church property in inner urban areas. [144812]
Mr. Stuart Bell: The Church Commissioners normally impose covenants on the new owner of a redundant church restricting its use to that approved and prohibiting unauthorised architectural changes, the disturbance of any human remains or memorials, and demolition. When a parsonage is sold there would normally be covenants to protect any adjacent church land.
Agricultural Rents
35. Mr. David Heath: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what the Commissioners' policy is in respect of agricultural rents on church-owned land. [144814]
Mr. Stuart Bell: As a charity, the Commissioners are required to seek the best returns on their assets for the benefit of the Church of England clergy, serving and retired. They also seek to act as responsible landlords. In the case of agricultural tenants, the Commissioners fully recognise the crisis in farming and where there is hardship will consider how best to help. This is done on a case by case basis and tenants are free to discuss their difficulties with agents or staff.
Vicarages and Rectories
36. Mr. Swayne: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make a statement about the sale of vicarages and rectories. [144815]
Mr. Stuart Bell: There are some 7,800 parsonages in England. During the last five years for which figures are available, a yearly average of 97 parsonages were sold, 42 purchased and 18 built.
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Redundant Churches
37. Mr. Leigh: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make a statement on the number of redundant churches. [144816]
Mr. Stuart Bell: 1,623 Church of England churches have been declared redundant since 1 April 1969. However, the rate of closure has been falling and only 16 churches were declared redundant in 2000. Some 16,000 parish churches remain in use throughout England.
Dismissed Clergy (Pensions)
38. Mr. Bercow: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make a statement on the pension entitlement of dismissed clergy. [144817]
Mr. Stuart Bell: Anyone who ceases to be in service which is pensionable under the clergy scheme, for whatever reason other than retirement, is entitled to deferred benefits payable at age 65. The pension and retirement lump sum are calculated by reference to the period of pensionable service actually completed and pensionable stipend at the date of leaving. The benefits are revalued to age 65 in line with increases in the pensionable stipend. Once in payment, the pension is increased annually on the same basis as all other pensions in payment under the scheme.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
HIV/AIDS
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on progress made by the Accelerating Access Initiative facilitated by UNAIDS. [146248]
Clare Short: The United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is making good progress on Accelerating Access to HIV/AIDS-related care and treatment. Over 20 countries have expressed interest in participating. Senegal and Uganda have negotiated significantly lower prices for antiretroviral medicines for their national HIV treatment programmes.
There has been greater transparency of both the acceleration process in general, and of indicative prices in particular. Although progress is being made, much more needs to be done, both in terms of transparency in prices from suppliers, but also in respect of further discounts on prices. The Cabinet Office Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) study will further contribute to increasing access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment.
However, we must all remain clear that the complexity and toxicity of treatment and the weakness of health systems in many developing countries mean that such initiatives will have a limited impact.
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Disability Projects
Mr. Rowe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many projects whose principal focus was disability were funded by her Department in the last 12 months; what was the total sum thus expended; and what percentage of her Department's project finance that total represented. [146387]
Clare Short: Forty-two such projects were being funded by my Department in the last 12 months, calendar year 2000. The total sum spent through these activities was £58,078,800.
Figures for total DFID programmes for the same period are not available. However, the figure for the last complete financial year (1999-2000) is £2,513,812,000.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Byers Committee
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the members of the Byers Committee. [146763]
Mr. Byers: No Committee of this name exists.
Better Regulation Task Force
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will make a formal response to "Regulating Cyberspace--Better Regulation for E-commerce" published on December 2000 by the Better Regulation Task Force. [146854]
Ms Hewitt: The deadline agreed with the Better Regulation Task Force for submitting the formal Government response is 23 February 2001.
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Fireworks
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many successful prosecutions have taken place under the Firework (Safety) Regulations 1997 with respect to (a) sales of aerial shells, aerial maroons, bangers, mini-rockets and fireworks of erratic flight to the public and (b) sales of fireworks to under 18-year-olds. [146681]
Dr. Howells: This information is not held by the Department and could be obtained only by incurring disproportionate costs.
Small Business Service
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the percentage of customers who were satisfied with performance of Small Business Service in each quarter since April 2000. [146503]
Mr. Byers: An independent survey undertaken for SBS by MORI in the first quarter of this financial year (April-June 2000) showed that 74 per cent. of all users of locally delivered business support services were satisfied or very satisfied.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) individuals and (b) small businesses have used Small Business Service services in each quarter since April 2000. [146504]
Mr. Byers: The table shows a breakdown of total SBS usage. Data are available for Quarters 1 and 2 2000-01. In addition to the usage data given, on average 27,000 hits were received per day (April-June 2000) on the SBS website.
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| Users of SBS services | Q1 April-June 2000-01 | Q2 July-September 2000-01 |
|---|---|---|
| Local delivery, 0-49 employees (EC definition of a small business)(1) | 78.0 | 80.5 |
| Local delivery, 50+ employees including no size information | 27.0 | 23.9 |
| Local delivery, individuals(1) | 40.7 | 37.6 |
| Nationally delivered services(1),(2) | 4.2 | 6.5 |
| Gateway to SBS services call centre(2) | 10.1 | 8.3 |
(1) Only one use per business is recorded during each quarter.
(2) Breakdowns between individuals and business, and business size are not available.
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Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Small Business Service has met its operational targets for (a) establishing an Index of Regulation on small business and (b) reviewing business support services and publishing the results. [146502]
Mr. Byers: The Small Business Service has studied the issue of the Index of Regulation and carried out preliminary consultations internally and externally. These highlighted a number of issues that need to be resolved before a decision can be taken on how to create an index. The SBS review of business support was issued as a consultative document on 2 October 2000. A revised document, taking account of comments received, was published on the internet www.businessadviceonline.org on 22 December 2000.
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