House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 Dec 1988

Written Answers to Questions

Monday 19 December 1988

PRIME MINISTER

Visits

Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Prime Minister how many official visits she made to Scotland in each year from 1979 to 1988.

The Prime Minister : The information is as follows :


        |Number       

----------------------

1979    |2            

1980    |2            

1981    |2            

1982    |3            

1983    |2            

1984    |1            

1985    |1            

1986    |3            

1987    |2            

<1>1988 |5            

<1> To date.

Meetings

Mr. Cummings : To ask the Prime Minister if, on her next meeting with President-elect George Bush she will give him a report on the meeting between the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Waldegrave) and Bassam Abu Sharif of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The Prime Minister : No. But I expect that the Arab-Israel question will be among the topics for discussion when I next meet Mr. Bush.

White Papers

Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list all the White Papers produced by the Government since 1979.

The Prime Minister : A list of Command Papers from May 1979, which includes White Papers, is held on POLIS in the House of Commons Library.

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Armenia

Mr. Speller : To ask the Prime Minister whether she will accept an offer from the Royal College of Art to assemble a small architectural planning team for Armenia ; and if she will inform the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of this voluntary project.

The Prime Minister : I am grateful to the Royal College of Art for its offer of help, which we shall pass on to the Soviet authorities.

Economic Regions

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop : To ask the Prime Minister which Minister is responsible for determining the boundaries of economic regions ; how often these boundaries are reviewed ; and by what process and criteria they are reviewed.

The Prime Minister : There is no longer a single set of planning regions for economic purposes although for statistical purposes such as Regional Trends we adopt a standard presentation for all subjects.

Special Needs Housing

Mr. Rooker : To ask the Prime Minister if she will set up an interdepartmental review of the funding of special needs housing.

The Prime Minister : There is already adequate and continuous discussion of these issues between the responsible Departments.

THE ARTS

Items in Lieu of Tax

Mr. Faulds : To ask the Minister for the Arts whether he will specify the allocations made to public institutions in the United Kingdom during the half year ending 31 December 1988 of individual works of art and museum objects pre-eminent for national, scientific, historic or artistic interest which have been accepted in satisfaction of inheritance tax or capital transfer tax, together with information, where applicable, as to conditions or wishes expressed in the matter of allocation by testators, or executors ; whether he will list the works of art and museum objects which are still awaiting allocation, with the respective dates of their acceptance in satisfaction of inheritance tax or capital transfer tax ; and whether he will issue a press notice covering the information given in his reply.

Mr. Luce : The information is as follows :

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