To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will outline the effect of the financial arrangements for the capital requirements of grant-maintained schools on the capital spending budget for the local education authority.

My right hon. Friend pays 100 per cent. grant to a grant-maintained school for approved expenditure on capital projects. There is no recovery of such payments from the local education authority. In addition, the Department sets annual capital guidelines for education for each LEA. These guidelines do not take account of capital grant to GM schools in an authority's area. It is for each LEA to decide capital spending on its schools in the light of local needs and circumstances, and LEAs are free, within the flexibilities of the Local Government Acts, to spend above the level of their annual capital guidelines from capital receipts and other resources.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has received any requests from Romania (a) to replace historic and academic books lost in fires during the Romanian revolution and (b) to supply textbooks for schoolchildren learning English as a second language.

Any such requests would normally be directed to the British Council.The British Council received an appeal for replacement books from the director of the central university library, Bucharest, but the following action was already being taken:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consult the representatives of headmasters in the state and independent sectors in order to hear their assessment of the effect of GCSE examinations taking place earlier in the academic year.

My right hon. Friend has already received a number of representations from head teachers on this matter. The joint council for the GCSE is itself considering a consultation of all centres offering the GCSE. My right hon. Friend will expect to discuss with it the outcomes of that consultation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consult the GCSE examining groups, the joint council for the GCSE and other relevant bodies with a view to ending the practice whereby GCSE examinations are taking place earlier in the summer term.

My right hon. Friend is asking for a meeting with the joint council to discuss this matter.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will outline the phases to which he referred in his reply of 21 February, Official Report, column 796, covering the implementation of the national curriculum.

The phases of implementation of the national curriculum and related assessment arrangements are set out in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of passenger traffic to the continent he estimates will eventually use the Channel tunnel.

Eurotunnel expects 43·9 million passengers to use the tunnel in 2003, 36 per cent. of passenger traffic to and from the continent.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (I) how many letters he had received by 23 February from residents living in London (a) in support and (b) opposed to the London roads assessment options; and if he will make a statement;(2) what has been, for the latest available date, the number of letters that his Department has received

It will take a little time to collate and analyse the responses received. The outcome will be announced as soon as possible.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what considerations informed the decision to discontinue bus and coach data from quarterly transport statistics and replace them by information on United Kingdom-registered goods vehicles carried on roll-on roll-off ferries from Great Britain to mainland Europe.

As part of the Government's continuing objective of lessening the burden on industry of responding to surveys, it has been decided that the quarterly monitoring of bus and coach operators' performance is no longer required for Department of Transport purposes. The decision to include in the quarterly transport statistics information on United Kingdom-registered goods vehicles carried on roll-on roll-off ferries to mainland Europe was made by the editor.The performance of the bus and coach industry will continue to be monitored on an annual basis, and will be included in the Department's annual publication, "Transport Statistics Great Britain". More detailed information will be available in the annual specialised publication, "Bus and Coach Statistics".

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the total number of train accidents caused by technical defects in 1989; and what was the comparable number for (a) 1979, (b) 1983 and (c) 1987.

The number of train accidents caused by technical defects in 1989 is not yet available. For 1979, 1983 and 1987 the numbers were respectively 244, 276 and 268.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the underlying rate of inflation in each member state of the European Community at the latest available date.

The inflation rates given in the table exclude estimates of home owners' costs and are, therefore, more comparable across countries:

12-month growth rate of consumer prices in the European Community
	December 198911
United Kingdom2	6·1
Germany	2·6
France	3·6
Italy	6·4
Belgium	3·6
Denmark	4·8
Greece	14·8
Ireland	4·2
Luxembourg	3·9
Netherlands	1·0
Portugal	11·6
Spain	6·6

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Government have so far committed from the £50 million know-how fund for Poland; and how much they expect to spend in the current financial year.

Possible commitments on projects financed under the £50 million know-how fund for Poland now stand at around £18·3 million. We expect to spend approximately £2·3 million in the current financial year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of the Cameroons on the need to prevent commercial logging companies logging in the Oban-Korup national park.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he is making to the Governments of France and Germany about French and German timber companies logging in and near the Korup rain forest in Cameroon; and if he will make a statement on the consequences of such action for Her Majesty's Government's aid policy.

No logging is permitted in Korup national park itself. The recent press reports have been about licences granted for logging in the buffer zone around Korup. Under Cameroonian law these licences should not have been granted without prior consultation with local government leaders and village chiefs in the interests of preserving economically important trees, water supplies and traditional hunting zones in the vicinity of each village. We share the concern of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that recent logging activities may not have been subject to this condition and may be detrimental to the WWF's Korup project, which is being partly funded from the British aid programme.The British embassy in Yaounde has already expressed its concern to the Cameroonian Ministry of Agriculture and the ambassador is being instructed to raise the matter formally at ministerial level. Meanwhile we are assured by the Cameroon authorities that existing licences for exploitation within the Korup buffer zone were issued before the establishment of the national park and that no new licences will be issued for exploitation within the zone.We are now considering whether it would be desirable to make demarches to the Governments of countries whose logging companies are active in the vicinity of Korup, bearing it in mind that the powers of those Governments in respect of private companies may be strictly limited.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contributions Britain has made in the last year to the vaccination of children in developing countries against the main killer diseases.

We support immunisation programmes through the United Nations Children's Fund, to which we contributed £8·4 million in 1989–90. In the same period we provided £200,000 to the Polio Plus Campaign run by Rotary International and £64,000 to the WHO Cold Chain Support Unit. In addition, many of the bilateral primary health care projects we fund and the 315 health projects run by non-governmental organisations, which we support under our joint funding scheme, include an immunisation component.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those international organisations to which the United Kingdom is affiliated which grant or lend money, giving the United Kingdom's latest annual contributions where applicable in each case.

The international organisations and the United Kingdom contributions paid for from the overseas aid programme showing the amounts paid in 1988 (the latest year for which full data are available), are as follows:

United Kingdom contribution in 1988
Organisation	£'000
UN Agencies1
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)	2,564
UN Development Programme (UNDP)	24,500
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) General Programme	3,750
UNICEF Special Appeals	8,473
UN Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)	5,250
UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)	3,500
UNHCR (Special Appeals)	15,970
UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)	2,804
UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)	5,250
World Food Programme (WFP)	4,856
World Health Organisation (WHO) Research Programmes	11,407
Other UN development agencies	2,561
World Bank Group
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)	6,561
International Development Association (IDA)	207,000
International Finance Corporation (IFC)	3,558
Regional Development Banks
African Development Bank	329
African Development Fund	6,374
Asian Development Bank	1,172
Asian Development Fund	13,045
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)	200
CDB Special Development Fund	3,517
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)	1,491
IADB Fund for Special Operations	3,002
International Monetary Fund2
Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility	8,500
European Community3
European Development Fund	119,004

Organisation	£'000
International research organisations
Agricultural and medical research	6,915
Other international organizations4	9,772
1 Excludes UN bodies whose activities benefit both developing and developed countries and where United Kingdom subscriptions relate only partly to developmental activities.
2 Contributions to the IMF's general resources account form part of the United Kingdom reserves.
3 Excludes overseas aid paid for from the EC budget and from European Investment Bank's own resources.
4 Includes such Commonwealth programmes as the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation and Commonwealth Youth Programme; and contributions to South Pacific Commission.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what provision he has made for the refurbishment of museums in the current year.

The grant in aid in 1989–90 for the building and maintenance programme of the national museums and galleries which I sponsor was £48 million. I announced on 16 November 1989 that the provision would rise to £57 million in 1990–91; in 1992–93 the provision will be £64 million, a rise of 34 per cent. over the three years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will further defer a decision on the application for a licence to export Antonio Canova's The Three Graces; and if he will make a statement.

After consultation with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Arts, I have decided to extend the present period of deferral for the application for a licence to export The Three Graces until Wednesday 4 April.Export control procedures affecting heritage items have been under review, including the policy of deferring a decision on an export licence application to enable a United Kingdom public institution to make an offer to purchase. As a result, I propose henceforth to take account of an offer from any source, whether public or private. I am ready to consider any representations by persons affected by this change of policy, which will apply both to new applications and to outstanding applications such as The Three Graces; other deferrals, including those for interim review, due to expire before 4 April will also be extended to that date.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North of 20 February, Official Report, column 781, and to the hon. Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin) of 20 February, Official Report, column 783, if he will list which organisations or individuals within the borough of Sunderland made representations to him opposing the recommencement of shipbuilding at the Southwick shipyard.

[holding answer 27 February 1990]: Representations have been made in private discussions questioning whether a return to shipbuilding some years hence, and the uncertainties that must be inherent in such a proposal, represents the best prospect for the long-term development of Sunderland and of the sites in question.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what legal basis the European Commission has to approve or disapprove the sale of land within the United Kingdom to companies within the United Kingdom.

[holding answer 27 February 1990]: Article 222 EEC states that

"This Treaty should in no way prejudice the rules in Member States governing the system of property ownership".

However, the Commission of the European Communities, acting under articles 92–93 EEC and any relevant Community legal instruments, may include conditions on the use of land as part of the terms on which it approves state aid where such use is material to the case concerned. Thus, for example, the payment of closure aid for shipbuilding allows the Commission to impose conditions on the use of the site concerned, and that would need to be reflected in any subsequent disposal of that land.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has any plans to control the purchase of biotechnology companies by agrochemical companies.

[holding answer 28 February 1990]: There are no grounds for intervention to distort market mechanisms in the purchase of biotechnology companies. Small, research-based firms in biotechnology cannot take ideas through to commercial production alone; purchase by an established company can provide the significant extra resource needed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to ban the patenting of genetically manipulated animals.

[holding answer 28 February 1990]: As I indicated to the hon. Gentleman in my answer of 16 January 1990 (Hansard, column 187, Vol 165, No 31), a European Community proposal for a directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions would, if adopted, confirm that patent applications for inventions concerned with genetically manipulated animals would be granted, provided other patentability criteria were met.Discussions on this proposal are continuing, however, and the Government will take a view on it at the appropriate time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to assess the chlorofluorocarbon recycling technology developed by Volvo in Sweden to evaluate its applicability to British industry.

[holding answer 1 March 1990]: The DTI commissioned a major study in 1989 to assess the options for CFC recovery, recycling and disposal. This study will provide us with an assessment of commercially proven recycling technologies and their applicability to the United Kingdom industry.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his reply of 6 February, Official Report, column 551, whose budget any follow-up treatment will be under if a patient who has been referred to a treatment centre outside his/her own health authority to receive initial treatment, is examined at facilities other than the said treatment centre following the agreement of the referring consultant; and if he will make a statement.

If, with the agreement of the referring consultant, a patient from a treatment centre receives follow-up treatment in his or her home health authority, then the cost will be charged to that authority. This will still leave the referring authority with a net financial benefit in most instances since the cost of operating on the patient will have been borne by the treatment centre.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what plans there are with regard to the non-geriatric care currently provided to patients from Wales by the five community hospitals in Shropshire health authority, following their being sold off and converted to private nursing homes; and if he will make a statement;(2) what will happen to patients from Wales who are receiving care at the five hospitals in the Shropshire health authority when those hospitals are sold off and converted into private nursing homes; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister for Health on 23 February. If Shropshire health authority should decide to proceed with its proposals to change the use of some of its cottage hospitals, it will be required to consult all interested parties, including those Welsh health authorities whose residents may have cause to use the facilities. Welsh health authorities would need to consider what alternative provision might need to be made in the light of any such consultation exercise being undertaken.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to increase the funding for kidney transplants at Cardiff royal infirmary; and if he will make a statement.

Proposals from South Glamorgan health authority to increase kidney transplant provision at Cardiff royal infirmary are presently being considered by the Welsh Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all the grants made in Wales under section 21 of the Education Act 1980, since that Act came into force, indicating the year in which each grant was made, the amount of each grant, the local authority to whose area each grant applied, and the specific purpose to which each grant was to be directed.

I shall write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the amounts of raw sewage that were returned to land during the recent coastal storms in north Wales; and what steps have subsequently been taken to decontaminate areas polluted by such sewage.

The area of Towyn, Rhyl, Kinmel bay and Abergele is sewered by short sea outfalls and it is estimated that some 50,000 litres of sewage is produced per day. Until tidal surges penetrated the sea wall at Towyn, the sewage flow continued to discharge to the sea. Soon after the wall was breached, power supplies were lost and any sewage pumping would have ceased. Gravity discharges would also have ceased because there was no longer any free discharge. After the majority of the population from the affected parts of Towyn was evacuated to dry areas, sewage generation would largely have stopped in that area. Sewage from surrounding areas would have continued to flow, however, and this sewage would have been mixed with the incoming sea water. It is not possible to say whether the sewage discharged through the outfalls or escaped into the mass of flood water through drains and manholes but it is probable that quantities of sewage are present in the flood water and the proportion of sewage will increase the longer the flood waters remain. The sewage will have been diluted both by the rainfall during the period and, to a much greater extent, by the invading sea water. A small number of properties are on cesspits and septic tanks and the contents of these tanks will by now have mixed with the flood water.Responsibility for the possible public health consequences of the flood and therefore for the clean-up operation rests with the appropriate environmental health officer who has powers to take such action as he deems fit to reduce any risk to human health.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newport West, Official Report, 23 February, column 933, regarding the export criteria set out, since 1979, whether any plutonium has been exported to (a) the United States of America from the United Kingdom not kept under safeguards, and (b) to Japan from the United Kingdom which was not produced in the United Kingdom or an EEC member state; how much plutonium was exported to Canada in 1983; and from which reactor or reactors this came.

Exports of unsafeguarded plutonium are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish his report on whether the tanker Almarc Terza broke the guidelines on oil exported to South Africa.

I have nothing to add to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 11 January 1990, at columns 693–94.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what assistance the United Kingdom has afforded the International Atomic Energy Agency in developing safeguards expertise under the provisions of article 12 of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The United Kingdom carries out a safeguards research and development programme in support of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The programme is carried out by AEA technology and currently costs approximately £1 million per year; the costs are borne by my Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if Her Majesty's Government have ever made available details of technical studies conducted on safeguards implementation at United Kingdom nuclear reprocessing plants to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Yes. BNFL and the UKAEA provide technical studies to the IAEA when agreeing safeguards approaches for their facilities; these naturally include reprocessing issues. A safeguards research and development programme is carried out for the IAEA by the UKAEA and this involves some work on plant reprocessing studies. In addition, the international study group on large scale commercial plant reprocessing (LASCAR), in which the United Kingdom is involved, provides technical guidance to the IAEA.The information given to the IAEA on reprocessing plant safeguards is either commercially sensitive or has security implications.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he has received the file of information relating to the case of Mr. John Harker, a prisoner in Her Majesty's prison, Kirkham; and if he will make a statement;(2) when he intends to notify the hon. Member for Stockton, South about the outcome of his Department's inquiry into the case of Mr. John Harker.

A reply was sent on 26 January to my hon. Friend acknowledging recent representations from Mr. Harker. The representations are under consideration and a further letter will be sent as soon as the examination of the case is complete.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations his private office has received requesting arbitration on a decision of the Chief Immigration Officer to deport individuals from the United Kingdom since the introduction of the system; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested is not available. The "Guidelines on the handling of representations by Members of Parliament in immigration cases" describe the way in which Home Office Ministers exercise their responsibilities for implementing an effective and efficient immigration control. A copy of the guidelines is available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to reform election law to give homeless persons the right to vote.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, to be entitled to vote a person must be resident at an address in a constituency or electoral area on the qualifying date and must be registered there. We have no plans to change this requirement.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will amend existing legislation to enable victims of crimes or their representatives to exercise the same right to a hearing for a retrial in the Court of Appeal as that given to a convicted criminal when new evidence is produced and a miscarriage of justice has been established.

The victim's charter we published on 22 February—a copy of which is in the Library—sets out some questions for discussion including whether the victim could or should be given some opportunity to be heard in court. As the charter explains, we have no immediate proposals for change, but would welcome views. We could not however support a change which would enable the victim to call into question an acquittal, which would violate the principle that a person who has been acquitted should not he tried a second time.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long he expects to take to answer questions from hon. Members about constituents in prison; and if he will make a statement.

We aim to answer all correspondence from hon. Members as quickly as possible. At present, the average time taken to reply to hon. Members' letters on prison issues, including those about constituents in prison, is 31 days.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis showing (a) when the national football intelligence unit of the Metropolitan police will be fully operational, (b) what is the staffing level of the unit and (c) what is its annual budget.

The national football intelligence unit's staff (one superintendent, one inspector, one sergeant, three constables and one typist) has been at work since December 1989. Its computer support is expected to be operational shortly. Its budget for the financial year 1990–91 is £300,000. These matters do not fall within the responsibility of the Commissioner.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to provide easier methods for the fostering in the United Kingdom of children orphaned in the Romanian revolution.

There is no provision in the immigration rules for children from overseas to come to the United Kingdom to be fostered. However, children adopted in Romania, or coming to the United Kingdom from Romania for adoption, may be admitted provided that careful inquiries into the circumstances of both the child and the prospective parents show that the proposed adoption is in the child's best interests. These inquiries are necessary to ensure that children adopted from overseas are protected in the same way as children adopted in the United Kingdom.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of hepatitis B infection in prisoners have been reported since 1979.

Cases have been reported for statistical purposes only since 1984. The latest information is given in the table:

Hepatitis B: Prisoners requiring treatment or special precautions
Reporting period	Acute cases	Chronic cases (carriers)
1 January 1984 to 31 March 19851	152	240
1 April 1985 to 31 March 1986	165	295
1 April 1986 to 31 March 1987	150	285
1 April 1987 to 31 March 1988	155	198
1 April 1988 to 31 March 1989	105	242
1 15 months.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if prisoners are informed of or offered vaccination against hepatitis B; and if he will make a statement.

Vaccination policy for prisoners is modelled on practice in the general community. Prison medical officers decide which prisoner patients should be offered vaccination, using their clinical judgment and having regard to guidelines issued by the director of prison medical services. The guidelines recommend that medical officers consider offering vaccination to those prisoners who are identified as belonging to a high risk behaviour group and who are expected to remain in the prison system long enough to complete the six-month course.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what action his Department has taken to prevent the spread of hepatitis B in prison;(2) what instructions his Department issues to prison governors regarding combating the spread of hepatitis B.

Our measures include medical inquiry and examination at the reception stage, selective vaccination on a voluntary basis, education and counselling, and limited regime restrictions for identified hepatitis B carriers at the discretion of the prison medical officer.Governors have an important part to play in facilitating educational initiatives within the resources available to them. They have been encouraged to make wide use of the prison service education package "AIDS Inside and Out", which provides a context for the delivery of important messages relevant to the prevention of hepatitis B infection.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the transitional arrangements to be made in the Broadcasting Bill for existing cable systems other than broad band cable franchise holders.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) announced our proposals on the future licensing arrangements for local delivery systems, including SMATV systems, on 27 April last year. The transitional arrangements we are envisaging are to be seen against the background of those proposals.As those proposals made clear, systems covering fewer than 1,000 homes will not need to be licensed by the Independent Television Commission under the new arrangements. This proposal will be implemented, subject to parliamentary approval, by the making of a designation order under the provisions of clause 65(1) of the Broadcasting Bill. Accordingly, any existing SMATV licences for systems covering fewer than 1,000 homes will lapse when the relevant provisions of the Bill are brought into force. Any existing unlicensed systems covering fewer than 1,000 homes will be able to continue in operation. Any system covering fewer than 1,000 homes, whether previously licensed by the Cable Authority or not, will be able to carry BBC services, services regulated by the ITC, S4C and services originating from a Council of Europe or convention country.SMATV systems licensed to cover 1,000 homes or more, and which fall wholly or partly within a cable franchise area (ie an area covered by a prescribed diffusion service licence issued by the Cable Authority by the time the relevant provisions of the Bill are brought into force), will continue to be able to operate under their existing licences while they remain in force. The ITC will be empowered to extend those licences if necessary until such a time as it is satisfied that the broad band cable operator is able to offer an alternative service to the homes passed by the SMATV system.SMATV systems licensed to cover more than 1,000 homes, which fall wholly outside any cable franchise area, will be deemed to have a local delivery licence starting from the date on which the relevant provisions of the Bill are brought into force. This licence will last for five years, and will be renewable under the provisions of clause 71 of the Broadcasting Bill after three years. The percentage of qualifying revenue for the purposes of clause 67 will be deemed to be zero. Licensees will not be granted the use of MVDS frequencies.Systems covering more than 1,000 homes which carry only the four terrestrial channels, and which are in consequence unlicensed at present, will continue to be able to operate without the need for an ITC licence while they carry only those channels.Other unlicensed systems covering more than 1,000 homes (including systems carrying the IBA's DBS services) which have not previously been licensed as SMATV systems by the Cable Authority will, if they fall wholly or partly within a cable franchise area, be deemed to have a SMATV licence under the terms of the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984. This licence will be deemed to start on the day when the relevant provisions of the Bill are brought into force, and to last for five years. The ITC will be empowered to extend the licence until such a time as it is satisfied that the broad band cable operator is able to offer an alternative service to the homes passed by the system.Unlicensed systems meeting the same criteria which fall wholly outside cable franchise areas will be deemed to have a local delivery licence starting from the date on which the relevant provisions of the Bill are brought into force. The terms of this licence will be the same as those described outlined above in relation to SMATV systems which will be deemed to have local delivery licences.The provisions necessary to implement these proposals will be included in the Broadcasting Bill. Subject to parliamentary approval, we are planning that the proposals will come into effect on 1 January 1991.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on current staffing levels at Her Majesty's prison, Blundeston, in the light of the 1988 fresh start agreements.

[holding answer 19 February 1990]: There are at present 140 officers (including senior and principal officers) in post; regional management's target level is 146 for 1989–90 and it plans to post a further six officers to Blundeston this month.

To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received about regional development in the United Kingdom.

The Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry, for Scotland and for Wales receive regular representations on regional industrial development.

To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received about zoonoses.

I have not received any such recent representations. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Health keeps these diseases under review.

To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received on built heritage.

My right hon. Friend and I receive representations frequently. The built heritage makes a particularly important contribution both to the quality of life within our communities and to the tourism industry. The Government are concerned to ensure that the nation's wealth of important buildings, monuments and sites are preserved wherever possible.

To ask the Prime Minister what current involvement the United Kingdom has in (a) the international geosphere-biosphere project and (b) the world climate research programme, in regard to research conducted into global warming and the greenhouse effect.

I refer the hon. Member to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology's report on the greenhouse effect which gives full details of the important contribution the research councils and the Meteorological Office are making to these international research programmes.

To ask the Prime Minister, further to her reply to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North of 27 February, when General Sir Frank King made it clear to her that he did not recall any project specifically named Clockwork Orange.

General Sir Frank King and General Sir Peter Leng gave that information to officials on Saturday 17 February.

To ask the Prime Minister, further to her reply of 27 February, whether any projects not specifically named Clockwork Orange but of a similar intent or nature were known to Her Majesty's Government or military officers.

I have nothing to add to the information given by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces during the Adjournment debate on 6 February at columns 866–68.

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to her reply to the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter), Official Report, 22 February, columns 872–73, how the figures of (a) £3 million United Kingdom annual contribution to the United Nations environment programme and (b) £100 million United Kingdom contribution over three years to the conservation of tropical forests were reached.

The United Kingdom more than doubled its contribution to UNEP in 1989 in recognition of the increasing awareness and importance of international environmetal issues and the need to strengthen UN EP's capacity to meet these challenges.In deciding to commit a further £100 million of bilateral aid over the next three years as part of Britain's help to conserve tropical forests we took account of the global significance of the issue, the way in which we judge the United Kingdom is equipped to help effectively in this field, the scope for contribution from other aid donors and other pressures on our aid programme resources.

To ask the Prime Minister what policies she has formulated in regard to (a) aid to promote democratic development, (b) aid to support educational development, (c) aid to support environmental improvement and (d) aid to support energy efficiency and security in the countries of eastern Europe following political changes in these states in the past six months.

On 22 January, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs announced a single know-how fund for eastern Europe. This included our existing commitments to Poland (£50 million) and Hungary (£25 million), and new money would be made available to finance help to other eastern European countries once they are fully committed to reform.So far we have made detailed plans in respect of Poland, where we expect to spend some £2·3 million in the current financial year. Proposals are being worked out for assistance in the energy sector, and will look, among other things, at the issues of energy efficiency and the reduction of environmental pollution from power stations. The Polish authorities have also asked for assistance with the creation of new language teacher training institutes, for advice on educational reform, and an exploratory mission will be visiting Poland this month. We have also enabled groups of politicians from Poland and Hungary to participate in seminars on the United Kingdom's parliamentary system organised by the Great Britain/east Europe centre, training in media techniques, and training directly relevant to the local government elections to be held in Poland in April.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the review of tourist policy in Northern Ireland.

Following the publication of the tourism policy document "Tourism in Northern Ireland—A View to the Future" in June last year, considerable work has been undertaken to implement the proposals it contained. A number of the measures, including a new scheme of financial assistance, have already been introduced and work is in hand on the preparation of the new legislation which will be required to give effect to the full range of the proposals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what grants are available for the provision of accommodation in public houses.

A new scheme of selective financial assistance will be available from 2 April 1990 to private sector projects providing additional tourist accommodation or upgrading existing facilities. Assistance in the form of interest relief grants or loans will be offered to projects which can demonstrate the potential to achieve more holiday visitors to Northern Ireland, leading to additional revenue and/or employment. Public house developments which meet those criteria will be considered. Projects in Belfast and Londonderry may also qualify for urban development grant in appropriate cases.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons in Northern Ireland are presently serving sentences of detention at the pleasure of the Secretary of State; of these how many are for (a) murder and (b) other serious offences; and of these how many were admitted members of (i) the Ulster Defence Association, (ii) the Ulster Freedom Fighters, (iii) the Ulster Volunteer Force, (iv) the RUC, (v) other loyalist paramilitary groups, (vi) the Official Irish Republican Army, (vii) the Provisional Irish Republican Army, (viii) the Irish National Liberation Army, (ix) other Roman Catholic paramilitary groups, (x) any junior wing by each category of the foregoing and (xi) none of the above, at the time the crime was committed.

[holding answer 27 February 1990]: The sentence of detention at the pleasure of the Secretary of State can be imposed only in cases of murder. Twenty-five prisoners are currently serving such sentences. At the time of conviction, their paramilitary affiliation was as follows:

Paramilitary affiliation	Number convicted
Ulster Defence Association	3
Ulster Volunteer Force	1
Provisional Irish Republican Army	16
None	5

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons serving (a) a life sentence for murder, (b) a life sentence for other serious crime and (c) a sentence at the pleasure of the Secretary of State have been released from prison in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years; of these, how many were admitted members of each paramilitary or terrorist group or their junior wing when the crime was committed; if he will indicate the periods served; and if he will set out the information in a table.

[holding answer 27 February 1990]: The information requested is as follows: