asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the development of EC institutions has had any adverse effect on the status of hereditary Heads of State in Community member states other than the UK.

No.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether proposals for economic, monetary and political union in the EC pose a threat to the monarchy in the UK; and whether they have made any representations about this to the Commission and the Council.

It will, we believe, be accepted that there is no question of Community countries giving up their separate Heads of State.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What replies they have received from the Israeli Government to any representations they have made regarding the closure of Palestinian universities; and whether they will cease to use public funds to support Israeli cultural festivals in this country.

In answer to our frequent representations, the Israeli authorities have maintained that schools and universities in the Occupied Territories would re-open as soon as the security situation permitted. We much regret that the closure order for universities has recently been renewed, but welcome the fact that most schools are currently open. We do not propose to ban the public funding of Israeli cultural exhibitions in the UK, which is in any event minimal.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there is a conflict between Senegal and Guinea Bissau arising out of the judgment of the Arbitration Tribunal in Geneva dated 31st July 1989 in relation to the demarcation of their maritime frontier; and whether there is an opportunity for mediation regarding the zone in dispute.

We are aware of recent incidents on the Senegal/Guinea Bissau land and sea frontiers. We understand that the situation is now calm. Ministers from both countries met in Paris on 23rd May. They agreed to take measures to minimise the risk of future clashes and to maintain a regular dialogue at Ministerial level. We applaud the efforts being made by the two governments to resolve these matters peacefully.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the outcome of the recent executive meting in Geneva of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees: how the needs of 15 million refugees for relief and resettlement will be funded in the next three years and whether cuts in budgets have recently been imposed.

The extraordinary session of the Executive Committee (Excom) of UNHCR meeting in Geneva on 28th to 30th May approved (i) the report of the Excom temporary working group, which, inter alia, examined administrative and budgetary reforms; (ii) the UNHCR budget for 1990 and (iii) the organisation's programme of activities for the current year.Refugee programmes for which UNHCR has responsibility will continue to be the subject of annual budgets presented by the High Commissioner and approved by Excom. Some economies have had to be applied in recent months due to the financial crisis UNHCR found itself in at the end of last year. However, the High Commissioner's budget for general programme activities for 1990 has now been approved at $378·9 million, to which donors will subscribe as well as responding to the special appeals which UNHCR issues during the year. The UK will continue to be a major subscriber.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the outcome of the Environment Council on 7th and 8th June 1990.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State and my honourable friend the Minister for the Environment and Countryside represented the United Kingdom at this meeting.The Council agreed a directive amending the 1975 framework directive (75/442) on waste. The new directive calls on member states to encourage clean technologies, waste minimisation and recovery methods. It also strengthens existing requirements concerning the licensing of waste disposal installations and the production of waste management plans. I particularly welcomed a new requirement for all member states to establish adequate networks of waste disposal installations so as to reduce the currently unacceptable level of transfrontier movements of waste.The Council agreed a directive on batteries and accumulators containing certain dangerous substances (mercury, cadmium and lead). The directive will encourage the recycling or controlled disposal of spent batteries. It will also require batteries, and in some cases the appliances into which they are built, to be labelled to indicate recyclability and heavy metal content, and to facilitate their separate collection. Certain batteries containing more than a specified amount of mercury will be banned from sale from 1st January 1993.Agreement was also reached on a directive to limit inputs of four dangerous substances to the aquatic environment. The directive sets limit values and quality objectives for significant discharges of Trichlorobenzene, 1, 2-Dichloroethan,., Trichloroethylene and Perchloroethylene. Small discharges of these substances will be controlled through national programmes. These measures will apply from 1st January 1993.The Council agreed the final negotiating position of the Community for the second meeting of parties to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer, to be held in London later this month. The Community, and the United Kingdom, will press for early and substantial reductions in CFCs and their elimination before the year 2000, along with strong controls on halons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform. The Council also confirmed that assistance to developing countries to meet their incremental costs in complying with a strengthened protocol should be covered by additional funding. We are confident that with this position the Community will be able to play a key role in the finalisation at the London meeting of a strengthened protocol which many more countries will be able to join.There was a short, but wide-ranging discussion of climate change. The European Commission was urged to bring forward its work on specific measures which might be taken at Community level to control greenhouse gas emissions, so that the issue could be considered again at the October meeting of the Council, before the second World Climate Conference. The United Kingdom urged other member states to draw up their own strategies for the control of greenhouse gas emissions in good time for that conference, so that they would be in a position to commit themselves to sensible precautionary steps aimed at ensuring that climate change problems do not get any worse in the period between now and 2005, by when many of the remaining scientific uncertainties should have been resolved.Ministers endorsed the urgent need for a directive setting stringent new standards for motor vehicle emissions and regretted the fact that the absence of the European Parliament's opinion on the current proposal prevented immediate agreement. The Council instructed the Presidency to write to the Parliament seeking its opinion as a matter of urgency so that the measure might be agreed at the next Council meeting. The United Kingdom also stressed the need for urgent action to limit emissions from diesel engines in heavy vehicles, and regretted that the new Commission proposals in this area fell short of the stringent "US 1994" standard.The Council also held brief discussions on proposals for establishing a regulatory committee to review exisiting directives on water protection, and on the scope of the proposed directive on the protection of water from pollution by nitrate.The Commission gave progress reports on the preparation of a Community environmental labelling scheme, on discussions on a recent proposal concerning the treatment of municipal waste water, and on the proposed directive on the protection of natural and semi-natural habitats. On the latter the United Kingdom expressed concern at the lack of recent progress and pledged our assistance in helping to resolve outstanding issues.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What has been the total (gross) figure realised in "privatisation" sales since 1979.

Net privatisation proceeds since 1979 amount to some £28 billion. Taking account of privatisation costs of £1 billion and of cash injections made at the time of sale of £3½ billion, the figure for gross proceeds is £32½ billion.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many live red deer and fallow deer respectively have been exported from Great Britain in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not collected centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What, by region, was the employment destination of employees in the fish catching sector who left the industry during 1983–1989.

The information requested is not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the average earnings of employees in the fish catching sector by salary grade.

The information requested is not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the average earnings of employees in the fish catching sector by region and by vessel size.

The information requested is not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the average number of employees per vessel in the fish catching sector in each vessel size band.

Estimates of the average number of employees per vessel in the UK fish catching sector are shown in the table below. The information comes from records of crew size for each vessel held by Fisheries Departments.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What were the costs and earnings of United Kingdom fishing vessels by region during 1983–1989, broken down by vessel size:

Reliable information on the costs and earnings of UK fishing vessels is not available in the form requested. HoweverValue of Landings by UK fishing vessels (£'000s)

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many people were employed full-time and part-time in the fish catching sector by region during 1983–1989.

The information requested is as attached.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the draft regulations relating to slaughter of farm animals are to be laid before Parliament.

The regulations will be laid before the House shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What advisory and consultative machinery will be established to represent public and consumer interests in the health and personal social services in Northern Ireland.

The Government intend, subject to the necessary legislation being made, that there should be four area councils, or health and social services councils as it is proposed they be known, one relating to each health and social services board. Councils will be able to set up sub-committees which may include co-opted members. Each council will appoint its own chairman and will operate within a budget set annually by the Department of Health and Social Services.The duties of a council will include keeping under review the operation of health and social services in its area, making recommendations for improving the services of the relevant board, and commenting on the board's plan, particularly in relation to substantial developments or variations in the provision of services.The council which relates to the eastern board will have 30 members, while those relating to the other three boards will have 24. Forty per cent. of the membership of each council will be reserved for district councillors. Each district council will have the right to nominate one member. Membership will also include individuals appointed by the Department of Health and Social Services after consultation with voluntary and community organisations and other interested bodies.