asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their assessment of the economic, social, security and general political situation in Angola and how they intend to respond.

The economic and social situation is very poor. As I explained during my visit to Angola on 19th-21st February, our ability to help will depend on the government's own efforts to improve economic management. I also urged both sides to speed up implementation of the Lusaka Protocol: I welcome the positive steps agreed by President Dos Santos and Dr. Savimbi at their subsequent meeting on 1st March.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the provision of weapons by the United States to Greece and to Turkey over recent years has been within the parameters established in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and whether these provisions have been fully transparent at both the United States end and at the recipients' end, as required by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty limits overall holdings of certain categories of conventional weapons within the area of application and provides for notification, information exchange and intrusive verification. Under paragraph 5(c) of OSCE's Principles Governing Conventional Arms Transfers, OSCE participating states are committed to exchanging information about national legislation and policies in the field of conventional arms transfers. All NATO countries are fully committed to meeting these provisions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps are being taken within the United Nations in view of the refusal of the United States to pay their mandatory contributions.

A number of proposals on financial reform are being tabled. We strongly support the European Union proposal to tighten the penalties on non-payers, accelerate the payment of arrears, reform the scales of assessment and tighten the controls on UN expenditure. In our view, a negotiated solution should respect the principle of capacity to pay.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is to be included in the report from the Secretary General of the United Nations on the Implementation of Annex 1B on regional stabilisation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

In compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1021, the Secretary General is required to submit a report by 12th June on the implementation of Annex 1B to the peace agreement. It is too early to say what will be included in this report, but we expect that it will address issues relating to regional stabilisation, including those on sub-regional arms control covered in Article IV of Annex 1B to the Dayton Agreement.Negotiations are under way in Vienna under the auspices of the OSCE.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What effect on the status of the Dayton agreements has the relationship referred to in paragraph 10 of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 10.31 (1995), "between the fulfilment by the parties of their commitments in the Peace Agreement and the readiness of the international community to commit financial resources for reconstruction and development", given that these latter resources are forthcoming very slowly, and whether their failure to arrive detracts from the obligation of the parties to fulfil their commitments.

The international community will not provide reconstruction assistance to any party in Bosnia in serious breach of its peace agreement commitments.Substantial resources are already available for reconstruction following the December conference. Progress on the ground is not, however, dependent solely on funding, but also on factors such as speed of project preparation, co-ordination of implementation capacity and ability to deal with bureaucratic obstacles. The UK is playing its part: an ODA team is currently in Bosnia to consider expansion of the existing utilities rehabilitation programme. Two ODA-funded experts will shortly be taking up post in Prime Minister Muratovic's office to advise on project preparation and donor co-ordination.A further pledging conference will be held in April.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the planning decision on the proposed construction of a funicular installation and large restaurant in the Cairngorms will be taken by the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the reorganisation of local government in Scotland and the consequent replacement shortly of the existing local planning authority, and in view of the time needed to allow the successor local authority to become fully functioning and fully informed.

The reorganisation of local government in Scotland is not a factor which my right honourable friend would take into account in reaching a decision on whether or not to call in for his own determination the application for the construction of a funicular railway and associated developments in the Cairngorms.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How strong is the evidence for correlation between inadequate diet and the incidence of cancer and heart disease, and what is the annual cost to the NHS of treating each of these conditions.

The relationship between diet and cancer is presently being reviewed by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy. Its report is expected in the autumn. The estimated expenditure in 1992–93 to the National Health Service of treating cancer was £1,300 million.The relationship between an unbalanced diet, high levels of serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease is strong and consistent and is the basis for the dietary targets in the Health of the Nation to reduce the contribution of total fat and saturated fatty acids in the population's diet. The estimated expenditure in 1992–93 to the NHS of treating coronary heart disease was £800 million.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What correlations have been identified between low birth weight and subsequent ill health, and where the relevant research has been reported.

Associations have been identified between lower birth weight and subsequent disease including cardiovascular disorders, obstructive lung disease and some types of diabetes. These associations have been reported in scientific journals and elsewhere.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many cases of tuberculosis were notified in the past year.

The provisional figure for notifications of tuberculosis in 1995 is 6,249.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many people in the United Kingdom suffer from AIDS, how many are known to be HIV positive, how many are estimated to be HIV positive, what is the average duration from the onset of AIDS to death, what are the medications of choice, what is the annual cost to the NHS of these medications and of hospitalisation for such patients per patient and how many days' work are lost due to this condition, as an annual total.

It is estimated that at the end of 1995 there were 3,725 people living with AIDS in the United Kingdom. Since 1984, when reporting began, the cumulative total of diagnosed HIV infections reported in the UK is 25,689. It is estimated that at the end of 1993 there were about 24,000 individuals living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV infection. It has been estimated that 50 per cent. of AIDS cases survive 18 months or more after AIDS diagnosis. The choice of medication is for the individual clinician and patient to decide. Estimated medication cost per AIDS patient (at 1995–96 prices) is £10,000. The annual average cost of hospital treatment of an AIDS patient is in the region of £21,000 and costs vary from hospital to hospital. We do not have any information on work days lost due to AIDS.

asked the Chairman of Committees:Whether he is aware that letters sent to Ministers in their departments from the Palace of Westminster by the internal delivery service are regularly taking more than 24 hours to arrive and whether he will take steps to improve this service.

Mail which is handed in to the House of Lords' Mail Room for despatch to government departments outside the Palace of Westminster through the IDS (Inter-Despatch Service) is collected by IDS at 10.30 and 15.00 on working days.The IDS undertakes to meet the following delivery targets within the radius of the M.25:

Collect	Deliver
08.30–12.00 (day 1)	13.00–17.30 (day 1)
13.00–17.30 (day 1)	08.30–12.30 (day 2)

There is a complaints procedure which will be followed if specific examples of late delivery are notified to Black Rod's Office.A consultancy is currently being let to review existing external and internal mail services throughout the Parliamentary Estate, which encompasses, the Palace of Westminster and the outbuildings. The final report and recommendations are due on 10th May 1996.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the terms of reference of the Legal Aid Board, and who are its members.

The terms of reference of the Legal Aid Board are set out at Part II of the Legal Aid Act 1988.The current membership of the Board is: Sir Tim Chessells (Chairman), Fred Collins, John Crosby, Jean Dunkley, Colin George, Kate Markus, Steve Orchard, Diana Payne, Penelope Pearce, George Pulman, David Sinker and Andrew Thomas. Steve Orchard is also the board's chief executive.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are their new detailed proposals for operating Public Interest Immunity Certificates in civil and criminal trials.

The Government have said that they will give careful and detailed consideration to Sir Richard Scott's recommendations concerning public interest immunity. The Attorney General has invited views on the subject from interested parties by 1st May 1996.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the judgment by the European Court of Justice in case C48/93 (

The judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case 48/93 was delivered on Tuesday 5th March 1996 and runs to 22 pages. The Court concluded that the principle that member states are obliged to make good damage caused to individuals by breaches of Community law attributable to the state is applicable where the national legislature was responsible for the breach in question and where the breach is sufficiently serious. The Court also concluded that it will be for the national courts to decide whether such a breach has occurred and what damages, if any, are payable.These conclusions and the Court's judgment will be the subject of detailed scrutiny in the weeks ahead.The judgment is a stage in the action brought by Factortame Ltd. and others in the UK Divisional Court against Her Majesty's Government for damages in respect of the losses incurred during the period they were excluded from the UK Fishing Vessel Register and unable to fish. In considering this action, the UK Divisional Court asked for guidance from the European Court as to whether in principle member states are liable to pay damages for losses arising from measures which were held in breach of treaty obligations. It will be for the Factortame applicants to decide whether and how to proceed with their action for damages before the UK courts.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they plan to take at the Inter-Governmental Conference to deal with quota hopping.

There is an inconsistency underlying the quota regime of the Common Fisheries Policy, in that the quotas allocated to each member state do not always benefit the fishing communities of that member state. This is because the eligibility for quotas and their administration by member states has to take full account of general treaty provisions—for example, on right of establishment and freedom of movement. This has undermined the benefit which the UK fishing industry has been able to secure from the fishing opportunities available to it under the Common Fisheries Policy. We shall be pursuing this. In particular, we shall be exploring at the IGC whether there are treaty changes which could be made which would help to ensure that the fishing opportunities arising from national quotas provide real benefits to the fishing communities of the flag member state.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, under the Government's interpretation of European Union regulations, drivers of Large Goods Vehicles (LGV) from other European Union countries will be able to continue to drive LGVs in the United Kingdom, even though their eyesight would debar them from continuing to hold a vocational driving licence in the United Kingdom.

The eyesight standards set in the second EC Directive on driving licences will apply throughout the European Union. Existing standards and entitlements vary as between member states. Drivers from other member states will have to comply with the relevant implementing legislation of their own member state, or, in the case of drivers taking up residence here, of the United Kingdom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they plan to revise the fee levels for citizenship applications.

Citizenship fees were last changed in March 1991 and some changes are necessary in order to meet the Government's policy of recovering no more than the cost of processing citizenship applications. New British Nationality (Fees) Regulations 1996 are being laid before Parliament today to introduce the following fee levels with effect from 1st April 1996:

	Present fees	New fees
	£	£
Registration (adult or minor)	85	120
Naturalisation on grounds of marriage to a British citizen	135	120
All other naturalisations	170	150

The fees for applications for naturalisation, which represent about 75 per cent. of all applications, have been reduced significantly. At the same time the opportunity has been taken to remove the element of cross-subsidisation between applications for registration and naturalisation which has come to light since fee levels were last revised. This has led to an increase in the fee for applicants for registration.The existing arrangements for joint applicants will be unchanged: husbands and wives applying together for naturalisation will continue to pay one single fee, as will minor children of the same parent applying together for registration.The practice of returning a normal amount where an application is subsequently withdrawn or refused has been reviewed. It has become apparent that the difference in the cost of successful and unsuccessful applications is negligible. Unsuccessful applicants who apply on or after 1st April 1996 will therefore pay the full cost of processing their applications and will not receive a refund.The new regulations will also increase from £15 to £20 the fees payable to the Home Office for renouncing citizenship and for supplying copy certificates and other documents. The fee for administering the oath of allegiance which is payable to the person administering the oath will be increased from £3.50 to £5 in order to bring it into line with fees for analogous work under the Commissioners for Oath (Fees) Order 1993.It is expected that the revised fee levels will provide sufficient income to meet the costs of processing applications over the period April 1996 to April 1997.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to amend the powers of the Prison Ombudsman; and, if so, whether they will state the nature of the proposed amendments and the reasons for making them; andWhether they will consult Parliament before amending the powers of the Prison Ombudsman.

My right honourable friend the Home Secretary met the Prison Ombudsman, Sir Peter Woodhead, on 28th February. They agreed to clarify the Ombudsman's terms of reference. The Home Secretary said that the terms of reference cover complaints by prisoners about decisions taken by Prison Service staff. They do not cover decisions made personally by Ministers or advice by Prison Service officials to Ministers. A document setting out the clarification will be issued shortly. I will place a copy in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will report on the Prime Minister's recent visit to the Far East.

My right honourable friend the Prime Minister attended the inaugural Asia-Europe Summit Meeting in Bangkok on 29th February to 2nd March together with my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. This Summit for the first time brought together the leaders of Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, China, the 15 member states of the European Union and the President of the European Commission. The Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity it offered to reinforce the relations between Europe and East Asia, politically and economically two of the world's three most important regions.The informal discussions covered a wide range of political and economic issues. The participants agreed on the need to deepen the political dialogue between Asia and Europe, to increase co-operation over arms control, human resource development, environmental protection and the fight against poverty, drugs, terrorism and other international crime.