PMQT Written Answers – 24 November 1992
Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 24th November 1992.
PRIME MINISTER:
Engagements
Sir Peter Tapsell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 24 November.
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 24 November.
Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is attending a lunch, given by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of the City of London to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen’s accession to the throne.
Former Prime Ministers
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Prime Minister what has been the extent of the special financial allowance available in the past 10 years to former Prime Ministers ; what measures are in place to ensure that these allowances are not used for political or personal purposes; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : The special financial allowance to assist former Prime Ministers to meet the additional office costs they incur because of their special position in public life was not available before 1 April 1991. Payments totalling £88,956 were made from the allowance for 1991-92 and payments in the first seven months of 1992-93 total £67,840.
Payments from the allowance are subject to the same scrutiny and controls as other payments from voted moneys.
Nuclear Test Veterans
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Prime Minister when the study by the National Radiological Protection Board into the effects of radiation on veterans of British nuclear tests will be published ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : The study is being undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board in conjunction with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Both are independent organisations and it would be inappropriate for the Government to interfere with the conduct of the study. A report will be published as soon as practically possible.
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Prime Minister what are the terms of reference of the study by the National Radiological Protection Board into the effects of radiation on veterans of British nuclear tests; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : A copy of the first report by the National Radiological Protection Board, including its terms of reference, is in the Library of the House. The updated study includes, I understand, the following changes in scope and methodology : follow-up work on all test participants to 1 January 1992, an increase of two years ; a sample emigration check; examination in detail of a sample of about 200 participants to see whether a pattern emerges between incidence of disease and the tasks performed, trades and professions and location at time of detonation.
Parliamentary Private Secretaries
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish the current list of parliamentary private secretaries and the Minister to whom each is attached.
The Prime Minister : The information is as follows :
Department |Minister |Parliamentary Private Secretary
Agriculture |Minister for Agriculture |James Paice
|Minister of State |Douglas French
Defence |Secretary of State |Henry Bellingham
|Minister of State for Armed Forces |Roger Gale
|Minister of State for Defence|Stephen Milligan
Education |Secretary of State |Matthew Carrington
|Minister of State |David Evennett
Employment |Secretary of State |Julian Brazier
|Minister of State |Derek Conway
Environment |Secretary of State |Peter Thurnham
|Minister for Housing and Planning |Dr. Charles Goodson-Wickes
|Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities |David Evans
|Minister for the Environment and Countryside |Jacques Arnold
Foreign and |Foreign Secretary |David Martin
Commonwealth |Minister of State |Hartley Booth
|Minister of State |Malcolm Moss
|Minister of State |George Kynoch
Overseas Development |Parliamentary |Mark Robinson
| Under-Secretary
Health |Secretary of State |Keith Mans
|Minister of State |Patrick Thompson
Heritage |Secretary of State |Anthony Steen
Home Office |Home Secretary |Phillip Oppenheim
|Minister of State |Emma Nicholson
|Minister of State |David Wilshire
Chancellor of the |Chancellor |Ian Taylor
Duchy of Lancaster /OPSS
Law Officers |Attorney General |Tim Devlin
Northern Ireland |Secretary of State |Michael Brown
|Minister of State |Jerry Hayes
|Minister of State |Jonathan Evans
Prime Minister’s Office |Prime Minister |Graham Bright
Privy Council Office |Lord Privy Seal |Andrew Mitchell
|Lord President |John Marshall
Scotland |Secretary of State |Simon Coombs
Social Security |Secretary of State |Piers Merchant
|Minister for Social Security and the Disabled |Michael Bates
|Three Parliamentary |Ian Bruce
| Under-Secretaries
Trade and Industry |President of the Board of Trade |Richard Ottaway
|Minister for Energy |Simon Burns
|Minister for Industry |Dudley Fishburn
|Minister for Trade |Andrew Rowe
Transport |Secretary of State |Graham Riddick
|Minister of State |Bowen Wells
Treasury |Chancellor of the Exchequer |William Hague
|Chief Secretary |David Amess
|Paymaster General |Dr. Ian Twinn
Wales |Secretary of State |John Bowis
|Minister of State |David Tredinnick
Libya
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will now consider advising the relevant bodies of the United Nations to lift sanctions against Libya.
The Prime Minister : There can be no lifting of sanctions until Libya has complied in full with United Nations Security Council resolutions 731 and 748.
Bacteria Collections
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on Government support for the National Collections of Industrial and Marine Bacteria.
The Prime Minister : The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has, since 1983, provided financial support for the National Collections of Industrial and Marine Bacteria. This support, provided under an agreement with the company, ends in March 1993. The possibility of providing further support for an additional year is currently under consideration.
Tobacco
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Prime Minister what arrangements are in place to co-ordinate the policies of the Department of Health and the Department of Trade relating to tobacco and tobacco imports; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : There are links at both ministerial and official levels.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Mr. Michael : To ask the Prime Minister what arrangements have been made by Government Departments, individually or jointly, for funding existing residential projects for alcohol and drug misusers from April 1993.
The Prime Minister : If eligible, people entering such projects from April 1993 will be entitled to income support from the Department of Social Security, including a residential allowance. People will have their charges met by the relevant local authority if they are assessed as needing residential care. A total of £635 million will be made available in 1993-94 to local authorities in Great Britain in recognition of their new community care responsibilities. We have announced that guidance to local authorities will reflect the particular circumstances of projects for alcohol and drug misusers.
Funding for special needs housing schemes sponsored by housing associations, including those relating to the provision of accommodation for people with alcohol and drug-related problems, will continue to be provided by the Department of the Environment through the Housing Corporation.
The Home Office will maintain its contribution to the running costs of those residential projects that reserve bed spaces for offenders with alcohol and drug problems.
Iraq (Equipment)
Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Prime Minister what representations his Department received between 1986 and 1990 regarding the sale of machine tools to Iraq.
The Prime Minister : My office has received a number of representations.
Commonwealth
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Prime Minister by whom, and by what method the Queen is advised on constitutional matters, including those specifically relating to the Crown, which relate equally both to the United Kingdom and to the other Commonwealth countries of which the Queen is head of state.
The Prime Minister : On the rare occasion when a constitutional matter has implications both for the United Kingdom and other countries of which The Queen is sovereign, Her Majesty would take advice from her Ministers in the countries concerned.
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions over the past year, he has had discussions with the Prime Minister of those Commonwealth countries of which the Queen is head of state on matters relating to the common constitutional link of the Crown.
The Prime Minister : None.
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Prime Minister who is the Queen’s principal adviser on matters that relate to her capacity as head of the Commonwealth.
The Prime Minister : The Queen consults her Ministers in the United Kingdom and in those other countries of which she is Sovereign, in matters relating to her capacity as head of the Commonwealth. Her Majesty also has regular contact with Heads of State and Government of other Commonwealth countries, at the biannual Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings and on other occasions.