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Column 447
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 11 December 1989
THE ARTS
Public Libraries
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will make a statement on the Government's spending plans for public libraries.
Mr. Luce : The Government do not plan local authority spending on public libraries or on other services. Revenue support grant is paid in support of local authorities'
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revenue expenditure generally. For 1990-91, it is proposed to distribute revenue support grant on the basis that it is appropriate for authorities in England in aggregate to incur revenue spending of £32.8 billion, in the provision of services. Of this amount, £5.004 billion is assumed to be spent on the other services block, a group of smaller services including libraries.CIVIL SERVICE
Early Retirement
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Minister for the Civil Service how many civil servants have taken early retirement for each year since 1979.
Mr. Ryder : I have been asked to reply.
The earliest year for which this information is readily available is 1982- 83. The details are as follows :
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Non-industrial civil service 1982-83 |1983-84 |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89<1> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4,337 |5,734 |4,105 |4,084 |3,739 |4,893 |4,441 <1> Provisional Source: Mandate
NATIONAL FINANCE
GDP
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has as to the growth in gross domestic product in each Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country for the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Ryder : Following is the information requested.
Growth of GDP/GNP at Constant Prices ------------------------- United Kingdom |4.3 United States |4.4 Japan |5.8 Germany |3.6 France |3.4 Italy |3.9 Canada |5.0 Belgium |4.2 Luxembourg |5.2 Netherlands |3.0 Denmark |-0.2 Ireland |0.4 Spain |5.0 Portugal |4.1 Greece |3.4 Australia |3.8 New Zealand |0.3 Austria |4.2 Finland |4.8 Iceland |-1.4 Norway |2.6 Sweden |2.1 Switzerland |3.0 Turkey |3.4 Source: OECD and national sources
Source : OECD and national sources.
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Building Societies
Mr. Beith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement on the role of the Building Societies Commission on the proposed merger of the Guardian building society and the Cheltenham and Gloucester building society ;
(2) if he will take steps to enable the Building Societies Commission to ensure that members of the Guardian and Cheltenham and Gloucester building societies are provided with statements of the case for and against the merger of those societies, and are given sufficient time to reach a considered decision.
Mr. Ryder : The Building Societies Commission has two statutory functions placed upon it under the provisions of sections 93 to 96 and schedule 16 (mergers) of the Building Societies Act 1986. First, it has to approve the contents of the statement required to be sent to all members under schedule 16 to the Act and, second, if the members approve the requisite resolutions, to confirm the merger. The commission has approved the statutory statements issued by the societies in connection with the proposed merger between the Guardian building society and the Cheltenham and Gloucester building society. If the special and borrowing members resolutions are passed, the commission intends to consider the societies' applications for confirmation on 14 February 1990, when it will consider any representations made by interested parties. That hearing must be directed to consideration of whether the statutory procedures and the provisions of the 1986 Act and the societies' rules have been complied with. It is not for the commission to consider the merits of the terms of a merger.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ministerial Responsibilities
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what additional responsibilities have been assumed by the Minister for the Economy in Northern Ireland in the Department of Economic Development since 25 July ;
(2) what are the current responsibilities of the Minister for the Environment in Northern Ireland ;
(3) what changes have been made to the budget of the Minister for the Environment in Northern Ireland since 25 July ;
(4) what changes have been made to the budgets of the Minister for the Economy in Northern Ireland in the Department of Economic Development and the Department of the Environment since 25 July.
Mr. Brooke : All Northern Ireland Departments are under my direction and control and I have allocated economic development and environment responsibilities as follows :
Mr. Needham
Urban Regeneration ;
Urban Development Grant ;
Belfast Action Teams ;
Promotion of Belfast City Centre ;
Planning Service ;
Lands Service ; and
Ports and Harbours.
Mr. Peter Bottomley
The remainder of the Department of Environment functions. The main changes to budgetary allocations since 25 July are summarised in the table and have been reflected as necessary in the autumn Supplementary Estimate approved on 4 December.
Department of Economic Development
Industry Trade and Employment ;
Increase of £42 million reflecting additional provision for Shorts and Harland and Wolff offset by emerging savings on Industrial Development and Labour Market services.
Energy ;
Reduction of £8 million through additional loan repayments by NIE. Department of Environment
Mr. Needham's responsibilities
Reduction of £2 million mainly reflecting delays in Urban Development Schemes coming forward for grant.
Mr. Bottomley's responsibilities
Roads and Transport ;
Net reduction of £1 million reflecting several minor changes. Housing ;
Reduction of £42 million reflecting interest savings from the write- off of loans to NIHE. The reduction did not affect the resources available for physical housing programmes. Indeed the availability of increased Housing receipts has facilitated an increase in the gross expenditure by the NIHE.
Environmental and Miscellaneous Services ;
Additional £1 million reflecting several minor changes.
The changes to budgets do not involve any increase in total public expenditure.
Motorways (Accidents)
Mr. Hayes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many road accidents have been reported involving stationary vehicles on motorway hard shoulders in each of the years 1980 to 1989 ; and how many people were (a) injured and (b) killed.
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Mr. Cope : The Chief Constable of the RUC has advised me that the relevant records were computerised in 1986 and information for the years prior to that could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The information for the years 1986 to 1989 is set out in the following table :