asked Her Majesty's Government:Who are the members of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments; and whether they will make a statement. [HL3685]

Sadly, Lord Gillmore of Thamesfield, who became chairman of the Committee in February, died shortly after taking up his appointment.The noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, has agreed to become the new chairman, and the Government intend to appoint shortly a new member of the committee to fill the vacancy left by Lord Gillmore.The current membership of the committee is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Chancellor on 28 June (

In the past three years neither I nor my predecessor has made any directions relating to individual proceedings.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they consulted the public in England and Wales before deciding to abolish the writ and replace it with a "claims form" for proceedings in the Royal Courts of Justice; and, if so, what were the results of the consultative process. [HL3440]

The consultation document, A Working Paper, Access to Justice—Judicial Case Management, was published by my department in July 1997. It proposed that all claims should be issued using a single claim form. The record of responses show only one out of 92 respondents wished to retain the use of the word "writ".

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many soldiers from ethnic minorities are now serving in each regiment of the Household Division. [HL3352]

As at 1 June 1999, a total of 26 cap-badged soldiers serving in the Household Division identified themselves as being from an ethnic minority. A further 15 soldiers from ethnic minorities are currently undergoing training. A breakdown by individual regiment is given in the table below:

Regiment	Ethnic minority personnel
Household Cavalry
Life Guards	1
RHG/D (Blues and Royals)	1
Foot Guards1	1
Grenadier Guards	4
Coldstream Guards	3
Scots Guards	4
Irish Guards	9
Welsh Guards	3
Total2	26
Notes:
1 The record of service does not yet reflect the regiment to which this individual will be assigned.
2 There are at present two officers in the Household Division whose ethnic origin is recorded as non-white. A further five trained officers and six soldiers have not yet declared their ethnic origin.

The Army, together with its sister services, is committed to reflect the rich ethnic composition of our society. The proportion of intake to the services in 1998–99 which was from the ethnic minorities was 1.8 per cent., a significant and welcome improvement of 40 per cent. upon the previous year. A challenging recruitment goal of 3 per cent. has been set for the current year, which each service is working hard to achieve.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many members of the Territorial Army are currently in post and serving with HM Armed Forces in (a) the Falklands; (b) Bosnia; and (c) the Yugoslavian provinces; what is the average length of their tours; and what is their position if they are away from their civilian jobs for more than 12 months. [HL3495]

There are currently no mobilised TA serving in the Falklands. Three hundred and fifty-five mobilised TA personnel are serving in Bosnia and 38 mobilised TA personnel are serving in Kosovo and Macedonia. The average tour length for mobilised TA personnel is seven and a half months. There are some 17 members of the TA on full-time reserve service in Bosnia and some eight in Kosovo and Macedonia.Under the conditions of the Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985, employers have a legal obligation to reinstate mobilised TA members on completion of their service on terms and conditions identical to those which would have applied had they not been called out, regardless of the length of time that they have been mobilised. Those on full-time reserve service are not covered by the terms of the Reserve Forces Act and there is, therefore, no legal obligation for their employers to reinstate them on completion of their service.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In the light of a statement announced by the Government in standing station orders and shortly to be issued as a Defence Council Instruction, what "organisations of a secretive nature" other than Freemasonry are listed as among those for which "serving personnel should not encourage or promote membership". [HL3486]

There is no intention or policy to preclude service personnel from membership of any lawful and benevolent organisation. Membership of such organisations per se is a matter for the individuals concerned, but membership should not be promoted or encouraged. It is, therefore, not our intention to collate a list of organisations which are similar to the Freemasons. It would be more appropriate to examine each case on its merits should the need arise.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many "Corimec" or equivalent 20-foot accommodation and ablution units will be available for use in Kosovo on Operation Agricola before the winter sets in; and [HL3444]

Options are currently under consideration to procure temporary field accommodation for troops deployed to Kosovo for extended periods. These options cover a mix of equipments and utilities, including hard wall shelters and ablutions. Decisions on quantities, associated costs and delivery schedules for this procurement have not yet been taken.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the non-regular permanent staff of the Territorial Army being made redundant under the Strategic Defence Review are prohibited for being considered for employment as civilians when the duties involved would be no different. [HL3499]

As part of the restructuring of the Territorial Army, financial systems administrator posts, currently carried out by non-regular permanent staff, are being civilianised at executive officer level. As non-regular permanent staff are not civil servants, they cannot apply for internal civil service job vacancies. We are currently considering initiating external recruitment for these posts. Should this change be decided on, members of the non-regular permanent staff would be welcome to apply, provided they met the direct entry qualifications for the executive officer grade.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the estimate of the average redundancy payment to non-regular permanent staff of the Territorial Army who are being made redundant under the Strategic Defence Review. [HL3500]

Figures on which to calculate an estimated average redundancy payment to members of the non-regular permanent staff (NRPS) of the Territorial Army will not be available until the completion of the redundancy exercise in October this year. Redundancy payments will be determined individually and will be calculated on the basis of length of NRPS service, rank at the time of discharge and rate of pay.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What advice they have received from the Veterinary Products Committee on the Institute of Occupational Medicine's report on organophosphate sheep dips. [HL3716]

We have received advice from the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) on the implications of the IOM report for marketing authorisations of OPs and, in particular, OP sheep dips. A copy of the VPC's advice has been placed in the Library of the House.We have accepted the VPC's recommendation that marketing authorisation holders should be asked to submit practical and workable plans to improve and standardise the design of sheep dip containers with the objective of minimising operator contact with OP concentrate. If such plans are not submitted within three months, action will be commenced to revoke marketing authorisations.We have also accepted recommendations on emphasising the importance of handling OP concentrate safely in advice to farmers and in training and the examination which leads to the issue of a certificate of competence. We are giving urgent consideration to the recommendation that handlers of OP sheep dip concentrate should be required to hold a certificate of competence.The VPC made it clear that this is interim advice. The VPC will be offering further advice together with COT and the other independent advisory committees before the end of the year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the outcome of their consideration of the public response to the Medicines Control Agency's proposals for classifying borderline products, as published in its consultation letter MLX 249. [HL3715]

We have carefully considered all the areas of concern raised by respondents in what has been a very active consultation process. We will be announcing our detailed response on specific issues and we will be responding positively to all the main concerns raised. There has never been any intention to, and there is no effect in these proposals that would, change the definition of a medicinal product. The Government's intention is to ensure that the legal obligation to protect public health is safeguarded while maintaining public access to a range of safe dietary supplements and natural products.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to receive the Annual Report of the Medicines Commission for 1998; and whether this will be published. [HL3720]

We have received the report, and copies have been laid before both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the requirements of Section 5(2) of the Medicines Act 1968.Bound and published volumes have been placed in the Library containing the 1998 reports of the Medicines Commission, the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products, the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and the Veterinary Products Committee.We are pleased to acknowledge the valuable work undertaken by the distinguished members of the Medicines Act advisory boards and thank them for the time and considerable effort dedicated in the public interest to this important work.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to publish the Annual Report and Accounts of the Medicines Control Agency. [HL3719]

We have received the report and copies have been laid before both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the requirements of Section 5(2) and (3) of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921. Copies have also been placed in the Library.