To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what savings have been made across local government as a whole as a result of subjecting local authority contracts to competitive tendering.

No precise figures are available at present. However, the Audit Commission's occasional paper "Preparing for Compulsory Competition" published in January last year indicated that local authorities can obtain savings of 20 per cent. or more in contract price, irrespective of whether work has been won by the private sector or by an authority's own work force.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress of financial decisions relating to the privatisation of the Property Services Agency and the Crown Suppliers.

Financial decisions in relation to the Crown Suppliers privatisation are expected to be taken in the first half of this year. It is too early to say when those in relation to PSA privatisation will be taken.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what the Government are doing through their various agencies to combat global warming; and what is the total sum spent on this in the current year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action his Department is taking, through its various agencies, to combat global warming; and what is the total to be spent on this in the current year.

Among many initiatives, the Government actively support the work of the inter-governmental panel on climate change and are leading efforts to gain support for an international framework convention on climate change. We have also taken the lead in international initiatives to phase out the production and consumption of CFCs which are important greenhouse gases. We have amended the Building Regulations to improve the energy efficiency of new houses and announced the establishment of a new centre for the prediction of climate change. In 1990–91 my Department expects to spend over £6 million on climate change-related research and we are contributing £750,000 to the work of the inter-governmental panel on climate change. Other Departments also have important programmes on global warming, for example, the Overseas Development Administration's support for projects to conserve the tropical forests and the research funded by the Department of Education and Science through the research councils.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in order of percentage loss or gain the grant-related expenditure for the standard spending assessments allocations for all English districts in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and if he will list for each the proportion of the population of each authority living in urban areas.

I have today placed in the Library a table showing the information requested on grant-related expenditure assessments and standard spending assessments for all non-metropolitan districts in England. I cannot provide information on the proportion of the population living in urban areas as there is no standard way of classifying such areas.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the rate proposed for 1990–91 and the average rate per head payable in the current year for Castle Point district council.

I estimate that the average domestic rate bill per adult for Castle Point is about £318 in 1989–90. I have no firm information on the proposed community charge for 1990–91.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the rate proposed for 1990–91 and the average rate per head payable in the current year in Southend-on-Sea.

I estimate that the average domestic rate bill per adult for Southend-on-Sea is about £363 in 1989–90. I have no firm information on the proposed community charge for 1990–91.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the rate proposed for 1990–91 and the average rate per head payable in the current year for Wealden district council.

I estimate that the average domestic rate bill per adult for Wealden is about £292 in 1989–90. I have no firm information on the proposed community charge for 1990–91.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what considerations informed the decision to treat business and domestic property in a different manner in respect of rates.

I refer the hon. Member to our Green Paper "Paying for Local Government" (Cmnd. 9714) published in January 1986, and our explanations during parliamentary consideration of what is now the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will provide figures for inner London and outer London of the amount of poll tax payable in 1990–91 per adult as against rates, together with the contribution made by the safety net.

I have no information on 1990–91 community charges payable in inner or outer London. Tables showing the information requested but based on assumed community charges were placed in the Library on 11 January.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how, with reference to paragraph 3.36 of his Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England), the figure of £59·11 is arrived at; how poll tax payers and council officials can check its validity; and what effect the choice of this figure has on the standard spending assessment arrived at for Grimsby.

The figure referred to in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) was determined by my right hon. Friend after full consultation with local authority representatives. It accounts for £82 per adult of Great Grimsby's SSA.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how, with reference to paragraph 3.40 of his Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England), the figure of £5·56 is arrived at; how poll tax payers and council officials may check its validity; and what effect the choice of this figure has on the SSA arrived at for Grimsby;(2) how, with reference to paragraph 3.40 of his Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England), the figure of £9·56 is arrived at; how poll tax payers and council officials may check its validity; and what effect the choice of this figure has on the SSA arrived at for Grimsby;(3) how, with reference to paragraph 3.40 of his Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England), the figure of £4·35 is arrived at; how poll tax payers and council officials may check its validity; and what effect the choice of this figure has on the SSA arrived at for Grimsby.

The figures referred to in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) were determined by my right hon. Friend after full consultation with local authority representatives. They are used to calculate the other services SSA element for county councils. Following this calculation, there is a transfer of £1 per adult to all districts in the county of Humberside, including Great Grimsby.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the total poll tax figure appropriate to Grimsby; and what account he has taken of (a) the kind of service, (b) the social and economic problems of the area, (c) the state of housing stock and (d) levels of unemployment, poverty, single-parent families and homelessness in arriving at it.

All charging authorities, including Grimsby, could set a community charge of £278 (before the safety net and special grants) in 1990–91 if they and the authorities precepting on the collection fund in their area spent at the level of their standard spending assessments. The assessment for each notifiable authority takes account of the services provided by that authority as set out in the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England). That report also sets out the indicators used to calculate SSAs, such as social conditions (including housing conditions), low incomes and single-parent families, and the weight given to each.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much Lambeth council will receive from the uniform business rate, revenue grant and other non-poll tax sources of revenue for 1990–91.

Lambeth charge payers will benefit from revenue support grant, business rates and inner London education grant paid to help meet the cost of services provided by Lambeth, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority and the Metropolitan police. In 1990–91 these will amount to £174,276,383, £50,465,924 and £9,475,207, respectively.Lambeth council will also receive specific grants from the Government to help meet specific expenditure. Lambeth can raise revenue through its own fees and charges for services provided.Some charge payers in Lambeth will pay a reduced community charge as a result of community charge benefit and transitional relief, which will be paid for by the Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received in the past 12 months from officials or members of Suffolk county council relating to the size of Government grant for 1990–91; and what inquiries his Department has made to date into the spending plans of Suffolk for 1990–91.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State received two written representations from members of Suffolk county council; one in July 1989 concerning total standard spending, grant distribution and the safety net; the other in November 1989 concerning Suffolk's standard spending assessment, new duties of local authorities and the safety net. In addition, I met my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Mr. Porter) to discuss Suffolk's representations.No inquiries have been made specifically to Suffolk county council about its spending plans for 1990–91, but all authorities have been requested to supply to the Department details of their budgets within seven days of their budget decision.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a breakdown of his figure of £176·40 per head for Tonbridge and Mailing, given in his reply to the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Mailing on 30 January, Official Report, column 178, into its main components.

It is not possible to provide the breakdown requested. There are no components of revenue support grant. Grant is unhypothecated and is paid to receiving authorities in support of the revenue expenditure of authorities in their area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Durham, North-West on 5 February, Official Report, columns 431–32, what is the corresponding amount and proportion of the education component of grant-related expenditure assessments 1989–90 for each authority which derives from the operation of factors relating to the payment of London weighting and other cost differences between London and surrounding areas and the rest of the United Kingdom.

The information requested is shown in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1979 the direct total grants made to Waveney district council in (a) cash terms, (b) constant price terms and (c) cash terms per head of population;(2) if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1981 the direct total grants made to Suffolk county council in

The information is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1979 the expenditure of Waveney district council in (a) cash terms, (b) constant price terms and(c) cash terms per head of population;(2) if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1981 the expenditure of Suffolk county council in

The information is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the standard spending assessment totals for 1990–91 for each service within (a) the district other services block and (b) the county other services block for the London borough of Westminster; and if he will make a statement.

Neither the SSA element for the district other services block nor the SSA element for the county other services block is broken down between sub-services within the element. The services covered by each element are listed in annex D to the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England). The figures for the two elements for Westminster are:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his plans for regulations concerning the disclosure of anonymous poll tax data will give community charges registration offices the option of whether to disclose data; and whether he will make a statement.

The limited amount of personal information that may be disclosed and the circumstances in which such information may not be disclosed are prescribed in part II of the Community Charges (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on 12 February, Official Report, column 56, if he will make an estimate of the monetary value of the shift in the burden of business rates from the north to (a) the London boroughs and (b) the London borough of Hillingdon.

I estimate that as a result of the revaluation and move to a uniform poundage, the non-domestic rate burden in the north will reduce substantially. The table below shows the aggregate reduction at 1989–90 prices in rate bills in the northern regions and the corresponding increases in London. The figures make no allowance for the effect of the transitional arrangements and are based on the rating lists deposited on 20 December 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library a revised version of table 5 in the analysis of the effect of the new business rating system published by his Department on 20 December 1989, showing changes in rate bills by English region for the property of private business and nationalised industries.

The analysis to which my hon. Friend refers, a copy of which is in the Library (Deposited Paper NS 5522), relates to properties occupied by private businesses and nationalised industries. Table 5 of the paper, unlike the other tables, inadvertently included property occupied by local authorities. I am therefore, as my hon. Friend asks, placing in the Library a revised table covering the property of private businesses and nationalised industries only.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what reply is being sent to the letter to the Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities of 29 January on Manchester and the poll tax from the leader of Manchester city council.

[holding answer 13 February 1990]: I have replied to the letter of 29 January from the leader of Manchester city council making clear that high community charges in Manchester would not be the result of our settlement but due solely to the council's own budget decisions. I have pointed out to Mr. Stringer that a community charge of £700 plus which he has argued would be needed to keep services in Manchester running at this year's level implies expenditure in 1990–91 more than 40 per cent. higher than the comparable amount for this year. Even charges of £450 or a little below would imply increases in spending approaching some 20 per cent. Under the settlement Manchester receives an increase in SSA over GRE of 13·3; per cent.—the highest increase for all metropolitan districts.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will issue guidance to those responsible for administering the community charge in Bradford and elsewhere that application forms for rebates should be made available in bulk to local advice agencies, including citizens advice bureaux and law centres.

I have been asked to reply.Local authorities have statutory responsibility for the administration of the community charge benefit. It is for each authority to decide where claim forms should be made available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1979 the (a) full-time, (b) part-time and (c) total staffing levels of Waveney district council.

The information is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1981 (a) full-time, (b) part-time and (c) total staffing levels of Suffolk county council.

The information is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his policy on the payment of grants to owners of sites of special scientific interest for the purposes of (a) preventing damage to, and (b) enhancing, the nature conservation interest of the land.

The Government encourage the Nature Conservancy Council to use the powers set out in section 15 of the Countryside Act 1968 to protect and enhance the nature conservation interest of sites of special scientific interest and its powers to assist financially any person to carry out any project which is conducive to nature conservation interests.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current statutory seaward limit of sites of special scientific interest in tidal waters.

I will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he intends to increase the sentences and penalties available to magistrates courts under part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in line with the proposals contained in the recent White Paper on criminal justice.

There are at present no plans to do so. The level of fine on summary conviction for offences under part 1 of the Act against the most vulnerable species is set out at the current statutory maximum.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the targets set by the European Community directive on large combustion plants.

The Government have agreed to the European Community directive on large combustion plants. It commits us to reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from existing plants by 20 per cent. by 1993, 40 per cent. by 1998 and 60 per cent. by 2003 from their 1980 base line, and emissions of nitrogen oxides by 15 per cent. by 1993 and 30 per cent. by 1998, as well as setting stringent emissions standards for new plants. My Department issued a consultation paper on 31 August 1989 explaining in detail our proposals for implementing the directive. A copy of the paper is in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reasons he issued a direction in November 1989 under section 9 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 to Hertfordshire county council requiring it to provide sites for a further 110 caravans for gipsies residing in or resorting to the county; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment directed Hertfordshire, in November 1988, because of the county council's lack of progress in making adequate site provision for those gipsies residing in, or resorting to, its area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has written to local authorities drawing their attention to the direction issued to Hertfordshire county council under section 9 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has written to other poor-performing local authorities drawing their attention to the direction issued to Hertfordshire, and has since directed Surrey county council in similar terms.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will publish such records as are kept of the numbers of protected wild birds destroyed annually by those so authorised by him;(2) to what extent he authorises the destruction of wild birds from time to time that are otherwise protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act; to whom such authorisations are granted; and why the exemptions are made.

Details of the numbers of birds killed under licences granted under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, where known, are included in the Government's annual reports to the European Commission of derogations made under the EEC directive on the conservation of wild birds. Copies of the reports are available in the Library and are circulated to interested bodies.Licences to kill wild birds are granted to relevant individuals and authorities principally to preserve public health or public or air safety, to prevent the spread of disease, or to prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber or fisheries.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the Government's current plans to deal with the pollution of Britain's beaches.

There are investment programmes totalling £1·4 billion at November 1989 prices to improve bathing water quality. It is expected that 95 per cent. of bathing waters will comply with EEC standards by the mid-1990s, and the full compliance programmes should be completed within 10 years.

:To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether there is a cash limit on the amount of money to be spent on minor repairs at the House of Commons in 1989–90.

Minor repairs to the parliamentary estate are funded from class XX, vote 18 which is cash limited.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received seeking a guaranteed minimum level of Crown business to the privatised Crown Suppliers.

[holding answer 14 February 1990]: None.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the buying agency business line of the Crown Suppliers needs to be adopted by a Crown Department if it is to be able to continue serving public sector needs after privatisation.

[holding answer 14 February 1990]: Individual Government Departments, including the Crown Suppliers are already responsible for ensuring that public sector procurement procedures are complied with. Following privatisation any Government Department will be able to employ the Crown Suppliers to act as its agent to carry out these procedures on its behalf.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the percentages and absolute numbers of Liverpool staff who opted for secondment to the privatised Crown Suppliers before the provision of a guaranteed job back in the Civil Service; and how many opted for secondment after that guarantee was given.

[holding answer 14 February 1990]: Of the 95 Liverpool staff who were eligible, 12(13 per cent.) opted originally for secondment to the purchaser of the Crown Suppliers. Of the 96 Liverpool staff who are eligible today, 57(59 per cent.) have now opted for secondment.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the latest figure for the number of people living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Manchester.

Such statistics are not maintained by my Department. Manchester city council operates policies which avoid putting homeless families into bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a percentage and absolute number breakdown by grade of the final responses of the administrative and executive grades, stores and support grades to the Crown Suppliers secondment exercise.

[holding answer 14 February 1990]: Following is the information:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department will be represented at the conference on liability under environment legislation, organised by the Institute for International Research, to be held in London on 27 to 28 February.

[holding answer 16 February 1990]: No.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the impact of the uniform business rate and the non-domestic revaluation on properties in the areas of urban programme authorities, overall and by type of property.

Businesses in the areas of the 57 urban programme local authorities in England will on average face substantially lower rate bills as a result of the new system of business rating. At the uniform business rate of 34·8p for 1990–91, the aggregate rate bills of such businesses would be £508 million or 16·3 per cent. lower than in 1989–90 before transition. Most classes of property benefit on average from lower bills. All businesses will have the guarantee that the uniform business rate will in future rise by no more than the rate of inflation. These reforms will therefore give a major fillip to businesses in inner-city areas.The full figures requested by my hon. Friend are as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the latest information he has on the famine situation in Ethiopia.

As the House knows, up to 4 million people are at increasing risk and some 1·1 million tonnes of food aid will be required up to the end of October of which about half has already been pledged. Our critical objectives remain to get the earliest distribution of food particularly within Tigré, as agreed on 18 January, and to find a speedy route towards the end of fighting and a negotiated solution.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance is being offered to the inhabitants of Tigréand Wollo in northern Ethiopia; and what steps are being taken to ensure that such assistance is getting through.

Since the middle of 1989, we have made commitments of food and other emergency assistance to the value of some £5·8 million for the benefit of those threatened by famine in Tigré. This assistance is being channelled through British non-governmental organisations which have long experience of work of this kind in Ethiopia. The world food programme is also advising on the situation and how best to ensure that the food aid reaches those for whom it is intended. Because of the military situation in Wollo, it has not so far been possible to provide aid to that region.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what United Kingdom assistance has been given to the non-Communist resistance in Cambodia in the past 12 months.

Since 1 March 1989 a total of £702,000 has been provided, mainly through UNBRO and British NGOs, for non-Communist Cambodians living in camps on the Thai border.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a further statement about Government policy on (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid to Cambodia; and whether he will give details of Britain's contribution to date in each case for the current financial year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his officials' recent visit to Cambodia.

I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Motherwell, North (Dr. Reid) on 15 February at column 351.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to ensure that food is not being sent from United Nations Border Relief Organisation camps on the Thai-Cambodia border to Khmer Rouge soldiers.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further investigations have been made on reports of the diversion of food and other aid to Khmer Rouge soldiers fighting in Cambodia, from the camps on the Thai-Cambodia border.

We have repeatedly sought and been given assurances by UNBRO that food and other aid supplies intended for families and ordinary people in Thai-Cambodia border camps are not diverted, either directly or indirectly to the Khmer Rouge.I saw the camps for myself last week and reiterated our concern. UNBRO officials assured me that they were taking all possible steps to ensure that supplies went to the people for whom they were intended and that they were looking again at their monitoring procedures. British embassy officials based in Bangkok also visit the camps regularly to monitor the situation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his Department's consideration of the issues raised in the report by the International Monetary Fund staff report for the 1989 article IV consultation, 11 August 1989, on Vietnam's economy.

The Government welcome the positive initial steps taken by the Vietnamese authorities towards more market-oriented policies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what programme of aid Her Majesty's Government have developed for Vietnam.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to re-establish a bilateral aid programme with Vietnam.

The Government have provided some assistance to Vietnam to help the people who are returning to resettle there. As I said in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson) on 16 January, consideration is also being given to whether the time is right to provide support for community development programmes administered by British non-governmental organisations in Vietnam.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much debt owed by developing countries Her Majesty's Government propose to write off in this coming year.

We have already cancelled the old aid debt of 23 countries, and rescheduled on concessional terms other official debt of 12 countries. The 1988 Toronto summit agreed to provide such debt relief to the poorest countries pursuing economic reforms, and we expect more to benefit in 1990.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what factors determine Britain's aid programme to South Africa.

Our aid programme is a practical demonstration of our commitment to promote fundamental change leading to the creation of a just, democratic and non-racial society in South Africa. It is helping to prepare for the day when South Africa's black citizens will be playing the major role in government and in economic development. Our programmes are planned and implemented directly with community groups, nongovernmental organisations and some universities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent visit to South Africa by the Minister for Overseas Development.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the recent visit to Johannesburg by the Minister for Overseas Development.

While in Johannesburg on 30 January I visited the Alexandra health centre, which is one of over 200 community projects that we support in South Africa. I met many of the teachers involved in the Molteno literacy project which we have helped for nearly 10 years and which has developed teaching materials now in use in well over 5,000 primary schools. I also visited the new British Council offices.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Minister for Overseas Development's visit to southern Africa and the Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Committee.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave on 15 February at column 352 to my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway).

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of United Kingdom aid given to ex-Communist countries to liberalise their economies is given on a multilateral basis.

We have only just started giving aid to the reforming countries of eastern Europe, and precise statistics are accordingly not yet available. But a substantial proportion of the United Kingdom's aid to eastern Europe will be given multilaterally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funds are being made available for students from central and eastern Europe to study development economics in the United Kingdom.

No funds are currently set aside specifically for this purpose. However some £750,000 will be available in 1990–91 for students from eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to study in Great Britain through the FCO scholarships and awards scheme. Applications from students wishing to study development economics will be considered along with other applications.In addition, we hope to establish a general scholarships programme through the know-how funds. This will be administered by the British Council. Detailed proposals are awaited and no financial limits have yet been set. Development economics will certainly be a discipline in which training will be eligible for support.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy that in all future years aid to eastern Europe will be additional to aid for developing countries.

The Government's substantial economic support for eastern Europe is entirely separate from and additional to our regular aid programme. We shall maintain our substantial aid programme to developing countries.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest discussions with Brazil on rain forest matters.

We have continued our discussions with Brazilian institutions on the details of individual project proposals and several project proposals are now being considered by the Brazilian Government. We expect the Brazilian Government to approve the first project under the memorandum of understanding, a research project to investigate the relationship between deforestation and climate, involving the Institute of Hydrology, within the next few days. We hope to reach agreement shortly on some of the other projects which could then begin in the second quarter of the year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aid is directed toward programmes aimed at protecting the black rhino.

In my answer to the hon. Member of 29 November 1989, Official Report, column 257, I referred to the list, placed in the Library of the House, of wildlife conservation activities in general in Africa in which we are involved. This includes the funding of a gamewarden to co-ordinate the Kenya rhino rescue project. We are now actively considering ways in which we may be of further help in conserving rhino in Tanzania.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether in the forthcoming year Her Majesty's Government will fund a cultural or medical aid package to Tibet.

The Government have no plans to fund a cultural or medical aid package to Tibet.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was discussed with the Government of Bangladesh during the Minister for Overseas Development's recent visit.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes) on 15 February, column 350.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the overseas aid programme contains any provision for developing new technologies to increase food production in developing countries.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the Overseas Development Administration is taking to increase food production in developing countries through research on sustainable systems of agriculture.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contribution is made through research and development funded from the aid programme to efforts in developing countries to improve food production.

I regard research on sustainable agricultural systems for developing countries and its dissemination as an important part of the British aid programme. The Overseas Development Administration has recently published a new "Strategy for Research on Renewable Natural Resources", a copy of which I have placed in the Library of the House. This strategy lays stress on the need for all natural resources research programmes to take account of factors which make for sustainable and environmentally sound development. Total expenditure on renewable natural resources research under the Overseas Development Administration research strategy in FY 1989–90, including contributions to the programmes of international agricultural research centres, will be some £19 million, of which nearly 90 per cent. will be related to food production and the technologies needed to increase it. Specific research programmes which bear directly on agricultural sustainability will include among others farming systems, agroforestry and soil science, and will be carried out at centres of excellence such as the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute and the Oxford Forestry Institute. The transfer and adaptation of newly developed technologies is assisted through our bilateral country programmes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the quality of Her Majesty's Government's aid programme to India, in view of the recently published investigation carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. Dunnachie) on 15 February at column 351.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the United Kingdom aid budget is spent on education; how much of this is spent on primary education; and whether he has any plans to increase spending in this area.

In 1988, expenditure on technical co-operation in education, including sums provided to the British Council amounting to £42 million, came to about £95 million or 23 per cent. of total technical co-operation. Some £1·7 million or 0·4 per cent. of total technical co-operation was specifically for primary education, but there are other projects which benefit both primary and other areas of education. Some £6·5 million or 3·2 per cent. of the ODA total financial project aid was spent on education; £1·1 million or 0·6 per cent. was on primary education. In determining how much the ODA spends on the various levels of education in each recipient country it takes into account existing or proposed projects by those organisations.We shall wish to discuss with Education Ministers of Commonwealth countries at the Commonwealth conference of Education Ministers in Barbados later this year what proportion of our assistance they wish us to commit to primary education. We shall undertake discussions with other Governments in the light of the forthcoming world conference on education for all.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has as to the proportion of children worldwide who fail to undertake or complete primary education.

The following information on the percentage of children enrolled in primary education is taken from the World Bank world development report 1989. In an explanatory note the report states that the figures are estimates of children of all ages enrolled in primary schools. Figures are expressed as the percentage of pupils to the population of school age children. Figures in italics are for years other than those specified. While many countries consider primary school age to be six to 11 years, others do not. The differences in country practices in the ages and duration of schooling are reflected in the figures given. For some countries with universal primary education the gross enrolment figures may exceed 100 per cent. because some pupils are younger or older than the country's standard primary school age.I have no information on the number of children who fail to complete the period of primary education.