House of Commons Hansard Debates for 2 May 1995

Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 2 May 1995

HOME DEPARTMENT

Dog Breeders

Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to introduce legislation to require dog breeding establishments to incorporate RSPCA guidelines and to be registered with the Kennel Club. [22057]

(2) what representations he has received about the conditions and welfare of dogs at breeding establishments, and if he will make a statement. [22056]

Mr. Nicholas Baker : My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans for extending the current legal controls over dog breeding establishments.

All domestic and captive animals are protected against ill treatment by the Protection of Animals Act 1911. Additionally, establishments where dogs are bred for sale are subject to the controls of the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, which requires dog breeders to be licensed by the local authority. It is for local authorities, which have extensive powers to check on the standards of health, welfare and accommodation of the dogs, to enforce the legislation. These powers were strengthened by the Breeding of Dogs Act 1991, which allows local authorities to enter under warrant any premises other than domestic dwellings, where it is believed that a dog breeding business is carried out.

The Department has received 11 letters from Members of Parliament following an article on dog breeding establishments published by the News of the World on 16 April 1995.

Civil Servants

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the individual value of each (a) compulsory early retirement and (b) flexible early retirement package received by civil servants leaving his Department on grounds of limited efficiency in each of the last five years. [22084]

Mr. Howard: This information is not readily available.

Anti-Semitic Material

Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has made to the Irish Government about anti- Semiti c material being distributed within or from the Republic; and if he will make a statement. [22303]

Mr. Nicholas Baker: None. The distribution of any such material within the Irish Republic is a matter for the Irish Government. I am not aware of any specific concerns regarding its possible distribution to the United Kingdom.

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Prison Service Plans

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the Prison Service's plans for the period 1995 to 1998. [22402]

Mr. Howard: The Prison Service's corporate plan for 1995 to 1998, together with its business plan setting out its detailed programme of work for 1995 96, are being published today. Copies are being placed in the Library.

The business plan sets as the service's top priority for 1995 96 improvement in performance on security. The other priorities are implementing incentives for good behaviour by prisoners; implementing the controls on temporary release I announced on 18 November 1994, and ensuring that every prison has an effective strategy for detecting and dealing with drug abuse.

The business plan also sets out the service's key targets for 1995 96, which are:

1. To ensure that no category A prisoners escape.

2. To ensure that the total numbers of escapes from prison establishments and from escorts, expressed as a percentage of the average prison population, is at least 25 per cent. lower than in 1994 95.

3. To ensure that the rate of assaults on staff, prisoners and others, expressed as a percentage of the average prison population, is lower than in 1994 95.

4. To ensure that no prisoners are held three to a cell in accommodation intended for one prisoner, subject to ensuring that no prisoners are held in police cells unless this is absolutely unavoidable.

5. To ensure that all prisoners have access to sanitation at all times by the end of February 1996, provided that the prison population does not increase significantly above current projections and there is no major unplanned loss of accommodation.

6. To ensure that prisoners spend, on average, at least 25.5 hours per week in purposeful activity.

7. To ensure that by 31 March 1996 at least 38 per cent. of prisoners are held in establishments where prisoners are unlocked on weekdays for at least 12 hours, provided this can be supported by an active and constructive regime.

8. To ensure that all prisoners have the opportunity to exceed minimum visiting entitlements, subject to qualifying under earned incentive schemes.

9. To ensure that the average cost per prisoner place does not exceed £24,600.

Drugs Control

Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when was the last time that he met Dr. Lee Brown, director of the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy; and what was the purpose of the meeting. [22403]

Mr. Howard: I last met Dr. Brown on 24 April to sign a memorandum of understanding on counter-drug technologies. The memorandum of understanding will promote co-operation between my Department and his on the development of technologies to assist the fight against drugs. Four key areas will initially be covered by the programme of cooperation. These are information technology, treatment and prevention of drug misuse, police communications and surveillance technologies, and systems for detecting illicit goods. The signing of the memorandum of understanding is another example of this country's determination to work with others to tackle the international menace of drugs misuse.

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Deportees

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many pregnant women given refusal notices or deported have (a) given birth or (b) had medical difficulties on the aircraft in each of the last five years; [21983]

(2) how many women, pregnant over 30 weeks, were given refusal notices in each of the last five years and returned to the country from which they departed for the United Kingdom. [21984]

Mr. Nicholas Baker: The information requested is not available.

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people lawfully resident in the United Kingdom and without any charges or criminal convictions against them have been deported on grounds of national security in the past five years; and what was their average length of lawful residence in the United Kingdom. [21891]

Mr. Nicholas Baker [holding answer 1 May 1995]: One person without a charge or criminal conviction against him has been removed from the United Kingdom under the deportation process on grounds of national security in the last five years. He had been resident in the United Kingdom for nearly three years at the time of removal. This excludes persons who departed voluntarily after being issued with a notice of intention to deport.

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many residents, lawfully in the United Kingdom and without any charges or criminal convictions against them, have been the subject of deportation orders in the last five years; [21591] (2) how many people, lawfully resident in the United Kingdom for more than 10 years and without any charges or criminal convictions, have been subject to deportation orders in the last 10 years. [21592]

Mr. Nicholas Baker [holding answer 28 April 1995]: The available information relates to all persons issued with a notice of intention to deport on national security grounds. Identifying and excluding those with a charge or criminal conviction against them would involve disproportionate cost. Some 202 such notices have been issued since 1990, including 176 at the time of the Gulf war. Six persons who have lived in the United Kingdom for more than 10 years have been issued with such a notice since 1985.

TREASURY

Investment Companies

Mr. Carrington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made with the Treasury's plans for legislation to enable the formation of open-ended investment companies in the United Kingdom. [22401]

Mr. Nelson: The Treasury has today published a consultation document containing draft regulations to be made, subject to the approval of both Houses, under the European Communities Act 1972. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.

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The regulations will permit a new investment vehicle which will be a type of collective investment scheme, like the familiar authorised unit trust, but constituted as a corporate body. Its shareholders will pool their investment funds and thus gain the advantage of access to expert investment management with the ability to spread their investment risks. The open-ended investment company has been formulated deliberately to offer the same standard of investor protection as the unit trust but using a more modern and flexible approach.

The draft ECA regulations will establish a special purpose corporate code which delineates the basic structure of the open ended investment company. Each company will have a board, including a designated corporate director charged with day-to-day responsibility for managing the invested assets of the company, which will be held in trust by a depositary. The company will have annual general meetings at which the directors will account to the company's shareholders for their stewardship of the company and its assets. To complete the regulatory framework for the open ended investment company, the Securities and Investments Board will issue product regulations, about which it will also consult shortly. These regulations will specify that shares in open-ended investment companies are to be bought and sold at a single price on each trading day, in contrast to the spread between the prices at which units in unit trusts are bought and sold now. SIB will also regulate the different classes of shares which open-ended investment companies may have. These regulations will allow umbrella companies with a number of subfunds each allotted to a different category of investments. In due course there will also be regulations made under the Finance Act 1995 to define the tax treatment of open ended investment companies. The new regime will be equivalent to the taxation arrangements for authorised unit trusts.

Because the proposed regulations are to be made under the ECA, they will permit only open ended investment companies which satisfy the UCITS-- undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities-- directive. Subject to further consultation, the Treasury is also exploring the scope for widening the investment and borrowing powers available to open ended investment companies by means of an order made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Civil Servants

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the individual value of each (a) compulsory early retirement and (b) flexible early retirement package received by civil servants leaving his Department on grounds of limited efficiency in each of the last five years.

Mr. John M. Taylor: This information is not held by my Department in a readily accessible form. The information which the hon. Member has requested is being collated and I will provide him with a substantive answer shortly.

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ENVIRONMENT

Endangered Species

Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many import permits for the convention on international trade in endangered species appendix I species of cranes his Department has issued in 1994 and 1995. [21831]

Sir Paul Beresford: In 1994 my Department issued nine permits allowing the import of specimens of crane listed in appendix I of CITES. So far, in 1995, one permit has been issued.

Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the population of (a) pine martens (b) peregrine falcons, (c) hen harriers and (d) sparrowhawks in each year since 1980; and what is his estimate of the amount of damage each species does to game birds. [21850]

Sir Paul Beresford: My Department's statutory advisors, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, advise that annual population estimates are not available for these species. Specific surveys have been undertaken for each species since 1980 and the most up-to-date figures for England are as follows: