asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to reinstate capital gains tax on residential property sales. [HL607]

Capital gains tax has never been charged on an individual's only or main residence, so there is no question of reinstating it.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Following the launch of a sports tourism initiative by the British Tourist Authority with their support on 11 January, what budget they have allocated to the authority over and above their existing budget for 2000 so that they may successfully launch an international marketing campaign to attract more sports tourists to the United Kingdom and fund the operation of a sports tourism forum. [HL536]

The Government have no plans to increase the amount of grant-in-aid provided to the BTA in order to make extra funding available for its sports tourism strategy. The BTA is receiving £36 mill] on of grant-in-aid in 1999–2000 and £37 million in 2000–01 and its work on the sports tourism strategy is being accommodated within these budgets.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will press the European Commission to bring quickly an action for interlocutory proceedings in the European Court of Justice against France to open up the French market to British beef. [HL341]

The Government have made it clear to the European Commission that we expect the Commission to take legal action against the French Government quickly for France's failure to lift its import ban on British beef. On 14 December the European Commission issued a Reasoned Opinion. The French responded to the Reasoned Opinion on 30 December again refusing to lift their ban. The Commission, therefore, submitted an application to the European Court of Justice on 4 January.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have conducted an impact assessment of the effect of the reduction in the number of abattoirs licensed to accept cattle under the Over Thirty Months Scheme upon (a) costs to farmers and hauliers; (b) animal welfare, including increased travel time, additional time in lairage and prolonged waiting lists and (c) animal health where an animal with chronic disease must be retained on a farm for an extended period. [HL465]

These issues were taken fully into account by the Intervention Board in letting contracts for the Over Thirty Months Scheme (OTMS) services. As a consequence of the tender, some journey times will inevitably increase, but will remain within animal welfare guidelines. Some journey times will decrease. Similarly, some farmers will face increased costs in transporting their animals to an OTMS abattoir; for others the costs will be lower. Sufficient slaughtering capacity has been contracted to deal with the animals coming forward for slaughter in each region. Since the overall slaughtering capacity available to the scheme will remain broadly the same, it is not envisaged that waiting lists or times in lairage will increase. Animals with diseases such that they are certified by a veterinarian as unfit to travel to a slaughterhouse can access the OTMS through the casualty service, which has worked well since it was introduced in 1996. In other cases, such as where an OTMS animal is held under TB restriction, abattoirs are required to process such animals as a priority.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether there have been reports of resistance of sheep ectoparasites to organophosphate sheep dips (from any part of the United Kingdom). [HL678]

The Veterinary Laboratory Agency has received reports of two confirmed cases of resistance to Psoroptes ovis to organophosphorus sheep dips in the UK. Both were reports of resistance to propetamphos and were in 1995–96.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What were Forest Enterprise's production forecasts for roundwood softwood (of less than sawmill size) for each of the last five years and for the coming five years; and what amounts were actually sold in each year and at what average price. [HL552]

The subject of the question relates to matters undertaken by Forest Enterprise. I have asked its Chief Executive, Dr Bob McIntosh, to arrange for a reply to be given.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton (

No decision has been made to introduce new regulations dealing with police officers who want to apply for service with Europol, although the matter is currently under review within the Home Office.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their policy on indirect discrimination. [HL753]

The Government are committed to achieving a step change in race equality in this country. The Race Relations (Amendment) Bill is part of our programme to ensure that the public sector sets the pace in this drive towards equality. We want to send the clearest possible message that discrimination is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. The Government are, therefore, proposing two changes to strengthen the provisions of the Bill.First, after very careful deliberation we have decided to extend the indirect discrimination provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976 to the functions of public authorities to be newly caught by the Act and we will bring forward an amendment to provide for that. The Government have always been in favour of this in principle, but were concerned to ensure that such a provision would be effective without leaving public bodies open to routine legal challenge in circumstances where their policies were entirely proper. Since the Bill was published, however, we have listened carefully to the arguments put forward about the issue and have concluded that, on balance, the risk of spurious challenge is outweighed by the principle of including indirect discrimination in respect of public sector functions in the Bill.Direct and indirect racial discrimination is already prohibited under the Race Relations Act 1976 in the fields of employment, training, education, housing and the provision of goods, facilities and services in respect of the public and private sector. The Act is already being extended by the Bill to new fields in the public sector which have previously been determined by case law not to be a "service" and to which prohibitions on direct or indirect discrimination did not, therefore, apply. The Act will now extend to areas such as the implementation of central and local government's regulatory, economic and social policies and law enforcement in respect of indirect discrimination as well.Secondly, the Government also see the promotion of equality as a positive way of eliminating unjustifiable indirect discrimination in these and other fields. Our setting of targets for ethnic minority recruitment, retention and promotion and our guidelines for mainstreaming race equality into policy development and implementation are examples. We are already committed to placing the promotion of equality by public bodies on a statutory footing. We will reinforce that commitment by bringing forward a government amendment to the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill to enshrine the principle on the face of the Bill as a positive duty, leaving room for consultation on how the duty will operate in practice and how it will be enforced.The amendments will be brought forward at Commons Committee stage. We are meanwhile considering whether there should be any procedural safeguards consistent with the principle of non-discrimination.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many students were awarded degrees in fine art by United Kingdom universities in 1999; and how many they expect to graduate this year and in the coming three years. [HL644]

The latest available figures are for 1997–98, and they show that 3,266 students graduated in fine art from higher education institutions in the UK. Figures for 1998–99 will be published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in February. The department does not prepare projected estimates of graduates by subject.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether in the light of the statement by the Lord Burlison on 8 December (H.L. Deb., col. 1275) that the Ministry of Defence will welcome any assessment of ill health in Iraq, they will now press the United Nations to authorise an independent expert epidemiological investigation into the reported increase in birth deformities, leukaemia and cancer in Southern Iraq. [HL482]

Officials from the Department for International Development (DIM) have been in discussion with the World Health Organisation (WHO) concerning possible projects to improve epidemiological surveillance in Iraq, to establish links between medical teaching institutions in Iraq and similar institutions outside Iraq, and to improve Iraq's cancer registration system. It is understood that the Government of Iraq has now approved these projects and WHO will shortly be requesting funding from governments. Her Majesty's Government will consider this very carefully when it is received.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many proposals for research into Gulf War illnesses have been received by the Medical Research Council since 1997; how many have been accepted; and what were the reasons for rejection of those not accepted. [HL619]

Since 1997, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has received seven full proposals for research into whether the health of Gulf veterans has been adversely affected by their service in the Gulf conflict. Two proposals have been accepted for funding. Decisions to recommend proposals to MoD for funding are based on a full scientific assessment of the proposals through peer review. Scientific feedback, including the reasons for rejection, is provided direct to the applicants, in confidence, by the MRC.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How the new linking rule to people over 20 years of age who originally qualified for Incapacity Benefit through the new incapacity in youth provisions (Section 64 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999) will operate; and [HL613]Further to the remarks by the Baroness Hollis of Heigham on 13 October 1999 (H.L. Deb., col. 467) whether guidance will be provided to clarify what is intended by the phrase "a lengthy period". [HL614]

Section 64 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act will allow people who left Incapacity Benefit (IB), having originally qualified for it under the new incapacity in youth provisions, to re-qualify in certain circumstances where they do not have enough National Insurance contributions to re-establish entitlement and they also fall outside the normal linking rules.Under the normal linking rules, the right to return to the same level of IB without having to satisfy the relevant qualifying conditions is lost after eight weeks. The linking period is extended to 52 weeks for people who leave benefit for work, and to two years if they claim Disabled Persons' Tax Credit or left benefit for a training for work course.The new rule, which will allow those who qualified for IB under the incapacity in youth provision to re-claim benefit after the age of 20 without having the National Insurance contributions required of others over the age of 20, is intended to protect those who leave benefit for work but who earn below the lower earnings limit (LEL), and those who go abroad. Regulations to be laid before Parliament in the early summer will set out in detail how the provisions will operate and comprehensive guidance will be provided for benefit decision makers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish responses from the Chief Medical Officer and the Director of the Benefits Agency Medical Service to the reviews

Both the department's Chief Medical Adviser (CMA) and the Medical Director in Medical Services which are delivered by SEMA Group on behalf of the Benefits Agency have received copies of the reviews Denigration by Design. As the views expressed in the reviews were two people's personal views on an individual and his work, as opposed to a scientific review of the available published literature, neither the CMA nor the Medical Director felt it appropriate to comment on the reviews.