House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Jan 1993

Written Answers to Questions

Thursday 14 January 1993

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Matrix Churchill

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Attorney-General what consideration is being given to bringing charges of perjury against civil servants who gave evidence in the Matrix Churchill case.

The Attorney-General : As a result of the submission to the Crown prosecution service by Her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs and Excise, of papers touching upon evidence given at the trial of three employees of Matrix Churchill, a police investigation is currently being carried out. Any decision as to the prosecution of an individual or individuals, arising out of evidence given at that trial, will be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions at the conclusion of the police investigation, and after she has had the opportunity of studying the findings of that investigation.

ENVIRONMENT

Local Structure Plans

Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received over the need for agreed local structure plans to be amended, and future structure plans to be drafted, so as to allow for the effects of the recession in the south of England on the likely growth of the working population there ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Baldry : None, but I would expect such representations to be made to county councils. There is a statutory requirement for them to prepare structure plans that take account of economic and social considerations, and to keep all matters under review that may be expected to affect the development of their areas or the planning of development there.

Derelict Land Grant, Walsall

Mr. George : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much derelict land grant expenditure there has been in the Metropolitan borough of Walsall council district in each year since 1984.

Mr. Baldry : Derelict land grant expenditure in the metropolitan borough of Walsall council district since 1984 is as follows :


                |Expenditure (£)                

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

1984-85         |1,416,000                      

1985-86         |1,339,000                      

1986-87         |3,026,566                      

1987-88         |3,117,492                      

1988-89         |3,474,318                      

1989-90         |3,778,999                      

1990-91         |3,738,123                      

1991-92         |4,222,623                      

<1>1992-93      |3,838,000                      

                |-------                        

Total           |27,951,121                     

<1> Forecast.

A further £22,655 derelict land grant has been paid towards reclamation schemes carried out by non-local authority applicants in the metropolitan borough of Walsall council district.

Housing, Walsall

Mr. George : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many new homes will be provided by Walsall metropolitan borough authority in 1993-94 ; what is the total provision from central funds which will be received by the authority in support of capital expenditure on housing ; and what capital expenditure he expects the authority to incur next year.

Mr. Baldry : The level of local authority housing capital expenditure in Walsall in 1993-94 is a matter for the borough council to decide in the light of the available resources. The authority's proposed programme for housing capital expenditure in 1993-94, included in their housing investment programme--HIP--submission, indicates no expenditure on new housebuilding by the council. Walsall's HIP allocation for 1993-94 is £10,474,000.

Urban Programme

Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the amounts spent by (a) local authorities and (b) other organisations preparing bids for urban programme funding for 1993-94.

Mr. Robin Squire : It is not our practice to make such estimates. The work will have informed authorities' consideration of what projects to put forward for support from the urban partnership fund ; and what to support from their own usable capital receipts.

Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library copies of all letters and other material sent out by his Department during 1992 dealing with bids for urban programme funding for 1993-94.

Mr. Robin Squire : No. This material could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will break down the extra spending power that he forecasts the urban programme authorities will have as a result of the relaxation of the rules governing the use of capital receipts, by authority ; (2) if he will make a statement on how he calculated the figure of £500 million as the extra amount that the urban programme authorities would raise as a result of the relaxation of the rules regarding capital receipts.

Mr. Robin Squire : We estimate that authorities will have £1.75 billion of extra usable capital receipts as a result

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of the relaxation in receipts rules based on authorities forecasts of their receipts in 1992-93. Historically, the urban authorities have had about 30 per cent. of the national total of usable receipts. If this proportion applied to the extra usable receipts, it would provide the urban authorities with about £0.5 billion of extra usable receipts. We have not made any estimates of these receipts at the level of individual local authorities. Local authorities have provided their own forecasts of the receipts they expect to receive during 1992-93 and this information is in the Library of the House.

Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of private sector funding given to schemes supported by the urban programme in the current and last three years.

Mr. Robin Squire : The information is available for three years only, as follows :