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Options Review
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to reviewing the rules governing the economic assessment of alternative transport options, including rates of return on investment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Freeman : My Department's publication "The Role of Investment Appraisal in Road and Rail Transport"--a copy of which is in the Library-- sets out the technical procedures used or required by the Department for appraising proposed investment in road and rail transport.
The procedures for evaluating transport investment proposals are kept under constant review, one of many considerations being that of consistency between modes. The same rate of return of 8 per cent. in real terms is used for appraising all public sector investment in transport.
M25
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has commissioned on the air quality within vehicles on the M25.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : No research has been carried out on air quality in vehicles specifically on the M25. However research has been done recently on air quality in vehicles generally in urban areas, on motorways and on rural roads. It is described in chapter 2 of the first report of the quality of urban air review group published in January by the Department of the Environment.
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has commissioned to assess the effect of the M25 on ambient air quality.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Some monitoring of air quality near junction 11 of the M25 was carried out in 1986 to help develop a computer model which the Department uses to assess the likely impact of new major roads and motorways when they are planned. There is a considerable body of work on the way in which roads and traffic more generally affect air quality both locally and further afield. This is described in the joint evidence provided to the Royal Commission on environmental pollution by my Department and the Department of the Environment last December.
Jet Skis
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish figures on the number of recorded accidents around the United Kingdom coasts involving (a) speedboats and (b) jet skis, and the number of non-speedboat/jet ski users who have been (i) killed, (ii) seriously injured and (iii) received minor injuries in such incidents in each of the last five years.
Mr. Norris : My Department does not hold the required statistics. The best readily available information is from accident records held by the Department of Trade and Industry. The most recent of these show that in 1990 there were five accidents at sea involving jet skis and one involving a motor boat which resulted in personal injury. None of the injuries was classified as serious.
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Diesel Smoke Emissions
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 16 February, Official Report, columns 150-51, how his Department's diesel smoke emission test which has been suspended differs from tests which are carried out in the other member states of the EC ; and what reports of engine damage have been reported in those countries.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : None of the other EC member states has as yet introduced metered checks of diesel smoke into annual roadworthiness tests. They are required to do so by the EC roadworthiness directive by 1 January 1996.
Bulk Carriers
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration his Department has given to the investigation of the safety aspects of bulk carriers ; and what research is currently planned or proposed.
Mr. Norris : There is a substantial programme of research being conducted on behalf of my Department aimed at improving safety on bulk carriers. Projects are being undertaken examining wave-induced vibrations in large vessels, the behaviour of iron ore cargoes, cement and other bulk cargoes. Investigation into the hazards of spontaneous heating and combustion of coal cargoes are also under way and a tender to investigate other aspects of bulk carrier and large crude oil tanker operations will shortly be issued.
Channel Tunnel
Mr. Mills : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority to publish its fourth annual report.
Mr. Freeman : I understand that the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority published its fourth annual report today. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library.
Stansted Airport
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has identified a preferred route for a second runway at Stansted airport ; and what role his Department will be playing at the forthcoming public inquiry into the plan by Uttlesford district council.
Mr. Norris : The runway capacity working group is undertaking a detailed examination of four airports, including Stansted airport, covering the notional runway alignments identified in the Civil Aviation Authority's report CAP570 and others. It will ultimately be for promoters rather than Government to make specific proposals. The Department does not expect to be taking any part in the forthcoming public inquiry into the Uttlesford district plan.
Maritime Rescue
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the agreed minimum staffing at the maritime rescue co-ordination sub- centres in Scotland ; and on how many days in the past three months the staffing level at Oban, Stornoway, Belfast, Pentland, Shetland or Forth has been below three people.
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Mr. Norris : The planned minimum staffing levels at the maritime rescue sub-centres in Scotland and Northern Ireland is normally three watchkeepers. Because of a small number of vacancies, absence through sickness or training requirements staffing fell below this level on the following number of six-hour periods in the past three months :--
|Number
------------------------
Forth |1
Pentland |Nil
Shetland |37
Belfast |Nil
Oban |9
Stornoway |4
The maritime rescue co-ordination centres at Aberdeen and Clyde have the capability to take over co-ordination of any incident where a MRSC is unable to cope for any reason. Additionally, a member of the district management team is on call at each MRSC should he be required. Contingency plans also exist for further reinforcements of the watch in an emergency.
Plutonium
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give details of his assessment of the environmental hazards involved in the transport of radioactive material by sea, assuming the worst case scenario of a ship carrying plutonium.
Mr. Norris [holding answer 9 March 1993] : Her Majesty's nuclear installations inspectorate published a safety assessment on the transport of plutonium in the form of nitrate solution between Dounreay and Sellafield in 1979. A further study into the radiological consequences of the loss at sea of the contents of a plutonium package was carried out by the safety and reliability directorate of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in 1984. Copies of both reports are available in the Library.
Motorways
Mr. Peter Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to speed up the introduction of advanced traffic management systems on the M25.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I have announced today an experimental scheme on a section of the M25 which will introduce advanced traffic management systems with the aims of cutting stress for drivers, speeding up journey times and reducing accidents.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies he has made of motorway traffic control measures in Germany and the Netherlands ; and what conclusions he has drawn from them.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : We have studied with interest the measures introduced in Germany in 1989 on the A5 autobahn approaching Frankfurt and in the Netherlands in 1992 between Utrecht and Amsterdam. These have informed our proposals for an experimental scheme on the M25 which I have announced today.
Mr. William O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what distance the M26 runs parallel to another motorway where it joins (a) the M20 and (b) the M25.
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Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The information is as follows : (
(a) The M26 and M20 run broadly parallel over a distance of about 2.8 miles to merge east of Wrotham in Kent.
(b) No part of the M26 runs parallel with another motorway where it joins the M25.
PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 23 March.
Sir Peter Tapsell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 23 March.
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.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Sudan
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what Her Majesty's Government are doing to raise human rights violations against religious and racial minorities in Sudan at the United Nations Security Council and to encourage the United Nations to follow up the General Assembly resolution of December 1992 on the human rights situation in Sudan.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We were a prime mover in the adoption of the UN General Assembly last December of a resolution condemning the Sudanese Government's human rights record ; and in the adoption this month of a resolution in the UN Commission on Human Rights, which provides for the appointment of a public rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation in Sudan. We will keep under review the possibility of further UN involvement.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what Her Majesty's Government are doing to engage the United Nations in the peace process in Sudan's civil war.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We welcome the undertaking given on 23 February by both the Government of Sudan and Dr. John Garang of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army's Torit faction to meet for further talks under Nigerian auspices in Abuja. We will keep under review the possibility of a United Nations role at some stage of the peace process.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what Her Majesty's Government are doing to assist the Sudanese Government to enable international aid to reach non-Muslims there.
Mr.Lennox-Boyd : Since the beginning of the current food crises in November 1989 Britain has provided £19 million in bilateral humantarian relief to the largely non-Muslim population in southern Sudan. A further £2 million has been provided to help the displaced elsewhere in the country, many of whom are from the south.
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In a demarche on 7 March we and our EC partners urged the Government of Sudan to ensure that the conditions exist to allow humanitarian relief to reach all those in need.Bangladesh (Burmese Refugees)
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the Bangladeshi Government concerning the forced repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Burma.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have made the Government of Bangladesh well aware of our concern that all repatriations of Rohingya refugees to Burma should be voluntary.
Maastricht Treaty
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 12 January, Official Report, column 723, if he will list, with reference to the content of the draft treaty discussed by the Council of Ministers of the European Community on 30 September 1991 (a) those provisions and relevant articles, not now included in titles II, III, or IV of the treaty on European union, (b) those provisions and relevant articles included elsewhere in the treaty on European union and (c) provisions and relevant draft articles not included in the treaty on European union.
Mr. Garel-Jones : As I said in my answer of 12 January, the draft treaty discussed by the Council of Ministers on 30 September 1991 provided for a unitary structure which included both the common foreign and security policy and justice/home affairs matters within the treaty of Rome. To provide the detailed information requested would involve disproportionate cost.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Bosnia (Aid)
Mr. Ronnie Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress in supplying aid in areas occupied by Bosnian Muslims.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Approximately 115,000 tonnes of relief supplies have been delivered to victims of the conflict in Bosnia by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees who is responsible for co-ordinating the international relief effort to the former Yugoslavia. More than 1.6 million people, mostly in Muslim areas, rely on this effort.
Most supplies are provided by UNHCR's road convoys, to which the British Government are one of the largest contributors. Nearly 20,000 tonnes of supplies have been delivered throughout Bosnia by our vehicles. However, it has proved difficult to maintain adequate levels of supplies to the besieged enclaves of eastern Bosnia. The United Nations have been able to supply Sarajevo by road and airlift, but in eastern Bosnia road convoys have continually been impeded by local militia.
We welcome the United States airdrop as a short-term measure to overcome these obstacles and have contributed some £250,000 in aid supplies towards this operation. But
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the priority remains the opening of road supply routes, since this is the only practical way of providing adequate supplies to the area.Guatemala
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aid has been given to Guatemala for the repatriation of Guatemalan refugees ; and what support will be offered in the future.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Following a request from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees through our embassy in Guatemala city, an RAF Hercules, in successive sorties between 28 and 31 January, flew a total of some 100 tons of emergency food and other supplies to the north of the country to provide assistance for the first group of returning refugees from Mexico. Our embassy in Guatemala City continues to monitor the situation.
Sri Lanka Dams
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what statistics he has for electricity generated by the Victoria dam in Sri Lanka since 1985.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Statistics for electricity generated by the Victoria dam are as follows :
Year |Unit generation
|(GWH)
------------------------------------------------
1985 |586
1986 |838
1987 |454
1988 |523
1989 |610
1990 |611
1991 |483
1992 |588
<1>1993 |116
<1> January and February
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much British aid has been given to the Victoria dam in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : A total of £113 million was provided in support of the Victoria dam project.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response the Minister for Overseas Development has made to the National Audit Office report on the shortfall of output by the Victoria dam in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Overseas Development Administration's evaluation study of the project concluded that the maximum total of firm and secondary energy would be 800 GWH per year, almost 92 per cent. of that anticipated in the project feasibility study. It also concluded that the shortfall in production against prediction had a number of causes which could not have been anticipated. These included changes in the hydrological database ; the diversions of irrigation water out of the Mahaweli and the amounts of water stored at Kotmale ; and changes in the scope and nature of systems models and in operating policies.
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Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment the Minister for Overseas Development has made of the use of British aid in the resettlement of evacuees from the site of the Victoria dam in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have made a detailed evaluation of the Victoria dam project, which includes a substantial section on resettlement. This evaluation was critical of the way in which resettlement issues were handled. No British aid was used for resettlement. This was because, at the outset of the project, the two Governments agreed that resettlement would be handled by the Government of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment the Minister for Overseas Development has made of the commercial return to the United Kingdom of the Victoria and Samanalawewa dams in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Both dams were constructed under British aid primarily for the economic benefit of Sri Lanka. There were also some commercial returns to the United Kingdom, as British companies were awarded contracts financed in part or whole by British aid. Some additional work has been awarded to a British contractor including construction of roads and a new town. More generally, Britain has enhanced its reputation in the power construction sector in Sri Lanka and British companies continue to pursue business opportunities in Sri Lanka in this sector.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information the Overseas Development Administration has on leaks of the Victoria and Samanalawewa dams in Sri Lanka into limestone bedrocks.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : At the Victoria dam, there were problems shortly after impounding with limestone on the right bank of the reservoir. This was overcome in 1982-83 by grouting under pressure down to 100 ft.
At Samanalawewa dam there is a leak on the right bank of the reservoir. Grouting has not been entirely satisfactory, so the ODA funded geophysical studies and an international panel of independent experts to review the situation. The panel concluded that the dam was safe, and that its stability could not be affected even by many times the maximum credible leakage, but recommended remedial works for economic reasons. A programme for these works is currently under preparation.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the total of British aid towards the Samanalawewa dam in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : A total of £19 million was provided in support of the Samanalawewa dam.
EDUCATION
Manufacturing Industry
Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking specifically to promote an understanding of manufacturing industry in schools and colleges.
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Mr. Forth : The national curriculum offers pupils opportunities to acquire knowledge, skills and understanding relevant to manufacturing industry as part of their preparation generally for later life and for more specialised courses and training after the age of 16. The National Curriculum Council has published guidance on how these can be delivered within an industrial context.
The Government is encouraging schools and colleges to make available to 16 to 19-year-olds high quality vocational qualifications to complement A levels. A range of national vocational qualifications is available covering the skills needed in specific manufacturing jobs. Broadly based general NVQs, which develop the skills, knowledge and understadnding underpinning a range of occupations in manufacuring industry, are being piloted in a number of schools and colleges with a view to making them widely available from next September.
Bullying
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what inquiries or studies his Department has made of bullying in schools and its effects ; and if he will make a statement on the results of any such inquiries or studies.
Mr. Forth : The Department is currently supporting a research project at Sheffield university which is evaluating the effectiveness of various intervention strategies designed to counter bullying. That project completes its work in August 1993. It is intended that the outcomes should be reflected in further practical guidance to complement the "Action Against Bullying" pack developed by the Scottish Council for Research in Education, which the Department sent to all schools in England in July 1992.
Voluntary Activities
Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many hours per week, on average, are devoted by (a) school staff and (b) school pupils to voluntary activities outside school hours ; and what information he has as to their equivalent figures for the United States of America, France, Germany and Japan.
Mr. Forth : Data on the amount of time teachers in maintained secondary schools in England spent on extra-curricular activities were collected as part of the 1992 secondary school staffing survey. On average, full-time teachers recorded spending about one and a half hours on these activities in the survey week--13 to 19 January 1992. No corresponding data are available for pupils in secondary schools or for teachers or pupils in primary schools. Likewise, equivalent figures are not held centrally for the other countries listed.
Homework
Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made as to how many hours per week, on average, secondary school students spend on school work at home ; and what information he has on the equivalent figures for the United States of America, France, Germany and Japan.
Mr. Forth : Arrangements for setting homework are left to the discretion of individual schools and LEAs and there is no centrally held information on the time that pupils spend on this.
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Pneumoconiosis
Mr. Clapham : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many mineworkers employed by the British Coal Corporation are diagnosed pneumoconiotics in each of the age bands under the mineworkers' pneumoconiosis compensation scheme ;
(2) how many mineworkers employed by the British Coal Corporation and suffering from pneumoconiosis are in receipt of a weekly pension under the mineworkers' pneumoconiosis compensation scheme ; (3) what was the average age of coal miners at the date of diagnosis of pneumoconiosis over the last 10 years ;
(4) how many coal miners diagnosed to be suffering from pneumoconiosis over the last 10 years had their claims backdated to an earlier development date.
Mr. Eggar : This is a matter for British Coal.
Ramfield plc
Mr. Cryer : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what amount of regional industrial development grant has been paid to Ramfield plc for the development and construction of a factory on Euroway estate, Bradford ; and if he will give the dates of publication of regional industrial development grants during the past 10 years to Ramfield plc in the Employment Gazette.
Mr. Sainsbury : No regional industrial development grant has been paid to Ramfield plc.
Clarke Foods Ltd.
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he has received an interim report from the receivers appointed following the collapse of Clarke Foods Ltd.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : An interim report has not been received from the administrative receivers of Clarke Foods (UK) Ltd.
Deregulation
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 16 March to the hon. Member for Harwich (Mr. Sproat), Official Report, column 208, if he will list the organisations from which each of the chairmen of his Department's deregulation task forces are to be seconded ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : The seven chairmen and their task forces are : Duncan Bluck, Director, John Swire & Sons--communications and transport ;
Chris Spackman, Managing Director, Bovis Construction--construction ;
Malcolm Bates, Deputy Managing Director, GEC--engineering industries ;
John Robb, Chief Executive, Wellcome--chemicals and pharmaceuticals ;
Sir Sydney Lipworth, Chairman of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission-- financial services ;
Nigel Whittaker, Corporate Affairs Director, Kingfisher--other services ; and
Michael Heron, Chairman, Post Office--food, drink and agriculture.
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Regional Assistance
Mr. Madden : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent representations he has received concerning the retention of assisted area status by Bradford and the granting of assisted area status to Keighley ; and if he will make a statement.
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