Written Answers
Military Personnel And Retirement Employment
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether military personnel, on retirement, are required to obtain government permission before taking up military or other employment, permanent or temporary, with foreign governments or with foreign organisations.
Members of the armed forces who leave the services either on retirement or resignation must seek prior approval from the department before accepting offers of employment which would commence within two years of their leaving Crown service, from foreign governments or their agencies or from companies that have contractual or other financial connections with the Ministry of Defence. The same rules apply to civilian staff. Officers of the rank of Rear Admiral, Major General, Air Vice Marshal, Under-Secretary and equivalents, and above must seek prior approval for any appointment they would propose to accept within two years of retirement/resignation.
Work Share Provisions And Single European Act
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they consider that the "work share" provisions in inter-European defence procurement programmes will be compatible with the Single European Act.
We expect that arrangements for European collaborative programmes will continue to be compatible with the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, as amended by the Single European Act.
Malaysian Detentions
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make representations to the Malaysian Government about the arrest of Mr. Harrison Ngau, Director of Sarawak Friends of the Earth and two council members, Miss M. Raman and Mr. A. Das.
Sixty-five of the 106 persons detained in Malaysia in late October and early November have now been released, including Mr. Harrison Ngau and Miss Meenakshi Raman. A further eight people are still under police investigation. On 29th December, a police spokesman stated that 33 of the detainees would be held for two years under the Internal Security Act. We do not yet have a list of their names. We have made no formal representations to the Malaysian Government about the detentions, but we are naturally monitoring the situation closely in consultation with our European partners.
Pesticides
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many pesticides, showing (
a) products, and ( b) chemicals, are currently approved by them for agricultural use; how many pesticides are provisionally approved; and how many pesticides have been given temporary approval for use on minor crops.
Under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 there are currently approved for use in agriculture (a) some 1,900 products based on (b) about 400 active ingredients. Those products currently with full approval are, in the main, the 800 or so previously granted "approval" under the former agricultural chemicals approvals scheme. The remainder are provisionally approved pending the generation of further data, which, in the majority of cases, will be data on efficacy. I announced on 30th October interim arrangements which, from next year, will allow growers to use on certain minor crops products approved for other agricultural uses. It would only be possible at disproportionate cost to determine the number of products which will be available under these arrangements. I have asked for details of the interim arrangements to be placed in the Library of the House.
Government Purchasing
asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress they have made in improving the efficiency of the purchasing of goods and services by government departments.
I would refer the noble Lord to the answer by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister on Tuesday, 10th November 1987 (Official Report Written Answers 114–115), in another place, regarding the report by the Central Unit on Purchasing published on 11 th November 1987. The report recorded that in 1986–87 departments achieved value for money improvements in purchasing and supply totalling some £286 million. For 1987–88, departments have set a target for improvements of some £388 million. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
R & D Expenditure: Responsibility
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will reconsider their assertion (per Lord Beaverbrook, H.L. Deb. Col. 927) that the Report of the Select Committee on Science and Technology on Research and Development "recognised that the main responsibility for spending more on R & D rests with industry itself".
The Government regrets that they misquoted the committee's words, in the remarks made by Lord Beaverbrook on 1st December. The Government consider that the main responsibility for spending more on applied industrial research and development, in the civil sector, rests with industry itself. It is acknowledged that the relevant part of the Select Committee's Report said that, in the civil sector "the main responsibility for funding development rests with industry".
Codes Of Practice And Legislation: Guidance
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether guidance is available to government departments on the use of codes of practice in statutory provisions.
I have today placed in the Library of both Houses a copy of a note of guidance on the content and legal effect of statutory codes of practice. This guidance will be made available within government both to the parliamentary draftsmen and to those framing legislative proposals.
Fishing Vessel Registration
asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to make the announcement envisaged in the White Paper
Merchant Shipping: Legislative Proposals (Cmnd. 239) on the arrangements for local office arrangements for the new fishing vessel register.
The Merchant Shipping Bill now before Parliament makes provision for a new system of fishing vessel registration. My Department, together with the Fisheries Departments and HM Customs and Excise, has consulted fisherman's organisations about local office arrangements under the new system. If Parliament approves the proposals in the Bill, we envisage that those arrangements would be as follows.The existing system for registering fishing vessels, hitherto operated from 86 Customs and Excise offices and from six offices of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, will be placed by a central register when regulations, to be made under powers contained in Clause 12 of the Bill, are brought into force.This central register is necessary so that the new ownership requirements can be applied both consistently and effectively. It will be held by the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen in Cardiff. Vessels will, however, continue to be registered as belonging to one of the existing 112 ports of registry.Many fishing vessel registrations are already conducted by mail. All registry business conducted by mail will be handled from the central register in Cardiff. To encourage the conduct of business by mail, it is intended to discount, where appropriate, for postal applications the fees which will in future be charged for all registrations.Occasions may nevertheless continue to rise when it is helpful for the industry to be able to conduct business personally at local offices. Certain offices of the Fisheries Department will therefore have facsimile or telex links to the Registrar-General, and will hold stocks of the necessary forms. These offices will be able to provide certified transcripts of the register, to access the register and to place "markers" on it where a transaction is about to be conducted. Owners and mortgagors will be able to attend in person to carry out transfers of ownership or registration of mortgages.The fisheries offices which will provide a local office service are as follows:In England & Wales: offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at North Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Lowestoft, Hastings, Poole, Brixham, Plymouth, Newlyn, Milford Haven, Conwy and Fleetwood.In Scotland: offices of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland (DAFS) at Campbeltown, Ayr, Oban, Mallaig, Ullapool, Stornoway, Lerwick, Buckie, Peterhead and Edinburgh.In Northern Ireland: by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland at Belfast.It will also be possible to conduct business personally at the registry in Cardiff.Once a period to be specified in the regulations has elapsed, the existing registers of fishing vessels will close, and the Commissioners of Customs and Excise will no longer be involved in registration of fishing vessels. (Customs will continue to handle the registration of merchant ships). However, Customs' staff will continue for the present their existing role in measuring and certifying marking of unclassed fishing vessels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while DAFS will assume these duties on the East as well as the West Coast of Scotland. Stocks of the new declarations of ownership will be held at Customs registration offices (which, as part of a separate exercise, are being reduced over the next year or so from 86 to 15 regional offices, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hull, Ipswich, London, Dover, Southampton, Plymouth, Cardiff, Liverpool, Lerwick, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Leith and Belfast).
Ni Forestry Report
asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to publish a report on the possibilities of expanding forestry in Northern Ireland through additional private capital, dated February 1985, and the cost of this report.
This report was prepared for internal use within the Department of Agriculture and hence was not published. The cost of producing the report was £12,989·25.
Prisoners In Police Custody
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many male and female prisoners respectively have been kept in police custody on every night since 16th November 1987 because of the overcrowding in prisons.
The number of male and female prisoners held in police custody in England and Wales on each night from 16th November onwards was as follows:
Males | Females | |
16th November | 747 | 39 |
17th November | 753 | 57 |
18th November | 677 | 60 |
19th November | 667 | 56 |
20th November | 597 | 53 |
21st November | 678 | 49 |
22nd November | 678 | 49 |
23rd November | 678 | 49 |
24th November | 724 | 44 |
25th November | 729 | 46 |
26th November | 690 | 46 |
27th November | 685 | 35 |
28th November | 863 | 49 |
29th November | 863 | 49 |
30th November | 863 | 49 |
1st December | 851 | 59 |
2nd December | 806 | 58 |
3rd December | 772 | 56 |
4th December | 741 | 52 |
5th December | 795 | 34 |
6th December | 795 | 34 |
7th December | 795 | 34 |
8th December | 811 | 35 |
9th December | 760 | 36 |
10th December | 701 | 35 |
11th December | 656 | 39 |
12th December | 735 | 50 |
13th December | 735 | 50 |
14th December | 735 | 50 |
15th December | 760 | 45 |
Assisted Places In Schools
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give a list of schools which offer assisted places, and what is the percentage of pupils with assisted places in relation to the total number of pupils in each school.
The information requested for the school year 1986–87 is as follows:—
School | % of assisted place holders in relation to total number of pupils in school |
Abbey School | 5 |
Abingdon School | 11 |
Aldenham School | 5 |
Alice Ottley School | 10 |
Alleyn's School | 20 |
Arnold School | 6 |
Ashford School | 6 |
Bancroft's School | 10 |
Bath High School | 16 |
Batley Grammar School | 37 |
Bedales School | 1 |
Bedford High School | 9 |
Bedford Modern School | 12 |
Bedford School | 7 |
Dame Alice Harpur School | 13 |
Belvedere School | 27 |
Berkhamsted School | 4 |
Berkhamsted School for Girls | 5 |
Birkenhead High School | 24 |
Birkenhead School | 24 |
Bishop's Stortford College | 4 |
Blackheath High School | 17 |
Bolton School (Boys) | 22 |
Bolton School (Girls) | 21 |
Bradfield College | 1 |
Bradford Girls' Grammar School | 6 |
Bradford Grammar School | 16 |
Brentwood School | 9 |
Brighton and Hove High School | 22 |
Brighton College | 18 |
Bristol Cathedral School | 28 |
Bristol Grammar School | 19 |
Bromley High School | 15 |
Bruton School for Girls | 21 |
Bury Grammar School (Boys) | 24 |
Bury Grammar School (Girls) | 20 |
Canford School | 6 |
Carmel College | 22 |
Casterton School | 11 |
Caterham School | 15 |
Central Newcastle High School | 13 |
Charterhouse | 2 |
Cheadle Hulme School | 14 |
Chigwell School | 12 |
Churcher's College | 21 |
City of London School | 14 |
City of London School for Girls | 14 |
Clifton College | 6 |
Clifton High School | 7 |
Colfe's School | 22 |
Colston's School | 15 |
Colston's Girls' School | 20 |
Coventry Schools | 11 |
Cranleigh School | 5 |
Croydon High School | 10 |
Culford School | 7 |
Dame Allan's Boys' School | 30 |
Dame Allan's Girls' School | 27 |
School | % of assisted place holders in relation to total number of pupils in school |
Dauntsey's School | 9 |
Denstone College | 29 |
Dulwich College | 17 |
Edgehill College | 26 |
Eltham College | 13 |
Emanuel School | 37 |
Epsom College | 5 |
Exeter School | 20 |
Farnborough Hill School | 34 |
Felsted School | 7 |
Forest School | 11 |
Friends' School | 23 |
Godolphin and Latymer School | 24 |
Gresham's School | 1 |
Haberdashers' Aske's School, Elstree | 16 |
Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, Elstree | 11 |
Hampton School | 21 |
Harrogate College | 4 |
Hereford Cathedral School | 35 |
Highgate School | 4 |
Hulme Grammar (Boys) | 22 |
Hulme Grammar (Girls) | 28 |
Hymers College | 17 |
Ipswich High School | 21 |
Ipswich School | 9 |
James Allen's Girls School | 18 |
John Lyon School | 19 |
Kent College | 10 |
King Edward's School at Bath | 15 |
King Edward's School, Birmingham | 37 |
King Edward VI High School, Birmingham | 30 |
King Edward VII School, Lytham | 32 |
King Edward VI School, Norwich | 14 |
King Edward VI School, Southampton | 22 |
King Edward's School, Witley | 13 |
King's College School | 9 |
King's High School for Girls, Warwick | 28 |
King's School, Chester | 15 |
King's School, Macclesfield | 17 |
King's School, Rochester | 9 |
King's School, Worcester | 15 |
Kingston Grammar School | 22 |
Kingswood School | 8 |
Kirkham Grammar School | 11 |
Lady Eleanor Holles School | 8 |
La Sagesse Convent School | 27 |
Latymer Upper School | 28 |
Leeds Girls' High School | 13 |
Leeds Grammar School | 15 |
Leys School | 7 |
Liverpool College | 22 |
Lord Wandsworth College | 19 |
Loreto Convent Grammar School | 8 |
Loughborough Grammar School | 13 |
Loughborough High School | 17 |
Magdelen College School | 22 |
Malvern College | 9 |
Manchester Grammar School | 16 |
Manchester High School | 15 |
Maynard School | 31 |
Merchant Taylors' School, Liverpool | 22 |
Merchant Taylors' School for Girls, Liverpool | 19 |
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood | 11 |
Mill Hill School | 11 |
Monkton Combe School | 6 |
Mount St Mary's College | 21 |
Newcastle Under Lyme School | 31 |
Northampton High School | 26 |
North London Collegiate School | 8 |
Norwich High School | 24 |
Nottingham Girls' High School | 17 |
Nottingham High School | 8 |
Notting Hill and Ealing High School | 13 |
Old Palace School | 22 |
Oxford High School | 14 |
Perse School for Boys | 8 |
Perse School for Girls | 10 |
Plymouth College | 18 |
Pocklington School | 17 |
Portsmouth Grammar School | 17 |
Portsmouth High School | 22 |
Putney High School | 13 |
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Blackburn | 19 |
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield | 15 |
Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School, Bristol | 30 |
Queen Mary School, Lytham | 31 |
Queen's College, Taunton | 14 |
Queens College, London | 15 |
Queen's School, Chester | 14 |
Ratcliffe College | 12 |
Redland High School | 11 |
Red Maid's School | 26 |
Reigate Grammar School | 11 |
Repton School | 7 |
Rossall School | 5 |
Royal Grammar School, Guildford | 16 |
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle | 26 |
Royal Grammar School, Worcester | 17 |
St Albans School | 18 |
St Albans High School for Girls | 9 |
St Ambrose College | 10 |
St Anselm's College | 20 |
St Bede's College | 21 |
St Bees School | 20 |
St Benedict's School | 11 |
St Catherine's School | 5 |
St Dunstan's College | 18 |
St Edmund's College | 11 |
St Edward's College | 39 |
St George's College | 4 |
St Helen's School | 4 |
St John's College | 19 |
St John's School | 3 |
St Joseph's College | 10 |
St Joseph's Convent | 24 |
St Mary's College | 28 |
St Mary's Convent | 15 |
St Mary's Hall | 12 |
St Maur's Convent | 8 |
St Paul's School | 10 |
St Paul's Girls School | 8 |
St Peter's School | 16 |
St Swithun's School | 1 |
Salesian College | 21 |
School of St Helen and St Katherine | 18 |
Sedbergh School | 5 |
Sheffield High School | 12 |
School | % of assisted place holders in relation to total number of pupils in school |
Shrewsbury High School | 13 |
Sir William Perkins's School | 18 |
South Hampstead High School | 9 |
Stamford School | 7 |
Stamford High School | 6 |
Stockport Grammar School | 18 |
Stonyhurst College | 7 |
Stowe School | 1 |
Streatham Hill and Clapham High School | 30 |
Sutton High School | 7 |
Sutton Valence School | 11 |
Sydenham High School | 15 |
Talbot Heath School | 22 |
Taunton School | 4 |
Tonbridge School | 1 |
Trent College | 19 |
Trinity School of John Whitgift | 17 |
Truro School | 10 |
Truro High School | 10 |
University College School | 8 |
Upton Hall Convent School | 24 |
Ursuline High School | 29 |
Wakefield High School | 15 |
Walthamstow Hall | 15 |
Warwick School | 13 |
Wellingborough School | 8 |
Wellington College | 5 |
Wellington School | 25 |
Wells Cathedral School | 9 |
West Buckland School | 8 |
Westminster School | 3 |
Whitgift School | 10 |
William Hulme Grammar School | 24 |
Wimbledon High School | 8 |
Winchester College | 4 |
Wisbech Grammar School | 40 |
Withington Girls' School | 15 |
Wolverhampton Grammar School | 40 |
Woodbridge School | 15 |
Woodhouse Grove School | 14 |
Wycliffe College | 8 |