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PRIME MINISTER
Members of Parliament (Contacts)
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister what central record is kept of requests by groups of hon. Members seeking to discuss issues with Ministers. [18153]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. So far as my right hon. Friend is aware, none.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government policy on official contact between civil servants and spokespersons in Her Majesty's official Opposition. [18138]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. Opposition spokesmen may request briefings on departmental organisation or policies, or in advance of overseas travel. Ministers would expect to be asked to give their authority for such meetings, and to be present if sensitive matters of public policy are to be discussed. Civil servants may also on occasions have dealings with Opposition spokesmen on Ministers' behalf; again, Ministers would expect to authorise such meetings.
The conventions relating to confidential pre-election contacts between senior civil servants and opposition parties are described in a memorandum submitted to the Treasury and Civil Service Committee by the Cabinet Office in November 1994, printed at page 29, vol II of the Committee's Fifth Report, Session 1993 94. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has agreed that such contacts should be permitted from early 1996 in advance of the next general election.
Scott Inquiry
Mr. Byers: To ask the Prime Minister if he will take steps to ensure that all of the documents (a) seized by Ministry of Defence police from the offices of British Manufacture and Research Company in April 1990 and (b) held by the receivers of Astra Holdings and British Manufacture and Research Company are made available to the Scott inquiry. [18243]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. All the documents taken from the offices of the British Manufacture and Research Company were sent to the receivers for Astra on 22 June 1993. The question of the provision of any of these documents to the Scott inquiry is one for the receiver and the inquiry.
Chemical Weapons Convention
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister when he plans to introduce legislation to ratify the chemical weapons convention. [18162]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. The legislation needed to enable the United Kingdom to ratify
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the chemical weapons convention will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time and the Government's other legislative priorities permit.Rail Privatisation
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 28 March, Official Report , column 823 , which other countries he had in mind as pursuing the same model of rail privatisation as Her Majesty's Government; and what were the points of similarities he was referring to in each case. [18163]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. A number of other European countries including Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Holland have restructured or are restructuring their railways to split responsibility for track and infrastructure from the operation of services. Both Germany and Holland plan to privatise some or all of their railways on this basis.
Parliamentary Questions
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister how many times in each year since 1979 80 his Department has written to an hon. or right hon. Member correcting an answer to a parliamentary question. [18434]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. The information as requested is not available.
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister (1) how many parliamentary questions to his Department were transferred for answer to the chief executive or other senior official of a non-departmental public body or agency for which he has responsibility in each year since 1979 80 or for each year that the body or agency has been in existence; [18435]
(2) how many parliamentary questions to his Department that were transferred for answer to the chief executive or other official of a non- departmental public body or agency for which he has responsibility received an answer which was not printed in the Official Report in each year since 1979 80 or for each year that the body or agency has been in existence. [18436]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. None.
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister (1) how many parliamentary questions requesting an ordinary written answer were received by his Department in each year since 1979 80; and how many such questions received a substantive answer within 10, 15, 20 days or longer; [18431]
(2) To ask the Prime Minister how many parliamentary questions to his Department in each year since 1979 80 requesting a priority written answer or answer on a named day, were answered within three days; how many received a holding reply; and how many of those which received a holding reply then received a substantive answer within a further five, 10, 15, 20 days or longer. [18432]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. The information requested is a matter of public record, but it could be provided in the form requested only at disproportionate cost.
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister how many times in each year since 1979 80 his Department has given a reply to a parliamentary question which has resulted in the information requested being placed in the Library and not printed in the Official Report . [18433]
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The Lord President: I have been asked to reply. The information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Publicity
Mrs. Ann Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list, for 1992 93 and 1993 94 separate figures for the spending by his Department on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising, (d) other promotions materials and activities, (e) the totals in each year of (a) to (d) and (f) the proportion of (e) that was spent on recruitment advertising; and what are his latest estimates for the years 1994 95 and 1995 96. [17631]
Mr. Newton: I have been asked to reply. For this purpose, the Prime Minister's Department is part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science.
EDUCATION
Asbestos Survey
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what access headteachers in London have to the results of the 1983 Inner London education authority survey of asbestos in London schools. [17865]
Mr. Robin Squire: The responsibilities of the former Inner London education authority for health and safety in schools are now exercised by individual inner London boroughs. It is not known whether ILEA made available the results of any asbestos survey to those authorities. The Department does not hold a copy of such a survey.
Job Losses
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will list the jobs that have been lost to agencies in her Department in the past two years that have (a) been taken over by contractors and (b) disappeared. [18322]
Mr. Boswell: The Department has only one next steps agency, the Teachers Pensions Agency, which was established on 1 April 1992. Changes in staffing numbers in the agency over the last two years have been as a result of internal efficiency improvements.
Teachers Pensions Agency
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers' employers are provided with services by the Teachers Pensions Agency. [16969]
Mr. Robin Squire: The Teachers Pensions Agency currently provides services to 3,368 teachers' employers.
Smoking
Mr. Peter Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what facilities are provided and arrangements made for the comfort and well -being of staff who (a) smoke and (b) do not wish to be affected by smoking at (i) the work station and (ii) rest, recreation and refreshment facilities at Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith street, London. [18281]
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Mr. Forth: From 1 April 1995 smoking in sanctuary buildings is permitted only in three workrooms designated for this purpose.
Pupil Ratios
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the current ratio of (a) pupils to teachers and (b) pupils to other education staff in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) other major competitor countries. [18067]
Mr. Robin Squire: The readily available information on pupil-teacher ratios is shown in the table. Information on non-teaching staff is not held centrally.
Pupil teacher ratios, public and private, 1991
|Primary<1> |Secondary<1>
---------------------------------------------------------
Australia |18.5 |18.6
Austria |10.8 |10.0
Belgium |<2>9.7 |7.7
Denmark |11.1 |10.7
Finland |18.8 |n/a
France |22.8 |14.0
Germany |20.5 |16.5
Ireland |26.9 |17.2
Japan |20.3 |17.3
Netherlands |19.7 |15.9
Norway |10.8 |8.9
Portugal |13.4 |11.6
Spain |22.0 |16.9
Sweden |10.4 |10.7
Turkey |30.4 |23.9
United Kingdom<3> |21.5 |14.7
United States |15.2 |15.5
Notes:
<1>Primary and secondary levels are defined in terms of
the international classification for education. Thus the
secondary level figures for the UK include pupils and
teachers in the further education sector as well as
secondary schools.
<2>Excludes preprimary pupils, but includes their
teachers.
<3>The figures used to calculate the PTR's for both
primary and secondary include maintained special
education pupils, but exclude special education
teachers.
Source:
<3>Education at a Glance, OECD, December 1993.
Administration Costs
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the average cost per local education authority school in Essex for administration in the last year for which statistics are available. [17840]
Mr. Robin Squire: For the financial year 1995 96, the Essex local education authority's planned expenditure on management and administration amounts to £9,925 per school. This figure relates to all county, voluntary and special schools maintained by the authority and is derived from the budget statement published by the authority under section 42 of the Education Reform Act 1988.
Funding Agency for Schools
Ms Estelle Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the total budget for the Funding Agency for Schools in each of the years it has been in operation. [17986]
Mr. Robin Squire: The Funding Agency for Schools was established on 1 April 1994. Total grant paid to the agency in the financial year 1994 95 for its running
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costs--revenue and capital expenditure--was £10.927 million.Union Jack
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate she has made of the number and percentage of schools that fly the Union Jack on a daily basis since her predecessor called for more flag flying. [17855]
Teachers
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers were employed in Essex maintained schools in each of the last five years. [17838]
Mr. Robin Squire: The table shows the full-time equivalent number of teachers employed in maintained nursery, primary and secondary sector in Essex for January 1990 to January 1994.
Teachers (FTE) in the maintained nursery, primary and secondary sector in Essex January |FTE ------------------------ 1990 |12,407 1991 |12,274 1992 |12,251 1993 |12,033 1994<1> |11,616 <1>Excludes sixth form colleges.
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the salary bill for Essex teachers in maintained schools in each of the last five years; and how much is planned for the current year. [17839]
Mr. Robin Squire: Expenditure by Essex local education authority on salaries for teachers in its maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools from 1989 90 to 1993 94, the latest year for which provisional outturn figures are available, is shown in the table. Information on planned expenditure on teachers' salaries is not collected centrally.