Written Answers To Questions
Friday 27 January 1995
Transport
Departmental Employees
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
The Department's personnel information system records the following information on women employees by year and grade:
| Grade 7 | Grade 3 | Executive Officer | Administrative Officer | Administrative Assistant | |
| 1991 | 58 | 0 | 994 | 2,510 | 2,911 |
| 1992 | 63 | 0 | 1,034 | 2,531 | 2,753 |
| 1993 | 68 | 1 | 1,007 | 2,445 | 2,543 |
| 1994 | 71 | 4 | 902 | 2,448 | 2,562 |
Note:
Part-time employees are included in the above and are counted on the same basis as full-time staff.
Vehicle Excise Duty
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the classes of vehicle currently exempt from vehicle excise duty for which vehicle excise duty will become payable from 1 July; and if he will give the amount of vehicle excise duty that will be payable in each class.
The information requested is as follows:
| Current exempt class | Proposed class (and vehicles within it) | Proposed duty |
| Special vehicles | ||
| Road roller | —road rollers: | £135 (under 3.5 tonnes) |
| £150 (over 3.5 tonnes) | ||
| Special concessionary | ||
| Electric | —electric: | £35 |
| Gritter | —gritter: | |
| Snowplough | —snowplough: | |
| Vehicles used for short journeys between private land | —6 miles a week vehicles: | 1£15–£5,000 |
| Road construction | —road construction: | 1£15–£5,000 |
| Street cleansing | —street cleansing: | |
| Street lighting | —street lighting: | |
| 1 No increase of more than £1,000 on first relicensing on or after 1st July 1995. | ||
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what amount of vehicle excise duty will be payable from 1 July by agricultural tractors (a) used solely by farmers on their own land and (b) which use public roads for less than six miles per week to travel from one field to another.
The information is as follows:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what amount of vehicle excise duty is (a) payable on agricultural tractors in Northern Ireland at present and (b) will be payable after 1 July; and what exemptions there are from this duty.
The information is as follows:
English Road Network (Expenditure)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the expenditure on the English road network by central Government for each year from 1979 to 1994 in 1994 prices.
The information requested is available only on a financial year basis. In 1993–94 prices, based on the GDP deflator, expenditure on trunk roads in England was as follows:
| £ million | |
| 1979–80 | 1,095 |
| 1980–81 | 1,083 |
| 1981–82 | 1,184 |
| 1982–83 | 1,293 |
| 1983–84 | 1,190 |
| 1984–85 | 1,279 |
| 1985–86 | 1,236 |
| 1986–87 | 1,270 |
| 1987–88 | 1,341 |
| 1988–89 | 1,315 |
| 1989–90 | 1,647 |
| 1990–91 | 2,031 |
| 1991–92 | 1,977 |
| 1992–93 | 2,015 |
| 1993–94 | 2,044 |
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
During 1994, my Department spent £521,644 recruiting 182 staff to my Department and its executive agencies.
Lockerbie
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what basis financial assistance was given to the relations of British nationals in respect of proceedings arising from the Lockerbie air disaster.
My Department agreed to meet the costs of legal representation for the British relatives of victims of the Lockerbie disaster at the fatal accident inquiry into the disaster.As the then Secretary of State explained to the House on 5 July 1990, this offer reflected the exceptional nature of the disaster—a crime perpetrated by international terrorists which resulted in the destruction of a large passenger aircraft in British airspace. There were therefore very special reasons for departing from the practice that relatives' costs are not met in fatal accident inquiries or inquests.
Coastguard Service
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the hourly rate of pay for auxiliary coastguards in each financial year since 1984–85;(2) how many
(a) full-time coastguards and (b) auxiliary coastguards, excluding rescue centre staff, were in post on 1 April 1984 and each year since;
(3) what was the total payment made to auxiliary coastguards for (a) all training, (b) training excluding rescue centres and (c) patrols in 1984–85 and each year since;
(4) what were the total budgets excluding rescue centres, for (a) each region, (b) each district and (c) each sector for (i) full-time coastguards and (ii) auxiliary coastguards in 1984–85 and each year since;
(5) what was the total number of paid hours for (i) patrol work and (ii) training, excluding rescue centres, in (a) each region, (b) each district and (c) each sector by auxiliary coastguards in 1984–85 and each financial year since then;
(6) how many (a) full-time coastguards and (b) auxiliary coastguards were in post in 1 April 1984 and each year since;
(7) what was the total number of unpaid hours worked by auxiliary coastguards for (a) training on coast rescues, (b) training in rescue centres and (c) patrols in each region, each district and each sector in 1984–85 and each year since;
(8) what was the total coastguard budget in each year from 1984–85 to date at November 1994 prices; and what is the planned budget for 1995–96.
(9) how many sectors in each coastguard district have exhausted their planned budget for the year for (a) auxiliary coastguard training for rescue centres, (b) auxiliary coastguard training on coast rescue and (c) patrols.
[holding answer 26 January 1995]: These are operational matters for the Coastguard agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
| Hourly rate of allowance for Auxiliary Coastguards | Hourly rate of allowance for Auxiliary in Charge | |||
| 0600–2000 | 2000–0600 | 0600–2000 | 2000–0600 | |
| 1 April 1984-1 April 1985 | 1.86 | 2.10 | 2.32 | 2.62 |
| 1 April 1985-1 April 1986 | 1.94 | 2.19 | 2.42 | 2.74 |
| 1 April 1986-1 April 1987 | 2.05 | 2.32 | 2.57 | 2.90 |
| 1 April 1987-1 April 1989 | 2.17 | 2.45 | 2.71 | 3.06 |
| 1 April 1989-1 December 1991 | 2.26 | 2.55 | 2.83 | 3.20 |
| 1 December 1991-now | 2.60 | 2.93 | 3.25 | 3.68 |
Letter from C. J. Harris to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 27 January 1995:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions as these questions deal with operational matters, for which I have responsibility as Chief Executive.
PQ 609/94/95. No sectors have exhausted their planned budgets for (a) auxiliary coastguard training for rescue centres and (b) auxiliary coastguard training on coast rescue. Among the 91 sectors four sectors have exhausted their planned budgets for (c) patrols.
The information requested in PQ 611/94/95 is only available from 1990 and is detailed in the following table:
Number of full-time Coastguards in post
| Number of auxiliary Coastguards
| |
| 1 April 1990 | 484 | 1— |
| 1 April 1991 | 480 | 4,353 |
| 1 April 1992 | 474 | 4,061 |
| 1 April 1993 | 477 | 3,823 |
| 1 April 1994 | 473 | 3,454 |
1 Figures not available. | ||
The information requested in PQ 604/94/95 is only available from 1993:
Number of full-time Coastguards in post (excluding rescue centre staff)
| Number of auxiliary Coastguards (excluding rescue centre staff)
| |
| 1 April 1993 | 130 | 3,426 |
| 1 April 1994 | 125 | 3,077 |
The information requested in PQ 610/94/95 is only readily available from 1990–91:
Year
| Total HM Coastguard budget (at November 1994 prices) £
|
| 1990–91 | 18,376,804 |
| 1991–92 | 19,562,144 |
| 1992–93 | 19,415,817 |
| 1993–94 | 20,449,937 |
| 1994–95 | 119,144,129 |
| 1995–96 | 2— |
1 HMCG portion of The Coastguard Agency's budget of £24,882 million. | |
2 Not yet decided by The Coastguard Agency Management Board but estimate provision of £25,596 million is being sought for the Agency as a whole. | |
The information requested in PQ 608/94/95 is detailed in the following table:
London Underground
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number of fire and smoke incidents, and the proportion that were (a) category A, (b) category B and (c) category C;(2) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number and length of station closures
(a) exceeding 20 minutes during usual period for passenger travel, (b) exceeding one hour during usual period for passenger travel, (c) exceeding one day and (d) exceeding one week that were attributable to (i) staff shortages or (ii) security alerts;
(3) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number and length of (a) attributable station closures, and (b) non-attributable station closures (i) exceeding 20 minutes during usual period for rush hour travel, (ii) exceeding one hour during usual period for passenger travel, (iii) exceeding one day, (iv) exceeding one week and (v) exceeding one month; and which stations closed during the period have yet to be re-opened;
(4) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number of incidents, including cancellations, which resulted in a headway of more than 20 minutes; and how many of these were (a) attributable and (b) non-attributable;
(5) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number of incidents, including cancellations, which resulted in a headway of more than 20 minutes, and the number of these attributable to (a) train breakdown, (b) signal failure, (c) track/points failure, (d) power failure, (e) derailment or collision, (f) adverse weather conditions (including leaves on the line) and (g) security alerts;
(6) what has been the number of (a) assaults and (b) robberies on each London Underground station in (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994;
(7) if he will list for each London Underground line and for each four-week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994, the number and percentage of escalators out of service;
(8) if he will list for each London Underground line the number of (a) crimes of violence, (b) robberies and (c) other offences for each four week period between 1 January and 31 December 1994.
These are operational matters for London Underground.
Lord Chancellor's Department
Next Steps Agencies
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary Lord Chancellor's Department if he will set out for each of the next step agencies in his Department whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost of annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them publish periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
The Lord Chancellor is responsible for three agencies: Her Majesty's Land Registry, the Public Record Office and the Public Trust Office.The agencies operate within the framework of demanding quality standards and tight controls of costs and other financial targets as set out in the White Paper, "The Civil Service: Continuity and Change", Cm 2627. Their expenditure is subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.HM Land Registry and the Public Record Office were separate Government Departments in their own right before becoming executive agencies reporting to the Lord Chancellor. The Public Trust Office was, and remains, a self-contained and separately accommodated unit within the Lord Chancellor's Department. Agency status has not led to any additional expenditure on accommodation at the Public Trust Office. The office makes a separate bid for funding and has always had to plan to meet all its expenditure from fee income. The establishment of executive agencies has, therefore, had no impact on the overall expenditure of the Lord Chancellor's Department.A record of the performance of individual agencies in improving efficiency and effectiveness in Government is summarised in "Next Steps Review 1994", Cm 2750.As the right hon. Member's question concerns specific operational matters, on which the chief executives of the three agencies are best placed to provide answers, I have accordingly asked the chief executives to reply direct.
Letter from Sarah Tyacke to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 23 January 1995:
Parliamentary Question: Expenditure by the Next Steps Agencies
I have been asked by the Lord Chancellor's Parliamentary Secretary to reply to your question about Next Step issues. The answers to the various points are given below:1. The Public Record Office is a separate government department under the Lord Chancellor and has had its own headquarters building for over 150 years. 2. No additional support staff were required when the office became an Executive Agency. 3. The only periodical journal that we published is our Readers Bulletin, at a cost of £4,000 per annum. 4. The Public Record Office has no executive cars. 5. The Public Record Office had a logo specially designed at a cost of £850. 6. The Public Record Office has no corporate clothing. 7. All office stationery is printed in-house. There is no extra cost for printing new corporate stationery.
Letter from John Manthorpe to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 26 January 1995:
Parliamentary Question No. 95/181: Expenditure by Executive Agencies
I have been asked by the Parliamentary Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department to reply to your recent question concerning specific expenditure items by Executive Agencies.
HM Land Registry was established in 1862, and has continued since, as a self financing, separate government department directly accountable to the Lord Chancellor. Its move to Executive Agency status in July 1990 did not, as a consequence, involve it in any significant expenditure. I can answer your specific questions as follows:(a) The Land Registry's Headquarters building was acquired in 1913 and paid for under the Land Registry (New Buildings) Act 1990 at no cost to the Exchequer; (b) Its Headquarters staff has reduced since the launch of the Agency in 1990; (c) The only periodical journal produced by the Registry is its internal staff magazine, introduced in 1986; (d) The Registry has no executive cars; (e) The corporate logo was introduced in 1989 following a staff competition at a cost of £800; (f) The Registry does not have corporate clothing; (g) The incorporation of the logo into corporate stationery was achieved at no extra cost.
I do hope that this answers the points raised with the Parliamentary Secretary but please contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
Letter from Julia C. Lomas to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
The Parliamentary Secretary, of the Lord Chancellor's Department has asked me to reply to you as part of the Lord Chancellor's Department's response to your parliamentary question, listed on 19 January 1995, regarding the cost of establishing Next Step Agencies.
The Public Trust Office has not acquired any additional accommodation as a result of becoming an Agency.
Four extra support posts have been created but the additional cost has been met from within the PTO's existing budget allocation from efficiency savings. The creation of these posts in areas such as corporate planning will further contribute to the efficiency of the Office.
The cost of designing and printing the Framework Document, Corporate and Business Plans in 1994 (the first year of Agency) was £10,980. The Corporate and Business Plans will be published annually together with an annual report. The numbers of these documents required for 1995 is currently being researched and the cost is not expected to exceed £5000.
The Public Trust Office does not have any executive cars or corporate clothing and has not changed its logo.
Existing stocks of stationery were used before fresh supplies were ordered with a New Agency heading. The cost of altering the headings was negligible and not separately costed.
Absenteeism
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the absenteeism rate for (a) the Public Record Office and (b) the Public Trust Office each year since 1991.
The question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executives of the two agencies are best placed to provide an answer. I have accordingly asked the chief executives to reply direct.
Letter from Julia Lomas to Mr. David Chidgey, dated 23 January 1995:
Absenteeism at the Public Trust Office
The Parliamentary Secretary for the Lord Chancellor's Department has asked me to reply to part (b) of your question listed on 19 January which referred to the "absenteeism rate for the Public Trust Office each year since 1991".
The most recent figures available are as follows:
Year
| Number of sick days taken
| Staff in post
| Average sick days per person
|
| 1993 | 10,443 | 571 | 18.29 |
| 1994 | 8,930 | 561 | 15.92 |
Note:
Prior to 1993 separate statistics for the Public Trust Office were not maintained.
Letter from Duncan Simpson to Mr. David Chidgey, dated 25 January 1995:
Parliamentary Question: Absenteeism Rate in the Public Record Office since 1991.
I have been asked by the Lord Chancellor's Parliamentary Secretary to reply to your question about absenteeism rates in the Public Record Office since 1991.
The Public Record Office has interpreted the data using the 'lost time rate' calculation, which is the standard calculation used in public and private sector organisations for measuring sick absence.
- Lost time rate is calculated as follows:
- Number of working days in period x 100%
- Number of working days available
- The figures for the Public Record Office are therefore:
Year
| Percentage
|
| 1991 | 5.43 |
| 1992 | 5.04 |
| 1993 | 4 79 |
| 1994 | 4.78 |
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the absenteeism rate for (a) his Department and (b) Her Majesty's Land Registry in each year since 1991.
The average number of working days lost as a result of sick absence for each member of staff within (a) the Lord Chancellor's Department for the years since 1991 is as follows:
| Days lost | |
| 1991 | 10.4 |
| 1992 | 10.11 |
| 1993 | 11.8 |
| 1994 | 1— |
| 1 No details available yet. | |
(b) HM Land Registry is a separate executive agency and this question has been passed to the chief executive for reply.
Letter from John Manthorpe to Mr. David Chidgey, dated 26 January 1995:
Parliamentary Question No. 95/183: Absenteeism Rate in the Land Registry
I have been asked by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Lord Chancellor's Department to reply to your recent question concerning the absenteeism rate in HM Land Registry since 1991. 1 can provide the following information:
Per cent.
| |
| 1991 | 5.2 |
| 1992 | 4.8 |
| 1993 | 4.5 |
| 1994 | 4.5 |
I do hope that this answers the point raised with the Parliamentary Secretary but please contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
Civil Enforcement Agents
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he will announce proposals for a review of the organisation and management of civil enforcement agents, following public consultation in 1992; and if he will make a statement on how these proposals will affect sheriffs.
The public consultation exercise in 1992 raised a wide range of difficult issues, to which the Lord Chancellor continues to give consideration. I am not in a position to say when an announcement will be made or how future proposals will affect sheriffs.
Departmental Staff
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (h) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
Details of the number of women employed in the years 1991–1994 at the relevant grades are set out in the table.
| Number of women employed in the Lord Chancellor's Department for years 1991–1994 at selected grades | ||||
| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | |
| Grade 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grade 7 | 45 | 51 | 64 | 78 |
| EO | 1,242 | 1,342 | 1,441 | 1,442 |
| AO | 3,454 | 3,608 | 3,741 | 3,644 |
| AA | 2,187 | 2,205 | 2,151 | 2,054 |
Note:
(i) The figures given are all at 1st April of each year, (ii) they include grade and grade equivalents and (iii) part-time staff are accounted for on a headcount basis.
Custody Statistics
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the number and percentage of defendants remanded in custody for either way offences who were dealt with within the 70-day limit laid down by the Prosecution of Offences (Custody Time Limit) Regulations 1987; and what was the number and percentage of defendants remanded in custody for indictable offences who were dealt with within the 70-day limit between first appearance and committal laid down by the regulations for each year since the regulations came into force.
Information about the number and percentage of defendants remanded in custody who were dealt with within the 70-day limit is not collected centrally in the form requested. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost and effort.
Health
Medicines Control Agency
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the members of the Medicines Control Agency, their professional employment, and the details of individual entries in their members' register of interests.
The Medicines Control Agency is an executive agency of the Department of Health. Its staff are civil servants and are therefore subject to the civil service requirements in relation to personal interests.
Septrin
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action she is taking in respect of the use of Septrin in the United Kingdom;(2) what plans she has to remove Septrin from the market; and if she will make a statement.
We have no plans to remove Septrin from the market. There is no new safety issue with Septrin and recent data support the view that serious adverse effects associated with it are rare. Changing clinical practice, however, favours single rather than combination antibiotic therapy and the Medicines Control Agency is considering whether the licence for Septrin should reflect this.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support she will give to litigants against the Wellcome group in respect of claims for damage caused by Septrin; and if she will make a statement.
It is not the Department's policy to become involved in individual claims for compensation. This is a matter for individuals themselves to pursue with the companies concerned, if necessary through the courts.
Hepatitis C
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many persons have been identified as blood donor carriers of hepatitis C under current screening methods; and what advice and counselling they receive.
One in 2,000 donors were found to be positive for hepatitis C when screening was introduced in 1991. In the National Blood Service, any donor found to be positive for any infective agent is offered counselling by trained specialist medical staff. In the case of counselling for hepatitis C, national guidelines have been established and are in use at all transfusion centres.
Consultants
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list (a) the consultants, (b) the tasks for which they were employed and (c) the payments made to them from the budget of her Department in (i) 1992–93 and (ii) 1993–94.
The Department spent £18,398,000 for 1992–93 and £15,933,037 for 1993–94 from running costs on consultancy. Information on national health service consultancy expenditure is not available centrally.Details of the consultants employed by the Department and the tasks performed for 1992–93 were provided to the efficiency unit as part of its scrutiny on the Government's use of external consultants, copies of which will be placed in the Library. For reasons of confidentiality, and in order to achieve value for money in the future, we are unable to list the specific costs of the consultancies concerned and the amounts paid as this would breach contractual agreements and jeopardise future value for money. Information is not held for 1993–94 and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding is being provided and what other steps are being taken by the Government to enable pursuit of the research programme recommended in chapter 17 of the report of the national task force on myalgic encephalomyelitis published in September 1994.
The main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council, which receives its grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The MRC has been funding a study at the Institute of Psychiatry, the estimated cost of which is £91,000, to investigate chronic fatigue in general practitioners' attenders. Researchers at the institute are attempting to find ways to help sufferers of chronic fatigue cope with their disease and regain their health.With a view to securing progress and promoting the development of a professional consensus, the chief medical officer has invited the conference of colleges to consider the national task force's report. The views of the conference of colleges will be of much assistance to the Department in helping to determine the best way forward. It is hoped that a response from the conference will be received by the spring.
Smoking
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the prevalence of cigarette smoking among (a) men over 16 years, (b) women over 16 years, (c) boys aged 11 to 15 years and (d) girls aged 11 to 15 years for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
The figures in the tables are extracted from the "General Household Survey 1992" and "Smoking Amongst Secondary School Children in 1993", published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Copies of these reports are available in the Library.
| Prevalence of cigarette smoking amongst adults aged 16 and over England 1984–1992 | |||||
| Percentages | |||||
| 1984 | 1986 | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | |
| Men | 35 | 34 | 32 | 31 | 29 |
| Women | 32 | 31 | 30 | 28 | 27 |
Source:OPCS General Household Survey
Prevalence of regular cigarette smoking amongst pupils aged I1 to 15 England 1984–1993
| ||||||
Percentages
| ||||||
1984
| 1986
| 1988
| 1990
| 1992
| 1993
| |
| Boys | 13 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Girls | 13 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
Source: OPCS Smoking amongst secondary school children
Cosmetic Surgery
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received on the subject of regulating cosmetic surgery.
In addition to representations from the hon. Member and from the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mr. French) we have received 17 letters from members of the public on this subject.
Blood Clots (Drugs)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if drugs designed to break up blood clots are available under the NHS to patients aged over 74 years; and if she will make a statement.
Yes.
Insulin Syringes (Charges)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals charge diabetics for insulin syringes; and if she will make a statement.
None.
Data Protection
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce legislation to allow the wider use of personal information extracted from the registers of births, deaths and marriages; and if she will make a statement.
The Government have no plans to legislate beyond the proposals they published in 1990 in their White Paper "Registration: proposals for change", Cm 939. These proposals include making records of births, deaths and marriages over 75 years old available to public inspection. The Government will introduce a Bill when parliamentary time allows.
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to her Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
During 1994, the Department and its executive agencies spent £620,870 recruiting 156 staff.
Anabolic Agents
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessments she has made of the effect on health of the use of anabolic agents.
Anabolic steroids are used therapeutically for certain hormonal and blood disorders. Before a medicinal product may be licensed in this country, it is subject to stringent assessments to ensure that it meets acceptable standards of safety, quality and efficacy. Thereafter, the Medicines Control Agency and its advisory committees, such as the committee on safety of medicines, monitor the safety of all licensed medicines.In addition, the Department of Health and Departments for Scotland and for Wales commissioned a report from the Centre for Research on Drugs and Drug Behaviour in 1993, "Anabolic Steroid Use in Great Britain: An Exploratory Investigation", copies of which are in the Library.
Physiotherapy
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she has considered the evidence by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy regarding damage done to patients by unregistered physiotherapists; and what she proposes in response.
To practice within the national health service or local authorities, physiotherapists must be registered under the provisions of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act 1960.The Government are considering what action may be needed in the light of the profession's concern about the activities of unregistered practitioners.
Plague Vaccine
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the plague vaccine manufactured in the United States of America by Cutter Laboratories, Miles Inc, has been granted a licence in Britain.
There are no granted licences in Britain for the plague vaccine manufactured in the United States of America by Cutter Laboratories, Miles Inc.
Prime Minister
Mortgage Interest Payments
To ask the Prime Minister what has been the reduction in average mortgage interest payments since their peak.
The average mortgage interest payment has fallen by £140 per month, not per week as I inadvertently stated in my answer to the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) on 26 January 1995, Official Report, column 469.
Trade And Industry
Exports
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of exports from other European Union countries comes to the United Kingdom (a) as a whole and (b) by each country, in descending order.
The information is given in the table.
| Visible exports to the United Kingdom as a share of total visible exports | |
| Exports from | Per cent. |
| EU12 less UK | 8.6 |
| Ireland | 28.7 |
| Portugal | 11.4 |
| France | 9.2 |
| Netherlands | 9.0 |
| Denmark | 8.9 |
| Belgium-Luxembourg | 8.3 |
| Germany | 7.7 |
| Spain | 7.5 |
| Italy | 6.4 |
| Greece | 5.7 |
Source: Eurostat Comext database (CD-Rom 1/1995).
Lloyd's
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list all the legislation governing the activities and regulation of Lloyd's of London.
The principal legislation governing the activities of Lloyd's of London is:
Domestic Gas Appliances
To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 18 January concerning supply of spare parts for domestic gas appliances, what assessment he has made, and by what means, of the consequences of his plans for the dis-aggregation of British Gas on the current availability of spare parts for licensed appliances and on the time such appliances cannot be used by consumers for reasons of public safety.
The servicing of domestic gas appliances is a competitive market, in which British Gas service business competes with some 48,000 registered engineers. This part of British Gas operations is therefore not subject to economic regulation and it is for the management of British Gas to choose the most economical and effective means for the supply and distribution of spare parts in order to meet customers' needs.
Chemical Weapons
To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he intends to issue the proposed discussion document on the implementation of the chemical weapons convention in the United Kingdom.
A discussion document on the implications of the chemical weapons convention for industry will be issued on 31 January; copies will be placed in the Library of the House.
Latin America (Firearms Sales)
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information his Department has in respect of, and in what ways it is supporting, trade missions to Latin American countries in January and February; what is the involvement of such trade missions in the sale or arrangement for sale of items classified under section 5 (1) (b) of the Firearms Act 1968; and if he will list the items which are so classified.
[holding answer 26 January 1995]: A trade mission organised by the Caribbean trade advisory group of the British Overseas Trade Board will visit Cuba in early February. None of the planned members of the mission is involved in the sale or arrangement for sale of items classified under section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968.
Nigeria (Military Equipment)
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many export licences his Department has issued for the export of non-lethal military equipment to Nigeria since December 1993.
[holding answer 20 January 1995]:Thirty export licences have been issued for such military equipment since 1 January 1994.
United Artists (Cable Licence)
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library a copy of the licence issued by his Department to United Artists authorising it to lay cable in Livingston, West Lothian.
[holding answer 26 January 1995]: Licences issued under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 are placed in a public register in the Library at the Office of Telecommunications. I have, however, arranged for a copy of the licence for the Falkirk and Livingston cable franchise to be placed in the Library of the House.
Executive Search Agencies
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what guidelines are operated by his Department as regards the use of executive search agencies to fill vacancies within his Department and his Department's executive agencies; and in what circumstances his Department employs executive search agencies instead of relying fully on Departmental resources to fill vacant posts.
[holding answer 26 January 1995]: My Department considers using executive search agencies when it is believed that this represents a cost-effective way of extending the field of candidates for key posts.
Environment
Local Government Finance
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the total spent on each local authority area under (a) the city task forces, (b) the city grant and (c) the housing action trusts programmes in 1993–94.
Expenditure by local authority area on each of the programmes in 1993–94 is set out in the table.
Expenditure by Local Authority area in 1993–94 on Task Forces, City Grant and Housing Action Trusts
| |||
Local Authority
| Task Forces £000s
| City Grant £000s
| HATs 1 £000s
|
| Barnsley | — | 2,970 | — |
| Birmingham | 1,448 | 1,665 | 2,175 |
| Blackburn | — | 517 | — |
| Bolton | — | 101 | — |
| Bradford | 1,187 | 2,433 | — |
| Bristol | 227 | 59 | — |
| Burnley | — | 223 | — |
| Coventry | 1,172 | 404 | — |
| Derby | 1,195 | 326 | — |
| Dudley | — | 4,698 | — |
| Gateshead | — | 303 | — |
| Hackney | 1,050 | — | — |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 945 | — | — |
| Haringey | 385 | — | — |
| Hartlepool | 24 | 2,717 | — |
| Kingston upon Hull | 1,158 | 122 | 28,142 |
| Kirklees | — | 654 | — |
| Knowsley | — | 364 | — |
| Lambeth | — | 35 | — |
| Langbaurgh on Tees | — | 122 | — |
| Leeds | — | 121 | — |
| Leicester | — | 57 | — |
| Lewisham | 1,040 | 41 | — |
| Liverpool | 1,200 | 6,926 | 19,236 |
| Manchester | 958 | 1,322 | — |
| Middlesbrough | 221 | 521 | — |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | — | 2,642 | — |
| North Tyneside | — | 145 | — |
| Nottingham | 1,102 | 2,726 | — |
| Oldham | — | 775 | — |
| Plymouth | 353 | 872 | — |
| Preston | — | 151 | — |
| Rochdale | 4 | 687 | — |
| Rotherham | — | 44 | — |
| Salford | — | 917 | — |
| Sandwell | — | 400 | — |
| Sefton | — | 303 | — |
| Sheffield | — | 777 | — |
| South Tyneside | 1,084 | 250 | — |
| Southwark | 1,226 | 432 | — |
| St. Helens | — | 62 | — |
| Stockton on Tees | 452 | — | — |
| Sunderland | — | 1,093 | — |
| Tower Hamlets | 357 | 1,511 | 8,600 |
| Waltham Forest | — | — | 25,600 |
| Wigan | — | 356 | — |
| Wirral | 1,030 | 165 | — |
| Wolverhampton | — | 3,679 | — |
| Wrekin | — | 20 | — |
| Total | 17,818 | 44,706 | 83,753 |
1 Gross expenditure by each Housing Action Trust. | |||
Single Regeneration Budget
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in rank order the first round single regeneration budget bids showing where the local authorities fell in the index of deprivation at (a) local authority level, (b) by census enumeration districts and c) by the average score of the three worst wards.
The information is shown in the tables. In addition to the bids included in these tables, there were a further 73 successful and 87 unsuccessful bids which covered more than one local authority area. It is not possible to include these in the rankings.
Table 1: SRB successful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (A)
| (B)
| (C)
|
| Newham | Meeting the needs of Newhams Communities | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Newham | A regional Role in Tomorrows East London | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Newham | New Dimensions for Stratford and Temple Mills | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Southwark | Cross River Partnership | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Southwark | Peckham Partnership | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Hackney | Building on our Strengths | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Main Bid | 5 | 19 | 2 |
| Liverpool | Dingle | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Liverpool | Speke/Garston | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Liverpool | Social Partnership | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Tower Hamlets | Stepney Revitalisation Bid | 7 | 2 | 1 |
| Tower Hamlets | Raising Participation: Raising Achievement | 7 | 2 | 1 |
| Lambeth | Riverside South | 8 | 6 | 3 |
| Sandwell | Sandwell Regeneration Partnership | 9 | 31 | 34 |
| Lewisham | Into the Mainstream | 11 | 12 | 8 |
| Lewisham | Silwood Estate: Combatting Racial Harassment | 11 | 12 | 8 |
| Knowsley | Knowsley Industrial Park | 12 | 14 | 28 |
| Manchester | St. Vincents | 13 | 25 | 25 |
| Manchester | Manchester | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Miles Platting and Ancoats Young People Initiative | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Greenwich | Greenwich Regeneration: Woolwich Revival | 14 | 15 | 20 |
| Newcastle | Grainger Town | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Education for Regeneration | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Tyneside Bsus | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Walker Open and Learning and Fitness Centre | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Scotswood Regeneration Strategy | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | North Benwell-New Beginnings | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Barking and Dagenham | Roding Valley Area Regeneration | 18 | 30 | 36 |
| Wandsworth | Wandsworth Partnership | 21 | 18 | 22 |
| South Tyneside | Step | 22 | 36 | 54 |
| Bradford | Training for New Technology | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Bradford | Royds-Bradford | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Middlesborough | Middlesborough Pride and Enterprise | 24 | 79 | 79 |
| Westminster | The Bloomsbury Project | 26 | 10 | 12 |
| Salford | The Salford Partnership | 28 | 41 | 21 |
| Brent | Chalkhill Estate: Economic and Physical Regeneration | 29 | 11 | 7 |
| Kingston upon Hull | Hull's First SRB Bid | 31 | 57 | 42 |
| Blackburn | Blackburn SRB Bid | 32 | 37 | 55 |
| Gateshead | Eastgate Development | 33 | 61 | 44 |
| Sunderland | City of Sunderland Partnership | 34 | 64 | 47 |
| Sheffield | Sheffield's Bid to the SRB | 36 | 35 | 18 |
| Ealing | Centre for Manufacturing and Engineering Innovation | 38 | 24 | 31 |
| Oldham | Oldham | 39 | 58 | 48 |
| Brighton | Regenerating Centra) Brighton | 40 | 21 | 33 |
| Doncasler | Stainforth Estate Action | 41 | 68 | 66 |
| Southampton | Southampton City Centre | 42 | 27 | 32 |
| Bristol | Bristol 2020 | 43 | 55 | 35 |
| Lincoln | City of Lincoln | 48 | 89 | 124 |
| Rochdale | Canalside Rochdale | 50 | 78 | 60 |
| North Tyneside | Meadowell Regeneration | 52 | 62 | 73 |
| Plymouth | Plymouth 2000 Partnership-Turning the Tide | 53 | 29 | 14 |
| Barnsley | Sustainable Regeneration for Barnsley | 54 | 244 | 142 |
| St. Helens | St. Helens Southern Corridor | 55 | 134 | 116 |
| Leeds | Removing Barriers-Creating Opportunity | 56 | 67 | 24 |
| Burnley | Initiative Burnley | 57 | 65 | 86 |
| Easington | East Durham Regeneration | 58 | 235 | 152 |
| Norwich | Norwich Mile Cross | 59 | 75 | 81 |
| Rotherham | Shaping Rotherham's Future | 60 | 109 | 90 |
| Wirral | Hamilton Quarter | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Langbaurgh on Tees | Grangetown | 62 | 141 | 93 |
| Wansbeck | Wansbeck Initiative | 63 | 86 | 140 |
| Wansbeck | Aiming High | 63 | 86 | 140 |
| Stoke on Trent | Cobridge Community Renewal | 64 | 138 | 103 |
| Tameside | Tame Valley Initiative | 65 | 112 | 128 |
| Derwentshire | Consett Southern Area | 66 | 320 | 173 |
| Hove | Hove Means Business | 68 | 20 | 45 |
| Stockton on Tees | Tilery Project | 69 | 98 | 69 |
| Hastings | The Battle for Hastings—Town Centre | 70 | 32 | 51 |
| Wakefield | SESKU—Wakefield | 71 | 239 | 143 |
| Oxford | Blackbird Leys/Cowley Initiative | 72 | 43 | 57 |
| Sefton | Netherton | 73 | 52 | 63 |
| Sefton | Bootle Village | 73 | 52 | 63 |
Table 1: SRB successful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (A)
| (B)
| (C)
|
| Wigan | Wigan Plc | 74 | 161 | 136 |
| Derby | Investing in Derby People | 76 | 99 | 75 |
| Scunthorpe | Grimsby and Cleethorpes | 77 | 101 | 107 |
| Scunthorpe | Scunthorpe Bid for SRB Resources | 77 | 101 | 107 |
| Thanet | Thanet District Council SRB Bid | 81 | 39 | 53 |
| Sedgefield | Bessember Park | 85 | 224 | 167 |
| Kirklees | Huddersfield Challenge | 88 | 113 | 113 |
| Kirklees | Kirklees—Routeways to Success | 88 | 113 | 113 |
| Hyndburn | The Regeneration of Central Accrington | 89 | 151 | 141 |
| Reading | Hexham Road Estate, Reading | 92 | 53 | 52 |
| Thurrock | The Tilbury Project, Essex | 94 | 83 | 111 |
| Thurrock | George Street Redevelopment | 94 | 83 | 111 |
| Calderdale | West Central Halifax | 97 | 76 | 100 |
| Calderdale | The Elland Initiative | 97 | 76 | 100 |
| Hounslow | The Bid for Brentford | 99 | 42 | 68 |
| Bolsover | Bolsover Diamond | 100 | 320 | 182 |
| Copeland | Renaissance of Whitehaven | 101 | 219 | 160 |
| Torbay | Torbay (Brixham) | 107 | 49 | 76 |
| Rochester Upon Medway | Medway City Estate Management Initiative | 109 | 72 | 65 |
| Rochester Upon Medway | Small Business Village, Luton, Chatham | 109 | 72 | 65 |
| Rochester Upon Medway | Chatham Campus—Business Creation and Technology | 109 | 72 | 65 |
| Lancaster | Morecambe—Turning the Tide | 111 | 48 | 56 |
| Ipswich | Ispwich Wet Dock | 114 | 135 | 119 |
| Carlisle | Carlisle—Raffles Sets the Pace | 124 | 253 | 205 |
| Ellesmere Port and Neston | Ellesmere Port Epicentre Strategy | 131 | 216 | 134 |
| The Wrekin | The Telford Partnership | 132 | 179 | 171 |
| Swale | Swale Regenerating the Isle of Sheppey | 133 | 118 | 122 |
| Eastbourne | Energise Eastbourne—Eastbourne Town Centre | 136 | 83 | 153 |
| Gloucester | Urban Regeneration in Barton and Tredworth | 137 | 56 | 83 |
| Alnwick | Amble Regeneration | 140 | 320 | 234 |
| Dudley | Dudley—Foundation for the Future | 142 | 103 | 99 |
| Cannock Chase | The Gateway Project | 143 | 320 | 164 |
| Northampton | Northampton Partnership | 144 | 128 | 70 |
| Trafford | Old Trafford | 146 | 126 | 84 |
| Weymouth and Portland | The Island and Royal Manor of Portland | 166 | 117 | 130 |
| Eden | Eden (Appleby Training Centre) | 172 | 320 | 309 |
| Dover | Whitecliff Business Park Dover | 177 | 152 | 120 |
| Fenland | Integrated Regeneration Strategy for the Wisbech Area | 178 | 227 | 181 |
| Basildon | The Bonus Project | 182 | 217 | 176 |
| Sutton | The Northern Wards | 183 | 110 | 147 |
| Gillingham | Architecture Centre—North Kent | 192 | 80 | 92 |
| Crewe and Nantwich | All Change at Crewe | 194 | 156 | 161 |
| Chester | Regeneration in West Chester | 198 | 106 | 109 |
| Ashford | South Ashford Urban Renewal Initiative | 206 | 240 | 166 |
| Harrow | Ethnic Minority Business Development | 207 | 133 | 208 |
| West Lindsey | Gainsborough Riverside Regeneration | 210 | 242 | 190 |
| Epping Forest | The Limes Farm Partnership | 212 | 192 | 248 |
| Craven | Craven: Hellifield Station | 216 | 320 | 306 |
| North Bedfordshire | Queens Park Partnership, Bedford | 227 | 105 | 88 |
| Sedgemoor | The Sydenham Estate, Bridgwater, Somerset | 233 | 194 | 219 |
| Leominster | Kington Connected Community | 237 | 320 | 324 |
| Kingswood | Kingswood Revitalisation Project | 280 | 320 | 300 |
| Congelton | Congleton Town and Industry Initiative | 284 | 320 | 331 |
| Selby | The Selby Waterfront Partnership | 295 | 320 | 221 |
| Braintree | The East Braintree Bid | 315 | 320 | 285 |
| Cherwell | Grimsbury Regeneration, Banbury Oxon | 350 | 160 | 216 |
Table 2: SRB unsuccessful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (a)
| (b)
| (c)
|
| Newham | New Routes to New Jobs, Canning Town | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Newham | Royals University College Technology Institute | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Southwark | Raising Achievement (ELAN) | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Southwark | Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Enterprise Network | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Hackney | Enhance Employment Prospects, Promote Equality | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Islington | Destination King's Cross | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| Islington | Investment in Achievement | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| Birmingham | Bangladeshi Youth Forum | 5 | 19 | 2 |
| Birmingham | Afro-Caribbean Resource Centre | 5 | 19 | 2 |
Table 2: SRB unsuccessful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (a)
| (b)
| (c)
|
| Birmingham | Small Heath School | 5 | 19 | 2 |
| Birmingham | Camp Lane Working Group | 5 | 19 | 2 |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Consortium of Colleges | 5 | 19 | 2 |
| Liverpool | Parents and Under 8s | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Liverpool | Liverpool City of Architecture | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Liverpool | Second Chance | 6 | 17 | 19 |
| Tower Hamlets | Davenant Centre | 7 | 2 | 1 |
| Lambeth | Adding Value in Media and Cultural Sectors | 8 | 6 | 3 |
| Sandwell | Interpretation Services and English Skills | 9 | 31 | 34 |
| Sandwell | Black Country Urban Vinyard | 9 | 31 | 34 |
| Sandwell | English Skills for the Sikh Community | 9 | 31 | 34 |
| Lewisham | Lewisham Literacy 2000 | 11 | 12 | 8 |
| Knowsley | Regeneration Through Partnership | 12 | 14 | 28 |
| Manchester | Greater Monsall Initiative | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Support of Ethnic Minorities | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Advice and Info Strategy | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | INCITU | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Moss Side Initiative | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Regional Centres Strategy | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Gorton | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Employment Enterprise and Training | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Manchester | Visions | 13 | 25 | 23 |
| Greenwich | Raising Employability | 14 | 15 | 20 |
| Greenwich | Increasing Business Competitiveness | 14 | 15 | 20 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | Enhancing Employment Prospects and EDUC. Achievement | 16 | 9 | 10 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | North End Road Corridor | 16 | 9 | 10 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | Partnership Against Crime | 16 | 9 | 10 |
| Newcastle | Newburn Haugh Industrial Development | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Newcastle Safer Cities | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Televillage | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Newcastle | Job Access Programme | 17 | 22 | 26 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | Language Support—ESOL | 19 | 13 | 15 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | From Earls Court to World's End | 19 | 13 | 15 |
| Waltham Forest | SRB Bid for Leyton | 20 | 16 | 6 |
| Wandsworth | Strategy to Prevent Youth Crime | 21 | 18 | 22 |
| Bradford | Manningham/City Centre | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Bradford | Ethnic Minorities SRB | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Bradford | Bradford High Technology Partnership | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Bradford | Keighley SRB | 23 | 26 | 25 |
| Middlesbo rough | Ethnic Business Initiative | 24 | 79 | 79 |
| Westminster | Integration of Homeless Families and Refugees | 26 | 10 | 12 |
| Westminster | Amberely Estate | 26 | 10 | 12 |
| Westminster | Church Street Neighbourhood | 26 | 10 | 12 |
| Wolverhampton | Wolverhampton's SRB Bid | 27 | 45 | 38 |
| Brent | South Kilburn Family Centre | 29 | 11 | 7 |
| Brent | Brent Language Service | 29 | 11 | 7 |
| Brent | Crime Reduction, Employment and Training Programme | 29 | 11 | 7 |
| Brent | Brent Adult and Community Education | 29 | 11 | 7 |
| Blackpool | Blackpool Strategy for Regeneration | 30 | 23 | 17 |
| Gateshead | The Bede Centre | 33 | 61 | 44 |
| Gateshead | Team Valley Crime Prevention Initiative | 33 | 61 | 44 |
| Gateshead | Top Team | 33 | 61 | 44 |
| Hartlepool | Hartlepool Youth Strategy | 35 | 130 | 91 |
| Sheffield | Childcare Partnership Programme | 36 | 35 | 18 |
| Leicester | The Leicester Mosque Trust | 37 | 70 | 41 |
| Oldham | Oldham Telecite | 39 | 58 | 48 |
| Doncaster | Doncaster Regeneration Partnership | 41 | 68 | 66 |
| Walsall | Walsall for Tomorrow | 44 | 59 | 64 |
| Preston | Ribble Link Navigation | 47 | 71 | 37 |
| Preston | Preston Inner East | 47 | 71 | 37 |
| Bolton | Community Arts and Sports Centre | 49 | 88 | 62 |
| Bolton | Bolton Renaissance | 49 | 88 | 62 |
| Rochdale | Blackstone Edge Outdoor Pursuits and Residential Centre | 50 | 78 | 60 |
| Halton | Building Capacity and Competitive Strength | 51 | 93 | 117 |
| North Tyneside | Safer Communities Initiatives | 52 | 62 | 73 |
| Barnsley | Royston Comprehensive School | 53 | 244 | 142 |
| Barns ley | Rain Project | 54 | 244 | 142 |
| St Helens | Newton le Willows | 54 | 134 | 116 |
| Barnsley | Barnsley SRB | 54 | 244 | 142 |
| Leeds | Jamaica Society | 56 | 67 | 24 |
| Leeds | Industry/Education | 56 | 67 | 24 |
Table 2: SRB unsuccessful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (a)
| (b)
| (c)
|
| Wirral | Tranmere | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Wirral | Business Care Pilot | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Wirral | Wirral Green Alliance LEAC | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Wirral | Cammel Laird | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Wirral | Bidstone/M53 Corridor/Cross Lane | 61 | 87 | 59 |
| Derby | Derby City Partnership | 76 | 99 | 75 |
| Corby | Corby Town Centre Regeneration | 78 | 146 | 172 |
| Blyth Valley | Blyth Renaissance | 80 | 320 | 169 |
| Thanet | St Peter's Parochial Church Council | 81 | 39 | 53 |
| Darlington | Darlington SRB | 82 | 126 | 115 |
| Great Yarmouth | North Quay Refurbishment | 86 | 40 | 39 |
| Kirklees | Personal Development and Regeneration | 88 | 113 | 113 |
| Barrow in Furness | Heart of Barrow | 93 | 112 | 126 |
| Slough | Slough Foyer | 95 | 85 | 125 |
| Enfield | Interkids Project | 96 | 38 | 46 |
| Hounslow | Ivybridge South Isleworth | 99 | 42 | 68 |
| Pendle | Meeting the Challenge to Manufacturing | 103 | 181 | 127 |
| Merton | Community Enterprise on Phipps Bridge | 104 | 46 | 61 |
| Merton | Merton Tramlink | 104 | 46 | 61 |
| Merton | A New View of Pollards Hill | 104 | 46 | 61 |
| Merton | Wandle Strategy: Partnership for Skills | 104 | 46 | 61 |
| Merton | Designing Out Crime—Rear Alleyways | 104 | 46 | 61 |
| Southend | Pierhead Development | 110 | 73 | 80 |
| Southend | CC-TV Surveillance | 110 | 73 | 80 |
| Peterborough | The Welland Action Project | 112 | 142 | 85 |
| West Lancashire | Midstream | 116 | 320 | 175 |
| Exeter | Exeter Homes Committee | 118 | 81 | 123 |
| Exeter | Community Safety | 118 | 81 | 123 |
| Gravesham | The High Street—Gravesend | 121 | 97 | 133 |
| Gravesham | North East Gravesend | 121 | 97 | 133 |
| Croydon | Basic Skills for Regeneration in Croydon | 125 | 54 | 40 |
| Allerdale | Maryport Job-Builder | 126 | 246 | 165 |
| Chester le Street | Chester le Street Town Centre | 128 | 320 | 195 |
| Chester le Street | Plawsworth Direct Access Centre | 128 | 320 | 195 |
| Chester le Street | Chester le Street Riverside | 128 | 320 | 195 |
| Restormel | St Austell Town Regeneration Strategy | 129 | 119 | 210 |
| Shepway | Regeneration of East Folkestone | 130 | 50 | 58 |
| Bassetlaw | Destination Bassetlaw Ltd | 138 | 153 | 112 |
| Barnet | Cricklewood Partnership | 139 | 51 | 77 |
| Barnet | Graham Park Area Partnership | 139 | 51 | 77 |
| Dudley | Cable Technology | 142 | 103 | 99 |
| Trafford | Longford Park | 146 | 126 | 84 |
| Ryedale | Writers Workshop | 146 | 63 | 89 |
| Dartford | Business Innovation Centre | 149 | 213 | 157 |
| Dartford | Holy Trinity Church | 149 | 213 | 157 |
| North Cornwall | The Kinsman Estate, Bodmin | 151 | 320 | 271 |
| Chorley | Chorley Open Learning Centre | 152 | 320 | 246 |
| North Devon | The Ilfracombe Partnership | 153 | 167 | 148 |
| North Devon | North Devon Food Village | 153 | 167 | 148 |
| Cheltenham | Cheltenham Millenium | 155 | 150 | 110 |
| Havering | Harold Hill Regeneration | 158 | 129 | 74 |
| Bury | Bridge Hall Area Consolidation | 161 | 108 | 138 |
| Bury | Building a Quality Learning Community Together | 161 | 108 | 138 |
| East Staffordshire | Burton Regeneration Programme | 165 | 167 | 129 |
| Tendring | Clacton Tourism Development Project | 168 | 100 | 102 |
| Kingston upon Thames | Charter Quay—The Missing Link | 169 | 107 | 155 |
| Kingston upon Thames | Kingston Country Court Lay Advocacy Scheme | 169 | 107 | 155 |
| Richmond upon Thames | Boat Project | 173 | 164 | 232 |
| Richmond upon Thames | Butt Farm Initiative | 173 | 164 | 232 |
| Warrington | North West International Business Centre | 174 | 155 | 105 |
| Bexley | Erith and Belvedere Partnership | 181 | 96 | 101 |
| Bexley | Skills, Training and Enterprise in Thamesmead | 181 | 96 | 101 |
| Bexley | Whitehall Centre | 181 | 96 | 101 |
| Bexley | Building Craft Workshops | 181 | 96 | 101 |
| Sutton | Releasing Local Potential | 183 | 110 | 147 |
| Newcastle under Lyme | Greater Chesterton Community Programme | 184 | 256 | 184 |
| Oswestry | Victoria Ward | 185 | 320 | 263 |
| Wyre | Silicon Fylde Enterprise Stimulation | 187 | 126 | 137 |
| Canterbury | Whitstable Harbour Ward Regeneration | 188 | 115 | 87 |
| Waveney | Roman Hill Partnership, Lowestoft | 191 | 121 | 94 |
| Gillingham | Giltingham District Centre | 192 | 80 | 92 |
Table 2: SRB unsuccessful bids (bids covering single local authority areas or parts of a single local authority only)
| ||||
Rankings
| ||||
Local authority
| Name of bid
| (a)
| (b)
| (c)
|
| Teesdale | Evenwood and Barony Parish | 204 | 320 | 243 |
| Boothferry | Economic and Social Opportunities in Goole | 205 | 210 | 198 |
| Amber Valley | Langley Mill | 209 | 255 | 235 |
| Stockport | Project Youth Stockport | 213 | 131 | 98 |
| Craven | Craven SRB | 216 | 320 | 306 |
| High Peak | High Peak Partnership, The Glossop Project | 218 | 180 | 202 |
| Staffordshire Moorlands | Leek SRB Bid | 224 | 320 | 241 |
| South Derbyshire | Made in Swadlincote Partnership | 225 | 218 | 328 |
| Rother | Rye Habour | 241 | 234 | 159 |
| Thamesdown | Swindon Foyer | 245 | 193 | 131 |
| Maidstone | Maidstone Town Centre Community Initiative | 246 | 116 | 132 |
| Arun | Lineside Industrial Estate/Wickbourne Estate | 256 | 126 | 106 |
| Arun | Investing in the Community—Bognor Regis | 256 | 126 | 106 |
| Derbyshire Dales | The Bakewell Project | 257 | 320 | 358 |
| Ribble Valley | Ribble Valley | 262 | 320 | 352 |
| Macclesfield | Community Link | 274 | 223 | 274 |
| Milton Keynes | Tackling Disadvantage in a New Town | 279 | 197 | 170 |
| Woking | Sheerwater, Central and Maybury Regeneration | 291 | 143 | 180 |
| Poole | Hamworthy SRB Bid | 293 | 145 | 242 |
| Guildford | North Guildford Quality in Education | 304 | 199 | 312 |
| Lewes | Newhaven Town Centre | 308 | 229 | 215 |
| Kennet | Tidworth Community Regeneration Bid | 311 | 320 | 308 |
| Cotswold | Northleach Regeneration Scheme | 316 | 252 | 304 |
| Harrogate | Regeneration of Ripon | 318 | 272 | 224 |
| Charnwood | Loughborough Bid | 331 | 320 | 186 |
| Woodspring | Developing Individuals | 333 | 132 | 96 |
| Mendip | Morlands Industrial Site, Glastonbury | 334 | 191 | 291 |
| West Wiltshire | West Wiltshire DC Sports Facilities | 339 | 320 | 283 |
| Wealden | Herstmonceux Science Centre | 342 | 266 | 258 |
| Chelmsford | The Boarded Barns Estate | 361 | 320 | 289 |
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish his guidance for the second round of bidding on the single regeneration budget.
In the spring.
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
During 1994 my Department spent £451,905 on recruiting staff to the Department and its executive agencies: 122 staff were recruited.
Local Government Commission
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will come to a decision on the Local Government Commission's final recommendations for Lancashire.
| CO/OPSS | CCTA | CS COLLEGE | CCC | |||||
| 1993 | 1994 | 1993 | 1994 | 1993 | 1994 | 1993 | 1994 | |
| Grade 7 | 26 | 27 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| Grade 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Executive officer level | 115 | 120 | 23 | 20 | 28 | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Administrative officer level | 153 | 163 | 31 | 40 | 57 | 61 | 108 | 92 |
| Administrative assistant level | 122 | 116 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 49 | 44 |
| Total women in department | 493 | 507 | 124 | 135 | 111 | 112 | 261 | 237 |
| Total staff in department | 874 | 906 | 412 | 378 | 268 | 273 | 486 | 447 |
We are still considering the Local Government Commission's recommendations about the future structure of local government in Lancashire, and will announce a decision as soon as possible.
Duchy Of Lancaster
Departmental Employees
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and, of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
The Department and agencies for which my right hon. Friend is responsible did not exist in any comparable form before the 1992 election. The figures for 1993 and 1994 for these and other areas which fall within the Cabinet Office vote are as follows:
OHS
| RAS
| COI
| HMSO
| |||||
1993
| 1994
| 1993
| 1994
| 1993
| 1994
| 1993
| 1994
| |
| Grade 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Grade 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Executive Officer level | 18 | 16 | 19 | 16 | 22 | 26 | 149 | 158 |
| Administrative Officer level | 41 | 39 | 41 | 39 | 59 | 50 | 422 | 397 |
| Administrative assistant level | 8 | 7 | 28 | 25 | 7 | 5 | 142 | 122 |
| Total women in department | 112 | 109 | 94 | 86 | 95 | 89 | 971 | 936 |
| Total staff in department | 131 | 126 | 197 | 151 | 579 | 515 | 3,157 | 3,117 |
Technology Foresight
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when the panel reports of the technology foresight exercise will be published;, and if he will make a statement.
The foresight sector panel reports will be published in the spring. These reports will provide a sectoral focus. An overarching report from the technology foresight steering group will be published. This will draw together the main themes arising from the exercise.
Attorney-General
Absenteeism
To ask the Attorney-General what was the absenteeism rate for (a) the Government Property Lawyers and (b) the Law Officer's departments in each year since 1991.
The information available for absences through sickness is:
| Numbers of staff employed | Numbers of days absences | |
| a) Government Property Lawyers | ||
| 19921 | — | — |
| 1993 | 127 | 1,021.0 |
| 1994 | 128 | 1,225.0 |
| b) Crown Prosecution Service | ||
| 1992 | 6,221 | 48,213.0 |
| 1993 | 6,500 | 53,495.0 |
| 1994 | 6,686 | 57,284.0 |
| c) Treasury Solicitor's Department | ||
| 19922 | 473 | 6,344.5 |
| 1993 | 357 | 6,233.5 |
| 1994 | 377 | 6,274.0 |
| d) Serious Fraud Office | ||
| 1992 | 168 | 1,519.0 |
| 1993 | 199 | 1,398.0 |
| 1994 | 163 | 1,590.0 |
| e) Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers | ||
| 1992 | 26 | 47.5 |
| 1993 | 27 | 46.0 |
| 1994 | 27 | 32.0 |
| 1 Government Property Lawyers Agency was created on 1st April 1993. | ||
| 2 The figures for 1992 include staff of what is now Government Property Lawyers. | ||
Next Steps Agencies
To ask the Attorney-General if he will set out for each of the next steps agencies in his Department, whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them published periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
The chief executive of the Government Property Lawyers has provided the following information. Of the matters raised by the hon. Member, only the following have resulted from the establishment of the agency:
| £ | |
| Cost of specially designed logo | 1,586 |
| Cost of specially designed and printed stationery | 464 |
Education
School Finances
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her answer of 19 January, Official Report, columns 641–42, on what date information requested by the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth on the balances held by schools in England was due in to her Department; what steps are being taken to obtain the information where it is late; and what requirement is made of local education authorities to give reasons if the information is late.
Regulations made under section 42 of the Education Reform Act 1988 require local education authorities to publish their local management of schools outturn statements before 1 November following the end of the financial year to which the statement relates. In relation to statements for the year 1993–94, a letter was sent by the Department to all LEAs in October 1994 reminding them of the imminence of this deadline. In cases of significant delay, the LEAs in question have been further reminded as appropriate, and explanations obtained from them. The attention of LEAs has also been drawn to the powers of the Secretary of State under section 99 of the Education Act 1944.
In the table included in the answer given on 19 January to the hon. Member, the following figures should be substituted for those previously given:
LEA
| Balance £000
|
| Avon | 12,093 |
| Buckinghamshire | 8,116 |
| Dorest | 7,200 |
Secondary Schools
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is (a) the number of places, (b) the
| Net surplus places in secondary schools by local authority area (excluding GM schools in stage 1 authorities—see note 1) January 1994 | ||||||
| LEA maintained schools | Self governing (GM) schools (see note 2) | |||||
| Number of places | Number on roll | Percentage excess (see note 3) | Number of places | Number on roll | Percentage excess (see note 3) | |
| LEA | ||||||
| Avon1 | 63,459 | 52,708 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Barking | 9,390 | 9,756 | -4 | — | — | — |
| Barnet | 9,917 | 8,885 | 10 | 10,351 | 9,905 | 4 |
| Barnsley | 15,280 | 12,730 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Bedfordshire | 43,641 | 35,859 | 18 | 9,493 | 8,852 | 7 |
| Berkshire | 45,556 | 39,596 | 13 | 8,653 | 7,409 | 14 |
| Bexley | 12,522 | 10,860 | 13 | 3,691 | 3,655 | 1 |
| Birmingham | 58,380 | 49,551 | 15 | 16,521 | 15,177 | 8 |
| Bolton | 14,931 | 14,228 | 5 | 3,036 | 2,803 | 8 |
| Bradford | 46,291 | 40,988 | 11 | 5,005 | 5,286 | -6 |
| Brent | 3,329 | 2,983 | 10 | 11,664 | 9,705 | 17 |
| Bromley | 5,610 | 5,584 | 0 | 11,957 | 11,553 | 3 |
| Buckinghamshire | 28,608 | 26,989 | 6 | 10,218 | 10,174 | 0 |
| Bury | 10,687 | 10,333 | 3 | — | — | — |
| Calderdale | 8,449 | 6,846 | 19 | 7,124 | 6,543 | 8 |
| Cambridgeshire | 27,112 | 25,630 | 5 | 16,055 | 15,274 | 5 |
| Camden | 8,810 | 8,276 | 6 | 2,309 | 2,381 | -3 |
| Cheshire1 | 67,671 | 61,091 | 10 | — | — | — |
| Cleveland | 44,670 | 36,437 | 18 | — | — | — |
| Cornwall | 30,810 | 28,977 | 6 | — | — | — |
| Corporation of London | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| Coventry | 23,232 | 19,013 | 18 | — | — | — |
| Croydon | 9,654 | 9,002 | 7 | 6,320 | 5,907 | 7 |
| Cumbria | 23,982 | 20,311 | 15 | 13,042 | 10,873 | 17 |
| Derbyshire | 50,432 | 42,062 | 17 | 16,348 | 15,485 | 5 |
| Devon1 | 57,357 | 54,127 | 6 | — | — | — |
| Doncaster | 28,134 | 21,869 | 22 | — | — | — |
| Dorset | 32,932 | 31,294 | 5 | 10,554 | 9,947 | 6 |
| Dudley | 15,274 | 13,456 | 12 | 4,846 | 4,669 | 4 |
| Durham | 45,675 | 37,708 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Ealing | 8.081 | 7,368 | 9 | 6,228 | 6,111 | 2 |
| East Sussex | 37,232 | 34,348 | 8 | — | — | — |
| Enfield | 13,616 | 12,214 | 10 | 5,891 | 5,634 | 4 |
| Essex | 35,532 | 28,787 | 19 | 77,500 | 67,108 | 13 |
| Gateshead | 14,223 | 11,751 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Gloucestershire | 12,463 | 11,239 | 10 | 23,285 | 22,150 | 5 |
| Greenwich | 16,730 | 13,980 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Hackney | 9,408 | 7,445 | 21 | — | — | — |
| Hammersmith | 7,248 | 4,648 | 36 | 1,178 | 1,237 | -5 |
| Hampshire | 70,357 | 62,950 | 11 | 16,692 | 16,249 | 3 |
| Haringey | 10,718 | 9,222 | 14 | — | — | — |
| Harrow1 | 7,650 | 7,792 | -2 | — | — | — |
| Havering | 13,280 | 11,015 | 17 | 3,642 | 3,880 | -7 |
| Hereford and Worcester1 | 51,305 | 43,833 | 15 | — | — | — |
| Hertfordshire | 57,405 | 47,368 | 17 | 23,557 | 20,979 | 11 |
| Hillingdon | 2,596 | 2,127 | 18 | 12,369 | 11,988 | 3 |
| Hounslow | 12,011 | 12,403 | -3 | 2,108 | 2,123 | -1 |
| Humberside | 66,592 | 56.111 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Isle of Wight | 11,168 | 10,498 | 6 | — | — | — |
| Isles of Scilly | 345 | 122 | 65 | — | — | — |
| Islington | 8,855 | 7,215 | 19 | — | — | — |
number of pupils and (c) the percentage excess or shortage of places in (i) local education authority maintained and (ii) grant-maintained secondary schools in each local education authority in England.
The information is given in the table. Data on surplus places in the 286 grant-maintained schools in stage 1 authorities are not available. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave the Member for St. Ives (Mr. Harris) on Friday 9 December 1994, Official Report, columns 410–14 which gave for each local education authority the total number of unfilled places in schools where the number of places is greater than the number of pupils.
Net surplus places in secondary schools by local authority area (excluding GM schools in stage 1 authorities—see note 1) January 1994
| ||||||
LEA maintained schools
| Self governing (GM) schools (see note 2)
| |||||
Number of places
| Number on roll
| Percentage excess (see note 3)
| Number of places
| Number on roll
| Percentage excess (see note 3)
| |
| Kensington | 3,253 | 2,541 | 22 | 614 | 621 | -1 |
| Kent | 60,419 | 50,126 | 17 | 58,380 | 52,118 | 11 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 5,094 | 4,886 | 4 | 3,214 | 2,901 | 10 |
| Kirklees1 | 26,642 | 23,608 | 11 | — | — | — |
| Knowsley1 | 9,986 | 8,365 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Lambeth | 5,464 | 2,998 | 45 | 3,984 | 3,308 | 17 |
| Lancashire1 | 87,983 | 77,417 | 12 | — | — | — |
| Leeds1 | 48,110 | 42,450 | 12 | — | — | — |
| Leicestershire1 | 65,946 | 56,693 | 14 | — | — | — |
| Lewisham | 11,924 | 10,888 | 9 | — | — | — |
| Lincolnshire | 23,892 | 21,206 | 11 | 17,736 | 16,635 | 6 |
| Liverpool1 | 35,422 | 28,190 | 20 | — | — | — |
| Manchester | 33,733 | 21,685 | 36 | — | — | — |
| Merton | 8,674 | 7,313 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 21,301 | 16,898 | 21 | — | — | — |
| Newham1 | 16,144 | 13,485 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Norfolk | 35,198 | 32,032 | 9 | 9,067 | 8,802 | 3 |
| North Tyneside1 | 17,204 | 14,122 | 18 | — | — | — |
| North Yorkshire | 49,566 | 44,040 | 11 | — | — | — |
| Northamptonshire | 38,639 | 35,524 | 8 | 10,134 | 9,386 | 7 |
| Northumberland1 | 31,320 | 28,769 | 8 | — | — | — |
| Nottinghamshire1 | 81,573 | 61,931 | 24 | — | — | — |
| Oldham | 17,200 | 16,330 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Oxfordshire | 41,833 | 35,144 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Redbridge1 | 14,057 | 14,237 | -1 | — | — | — |
| Richmond upon Thames | 7,710 | 7,622 | 1 | — | — | — |
| Rochdale1 | 14,105 | 11,854 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Rotherham | 20,884 | 18,187 | 13 | — | — | — |
| Salford1 | 14,509 | 11,209 | 23 | — | — | — |
| Sandwell1 | 20,988 | 17,765 | 15 | — | — | — |
| Sefton | 22,335 | 19,030 | 15 | — | — | — |
| Sheffield1 | 30,348 | 25,045 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Shropshire | 26,102 | 21,522 | 18 | 3,703 | 3,701 | 0 |
| Solihull | 13,948 | 13,506 | 3 | — | — | — |
| Somerset1 | 30,803 | 27,654 | 10 | — | — | — |
| South Tyneside | 11,504 | 9,570 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Southwark | 8,505 | 6,598 | 22 | 3,175 | 2,786 | 12 |
| St. Helens | 13,880 | 11,759 | 15 | — | — | — |
| Staffordshire1 | 67,215 | 65,023 | 3 | — | — | — |
| Stockport | 17,812 | 16,020 | 10 | — | — | — |
| Suffolk | 53,590 | 48,024 | 10 | — | — | — |
| Sunderland | 21,729 | 19,436 | 11 | — | — | — |
| Surrey | 35,138 | 34,015 | 3 | 12,529 | 11,390 | 9 |
| Sutton | 4,443 | 4,660 | -5 | 6,705 | 6,699 | 0 |
| Tameside | 12,346 | 11,001 | 11 | 2,171 | 2,371 | -9 |
| Tower Hamlets1 | 13,080 | 10,985 | 16 | — | — | — |
| Trafford | 10,272 | 8,864 | 14 | 3,402 | 3,083 | 9 |
| Wakefield | 24,623 | 20,077 | 18 | — | — | — |
| Walsall | 16,297 | 13,738 | 16 | 6,567 | 5,768 | 12 |
| Waltham Forest | 11,097 | 9,407 | 15 | 2,078 | 2,099 | -1 |
| Wandsworth | 3,464 | 2,335 | 33 | 7,785 | 6,606 | 15 |
| Warwickshire | 25,580 | 20,304 | 21 | 5,993 | 4,483 | 20 |
| West Sussex | 45,558 | 39,952 | 12 | — | — | — |
| Westminster | 7,911 | 7,464 | 6 | — | — | — |
| Wigan | 21,604 | 19,523 | 10 | — | — | — |
| Wiltshire | 24,811 | 20,787 | 16 | 15,353 | 13,700 | 11 |
| Wirral1 | 22,818 | 19,052 | 17 | — | — | — |
| Wolverhampton | 16,640 | 13,597 | 18 | 2,747 | 2,404 | 12 |
1 Stage 1 LEAs which have one or more GM secondary schools | ||||||
1. Stage 1 = less than 10% of pupils in the GM sector
2. The GM columns include schools which became grant-maintained on or before 1 April 1994.
3. A negative figure indicates a net shortage of places.
Expenditure (Books And Equipment)
To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much per pupil was spent by each local education authority on books and equipment in 1993–94 prices in (a) 1979–80 and (b) 1993–94.
The table sets out per-pupil expenditure in 1993–94 prices by LEAs in England on books and equipment at LEA-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in 1979–80 and 1992–93, the latest year for which figures are available. Equivalent information is not available for grant-maintained schools.
Expenditure on books and equipment per pupil in 1979–80 and 1992–93 by LEA (in 1993–94 prices)
| Nursery primary and secondary 1979–80 £
| Nursery primary and secondary 1992–93 £
|
| ILEA | 126 | — |
| Corporation of London | — | 114 |
| Camden | — | 81 |
| Greenwich | — | 45 |
| Hackney | — | 34 |
| Hammersmith | — | 61 |
| Islington | — | 56 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | — | 82 |
| Lambeth | — | 14 |
| Lewisham | — | 197 |
| Southwark | — | 64 |
| Tower Hamlets | — | 127 |
| Wandsworth | — | 56 |
| Westminster | — | 261 |
| Barking | 40 | 111 |
| Barnet | 55 | 102 |
| Bexley | 63 | 55 |
| Brent | 75 | 66 |
| Bromley | 53 | 71 |
| Croydon | 50 | 69 |
| Ealing | 56 | 48 |
| Enfield | 50 | 31 |
| Haringey | 66 | 13 |
| Harrow | 67 | 105 |
| Havering | 51 | 85 |
| Hillingdon | 56 | 92 |
| Hounslow | 53 | 93 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 46 | 71 |
| Merton | 51 | 102 |
| Newham | 66 | 82 |
| Redbridge | 54 | 102 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 50 | 74 |
| Sutton | 55 | 54 |
| Waltham Forest | 71 | 63 |
| Birmingham | 37 | 76 |
| Coventry | 48 | 65 |
| Dudley | 29 | 51 |
| Sandwell | 45 | 56 |
| Solihull | 38 | 97 |
| Walsall | 45 | 80 |
| Wolverhampton | 47 | 51 |
| Knowsley | 47 | 76 |
| Liverpool | 47 | 48 |
| St Helens | 34 | 84 |
| Sefton | 44 | 71 |
| Wirral | 44 | 59 |
| Bolton | 46 | 96 |
| Bury | 52 | 68 |
| Manchester | 69 | 71 |
| Oldham | 48 | 82 |
| Rochdale | 51 | 49 |
| Salford | 48 | 12 |
| Stockport | 46 | 98 |
| Tameside | 44 | 73 |
| Trafford | 36 | 69 |
| Wigan | 45 | 84 |
| Barnsley | 48 | 91 |
| Doncaster | 52 | 0 |
| Rotherham | 35 | 63 |
| Sheffield | 52 | 67 |
| Bradford | 42 | 55 |
| Calderdale | 38 | 77 |
| Kirklees | 35 | 96 |
| Leeds | 36 | 57 |
| Wakefield | 39 | 67 |
| Gateshead | 50 | 87 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 58 | 64 |
| North Tyneside | 50 | 1 |
| South Tyneside | 69 | 74 |
| Sunderland | 50 | 81 |
Expenditure on books and equipment per pupil in 1979–80 and 1992–93 by LEA (in 1993–94 prices)
| Nursery primary and secondary 1979–80 £
| Nursery primary and secondary 1992–93 £
|
| Isles of Scilly | 40 | 18 |
| Avon | 39 | 109 |
| Bedfordshire | 57 | 86 |
| Berkshire | 46 | 101 |
| Buckinghamshire | 49 | 85 |
| Cambridgeshire | 47 | 91 |
| Cheshire | 39 | 62 |
| Cleveland | 49 | 67 |
| Cornwall | 47 | 80 |
| Cumbria | 40 | 64 |
| Derbyshire | 45 | 66 |
| Devon | 43 | 93 |
| Dorset | 46 | 72 |
| Durham | 36 | 51 |
| East Sussex | 58 | 93 |
| Essex | 46 | 77 |
| Gloucestershire | 37 | 79 |
| Hampshire | 36 | 97 |
| Hereford and Worcester | 44 | 83 |
| Hertfordshire | 49 | 19 |
| Humberside | 47 | 86 |
| Isle of Wight | 57 | 82 |
| Kent | 51 | 46 |
| Lancashire | 39 | 100 |
| Leicestershire | 44 | 116 |
| Lincolnshire | 40 | 101 |
| Norfolk | 49 | 60 |
| North Yorkshire | 48 | 102 |
| Northamptonshire | 48 | 86 |
| Northumberland | 55 | 61 |
| Nottinghamshire | 46 | 81 |
| Oxfordshire | 58 | 89 |
| Shropshire | 40 | 17 |
| Somerset | 44 | 70 |
| Staffordshire | 54 | 73 |
| Suffolk | 45 | 189 |
| Surrey | 32 | 53 |
| Warwickshire | 36 | 92 |
| West Sussex | 55 | 109 |
| Wiltshire | 45 | 88 |
| Total | 49 | 77 |
Pupil Statistics
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the estimated number of pupils in 1995–96 aged (a) five to 10 years and (b) 11 to 15 years in each local education authority and in total.
The projected numbers for England for January 1996 are as follows:
| Age (at 31 August 1995) | ||
| Five to 101 | 11 to 15 | |
| Maintained primary and secondary schools2 | 3,583,000 | 2,691,000 |
| Maintained special schools2 | 33,000 | 48,000 |
| 1 Excluding rising fives, ie pupils whose fifth birthday falls between 1 September 1995 and 31 December 1995. | ||
| 2 Including grant maintained schools. | ||
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much her Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to her Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
In 1994, the Department and its executive agency recruited 339 staff. We estimate the recruitment costs to the Department to have been approximately £210,000.Projections at local education authority level are not available.
Student Loans Company
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 720, on what date she was informed of the allegations made concerning the Student Loans Company; what was the nature of these allegations; at what date management consultants were invited to tender to carry out an investigation into the allegations; if she will identify those consultants who were invited to tender; which consultant submitted the lowest tender; on what date the contract was awarded; on what date the provisional findings were received; and if she will place a copy in the Library.
My right hon. Friend was informed of the most recent allegations of impropriety at the Student Loans Company on 5 October 1994. Tenders for the contract to carry out an investigation were invited from three organizations—Robson Rhodes, Ernst and Young and Coopers and Lybrand—on 10 October 1994.The contract was awarded to Coopers and Lybrand on 12 October. The winning tender was not the lowest. The contract was awarded to the tenderer who was considered to offer the best value for money. Lowest cost alone is not necessarily the best indicator of this.My right hon. Friend received a report of Coopers and Lybrand's provisional findings on 9 January 1995. The investigation into the allegations is not complete. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the nature of allegations which are still under investigation, nor to make public provisional findings. The full conclusions of the investigation will be reported to the Public Accounts Committee in the usual way.
Boxing Skills
To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if she will give the names and locations of any other schools that have applied for, or will be participating in, the basic boxing skills training scheme similar to that given at Croxteth community school; when the scheme will be launched; and what will be the extent of Government funding;(2) what funding has been made available to Croxteth community school to teach basic boxing skills.
The boxing skills training scheme at the Croxteth community school is privately sponsored and attracts support of £5,000 through the Government's sports match scheme. Information about similar schemes is not collected centrally.
Scotland
Health Care International
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what offer of regional selective assistance has been made to the Abu Dhabi Investment Group in relation to its bid for the Health Care International hospital at Clydebank; on what this RSA assistance will be spent; if the offer is conditional on the original employment targets at the Health Care International being achieved; and what these targets are.
No further offer of regional selective assistance has been made. If a new investor were prepared to take the project forward, it is possible that the balance of existing offer could be transferred. Such a transfer would be subject to appropriate conditions and would be based upon the project being taken forward as previously envisaged. If the offer were transferred, the unpaid balance of grant would be released by stages, in line with the achievement of job targets which would otherwise have applied to HCI. These targets envisaged the ultimate creation of 1,800 direct new jobs at Clydebank.
Gemini Housing Association
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what funds Scottish Homes has made available to Gemini Housing Association;(2) which housing associations have been invited to make a bid to take over Scottish Homes's property in
(a) Springburn, (b) the Royston area and (c) Dennistown;
(3) when the board of Scottish Homes decided that its officers and staff would form Gemini Housing Association;
(4) how many officers of Scottish Homes have been involved with the setting up of Gemini Housing Association;
(5) how many hours Scottish Homes's officials and staff have devoted to the running of Gemini Housing Association during 1994.
The information requested is a matter for Scottish Homes. I have asked its chairman, Sir James Mellon, to write to are hon. Member with the relevant information.
Competitive Tendering
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he has decided on the compulsory competitive tendering timetables to apply in Scotland.
The Government are committed to ensuring that the benefits of local government reorganisation and compulsory competitive tendering are realised across Scotland. To achieve both aims, a flexible programme is required, linked closely to Scottish circumstances.I therefore issued a consultation paper on compulsory competitive tendering and local government reorganisation last July. I have considered carefully the responses submitted and have decided on certain adjustments to the timetables proposed in the consultation paper.For work subject to CCT under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, competition will be reintroduced with effect from 1 July 1997. By this date, contracts must be commenced. There will be no exemptions for construction contracts worth over £0.5 million.For work subject to the Local Government Act 1988, competition will be reintroduced and contracts will require to be let between July 1997 and July 1998.The new manual services, security services and vehicle management will follow the same timetable as for the existing 1988 Act activities.The new professional services will require to he let between April 1998 and April 1999. Authorities will have flexibility during that period to decide the areas of work that they wish to put out to competition first.The timetable for housing management remains unchanged. However, the dates will now refer to when contracts are let rather than when the contracts commence. This is in line with the timetable for professional services.
Wales
Schools, Clwyd
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit (a) Penyffordd voluntary primary school and (b) Penyffordd county primary school, Clwyd; and if he will meet the governors of each school.
Neither my right hon. Friend nor I have any plans at present to visit Penyffordd voluntary primary school or Penyfford county primary school. We will, however, bear these in mind when arranging our future programmes of school visits.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning his Department's allocation of money for schools in Clwyd; and if he will make a statement.
The Department has received many representations on the issue of education funding in Clwyd in 1995–96 from school governors, head teachers, parents and others. My right hon. Friend does not set individual county education budgets. It is for each local authority to determine how much of its available resources to direct towards the services it provides, including education, in the light of its statutory responsibilities and its perception of local needs and priorities.
| As at 1 April | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
| Total women | 1,016 | 1,140.5 | 1,021 | 948 |
| Grade 3 | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Grade 7 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 23 |
| Executive officer | 200 | 207.5 | 191 | 190 |
| Administrative officer | 295.5 | 282.5 | 259 | 240 |
| Administrative assistant | 161 | 187.5 | 157 | 158 |
Ministerial Visits (Schools)
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which schools he and his Ministers have visited since the 1992 general election.
School visits undertaken by Welsh Office Ministers since 9 April 1992 are as follows:
- Aberdare girls high school
- Ashgrove Special School
- Bedwas Comprehensive School
School Playing Fields
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning his new policy on school playing fields.
No. Neither my right hon. Friend nor I has announced a new policy on school playing fields.
Absenteeism
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the absenteeism rate for (a) the Welsh Office and (b) Cadw in each year since 1991.
The average number of working days absent per member of staff was 9.82 in 1992 and 10.1 in 1993. Statistics on a comparable basis are not available for 1991.Details for Cadw are not separately identified; they are included in the Welsh Office totals.
Christmas Expenditure
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many official Christmas cards he and his Ministers intend to send in 1994; how much these cards will cost, (a) to buy, (b) to post and (c) in staff time to sign, address and place in envelopes; and if he will place in the Members' Library a sample copy of the official Christmas card he intends to send this year.
I apologise for not replying to the hon. Gentleman's question sooner.Ministers in this Department sent out 900 official Christmas cards in 1994 costing
(a) £755 to buy, and (b) £200 to post.
The disaggregated cost for staff time is not available.
Departmental Employees
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and, of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
The numbers of individuals were as follows:
- Bishop Vaughan Grant-Maintained School
- Bishopston Comprehensive School
- Brynhyfryd School
- Brynmawr Grant-Maintained School
- Coed y Lan Comprehensive School
- Corpus Christi High School
- Crickhowell High School
- Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School
- Dame Anna Childs Endowed School
- Dynevor Comprehensive School
- Eglwys Wen and Melin Gruffydd Primary School
- Eirias High School
- Garnfach Infants School
- Glan Ely High School
- Heol Ddu Comprehensive School
- Holyhead High School
- John Beddoes School
- Llandovery College (Independent)
- Llandrindod County Primary School
- Llanfigangel Rhydithon County Primary SL0
- Lliswerry Comprehensive School
- Llwyn Crwn County Primary SL0
- Maes Dyfan Special School
- Marlborough Road Junior School
- Palmerston County Primary School
- Pencoed Comprehensive School
- Pentrepoeth School
- Pilgwenlly County Primary School
- Radyr Comprehensive School
- St David's College (Independent)
- St David's High School, Wrexham
- Tredegar Comprehensive School
- Tregynon (Special Needs) School
- Trelai County Primary School
- Windsor Clive Infants & Junior Schools
- Ysgol Bro Lleu
- Ysgol Caergeiliog (Grant Maintained)
- Ysgos Croes Atti
- Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan (Grant Maintained)
- Ysgol Esgob Morgan
- Ysgol Glan Clywd
- Ysgol Gwynllyw (County Secondary)
- Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelin
- Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant
- Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Brynsierfel
- Ysgol Rowen
Company Sizes
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many companies in Wales employ (a) more than 200 persons; (b) fewer than 200 but more than 20 persons and (c) fewer than 20 persons; and what are the percentages represented by each of all companies.
The information requested is not available for companies in Wales. However, a breakdown of census of employment data units, which are roughly equivalent to workplaces, is available and is shown in the table:
| Size of units | Number of units1in Wales | Per cent. of total |
| (Number of employees) | (thousands) | |
| 1–24 | 52.5 | 88.4 |
| 25–199 | 6.3 | 10.6 |
| 200 and over | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| All sizes | 59.4 | 100.0 |
| Source: NOMIS. | ||
| 1 The figures relate only to data units with employees. Solo proprietors and HM forces are excluded. Also excluded are agricultural and horticultural holdings. Some workplaces may comprise several data units because of the way the information is collected eg. because of different pay arrangements, for weekly and monthly paid staff. | ||
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
In 1994, my Department spent £121,000. Forty-one substantive staff were recruited, some from other Departments.
Smart Scheme
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the European Union on the criteria to be used and the control and compliance mechanisms in adjudicating applications for assistance under the SMART scheme.
SMART is a nationwide competition whose guidelines are drawn up by the DTI as the lead Department. The European Commission was consulted and notified of the criteria used for running the competition and judging the entries. All SMART programmes receive EC approval prior to launch.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to strengthen the scientific, technological and engineering qualifications and know how available to his advisory panel on applications for assistance under the SMART scheme.
I am satisfied that its combined professional qualifications and experience, and the additional expertise that it is able to call upon when necessary, suitably equip the appraisal team for the task of judging the SMART competition.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the scientific and engineering qualifications of his advisory panel on applications for assistance under the SMART scheme; when he last assessed the quality of the science and engineering qualifications required to make appropriate assessment of such applications; and if he will make a statement.
The members of the appraisal team together possess the following qualifications: BSc, PhD, DipSH, ONC(Eng), IEng, MIMechE, AMIEE. Each also has direct experience of having worked in industry.In addition, the panel is able, as necessary, to consult specialist advisers within other Government Departments, the research establishments and the Patent Office, thus affording them access to expertise of worldwide repute.
Nhs Trusts Cardiff
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to announce the appointment of a chairman and the board for the (a) Dental Hospital trust, Cardiff and (b) Cardiff Community and Priority Services trust.
Interviews for the post of chairman of both trusts will be held shortly, and I shall make an announcement as soon as possible thereafter. I hope to announce the names of non-executive directors by 31 March.
Cultural Organisations
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library copies of the reports from (a) his Department, (b) S4C and (c) the Association for Business Sponsorship in the Arts in Wales into the funding of cultural organisations in Wales via matching grants.
My Department has not prepared any reports into his matter. Any reports relating to S4C or the Association of Business Sponsorship in the Arts in Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for National Heritage.
Welsh Development Agency
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency concerning past expenditure on out-sourcing computer systems and relevant infrastructure expenditure on dedicated land lines which required but did not receive (a) board approval, (b) advertisement in the contracts supplement of the Official Journal of the European Union and (c) his Department's approval; and if he will make a statement.
I have written to the chairman of the WDA expressing my concern about the breaches of the rules on the procurement of information systems. The chairman shares that concern and the agency has taken steps to ensure that such breaches do not recur. The chief executive of the agency has reported on these matters to the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and has taken disciplinary action.My Department is discussing with the agency what further action may be necessary.
Public Bodies
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 717, if he will give the equivalent out-turn figures for 1993–94 and the anticipated out-turn figures for 1994–95 for the management running costs of each of the non-departmental public bodies he sponsors.
The figures are set out in the table:
| NDPB Running Costs | ||
| Executive NDPB | Out-turn 1993–94 | Forecast out-turn 1994–95 |
| Housing for Wales | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Sports Council for Wales | 1not available | 1.016 |
| Arts Council of Wales | — | 1.719 |
| Further Education | ||
| Funding Council | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Higher Education | ||
| Funding Council | 1.091 | 1.4 |
| Cardiff Bay Development Corporation | 4.094 | 4.0 |
| Land Authority for Wales | 1.882 | 1.882 |
| National Museum of Wales | 9.895 | 10.24 |
| National Library of Wales | 4.224 | 4.339 |
| Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments | 1.18 | 1.18 |
| Welsh National Board for Nursing, | ||
| Midwifery and Health Visiting | 0.987 | 0.957 |
| Wales Youth Agency | 0.38 | 0.386 |
| Welsh Language | ||
| Board | — | 0.872 |
NDPB Running Costs
| ||
Executive NDPB
| Out-turn 1993–94
| Forecast out-turn 1994–95
|
| ACAC | — | 1.573 |
| Wales Tourist Board | 3.859 | 4.14 |
| Welsh Development Agency | 15.09 | 14.13 |
| Development Board for Rural Wales | 3.27 | 3.253 |
| Countryside Council for Wales | 8.72 | 9.2 |
1The definition of running costs for the Sports Council for Wales has been revised, effective from 1994–95. | ||
Konver Scheme
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the eligibility of (a) the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cardiff and (b) the Cardiff area as a whole for designation under the Konver scheme.
Assessment of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, and its impact on the wider Cardiff area, has shown that the area and the establishment will not be eligible for Konver support.
Social Security
Invalidity Benefit
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people have had their claims for invalidity benefit withdrawn in Liverpool each quarter during the last five years for the reason for being found fit for work within limits; what is the average weekly loss of income incurred by a claimant who has invalidity benefit withdrawn.
The information requested on the numbers who have had their invalidity benefit withdrawn is not available.The average weekly amount of invalidity benefit in payment at 3 April 1993, the latest date for which information is available, was £79.34.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the consequential effect will be to claimants of the proposed changes from invalidity benefit to incapacity benefit; and if he will make a statement.
Existing invalidity benefit recipients will be protected. Incapacity benefit will be paid at the same rates as the preceding invalidity benefit. The rates will continue to be uprated annually with the exception of the earning-related addition, which will be frozen at the rate in payment at the point of change.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total annual amount paid to those people in receipt of invalidity benefit; and if he will break the figures down in percentage terms for payments to (a) single claimants,(b) additions for spouses or partners, (c) additions for children or dependants and (d) additional component element, and age additions.
The information is not available in the form requested. In 1993–94 the total amount paid to people in receipt of invalidity benefit was £6,967 million. Data are not collected on the breakdown of expenditure between each of the components of invalidity benefit. Estimates of the breakdown are in the table:
| Breakdown of invalidity benefit expenditure at 1993–94 prices | ||
| £ million | Per cent. | |
| Personal benefit | 4,610 | 66 |
| Adult dependency increase | 780 | 11 |
| Child dependency increase | 120 | 1.7 |
| Invalidity allowance (net) | 210 | 3 |
| Additional Pension | 1,200 | 17 |
| Graduated benefit | 40 | 0.6 |
Note:1. Estimates rounded to the nearest £10 million. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2. The invalidity allowance figure is the net amount paid. Invalidity allowance is extinguished by additional pension and /or guaranteed minimum pension entitlement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what savings are expected to arise from the change from invalidity benefit to incapacity benefit; and if he will make a statement.
Total estimated savings from the incapacity benefit changes are:
- 1995–96: £410 million
- 1996–97: £1,185 million
- 1997–98: £1,720 million
Note: Estimates rounded to nearest £5 million, expressed in cash terms.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants who lose their entitlement to invalidity benefit will be entitled to income support.
On average, in 1995–96 we estimate that about 45 per cent. of claimants excluded by the new medical test will be entitled to income support.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what resources he has made available to the Social Security Benefit Agency and the Independent Tribunal Service to cope with appeals arising out of the change from invalidity benefit to incapacity benefit.
The total amount provided to the Benefits Agency to deal with incapacity benefits in the first year is £37 million. This includes resources to deal with appeals. The amount provided for the independent tribunal service for incapacity benefit appeals in the first year is £8.17 million.
Incapacity Benefit
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the current invalidity benefit claimants will be exempt from the new test for incapacity benefit, by virtue of (a) age, (b) receipt of disability living allowance care allowance—higher rate—and (c) prescribed list of severe medical conditions.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) on 9 December 1994, Official Report, columns 385–86.
Csa
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much revenue has been collected by the Child Support Agency as fees in the first half of 1994–95; how much in the way of fees is outstanding; and how many actions have been taken by the CSA to enforce outstanding fees.
Administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member shortly.
Letter from Ann Chant to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 27 January 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the collection and enforcement of fees due to the Child Support Agency.
During the period April 1994 to September 1994 the Agency collected in excess of £1 million in fees. At the end of November 1994, the total for the year to date was £1.45 million and the amount of outstanding fees due to the Agency, including fees charged in 1993/94 was £11.6 million.
The Agency has sought or is seeking Court action for the recovery of outstanding fees in approximately 1,350 cases.
I hope that this is of help.
Personal Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his latest estimate of the total sum expended by his Department on incentive payments to those opting into personal pensions.
The most recent published, audited figure on the cost to the national insurance fund of incentive payments for those opting out of SERPS into appropriate personal pensions for the period 1988 to 1993 is £2.4 billion, up to the end of 1992–93.The Government Actuary's report on the contributions uprating order for 1994–95 estimated to total additional cost for 1993–94 and 1994–95 as £0.7 billion.
Fraud
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what evaluation he has made of the experience of the Australian Government in the detection and eradication of fraud by benefit claimants; and if he will make a statement.
As part of the six nations social security interchange scheme, a senior official from the security, fraud and control division of the Australian Department of Social Security has been seconded to this Department since 1993. He has been assisting in the development of the security strategy, modelled on the equivalent Australian fraud control plan.A small team from Australia is currently working with the Information Technology Services Agency and the Benefits Agency as part of the security strategy.
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Invalidity And Disablement Allowance
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the current claimants in receipt of invalidity or severe disablement allowance are (a) single, (b) in receipt of additional payments for their spouses or partners, (c) in receipt of an additional earnings-related element and (d) in receipt of additional payments in relation to age bands; and if he will make a statement.
There is no information on the number of invalidity benefit or severe disablement allowance recipients who are single.The available information is in the table.
| The number of Invalidity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance recipients in Great Britain on the 3 April 1993 (latest date for which information available) | |
| Benefit | Number of recipients |
| Invalidity Benefit | 1,580,000 |
| Adult dependency increase | 457,000 |
| Additional pension | 1,384,000 |
| Invalidity allowance1 | 584,000 |
| Family credit expenditure | |||||
| £million | |||||
| 1989–90 | 1990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | |
| Family with one child | 129 | 145 | 178 | 277 | 335 |
| Family with two children | 141 | 162 | 212 | 329 | 390 |
| Family with three children | 88 | 105 | 131 | 188 | 219 |
| Family with four children | 41 | 49 | 61 | 82 | 92 |
| Family with five or more children | 27 | 33 | 44 | 53 | 55 |
| All families | 425 | 494 | 626 | 929 | 11,091 |
| 1 Estimated outturn. | |||||
| Percentage | |||||
| 1989–90 | 1990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | |
| Family with one child | 30 | 29 | 28 | 30 | 31 |
| Family with two children | 33 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Family with three children | 21 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| Family with four children | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Family with five or more children | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| All families | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Source: Five per cent. sample of Family Credit awards and the Departmental Report 1994.
Employment
Jobcentres
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list by region the location of every jobcentre in Scotland stating in each case if the jobcentre runs job clubs.
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 27 January 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the location of every Jobcentre in Scotland by region, stating in each case if the Jobcentre runs Jobclubs.
The number of Invalidity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance recipients in Great Britain on the 3 April 1993 (latest date for which information available)
| |
Benefit
| Number of recipients
|
| Severe Disablement Allowance | 316,000 |
| Adult dependency increase | 4,000 |
| Additional pension | 1,000 |
| Age related addition | 310,000 |
Notes:
| |
1736,000 recipients entitlement to invalidity allowance is extinguished by their additional pension and/or guaranteed minimum pension. | |
Source: Based on a one per cent sample of claimants within Great Britain, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Family Credit
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much family credit expressed (a) in overall cash terms and (b) as a percentage of total expenditure on family credit, has been given to families with (i) one child, (ii) two children, (iii) three children, (iv) four children and (v) five or more children in each of the past five years.
The precise information is not available. Information derived on a pro-rata basis is set out in the tables:In Scotland, Jobclubs are run both directly by the Employment Service (ES) and on behalf of the ES by external contractors. The following table shows the location of Jobcentres by Regional and Island Council Authorities and those which run Jobclubs.I hope this is helpful.
| Regional Authority | Jobcentre |
| Strathclyde | 1Irvine |
| 1Kilbirnie | |
| 1Kilmarnock A and B | |
| 1Kilwinning | |
| Largs | |
| Saltcoats | |
| 1Ayr | |
| 1Cumnock | |
| Girvan | |
| Troon | |
| 1Bridgeton |
Regional Authority
| Jobcentre
|
| Cambuslang | |
1Castlemilk | |
| Central | |
1Langside | |
1Laurieston | |
1Rutherglen | |
1Shawlands | |
1South Side | |
1Easterhouse | |
1Shettleston | |
1Parkhead | |
1Cumbernauld | |
1Kirkintilloch | |
| Kilsyth | |
1Springburn | |
1Govan A and B | |
| Hillington | |
1Renfrew | |
1Alexandria | |
1Anniesland B | |
1Clydebank | |
1Drumchapel | |
1Dumbarton | |
| Helensburgh | |
1Maryhill A and B | |
| Oban | |
1Partick | |
| Dunoon | |
1Greenock A and B | |
1Port Glasgow | |
| Rothsey | |
| Carluke | |
1Lanark | |
1Larkhall | |
1Motherwell A and B | |
| Shotts | |
1Wishaw | |
1Airdrie | |
1Bellshill | |
| Blantyre | |
1Coatbridge | |
1East Kilbride | |
1Hamilton | |
1Uddingston | |
1Barrhead | |
| Campbeltown | |
1Johnstone | |
1Paisley | |
| Paisley A and B | |
| Lothian | 1Dalkeith |
1Haddington | |
| Loanhead | |
1Musselburgh | |
| Penicuik | |
1Edinburgh A, B and C | |
1Leith | |
1Portobello | |
| SOSTAS—Edinburgh, South St. | |
| Andrew Street | |
1Wester Hailes | |
1Bathgate A and B | |
| Broxburn | |
1Livingston | |
| Borders | Eyemouth |
1Galashiels | |
1Hawick | |
| Kelso | |
| Peebles | |
| Dumfries and Galloway | Annan |
| Castle Douglas | |
1Dumfries |
Regional Authority
| Jobcentre
|
| Lockerbie | |
| Newton Stewart | |
| Sanquhar | |
1Stranraer | |
| Fife | 1Cowdenbeath |
| Cupar | |
1Dunfermline | |
1Glenrothes | |
| Inverkeithing | |
1Kirkcaldy | |
1Leven | |
| St. Andrews | |
| Central | 1Alloa |
| Bo'ness | |
1Denny | |
1Falkirk | |
1Grangemouth | |
1Stirling | |
| Highland | 1Fort William |
1Portree | |
1Thurso | |
| Wick | |
| Dingwall | |
1Elgin | |
| Forres | |
1Invergordon | |
1Inverness A and B | |
| Nairn | |
| Grampian | 1Aberdeen A, B, C and D |
| Banff | |
1Buckie | |
1Fraserburgh | |
1Peterhead | |
| Tayside | 1Arbroath |
| Blairgowrie | |
1Dundee A, B, C and D | |
| Forfar | |
| Montrose | |
1Perth | |
| Western Isle Island Council | 1Stornoway |
| Shetland Islands Council | Lerwick |
1 Denotes the Jobcentres which have linked Jobclubs. | |
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
In 1994, the Employment Department group recruited 1,630 permanent staff. It is not possible to identify the cost separately from general expenditure on human resource management.
Staff Safety
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what research has been carried out into the feasibility of safety screens for Employment Service staff dealing with the jobseeker's allowance; and if he will make a statement.
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Ian McCartney, dated 27 January 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about what research has been carried out into the feasibility of safety screens for Employment Service (ES) staff who would administer the proposed Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA).
The ES is currently considering what safety measures will be appropriate as and when the proposed JSA is introduced.
A generic risk assessment has concluded that most JSA processes can be handled in an open plan environment. Local risk assessments will be carried out in all of our local offices.
I hope this is helpful.
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many assaults have been committed on staff in the Employment Service and Department of Employment in each year since 1979 (a) nationally, (b) by region and (c) by individual office; and if he will make a statement.
I am able to supply statistics for the period 1989 to September 1994. No earlier statistics are available. I am sorry that details at individual office level could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.
| Employment Service 1989—September 1994 reported assaults (all types) | ||||||
| Region | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 11994 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 46 | 79 | 112 | 81 | 126 | 104 |
| North west | 125 | 144 | 170 | 199 | 185 | 168 |
| London and south east | 695 | 608 | 520 | 455 | 593 | 440 |
| Northern | 51 | 86 | 60 | 72 | 52 | 102 |
| South west | 72 | 117 | 83 | 131 | 149 | 113 |
| Wales | 21 | 30 | 45 | 57 | 41 | 47 |
| Scotland | 56 | 73 | 67 | 83 | 85 | 52 |
| East Midlands | 93 | 118 | 79 | 103 | 99 | 148 |
| West Midlands | 50 | 135 | 98 | 208 | 115 | 114 |
| Total | 1,209 | 1,390 | 1,234 | 1,389 | 1,445 | 1,288 |
| This table includes statistics of all reported assaults. These include actual physical assaults, attempted physical assaults and verbal abuse. Of the 7,955 incidents reported during the period, 1,065 were actual assaults, 1,197 were attempted assaults and 5,693 were incidents of verbal abuse. Most of the actual assaults do not result in an injury and only a small proportion of injuries require any kind of medical treatment. | ||||||
| 1 This is a nine month figure | ||||||
| Department of Employment Statistics: 1990–1994 | ||||
| Department | 1990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 |
| Health and SafetyExecutive | 6 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| ACAS | nil | nil | nil | 1 |
| Employment Department | nil | nil | nil | nil |
Skills Training Agency
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his most recent assessment of the privatisation of the skills training agency.
The privatisation was completed in 1990 in line with the objectives set for it. The purchasers of skill centres have been responsible for the business since then.
Training
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if the Government will provide training, rehabilitation and assistance from the Employment Service to provide for those taken off invalidity benefit.
People whose claims to invalidity benefit are disallowed and who register with the Employment Service have immediate access to a 1E1111 range of provision to help them return to work. This help includes referral to training programmes run by training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies as well as the advice, assessment and guidance, and where necessary specialist services for people with disabilities, which are available directly from the ES. These arrangements will continue and be expanded following the introduction, from April 1995, of incapacity benefit.
Defence
Departmental Employees
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d)in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
The number of women employed by my Department and its agencies over the past four years at the specified grade levels is set out below.
| Civilian women | ||||
| 1 April 1991 | 1 April 1992 | 1 April 1993 | 1 April 1994 | |
| Non-Industrial women | 33,639 | 33,914 | 32,301 | 30,602 |
| Industrial women | 9,251 | 8,933 | 7,285 | 7,118 |
| Total women | 42,890 | 42,847 | 39,586 | 37,720 |
| Grade levels1 | 1 April 1991 | 1 April 1992 | 1 April 1993 | 1 April 1994 |
| Grade 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Grade 7 | 136 | 148 | 156 | 157 |
| Executive officer | 4,252 | 4,325 | 4,185 | 4,225 |
| Admin officer | 14,004 | 14,160 | 13,388 | 13,532 |
| Admin assistant | 11,320 | 11,156 | 10,426 | 10,007 |
| 1 Non-Industrial staff only, including grade equivalents. | ||||
Electro-Shock Devices
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement regarding the payment arrangements for military, security and police equipment supplied by United Kingdom companies for the A1-Yamamah contract with special reference to electronic batons.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave the hon. member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 17 January Official Report, column 452.
Next Steps Agencies
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out for each of the next steps agencies in his Department, whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them published periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
These are matters for the chief executives of my Department's executive agencies. I have therefore asked them to reply.
Letter from Mike Dymond to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 26 January 1995:
1. As part of his co-ordinated reply to your question concerning the operation and costs of Next Steps Agencies, Minister of State (DP) has asked me to provide you with the details for the Defence Accounts Agency. 2. The Agency was launched under the title of its predecessor organisation (Director General Defence Accounts) on 1 April 1991 and was restyled the Defence Accounts Agency on 1 July 1993. 3. We occupy the same buildings as we did before becoming an Agency. No new buildings have been acquired. 4. Staff numbers have been reduced steadily since the Agency's launch, from 2,184 on 1 April 1991 to an expected 1,808 on 31 March 1995. No additional staff have been required as a result of agency status. 5. We continue to publish a monthly staff newsletter (Snapshot) which was originally introduced by the Director General Defence Accounts in September 1989 as a means of improving communication within the organisation. 6. The Agency has no executive cars. 7. The badge which we use as our logo is an amended version of that granted by the College of Heralds to the Director General Defence Accounts in 1980. The amendment, to reflect the Agency's change of title in July 1993, was made at a cost of £500. 8. The Agency has no corporate clothing. 9. The Agency does have a small stock of its own letterheaded paper. The letterhead was designed in-house; the cost of printing was £2,016.
Letter from Paul Altobell to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 23 January 1995:
PO NO. 5744G Dated 20 January 1995
Minister of State (DP) has asked me to reply to your question about Next Steps Agencies and how this relates to my Agency.
Taking the individual parts of your question in the order put to me:
DASA has not acquired its own headquarters building.
No additional support staff were employed since becoming an Agency. All work associated with our status was absorbed by existing staff at a time when DASA was reducing its staff numbers by 10%.
DASA publishes an Annual Report and Accounts. The main cost of this has been borne centrally by MoD. We estimate this cost to be about £15,000.
We have no fleet cars.
DASA's logo was designed and produced by our own staff at negligible cost.
We have no corporate clothing.
Since becoming an Agency in 1992 we have spent a total £3,028 on corporate stationery.
Letter from A. C. Sleigh to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 23 January 1995:
The Secretary of State for Defence has asked me to reply to your question on perquisites and other expenditure by Next Steps Agencies.
This Agency has not acquired any additional land or buildings since it was launched as an Agency on 1 July 1992. The number of support staff has reduced by 14 since that date. The fleet of passenger vehicles has been reduced from 5 to 1, the annual operating cost being approximately £11,000. The design cost of the Agency logo was £2,000 and the cost of corporate stationery is £1.20 per 1000 sheets of paper.
This Agency does not publish periodical journals, neither does it have corporate clothing.
Letter from Keith Ellender to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
I have been asked to reply to your written question to the Secretary of State for Defence on additional costs incurred, as they affect my Agency.
I can tell you that:-a: No of HQ building has been acquired; b. No additional support staff have been required; c. No periodical journals are published; d. No cars have been acquired; e. No special logo has been designed; f. No corporate clothing has been acquired; g. No specially designed and printed corporate stationery has been purchased. New stationery to reflect the change of status was ordered through Ministry of Defence, Common Service channel, at negligible cost.
Letter from J. R. Drew to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
I am responding as Chief Executive of the Army Base Repair Organisation (ABRO) to your Parliamentary Question about Next Steps Defence agencies.
ABRO was launched on 1 April 1993 and consists of 9 workshops and 11 contract repair offices in various locations around the United Kingdom with a Headquarters in Andover, Hampshire. The Headquarters occupies exactly the same MOD building as the organisation which preceded it—Command Army Static Workshops.
The increased delegations afforded to the Agency have necessitated an increase in support staff of 22.5 since launch date.
In 1994 the Agency published its first Annual Report and Accounts at a cost of £33,746 inc. VAT. The Corporate Plan for 1994 was also published at a cost of £22,105 inc. VAT. These were given wide public and parliamentary distribution and copies are enclosed for you.
ABRO has no fleet of executive cars. As Chief Executive I retain the use of the Army MT pool car for official business to which I was earlier entitled. This vehicle is also available to the rest of the Headquarters staff and is used extensively by them. Most of the satellite workshops also have a car available but, again, it is used in a "pool" role rather than as dedicated Executive Car.
ABRO does have its own logo which was designed in-house prior to launch, at no additional cost.
There is no corporate clothing currently in use within the Agency. However the Defence Clothing and Textiles Agency (DCTA) have undertaken to supply overalls for our workforce which will incorporate the ABRO logo on the back. This will be in place of the Army coveralls currently supplied by DCTA and will involve no additional cost.
ABRO still uses normal MOD channels for its day to day stationery requirements however we are currently in the process of ordering a three year supply of specially designed and printed business cards for about 100 of our Headquarters staff at a cost of some £1400. We have many dealings with private companies and contractors for which these cards will prove invaluable.
Letter from Richard Kirby to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
PQ ON NEXT STEPS AGENCIES
Your Ordinary Written question, tabled in Parliament on Thursday 19 January, sought specific information concerning the operation and expenditure of agencies.
I am responding as the Chief Executive of the Defence Clothing & Textile Agency—a Tri Service organisation which was granted Defence Agency status on 22 November 1994. For ease of reference, I have tabled my responses in the attached Annex and I trust they meet with your requirements.
Annex:
A. Questions and Responses to the PQ.
Questions and responses to the PQ from the Hon. G. Kaufman MP which relate to the defence clothing and textiles agency (DCTA)
1. Q: Have they acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rent?
- A: No acquisition has been made. Continuing use is being made of existing service facilities.
2. Q: How many support staff they have acquired which were not required when their operations were within his Department?
- A: None, staff numbers are reducing in accordance with Defence Cost Studies and efficiency programmes.
3. Q: How many of them published periodical journals and at what annual cost?
- A: None that are new—existing Corporate and Business plans are available and will continue to be produced.
4. Q: How many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost?
- A: None that are special. Ministry of Defence Central Motor Transport services are used where appropriate.
5. Q: How many have specially designed logos and at what cost?
- A: One DCTA logo, as depicted on my covering letter with no cash expenditure as it was designed in-house.
6. Q: How many have corporate clothing and at what cost?
- A: There is no discrete corporate clothing within the DCTA excepting normal service uniforms for Service personnel.
7. Q: What is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery?
- A: No additional costs have arisen.
Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
QUESTION 27, ORDER PAPER 19 JANUARY 1995
Letter from Andrew Roach to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 23 January 1995:
I have been advised of your Parliamentary Question regarding Agencies, made on 17 January and my reply is set out below.
The Defence Animal Centre (DAC) is a single military unit and very few infrastructural changes have been made in order to facilitate the move to Agency status. In particular:
- no additional HQ buildings have been acquired (in fact the number of buildings has reduced as a result of colocation of sites)
- no additional support staff have been employed
- no periodical journals have been published
- I have a military staff car which is also used for other purposes and is not an "Agency extra"
- the DAC logo was designed by one of my staff (at no cost)
- we do not have corporate clothing other than military uniform
- we do not have corporate stationary
I hope that this answers your question satisfactorily. Please contact me if you require any further information. This reply has been sent initially to the MOD Framework Team.
Letter from Tweedie M. Brown to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
The Secretary of State for Defence has asked me to reply to your questions about the cost of various Defence Agency activities. In respect of the Defence Postal and Courier Services Agency the information is as follows:
Purchase/Lease of HQ Buildings: None—Existing buildings retained.
Support Staff: 4.
But this would be offset within MOD from whom we took over the work.
Periodical/Journals: None.
Cars: None.
Logo: Design produced in house. Reproduction costs £1,000.
Clothing: Protective clothing with Corporate symbol—£1,500.
Corporate Stationery: Produced in house. Cost not separately identifiable.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
In today's written answer the Minister of State for Defence Procurement informed you that I would be replying to you on the operational and managerial issues regarding the Defence Research Agency (DRA) as part of the overall response to your question concerning costs of Next Steps Agencies.
No extra costs were incurred in providing a headquarters building when the DRA was formed as I and my staff were able to move into offices already available at our existing site at Farnborough previously occupied by the Royal Aerospace Establishment senior management which was being superseded by the Agency.
Part of the change in establishing the Agency in 1991 involved amalgamating four separate establishments to form the DRA and disbanding the previous headquarters operation in London. We were able to reduce significantly the number of support staff in this process but, since we no longer have records of support from the previous establishments, I cannot give precise details.
My two Managing Directors and I currently retain three cars for official business at a total annual running cost of £4,500. When not required all three vehicles are available for use by other senior staff in a pool system. The previous arrangements involved each of the four Directors of establishments having their own cars plus at least one car for the London headquarters.
The DRA currently has one in-house journal, the DRA News, which has an annual printing cost of £86k. This replaced three pre DRA journals (RAE News, ARE News and RARDE News).
Corporate clothing is worn by police and guards, DRA reception staff and messengers at all our sites. This is not fundamentally different from clothing worn by MOD messengers and similar staff. Costs are not held centrally and it would involve disproportionate effort to ascertain exactly what they are across the organisation.
The DRA has its own logo to assist with developing and maintaining a corporate trading image which was designed as part of an in-house competition. The prize of a bottle of champagne was the only design cost involved!
The DRA corporate stationery was mainly designed by our in-house staff at little extra cost and, although exact figures are not held centrally, I estimate the current annual printing cost is around £40k. Of course stationery used to be printed for all establishments separately at rather greater cost.
I hope you find this information useful.
Letter from G. H. Wilson to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
The Secretary of State for Defence has asked me to reply to your PQ 5744G.
HQ Building. We have occupied the same building since 1909.
Support Staff. We have achieved a net reduction in staff.
Journals. Our only externally published document is the annual report and accounts. For 1993/94 this was £1671.
Cars. We have no executive cars.
Logos. Our logo has remained substantially the same since 1892. There have been no design costs since then.
Clothing. We do not have corporate clothing. The cost to the Department of school clothing has reduced since acquiring Agency status.
Stationery. We have no specially designed stationery. Our letterheads which have remained unchanged for several years are produced in-house.
Letter from M. R. Pack to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION - PQ S744G
You recently asked The Secretary of State for Defence several questions relating to Next Steps Agencies within the Ministry of Defence. I am replying on behalf of the Hydrographic Office.
The Hydrographic Office occupies the same buildings that it did prior to its becoming a Defence Agency in 1990. The most recent of these buildings was built 1968–69.
No additional support staff have been employed since the HO became an Agency in 1990.
The Hydrographic Office does not publish a journal but in common with all Agencies is required to publish an Annual Report and Accounts. Our last report, for the financial year 1993/94, was published in July 1994 and laid in the House on 21 July 1994 (HC 482). The Report and Accounts were printed in-house. The costs are estimated to be in the region of £3,300.
The Hydrographic Office one car for the use of staff on official business. The full cost amounts to approximately £27,000 a year.
No extra costs have been incurred on specially designed logos, corporate clothing and specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
Letter from A. W. Pollard to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
I have been asked to reply to your question in the House on 17 January 1995 concerning setting up costs of Next Steps Agencies. You will be aware that the Logistic Information Systems Agency (LISA) is one of the newest within the Ministry of Defence having been launched on 21 November 1994.
LISA inherits the organisation, accommodation, resources and commitments of the Directorate of Logistic Information Systems (Army) which it replaced. This resulted in a smoother transition and less upheaval to our activities and staff than can sometimes be the case (where, for example, collocation accompanies a move to agency status).
Costs associated with LISA were kept to a minimum and met within current budget. Where possible, in-house resources were used in preference to contractors.
Answers to your specific questions are as follows in respect of LISA:
a. Acquisition of Headquarters Buildings. No extra buildings were required. b. Additional Support Staff Required. LISA is committed to meeting the Options for Change and other manpower reductions to which its predecessor Directorate was working. While the Agency does call for some different skills these have generally been met by re-classifying existing posts and commencing a programme of re-training with costs being met within existing training funds. c. Periodic Journals. I have no current plans to introduce a periodic journal. The cost of publishing the necessary Framework Document, Corporate Plan and Key Targets was £7,750. d. Executive Cars. All executive travel is met by Departmental transport. I have no current plans for fleet or single executive cars. e. Logo. LISA's logo appears on this letterhead. Its cost was kept to the minimum commensurate with the importance of establishing a corporate identity which our staff could share and our customers recognise. It was designed in-house by the Department's Common Services (Graphics) staff. £2,000 of civil service overtime was incurred for this and the graphic design of the documents in sub-paragraph c above. The cost was met from my budget. f. Corporate Clothing. I have no current plans to introduce corporate clothing. g. Corporate Stationery. Expenditure on corporate stationery is no greater than that normally required by Departments and Branches. Stocks of the predecessor Directorate's stationery were deliberately run down in anticipation of the transition to Agency status. I hope that the above information answers your questions. Please contact me if you require any more detail.
Letter from J. C. R. Hunt to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
The Defence Secretary has asked me to reply in respect of the Meteorological Office to the questions you recently asked about Next Steps agencies.
In brief:
the translation of the Meteorological Office to agency status did not require us to acquire a new HQ building
some 22 extra staff were needed to support the changed organisation but overall staff numbers have fallen by 113 since Vesting Day
no new journals have been produced. The Meteorological Office publishes only one periodical, 'Outlook', a customer magazine, at a cost of £40,000
no additional cars have been provided. I make use of a car and driver as part of RAF MT support, at an estimated cost of £24,000
the Meteorological did not change its logo when it became an agency
no corporate clothing was introduced
no corporate stationery was specially designed or printed; the Meteorological Office continued to use its existing logo.
I hope this gives you the information you need.
Letter from M. Wilson to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION ON NEXT STEPS AGENCIES
I am replying in respect of the Military Survey Defence Agency to your recent question reference PQ5744G on additional costs arising from our status as a Next Steps agency.
Taken in the order of your question, the answers are:
a. Headquarters Building The Military Survey headquarters is accommodated in the building occupied prior to agency launch. No expenditure on land or buildings has been incurred as a result of agency status.
b. Support Staff
The need to produce agency accounts has resulted in the establishment of two additional Management Accountant posts: 1 Senior Executive Officer and 1 Executive Officer with 2 supporting Administrative Officers. However, agency requirements aside, it is likely that the Management Accountancy posts would be needed in the future to support Treasury's resource accounting and budgeting initiatives.
c. Journals
A quarterly publication is produced to inform staff on policy and internal developments affecting Military Survey, but not specifically in the agency context. Whilst some copies are distributed outside Military Survey, it is intended principally as a house magazine. Editorial and publication costs are as follows:
- Staff: £15,200 per annum
- Production: £8,800 per annum
d. Transport
As a 2-star serving officer, the Director General has access to a Grade 1 staff car. This entitlement is not related to his capacity as an agency chief executive.
e. Logo
Military Survey acquired its logo some 50 years ago. No money has been spent on a corporate image since agency launch.
f. Corporate Clothing
None.
g. Corporate Stationery
Military Survey uses standard MOD-style letter headings. No special stationery has been designed.
Please let me know if you require further information. I am copying this letter to Minister (Defence Procurement).
Letter from Captain W. Graham to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
The response to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence concerning questions on specific costings. Our responses are itemised below:a. The NARO has not created a Headquarters building. b. Two additional staff have duties directly attributable to Agency functions. c. All Annual Reports and Accounts are produced at a cost of £8,000 per annum. A Corporate Plan and Framework Document were produced when the Agency was launched, at a cost of £9,000 each. d. No executive vehicle has been acquired as a consequence of the NARO's existence. e. The NARO logo was designed using in-house Agency resources at no additional cost. f. A NARO logo has been added to workforce overalls at a cost of £941. g. NARO headed stationery has replaced MOD stationery at no additional cost.
Letter from Brian Raine to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION
I have been asked to reply to your Question on various matters concerning the Agency.
Queen Victoria School has not acquired any additional headquarters buildings since the introduction of Agency status. We have recruited one full time and one part time support staff to manage additional agency responsibilities.
The only periodical journal published is the annual School magazine at no cost to public funds.
The school has no executive cars, specially designed logos, corporate clothing or specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
I hope this answers your Questions satisfactorily, but if there is anything on which you wish me to elaborate, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Letter from R. H. Kyle to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dared 27 January 1995:
You asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he would set out for each of the Next Steps Agencies in his Department, whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them published periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual costs; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery. As Chief Executive of the RAF Maintenance Group Defence Agency, I have been asked to reply with regard to my Agency.
The RAF Maintenance Group Defence Agency has not acquired a new HQ building since achieving Agency status in 1991. The Agency's Headquarters staff still occupy offices in their parent Command's Headquarters building at Headquarters Logistics Command, RAF Brampton, Cambridgeshire. However, the space the Group occupies has reduced since the Agency formed in 1991.
Staff numbers were not increased as a result of adopting Agency status. Indeed, the overall number of HQ staff has been reduced significantly since launch and further reductions are planned as part of a rationalisation programme following the formation of Logistics Command. Any new posts that might be considered to exist solely because of Agency tasks and status were created by reorganising existing posts and activities.
The Agency does not publish a periodic journal, but it does publish its Annual Report and Accounts. Copies of this document are used for internal and external publicity purposes, as well as to meet the statutory reporting and accounting requirements. The cost to the Department for the printing of the 1993/94 Report was £12,673, including HMSO's management and handling charges.
The Maintenance Group's requirement for executive cars has not been affected by Agency status. If anything, the actual requirement has decreased in line with the decrease in the number of executive staff.
The Agency has not incurred any additional expense for headed stationery or specially designed logos as a result of attaining Agency status. Neither has the Agency adopted any form of corporate clothing.
Since its formation as a Defence Agency, the Maintenance Group has consistently achieved its Key Management Targets. Detailed reports against these targets are contained in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts, the latest copy of which I have enclosed with this letter.
Letter from Peter Ayee to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
NEXT STEPS AGENCYS
I WRITE, AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE ROYAL Am FORCE SIGNALS ENGINEERING ESTABLISHMENT (RAFSEE), WHICH WAS LAUNCHED AS A NEXT STEPS DEFENCE AGENCY ON 22 NOVEMBER 1994, IN RESPONSE TO YOUR WRITTEN QUESTION OF 19 JANUARY 1995 TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE.
RAFSEE, WHICH REMAINS PART OF THE LOGISTICS COMMAND OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, IS BASED AT RAF HENLOW AND HAS A DETACHED GROUP AT RAF WYTON. THE AGENCY OCCUPIES THE SAME BUILDINGS THAT IT DID BEFORE LAUNCH AND HAS NOT ACQUIRED ANY ADDITIONAL STAFF, VEHICLES OR CORPORATE CLOTHING. MOREOVER, IT HAS NOT SO FAR PUBLISHED ANY JOURNALS, CREATED A LOGO OR HAD ANY STATIONERY SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED OR PRINTED FOR THE DEFENCE AGENCY.
Letter from John May to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION No. PQ5744G—TRAINING GROUP DEFENCE AGENCY REPLY
I WRITE IN REPLY TO YOUR QUESTION OF THURSDAY 19 JANUARY, IN WHICH YOU SOUGHT INFORMATION ABOUT CONSEQUENTIAL COSTS OF NEXT STEPS AGENCIES.
I AM ABLE TO TELL YOU THAT THE LAUNCH OF TRAINING GROUP DEFENCE AGENCY HAS NOT BEEN ACCOMPANIED BY UNWARRANTABLE OR UNNECESSARY EXPENDITURE IN ANY OF THE FIELDS COVERED BY YOUR QUESTION. THE AGENCY'S HEADQUARTERS DOES NOT HAVE ITS OWN BUILDING OR EXECUTIVE CARS; IT SHARES THE BUILDINGS AND POOL OF CARS ESTABLISHED FOR HEADQUARTERS ROYAL AIR FORCE PERSONNEL & TRAINING COMMAND, OF WHICH IT IS AN INTEGRAL PART. THE AGENCY HAS NOT INTRODUCED ANY CORPORATE CLOTHING OR ANY SPECIALLY DESIGNED STATIONERY AND HAS NO PLANS TO DO SO; SIMILARLY, THE AGENCY HAS NO PLANS TO ADD TO THE LIST OF JOURNALS IT HAS TRADMONALLY PUBLISHED FROM TIME TO TIME AS A ROYAL AIR FORCE GROUP.
THE AGENCY HAS NOT ACQUIRED ANY SUPPORT STAFF BEYOND THE SPECIALISTS REQUIRED TO OPERATE THE MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL REGIME REQUIRED BY 'ME NEXT STEPS INITIATIVE; THE POSTS IN QUESTION WERE ESTABLISHED BEFORE THE AGENCY WAS VESTED ON 1 APRIL 1994.
THE AGENCY SOMETIMES MAKES USE OF A SIMPLE LOGO TEAT WAS DEVELOPED IN-HOUSE AT NO EXTRA COST TO THE AGENCY'S BUDGET. THIS ARTWORK WAS REQUIRED TO IDENTIFY THE AGENCY'S CORPORATE DOCUMENTATION THAT WAS LODGED IN THE LIBRARIES OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT THE TIME OF VESTING, AND WILL SIMILARLY IDENTIFY FUTURE ANNUAL REPORTS AND ACCOUNTS.
I AM COPYING THIS LETTER TO ME AGENCY'S OWNER, THE AIR OFFICER COMMANDING IN CHIEF HEADQUARTERS PERSONNEL AND TRAINING COMMAND.
Letter from Ian Mitchelson to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 27 January 1995:
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NEXT STEPS AGENCIES
Service Children's Schools (North West Europe) was formed as a Defence Agency in April 1991 within the Ministry of Defence to provide an educational service to dependent children residing with MOD personnel in North West Europe. The Agency's Headquarters is collocated with among other formations Headquarters United Kingdom Support Command (Germany) and Headquarters 2 Group Royal Air Force at Rheindahlen and shares their accommodation. As part of the civilian component, which supports our Forces in Germany, the arrangements for the Agency's accommodation is covered by the Status of Forces Agreement which provides the basis for the stationing of Sending States Forces in Germany. Under this Agreement buildings are owned by the German Government and made available for use of the British Forces without charge. Therefore the Agency occupies accommodation under the same arrangements as that prior to its acquisition of Agency status.
Prior to its formation, some 28 support staff (ie non-professional, non-educational staff), were employed directly in support of the provision of education to service children in Service Children's Schools (Germany), the forerunner of the Agency. These were employed at the Headquarters at Rheindahlen and in two Area Headquarters Offices.
In addition, Service Children's Schools received a significant degree of support (i.e. Financial, Budgetary, Contractual, Personnel, Legal, Property Management etc) from a multitude of sources both within BAOR and more widely from the Department. The organisation also received much administrative and professional support from the Service Children's Education Authority based in the United Kingdom.
On formation at the outset of FY 1991/1992, the Agency's support staff increased to 36, in direct relation to the additional responsibilities that accompanied the change in status. Corresponding and no doubt greater savings in staff will have been made by those areas of the Department that were relinquishing their duties in respect of the new Agency.
In the period since the formation of the Agency, the support staff has increased in size to a current figure of 41. This has occurred partly as further responsibilities have been delegated to the Agency, but mainly in response to the demands placed upon SCS(NWE), by the need to manage the Agency's response to Drawdown, (ie, the reduction in Troop deployment in North West Europe and the consequent closure of schools). Some 40 schools have been closed over the period since September 1992.
With the conclusion of the Drawdown process later this year, the Agency has planned for FY 1995/1996 a rationalisation programme, to reduce the level of its support staff. This will include, for example, the closure of the two Area Education Offices and the loss of the associated staff. Whilst plans have yet to be finalised, it is expected that the Agency's support staff will reduce in number to about 36, the number with which it was originally formed. Further efficiency improvements may well prove possible as part of the Department's and Agency's continuing drive for value for money.
SCS(NWE) produce one in-house journal for the benefit of parents and staff 3 times per year. It is compiled and edited in-house and published by HMSO at an annual cost of £7000.00 pa.
The Agency does not have any cars on its books at all. In order to meet travel needs for individual journeys the Agency does have access to a pool of cars operated by the Army in Germany on a self-drive basis. This arrangement also applies to the Chief Executive.
The Agency does have a logo, again this was designed in-house at no additional cost. The Agency does use its logo and letterhead on paper which is produced locally alongside all the other headed stationery used by UKSC(G) and HQ 2 Gp RAF (as was the case in the pre-Agency days) at no additional cost compared to other like stationery; however a notional cost can be provided if this would be helpful. I attach an example of the headed letters in use.
The Agency does not have any corporate clothing apart from discretionary ties which may be obtained by staff as a private transaction.
A1-Yamamah Fund
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what types of equipment have been funded from the A1-Yamamah fund.
Equipment supplied under the A1-Yamamah programme includes Tornado and Hawk aircraft and naval minesweepers, along with associated equipment, support and infrastructure. Further orders for Tornado and training aircraft have been announced since January 1993.
Bullying
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance is given to senior armed forces personnel regarding investigation of allegations of bullying.
The armed forces take a very serious view of bullying and senior armed forces personnel are aware that all allegations of bullying should be referred promptly for formal investigation. Guidance in the form of policy letters has been issued by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy to remind all personnel of the policy on bullying. The Royal Air Force also produced orders specifically covering bullying to be read and signed annually by officers. The Royal Air Force's policy on bullying and initiation ceremonies is also repeated in quarterly standing orders, which all Air Force personnel are required to read. In 1993, the Army published a discipline and standards paper, which included instructions to counter bullying.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 1991 no disciplinary action has been taken against soldiers who went absent without leave when on their return it was established that the absence was because of bullying.
This information is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
To ask the Secretary to State for Defence what guidance is given to all levels of armed forces personnel regarding procedures for reporting incidents of bullying.
Information about making complaints under the redress of complaints procedure provided for in the Service Discipline Acts is given to all new recruits on joining. Advice on making complaints about bullying is also included in the leaflet "The Armed Forces. Your Rights and Responsibilities" given to new recruits_ Details of the redress of complaints procedures are also set out in Queen's regulations, which are available in every ship and service establishment. Advice on making complaints about bullying is also repeated in policy letters and other documents.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many courts martial there have been in each of the last five years; in how many of these the charge was related to some form of bullying; and in how many there was a guilty verdict.
The number of courts martial recorded in the last five years is as follows:
- 1990: 1,030
- 1991: 900
- 1992: 887
- 1993: 857
- 1994: 813
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress made by his Department in preventing bullying and brutality in the armed forces.
The armed forces take a very serious view of bullying. It has been made clear throughout he services that bullying will not be tolerated and various measures have been taken by the services to counter bullying.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many serious individual cases of bullying have been referred to his Department each year since 1990.
My Department regards all cases of bullying as serious and service personnel are aware that all complaints of bullying will be vigorously investigated and the perpetrators punished. Details of the seriousness of individual cases are not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Yachts
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when and at what cost his Department purchased yachts from a Swedish company; whether the proposed purchase was announced in his Department's "Contracts Bulletin"; what consideration was given to the purchase of British-built yachts; and if he will make a statement.
The yachts in question were bought by the British Kiel Yacht Club in Germany, from its private funds; no costs were incurred by my Department.
Mull Of Kintyre Cairn
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on whom the cost fell for the cairn on the Mull of Kintyre at the site of the recent crash of a helicopter transporting personnel from Northern Ireland.
The building of the cairn was a local community initiative. The cairn stones were laid by members of the rescue services and subsequently cemented together to create a permanent fixture. I understand that local lighthouse employees paid for the brass plaque, which was mounted on the cairn
David Hart
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 17 January, Official Report, column 451, (1) what formal undertakings will be made of Mr. David Hart in respect of his work as special adviser in the next phase of the privatisation of the married quarters estate;(2) if any of the independent advisers used in the development of plans for the next phase of the privatisation of the married quarters estate will be permitted to purchase properties included in that sale.
The undertakings required of independent advisers on the future of the married quarters estate will be designed to ensure that there is no conflict of interests between that role and possible business interests. No independent adviser assisting in consideration of the way ahead will be permitted to have a financial stake in the outcome of the transaction.
Married Quarters Estate
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those individuals or companies who have shown an interest in the purchase of the married quarters estate in any future privatisation.
The information requested is commercially confidential.
Land Mines
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy concerning the export of land mines which possess a self-destruct mechanism.
The United Kingdom has declared an indefinite moratorium on the export from the UK of all anti-personnel land mines which do not have self-destruct or self-neutralising mechanisms. We are also in the forefront of efforts to establish international measures to regulate the transfer of anti-personnel land mines. Any application for an export licence for a land mine which did possess a self-destruct mechanism would be assessed carefully in the light of these and other factors.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy concerning the export of components which can be used in the manufacture of land mines.
Any application for an export licence for specially designed land mine components would be subject to strict controls, and would be considered case by case in the light of the indefinite moratorium which the United Kingdom has declared on the export from the UK of anti-personnel land mines which do not have self-destruct or self-neutralising mechanisms, and other established criteria.
Cazalet Report
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if his Department has instructed those named in Sir Peter Cazalet's report into perks for officers not to speak publicly about the report;(2) if his Department has instructed those officers named in Sir Peter Cazalet's report to consult legal advisers about their position.
Sir Peter Cazalet's report on the requirement for representational entertainment is expected to be submitted to my Department in February. Ministers are separately currently considering KPMG Peat Marwick's report into the circumstances surrounding expenditure on the official service residence known as Haymes Garth. Before that report was finalised, those named in it were shown, in confidence, draft extracts to enable them to comment on the passages that dealt with their involvement. They were not instructed to seek legal advice.
Haymes Garth
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what limit was placed on expenditure for fixtures and fittings at Haymes Garth; and who granted permission for this money to be spent.
An allocation of £60,000 for carpets, curtains and interior decoration was included in a budget agreed by RAF support command for work on Haymes Garth in January 1993.
Former Yugoslavia
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department has provided military intelligence to the international tribunal for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia; and if he will make a statement.
The Defence debriefing team has provided unevaluated information via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the tribunal on matters relating to alleged war crimes activity in the former Yugoslavia.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what actions his Department has taken to assist the international tribunal for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia
We continue to assist the efforts of the tribunal. This assistance has included passing to the tribunal information acquired by the defence debriefing team on alleged human rights violations and war crimes committed in Bosnia, and arranging interviews with British military personnel who have returned from theatre for the purposes of collecting eyewitness statements.
Anti-Personnel Mines
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives of the United Nations concerning the banning of the export of anti-personnel mines; and if he will make a statement.
No such discussions have taken place, although there has been a considerable amount of discussion between the United Kingdom and other states concerning the export of anti-personnel land mines, in the context of the review of the UN weaponry convention and other initiatives.
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
A total of 9,261 permanent and temporary UK-based civilian staff were recruited by my Department and its executive agencies during the calendar year 1994. Of this total, 5,400 were non-industrial and 3,861 industrial staff. Information on the total cost of recruitment is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Naval Staffing
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the current staffing levels for his Department's Guard Service of HMS Caledonia; what changes are proposed; how far the proposal to reduce Rosyth to a naval support establishment took account of these costs; and if he will make a statement.
At present, 54 Ministry of Defence guard service personnel are in the Rosyth area, of whom five are deployed at HMS Caledonia. The total number is planned to reduce to 38 when Rosyth becomes a royal naval support establishment, 15 of whom will be deployed at the HMS Caledonia site. All manpower costs were included in the investment appraisal, on which the decision was based.
Southwick House
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the regulations concerning the use of the riding school at Southwick house naval establishment; if people who are not employed in the armed forces are permitted to use the riding school; what groups of people are permitted to use the riding school; how many people use the riding school each year; and what is the total cost of the establishment.
The naval riding centre evolved from the HMS Dryad saddle club, which was started when the Navy moved to Southwick house in 1942. Although it is constituted primarily to provide equitation facilities for the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, the regulations allow the facilities to be made available to service dependants, the local community, including disabled groups, schools, colleges and youth schemes; on average the centre is used by 100 people per day. The club is self-financing and there are no costs to public funds.
Records (Police Access)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 18 January, Official Report, column 548, on how many occasions in each of the past five years the civilian police have requested access to the records of service personnel; and on how many occasions this access has been denied.
My Department does not maintain a central record of the number of requests from the civilian police for access to the records of service personnel.
Gulf War
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department was in possession of plague vaccine manufactured in the United States of America by Cutter Laboratories, Miles Inc; and whether this vaccine was administered to British members of the armed forces during the Gulf war.
Details relating to biological warfare medical counter measures available to British forces remain classified.
Alcohol Abuse
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent initiatives he has taken to address the problems of alcohol abuse in the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.
The armed forces have on-going programmes to combat the problems of alcohol abuse. All service personnel are warned of the dangers of the misuse of alcohol and are made aware of the punishments which may be awarded for alcohol-related offences. A comprehensive system of education and treatment, together with deterrent administrative and disciplinary action, has been developed. A series of alcohol education programmes, making use of pamphlets, films and lectures, have been produced to make all personnel aware of the dangers of abuse. The services' policies on alcohol abuse are kept under constant review.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces serving in (a) the Army, (b) the Royal Navy and (c) the Royal Air Force have been disciplined in each of the past five years for alcohol-related offences.
The numbers of service personnel convicted of alcohol-related driving offences of drunkenness between 1988 and 1992, the latest years for which figures are available, are as follows:
| Royal Navy | Royal Marines | Army | Royal Air Force | |
| 1988 | 248 | 26 | 1,476 | 609 |
| 1989 | 300 | 52 | 1,362 | 525 |
| 1990 | 260 | 40 | 1,340 | 682 |
| 1991 | 226 | 35 | 1,093 | 544 |
| 1992 | 200 | 34 | 1,012 | 445 |
Chemical Weapons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement about the existence of chemical weapons in the sea surrounding the British Isles following the end of the second world war;(2) how many chemical weapons remain deposited in the sea surrounding the British Isles; what types of weapons are involved; what chemicals were contained in these weapons; in what locations they are; when the chemical weapons were first deposited in the sea; when the weapons deposited were last inspected; what evidence there is of chemical leakage; and what steps he is taking to ascertain the circumstances of their disposal.
Between 1945 and 1949, the United Kingdom disposed of approximately 120,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, munitions, bombs and shells, mainly filled with mustard and phosgene gas, by deep-sea dumping; an additional 25,000 tons of residual United Kingdom munition stocks and ex-German world war two aerial bombs, containing the nerve agent Tabun, were sea dumped in the Atlantic between 1955 and 1957. Dump sites were located between 50 and 100 miles west of Hebrides, 80 miles north-west of Northern Ireland, 250 miles south-west of Lands End in the western approaches and in Beauforts dyke in the north channel. Sea dumping was considered to be the safest and most practical disposal method at the time. The majority of munitions were sealed within redundant cargo vessels which were then scuttled. No subsequent monitoring of the dump sites has been undertaken in view of the depth. Current scientific evidence indicates that such CW dump sites present no significant risk to human health or to the marine environment.
Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cardiff
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to conduct a defence diversification study for the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cardiff; and if he will consult (a) the Welsh Development Agency, (b) South Glamorgan county council, (c) Cardiff city council and (d) Hunting-Brae Ltd. in this respect.
Hunting-BRAE Ltd. will continue to seek suitable non-defence work which can be carried out at AWE Cardiff during the period up to 1997 alongside the Trident system. Once the work on Trident components is concluded, no other defence work can be directed to AWE Cardiff. My Department will be happy to consider any proposals for the use of the facility, including proposals from the bodies listed in the question.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will issue instructions to the management of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cardiff, that it should utilise the remaining period of its activity to pursue diversification of the rare earth metals engineering expertise at the plant into civilian uses.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 26 January 1995, Official Report, column 293.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the possible alternative uses for the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cardiff.
Once the work on Trident components is completed, no other defence work can be given to AWE Cardiff. My Department is prepared to consider any proposals for alternative future uses of the site.
Indonesia (Hawk Aircraft)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the sale of Hawk aircraft to Indonesia.
It is Government policy to support the sale of British defence equipment overseas wherever this is compatible with our political, strategic and security interests, and does not conflict with our international obligations. In the case of the Hawk sales to Indonesia, an important factor in our consideration was the assurances that we received from the Indonesian Government that the aircraft will not be used for purposes of internal security.
Equipment (Exports)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) at what interest rate defence equipment was sold to Jordan under the British-Jordanian defence sales agreement; and what was the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development consensus interest rate at the relevant time;(2) what payments were made towards the financing of the contracts for defence equipment sold to Jordan under the terms of the British-Jordanian defence sales agreement.
[holding answer 25 January 1995]: The details of the financial arrangements applied to the 1985 Jordan defence package remain confidential.
Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs
Diplomats (Expulsion)
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many diplomats officially accredited to missions in London and of what nationality have been expelled from the United Kingdom in each year since 1965.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 January Official Report, column 498, which detailed the number and nationality of expelled accredited diplomats between 1979 and 1995.The information requested was not centrally recorded before 1972, but the number of diplomats officially accredited to missions in London who were expelled between 1972 and 1978 is as follows:
- 1972: Yemen 1
- 1973: Cuba 1
- 1974: nil
- 1975: nil
- 1976: nil
- 1977: nil
- 1978: Iraq 7
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many United Kingdom diplomats officially credited to missions in foreign countries have been expelled from (a) Libya, (b) the former Soviet Union, (c) Czechoslavakia, (d) Bulgaria, (e) Cuba, (f) Vietnam, (g) Iraq, (h) Iran, (i) South Africa, (j) Sudan and (k) Iran since 1979; and on what dates and for what stated reasons.
It will take some time to gather this information. I will write to the hon. Gentleman when it has been compiled.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reasons the Foreign Office expels diplomats officially accredited to missions in London.
The rules governing the expulsion, or requests for withdrawal, of diplomats officially accredited to missions in London are set out in paragraph 69 of the 1985 White Paper on diplomatic immunities and privileges, Cmnd 9497, dated April 1985.
Recruitment
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent during 1994 on recruiting staff to his Department and its executive agencies; and how many staff were recruited.
My Department and its executive agencies, including the aid and diplomatic wings, spent £887,175.85 externally in 1994 on recruitment, and recruited 295 members of staff. In addition, 92 people transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a result of inter-departmental trawls; the cost of these is included in the above figure.
Indonesia
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the number of East Timorese killed by the Indonesian Army since its occupation.
There is no reliable source of information about the number of people killed in East Timor.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Hawk aircraft manufactured in the United Kingdom and supplied to Indonesia are used for counter-insurgency purposes.
The Hawk aircraft supplied to Indonesia in the 1980s are trainer aircraft. We have no evidence that they have been used for counter-insurgency purposes.
East Timor
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the violence in Dili in East Timor in 1991.
Along with our EU partners, we strongly condemned the violence in Dili in 1991. We received reports of what happened from various sources, including a report of the Indonesian national commission of inquiry. These differed widely in their accounts of the numbers killed or missing. The United Nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions has recently produced a new report which will be considered by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights at its next session.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether Hawk aircraft have been used against civilians in East Timor.
We have no evidence to support allegations that Hawk aircraft have been used against civilians in East Timor.
Agriculture, Fisheries And Food
Fishing
To ask thee Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in what circumstances other Community countries could apply conservation measures similar to those granted to Portugal and Spain under article V-I (a) of the Fisheries Council agreement.
The agreement reached by the Fisheries Council in December 1994 provides that the Council will incorporate into Council regulation 3094/86, dealing with technical conservation measures, a ban on fishing for tuna species with drift nets or purse seine nets in certain Spanish and Portuguese waters; some of these measures previously operated on an annual basis.This agreement is in accordance with the provision of article 4 of the basic common fisheries policy, Council regulation No. 3760/92. The Commission can propose new technical conservation measures for Council decision at its own initiative or in the light of member states' requests.
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the amount of aid paid to fishing in each of the other EEC fishing nations in the form of (a) building grants, (b) fuel or operating support, (c) market support and (d) unemployment support when not fishing; and for each form of support, what representations he has made to the Commission or to the Government concerned to get the subsidy ended.
Under European Union law, member states are permitted to pay certain types of aid to the fishing industry, provided these are approved by the Commission in its sectoral plans. These may include vessel modernisation and construction grants, aid for fishing port facilities and for the processing and marketing of fishery products. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that no unauthorised payments are made. Details of the amounts paid by individual member states are not notified directly to us, but we will always follow up any allegations of illegal support.
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how may Spanish-owned ships in Britain's fishing fleet applied for United Kingdom decommissioning grants in the last year for which figures are available.
Under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) Scheme 1993 we received seven applications for grant in respect of vessels upon which Spanish nationals held at least a 25 per cent. interest; only one was successful.Following the introduction of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Shipping) Regulations 1993—SI 1993 No. 3138—the registrar general of shipping and seamen no longer collects details of shareholdings in United Kingdom companies owning British-registered fishing vessels.
Farm And Conservation Grants
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he sought advice from the National Rivers Authority, the Countryside Council for Wales and the Nature Conservation Council on the effects of ending the farm and conservation grants.
Far from ending the farm and conservation grant scheme, grants for conservation measures are still available, although the land improvement and waste handling grants were withdrawn at the end of 1994. We did not seek advice on the closure of the plan side of the farm and conservation grant scheme as the scheme legislation provided for this part of the scheme to close on 31 December 1994. Neither did we seek advice on the withdrawal of grants for waste handling facilities. We hold regular meetings with the National Rivers Authority and with English Nature. These meetings include discussions on a wide range of issues. Meetings with the Countryside Council for Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Harvesting Restrictions
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 18 January, Official Report, column 545, if he will make it his policy to waive the harvesting restriction to prevent food going to waste.
No. However, we will examine the rules for planting crops on set-aside land for harvest in the next cropping year to ensure farmers do not have to choose between receiving set-aside payments and harvesting edible crops.
Cormorants
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the number of cormorants in England and Wales during each of the years 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993–94; how many licences to shoot cormorants in the interests of the protection of inland fisheries were issued by his Department in each of those years; and how many birds are known to have been shot under these licences.
No figures are readily available of the number of cormorants in England and Wales during each of the last three years. However, a report by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology estimates that the population of cormorants over-wintering in Britain has been increasing at a rate of 4 per cent. per year and currently stands at approximately 20,000 birds. Research on the population and distribution of cormorants is a part of the research and development programme currently being discussed by this Department and the Department of the Environment.Details of the number of licences granted by this Department in England and the number of birds shot under licence are as follows:
| Year | Number of licences issued | Number of cormorants shot under licence |
| 1991 | 3 | 18 |
| 1992 | 4 | 13 |
| 1993 | 20 | 72 |
| 1994 | 30 | 128 |
| 1 Some licences extend into 1995. The figure given is for the number of birds shot up to 31 December 1994. | ||
Animal Exports
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what independent legal advice he has now received concerning the export of veal calves from the United Kingdom to other EU member states; and if he will make a statement.
I have made it clear that I shall set out the Government's view of the legal position, and I hope to be able to do so in the near future.
Vessel Decommissioning
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what impact on Britain's multi-annual guidance programme he expects to achieve with the addition of £28 million to his vessel decommissioning programme.
[holding answer 25 January 1995]: As I explained in my reply on 25 January, Official Report, column 217, it is not possible to say in advance how many vessels will be decommissioned as a result of the additional funding. On the basis of experience with previous schemes, however, I would expect the results to make significant further contributions towards meeting the targets for capacity reduction in our multi-annual guidance programme.
Home Department
Departmental Staff
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees for which his Department is responsible were women (a) in 1991, (b) in 1992, (c) in 1993 and (d) in 1994; and of these, how many were (i) at grade 7 level, (ii) at grade 3 level, (iii) at executive officer level, (iv) at administrative officer level and (v) at administrative assistant level.
In November 1991, 11,247 members of staff in the Home Office were women. Of these, three were at grade 3 level, 131 were at grade 7 level, 2,052 were at executive officer level, and 5,094 were at administrative officer level and 3,072 were at administrative assistant level.In October 1992, 12,366 members of staff were women. Of these, six were at grade 3 level, 117 were at grade 7 level, 2,363 were at executive officer level, 5,709 were at administrative officer level and 3,210 were at administrative assistant level.
1
In September 1993, 13,035 members of staff were women. Of these, seven were at grade 3 level, 141 were at grade 7 level, 2,427 were at executive officer level, 5,834 were at administrative officer level and 3,355 were at administrative assistant level.2
In September 1994, 13,417 members of staff in the Department were women. Of these, six were at grade 3 level, 179 were at grade 7, 2,749 were at executive officer level, 5,928 were at administrative officer level and 3,195 were at administrative assistant level.
1 The figures for grades 3 and 7 level are as at June 1992.
2 The figures for grades 3 and 7 are as at March 1993.
Police Exhibition
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a list of exhibitors and country delegations that attended the police scientific development Branch conference-exhibition held recently at Bramshill college, organised by the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers.
The police scientific development branch equipment exhibition at the Police Staff college, Bramshill, in October 1994 attracted some 130 exhibitors, a list of which has been placed in the Library.The exhibition was attended by visitors from police agencies in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Sweden.
Mobile Phone Thefts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mobile phones have been reported stolen in each month for the past two years; what measures he is taking to apprehend the criminals involved; and what steps he intends to take to make illegal the reprogramming of mobile phones.
From information collected centrally, it is not possible separately to identify offences of thefts of mobile phones. The investigation of criminal offences and the allocation and deployment of resources are operational policing matters and, as such, the responsibility of the chief officer of the force concerned. A number of forces have established specialist squads to tackle the problem of mobile phone theft.
The Government have no plans, at present, to make the reprogramming of mobile phones a criminal offence.
Animal Experiments
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 18 January, Official Report, column 528, if he will explain the delay in the publication of Statistics of "Scientific Procedures Performed on Living Animals","Great Britain", 1993; and what measures he is taking to ensure that it does not recur.
The delay in the publication of the annual Command Paper was caused by problems with the computer systems upon which the collection of data for this publication is dependent, and by a need to investigate possible omissions in the data. With these statistics, completeness is more important than timeliness. I am pleased to say that the problems have been resolved satisfactorily. Arrangements for handling the annual returns issued to persons licenses to perform scientific procedures have been modified to ensure more timely publication in future years.
Sexual Offences (Children)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British citizens have been prosecuted for sexual offences involving children outside the United Kingdom for each year since records have been kept.
Information on the number of British citizens prosecuted abroad is not collected centrally by my Department.
Electric Shock Equipment
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 18 January, Official Report, column 535, what were the terms of the authority granted to Royal Ordnance under section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968, with particular reference to the stocking of or trading in any form of electro-shock equipment and to what extent Royal Ordnance has dealt in such equipment in the last 10 years.
The specific authority referred to allows Royal Ordnance to possess, purchase, acquire, sell and transfer no more than 100 weapons to which sections 5(1)(a), 5(1)(ab) or 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968 apply, in the course of their business as registered firearms dealers. The authority makes no reference to electric shock equipment. I have no information about dealings by them in such equipment.
Right Of Settlement
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how may immigrants were granted the right of settlement in British during (a) 1993 and (b) 1994.
The available information, which is for 1993 and the first six months of 1994, was published in table 1.1 of Home Office statistical bulletin "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom, First and Second Quarters 1994", issue 25/94, a copy of which is in the Library.