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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 18 April 1990
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Solicitors
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General what advice has been given by the Lord Chancellor to judges about criticising solicitors from the bench without giving the solicitor an opportunity to be heard.
The Attorney-General : It would not be appropriate for the Lord Chancellor to issue advice to judges on a matter of this kind. However, in May 1989, the presiding judges of England and Wales issued a notice to all judges emphasising that, while the decision as to whether or not to criticise a solicitor in open court must be one for the discretion of the individual judge, there is and always has been an obligation on the judge both to give the solicitor an opportunity to be heard and to refrain from making criticism in open court until after the facts have been established.
Burglary
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Attorney-General what guidance is given to magistrates as to whether magistrates courts or Crown courts are the appropriate courts for dealing with domestic burglary.
The Attorney-General : Subject to the relevant legal provisions, the decision whether an either-way offence should be tried summarily or committed to the Crown Court is one for the discretion of the court. However, the Lord Chief Justice has set up a working party under the chairmanship of Lord Justice Farquharson to consider what guidelines might properly be given to magistrates on the committal of either-way cases, including domestic burglary, to the Crown court.
Social Security Appeals
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Attorney-General what is the average time which elapses between a letter seeking leave to appeal to the Social Security Commissioners and notification of the decision of the Social Security Commissioners.
The Attorney-General : The average in 1989 was 404 days.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Attorney-General what proposals he has received to shorten delays in the appeal process through the Social Security Commissioners.
The Attorney-General : I have received none.
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EMPLOYMENT
National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses
125. Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he next expects to meet the National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses.
126. Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he next expects to meet the National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses.
127. Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he next expects to meet the National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses.
Mr. Eggar : I am always prepared to see representatives of small business organisations who wish to meet with me.
Training (Staffordshire)
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current special training needs funding made in respect of each trainee in Staffordshire ; if he will identify extra training resources required by those with special training needs ; and what are the proposed figures for the forthcoming year in respect of each trainee in Staffordshire for special training needs.
Mr. Eggar : The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Training Agency programmes allow training to be tailored to meet individual requirements, and funding depends on the nature and severity of each trainee's need. The figures for the forthcoming year are for agreement between individual training providers and the Training Agency's area office and, in future, the training and enterprise councils.
Disabled People
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many severely disabled people have received help under the business on own account scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Eggar : The information requested about the number of severely disabled people helped under the business on own account scheme for each of the last five years is given in the table :
|Number of
|approvals
------------------------------
1985-86 |5
1986-87 |1
1987-88 |6
1988-89 |8
1989-90 |7
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps his Department has taken to ensure that 3 per cent. of its work force is registered disabled people.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 5 April 1990] : The Employment Department group has developed a number of initiatives to attract, retain and develop more staff with disabilities, both registered and unregistered. Specific
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measures include guaranteed interviews for registered disabled people with the minimum educational qualifications ; surveys of the needs of staff with disabilities and appropriate remedial action ; new guidance for management ; the improvement of outreach to organisations of and for people with disabilities ; the development of arrangements for staff with severe mobility difficulties to work at home, the routine consideration of access to buildings, training and developmental opportunities and the provision in operational plans for special aids and equipment.Careers Service
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he intends to broaden the scope of the careers service ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : I have at present no plans to do so.
Earnings
Mr. Graham : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing average weekly earnings for men and women by (a) industry and (b) industrial sector for the years 1980-89.
Mr. Nicholls : The information is published in tables 79 to 82 of part C of the annual new earnings survey reports for full-time male and female adult employees, and in table 177 of part F for part-time female adult employees. Equivalent figures for part-time males are not available. Copies of the reports are in the Library.
Mr. Graham : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the numbers of men, the numbers of women, and the percentage of the population whose average weekly earnings are (a) £5, (b) £10, (c) £15, (d) £20, (e) £25, (f) £30, (g) £35, (h) £40, (i) £45, (j) £50, (k) £55, (l) £60, and (m) £65, or more below the average weekly, by industry sector for each of the years 1980 to 1989.
Mr. Nicholls : The readily available information is published in tables 66 to 69 of part C of the annual new earnings survey reports for full-time male and female adult employees. Equivalent analyses for the weekly earnings of part-time employees are not available ; the distribution of the hourly earnings of part-time adult women is published in table 172 of part F. Copies of the reports are in the Library.
YTS
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out the latest available figures for (a) fatal and (b) serious injuries among YTS trainees ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholls : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to his hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) Official Report, 26 March 1990, column 58.
THE ARTS
Glory of the Garden Programme
Mr. Butler : To ask the Minister for the Arts what further progress he has made with the Glory of the Garden programme.
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Mr. Luce : I have recently announced major changes in the structure of arts funding in the English regions. These will build on the changes begun in the Arts Council's Glory of the Garden initiative and will include a further substantial shift in grant-giving responsibilities from the Arts Council to the regions.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
China
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what representations he has made to the Chinese authorities regarding the raid on the home and subsequent detention of Pastor Xiangao of Canton ;
(2) what representations he has made to the Chinese authorities regarding the persecution of the Church there ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maude : Our inquiries indicate that Pastor Lin Xiangao has by now been released. We and our EC partners have again recently expressed our concern to the Chinese Government about freedom of religion and the treatment of the Church in China, and specifically about the arrest of certain Catholic priests last year.
Casablanca
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement concerning the seizure of cargo from the vessel Casablanca at Puerto Cortes, in so far as British interests are involved ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : We understand that on 22 March at Puerto Cortes, Honduras, part of the cargo of bananas of the Netherlands-registered vessel Casablanca was removed in pursuance of an order by a Honduran court in favour of a US-owned banana exporter against a Honduran grower, and that the bananas removed had been bought for a British company for export from Honduras. Another vessel experienced similar difficulties on 30 March. Her Majesty's ambassador has expressed to the Honduran authorities our concern over the disruption of trade and our hope that any legal problems can quickly be resolved, to enable trade to resume without hindrance.
Hong Kong
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what procedures are followed when a pregnant woman in the detention camps in Hong Kong goes into labour.
Mr. Maude : All the centres have well-equipped clinics but they do not have facilities for child delivery. When a woman goes into labour an ambulance is called by the clinic staff and she is immediately transferred to a maternity home or hospital. The ambulance response times are very short.
Mr. Shore : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many posts the Chinese Government have said they would not allow Hong Kong residents with British passports to occupy.
Mr. Maude : The Basic Law provides that certain principal posts in the Hong Kong special administrative
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region should be restricted to Chinese nationals who are permanent residents of the special administrative region and who do not hold right of abode in any foreign country. Based upon the current establishment of the Civil Service, this would affect some 20 to 30 posts. In addition, the Basic Law places the same restrictions on members of the Executive Council and the President of the Legislative Council : it also limits the number of seats in the legislature which may be occupied by persons who are not Chinese nationals or who have the right of abode in foreign countries to 20 per cent.Terrorism
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what definition of terrorism his Department has developed for policy purposes.
Mr. Waldegrave : We use as a general guide the definition assigned to "terrorism" in section 20 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989.
Lebanon (Hostages)
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps have been taken in the last two months by the Government to try and free the British hostages held in the Lebanon.
Mr. Waldegrave : We have continued the efforts described in the answer give by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 30 January to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, Leith (Mr. Brown). The hon. Gentleman may be sure that our work to secure the release of the British hostages will continue unabated.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will arrange a meeting with Mr. Perez de Cuellar, secretary-general of the United Nations, to press for new international measures to secure the release of British hostages held in the Lebanon.
Mr. Waldegrave : We are committed to ensuring that the plight of the hostages remains high on the international agenda. We are in regular touch with Mr. Perez de Cuellar and his staff on this and other issues.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he plans an early meeting with the successor to the present Archbishop of Canterbury to discuss British hostages in the Lebanon.
Mr. Waldegrave : We are in close touch with the Archbishop of Canterbury and his staff about the British hostages in Lebanon. This will remain the case for as long as necessary.
Iraq (Nuclear Weapons)
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will instruct his Department to convey to the official representatives of the Arab League in London the views of Her Majesty's Government on the statement by the Arab League secretariat on 30 March supporting Iraq and criticising Her Majesty's Government regarding his statement in the House on 29 March on alleged attempts by Iraq to smuggle components for nuclear weapons ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Waldegrave : We have explained in detail to the Arab League Secretary-General in Tunis our position on the prevention of the illegal export of capacitors from Britain.
Israel (Soviet Jews)
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy regarding the emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel, assuming the settlement of such emigrants within the borders of Israel prior to June 1967 ; and whether this policy has been made clear to the Arab League and to the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Mr. Waldegrave : We warmly welcome the freedom of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel proper and elsewhere. The Arab League and the PLO are well aware that this is our view.
Palestine (Terrorist Threats)
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department will seek the co-operation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to investigate in order to establish whether any credence should be placed upon the threats of terrorist violence against Britain and other countries reported to have been made by the Islamic Army Front for the Liberation of Palestine on 31 March.
Mr. Waldegrave : No. The PLO does not include a group of this name.
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department will seek the co-operation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in order to establish whether any credence should be placed upon the threats of terrorist violence against Britain and other countries reported to have been made by a group close to the Palestine Hamas Organisation calling itself the Organisation of Revolutionary Action--Arab Resistance Front on 31 March.
Mr. Waldegrave : No. The PLO does not include a group of this name.
Jerusalem
Mr. Latham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, following the statement of Mr. Yasser Arafat on 31 March, he will instruct Her Majesty's Ambassador in Tunis to ask the Palestine Liberation Organisation to specify what portions of Jerusalem should become Palestinian sovereign territory, and what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on that matter.
Mr. Waldegrave : We are opposed to all unilateral moves to prejudice the final status of Jerusalem, which remains in our view to be determined by negotiation as part of a comprehensive peace settlement.
Nepal
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representation he has made to the Nepalese authorities regarding the imprisonment of the Rev. Charles Mendies.
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Mr. Sainsbury : Her Majesty's ambassador in Kathmandu raised the case specifically on 8 December 1989. We have regularly conveyed British concern about the treatment of Christians in Nepal to the Nepalese Government. My noble Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office discussed these issues during his visit to Kathmandu in late February.Olympic Games
Mr. Tom Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support British embassies abroad are now giving to the Manchester British Olympic bid ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : British missions abroad have been taking every opportunity to commend Manchester's bid to International Olympic Committee members. They have encouraged and helped IOC members to visit Manchester and have afforded every assistance to Manchester's Olympic bid committee members visiting their territories.
European Council
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the criteria used in selecting the United Kingdom representative on the committee of permanent representatives to the European Council ; and if he will list those who have represented the United Kingdom on COREPER since 1 January 1973.
Mr. Sainsbury : The United Kingdom's permanent representatives to the European Communities since accession in 1973 have been : Sir Michael Palliser, 1971-75
Sir Donald Maitland, 1975-79
Sir Michael Butler, 1979-85
Sir David Hannay, 1985 to date.
All have been senior members of Her Majesty's diplomatic service with extensive experience of European Community affairs.
Argentina
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of his recent meetings with the Argentine Foreign Minister.
Mr. Sainsbury : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs had a friendly and businesslike meeting with Dr. Cavallo on 9 April. They discussed a range of bilateral issues including investment, co-operation against drug-related crime and fisheries conservation. They also signed a visa abolition agreement, which is due to enter into force on 8 June.
There was no discussion of Falklands sovereignty.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Haberdashers' Aske's City Technology College
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give details of the amount and date of any payments so far made by his Department to the Haberdashers' Company in respect of the costs of planning for the establishment of a Haberdashers' Aske's city technology college ; and what further expenses in this respect he has agreed to meet.
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Mr. MacGregor : Payments of £37,732 were made to the Haberdashers' Company in February 1990, and payments of £16,982 have been authorised this month to date. I have so far agreed to pay the costs of a project director, educational consultants and legal fees in relation to the forthcoming establishment of a CTC company. Ms. Ruddock To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he intends to accept the proposal by the Haberdashers' Company, in a letter dated 30 November 1989, that notwithstanding any future discontinuance of the proposed Haberdashers' Aske's city technology college, no obligation to repay capital grants should be imposed on the Haberdashers' CTC Company so long as the leased property in question continues to be used for educational purposes ; and how this proposal accords with the provisions of section 105(5) of the Education Reform Act 1988.
Mr. MacGregor : The terms of the funding agreement made between myself and the Haberdashers' Aske's City Technology College Company in relation to the establishment of the Haberdashers' Aske's city technology college will be in conformity with section 105(5) of the Education Reform Act 1988.
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the Haberdashers' CTC Company has yet been formed for the purposes of establishing a city technology college on the sites of the present Haberdashers' Aske's schools in Deptford.
Mr. MacGregor : The Haberdashers' CTC Company has not yet been formed. I expect that a company will be formed by the early summer of this year, subject to the completion of the necessary processes.
Traveller Children
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of traveller children attended (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in the latest year for which figures have been collected : and how many children are in each category.
Mr. MacGregor : This information is not available.
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is proposing to take to ensure that in the year 1990-91 all traveller children attend school.
Mr. MacGregor : It is the duty of parents to ensure that children of compulsory school age receive efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude and any special educational needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. It is for local education authorities to ensure that the parents of any children of compulsory school age in their area are fulfilling this duty.
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the total amount of grant sought by education authorities from his Department towards the education of travellers' children for the year 1990- 91 ; what were the criteria for awarding allocations ; and what, in each case, was the percentage and the amount awarded against the bid.
Mr. MacGregor : Grant was sought to support expenditure of £13.8 million on the education of traveller
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children in 1990-91. The draft circular issued in July 1989 indicated that in the case of satisfactory bids exceeding the total grant available, priority would be given, as far as possible, to the maintenance of existing special provision. A total of 57.6 per cent. of the expenditure sought has been approved. The percentage of individual LEA bids allocated and the consequent expenditure levels are as follows :
LEA |Per cent. of bid| Approved
|allocated |expenditure
|£000's
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon |70.0 |260.1
Barnsley |0 |0
Bedfordshire |99.5 |207.1
Berkshire |95.6 |212.4
Bolton |0 |0
Bradford |96.7 |165.8
Brent |18.8 |26.7
Bromley |91.1 |84.1
Buckinghamshire |83.2 |245.5
Bury |39.7 |9.1
Cambridgeshire |84.4 |249.1
Camden |0 |0
Cheshire |0 |0
Cleveland |55.0 |62.9
Cornwal |0 |0
Croydon |0 |0
Cumbria |15.6 |13.8
Derbyshire |52.3 |145.2
Devon |99.4 |139.5
Doncaster |26.1 |58.1
Dorset |90.9 |57.0
Durham |23.7 |110.7
Ealing |9.1 |12.0
East Sussex |40.4 |54.4
Essex |95.8 |509.5
Gateshead |75.0 |35.8
Gloucestershire |41.9 |59.8
Greenwich |77.8 |75.4
Hackney |0 |0
Hammersmith/Fulham |13.1 |9.6
Hampshire |0 |0
Haringey |63.2 |78.1
Harrow |25.1 |40.7
Havering |32.8 |8.8
Hertfordshire |96.3 |600.2
Hillingdon |0 |0
Hounslow |71.9 |96.1
Humberside |74.5 |226.7
Kensington/Chelsea |26.3 |8.0
Kent |13.1 |173.0
Lambeth |18.6 |16.5
Lancashire |95.4 |293.6
Leeds |68.7 |193.9
Leicestershire |28.7 |85.0
Lewisham |73.0 |49.0
Lincolnshire |97.8 |162.8
Liverpool |0 |0
Manchester |60.4 |286.1
Newcastle |34.8 |16.0
Newham |82.1 |46.8
Norfolk |33.9 |65.3
North Yorkshire |51.9 |105.0
Northamptonshire |78.3 |184.0
Northumbria |100.0 |32.0
Nottinghamshire |29.4 |28.8
Oxfordshire |98.5 |282.0
Richmond |73.0 |14.6
Rochdale |0 |0
Rotherham |0 |0
Salford |0 |0
Sefton |47.4 |39.9
Sheffield |78.2 |156.4
Solihull |57.7 |22.1
Somerset |41.9 |58.6
Southwark |86.2 |200.5
Suffolk |82.2 |122.5
Surrey |68.7 |322.9
Tower Hamlets |34.8 |17.8
Trafford |58.7 |19.2
Wakefield |79.0 |86.4
Waltham Forest |0 |0
Wandsworth |0 |0
West Sussex |71.6 |114.8
Wigan |55.7 |56.3
Wiltshire |51.1 |76.0
Wolverhampton |87.2 |739.1
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the total number of traveller children for whom education authorities made applications for funding from his Department in 1990-91.
Mr. MacGregor : Approximately 13,900 traveller children were identified in the applications for funding. The information received from authorities was, however, incomplete.
British Antarctic Survey
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when the decision was taken to approve the funding to the British Antarctic Survey for the construction of a hard rock airstrip at Rothera base in the Antarctic.
Mr. Jackson : Additional funds for the construction of the crushed rock airstrip at the British Antarctic Survey Rothera station were announced by my right hon. Friend on 8 November 1988 at columns 134-35 . The final decision on the project was subject to the completion of a comprehensive environmental evaluation and the incorporation of agreed environmental protection clauses in any contract. The project was finally agreed by the natural environment research council in August 1989.
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make it his policy to make funds forthcoming to enable the British Antarctic Survey to remove abandoned bases and British rubbish on Deception Island by (a) allocating new funds for this purpose and (b) using part of the £22 million currently designated for the construction of a hard rock airstrip at Rothera base ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : Following the public expenditure autumn statement in 1989, a total of £250,000 was made available in each of the financial years 1990-1991 and 1991-1992, with £75,000 in subsequent years to assist the British Antarctic Survey with the improvement of waste disposal and environmental management at its existing bases and to assist with the clean-up of abandoned sites, including the one on Deception Island. Some of the £11.1 million allocated for the Rothera airstrip is also being used in minimising and monitoring the environmental impact of the construction.
Displaced Persons
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science which local authorities have applied under section 210 of the Education Reform Act 1988 for grant to (a) finance existing provision for
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refugees or displaced persons living in camps or reception centres and (b) finance new provision ; how many of (a) and (b) have received grant ; and what is the amount of grant allocated to each local authority.Mr. MacGregor : The following local authorities have applied for grant to (a) finance existing provision for refugees or displaced persons living in camps or reception centres :
Derbyshire, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey.
(b) finance new provision
Oxfordshire, Kirklees
Derbyshire, Richmond and Surrey also applied for grant to expand their provision.
All these authorities have received grant. Expenditure to be supported in 1990-91 is as follows :
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