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Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1988-89 |38.7 1989-90 |37.5 1990-91 |28.7 1991-92 |31.1 1992-93 |20.4
Hazardous Waste Shipments
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library a copy of his letter of 31 March to the hon. Member for Linlithgow on the subject of hazardous waste shipments from industrialised countries to developing countries.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 15 April 1993] : I have today instructed my officials to place a copy of the letter identified by the hon. Member in the Library as requested.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many and what percentage of officers in each grade from 1 to 7 and overall in the Duchy of Lancaster and in the Office of Public Service and Science are (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled people.
Mr. Waldegrave [pursuant to his reply 14 April 1993, columns 535- 36] : Some of the figures quoted in the answer have been found to be incorrect. The correct information is as follows :
Grade (and |Women |Total |Percentage Women equivalents) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 |0 |3 |0 2 |2 |17 |12 3 |2 |24 |8 4 |0 |3 |0 5 |16 |62 |26 6 |21 |64 |33 7 |61 |265 |23 Overall |1,287 |2,495 |52
The ethnic monitoring programme was carried out on a voluntary basis and did not extend to the Cabinet Office's agencies. Of those who responded, 62 people chose to register as non-white. One of these people is at grade 7 level.
The Cabinet Office's figures on staff with disabilities include only those who have chosen to register as disabled. Twenty-eight people are so registered. None is at grade 7 level or above. The Cabinet Office employs other staff with disabilities who have chosen not to register.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Explosives
Mr. Peter Robinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what arms or explosive finds have been made on Church property in Northern Ireland during the past three years.
Mr. Mates : The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Terrorism
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has referred his consultative paper "Terrorist Exploitation of the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland", to the Fair Employment Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission for their observations.
Mr. Mates : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 April at col 271 .
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Listed Buildings
Mrs. Anne Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals are being considered in public consultations on English Heritage's forward strategy which would involve a change in current responsibilities for grade 2 buildings outside London.
Mr. Brooke : No change is proposed in current responsibilities for grade II listed building casework outside London.
Television Licences (Pensioners)
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to meet representatives from pensioners' groups to discuss the cost of television licences for old age pensioners.
Mr. Brooke : I have no plans to meet representations from pensioners' groups, though we have sent a copy of the consultaton document about the future of the BBC, which asks questions about the television licence fee, to four organisations representing the elderly. I am well aware of the view amongst many pensioners that they should be entitled to free or reduced rate television licences. The Government have made clear on many occasions that it is wholly opposed to this idea : not only would giving free licences to pensioners impose an extra cost of at least £500 million a year on other licence payers, but it would also be wrong in principle, benefiting many people of pensionable age who are well able to pay the full fee.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Prisons (Sexual Assaults)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what specialist counselling services are available to prisoners who have been the victims of sexual assaults ; and how many prisoners have been counselled for these matters in each of the last five years.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from I. Dunbar to Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, dated 30 April 1993 :
In the absence of Mr. Lewis, the director general, from the office, the Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about specialist counselling services to prisoners who have been the victim of a sexual assault.
Governors are able to call upon relevant specialists, including health care staff, psychologists, probation officers and chaplains, to assist in providing treatment, care and support to the victims of violent and traumatic incidents, including those involving sexual assault.
I regret that the statistical information requested is not collected.
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of sexual assaults reported by prisoners (a) by other prisoners and (b) by police or prison staff in each of the last five years.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Prison Escort Services
Ms Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used to assess the suitability of the tenderers for the performance of prison escort services.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter had been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from I. Dunbar to Ms Marjorie Mowlam, dated30 April 1993 :
Court Escort Service In the temporary absence of Mr. Lewis, the Director General, from the office, the Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the criteria used to assesss the suitability of the tenderers for the performance of prison escort services.
When awarding the contract for court escorting in the East Midlands and Humberside the main criteria considered by the tender panel were :
The company track record and the support of the parent company or group for the contract ;
The company's grasp of the task being tendered ;
Ability to recruit, train and retain staff of suitable calibre ; The adequacy of staffing levels and efficient use of staff ; The number, capacity and configuration of vehicles the company proposed to use ;
Proposed routes ;
Management information systems ;
Price.
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalty clauses form part of the contract with Group 4 for the court escort service in the east midlands area ; and whether these penalty clauses have been activated as a result of recent events.
Mr. Peter Lloyd: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from I. Dunbar to Mr. John McAllion, dated 30 April 1993 :In the temporary absence of Mr. Lewis, the Director General, from the office, the Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about penalty clauses in the contract with Group 4 Court Services Ltd for the provision of the court escort service in the East Midlands and Humberside.
The contract with Group 4 contains mechanisms which allow adjustments to payments to be made in the event of circumstances occurring which fall outside the terms of the contract. Where a material failure is caused by circumstances within the contractor's control and is not corrected within 20 days of it being brought to his attention, the Prison Service may terminate the contract. We are continuing to monitor Group 4's performance and have yet to decide whether it would be appropriate to apply any of the available contractual remedies.
Ms Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bids were considered for the contract for the prison escort service awarded to Group 4 Security Services ; and if he will publish (a) the names of the companies that bid for the prison escort service contract awarded to Group 4 Securities and (b) the cost level of each company's bid.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from I. Dunbar to Ms Marjorie Mowlam, dated 30 April 1993 :
Prison Escort Service
In the temporary absence of Mr. Lewis, the Director General, from the office, the Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about bids for the contract for the prison escort service awarded to Group 4 Security Services. Six tenders were received for the court escort contract for the East Midlands and Humberside. The tenderers were : Reliance ; Burns ; Group 4 Court Escort Service Limited ; Wackenhut ; Securiguard and Securicor. It is normal commercial practice not to reveal tender prices.
Her Majesty's Prison Manchester
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps are being taken to ensure that Mr. C. D. Sherwood will be unable to use information relating to bids for the contract to manage Her Majesty's prison Manchester when advising Mancare regarding rebidding on costs ;
(2) when Mr. C. D. Sherwood's immediate superiors became aware that he had been approached by Mancare regarding possible employment ; and when Mr. Sherwood was recruited by Mancare ;
(3) what role Mr. C. D. Sherwood had in assessing bids for the contract to manage Her Majesty's prison Manchester.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mr. I. Dunbar to Mr. Tony Blair, dated 30 April 1993 :
In the temporary absence of Mr. Lewis, the Director General, from the office, the Home Secretary has asked me to
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reply to your recent Questions about a member of staff who has reported an offer of outside employment by one of the companies involved in the bidding for the management of HM Prison Manchester. Mr. Sherwood informed his immediate manager in the Remands Contracts Unit on 7 April that he had been sounded out about the possibility of employment in the private sector and that he wished to hold open the possibility of seeking approval for such a move at a later stage. Given the circumstances, he left the Unit that day. His departure took place 6 days before the tenders for the management of HM Prison Manchester were opened, which took place after 12 noon on 13 April under the sealed bid procedure. Mr. Sherwood has therefore had no access to our role in assessing bids for the contract. Mr. Sherwood is still employed by the Prison Service. Were he to submit a formal application for permission to take up an outside posting with the company in question or any other organisation, it would be considered in the normal way under the Business Appointment Rules. This includes seeking the views of competitors, with a view to determining what conditions might need to be imposed on the taking up of the appointment.Minicabs
Mr. Bendall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many incidents of assault, or attempted assault, on minicab passengers by their drivers in (a) London and (b) other metropolitan areas have been reported since 1985 ;
(2) how many incidents of assault, or attempted assault, on minicab drivers by their passengers in (a) London and (b) other metropolitan areas have been reported since 1985 ;
(3) how many minicab drivers were found guilty of assaulting their passengers in (a) London and (b) other metropolitan areas in 1991-92.
Mr. Jack : I am sorry not to be able to respond to the hon. Member's request as the information required is not collected centrally.
Yugoslavia
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money, and from which departmental budgets, has been allocated to support those from the former Yugoslavia in the United Kingdom ; what support services are being provided and funded by his Department ; and if he will list the names of voluntary organisations who are supporting those from the former Yugoslavia in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The Department of the Environment has set aside £80,000 for those local authorities worst affected by the influx of displaced persons from the former Yugoslavia in 1992-93. The Home Office is funding the Refugee Council, the Scottish Refugee Council and the British Red Cross. No specific sums have been allocated because the rate of arrival in this country cannot be predicted, but about £550,000 has been paid to date in grant aid. The following organisations are funded by the Home Office to provide support to all refugees and asylum seekers including those from former Yugoslavia :
Refugee Council
Refugee Arrivals Project
Scottish Refugee Council
Northern Refugee Centre
Midlands Refugee Council
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Information is not available on those organisations which on their own initiative brought groups of former Yugoslavs to the United Kingdom during last year.Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many ex-detainees and their dependants from Yugoslavia have, to date, arrived in the United Kingdom under the terms of his statements to the House of 5 November 1992, Official Report, column 424, and 30 November 1992, Official Report, column 30.
Mr. Charles Wardle : As at 28 April 1993, a total of 209 ex- detainees and 313 dependants had arrived. A further group, due to include about 100 people in all, arrived on 29 April.
Bangladeshi Population
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken to implement the recommendations of the first report from the Home Affairs Select Committee of Session 1986-87 (HC 96), to help improve living and working conditions for the Bangladeshi population in Britain ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd [holding answer 19 April 1993] : The Government's initial response to the Select Committee report was contained in a 1987 White Paper which detailed the work that was being done by various Government Departments to implement the report's recommendations. Since then further progress has been made and I am writing to the hon. Member with further details. A copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Nuclear Materials
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what facilities his Department has to assist police forces to make forensic analysis of substances believed to be nuclear materials, apprehended by British police investigators.
Mr. Aitken : I have been asked to reply. My Department has facilities for identification of the nuclear materials present in suspect packages and also for measurement of their radioactive content. These facilities are made available to the Home Department and police forces where appropriate.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION
Sustainable Development
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what additional resources and additional appointments he plans to make available to support the Overseas Development Administration's involvement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Commission ; which resolution of the United Nations General Assembly established the Commission ; how the United Kingdom voted on the resolution ; and if he will make a statement on its implementation to date.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Overseas Development Administration works closely with the diplomatic wing of
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the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and with the Department of the Environment on the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The additional work involved for ODA has been absorbed within existing resources.The CSD was formally established by the United Nations Economic and Socn 47/191 of 22 December 1992. This resolution was adopted by consensus. The CSD held its first organisational session in February. Its first substantive session will be held from 14 to 25 June 1993 in New York.
Tuberculosis
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contribution his Department is making to the World Health Organisation tuberculosis prevention programme.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Overseas Development Administration does not currently fund the World Health Organisation tuberculosis programme.
PRIME MINISTER
Exchange Rate Mechanism
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Prime Minister what research studies he has commissioned into how fault lines in the ERM can be corrected ; and what action he has initiated since September 1992 to correct them.
The Prime Minister : The European Council in Birmingham endorsed the view of Economic and Finance Ministers that the financial turbulence of last September called for reflection and analysis in the light of developments in capital markets and in the European and world monetary systems. This work is currently being carried forward.
Jabal Hamrayn, Iraq
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what information Her Majesty's Government have concerning military activities at the Jabal Hamrayn site in Iraq.
The Prime Minister : Jabal Hamrin was the site where Iraq built one of its "superguns". The gun was destroyed under United Nations supervision in 1991. There is currently no military activity at the site.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Janner : To ask the Prime Minister how many and what percentage of officers in each grade from 1 to 7 and overall in the Cabinet Office are (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled people.
The Prime Minister [pursuant to his reply 29 March 1993, column 45] : I regret that some of the figures quoted have been found to bincorrect. The correct information is as follows.
The figures for women employed in the Cabinet Office, including its executive agencies, are as follows :
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Grade (and |Women |Total |Per cent. Women equivalents) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 |0 |3 |0 2 |2 |17 |12 3 |2 |24 |8 4 |0 |3 |0 5 |16 |62 |26 6 |21 |64 |33 7 |61 |265 |23 Overall |1,287 |2,495 |52
The ethnic monitoring programme was carried out on a voluntary basis and did not extend to the Cabinet Office's agencies. Of those who responded, 62 people chose to register as non-white. One of these is at grade 7 level.
The Cabinet Office's figures on staff with disabilities include only those who have chosen to register as disabled. Twenty-eight people are so registered. None is at grade 7 or above. The Cabinet Office employs other staff with disabilities who have chosen not to register.
EMPLOYMENT
Earnings
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if she will show for 1992 the percentage and number of part-time women employees earning less than £3 per hour, £3.50 per hour, £3.80 per hour, £4 per hour, £5.20 per hour and £5.40 per hour for (a) manual, (b) non-manual and (c) all women in each of (i) Scotland, (ii) each region of Scotland, (iii) Great Britain and (iv) the standard regions ;
(2) if she will list for part-time women employees (a) average gross weekly earnings, (b) average weekly hours total and overtime hours and (c) average gross hourly earnings for (i) manual, (ii) non-manual and (iii) all part- time women workers in Great Britain and the standard regions, Scotland and the regions of Scotland in 1992 ; (3) if she will give for male employees (a) average gross weekly earnings, (b) average weekly hours total and overtime hours and (c) average gross hourly earnings for (i) manual, (ii) non-manual and (iii) all male employees in Great Britain and the standard regions, Scotland and the regions of Scotland in 1992 ;
(4) if she will give for women employees (a) average gross weekly earnings, (b) average weekly hours total and overtime hours and (c) average gross hourly earnings for
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(i) manual, (ii) non-manual and (iii) all women employees in each of Great Britain and the standard regions, Scotland and the regions of Scotland in 1992 ;(5) if she will give for 1992 the percentage and number of female employees, part time and full time, earning less than (a) £3 per hour, (b) £3.50 per hour, (c) £3.80 per hour, (d) £4 per hour, (e) £5.20 per hour and (f) £5.40 per hour for (i) manual, (ii) non- manual and (iii) all females in each of Scotland as a whole, each of the regions of Scotland, Great Britain as a whole and each of the standard regions of Great Britain ;
(6) if she will give for 1992 the percentage and number of employees part- time and full-time, earning less than £3 per hour, £3.50 per hour, £3.80 per hour, £4 per hour, £5.20 per hour and £5.40 per hour for (a) manual, (b) non-manual and (c) all employees in each of Scotland, each of the regions of Scotland, Great Britain as a whole and each of the standard regions ;
(7) if she will give for 1992 the percentage and number of male employees earning less than £3 per hour, £3.50 per hour, £4 per hour, £5.20 per hour and £5.40 per hour for (a) manual, (b) non-manual and (c) all males in each of (i) Scotland, (ii) the regions of Scotland and (iii) Great Britain and the standard regions ; (8) if she will give for all employees (a) average gross weekly earnings, (b) average weekly hours total and overtime hours and (c) average gross hourly earnings for (i) manual, (ii) non-manual and (iii) all employees in each of Great Britain and the standard regions, Scotland and the regions of Scotland in 1992.
Mr. McLoughlin : In view of the considerable amount of information requested I will write to the hon. Member.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Incomes
Ms Corston : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average equivalised disposable income per adult at 1990 prices for 1979, 1987 and 1990 of (a) single-parent households, (i) with one child and (ii) with two or more children, (b) two-parent households with (1) one child, (2) two children and (3) three or more children and (c) other households with children by quintile and decile groups of households.
Mr. Nelson : The information is not available in the precise form requested because the equivalence scale used is based on households rather than adults. In addition, the figures are only available at current prices.
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Average equivalent disposable income by household type and by quintile groups
Using the McClements equivalence scale re-scaled so that a household of one adult =1
£ per year
Quintile groups
of households
ranked by
equivalised
disposable income
Household type |Bottom |2nd |3rd |4th |Top |All households
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979
One adult with children |1,081 |1,655 |2,211 |2,875 |4,700 |1,922
Two adults with one child |1,148 |1,715 |2,223 |2,865 |4,396 |2,611
Two adults with two children |1,220 |1,704 |2,230 |2,894 |4,666 |2,489
Two adults with three or more children |1,158 |1,708 |2,183 |2,876 |4,440 |2,018
Other households with children |1,240 |1,715 |2,236 |2,891 |4,173 |2,489
1987
One adult with children |2,288 |3,213 |4,372 |6,088 |10,739 |3,285
Two adults with one child |2,196 |3,365 |4,554 |6,209 |10,564 |5,872
Two adults with two children |2,223 |3,393 |4,542 |6,184 |11,350 |5,488
Two adults with three or more children |2,202 |3,318 |4,546 |6,106 |10,300 |4,295
Other households with children |2,169 |3,314 |4,601 |6,174 |9,836 |4,819
1990
One adult with children |2,724 |4,057 |5,988 |9,049 |13,804 |4,322
Two adults with one child |2,517 |4,297 |6,052 |8,893 |16,247 |8,671
Two adults with two children |2,624 |4,339 |6,149 |8,666 |14,464 |7,333
Two adults with three or more children |2,524 |4,238 |5,925 |8,505 |19,295 |6,196
Other households with children |2,624 |4,241 |6,021 |8,796 |14,761 |7,142
Average incomes by decile groups within household types are not published because of the small sample sizes and the consequent large sampling
errors. The one adult with children household type is not subdivided further for the same reason.
Any difference between the average equivalised disposable income of household types within a quintile group is likely to result from sampling
errors.
These figures are not strictly comparable over time because of changes in classification of both income and taxation and because of changes in
the "Family Expenditure Survey".
Training
Ms Short : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the allowances paid to participants on (a) non-employed status training for work and youth training, (b) employed status training for work and youth training, (c) learning for work and (d) the community action programme are subject to taxation and/or national insurance contribution ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : The treatment for tax and national insurance contribution (NICs) purposes of allowances paid to participants on the programmes mentioned is as follows :