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Mr. Archie Hamilton : Since 1 January 1992, the RAF has flown over 770 sorties to provide humanitarian aid in Bosnia, Somalia, the Bahamas and Guatemala. In addition, four sorties were flown to evacuate British and other nationals from Angola and Palestinian deportees from Israel ; and 10 sorties were mounted to assist with fire fighting in the Lebanon. Also, the RAF has so far mounted over 3,000 sorties in support of the air exclusion zones in northern and southern Iraq and over 500 sorties in support of the various military operations in the former Republic of Yugoslavia. These operations have involved a significant number of aircrew, but precise details are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Abbey Wood, Bristol
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated cost of the new office development planned at Abbey Wood in north Bristol.
Mr. Aitken : The estimated major works cost of the new procurement executive headquarters at Abbey Wood, North Bristol, inclusive of site acquisition, construction, fitting out, professional works management and VAT is £255.4 million at 1993-94 prices.
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ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Crimes (Racial Motivations)
Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Attorney-General what monitoring is undertaken of the number of cases where racial motivations have been raised by the Crown prosecution service during court proceedings.
The Attorney-General : The Crown prosecution service is monitoring both the number of cases identified by the police as containing an element or allegation of racial motivation and the decisions taken by Crown prosecutors resulting from their review of those cases.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Producer Groups
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sources of funding the Government have made available to develop the marketing potential of producer groups ; what is the forecast value of expenditure on producer marketing grants by 1992 and for each of the next three years ; and by what means producer groups qualify for funding.
Mr. Gummer : The current scheme for developing the marketing potential of producer groups is the group marketing grant introduced in April 1992. Expenditure is continuing under the closed agricultural and horticultural co-operation scheme and EC regulation 1035/72 aid to producer groups.
Awards under the group marketing grant worth £552,000 were made during the first financial year, 1992-93, of the scheme. Expenditure in 1992-93 and provision for the following three years are as follows :
£'000
Financial year |Group marketing |Expenditure under
|grant |closed schemes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 expenditure |21 |1,232
1993-94 ) |1,720 |859
1994-95 )provision |2,938 |280
1995-96 ) |3,544 |179
The conditions attached to the group marketing grant are set out in the brochure, copies of which are in the Library.
Agri-Environment Regulation
Mr. Moss : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what are his plans for implementing the EC Agri-Environment Regulation (2078/92) ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer [pursuant to his reply, Official Report, 26 March 1993, columns 729-30] : I am today issuing for public consultation proposals for the introduction of up to 30 new nitrate sensitive areas forming the seventh and final element of my proposals for implementing the EC Agri-Environment Regulation in England. The new scheme will build upon and extend the NSA approach introduced by the pilot nitrate scheme in 1990. It will encourage changes in farming practices which are
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designed to reduce nitrate leaching losses. The scheme will be targeted on areas around boreholes where such changes will help protect groundwater sources affected by rising nitrate levels. The areas have been selected on the basis of advice from the National Rivers Authority taking a wide range of criteria into account. My officials will be consulting locally later this year on the boundaries of each of the proposed new NSAs.Detailed arrangements for the new scheme will be finalised after the results of the consultation have been analysed. It is envisaged, however, that it will open for applications in the first half of 1994.
I am making copies of the consultation document available in the Library of the House.
EC Animals Directive
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which EC member states have taken the necessary legal steps to implement the EC directive on the protection of animals during transport (91/628/EEC).
Mr. Gummer : Monitoring the implementation of EC directives by the member states is carried out by the Commission. It has not yet indicated what action has been taken on directive 91/628.
Agriculture Council
Mr. Gill : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Luxemburg on 26 and 27 April.
Mr. Gummer : The meeting of the Agriculture Council of 26 and 27 April, at which I represented the United Kingdom, again considered the Commission's proposals for farm prices and related measures for 1993-94 but reached no conclusion and will resume its discussions at its May meeting. I stressed the overriding need for the Council's decisions to keep within the tight constraints on Community expenditure.
During the discussion I urged the Commission to come forward as soon as possible with a proposal for non-rotational set-aside of arable land and it undertook to do so in time for the Council's next meeting.
The Council formally adopted a decision, agreed in principle at its March meeting, to end the milk co-responsibility levy from 1 April 1993.
Rights of Way
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what advice his Ministry gives to farmers and landowners about the maintenance of rights of way over land which is subject to the different types of set-aside payments ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : The fact that land has been set aside does not affect the farmer's responsibilities as regards rights of way over that land. These are explained in the general guidance on the Rights of Way Act 1990, which has been sent to all farmers.
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NATIONAL HERITAGE
Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what was the total amount of financial support given to angling (a) by his Department and (b) by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts in 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Mr. Brooke [holding answer 26 April 1993] : Most of my Department's funding for sport is made through the Sports Council. In 1991- 92 it paid grant of £71,749 to angling's governing bodies, including £20,660 to the National Angling Council, which was disbanded at the end of that year. In 1992-93 grant paid by the Sports Council to angling's remaining governing bodies was £46,800. The Foundation for Sport and the Arts is independent of Government and its grants are made at the absolute discretion of the trustees. I understand that the trustees do not consider angling to be eligible for support on the ground that it is not an athletic sport.
WALES
Leyland-DAF
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will permit those organisations and agencies answerable to him to draw up plans to assist small companies owed money by Leyland-DAF ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : A wide range of services exists in Wales to assist all companies to enhance their business. The WDA and other agencies stand ready to offer whatever help is possible if approached by any of the companies affected by the Leyland-DAF situation.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what were the unemployment figures, in each county, at April in each year since 1989.
Mr. David Hunt : All available unemployment figures can be accessed on line by House of Commons Library staff.
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the number of jobs lost (a) in manufacturing, (b) in mining, (c) in private services and (d) in the public sector in the areas covered by the valleys initiative during the last five years.
Mr. David Hunt : While comprehensive information on total jobs lost is not available, the numbers of employees employed in the valleys initiative area are given in the following table :
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|SIC (1980)<1> |1987 |1991 |Thousands Change
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturing |Div 2-4 |62.3 |57.4 |-4.9
Mining |AH 1113 & 1114 |11.6 |3.4 |-8.2
All services<2> |Div 6-9 |92.0 |101.9 |+9.8
Source: Censuses of Employment.
<1> Standard Industrial Classification (Revised) 1980.
<2> Information is not available separately for private and public sector employment.
Job Creation
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his oral statement of 1 April, Official Report, column 513, whether he will list the companies and projects which have created the 24,000 jobs in the areas covered by the valleys initiative during the last five years.
Mr. David Hunt : I will write to the hon. Gentleman and place a copy in the Library of the House.
Urban Programmes
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what amounts were received by the local authorities within the area covered by the valleys initiative through urban development programmes, and an urban investment grant in 1992-93 ; and what will be those amounts for each of the next five years.
Mr. David Hunt : In 1992-93 nearly £20.6 million was approved from the urban programme. This includes supplementary approvals made throughout the year. In 1993-94 a total of £17 million has so far been approved for areas covered by the valleys programme. It is not possible to forecast the corresponding figures for the next four years.
In 1992-93 urban investment grant awards to the valleys totalled £1.5 million. The amounts in future years will depend on the take-up of the scheme, but provision for 1993-94 has been increased by 40 per cent. Urban investment grant is specifically aimed at supporting private sector development and is not available to local authorities.
Communication Skills
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what arrangements he has made for the Further Education Funding Council to provide funding for the teaching of communication skills to adults with severe learning difficulties.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Schedule 2 to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 lists the courses of further education which the Further Education Funding Council for Wales is expected to secure. This includes courses to teach independent living and communication skills to persons having learning difficulties and which prepare them for entry to further courses of study within schedule 2.
In his letter of guidance to the chairman of the funding council, my right hon. Friend drew attention to the council's specific duty to have regard to the requirements of students with all types of disability. The council should aim to ensure, so far as is consistent with its duties under the Act, that learning difficulties are no bar to access to further education.
In allocating resources to further education providers, the council has drawn specific attention to the requirement to have regard to the interests of adults who have basic educational needs.
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Valleys Initiative
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his statement on 1 April, Official Report, column 513, whether he will break down the £1,000 million announced for the valleys initiative into appropriate public expenditure categories for each of the next five years.
Mr. David Hunt : Total public expenditure under the programme for the valleys over the next five years will be well over £1 billion. I will publish shortly details of the breakdown of programme expenditure for 1993-94.
B. Dixon-Bate Ltd
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit the company headquarters of B. Dixon-Bate Ltd. in Clwyd.
Mr. David Hunt : I have no present plans to do so.
EC Funding
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 20 October 1992, Official Report, columns 283-84, what progress he has made in allocating the £2.8 million under the European regional development fund ; how much of the expenditure has already been announced and for what purposes ; and on what the residual amount will be spent.
Mr. David Hunt : I made it clear in my answer on 20 October 1992, Official Report, columns 283-84, that the £2.8 million to which the hon. Gentleman refers represents resources additional to the very substantial allocations already available from the European regional development fund under the industrial South Wales and RECHAR structural funds programmes. £1.61 million ERDF has already been committed to projects in the Betws and Taff Merthyr areas and the monitoring committees responsible for implementing these programmes will be asked to approve further projects to take up the whole of the available resources by the end of this year.
Ambulance Services
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales: what plans he has to introduce paramedics to rural and urban ambulance services in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The ambulance services in Wales are to provide at least one fully trained paramedic on each front-line ambulance no later than the end of 1996. This target applies equally to all the ambulance service classifications--that is, urban, rural and sparsely populated-- across Wales. The provision of paramedics is currently ahead of schedule, and the Welsh Office will continue to financially support this training.
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the average age of each ambulance fleet in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : This information is not available centrally.
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Doctors' Working Hours
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has on the number of junior hospital doctors in Welsh health authorities and trust hospitals working over the prescribed 83 hours per week maximum ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : Health authorities and NHS trusts have confirmed that no junior doctor in Wales is contracted to work more than a maximum average of 83 hours per week with effect from 1 April 1993.
Cadw
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what targets he has set for Cadw, Welsh Historic Monuments executive agency for 1993-94.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Cadw has been set the following key targets for 1993-94 :
(i) To complete 90 per cent. of the approved conservation maintenance programme.
(ii) To promote the preservation of historic buildings and ancient monuments by completing 20 resurvey lists and 90 scheduling actions, of which at least 60 per cent. involve additional protection. (
(iii) To resolve 75 per cent. of statutory cases within the target periods (28 days for listed building consent cases, 90 days for scheduled monument consent cases and 120 days for ad hoc listings). (
(iv) To resolve 80 per cent. of grant applications within the target periods (17 weeks for Historic Buildings Council cases, six weeks for Ancient Monuments cases and 10 weeks for Civic Initiatives (Heritage) Grant Scheme cases) ; and to pay 90 per cent. of properly presented claims within five weeks of receipt.
(v) To maintain Cadw's market share of the number of visitors to the top twenty heritage sites in Wales at 63 per cent.
(vi) To increase the average spend per visitor to 188 pence. (
(vii) To operate within allocated programme and running cost budgets.
(viii) To achieve an efficiency saving of 2.0 per cent. on gross running costs.
Full details of Cadw's performance against its targets for 1992-93 will be published in the agency's annual report.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Queensferry Post Office
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will visit Queensferry post office sorting office.
Mr. Heseltine : I have no plans at present to visit Queensferry post office sorting office.
Loan Guarantee Schemes
Mrs. Anne Campbell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much money has been guaranteed to cover loan guarantee schemes during the last two years.
Mr Leigh : Gross expenditure on the loan guarantee scheme in the past two years has been :
|£ million
------------------------------
1991-92 |31.6
1992-93 |22.4
Mrs. Anne Campbell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many loan guarantee schemes have been started within the last two years.
Mr. Leigh : The number of loans guaranteed under the loan guarantee scheme in the past two years has been :
|Number
----------------------
1991-92 |2,936
1992-93 |2,335
Telephone Lines (Installation Costs)
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will bring forward proposals for an ombudsman to oversee the cost of the installation of telephone lines by telephone companies.
Mr. Leigh : I have no plans to do so.
Textiles
Mr. Pike : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many applications he has received under the Retex programme ; when he expects to make a decision on these applications ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : Sixty-seven applications have been received. The projects will be considered by the Retex programme monitoring committee after the United Kingdom programme is agreed with the Commission.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if the review of the funding and fee charging policy of the insolvency service has been completed.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) on 16 February, Official Report, column 136.
Coal Industry
Mr. Tipping : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many copies of the booklet, "The Prospects for Coal : Summary of the Coal Review White Paper", have been produced ; how many have been sent to correspondents by post ; and at what total cost.
Mr. Eggar : A total of 115,000 copies of the booklet have been produced and, so far, approximately 109,500 copies have been distributed. The total cost of production and distribution is approximately £40,000.
Insolvency Law
Sir Keith Speed : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to review insolvency law.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : Officials in the insolvency service continue to monitor the operation of insolvency law, but I have no plans for a general review.
Company Failures
Sir Keith Speed : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish the letter sent by his Department to the Public Relations Consultants Association on 1 March about the collapse of Corporate Communications plc.
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Sir Keith Speed : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to prevent individuals who have presided over the collapse of their companies, of which they have been directors, from setting up similar new businesses with similar customers having failed to honour the debts of their former companies.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : The insolvency legislation already provides that directors whose conduct shows that they are unfit to manage companies may be disqualified from holding office. I have no plans to change the legislation in this regard.
Steel
Mr. Hardy : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the volume of steel production in the first quarter of 1991, 1992 and 1993 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sainsbury : The information is as follows :
1991 Q1 4.1 million tonnes
1992 Q1 4.2 million tonnes
1993 Q1 4.2 million tonnes (provisional)
Source : British Iron and Steel Producers' Association.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made as to the reliability of the volume of steel production as an indicator of economic vitality.
Mr. Sainsbury : The output of one industry cannot by itself be an adequate indicator of the state of the whole economy.
Internal Market Council
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EC Internal Market Council meeting held in Luxembourg on 5 April.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : I attended the second Internal Market Council of the Danish Presidency in Luxembourg on 5 April. The Council had a relatively substantial agenda. We managed to make progress on, and defend, a number of significant United Kingdom interests. The Council adopted directives covering explosives, doctors' diplomas and motorcyle brakes. We succeeded in postponing a decision on a proposal to establish a 100 bhp maximum power limit for motor cycles until at least the June Council. We do not consider that the limit is justified on safety grounds.
Common positions were reached on directives covering public supply contracts, unauthorised use and statutory markings of motor cycles, and cable and satellite broadcasting. This last measure together with discussion of a proposed directive on the harmonisation on the term of copyright protection, allowed us to reach agreement on a text on film authorship which protects United Kingdom interests, notably those of film producers.
I emphasised our opposition to important elements of the European company statutory proposal. We continue to oppose the proposed worker participation directive ; the legal base of the measures ; and certain important technical aspects of the regulation.
Unfortunately, most other member states wish to continue work on the proposals.
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