House of Commons Hansard Debates for 27 Feb 1990

Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 27 February 1990

WALES

Welsh Language Teaching

Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the annual expenditure on schemes to teach Welsh as a second language to adults in Wales.

Mr. Wyn Roberts : Welsh Office support for the teaching of Welsh to adults amounts to over £305,000 in 1989-90. This complements the support given by LEAs, which are the main providers in this field.

Sheep

Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of ewe and lamb slaughterings in Wales for each of the last five years ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Walker : Estimates of slaughterings of sheep are available only for the two categories shown in the table :


                |1985      |1986      |1987      |1988      |1989                 

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

Ewes and rams   |80.7      |131.7     |194.2     |198.5     |<1>224.3             

Sheep and lambs |1,478.6   |1,646.6   |1,739.5   |1,793.0   |<1>2,161.1           

(excluding ewes and rams)                                                         

<1> Provisional.

Teaching

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will convene a meeting of teacher unions in Wales to discuss with them resignations from the teaching profession in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Wyn Roberts : We are always prepared to consider requests from the teachers' unions for meetings to discuss issues of concern to them. We have had no such request.

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will make a statement on stress in the teaching profession in Wales ;

(2) what is his assessment of the impact upon teachers of the demands of the Education Reform Act in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Wyn Roberts : There is widespread support in the teaching profession for the changes introduced by the Education Reform Act and notably for the introduction of a national curriculum and local management of schools. We are well aware that this support is tempered by concerns about the demands placed on teachers by the pace of these changes. We have instigated a number of measures to help teachers and provide them with support.

We are providing grant support to LEAs in Wales in 1990-91 of £3.9 million specifically for in-service training

Column 102

to support the teaching and assessment of the national curriculum ; and a further £4.5 million, under the education support grant scheme, on projects directly related to the introduction of national curriculum core subjects. We are also providing about £0.5 million of funding for the Curriculum Council for Wales to develop through its teacher support groups practical help and advice for teachers in implementing the national curriculum.

The Secretary of State for Education and Science and my right hon. Friend are currently considering advice from the School Examinations and Assessment Council about the administration of assessment of the national curriculum at key stage 1 (five to seven-year-old pupils). In considering our response we are particularly concerned that the systems should be practicable for teachers and not excessively demanding. The assessment arrangements will be developed in the light of practical pilot studies in schools in Wales.

Our officials have been working with local education authorities to develop a co-operative approach to information requirements ; we intend to ensure that the demands on schools are kept to the minimum necessary and that all agencies ensure that requests for information are not duplicated.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the percentage collection of the poll tax in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Walker : I expect the vast majority of the people of Wales to abide by the law. I therefore expect a very high percentage collection of the community charge.

A483 (Fencing)

Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps have been taken to ensure that the standard fencing erected on behalf of his Department on the A483 Ruabon bypass is adequate for the purpose of preventing livestock from straying on the highway ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Wyn Roberts : All fencing along the Ruabon bypass complies with appropriate departmental standards and specifications.

Consultative Health Council

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what arrangements will be made to cover the gap between the date at which membership of the existing consultative health council comes to an end and 1 January 1991 when the proposed new structure will come into existence.

Mr. Grist : I assume the right hon. Gentleman is referring to community health councils. It is intended that new councils will be set up in shadow form from 1 January 1991 but will not take over from existing councils until 1 April 1991.

Saudi Arabia

Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what have been the results of his recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Column 103

Mr. Peter Walker : I was pleased to be able to visit Saudi Arabia between 5 and 8 February as the guest of Shaikh Hisham Nazer, the Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources. I was accompanied on the visit by a team of Welsh business men and representatives of the university of Wales. In the course of my visit I held productive discussions with leading Saudi Ministers, business men and academics, and I was delighted by the enthusiasm with which we were received. The business mission was a resounding success and £7 million of orders for Welsh companies have already been secured, with a further £2.5 million anticipated in the immediate future, and the prospect of more to come thereafter. Three joint venture partnerships with Saudi companies have also been identified ; and some 50 inquiries for the supply of products, offers of distributorship and supply partnerships have been made by Saudi businesses, which are being channelled to appropriate Welsh and United Kingdom companies.

Following my meeting with the Saudi Minister for Education and visits by the university of Wales representatives to Saudi universities and higher education establishments, new and valuable academic links between Wales and Saudi Arabia have been forged. We anticipate formal co-operation agreements between the university of Wales and the King Saud university and the King Fahd university of petroleum and minerals. This will lead to significantly more Saudi students studying in Wales and an expansion of staff and student interchanges.

I suggested reciprocal visits to Wales by the principals of the five Saudi colleges of agriculture and by a mission of Saudi business men and I am glad to say that both these invitations were enthusiastically accepted.

This has been one of the most successful missions from Wales and is further evidence of the growing strength of the Welsh economy. When we welcome the teams of Saudi business men and academics in the near future they will be able to see for themselves the quality of products and research produced in Wales and I am sure that this will lead to further opportunities for mutual investment and exchanges between Wales and Saudi Arabia.

THE ARTS

Icklingham Treasure

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will make a statement on his policy in relation to the Icklingham treasure.

Mr. Luce : I do not think it would be appropriate for me to comment on this particular matter while it is still under police investigation. I have kept in close touch with developments and had a number of meetings with those involved. In the meantime, my noble Friend Lord Hesketh has announced in another place the plans of the Secretary of State for the Environment to amend the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, with a view to strengthening legislative controls on scheduled sites.

Cash Limits

Mr. Knapman : To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will give details of any proposed changes to the cash limits of his Department's votes in 1989-90.

Column 104

Mr. Luce [pursuant to his reply, 29 January 1990, c. 3] : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary revised supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XIII, vote 2 will be increased by £7,178,000 from £181,266,000 to £188,444,000. The increase will be charged to the reserve and will therefore not add to the planned total of public expenditure. The additional provision is required to enable the Government to accept a number of important works of art in lieu of tax.

NATIONAL FINANCE

Audit Fees

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of rising audit fees on inflation.

Mr. Ryder : None. It is not possible to identify the effect of audit fees in any of the usual measures of inflation.

VAT

Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any proceedings have been commenced against Beaulieu Textile Company (Belgium) and its company directors for value added tax evasion following the Harrogate carpet fair in July 1989.

Mr. Ryder : No proceedings have been commenced against a company by the name of Beaulieu Textile Company (Belgium). At the Harrogate carpet fair in September 1989 the following directors of the Beaulieu Group of Companies were arrested and have so far been charged with cheating the public Revenue and offences under section 39(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1983 :

Jan de Clerck

Dominiek de Clerck

Luc de Clerck

Francis de Clerck

Tax Districts (Work Backlogs)

Mr. David Howell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are used by Her Majesty's Government to assess the backlog of work or the degree of delay in the handling of personal tax affairs in the various tax districts ; what, by the measures used, is the trend in the level of backlog over a recent convenient period ; and whether he will publish separate figures for the various tax districts.

Mr. Lilley : The principal measure used to assess the backlog of work in tax districts is the regular count of papers on hand that have been awaiting attention for more than 14 days and two months. The unworked papers over 14 days old at April during the period 1985 to 1989 were :


           |Number             

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

April 1985 |1,983,000          

April 1986 |1,354,000          

April 1987 |172,000            

April 1988 |70,000             

April 1989 |82,000

The position in April 1990 is expected to be broadly similar to that in April 1989.

Table file CW900227.003 not available

There are no plans to publish separate figures for the individual tax districts.

Interest Rates

Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the average interest rate for each year since 1981.

Mr. Ryder : Average base rates for each year are contained in table 13.15 of "Financial Statistics".

European Investment Bank

Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what financial contribution the United Kingdom makes to the European Investment Bank ; and what control is exercised over its lending and granting policy.

Mr. Ryder : The United Kingdom's present subscription to the European Investment Bank is a total of 5.51 becu, paid in annual instalments in the period October 1988 to October 1991. Control over the bank's lending and granting policy is exercised by the bank's governors and board of directors. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a governor of the bank, and the United Kingdom has five representatives on the board of directors.

Mortgages

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1978 the weight of mortgage interest in the retail prices index, together with the implied total payable by householders to mortgagees.

Mr. Lilley : The weights for mortgage interest payments in the general index of retail prices, expressed as parts per thousand, have been as follows. The fall between 1986 and 1987 is partly a reflection of a change in methodology recommended by the RPI advisory committee.


       |Weight       

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

1978   |23           

1979   |31           

1980   |38           

1981   |42           

1982   |41           

1983   |30           

1984   |39           

1985   |46           

1986   |54           

1987   |44           

1988   |42           

1989   |60

Each year's weight reflects the estimated liability of the average household covered by the index, given a standardised mortgage arrangement, the expenditure being valued at the interest rate ruling in mid-January. The figure cannot be used to calculate the actual amount payable by all households over a period.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for Southend-on-Sea district council the number of residential hereditaments rated at less than £100 a year, by steps of £100 to £500, from £500 to £1,000 and over £1,000, together with the poundage in the current financial year.

Column 106

Mr. Lilley : The poundage is £2.535. But the information about rateable values could not be produced without a disproportionate expenditure of time and resources.

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report, the number of residential properties in Grimsby with a rateable value not exceeding £200 per annum, and the number in excess of that amount.

Mr. Lilley : This information could not be produced without a disproportionate expenditure of time and resources.

Carriers (Documentation)

Mr. Michael Morris : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who is responsible for checking at the point of entry that a carrier has the correct documentation.

Mr. Ryder [holding answer 26 February 1990] : Customs and Excise is responsible for checking all documents relating to the customs clearance of imported goods. It is not responsible for checking other documents.

PRIME MINISTER

Clockwork Orange Project

Mr. Allen : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make it her policy to consult (a) General Sir Frank King, General Officer Commanding and (b) Sir Peter Leng, Commander of Army Land Forces, Northern Ireland, 1973-75 to establish their view of events surrounding the Clockwork Orange project.

The Prime Minister : No. Both General Sir Frank King and General Sir Peter Leng have made it clear that they do not recall any project specifically named Clockwork Orange, nor any project aimed at denigrating Members of Parliament.

South Africa

Q16. Mr. Hunter : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a further statement on the current political situation in South Africa.

The Prime Minister : President de Klerk has taken fundamental decisions which have gone further in the direction of ending apartheid than those taken by any previous Government. The way is open to peaceful negotiations with the ANC and with those who represent other groupings in South Africa to work out a new democratic constitution, which, as President de Klerk has said, must have the support of the majority of South Africans.

Q59. Dr. Godman : To ask the Prime Minister if she has held recent discussions with (a) Chancellor Kohl and (b) other European Community state leaders concerning current relations between the nations of the European Community and the Republic of South Africa and the possibility of Community aid for political parties in South Africa.

The Prime Minister : I last discussed South Africa with my European Community colleagues at the Strasbourg European Council on 8-9 December 1989.

Column 107

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised the question of aid to political parties in South Africa with his Community colleagues in Dublin on 20 February. They welcomed this suggestion and agreed to consider how such a programme might be organised.

Q76. Mr. Harry Ewing : To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to make an official visit to South Africa.

The Prime Minister : I have no present plans to do so.

Homelessness

Q57. Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Prime Minister if she will make official visits to London's cardboard city and to people living in similar circumstances in Manchester and other major cities.

The Prime Minister : I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) on 13 February 1990 ( Official Report, column 136 ).

Transport

Q91. Mr. Boswell : To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received on investment in transport infrastructure.

The Prime Minister : I have received representations on a wide range of issues concerning investment in transport infrastructure.

Textiles

Q140. Mr. Cryer : To ask the Prime Minister when she next expects to pay an official visit to a textile factory.

The Prime Minister : I visit textile factories from time to time and very much like the woollen products of Yorkshire mills.

Council of Europe

Q155. Sir John Hunt : To ask the Prime Minister if she plans any meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The Prime Minister : I have no present plans for such a meeting. But I pay tribute to the most important role the Council of Europe is playing in the development of democracy in Europe.

Engagements

Mr. Ashton : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. Vaz : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. Rathbone : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. French : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Column 108

Mr. Stern : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

Mr. McAvoy : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 February.

The Prime Minister : This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today. This evening I hope to have an audience of Her Majesty the Queen.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Perrier

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what quality tests have taken place since 1 December 1989 on Perrier water for consumer protection ; and on what dates they took place.

Mr. Maclean : Following the discovery of traces of benzene in Perrier water in the United States of America tests on United Kingdom supplies were undertaken on behalf of the Food Safety Directorate between 12 and 15 February. The results were made available in the form of news release 67/90 on 15 February. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Enforcement of the Natural Mineral Waters Regulations 1985 is the responsibility of local authorities. In addition the responsible authority in the water's country of origin is required to carry out periodic checks to ensure continued compliance with the terms of the original regulations of the water under the directive by that authority. Information on any quality tests undertaken by that authority is not required to be circulated.

Meat Exports

Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what regulations exist in other European Community member states on the importation of British meat and bone meal.

Mr. Maclean : The information requested is as follows :

France

Currently ban imports of British meat and bone meal ;

Italy

Require confirmation that the meat and bone meal does not originate from bovines, ovines or caprines ;

Netherlands

Prohibit the feeding to ruminants of meat and bone meal derived from ruminants ; and

West Germany

Application must be made to the appropriate land authority for an import permit. This will state the particular certification which is required in each case. The Ministry is unaware that any such application has been made or of the certification required.

Covent Garden

Miss Hoey : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place a copy of the feasibility study commissioned from Binder Hamlyn in February 1989 on the new Covent Garden market in the Library.

Mr. Curry : I expect to be able to place a summary of the report in the Library of the House within the next few days.

Column 109

Fisheries Research

Mr. William Ross : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether any fisheries research vessels are leased or hired to other bodies or nations.

Next Section

Home Page