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Lord Cochrane of Cults asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will consider simplifying the requirements of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1996 for let property other than that which is defined as being in multiple occupancy.
Earl Ferrers: The Health and Safety Commission is at present reviewing the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1994 (as amended) and, as part of that review, is considering what changes to the duties which are enjoined on relevant landlords by Regulation 35A may be desirable and practical. It is, though, not the commission's intention to alter the basic requirement of Regulation 35A that relevant landlords must make available to their tenants written evidence that annual safety checks on gas appliances and flues have been carried out.
The commission intends to issue this spring a consultative document on the outcome of its review, with the aim of advising the Government on changes to the regulations in the latter part of 1997.
Council Leaseholders: Service Charge Reductions
Baroness Platt of Writtle asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When and how they will use their powers under the Housing Act 1996 to help council leaseholders in difficulty with high service charges.
Earl Ferrers: Research published in 1995 showed that, while the great majority of people who bought their council flat saw it as good value for money, a small
proportion were in particular difficulties with service charges which were often much higher than they expected when they purchased their property. Sometimes costly works were needed to maintain or repair large system-built blocks, and leaseholders received little or no benefit from the work. In some cases the landlord had received special assistance, for example from the Estate Action programme, to carry out the works, but his leases still obliged him to charge leaseholders.Following public consultation, we have today introduced two measures which will come into force later this month. They will lead to reductions in some of the highest bills for maintenance, repair and improvement works.
The first measure is the Social Landlords Discretionary Reduction of Service Charges (England) Directions 1997. This allows local authorities and other social landlords to reduce or to waive service charges for past, current and future works of repair, maintenance or improvement carried out with assistance from Estate Action, City Challenge, the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge Fund or the Estates Renewal Challenge Fund, where the assistance was applied for before 25th February. It will also allow them to reduce or to waive charges for works--even if they did not receive such special assistance--so that total service charges do not exceed £10,000 for the same property over any five-year period. Landlords will be able to reduce bills, including those which have already been sent out, and they will be able to offer refunds. We have set out criteria which they will have to consider in deciding whether, and by how much, to reduce charges.
The second measure is the Social Landlords Mandatory Reduction of Service Charges (England) Directions 1997. This requires social landlords to charge no more than £10,000 for the same property over any five-year period for repair, maintenance or improvement works carried out with assistance from the Single Regeneration Challenge Fund or the Estates Renewal Challenge Fund, where assistance is bid for on or after 25th February. They may only charge more if the benefit to the leaseholder from the works exceeds that amount. In some cases, they must charge less. The cost of complying with the mandatory directions can be included in the bid for assistance.
The measures use our new powers in Sections 219 and 220 of the Housing Act 1996. They will come into force on 25th February 1997. They are being sent to English local authorities and other social landlords, together with detailed guidance on how to comply. This will enable them to bring relief to some of their leaseholders who face difficulties with high bills.
Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment: Response to Report
Baroness Anelay of St. Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have responded to the report from the Select Committee on the European Communities
- on Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment.
Earl Ferrers: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has today published the government response and he has thanked the committee for its timely report. The Select Committee's report has helped the Government in reviewing the workings of our own Environmental Information Regulations and in reporting to the European Commission on the implementation of the EC directive.
We are happy to accept most of the committee's recommendations, although the majority of these involve revisions to the directive rather than to our own regulations. Although we accept that certain revisions to the regulations and guidance are desirable, we are less clear as to when these might best be made. There are external factors to consider.
The Commission is reviewing the directive and changes are possible. We will need to respond to these. However, there is a further complication. Negotiations are proceeding on a UN/ECE Convention on Access to Environmental Information etc. The final agreed text will probably necessitate further changes to both the directive and the regulations.
That does not mean, though, that we should do nothing now. As the report indicates, the regulations, and the Open Government code of practice, are providing the public with improved access to environmental information. We would like this improvement to continue.
We accept that access will be significantly extended if there is a more satisfactory machinery for appeals and enforcement. We propose, therefore, to seek ways to establish an independent appeals procedure as a matter of urgency and will give serious consideration to the Select Committee's preference for an Information Commissioner. We will also ensure that the guidance is revised to cover this change and to improve clarity elsewhere.
I have placed copies of our response in the Library of the House.
Asylum Seekers: Detentions
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer given by Baroness Blatch on 20th January 1997 (WA 45), what is the nature of the information they have about the number of asylum seekers placed in detention pending the determination of their applications for each year during the past five years.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch): Information on asylum seekers currently detained is compiled for operational and statistical purposes. The information it provides on the historical flow of asylum seekers detained pending determination
of their application is unreliable and would require the examination of individual, locally kept, records.Hong Kong: British Ethnic Minorities
Lord Wilson of Tillyorn asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What will be the status after 30th June 1997 of those ethnic minorities in Hong Kong who will hold only British nationality.
Baroness Blatch: My right honourable friend has carefully reviewed the position of the solely British ethnic minorities in Hong Kong in the light of expressions of concern in both Houses of Parliament here and in Hong Kong that their nationality status will be uncertain after 30th June 1997. It is clear that the assurances which they have been given over a number of years have not allayed this concern. My right honourable friend therefore intends to make provision enabling them to apply for registration as British citizens giving them right of abode in the United Kingdom after 30 June 1997. He expects that the great majority of them will continue to reside in Hong Kong where they have right of abode.
Venture Capital Aided Firms: Government Assistance
The Earl of Shrewsbury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether it is their policy that any venture capital funded project is considered an inappropriate recipient of government assistance during the period of initial repayment of the financiers, and, if so, why.
The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish): There is no general policy across forms of government assistance for industry which discriminates against firms funded by venture capital. However, the financial position of companies seeking government assistance is assessed, as appropriate, on a case-by-case basis, and may affect judgments about the appropriateness of government assistance in each instance.
Vitamin B6
Baroness Wharton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, in reaching conclusions on the safety of vitamin B6, the Food Advisory Committee first considered the scientific literature calling into question the validity of the study implying that prolonged supplementation with vitamin B6 posed a safety risk; and if not, why not.
Lord Lucas: The Food Advisory Committee did not itself consider the scientific literature on the toxicity of vitamin B6. It relied instead on advice from the
Department of Health's Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT).In providing its advice, the COT considered 31 publications from scientific journals, one chapter from a book on vitamin B6 and three reports from other committees, including one from the EU Scientific Committee on Food. The evidence on the toxicity of vitamin B6 comes from several reports of observations in humans, as well as from the extrapolation of animal toxicity data. A list of the papers considered has been deposited in the Library of the House. Our attention has since been drawn to additional scientific data relating to the safety of vitamin B6, and arrangements are being made for these to be considered by the COT.
Fishing Licence Transfers
Lord Mason of Barnsley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many fishing licences have been sold by UK fishermen under the quota hopping system; from which of the UK ports were they sold; and what is the estimated total value of those licences.
Lord Lucas: We estimate that there are some 150 fishing vessels on the UK register with significant
foreign interests. Of these, about one-third were registered prior to the application of restrictive licensing arrangements. Each of the remaining vessels will have been licensed through the transfer on to them of one or more licences from other British registered fishing vessels. Information on the total number of licences transferred, and on the ports of origin, is not readily available. Data on the value of those fishing licences is not held by the Fisheries Department, since this is a commercial matter for the parties concerned in each transaction.Farm Incomes
The Earl of Swinton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What farm incomes were in 1996.
Lord Lucas: Provisional figures show that total income from farming fell by 8 per cent. in real terms in 1996. However, incomes remain higher in real terms than in 1994 and the preceding 10 years and, in the four years up to 1995, they rose by over 75 per cent. in real terms. Detailed estimates of the income, output and productivity of United Kingdom agriculture in 1996 were published this morning and have been placed in the Library of the House.
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