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(a) and (b) The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible for making all appointments.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for each of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by his Department, whether the public has a statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings and to inspect (a) minutes of meetings, (b) the annual reports and (c) and annual accounts.
Mr. Goodlad : The information requested is as follows :
The British Council--
The public has no statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings.
(a) No.
(b) and (c) The council is required to lodge basic information about itself with the Charities Commission to whom it sends its annual report and accounts.
The Great Britain-China Centre--
No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings (a) No
(b) Yes
(c) Yes
The China-Russia Centre--
British Association for Central and Eastern Europe--
Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission--
No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings (a) No, but those over 30 years old are available at the Public Record Office
(b) and (c) Published by HMSO and available at the Public Records Office
The Advisory Committee on Overseas Economic and Social Research-- No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings (a) No
(b) No
(c) No
Indian Family Pension Funds Body of Commissioners--
No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings (a) No
Overseas Service Pensions Scheme Advisory Board
No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings (a No
(b No
(c No
Diplomatic Service Appeals Board No statutory right to attend board meetings, there are no committee meetings
(a No
(b There is no annual report (c There is no expenditure Anglo-Irish Encounter No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings
(a
No (b No (c No
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings
(b Yes
(c Yes
Wilton Park Academic Council
No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings (a
No (b There are no annual accounts or reports (c There are no annual accounts or reports
Wilton Park Departmental Board
No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings
(b There are no annual accounts or reports (c There are no annual accounts or reports
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
No statutory right to attend meetings
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a table showing, in 1992-93 prices, the gross public spending for each year since 1990-91 and the projected expenditure for each year to 1995-96 for each executive non-departmental public body sponsored by his department, as listed in "Public Bodies 1993".
Mr. Goodlad : Gross public spending since 1990-91 for each executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including the Overseas Development Administration, was as follows, in 1992-93 prices :
£ million
Committee of the Regions
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations he has had with his opposite numbers in the European Union, concerning the democratic accountability of members of the Committee of the Regions to their respective regions ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Under the arrangements agreed by all member states in the Maastricht treaty--article 198--members of the Committee of the Regions
"shall be completely independent in the performance of their duties, in the general interest of the European Community".
The committee consists of representatives of regional and local bodies, and each British representative must be an elected member of a local authority, but
"The members of the Committee may not be bound by any mandatory instructions."
Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current situation on the Korean peninsula.
Mr. Goodlad : The situation on the Korean peninsula still gives cause for concern. We continue to urge North Korea to reach rapid agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on resumption of nuclear safeguards inspections.
Dr. John Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to remain in membership of the International Labour Organisation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We have no plans to withdraw from the International Labour Organisation.
Loyalist Paramilitaries
Mr. Caborn : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken to reassure the nationalist population of Northern Ireland that links between the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries do not exist.
Sir John Wheeler : Allegations of collusion between members of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries were thoroughly investigated in 1989 by Mr. John Stevens, then deputy chief constable of Cambridgeshire. As a result of his investigation, a number of persons were charged with criminal offences and convicted.
The Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Sir Hugh Annesley, published a summary of Mr. Stevens' report in 1990. The report concluded that collusion was neither widespread nor institutionalised.
The security forces in Northern Ireland carry out their duties in protecting the whole community with absolute impartiality. This is well illustrated by the figures relating to charges for terrorist-type offences. Last year alone 230 persons affiliated to loyalist paramilitary groups were charged with terrorist-type offences. The figure for republican terrorism was 137. This very fact alone should serve to reassure the Catholic community of the impartiality of the security forces in Northern Ireland.
Railtrack
Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made by Railtrack in producing charges for access to the railway network.
Mr. MacGregor : From 1 April, Railtrack will assume responsibility for the provision of railway infrastructure and will need to charge operators for access to the network. Railtrack has produced estimates of access charges for all the train-operating units that will be formed in April and will now be discussing these with local managers. Discussions will also be held with passenger transport executives and others who sponsor passenger services. The charges announced today will establish charges for the first year of Railtrack's operation. any further changes for 1994-95 will be fine tuning only, after consultation with the train operators.
The charges will reflect the true economic costs of providing rail infrastructure. They will allow Railtrack to recover its capital costs-- depreciation and a return on assets--like any other business. Thus, for the first time, charges being made for track will be set in a transparent and commercially realistic manner.
The access charges are consistent with the provision for railways expenditure already announced in the unified Budget, without any adverse effects on the level of fares,
services or investment. The franchising director will have sufficient grant to enable the BR train operating units which he supports to pay the new access charges. Special arrangements will apply to enable the PTEs to meet the track charges on the new basis. Over the past 12 months, Railtrack has engaged in a detailed exercise to identify the full economic cost of running trains on the rail network. Charges take into account the costs of particular parts of the network. Railtrack's charges have been set at a level that will generate sufficient revenue to ensure that the company can cover all its costs, which include the costs of maintaining and renewing the network, plus the cost of the capital employed in the business--the rate of return. Railtrack will therefore be able to invest in and maintain the railway to meet the demands being placed on it.
Charges cover two broad elements of cost. First, are direct costs, which are the costs that operators' services impose on Railtrack. They include the cost of wear and tear, day-to-day maintenance and, where appropriate, the cost of the electricity used by electric trains. Where Railtrack is providing a section of track or other infrastructure solely for a particular operator, the full costs of renewing this element will be charged directly to that user. Secondly, there are "common costs", which are the costs that cannot be attributed to individual users--for example sections of track shared by two or more users. These costs are to be recovered from the train operating units and franchisees operating over the lines concerned according to an agreed formula which takes account of a range of factors including revenue from fares.
Charges to non-franchised operators--principally freight operators--will be subject to commercial negotiation, but must at least cover direct costs.
In common with other public sector undertakings, Railtrack's assets will be valued on a "modern equivalent asset value" basis, MEAV. The valuation will reflect the existing condition of assets and the cost of continuing to provide capacity broadly equivalent to that provided now.
The rail regulator will consider and approve all access agreements entered into after 1 April 1994.
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who are the members currently appointed to the Landscape advisory committee.
Mr. Key : The current members of the committee are listed below : Professor David K. C. Jones BSc FRGS--appointed chairman 1993 Sir Henry E. Aubrey-Fletcher
Professor Mary Benwell B.A., PH.D., F.C.I.T.
Dr. John A Bergg BSc phD C.ENG FICE
Professor Gordon E. Cherry BA DSc (Hon) FRICS
Mr. Len J. Clark CBE
Mr. Geoffrey P. Crow BSc DipTE CEng FIHT MICE
Ms E. Evans AA Dipl (Hons) SADG RIBA TP
Mr. John V. S. Evans Dip.Arch DipLA RIBA ALI
Mr. C. Richard Ferens MA (CANTAB) FRICS
Professor Peter J. Fowler MA PHd FSA FRHistS MIFA
Mr. Hugh J. R. Geddes MA RIBA MLA (USA)
Mr. Arthur D. Gill
Mrs. Janet Jack AA Dipl RIBA TP ALI
Mrs. Patricia E. Lunn CGLI FRSA
Ms Wendy M. Lutley MSc Adel (Econ Geol),
BSc Lond (Geol)
Mr. Jim M. McCluskey BSc (CIVIL ENG) MICE MISTRUCT MINT ALI Mr. Michael R. Porter OBE DIPLA FLI
Miss Wendy E. Powell MLA FLI
Mrs. Valerie Russell BA (Hons)
Mr. Martin O. Slocock BA
Mr. Michael E. G. Taylor FCIT
Mrs. Victoria R. Wakefield
Mr. Roy W. Winter RIBA ALI DipArch DipLD