The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1990-1997

1990Prime Minister (1990-1997)

PMQT Written Answers – 10 December 1990

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The text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 10th December 1990.

PRIME MINISTER:

 

Downing Street (Gates)

Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister if he has any plans to dismantle the gates at the end of Downing Street.

The Prime Minister : I have nothing further to add to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on 6 December at column 166.

 

Fiscal and Environmental Policy

Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister if he will now take steps to achieve the integration of fiscal and environmental policy.

The Prime Minister : We already seek to ensure that all the environmental implications of policy decisions under discussion are considered before conclusions are reached. My right hon. Friend has nominated the Minister of State, Treasury the Minister responsible for considering the environmental implications of policies.

 

Ministerial Committee on the Environment

Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister how he intends to ensure parliamentary accountability of the new ministerial committee on the environment.

The Prime Minister : Cabinet Committees are internal mechanisms for co-ordinating policy within Government. They do not affect ministerial accountability to Parliament.

 

Parliamentary Sitting Times

Ms. Harman : To ask the Prime Minister if he will establish a review of the hours at which the House sits and the dates of the summer recess.

The Prime Minister : I have nothing to add to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir R. McCrindle) on 6 December at column 452.

 

Nature Conservation

Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister which Minister is responsible for answering for the actions of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee; and if he will publish a table showing the resource allocations to England, Scotland and Wales and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee for 1991-92 as compared with the recommendations in the Inbucon report.

The Prime Minister : The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is a committee of all three country councils each of which is answerable to its own territorial Secretary of State for all its functions, including those exercised through the JNCC. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment would normally expect to take the lead in answering any questions about the committee.

The predecessor of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment announced on 9 November that the grant in aid to the Nature Conservancy Council for England (NCCE) in 1991-92 had been set provisionally at £32.411 million. Announcements about the grant in aid to be provided to the new agencies in Scotland and Wales will be made shortly by my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales respectively.

The Inbucon report was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy Council to assist it in preparing its proposed forward plans. It was made available on request by the council in October. The figures contained in the report are therefore already available for examination.

 

Hospitals (Foreign Use)

Mr. Nellist : To ask the Prime Minister how many unused or disused civilian or military hospitals in the United Kingdom are owned or run by foreign Governments or armies; and if he will make a statement.

The Prime Minister : Details of civilian hospitals owned or run by foreign Governments are not available.

United States forces have contingency hospitals at RAF Chessington, RAF Little Rissington, RAF Nocton Hall and RAF Bicester. These are laid out as hospitals, but supplies and staff have to be brought in to activate them at a time of crisis.