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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 29 November 1993
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Marsh Arabs
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has had regarding the plight of the Marsh Arabs ; what discussions have taken place between his Department and the United Nations over their future ; what efforts his Department are making over their continued security ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has received numerous representations about events in southern Iraq.
We frequently raise the plight of the Marsh Arabs at the United Nations, most recently during the review of sanctions on 18 November. We drew the attention of the United Nations weapons inspectors to reports that chemical weapons were used against civilians. We support the call of the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights for the deployment of monitors in Iraq.
In addition, British aircraft are deployed over southern Iraq in support of United Nations Security Council resolution 688.
BBC World Service
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations have been carried out between his Department and the BBC in respect of the BBC World Service lease at its headquarters in Bush house ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The current lease on Bush house was signed in 1990 and expires in 2005. Discussions with the BBC World Service have already taken place, and it has been agreed that the question of future location will be discussed again in due course.
Miss Patience Ikeazota
Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the refusal of a tourist visa for a limited stay in Britain to Miss Patience Ikeazota by the entry clearance officer in Lagos.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Following an interview at the high commission in Lagos on 9 April 1992, Miss Ikeazota's application for a visit visa was refused, as was her previous application in April 1991, because the entry clearance officer was not satisfied that she was genuinely seeking entry to the United Kingdom for the period of the visit stated by her.
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Azerbaijan
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action Her Majesty's Government are taking to assist in implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Azerbaijan.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We maintain high-level contacts with the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis and urge them to adhere to United Nations Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884. We are actively supporting the efforts of the Minsk group whose efforts to find a peaceful resolution to this conflict have been fully endorsed by the United Nations.
In the past year we have provided almost £1.9 million of humanitarian aid to the region.
Correspondence
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library copies of all correspondence and minutes of meetings between his Department and Gerald Bull between 1987 and 1990.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : As far as we have been able to establish, there is no record of any correspondence or record of any meeting between this Department and Dr. Gerald Bull.
Endangered Species
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what exemptions have been sought by Norway under the EC convention on international trade in endangered species regulation and habitats directive.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The Norwegian Government are seeking exemptions from the habitats directive and the CITES regulation for a wide variety of species. These include several species of fish, terrestrial mammals, seals and whales.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what attempts Norway has made to secure opt-outs from EC regulations covering the killing and trade in whale and seal products ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The Norwegian Government are requesting exemptions from the EC habitats directive in respect of five seal and three whale species. We shall be discussing the Norwegian request with other member states.
Nigeria
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what current sanctions are being applied against the military Government of Nigeria ; and what new ones are being considered.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : On 24 June, we announced our decision to withdraw all offers of new military training courses provided for members of the Nigerian armed forces in the United Kingdom ; to suspend all assistance to
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the National War College in Lagos and withdraw the British military advisory team ; to suspend issue of visas for members of the Nigerian armed forces and their dependents ; to withdraw special treatment of visa applications from Nigerian officials ; and to consider all new aid to Nigeria on a case-by-case basis. These measures remain in force.Our response to the latest developments is currently being discussed with our partners in the European Union and the wider donor community.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to discuss the new military takeover in Nigeria with his European Union counterparts ; and what proposals he will be taking to that meeting.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The European Union issued a statement on 19 November condemning the fact that the democratic process in Nigeria has been interrupted through
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the resumption of power by a military dictatorship. It strongly urged the Nigerian military authorities to re- establish democratic institutions.As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary announced on 17 November, we are now consulting with our partners in the European Union on what further actions we should take in response to the new
military takeover.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Fire Calls
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the number of fire calls in (a) 1991 and (b) 1992 for each fire authority area and in total ; if he will identify the number of hoax calls in each year on a similar basis ; and if he will express hoax calls as a percentage of total calls.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information for fire calls attended by local authority fire brigades is shown in the table.
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1991 1992<1>
|Total fire calls |Malicious false |Per cent. malicious|Total fire calls |Malicious false |Per cent. malicious
|alarms |of all calls |alarms |of all calls
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom |859,522 |148,112 |17.2 |874,343 |160,327 |18.3
England and Wales |726,015 |125,790 |17.3 |742,840 |134,421 |18.1
England |683,997 |118,388 |17.3 |697,720 |124,712 |17.9
England-Non-Met |349,015 |49,579 |14.2 |362,234 |53,580 |14.8
Avon |11,840 |1,643 |13.9 |12,737 |1,837 |14.4
Bedfordshire |5,245 |580 |11.1 |5,646 |724 |12.8
Berkshire |8,504 |1,170 |13.8 |9,097 |1,350 |14.8
Buckinghamshire |6,511 |840 |12.9 |6,636 |1,036 |15.6
Cambridgeshire |7,744 |1,091 |14.1 |7,954 |1,232 |15.5
Cheshire |13,053 |1,548 |11.9 |12,203 |1,457 |11.9
Cleveland |13,237 |4,418 |33.4 |14,150 |4,346 |30.7
Cornwall and Scilly |4,197 |305 |7.3 |4,817 |366 |7.6
Cumbria |6,029 |807 |13.4 |6,721 |1,013 |15.1
Derbyshire |9,570 |1,490 |15.6 |11,030 |1,920 |17.4
Devon |11,936 |1,749 |14.7 |12,484 |1,724 |13.8
Dorset |6,715 |825 |12.3 |6,476 |693 |10.7
Durham |9,827 |2,397 |24.4 |10,745 |2,574 |24.0
East Sussex |6,922 |780 |11.3 |7,472 |793 |10.6
Essex |15,872 |2,462 |15.5 |16,886 |2,957 |17.5
Gloucestershire |5,552 |804 |14.5 |5,666 |867 |15.3
Hampshire |14,423 |1,019 |7.1 |15,408 |779 |5.1
Hereford and Worcester |6,863 |962 |14.0 |6,862 |1,067 |15.5
Hertfordshire |9,346 |967 |10.3 |9,987 |989 |9.9
Humberside |14,773 |2,956 |20.0 |14,162 |3,104 |21.9
Isle of Wight |1,125 |94 |8.4 |1,147 |100 |8.7
Kent |15,783 |2,476 |15.7 |16,992 |2,678 |15.8
Lancashire |24,574 |4,305 |17.5 |25,271 |4,745 |18.8
Leicestershire |9,696 |1,722 |17.8 |9,904 |1,615 |16.3
Lincolnshire |5,829 |869 |14.9 |5,495 |862 |15.7
Norfolk |8,081 |714 |8.8 |7,626 |984 |12.9
North Yorkshire |7,145 |544 |7.6 |7,132 |555 |7.8
Northamptonshire |6,723 |619 |9.2 |6,493 |616 |9.5
Northumberland |4,021 |538 |13.4 |4,850 |688 |14.2
Nottinghamshire |13,559 |1,532 |11.3 |12,445 |1,446 |11.6
Oxfordshire |6,440 |790 |12.3 |7,011 |986 |14.1
Shropshire |5,199 |766 |14.7 |4,951 |701 |14.2
Somerset |4,752 |578 |12.2 |5,033 |555 |11.0
Staffordshire |11,312 |1,778 |15.7 |11,608 |2,164 |18.6
Suffolk |5,591 |408 |7.3 |5,951 |632 |10.6
Surrey |11,497 |1,215 |10.6 |11,885 |1,320 |11.1
Warwickshire |5,534 |502 |9.1 |5,684 |681 |12.0
West Sussex |8,035 |655 |8.2 |8,635 |687 |8.0
Wiltshire |5,960 |661 |11.1 |6,982 |737 |10.6
England-Met |334,982 |68,809 |20.5 |335,486 |71,132 |21.2
Greater Manchester |58,439 |13,191 |22.6 |57,306 |11,972 |20.9
Merseyside |39,689 |6,562 |16.5 |34,286 |6,451 |18.8
South Yorkshire |19,079 |3,853 |20.2 |19,527 |4,630 |23.7
Tyne and Wear |30,228 |6,891 |22.8 |32,628 |6,949 |21.3
West Midlands |41,727 |9,398 |22.5 |44,199 |10,747 |24.3
West Yorkshire |38,075 |7,164 |18.8 |41,521 |7,999 |19.3
Greater London |107,745 |21,750 |20.2 |106,019 |22,384 |21.1
Wales |42,018 |7,402 |17.6 |45,120 |9,709 |21.5
Clwyd |5,475 |733 |13.4 |5,677 |1,024 |18.0
Dyfed |3,816 |559 |14.6 |4,231 |806 |19.0
Gwent |6,033 |1,409 |23.4 |7,246 |2,109 |29.1
Gwynedd |3,268 |258 |7.9 |3,355 |309 |9.2
Mid Glamorgan |9,487 |1,843 |19.4 |9,467 |2,160 |22.8
Powys |1,061 |94 |8.9 |1,130 |120 |10.6
South Glamorgan |6,575 |1,279 |19.5 |7,222 |1,638 |22.7
West Glamorgan |6,303 |1,227 |19.5 |6,792 |1,543 |22.7
Northern Ireland |29,425 |3,844 |13.1 |26,568 |3,397 |12.8
Scotland |104,082 |18,478 |17.8 |104,935 |22,509 |21.5
Strathclyde |55,973 |11,370 |20.3 |58,295 |16,349 |28.0
Highland and Islands |4,932 |394 |8.0 |4,565 |346 |7.6
Grampian |6,400 |613 |9.6 |6,611 |616 |9.3
Tayside |7,619 |1,023 |13.4 |8,133 |1,136 |14.0
Lothian and Borders |17,245 |3,206 |18.6 |15,540 |2,107 |13.6
Fife |5,710 |997 |17.5 |6,011 |1,108 |18.4
Central |4,067 |592 |14.6 |3,869 |567 |14.7
Dumfries and Galloway |2,136 |283 |13.2 |1,911 |255 |13.3
<1>Provisional.
Police Equipment
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are laid down by his Department in respect of being informed of police equipment that is either lost or stolen ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The loss or theft of police equipment is a matter for individual police forces and authorities. The Home Office would not become involved unless the scale of such losses was such as to call into question management procedures or the efficiency of the force in question. Nor has the Home Office any plans to introduce monitoring of losses of police equipment.
Carl Bridgewater
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the police inquiries into the Carl Bridgewater convictions and the outcome in each case.
Mr. Maclean : Since the conviction in 1979 of those concerned, there have been seven police inquiries into the case, involving four separate police forces, as follows :
|Police force
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980 and 1981 |Cheshire Constabulary
1983, 1984 and 1985 |Greater Manchester Police
1986 |Warwickshire Constabulary
1991 |Merseyside Police
Following the inquiries by Warwickshire constabulary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd), then Home Secretary, decided in 1987 to refer to the Court of Appeal the convictions of Michael and Vincent Hickey and James Robinson. Their appeals were dismissed in 1989.
None of the other inquiries to which I have referred disclosed grounds to take action in respect of the convictions. As part of our consideration of the latest representations in this case, we are arranging for further police inquiries to be carried out into some of the matters raised.
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on which dates since 1988 he has received submissions from solicitors representing the men convicted of killing Carl Bridgewater and say what action he has taken in each case.
Mr. Maclean : Solicitors for those convicted of killing Carl Bridgewater have made a number of submissions to the Home Office since 1988. Those which relate most directly to the allegations of wrongful conviction were made on 17 Septemberr 1990, 7 June 1991, 2 August 1991, 13 August 1991, 17 October 1991, 26 May 1992 and 19 January 1993. The matters raised there were carefully considered but as my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke), then Home Secretary, announced on 3 February, they provided no grounds for action to be taken in respect of the convictions.
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Further submissions from the solicitors were made on 8 June, 13 July, 10 November and 15 November 1993 and we understand that more are to follow. As part of our consideration of these allegations of wrongful conviction we are arranging for further police inquiries to be carried out into some of the matters raised.Parish Constables
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the locations of the 20 pilot schemes for parish constables he intends setting up by Christmas ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : It is for police forces and local communities to decide--through consultation--where the pilot schemes for parish constables should be. A number of forces are currently engaged in such consultation. A further announcement will be made nearer the time about the pilot schemes which are being set up. I am pleased with the progress made so far.
Football Matches
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was received by the Metropolitan police from London's professional football clubs for policing services in the season 1992-93 and 1993 to date.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I understand that the Metropolitan police received £2,076,781 for the 1992-93 season. The amount received so far during the 1993-94 season is £424,515.
Racial Harassment
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation in his next criminal justice Bill that every tenancy for (a) homes and (b) shops contains a condition prohibiting racial harrassment, binding on landlords as well as tenants ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Current landlord and tenant legislation already gives local authorities powers to take action against tenants who racially harass other tenants. The Public Order Act 1986 created a new low-level offence of offensive conduct which is relevant to all forms of harassment. There are no plans to introduce additional legislation.
The Commission for Racial Equality has produced codes of practice for both rented and non-rented housing, which were approved by Parliament in 1990 and 1992 respectively. These include practical steps to deal with, and pre- empt, racial harassment.
Police Sirens
Sir Russell Johnston : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he gives to the Commissioner of Police regarding the use of police sirens in the Metropolitan area.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I understand from the Commissioner that guidance on the use of sirens is included in the training given to drivers at the Metropolitan police driving school.
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Lunar House
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the backlog of work at Lunar house, Croydon.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Information for the end of October 1993 on the main areas of work is given in the table.
Immigration and asylum work items<1> in the Immigration and
Nationality Department at 31 October 1993
|Number
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cases in the general immigration caseworking groups<2> |22,430
Cases in the EC caseworking group<2> |1,190
Cases in the asylum and special cases division |51,400
Items in the post room and registry<3> |12,420
<1>Including referred enty clearance applications and appeals
awaiting preparation of statements.
<2>The majority of these were under consideration or the subject of
further inquiries.
<3>Mainly passports and letters, being sorted and allocated to
caseworkers.
Wheel Clamping
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will being forward proposals to make it illegal to wheel-clamp orange badge holders on private car parks or other private land ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : In the consultation paper on wheelclamping on private land, issued earlier this year, we acknowledged the need to consider the particular position of orange badge holders. In the light of that consultation, we are still considering what action it might be appropriate to take.
Immigration Appeals
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current waiting time for consideration of immigration appeals by the immigration appeals tribunals and independent applellate authorities for nationals of each country ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : I have been asked to reply.
The immigration appellate authorities--IAA--list cases for hearing once the parties have indicated readiness to proceed to a hearing. The nationality of the appellant does not affect when a case is heard. The first available hearing date at each of the IAA's centres as at 22 November 1993 is set out in the table :