To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he proposes to make any changes in the Armilla patrol in the light of the continuing ceasefire in the Gulf.

The Armilla patrol will remain in the Gulf area for as long as there is a task to perform. Although there has been little progress towards a permanent peace settlement, there has been a considerable reduction in tension in the area over a period of some months. So long as this continues, we would in future expect normally to deploy only two frigates or destroyers to the region, although a third ship will continue to be suitably equipped and trained so that it can be deployed if there is any increase in threat. This will produce a welcome improvement in the availability of ships for other tasks.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy at what facilities the uranium imported from Namibia since 1979 for commercial purposes is currently located.

I understand that uranium imported from Namibia since 1979 for use in the British civil nuclear programme is currently located either at BNFL's processing facilities, or at the generating boards' power stations. All this uranium is subject to Euratom safeguards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what estimates are available to him of the volume of radioactive tailings created and volume of radon gas released for the mining of each tonne of uranium used in the United Kingdom civil nuclear programme.

I have no such information. I am advised by the British civil uranium procurement directorate that all the countries from which we import uranium for civil use in the United Kingdom meet the internationally agreed guidelines established by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will provide published data in the Official Report, giving (a) the total in kilogrammes of that amount of plutonium in all wastes on the Sellafield site resulting from the reprocessing of all Central Electricity Generating Board and South of Scotland electricity board Magnox spent fuel from 1979, (b) whether that figure is an actual or estimated one and (c) how much of the figure in (a) is included in the table giving the allocation of plutonium produced in Central Electricity Generating Board and South of Scotland electricity board Magnox reactors on 31 March 1987, Official Report, 24 July 1987, columns 517–18.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 20 June 1989 at columns 92–93. None of this plutonium is included in the table which refers to plutonium in irradiated fuel and separated plutonium.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will meet the tenant of Singrett farm, Llay, to discuss with him the impact of the outbreak of anthrax upon his farm operations; and if he will make a statement.

As officials of my Department and the state veterinary service are in constant touch with events at the farm, such a meeting would serve no useful purpose.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money (a) has been made available and (b) has been given to the local authority to date to deal with the problem of anthrax in Clwyd; whether cash limits are imposed on money made available to the local authority for this purpose; and if he will make a statement.

Government support to local authorities is provided principally through rate support grants, which are unhypothecated and are intended to support local authorities in providing services in general. The Anthrax Order 1938 places a clear duty on local authorities to dispose of potentially infected slurry at their expense. Prudent authorities will make provision for such contingencies within their budgets and should therefore be in a position to meet the costs of the anthrax outbreak to which the hon. Gentleman refers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued to local authorities in connection with the enforcement of the law relating to Sunday trading.

My right hon. Friend has not issued guidance to local authorities on this matter as there is no reason to suppose that they are not aware of their responsibilities under section 71 of the Shops Act 1950.As my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General made clear in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Mr. Stanbrook) on 17 April at column

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions took place in 1988 of people found cycling on footpaths.

Information for 1988 is not yet available. In 1987 there were 540 persons prosecuted in England and Wales for cycling on a footpath.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present weekly food allowance per inmate in prisons in England and Wales; and how the allowance is made up.

The weekly food allowance is determined by a range of dietary scales, which vary according to age and sex and also take into account religious and other beliefs. The weekly scales can be summarised as follows:

Food group	Weekly allowance
Milk	2,610–3,050 ml
Cheese	110 g
Margarine	350–450 g
Vegetable oils	150–250 g
Eggs	3 no
Meat and meat products	11,420 g
Fish	1185 g
Fresh potatoes	3,150–3,920 g
Fresh green vegetables	680 g
Other fresh vegetables	540–830 g
Processed vegetables	210–270 g
Fresh fruit	1200 g
Processed fruit	100 g
Sugars and preserves	540–590 g
Bread	1,425–2,300 g
Flour and other cereals	840–1,155 g
Beverages:
Tea	60 g
Instant coffee	5 g
1 Weekly cash allowances are provided for purchase of fresh meat, fish and fruit, to be spent at the discretion of the establishment; the weights quoted are therefore average figures. There is also a weekly cash allowance of 23p to 29p per inmate used at local discretion to extend the variety and palatability of meals.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to introduce the withholding of passports of foreigners who are the subject of police bail pending further inquiries; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has no such plans at present. Only the courts can impose conditions on the grant of bail.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of West Yorkshire as to the estimated cost of the police operations during the Muslim riots in Bradford over the weekend of 8–9 July; and if he will make a statement.

I understand from the chief constable of West Yorkshire that the estimated additional cost of policing the disturbances in Bradford on 9 July is £6,870. This covers police overtime, subsistence and transport.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he intends to make with regard to the ability of local authorities or bodies of a primarily political or religious nature to own a dominant holding in satellite television channels uplinked from the United Kingdom, primarily directed at the United Kingdom or intended for carriage on United Kingdom cable systems.

Paragraph 6.49 of the broadcasting White Paper (Cm. 517) proposed that local authorities and bodies whose objects are wholly or mainly of a religious or political nature should be disqualified from holding any ITC licence: this would include United Kingdom-based satellite channels licensable by the ITC.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has had any meetings with the Building Employers Confederation to discuss the possible impact upon the construction industry of proposed changes to British summer time arrangements.

No, but responses are invited by 29 September to the Green Paper Cm. 722 published on 27 June.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the economic impact upon the construction industry of the proposed changes to British summer time arrangements.

I refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 78 to 80 of the Green Paper "Summer Time—A Consultation Document" Cm. 722.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received any representations from the construction industry concerning proposed changes to British summer time arrangements; and if he will make a statement.

Written observations were received from a number of organisations concerned with the construction industry as part of the consultation, through Departments, on summer time and we have subsequently received a further representation from the president of the Building Employers' Confederation. The views submitted have been taken into account in the Green Paper "Summer Time—A Consultation Document" Cm. 722.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he accepts the recommendations of the Central Council of Physical Recreation in their review of physical education in Her Majesty's prison service; and if he will make a statement.

In September 1988 the CCPR undertook to examine the provision of physical education in five prison service establishments. It visited prisons at Featherstone, Birmingham and Stafford and young offender institutions at Swinfen Hall and Hewell Grange. Its terms of reference were:

"To determine the extent to which physical education programmes in the five selected establishments meet the perceived needs of their inmate population by taking into consideration:

1.1 The scale of physical education programmes currently provided for young and adult offenders in the five establishments in the agreed pilot scheme.

1.2 The problems encountered in programme delivery.

1.3 The integration of physical education programmes with other elements of each establishment's regime.

1.4 The quality of these physical education programmes compared with those in educational establishments, other institutions and in society at large.

1.5 To make recommendations."

The CCPR uses the experience gained from these five establishments as background to a very wide-ranging report with recommendations which affect not only the prison service but many other bodies and organisations with an interest in physical education and sporting and leisure activities. I am sure that the report will provide a stimulating basis for discussion between the many interests involved.I share the CCPR's view that the physical education branch of the prison service makes an under-recognised contribution to sport and recreation in this country as well as providing a very valuable service to inmates. I welcome the specific proposals the CCPR has for improving this service and its recommendations will be taken into account as part of the ongoing commitment to improve the general standard of prison regimes.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will propose immediately an amendment to the existing law whereby persons convicted of crimes of violence who are released from imprisonment after serving a full sentence with remission are made subject to supervision as recommended in the Carlisle report.

[holding answer 10 July 1989]: We are actively considering the far-reaching changes in the arrangements for parole and remission in England and Wales recommended by the Carlisle committee, The committee's proposals include supervising on their release all prisoners with sentences of more than a year.We are sympathetic to this part of the proposals which accord with Government policies, and, as part of our work on the Carlisle committee's report, we are thoroughly reviewing the way in which prisoners released on licence would be supervised. High and consistent standards of supervision would be essential but supervision cannot give an absolute guarantee that an offender will be prevented from committing further crime.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis Customs and Excise assess liability for value added tax on the whole of an advertisement placed by a commercial company on behalf of a charitable organisation rather than on the value of that part of it that might be deemed to be promoting the company.

Liability for VAT is based on the nature of the agreement between the person making the supply and the person receiving it. If the person receiving the supply of advertising services is not a charity then there is no entitlement to VAT relief under the existing law.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer why the Isle of Wight is omitted from "Regional Trends", No. 24 1989 edition in table 2.6 (i) average gross weekly earnings, male and female and (ii) gross domestic product 1984.

Regional figures for both average earnings and gross domestic product are based on estimates from sample surveys. For the Isle of Wight and for some other areas in the United Kingdom the sample size is too small for the publication of reliable estimates.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the gross domestic product per head for the northern region of the United Kingdom; and in which EEC regions the gross domestic product per head is lower than this figure.

Gross domestic product per head at factor cost in the north is provisionally estimated to have been £5,389 in 1987. International comparisons of regional GDP per head by the statistical office of the European Communities are published on page 156 of "Regional Trends 24"; 1989 Edition. This shows the following regions to have had lower GDP per head than the north in 1986 (in descending order):

Region	Country
Wales	United Kingdom
Noreste	Spain
Oost-Nederland	Netherlands
Region wallonne/Waals gewest	Belgium
Abruzzi-Molise	Italy
Madrid	Spain
Northern Ireland	United Kingdom
Este	Spain
Sardegna	Italy
Campania	Italy
Sicilia	Italy
Sud	Italy
Noroeste	Spain
Canarias	Spain
Ireland	Ireland
Centro	Spain
Kentriki Ellada	Greece
Sur	Spain
Voreia Ellada	Greece
Portugal	Portugal
Anatolika Kai notia nisia	Greece

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report the return on capital employed and on trading assets of the capital goods industries less building materials, contracting and construction in 1959, 1968, 1973, 1978 1980 and his estimate for 1988 together with his forecast for 1989 and 1990.

No official statistics exist in the form required. Neither is a forecast made of these numbers. The Bank of England has published data taken from large companies' accounts which shows the historic cost rate of return for a number of different industrial classifications. The latest data can be found on pages 548–49 of the "Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin" November 1988, volume 28 No. 4. A copy is available in the Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he has any plans to discuss with the chairmen of the clearing banks the introduction of private currencies in the United Kingdom;

My right hon. Friend has no such plans.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many widows have been disqualified from the right to the allocation of free Abbey National shares as a consequence of the terms of section 116 of the Building Societies Act 1962; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 17 July 1989]: The building societies legislation does not lay down those to whom shares will be allocated or sold on a change to plc status. These are commercial decisions properly taken by the board of the organisation and the information sought is not currently available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many dockers have applied for redundancy following the abolition of the dock labour scheme; and if he will make a statement.

At 14 July, 1,678 former registered dock workers had been made redundant following the abolition of the dock labour scheme. That is about 18·5 per cent. of the number on the register when the scheme ended. Almost all of these redundancies were either voluntary or in respect of companies which had gone into liquidation or otherwise ceased trading.

Authorities	1983–84		1984–85		1985–86		1986–87		1987–88
	Street lighting £'000	Per cent. of road spend that is street lighting	Street lighting £'000	Per cent. of road spend that is street lighting	Street lighting £'000	Per cent. of road spend that is street lighting	Street lighting £'000	Per cent. of road spend that is street lighting	Street lighting £'000	Per cent. of road spend that is street lighting
Greater London	5,098	13	5,124	11	5,581	14	—	—	—	—
Barking	381	25	413	22	475	26	691	21	566	—
Barnet	503	13	655	11	523	14	647	10	701	—
Bexley	424	15	420	14	430	14	622	12	584	—
Brent	448	14	482	16	494	16	629	15	393	—
Bromley	522	11	537	11	657	13	905	11	712	—
Camden	652	21	890	17	538	17	705	16	746	—
City of London	424	16	409	13	418	13	360	11	381	—
Croydon	616	17	668	15	658	12	895	11	889	—
Ealing	519	14	468	12	670	14	792	13	559	—
Enfield	513	21	525	23	448	19	686	16	616	—
Greenwich	795	21	830	21	729	18	955	16	1,010	—
Hackney	512	20	981	24	827	18	958	13	705	—
Hammersmith and Fulham	437	12	716	12	443	13	599	12	529	—
Haringey	347	18	391	15	404	16	488	15	517	—
Harrow	521	15	510	20	591	19	474	22	673	—
Havering	466	15	481	15	472	14	566	12	513	—
Hillingdon	415	18	432	17	471	19	637	11	674	—
Hounslow	311	16	338	17	379	18	493	17	521	—
Islington	357	23	374	24	338	9	449	9	544	—
Kensington	441	21	494	22	494	18	800	19	1,091	—
Kingston-upon-Thames	316	20	250	14	301	17	412	15	393	—
Lambeth	630	25	504	17	660	23	882	22	934	—
Lewisham	552	12	604	16	652	15	803	16	762	—
Merton	349	19	449	20	167	14	61S	22	660	—
Newham	559	17	604	17	603	17	981	20	1,038	—
Redbridge	572	17	569	16	649	16	785	17	831	—
Richmond-upon-Thames	400	16	412	16	425	18	543	14	574	—
South wark	562	17	563	15	591	13	807	11	726	—
Sutton	346	16	359	14	371	13	444	11	344	—
Tower Hamlets	392	10	433	7	466	14	639	13	474	—
Waltham Forest	433	14	446	14	442	15	632	15	571	—
Wandsworth	611	15	371	13	370	12	502	11	515	—
Westminster	706	16	832	18	747	17	760	12	886	—
London total	21,134	16	22,534	14	22,486	15	22,160	14	21,631	—
Metropolitan counties
Greater Manchester	9,147	23	9,522	27	7,970	21	—	—	—	—
Merseyside	6,494	24	6,866	24	4,181	23	—	—	—	—
South Yorkshire	4,742	16	4,889	17	5,323	18	—	—	—	—
Tyne and Wear	5,442	26	5,701	24	5,542	19	—	—	—	—
West Midlands	7,998	17	8,304	18	8,143	17	—	—	—	—
West Yorkshire	6,499	18	6,770	18	7,136	17	—	—	—	—
Total metropolitan counties	40,322	20	42,051	21	38,295	19	—	—	—	—
Shire counties
Avon	2,765	18	2,759	18	2,770	17	2,944	17	3,125	—
Bedfordshire	990	12	1,047	10	1,043	10	1,204	12	1,273	—

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give, for the last five years for which figures are available, the amount of money spent by each county highways authority and highways authority on street lighting; and if he will state the percentage that money is of the total amount spent on roads, authority by authority.

Figures for capital spending by individual local authorities on street lighting could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Figures for current spending on street lighting by highways authorities in England (including the Department of Transport) are as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list each authority which has submitted a bid for an allocation for improved street lighting in residential areas.

Of the 108 local highway authorities in England, 71 included bids for street lighting expenditure in their transport policies and programme submission for 1989–90. Although some of the planned work is likely to have been for the benefit of residential areas, very few authorities specified this.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a further statement on the measures which are being taken to ensure that the essential infrastructure needed for the United Kingdom to take advantage of the commercial benefits arising from the Channel tunnel is in place when the tunnel opens in 1993.

Plans for the necessary road and rail infrastructure are well advanced. The Government have given approval in principle for expenditure of over £600 million by British Rail. There are a number of major schemes in the road programme to provide good access to the tunnel and Channel ports.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those county councils which specify polymer modified bitumens.

The information requested is not collected by the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the inability of United Kingdom contractors to compete after 1992 with the EEC through lack of expertise in polymer modified bitumens.

Major road building contractors in the United Kingdom have experience of working with modified bitumens of various types, including polymer modified bitumens similar to those used in other EEC countries. We have no reason to believe that these contractors will be unable to compete after 1992 through lack of expertise in the roadbuilding application of these materials.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies he has carried out on polymer modified bitumens for United Kingdom roadbuilding.

Since 1973 a considerable number of studies have been carried out by the transport and road research laboratory into various types and aspects of the use of polymer modified bitumens for roadbuilding. The main results have been published in the following reports:

• Laboratory Report 963 describes the use of sulphurs.
• Laboratory Report 989, and Research Reports 92 and 122 describe the use of ethylene/vinyl acetate.
• Laboratory Report 989 also describes the use of styrena/butadiene/styrene.
• Laboratory Report 1101 describes the use of polyethylene. Research Report 54 describes the use of a manganese modifier.
• Research Report 57 describes the use of estylene/vinyl acetate, styrene/butadiene/styrene, and a number of proprietary materials.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his replies to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Mossley Hill of 10 July, how much money has been allocated to Liverpool city council for road schemes in each of the last five years; and what information he has on how that money has been spent.

Liverpool city council became a highway authority in 1986. Transport supplementary grant paid in support of its accepted programme of highway improvements in the four years since then has been as follows:

£ million
1986–87	2·702
1987–88	2·267
1988–89	1·235
1989–90	1·762

Expenditure details from Liverpool's 1988 transport policies and programme document are as follows:

£ thousand
Scheme	1986–87 actual outturn	1987–88 estimated outturn	1988–89 budgeted outturn
A59 Hunter Street improvement	3,230	2,443	1,634
A580 Everton Valley improvement	738	434	628
Liverpool inner ring road	523	9	167
A561 Garston bypass	122	0	416
Access to Lime Street Station	27	33	124
A561 Park Road relief road	0	0	300
Minor works	156	366	870

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will direct the BR board to end unfair discrimination against Eastleigh railway workshop in the matter of bidding for contract work with British Rail;(2) if he will direct the BR board to ensure that Eastleigh works is given the opportunity of bidding for contracts in order to maintain its work force, its range of skills and capital equipment;(3) if, in the light of prices for white metal bearings work carried out by private companies, he will direct the BR board to transfer such work and other related work to the Eastleigh railway workshop.

These are commercial and managerial matters for the Railways Board and British Rail Maintenance Limited, and it would not be appropriate for me to intervene.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the savings that could be made for British Rail as the final customer if t he Eastleigh works was allowed to bid on the open market for work.

None. This is a commercial matter for the railways board.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from the work force at British Rail Eastleigh railway workshop concerning bidding for certain lines of railway engineering and maintenance work which it carried out before the privatisation of BREL.

I have received no such representations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents were caused to rail passengers leaning out of carriage windows, in the last year for which figures are available.

In 1988, for which provisional figures are available, there were 18 such accidents, 14 of which involved only minor injuries, two serious injuries and two fatalities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road accident deaths in (a) England and (b) Bedfordshire have been associated with excess alcohol consumption since 1 January 1985.

The table shows the total number of fatalities in Bedfordshire and in England from 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1987 and for each of those years in accidents where at least one driver or rider failed a breath test. This is the most common measure of drink-related accidents. It is not possible to produce precise statistics of drink-related accidents because some drivers will have been too severely injured to be breath tested. The blood alcohol level of drivers who die within 12 hours of an accident are provided from coroner's reports. These are not always complete. They exclude those drivers who die after this period but within the 30-day rule for a road accident fatality. Such fatalities are not included in this table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list in rank order information available to him for each country within the European Economic Community on the percentage of Government subsidy to their national railway system.

The most recent information available to the Department is given in the table, which is derived from the ninth Commission report on the transposed annual accounts of railway undertakings for 1985 [COM (88)739 final], a copy of which is in the Library of the House. There are substantial variations between countries in financial arrangements, including the writing off of debt and the systems for financial support.

	Subsidy1
United Kingdom	29
West Germany	31
France	32
Irish Republic	33
Denmark	36
Netherlands	46
Belgium	52
Italy	57
Greece	66
Luxembourg	73
1 As percentage of operating costs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list in rank order information available to him for each country within the European Economic Community on (a) the basic wage, (b) working hours and (c) overtime rates for workers employed on the national railway system.

No firm figures for other EC countries are available to the Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has made an assessment of the commercial consequences for the German, French, Italian, and Spanish economies, relative to Britain's in 1992, due to the present investment in rail transport in those countries.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what volumes of spent nuclear fuel have been transported through cities with populations greater than 300,000 in each year since 1979.

The Department does not collect data of the kind requested. The movement of spent fuel is made in compliance with national and international regulations which require safety for both normal and accident conditions to be built into the container used for transport. Safety does not depend on the choice of route used, which is a matter for British Rail.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if, when he next meets the chairman of BAA, he will discuss the delays caused to domestic travellers at Heathrow terminal one (departures) resulting from unmanned security clearance points.

No. How many such channels are provided, and how many of them are staffed at any given time, are entirely matters for the airport management.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has received advice from the Civil Aviation Authority in response to the commissions that he gave it last summer on airport capacity and air traffic distribution.

I have now received the authority's advice on air traffic distribution policy for airports serving the London area, and this has been published today as CAP 559. Copies have been placed in the Library. I shall now consider the authority's advice, and will make a statement in due course. The authority proposes to undertake further work before offering advice on long-term strategic issues.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the fees chargeable by tachograph calibration centres will change in the current year.

From 24 July 1989 the maximum fees for calibration will decrease from £32·21 to £28·11 (plus VAT). The fee for two-yearly inspections will increase from £13·82 to £17·93 (plus VAT). The changes follow a joint review of the time needed to calibrate a tachograph or carry out a two-yearly inspection.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make available further financial assistance to Bradford council to enable private street works to be carried out where the procedure was not properly undertaken by the West Yorkshire metropolitan county council and where as a consequence works are outstanding; and if he will make a statement.

No. The cost of private street works is usually apportioned between the owner of properties fronting the street involved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress that has been made with the new legislation to replace the Public Street Works Act 1950, including the various codes of practice he is considering introducing under regulations; and what is the timetable for legislation.

Good progress has been made with proposals for primary legislation. Responses to our recent consultation paper were overwhelmingly in support of the majority of proposals. Good progress is also being made with the various codes of practice required to support new legislation through the hard work and co-operation of the highway authority associations and the utilities. A paper giving a fuller report on progress has been placed in the Library. A Bill will be introduced as soon as a suitable opportunity can be found.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate how many cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been slaughtered for human consumption during the past year.

None.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to his answer of 12 July, what assessment his Department has made of a statement by H. C. Grant, MD, FRCP, a neuropathologist writing in a recent London Food Commission magazine, a copy of which has been sent to him, stating that bovine spongiform encephalopathy can be transmitted to chimpanzees.

The reference probably relates to the transmission of other spongiform encephalopathies to chimpanzees, since bovine spongiform encephalopathy has not been transmitted to them.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the most recent figures available for new forestry planting in the private and public sectors in England and Wales.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer that my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland gave to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 22 June 1989 at columns 205–6.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what was (a) the total agricultural investment and (b) the total amount of agricultural land in the south-eastern and northern-regions, in the last year for which figures were available.

The information for 1987 is as follows:

	Total agricultural investment £ million	Total agricultural area1 '000 hectares
South Eastern region	95	1,727
Northern region	63	1,050
1 At June

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what methods other than irradiation of improving food hygiene his Department has investigated; and if he will make a statement.

My Department has considered every stage in the food production chain from the farm to the table and has introduced a comprehensive range of measures to protect all aspects of the safety of food. The bulk of these were listed by my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Mr. Thompson) in a reply to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 3 March 1989 at columns 373–74.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has received any representations from the British Poultry Federation concerning the irradiation of foodstuffs; and if he will make a statement.

The British Poultry Federation has put forward a number of points about irradiation in the poultry sector, but these do not relate to the effectiveness of the process in killing salmonella, campylobacter and listeria in poultry products.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations he has had with representatives of the poultry industry concerning the irradiation of foodstuffs.

Consultations are not appropriate with representatives of any particular product sector at this stage, but will take place when detailed proposals are being considered.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all those sectors of the food industry which have made recent representations to him opposing the irradiation of foodstuffs.

The only sector of the food industry from which I have recently received representations opposing the irradiation of foodstuffs are the interests covered by the British Poultry Federation. Other organisations have commented on aspects of this matter at an earlier stage.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields of 28 November, Official Report, column 99, if he is now in a position to publish information on the human and environmental effects of Nuvan.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 11 July at column 455.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state (a) the total amount paid by each member state of the EEC in cereals co-responsibility levy for each year since the co-responsibility levy has been operative and (b) the total tonnage of cereals produced in each member state of the EEC, showing in each case how much per tonne the co-responsibility levy represents.

Information provided by the Commission. of the European Communities on cereals co-responsibility levy payments and cereals production by member states is set out in the table. This information covers the first two years of the levy's operation. Details of payments for 1988–89 are not yet available. The following points should be noted:1. The Commission's figures for levy payments in 1987–88 cover 13 months from 1 July 1987 to 31 July 1988 whereas those for 1986–87 cover 12 months. Both sets of production figures are for 12 months.2. Small cereals farmers in Spain and Italy were exempt from paying the co-responsibility levy during the period to which the figures relate.3. Levy collection in all member states in 1986–87 and all, except Italy and France, in 1987–88 was at the point of processing, sale into intervention or export from the Community. This meant that the levy was not necessarily collected in the country of origin of the grain.4. In the 1987–88 season collection of the levy in Italy and France was changed to the point of first sale. This affected the amount of levy collected in a number of member states.5. In a number of cases levy collected in 1986–87 does not appear in the Commission figures until 1987–88. Changes in the green rates further increase the levy payments recorded for 1987–88 in relation to 1986–87.6. Under its accession arrangements Portugal does not yet collect cereals co-responsibility levy.

	(a)	(b)	(c)
	Amount of co-responsibility levy collected in member states' national currency (million)	Production (million tonnes)	Levy in national currency per tonne (a) ÷ (b)
1986–87
Belgium	816·6 BF	2·3	355·0
Denmark	77·3 KR	8·0	9·7
Germany	148·2 DM	25·6	5·8
Greece	580·7 DRA	5·3	109·6
France	565·0 FF	50·1	11·3
Ireland	3·7 I£	1·8	2·1
Italy	52,467·3 LIT	17·8	2,947·6
Luxembourg	14·3 LF	0·05	286·0
Netherlands	38·9 FL	1·3	29·9
Spain	3,548·8 PTA	16·0	221·8
United Kingdom	39·4 £	24·5	1·6
1987–88
Belgium	791 ·0 BF	1·9	—
Denmark	117·8 KR	7·3	—
Germany	171·0 DM	23·8	—
Greece	1,705·9 DRA	5·1	—
France	1,791·9 FF	52·2	—
Ireland	5·1 I£	2·0	—
Italy	65,784·1 LIT	17·4	—
Luxembourg	16·3 LF	0·06	—
Netherlands	54·5 FL	1·1	—
Spain	5,620·1 PTA	19·8	—
United Kingdom	56·2 £	21·7	—

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give such details as are available to him of the stocks of grain in store at 30 June (a) in Britain, (b) in the European Community and (c) in the world, expressed in tonnes and days' supply.

Current estimates of cereals in store in the United Kingdom and the European Community as a whole at the end of the 1988–89 marketing year on 30 June 1989 are as follows:

	Million tonnes	Days' supply
United Kingdom	3–5	65
EC	26–7	66

These figures are based on the Commission of the European Communities' balance sheet for cereals.The International Wheat Council's estimate of world stocks of grain is an aggregate of national figures based on different definitions of marketing years and therefore dose not relate to a particular date. However, the Council's latest estimate for world stocks for the end of the 1988–89 crop year is 248 million tonnes or around 71 days' supply.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many days' supply of grain are currently in store in the United Kingdom (a) in intervention storage and (b) in all storage.

United Kingdom intervention stocks of wheat and barley at 30 June represented about 15 days' supply of grain. The end season stock of grain in all storage is estimated to represent about 65 days' supply which, with the 1989 harvest in progress, is likely to be more than sufficient to meet industry's short-term requirements.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much intervention stocks of butter, skimmed milk powder, beef, olive oil and cereals, have fallen in recent years (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in the European Community.

The tables show current and peak levels of intervention stocks of butter, skimmed milk powder, beef, olive oil, and cereals, (a) in the United Kingdom, (b) in the European Community, and the percentage by which those stocks have fallen.

Commodity	Peak level	Current level	Per cent. reduction
(a) United Kingdom Stocks (thousand tonnes)
Butter	269	12	96
	August 1986	May 1989
SMP	220	0	100
	October 1983	May 1989
Beef	86	18	79
	December 1985	May 1989
Olive oil	0	0	—
Total cereals	6,013	639	89
	November 1985	June 1989
Durum	0	0	—
Wheat	3,926	25	99
	November 1985	June 1989
Barley	2,087	614	71
	November 1985	June 1989
Rye	0	0	—
(b) EC Stocks (thousand tonnes)
Butter	1,398	45	97
	August 1986	May 1989

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what controls he has over the importation of anthrax vaccine; whether he has prevented anthrax vaccine being imported into the United Kingdom during the current year; and if he will make a statement.

In order to maintain the safety, quality and efficacy of veterinary medicines, including vaccines, imports are subject to a product licence under the Medicines Act. No product licences have been sought or issued for imported anthrax vaccine.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he proposes to amend the Anthrax Order 1938 to permit compensation on slaughtering; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 14 July 1989 at column 667.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the monitoring procedures for animals on farms when an outbreak of anthrax occurs; and if he will make a statement.

Anthrax is an acute disease typified by sudden death. Monitoring of live animals present on a premises where anthrax has occurred and where restrictions are in force is generally carried out by the owner, who is advised by his private veterinary surgeon. The Anthrax Order of 1938 makes provision for non-suspect animals to be sent direct to a slaughterhouse provided the movement is made with the written permission of the local authority.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will give the quantities of anthrax vaccine he has had available for use in each of the last 12 months;(2) if he will list the circumstances in which he will use anthrax vaccine; what controls he will impose on its production and use; and if he will make a statement;(3) on what date his Department started to produce anthrax vaccine; when it will be ready for use; and if he will make a statement;

Anthrax vaccine is generally used by farmers to protect cattle that graze land contaminated in the past with anthrax spores. In rare circumstances it can be used to control an outbreak. The Government do not hold and have not held stocks of vaccine. Commercial production was discontinued in 1986, and commercial supplies of anthrax vaccine for animals have been unavailable since October 1988 when existing stocks became exhausted. We are investigating the possibility of alternative sources.To deal with the outbreak of anthrax in Wales we are, as an extraordinary measure, making arrangements for an emergency supply of vaccine to be produced at my Department's veterinary laboratory. Production began on 10 July 1989 and it should be ready for use before the end of August, provided that no unexpected problems are encountered.The production and supply of any medicinal product must satisfy the requirements of the Medicines Act 1968.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (a) cows, (b) pigs and (c) sheep died in each year since 1982; and how many he expects will die in 1989.

The information requested in respect of anthrax is as follows:

	(a) Cattle	(b) Pigs	(c) Sheep
1982	17	1	—
1983	13	1	—
1984	9	—	—
1985	6	—	—
1986	12	—	2
1987	6	—	—
1988	3	—	—
19891	1	14	—
1 To date.

It is not possible to predict how many more animals will die of anthrax during the rest of 1989.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what instructions he has given to the state veterinary service about monitoring the death of seals in the North sea; and if he will make a statement.

None. The Department of the Environment has primary responsibility for matters concerning the recent epidemic of disease in seals.