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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 13 March 1990
HOME DEPARTMENT
Civil Emergencies
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will identify the costs to his Department in 1989-90 to date allocated for 1990-91 of (a) maintaining the civil emergencies secretariat, (b) the employment of a civil emergency adviser and associated costs, (c) commissioned work by outside bodies relating to civil emergency planning and (d) other expenditure relating to civil emergency planning.
Mr. John Patten : The costs are as follows :
|1989-90 |1990-91
|£ |£
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Civil Emergencies Adviser and Secretariat |60,000 |107,000
Travel and subsistence for Adviser and
Secretariat |<1>3,500|16,500
Emergency Planning College Civil
Emergencies Tutorial Group<2> |38,000 |159,000
<1> Estimated outturn.
<2> Includes travel and subsistence.
No costs have been incurred for work undertaken by outside bodies. Other expenditure relating to civil emergency planning is incurred by the police staff college and the fire service college and other Home Office departments, but figures could not be broken down without disproportionate cost.
Civil Emergency Adviser (Meetings)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the itinerary of conferences and meetings with outside bodies which his Department's civil emergency adviser has attended, or agreed to attend, in 1990 ;
(2) if he will make it his policy to send his Department's civil emergency adviser, Mr. David Brook, to the conference for local authorities on disaster planning for the 1990s to be held on 15 March.
Mr. John Patten : The functions of the civil emergencies adviser were set out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Mr. Lester) on 15 June 1989 at columns 514-15 ; it is for Mr. Brook as civil emergencies adviser to determine how best to fulfil that remit.
Housing, Greater Manchester
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many houses are in the ownership of his Department in each district in Greater Manchester ; and what percentage of these are empty.
Mr. Waddington : The information is as follows :
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District |Number of |Percentage
|houses |empty
--------------------------------------------
Bolton |- |-
Bury |- |-
Manchester |49 |18
Oldham |- |-
Rochdale |4 |0
Salford |- |-
Stockport |- |-
Tameside |- |-
Trafford |- |-
Wigan |27 |89
Twenty-one surplus empty houses in Wigan and four in Manchester will shortly be placed on the open market for sale.
Arson
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in regard to the investigations into the arson campaign in Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the chief constable of North Wales police that a special squad was set up at Bangor in March 1988 to investigate these offences. Effective liaison has been established between all the forces concerned and police inquiries are continuing as a matter of priority.
Pop Concerts
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications have been made to local authorities during each of the past five years for which records are available for licences to hold pop concerts ; and how many and what percentage have been refused.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Crowd Safety
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with what agencies he is, or his officials are, in consultation concerning what further guidance should be issued to local authorities about crowd safety at public musical entertainments ; when such consultations will be concluded ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Home Office is consulting the Health and Safety Executive, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of District Councils about this issue. The recent announcement from the Health and Safety Commission explained that work has been commissioned to produce new guidance on safety at pop concerts, but it is too early to predict when this will be available, bearing in mind the many factors involved.
Non-English Speaking Prisoners
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of his Department on informing inmates in prisons in England and Wales who do not speak or understand English as to the rules existing in prison ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : All prisoners, when they are first received into prisons, are provided with an information booklet
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which they are allowed to keep in their possession during their sentence. There are versions of this booklet in English and 12 other languages.If a prisoner cannot for any reason understand this written information, the governor will arrange for an oral explanation using interpreting facilities where necessary.
Incitement to Murder
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he has any plans to strengthen present legislation on incitement to murder ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) how many prosecutions have taken place in the last 12 months for incitement to murder ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten [holding answer 15 February 1990] : We have no present plans to change the law on incitement to murder, but we keep it under review.
In 1988 there were 30 prosecutions under section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 : together, these provisions make it an offence to solicit or propose to another to commit murder or to conspire to do so. Figures are not kept separately for each provision. There were also 1,030 prosecutions under section 16 of the 1861 Act, which makes it an offence to make threats to kill with intention that the recipient of those threats should fear that they will be carried out. Information for 1989 will not be available until autumn 1990.
Security Service Tribunal
Mr. Allason : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been received by the Security Service Tribunal since 18 December 1989 ; and how many have been rejected because they referred to events prior to that date.
Mr. Waddington : The Security Service Tribunal operates independently under the provisions of the Security Service Act 1989. I do not propose to make available details of its work. It will be for the Security Service Commissioner to decide in consultation with the tribunal what information might be included about the tribunal in his annual report to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Electricity Tariffs
Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about electricity tariffs in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Brooke : The Government have decided to end the tariff subsidy arrangement whereby electricity tariffs in Northern Ireland are linked to the highest in England and Wales. This decision, which will have effect from 1 April, follows a detailed review of existing tariff policy. The review concluded that, on the basis of oil price projections, the tariff link arrangements are no longer appropriate. The review recommended that NIE should, therefore, return to setting its tariffs on the basis of its own costs rather than by reference to the tariffs of area boards in England and Wales. It is clear, moreover, that the privatisation of the
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electricity supply industry in England and Wales and the decision to privatise NIE also have made the link less appropriate. For the future, NIE's tariffs will have to be based on the economic price of producing and delivering electricity in Northern Ireland. In the year beginning 1 April 1990, a tariff increase of around 8 per cent. on average would, in the Government's view, be consistent with that objective.I expect to receive within the next week or so NIE's detailed proposals for the different categories of consumer. When agreement is reached on these, NIE will make a full announcement.
Civil Service
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing the Government establishments in (a) the Coleraine council area, (b) the Magherafelt council area, (c) the Larne council area, (d) the Carrickfergus council area and (e) the Strabane council area, in which civil servants are employed at present, five years and 10 years ago, together with his projections for the next three years of the number of such employees in each establishment ; (2) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the Government establishments in the (a) Omagh council area, (b) Moyle council area, (c) Ballymoney council area, (d) Fermanagh council area and (e) Craigavon council area, in which civil servants are employed at present, five years and 10 years ago, together with his projections for the next three years of the number of such employees in each establishment ;
(3) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the Government establishments in the (a) Dungannon council area, (b) Banbridge council area, (c) Armagh council area, (d) Ballymena council area and (e) Antrim council area, in which civil servants are employed at present, five years and 10 years ago, together with his projections for the next three years of the number of such employees in each establishment ;
(4) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the Government establishments in the (a) Belfast council area, (b) Ards council area, (c) Castlereagh council area, (d) Down council area and (e) Lisburn council area, in which civil servants are employed at present, five years and 10 years ago, together with his projections for the next three years of the number of such employees in each establishment ;
(5) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the Government establishments in (a) the Londonerry council area, (b) the Newtonabbey council area, (c) the Cookstown district council area, (d) the North Down district council area, (e) the Limavady council area and (f) the Newry and Mourne council area in which civil servants are employed at present, five years and 10 years ago, together with his projections for the next three years of the number of such employees in each establishment at each period.
Mr. Cope [holding answer 27 February 1990] : Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost. However, the table lists the total number of Northern Ireland civil servants employed in each district council area in Northern Ireland at present and five years ago. Given
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the extent of change, firm projections of numbers in district council areas cannot be provided for the next three years.
Northern Ireland civil service
District council aStaff in post
|1985 |1990
--------------------------------------
Coleraine |892 |816
Magherafelt |169 |209
Larne |185 |189
Carrickfergus |153 |245
Strabane |194 |175
Omagh |1,061 |1,080
Moyle |67 |55
Ballymoney |145 |164
Fermanagh |845 |716
Craigavon |987 |1,041
Dungannon |271 |265
Banbridge |207 |209
Armagh |916 |832
Ballymena |907 |914
Antrim |471 |493
Belfast |14,167|14,763
Ards |267 |239
Castlereagh |357 |866
Down |728 |815
Lisburn |863 |805
Derry |1,065 |1,117
Newtownabbey |328 |279
Cookstown |389 |375
North Down |969 |1,018
Limavady |220 |242
Newry and Mourne |647 |520
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ENERGY
Severn Barrage
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the Government's position, from energy, environmental and financial aspects, on the Severn tidal barrage.
Mr. Wakeham : A Severn tidal barrage is by far the largest single renewable energy project which could be built in the United Kingdom. Its average annual output would be some 17 Twh, which constitutes 7 per cent. of present electrical energy consumption in England and Wales. Before a Severn tidal barrage could go ahead, a full environmental impact assessment would need to be completed. Over the next two years some further work on the Severn barrage will be undertaken. This will include some site specific environmental work and a study of the financing issues for a barrage. The Department is presently funding generic tidal R and D in support of site specific work on the Severn, Mersey and other estuaries. The total cost of generic environmental studies completed since 1986 and currently under way amounts to £1 million.
British Gas
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list all the organisations which advised his Department on any aspect of the privatisation of British Gas giving in each case the dates of their involvement and in each case the aspect on which they advised.
Mr. Wakeham : The lead organisations and the role they played during privatisation of British Gas plc are listed in the table. The dates of their involvement are not readily available.
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|Organisation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merchant Banks |N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd
|Goldman, Sachs & Co (US)*
|Wood Gundy Inc (Canada)*
|Swiss Bank Corporation International Ltd (Europe)*
|Nomura International Ltd (Japan)*
Brokers |Cazenove & Co
Underwriters |N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd
|Kleinwort Benson Ltd
|Barclays de Zoete Wedd Ltd
|Barings Brothers & Co Ltd
|Charterhouse Bank Ltd
|County Ltd
|Robert Fleming & Co Ltd
|Hambros Bank Ltd
|Hill Samuel & Co Ltd
|Lazard Brothers & Co Ltd
|Lloyds Merchant Bank Ltd
|Samuel Montagu & Co Ltd
|Morgan Grenfell & Co Ltd
|J Henry Schroder Wagg & Co Ltd
|S G Warburg & Co Ltd
Solicitor |Slaughter and May
Tax and Accountancy |Touche Ross & Co
Multiple Applicant Investigator |Touche Ross & Co
Reporting Accountants |Price Waterhouse
Public Relations Advisers |Dewe Rogerson*
Advertising Agents |Young and Rubicam Ltd*
Reporting Petroleum Consultants |ERC Energy Resource Consultants Ltd
Lead Receiving Bank |National Westminster Bank plc
Printers |Burrup, Mathieson & Co Ltd
*Also advised British Gas Corporation
WALES
Flooding
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has anything to add to his announcement on 1 March about Government help for the victims of the recent flooding in the area of Towyn.
Mr. Peter Walker : Yes. I am pleased to say that the Government have decided to increase the donation to £150,000. As I made clear on 1 March, parliamentary approval for this expenditure will be sought by means of a summer supplementary estimate. Pending this approval, the contribution will be met by a repayable advance from the contingencies fund.
Cancers
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the information available to him on trends during the past six years in the incidence of leukaemia, lung cancer, colon cancer and stomach cancer (a) in Wales generally and (b) in each district in Wales.
Mr. Grist : The most recently available information on the incidence rates for these illnesses is presented in the Welsh Office publication "Cancer Registration in Wales, 1974-84" ; a copy of which is in the Library.
Channel Tunnel
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will respond to the Welsh Affairs Committee report "The Channel Tunnel : Implications for Wales" published on 21 June 1989.
Mr. Peter Walker [pursuant to the reply, 22 February 1990, c. 861.] : I am pleased to announce that the response has been published today.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Bluecoat School, Liverpool
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he now expects to make a decision on the application by Bluecoat school, Liverpool 15, to increase its entry from three forms to four forms.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. Friend still has the matter under active consideration and will come to a decision as quickly as is compatible with a full and careful consideration of all the issues involved.
Capital Allocation, Buckinghamshire
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to be able to provide Buckinghamshire county council with a detailed
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breakdown of the capital allocation for Buckinghamshire for 1989-90 and 1990-91, showing the amounts attributed to each project as agreed at his meeting with the chairman of Buckinghamshire county council on 5 February.Mr. Alan Howarth : I shall be writing to the chairman of Buckinghamshire county council shortly about allocations made to Buckinghamshire LEA. I shall send a copy to my hon. Friend.
Fun Eating at School Today
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science which local education authorities in the seven counties of south-west England have joined in FEAST--fun eating at school today.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The information requested is as follows : Avon
Cornwall
Devon
Gloucestershire
Somerset
Wiltshire
Local Management (Ealing)
Sir George Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he plans to respond to the proposals from the London borough of Ealing for local management of schools.
Mrs. Rumbold : The scheme for local management of schools submitted by the London borough of Ealing was approved by my right hon. Friend, with certain modifications, on 1 March.
University of Wales
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what, over the last five years for which figures are available, have been the proportions of University Grants Committee-Universities Funding Council grants to universities in the United Kingdom allocated to the university of Wales.
Mr. Jackson [pursuant to his reply, 5 March 1990, c. 396] : Total University Grants Committee-Universities Funding Council grants received by the university of Wales were as follows :
Academic |Wales |All Great |Wales as a
year |(£ million)|Britain |percentage
|(£ million)|of total
------------------------------------------------------------
1984-85 |76.45 |1,258.0 |6.08
1985-86 |76.57 |1,312.0 |5.84
1986-87 |80.61 |1,367.0 |5.90
1987-88 |91.99 |1,482.3 |6.21
1988-89 |93.07 |1,619.6 |5.75
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Gibraltar
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any proposals to give Gibraltar total independence.
UNESCO
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the decision on whether to rejoin UNESCO.
Mr. Maude : We are currently looking at the question of United Kingdom membership of UNESCO. As part of the process we have consulted a large number of bodies with an interest in UNESCO activities. We are now assessing their replies. Before reaching a final decision we will also take account of the forthcoming report by the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Chad
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Chadian Government concerning human rights in Chad.
Mr. Waldegrave : We have not yet made any representation to the Chadian Government on human rights abuses. The Amnesty International report of 7 March has just been received and will be given careful consideration.
Nuclear Tests
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the implications of the decision of the Soviet Union to move its nuclear warhead-testing site to Novaya Zemlya for Her Majesty's Government's policy on a verifiable nuclear test ban.
Law of the Sea Convention
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects the United Kingdom to sign the third United Nations conference on the law of the sea treaty ; and what reasons the Government have for delaying their signature.
Mr. Waldegrave : The United Kingdom has not signed the United Nations law of the sea convention because the deep sea bed mining regime for which it provides is unacceptable to us. Nevertheless, we participate in the preparatory commission in the hope that within the long period before mining can start a regime acceptable to all can be achieved. We see many of the other parts of UNLOSC as valuable and as reflecting current state practice.
Namibia
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about Britain's help with military training for Namibia.
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Mr. Waldegrave : In response to a request from the president-elect, we sent a fact-finding team to Namibia in January to assess the requirements for establishing and training an army after independence. I am glad to tell the House that, following discussions with the future Government of Namibia, we have agreed to help with military training for the new Namibian defence force under the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme. We shall be assisting in the establishment of a Defence Ministry and the creation of a Namibian defence force able to carry out the tasks placed on it and sustainable in resource terms. The advance party of our military training team arrived in Namibia today, 13 March, and will start work immediately. The main body of the training team is due to arrive shortly after independence. I believe that this assistance and other help, which we as friends of Namibia are providing, are important in helping Namibia to establish itself successfully as an independent country and as the newest member of the Commonwealth.
TRANSPORT
Railway Inspectorate
86. Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received calling for the railway inspectorate to become the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : I am aware of only two representations since the beginning of this year, one in favour and one against such a move. As my right hon. Friend said in response to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Waterside (Mr. Colvin) on 27 February, Official Report, column 143, the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission has agreed to discussions on the possible transfer of the railway inspectorate to the Health and Safety Executive.
Jubilee Line
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much British Gas is expected to contribute to the cost of constructing the Jubilee line extension ;
(2) how much British Urban Developments plc is expected to contribute to the construction of the Jubilee line extension.
Mr. Portillo : Agreement has been reached with British Gas on behalf of its joint development on the Greenwich peninsula. It will contribute towards the cost of the Jubilee line extension cash and benefits in kind that have been evaluated by the Department and its advisers as having a present value of more than £25 million in September 1989 prices.
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the construction of the Jubilee line extension is expected to cost if built at current Underground gauge ; and how much it would cost if built to BR gauge.
Mr. Portillo : The cost of building the Jubilee line extension via Greenwich is estimated at about £1,030
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million at September 1989 prices. This assumes the building and equipment of the extension to current LUL gauge and specifications. No estimate has been made of the additional costs if the extension were built to BR gauge and specifications, but they would certainly be considerably greater.Debris on Railway Land
Mr. Tredinnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will discuss with the chairman of British Rail at their next meeting the amount of debris on railway land to the west of the M1/A406 junction.
Mr. Portillo : The condition of railway land is a matter for the British Railways Board, so I would recommend my
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hon. Friend to pursue the matter directly with the chairman, who, I am sure, will wish to investigate the complaint.Railway Staff (Fatalities)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list by region and by year for the last 10 years the number of railway staff who have been killed during their work.
Mr. Portillo : The following details, which cover all railways, are for the period 1979-88 ; figures for 1989 are not available. I am unable to provide a regional breakdown for the years before 1984.
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British Rail
Year |<1>AR |<1>ER |<1>LMR|ScR |SR |WR |LUL |Other |Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |43
1980 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |32
1981 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |27
1982 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |27
1983 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |28
1984 |- |5 |10 |4 |1 |1 |3 |1 |25
1985 |- |4 |11 |3 |1 |4 |1 |1 |25
1986 |- |0 |6 |4 |4 |1 |1 |0 |16
1987 |- |6 |3 |1 |5 |1 |0 |0 |16
1988 |0 |4 |5 |1 |4 |2 |0 |0 |16
Notes:
AR Anglia Region
ER Eastern Region
LMR London Midland Region
SCR Scottish Region
SR Southern Region
WR Western Region
LUL London Underground Limited
<1>Prior to 1988 the returns for Anglia Region were included with those for
Eastern Region.
Vehicle Insurance
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the number of vehicles being driven without third party insurance cover.
Mr. Atkins : In 1988, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were 208,568 findings of guilt by magistrates courts in England and Wales for using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks. I am not aware of any reliable estimate of the number of vehicles actually being used without insurance.
Heavy Goods Vehicles
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the present number of heavy goods vehicles taxed at the 38-tonne limit ; and what was the number of such vehicles registered in the past five years.
Mr. Atkins : The number of heavy goods vehicles licensed at the maximum gross vehicle weight was 58,094 as at the end of December 1989. Figures for the previous five years are as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1988 |50,453
1987 |39,928
1986 |32,967
1985 |26,309
1984 |19,071
Crash Barriers
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to make the crash barriers along Britain's motorways of sufficient height to eliminate the glare from oncoming cars at night.
Mr. Atkins : The purpose of central reserve safety fences is to mitigate the risks and consequences of errant cars crossing into the opposite carriageway. Their ability to reduce or eliminate glare on most of the motorway network is incidental.
A trial involving the provision of an anti-dazzle screen on top of the safety fence has been carried out on 19 km of the M6 between junctions 2 and 4. The evaluation showed that while it further reduced or eliminated glare there was no significant effect on accidents. Nonetheless, where glare has been or is identified as a serious problem because of the alignment of a particular stretch of motorway, the Department erects such a screen if it is justified on safety and financial grounds.
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