Written Answers
Public Expenditure: Treasury Consent
asked Her Majesty's Government:Which statutory provisions since 1945 have given a power to, or imposed a duty upon, a Minister of the Crown which might require public expenditure, without accompanying it with the formula "with the consent of the Treasury", or words to the like effect.
Since there is no specific record of such statutory provisions, I regret the information cannot be provided without a disproportionate expenditure of time and resources.
Channel Fixed Link: Territorial Sea
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in the light of paragraph 12.41 of the
Invitation to promoters for the development of a Channel Fixed Link, it is their intention to claim a territorial sea up to the median line in the English Channel; if so, whether they intend extending all British territorial waters to 12 nautical miles or (where appropriate) the median line; whether, until such a claim has been effected, the United Kingdom has the power to authorise any work in the Straits of Dover; and whether the rights they claim in the territorial sea are limited to those set out in the 1958 Geneva Convention or those set out in the UNLOSC Convention of 1982.
Her Majesty's Government have been considering the extension of the territorial sea to 12 miles first in the context of a possible signature of the UN Law of the Sea Convention and later in the light of their decision not to sign. The possible timing and circumstances of any such move are among the matters under consideration. In any case, the United Kingdom has, in our view, the right under customary international law to authorise the undertaking of works such as those connected with a Channel Fixed Link provided that due account is taken of the interests of navigation. United Kingdom jurisdiction within the territorial sea reflects the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and subsequent developments in international law and practice.
Channel Fixed Link: Shipping Speeds
asked Her Majesty's Government:On what grounds it has been determined that a speed of 17 knots is the likely maximum for any vessel that might collide with the Channel Fixed Link (paragraph 34.2 of Annex 2 to chapter 4), "assuming a life expectancy for the Link of at least a hundred years" (paragraph 35.4).
Developments in shipping far into the future cannot be foreseen with certainty; a judgment has to be made now on the basis of known facts and probabilities, taking account of both the speed and the displacement of vessels. The view of the professional advisers of the two Governments was that 17 knots should be adopted as the standard for the largest vessels which might come into contact with the Link.
Channel Fixed Link: Marine Environment
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will extend to cover general matters of sea use management and planning the "check list of matters considered for inclusion in an environmental assessment" (Annex I to chapter 4 of
Invitation to Promoters of a Channel Fixed Link) given that the check list omits any mention of the sea bed and the water column and the many natural and man-linked processes of which they are the context.
Paragraph 26 of the Invitation to Promoters of a Channel Fixed Link on protection of the marine environment deals with these matters. Under that paragraph it is made clear that promoters must inform the two Governments of proposals for works involving activities of the kind regulated by international conventions on the marine environment, in particular those related to dumping of wastes and to pollution both from ships and from land-based sources. The paragraph also requires promoters to produce a hydrological study to demonstrate the effects of works on the sea bed and to make proposals aimed at avoiding disturbances to fisheries.
Channel Fixed Link: Shipping Estimates
asked Her Majesty's Government:What estimates have been made and how have they been derived of the nature of the shipping that will be using the Dover Strait in the next hundred years.
No estimates have been made, for the purpose of the Invitation to Promoters of a Channel Fixed Link, of the volume of shipping using the Dover Strait in the future. The guidelines reflect, in so far as it is relevant, the judgment of the Government's professional advisers on the nature, speed, displacement and routing of that traffic.
War Graves Overseas: Widows' Visits
asked Her Majesty's Government:What use has so far been made of their grant of £150,000 to the Royal British Legion to enable war widows to visit the graves of their husbands; how many widows have been refused assistance; and how many have been required to make a payment towards the cost of their journeys.
The scheme to assist war widows to visit their husbands' graves overseas started only last month. Four widows have so far visited their husbands' graves with financial assistance under the scheme. Between May and November 1985 the Royal British Legion have made arrangements for fourteen further pilgrimages to cemeteries in Europe, the Middle and Far East. These are in addition to visits arranged under RBL's own auspices—in many cases before the Government scheme was announced.No eligible widows have been refused assistance under the scheme, but all are asked to contribute one-eighth of the cost of their visit. Where they are unable to make this contribution assistance from within the Royal British Legion's own resources, or elsewhere, can be sought. The Royal British Legion have so far waived the one-eighth contribution in 15 cases and others are under consideration.