To ask the Attorney-General if he will ask the Law Commission to consider the matter of life sentences; and if he will make a statement.

The Law Commission's work on the criminal code will, in time, encompass the whole of the criminal law and will therefore necessarily include all those offences which may attract a life sentence. My right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor has, however, no plans to invite the Law Commission to embark upon a separate consideration of that penalty.

To ask the Attorney-General how many orders of repossession of property in favour of building societies or other lending institutions were made (a) by the Cardiff county court and (b) by the Pontypridd magistrates court in 1979, 1990 and 1991.

Mortgage possession actions are dealt with in the county court only. The 1979 figures are not available. The total number of mortgage possession actions entered, suspended orders and orders made during 1990 and 1991 in each county court in England and Wales is contained in two lists which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts as not all the orders made will have resulted in the issue and execution of warrants of possession. At this stage, the 1991 figures are provisional and, therefore, liable to revision in the future.

To ask the Attorney-General how many orders of repossession of property in favour of building societies or other lending institutions were made by the Swansea county court in 1979, 1990 and 1991.

The 1979 figures are not available. The total number of mortgage possession actions entered, suspended orders and orders made during 1990 and 1991 in each county court in England and Wales is contained in two lists which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts as not all the orders made will have resulted in the issue and execution of warrants of possession. At this stage, the 1991 figures are provisional and, therefore, liable to revision in the future.

To ask the Attorney-General if he has identified any candidates within his Department for agency status under the next steps initiative.

Following a feasibility study, I have selected the Treasury Solicitor's Department's property division as a candidate for executive agency status.I am confident that a move to agency status will be beneficial, enabling the agency to operate with greater freedom and with more clearly defined responsibilities within an agreed framework of objectives, performance targets, and resources. The move will, I believe, lead to improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.Detailed discussions on an agency framework document have now been set in hand, and we will carry planning forward with a view to establishing the division as an executive agency on 1 April 1993.

To ask the Minister for the Arts if there have been any items accepted in lieu of tax or allocated since the announcement was last made on the subject to the House.

I am pleased to inform the House that two offers in lieu of tax have been accepted since my announcement on 28 November 1991, Official Report, column 579.The offer of the painting "Poele de l'Atelier" by Cezanne will satisfy £750,562 tax. It is offered on condition that it he allocated to the national gallery and it has therefore been allocated to that institution.The offer of eight contemporary paintings will satisfy £108,920 tax. The contemporary paintings are:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what extra cost Leicester city council is to be required to meet in relation to the cost of removing houses built by the council on the Goodwood road part of the distributor road network.

Leicestershire county council has not yet determined its preferred route for the Leicester eastern district distributor road from the city boundary to the A47. Therefore it is not certain whether houses owned by Leicester city council on Goodwood road would be affected. However if demolition were necessary, the county, and not the city, would be responsible for meeting the costs and those of replacement.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list powers he has to control excessive expenditure by a parish or town council; and if he will exercise them in the case of Tadley town council in the borough of Basingstoke.

We have no such powers. We expect parish and town councils to budget prudently. We have, however, included a provision in the Local Government Finance Bill, currently before Parliament, which would allow my right hon. Friend, by order, to bring parish precepts within the budgets of districts for the purposes of capping.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements exist for the monitoring of ultraviolet light in the United Kingdom and for making the data public; and what research is undertaken to relate the data to the environmental and health impacts.

Ultraviolet radiation is monitored continuously in the United Kingdom by the National Radiological Protection Board—NRPB—at three locations—Chilton, Oxfordshire; Leeds; and Glasgow. The data are published annually in NRPB reports. The Department of the Environment is funding improved ultraviolet radiation monitoring methods at Reading university. The results are disseminated as research publications.The Department of the Environment funds research into the impact of increased ultraviolet radiation on vegetation. The NRPB advises the Department of Health on health effects of ultraviolet light and has established an advisory group which will review new studies and advise on the need for further research.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 6 December, Official Report, columns 235–36, why he has decided not to publish any analysis of the impact of the council tax using the tax-benefit model; and if he will make a statement.

Modelling the possible impact of the council tax requires a large number of assumptions. Because of this, the results of any such modelling would be subject to wide and unquantifiable margins of error.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made with the city challenge initiative.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched the first round of city challenge in May 1991 and invited 15 local authorities to submit bids for resources for 1992–93. Bids for 11 areas were successful in the competition and, subject to satisfactory implementation of action plans and the availability of resources, each area will be allocated £37·5 million in city challenge resources over five years.The first of the 11 action plans, for the Sneinton and St Ann's area of Nottingham, was formally approved on 17 February. It is hoped that the remaining plans, for areas of Manchester, Liverpool, Wirral, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and Dearne Valley, will receive final approval shortly.My right hon. Friend announced today that for the second round of city challenge, starting in 1993–94, all 57 local authorities currently in the urban programme will be invited to bid for city challenge resources.My right hon. Friend intends to make resources available for 20 winning areas. Again they should each benefit from funding for some £37·5 million over the five years of their action plan. These 20 winning areas will be in addition to the 11 which were successful in the first round of city challenge.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities he expects to be awarded city challenge money in the next round of competition; and on what date he will announce the winners.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key), to my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Brandon-Bravo).

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the rate of development of ozone-depletion problems; and if he proposes to take any further measures in response to such developments.

Reports have been received from the European arctic stratospheric ozone experiment—EASOE—and the United States National Aeronautic and Space Agency—NASA—of low ozone levels over the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere and in the tropics. The answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment and Countryside to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, South (Mr. Sumberg) on 10 February, Official Report, column 430, sets out what further measures we have proposed.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list those local authorities which received such grants from central funds which, together with other income or contributions from balances, were able to determine that the community charge for the current year would be less than £100;(2) if he will list those authorities which have secured grants from central funds which together with other income and contributions from balances have been able to determine that the community charge for 1992–93 will be less than £100.

The following authorities maintained a tight control over their expenditure and were able to determine a community charge in 1991–92 below £100:

• Rochester upon Medway
• Wandsworth
• Westminster

Information about the levels of community charges in 1992–93 is not yet available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the level of the housing investment programme allocation awarded to Liverpool in each financial year since 1978–79; and what the changes amounted to, in real terms.

Housing investment programme—HIP—allocation and gross capital expenditure figures are as follows:

£ thousands
	HIP allocation		Gross Expenditure1
	cash value	at 1991–92 prices	cash value	at 1991–92 prices
1978–79	35,460	96,195	30,832	83,640
1979–80	42,430	98,651	52,611	122,322
1980–81	47,230	92,798	40,277	79,137
1981–82	39,788	71,293	35,479	63,572
1982–83	49,337	82,524	55,076	92,123
1983–84	41,850	66,901	60,700	97,034
1984–85	38,499	58,612	65,169	99,214
1985–86	31,000	44,727	83,751	120,837
1986–87	27,500	38,414	69,323	96,835
1987–88	25,300	33,518	64,651	85,652
1988–89	20,588	25,448	45,151	55,810
1989–90	23,349	27,103	49,338	57,271
New Capital Finance System2
1990–91	38,037	40,700	55,194	59,058
31991–92	31,620	31,620	4—	4—
Notes:
1 Since 1981–82 local authorities have been able to augment the borrowing power of their HIP allocations by using the prescribed proportion of their capital receipts.
2 From 1990–91, under the new capital finance system, the HIP allocation does not convey borrowing approval directly. The HIP allocation totals include supplementary credit approvals for housing projects.
3 Provisional estimate of final allocation.
4 Not available.

An initial HIP allocation of £26·7 million—125·6 million at 1991–92 prices—has been issued for 1992–93 and additional resources—supplementary credit approvals—may be allocated later.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action has been taken following the Government's response to the Chorley report on handling geographic information.

Following the Chorley report and the Government's response, the Government established an inter-departmental working group on the tradeable information initiative. The working group, which is chaired by my Department, has collated a summary of actions taken by individual departments in response to the recommendations made by Lord Chorley's committee of inquiry. A copy of the summary has been placed in the Library of the House, and a copy given to the Association for Geographic Information—AGI—as part of the Government's contribution to the association's review of progress against the Chorley committee's recommendations. In addition, the working group has collected details about spatially referenced data sets held by Government Departments. These details have been given to the AGI which has used them to establish an information service to answer inquiries about the data sets. The information service went live in January 1992.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates he has for the cost of allowing businesses in England to remain eligible for transitional relief from the uniform business rate although they move premises in 1992–93; and what would be the additional cost of returning eligibility for transitional relief in 1992–93 to those businesses that moved premises in 1990–91 and 1991–92.

[holding answer 17 February 1992]: Transitional relief does not attach to businesses but to the property they occupy. The relief for the property is lost when the occupier changes. I estimate that the cost for the period 1990–91 to 1992–93 of returning transitional protection to property where there was a change of occupier in 1990–91 or 1991–92 would be around £90 million. The cost of allowing protection where there was a change of occupier in 1992–93 would be around £10 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his policy towards centre funding of local authorities which have financial difficulties due to (a) the collapse of BCCI and (b) late rating appeals and (c) interest rate swaps; and if he will make a statement.

[pursuant to his reply, 17 December 1991, c. 108]: My right hon. Friend intends to issue directions permitting local authorities which have incurred losses in BCCI and the Chancery and Edington banks to treat those losses as capital expenditure, where these are substantial in relation to an authority's revenue budget and reserves. He does not propose to approve any of the applications he has received for supplementary credit approvals—SCAs—related to such losses.However, my right hon. Friend is now minded, out of resources which are available as a result of certain SCAs not being taken up to the anticipated extent, to issue SCAs to provide some assistance to those authorities most affected in 1991–92 by late rating adjustments of which they could not have been aware with certainty when setting their 1991–92 budgets. He has today invited authorities to provide him with information about their late rating adjustments, after receipt of which he intends to decide the level of assistance which in all the circumstances would be appropriate.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those areas in receipt of assisted or development area status, together with their working population.

1 have been asked to reply.The following is the information:

Assisted Area Working Populations (April 1991)
Assisted Area Status	Travel-to-work Area	Workforce
South West
IA	Bodmin and Liskeard	28,793
IA	Bude	8,094
IA	Cinderford and Ross-on-Wye	30,241

Assisted Area Status	Travel-to-work Area	Workforce
DA	Falmouth	14,843
DA	Helston	9,247
DA	Newquay	12,946
DA	Penzance and St. Ives	23,425
IA	Plymouth	147,884
DA	Redruth and Camborne	24,910
West Midlands
IA	Birmingham	803,305
IA	Coventry and Hinckley	269,332
IA	Dudley and Sandwell	299,360
IA	Kidderminster	47,174
IA	Telford and Bridgnorth	85,166
IA	Walsall	172,542
IA	Wolverhampton	151,975
East Midlands
DA	Corby	38,346
IA	Gainsborough	14,460
Yorkshire and Humberside
IA	Barnsley	84,202
IA	Bradford	252,381
IA	Doncaster	115,628
IA	Grimsby	88,763
IA	Hull	222,670
DA	Rotherham and Mexborough	112,095
DA	Scunthorpe	68,932
IA	Sheffield	295,726
DA	Whitby	10,643
North West
IA	Accrington and Rossendale	60,224
IA	Blackburn	73,490
IA	Bolton and Bury	205,719
DA	Liverpool	485,553
IA	Manchester	823,726
IA	Oldham	98,289
IA	Rochdale	71,603
DA	Widnes and Runcorn	63,752
DA	Wigan and St. Helens	192,172
DA	Wirral and Chester	229,477
Northern
DA	Bishop Auckland	46,281
IA	Darlington	58,014
IA	Durham	69,686
DA	Hartlepool	40,488
DA	Middlesbrough	140,241
IA	Morpeth and Ashington	54,398
DA	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	395,649
DA	South Tyneside	56,603
DA	Stockton-on-Tees	84,814
DA	Sunderland	177,886
DA	Workington	33,752
Wales
DA	Aberdare	23,428
IA	Bangor and Caernarfon	35,256
DA	Blaenau Gwent and Abergavenny	37,587
IA	Bridgend	63,515
IA	Cardiff	231,791
DA	Cardigan	10,727
IA	Fishguard	4,577
IA	Haverfordwest	23,496
DA	Holyhead	21,972
DA	Lampeter and Aberaeron	8,254
IA	Llanelli	36,218
DA	Merthyr and Rhymney	58,740
DA	Neath and Port Talbot	45,537
IA	Newport	96,088
IA	Pontypool and Cwmbran	46,019
DA	Pontypridd and Rhondda	72,691
IA	Porthmadoc and Ffestiniog	8,844
IA	Pwllheli	8,493
DA	Shotton, Flint and Rhyl	93,693

Assisted Area Status	Travel-to-work Area	Workforce
DA	South Pembrokeshire	16,514
IA	Swansea	119,563
DA	Wrexham	60,645
Scotland
IA	Alloa	18,771
DA	Arbroath	11,426
IA	Ayr	55,447
IA	Badenoch	5,623
DA	Bathgate	53,122
IA	Campbeltown	4,887
DA	Cumnock and Sanquhar	15,570
DA	Dumbarton	32,472
DA	Dundee	100,479
IA	Dunfermline	54,846
IA	Dunoon and Bute	11,493
IA	Falkirk	68,369
IA	Forres	3,715
IA	Girvan	4,549
DA	Glasgow	664,038
DA	Greenock	42,758
IA	Invergordon and Dingwall	15,320
DA	Irvine	60,260
DA	Kilmarnock	35,135
IA	Kirkcaldy	67,663
DA	Lanarkshire	169,659
IA	Lochaber	9,714
IA	Newton Stewart	4,499
IA	Skye and Wester Ross	9,091
IA	Stewartry	9,563
IA	Stranraer	9,139
IA	Sutherland	5,545
IA	Western Isles	12,867
IA	Wick	5,440

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what action will be taken to ensure that safety limits in relation to radiation exposure are lowered at nuclear establishments in Great Britain.

Dose limits and radiation protection standards apply to all workers across the European Community who work with ionising radiation, including those in the nuclear industry. The directive that sets these standards—European Community directive 80/836/EURATOM—as amended by 84/467/ EURATOM, is implemented in the United Kingdom by the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985—IRR 85—and the mirror Northern Ireland legislation. These contain both statutory limits and requirements to carry out investigations at lower levels.Last year, the Health and Safety Commission published part 4 of the approved code of practice supporting IRR 85 which contains additional guidance on restriction of exposure, but no change of statutory dose limit, to take account of recent revisions of the risk estimates from exposure to ionising radiation. This is an interim measure, pending revision of the European Community directive and subsequent revision of IRR 85 over the next few years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how much coal is mined per head of population in each Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country and member state of the European Community.

The information is as follows:

	Tonnes of coal produced per head of population in 1990
Australia	9·09
Austria	0·12
Belgium1	0·15
Canada	2·03
Denmark1	Nil
Finland	Nil
France1	0·21
Germany1	1·62
Greece1	1·05
Iceland	Nil
Ireland1	Nil
Italy1	0·01
Japan	0·05
Luxembourg1	Nil
Netherlands1	Nil
New Zealand	0·59
Norway	0·07
Portugal1	0·02
Spain1	0·44
Sweden	Nil
Switzerland	Nil
Turkey	0·30
United Kingdom1	1·64
United States	3·08
1 Member states of the European Community (NB Germany refers to the (former) Federal Republic of Germany).

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how much coal is mined per head of population in Wales; and what was the equivalent figure in 1976, 1981 and 1986.

Coal production per head of population in Wales in the years 1976, 1981, 1986 and 1990 was:

	tones
1976	4·1
1981	4·2
1986	3·8
1990	2·5

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy which materials in use at the Atomic Energy Authority establishment at Harwell are covered by Euratom safeguards.

Uranium, thorium and plutonium are used at Harwell for civil purposes. In accordance with articles 77 and 197 of the Euratom treaty, all these materials are subject to Euratom safeguards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy which buildings at the Atomic Energy Authority establishment at Harwell are covered by the tripartite International Atomic Energy Agency/Euratom/UK safeguards agreement.

For security reasons it is not our policy to disclose which buildings at nuclear establishments contain nuclear material. All civil nuclear material at Harwell and other establishments is subject to Euratom safeguards and to the terms of the UK-EuratomInternational Atomic Energy Agency tripartite agreement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on his meeting with the Major Energy Users Council as regards (a) the agenda, (b) the alternatives reviewed and (c) the outcome; and what assessment he has made of the impact of electricity prices in the next financial year on the large electricity consumers.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter) on Thursday 13 February 1992, Official Report, column 588.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his most recent estimate of revenue losses the Treasury can expect from an increase in personal allowances from 300 duty-paid cigarettes to (a) 800 duty-paid cigarettes and (b) 800 duty-paid cigarettes and 1 km of hand-rolling tobacco and 400 cigars, following the relaxation of intra-Community customs barriers in 1993.

Travellers' allowances are due to be abolished from I January 1993 as part of the single market programme. The quantities referred to in the question are minimum indicative levels which have been agreed by the Council as part of a set of rules to enable member states to help distinguish commercial from private importations.Considerable uncertainty must surround any estimate of the revenue effect of such a large relaxation of constraints on duty paid shopping. We have no estimates for the likely revenue loss from individual tobacco products. However, on the basis of the little evidence that is available, we estimate an annual loss from cross border shopping for all excise products, including alcoholic drinks, to be in the region of £¼ billion. Most of this loss is associated with cigarettes.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for the past five years the number of new VAT registrations in south Derbyshire, taking into account changes in the VAT registration limit.

The local VAT office in Derbyshire covers, in addition to the constituency of Derbyshire, South, parts of Leicestershire and Staffordshire. The number of VAT registrations processed by that office in the last five years is as follows:

Year	New registrations
1987	2,043
1988	2,483
1989	2,847
1990	2,370
1991	1,869

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that owners and crews of foreign fishing vessels, registered in Britain and catching fish on British quotas, pay tax.

In general, tax is already payable by the owners and crews of foreign fishing vessels on the British register if they are resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes or, in the case of the owners, if their profits arise through a permanent establishment in this country.The Inland Revenue has liaison arrangements with both the Registry of Shipping and Seamen and Companies House to ensure that, as far as possible, owners or crews pay any United Kingdom tax which may be due.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the security classification of Customs and Excise documents found in a desk bought from second-hand dealers in Scarborough in January; and what other Customs and Excise documents were found on the premises when officers from his Department inspected other desks that had been sent for disposal by the Customs and Excise; and if he will make a statement.

The documents were not classified. All of the remaining furniture sold to the second-hand dealer was immediately examined at his premises. No further documents were found.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in work and responsible for children will have earnings below the tax threshold in the current year.

It is estimated that approximately 0·5 million families with earned income and with children are not liable to income tax in 1991–92. These estimates are based on a projection of the 1990 family expenditure survey and are therefore provisional.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the current level of personal wealth per head of population in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Wales.

In 1989, the most recent year available, the average marketable wealth as defined in section 11 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1991", for the adult population, was £35,800 for the United Kingdom. I regret that figures for Wales are not available.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has of the annual turnover of car boot sales; and what representation he has received on their taxation.

Figures are not available, and I have not received any such representations.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which countries were net contributors to the European Community in 1991, or the latest year for which figures are available.

The latest information available is contained in the European Court of Auditors report for 1990. It gives information on member states' gross contributions and information on some 85 per cent. of receipts, with administration and research the main elements of internal expenditure excluded. The Court of Auditors report shows that in 1990 Germany, France and the United Kingdom were significant net contributors. Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg are also shown as net contributors, but none of them was likely to be in practice after taking account of expenditure excluded from the report. All other member states were net recipients.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to increase the duty-free limit for holidaymakers returning from outside the European Community.

The travellers' allowances for goods obtained outside the European Community are provided for under European Community legislation. There are quantitative allowances for tobacco products, wine, spirits, perfume and toilet water and a money allowance for all other goods which currently stands at £32. The Government have long been in favour of a substantial increase in the £32 allowance, but it has not so far been possible to obtain the necessary agreement of all member states. The Government will continue to press the point.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the average and marginal tax rate including income tax and statutory social insurance payments of a single person, a married couple, and a family consisting of a married couple plus two children earning in total (a) half, (b) three quarters, (c) average earnings, (d) 1·5 times, (e) twice, (f) three times, (g) five times and (h) 10 times average earnings, in each of the 12 EC member states.

Information for 1991–92 relating to the United Kingdom is given in the table.

Income tax and national insurance contributions at multiples of average earnings
Multiple of average earnings1	Amount of Tax and NIC2 £ per week	Tax and NIC as percentage of gross earning	Marginal tax and NIC rate
Single person
¼	36·61	22·2	34
¾	64·64	26·1	34
1	92·68	28·1	34
1¼	139·33	28·2	25
2	201·67	30·6	40
3	333·63	33·7	40
5	597·55	36·2	40
10	1,257·35	38·1	40
Married man (wife not earning)
¼	28·34	17·2	34
¾	56·38	22·8	34
1	84·41	25·6	34
1¾	131·06	26·5	25
2	188·44	32·4	40
3	320·40	32·4	40
5	584·32	35·4	40
10	1,244·12	37·7	40
1 Average earnings are taken to be the average gross weekly earnings of full-time males on adult rates with pay unaffected by absence. These are estimated to be £329·90 per week in 1991–92 using the Government Actuary's Department assumption of 7·75 per cent. growth in whole economy underlying earnings over 1990–91 as published in the 1991 Autumn Statement.
2 National insurance contributions are at the standard Class 1 rate for employees not contracted-out of the state additional (earnings related) pension scheme. The tax figures assume that no allowances or reliefs are available other than the standard allowances.

Similar information on the other EC member states is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Some of the information requested is, however, obtainable from "The Tax/Benefit Posi lion of Production Workers 1987–1990" published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A copy is available in the Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the financial contributions made by each member state in £ sterling to the European Community and their net receipts under European Community expenditure in each of the last five years.

Member states' gross contributions to the European Community budget for the last five years for which outturn information is available were as follows:

£ billion
	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Belgium	1·0	1·2	1·2	1·2	1·3
Denmark	0·5	0·6	0·6	0·6	0·6
Germany	5·9	6·6	7·7	7·5	7·4
Greece	0·4	0·2	0·3	0·4	0·4
Spain	1·6	1·2	2·1	2·1	2·6
France	4·6	5·2	6·0	5·8	5·8
Ireland	0·2	0·2	0·2	0·2	0·3
Italy	3·2	3·7	4·4	4·3	4·4

	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Luxembourg	1—	0·1	0·1	1—	0·1
Netherlands	1·5	1·7	1·9	1·8	1·9
Portugal	0·2	0·2	0·3	0·3	0·4
United Kingdom	3·2	4·0	3·5	4·4	4·7
Source: European Court of Auditors' Report, converted to £ sterling at the annual average exchange rate for each year.
Note: (1)1—signifies contribution of less than £0·05 billion.

(2) The table gives contributions after allowing for the United Kingdom's abatement.Full details of member states' receipts are not published. However the 1990 Court of Auditors report allocates some 85 per cent. of budgetary payments, the main items of internal expenditure excluded are administration and research. It gives receipts over the last five years for which information is available as follows:

£ billion
	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Belgium	0·8	0·7	0·6	0·5	0·7
Denmark	0·8	0·8	0·9	0·7	0·9
Germany	3·3	3·2	3·6	3·1	3·4
Greece	1·3	1·3	1·3	1·7	2·2
Spain	1·6	1·4	2·7	3·3	3·8
France	4·2	4·8	4·9	3·8	4·5
Ireland	1·1	1·0	1·0	1·1	1·6
Italy	3·0	3·7	3·7	4·1	4·1
Luxembourg	1—	1—	1—	1—	1—
Netherlands	1·6	2·0	2·6	2·6	2·1
Portugal	0·3	0·5	0·6	0·7	0·8
United Kingdom	2·3	2·2	2·2	2·2	2·2
Note: 1 — signifies contribution of less than £0·05 billion.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to protect the interests of the British cider industry from proposals made by the European Commission.

[holding answer 17 February 1992]: Current Commission proposals place cider with either still or sparkling wine for taxation purposes. The proposals have yet to come before the Council of Ministers and their adoption would require unanimity. The Government have already assured the United Kingdom cider industry that we will support their case for treating cider and perry as a separate tax category.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list (a) outstanding instalments from earlier flotations of nationalised industries or governmental holdings in privatised companies, (b) the market value of each such instalment on 1 January, (c) what revenue he currently expects to receive from each instalment and (d) when he expects to receive the revenue from each particular instalment.

[holding answer 17 February 1992]: The table shows, for each outstanding instalment, the share offer, the month in which payment is due and the expected proceeds. No market value can be given for an outstanding instalment, as none exists until the share price listing is amended by the stock exchange to reflect the imminent payment of such an instalment.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the level of Government civil research and development funding as a percentage of total Government expenditure in each year since 1979.

[holding answer 17 February 1992]: The available information is as follows:

Government civil research and development expenditure as a percentage of total central Government expenditure
Year	Per cent.
1979–80	2·5
1980–81	2·4
1981–82	2·5
1982–83	2·3
1983–84	2·3
1984–85	2·2
1985–86	2·2
1986–87	2·2
1987–88	2·2
1988–89	2·2
1989–90	2·1

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the level of research funding of every Government Department in real and constant prices in each year since 1979.

[holding answer 17 February 1992]: The available information from 1981 is given in tables 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 of the "Annual Review of Government Funded Research and Development 1991", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Detailed departmental information on a comparable basis for earlier years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was Her Majesty's Government's contribution in cash and kind to the economy of Gibraltar in the current and previous financial years.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces on 14 February. In addition to the MOD's contribution, the ODA's expenditure in Gibraltar will be £950,000 in this financial year. For 1990–91 it was £948,000. The bulk is capital aid; the remainder, funds for technical co-operation, for example, consultants' expertise. During the two years in question the diplomatic wing provided £63,370 for various small projects, principally police and customs training courses and equipment. We are unable to put a precise figure on the value to Gibraltar's economy of our general administrative assistance and advice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about the number of judicial executions carried out in Iran last year.

According to Amnesty International's most recent information, there have been 775 executions in Iran in 1991.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the states which have (i) signed, (ii) ratified or (iii) acceded to the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The following states have signed, ratified, acceded to or accepted the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer as indicated (s = signed; r = ratified; Ac = acceded; At = accepted; Ap = approved):

Country	Abbreviation
Argentina	(R)
Australia	(R)
Austria	(R)
Bahrain	(Ac)
Bangladesh	(Ac)
Belgium	(R)
Brazil	(Ac)
Bulgaria	(Ac)
Burkina Faso	(R)
Belorussia	(Ac)
Cameroon	(Ac)
Canada	(R)
Chile	(R)
Congo	(S)
Costa Rica	(Ac)
Czechoslovakia	(Ac)
Denmark	(R)
Ecuador	(Ac)
Egypt	(R)
Fiji	(Ac)
Finland	(R)
France	(Ap)
Gambia	(Ac)
Germany, Federal Republic	(Ac)
Ghana	(R)
Greece	(R)
Guatemala	(Ac)
Hungary	(Ac)
Iceland	(Ac)
Indonesia	(S)
Iran	(Ac)
Ireland	(R)
Israel	(S)
Italy	(R)
Japan	(R)
Jordan	(Ac)
Kenya	(R)
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	(Ac)
Liechtenstein	(Ac)
Luxembourg	(R)

Country	Abbreviation
Malawi	(Ac)
Malaysia	(Ac)
Maldives	(R)
Malta	(R)
Mexico	(Ac)
Morocco	(S)
Netherlands	(At)
New Zealand	(R)
Nigeria	(Ac)
Norway	(R)
Panama	(R)
Philippines	(R)
Poland	(Ac)
Portugal	(R)
Russia	(At)
Senegal	(S)
Singapore	(Ac)
South Africa	(Ac)
Spain	(R)
Sri Lanka	(Ac)
Sweden	(R)
Switzerland	(R)
Syrian Arab Republic	(Ac)
Thailand	(R)
Trinidad and Tobago	(Ac)
Tunisia	(Ac)
Turkey	(Ac)
Uganda	(R)
Ukraine	(At)
United Arab Emirates	(Ac)
United Kingdom	(R)
Uruguay	(Ac)
United States of America	(R)
Venezuela	(R)
Yugoslavia	(Ac)
Zambia	(Ac)
EEC	(Ap)

The following 15 countries have also ratified the 1990 London amendment to the Montreal protocol.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the consultation procedures he proposes in order to establish the proper means of representation for the United Kingdom on the committee of the regions.

We are considering the arrangements for appointing the United Kingdom members to the committee, which will be convened only after the treaty on political union enters into force.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the United Kingdom has signed the protocol on the committee of the regions annexed to the Maastricht treaty under article 198(a)-(c).

Yes. This protocol forms in integral part of the European Community treaty and was therefore covered by the signatures of the treaty on European union by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what impact the Gulf war has had on his Department's monitoring of the export of weapons; and if he will make a statement.

All export licence applications for the export of weapons to any destination have always been, and remain, subject to rigorous scrutiny.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Vietnamese migrants.

On 12 February, 36 illegal immigrants were repatriated from Hong Kong on the third mandatory flight under the orderly repatriation programme of 29 October 1991. They had all been screened out under procedures approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees—UNHCR—and were returned to Vietnam in accordance with international practice. The operation went smoothly.The first phase of the orderly repatriation programme agreed with the Vietnamese Government on 29 October has succeeded in reducing the camp population in Hong Kong, encouraging migrants already there to return to Vietnam and stopping the flow of arrivals to Hong Kong. The camp population in Hong Kong has fallen from a peak on 5 October 1991 of 64,314 to 58,762 now. Whereas 20,163 Vietnamese arrived in Hong Kong in the first 10 months of 1991, only 45 arrived in November and December. Only four have arrived so far in 1992. In the first 10 months of 1991 an average of 500 Vietnamese per month returned voluntarily to Vietnam under UNHCR auspices. In contrast, 1,900 returned voluntarily in November and 1,800 in December. So far this year UNHCR has repatriated 1,191. This is substantial progress, though the pressures on Hong Kong are still severe.In total, more than 20,000 migrants have so far been repatriated to Vietnam under UNHCR auspices from countries of first asylum in the region. There has not been a single substantiated case of persecution. Only if migrants are returned to their country of origin can the genuine refugees be properly looked after and resettled in accordance with their international rights.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contributions the United Kingdom is making towards United Nations peacekeeping operations in Cambodia.

The UK's assessed contribution towards the United Nations advance mission in Cambodia is estimated to be £500,000.Parliamentary approval for this new service will be sought in the spring supplementary estimate for "Foreign and Commonwealth Office: other external relations vote", class II, vote 2. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £500,000 will be met by a repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his review of the case of the Everton football fans arrested in the vicinity of Arsenal stadium, Highbury, on 19 December 1987.

Representations made about this case are still under consideration.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether he has approved the Northumberland fire authority's proposal to close the Holy Island fire station; and what consideration he has given to the implications for this proposed closure of the authority's proposal to withdraw full-time firemen from Alnwick;(2) whether he has yet received the proposal from the Northumberland fire authority for approval of a change from full-time to a retained fire station in Alnwick.

There is no proposal to close the Holy Island fire station, and the Northumberland county council's proposal to disband the island's volunteer fire crew remains subject to determination by the Home Secretary. No proposals for the future status of Alnwick fire station have been received. Should a change from wholetime to retained status be submitted, the implications for the provision of fire cover would be fully assessed before the Home Secretary decided whether to approve it.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations he has received to amend the law to make the life sentence the maximum rather than the mandatory sentence for murder;(2) what action he intends to take in response to the House of Lords Select Committee report on murder and life imprisonment—House of Lords Paper 78 of Session 1988–89; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend keeps the mandatory life sentence for murder under review in the light of the representations which he receives from time to time. During the passage of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, Parliament endorsed the Government's view that the mandatory life sentence should remain to mark the particular heinousness of murder.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what will be the total cost to public funds of the Metropolitan police in 1992–93; and if he will make a statement.

As police authority for the metropolis, 1 have approved estimates which provide for net revenue expenditure of £1,523·043 million in 1992–93. There will be a cash limit on current expenditure of £1,478·764 million. Capital expenditure is subject to separate control.I have also approved the issue of a precept of £135·43 per head of relevant population of Metropolitan police purposes. This is not the sum levied on individual community charge payers, but will be levied on local authorities' collection funds which include income from revenue support grant and national non-domestic rates as well as the community charge.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the extent to which compensation has been awarded by the courts to victims during the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available in accordance with the powers conferred by the powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1988; and when he intends to evaluate the effectiveness of the legislation in assisting the victims of crime.

The table gives information on the use of compensation orders by the criminal courts in 1989, the latest year for which final figures are available. Provisional figures for 1990 are given in brackets.

	19891	1990
Crown Court
Indictable offences	12,400	(11,900)
Summary offences2	400	(500)
Magistrates courts
Indictable offences	70,500	(73,600)
Summary offences2	43,000	(43,600)
Total	3126,400	(129,600)
1Source: Criminal Statistics 1989.
2 The Criminal Statistics exclude summary motoring offences.
3 All figures rounded to the nearest hundred.

The Home Office research and planning unit has been studying the use of compensation orders in the magistrates courts, including the effect of changes introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 1988. It is hoped that a report of its findings will be published later this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which indexes of police national computer 1 are still in use; and for how long they are to remain in use.

The following applications remain on the PNC1 equipment but are not in general use by police forces:

• Fingerprint checks for court appearances in the Metropolitan Police District.
• Major investigations.
• Extremist crime index.
• Crime pattern analysis.

The fingerprint application will be transferred to PNC2 later this year and future arrangements for the other applications are being considered. The aim is to take PNC1 out of service as soon as it is practicable to do so.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has agreed a policy with the Association of Chief Police Officers and Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland) on the establishment of uniform criteria for the recording of HIV status on the police national computer.

In deciding to include warning markers on health, disposition or likely behaviour in PNC records, the police must have regard to the principles underlying the Data Protection Act 1984 on the relevance and accuracy of the information. A working group is currently reviewing the existing guidance to the police about HIV.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for the past five years (i) the United Kingdom's annual subscription to Interpol and (ii) any additional levies and their purpose.

The United Kingdom's annual subscription to Interpol for the last five years has been as follows:

	£
1987–88	440,487
1988–89	428,437
1989–90	433,579
1990–91	510,109
1991–92	497,593

There are no additional levies.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are to enhance the facilities or services provided by the European liaison bureau of Interpol.

It is planned to recruit as wide a representation as possible in order to ensure that the maximum number of European countries, including eastern Europe, are represented. Other ways of enhancing the service provided by the bureau are under consideration by Interpol.

To ask the Secretary or State for the Home Department what is the budget and current level of staffing at the European liaison bureau at Interpol headquarters; what languages are covered within the bureau; and what is the formal brief of the bureau.

The salaries and related expenses of officers seconded to the bureau are paid for by the seconding countries. The remaining costs of the bureau —for example accommodation and equipment—come from the overall Interpol secretariat budget. It is not possible therefore readily to identify the total cost of the bureau. English, French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, German and Finnish are all covered within the bureau. The brief of the bureau is to resolve difficulties and improve co-operation, and to provide a liaison service to the European countries. The bureau also provides support to the Interpol European committee and the annual European regional conference.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for the past five years (i) how many messages were handled by the United Kingdom national central bureau of Interpol per year and (ii) the annual maintenance costs of the United Kingdom national central bureau.

The number of messages handled by the United Kingdom national central bureau of Interpol in the last five years were:

	Number
1987	54,665
1988	59,081
1989	62,812
1990	63,483
1991	67,086

The annual running costs for the United Kingdom national central bureau in the last five years were:

	£
1987–88	1,490,768
1988–89	1,538,949
1989–90	1,678,302
1990–91	1,836,588
11991–92	2,927,000
1 The figure for 1991–92 is an estimate. It includes VAT for 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1991–92 which had not been paid in earlier years.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are to establish computer linkages between the United Kingdom national central bureau and Interpol headquarters.

The automated search facility is being set up at Interpol headquarters in Lyon. This will have a selected data base of information of wanted persons and criminals of international importance which will be available to direct search from national central bureaux in member countries.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are to establish (a) a central computerised databank for Europol and (b) a data protection authority to monitor the use and collation of data by Europol.

The Europol drugs unit will be the first element of Europol to be established and work is in hand to identify both the data requirements of the unit and any necessary equipment for the storage of data. The need for data protection is recognised and consideration is currently being given to the establishment of a data protection regime for the unit acceptable to the participating member states and capable of expansion to cover all aspects of Europol as the organisation develops.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if data held by Europol will be subject to the Council of Europe's recommendation R (87) 15 of 17 September 1987 relating to the use of personal data in the police sector.

The data protection regime for Europol is currently under consideration. The United Kingdom is fully involved in this work. We shall seek to ensure that the procedures adopted are consistent with the Data Protection Act 1984 and recommendation (87)15, subject only to the United Kingdom's reserves on articles 2.2 and 2.4 of that recommendation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had and intends to have with representatives of voluntary organisations and the Charity Commission over the proposal by the European Commission for a statute for European associations.

I understand that the Commission has approved proposals for a statute for European associations but that the texts have not yet been formally promulgated. My officials, and those of the Charity Commission, have had informal discussions on the draft proposals and we shall want to consult widely once we have the formal texts.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to establish a computer interface between the police national computer and the Schengen information system computer; when this will occur; and what elements of police intelligence will be exchanged between the systems.

There are no such plans. The provision of a European information system was considered at the European Council at Maastricht in December 1991. The following extract from the conclusions of the European Council is relevant:

"The European Council requests the Co-ordinators to examine what the structure of the European Information System should be and to take care that the technical and legal provisions—including the protection of personal privacy—are being taken to build the system. In view of the need for a speedy conclusion of these activities, it is desirable in the first place to establish whether the arrangements already existing between certain Member States may also apply to all the Member States."

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total amount paid in fines in respect of motoring offences for the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available; and what was the amount paid in respect of fines for all other civil and criminal offences.

The total income from fines, fees and fixed penalties collected by magistrates courts in England and Wales in 1990–91 was £269,088,000. Figures for motoring offences are not separately recorded.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes in the law he proposes to introduce to facilitate the consideration by magistrates courts of applications for liability orders in community charge proceeding.

[pursuant to his answer, 28 January 1992 column 473]: To assist authorities further we are prepared to consider, in response to an application by an authority, granting an increase in its aggregate credit limit for 1992–93 to cover those unpaid 1990–91 community charges which it expects to collect during 1992–93. This is in recognition that some authorities may need a longer period to recover uncollected 1990–91 charges, and will enable such an authority to continue to borrow to cover those debts until it collects them during the course of next year.

To ask the Prime Minister if he has any plans to visit the London borough of Bromley.

I am making plans for a series of visits to all parts of the country and hope to include Kent among them.

To ask the Prime Minister if a member of his foreign affairs staff attended the seminar on the detection and recognition of underground nuclear explosions held at the Geological Society, London, on 14 February; and if he will make a statement.

Yes, along with experts from the Ministry of Defence seismological centre at Blacknest. We welcome opportunities for constructive discussion of these issues. The United Kingdom has, therefore, been participating actively in related work in the conference on disarmament in Geneva.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 18 February.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

To ask the Prime Minister what is the average constituency electorate in (a) Great Britain and (b) the United Kingdom.

I have been asked to reply.The United Kingdom constituencies with largest and smallest parliamentary electorates in 1991 were as follows:

	Number
Largest
Isle of Wight	101,784
Eastleigh	91,871
Huntingdon	91,779
East Hampshire	91,519
The Wrekin	90,980
Swindon	90,343
Smallest
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	39,608
Glasgow Provan	37,838
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy	32,754
Orkney and Shetland	31,355

	Number
Caithness and Sutherland	31,120
Western Isles	23,073

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will install traffic lights on the A40 Green road roundabout, Headington, Oxford.

We intend to carry out during the 1992–93 financial year a substantial remodelling of the roundabout which should provide it with sufficient traffic capacity until our proposed major A40 Headington improvement scheme can be put in place. This does not involve the installation of traffic signals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will hold a public inquiry with the A40 road proposals north of Headington.

A public inquiry for the proposed A40 Headington improvement will be held after publication of draft statutory orders if the draft orders are subject to objection.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish all environmental, financial and road traffic forecasts relevant to the A40 road proposals north of Oxford, including those relating to alternative options considered.

An environmental statement will be published for the A40 north of Oxford scheme when draft statutory orders are published. The statement will include reference to alternative options considered. Road traffic forecasts and estimated scheme costs will also be available at that stage.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his Department's progress in reducing planning times for new roads, as recommended by the 15th report on road planning by the Committee of Public Accounts (Session 1988–89).

The Department has implemented several measures to reduce the planning time for new roads, including the streamlining of procedures and the introduction of new forms of contracts for consultants engaged in design. These have enabled the Department to meet its target, noted by the Committee of Public Accounts in 1989, of reaching public consultation within three years rather than five years of a decision to put a scheme into the road programme. The Department is now assessing ways in which the best project management practice of the private sector can be applied to further speed up progress on road schemes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the latest traffic flow figures for all links in the motorway network where the flows are in excess of 80,000 vehicles per day.

The latest figures from the national traffic census are as follows. Apart from the M25, these are approximate estimates derived from a single 12-hour count per link undertaken some time between 1985 and 1990.

Estimated daily flows for 1990(both directions combined)
Road number	Start junction	End junction	Daily flow thousands
M1	5	6	83
M1	7	M25	134
M1	8	9	131
M1	9	10	130
M1	10	11	106
MI	11	12	119
M1	12	13	104
M1	13	14	82
M1	16	17	95
M 1	17	18	81
M1	18	19	83
M25	2	3	87
M25	5	6	93
M25	6	7	99
M25	7	8	111
M25	8	9	106
M25	9	10	106
M25	10	11	128
M25	11	12	141
M25	12	13	143
M25	13	14	158
M25	14	15	147
M25	15	16	138
M25	16	17	122
M25	17	18	130
M25	18	19	129
M25	19	20	108
M25	20	21	115
M25	21	22	101
M25	22	23	109
M25	23	24	113
M25	24	25	104
M25	25	26	104
M25	26	27	96
M25	27	28	103
M25	28	29	86
M27	M275	A27	89
M3	2	3	94
M3	3	4	83
M4	2	3	94
M4	3	4	130
M4	4	4B	121
M4	4B	5	130
M4	5	6	120
M4	6	7	127
M4	7	9	106
M4	9	10	95
M4	10	11	95
M4	14	15	86
M40	1A	2	83
M5	1	2	81
M5	1	M6	87
M56	3	4	97
M56	4	5	112
M56	5	6	93
M6	2	3	92
M6	3	4	89
M6	4	5	85
M6	5	6	82
M6	6	7	117
M6	8	9	142
M6	10A	11	81
M6	13	14	86
M6	14	15	86
M6	16	17	98
M6	17	18	82
M6	18	19	80
M6	19	20	81
M6	20	21	99
M6	20	M6/J9	101
M6	21	21A	103
M6	22	23	80
M6	24	25	84
M6	31	32	84
M62	12	13	140

Road number	Start junction	End junction	Daily flow thousands
M62	13	14	111
M62	15	17	118
M62	15	M61	105
M62	17	18	130
M62	18	19	99
M62	19	20	89
M62	26	27	90
M63	7	8	81
M63	10	A560	99
M8	11	12	81
M8	12	15	123
M8	15	16	134
M8	16	18	96
M8	18	19	83
M8	19	20	137
M8	22	23	101
M8	25	26	80
A38M	M6/J6	Aston	103
A4OM	M41	A404	87
A6127	A1058	A187	88

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if it is his policy to maintain a high level bridge over the River Tees at Portrack following the permanent closing of the Cannon Park lifting bridge; and if he will make a statement.

Yes we intend to maintain the trunk road high level bridge over the River Tees. The Cannon Park, Newport, lifting bridge is the responsibility of the local highway authority, Cleveland county council. It is our understanding that this bridge will remain open as a road bridge.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the expected level of expenditure on committed transport supplementary grant schemes in the years (a) 1993–94, (b) 1994–95 and (c) 1995–96.

According to local highway authorities transport policies and programme submissions for 1992–93, the total figures forecast for major schemes accepted for transport supplementary grant are £466 million, £301 million and £136 million respectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what initiatives his Department proposes to encourage greater use of diesel-powered cars.

There is less tax on diesel fuel than petrol. The greater fuel economy of diesel cars also acts as a considerable incentive to purchasers. The cost of adding catalysts to petrol cars will also reduce or remove their price advantage and provide a further incentive to the purchase of diesel cars.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the EC agreed standards of emissions of oxides of nitrogen from diesel-powered cars.