To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will place in the Library the correspondence between himself and the president of the Linnean Society on the level of funding for taxonomic research at the natural history museum.

[holding answer 15 June 1990]: I have placed copies of my correspondence with Professor Claridge in the Library.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what representations he has received from the Geologists Association concerning the attitude of the natural history museum towards sponsorship from South Africa; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 28 June 1990]: An hon. Member has forwarded to me a letter that he received from the president of the Geologists Association about the natural history museum's attitude towards sponsorship from South Africa. Sponsorship policy at national museums and galleries is a matter for their directors and boards of trustees.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he expects to bring forward proposals to change criteria applied by the International Monetary Fund for loans to developing countries.

No.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the percentage increase in the average family's real income over the last 11 years.

A married man with two children on average male earnings has enjoyed an increase in real net income of over a third since 1978–79.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any plans to make the ecu legal tender in Britain; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 26 June 1990]: It is not necessary for the ecu to be made legal tender for it to be used in transactions if both parties so agree.

To ask the Attorney-General what recent representations he has received about the payment of insurance commissions to conveyancers.

Since the Courts and Legal Services Bill was published on 6 December 1989, I have received three representations and the Lord Chancellor has received 20 representations concerning the payment of insurance commissions to conveyancers.

To ask the Attorney-General when he next expects to meet the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding City fraud; and if he will make a statement.

Primary responsibility for the prosecution of commercial fraud rests with the Serious Fraud Office; I met the director of the Serious Fraud Office on Monday 2 July to discuss matters of departmental interest.

To ask the Attorney-General when he last discussed the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings case with (a) the Lord Chief Justice and (b) the Master of the Rolls.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave today to the hon. Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin).

To ask the Attorney-General whether he will issue guidance to the Crown prosecution service or prosecution lawyers in respect of the care to be exercised in regard to comments in court which may be damaging to individuals and communities not directly involved in the case before the court.

No. Guidance on this subject is already given to all barristers and solicitors, including those appearing in court on behalf of the CPS, in the codes of conduct issued by their respective professional bodies, the Bar Council and the Law Society.

To ask the Attorney-General when he last met the Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss the work of the Crown prosecution service.

I last met the Director of Public Prosecutions for this purpose on 5 July 1990.

To ask the Attorney-General what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Government of the Irish Republic about extradition; and if he will make a statement.

I discuss these matters from time to time with the Irish Attorney-General as the need arises.

To ask the Attorney-General how many stipendiary and non-stipendiary magistrates are in post; how many were in post 10 and 20 years ago; and if he will make a statement.

In England and Wales on 1 January 1990 there were 64 stipendiary magistrates and 28,700 lay magistrates in post; in 1980 there were 52 stipendiary and 24,700 lay magistrates; and in 1970 there were 47 stipendiary and 19,300 lay magistrates in post.The number of lay magistrates continues to increase and the Lord Chancellor values the contribution they make to the administration of justice. Stipendiary magistrates are appointed where they are needed to support the lay magistracy.

To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the countries which subscribe to the European agreement on the transmission of applications for legal aid.

The countries subscribing to the European agreement on the transmission of applications for legal aid are:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Eire
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Norway
• Portugal
• Spain
• Sweden
• Turkey

Finland, which is not a member state of the Council of Europe, has acceded to the agreement.

To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the progress of the Director of Public Prosecution's consideration of the report of the West Mercia police on the murder of Hilda Murrell.

The Director of Public Prosecution is awaiting a report on the outcome of the further police inquiries to which I referred in my answers to the hon. Gentleman on 18 June at cols. 675–76. Further consideration will be given to the case once that report has been received.

To ask the Attorney-General what progress has been made by the Lord Chancellor's Department towards the implementation of the Children Act 1989.

The Children Act 1989 represents a major step towards the Government's objective of providing proper and rationalised arrangements for hearing and determining family proceedings. It brings together in one statute all the public and private law on the care and upbringing of children with the overriding purpose of promoting and safeguarding the child's welfare. It also establishes a new jurisdictional structure encompassing the magistrates court, county courts and the High Court in which children's cases will be heard at the appropriate level of tribunal by trained lay and professional judiciary, according to uniform rules and procedures.An extensive programme of work is being undertaken by the Lord Chancellor's Department, in conjunction with the Home Office and the Department of Health, to ensure that the Act can be implemented in October 1991.First, new rules of court, embodying the recommendations of an advisory committee on procedure chaired by Mrs. Justice Booth, will be drafted for consultation this autumn. There will also be public consultation on the criteria to be laid down by the Lord Chancellor for the allocation of cases between courts.Secondly, it is intended that children's cases in the higher courts should be heard by judiciary who, by reason of their experience and training, are specialists in family work. An amendment will be tabled to the Courts and Legal Services Bill giving the Lord Chancellor the power to nominate such judiciary, with the concurrence of the president of the family division. The Judicial Studies Board has already embarked on a programme of 17 inter-disciplinary seminars throughout the country to explain the guiding principles of the Act to both lay and professional judiciary and these will be followed next year by more detailed training in the new procedures.Thirdly, all courts with divorce jurisdiction will continue to deal with such cases, but work requiring the attention of a circuit judge will be concentrated on a network of family hearing centres. Some 52 of those courts will also act as centres for care cases transferred up from the magistrates courts.Finally a central advisory committee will be established to advise on whether the guiding principles of the Act are being achieved and the new system is working effectively. Local groups will also be set up before October 1991 to ensure that the system is properly established at local level by the date of implementation and thereafter maintained.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Southend, East of 18 June, Official Report, column 419, if he will make inquiries with the Governments of (a) Germany, (b) France and (c) Italy as to whether they have any records of the numbers of United Kingdom qualified architects who have been registered by the appropriate professional bodies in each of these countries as qualified to practice as architects.

The European Commission has recently invited all member states to provide statistics on the registration of migrant architects. It is expected that the responses will be available later this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of the arrangements to monitor air emissions from the Ferro Alloys chimney stack in Glossop, and of air emissions from the stack in each of the last 12 months.

Ferro Alloys and Metals Ltd—SO2, Calculations July 1989—June 1990
Month	Total SO2 (Tonnes)	Days Production	Average SO2/Day (Tonnes)
July 1989	248	31	8·0
August 1989	132	17	7·7
September 1989	252	30	8·4
October 1989	263	31	8·5
November 1989	248	30	8·3
December 1989	247	31	8·0
January 1990	242	31	7·8
February 1990	242	28	8·6
March 1990	240	31	7·7
April 1990	235	30	7·8
May 1990	231	31	7·5
June 1990	212	30	7·1

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment by how much the sulphur dioxide emissions were required to be reduced following the decision by the Secretary of State for the Environment to uphold the appeal to extend the planning permission for the Ferro Alloys chimney stack in Glossop; and if the process will be covered by IPC.

The sulphur dioxide emissions were required to be reduced to a rate not exceeding 113 kg/hour by 31 August 1992, a reduction of 70 per cent. on previous emission rates.The process will be covered by IPC.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information held by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution or his Department concerning (a) emissions from the Ferro Alloys chimney stack in Glossop, and (b) other producers of sulphur dioxide in the area, has been exchanged with the Peak Park planning board.

Research contracts commissioned by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of pollution during the year ending 30 June 1990
Contractor	Contract value (excluding VAT) £	Duration (months)	Area of work
University of Lancaster	60,340	15	Study of Polonium 210 levels
Research Surveys (GB)	64,750	15	Cumbrian coastal area habit surveys
W. S. Atkins	89,000	12	Modelling gas generation
Biotreatment	77,221	12	Removal of radionuclides by bio-sorption
UKAEA	45,200	12	Study of environmental distribution of technetium
NRPB	10,050	7	Exposure of sewer workers
National Nuclear	39,500	12	Management of tritium wastes
UKAEA	85,000	12	West oxidation of organic waste
UKAEA	80,000	9	Effect of elevated temperatures on cement and blended cements
PA Technology	90,000	24	Microbiological treatment of low level waste
UKAEA	104,000	24	Removal of active species from liquid effluent
Taymel	1,500,000	24	Quality checking of radioactive and hazardous wastes
RPRWC	19,945	8	Monitoring of tritium discharges
UKAEA	10,000	6	Determination of the efficiency of absorber materials
University of Newcastle upon Tyne	83,634	9	Study of scope of site investigation programmes

The darkness of the emissions is monitored continually by measuring transmitted light. Sulphur dioxide emissions are assessed by calculations based on the levels of sulphur fed into the plant. Tests made by an HMIP sampling team in December 1988 confirmed this correlation.Information on sulphur dioxide calculations covering the period July 1989 to June 1990 is shown in the table.

Glossop is within the High Peak district council area and not the Peak Park planning board, and there has been no exchange of information with the latter.The Ferro Alloys chimney stack is the only registered works within the Glossop area producing sulphur dioxide.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give full details of all contracts awarded in the last year by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to private consultants, university departments and other bodies, and include the value of each contract, the research/analysis to be undertaken and the duration of the contract.

The research contracts listed in the table were commissioned by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution during the year ending 30 June 1990.In addition, a number of short-term consultancy contracts were awarded during the same period by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list, by region, and in chronological order (a) all projects and (b) companies involved, the amounts they are investing and the amounts they are likely to receive, which have been offered a city grant.

Approved city grant projects by region
Date offer made	Project name	Developer's name	Approved grant (£)	Private investment	Number of schemes
West Midlands
6 October 1988	Windmill Lane, Smethwick	McLean in the Inner Cities Ltd.	775,000	2,286,000	—
28 October 1988	Seven Stars Industrial Estate	Deeley LCP Ltd.	1,627,000	4,748,000	—
9 January 1989	The Bond	Raltorten Ltd.	391,355	785,000	—
9 January 1989	Garrick Business Park	Garrick Properties Limited	750,000	4,099,000	—
18 January 1989	Startpoint Industrial Development	Pentos plc	283,000	850,000	—
27 January 1989	Kings Norton Business Centre	Slough Properties Ltd.	1,260,000	7,635,000	—
1 February 1989	Sandwell Ski Centre	Glenarn Investments Limited	282,000	2,101,000	—
26 April 1989	Washington Centre, Dudley	Folkes Properties Ltd.	3,500,000	8,486,000	—
10 May 1989	Garrison Lane, Ind. Dev. Birmingham	J. A. Elliot (Developments) Ltd.	570,000	2,906,000	—
9 June 1989	Constitution Hill	T. S. Gandhi	67,933	284,000	—
30 June 1989	St. Marks Church Conversion	Quest International Partnership	368,865	1,037,000	—
3 August 1989	Waterlinks	Waterlinks plc	6,200,000	22,600,000	—
22 August 1989	Walsall Chamber of Commerce	Walsall Chamber of Commerce	68,377	281,000	—

The information requested is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average time taken in 1989–90 by each regional office of the Department of the Environment to process completed applications from the private sector for city grant.

Although city grant applications are initially submitted through the Department's regional offices, they are considered by the appraisal team which is based in London. The average time to decide applications made in 1989–90 was 13 weeks.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list those places which have obtained approval and agreement following his consultations under his plan to tackle single homelessness;(2) if he will list those

We had informal preliminary discussions with a number of voluntary and church groups. My announcement stressed the importance of co-operation with voluntary groups, housing associations and local authorities in developing our package of measures. We are now taking forward these consultations urgently.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give full details of the arrangements for monitoring air emissions of radioactive substances at Sellafield.

Emissions of radioactive gases from the main discharge points are monitored continually; emissions from approved places other than those monitored points are estimated from air concentration data obtained at the site boundary.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will review the calling-in procedures over planning applications, so as to give greater protection to the general public interest.

My right hon. Friend has no plans to modify the Government's policy on calling in planning applications for his decision. That policy was set out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Sir H. Rossi) on 5 May 1987. I am satisfied that the procedures for operating that policy generally work well, and I have no present plans to review them.

Land sold to private developers in 1989/90 by size of site
Urban development corporation	Number of sites smaller than 1 acre	Number of sites between 1 and 5 acres	Number of sites between 5 and 10 acres	Number of sites larger than 10 acres
Black Country	3	3	1	0
Bristol	None
Central Manchester	None
Leeds	None
London Docklands	2	2	1	1
Merseyside	4	4	1	0
Sheffield	None
Teesside	0	1	1	2
Trafford Park	2	1	1	0
Tyne and Wear	75	1	3	0

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will detail the mechanism of accountability to him or his Department for decisions made by British Waterways about the management and operation of canals in its remit.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money has been paid and when the money was paid to Ealing council in respect of defective Orlit housing relating to (a) owner-occupiers and (b) council tenants in the Ferrymead avenue area of Greenford; if he expects to make further payments; and if he will make a statement.

The following payments have been made to Ealing London borough council in respect of 11 Orlit dwellings under the housing defects legislation:

	£
1986–87	5,830
1987–88	11,779
1988–89	15,054

These payments represent the notional loan charges on 75 per cent. of the difference between the repurchase price and the defective market value of the dwellings, and will be payable for a period of 20 years.The market value of properties repurchased is included in the calculation of the authority's entitlement to main housing subsidy (to 1989–90) and to housing revenue account subsidy (HRAS) from 1990–91. The costs incurred by the authority in maintaining and repairing its housing stock are similarly included in those calculations.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each urban development corporation in 1989–90 the number of sites sold to private developers which were (a) smaller than an acre, (b) between 1 and 5 acres in size, (c) between 5 and 10 acres in size and (d) larger than 10 acres.

The table gives the information requested.

The British Waterways Board is a nationalised industry which the Department sponsors. The board acts in accordance with broad policy objectives agreed with Government, but decisions about day-to-day waterway management are entirely the board's responsibility.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what response he intends to make to the legal proceedings opened by the European Commission in respect of the pollution of the waters off Weston Shore in Southampton Water; and what action he intends to initiate to ensure that these waters meet European Community standards.

By convention legal proceedings of this kind are not conducted in public. However, it is the Government's intention to respond firmly to the complaint. We are at present consulting the National Rivers Authority and Southern Water Services Ltd. to confirm the relevant facts.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the membership of the public interest panel of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee; and what public interest groups are represented on the public interest panel.

Attendance at the public interest panel of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) is by invitation. The following organisations were invited to send representatives to the meeting of the panel in February 1990:

• Environment Council
• Caithness Against Nuclear Dumping
• Institute of British Geographers
• National Federation of Women's Institutes
• Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment
• Institution of Environmental Health Officers
• Society for Radiological Protection
• Institution of Water and Environmental Management
• Nuclear Free Zones—Scotland
• Institute of Biology
• Royal Society of Chemistry
• Drigg and District Action Group
• National Society for Clean Air
• Institution of Geologists
• Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping
• Ecological Affairs Committee (for British Ecological Society)
• Institution of Civil Engineers
• Institute of Waste Management
• Institute of Physics
• Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
• Council for the Protection of Rural England
• Council for the Protection of Rural Wales
• Dounreay Action Group
• Friends of the Earth Ltd.
• Friends of the Earth—West Cumbria
• Green Alliance
• Highland Anti-Nuclear Group
• Institute for European Environmental Policy

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what vacancies are current or forthcoming on the public interest panel of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee; if meetings of the public interest panel are open to the public; and if there is funding available to facilitate public attendance at these meetings.

The public interest panel has no fixed membership. The chairman invites representatives of environmental organisations to attend, according to the topics on the agenda. The meetings are not open to the public.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what approximate calculations have been made of the relative importance of car and aircraft emissions in global warming.

The total fuel consumption of road traffic compared with aircraft gives a good approximation to their relative importance in terms of global warming. World figures for 1986 show that aviation accounted for about 12 per cent. by weight of the combined consumption of motor fuel, jet fuel and aviation gasoline.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what amount he has given his consent for Exeter city council to spend this year on the building of houses from its general fund capital receipt.

Under the new system of local authority capital finance local authorities are free to use all their usable capital receipts for capital expenditure on any service and no consents are required.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will state (a) the average percentage rises in house prices, by region, annually in the last 10 years and (b) the current average house price for each region.

Dwelling price indices showing the annual change in the prices of houses and flats bought with building society mortgages, and adjusted to take account of the mix of dwellings sold, for the years 1978 to 1988 are in the latest annual volume of "Housing and Construction Statistics—Great Britain" (Table 10.8), a copy of which is in the Library. The corresponding indices for 1989 and the average dwelling prices for the same year are as follows:

	Index 1985=100	Price1£s
North	170	37,374
Yorkshire and Humberside	194	41,817
East Midlands	207	49,421
East Anglia	221	64,610
Greater London	203	82,383
South East (excluding Greater London)	216	81,635
South West	219	67,004
West Midlands	219	49,815
North West	184	42,126
England	207	58,458
Wales	193	42,981
Scotland	144	35,394
Northern Ireland	124	30,280
United Kingdom	202	54,846
1 These are simple average prices of dwellings purchased with building society mortgages, not adjusted for the mix of dwellings. Figures for earlier years are in table 10.11 of the publication referred to.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the establishment of the European Environment Agency.

The EC regulation establishing the agency was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 7 May 1990 but will not come into force until a decision has been taken by the Council on where it is to be located. The agency will not start its work until then.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from (a) Eastbourne borough council or (b) any other borough or district council that the powers conferred upon local authorities by section 79 of the Building Act 1984 are inadequate; what proposals he has to strengthen those powers; and if he will make a statement.

I have received no such representations. I am not aware of any general feeling that the powers available to local authorities under section 79 of the Building Act 1984 are inadequate and I have no proposals to strengthen those powers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply of 7 June, Official Report, column 689, if he will make a statement regarding his consideration of the World Wide Fund for Nature's request for a contribution towards the costs of the investigation and enforcement officer employed by the CITES secretariat.

The World Wide Fund for Nature's request is still under consideration. I will write to the hon. Member when a decision has been reached.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he intends to take any action to help parish and town councils with the community charge bills because of the loss of income from the business rate; and if he will make a statement.

Parish and town councils have the same access to the income from business rates as do county and district councils. I see no need for action to change this position.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects those people who have a holiday caravan on a protected site within the meaning of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 to receive the benefits of the changes to the Local Government Finance Act 1988; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Field) on 30 March at column 346.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), 27 June, Official Report, columns 258–59, whether the quarterly statistical survey referred to will be published, placed in the Library and sent to all individual right hon. and hon. Members.

I am willing to place an analysis of the returns from local authorities in the Library of the House, once sufficient returns have been received. We would also make the analysis available to the local authority associations, but I have no plans to send them to all individual right hon. and hon. Members.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria he used in reaching his decision to vary from his original proposal the budget reductions required of (a) the London borough of Brent, (b) the London borough of Southwark and (c) the metropolitan borough of Wigan.

[holding answer 5 July 1990]: My right hon. Friend's decisions on caps for the 17 authorities, including Brent, Southwark and Wigan, which did not accept the caps which he proposed for them and which put forward alternative amounts within the statutory 28-day period, represent in each case his view of what is achievable and appropriate in the light of all the circumstances of the individual authorities concerned, on the basis of all the information available to him.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his Department's latest estimate of the additional borrowing requirement of local authorities in England and Wales arising as a direct result of late payment and non-payment of the community charge.

[holding answer 2 July 1990]: No analysis is available of the separate effects of the many factors which influence the borrowing requirements of local authorities. The indications are that the vast majority of community charge payers are already making payments to their local authorities. However, the Government have paid 25 per cent. of authorities' revenue support grant in the first two months of the financial year to compensate them for any cashflow problems caused by the introduction of the new local government finance system.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the borough or district council element of each community charge in Essex in descending order from the highest to the lowest.

[holding answer 5 July 1990]: The operation of the collection fund means that the community charge is not split between the councils providing services in each Essex district.If all authorities had provided a standard level of services the community charge could have been set at £278 throughout Essex, before safety net adjustments. Each additional £1 per community charge payer that a district council raises above the amount needed to provide a standard level of service adds £1 to the community charge in its area. The effect of district councils' 1990–91 budget decisions on community charges in Essex is shown in the table.

	Effect on community charge £
Basildon	+154
Harlow	+113
Thurrock	+75
Brentwood	+73
Southend-on-Sea	+45
Castle Point	+38
Chelmsford	+36
Rochford	+31

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on the future of the Property Services Agency office in Leeds.

PSA Services has a number of offices in Leeds, including a regional headquarters, design office, estates office and district works office.PSA Services is reviewing all its organisation as part of its drive towards greater efficiency and in the light of future business needs.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the reasons for the delay in placing in the Library the letter from his officials to the National Rivers Authority referred to in his answer of 3 July, Official Report, column 504, until 5 July.