| Home Page |
Column 1
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 26 February 1990
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Physics Departments
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science which university, university college and polytechnic departments of physics have closed in the last five years ; and which such departments are expected to close within the next five years.
Mr. Jackson : This information is not collected centrally. The future of individual physics departments is a matter for institutions to determine, in consultation with the relevant funding council.
Dyslexia
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the changes in provision for dyslexic children since the Education Act 1981 ; and if he will make a statement on the effect of these measures on the educational and vocational opportunities of these children.
Mr. Alan Howarth : It is for LEAs to make appropriate education provision--and to assess its effects--for all pupils in their area including those with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, or "specific learning difficulties" as it is also known.
The Government look to LEAs and to schools to ensure that suitable provision is, indeed, made for children with dyslexia, including teaching of reading and writing by methods appropriate to their needs.
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what measures and initiatives have been taken to enable children who were identified as dyslexic at school to pursue and obtain further education and vocational qualifications without being disadvantaged by their difficulties.
Mr. Jackson : As part of their general duty to provide adequate facilities for further education for their area, local education authorities are required to have regard to the requirements of persons with learning difficulties, whether or not dyslexia has been specifically diagnosed. It is open to LEAs to seek information or advice from such bodies as the adult literacy and basic skills unit, which receives Government funding.
Further Education
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will provide details of the numbers of students attending (a) full- time and (b) part-time courses at colleges of further education for each year since 1985, together with the proportion whose courses were part of the off-job training of an approved YTS.
Mr. Jackson : The information available is as follows :
Column 2
Numbers of students on further education courses in England
Thousands
|1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |<1>1988-89
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Full-time |340 |347 |354 |359
of which YTS
(per cent.) |6.2 |5.2 |5.3 |5.7
Part-time day |626 |648 |676 |702
of which YTS
(per cent.) |14.8 |14.9 |17.9 |17.7
Evening only |596 |634 |643 |694
of which YTS
(per cent.) |0.2 |0.3 |0.3 |0.3
<1>Provisional.
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will set out the total allocation to local authorities for capital spending on further education colleges for 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson : Allocations made to local education authorities for capital spending on further education colleges for 1990-91 totalled £65 million as follows :
|£ million
-------------------------------------------------
Major Building Works<1>:
Committed expenditure<2>
Starts in 1990-91 |32.6
Minor works |6.1
Equipment and Furniture |6.1
Reserve |3.0
Total |65.0
<1> Projects in excess of £200,000.
<2> For DES approved projects which started in
earlier years.
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will provide the numbers of students who have taken examinations for further education qualifications in each year since 1985, together with the numbers in each year who had preceded that exam with a course at (a) a college of further education, (b) a private sector provider, such as a YTS managing agent and (c) a course at another public sector establishment, together with the proportion of passes in each case.
Mr. Jackson : The available information is as follows :
Students on Further Education
courses in England leading to a
specified qualification
|number of
|students
|(thousands)
------------------------------------
1985-86 |944
1986-87 |987
1987-88 |1,034
<1>1988-89 |1,096
<1> Provisional.
Alcohol Research
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has on the total spending of (a) the Medical Research Council and (b) the Science and Engineering Research Council on alcohol research involving animals since 1980.
Mr. Jackson : The information requested is as follows : (
(a) since 1980 the Medical Research Council's expenditure on alcohol research involving animals was £276,000 ;
Column 3
(b) alcohol research involving animals is outside the remit of the Science and Engineering Research Council activities and there has therefore been no expenditure.School Playing Fields
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any estimate of the amount of land available for use as school playing fields ; and what information he has on the comparable figures for 1979 and 1984.
Mr. Alan Howarth : This information is not held by the Department.
Secondary Education, Plymouth
Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science for each of the years 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91, what capital expenditure on projects relating to the reorganisation of secondary education in Plymouth was approved by his Department.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The Department does not make capital allocations for individual projects at county and voluntary controlled schools. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I have given today to his question about the total sums allocated to Devon for each of these years. It is for Devon LEA to decide how to use the resources available to it in the light of local needs and circumstances.
Education Spending
Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science for each of the years 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91, what was the total sum allocated by his Department to English local education authorities and to Devon county council, respectively.
Mr. Alan Howarth : I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to capital allocations. The sums allocated in 1988-89 and 1989-90 and the amounts available in annual capital guidelines for 1990-91 are set out in the table. Allocations and annual capital guidelines are not directly comparable. The total for England in 1988-89 includes additional capital allocations which were mainly targeted at inner city areas. Each local education authority's annual capital guideline reflects the extent to which its plans for spending on schools and colleges matched the national priorities of providing new places in areas of population growth, cost- effective schemes for the removal of surplus places, continuing to remedy deficiencies in existing school buildings and new major building projects at colleges. In each of these years Devon's allocation as a percentage of its plans was above the national average.
Column 4
|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91
----------------------------------------
England |386,700|352,000|485,000
Devon |8,434 |14,177 |12,984
Notes: Figures are in cash terms and in
thousands.
Capital Project Bids
Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science for each of the years 1988-89, 1989-90, and 1990-91, what were the total bids for capital projects by English local education authorities and by Devon county council, respectively.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The information requested about local education authority plans for capital expenditure is as follows :
|1988-89 |1989-90 |1990-91
--------------------------------------------------
England |952,630 |1,032,489|1,326,529
Devon |10,732 |23,329 |28,679
Note: Figures are in cash terms and in thousands.
Student Loans
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to publish additional information on the working of the student loans scheme.
Mr. MacGregor : I am today making available, and have placed in the Library, a note which sets out detailed rules and procedures for the operation of the scheme. I intended to do so, following undertakings given by my hon. Friend in Committee, as soon as I had held discussions with representatives of the higher education institutions. While some details remain to be finally settled, I think it right to publish this material now.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Sri Lanka
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list, by type and by value at 1990 prices, what aid has been given, in each of the last five years, to Sri Lanka.
Mrs. Chalker : The following are the figures requested. Further details are contained in ODA's publication "British Aid Statistics" which is in the House of Commons Library :
Column 3
Gross bilateral aid to Sri Lanka 1984-1988 in constant 1990 prices
£ thousand
Year Gross Total of which Total
|Bilateral aid |Financial aid |ODA project aid|ATP |CDC project aid|technical
|(excluding ATP) |cooperation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1984 |35,980 |32,827 |22,159 |3,839 |4,633 |3,153
1985 |22,509 |18,777 |7,964 |595 |8,150 |3,732
1986 |20,065 |15,417 |48 |9,800 |3,259 |4,648
1987 |22,388 |16,768 |- |6,296 |8,551 |5,620
1988 |24,400 |16,063 |5,725 |5,064 |3,433 |8,336
<1>Also includes debt relief and disaster relief.
Source: British aid statistics.
Column 5
WALES
Waste Disposal
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to evaluate the levels of toxic waste pollution, and constituent pollutants, contained at sites in Tythegston, Llanwern and Plantation lane, Newtown.
Mr. Grist : The Welsh Office study of contaminated land identified possible toxic waste sites including Tythegston and Llanwern, and provided an assessment of the toxicity of each. The information available indicated that the Plantation lane site at Newtown contained only domestic waste.
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the major waste tip removal schemes either earmarked or under way in the counties of Gwent, Mid Glamorgan, West Glamorgan, Dyfed and Powys.
Mr. Grist : As part of the land reclamation programme the Welsh Development Agency is responsible for reclaiming waste tips. It is extremely rare for such tips to be completely removed : they are usually reduced in height and reprofiled, with excess material accommodated within the derelict site or on adjoining land. The number of projects involving the reclamation (not removal) of waste tips currently in progress and in the Welsh Development Agency's programme of future work is as follows :
Welsh Development Agency funded waste tip
projects
County |In |In
|progress |programme
---------------------------------------------
Dyfed |- |8
Gwent |3 |14
Mid Glamorgan |5 |38
Powys |- |7
West Glamorgan |1 |9
|-- |--
Total |9 |76
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give consideration to the compilation of statistics covering Wales along the lines of the estimates produced by the English Rural Development Commission of rural unemployment in England.
Mr. Peter Walker : There are no plans to produce such estimates. Unemployment rates are available for all travel-to-work and county areas in Wales but these areas are not categorised as rural or urban.
Drugs and Medicines
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will give statistics on a county basis of the volume and type of drugs and medicines returned in Wales to pharmacist and other agencies in response to campaigns launched by the Government and area health authorities ;
(2) if he will give, by volume and method, the costs of the disposal of the most prolific of the drugs and medicines returned to pharmacists by patients in response to campaigns launched by the Government and area health authorities.
Mr. Grist : Past campaigns have been organised at local level and detailed information is not readily available centrally.
Column 6
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what funds will be made available to help Welsh pharmacies to dispose of medicines returned by patients in response to campaigns launched by the Government and area health authorities to reduce the amount of dangerous medicines held beyond their useful dates ;
(2) what means of disposal have been suggested by the Welsh Office as the best practicable method of destroying medicines returned by patients to pharmacists in response to campaigns launched by the Government and area health authorities.
Mr. Grist : These matters are currently being considered by a working group of the Welsh pharmaceutical committee. I will write to the hon. Gentleman when I have considered any proposals which may be put to me by the committee.
School Sports
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will undertake a survey of school sports in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : We expect to publish shortly a report by Her Majesty's inspectorate of a survey of physical education in the secondary schools of Wales.
General Practitioners
Mr Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report a list of electoral wards in Wales which will qualify for deprivation payments to general practitioners ; if he will indicate the Jarman index score for each one ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : The details of these issues have yet to be finalised. FPCs and the profession will be notified as soon as possible.
Treatment Centres
Mr Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if, after implementation of the National Health Service and Community Care Bill, payment for care at a treatment centre will continue to be paid for out of a central fund ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : The costs of treatment centres will continue to be met centrally after the implementation of the National Health Service and Community Care Bill. The Department is considering how this will be achieved most effectively under the new arrangements.
River Severn
Mr Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has proposals to improve the standards of maintenance on the banks of the River Severn in Montgomeryshire to avoid further land erosion ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : Maintenance of river banks to protect against erosion is the responsibility of their owners.
Deeside Community Hospital
Mr Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will make a statement on the progress of the building of the Deeside community hospital :
Column 7
(2) when he expects the completion of phase I of the Deeside community hospital.Mr. Grist : Responsibility for the Deeside community hospital scheme rests with the Clwyd health authority. We understand that construction work on phase I is currently on target for completion in December 1991.
Roof Tax
Mr Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the economic consequences of the introduction of a roof tax in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Walker [holding answer 19 February 1990] : As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has already said, the principal disadvantages of such a tax include its unfair and arbitrary impact on homeowners and tenants, its discouragement of home improvements and the lack of any clear link between the spending of a local authority and the size of an individual's tax bill.
PRIME MINISTER
Accountancy and Audits
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make it her policy to use normal commercial accountancy and audit methods in all public sector departments.
The Prime Minister : Commercial accountancy and auditing methods have been or will be introduced in Government Departments where it is considered appropriate to use them. But as my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury explained in Official Report, 22 January 1990, column 540, normally only cash-based appropriation accounts will be published for Departments or parts of Departments which do not become next steps agencies.
Soviet Union
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Prime Minister if she has recently met representatives of the Adam Smith Institute, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Institute of Economic Affairs to discuss the promotion of free market democracy in the Soviet Union.
The Prime Minister : No. But we are actively supporting moves towards genuine democracy and a market economy in the Soviet Union.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list each category of parliamentary questions which it is her policy not to answer.
The Prime Minister : Of those questions not transferred, none.
Mr. Colin Wallace
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister if she will place in the Library the letter written to Mr. Colin Wallace by Mr. Charles Powell on 16 February.
Column 8
European Community
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the policy of Her Majesty's Government in relation to the treaty revision proposal which the Foreign Affairs Council agreed on 5 February should be submitted to the European Council on amendments to the treaty in relation to the final phases of European monetary union ; and if she will seek to clarify the implications for the United Kingdom of the treaty proposal before the meeting of the European Council.
The Prime Minister : The Foreign Affairs Council on 5 February concluded that the Irish Government should table a treaty revision proposal, based on the relevant conclusions of the Strasbourg European Council. The opinion of the European Parliament is required on the question of convening an IGC under article 236 of the treaty of Rome. This was a procedural technicality to put into effect the Strasbourg presidency conclusions.
The President of the European Council at Strasbourg noted that the necessary majority existed to convene a conference charged with preparing an amendment of the treaty with a view to the final stages of EMU. The Government have made it clear we believe that the convening of the IGC was premature, but that we will nevertheless participate in it.
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Prime Minister if she will take steps to ensure that Parliament is fully advised of the outcome of meetings of the various Councils of Ministers ; and if she will make a further statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 5 February.
The Prime Minister : My hon. Friend will be aware that it is normal practice for the outcome of meetings of the Council of Ministers to be reported promptly to the House.
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 8 February, Official Report, columns 716-17, by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which gave a full report on the meeting to which my hon. Friend refers.
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
General Synod
66. Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, how much the Church Commissioners spent on the General Synod and its activities in each of the past three years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alison : The commissioners do not fund the General Synod.
Primary Schools (Wavertree)
67. Mr. Alton : To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, if Church funding will be available to maintain the three Anglican primary schools in Wavertree, Liverpool.
Mr. Alison : None of the commissioners' funds are, by law, available for school purposes. I cannot speak for any other Church of England body which might be involved.
Column 9
Redundant Churches
68. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church Commissioners intend to make any redundant churches available for civil marriages under the recent White Paper proposals.
Mr. Alison : The commissioners will wish to consider the implications of the White Paper in consultation with the redundant churches fund and others concerned in the Church before coming to any conclusion.
Living Faith in the City"
69. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, what consideration the commissioners have given or plan to give to the recently published Church of England report "Living Faith in the City".
Mr. Alison : The commissioners are studying "Living Faith in the City" with interest and have already noted its positive comments on the commissioners' involvement in the urban priority areas.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Energy Production
83. Mr. Robert B. Jones : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will express in coal tonne equivalents the amount of energy required to generate £1,000 of gross domestic product in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the European Community as a whole.
Mr. Norman Lamont : The amount of energy required to generate £1, 000 of gross domestic product for 1987, the latest period for which comparable figures exist, for (a) the United Kingdom is 0.85 tonnes of coal equivalent, (b) the European Community as a whole, is 0.8 tonnes of coal equivalent.
These figures have been derived by expressing the gross inland energy consumption as a proportion of the gross domestic product measured in market prices. The gross domestic product for the United Kingdom and the European Community as a whole were calculated using purchasing power standards for comparison purposes. Further details on the definition of the gross domestic product used are given in the Eurostat publication "National Accounts ESA".
Taxation
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the categories of income tax payers for whom the average percentage burden of total taxation is higher now than in 1979.
Mr. Lilley : Since income tax rates have been reduced and the main personal allowances increased by substantially more than the rate of inflation, taxpayers will now pay a lower proportion of their income in tax than in 1978-79 unless their incomes have risen even more rapidly than allowances. Average earnings have risen rather more than this. For taxpayers of working age whose incomes have increased in line with average earnings, average rates of income tax are lower for everyone except some married
Column 10
men with earnings of less than three quarters of average earnings. None the less, on the same basis, real take-home pay is higher than in 1978-79 at all levels of earnings.Payroll Giving
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people participated in the payroll giving scheme in each year of the scheme's existence ; what total sums were given to charities as a result of the scheme in each year ; and what was the cost to the Exchequer in each year.
Mr. Lilley : Estimates are as follows :
Payroll giving scheme
|Donors |Donations |Cost of
|(thousands)|(£ million)|tax relief
|(£ million)
------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |55 |1.0 |0.3
1988-89<1> |125 |3.5 |1.0
1989-90<1> |175 |7.0 |2.0
<1> Provisional.
Independent Taxation
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated cost of independent taxation in (a) 1990-91 and (b) 1991-92.
Mr. Lilley : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on 8 January at column 566 for the effect on receipts in 1990-91. The corresponding reduction in income tax receipts in 1991-92 is estimated to be £1.3 billion. The estimate includes the effect on the composite rate of tax on bank and building society interest in 1991-92, but makes no allowance for possible behavioural effects. The reduction in capital gains tax receipts in 1991-92 is tentatively estimated to be about £50 million.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was raised by local authorities in rates in each year since 1979 ; and what increase in income tax would have raised an equivalent sum at constant prices.
Mr. Lilley : The amount raised in total local authority rates in each year since 1978-79 is as follows :
|£ billion |£ billion at
|1989-90
|prices<1>
----------------------------------------------------
1978-89 |5.8 |13.6
1979-80 |6.8 |13.8
1980-81 |8.7 |14.9
1981-82 |10.7 |16.6
1982-83 |12.1 |17.5
1983-84 |12.3 |16.9
1984-85 |13.0 |17.0
1985-86 |13.9 |17.3
1986-87 |15.7 |19.0
1987-88 |17.1 |19.7
1988-89 |18.9 |20.2
<1> Cash figures adjusted to 1989-90 price levels
by excluding the effect of general inflation as
measured by the GDP deflator at market prices.
Column 11
In 1988-89 an extra 10p on both the basic and higher rates of income tax is estimated to have a direct yield of about £19 billion. This estimate ignores behavioural effects which would probably be significant.Non-industrial Staff
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing (a) the changes in numbers in central Government non-industrial staff in each year since 1979 and (b) comparable figures for local government, broken down by county and district.
Mr. Norman Lamont : The numbers of central Government non-industrial staff, on a full-time equivalent basis, in post as at 1 July are as follows :
|Thousands
------------------------------
1979 |560.2
1980 |544.9
1981 |537.1
1982 |523.2
1983 |514.8
1984 |500.9
1985 |496.0
1986 |501.8
1987 |507.7
1988 |504.6
1989 |498.9
In respect of local government, information in the form and detail apparently requested could be assembled only at disproportionate cost. Employment information which is readily available, for each county and district in England, is in terms of headcount, and is given for the latest period and a year earlier in quarterly press notices issued on behalf of the joint staffing watch through the Department of the Environment. Copies of these press notices and similar joint staffing watch data for Scotland and Wales are available in the Library. Figures of total local authority employment at mid-year are contained in the article on employment in the public and private sector, published in the December 1989 edition of Economic Trends.
| Next Section
| Home Page |