Written Answers

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Written Answers Toquestions

Wednesday 29 October 2003

Defence

Armed Forces Pensions

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what pension entitlements are available for members of (a) the reserve forces and (b) the regular forces; and if he will make a statement. [134916]

Pension entitlement for reservists is determined by the type of Reserve Service undertaken. Members entering Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS), and those undertaking part-time reserve service on an Additional Duties Commitment (ADC), may be entitled to pension benefits under the reservists' section of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme. Members of the Volunteer Reserve Forces are not entitled to membership of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, except when they are called-out or mobilised for permanent service; in these circumstances, the Department will alternatively, if they so wish, pay the employer contribution to their civilian pension arrangement. Members of the regular forces are entitled to membership of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme. All members of the armed forces, whether regular, FTRS, ADC or volunteer reserve, may be entitled to benefits for an injury, illness or death that is due to military service; in these circumstances, arrangements are designed to provide that there is, at least, a broadly comparable level of benefit.

Breast Implants

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department of providing female soldiers with breast implants was in each of the last five years. [131913]

The numbers of breast implant operations undertaken on female Service personnel, in Ministry of Defence Hospital Units, in each of the last five calendar years is detailed in the table.

Number of operations undertaken
1999	7
2000	7
2001	6
2002	16
2003	4

The costs of providing each operation was not recorded separately. Such operations would be carried out for clinical reasons, such as breast reconstruction following accident or cancer treatment, and not for purely cosmetic reasons.The numbers and costs of female Service personnel receiving breast implants in the NHS but outside of MOD Hospital Unit arrangements are not held centrally.

Cadet Forces

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department will spend in 2003–04 on cadet forces; and what percentage of the overall budget of his Department that represents. [133752]

The funding for the financial year 2003–04 is £80.5 million. This is less than one per cent. of the overall defence budget.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department will spend in 2003–04 in wages for those that help out with the cadet forces; and what percentage of the overall budget of his Department that represented. [133753]

The funding for financial year 2003–04 is £36 million. This is less than one per cent. of the overall budget.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has ever ceased to offer payment to those that assist in running the cadet forces. [133755]

This information is not held centrally, but indications are that any cases for ceasing to offer payment are few and would have been sanctioned for sound reasons in accordance with appropriate regulations.

Call Centres

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department plans to outsource call centre work to premises outside the United Kingdom. [132110]

The Defence Communication Services Agency manages the provision of a substantial portion of call-centre type services across the Ministry of Defence and has no plans to outsource call centre premises outside the United Kingdom.There are some small helpdesk facilities operated within Ministry of Defence establishments in Cyprus, Germany and the Falkland Islands; these are all managed from the UK.

Defence White Paper

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to publish the Defence White Paper. [134956]

As I said in the Defence Policy Debate on 16 October 2003, Official Report, column 275, I intend to publish a Defence White Paper later this year.

Ministry Of Defence Police

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 11 September 2003, Official Report, column 375W, on military police, when the last formal inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary into the MOD police investigation branch and CID was carried out; and if he will give a copy of the report to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South. [132489]

The last formal inspection of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) took place in late 2001-early 2002. The inspection process included the work of the MDP Criminal Investigation Department. The report was published in April 2002.I will send the hon. Member a copy of the HMIC Report and place a copy in the Library of the House.

Overseas Facilities

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list his Department's permanent facilities overseas, what the cost was in each of the last five years, of maintaining each of them, to what use each facility is put; what the estimated value of each facility is: and if he will make a statement. [134648]

I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

1997
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	n/a	n/a	n/a	5	2	1	6	0	7	1	5	2
Dundee	n/a	n/a	n/a	4	1	3	6	0	7	4	6	5
Edinburgh	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	2	6	4	0	12	9	4	3
Glasgow	n/a	n/a	n/a	14	4	8	16	0	21	21	24	10
Inverness	n/a	n/a	n/a	5	1	5	11	0	10	4	2	1
England	n/a	n/a	n/a	281	188	258	300	4	596	421	355	124
Wales	n/a	n/a	n/a	21	11	18	19	0	40	25	30	8
N Ireland	n/a	n/a	n/a	3	2	6	4	0	7	2	5	3
ARMY
Scotland:
Aberdeen	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	6	15	4	9	10	7	3	3
Dundee	n/a	n/a	n/a	15	23	22	15	23	47	30	21	17
Edinburgh	n/a	n/a	n/a	33	28	21	9	22	16	20	18	16
Glasgow	n/a	n/a	n/a	67	82	49	44	79	76	74	80	35
Inverness	n/a	n/a	n/a	2	13	9	7	8	14	10	14	5
England	n/a	n/a	n/a	715	938	834	606	1,054	970	1,056	1,007	649
Wales	n/a	n/a	n/a	109	71	86	62	83	60	113	76	26
N Ireland	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	n/a	n/a	n/a	6	5	1	1	2	3	2	3	1
Dundee	n/a	n/a	n/a	9	3	2	11	4	4	4	10	2
Edinburgh	n/a	n/a	n/a	4	4	2	8	5	4	4	7	3
Glasgow	n/a	n/a	n/a	7	8	7	6	3	22	8	9	5
Inverness	n/a	n/a	n/a	8	4	6	2	1	4	1	6	1
England	n/a	n/a	n/a	231	239	131	232	167	266	164	290	89
Wales	n/a	n/a	n/a	27	28	15	31	20	27	21	18	9
N Ireland	n/a	n/a	n/a	7	7	3	9	3	9	5	9	3

1998
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	4	3	4	3	2	4	1	2	3	3	10	0
Dundee	4	0	2	7	1	4	3	2	2	3	1	2
Edinburgh	14	19	10	3	15	15	5	2	15	16	15	0
Glasgow	20	15	13	9	18	29	12	4	19	15	23	1
Inverness	5	5	6	1	2	6	3	2	2	4	8	0

Parliamentary Questions

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will answer the question tabled by the hon. Member for East Carmarthen and Dinefwr, on 15 September 2003, reference 129531. [135217]

I replied to the hon. Member on 27 October 2003, Official Report, column 6W.

Recruitment

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 10 September 2003, Official Report, column 754W, on recruitment, if he will list the monthly recruitment numbers from January 1997 to January 2003 for (a) each of the recruitment posts in Scotland, (b) England as a whole, (c) Wales as a whole and (d) Northern Ireland as a whole; and if he will make a statement. [133654]

The numbers of other rank enlistments for all three Services in each month from April 1997 to December 2002 are detailed in the following tables. Figures prior to April 1997 are not held centrally. Statistics for officer recruitment are not broken down by region.

1998
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
England	445	394	459	173	310	366	290	182	419	432	520	18
Wales	39	21	36	13	24	18	26	8	25	25	50	1
N Ireland	8	9	7	1	21	9	8	5	8	12	6	0
Army
Scotland:
Aberdeen	15	7	6	3	16	9	9	6	15	2	7	1
Dundee	50	36	25	17	32	26	14	38	44	26	34	8
Edinburgh	42	17	21	19	40	14	24	38	59	17	25	18
Glasgow	139	69	102	46	103	46	74	82	151	66	116	22
Inverness	20	9	11	8	17	8	6	10	26	9	7	2
England	1,213	1,084	828	754	1,146	759	900	1,118	1,795	985	1,214	353
Wales	118	80	62	79	103	53	90	87	86	100	101	31
N Ireland	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	8	5	10	2	2	4	6	1	1	4	1	6
Dundee	5	8	10	5	7	2	11	1	4	3	5	2
Edinburgh	3	3	3	3	6	2	8	5	4	6	3	2
Glasgow	15	9	16	12	12	13	21	6	4	19	12	9
Inverness	4	5	4	3	7	2	4	5	5	7	8	4
England	289	180	256	246	269	176	289	106	275	321	283	172
Wales	22	9	21	19	20	23	88	18	36	20	36	14
N Ireland	2	9	5	15	9	6	6	2	3	8	5	9

1999
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	3	5	5	1	3	4	3	1	5	4	9	0
Dundee	5	5	5	3	3	4	3	2	6	0	8	0
Edinburgh	21	14	12	4	20	15	9	5	17	12	20	2
Glasgow	30	19	20	29	18	17	11	6	20	21	23	2
Inverness	4	6	5	0	4	2	7	0	8	6	4	0
England	434	361	320	282	430	328	337	125	462	364	526	56
Wales	26	30	30	20	24	19	28	15	23	31	25	8
N Ireland	9	2	6	13	5	1	9	1	8	8	9	0
Army
Scotland:
Aberdeen	15	10	7	6	16	6	3	13	25	9	6	3
Dundee	57	20	25	38	46	26	19	27	35	22	25	14
Edinburgh	36	13	26	17	28	25	20	39	45	10	11	13
Glasgow	122	61	76	84	118	63	40	73	91	56	58	50
Inverness	14	5	12	8	15	7	3	4	25	10	5	4
England	1,607	887	783	741	1,168	723	689	884	1610	778	1262	443
Wales	122	62	61	54	100	68	89	117	115	74	108	43
N Ireland	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	1	1
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	6	6	0	1	7	7	5	0	6	3	3	2
Dundee	5	6	6	8	5	5	6	2	5	6	6	6
Edinburgh	1	3	13	6	3	10	9	2	8	15	7	4
Glasgow	11	16	13	10	10	16	15	5	19	14	10	12
Inverness	3	7	1	3	5	4	5	1	7	7	4	8
England	235	246	238	205	168	280	263	151	250	303	197	167
Wales	22	21	20	15	13	16	31	9	25	32	15	23
N Ireland	13	16	6	5	11	12	14	2	1 I	13	10	8

2000
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	2	6	3	1	4	4	4	0	3	5	8	2
Dundee	3	6	6	1	6	5	4	1	3	8	3	1
Edinburgh	4	18	12	4	17	17	12	3	14	18	24	4
Glasgow	15	17	18	5	15	14	14	1	14	13	22	6
Inverness	3	2	2	2	3	1	8	0	2	5	3	I
England	331	352	391	65	417	313	354	1	385	481	346	126
Wales	27	18	34	3	20	21	25	0	26	32	28	9
N Ireland	6	5	9	0	16	5	8	0	5	10	6	2

2000
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Army
Scotland:
Aberdeen	23	11	2	3	12	2	13	7	22	9	6	2
Dundee	40	36	19	9	23	19	19	10	51	30	22	9
Edinburgh	39	23	14	5	9	5	22	3	55	25	10	1
Glasgow	120	73	42	35	70	34	51	45	130	58	45	16
Inverness	17	16	5	6	4	3	11	6	30	11	8	3
England	1,626	933	810	387	886	533	834	685	1814	1115	763	429
Wales	128	106	74	30	79	76	58	78	128	106	49	56
N Ireland	2	1	6	16	9	14	11	31	54	18	6	29
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	7	3	1	7	5	3	4	2	5	4	5	1
Dundee	6	4	7	3	6	7	3	3	12	7	14	4
Edinburgh	11	6	9	7	3	2	3	9	6	0	14	1
Glasgow	19	7	25	13	11	10	13	9	22	3	15	3
Inverness	3	3	4	3	5	2	5	4	5	2	2	1
England	316	114	321	166	234	166	210	156	328	105	344	71
Wales	50	18	35	13	26	27	21	26	23	12	40	22
N Ireland	9	8	22	9	3	9	6	6	12	5	16	2

2001
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	7	3	7	0	4	6	6	0	6	11	9	0
Dundee	2	0	3	0	0	0	8	0	2	6	5	2
Edinburgh	11	11	28	3	13	16	15	0	16	25	23	6
Glasgow	16	16	24	7	8	14	16	0	18	20	16	8
Inverness	6	2	4	0	2	3	4	0	2	5	5	0
England	335	349	333	95	362	322	433	3	416	541	403	139
Wales	28	29	38	6	22	28	27	0	38	39	25	7
N Ireland	7	8	7	2	11	2	3	0	4	12	7	4
Army
Scotland:
Aberdeen	12	6	8	1	5	3	3	2	11	7	11	2
Dundee	59	10	21	12	17	10	23	14	42	29	14	8
Edinburgh	47	7	21	10	21	12	11	14	42	28	8	19
Glasgow	175	25	44	29	67	31	55	55	123	83	61	23
Inverness	30	5	8	1	12	0	6	3	21	16	7	3
England	1,600	751	847	587	783	570	765	706	2,061	913	752	428
Wales	133	84	84	77	75	54	85	73	155	87	66	25
N Ireland	14	18	20	15	9	10	14	13	42	10	1	24
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	5	2	0	2	3	3	1	4	1	7	2	2
Dundee	10	0	6	1	7	7	2	5	6	8	2	12
Edinburgh	14	4	5	5	5	3	7	4	7	5	5	3
Glasgow	1	13	2	2	16	13	13	7	17	5	12	14
Inverness	6	4	3	3	7	4	6	6	4	1	6	3
England	335	161	138	242	208	185	221	205	211	350	239	159
Wales	41	22	11	30	27	27	34	29	21	30	27	22
N Ireland	11	4	5	8	4	3	7	10	12	3	8	5

2002
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
RN/RM
Scotland:
Aberdeen	8	12	3	2	7	4	1	1	1	0	6	3
Dundee	4	5	3	2	7	6	8	2	5	0	4	4
Edinburgh	14	8	7	13	14	16	12	5	21	0	11	4
Glasgow	8	18	7	7	11	7	10	0	11	0	15	11
Inverness	9	6	3	1	1	6	5	0	3	0	5	1
England	404	367	287	252	316	341	363	45	477	181	350	217
Wales	44	28	15	24	21	26	23	3	32	15	23	6
N Ireland	3	8	10	3	3	4	2	1	13	0	7	8

2002
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	Mar	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Army
Scotland:
Aberdeen	11	5	6	3	4	2	9	12	24	4	5	3
Dundee	42	14	31	8	13	8	20	18	61	9	14	8
Edinburgh	63	17	24	21	30	17	20	29	75	16	15	4
Glasgow	130	53	67	58	49	61	93	91	130	40	53	15
Inverness	17	1	4	3	5	4	5	11	23	4	4	4
England	1,648	753	831	679	662	633	875	1,004	2,460	668	820	414
Wales	164	65	98	47	54	43	66	60	143	49	44	22
N Ireland	12	8	25	8	5	8	21	35	16	48	10	53
RAF
Scotland:
Aberdeen	8	2	2	2	4	2	6	3	6	6	2	0
Dundee	6	1	5	5	8	5	6	8	5	11	11	7
Edinburgh	5	6	5	5	3	3	11	4	10	10	6	1
Glasgow	6	13	0	12	17	9	30	6	12	26	14	6
Inverness	2	2	4	2	6	0	9	8	6	10	5	6
England	270	147	175	157	240	158	344	248	215	358	268	142
Wales	35	26	24	17	37	25	36	34	22	51	21	12
N Ireland	7	8	8	5	5	3	9	3	1	7	4	1

Service Accommodation

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many properties were contained in his Department's married quarters estate on 1 October; and how many are held by his Department in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) overseas. [133370]

Figures for Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in mainland United Kingdom are currently only available as at 30 September 2003 and are shown as follows.

Number
England	45,207
Scotland	4,238
Wales	1,118
Total	50,563

Figures for SFA elsewhere are currently only available as at 1 April 2003, as shown in the following table.

Number
HQNI	3,180
Germany	14,479
Cyprus	2,330
Falkland Islands	55
Gibraltar	576
PTC¹	1,040
Total	21,660
¹ PTC (Personnel Training Command): includes Ramstein, Brunssum, Izmir, Naples, Lisbon and Stavanger.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many units within the married quarters estate are in (a) Standard 1 condition, (b) Standard 2 condition, (c) Standard 3 condition and (d) Standard 4 condition; [133371](2) how many service personnel are housed in

(a) Standard 3 and (b) Standard 4 properties within his Department's married quarters estate; and what plans he has to reduce this number. [133375]

The total number of houses in mainland United Kingdom that have been assessed for condition (more than 98 per cent. of stock) at the four standards for condition were categorised as below as at 17 October 2003.

Standard	Total number
1	23,413
2	22,692
3	3,502
4	179

Properties currently at the lower two standards will be the first to be targeted for disposals as demand falls over the next few years.Figures for the number of houses from within the Standards 3 and 4 that are currently occupied are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many units within his Department's married quarters estate have been upgraded in each of the last five years; and what proportion of these were upgrades to the entire estate. [133373]

The number of houses brought up to Standard 1 for Condition in mainland United Kingdom in each of the past five financial years was:

Number
1998–99	¹—
1999–2000	1,308
2000–01	2,733
2001–02	3,340
2002–03	1,440
¹ Figures not collected at that time

None of these years includes an instance where the entirety of any one estate was brought up to Standard 1. A number of estates are now fully at Standard 1 but these have been addressed in phases, over a number of years, to minimise disruption to both occupants and Service operational requirements. Currently, just over 50 per cent. of the core stock is at Standard 1 and over 90 per cent. of families are in properties at either Standard 1 or 2.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to publish the conclusions of his Department's Business Process Review of the Management and Delivery of Defence Housing; and if he will list those consulted in this review. [133374]

I expect the Business Process Review of the Management and Delivery of De fence Housing to be published in the spring of 2004. A copy of the report will be placed in the Library of the House. To date, a wide range of stakeholders have been consulted including those involved in the delivery of Defence housing, their customers, other Government Departments, the trade unions and relevant bodies in the private sector. The final report will contain a full list of those consulted.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's married quarters were empty as at 30 September; and what proportion of this represents his Department's management margin required for managing change. [133378]

At the end of September there were some 8,500 empty married properties in mainland UK. Of these:

Over 1,500 are held for future deployments

Some 900 are in the course of disposal during 2003–04 with additional properties identified as non-core and for disposal in 2004–05

Some 550 are empty undergoing or awaiting modernisation

The remainder are available to let or are already allocated or under offer to incoming families.The Defence Housing Executive's management margin for managing change requires an on-going continuous review to ensure delivery of homes to Service families. As at 31 March 2003, the management margin (i.e. the proportion of working stock vacant) was 13.6 per cent. The DHE's long term target is to reduce this to no more than 10 per cent. by financial year 2005–06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what his Department's disposal targets are for married quarters estate stock in each of the next five years; [133382](2) what his Department's targets are for reducing the void rate levels in the married quarters estate; and if he will make a statement. [133380]

Targets set for the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) are not expressed in terms of numbers of houses for disposal but as the progressive reduction of void rates in order to achieve, by 2005–06, a management margin of 10 per cent. (the management margin is the proportion of vacant working stock required to manage change).Some 12,000 properties have been released by DHE for disposal since January 2000. In addition, over 900 properties are expected to be released during 2003–04. To maintain progress towards the long term target of 10 per cent., a greater number of disposals is likely to be needed during 2004–05, and in subsequent years, depending on demand.

Reserve Forces

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will bring forward revisions to the Reserve Forces Call-out and Recall (Financial Assistance) Regulations 1997, S.I., 1997, No. 309. [133080]

Work on revising SI 1997/309 (The Reserve Forces (Call-out and Recall) (Financial Assistance) Regulations is ongoing, and when it is concluded, I will make an announcement in the House. A consultation paper with proposals for revising the financial assistance available to reservists under SI 309/97 when called out into permanent service will be available at the earliest opportunity.

Vaccines

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what advice the Deputy Chief Medical Officer gave on administering pertussis vaccine together with anthrax vaccine to service personnel prior to the 1991 Gulf War. [134574]

I refer the hon. Member to the Ministry of Defence paper: "Background to the use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect British Forces During the Gulf War (Operation GRANBY)" dated October 1997, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and available on the Internet at: http://www.mod.uk/issues/gulfwar/info/medical/mcm.htm, and to my noble Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement's written answer of 9 October 2003, Official Report, House of Lords, c. WA70.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which vaccines administered to Service personnel prior to the 1991 Gulf War were not licensed for use in the United Kingdom; and what reports he has received that vaccines were not given in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. [134575]

I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to have a public inquiry into the use of vaccines by the Department prior to the 1991 Gulf war; and if he will make a statement. [134621]

The Government are not convinced that such a public inquiry would help answer the basic question of why some Gulf veterans are ill. We have not ruled out the possibility that we may look at this again if circumstances were to change, but in the present circumstances, it is only through the programme of independent scientific and medical research initiated by the Government that we are ever likely to be able to establish the causes of Gulf veterans' illnesses.

Health

Local Government Finance

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the transfers into and out of formula spending share for 2004–05, and grants which are due to cease at the end of 2003–04; and whether his Department plans consequently to adjust the baseline calculation for floors and ceilings. [127165]

I have been asked to reply.The Secretary of State for Health intends to end three special grants in 2003–04: Deferred Payments (£40 million), Performance Fund (£96 million) and Care Direct (£2.2 million). No other transfers are planned at this stage, although the situation will not be finalised until the provisional local government financial settlement. In each case, the Government are considering whether to adjust authorities' baselines for Formula Grant and for Formula Spending Shares.

Social Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget for social services in Lancashire was in each year since 1992. [134902]

The table shows the personal social services (PSS) budget figures for Lancashire county council, for each year since 1992–93. The figures include children's services.

Social services budgets—Lancashire county council—1992–93 to 2003–04
£ million
PSS budget
1992–93	132,406
1993–94	156,288
1994–95	182,308
1995–96	200,193
1996–97	216,873
1997–98	231,046
1998–99	191,062
1999–2000	199,798
2000–01	216,811
2001–02	231,741
2002–03	262,069
2003–04	289,932

Acetylcysteine

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the availability of Acetylcysteine on the NHS. [133094]

Acetylcysteine is available on the national health service as a prescription only medicine.

Cancer Services

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to improve waiting times from referral by a GP to treatment for cancer services. [133892]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: The NHS Cancer Plan sets out our strategy to reduce waiting times for cancer patients. A two-week outpatient waiting time standard was introduced in 2000 for all urgent general practitioner referrals of suspected cancer. In the last quarter—April to June 2003–98.5 per cent. of urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer were seen by a specialist within two weeks. By 2005, there will be targets of a maximum one month wait from diagnosis to treatment and a maximum two month wait from urgent GP referral to treatment for all cancers. Progress towards these targets is being achieved through increased investment, additional staffing levels, installing new radiotherapy and diagnostic facilities and streamlining care processes through the cancer services collaborative.

Cannabis

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the relationship between the incidence of psychosis and cannabis use. [134347]

The Department monitors research into the effects cannabis has on mental health on a continuous basis. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) published a report in March 2002—"The classification of cannabis under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971"—in which it described the range of harms caused by cannabis, including its known effects on mental health. There has been a lot of debate about the use of cannabis and whether it can lead to mental illness, especially schizophrenia. No clear causal link has been proven for the latter, although recent epidemiological research has shown a stronger association than previously evident. Cannabis use can unquestionably worsen existing schizophrenia (and other mental illnesses) and lead to relapse in some patients.In addition, on 29 September 2003, the Department published "Dangerousness of Drugs—a Guide to the Risks and Harms associated with Substance Misuse", which outlines the chronic and acute problems associated with a range of licit and illicit substances commonly used in the United Kingdom, including cannabis.

Chronic Diseases

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned into the proportion of health spending which will be needed for chronic diseases over the next 50 years. [133724]

The Department has not commissioned its own research into this. There is a growing body of research and evidence that highlights the increasing significance of chronic illness. The Department has work in progress looking at the future burden of diseases, including chronic illness, and exploring the implications for services and patients.

Community Health Councils

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent estimate is of the number of staff employed in community health councils in England at risk of redundancy; and what the potential liability for redundancy costs is. [134582]

We estimate that 380 staff of community health councils will be made redundant. The cost of redundancy is estimated at £12 million.

Dentistry

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many dentists were accepting national health service patients in (a) Stroud, (b) Gloucestershire and (c) England in (i) 1990, (ii) 1997 and (iii) the last year for which figures are available; [131495](2) how many dentists in

(a) Stroud and (b) Gloucestershire accept (i) national health service patients and (ii) only children as NHS patients; and how many are registered as private practices. [131496]

The table shows the number of practices providing general dental services (GDS) in England, Gloucestershire and Cotswold and Vale Primary Care Trust, which covers Stroud, at August 1990, August 1997 and August 2003.These figures exclude salaried dentists working in the general dental service, dentists working in community dental services, personal dental services and hospital dental services and dentists who do no national health service work. Information is not collected centrally on the number of dentists who practice solely privately but it is thought that the number of such dentists is around 2 per cent.

General dental service: number of dental practices at 31 August each year
Area	1990	¹1997	²2003
England	8,547	8,303	8,623
	—	—	—
Family Health Service Authority	—	—	—
Gloucestershire	97	—	—
	—	—	—
Health Authority	—	—	—
Gloucestershire	—	109	—
	—	—	—
Primary Care Trust	—	—	—
South Gloucestershire	—	—	30
Cheltenham and Tewkesbury	—	—	34
West Gloucestershire	—	—	31
Cotswold and Vale	—	—	36
¹ Following the move from family health service authority (FHSAs) to health authority (HAs) in 1996, results were published by HA rather than by FHSA.
² Following the move from health authority (HAs) to primary care trusts (PCTs) in 2001, results were published by strategic health authority (SHA) and PCT rather than by region and HA

Source:

Dental Practice Board

The number of practices accepting new NHS patients for registration at October 2003 is shown in the following table. The information is obtained from the www.nhs.uk website. This information is not available for earlier years.

Some people choose not to register with a GDS dentist and only visit the dentist when they require treatment on an occasional basis. Patients may also obtain treatment from other NHS dental services, including dental access centres.

NHS dental services: number of general dental service practices and personal dental service pilots accepting new patients for registration, 3 October 2003
Primary care trust	Registering charge exempt adults for NHS treatment	Registering charge paying adults for NHS treatment	Registering children aged 0 to 18 years for NHS treatment
England	3,471	3,124	4,340
Four Gloucestershire PCTs	12	7	12
Cotswold and Vale PCI	4	1	3

Source:

http://www.nhs.uk

Diabetes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure the continuity of supply of animal insulin for those diabetes sufferers who do not wish to use human insulin. [134245]

The Department is in regular contact with the companies supplying animal insulin in the United Kingdom. Both companies have confirmed that they will continue to supply animal insulin for the foreseeable future.

Long-Term Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about financing for care places in London in the next financial year. [134071]

There have been substantial increases in the level of funding provided for social services in London and across England in recent years which local councils can use to increase local provision or to rebalance the care home market and increase fee levels if that is what is needed. Independent researchers, Laing & Buisson recently published research on fees paid to independent sector providers, which shows that fees in the care home sector have increased nationally by an estimated 8 per cent. in 2002–03—well ahead of wages. This is clear independent evidence that care home fees are being increased.The revenue support grant for London boroughs reflects the higher costs of care in the capital, and this allows these boroughs to pay higher care home fees than local authorities in popular locations in the rest of the South East, especially on the border with London.Care homes face special challenges, such as high capital overheads, in London and this impacts on cost and availability. In order to meet these challenges London boroughs have developed a range of services to enable greater choice for older people. This is demonstrated by the fact that in London more people are receiving intensive home care packages than in any other region of the country.

Lung Disease

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the introduction of a national service framework on lung disease. [135180]

There are no plans for a national service framework (NSF) on lung disease. We are, however, taking steps to improve services for people with lung disease. The children's NSF will include childhood asthma as an exemplar condition. The NSF for chronic heart disease already has a reduction in cigarette smoking as one of its major targets. We have also banned tobacco advertising and made smoking reduction aids available on national health service prescription.Additionally we have asked the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to prepare guidelines for the management and diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We expect this guidance to be produced in 2004.

Ministerial Travel

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times since 2001 he has taken flights on departmental duties in the UK; how many of these were (a) charter flights, (b) first or club class and (c) by helicopter; and who accompanied him on each trip. [95389]

[pursuant to the answer, 12 February 2003, Official Report, c. 820W]: I regret that the previous response the hon. Member received was incorrect. The response should have read as follows:

"According to available information Ministers in the Department of Health made the following flights within the UK between 2001 and February 2003.

My right hon. Friend, the then Secretary of State (Mr. Milburn) made one business class return flight, three single business class flights and one single premium economy flight. He was accompanied by one private secretary and one special adviser on four occasions.

I made four business class return flights and two single business class flights. I was accompanied by one private secretary on three occasions.

My noble Friend, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath) made two return business class flights.

In her capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend, the Member for Salford (Ms Blears) made one business class return flight and six single business class flights. She was accompanied by one private secretary on three occasions.

In her capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, my hon. Friend, the Member for Salford (Ms Blears) made three business class return flights and six single business class flights. She was accompanied by one private secretary on two occasions.

In his capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy) made three business class return flights and two single business class flights. On four occasions he was accompanied by one private secretary and by two private secretaries on one occasion.

In her capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) made one business class return flight and was accompanied by one private secretary.

In his capacity as Minister of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Mr. Denham) made one business class return flight and was accompanied by one private secretary.

In her capacity as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) made one single business class flight.

All travel was undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Library."

Mmr Vaccine

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government have given to any manufacturer or supplier of (a) MMR and (b) MR vaccine (i) an indemnity, (ii) an undertaking and (iii) a letter of comfort in respect of claims or potential claims arising out of the use of such vaccines. [134581]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: No.

Pacemakers

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients received heart pacemakers in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement on the reliability of pacemakers. [134242]

Figures published in the National Pacemaker Database Annual Report for 2002 are shown in the table.

For the United Kingdom
	Total	New	Replacement
1998	23,366	18,674	4,692
1999	23,705	18,912	4,793
2000	24,916	19,439	5,477
2001	27,028	20,643	6,385
2002	25,397	19,154	6,243

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency considers the overall current reliability of pacemakers to be appropriate.

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to combat PXE; and if he will make a statement. [134999]

[holding answer 28 October 2003]: Specialised genetics services may play a role in the diagnosis of Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), and in giving advice to families about inheritance of the disease. As a result of the genetics White Paper and earlier commitments, the Government are investing substantially in genetics services.

Smog

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what his latest estimate is of the (a) mortality and (b) morbidity caused by smog in the UK; [133281](2) what research he has commissioned on the effects on human health caused by the emission of oxides of nitrogen from conventionally powered vehicles. [133282]

The Department of Health has commissioned several research projects on the health effects of nitrogen dioxide. These include research on the interaction between nitrogen dioxide and allergens in asthmatic volunteers; research on nitrogen dioxide and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; research on the impact of the 1991 nitrogen dioxide episode; research on the health effects of exposure to traffic; general air pollution projects which include nitrogen dioxide and some literature review projects. A full list of the air pollution research projects funded by the Department of Health is given on the air pollution website www.doh.gov.uk/airpollution/index.htm. The Executive Summary of a review of results of the air pollution research programme is available at www.le.ac.uk/ieh/pdf/sr4execsum.pdf.The Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) has reported that, in 1995–96, air pollution in Great Britain was associated with deaths brought forward in those already ill and respiratory hospital admissions as shown in the following tables.

Numbers of deaths and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases affected per year by PM₁₀ (particulate matter generally less than 10 (m in diameter) and sulphur dioxide in urban areas of Great Britain
Pollutant	Health outcomes	GB urban
PM₁₀	Deaths brought forward (all cause)	8,100
	Hospital admissions (respiratory) brought forward and additional	10,500
S0₂	Deaths brought forward (all cause)	3,500
	Hospital admissions (respiratory) brought forward and additional	3,500

Numbers of deaths and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases affected per year by ozone in both urban and rural areas of Great Britain during summer only
		GB, threshold	GB, threshold
Pollutant	Health outcomes	= 50 ppb	= 0 ppb
Ozone	Deaths brought forward:	700	12,500
	all causes
	Hospital admissions	500	9,900
	(respiratory) brought
	forward or additional

Source:

COMEAP(1998)

Since that time, pollution levels have reduced but COMEAP has concluded that a wider range of outcomes (such as cardiovascular admissions and loss of life expectancy due to long-term exposure) can be quantified. COMEAP will be producing a report updating the above estimates starting in 2004.

Environment

Us Reserve Fleet (Decommissioning)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment. Food and Rural Affairs what discussions, between which individuals, have taken place between the Government and the US Administration in respect of the ships from the US Reserve Fleet intended for dismantling in the UK. [133364]

[holding answer 21 October 2003]: There have been discussions between officials in the Department, the Department for Transport, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, and the Environment Agency, and their counterparts in the US State Department, the US Marine Administration and the US Environmental Protection Agency. These discussions covered a range of issues including the safe transportation of the vessels across the Atlantic, the environmentally sound management of wastes arising from the dismantling of the vessels, and the authorisations and notifications necessary to undertake these operations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact on the marine environment of the Tees estuary of the planned dismantling of ships from the US Reserve Fleet. [133365]

[holding answer 21 October 2003]: An assessment was made, by the Environment Agency in combination with other regulatory bodies, regarding modification of the waste management licence for the facility where the dismantling will take place. The assessment satisfied the Agency that the planned operations at the site would be unlikely to have a significant effect on the Tees estuary or the Teesmouth and Cleveland Special Protection Area. Other applications for permissions and consents relating to this case are subject to appropriate scrutiny by the relevant authorities.

Abandoned Cars

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to deal with the problem of abandoned cars. [134348]

Defra is working closely with other Government Departments on a range of initiatives to tackle the problem of abandoned vehicles.Our role in this has included introducing, on 9 April 2002, regulations reducing the statutory notice period after which local authorities can remove abandoned vehicles from the highway. Local authorities can now remove from the highway those vehicles that they consider merit destruction after the expiry of a 24 hour notice placed on them.We have now consulted on a proposal to reduce the statutory notice period whereby a landowner can object to the removal of a vehicle(s) abandoned on their land. The consultation closed on 24 October. Depending on the outcome of the consultation, we may introduce a regulation in the new year to amend the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986.

Climate Change

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the impact of climate change on low lying coastal areas; and if she will make a statement. [134248]

The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) was set up in April 1997 and is funded by Defra. In April 2002, a set of scenarios, referred to as the UKCIP02 scenarios, were published. These scenarios cover four potential future UK climates based on a range of emission scenarios: low, medium-low, medium-high and high.Overall, the report concludes that is is likely that relative sea level will continue to rise around most of the UK's shoreline. The rate of increase will depend on the natural vertical land movements in each region and on the emissions scenario. By the 2080s, the sea level may be between 26 cm and 86 cm above the current level in south-east England.The report also concludes that extreme sea levels will be experienced more frequently. For some east coast locations, extreme sea levels could occur between 10 and 20 times more frequently by the 2080s than they do now, under the medium-high emissions scenario.The Defra publication, "Flood and Coastal Defence Project Appraisal Guidance 3: Economic Appraisal", advises operating authorities to assume an increase in sea level of between 4 mm and 6 mm per year, where the higher level applies to the south and east of England. These allowances have been built into FM measures since the mid 1980s.

Eu Shellfish Directive

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regulatory impact assessment has been carried out to establish the likely costs to (a) water companies, (b) other companies, (c) local authorities and (d) the Environment Agency arising from the implementation of the EU Shellfish Directive. [133110]

A Regulatory Impact Assessment was prepared for the major review of designated waters under the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EEC) announced in 1999. It showed (a) costs to water companies in England estimated at £81 million, (b) no costs identified at the time to other companies and (c) no costs to local authorities. Costs to the Environment Agency are taken into account in their grant received from Defra and are in the region of £320,000 for 2003–04. Costs to water companies of possible further measures are being assessed as part of the current periodic review of water prices.

Fly-Tipping

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the use of fixed penalty notices to deter fly-tipping. [133103]

Company	Type of GMO	Site of release	Ordnance Survey grid reference	Consent reference
Acambis Research Ltd.	GM bacterium	St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London	TQ 346 816	02/R35/1
Acambis Research Ltd	GM bacterium	Chiltern Clinical Research Unit, Slough, Berkshire	SU 983 793	03/R35/2
Acambis Research Ltd.	GM bacterium	St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London	TQ 346 816	03/R35/3
MicroScience Ltd.	GM bacterium	St. Georges Hospital Medical School, London	TQ 269 712	02/R37/01
MicroScience Ltd.	GM bacterium	BIBRA International Ltd., Carshalton, Surrey	TQ 275 621	02/R37/02

Hazardous Waste

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the circumstances under which the Environment Agency treats the movement of waste as an unacceptable risk to public health. [134451]

Because fly-tipping is a serious offence, it attracts penalties of up to £20,000 or six months imprisonment if convicted in a Magistrates' Court, or an unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment if convicted in a Crown Court. Fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping are not being considered as it could give a confusing message as to the seriousness of the offence.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent research she has commissioned into fly-tipping; and if she will make a statement. [133104]

Environmental Campaigns (ENCAMS), a Defra sponsored organisation, recently carried out a study to provide in formation on fly-tipping. The report is available from the ENCAMS website (http://www.encams.org).The Environment Agency have also conducted some research which has considered the types and volumes of waste illegally deposited on agricultural land. Details of this report will be published soon.Defra are currently developing an comprehensive research project to collect data on the causes of fly-tipping, an analysis of types and locations of fly-tipped waste, consideration of how fly-tipping might best be prevented and the effect that various waste management policies, both national and local, are having and will have on fly-tipping levels. Results should be available late next year.

Gm Organisms

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list National Grid references of trial sites where genetically modified organisms are being released into the environment under directive 2001/18/EC. [134707]

There are currently five active consents allowing companies to undertake clinical trials of GM bacteria for the development of vaccines in England. The sites of each release are set out in the following table. There are currently no field trials of genetically modified crops taking place in the UK.

Establishments or undertakings which transport waste on a professional basis in England and Wales, are required to be registered with the Environment Agency. Carriers of waste are also subject to the duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Both these sets of controls are designed to minimise the risk to the environment and human health.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Landfill Directive which will come into force in July 2004, with reference to existing potentially toxic landfills awaiting remediation. [134452]

Under the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002, which implement the technical and regulatory components of the Landfill Directive, all hazardous waste as defined in the regulations will require treatment prior to landfill from 16 July 2004. From that date, co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste will be banned, except in certain specific circumstances. The Environment Agency is undertaking a permitting exercise that will bring all currently operating landfill sites, including hazardous waste sites, within the Pollution Protection and Control permit system. This will make the more stringent controls contained in the Landfill Directive a requirement for operating a landfill site in England and Wales.

Kirby Report

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's response to the Kirby Report on remediation permits. [132664]

The recommendations of the report "Remediation Permit—Towards a single regeneration licence" are being considered, and where appropriate, being taken forward in my Department's review of Waste Permitting. Informal consultation is currently taking place. A formal consultation on draft regulations is expected early next year. A formal response to the report will be prepared following that consultation exercise.

Livestock Support Payments

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the impact on British agriculture of decoupling carried out (a) on an historic basis and (b) on the basis of regional averages. [132661]

We are currently consulting stakeholders on whether the historic or area model of the new Single Payments Scheme should be operated in England. Responses to that exercise will help develop our understanding of the range of environmental, social and economic impacts of each of the models including the impact on the agriculture industry and its constituent parts. An assessment has been made of the impact of each model on the distribution of CAP direct aid payments. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Treasury

Company Finance Market

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales regarding the effectiveness of the company finance market. [135071]

The Government issued a consultation document alongside Budget 2003 called "Bridging the Finance Gap: a Consultation on Improving Access to Growth Capital for Small Businesses". The consultation explored a wide range of issues concerning the ability of firms, and in particular, small and high-growth firms, to raise the finance that they need in the market. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) were one of many interested parties who responded to the consultation. The Government are currently considering the responses that it has received from the consultation and will respond in due course.Additionally, ICAEW is represented on an advisory group, established in Budget 2003, which is examining the role of accountants and other financial intermediaries in providing advice to firms about the financing options available to them. The group is expected to report to the Government next month.

Company Tax (Eu Harmonisation)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans the EU has for the harmonisation of company tax within the EU. [134319]

The Government's view is that fair tax competition is the way forward for Europe, not proposals for tax harmonisation. The Government will not support any action at European level that will threaten jobs or the competitive position of British business.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans the EU has to combat (a) fraud and (b) evasion in company taxes. [134318]

The ED is considering a draft proposal to amend and update the Directive on Mutual Assistance (77/799/EEC), the objective of which is to improve the functioning of procedures so as to enable Member States to deal more effectively with cross-border tax evasion and avoidance. I submitted an Explanatory Memorandum to the European Scrutiny Committee on 10 September 2003.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (1) how he defines administrative co-operation in the draft EU constitution Article III-63 on company taxation; [134308](2) how he defines combating tax fraud and tax evasion in Article III—63 of the draft EU Constitution. [134320]

The draft EU Constitutional Treaty proposed by the Convention on the Future of Europe does not contain definitions of these terms. Any changes to the provisions of the existing EU Treaties, including those in Article HI-63 of the draft Treaty, require the unanimous agreement of all Member States. The Government has made it clear in its White Paper "The British Approach to the European Union Intergovernmental Conference 2003" that it will insist that tax matters continue to be decided by unanimity.

Departmental Employees

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees of the Treasury there were in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [135303]

I refer the hon. Member to the staffing figures published in the annual publication 'Civil Service Statistics' which covers permanent staff numbers (FTE basis). Copies of the publication are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. The last edition, with updates based on April 2001 data was published in June 2002.Alternatively, this information is available at the following address on the Cabinet Office website: http://www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics/css.htm.

Eds

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list payments made by (a) HM Treasury, (b) Customs and Excise and (c) the Inland Revenue to EDS in each of the last five financial years; and if he will make a statement. [134225]

The payments made to EDS in each of the last five financial years were as follows:

(a) HM Treasury

No payments made because HM Treasury has no commercial relationship with EDS.

(b)Customs and Excise

Customs and Excise Customs and Excise only have one contract with EDS through a framework contract signed on 5 July 2002.

The payments made to EDS were:

£ million
2002–2003	1.00
2003¹	1.21
¹ To date

Both figures were exclusive of VAT.

(c)Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue has a contract with EDS to supply IT services to the Department. The payments made during the last five financial years were:

	£million
1998–1999	208.4
1999–2000	252.3
2000–2001	247.0
2001–2002	299.1
2002–2003	331.9

These figures exclude VAT and payments in respect of capital purchases.

Eileen Tully Ruling

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with representatives of the Valuation Office Agency regarding the implications of the ruling in favour of Mrs. Eileen Tully against the Inland Revenue. [134501]

No discussions have taken place because of the very limited circumstances in which the Tully decision will have an effect elsewhere. The case was determined on the specific facts of the particular case.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the loss in potential revenue resulting from the ruling in favour of Mrs. Eileen Tully against the Inland Revenue. [134502]

No estimate of any potential loss of revenue has been made as a result of Mrs. Tully's Lands Tribunal decision.

Energy Useage

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) electricity and (b) other energy his Department has used in each year since 1997 (i) in total and (ii) per square metre; what the projected use is for each of the following years for which forecasts are made; what plans he has to reduce usage; and if he will make a statement. [135061]

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the right hon. Member for Suffolk, South (Mr. Yeo) on 30 April 2003, Official Report, column 373W. The Chancellor's Departments will continue to ensure that they minimise energy spend/consumption while still meeting business needs. The Departments remain fully committed to meeting the challenging demands of the Government's Framework Targets.

Income Tax

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost would be of reducing the starting rate of tax to (a) five per cent. and (b) nought per cent.for those earning less per annum that (i) £5,000, (ii) £10,000, (iii) £15,000, (iv) £20,000, (v) £25,000 and (vi) £30,500 assuming that the starting rate continues to apply to the first £1,960 of taxable income. [133177]

[holding answer 29 November 2003]: Estimates are given in the table.

Cost of reducing the starting rate of tax¹ (in £ billion)	Starting rate in 2003–04
Cost of reducing the starting rate of tax¹ (in £ billion)	(a) Five per cent.	(b) nought per cent.
Total income per annum less than:
(i) £5,000	Negligible	Negligible
(ii) £10,000	0.6	1.1
(iii) £15,000	1.2	2.4
(iv) £20,000	1.7	3.3
(v) £23,000	2.0	4.1
(vi) £30,500	2.3	4.6
¹ Excludes dividends income at the starting rate

The estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes 2000–01 and are consistent with the April 2003 Budget.The figures exclude any estimates of behavioural response to the change.

Pay Statistics

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the average weekly gross pay (a) including and (b) excluding overtime for full-time workers in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain for (A) all manual, (B) all non-manual and (C) all workers in the last year for which figures are available. [134578]

The information requested falls within the responsibility National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 29 October 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the average weekly gross pay (a) including and (b) excluding overtime for full-time workers in (i) Scotland (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain for all workers. (134578)

The attached tables show the average gross weekly gross pay (a) including and (b) excluding overtime for full-time workers in (i) Scotland (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain for all workers.

The tables do not include estimates for manual and non-manual employees separately. This is because the data have been coded on the Standard Occupational Classification 2000 which does not differentiate between manual and non-manual employees. An alternative to the manual and non-manual separation can be derived from the New Earnings Survey (NES), based on the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC). However, the two classification methods do produce different results and, to avoid misunderstanding, tables based on the NS-SEC will not be used to substitute for manual and non-manual employees in publications. Hence there is no data based on the manual and non-manual separation.

The NES publication criteria state that all estimates with a sample number less than 30 or a relative standard error greater than 5 per cent. must be suppressed. A large number of estimates have been removed from the lists due to the suppression criteria. The information is based on the 2003 NES, the latest survey for which data are available, providing earnings data for April 2003.

Averge weekly earnings including overtime, all employees, April 2003
£
Area	Average earnings
Great Britain	475.8
Scotland	436.8
Scottish Unitary Authorities
Aberdeen City	524.7
Aberdeenshire	422.2
Angus	398.3
Argyll and Bute	381.2
Scottish Borders, The	355.6
Clackmannanshire	¹—
Dumfries and Galloway	381.6
Dundee City	436.8
East Ayrshire	425.7
East Dunbartonshire	¹—
East Lothian	394.8
East Renfrewshire	¹—
Edinburgh, City of	467.0
Falkirk	412.9
Fife	409.7
Glasgow City	437.9
Highland	419.6
Inverclyde	379.7
Midlothian	409.1
Moray	¹—
North Ayrshire	409.3
North Lanarkshire	444.1
Orkney Islands	¹—
Perth and Kinross	405.5
Renfrewshire	439.7

Average weekly earnings including overtime, all employees, April 2003
	£
Area	Average earnings
Shetland Islands	¹—
South Ayrshire	442.5
South Lanarkshire	421.8
Stirling	429.8
West Dunbartonshire	¹—
West Lothian	423.0
Western Isles	¹—
¹ Data have been suppressed due to small sample size or high relative standard error.

Average weekly earnings excluding overtime, all employees, April 2003
	£
Area	Average earnings
Great Britain	457.4
Scotland	417.3
Scottish Unitary Authorities
Aberdeen City	502.6
Aberdeenshire	390.8
Angus	371.6
Argyll and Bute	358.2
Scottish Borders, The	340.9
Clackmannanshire	¹—
Dumfries and Galloway	363.0
Dundee City	420.6
East Ayrshire	402.5
East Dunbartonshire	¹—
East Lothian	377.4
East Renfrewshire	¹—
Edinburgh, City of	455.0
Falkirk	388.9
Fife	387.9
Glasgow City	420.3
Highland	401.1
Inverclyde	366.6
Midlothian	394.1
Moray	344.7
North Ayrshire	394.1
North Lanarkshire	416.4
Orkney Islands	¹—
Perth and Kinross	389.8
Renfrewshire	419.6
Shetland Islands	¹—
South Ayrshire	419.8
South Lanarkshire	405.0
Stirling	403.9
West Dunbartonshire	¹—
West Lothian	394.9
Western Isles	¹—
¹ Data have been suppressed due to small sample size or high relative standard error

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain earned gross pay less than (i) £287.93 per week, (ii) £215.95 per week and (iii) £159.60 per week for the categories (A) male manual, (B) male non-manual, (C) all male, (D) female manual, (E) female non-manual, (F) all female, (G) all manual, (H) all non-manual and (I) all workers, (1) including and (2) excluding overtime in the last period for which figures are available. [134579]

The information requested falls within the responsibility National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 29 October 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the percentage of full-time workers who earned gross pay beneath various thresholds in Great Britain, Scotland, and the unitary authorities in Scotland. (134579)

I am placing in the House of Commons Library, six tables showing the percentage of full-time workers in (a) Scotland (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain who earned gross pay less than (i) £287.93 (ii) £215.95 and (iii) £159.60 per week for (A) male workers (B) female workers and (C) all workers, (1) including and (2) excluding overtime.

The tables do not include estimates for manual and non-manual employees separately. This is because the data have been coded on the Standard Occupational Classification 2000 which does not differentiate between manual and non-manual employees. An alternative to the manual and non-manual separation can be derived from the New Earnings Survey (NES), based on the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC). However, the two classification methods do produce different results and, to avoid misunderstanding, tables based on the NS-SEC will not be used to substitute for manual and non-manual employees in publications. Hence there is no data based on the manual and non-manual separation.

There are no data available for each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland for full-time workers who earned gross pay less than £159.60 per week including and excluding overtime due to our publication criteria.

This is a result of the New Earnings Survey publication criteria, which state that all estimates with a sample number less than 30 or a relative standard error greater than 5 per cent. must be suppressed. A large number of estimates have been removed from the lists due to the suppression criteria. The information is based on the 2003 NES, the latest survey for which data are available, providing earnings data for April 2003.

Performance And Innovation Fund

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the budget of the Performance and Innovation Fund was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [134226]

There is no Performance and Innovation fund. However, the Policy Innovation Fund was established in the 2000 Spending Review and the first year in which allocations were made was 2001–02. The budget for the years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 was £50 million per annum.

Stamp Duty

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to increase stamp duty on homes. [134416]

Stamp duty on house purchases will be replaced by stamp duty land tax from 1 December, but the rates for residential property purchases will be the same. Changes to the tax system are announced by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.

Tax Credits

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what statutory authority he is seeking to recover overpayments of tax credits within the current financial year (a) in cases of official error and (b) in other cases. [134995]

Section 28(5) Tax Credits Act 2002 deals with cases where it appears likely that an overpayment of tax credits under an award will arise for a tax year. It enables the Inland Revenue to amend that award, or any other award of tax credit to the claimant(s), with a view to reducing or eliminating the likely overpayment.Section 28(6) covers cases where a tax credits award is terminated on the grounds that those who had claimed had never, during the period of the award, been entitled to tax credits. In these cases, the amount paid under the award may be recovered as though it were an overpayment of tax credits identified at the year end.

Uk Debt

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total amount of debt owed to the UK by other countries was in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by country. [134726]

Most of the debt owed by sovereign Governments to the UK Government arises from defaults on export contracts guaranteed by the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD). Such debts usually become the subject of Bilateral Debt Agreements entered into under the auspices of the Paris Club of official creditors. Table 1 shows the debt owed to the UK Government as at 30 September 2003 under Paris Club Arrangements.In addition to debt rescheduled in the Paris Club, ECGD holds unrecovered claims on a number of countries, by far the largest of which is Iraq, where ECGD has unrecovered claims of approximately £620 million.The UK Government has already announced its commitment to providing 100 per cent. irrevocable debt relief for all countries eligible for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) upon their reaching Completion Point. In addition, for eligible HIPC countries yet to reach Decision Point, the UK does not ask for, or expect to receive, payments. Any debt payments that are made are held in trust until they can be returned to fund poverty reduction.The debts of Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda were all cancelled when they reached the HIPC Completion Point.The Department for International Development (DfID) no longer provides aid loans to low income countries. However, Table 2 shows the outstanding debt owed to DFID as of 31 March 2003 from loans made in previous years. In 1978, the Government cancelled nearly all of its aid debts to low-income countries, which were worth £1.2 billion. In September 1997, the Government launched the Commonwealth Debt Initiative (CDI). Under the CDI, the Government announced that it was willing to cancel the remaining aid debts, worth £132 million, of those poorer (lower-middle income) Commonwealth countries who were committed to the Millennium Development Goals, who were following sound economic policies, who promoted accountable and transparent governance and who were bearing down on corruption. To date, 12 countries have benefited from this initiative.

Table 1—total amounts outstanding on Paris club agreements as at 30 September 2003
£ million
Market	Total owed as at 30/09/03
Algeria	145.093
Angola	130.409
Argentina	35.533
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.562
Brazil	274.543
Cameroon¹	64.098
Central African Republic	0.361
Congo	159.842
Cote D'Ivoire	18.898
Croatia	61.524
Cuba	97.110
Democratic Republic of Congo¹	75.267
Ecuador	65.761
Egypt	151.92
Ethiopia¹	11.76
Gabon	139.784
Ghana¹	27.745
Guinea Republic¹	3.887
Guyana¹	35.709
Indonesia	785.053
Jamaica	1.497
Jordan	402.51
Kenya	18.856
Liberia	20.594
Macedonia	3.742
Madagascar¹	27.179
Malawi¹	0.391
Morocco	25.255
Nicaragua¹	0.991
Niger¹	8.232
Nigeria	4.494.293
Pakistan	9.145
Peru	124.814
Philippines	11.146
Poland	789.497
Russia	736.587
Senegal¹	1.419
Serbia and Montenegro	306.876
Sierra Leone¹	3.509
Somalia	31.897
Sudan	580.824
Togo	19.359
Vietnam	10.105
Zambia¹	174.396
Totals	10,008.973
¹ Decision point HIPC

Note:

Total owed includes principal and interest including any arrears.

Table 2—Outstanding debt owed to the Department for International Development as at 31 March 2003
£
Country	Amount
Brazil	954,852.21
Cayman Island	99.70
Columbia	69,067.19
Costa Rica	174,886.14
Cyprus	59,374.00
Ecuador	7,418,148.69
Egypt	1,737,760.81
Ghana	2,736,275.01

Table 2—Outstanding debt owed to the Department for International Development as at 31 March 2003
£
Country	Amount
Guyana	16,941,962.08
Honduras	746,666.72
Ivory Coast	1,264,777.00
Jordan	14,057,480.78
Malaysia	815,159.31
Mozambique	67,500.00
Nicaragua	398,200.00
Nigeria	4,233,084.04
Paraguay	821,148.00
Peru	4,633,373.96
Philippines	1,006,985.25
Senegal	48,329.67
Seychelles	7,885,673.72
St Kitts	2,734,970
Turkey	9,636,553.52
Zambia	23,115,320.27
Zimbabwe	9,229,420.70
Total	110,787,068.77

Trade And Industry

Inward Investment (North-West)

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs were created in each year since 1992 in the north-west as a result of inward investment. [134896]

The figures in the table are based on information provided by inward investment companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. They are based on the companies' best estimate, at that time, of the number of new jobs associated with each investment.There is no requirement on companies to notify inward investment decisions to Invest UK and so the figures include only those projects where Invest UK and/ or North West Development Agency were involved or which have come to their notice.

	Number of new jobs
1992–93	1,012
1993–94	1,927
1994–95	1,986
1995–96	3,622
1996–97	1,556
1997–98	4,944
1998–99	3,224
1999–2000	4,768
2000–01	3,187
2001–02	1,987
2002–03	7,486

Arms Exports

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 6 October 2003, Official Report, column 1068W, whether the Government's proposals on transportation of small arms comply with Clause 11.14 of the Programme. [135101]

The new controls that the Government will be introducing on trafficking and brokering are fully consistent with the United Nations Programme on Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

Bae Systems

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received on BAE Systems relocation of its regional aircraft business to Ayrshire; what funding her Department has provided to BAE Systems plant at Prestwick for employment relocation and creation; and if she will make a statement. [134011]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, has received one representation on BAE Systems' relocation of its new regional aircraft business to Prestwick in Ayrshire.The Department of Trade and Industry has provided no funding to BAE Systems' plant in Prestwick. However, following the company's decision to cease regional aircraft production, the Scottish Executive, having consulted with DTI, offered BAE Systems £2.4 million in Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) to support the consolidation of their Regional Aircraft Support Centre at Prestwick.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of (a) the impact of BAE Systems' decision to relocate regional aircraft production from its Woodford Aerodrome in the North West to Prestwick on employment opportunities in the North West of England and (b) the future viability of the aerospace industry in the North West. [134012]

The Department's understanding is that BAE Systems Regional Aircraft has not relocated regional aircraft production from Woodford in the North West to Prestwick in Ayrshire as, with the cancellation of the Avro RJX, the company took the decision in November 2001 to cease all further regional aircraft production activities. A number of different locations were considered before BAE Systems Regional Aircraft decided to place its new Regional Aircraft business, focusing on customer support, engineering and management support, in Prestwick.As regards the future viability of the aerospace industry in the North West, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, established the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team (AeIGT) in May 2002 to produce a 20-year vision for the future of the aerospace industry across the whole of the UK, including the North West of England, and to make recommendations as to how to make that vision a reality. Over 140 senior representatives of aerospace companies, Government Departments and trade unions, as well as universities and research bodies, have been involved. Work is now proceeding on the implementation of the AeIGT's recommendations and a wide range of stakeholders are involved in producing plans to achieve this, both nationally and at local level. The Chairman of the North West Regional Development Agency is a member of the AeIGT and has been, and continues to be, closely involved in its work.

Chemicals

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the European Commission's draft proposals for the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals; and what assessment her Department has made of the likely impact of the proposals on the chemicals industry. [132860]

The UK Government fully support the objectives set out in the Commission's White Paper on the new EU Chemicals Strategy. Following the Commission's consultations on draft legislative proposals in May to July this year, the Commission has indicated its intention of making a number of changes to the proposals. The Government welcome any changes intended to make the proposals more effective and workable, and will be considering the revised proposals in consultation with stakeholders. Once adopted, the Government will carry out a separate UK consultation, and that will be accompanied by a regulatory impact assessment.

Defence Export Licences

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in how many cases where a defence export licence was revoked in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 a defence export licence was subsequently granted to allow the export of the same items to an alternate destination. [134600]

This information is not readily available and would require both a computer and manual search of all records for the three years in question to determine whether there are identical matches and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Electricity Supply

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with National Grid Transco about the maintenance of the network, following the power cuts in August; and if she will make a statement. [134044]

[holding answer 23 October 2003]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has not personally spoken with National Grid Transco on this issue—however she is being kept fully appraised of developments. I have spoken on a number of occasions with the CEO of NGT concerning the August power cuts.To ensure that all the facts have been assembled about these incidents, and that the appropriate lessons learnt for the future, the Government in conjunction with the Regulator—Ofgem, commissioned a report employing independent consultants. DTI's Engineering Inspectorate is also investigating the circumstances around the power interruptions.

Employment Tribunals

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employment tribunal cases there were in (a) south Tyneside, (b) Tyne and Wear, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [134858]

The following table shows the number of tribunal applications registered by the Employment Tribunals Service in the UK since 1997. Statistical information for the geographical areas of south Tyneside, Tyne and Wear and the north-east is not readily accessible and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

	Registered tribunal applications
2002–03	98,617
2001–02	112,227
2000–01	130,408
1999–2000	103,935
1998–99	91,913
1997–98	80,435
1996–97	88,910

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average amount of an employment tribunal cost award was in (a) south Tyneside, (b) Tyne and Wear, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [134859]

The following table shows the average amount of an employment tribunal cost award in the UK since 1997. We are unable to supply the average amount of an employment tribunal cost award for south Tyneside, Tyne and Wear and the north-east.

£
	Average cost award
2002–03	1,524
2001–02	983
2000–01	295
1999–2000	1,155
1998–99	743
1997–98	546

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average award for compensation in employment tribunal cases has been in (a) south Tyneside, (b) Tyne and Wear, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [134860]

The Employment Tribunals Service only collects compensation statistics for tribunal cases covering the jurisdictions of unfair dismissal, race discrimination, sex discrimination and disability discrimination. Therefore, the figures quoted in the following table illustrate the average award for compensation in employment tribunal cases for the UK since 1997 in relation to the aforementioned complaints. We are unable to supply separate information for south Tyneside, Tyne and Wear and the north-east.

£
	Average compensation award
2002–03	7,598
2001–02	7,306
2000–01	5,764
1999–2000	5,734
1998–99	4,449
1997–98	4,894

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employment tribunal cost awards have been made against (a) respondents and (b) applicants in (i) south Tyneside, (ii) Tyne and Wear, (iii) the north-east and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997. [134861]

The following table illustrates how many employment tribunal cost awards have been made against respondents and applicants in the UK in the last two financial years. The Employment Tribunals Service did not breakdown the statistics for applicants and respondents prior to 2001–02. We are unable to supply information for south Tyneside, Tyne and Wear and the north-east.

	Costs awards against respondent	Costs awards against applicant
2002–03	307	691
2001–02	169	467

Energy Production

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average cost of producing electricity through (a) nuclear, (b) coal, (c) gas, (d) wind and (e) other renewable sources was; and what the average price paid by suppliers for electricity from each of the above generators was in the last year for which figures are available. [135001]

[holding answer 28 October 2003]: This information is a commercial matter for the electricity generators and suppliers. Some indicative information on potential future prices for renewable sources, and for electricity produced from nuclear sources is given in "The Energy Review, a Performance and Innovation Unit Report, February 2002" available at www.number-10.gov.uk/su/energy/ 1.html, and in the "Long-Term Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the UK" report prepared by an Inter-departmental Analysts Group, available at www.dti.gov.uk/energy/greenhousegas/index.shtml. Both reports are available in the Libraries of the House.

Export Controls

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 6 October 2003, Official Report, column 1068W, on export controls, what her reasons are for concluding that it would be impractical to maintain a register of arms brokers. [135099]

The Government have already made clear that it proposes to register information on all those applying for licences, both for exports and for arms trafficking and brokering activities, thus creating a database available to be used for licensing and enforcement purposes, including as appropriate on an international basis. In addition, users of Open General Licences have to register to use the licence.The Government believe that licence applications should be scrutinised on a case-by-case basis, with regard primarily to the nature of the transaction in question. Scrutiny and approval of individual transactions to areas of concern achieves a greater measure of control than simply a general assessment of companies' or individuals' reputation.

Industrial And Provident Societies

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what consideration was given in the company law review to bringing the audit requirements for industrial and provident societies in line with those of registered companies; [135114](2) what consideration was given in the company law review to amending the requirement that obliges industrial and provident societies wanting to publish interim accounts to undertake a full audit. [135131]

The remit of the company law review did not extend to industrial and provident societies.The Treasury will consider the modernisation of industrial and provident society legislation in the light of the proposed reform of company law.

Insurance Premiums

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her assessment of the impact of insurance premium levels on the (a) construction, (b) manufacturing and (c) farming sectors of the economy. [134866]

Government have encouraged the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) to work with business bodies and Trade Associations towards improving the availability of affordable cover. Since the publication of the Government interim report in June 2003, the ABI and BIBA have published a statement of good practice, making a commitment to provide at least 21 days' notice of their renewal terms for all policies, starting from 1 November 2003.

Mr Ashley Jenkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects to hold an investigation into the activity of Mr. Ashley Jenkins whose company assets were frozen on 2 October; what representations she has received about this case; and if she will make a statement. [134253]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: Inquiries under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985 into the affairs of Ashley Jenkins Ltd. and Ashley Jenkins SL, a company registered in Spain, were undertaken by officials of the Department's Companies Investigations Branch. The investigation's findings resulted in the presentation of a public interest winding-up petition, on 2 October, the High Court appointing the Official Receiver as Provisional Liquidator of both companies, pending the hearing of the petition on 14 January 2004.The Official Receiver's duties as Provisional Liquidator include the preservation and protection of both companies' assets and financial records.In view of the fact that this matter remains before the High Court it would be inappropriate for me to comment further about the affairs of the Ashley Jenkins companies.

Outsourcing

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she is taking to persuade companies to maintain jobs in the UK rather than outsource abroad. [134438]

As companies in the UK are operating in an increasingly competitive, global marketplace, they must have the freedom to choose where to locate in order to maximise their competitive advantage. If we chose to operate a protectionist approach, we would run the risk of forcing companies to locate completely out of the UK. This would not be to our long term economic benefit.We will continue to create a stable, competitive environment in the UK. Our long term economic interest will be based on our ability to innovate to produce high value- added goods and services which need a highly skilled workforce, high calibre managers, forward looking unions and knowledgeable consumers.

Red Tape

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to reduce the regulatory burden on small and medium-sized firms. [134440]

Among the measures taken by the Government to cut red tape are:

cutting form-filling for 700,000 small businesses with our new flat rate VAT scheme;

abolishing automatic penalties for late filing of VAT and giving UK businesses the best VAT threshold in Europe;

cutting the number of regulations passed by Parliament in the past year by 793;

cutting the time and bureaucracy it takes to set up a business from 28 separate licences, certificates and registrations in some cases ten years ago to less than a day now, costing under £10, while in the EU on average it takes four weeks to set up a new business and costs over £600.

These measures and others have established the UK in the top three countries for low levels of red tape, favourable tax regime, flexible labour markets, open financing systems and modern infrastructure, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit/Apax Partners survey of 60 countries.British Gas's latest survey of business managers concludes that they are spending considerably less time dealing with red tape and non-core activities. 2.4 million SMEs have been created since 1997, including an estimated 1,690 in the hon. Member's constituency.

We are seeking further improvements through Regulatory Impact Assessments, 'Think Small First' and Small Business Europe which promotes better regulation.

Small Businesses

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent research she has commissioned on the administrative burden on small businesses. [134949]

The Small Business Service, an executive agency of the DTI, commissioned the Small Business Survey 2003 in June 2003, to understand the concerns of small and medium-sized businesses. It has several questions on the administrative burden of small businesses, including how much time small and medium-sized enterprises spend each week on paperwork relating to complying with Government regulations and taxes.

State Aid

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on which occasions since 1997 the Government have made representations to the EC regarding state aid by another member state. [133885]

[holding answer 23 October 2003]: No register of interventions is held. Representations can be made in response to notices published in the Official Journal in accordance with Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty; or in cases before the European Court of Justice where it appears appropriate and in UK interests; or on behalf of UK businesses who raise concerns.

World Trade Organisation (Cancun)

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals she will make to the World Trade Organisation on improving the logistics and organisation at WTO conferences after Cancun. [135127]

We are currently discussing potential proposals in this area with other EU member states and with the commission. We are also in contact with the consultative group established by the Director General of the WTO, which we expect to produce recommendations in the course of next year.

Transport

Air Travel (Compensation)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his Answer of 21 October 2003, Official Report, column 472W, on air travel (compensation), (1) if his Department will produce a partial regulatory impact assessment; and if he will place a copy in the Library; [135040](2) if it is the policy of his Department to comply with the Cabinet Office guidance on regulatory impact assessment; and if it is being complied with in this case. [135041]

A partial regulatory impact assessment on the proposed Regulation was prepared at an early stage, and has been periodically updated to reflect changes made to the original text as work on the proposal has progressed. The latest version reflects the Council's common position of 11 March 2003. However, following the recent conciliation process between the Council and the European Parliament, a number of amendments to the common position have been agreed and the regulatory impact assessment will need to be modified accordingly. On receipt of the final text of the Regulation we will be in a position to complete our assessment and, in due course, place a copy in the Libraries of the House.

Airport Development

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what communities he has visited near airports which may feature in his White Paper on Airport Development. [134129]

Ministers have met numerous delegations representing communities that may be affected by development options put forward in the consultation documents, "The Future of Air Transport in the United Kingdom". During the consultation, 18 public exhibitions were held across the UK at or near sites identified for potential airport development.

Airports (East And West Midlands)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many responses he received during the extended consultation period regarding airports in the East and West Midlands. [134592]

About 45,000 responses relating to airports in the East and West Midlands were received between 30 November 2002 and 30 June 2003.

Aviation Fuel Taxation

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government are taking to press (a) member nations of the EU and (b) other international bodies to come to a common position on the taxation of aviation fuel. [134591]

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 28 October 2003 to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney), Official Report, column 134W.

Blue Badge Scheme

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will include (a) colitis and (b) Crohn's disease in future research on the eligibility criteria for the blue badge scheme. [134339]

Following a recent review of the Blue Badge Scheme, we will be undertaking research into the independent mobility needs of certain groups of people, including people with colitis and Crohn's disease, to determine whether eligibility should be extended. We propose to take forward that research in 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (1) representations he has received from disabled motorcycle owners about problems with attaching disabled badges designed for car windscreens to motorcycles; [134799](2) what advice he has issued to disabled motorcycle owners about attaching disabled badges to their vehicles. [134800]

Under the current regulations the blue badge must be displayed on the dashboard or fascia panel of the vehicle, with the front facing forward, so that the relevant details are clearly legible from outside of the vehicle.For motorcycles we advise that the badge should be exhibited in a conspicuous position on the vehicle so that the relevant details on the front are visible. The precise method of attaching the badge is a matter for the badge holder to determine.We have received representations from individual disabled motorcyclists and from the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD) about the problems of displaying the badge so that it complies with the requirements of the regulations. Following discussions with NABD we have agreed to support the Association in designing a suitable secure holder for the badge and the associated time clock. We are, therefore, funding a design competition for 2nd year students at Salford University's School of Art & Design. We hope to have the winning design by summer next year.

Departmental Advertising

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on advertising in (a) 1995, (b) 1997 and (c) 2003. [133729]

Expenditure is recorded on a financial year basis and is shown in the following table.

£ million
1995–96	6.4
1996–97	5.7
1997–98	4.5
1998–99	4.6
1999–2000	5.2
2000–01	7.8
2001–02	9.8
2002–03	10.2
2003–04	9.5
¹ estimated advertising outturn

The increase in expenditure since 2000–01 reflects additional road safety advertising in support of the Government's road safety strategy "Tomorrow's Roads—Safer For Everyone" published in March 2000.

Driving Licence Applications

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his target is for the time taken to process a provisional driving licence application from the date of receipt of the application to the applicant receiving their licence; and what proportion of applications were dealt with within the target in each of the last three years. [134662]

The Secretary of State's targets for the last three years have been as follows:

Year	Target	Result
2000–01	95% in 9 working days	Achieved
2001–02	95% in 8 working days	Achieved
2002–03	95% in 8 Working days	Achieved

These performances have been reflected in the Agency's Annual Reports,

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which medical conditions require further enquiries to be made in applications for provisional driving licences; and what representations he has received from disability organisations in relation to driving licence applications from people with medical conditions or disabilities. [134664]

The medical conditions which need to be declared and where further medical enquiries would normally be undertaken are listed on all the main drivers application forms. For example, the Dl application form (available from post offices) is used to apply for first provisional licences and the D42 and D46 forms which are automatically issued by DVLA to prompt the renewal of medically restricted licences and renewal at age 70 and thereafter.We regularly receive representations from disability organisations and interested parties representing individuals suffering from medical conditions that may affect their ability to drive. This representation is welcomed and the information received is often referred to the Secretary of State's Honorary Medical Advisory Panels to help inform their decisions on medical fitness to drive and future policies.

Trains (Smoking)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what steps he is taking to persuade GNER to follow the example of Virgin Rail in banning smoking on all trains; [134969](2) what plans he has to bring together the Health and Safety Executive, train operators and Network Rail to discuss the impact on public health of smoking at railway stations and on trains. [134970]

There are no such plans. Under the Railways Act 1993 (as amended by the Transport Act 2000) train operating companies may regulate smoking in railway carriages and at their stations. It is a matter for the train operators to decide whether, and where, to permit smoking.

Road Safety

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which proposals contained in his Department's road safety strategy require primary legislation; and in which legislation (a) they have been enacted and (b) he plans to enact them in each case. [133880]

The following primary legislation foreseen in the Government's road safety strategy "Tomorrow's Roads—Safer for Everyone" has been enacted as follows:

Figures in square brackets [3] refer to the relevant chapter of the road safety strategy

[2] Change legislation on school crossing patrols, Transport Act 2000

[3] Introducing mandatory logbooks for learner car drivers (to include night-time driving), Transport Act 2000

[4] Strengthen police powers for roadside testing, accommodating drug screening devices and providing for drug recognition and impairment testing, Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003

[7] Tighten the seat belt exemption for people on "local rounds of deliveries", Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003

[10] Develop new technology which could help enforce the law more effectively e.g. digital breath-testing and drug-testing devices, Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003

The following proposals await a suitable legislative opportunity:

[3 & 8] Improvement of driver training and testing

[4] Introduce evidential roadside breath-testing

[4] Repeal UK driversl hours rules in favour of EU rules (pending outcome of European negotiations)

[10] Provide for driver improvement schemes as a court disposal

[10] Amend road traffic penalties in the light of Home Office Review of Road Traffic Penalties

After research and consultation with local authorities the following are deemed no longer to require primary legislation and the Government has no current plans to implement them.

[6] Creation of a hierarchy of roads by road usage

[6] Development of a simpler method of making speed limits by reference to a speed management strategy

The Government also considers that primary legislation may not be necessary for the following and has no plan to pursue it:

[4] Giving police additional powers to undertake targeted breath testing

Transport For London (Budget)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to increase the Transport for London budget for each financial year from 2005–06. [135175]

The Progress Report on the 10-Year Plan for Transport, "Delivering Better Transport", published last December, set out indicative levels of spending in London through to 2010–11. Allocations for the period 2005–06 to 2007–08 will be considered in the forthcoming cross-Government spending review, the results of which will be announced next year.

Unsupervised Railway Stations

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to meet local authorities, train operators and Network Rail to discuss the elimination of graffiti at train stations and adjacent railway lines. [134958]

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many prosecutions there have been by British Transport Police of individuals who commit acts of vandalism on (a) trains, (b) railway stations and (c) railway lines in each of the last 10 years. [134959]

The British Transport Police (BTP) does not record crime statistics split by stations, lines and trains. Also vandalism is not classified as a crime group but the offence of criminal damage is the closest equivalent. Prosecutions are a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service. However, the BTP have provided the information in Table 1 regarding the number of people arrested, summonsed or charged with criminal damage in the past six years which is the maximum period for which reliable data is available. Table 2 shows the total number of criminal damage offences reported and cleared for the last ten years.

Table 1
Time Period	Number of Persons Arrested/Charged/Summonsed for criminal damage offences
1 October 1997—30 September 1998	607
1 October 1998—30 September 1999	669
1 October 1999—30 September 2000	644
1 October 2000—30 September 2001	537
1 October 2001—30 September 2002	549
1 October 2002—30 September 2003	554

Table 2
Annual criminal damage offences (1 April-31 March)	Reported	Cleared
2002–2003	6,502	717
2001–2002	6,030	846
2000–2001	6,536	988
1999–2000	6,826	963
1998–1999	6,573	1,013
1997–1998	6,296	1,105
1996–1997	7,984	994
1995–1996	10,502	971
1994–1995	13,156	1,348
1993–1994	13,023	1,280

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many unsupervised train stations there are in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Yorkshire. [134967]

Figures for the number of unsupervised stations are not held centrally. There are no obligations on train operators about staffing stations per se. There are requirements to open ticket offices at the times specified in the 'Ticketing and Settlement Agreement' (TSA). The TSA includes over 1300 stations—more than half the stations on the network—including over 50 in Yorkshire. Train operators may staff stations and ticket offices over and above the requirements of the TSA.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent studies have been carried out by his Department into the impact on passenger numbers of fear of violence and antisocial behaviour at unsupervised railway stations. [134968]

Departmental research was carried out last year on perceptions of personal security and concerns about crime on public transport. This included discussions on staffing at railway stations, what makes people feel insecure at stations, what measures could be taken to improve people's perceptions, and the impact that all these have on people's willingness to travel.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what steps he is taking with Network Rail to tackle vandalism and graffiti at unsupervised railway stations; [134972](2) what steps he is taking to protect the rail infrastructure from criminal damage. [134974]

This is primarily a matter for Network Rail as owner of the national network infrastructure, and the train operators to which stations are leased. Our Directions and Guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority require it to encourage train operators to participate in both the Secure Stations and Secure Car Parks schemes, which award accreditation when specified standards of design and management are reached. The Strategic Rail Authority has funded the provision of CCTV at stations through its Rail Passenger Partnership fund, and CCTV will be provided at some stations under the Modern Facilities at Stations programme. We also support the initiative by the British Transport Police and train operators to recruit special constables from within their own staff.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with train operators on unsupervised stations. [134973]

None.

Home Department

Anti-Social Behaviour

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources he has provided to (a) Sefton council and (b) the Merseyside Police Authority for monitoring anti-social behaviour. [132995]

For this financial year 2003–04, the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit (ASBU) provided £700,000 to the Government offices of the north-west to spend on anti-social behaviour matters. The ASBU did not specify on what specific activities they should spend this money.Sefton have not been allocated any Home Office funds directly for anti-social behaviour initiatives, but a number of schemes should have an effect on anti-social behaviour. The Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF) have allocated £30,000 to develop neighbourhood CCTV systems and a further £19,500 is being used to tackle alcohol-related disorder and improve education and awareness, both of which should have a "knock on" effect on anti-social behaviour.Under the Small Retailers scheme, £28,971 was awarded to Sefton and is being used to fund CCTV systems for a number of retailers in the Derby and Linacre and Netherton and Owell wards, and it is hoped that this will deter theft, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

For 2003–04, we also provided £200,000 to Liverpool City council for partnership working on anti-social behaviour initiatives. While Merseyside Police were not the direct recipient of this funding, they will obviously benefit from this injection of money, and via the Liverpool Crime and Reduction Partnership will have influence on how this money is best spent.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the anti-social behaviour units within police authorities. [132996]

All local agencies need to work together if anti-social behaviour is to be tackled effectively and the Police Service has a key role to play. This is reflected in the National Policing Plan, which makes clear that dealing with anti-social behaviour is an overarching policing priority. While we have not carried out any formal assessment of the way in which police forces are tackling anti-social behaviour, it is one aspect being examined in the baseline assessments of police forces currently being carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The results will be available in the spring. Anti-social behaviour is also being addressed during HMIC's inspections of Police Basic Command Units.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the efforts of (a) police forces in Wales, (b) the South Wales police force and (c) other forces in the United Kingdom to engage with the programme to tackle anti-social behaviour. [133500]

All local agencies need to work together if anti-social-behaviour is to be tackled effectively and the Police Service has a key role to play. This is reflected in the National Policing Plan, which makes clear that dealing with anti-social behaviour is an overarching policing priority. While we have not carried out any formal assessment of the way in which police forces are tackling anti-social behaviour either in Wales or more generally, it is one aspect being examined in the baseline assessments of police forces in England and Wales currently being carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The results will be available in the spring. Anti-social behaviour is also being addressed during HMIC's inspections of Police Basic Command Units.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with colleagues in the Welsh Assembly Government in respect of anti-social behaviour initiatives with particular reference to (a) pilot residential parenting schemes, (b) nuisance neighbours panels, (c) criminal justice interventions programme areas, (d) Operation Scrap-it, (e) Operation Gate-it and (f) Operation Scrub-it. [133501]

The work in this area is being taken forward by the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit at the Home Office. The unit was set up in January 2003. Staff within the unit have undertaken visits to different parts of England and Wales gathering information from communities and practitioners about their anti-social behaviour priorities.

This resulted in the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill and the publication of the White Paper, `Respect and Responsibilities' (March 2003). This was followed up by the launch of the Action Plan (10 October 2003) which outlines the initiatives mentioned above. The powers in the Bill relating to local authority powers to get graffiti off street furniture are a devolved issue (the powers will be given to 12 authorities in England in the first instance). It is for the Welsh Assembly to decide whether authorities in Wales will adopt these powers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy on anti-social behaviour. [133999]

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a priority for Government. The Home Office published an Action Plan "Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour Together" on 14 October 2003. The action plan sets out existing and new work across the Home Office and other Government Departments which contributes to the drive to tackle anti-social behaviour across England and Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he recommends police forces use to deter anti-social behaviour. [134000]

As the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan launched on 14 October makes clear, effective action to tackle anti-social behaviour requires effective partnership working between all local agencies including the police. The police have a very important role to play, and tackling anti-social behaviour is a key national policing priority under the National Policing Plan (NPP). Forces need to set out as part of their annual local plan and strategic plans under the NPP how they are going to address anti-social behaviour.The response of the police, working with its partners, will depend on the nature of the local problems. In responding to those problems, the police need to ensure that they are using the National Intelligence Model to identify and target action against anti-social behaviour; have in place agreed information sharing protocols with other agencies; ensure they are using their resources effectively, including the Special Constabulary and Community Support Officers; be clear about how the various interventions available, for example, acceptable behaviour contracts, anti-social behaviour orders, fixed penalty notices, can best be used as part of a local strategy. Police forces should also, with partner agencies, be considering how they will use the new powers which will become available under the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the aims are of the pilot scheme in Manchester in which people guilty of anti-social behaviour remain on housing benefit and accept training; and what plans there are for similar pilots in the North East of England. [134199]

The Foundations pilot developed by Manchester city council, Irwell Valley Housing Association and the children's charity NCH is based on a NCH project that has been running in Dundee for the last five years.

The pilot aims to provide intensive support to families who have a history of committing anti-social behaviour. It aims to tackle the causes of this behaviour and establish some stability for children living within the families. There are strict rules and high expectations of each family involved in this pilot. Each family will understand that certain behaviour will not be tolerated and would result in eviction from the scheme.

At present there are no projects similar to the Dundee project in the North East of England. However a number of local authorities and their partners provide tenancy support and at least one is developing plans for a 'Dundee type' project.

Call Centres

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department plans to outsource call centre work to premises outside the United Kingdom. [132105]

The available information held by the Home Office on call centres shows that the Home Office does not have any outsourced call centre contracts and has no plans to outsource such work outside the United Kingdom.

Correspondence

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for West Worcestershire will receive a response to his letter of 7 July, reference M3286/3. [134330]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 24 October 2003.

Drug-Related Offences

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours he estimates have been spent by the police service in each of the last 15 years in dealing with drug related offences; how many hours per year on average this represented for each serving police officer; and if he will make a statement. [133903]

The information requested is not collected. Police officers in particular exercise considerable discretion and judgement in the way they carry out their duties in this area as in others. Their deployment however is for the Chief Officer of Police who utilise a number of strategies to combat drug crime.The Government are strengthening enforcement at a local level, supporting the police to better tackle drug misuse. Through the updated Drug Strategy annual proactive expenditure on reducing drug supply is expected to be £380 million for 2003–04 for all enforcement agencies.We are taking high profile action against suppliers in communities with particular problems. Every opportunity from arrest, to court, to sentence, will be used to get offenders into treatment to break the link between drugs and crime.

Essex Police (Special Branch)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Special Branch constables were employed by Essex police on 1 September. [132636]

It is not our policy to disclose details of Special Branch deployments at force level in the interests of national security, as to do so could compromise operations.

Juvenile Offenders

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed by juvenile offenders in (a) Haltemprice and Howden, (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (c) the Humberside Police Authority area in each of the last two quarters for which figures are available; and how many cautions were issued. [132525]

[holding answer 16 October 2003]: The information contained in the table gives the number of children convicted of all offences and those given reprimands and final warnings in Humberside, during the last two quarters of 2001.The information collected centrally does not enable cases in the Haltemprice and Howden constituency to be identified nor cautions in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Neither is it possible to give the number of crimes committed by juveniles, only the number of juveniles who are found guilty of all offences.Statistics for 2002 will be published in December.

Number of children found guilty at all courts for all offences and those given reprimands and final warnings¹, Humberside, last two quarters of 2001
	2001
Area, age and disposal etc	Qtr 3	Qtr 4	Total
East Riding of Yorkshire
Children aged 10-17 found guilty	112	93	205
Children aged 10-17 receiving a reprimand	n/a	n/a	n/a
Children aged 10-17 receiving a final warning	n/a	n/a	n/a
Humberside Police Force Area
Children aged 10-17 found guilty	477	382	859
Children aged 10-17 receiving a reprimand	247	186	433
Children aged 10-17 receiving a final warning	129	74	203
n/a = Not available
¹ Reprimands and final warnings replaced cautions for juveniles from June 2000.

Metropolitan Police (Rental Vehicles)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent by the Metropolitan police on rental vehicles in each month since March. [133971]

The information requested is in the table. It has been provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Breakdown for each month: April 2003—September 2003
Month	Total (£000)
April 2003	¹204
May 2003	497
June 2003	961
July 2003	1,203
August 2003	864
September 2003	668
Totals:	4,397
¹ This figure takes account of retrospective year end adjustments (credits for accruals) for 2002/03.

Open Circuit Television (Monmouth)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up an investigation into the contract to install open circuit television in Monmouth and the role of the then Acting Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Mr. Richard Thomas; and if he will make a statement. [130871]

There are no plans for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to set up an investigation.I am advised by Gwent Police that Gwent Police Authority requested an investigation by the District Auditor relating to issues surrounding CCTV in spring 2000. The preliminary results of this inquiry led the Chief Constable of Gwent to refer the matter to the Chief Constable of West Mercia for a full criminal investigation relating to the then retired Acting Chief Constable, Richard Thomas, and others. Work on this started in July 2000. At the conclusion of the investigation a report was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who having considered the evidence, concluded on 31 January 2002 that there would be no criminal proceedings. The recommendations within the District Auditors report are being pursued by Gwent Police Authority.

Police

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his powers to recommend the capping of police authorities. [133611]

The Home Secretary has no power to recommend the capping of police authorities.Powers to cap local authority budgets rest with my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Prescott).

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the daily average proportion of police officers' time spent out on patrol following the introduction of community support officers and other civilian support staff. [134251]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: An analysis of diaries kept by 378 officers in seven forces prior to the introduction of Community Support Officers (CSOs) found that 17 per cent. of regular officers' time was spent on patrol. The Police Reform Act 2002 powers, which allowed the designation of CSOs and other support staff, were commenced on 2 December 2003. We have not yet repeated the exercise.

However, a programme of research into the nature, frequency and effectiveness of beat patrolling by police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) is under way. Results will be reported as soon as available.

We know that there is significant variation between forces in the amount of time officers spend on front line duties, including patrol. We are, as part of the Police Performance Assessment Framework, collecting data from forces so that we can publish a baseline estimate of front line policing for all forces next year. We will then use this data to drive time spent on front line policing up, concentrating on those areas where time spent is lowest.

Most forces currently spend around 60 per cent. of their time on front line policing and I would like to increase that figure.

Police Authorities

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police authorities employ chief executives. [134249]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: Section 16 of the Police Act 1996 allows each police authority to appoint a clerk to the authority. It is a matter for each police authority to decide if the postholder is termed a chief executive. We do not hold information on this centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police authorities have (a) a portfolio structure around themes of community leadership, performance appraisal and strategy development and similar areas of activity and (b) a panel structure. [134250]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: Section 6(1) of the Police Act 1996 lays upon police authorities the responsibility for securing and maintaining an efficient and effective police force for its area. How the authority organises internally to achieve this, is a local matter for the authorities themselves and not for central Government. Accordingly, there is no information held centrally by the Home Office on the internal structure of each authority.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his model internal structure for a local police authority. [134252]

[holding answer 27 October 2003]: The 43 local police authorities have the overarching responsibility to secure and maintain an efficient and effective police force for their area.How police authorities decide to structure the organisation is a matter for the authorities themselves in accordance with local circumstances. It would not be appropriate for central Government to provide a model structure for police authorities.

Police Officers (Protection From Violence)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to protect police officers against violence while on duty. [133994]

All police forces within England and Wales operate within the Health and Safety (Police) Act 1997 and must, therefore, conduct and maintain appropriate risk assessments into the roles of their staff. Where a risk is identified, control measures must be introduced to avert the risk or lessen its impact to an acceptable level.In terms of officer safety, the most significant control measures include regular, mandatory self-defence training and the provision of equipment, such as batons, handcuffs and incapacitant spray. All police forces in England and Wales have access to dual-purpose body armour (knives and ballistic) either as a general or pool issue. Specialist officers also receive additional Personal Protective Equipment.

Snares

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been carried out in each police authority area for the illegal use of snares in the last five years. [133977]

Prosecutions for the illegal use of snares are brought under section 11(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. However, the information collected centrally on court proceedings does not distinguish offences connected with snares from similar offences under section 11 relating to other methods of killing or taking wild animals.Two prosecutions under section 11 in England and Wales were notified to the Home Office in 2001, one of which was in the North Wales police force area and the other in Greater Manchester.Statistics for 2002 will be published in December.

Special Constables (West Mercia)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there were in West Mercia for each year since 1997. [134389]

The number of Special Constables in West Mercia Constabulary since 1997 are set out in the table:

At 31 March	Number
1997	582
1998	512
1999	515
2000	476
2001	399
2002	339
2003	309

We have made clear in the National Policing Plan 2003–06 our commitment to increase the numbers and effectiveness of the Special Constabulary.

Terrorism

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has given to the police on publicising the fact that powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are in operation in the local area. [133967]

The publicising of the use of section 44 powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 in any particular area is an operational decision for the force concerned. Any decision to publicise the fact that the powers are being used would be made in light of the operational objective, and mindful of the need to ensure that the information released can not be exploited by those intent on committing acts of terrorism.That said there is a legal requirement under section 45 of the Terrorism Act to inform any individual who is stopped and searched under section 44 that he or she has been stopped and searched under that section of the Act.

Tetra Communications System

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on (a) the refusal of the North Wales police to accept the TETRA communications system and (b) the concerns expressed about the system by the Lancashire force. [133733]

All police forces in England, Wales and Scotland are committed to Airwave, the new radio communications system based on TETRA technology. The Airwave service will become available in North Wales in December 2004. Airwave is already available to 26 forces and has over 29,000 police users. The rollout is due to complete by mid-2005.Lancashire Constabulary, the pilot force for Airwave, is satisfied with the service, which has been fully operational since September 2001.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual (a) capital and (b) revenue costs are in 2003–04 of the police TETRA communications system. [133734]

Airwave is the new radio communications system for the police service in England, Wales and Scotland.The estimated total capital cost to the Home Office for Airwave in 2003–04 is £78 million. The estimated total revenue cost in 2003–04 is £98 million.

Trafficking For Labour Exploitation

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to introduce an offence of trafficking for labour exploitation. [134614]

In the White Paper, "Secure Border, Safe Haven", the Government promised to introduce legislation on trafficking for both labour and sexual exploitation. Offences of trafficking for sexual exploitation are contained in the Sexual Offences Bill currently before Parliament. Legislation covering trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation is currently under development and will be introduced when parliamentary time permits. The United Kingdom played a key role in the negotiation of the 2002 EU Framework Decision on Trafficking, which commits all EU member states to the introduction of criminal offences covering trafficking for both sexual and labour exploitation.

Violent Crime

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of crimes committed in the last 12 months were violent; [133995](2) what the levels of violent crime were in the London borough of Havering in each year since 1997. [134001]

In the 12 months to March 2003, violent crime accounted for 17 per cent. of the overall offences recorded in England and Wales. Violent crime is comprised of the following offence classifications, Violence against the person, Sexual offences, and Robbery.I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 14 October 2003,

Official Report, column 18W.

Culture, Media And Sport

Broadcasting Licences

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what organisation is responsible for the issuing of radio broadcasting licences in Northern Ireland; what criteria are used in the issuing of licences; and if she will make a statement. [134823]

Responsibility for issuing radio broadcast licences in Northern Ireland lies with the Radio Authority. From 29 December 2003, responsibility will pass to Ofcom.The criteria used for the award of Independent Local Radio licences are set out in Section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. Independent National Radio licences are awarded on a highest cash-bid basis in accordance with the provisions of Sections 85 and 98–100 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. Section 51(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996 sets out the criteria for the award of digital multiplex licences. All other licences (i.e. cable, satellite, restricted service licences, digital sound programme licences) are issued in accordance with either Part III of the 1990 Act or part II of the 1996 Act, and the Radio Authority's published guidelines, copies of which I have placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Communication Media

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the steps her Department is taking to educate older people in the use of communication media. [134733]

The Government recognise that, in a rapidly changing media environment, it is important that all citizens are media literate and able to make best use of communication media.We have therefore, by way of the Communications Act 2003, placed a duty on the new communications regulator, Ofcom, to promote media literacy and to encourage the development of domestic electronic communications apparatus which can be used with ease by the widest possible range of individuals. The Act makes it explicit that, in carrying out these duties, Ofcom must have regard to the needs of older people. The Communications Act also requires Ofcom to set up a committee to provide them with advice on the interests of older and disabled people regarding communications matters.In addition, the Department for Education and Skills, in partnership with industry, the voluntary sector and other groups, has set up 6000 'UK online' centres to provide information and communications technology (ICT) access for adults with low or no ICT skills. This Government initiative, announced by the Prime Minister in September 2000, aims to help people develop the skills needed to use the Internet to access information, to send e-mail using a variety of communications media and to explore the opportunities that new technologies offer such as further learning and updating skills. The centres are asked to target potential users from six socially excluded groups including people aged 65 and over.

Cultural Diversity

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on progress towards international standards on cultural diversity at the recent UNESCO conference. [134541]

It was agreed at the recent UNESCO General Conference that an international standard-setting instrument on cultural diversity would be prepared. The Director General of UNESCO would like to adopt a new draft instrument at the next General Conference in the autumn of 2005. He has also undertaken to consult other UN agencies with interests in cultural diversity. The UK will await the result of this and any internal consultations before deciding whether to become a party to the convention.

Digital Terrestrial Television

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that digital terrestrial television access is available in all areas of Northern Ireland before analogue services are switched off. [134157]

The Government are committed to ensuring that terrestrial analogue broadcasting signals are maintained until: everyone who can currently get the main public service broadcasting channels in analogue form (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4/S4C and Five) can receive them on digital systems; switching to digital is an affordable option for the vast majority of people; and as a target indicator of affordability, 95 per cent. of consumers have access to digital equipment. A Digital Television Action Plan is already in place, designed to deliver these pre-conditions for switching off analogue terrestrial transmissions. A copy of the action plan is available at www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk.

Football Pitches

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance is given to the National Lottery regarding the use of timber and sustainable sources in lottery-funded projects; and if she will make a statement. [135073]

While it remains a fundamental principle that lottery distributors make decisions independently of Government on considering applications for grants for lottery-funded projects, the Government have issued them with a number of Policy Directions. One of these encourages the distributors to take into account 'the need to further the objective of sustainable development'. This would include, although does not specifically relate to, the use of timber.The Department is aware of the importance of procuring timber from responsibly managed and sustainable sources and actively encourages all of its non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) to take account of the principles of sustainable development in making grants.

National Lottery

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the Lottery awards granted in the north-west since 2000. [134897]Estelle Morris: 8,881 lottery awards have made since 1 January 2000 in the north-west region.Dates of lottery awards and the names of recipients will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Pleasure Piers

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how much National Lottery funding has been provided for the preservation of pleasure piers in the last five years; [134559](2) how many pleasure piers have received public funding in each of the last five years; and from what sources of funds; [134560](3) which pleasure piers being redeveloped and refurbished are in receipt of lottery funding. [134561]

We have contacted the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and the National Piers Society to request the information required, and I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as it is available, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Public Entertainment Licences

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are able to set fees for public entertainment licences in order to reflect the proportionate risk of each establishment; and if she will make a statement. [134989]

Under current law, an applicant for a public entertainment licence is required to pay a reasonable fee to be determined by the appropriate authority. The existing legislation does not provide a fee structure, however, case law has established that local authorities are entitled to recover the cost of administering the licensing scheme, provided that allowance is made for exemptions or reductions for charities. They are not empowered to raise revenue through a licensing scheme.The fees charged by local authorities for public entertainment licences are at their discretion but must be no higher than is necessary to allow the full recovery of their costs. On 10 of April 2000, because of concerns about the levels of fees being charged by some local authorities, the Home Office issued a circular in conjunction with the Local Government Association asking local authorities to review their public entertainment licensing fee structures to ensure that they abide by the case law and are defensible and proportionate in light of the principles of fairness, transparency and consistency, and do no more than permit full recovery of costs.Until the Licensing Act 2003 is fully implemented, we have no other mechanism for influencing fee levels.Under The Licensing Act 2003, provides for the payment of licence fees in relation to applications, notifications, licences and certificates. The fees will be set centrally by the Secretary of State and are intended to be set on the basis of full cost recovery to allow local authorities to do no more than fairly recover their administration, inspection and enforcement costs associated with in respect of the new licensing regime.

International Development

Iraq

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to ensure that any proposal by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to allow Iraqi Government ministries to establish armed security forces will specify that (a) all forces are properly trained, (b) they have a clear command structure and (c) all weaponry is surrendered at the end of each shift. [132386]

I have been asked to reply.The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have already taken steps to ensure that armed security services are established correctly and with the permitted authority. CPA Order No. 27 establishes the authority for Iraqi Government ministries to establish a Facilities Protection Service (FPS). The FPS will be recruited directly by Government ministries, but will wear the same uniform and operate to the standards as set out in Order 27 regardless of where they work. CPA Order No. 3 governs the usage of firearms by all armed security services in Iraq, including the FPS. All the texts of CPA orders can be accessed on the internet at: http:// www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/index.html

Northern Ireland

Decommissioning

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many acts of decommissioning have taken place in Northern Ireland since April 1998. [134151]

In 1998 the Loyalist Volunteer Force carried out an act of decommissioning in Northern Ireland. The IRA have carried out three acts of decommissioning (2001, 2002 and 2003) but I am not in a position to comment on where these events took place.

Belfast Agreement

12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on implementation of the Belfast agreement. [134154]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) and my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber).

Organised Crime

13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the level of co-operation between British and Irish Governments in tackling organised crime in Northern Ireland. [134155]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend, the Member for Dumfries (Mr. Brown).

Unemployment

14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on unemployment levels in Northern Ireland. [134156]

Labour Force Survey estimates indicate that unemployment in Northern Ireland for the period June-August 2003 was estimated to be 5.6 per cent. Northern Ireland unemployment rates remain at relatively low levels in historical terms and have fallen by 2.9 percentage points from December-February 1998 when the unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent.

Assembly Elections

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects elections to be held for the Northern Ireland Assembly. [134153]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink).

Peace Process

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of recent developments in the political situation in Northern Ireland. [134150]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer).

Water Charging

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the Government's proposal for water charging in Northern Ireland. [134152]

£3 billion must be invested in Northern Ireland's water and sewerage services over the next 20 years, to comply with European Directives on water quality and protect public health and the environment. To sustain this scale of investment it is necessary that Northern Ireland's water and sewerage services should become self-financing and be delivered outside Central Government.

Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs

Working Holidaymakers

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in respect of each Commonwealth country (a) how many applications for entry clearance as a working holidaymaker have been received since 1 January, (b) how many of the applications were refused, (c) what percentage of the applications were successful and (d) what percentage of the applications were refused. [132981]

Worldwide statistics for all working holidaymaker visas are collated by financial year (1 April-31 March) only and are not available on a monthly basis.During the financial year 2002–03 the worldwide figures for the number of working holidaymaker visa applications that were received, issued and refused, and their percentages were as follows:

Worldwide working holidaymaker statistics for FY 2002–03
	Number	Percentage
Applications received	53,234	—
Applications issued	49,361	92.73
Applications refused	3,301	6.20
Applications outstanding¹	572	1.07
¹ Applications outstanding include those: where the application was brought forward into the next accounting period before being resolved. Applications can also be withdrawn during processing and still count as an application received. Numbers of successful applications and entry clearances issued may also not match up because of the way entry clearances are issued: a mother and three children on one passport may count as four applications, but one entry clearance may be issued.

Al-Qaeda

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received about links between Qatar and (a) Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and (b) other members of al-Qaeda. [134632]

Qatar faces a terrorist threat from al-Qaeda and associated groups, like other countries in the region and elsewhere. It has played a constructive role in the international co-operative effort against terrorism and we have a regular dialogue with the Qatari government on the subject. Our policy is not to make public the details of such dialogue.

Arms Exports

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which countries Ministers in his Department conducted arms promotion activities in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003 to date; and if he will make a statement. [112293]

[pursuant to his answer, 14 July 2003, Official Report, c. 48W]: I regret that an administrative error led to an omission in my answer of 14 July 2003 to the right hon. Member. The correct answer should read as follows:Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers regularly conduct overseas visits in the course of which they promote British exports, including those of defence equipment.For 2002, our records indicate that Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers carried out such promotion activities in Chile, Hungary, India and Singapore; and in 2003 to date, Singapore. In 2002, Ministers also carried out promotion in relation to exports to the Czech Republic, but while in the UK. In 2003, ministerial promotion also took place in relation to exports to India, but while the Minister was in the UK. Negotiations for defence exports may extend over many years and may often be raised informally in the margins of other meetings.

Correspondence

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 18 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Shasta Parveen. [134216]

I regret that as a result of a series of administrative errors, no reply was sent to my right hon. Friend to his letter of 18 September to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. The Foreign Secretary will write to him in the next few days on this case.

Human Trafficking

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of the United Arab Emirates on trafficking in human beings. [134355]

The Government of the United Arab Emirates is taking action against trafficking. But we remain concerned about the use of young boys as camel jockeys. In July 2002 the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs announced a ban on the use of camel jockeys under the age of 15. We welcomed this announcement, but there are reports that legislation is not always enforced. Visiting UK Ministers and our embassy staff at Abu Dhabi have raised our concerns with the UAE authorities and we will continue to press the UAE authorities to implement the ban fully.

Iceland

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Iceland about its decision to resume whaling. [135126]

On 8 August, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Ben Bradshaw), issued a press statement expressing serious concern at the announcement by Iceland on 6 August that it intended to carry out lethal scientific whaling. On 10 September, the British Ambassador in Reykjavik, together with representatives from France, Germany, Sweden and the United States, handed the Icelandic Government a demarche, signed by the United Kingdom and 22 other countries, stating that the killing was unjustified and unnecessary. The UK will continue, along with other countries, to urge Iceland to reconsider its position.

Indonesia

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on recent progress with the investigation into the deaths of Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie in Indonesia. [132999]

I am not aware of any recent progress in the investigation into the deaths of Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie at Balibo in 1975, but I have recently written to the Special Representative of the Secretary General in East Timor, Kamalesh Sharma, to ask for an update. I am informed that the UN Serious Crimes Unit are unable to advance their investigation due to Indonesia's reluctance to co-operate with the investigation.

Iranian Refugees

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the well-being of (a) Mr. Jamil Bassam and (b) Mr. Ebrahim Khodabandeh, the Iranians with refugee status in the United Kingdom arrested in Syria and handed over to the Iranian authorities; what representations he has made to the (i) Syrian and (ii) Iranian authorities on this matter; where the men are being held; and when they were last visited by (A) relatives,(B) Foreign Office officials and (C) the Red Cross. [134121]

Jamil Bassam and Ebrahim Khodabandeh are not British nationals, so the UK has no legal right to offer consular assistance. After the two men were detained in Syria, our embassy in Damascus repeatedly asked the Syrian authorities for information, but the Syrian authorities did not respond to any of the embassy's four formal notes. Our embassy in Tehran has made it clear to the Iranian Government that we are taking a keen interest in the human rights of these two men. On 5 August Iranian authorities told our embassy that Mr. Bassam and Mr. Khodabandeh were well, that they continued to be held during investigations and that the Iranian judicial authorities had noted our call for due process. We are not aware of contact between the two men and their families. We have urged the Iranian Government on a number of occasions to allow a visit by the International Committee of the Red Cross. We are not aware that one has taken place.

Middle East

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been received by his Department about the proposed demolition by the Israeli authorities of the Shawamreh home in Anata in the West Bank; and what representations he has made to Israel on the issue. [133232]

We have received representations about this specific; case. We deplore the seizure of Palestinian land arid the destruction of property in the Occupied Territories by Israel and have called upon the Government of Israel to stop these actions which undermine their commitment to the roadmap. The seizure of land and the destruction of property is provocative, increasing tension and mistrust, and making a comprehensive settlement more difficult to achieve.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for (a) the implementation of UN Resolutions on Israel and Palestine and (b) for Israel's obligations as an occupying power under the Geneva Conventions, of the military order issued by Israel on 2 October 2003 declaring land in the Occupied West Bank between the security fence and Israel's preoccupation 1967 border as a closed zone; and what action the UK Government intend to take. [133530]

The implementation of this Israeli military order will have grave consequences for those Palestinians who live between the fence and the 1967 border and those who farm land in this area. It reinforces the concern that Israeli construction of the fence on occupied land amounts to de facto annexation of Palestinian lane[west of the fence, and prejudges the outcome of a final settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 1397 (2002).Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Occupying Power is only permitted to evacuate a given area of the occupied territory:

"if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand".

We expect Israel to comply fully with this obligation.

My noble Friend the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean has raised with the Israeli Ambassador our concerns about this and other Israeli activities affecting the humanitarian situation of Palestinians. We are in close touch with the US and other allies to ensure that Israel understands the opposition of the wider international community to the route of the fence.

Nepal

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress on human rights in Nepal. [135193]

We remain seriously concerned about continued violations of human rights by both the Nepalese security forces and the Maoist insurgents.There has been some encouraging progress this year, in particular during the ceasefire which held from January to August. We welcomed, for example, the formation of a Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) human rights cell to monitor and investigate reported human rights violations, and the first ever courts martial for human rights abuses. Reports of violations on both sides went down during the ceasefire.

Regrettably, however, credible reports of human rights violations have continued to be received, and have increased since the ceasefire broke down. These reports implicate the security forces in serious abuses such as illegal detentions, torture, disappearances, and summary executions (the Ramechhap incident as reported by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is a particular example), and point to a residual culture of impunity in some elements in the security forces. We are pressing hard for these matters to be investigated thoroughly and for those responsible to be held to account. There is also clear evidence of Maoist abuses, including public torture and executions.

The UK is actively involved in encouraging greater respect for human rights, including through political pressure; human rights training for the security forces; and support for the National Human Rights Commission, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and civil society. A human rights Code of Conduct applicable to both sides would be a key element in any resumed peace process.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether Nepal is a safe country for the return of refugees. [135194]

Asylum applications from Nepal—as with other countries—are considered on their individual merits in accordance with the United Kingdom's obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. In reaching decisions on individual cases, the Home Office—the Department responsible for considering these applications—takes full account of objective country information about the situation in Nepal. This would include information regularly provided by officials. An individual recognised as a genuine refugee from Nepal would not be made to return.

Passports

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much a passport cost in each year from 1997. [134005]

The fee for a standard adult passport issued by a British diplomatic mission in each of the years from 1997 is as in the following table.

	£
1997 to 25 March 1998	18.00
26 March 1998 to 11 April 1999	31.00
12 April 1999 to 15 December 1999	43.00
16 December 1999 to 20 November 2002	49.00
2 November 2002 to 1 October 2003	54.40
2 October 2003 to present	56.50

Sri Lanka

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 16 October 2003, Official Report, column 334W, on Sri Lanka, if he will list the non-governmental organisations whose representatives he met in Sri Lanka; and if he will make a statement. [134425]

My hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Mike O'Brien) visited Colombo in January of this year. During his visit he met with representatives from international and national non-governmental organisations including the World Bank, UNICEF, UNHCR, United Nations Development Programme, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lanka First and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

West Bank/Gaza Strip

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 16 October 2003, Official Report, columns 336-37W, when he last had discussions with representatives of the Government of Israel concerning demolitions and destruction of infrastructure in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; what (a) explanations and (b) assurances were offered by Israel; and if he will make a statement. [134430]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has urged Israel to improve the humanitarian situation throughout the Occupied Territories in his contacts with Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. My Noble Friend the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean expressed the Government's serious concerns about the demolition of Palestinian property in a meeting with Israel's ambassador, Zvi Shtauber, on 22 October. In previous discussions with representatives of the Government of Israel on this issue, security concerns have been cited for military operations conducted in the Occupied Territories which have resulted in the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. Israel has in the past undertaken to ensure such operations have a minimal impact on the Palestinian population. We recognise the Israeli authorities have a legitimate right of self defence against terrorist attacks, but we continue to urge them to ensure their response to the threat is proportionate.

Education And Skills

Adult Learning

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned into communities which are under-represented in participation in adult learning. [134981]

The Department has not commissioned research on geographical communities but has a number of research studies underway or recently completed that examine groups which are under-represented in adult learning.Adult learning participation has been regularly researched through the National Adult Learning Survey of over 6,000 adults in England and Wales. The results from the most recent survey in 2002 were published by the Department in April this year. They include analysis of the barriers to learning that people face as well as their learning patterns and attitudes. A longitudinal follow-up to a sub sample of the respondents to the 2001 survey, called Pathways in Adult Learning 2003, will be published in spring 2004.

A tracking survey of 2,000 learners who have participated in Adult and Community Learning is also underway. The research will analyse the characteristics and motivations of those who participate in such learning, and the longer term outcomes. The first sweep is underway, and results will be published in spring 2004.

The Department has commissioned evaluations of policies that help those under-represented in learning. The Adult and Community Learning Fund, set up in 1998 to support local community based adult learning, has regularly been evaluated. The most recent evaluation was published by the National Foundation for Educational Research in July 2002.

Adult Guidance Pilots, which ran until March 2003, provided advice and guidance on learning and work opportunities to people facing particularly difficult barriers, such as those with low or basic skills, ex-offenders and refugees. The results of the evaluation will be published early in 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangement he will make to monitor and develop the public strategy for widening adult educational participation. [134982]

We will be monitoring and developing public strategy for widening adult educational participation through the implementation of the commitments set out in the White Paper21^st Century Skills, Realising Our Potential. In particular the new Skills Alliance of key Government Departments, economic partners and key delivery agencies is driving forward the Skills Strategy delivery plan. This includes work on the Learning and Skills Council's strategy, Successful Participation for All: Widening Adult Participation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he is taking in conjunction with other Government departments and public bodies to support the Learning and Skills Council's strategy for widening adult participation. [134983]

The Government fully supports the Learning and Skills Council's recently published strategy, Successful Participation for All: Widening Adult Participation. It has an important role to play in implementing the Skills Strategy. My Department is represented on the LSC's Widening Adult Participation Implementation Group along with representatives from Further Education Colleges, Local Authorities and other providers. The LSC is maintaining and developing partnerships with a wide range of Government Departments and Public Bodies in order to realise its long term vision for widening adult participation.

Beacon Schools

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have become beacon schools in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [133686]

The Beacon Programme was introduced in September 1998. The programme started with 75 schools, increasing to almost 1,150 schools in six subsequent expansion phases by September 2002. A detailed breakdown, including the 120 schools which are no longer in the Beacon Programme, has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have lost beacon status in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [133687]

120 schools have left the Beacon Programme since it started in September 1998. 57 of these transferred to the Leading Edge Partnership Programme. A detailed breakdown has been placed in the Library.

Foundation Degrees

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost is of the current advertising campaign for foundation degrees. [134976]

The current Foundation Degree advertising campaign commenced August 2003 and will run until end March 2004 at a total cost of £2,800,000. This figure includes extensive national press, targeted trade and business press and on-line advertising. Of the total figure, £850,000 is for a national press and local radio campaign planned for the new year.

Gcse

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils in Lancashire passed five or more GCSEs at grades A-C in each year since 1992. [134903]

The percentage of pupils who achieved 5 or more grades A*-C at GCSE/GNVQ in Lancashire Local Education Authority since 1992 is shown in the following table:

Academic year	Percentage of 15 year olds achieving five or more grades A-C GCSE/GNVQ*
1992	36.5
1993	39.4
1994	41.1
1995	41.7
1996	42.6
1997	43.8
1998	47.0
1999	48.0
2000	49.6
2001	50.1
2002	51.7
2003¹	52.9
¹Provisional

The figures prior to 1998 are not directly comparable with the later years because of the local government reorganisation that took place in 1998.

Higher Education Teachers' Pay

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has, in conjunction with the Higher Education Funding Council for England, to change the formula for payments for teaching by higher education institutions; and what representations he has received about the transition to any new formula and therefrom to a future regime permitting top-up fees. [134124]

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the higher education sector on proposed changes to its funding method for teaching for 2004–05. The deadline for responses is 14 November. The consultation document "Developing the funding method for teaching from 2003–05" is available on the HEFCE website at http://www.hefce. ac.uk/Pubs/hefce/2003/03 427.

Learning Communities

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress in developing a strategy for learning communities. [134978]

Good progress has been made on developing the Learning Communities strategy. A community workshop has been held with front line practitioners. A project board is being established and the scoping document has been sent out to all relevant parties. Over the next few months officials will be working with Government Offices and key stakeholders to work up proposals for their regions. Testbeds will commence in April 2004

Modern Apprenticeships

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the level of participation of young school leavers in modern apprenticeships was in the last five years; and what percentage of the cohorts it represented. [134986]

Participation data are collected in line with the Public Service Agreement (PSA) for modern apprenticeships which states that "By 2004, at least 28 per cent. of young people to start a Modern Apprenticeship by age 22". The technical note for this target clarifies this to mean first-time entrants to Foundation or Advanced Modern Apprenticeships by those aged 16 to 21. The outturn will be starts, defined above, during the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) academic year 2004/5 expressed as a proportion of the most recent population estimate for that cohort from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Data disaggregated into age cohorts are not routinely available.While Modern Apprenticeships have a longer history, fit for purpose data for the PSA target have been compiled only since 2001/2:

	2001–2	2002–3
Modern Apprenticeship starts	137,000	²144,900
(percentage)	¹(22.8 percent.)	¹(23.9 per cent.)
¹ Proportion calculated using ONS population estimates DME50 Table 4
² Data for 2002/3 outturn is provisional; due to be finalised by the LSC in January 2004

Modern Language Teaching

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers were in training specialising in a modern language, in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [135011]

The following table shows the number of entrants to initial teacher training courses in secondary modern foreign languages since 1998/99.

	Postgraduate	Undergraduate	Total
1998/99	1,606	51	1,657
1999/2000	1,431	38	1,469
2000/01	1,610	23	1,633
2001/02	1,689	16	1,705
2002/03	1,725	7	1,732
2003/04²	n/a	n/a	n/a

Note:

The data shown above excludes trainees on the Fast Track scheme in 2001/02 and employment based teacher training.

Source:

Teacher Training Agency

Nuclear And Chemical Engineering Graduates

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many graduations in (a) nuclear and (b) chemical engineering there were in each year since 1990. [130194]

Figures for nuclear engineering are not held centrally.The available information covering chemical engineering is in the table. Figures for 1993/94 and earlier years are not held centrally on a comparable basis.

First degree chemical engineering graduates from UK institutions
Academic year	Number of graduations
2001/02	936
2000/01	980
1999/2000	1,046
1998/99	1,123
1997/98	1,116
1996/97	1,189
1995/96	1,221
1994/95	1,212

Sources:

Higher Education Statistics Agency

Phonics Teaching Methods

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will carry out a meta-analysis of the relative effectiveness of (a) analytic and (b) synthetic phonics teaching methods. [135021]

The phonics seminar which the Department held in March 2003 and Professor Greg Brooks' report, published in August, have made a very significant contribution towards ensuring a clearer understanding of the research on phonics and its implications for the National Literacy Strategy. The Department is considering Professor Brooks' recommendations for additional research, which will be assessed against other research priorities.

School Bus Services

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many education authorities operate school bus services for pupils other than those with special needs. [134797]

We do not collect information about local education authority bus operations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils in each education authority are provided with a special school bus service; and at what cost. [134798]

We do not collect information on the percentage of pupils receiving transport to special schools. In 2001/02 total LEA expenditure on home to school transport was £561 million. Of that figure, £254 million (45 per cent.) was spent on transporting children to special schools.

School Performance

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his policy to reduce the size of schools that perform to an above-average standard. [134838]

The Secretary of State does not decide the size of schools. To reduce the number of places at a school, the admission authority (the local education authority for community and voluntary controlled schools, the governing body for foundation and voluntary aided schools) would have to change the school's admission arrangements, after the required consultation, so as to include a lower admission number. Other local schools or neighbouring local education authorities could object to the Schools Adjudicator if they disagreed with the new lower number. So could 10 or more local parents, if the new number is below the school's measured capacity.Our guidance to local decision-makers on changes to school organisation makes it clear that blanket assumptions should not be made about the optimum size of a school; and that the priority must be to secure the highest standards.

School Trips (Funding)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what weight is given to the costs of funding school trips for schools in deprived areas when the Department calculates school budgets; [135133](2) whether there are

(a) national and (b) local distributors of funds for schools in deprived areas seeking funding for school trips; [135134]

(3) what resources are allocated to schools in areas of high deprivation to ensure that they are able to comply with his Department's guidelines on allowing children in receipt of free school meals to attend school trips. [135135]

The Education Funding Formula does not include a factor to specifically take account of the cost of funding school trips for schools in deprived areas. It does include a factor to take account of the extra costs of educating deprived pupils. The factor uses data on families in receipt of Income Support and the Working Families Tax Credit.I am not aware c f any national or local distributors of funds for schools in deprived areas seeking funding for school trips.It is for a school's governing body to decide on the allocation of resources for school trips from the school's budget share. Regulations require that all local education authorities distribute some funding on the basis of social deprivation.

Skills Strategies

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress on the alignment of national, local and sectored skills strategies. [134977]

The Skills Strategy "21^st Century Skills—Realising our Potential", published on 9 July 2003, set a long-term agenda through to 2010. Central to the success of the strategy is ensuring that implementation is achieved in a sustained and coherent way. We have firmed a national Skills Alliance, bringing together the key Government Departments with employer and union representatives and the key delivery agencies to drive forward the Skills Strategy delivery plan. At the first meeting on 14 October, the Skills Alliance agreed its terms of reference and began to identify its priorities and a forward agenda to end 2004. The members decided that its focus would be on strategic issues; monitoring progress; delivery on the ground; and ensuring collaboration between the key agencies. The Alliance intends to report on progress annually.Specific approaches include Sector Skills Agreements, which will be designed and delivered in collaboration with the national arid local Learning and Skills Councils and Regional Development Agencies to ensure that there is a coherent response to sector needs nationally, regionally and locally. We have also asked Regional Development Agencies to work with key partners, including LSCs, Jobcentre Plus and Small Business Service taking acccunt of the needs of sectors. Together, in consultation with a wide range of other partners, they will develop proposals to establish partnerships which will ensure that employment, skills and business support priorities are addressed in an integrated way. We expect the first regional skills partnerships to be in place from April 2004.

Soft Key Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made in formulating viable measures for the attainment by pupils of soft key skills. [134980]

The current national specifications for the key skills of Working with Others, Problem Solving and Improving Own Learning and Performance have been in use since September 2000.

Specialist Schools

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools have failed to have their status renewed. [134935]

Since the Specialist Schools Programme began in 1997 some 39 specialist schools have failed to have their status renewed.

Student Complaints Adjudicator

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the appointment of an independent Student Complaints Adjudicator and the establishment of an office to service this function. [134122]

The higher education sector has established the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) to consider cases which students have been unable to resolve within their higher education institutions. The OIA was incorporated as a company on 7 July 2003. The Board of Directors have appointed Dame Ruth Deech as the Independent Adjudicator and Michael Reddy as Deputy Adjudicator and are currently in the process of recruiting other staff, establishing the office and setting up systems. The OIA expects to be able to receive cases early in 2004. The Government fully supports the higher education sector in providing students with a fair, open and transparent means of redress when things go wrong.

Thameside College

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects the Learning and Skills Council inquiry into Thameside College to be completed; if he will make a statement on the outcome when it is completed; and what financial provision he has made to deal with its outcome. [133900]

The Secretary of State for Education and Skills has received a formal complaint alleging breaches of corporate governance and management and financial irregularities at Thameside College. An investigation into these allegations has been completed. The report of the investigation is now being written and will be considered and decisions based on its findings made when it is received. The findings of the investigation and decisions taken will determine whether a statement is made. Any financial implications resulting from the investigation and decisions will be dealt with by the Learning and Skills Council.

Tuition Fees

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether 100 per cent. of the tuition fee will be paid to higher education institutions in the academic year for which it is charged. [134060]

I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 20 October 2003, Official Report, column 438W, where I stated that the Government will pay the tuition fee to the higher education institution during the academic year for which it is charged.

University Funding

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportions of income from university top-up fees are expected to fund (a) postgraduate research and (b) undergraduate teaching. [134322]

These will be matters for Higher Education Institutions to decide for themselves.

University Medical Schools

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2003, Official Report, column 502W, on university medical schools, to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison), if he will identify the sum for additional funding by each university. [135027]

No. The sum referred to was allocated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which does not, as a matter of policy, publish sensitive student data at course level for individual institutions.

Work And Pensions

Liability Insurance (Companies)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action he is taking to prevent companies from trading without appropriate liability insurance; and if he will make a statement. [134233]

Although compliance levels remain high, all non-compliance is serious. Uninsured companies reduce the compensation available to their employees; transfer the cost of accidents to the taxpayer; and have an unlawful competitive advantage over their legitimate competitors.The Department is taking a number of actions to re-inforce compliance in the second stage of its review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI). These include developing an enforcement database and issuing supplementary guidance on procurement in the public sector to make the confirmation of contractor and subcontractor compliance a more explicit part of the tendering process.We will report in Autumn on the progress that has been made and any further steps we intend to take.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) companies and (b) individuals have been prosecuted for trading without appropriate liability insurance in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [134234]

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for enforcing Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI).Over the past five years HSE has prosecuted 18 individuals, 14 companies and 2 partnerships for trading without liability insurance. The breakdown for each operational year is as follows:

	Individuals	Companies	Partnerships
1998–99	0	1	0
1999–2000	4	0	0
2000–01	4	0	0
2001–02	4	6	2
2002–03	5	4	0
Total	17	11	02	Grand Total = 30

For the period 1 April to 30 September 2003 the breakdown is as follows:

Individuals	Companies	Partnerships
1	3	0

Asbestos Surveyors

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many asbestos surveyors are registered in the United Kingdom. [134186]

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service has accredited 50 organisations that carry out inspections for asbestos in buildings. A further 40 organisations have applied for accreditation. Only the number of organisations accredited is known not the number of asbestos inspectors they employ.

Council Tax Benefit

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the tenure status of pensioners who are entitled to council tax benefit but do not receive it. [135222]

Council Tax Benefit is administered by over 400 local authorities, each of which is required by legislation to take appropriate steps to ensure that people with a potential entitlement to Council Tax Benefit are made aware of the help available.Information is also contained in leaflet GL17 "Help with your Council Tax Benefit" as well as various other information leaflets and posters produced by the Department.The information is in the table.

Estimated tenure status of pensioners entitled to but not in receipt of Council Tax Benefit in 2000–01
Benefits Estimates of Lake-Up
Tenure type	Proportion (per cent.)
Local Authority tenants	11
Private renters	14
Owner-occupiers	75
Total	100

Notes:

1. "Private renters" includes pensioners renting accommodation from Registered Social Landlords.

2. Estimates cover the pensioners in the private household population of Great Britain. The data source is the Family Resources Survey.

3. A pensioner is defined as either a single person aged at least 60 years old or, if a couple, both will be termed pensioners if one is aged at least 60 years old.

4. This analysis should be treated with caution as there are possible sources of error, such as misidentification in modelling entitlement to Council Tax Benefit, misreporting of benefit receipt, and inaccuracies in grossing-up estimates from sample data which have not been corrected for.

Source:

Data underlying the statistics presented in the DWP series "Income Related Bene its estimates of TakepUP".

Health And Safety Executive

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was to the Health and Safety Executive in 2002–03 of employing casual staff, broken down by region; and when this practice will be terminated and only permanent staff employed. [132538]

During 2002–03, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) employed both casual and agency staff. We do not have details of the costs broken down by specific regions. The costs shown are the only breakdown available. A further breakdown could be made available only at disproportionate costs.

	Annual costs by region (£)
Agency staff
Bootle	660,844
London	418,180
Nationally	817,514
Sub total	1,896,538
Casual staff
Bootle	35,784
London	37,059
Nationally	18,288
Sub total	91,131
Agency and casual staff total	1,987,669

HSE has no plans to end the practice of using temporary staff. These contracts provide essential short-term cover for such events as maternity/sick cover, projects or gaps prior to recruitment. The use of temporary staff is carefully monitored to ensure that these are used only in appropriate circumstances.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the basis is of his policy that the Field Operations Division of the Health and Safety Executive no longer visit companies where an adverse insurance report indicating defects in plant and equipment has been received. [132541]

The Field Operations Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive has never had a policy to visit companies where an adverse inspection report has been received. Until recently they had an administrative procedure to write to companies asking them to confirm that action had been taken. This procedure, which involved 10 full time staff equivalents, added little or no value as companies had almost invariably acted on the report. The procedure was stopped in April 2003 and the administrative staff time applied to work more directly supporting inspectors.

Insurance Premiums

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to require, as part of Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance, main contractors to bear responsibility for any subcontractors that they employ. [132842]

For the overwhelming majority of employers it is a legal requirement to have Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI).In support of this, model conditions of contract in guidance on procurement in the public sector expect contractors to comply with the requirement to have

Projected expenditure on winter fuel payments, free television licences for the over 75s, and Christmas bonus for pensioners
£ million, 2003–04 prices
	1997–98	2002–03	2010–11	2020–21	2030–31	2040–41	2050–51
Winter fuel payments	227	1,758	1,808	1,608	1,476	1,194	962
Free TV licences	0	384	469	636	903	1,231	1,477
Christmas bonus for pensioners	131	113	102	81	74	62	48

(ELCI) and provide that contractors shall be responsible for the acts and omissions of their sub-contractors as though they were their own.

However the Government intends to issue supplementary guidance with reference to ELCI, to make the confirmation of contractor and subcontractor compliance a more explicit part of the tendering process.

We would encourage a similar standard in the private sector.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to issue guidance to the insurance industry advising that companies with proven good records in health and safety should have that reflected in lower insurance premiums. [132845]

The Association of British Insurers (A BI) recently announced an initiative "Making the Market Work" under which an ABI/lnsurer assessment committee will advise trade associations on their health and safety schemes taking into account best practice features that employers' liability compulsory insurance (ELCI) insurers expect to see in place.Government are also working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to link its 'risk profiling' tools to insurers underwriting decisions.These initiatives are a first step towards ensuring that insurance premiums better reflect the health and safety records of companies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will include in his Department's second report into employers liability compulsory insurance a study of (a) the administrative and legal costs incurred in settling claims and (b) their impact on premiums. [132849]

The Department included a study of the administrative and legal costs incurred in settling claims and their impact on premiums in the First Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance published on 3 June 2003. A copy of this is available in the Library. The Department's second stage report to be published in the autumn will not repeat this analysis but will set out the further actions that we propose to take. A copy of this will also be placed in the Library of the House on publication.

Pensioners' Benefits

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of public expenditure on the (a) winter fuel allowance, (b) free television licence and (c) Christmas bonus for pensioners in (i) 1997–98, (ii) 2002–03, (iii) 2010, (iv) 2020, (v) 2030, (vi) 2040, (vii) 2050 and (viii) for other years for which estimates have been made. [134472]

The information requested is in the table.

Notes:

1. All figures expressed in £ million, 2003–04 prices and rounded to the nearest million.

2. Projections are those underlying the Budget 2003 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, Annex A.

3. Expenditure is for Great Britain, except free TV licences for the over 75s which is for the United Kingdom.

4. The winter fuel payments expenditure includes expenditure on the 80+ annual payment announced in Budget 2003.

5. Current government policy on uprating of benefits is assumed throughout.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of public expenditure on public sector pensions as a percentage of gross domestic product in (a) 1997–98, (b) 2002–03, (c) 2010, (d) 2020, (e) 2030, (f) 2040, (g) 2050 and (h) for other years for which estimates have been made. [134477]

I have been asked to reply.Public expenditure on public sector pensions is measured as contributions by Government employers to funded schemes plus pension payments and other outgoings, net of employee contributions and other receipts, in the case of unfunded schemes. The Treasury has no operational need to aggregate expenditure across all public sector pension schemes.Public expenditure in the four major unfunded pension schemes (NHS, Teachers, Armed Forces and Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme) accounted for 1.00 per cent. of GDP in 1997–98 and provision was

Table 1: The gross cost of uprating the basic State Pension by 1.5 per cent. above inflation from April 2004
						£ billion
	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11
All pensioners	0.9	1.3	1.9	2.6	3.3	4.0
Pensioners aged 65 and over	0.7	1.0	1.4	1.8	2.3	2.8
Pensioners aged 70 and above	0.6	0.9	1.2	1.7	2.1	2.5
Pensioners aged 75 and above	0.4	0.6	0.8	1.1	1.4	1.7
Pensioners aged 80 and over	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.8	1.0

Table 2: The gross cost of uprating the basic State Pension by 1.5 per cent. above inflation from April 2004
						£ billion
	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11
All pensioners	0.7	1.0	1.4	1.8	2.3	2.8
Pensioners aged 65 and over	0.5	0.7	1.0	1.3	1.6	2.0
Pensioners aged 70 and over	0.4	0.6	0.8	1.1	1.4	1.7
Pensioners aged 75 and over	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.9	1.1
Pensioners aged 80 and over	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.6

Notes:

1. All costs are rounded to the nearest £100 million and are in 2003–04 price terms.

2. Gross costs are calculated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with Budget 2003 assumptions.

3. The net costs are calculated using the DWP Policy Simulation Model for 2005–06. The net cost represents the cost after allowing for any offsetting savings in income-related benefits.

4. It is assumed that the start of the Savings Credit is increased to the value of the earnings linked basic State Pension.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 15 July 2003, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, what allowance was made for the non take-up of means-tested benefits in each of the six years in question. [132891]

The net costs of earnings uprating are calculated using the Department's Policy Simulation Model. The model takes account of the take-up of benefits and its results are consistent with the made in 2002–03 for net expenditure equivalent to 1.03 per cent. of GDP. Final figures for 2002–03 will only be available when resource accounts are published.To help inform the illustrative long-term fiscal projections, estimates are being made of likely future expenditure on public service unfunded pensions under a variety of scenarios. We will consider how far it would be meaningful to disaggregate these projections into different components given the critical dependence of estimates on the assumptions made.

State Pension

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Answer of 15 July 2003, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, if he will calculate the figures on the assumption that earnings growth exceeded price inflation by 1.5 per cent. in each of the six years in question. [132890]

The information requested is in the tables.Department's forecasts for benefit expenditure and case loads for 2004–05 and 2005–06. In calculating costs for years after 2005–06 no change to levels of take-up is modelled.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 15 July, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, what assumption has been made in each of the six years in question for the amount by which earnings growth exceeds price inflation. [132893]

The previous answer was consistent with economic assumptions underpinning the 2003 budget. Medium and Long-term projections as published in the 2003 budget, forecast real earnings growth at 2 per cent.

Constitutional Affairs

Judges (Appeals)

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action the Secretary of State takes against judges who are successfully appealed against in relation to (a) sentence and (b) conviction significantly more often than the norm. [134113]

Judges are accountable for their judicial decisions via the appeal system. A successful appeal to a higher court does not of itself provide a basis for criticism of a trial judge. Where the Court of Appeal does record criticism of the trial judge, the judgment is always sent to the judge concerned. and where there is any reason for concern about the conduct of the judge, it is sent to the presiding judges. From time to time where judges are not performing adequately, they may be given advice and guidance, or training, or different workloads or types of workload by the responsible senior judiciary.In cases where the judge's conduct is seriously impugned, the presiding judges will refer the matter to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State, and the Lord Chief Justice to consider complaints about conduct.

Legal Aid

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assistance has been offered by the Legal Aid Board to Mr. Liam Campbell and Mr. Michael McKevitt. [133237]

The Legal Aid Committee of the Law Society of Northern Ireland, which has statutory responsibility for the administration of civil legal aid in Northern Ireland, has indicated that under Article 24 of the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, it is prohibited from giving information about individual cases.

Matrimonial/Family Court Orders

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will ask the Law Commission to review the law on variation of matrimonial and family court orders. [134494]

Under the current law, the courts are empowered to vary orders made in family proceedings in appropriate circumstances. I do not propose to ask the Law Commission to undertake such a review at the present time.

Small Claims Courts

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how long the average waiting time has been for hearing small claims in the small claims court which serves the Teesside area in the last six months. [134296]

Under the Department's Public Service Agreement with HM Treasury, the average waiting time for a small claim is measured from allocation to the small claim track to the disposal hearing and should be no more than 15 weeks. There are 12 county courts within the Tyne-Tees group that conduct small claims hearings, and in the period April to September 2003, the group's average was 9.7 weeks.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what proportion of (a) claimants and (b) defendants was legally represented at any stage of actions in the small claims court in the last three years. [134299]

Figures relating to the representation status of each party in a small claims case are only available for the final hearing stage. The percentage of parties represented by a solicitor at this stage are provided in the table.

	Percentage
	For claimant	For defendant	Total small claims hearings
2002	42.7	33.2	55,719
2001	50.9	39.1	58,333
2000	48.7	35.1	55,836

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many claims the small claims court for the Teesside sub-region determined in each of the last three years. [134302]

There are 12 county courts within the Tyne-Tees group that conduct small claims hearings. During 2002, the number of small claims disposed of by way of a hearing throughout the group was 1,146. In 2001, this figure was 1,572, and in 2000, it was 1,208.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average cost per claim to claimants has been of pursuing a claim in the small claims court in the last five years. [134305]

Claimants pay a fee on issue of proceedings. A small proportion will pay a fee on allocation to track (principally defended claims). Taking both fees into account, the average paid in fees on small claims (up to £5,000) issued in county courts was, over the last five years:

	£
1999	57.50
2000	63.33
2001	63.33
2002	63.33
2003	61.83

Some claimants (on small and large claims) will additionally seek specific orders during the course of proceedings and some of those who have obtained judgment will issue enforcement proceedings. In both cases, further fees will be payable. It is not possible to attribute these extra fees to the average payable on small claims, specifically.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many claims were dealt with by the small claims court in England and Wales in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03. [134306]

During 2000–01, the number of small claims disposed of by way of a hearing was 58,730. In 2001–02, this figure was 54,742, and in 2002–03, it was 56,988.

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average time has been from filing a claim to a hearing date in the small claims court in each of the last five years. [134307]

The figures asked for are provided in the table.

	Average waiting time (weeks)
2002	31
2001	28
2000	29
1999	26
1998	24

Deputy Prime Minister

Small Businesses

To ask the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the effect of section 8 of the Local Government Act 2003 on the competitiveness of small businesses. [135070]

Section 8 of the Local Government Act 2003 will have no effect on the competitiveness of small business. It forms part of the new local government capital finance system allowing local authorities to use borrowing and credit without Government consent, where they can afford to do so without extra Government support.

Community Regeneration

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures the Government has introduced to help disadvantaged communities regenerate themselves. [134118]

The Government helps communities regenerate themselves through strategies such as the Communities Plan and the Neighbourhood Renewal strategy; which include additional support for programmes such as the Market Renewal pathfinders (new funding of £500 million) and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (£975 million over the next two years). For the longer term the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is supporting community participation and effective public service improvement in the most disadvantaged communities.

East Midlands Regional Assembly

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how much the East Midlands Regional Assembly has spent on legal advice since it was established (a) in total and (b) on its incorporation; [134736](2) if he will list

(a) public relations and communications companies, (b) advertising and marketing companies, (c) management consultancies, (d) accountancy companies, (e) banking firms, (f) individual consultants and (g) other specialist consultancies used by the East Midlands Regional Assembly since June 2001; what services were provided in each case; and what the cost was in each case; [134752]

(3) how many equivalent full-time employees were employed in the East Midlands Regional Assembly (a) when it was established and (b) on 1 May; [134757]

(4) how many publications have been issued by the East Midlands Regional Assembly in each year since its establishment; and what the cost was in each case; [134758]

(5) how many conferences have been organised by the East Midlands Regional Assembly in each year since it was established; and what the cost was in each case; [134759]

(6) many research projects the East Midlands Regional Assembly (a) planned to commission and (b) commissioned in 2002–03; and what the rationale of each project was; [134760]

(7) how many conferences staff of the East Midlands Regional Assembly have attended since the Assembly was established; what the (a) cost and (b) purpose was in each case; and how many were overseas conferences. [134789]

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The East Midlands Regional Assembly is a voluntary body which receives Government grant. The details of its expenditure is a matter for the Assembly.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance his Department has given to the East Midlands Regional Assembly on its incorporation. [134750]

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not given the East Midlands Regional Assembly any guidance on incorporation.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers his Department has in relation to the operations of the East Midlands Regional Assembly. [134751]

The East Midlands Regional Assembly is a voluntary body. The only locus the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has is in terms of checking that the assembly's membership is representative of the region, for the purposes of designation and in terms of the funding agreement about its use of Government grant.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the statutes which govern the operation of the East Midlands Regional Assembly. [134753]

The East Midlands Regional Assembly is a voluntary body and is not governed by statute.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what position Mr. Simon Brian holds within the East Midlands Regional Assembly. [134765]

Mr. Simon Brian is East Midlands Regional Assembly's Communications Manager.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which organisation audits the accounts of the East Midlands Regional Assembly. [134766]

Newby Castleman of 22 Park Road, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1TT.

Hazardous Waste

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what responsibilities local authorities have in relation to the (a) movement of hazardous waste and (b) identification of material contained in landfill sites. [134453]

Amounts of council tax collected¹
								£ million
	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Inner London
City of London	1,331	1,417	1,571	1,830	2,091	2,280	2,551	2,644
Camden	37,056	43,630	50,506	58,740	60,660	60,840	65,780	69,600
Greenwich	29,234	36,751	42,630	46,802	48,267	50,108	52,074	56,861
Hackney	20,781	23,071	26,801	26,618	27,787	29,625	36,716	44,568
Hammersmith & Fulham	30,740	35,882	44,846	47,912	50,515	53,881	57,654	58,743
Islington	26,040	31,335	38,133	40,736	43,349	43,783	45,786	46,640
Kensington &, Chelsea	34,281	37,334	42,781	45,354	49,832	49,102	55,316	64,412
Lambeth	31,512	31,924	41,908	42,931	46,740	46,401	58,396	65,919
Lewisham	30,418	32,537	41,976	43,267	46,284	52,070	57,426	62,481
Southwark	26,694	34,584	38,100	43,211	45,193	52,919	55,892	61,468
Tower Hamlets	15,380	18,419	21,742	23,978	27,478	31,839	34,662	38,699
Wandsworth	27,209	35,719	38,825	30,242	36,648	40,158	46,130	41,475
Westminster	22,708	25,260	28,980	31,866	34,074	36,137	41,036	44,996
Total Inner London	333,384	387,863	458,799	483,487	518,918	549,143	609,419	658,506
Outer London
Barking & Dagenham	17,906	19,475	22,858	25,951	27,766	30,060	32,712	34,808
Barnet	62,897	68,042	75,680	83,756	87,787	97,072	103,031	108,870
Bexley	38,328	40,037	44,750	49,845	55,312	58,926	64,237	69,686
Brent	27,083	27,051	38,836	41,902	48,516	52,570	55,255	60,805
Bromley	55,687	60,924	68,076	71,584	78,385	86,353	97,867	105,146
Croydon	56,216	57,745	64,627	73,295	83,487	84,302	90,750	92,588
Haling	42,784	45,009	53,922	60,563	66,164	70,814	77,710	84,178
Enfield	44,005	46,958	53,461	57,529	63,150	67,115	75,117	82,041
Haringey	33,226	35,330	43,165	46,422	49,023	52,552	55,531	59,516
Harrow	n/a	39,659	46,560	51,503	55,675	60,842	67,748	72,747
Havering	39,055	42,674	49,577	54,880	59,243	66,473	72,568	79,367
Hillingdon	41,846	43,968	49,477	55,678	61,194	67,696	74,588	81,231
Hounslow	35,478	39,162	44,479	47,402	52,496	58,158	64,650	69,485
Kingston upon Thames	28,585	30,454	33,410	36,394	42,231	47,128	52,594	58,606
Merton	34,447	37,134	42,613	46,781	49,435	54,335	60,845	65,371
Newham	19,112	20,040	24,894	26,810	30,400	33,735	38,069	41,568
Redbridge	37,513	39,582	45,190	49,297	55,261	59,162	64,173	69,449
Richmond upon Thames	47,754	51,112	56,319	57,691	64,420	70,465	77,674	85,077
Sutton	33,569	35,534	39,166	43,716	47,441	50,690	55,524	61,623
Waltham Forest	32,313	36,215	44,685	44,065	46,192	49,544	53,829	57,988
Total Outer London	n/a	816,105	941,745	1,025,064	1,123,578	1,217,992	1,334,472	1,440,150
Total Greater London	n/a	1,203,968	1,400,544	1,508,551	1,642,496	1,767,135	1,943,891	2,098,656
¹ Irrespective of the financial year to which it relates,
n/a = not available

I have been asked to reply.Local authorities have no regulatory responsibilities regarding the movements of hazardous waste unless they are directly involved in the production, collection or processing of the waste in question. Movements of hazardous waste in Great Britain are controlled by the Special Waste Regulations 1996 and enforced by the Environment Agency. The Regulations require that hazardous waste be monitored from the moment it is discarded until it reaches its final point of treatment, disposal or recovery. The Environment Agency is the regulatory authority for controlling landfill sites and local authorities have no role in regulating licensed or permitted sites. However, under contaminated land legislation, local authorities do become responsible for closed landfill sites in certain circumstances.

London Boroughs (Council Tax)

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much council tax was collected in each year in the London boroughs since 1996. [135157]

The table shows the amounts of council tax collected in each London borough and the City of London, irrespective of the financial year to which they relate, in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of council tax due was collected in the London boroughs in each year since 1996. [135158]

The following table gives the in-year council tax collection rates for each London borough

In-year council tax collection rates¹
								Percentage
	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Inner London
City of London	99.0	98.1	97.5	97.4	98.2	98.3	98.4	97.6
Camden	83.7	87.7	88.5	91.1	92.3	92.7	93.5	92.7
Greenwich	89.4	91.4	92.2	92.2	91.3	92.2	92.0	92.8
Hackney	78.8	79.4	78.1	74.5	67.9	67.8	74.0	79.5
Hammersmith and Fulham	87.4	87.6	89.1	92.3	93.2	93.8	94.5	95.1
Islington	80.8	83.0	88.3	88.9	90.2	90.0	91.5	88.4
Kensington and Chelsea	93.2	94.9	94.9	95.2	95.6	96.0	95.6	95.6
Lambeth	71.8	78.6	80.3	80.3	84.4	82.0	86.5	90.1
Lewisham	81.5	84.8	90.6	90.6	92.0	93.3	93.7	93.7
Southwark	83.7	84.7	81.9	81.3	80.2	87.1	90.2	92.0
Tower Hamlets	87.3	87.2	86.7	88.1	88.3	89.3	90.7	91.8
Wandsworth	88.6	87.9	90.9	91.4	92.8	94.0	94.5	94.8
Westminster	93.6	92.6	92.6	93.7	92.9	91.8	93.0	93.5
Average inner London	84.4	86.7	88.0	88.5	88.7	89.6	91.1	91.9
Outer London
Barking and Dagenham	95.4	94.9	95.0	95.3	94.7	94.0	94.5	91.8
Barnet	94.4	94.7	95.1	95.3	95.6	95.8	96.2	96.2
Bexley	96.4	96.2	94.5	94.2	94.9	95.4	95.7	96.0
Brent	87.0	87.6	89.5	91.4	90.4	92.0	91.1	89.5
Bromley	97.4	97.2	97.4	97.0	96.3	96.6	96.5	96.4
Croydon	93.4	92.1	92.4	92.8	91.7	91.9	93.9	94.7
Ealing	92.9	94.3	94.8	94.9	94.4	93.4	94.1	94.6
Enfield	90.8	91.8	91.8	93.5	93.7	94.4	94.6	94.6
Haringey	81.4	84.7	82.3	85.0	85.1	88.8	90.1	92.5
Harrow	n/a	96.4	96.9	96.8	96.2	98.2	98.6	97.2
Havering	96.5	96.7	97.7	96.8	95.6	96.4	96.1	95.9
Hillingdon	93.9	94.3	95.0	95.7	95.0	95.6	96.5	95.2
Hounslow	88.8	92.7	91.9	91.4	93.4	94.0	93.9	93.8
Kingston upon Thames	97.3	97.1	93.9	91.9	93.7	94.0	95.9	96.5
Merton	96.9	94.4	95.5	95.1	95.2	95.7	95.6	96.5
Newham	76.9	81.0	82.0	83.1	83.3	84.9	86.8	90.0
Redbridge	94.7	95.6	96.1	96.1	95.7	95.5	95.7	95.7
Richmond upon Thames	96.4	97.0	97.3	96.2	96.7	97.0	97.6	97.6
Sutton	98.3	98.0	97.4	97.0	97.3	97.3	97.3	97.3
Waltham Forest	88.9	91.5	91.8	87.8	87.7	88.0	90.6	93.0
Average outer London	92.9	93.8	93.8	93.9	93.7	94.3	94.9	95.0
Average Greater London	90.1	91.4	91.8	92.1	92.1	92.8	93.7	94.1
¹ Amount of council tax due received by the end of the financial year as a percentage of the net collectable debit for the year.

Note:

n/a = not available

Mining Communities (Regeneration)

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much (a) funding and (b) other resources have been made available to support the regeneration of the former (i) tin mining and (ii) coal mining communities of West Cornwall in each of the last five years; and if he will list the (A) funding streams and (B) other resources available to support the regeneration of former mining communities in the UK. [134077]

A detailed breakdown of funding and resources made available to support the regeneration of tin mining and coal mining communities in West Cornwall is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

and the City of London for each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03. The collection of council tax continues after the end of the financial year to which it relates. This means that the percentage of council tax ultimately collected for any financial year is greater than that shown in the table.

However, in the past five years indicative funding for projects to assist communities generally within the Camborne, Pool, Redruth areas, which lie at the heart of the former tin mining areas of West Cornwall, by the South West Regional Development Agency is as follows:

£
	Indicative spend
1998–99	1,816,529.00
1999–2000	713,496.00
2000–01	398,021.00
2001–02	2,313,686.00
2002–03	516,300.00
2003–04 (to date)	552,767.00

Furthermore, the Camborne, Pool, Redruth Urban Regeneration Company was approved in September 2002 to help address deprivation, attract private sector interest and investment and secure improvements to the local environment and public realm in Camborne, Pool and Redruth. The Company—CPR Regeneration—is funded jointly by the local authority, English Partnerships and the South West Regional Development Agency.

Two national programmes support the regeneration of the former coal mining communities. These are: (i) the National Coalfields Programme and (ii) The Coalfields Regeneration Trust. In addition, a range of national regeneration programmes provides support to all areas including former mining areas such as those controlled by the Regional Development Agencies, the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and the Housing Investment Programme.

Para-Professional Staff

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with (a) local authority associations and (b) trade union representatives on national conditions of service for pa ra-professional staff and those on term-time only contracts; and if he will make a statement. [132499]

Ministers of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have no discussions with local authority associations or trade union representatives on these issues. Pay and contractual arrangements for support staff are determined at local level.

Pensioners (Council Tax)

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many pensioners pay council tax in the UK; and what estimate he has made of the total tax they pay in England. [134794]

I have been asked to reply.The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Tim Loughton, dated 29 October 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many pensioners pay council tax in the UK and for an estimate of the total tax they pay in England. (134794)

Estimates for council taxes are based on the analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 2001–02" produced by the ONS and published on the National Statistics website on October 21st 2003. The analysis can be obtained from the House of Commons library or from the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits. It includes measures of income inequality for the United Kingdom as a whole based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey. This is a sample survey covering about 7,500 households in the UK and sample sizes for pensioner households are only sufficient to give very approximate estimates.

Pensioner households have been defined as those where the Household Reference Person is retired or unoccupied and aged 65 or more and male, or 60 years of age or more and female, and economically inactive.

Detailed information on the definition of the Household Reference Person can be found in Appendix D of the document at the following address:

http://www. statistics. gov. uk/downloads/theme_social/Family_ Spendi ng_2001–02_revised/Family_Spending_revised. pdf

Estimates for 2001–02 suggest that there were about 6 million pensioner households (single and couples) in Great Britain and that about 5 million of those paid council tax (i.e. their net council tax was greater than zero). Council tax is not paid in Northern Ireland. Net council tax is defined as gross council tax less benefits and discounts, where a household reports taking up a council tax benefit entitlement.

The data suggests that single and couple pensioner households in England paid about 3 billion in council tax net of benefits and discounts. However, these estimates of numbers and payments will not match population data or administrative payments data because of sample size and weighting issues as well as possible inaccurate reporting by respondents.

Street Warden Scheme

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to provide funding to extend the street warden scheme to Romford. [133998]

There are no Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funded warden schemes operating in Romford. No application was made to set up a scheme in Romford during the initial bidding round in 2001.At present, there are no plans for a further round of Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funding for new warden schemes beyond March 2005, however, if the constituents of Romford wish to start up a warden scheme in their area, we would suggest that funding would need to be secured from sources such as the local authority, Registered Social Landlords or from the private sector, as many other neighbourhood warden programmes have done.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans the Government has to fund further street warden schemes in Suffolk. [134407]

In the County of Suffolk, Street Warden Schemes funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are operating in Lowestoft, Bury St. Edmunds and Ipswich. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's funding for Street Warden Schemes is a four year programme which concludes in March 2005 and there are no plans to extend funding past this date.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is actively working with existing schemes to help them secure mainstream funding from sources such as local authorities and the private sector. Support and guidance is also being provided to areas wishing to set up schemes with their own resources.

Volume 412: debated on Wednesday 29 October 2003

Written Answers Toquestions

Defence

Armed Forces Pensions

Breast Implants

Cadet Forces

Call Centres

Defence White Paper

Ministry Of Defence Police

Overseas Facilities

Parliamentary Questions

Recruitment

Service Accommodation

Reserve Forces

Vaccines

Health

Local Government Finance

Social Care

Acetylcysteine

Cancer Services

Cannabis

Chronic Diseases

Community Health Councils

Dentistry

Diabetes

Long-Term Care

Lung Disease

Ministerial Travel

Mmr Vaccine

Pacemakers

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum

Smog

Environment

Us Reserve Fleet (Decommissioning)

Abandoned Cars

Climate Change

Eu Shellfish Directive

Fly-Tipping

Hazardous Waste

Gm Organisms

Kirby Report

Livestock Support Payments

Treasury

Company Finance Market

Company Tax (Eu Harmonisation)

Departmental Employees

Eds

Eileen Tully Ruling

Energy Useage

Income Tax

Pay Statistics

Performance And Innovation Fund

Stamp Duty

Tax Credits

Uk Debt

Trade And Industry

Inward Investment (North-West)

Arms Exports

Bae Systems

Chemicals

Defence Export Licences

Electricity Supply

Employment Tribunals

Energy Production

Export Controls

Industrial And Provident Societies

Insurance Premiums

Mr Ashley Jenkins

Outsourcing

Red Tape

Small Businesses

State Aid

World Trade Organisation (Cancun)

Transport

Air Travel (Compensation)

Airport Development

Airports (East And West Midlands)

Aviation Fuel Taxation

Blue Badge Scheme