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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 5 December 1989
ENERGY
Offshore Workers (Safety)
112. Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what provision his Department is making for safety and survival courses for offshore workers.
Mr. Peter Morrison : It is for an employer to ensure that his employees are adequately qualified and trained for the duties they are required to undertake. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 places a duty on an employer to provide the necessary instruction, training and supervision to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of his employees.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of Statement for Energy (1) what encouragement he is giving to commercial organisations wishing to set up wind electricity generators on Welsh farms ; (2) what assistance has been given by the Government to commercial organisations in Wales to install wind energy generating capacity which can be sold to the grid.
Mr. Peter Morrison : My Department has not given any assistance to commercial organisations in Wales to install wind energy generators for the purpose of subsequent sale of electricity to the grid. Such installations will however be eligible for consideration under the non-fossil fuel obligation.
We have collaborated with a number of organisations in the design and construction of experimental wind turbine generators at the CEGB's test site at Carmarthen bay, and we are also collaborating with the CEGB in a project to construct an experimental wind farm at Capel Cynon.
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how much money has been spent in Wales on sources of renewable energy over the past three years.
Mr. Peter Morrison : The table includes expenditure by the Department of Energy over the past three years on projects based in Wales such as the 160 kW vertical axis wind turbine at Carmarthen bay, and work undertaken by Welsh contractors, for example, university of Cardiff.
Year |£ ------------------------ 1986-87 |656,935 1987-88 |854,459 1988-89 |833,020
Information is not available to say precisely how much of this expenditure was in Wales.
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Mining Statistics
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will state the numbers of men employed underground in privately owned mines on 3 April 1989 as recorded in the registers which are required to be maintained under the terms of section 2(1) of the 1908 Act.
Mr. Michael Spicer : Daily tallies for the number of men working underground in licensed mines are not collected centrally. British Coal does, however, give a total figure for the end of each financial year in its annual report and accounts, copies of which are in the Library of the House.
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what was the average number of hours worked below ground by mineworkers and deputies in 1978 and in 1988.
Mr. Michael Spicer : This is a matter for British Coal. I have asked the chairman of British Coal to write to the hon. Member.
ENVIRONMENT
Council Housing
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authorities which have sold fewer than 10 per cent. of their council house stock.
Mr. Chope : Of those authorities which have provided a complete record of their sales from April 1979 to March 1989, only two authorities, Oldham and Blackburn, report sales of less than 10 per cent. of their stock. Six authorities--Arun, Bracknell Forest, Bromley, Crawley, Fenland and Havant--report sales of more than 35 per cent. of their stock.
There are 12 authorities where an incomplete total of sales between April 1979 and March 1989 shows that less than 10 per cent. of their stock has been sold, but who may have exceeded the 10 per cent. threshold if unreported sales were to be included.
I have today laid a table in the Library giving available information up to March 1989. It shows year by year information for each authority since 1984 -85, together with cumulative figures since April 1979.
Over 1 million local authority dwellings (about a fifth of the England 1979 stock) had been sold by the end of March 1989, the majority to sitting tenants, and sales are continuing at a high level. Information on total year by year sales of local authority houses and flats in England is listed in the following table. The number of flats sold in 1988-89 was greater than in any previous financial year and the number of houses sold was the largest since 1982-83.
Sales of local authority dwellings England<1>
Year |Houses |Flats
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |52,386 |1,162
1980-81 |66,946 |1,282
1981-82 |125,200 |2,967
1982-83 |175,334 |5,902
1983-84 |113,613 |8,430
1984-85 |85,487 |5,885
1985-86 |76,088 |6,230
1986-87 |77,677 |8,454
<2>1987-88 |90,852 |16,728
1988-89 |116,933 |26,895
|-------- |--------
|980,516 |83,935
Methane
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to reduce methane being released into the atmosphere.
Mr. Trippier : The sources of methane emissions to the atmosphere are diverse. Some are natural, some man-made. Our understanding of the contribution from different sources and the way methane behaves in the atmosphere require further research, which is now under way. The Department of Energy has a programme to promote the use of landfill methane as an energy source.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the relative impact of (a) methane and (b) chlorofluorocarbon gases on global warming.
Mr. Trippier : The relative importance of all the major greenhouse gases for global warming in the past, at present and in the future is discussed in detail in the booklet "Global Climate Change", published by the Department in association with the Meteorological Office in October. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Holt : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the factors in the 1989-90 scheme to determine community charge support which are different from or additional to factors used in earlier years to calculate local government support.
Mr. Chope : There are two main differences. First, the rate support grant system aims to equalise resources between authorities measured in terms of rateable values, whereas the new revenue support grant system equalises resources measured in terms of numbers of community charge payers in an area. Secondly, there has been a major review of the method of distributing grant between authorities and as a result the following additional factors will now be taken into account : the numbers of residents aged 11 or over, aged 65 to 74, aged 75 to 84 and aged 85 or over ; the proportion of children aged under 16 years living in private households in rented accommodation ; the number of residents aged 65 or over in independent registered residential homes whose primary function is reported as the care of elderly people, elderly people who are mentally infirm and elderly and other people who are handicapped ; the number of fire false alarm calls ; current expenditure on coast protection.
The full extent of the differences can be identified from a comparison of the GRE indicators given in appendix 2 to annex J of the Rate Support Grant Report (England) 1989-90 with those given in annex A to the draft Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) issued on 6 November by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment.
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Mr. Wall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what help will be available under the poll tax transitional relief scheme to students presently living in a hall of residence.
Mr. Chope : Full-time students will be liable to pay only one fifth of the community charge of the area where they live during term time. Students will be entitled to receive transitional relief, whatever type of accommodation they occupy, provided a comparison between rates and either one or two assumed community charges (depending on the number of community chargepayers in the property) shows an increase of more than £156 a year. Any student entitled to relief will receive it at the rate of one fifth of the normal rate to match the reduced community charge liability.
Football Membership Scheme
Mr. John Carlisle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress there has been on the preparation of the national membership scheme for football specators.
Mr. Moynihan : My right hon. Friend and I had a helpful meeting with the president of the Football League and the chairman of the Football Association on 14 November. They made it clear that it was still their wish that the football authorities should have first refusal to form the company that will be appointed as the Football Membership Authority. We confirmed that it was our hope and expectation that they would do so on the basis which had been agreed--that the Secretary of State would approve the composition of the authority ; that the body appointed was willing and able to produce a scheme which he could approve and which satisfied the requirements of the legislation and that he was satisfied about the implementation timetable.
We propose to hold further discussions shortly with the football authorities about the membership of the FMA. The FMA will be appointed following parliamentary approval of the commencement order bringing section 3 of the Football Spectators Act 1989 into operation. We intend that the commencement order should be laid and debated in the new year, after the publication of Lord Justice Taylor's final report on the Hillsborough inquiry.
I welcome the progress which the working party set up by the football authorities has made in its preparations for the national membership scheme. I understand that it has now issued an invitation to tender to the seven companies and consortia which are bidding for the contract to operate the scheme.
I share the hope of the football authorities that it will be possible, from a wide range of financial options, to meet the requirements of the national membership scheme, on a self-financing basis, at no direct cost to football clubs. If the clubs adopt a positive approach to promoting the scheme among their supporters, there is every prospect that this approach will be pursued successfully. The Government have provided a share of the costs incurred on the preparation of the scheme in advance of Royal Assent to the Football Spectators Act. The full funding of its implementation will be football's responsibility.
It will be for the Football Membership Authority, in conjunction with the chosen supplier, to come forward with an acceptable timetable for the implementation of the scheme. The Government want the scheme to be in place
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as soon as practicable. We will approve its introduction when we are satisfied that it will be effective, workable and safe. Before that can happen, both the Football Membership Authority and the Football Licensing Authority will need to be confident, among other considerations : that the technology has been tested properly ; that the flow of spectators through the turnstiles will proceed smoothly ; that the implications for the stewarding and policing of designated football matches have been fully assessed including the methodology for handling invalid cards, and that any structural alterations which may be needed at individual grounds have been made. The Football Licensing Authority will not license a ground to hold a designated match unless the requirements of the national membership scheme have been complied with and they are fully satisfied on safety requirements.I look forward to continuing co-operation between the Government and the football authorities in preparing for the implementation of the scheme and to the major contribution which the scheme will make to break the link between football and hooliganism.
Planning Appeals
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many planning appeals have been made in each of the last three years ; if he will express these figures in terms of percentage increase ; how many planning appeal inspectors have been in post in each of the last three years ; and what percentage of appeals within the last 12 months have been heard within the time limit prescribed by the relevant legislation.
Mr. Moynihan : The information requested is as follows :