asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will confirm that the reason why companies manufacturing organophosphate sheep dips which include phenol disinfectants withdrew the disinfectants in 1994 was because the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food required additional data on maximum residue levels in meat.

As part of its review of organophosphorus dips under Directive 81/851/EEC in 1991/92, the Veterinary Products Committee considered the question of phenols in dips. Subsequently, the companies involved were all asked to provide additional consumer and operator safety data on phenols. This data, as one aspect, included toxicological data which would have enabled maximum residue limits to be determined. With the exception of one product, which was reformulated to remove the phenols, the companies decided to voluntarily withdraw the phenol containing dips from the market. Sales ceased on 30 September 1993. These were commercial decisions by the companies concerned, and we cannot confirm whether or not this particular requirement led to the products' withdrawal.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What farm incomes were in 1995.

Total income from farming is estimated to have risen by 22 per cent. in real terms in 1995 compared with 1994. This increase is partly due to agrimonetary developments and to unusual weather conditions which, on balance, had a favourable effect on agricultural incomes. However, the Government's success in creating the right conditions for growth also played an important part. Detailed estimates of the income, output and productivity of United Kingdom Agriculture in 1995 were published this morning and have been placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give further details of military deployments to the former Yugoslavia.

The deployment of British Armed Forces to the NATO-led peace implementation force (IFOR) in Bosnia is now complete.By carefully matching the manpower required to the tasks which have emerged, we have been able to deploy a smaller number of troops than the estimate of over 13,000 reported by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence in another place on 12 December. The actual figure is some 11,500. The United Kingdom's contribution remains, by a substantial margin, second only to that of the United States.We shall keep the force level under review as planning develops for the reduction of IFOR numbers and the completion of its task. NATO is also reviewing the maritime and air forces required to support operations in the Adriatic theatre. Force levels can in any case be expected to fluctuate.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are their views on the recommendations of the "Marchioness" inquest jury.

I have placed a paper setting out the Government's views on the recommendations of the "Marchioness" inquest jury in the Library of the House. The Government agree with the majority of the jury's 12 recommendations. In many cases, existing rules and guidelines already meet the jury's proposals. In those cases where recommendations are aimed at other agencies, the Government are pursuing the recommendations with the agencies in question.The jury endorsed the earlier recommendations of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report into the "Marchioness" sinking, together with the recommendations of the report of the inquiry into river safety by Mr. John Hayes. All of the recommendations in the MAIB' s report have since been implemented. Action has also been taken on the recommendations of the Hayes report and an updated statement of the position is included in the paper published today.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will provide further support for those local authorities currently undergoing reorganisation which are unable to resolve locally the major difficulties in planning and budgeting on an integrated basis for meeting the health education and social care needs of children and adults with severe learning disabilities.

New unitary authorities, having responsibility for health, education and social services, will be able to plan on an integrated basis in ways that may not have been possible previously. Where costs are incurred as a direct result of reorganisation, authorities may apply to the Department of the Environment for additional supplementary credit approvals. Some £50 million of extra funding was made available in this way in 1995–96, and some £100 million has been allocated for 1996–97.The Department of Health will shortly be issuing guidance to local education and health authorities and social service departments entitled

asked Her Majesty's Government:In which areas of the United Kingdom cold weather payments from the social fund were triggered between Christmas and New Year 1995.

Northern Ireland and the following Meteorological Office weather stations within Great Britain triggered Social Fund Cold Weather Payments between 25 December 1995 to 1 January 1996:

Aberdeen (twice)	Heathrow
Aberporth	Kinloss
Aughton	Kirkwall (twice)
Aviemore	Leeds
Bedford	Lerwick
Birmingham	Leuchars
Boscombe Down	Lyneham
Boulmer	Machrihanish
Bournemouth	Manchester
Braemar	Marham
Brize Norton	Shawbury
Capel Curig	Stansted
Carlisle	Stornoway
Cardiff (Rhoose)	Tynemouth
Coltishall	Tulloch Bridge
Cilfynydd	Waddington

Lone Parents receiving Benefit 1991–1995
	Income Support	Housing Benefit	Community Charge Benefit	Council Tax Benefit	Family Credit	Disability Working Allowance	Widowed Mothers Allowance	One Parent Benefit
1991	871,000	654,000	793,000	n/a	131,000	—	48,400	802,000
1992	957,000	788,000	921,000	n/a	155,000	—	49,410	849,000
1993	1.013m	815,000	n/a	799,000	206,000	270	49,720	902,000
1994	1.039m	859,000	n/a	901,000	235,000	421	49,600	937,000
1995	1.049m	—	—	—	248,000	658	51,450	947,000
n/a—not applicable.
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. Exact figures have been quoted for Disability Working Allowance.
2. In Income Support, Housing Benefit, Community Charge Benefit and Council Tax Benefit lone parent refers to cases where the lone parent premium is in payment. For Disability Working Allowance, Family Credit and One Parent Benefit a lone parent has been defined as a person who is living alone with their children. Lone Parents receiving Widowed Mothers Allowance are beneficiaries receiving an increase for a child.
3. Council Tax Benefit replaced Community Charge Benefit from April 1993.
4. There will be some overlap between benefits as a person may receive one or more of the named benefits.
5. Disability Working Allowance was introduced in April 1992.
6. Figures for 1995 are not available for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
7. Figures are based on statistical enquiries which are not always conducted in April of each year. The sources are:
Income Support Statistics Annual/Quarterly enquiries May 1991-May 1994, February 1995.
Family Credit Quarterly Statistics April 1991-April 1995.
Disability Working Allowance Quarterly Enquiries April 1993-April 1995.
One Parent Benefit count 31 May 1991-31 May 1995.
Housing Benefit Management Information System, annual 1 per cent. sample enquiries taken at the end of May in each year given.
Widows Benefit biannual enquiry (data as at 30 September each year).

Dunkeswell	Wattisham
Edinburgh	Whitby
Eskdalemuir	Wick
Eskmeals	Wilsden
Gatwick	Yeovilton
Glasgow

Details of the postcode areas within Great Britain covered by each weather station are listed in the schedules to the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments Regulations, a copy of which is held in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In how many weeks, Cold Weather Payments have been made in at least one area of the United Kingdom.

Cold weather payments have been triggered in five of the weeks since 1 November, when the scheme commenced this winter.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What has been the average annual cost of cold weather payments since their introduction.

Since the regulated cold weather payment scheme began in 1986, the average annual amount awarded has been £10.4 million. The annual amount paid is dependent on the severity of the winter weather conditions. In addition, a number of changes have been made to the entitlement criteria since the scheme began.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many single parents were on benefit on 1 April in each year from 1991–95.

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table. Figures relate to the total number of lone parents, who may be single, separated/divorced, or widowed.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many single parents stopped claiming benefit in (a) 1988–89 (b) 1989–90 (c) 1991–92 (d) 1992–93 (e) 1993–94 (f) 1994–95.

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table. Figures relate to the total number of lone parents, who may be single, divorced/separated or widowed.

Lone Parents Ceasing to Receive Income Support/Family Credit/One Parent Benefit
Financial Year	Family Credit	One Parent Benefit	Income Support
1988–89	39,000	126,000	—
1989–90	87,000	141,000	—
1990–91	91,000	115,000	—
1991–92	90,000	124,000	—
1992–93	92,000	130,000	—
1993–94	124,000	128,000	281,000
1994–95	132,000	133,000	283,000
Source:
Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, 1993–1995.
Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of awards.
Quarterly Child Benefit and One Parent Benefit Statistics, 1988–1995.
Notes:
1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. Figures relate to claimants ceasing to receive benefit in the period shown. It is possible for the same person to appear more than once if they make repeated claims for benefit.
3. Figures for Income Support are not available prior to 1993–94. Prior to 1993 information was collected on an annual 'point in time' basis and did not include details of terminations of awards over the relevant year. Figures for 1993–94 and 1994–95 are derived from `point in time' figures taken at quarterly enquiries through the year. It is possible for some claimants to be omitted if they started and ceased to receive Income Support entirely in the interval between two quarterly enquiries.
4. Family Credit figures include all awards made during this period. However, figures for 1988–89 may slightly underestimate (by 1 per cent. at most) the true total, as not all cases were recorded on the computer system at that time.
5. Figures for Widowed Mother's Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are not available. Statistical information on these benefits is collected on annual 'point in time' bases which do not include details of terminations of awards over the relevant year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to Miss Ann Chant's evidence to the Public Accounts Committee (Q160) that cases in which there is no co-operation with the Child Support Agency "are the ones where probably both parents are on benefit, and therefore there is going to be very little to gain or lose for either party", whether they believe the collection of maintenance from absent parents on income support to be cost effective; andWhat is the average cost per case of collecting maintenance from absent parents on income support.

It is a fundamental principle of the Child Support Act that every parent is responsible for maintaining his or her children wherever they can afford to do so, thus keeping the burden on the general taxpayer to a minimum. The minimum contribution to maintenance, which will increase to £4.80 in April 1996, underpins this responsibility.The principle is that both parents are responsible for their children, and absent parents should not escape all their financial responsibilities simply because they are on income support. A deduction from benefit will demonstrate an absent parent's liability, and will establish a pattern of contributing to the maintenance of children that will continue when the absent parent commences employment.The average cost per case of collecting maintenance from absent parents on income support could be established only at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the report from the Department of Social Security referred to in paragraph 32 of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee's Report on the Child Support Agency (1995–96 HC Paper 31) on "things that went wrong and lessons to be learned" will be completed and whether it will be published.

As was explained to the Public Accounts Committee, various studies were underway. The Government will be responding to the Committee's report in due course.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to paragraphs 3–7 of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's report on the Child Support Agency (PAC 141), what action, if any, they intend to take on interim maintenance assessments which cannot be legally enforced because they have been given incorrect effective dates.

The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1995, which enable the correction of interim maintenance assessments imposed with incorrect effective dates, came into force on 16 February 1995. The Child Support Agency is using this legislation to correct affected cases.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on the Child Support Agency (1st Report 1995–96 HC Paper 31) (Q.225), whether anyone who gave up his job because payment of maintenance under the Child Support Act 1991 left him unable to afford the fares to work would be held to have given up his job "for no good reason".

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the noble Lord.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the reported starting-up of an unsafe nuclear power station by the Armenian Government is related to the Azerbaijian Government's blockade of Armenia, and what encouragement are Her Majesty's Government giving to the lifting of this blockade.

Her Majesty's Government is supporting measures to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh dispute. This would bring to an end the economic blockade imposed by some of Armenia's neighbours which has contributed to the current shortage of fuel in the country. Lack of alternative sources of energy was the reason for the decision to reopen Unit 2 of the Medzamor nuclear power plant.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether an oil pollution control regime is in place in the Caspian Sea, and if not whether all firms participating in oil exploitation are explicitly committed to the prevention of oil pollution, and in the event of pollution, to the polluter pays principle.

We understand that most, if not all, of the Caspian littoral states have legislation covering environmental pollution and protection. Questions on the pollution control policies of companies involved in oil exploitation should be addressed to the companies concerned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What research they have conducted to establish the extent to which British military and police training programmes have a positive influence in encouraging professional standards of conduct and proper respect for human rights in states where the human rights performance of the police and military has been subject to criticisms.

Regular monitoring of ODA-funded police projects generally confirms that they are improving the management and skills of the police forces assisted. A full evaluation of such projects is planned for 1996–97. Although there has been no systematic assessment, we have no reason to doubt that British military training programmes have anything other than a positive effect on human right practices and professional standards in other countries.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What initiatives the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe took during 1995 to persuade the Turkish authorities to comply with their obligations under paragraph 36 of the code of conduct on politico-military aspects of security of the Budapest Declaration of December 1994 in dealing with the Kurdish armed opposition.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office did not, we understand, raise with Turkey her obligation under the code of conduct. The wider issues of Turkey's human rights obligations and the Turkish operation against the Kurds in Iraq have been raised in the OSCE Permanent Council by a number of OSCE states.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What initiatives the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe took during the Pervomaskoye crisis, to persuade the Russian authorities to comply with their obligations under paragraph 36 of the code of conduct on politico-military aspects of security of the Budapest declaration of December 1994.

During the Pervomaskoye crisis, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office kept in close touch with the Russian authorities and offered mediation assistance. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the UK and other OSCE partners have urged Russia to ensure that its military operations in Chechnya fully conform with the OSCE code of conduct.